Lowborn

The journey started pleasantly enough. The ladies of negotiable virtue chatted and laughed, still relating to each other the tales of their latest adventures and clients before leaving town. Indigo whistled as he drove the wagon, and even Raven seemed to be in good spirits as she hiked along, usually sharpening one of her daggers with a whetstone.

The sun was shining bright, but a breeze kept the temperature tolerable. The tall, tough grass of the prairie rippled in the wind, reminiscent of waves on a lake. The clomping of the horse's hooves and creaking of the wagon provided a soothing cadence perfectly suited to a quick walk. An eagle keened overhead prompting Mindblind to look up at the majestic bird soaring effortlessly on massive wings.

That broke his good mood a little. The eagle was hunting, and there might very well still be people hunting them as well.

He jogged ahead in order to pass in front of the wagon and reach Raven on the other side. "Know anything about this Foxwood?"

"Just your typical town. Bigger than that hole we just left. There's a small thieves guild there, so I'll have to pay a courtesy call. Guilds don't like lone wolves coming into their territory unannounced. Good way to get knifed while you're sleeping."

"Any chance we have enough money or barter to get a few rooms that aren't flea infested?"

The thief offered a crooked grin. "I might be able to arrange something." She nodded back toward the prostitutes following behind. "I can probably smooth things over with the local madame, too. They'll need to check in, same as me."

Mindblind let out a grunt and glanced over his shoulder when he heard one of the women say something he couldn't make out. As he'd suspected from her voice, it was Yani, and she appeared to be talking to herself.

"She okay?"

The briefest flash of pain crossed Raven's features, and her voice was far softer than normal when she answered, "I don't know." After a few more steps, she expanded, "I made sure Yasmine knew how to reach me, and that's why I was in town to begin with. She thinks Yani's getting worse."

"Could just be all that's happened."

"I wish. She was getting weirder even before that night. It takes more of the tea every few months to keep her from going wild." She shook her head, tossing her short, dark locks, and growled. "I really don't want to talk about this right now."

Thinking that she wasn't going to be able to avoid the issue much longer, Mindblind gave in to her wishes and changed the subject. "How long until we get there?"

"Couple hours before dark. There's a creek where we can wash some of the stink off before we go into town, too. I know the guildmaster, so I can probably charm him into helping watch our backs. Did him a few favors here and there."

"What about the law? We're not exactly an inconspicuous bunch."

"They'll probably harass us at the gate and follow us until we check in with the guild and the madame. They're on the take from both of them, so that should shake them off us."

Indigo called out from where he sat, driving the wagon. "Ho, friends. My stomach is growling like a wild dog." When Mindblind and the thief turned to look back at him, he pointed to a spot ahead where a couple of trees broke the monotony of the plains. "A little shade as we dine?"

Raven shrugged. "May as well. Wish we'd bought a cask of that beer before we left, to wash it down."

"Probably have charged us an arm and a leg for it. He was damn near weeping from how his business was going to go to hell once we left."

"Need to make Yani's tea, too," Raven said under her breath. "It works better when she drinks it hot."

Mindblind grunted and turned back to Indigo once more. "Pull it off there and we'll break out some chow."

****

Around an hour after eating and resuming their journey, Mindblind looked to the horizon to see the end of a pleasant day approaching.

The wind turned chill, hitting the wagon and those who walked beside it like an icy hammer. Ahead, a wall of roiling darkness streaked with lightning approached — relentless and inevitable.

The wagon rolled to a stop next to Mindblind, and Indigo remarked, "I do not like the look of this weather, my friend."

"That makes two of us," Mindblind grumbled, scanning the landscape.

Some distance off the road stood a small stand of scraggly trees. The amount of lightning he'd already seen dissuaded him of any notion of using the trees for cover. Otherwise, only the brown ribbon of the road broke the monotony of a sea of prairie grass.

Breathing heavily, those prostitutes who weren't currently riding in the wagon found the most comfortable spots they could and sat down to rest. Considering none of them were used to spending much time outside of a bed — let alone walking cross-country — they were keeping up gamely.

Turning to Raven, he asked, "Any place we can get out of the weather between here and town?"

The dark-haired thief shrugged. "Not that I know of. There's farmsteads spread out everywhere, but I haven't seen any in an hour."

Mindblind growled, "Son-of-a-bitch." The storm looked especially violent, even for the plains, where such weather was common. In addition to the obvious threat of the lightning, it could be bringing dangerous straight-line winds, hail, or even spawn a tornado.

Seated atop the wagon, Indigo peered off into the distance, his eyes narrowing. After a few moments, he stood up.

"You see something?" Mindblind asked.

"I am not sure. It appears to be a small,

square hill

."

"Probably a barbarian burial mound," Raven scoffed as she climbed up onto the wagon.

Mindblind stared off toward where Indigo was gazing, but all he saw was the hip-high grass spreading out in every direction.

Raven reached into one of the numerous pockets and pouches secreted in all of her clothing and retrieved a small spyglass. Upon extending it, she lifted it to her eye and tracked it back and forth in a methodical way. Suddenly she stopped and let out a

hmm

of discovery.

After a few seconds of scrutiny, she dropped the spyglass and said, "I'm not sure, but I think there's an old turf house out there in a shallow valley."

Looking up at the storm, which was approaching with alarming speed, Mindblind asked, "Think we can make it?"

"If we run like hell. May not be much of it left, if that's even what it is. The grass growing on it looks almost as tall as the shit growing around it."

"Even part of a wall is better than being out here in the middle of the damn road." He turned to the women within and around the wagon. "You're all going to have to run. Once that wagon's off the road, the less weight on it, the better. Otherwise, you

all

might be walking tomorrow."

"Let's go," Raven yelled, and leaped down from the wagon to sprint toward the distant structure.

Having gained a little respect for the hardships of the road — and a great deal of same for the half-breed warrior and nimble thief who led them — the women gathered up their skirts and ran. Indigo turned the wagon off the road, clucking his tongue and flipping the reins to urge a burst of speed from the horse.

After one last, lingering look at the approaching storm, Mindblind cinched up a strap on his armor and brought up the rear. His long, muscled legs ate up the distance, even through the tall grass, and he soon passed the wagon.

One of the prostitutes stumbled, vanishing into the grass, which was now bending before a steady gale. He planted his foot hard upon reaching her, coming to an abrupt stop, and grabbed her arm, jerking her back to her feet.

"C'mon. We've got to run."

Though the brunette — he dimly remembered that her name was Cammie — winced, she nodded and took off into a hobbling jog. As the wagon passed him once again, Mindblind could tell that the prostitute had twisted her ankle, at the least. She cried out in pain after twenty feet or so, nearly dropping to her knees in the grass again.

"I can make it," she said as he jogged up next to her.

Seeing the tears streaming down her cheeks and the unmistakable grimace of pain, he shook his head. "No, you can't." Without further comment, he squatted down, scooped her up into his arms, and started to run again.

Ahead in the distance, Raven waved the other women toward what was undeniably a turf house, which he could see had at least two intact walls and a roof. As Raven had mentioned, the grass growing on the roof of the rude structure was nearly as tall as that on the prairie surrounding it. If it had survived long enough to sprout that growth, it should last through one more storm.

He was still a fair distance away when the first sprinkles — if drops large enough to sting bare skin could be called that — started falling. The wagon, upon which he had been closing, surged forward with a fresh burst of speed, bouncing on the uneven terrain and whipping long strands of tough grass that had tangled in the wheels.

Grunting from the effort, Mindblind quickened his pace. Errant drops turned to sheets of horizontal rain slamming into him, soaking one side of his body while the other remained dry — if not for long. Cammie clung to his neck, whimpering with every one of his hard footfalls from the bouncing of her turned ankle.

Lightning flashed in the descending darkness, and booms of thunder set off shockwaves he could feel. Still, he pressed on, the turf house looming larger as the wagon turned to pass in front of it. A stinging jolt in his shoulder marked the first pelting of hail. The icy stones plunged down, hissing through the grass and thudding into the earth below. Putting his head down and leaning over the woman in his arms as best he could, Mindblind ran for shelter.

"Lovely weather," Raven shouted over the wind as he came to a stop in front of the turf house.

Mindblind stooped down and said, "Get inside," to Cammie. "Help her," he called to the other women inside the low doorway of the earthen structure, before spinning to help Indigo, who had jumped off the wagon to lead the horse by hand. All the while, the hail — now the size of acorns — continued to relentlessly hammer into them.

"Get in here, dammit," Raven yelled. "Forget the damn horse."

"There," Indigo shouted, pointing toward another low earthen structure Mindblind hadn't noticed. Similar in construction to the turf house, it had a wider, taller, open doorway, and must have served as a stable when the place was still inhabited.

Giving a nod and wincing as a hailstone slammed into his temple, he growled to the horse, "Come on, ya damn nag," and pulled hard on the frightened animal's mane.

Though it whinnied in protest, the horse moved forward, and seemed to eventually understand that protection from the hail lay ahead. It increased its pace, and another pull on its mane encouraged it to duck under the doorway.

The weather continued to batter the wagon, but there wasn't enough room to turn it. Indigo went to work on the harness, and Mindblind assisted him on the other side. Once the horse was free, it wandered away to the far side of the structure.

"Gotta push it in far enough to keep the supplies from getting pounded," Mindblind said, and then climbed through the narrow opening between the seat and the wooden doorframe, as barely a hairs-width of space remained on the sides.

Indigo's boots splashed to the earth only moment's after Mindblind's. The pair grunted in exertion, digging their heels into the earth, and pushed the wagon until its shafts bumped into the opposite wall. Still being pelted unmercifully by icy missiles that were growing larger, the pair ran for the turf house, where Raven stood just inside the doorway.

"Hurry up so I can close this fucking door!" she screamed, then cried out and snatched her arm back when a hailstone half the size of an apple grazed her hand.

Once the pair skidded to a halt inside, Raven slammed the warped portal shut and slapped a makeshift wooden bar into braces designed to hold one when the house was occupied. She turned to Mindblind and said, "You're bleeding."

He knitted his brow, feeling a sting as Raven reached out and swiped a finger across his forehead. Sure enough, it was stained with blood when she held it up in front of him. He shrugged, wiped the blood off with his hand, then onto his pants, and surveyed the scene.

Other than a spot right in front of the door, the packed earth floor was dry — covered in loose dust and assorted detritus from the outdoors. The interior was a single room, probably partitioned off into sections at some point in time by blankets. A layer of clay spread over the interior walls kept the water from seeping in, and the roof wasn't leaking — yet. A thick, milky piece of oddly-shaped glass, probably scavenged from somewhere and built directly into the house during construction, provided the only natural light.

Some type of small lamp did flicker in the corner farthest from the door, though. Two women had hiked up Cammie's skirt, removed her shoes, and unbuttoned her dress, tending to her bruises from the hail and her swollen ankle as best they could.

Raven rubbed her finger over an angry purple spot on his arm and said, "You two should probably let someone check you out, too.

"Just bruises. I'll live." He looked up, listening to the thumps on the thick sod roof, supported by beams of precious timber and baked clay struts. A blinding flash through the window preceded a crash of thunder that shook the whole structure and the very ground.

"The gods surely smile upon us, to have provided shelter against such fury," Indigo mused.

Probably just part of a cruel joke that'll have the place fall down on our heads later.

A few steps brought Mindblind to the window, revealing grass beaten down and broken by hail, the stones littering the ground outside like gravel. More than a few were large enough to brain a man, streaking from the sky as if shot from a sling. A strangely discordant sound caught his attention near the window. Leaning in closer, he turned his ear toward the glass and listened.

He heard it again, a hollow

crack

that sounded more like the stones striking wood than earth. Quieter, but also audible now that he was concentrating, there was a low clank every so often.

Apparently having noticed him tense, his body shifting into danger mode, both Raven and Indigo approached.

"What is it?" Indigo asked.

"Tell me if you hear anything," Mindblind instructed, and then stepped away from the window.

"There is something... There. The ice is falling on something solid — that does not give. The wagon?"

"Let me in there," Raven demanded, edging the Draxnian away from the window. After only a few seconds, she said, "Wood and metal. Someone's out there."

"Gettin' the shit pounded out of them, and close." Mindblind whirled on the women, keeping his voice low. "Get away from the walls, as far from the door and the window as you can. Put out that light. Stay quiet."

"At least they can't burn us out," Raven grumbled as she drew both a long-bladed fighting dagger and a lighter one for throwing. "A dragon couldn't set this heap of soggy earth on fire right now."

"It could be other travelers," Indigo suggested, though he didn't sound remotely convinced.

Raven shook her head. "We'd have seen them. Someone was shadowing us, and they either weren't close enough or ready when we bolted for here. Fuck! I should have known."

"Well, like you said, they can't burn us out, and I don't think there's a crossbow made that would go through these walls with any force. Wedge 'em up in the doorway?" Mindblind drew his sword.

"A good plan, if they are foolish," Indigo said, his blade already in hand. "All of our food is in the wagon. They need only wait, and it is we who will find the door our bane."

Raven squeezed the hilt of her dagger tight. "Shit, shit, shit! I hate places with no back doors."

"We gotta go now," Mindblind said, confirming the conclusion his companions had already reached.

Raven suggested, "They're probably hunkered down. What we're hearing is probably the hail slamming into shields held overhead."

Mindblind gestured toward the door with his sword. "Get out of here, bar the door behind us, and try to figure out where they are?"

"I'll do it," Raven said as she sheathed her daggers. "You two are about as subtle as this fucking storm. I find them, and you two keep your mouths shut and swords out of the hail. They hear ringing metal, and we're fucked."

Kayleen approached, looking a little ashen. "I'll bar the door. Some of us still have knives." She glanced back over her shoulder and added in a whisper, "Not Yani."

Mindblind glanced at Raven and knew the thief was thinking the same thing he was. If they failed to return, the women might be better served to use the knives on themselves, at least earning a clean death.

Contrary to the look that had flashed in her eyes, her voice was calm when Raven said, "Good girl. Keep them quiet, and keep them calm." She then glanced at Mindblind and Indigo. "Let's go."

Thanks to the force of the wind, the turf house provided a narrow measure of protection from the hailstones that still pelted down. Mindblind could immediately tell that the onslaught was slowing, however. The thumping of ice balls on wood was coming from somewhere to the rear of the structure, the direction from which they'd dashed toward it, not long ago. Raven guided him and Indigo to lean close together.

"Hail's probably the only thing keeping them pinned down. Once that's gone, we're going to lose the chance to jump these guys. We've got to move fast once I find them."

Braving the beating she was sure to get, the thief then dashed into the sea of grass around the house and vanished. The wind whipping the grass masked any hint of her passing. Keeping their swords as close to the sod walls as possible while also maintaining readiness, the pair waited for her return, or a sign.

She emerged from the grass between the house and the earthen stable a couple of very long minutes later, her arms covered in purple dots from the hail.

"They're just this side of the path the wagon beat down, and about twenty yards out. I think there are three of them, hiding under one shield. Get on the opposite side of the wagon path and move fast. Stay quiet, but the wind should help. You'll know when to move."

As soon as both men nodded, She turned and made another ghostlike disappearance into the grass. Mindblind and Indigo left the relative safety next to the turf house and braved the stinging hail.

Moving in an uncomfortable, ape-like crouch, Mindblind kept his sword close to his body to avoid any of the ice balls — already fewer and farther between — from striking the metal weapon and sounding an alarm. Smaller of frame and lighter on his feet, Indigo soon outpaced him, little more than flashes of movement ahead in the whipping prairie grasses.

Only a few scattered thumps marked the end of the hailstorm as he guessed he was near where the men had hunkered down. One thudded into the distinctive sound of wood, marking the targets just ahead and to the right. Indigo waited, his sword now held at the ready and his feet under him, ready to spring into action. Leaning a little closer to the path the wagon had beaten down, Mindblind could barely see the upraised shield sinking back down below the top of the grass.

A bit-off cry of pain let him know it was time to move. He crashed through the grass, Indigo at his side, just as four men stood up, weapons at the ready. Three of the Draxnians were wiry men who held their weapons with cool confidence, eyes locked on Mindblind an his companions. That and Raven's throwing dagger sticking from the side of one of the assassins instead of a more vital spot spoke of skill to be reckoned with.