Chapter 9:
They assembled at dawn, the earthlings rubbing their eyes tiredly, Sarah had just finished tossing the packs with their food and extra clothes in the back of the wagon, and she had turned to finish hitching the carriage when Wildcat threw her pack on the pile. "What, they aren't riding?" She smirked at the earthlings, and Sarah chuckled.
"Nah, but they can try riding Topaz if they want to practice." She replied, and pulled a knot tight before gently backing the two beasts of burdens into place and attaching the carriage to their saddles. "Alright, is everyone ready?" At their nods, Sarah gestured. "Climb aboard. Wildcat, d'you wanna drive, or shall I?"
"I feel like riding properly." The Shang replied, and mounted her own horse, Slip. "You can steer."
Sarah bounded up the steps on the carriage as the others climbed on through the back. There was a sun shade, but the sides had been rolled up to allow the air to flow. Though it was winter, the air was decidedly still, and Sarah knew from first hand experience how much a carriage without proper airflow could smell when there were more than a couple of people within. Numair got into position behind the packhorse on the wagon, and Sarah gave Richard and Kris, who had turned out to see them off, a sloppy salute.
"See you when his Majesty is through dressing me up and marching me around. Don't let the Gardiner twins get into the weapons' stores again." She grinned as Richard scowled.
"Those two are going the right way for a smack on the head." He muttered, but Sarah heard him.
"Don't be afraid to threaten chamberpot duty. It always works when I say it." She turned the carriage without another word and pointed the horses towards the path at a brisk trot. Calling to Wildcat, who was trotting ahead of her, she smirked. "Wanna help me think up insults? I gotta get them just right, for entertainment value."
"You shouldn't waste your time dueling the Conservatives." Wildcat admonished. "It's not improving your skills at all."
Sarah shrugged. "Hey, it's easy money, and his Majesty won't be able to do a thing. He more or less promised me a free run at all the Conservatives, and I intend to hold him to that promise. Besides," She grinned her evil grin, "It's fun."
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"Alright, everyone off. It's lunch time." Sarah pulled the horses to the side of the road, and Numair followed suit with the wagon. When she climbed off the carriage and unhitched the horses, she moved to pull a pack full of oats off the wagon, and Casey intercepted her.
"Would you mind if I tried riding Topaz this afternoon?" The attorney got straight to the point.
Sarah spared a glance at her horse, who was pawing at the ground impatiently, waiting for her lunch. "Sure, go nuts. Give me a minute, I'll feed the horses and deal with lunch and when we set off we'll get you on top Topaz." With a grunt she lifted the heavy bag of oats, dropping it in front of the pack horses and opening it. She jumped back quickly, to avoid being slobbered on, and gave Topaz and the carriage horses the same treatment.
Then she pulled down a pack full of human food and set it out for lunch. "Grubs up! Dig in; if you need the toilet there's a bush over there…" Sarah trailed off and grinned at their expressions, before picking a piece of jerky and munching happily.
When lunch was finished she palmed a couple of apples and passed them off to the horses, before hitching the horses back to the carriage. She waited until the detectives, Captain Cragen and Huang had returned to the carriage before helping Casey mount Topaz. "Relax. Topaz will give you a nice, easy ride." The horse nodded, as though agreeing, and Sarah grinned.
The horse gave the attorney a gentle ride, and after an hour Olivia was looking contemplative. After yet another glance backwards, Sarah got sick of the female detective staring at her horse. "If you want a go, by all means, just tell me. Topaz will be happy to help you learn to ride."
The detective glanced sidelong at the knight, before shrugging. "I thought you said those horses we rode yesterday were good for learning on."
"They are. But Topaz is just… well, she's Topaz. The best horse a girl could ask for. So do you want a shot?" When Olivia nodded, she held up a closed fist to tell Wildcat, Numair and Topaz to stop, before stepping down from the carriage. "Olivia wants a shot on Topaz, if you don't mind."
Casey shook her head and relinquished the reins, swinging her leg over and clumsily dismounting. "No, no that's fine. You were right; Topaz is an easier ride. But I don't think I'll ever be able to ride as well as you can."
Sarah grinned as she beckoned Olivia over. "Nonsense. It just takes practice. You don't evenwant to know how bad I was to begin with."
"I've heard some horror stories." Numair added from his position on the wagon; it was the first word he had spoken to the earthlings all day.
"Daine taught me." Sarah explained with a wry grin. "Up you go, Detective. Casey, d'you want to learn how to guide a carriage?"
"No." Was her quick reply, and she moved to the back of the carriage, where she joined the other earthlings. Before Sarah returned to her position steering, she palmed a handful of sugar and fed it to Topaz.
"What's that for?" Olivia asked, and Sarah's smile widened.
"A bribe. Let's get moving, shall we? There's still a few hours of daylight left, and I want to be at the bank of Quick Creek by the time we camp – it's a creek that runs parallel to the road for a few miles."
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They were settling for camp at the bank of the creek when Sarah cocked her head and gestured for silence. Wildcat frowned and listened closely also. "What did you hear?" She whispered, and Sarah frowned.
"I'm not sure. Probably just a stray marten or two. I'll catch us some dinner, if you want to start the rice." Sarah was still frowning as she gathered the fishing line, and trotted to the creek.
When she returned it was with three plump trout, which she quickly cleaned and spitted, placing them above the fire to cook them, before turning to Numair. "The latrine dug?"
"Yep."
"Anyone looked over the horses yet?" She asked.
"No, I figured you'd want to do that, but I did unhitch them. I'll look after dinner, if you want to do it now." He answered.
She grinned. "You just don't want burnt food."
He ruffled her hair. "Guilty as charged."
Scowling, she pulled away and tried to fix her hair, before turning to Topaz, only to find Casey feeding her an apple. "Careful, you'll spoil her."
The attorney looked up, startled, before blushing. "I'm sorry, I-"
Sarah shook her head. "Don't be. A spoilt horse is a happy horse." She grinned as the mare in question blew in Casey's face. "And she likes you."
Wiping a bit of spittle off her cheek, the attorney grimaced. "How can you tell?"
"That's the way a horse introduces herself. Go ahead, blow back in her face. I'm serious." The attorney grimaced before complying, and Topaz nuzzled her affectionately.
Sarah left Topaz to make friends with Casey, tending to the other horses before returning to tend to her warhorse. Half way through the grooming, another twig cracked in the woods off of their camp, and Sarah paused, a frown on her face. She noticed Topaz was trembling with fear, and clenched her teeth.Stupid. She thought viciously. How did I let this happen?
She quietly got Numair's attention. "There's something out there, and it's spooking the horses."
He glanced over Topaz's flank, before gritting his teeth. "What do you think it is?"
"Immortals would be my bet. Humans don't scare Topaz." She whispered in reply. "They probably think we're an easy meal. Do you think you can raise a shield in one shot, or do you need to set markers?"
"I could raise the shield right now, but it would take a lot of power. It'd be better if we could get set markers…" He trailed off.
"You got any gems or crystals?" She questioned, comforting Topaz as best she could.
He reached into his pocket and slipped a couple into her pocket using the sleight of hand he had once used to sustain himself on the streets of Corus. "You get the other side of the horses and the left of camp; I'll take the far side and the right and tell Wildcat what's going on. If anything happens I can still raise the shield quickly."
Sarah raised her voice, loud enough to be heard throughout the camp. "So you're on. I'll teach you how to play poker after dinner, and I'll take you for all you're worth."
He laughed, a throaty laugh, and moved across the camp, past the fire and to the latrine, where he bent over, as though redigging it, and dropped his gem. Sarah moved around the other side of the horses, gave them all a quick pat, and dropped her first gem just beyond the tack. Then she walked slowly, casually towards the earthlings. "Would you all do me a favour and move closer to the fire?" She met each of their gazes firmly before nodding to the blaze. She dropped her last gem where they had been sitting. Numair was speaking quietly to Wildcat. She caught his eye and nodded.
Numair gave the Shang a pat on the back and they both approached the fireplace. Sarah tried for a nonchalant tone. "So, how about that poker?"
A couple of things happened at once. Numair raised a hand, the protections sparkled around the camp. And three creatures collided painfully, with loud cracks, against the now sparkling black shield. "What the hell?!" Elliot yelled, standing quickly.
"Holy shit." Fin added when he saw the giant spider with a human head swearing.
"Stay calm." Sarah said dryly, moving to the packhorse quickly and pulling out a crossbow and a quiver full of bolts. "Well hello ugly, and what can I do for you today? Looking for a meal?"
"Mortal pig!" The male Spidren snarled.
"Now you're just hurting my feelings." She continued conversationally, sliding a bolt into place. "Now, I want you to give me one good reason not to kill you."
"We're gonna feed you to our-" He began to threaten.
"Not good enough." She replied calmly. "Numair?"
He created a small hole in the shield, and she let loose, burying a bolt deep in his neck. He dropped like a stone, and Sarah turned to the next Spidren as Numair held them in place with his magic. "Tell me. How many of you are there?"
"Mortal scu-" Another bolt buried itself into this one's throat, and Sarah turned to the last Spidren.
"If you don't think I'll kill you, go right ahead and ignore my question. But if you want to live past the next two minutes, I want to know how many of you there are." She said calmly, ignoring the shocked looks the earthlings were giving her.
"You'll just kill me anyway." He spat, and Sarah shrugged.
"Perhaps. But you'll never know if you don't tell me. Of course, if you want to go the way of Pointy and Holey over there, then be my guest. Last chance." She levelled the crossbow, and he broke out in a cold sweat.
"Alright! We have a nest, and there are five other adults and twelve of our young, a mile down the road. Some mage promised us free run of a village if we attacked th' Messenger. Now let me go, you mortal pi-"
"Which mage?" Sarah's eyes narrowed suspiciously; she shot a quick glance at Numair.
"His magic was dark blue, that's all I know. He just showed up at our nest and when we tried to eat him, he laughed and killed two of us before usin' his Gift to hold the rest of us still."
"Accent, height, weight, build? Help me out here." Sarah lowered her crossbow marginally, and he followed its path.
"I didn't see him very well, but he wasn't from Tortall, I could tell. He had an accent. That's all. Would you put that damn thing away now?"
Sarah glanced down at the crossbow and shrugged. She lowered it, gestured to Numair, who stuck two fingers into a packet of eyesbright, a powder to determine lies. "When I let you go, will you try and kill an innocent person?"
"No, I swear!" The Spidren answered, and Numair shook his head.
"Liar." She replied quietly with a sigh, before raising her crossbow and burying a bolt deep in his chest. Two more followed.
"Right, we need to contact Alanna and the company of the Own, I-" Sarah was cut off by a furious yell from Munch.
"He was cooperating! You just killed him, after you promised not to!" He exclaimed, red with fury.
Sarah fixed him with a level gaze. "One: I did no such thing. Two: He was lying. He was going to kill people if I'd let him go. You know what, come along with me when I burn out their nest. We'll see how many groups of human bones you find there. They eat people alive, Munch. If I'd let him go, the first thing he would have done would've been to go to the nearest village and pick up a nice, juicy virgin to eat. So, yeah, I'm gonna kill them. Every last one of them. Because unlike some other immortals, Spidrens don't have any qualities that deserve saving. Besides, they were going to eat us."
"So you're going to kill the children?" Olivia asked, clearly appalled at the idea.
Sarah met her eyes. "Yep. Wildcat, care to explain it to them? Or you, Numair? I'm going to summon Alanna."
As she knelt by the fire, her palms up in a summoning, a force spun her around by the shoulder. She looked into the eyes of Stabler, who was red with fury. "You're talking about killing innocent creatures. And you're just going to slaughter them?!"
She stood quickly, forcing him back a couple of steps. "Judge me when you've seen what those innocent creatures do, not before. You walk onto a crime scene and you see terrible things, but I can guarantee you haven't seen anything until you've walked in on those innocent creatures feasting on some kidnapped woman, from the legs up, while she's still alive. Now, Spidrens aren't innocent. Killer Unicorns aren't innocent. Hurroks, Wyverns, Coldfangs, Skinners, if I see any of them, it's kill first, ask questions later. I've told you all, time and again, that things are different here. This is just one demonstration of how different they are. Excuse me." Sarah returned to her summoning spell.
When she was finished, she turned to Shang and mage, who were busy trying to explain to the earthlings why a Spidren wasn't something to keep around. Getting frustrated, Sarah interrupted. "Look, they aren't wild animals. Daine'll tell you that no animal is truly vicious; Spidrens are. And that's the end of that discussion. Don't worry, the minute the spell Mithros has on me falls, you'll be back in your dimension, and I'll be here, and we can forget any of this happened. Numair, can you give me a hand hitching the horses back to the carriage and wagon? Alanna said she'll be here in a few hours with half the Second Company of the King's Own, and we need to be ready to move. I don't like what the Spidren said about being paid to attack us."
He nodded and moved to the horses, picking up the packs and loading them back into the wagon. Sarah took the pack with her weapons and picked a sword, her long bow and two quivers full of arrows. Clipping the sword to her belt, she strung the bow and slung it over her shoulder, before aiding Numair with the wagon. They worked in silence until he cleared his throat softly. "He said they had been paid to attack you, Sarah. Someone's out to get you."
Sarah pursed her lips as she tightened a strap. "I heard. Let's just get to Corus, and we can discuss it with Jon, George and Myles. I want to know who wants me dead."
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An hour before Alanna was expected to arrive found Sarah staring pensively into the fire, Wildcat pacing around the boundary of the protection, and Numair sitting in a meditative position, keeping up the shield, near the packhorses.
"Sarah…" Casey began.
The knight looked up, startled. "What's up?" She looked passed the attorney to see the other earthlings watching her with varying degrees of suspicion or wariness.
"What's going on? That Spidren said they had been paid to attack you-"
Sarah cut of Casey's question, standing stiffly. "They haven't been paid yet. We haven't got word of any massacres yet, so they'll be paid upon completion of the mission. And they won't complete the mission. I'm sorry Mithros finds it funny to dump you in this situation. I'm going to make sure none of you are hurt here -"
There was a flash of bright yellow, followed by a thunderous crash that was the sound of a foreign magic striking Numair's shield. Without thinking Sarah grabbed Casey and shoved her to the ground, before drawing her sword. When she saw what had attacked, her face fell. "Aw, crap."
There, flapping hard to stay in one place, were seven hurroks, two of which had been mounted by people, one man and one woman. The man, a tall black man with a gold hoop earring and rich looking robes, was the source of the yellow magic. The woman attacked next, teal fire lashing at the black shield as it flickered. Sarah spied slave collars on the hurroks.
"Numair!" She snapped.
"I can't hold the shield until Alanna gets here if this keeps up!" He replied, and Sarah gritted her teeth before running over to the packhorses, pulling out a wooden stick and sliding it into her waistband.
"Transfer the protections to the carriage! Wildcat, help me tack Topaz, Lulu and Slip to the carriage, and climb on." She turned back to the earthlings, who were crouched against the ground, staring up at the immortals and the mages controlling them in awed terror. The hurroks were taking turns with the mages, striking the ever weakening barrier with their claws. "The flying horse things are called hurroks. Now get on the carriage!" And she ran to the carriage to help Wildcat attach the three other horses to the front of the carriage, to add their power to the vehicle. Murmuring to her horse when she had been attached securely, she noticed Numair drawing symbols onto the wood in chalk out of the corner of her eye. "I know you don't like carriages, but I need you to get the others to safety, okay?"
The mare nuzzled her, pawing at the ground impatiently. Numair and Wildcat pulled her aside. "What's the plan?"
She met each of their eyes before pulling out her wand. "You're right, they're here for me. I'm going to draw them away, and you're going to pelt for Alanna. They're approaching from the same road we travelled down; you should reach them in half an hour, tops. You need to keep the others safe. Head for the road when I make a break for it."
"How are you going to do that without Topaz?" Wildcat frowned at the plan.
By way of answering, Sarah pointed her wand back the way they had come and yelled, "Accio Nimbus 2001!" Turning back to her two slowly nodding friends, she added, "A Nimbus 2001 is way faster than a hurrok. Get ready, it'll be here in a couple of minutes and I aint waiting."
She quickly detailed her plan to the earthlings, who looked shellshocked at the entire situation, before standing out in the middle of the clearing, waiting for her birthday present from Harry Potter to arrive. The enemy mages seemed confused at their behaviour, and Sarah tightened her grip on the wand as she saw a flash of gold; the 'stirrups' of the broom as it flew quickly towards them.
"Numair, now!" He lowered his shield and the broom flew closer still. Sarah began to run, dodging blows from the enemy mages as the broom drew level with her. Leaping onto the flying piece of cleaning equipment, she pulled up the nose, taking it into a climb. As she flashed passed the hurroks and enemy mages, she saw them turned to stare, gobsmacked, at their quarry before hurrying to keep up with her as the mages threw more magical attacks at her.
"Protego!" She yelled with a flick of her wand as a yellow stream of fire almost connected with the back of her broom. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the five horse power carriage tear down the path, ignored by her pursuers. Good.
As she climbed she allowed the hurroks to gain ground; it would do no good to leave them behind to try something cute with her friends. And then she whipped the Nimbus into a tight corkscrew, avoiding a further attack from the woman with the teal Gift, but in the process she allowed a stray hurrok to gain too much ground. Letting out a cry of pain, she muttered, "Too close," As blood leaked from three claw wounds down the back of her left shoulder. Turning to face the offending creature, she yelled, "Impedementa!" And it fell, wings locked to its side, to the ground far below.
"Hey, dipstick!" She yelled to the male mage as he turned to go after her friends. "Getting sick of me already?"
She saw him narrow his eyes, and she threw a stupefy his way, which he blocked with a hastily erected shield. Damnit. He'll be harder to deal with than I'd hoped. And she threw another curse his way. They duelled, Sarah versus the two mages, for a good ten minutes, the young knight swerving in and around the hurroks as she stunned all but the ones bearing riders. They fell to the ground far below, to a certain death, and she was left with only the two mages to deal with.
Sarah's attention was focused too heavily on the mages below her; she didn't notice the threat from above until it was too late. A silver wing flashed in her peripheral vision; she ducked instinctively and missed being decapitated by an inch. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap She gritted her teeth as she saw a dozen stormwings approaching from above her. I'm not supposed to be caught in a pincer movement! That's not the way this was meant to happen! And the dodging game began again.
She tried the same movement she had used on the hurroks; hoping to group her enemies into one large bundle. The stormwings were waiting for the manoeuvre, however, and had arranged themselves to cut her off. A K'mir female grinned maliciously as she swiped at Sarah's broom; the knight swore and dove towards the ground. The manoeuvre was cut off by another stormwing, and she swerved to avoid having her arm sliced off by their sharp wings.
It was all Sarah could do to avoid being impaled or carved into tiny pieces; her attention was solely on the stormwings; she found herself drifting back towards Greenstone slowly but surely. The sting of fire on her legs and the smell of burnt wood alerted her to the attack from the mages, but it was too late. Her broom, the back end on fire, began to swerve of its own accord. An opportunistic stormwing narrowly missed her fingers as it sliced the nose off of the broom, and Sarah felt it plummet jerkily towards the ground. Shit!
Leaping clear of the broom, Sarah turned in midair and aimed her wand at a passing stormwing. "Accio stormwing!" As the stormwing tried valiantly to stay in the air, Sarah's wand tried to go to the stormwing; she held on tight as her decent slowed, even as the chosen stormwing drew closer and closer.
Looking down briefly, Sarah noticed the ground was still approaching quickly, too quickly and the stormwing was losing ground in its attempt to stay aloft. The only piece of luck Sarah could count on was the fact that the other immortals had backed off to watch the spectacle.
Suddenly, the stormwing chose a different tact, diving at Sarah. She let it get closer, and as it tried to slice at her with its talons, she slid her wand into her waistband and grabbed its ankles, trying to avoid the sharp hawklike appendages, but only succeeding partially as she felt them dig deep into her already injured shoulder. The stormwing swooped low, approaching the road, and as they got closer to the ground she let go, travelling the rest of the way to the ground in a free fall, crashing through the tree canopy and colliding painfully, stomach first, with an elm tree and wrapping herself around its base.
Groaning, her eyelids fluttered closed as stars filled her vision. The last thing she heard was the flapping of steel wings as they swooped in for the kill...
TBC…
Muwahahahahahah!!!! Cliff hanger. Kind of. I hope. I like to think of it as a cliffie, but who knows whether you're all actually hanging onto every word in suspense. Lol. Read and Review, and I promise to update soon!