Chapter 11:
Kensai Trap
It was not long after they had made their way over to the far side of the prison that Yoshimo suddenly signaled for everyone to stop. He put a finger to his lips, calling for silence, and vanished into the forest like a spirit. Several long, tense moments later he returned looking very pleased with himself.
"I believe I have found our quarry. She thinks herself hidden not more than a hundred yard off. Perhaps this Hanazawa Yukiko is the escaped prisoner that unlucky guard was mumbling about."
"If that's the case, either we're extremely lucky, or we're up you-know-what-creek sans our paddles," Brynn said. "Master, why don't you go look yourself and see if it really is the lady we're looking for, and then get her to follow you back to us. We'll be waiting here."
Touga nodded and went off in the direction of the woman Yoshimo had seen.
Minsc shifted uneasily. "Boo does not like this island. It makes his whiskers shiver."
"Nobody like this island, my large friend," Yoshimo told him. "Your hamster is an astute little rodent."
"Boo is very wise," Minsc agreed.
"What's taking Master Touga so long?" Brynn wondered out loud. "Maybe he missed her."
"I would not worry," Yoshimo reassured her. "The woman was not hidden well. And your… Master… has not been gone very long."
Brynn frowned, but placed her trust in Yoshimo's judgment. "I'm just concerned is all."
It seemed, however, that Brynn's concerns were for nothing. Not much later Touga emerged from, the brush followed by a handsome woman of middle years. Her hair was dark with only a few streaks of white. Her oval face, though pale, had a healthy color to it, and her dark eyes were bright and intelligent despite the wrinkles around them.
"It take it this is Miss Hanazawa?" Brynn asked. She smiled and sketched a polite bow. "I'm pleased to meet you."
Yukiko bowed in return. "And I you. I thank you a thousand times for your gracious help."
"Yes, yes," said Yoshimo gruffly, "we can take care of pleasantries later. For now I suggest we get off of this accursed rock."
"Ah, yes indeed," Yukiko agreed. "My pursuers were not far off my trail when I hid. I am certain they will be here soon."
"Oh lovely," Brynn muttered. "Let's go then. I don't want any bloodshed."
They hurried through the forest in the direction of the cove where the submarine lay in wait, watching the trees for any sign that the prison guards were approaching. They heard the voices of their foes long before they saw them though. Voices surrounded them, some hundred yards off in the woods. They found themselves cut off from the cove as the guards closed inward, like a noose tightening off their escape. Brynn raised drew her blades with weary resignation, and Minsc, Touga and Yoshimo followed suit. They made a ring around Yukiko, who was unarmed and as helpless as a fawn, and waited for their enemy to come into view.
Two score men appeared out of the trees, most carrying pole arms, but some carrying both katana and wakazashi at their sides, the symbol of the samurai class. Their lacquered armor glinted in the dappled light that streamed down through the canopy, and their helmets hid their faces from view.
One samurai, a captain by the way he held himself and his dress, spat, "Two Barbarians. How did they get here?"
"That's not much of a concern right now," Brynn told him firmly. "What you need to be concerned with is fighting, because I'll be damned before I surrender."
The samurai captain growled, "Well, at least they are civilized enough to know our language, and at least this one does not fear death like so many of her weak kin. Come, woman," he addressed Brynn, "put down your weapons and we will at least give you honorable death for your show of courage."
"I offer you the same," Brynn replied. "There aren't many of us, but our strength is something to be reckoned with."
"We shall see," said the captain, not angry, but amused and a little curious. He raised his blade and charged at Brynn. In the footsteps of their leader the rest of the group charged, and the battle began.
Yukiko screamed as a spray of blood caught her in the face. Touga finished his cut, ripping open the chest of the guard that had attacked him, and faced the man that had taken his fallen comrade's place. Minsc grimly hacked through man after man, felling two with one might stroke, while Yoshimo agilely avoided the thrusting attacks from the pole-arm wielding guards, and then pierced their flesh with his katana.
Brynn tried to push the samurai captain back and clear a escape route, silently repeating to herself over and over again that these men were only doing their job, and didn't deserve to die for that. The captain's face was briefly visible beneath his helmet, and Brynn saw determination in his eyes. He roared and pressed her into Yukiko, and both women stumbled and fell in a heap on the forest floor. Brynn rolled to one side and blocked just in time to prevent the captain's descending blade from tearing into Yukiko's soft skin. She rose to a crouch and swept the legs out from under the captain with her feet, taking him down to the ground and knocking the helmet from his head and the sword from his hands.
Suddenly Yukiko pounced, wrapping her grasping fingers around the hilt of the captain's wakazashi, she drew the small blade and stabbed it into his throat. The captain gurgled, his eyes wide with shock as he died. Brynn looked with wide eyes as Yukiko drew the blade out and rose to her feet, falling upon the guards in a flurry of blows. She did not seem so helpless anymore.
From the distance there came the sound of a loud gong being struck, and the mass of guards shouted in response. Brynn could only assume that reinforcements were coming, which meant they had to work fast. Brynn stood all the way, and reluctantly gave up on getting out without too much bloodshed. If they were to escape at all they had to fight with everything they had. Once again she danced the dance of death, feeling her twin blades slide easily into the flesh of her opponents. In her mind everything but the battle faded, the light, the dark, even the pain of her own skin parting under steel. It did not hinder her, so it wasn't worth her attention.
Almost as soon as it began the battle ended, and forty bodies lay sprawled across the ground, staining the soil red with blood. Touga leaned heavily on a tree, blood seeping from a long gash in his leg, and Yukiko nursed her right arm and limped slightly on her right leg. Minsc, armored against all but the best of blows, looked no worse for wear, and the same stood for Yoshimo, who, presently, was warily watching the forest. He jerked his head toward the prison as the gong sounded again. Soon after, Brynn heard the sound of many men approaching through the woods from the direction of the prison.
"Yoshimo, Minsc, get Master Touga and Hanazawa-san out of here; take them back to the submarine. I'll lead the reinforcements off toward where Jaheira and the others are supposed to be," Brynn said.
"Brynn…" Yoshimo began.
"I mean it, those two can't fight," Brynn cut him off. "Don't worry," she added in a gentler voice, "I'll be fine."
"Boo says he does not like this one bit," Minsc cautioned.
"Neither do I," Brynn agreed. "Now get going. They're almost here!" She gave Minsc a push toward the sub, and ran off into the woods in the direction that the guards were coming from. "Go!" she shouted one last time. Then she was too far away.
She ran for no more than half a minute before she saw the guards hustling through the trees towards her. "Hey! You there!" she shouted. As one the guards looked toward her. "Yeah, you! Come and get me!"
A hail of arrows shot toward her, and she ducked behind a tree just barely in time to have several miss her by a hairsbreadth. She took deep breath and sprinted out of her cover, leading the guards away to the right and back toward the prison. Arrows followed after her, landing in the soft forest soil just at her heels, or striking trees at her side, each narrowly missing her. Samurai were notoriously good bowmen, she remembered, no wonder each miss came so close to pinning her against the trees. A deer being pursued by a pack of ravenous wolves, she darted between the rain of arrows, and ran with all her strength, her life depending on the swiftness of her feet.
She burst out of the forest and onto the cleared ring that surrounded the prison proper. The gong sounded again, and as she came upon one of the guard houses she saw three men waiting for her, their pole-arms set to spear her if she charged. Brynn acknowledged them in some corner of her mind, forming a plan as she ran. She leapt up as soon as she came close enough, and landed on the long wooden shaft of one guard's weapon. Another jump and her feet planted on the man's shoulders and she pushed off a last time, landing some fifteen feet away in a low crouch. Her human stair stumbled and all three men turned just as Brynn rose and took off again. She looked back, checking to see if the main force of guards was still following her, and sure enough they were. They did not pause to shoot arrows, but instead chased after her as quickly as they could.
Making a break for the forest, Brynn put on another burst of speed, though her breath was coming in hard as it was. She normally didn't do quite so much running away. She was almost to the edge of the forest when she saw a group of men at the edge of the tree line, just hidden by the underbrush. She quickly turned again, hoping to circle around them, but then she saw another group coming toward her from the right side of the prison. The guards in the trees stepped into the clearing as the guards who had been chasing her close in behind her, and those coming from the front moved to hem her in.
"Well shit," she cursed, pulling her blades out, "this could be very bad." There was still a gap between the newest group of guards and those that had come out of the trees, but is was fast closing. Brynn hurtled toward it, hoping she could make it before the guards moved to intercept her, but she was too late. The gap closed and she had to stop short to avoid being run through.
As one the entire ring of guards collapsed in on her. She fought them with all her fury, but even she could not stand up alone against so many men all at the same time. For each man guard she took down two more moved in to take his place, swordsmen in front and men wielding pole-arms attack from behind. A sharp blade descended on her shoulder, tearing flesh and nicking bone, and Brynn cried out. She stumbled and dropped one of her katanas, desperately trying to defend herself against the onslaught. A vicious jab caught her in the side, deflecting off a rib bone and leaving a huge, gushing laceration beneath her breasts. Her second blade fell from her hand as she pressed her arm against her ribs to staunch the bleeding. A third attack sliced deep into the muscle of her right thigh and dropped her to the ground. Her vision swam, black spots filling her eyes as her blood flowed out of her and into the ground.
The last she heard before she fell unconscious was a man calling out in a distant-sounding voice, "I want her taken alive!"
***
Minsc carried the protesting Touga over his shoulder, and Yoshimo helped Yukiko as they ran headlong through the forest, each hoping that Brynn's plan had worked and that she would be there to meet them as they reached the submarine, but instead they found only Jaheira and her group waiting for them by the edge of the cliff.
"What happened?" Jaheira demanded, easing Touga off Minsc's shoulder and setting him down so she could examine his wound. Touga tried to swat her away but Jaheira paid him no heed.
"Where's Brynn?" Imoen demanded on her heels. "Why isn't she with you?"
"She went to lead of the guards that were chasing us," Yoshimo said. His eyes grew troubled. "She is not back yet?"
Imoen shook her head. "We didn't find anything on our side, and then we heard that gong…"
"She was supposed to be leading the guards to you," Yoshimo cut in. "She was hoping to meet up with you and… damn it!" He started toward the forest again.
"Where are you going?" Anomen demanded.
Yoshimo whirled around. "I am going to save Brynn. Hurry up, fool, she may need healing."
Haer'Dalis stepped out in front of Anomen, following Yoshimo. "Indeed, our fair raven could even now be in the hands of the prison guards. Make haste, we needs must save her before the time for saving has passed."
Yoshimo suppressed a shudder. He turned cold eyes on Anomen. "Well, are you coming or not? There is no time for you to think!"
"Of course I am coming," Anomen replied. He fell into step with Yoshimo and Haer'Dalis, and the three of them took off running, Yoshimo in the lead, followed by Haer'Dalis, and lastly Anomen, who was struggling to keep up in his heavy plate mail. They followed the path that Minsc and Yoshimo had trampled through the forest on the way out, and then stopped at the edge of the forest.
Just beyond the leaves they could see a huge body of men, more than five score. Bodies lay strewn across the grass in a circle where they had fallen, but surviving comrades were straightening their friends' limbs and laying the out neatly. Surveying it all was a willowy man in brilliant red-violet robes stitched in gold that caught the light so that even the three hiding in the underbrush could see their fantastic patterns. Around this robed figure stood twenty guards, all armed with katanas and wakazashis, their faces stern and judging. Their armor was of the finest quality, and bore what looked to be an emblem shaped like a large golden flower. Before the robed man, stretched out serenely on the ground lay Brynn, a pair of prettily-robed women hovering over her, seeming to tend to her wounds.
"I want her kept alive," said the robed man. "If she dies all of you will pay the price."
"Yes, oh Imperial Highness," said the two women in unison, "but these wounds are very bad. We must get her proper healing soon or all the magic in the world will not save her."
"See that it is done then," said the robed man. "You there! Carry this Barbarian woman into the Captain's quarters and see that she is taken care of properly!" He directed a group of stunned samurai. The warriors hastened to obey him, and under the guidance of the two clerics, lifted Brynn and carried her carefully into the prison complex.
Anomen moved to follow, but Yoshimo pulled him back deeper into the forest. "Not now, young Anomen, not now," he said heavily. "We could not get more than a dozen steps now."
"But how…?"
"That gaudily-clad man out there is the Emperor," Yoshimo said, "I know his dress and mien, though not his face. He is guarded by the most highly trained samurai in the land; three of them together might rival even Brynn in power. You work the numbers. Here we sit, three men, and out there twenty men nearly our equals and a hundred more lesser guards. We would only be throwing out lives away, and putting Brynn in more danger."
Anomen scowled.
Yoshimo gave him a hard look. "Listen, you fool, I would be the first to charge if there was any hope of winning."
"Yoshimo is correct," Haer'Dalis agreed. "Yon samurai have our raven well guarded, and doubtless she would not wish us to die in a futile attempt to rescue her from their clutches." He frowned; an unusual expression on his merry face. "We should return anon with reinforcements."
Anomen relented. "Aye, it is as you say," he admitted.
They crept back to the cliff in utter silence, their hearts heavy.