Jabone's Sword (52 page)

"Wow," Tarius said in an almost disappointed whisper at Kasiria's shoulder, "that was almost pretty."

"I know. Usually his incantations hurt the ears," Kasiria whispered back.

Jena sighed. "Let's hope it works."

They were all standing, weapons in hand, ready just in case the Amalites started to boil up out of the ground. They were only going in two entrances but there were dozens. The idea was to get all the children to follow the music and all come out the openings where they had already eliminated the guards. If it worked the children would come out and Hellibolt would lead them deeper into the forest. If not they would fight, then retreat to where their horses were and go back to where the rest of their troops should already be moving up to surround the hive. Then when they came back in force they would smoke the Amalites from their hive.

Kasiria didn't hear any music but the way she understood it was that only the children would hear it. They all waited with baited breath. Then just when Kasiria was sure it wasn't going to work, children began walking out of the cave entrances, silent and obviously still asleep. They started to gather around Hellibolt who moved deeper into the woods to make room. Children just kept coming in large groups for about an hour and then it slowed to a trickle until finally after waiting for several long minutes there were no more. Kasiria had counted on hundred and seventy-two in all, some literally still crawling more than walking.

Hellibolt took them far into the woods, gathered them into a circle, then did an incantation, "Lay down and sleep, rest so that you don't know what we're about to do. Sleep deep, deep sleep, wake only when I speak."

Kasiria smiled that was more like the incantations she was used to hearing from him.

Then the two groups were splitting. Hellibolt was going with the other troop and Jestia was coming with theirs. Tarius was leading of course but Kasiria still felt good that her unit was all together.

Tarius led with Jabone by her side and Jena behind her. Kasiria was behind Jabone. Jestia had cast something on them all called silent armor which was really weird because they didn't make a sound as they moved. It was of course exactly what they wanted, but still a little disconcerting.

They had purposely put Jestia in the middle of their group. She was right behind Kasiria and Ufalla was behind Jena. Eric and young Tarius were behind them and Riglid and Laz were bringing up the rear.

They were the vanguard and in a few minutes ten more would enter the cave behind them.

Jestia cast something that Kasiria knew—because it was part of the plan—was to find infants. The next thing Kasiria knew they were all following what looked to her like a little puff of blue smoke. The hive was a mixture of natural cave and rooms and halls carved into the sandstone the mountain was made of. The hallways were just wide enough for two people to walk through without bumping each other or the walls. The only wider spots were those areas where doorways were carved out, usually one right across from the other. There were rooms carved into the rock and you could see where they had carved things around the original cave—what was natural and what was man made. She might have been able to enjoy the beauty and the craftsmanship of it if the entire cave didn't stink of death and human filth, though the halls they walked through and the rooms they looked into looked fairly clean.

The candles burning smelled horrid and black smoke came from them. At her shoulder Jestia whispered, "The candles are made of human tallow."

Kasiria nodded and felt sick but she didn't dare to speak because one thing was sure—the hive was full. When Tarius walked into the first room that the blue smoke indicated a baby was in, Kasiria, Jabone and Jena stood outside the door, ready in case any of the adults woke up. As she looked in there were dozens of them sleeping in the room carved from rock, literally lying on their sides to have enough room. Tarius grabbed the baby which Jestia had obviously cast some silence spell on because it didn't make a sound and it obviously wanted to be screaming. Tarius handed Kasiria the baby and she handed it back to young Tarius. He was the fastest, so he would be running the infant back to the group behind them and then coming back to join them. It was dangerous in the extreme and her worry must have shown in her face as she handed him the infant because he looked at her and smiled reassuringly before he took off.

They started walking again, following the bouncing smoke. They hadn't gone far when young Tarius was with them again, and she felt relieved.

Kasiria tried to ignore the older children she saw in each room they passed. Sleeping, none of them looked like the horrid monsters that had attacked them so vehemently. The sword in her hand ached for their blood. She could feel it and knew it didn't care whether the blood ran through a forty year old warrior or a nine year old child—all were its enemies.

It was hard not to admire the ingenuity of the cave system. They had carved aqueducts into the rock that were fed by tunnels that led to the surface to pick up water when it rained on the mountain. When they had walked onto the path that went into the natural vault of the cavern the beauty was only marred by the foul stench. There was a ceiling high above them and it was covered with the bats Jestia had called. No more wondering where they had come from, now they knew. There were millions of them.

The trail curved around the right side of what seemed to be a vast bottomless pit from which a cold constant wind blew and the horrid stench emanated.

"Their refuse," Tarius whispered. "Everything they don't want goes into this pit. It's why the whole place smells so vile and why there are no piles of rubble outside from all the rooms they've carved in the rock. They have thrown it all into this pit."

"We can use this pit, Tarius," Jestia said in a whisper.

"How so?" Tarius asked curiously.

"What's down there? Rock, sand, dirt yes, but also bones, human waste—all those things will burn. Look," she pointed to a hole in the roof of the cave that had been covered with brush to hide it. "They have already brought us the stuff to start the fire. If we could set that on fire and knock it into the pit and get what's in this pit burning they'd have to flee, it might even be enough by itself to kill many of them."

"There is certainly enough draft," Jabone said.

"When we are ready to leave the caves you will cast the smoke spell here Jestia," Tarius said.

She nodded and they moved on collecting more infants, but there weren't as many as their total numbers or even the number of children would indicate there should be. Perhaps Hellibolt and his people were picking up more. Then a cold chill filled her as they rounded a corner and found themselves in a vast chamber carved into the rock with pillars to support the roof at intervals. The place felt like death itself. The walls were a deep rust color and when she reached out to touch it, Jestia grabbed her hand.

"Painted in blood," she told her. Kasiria quickly drew her hand back. Odd, she thought. She was the Katabull, a creature who used blood, and yet the thought of an entire huge room being painted in human blood made her own blood run cold. Pictures had been carved into the rock by going through the blood stain to the original tan color of the rock. The pictures depicted the Amalite gods of course but also there were pictures of the gods butchering humans and offering them up to their followers. The pictures depicted every stage of the process from their hunting humans to them rendering their fat for candles.

There were many candles in this room and an altar at the front of the room would have told her what it was even if Tarius the Black hadn't whispered, "It's a temple."

The blue smoke was dancing around a bundle of cloth at the foot of the altar. They all walked up to the bundle. It was a tiny infant, perhaps only hours old.

"What is this baby doing here?" young Tarius said in a voice filled with the sickness they were all feeling.

Tarius the Black bent over and picked the infant up and tucked him into the crook of her arm.

"He's a sacrifice isn't he?" young Tarius asked, his eyes swimming in tears.

"Not anymore. Let's go." She sent young Tarius on ahead of them to tell the groups behind them that they were leaving and he ran like the wind through the tunnels. Then Tarius the Black started leading the way out of the cave and Kasiria hoped she had more idea about how they had come than she did because Kasiria was pretty sure that she couldn't have found her way back out by herself.

Kasiria noticed then that the blue smoke was no more and knew what that meant, No more babies. She did a count of the babies they had found ten. Only ten. Thousands and thousands of Amalites in the hive yet only one hundred and seventy-two children. Even if Radkin's troop had found twice as many babies that was only a total thirty. How long had these things been sacrificing and eating their own young? She fought a wave of nausea as she thought of walls painted in the blood of babies.

At the pit Jestia put down the bundle of twigs she'd brought with her, started it on fire, and then she did her "smoke to find openings" spell and they moved even faster. They were almost out of the cave when they could smell the smoke coming up behind them and knew the fires had been lit. They moved a little faster.

Suddenly an Amalite who had no doubt smelled the smoke ran into the tunnel in front of them. He got a scream out before Tarius's blade silenced him. Then they were boiling out of rooms on either side of the hall and Kasiria's blade was bathed in the Amalite blood it so craved.

* * *

Jestia knew they were close to the surface. She looked at the tunnel at their back. If she could just stop them from coming up from behind them. There were thousands behind them but only dozens before them, and she was sure that they could fight their way out if they didn't have to fight the thousands of them at their back. Invisible shield wouldn't hold long enough, wasn't big enough. She looked up at the roof of the tunnel even as she realized her sword was just sitting in her hand doing nothing as poor Ufalla was beside her fighting for them both. She cast invisible shield in front of Ufalla. She was scared and she was thirsty and . . . Damned tea pot and cup right beside her, it momentarily zapped her self confidence. But then as if Jestia had made it for just that purpose Ufalla grabbed the tea pot, spun and slung it into the wall just behind three Amalites who found themselves covered with hot tea and china shards. Ufalla turned to her smiled and Jestia found the strength she needed. She quickly turned to the tunnel at their back and concentrated all her energy at the roof of the cave ignoring the wave of angry Amalites now coming down the tunnel. "Ball lighting!" The roof exploded as a ball of white light smashed into it and then it was coming down and Ufalla was dragging her out of the way of falling debris.

* * *

Kasiria was like a machine, mowing down everything between them and the way out. The real problem was that they were in the tunnel at a point where two rooms opened into it so they were literally being hit from both sides. She heard an explosion and a shake and even that didn't distract her from what she was doing. She could see Tarius the Black who was to her left and just in front of her. Jabone was somewhere in front of her and to her right but she wasn't sure where.

Tarius was clutching the infant to her with her left arm and fighting with her right arm alone. No small feat with bastard sword but she did it with a skill that could easily have made Kasiria jealous if that skill wasn't keeping them all alive.

Kasiria had no idea where anyone else was. It was kill or be killed, and if any of them were going to make it out alive she had to concentrate on nothing but killing.

The unit that had been just in front of them and had no doubt made it out of the cave came running back in and attacked the Amalites between them and the exit. Then she saw Tarius turn away from the battle in front of her so quickly she nearly missed a simple block, and Kasiria felt her own blade tugging her in a totally different direction than where she wanted to go.

It was Jena, a blade was coming at her and she was already fully engaged and Tarius, she wasn't going to make it in time. Kasiria spun quickly and shot up with her blade and then down into Jena's would-be assassin and he collapsed. Jena killed her own opponent and had no idea how close she'd come to dying, but the look Tarius gave Kasiria told her that she did. Then they were both just fighting again.

In minutes they had killed everything that stood in their way and gladly ran out into the light. "Don't stop, keep running. Get behind the shield wall, move, move, move!" Tarius ordered, running. "Don't look back and don't engage. Just run."

Kasiria didn't have to ask why. She could hear them at her back. Most of them couldn't come out at the hole at their back, but there were dozens of other holes and now their anger and the smoke was driving the Amalites up out of the ground.

Tarius and her troop ran through the openning in the shield wall they had made for them and Tarius yelled out, "Fire! Fire!" And a volley of arrows went over her head. "Hold the shield wall. Pikes and spears attack."

Kasiria heard the orders yelled through the ranks. When she turned the mountain was mostly on fire, and smoke and Amalites were pouring from every hole.

"Kill them to the last man!" Tarius screamed.

Beside Kasiria, Jabone had taken up a spear and was behind the shield wall. Many of the Amalites weren't even armed. It didn't matter. They were an abomination. All must die. She dove back over the shield wall and started laying into them.

"Kasiria no!" Jabone screamed, but that was somewhere in the back of her mind, something she didn't really hear and that she didn't understand.

Then Hellibolt's voice was in her head. "Kasiria, don't let the sword wield you," it said, and she suddenly realized where she was—on amongst the Amalites alone. No, not alone, Jabone was at her side now with his sword in his hand.

"Get back behind the shield wall, Kasiria," he ordered even as he drove a man to the ground and pulled his sword free in one movement. She realized as she watched him, still a bit dazed, that she'd never match his skill with sword. He was mowing down their attackers three and four at a time. He pushed her a bit and then the two of them dove back over their shield wall together.