Freelance Heroics (18 page)

It was hard to read the Blue Boar’s expressions behind his mask, but the scowl came through loud and clear. “I was able to narrow down the location somewhat, yes.” He climbed into the room and leaned against the wall. “First, I learned from a woman in the Saffir Guard that their encampment is to the west.”

“Uh huh,” said Mazik.

“I also learned that they crossed at least one stream on the way there.”

“Uh huh.” Mazik nodded.

The Blue Boar crossed his arms. “That’s it.”

Mazik’s head slammed into the wall behind him. He groaned and smacked the wall again. “I was a fool to think this would be easy,” he said, between
thwacks
.

“Quit it,” said Gavi with a smile. “We have to pay damages if you dent the wall with your thick skull.”

“Joy.” Mazik slapped his legs. “Welp, I guess we get to do this the old-fashioned and/or dangerous way.”

“What ways are those?” asked the Blue Boar.

“Search the whole damn forest, or wait for them to attack and then follow their tracks back to their camp.” Mazik raised his hand. “Is anyone good at tracking? Raise your hand if you are.” He lowered his own.

“I don’t have any experience outside of that time with the kidnappers,” said Gavi.

“I was in Gnoll Scouts,” said Raedren. “So no, not really. They taught us some, but I’ve forgotten most of it.”

“Crime fighting is a predominately urban endeavor,” said the Blue Boar.

“We’re pretty much the worst at this,” said Mazik. “If memory serves—and it rarely does—orcks are hunters by nature. By which I mean they don’t tromp around leaving huge, obvious trails, much less use roads like humans do. They can move pretty lightly when they want to, is what I mean. Anyone want to place bets on whether we’ll even be
able
to follow their path back to their camp?”

“Fifty plus of them will probably leave signs we can follow,” said Raedren.

Mazik scowled, but shrugged. “I guess. It will be dark, though. But I guess that’s gotta be option number one, regardless.” He slapped his legs and stood up. “All right team, gather ’round.”

Everyone crowded around his bed. Mazik nodded to Gavi. “Gavs, you’re once again the master of the search-area-map stuff. Take it away.”

“I get all the fun jobs.” Gavi pointed to where they had marked the map with leaves, to avoid ruining the inn master’s map.

“These are a few places we picked that look like they would make for good camping spots. Defensible, fairly well hidden, close to water.” She pointed to the six leaves near the stream, and the two well past it. “If we can’t follow their trail back, let’s start by exploring these areas.” She pointed to each of them in turn, assigning two search areas to each.

“Don’t get too close to any of your spots,” Gavi cautioned. “They make good camping spots precisely because they’re not easy to approach without being seen. If there are signs of orcks, or of a recent battle, call it in before trying to verify.”

“That said, we’re gonna have to hurry,” said Mazik. “Since we can’t go straight there and lurk, we’ll have to wait on the west walls until we see them approach. If we assume they’ll only be attacking for an hour at most, and that it’ll take them about as long to get back to their camp as it’ll take us to get there . . . either way, we need to find it
fast
. Otherwise we won’t have any time to figure out what they’re doing before they all get back and try to kill us.”

No one argued with that. “Rae, you willing to play mission control again?” asked Gavi.

“Sure.”

Gavi turned to the Blue Boar. “Mas Boar, we’re going to be coordinating via Stýlori communication magick. Is it all right if we all establish a connection with you? And if so, will your alias work?”

He nodded. “Absolutely, and it should.”

“My full name is Sarissa Gavin Ven’Kalil. Gavi Ven’Kalil will be fine.”

Mazik watched as Raedren pulled a copy of
Practical Mythology
out of his pack—
The Guide to Gods on the Go
, or so Mazik thought of it. Raedren flipped to the page on Stýlori, the God of Communication. He handed it to Gavi.

She cleared her throat and held out her bare hand, palm facing the Blue Boar. The Blue Boar tugged one of his gloves off and did likewise. Gavi began to speak.

“
Zda ali nárhodný suisloda Stýlori všecajo uginé krátkáta alji Blue Boar
,” said Gavi. She held the book out so the Blue Boar could read it.

He waved it away. “
Veneřit jelší dor, Gavi Ven’Kalil
.”

There was a short crackle of mana between their outstretched palms, and it was done.

“Here you go.” Gavi handed the book back to Raedren, who held his palm up to the Blue Boar. He kept the book open and began reciting the first part of the spell again. Once they were done, Mazik established a connection with the Blue Boar as well, though he let the masked man take the longer incantation.

“Let’s all keep in contact with one other person while we’re searching,” said Gavi as she picked up her weapons. “That way, if something happens, someone will be available to contact Raedren, who will get the information to the rest of us. I’ll be his backup as mission control. Rae, you partner with the Blue Boar. I’ll take Mazik.”

“You’ll take me, eh?” said Mazik. He winked at Gavi. “How naughty.”

“Save that for later.” Gavi winked back, then turned and wiggled her butt at him. Surprised—and with Kalenia’s face flashing through his mind—Mazik’s grin evaporated.

“Haha, gotcha! Just kidding.” Gavi sniggered at Mazik’s expression. She slipped her sword back into her belt and opened the door.

Mazik stuck out his tongue. “Meanie.” He scooped up his dagger and turned to follow.

Why did I have to do that?
wondered Gavi. She rubbed her arms and ducked behind the parapets to shield herself from the wind.
You made things awkward. He has a girlfriend. You
know
he has a girlfriend. You’re better than that, Gavi!

Gavi stood on the ramparts of Saffir’s western walls. She wasn’t alone. The other members of her team were spread out over an area that covered roughly a fourth of the city’s walls. Gavi had more immediate company as well.

“Are you sure you’re supposed to be up here?” asked the guard. Like the private Mazik and Raedren had interrogated earlier, he was young and flush with the gawkiness of youth, but he didn’t seem anywhere near as perceptive.

“It’s fine,” said Gavi.

“
What’s fine?
” said a woman’s voice in Gavi’s head. “
Nothing yet over here, by the way. How are you doing?
”

Gavi blushed, realizing that her hand was still on her ear. “Nothing. Was just talking to someone here. And thank you.”

“
Mmm
,” said Uard. She was with the rest of the sixth squad, at the Rapid Response Force’s meeting area. Gavi had chased her down earlier, before she rejoined the others at the hotel. Their hope was to see the orcks while they were still incoming, but if they didn’t, Uard would tell her when the RRF moved out. “
Are you all right? You don’t sound good
.”

“Fine, fine.” Gavi was whispering, though the guard looked at her suspiciously anyway. “It’s just windy up here, is all.”

If the other woman didn’t believe her, she didn’t say anything.

Gavi glanced to her left and right. She couldn’t see the others, who were each over a kilometer away—Mazik to the north, the Blue Boar and Raedren to the south. She raised her head over the parapets, sweeping the forests for signs of movement. Not for the first time, she wished she could have kept the Truesight divine magick she used when they fought the cult of Amougourest. It had already been two hours since night fell, so it was hard to see what was going on below. But in a pitched battle, she preferred her Swiftness spell. She just wished she could use more than one god’s divine magick, transactional spells like Stýlori’s telephonathy excepted.

“Thanks for agreeing to help us, by the way.” The guard looked in her direction. Gavi shook her head, pointing to her ear.

“
It’s no problem
,” said Uard.

Gavi tried to warm her hands with her breath. She considered practicing her magick, but decided against it. She needed to stay focused.

Several minutes later, she didn’t even look up when the guard walked over to her. “Look, I really don’t think you’re supposed to be here. If I’m wrong, that’s fine. I’m just going to call my—”

“Here.” Gavi held out a few coins. They disappeared.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” The guard tromped back over to his position.

Gavi smiled wryly.
An education in Houk has its advantages
.

There was a ringing sound in Gavi’s ear. Her back straightened. “I need to take another call. I’ll call back in a minute, okay?”

“
Of course
,” said Uard.

Gavi mumbled the incantation to cut off her existing call, and then the one to answer the new call. “Yes?”

“
I see them
,” said Mazik. “
Coming in from the northwest, heading your direction
.” A pause. “
It looks like they’re heading for the wall breach from the first night. I’m going to follow their trail. Get out of there quickly.
”

“I’ll loop around to the south. Call you back once I’ve updated the others.”

“
Roger.
”

Gavi could already hear shouting to her north as she cut off the connection. She stood up. The breach was dimly visible in the darkness right to the north of her.

“The orcks are incoming. I would get ready, if I were you,” she told the young guard. Startled, he nearly fumbled his pike, then clutched it to his skinny chest. He was shaking.

Gavi winced, but wished him well. “May your gods be with you.”

“Yours, too.”

Gavi bowed, then dashed for the steps, saying the incantation to call Raedren as she ran. Her heart was pounding now, and the pre-battle anxiety—which she had been feeling since the inn, she now realized, and may have contributed to her embarrassing moment earlier—was spiking.

The connection with Raedren clicked into place. “
Yes?
”

Gavi shoved her anxiety away. “They’re incoming from the northwest. You and the Boar should be clear to head straight out. I’ll go around toward you. Call him and move out!”

“I have good news and bad news,” whispered Mazik as he hid behind a large maple tree. He could hear footfalls on the other side. They were heavy yet gentle, and all the more unnerving for it.

“
What’s that?
” came Gavi’s voice inside his head.

“I . . . don’t think it’s going to be a problem to follow them back to their camp.” Mazik peeked out from behind the trunk, then yanked his head back. “Yup. They don’t seem to be covering their tracks at all.”

“
And the bad news?
”

“The bad news is that they didn’t all leave camp at once,” said Mazik, as on the other side of the tree an orck ran past, its prismatic blade bobbing dangerously in the moonlight filtering through the canopy.

The orck stopped. Mazik couldn’t see what it was doing, but he was suddenly sure it was looking around, looking for
him
.
Perhaps talking just then wasn’t the best idea.

“
Are you sure their camp is your way? Should I call Raedren and the Blue Boar and have them meet me along the road?
”

Mazik wished Gavi wouldn’t keep talking right now. He knew the orck couldn’t hear her—her voice was only audible inside his head—but the primitive part of his brain didn’t care about the truth. It was too busy imagining what would happen if all the orcks he had seen pass in the last minute came back to rip him to shreds. Gavi repeated his name. Mazik focused on breathing as quietly as possible.

The orck snorted in what sounded like disgust, then ran off. Mazik slowly lowered himself into a crouch and let out a deep breath.

“Hold on, had a situation there.” Mazik focused on breathing for several seconds. “It’s okay now. Let me check.”

Mazik gently fed mana into his eyes. His pupils glowed a dull blue, and the forest as he saw it was suddenly flooded in light. Now Mazik could see the tall leafy trees and short bushes of Saffir’s forests like it was high noon on a sunny day. He peeked around his tree at the orcks’ path. Though it wasn’t as clear as a human army’s trail would have been, he could make it out well enough. “Uh, I think it’s this way? I dunno. How am I supposed to know? It’s this way as far as I can see. I should be able to follow it, though.”

“
Where is it heading?
”

Mazik looked at the compass in his hand, then back at the city walls, which were dimly visible at this distance. “Site five? Maybe. I’m guessing. Around that area. That’s only if they didn’t swerve or do something else that will make it hard for me to follow it back.”

“
I’ll call the others and have them meet me where the stream meets the road. I’ll call you back soon. Be careful.
”

“Right-o.” Mazik heard the faint, persistent hum of Stýlori magick cut off as the connection was severed. Staying low, Mazik gathered up the back of his robes and sprinted along the orcks’ path, moving as quickly as he dared.

It took another ten minutes for Mazik to follow the trail back to their camp, dodging the occasional straggler along the way. By that time, Gavi, Raedren, and the Blue Boar had met up and were moving down the nearby stream. Mazik told Gavi that he would backtrack and wait for them along the far bank.

“There he is,” said Raedren, pointing ahead.

Gavi squinted, but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness. “Can you see us?” she whispered, one hand to her ear.

“
Ayup. Keep coming, though try to keep low and quiet. The camp is close.
”

Gavi led the others along the stream. They weren’t quite sprinting, but they were close. She could practically feel their chance to search the orck camp ticking away.

They found Mazik crouched beside a tree, drinking from the small waterskin he kept in his robes—which wasn’t filled with whiskey or beer this time, she hoped. She frowned. “That
is
water, right?”