I picked up the rags that had become of my clothes. A few tiny gemstones clattered to the floor, now freed of their secret pockets. I ignored them. Ghorza could call them payment if she wished. I looked at the orc's broad back, rising and falling with faint shudders. The lewd position, the device still stuck inside her, I felt sympathy. Strange, yes, but in defeating her, I wanted to care for her. Yet I was under no illusions. I had no time to be a tender lover to the warchief.
I fashioned some of the rags into a makeshift loincloth and gathered my ironwood staff and few other treasures I had taken with me, my Shattered Mirror and the figurine of the bird-thing I'd found in Ur Adrax. Standing there in nought but my boots and a torn loincloth, I felt like one of the savage paladins of Kharsoom. Though, in truth, I was overdressed for that particular comparison.
Tara, freed from the shackles, now sat on the bed, her slender shoulders slumped. She gazed down at Ghorza, her expression hidden behind a curtain of greasy platinum hair. I gently took her hand and she got unsteadily to her feet.
"We must away," I murmured.
Her hand was cool, her long fingers interlacing with mine. I led her out of the bedchamber along the passageway, following Oddrin's dancing glow. My heart thundered in my chest. I kept imagining Ghorza coming to. It would not be long. She had nearly driven me to unconsciousness. My victory had been on a razor's edge.
We turned down the darker pathway, past the two storerooms, to the chamber that had originally marked my descent. Oddrin flew up through the hole, alighting on the side, his claws digging into the soil.
I knelt, interlacing my fingers, boosting Tara up to the hole. I was momentarily concerned, her being a noble, that she might not be able to get up. Her height was to our advantage, and indeed, her long limbs made the difference. She was able to clamber up with some difficulty.
I heard her, breathing heavily at the top, before she reappeared on her knees, reaching out to me. I handed Spire up, and she accepted it, setting my ironwood staff aside. My hand closed over hers right as a voice boomed through the corridors, bellowing in Orcish. I didn't need to know the language to understand the message. Our absence had been discovered.
I whispered a word, pulling wind to push me up. Tara hauled. My feet scrabbled at the wet walls. For a heart stopping moment, I thought she would lose her grip on me and I would fall, but my other hand caught the lip of the hole. My entire body was a web of aches, but the sound of the mines waking up around me gave me strength. I rolled onto the next level, gasping for air. After only a moment, I forced myself up, grabbing my staff and Tara's hand.
"This way," I whispered, following Oddrin down the corridors, his blue glow giving me enough light to navigate by.
Below, the clamor of orcs echoed off every wall. Voices, raised in anger, bellowing back and forth in harsh Orcish, then the clang and scrape of metal on metal, the pounding of heavy footfalls. The orcs were readying themselves for battle. I didn't think I could summon another storm now, and as well as Xeiliope trained me, I was not the equal to this war party. I had a few tricks left, and those would have to save Tara and me.
We ran along the corridors as below the orcs thundered about. I retraced my steps, squeezing through the last stretch of passage. The wind rustled the brush obscuring the way out, and it was a kiss on my skin. Then we were outside, the pitch blackness of the night closing around me. I knew that the trees were straight ahead, but it was one thing to know something and quite another to run headlong in the dark.
Tara must have sensed my hesitation. "Bel, I can see in the dark," she whispered.
"We need to get to the trees," I whispered, "then east to the lake. A stag is waiting."
I felt her breath on my cheek, and then her mouth on mine, her tongue sliding past my lips. "I will be your eyes, my love."
She led now, pulling me in to the darkness. I only got glimpses, where Oddrin's faint glow landed. Off to the west, the sound of Orcish war cries exploded out into the night, followed by the crash of their passage through the underbrush. Unfettered by the dark, they moved with unholy speed. I don't think any saw us yet, concealed as we were by the tall grass along the path, but some closed quickly.
At my full strength I would not have worried. I would have summoned my clouds, sent sheets of lightning through them, forced them back into their burrow. Now, with my legs aching from the ride, my limbs heavy from my escape, my body bruised from my battle,I could not. I could barely keep running. Tara wasn't much better, exhausted herself and barefoot besides. The first orc that caught us would bear us back to Ghorza, and I did not think she would have much sympathy.
I reached for the pouches flopping about at my waist, unsure of which one I'd find. It was the jade figurine I had found in the ruins of Ul Adrax. I brought the statuette to my lips and breathed into the false creature's mouth, then dropped it onto the path behind me.
I could not see the process now, but I had seen it when I first discovered how to activate its magic. The statuette would grow, the jade becoming feathers and scales. Soon, it would stand to my waist, its muscular feathered tail sticking far behind it. Its clawed forelimbs would look like small wings, while its powerful hind limbs each featured an impressive hooked talon. Its color was a riot of greens, yellows, and blues. Striking, but perfect camouflage for the Adraxian jungle. This was one of the flightless bird-things native to that distant shore. Sarakiel would eventually name her Fidget, but I had yet to meet my beloved darkling.
Tara swallowed a yelp at the sight of the creature.
The creature--I shall call her Fidget out of convenience though she had not the name yet--made a cooing sound. I whistled, and she dashed into the tall grass at the sounds of the closest orc. He shouted something in Orcish that turned into a terrified scream followed by wet sounds like the tearing of a soaked garment. Fidget gave another coo, followed by a whistle, and she fell into step next to us, her muzzle and talons glistening with gore.
"What is that thing?" Tara asked.
"Just something I found," I said. A stitch had found a home in my side. I wanted to lay down for a hundred years, but it would be leagues before I could. I found the other pouch I'd brought, freeing the Shattered Mirror. This device, little more than a diamond of reflective glass set in tarnished silver, was not impressive on its face. The cracks dividing it into six unequal parts made it less so. It would save us now.
I caught my face in the reflection, but it was too dark. I cursed softly. Oddrin landed on my shoulder, his little claws biting into my shoulder. His glow gave me the light I needed to activate the Mirror. It hurled my reflection out into the night, and now a half dozen Belromanazars ran through the dark.
Orcish cries, gleeful at having seen prey, sounded now, telling me the illusion was doing its work. While it would be easy to tell who the real one was--the one with Tara--it was enough to sow confusion. That was all I needed, time to get to the trees.
Twice more, orcs strayed close to us, and twice more Fidget leapt on them and tore them to shreds.
The trees enfolded us. The orcs were still out in the open ground, hunting my reflections. Arrows whistled through the night. Tara led the three of us deeper into the trees, picking over the uneven ground, following the line of the forest.
Gradually the orc-sounds receded, but they were never out of earshot. Fidget nudged my leg and gave a chirp. I whistled softly, and she leapt. Tara stifled a scream, but the creature turned back into a statuette to land in my outstretched hand. I returned it to its pouch. That was the end, I was entirely out of tricks.
Fortunately, it did not matter. Tara kept leading me away from the mines, and right as I was beginning to despair that the stag would not be found, the silver creature stepped out of the dark. I saw it clearly, as though it shed its own light. Tara approached it, murmuring in Elvish. He ducked his head, nuzzling her hand. His rack of antlers was a terrifying weapon, but against Tara, it was nothing.
There was light here, somehow, enough to see. Perhaps the stag shed it, perhaps it was some residual elven magic, perhaps it was Oddrin's glow being caught and reflected. In any case, I gazed at the beauty of my elf, my Tarasynora. Her long legs, bare, her flesh as silvery as the bark of a xilquinal tree. Then, the tiny loincloth that barely hid her buttocks, then the smooth expanse of her back, her lithe limbs, her long platinum hair. I found myself thinking of what she had endured, horrified but aroused, and ashamed of this latter reaction.
She mounted the animal and held her hand to me. I climbed up, securing Spire on the saddle and wrapping my arms around her waist. Her slender flesh was soft under my hands. I thought of the last time I had held her thus. She had been bent over, I had been inside her, and she had moaned my name, begging me to lose myself.
Oddrin alighted on the antlers, clinging to the stag. Tara wheeled the beast around and we plunged into the night. The stag, Ailas, knew the way home, and he ran as though every orc in Chassudor was on his heels.
Her lavender scent bloomed in my nose, and I brushed a soft kiss on the slope of her neck. I was not intending anything else, merely an expression of my love. She leaned over in the saddle and murmured something to the stag. Then, with incredible agility, she lifted one impossibly long leg high, pointing her dainty toes, and turned about on the saddle to face me. Her leg then came down, and she wrapped her arms about my neck.
Her lips found mine and between soft kisses, she murmured, "Oh, Bel. I didn't dare dream you would come for me."
