Bloodfire (The Sojourns of Rebirth) (41 page)

“Ortis, I’ll find us a way out,” she said.
The older man looked at her, and again simply nodded his
head.
He’s certainly a man of few words,
she thought.
Within her bubble, she could see and smell and hear the
position and alertness of every soldier in the outer court. She
scanned through them as quickly as she could, and assessed which
of them might be the least likely to spot them if they walked close
enough for them to be seen. Her list complete, she told Ortis,
pointing them out, and together, they designed a route through the
outer courtyard to the main gate leading back into the Seat.
Catelyn looked to Ortis and Silena, and all three of them
nodded. It was time to go.
Ortis led the way, Catelyn following behind, and Silena at
the back. As they moved toward the first guard Catelyn had
identified as being partly sleep deprived, her heart began
hammering, and she kept her bubble trained on the few men close
enough to potentially glimpse over at the trio moving through the
outer courtyard.
Ortis’ armor was standard Imperial issue, allowing him to
at least superficially blend in. Silena was ordinarily dressed, but
she looked like just like any of the hundreds of the Citadel’s
workers and wouldn’t stand out. Only Catelyn, with her plain black
prison clothes, and the only person in the Seat with hair beyond a
finger’s length, would look obviously out of place. She hoped that
by sticking close to Ortis’ back, his size would effectively block
most of the guard’s vision of her.
They moved swiftly, but not carelessly, and Catelyn had to
fight the urge to simply run as fast as her legs were able to carry
her, toward freedom. Of course, she had not a single idea what
they would do if, by some miracle, they actually escaped the
Citadel and returned to the Seat.
She hoped that Silena or Ortis had come up with some sort
of idea of what to do and where to go from there. Catelyn tried to
reassure herself as they walked, before her nerves won out. It
would have been foolish for them to have mounted a rescue only to
have no idea what to do afterward.
They successfully skirted the first three of the guards
Catelyn had identified as being less than alert, but as they arrived
at the fourth, leaned up against a wooden fence enclosing a pen for
livestock, the overall configuration of all the guards had shifted,
and a pair of alert guards had now shifted directly into their path.
Catelyn scoured her bubble again, looking for another way
through, but there was no other option that she could sense. They
would have to walk right past this new pair of soldiers. They stood
in the open, discussing the merits of polearms in battle, and
Catelyn’s sense of them was that they would certainly spot the
three intruders and would not be fooled by their attempts to hide.
The sky was definitely lightening now, and soon the outer
courtyard would be full of activity, and they would almost certainly
be discovered. Ortis made the decision for them by walking
straight out into the open, directly toward the pair of soldiers.
“Ortis...Ortis,” she hissed, trying to get him to stop, but
she followed behind, knowing she had no choice but to trust the
man, or risk alarming the guards.
Ortis moved with purpose, and she could hear his heart
beating strongly as he prepared himself for the encounter. Catelyn
stuck to his back, literally hiding behind the man’s big frame.
When they were within a few paces, she heard the two men shift in
their direction, and she heard one of the guards say to the other
“Hey, is that…”
Ortis lunged away from her with a speed that surprised
Catelyn, and she saw him reach out with his right arm in one
direction, then another. In a breath, both men crumbled to the
ground, their eyes glazed over in death, and Ortis then made a
flicking motion with his arm, and grabbed her by the wrist and
ran.
As they ran she looked at the two dead men on the ground,
each of them with their own steel having been turned against
them. The first with his throat laid open so deep his head was
hanging lopsided from the rest of his body, and the other with his
sword impaled through his head, entering below his chin and
exiting through the top of his head. Catelyn felt herself gag at the
sight of the carnage, but with no food in her stomach all that came
up was bile, and she swallowed it back down, placing her hand
over her mouth.
They then passed a third guard, the one that they had been
attempting to circumvent with stealth before this new pair had
turned up. He sat slumped on the fence, his head lolling on his
chest, and Catelyn could make out a long handled knife protruding
from his right eye.
Catelyn knew then, how Ortis had earned his moniker of
the “Butcher”. Seeing the dead guard, highly trained men who had
been alive just breaths ago, she was reminded of this man’s many
crimes, the thousands he had claimed to have killed, and many of
them no doubt innocent men and women from the Seat simply
trying to live their lives. To survive. Just like Silena’s family. She
felt disgusted with herself that she was forced to rely on such a
man, that she could stomach more deaths in her name, but she
had little choice. She would use him to get her out, and then she
and Silena would leave him.
She considered the different ways that they might use to
get away from him as they moved quickly now towards the main
gate.
The rest of the path out was uneventful. Ortis steered
them away from confrontations which extended the time it took to
reach the main gate, but Catelyn was happy that Ortis hadn’t
needed to kill any other soldiers in the process. Catelyn looked up
and saw the rust colored haze over the Walls as the sun rose on
another day.
Then she looked down toward the gate, and she felt her
heart sink. Already, a handful of Imperial soldiers were milling
about, preparing to let in the few workers that didn’t live on the
grounds of the Citadel, as well as raising the portcullis and
extending the drawbridge, both of which were affixed to a small
outbuilding.
Ortis turned and looked at them both, but his eyes
lingered on Silena.
“We’re going to have to run through, as soon as the bridge
is down. Don’t stop, don’t look back. Just run. Can you do that?”
he asked.
Both women nodded, and Catelyn reached out and
squeezed Silena’s hand, reassuring her that she would not leave
her behind. They exchanged a look, and Catelyn realized there was
something that she needed to say to her friend.
“Just in case we don’t make it out…” she began, but Silena
waved her off.
“We’re going to make it. I don’t want to hear any of that
talk.”
“I still need to say thank you.”
She reached out and pulled Silena to her in a tight hug, the
way that she had once done with her mother. The older woman
seemed surprised by the motion, but Catelyn could smell the
woman’s satisfaction, and she returned the embrace. Catelyn
wished that she could just lose herself in this feeling. Something so
simple, and yet so powerful.
When Catelyn let Silena go, she noticed that Ortis was
watching them. He turned away when she looked at him, and for
reasons she didn’t fully understand, she wondered what he was
thinking. He turned back when the drawbridge was fully extended,
and the first workers of the morning began crossing from the other
side, walking from the Seat into the Citadel. Ortis held up his
hand, and then began to count off with his
fingers...four...three...two…
Ortis sprang forward, and Catelyn leapt after him, her own
hand extended behind her, holding Silena’s. The two of them
gripped each other tightly, as Catelyn led them behind Ortis who
was barreling ahead. As soon as Catelyn felt the wood of the
drawbridge under her feet, the call went up from the Imperials at
the portcullis, and she heard the rattling of a number of men in
armor as they took off after them.
Catelyn did not look behind her, but focused all of her
senses on the end of the bridge in front of her. Coming across the
bridge, tens of ordinary men and women looked startled as this
bizarre trio came bounding across the bridge, headed in their
direction. Ortis loped ahead, not waiting for them, and Catelyn
briefly wondered if he didn’t plan to abandon them now, but he
angled towards the side of the drawbridge instead, which baffled
her.
It became clear soon enough, as Catelyn suddenly felt a
lurch beneath her feet, and the far end of the drawbridge began
raising up in front of them. Workers that were already on the
bridge fell forward, and Ortis stumbled to the side, almost falling
over into the moat, which was dry. Catelyn could still hear
armored men approaching from behind them, and decided to
chance glancing behind her. Two soldiers were bearing down on
her and Silena, and were about halfway between where they were
and the far end of the drawbridge. She saw the men at the
drawbridge controls behind were heaving the pulleys for
everything they were worth, trying to raise the drawbridge and
trap them on the bridge or slow them enough to catch up with
them.
The drawbridge was about forty paces long from end to
end, and Catelyn and Silena were just over halfway across. Ortis
was already at the far end, and Catelyn could see now what he was
doing. He had drawn the dagger on his belt and was trying to saw
the heavy rope connecting the drawbridge to the pulley. Catelyn
felt another lurch as the men behind pulled the winch another
turn, raising the end of the bridge roughly another pace.
Catelyn could feel the extra effort now of running uphill,
especially after being so weakened from her time in captivity, but
with her life and Silena’s life at stake, she refused to simply give in
and found reserves inside she didn’t know she’d had. They were
nearing Ortis now, and the workers on this end of the bridge were
running past her, trying to get off the bridge before it raised any
further or sent them over the side.
She finally got to Ortis, and tapped him on the shoulder,
just as the bridge lurched another time, sending two of the workers
stumbling off the side of the bridge and into the pit that had once
been a moat. Catelyn could hear the people fall the thirty or so
paces down to the dry moat bed below, and she tried not to think
about the fact that they were no doubt either dead or horribly
injured. She tried not to dwell on their deaths, but she felt a stab of
guilt that again, innocents had died because of the Empire’s
actions in their pursuit of her.
“Give it to me,” she yelled, holding her hand out for the
dagger.
Ortis turned and looked at her, but did not stop his
sawing.
“You can’t do this part, girl.”
She knew Ortis was right, the rope was massive. In truth,
she even doubted whether Ortis himself could sever the rope
either, but the two Imperial soldiers were just paces away now.
They too were breathing heavily from the effort of chasing the
three fugitives while running up an inclined drawbridge, and they
were almost upon them. They did not look happy.
“Well, I can’t do that part, either,” she said, pointing at the
two approaching soldiers.
“You’ll have to,” was all he said, and continued to saw at
the rope. Just then Catelyn heard bells ringing in the inner
courtyard. One of the soldiers must have been sent to sound the
alarm. As if things weren’t bad enough, in whispers now, the entire
area would be crawling with Imperial soldiers.
They needed to get out and there was no more time to
waste.
She had to buy Ortis the time he needed.
Silena looked at her, and must have recognized the look in
Catelyn face because she said “Catelyn, no…”
Catelyn squeezed her hand, let go, and turned to face the
two men. They were now within spitting distance of her, and they
drew steel, slowly. Both men had expressionless faces, but Catelyn
could smell their determination. These were highly trained men,
and in a straight fight she would stand no chance. But maybe, if
she could keep them busy long enough, Ortis could do what he
needed to do, and perhaps he could get Silena out at least.
“Give it up, girl. No where’s else t’ run,” one of the men
spat at her.
Catelyn simply planted her feet sideways to offset the tilt
in the drawbridge, and waited for them to make a move. She
focused her bubble on them both, and she could not only hear
their hearts beating excitedly, but she could smell their sweat,
could taste their anticipation and now, she could see the darting
looks they gave each other, the spasms in the muscles as they
launched their attack, and for Catelyn it felt as though time had
suddenly slowed to a crawl. She saw, with perfect clarity, the
tightening of the closest man’s neck muscles as they engaged,
signaling that he was pulling his arm upward for a swing, and as
he did so, Catelyn’s bubble shifted and it was like he was moving
underwater. Catelyn easily sidestepped his thrust, bringing her
close to the other man.
She turned her bubble on him, and again she could see the
way that his muscles flexed as he committed his attack, and she
knew precisely where he was going to move with his sword arm.
He swung, and again she felt her bubble subtly shift, her
perception of time changing as he stabbed at her. It was child’s
play to move aside, out of harm’s way. After she avoided their first
attacks, her bubble shifted back and time seemed to return to
normal. The two men stood looking at her, unclear how they had
both missed, but they quickly re-engaged and lunged at her a
second time.
Again, as they closed with her and raised their swords to
kill her, her bubble reacted, and time seemed to compress, and she
once more saw each of the men’s attacks before they had time to
react, and she slipped under one of the men’s horizontal cut and
spun around the other’s vertical slash, and danced away to come to
rest a pace away from them. The men had overcommitted
themselves and one stumbled to his knee while the other lost his
balance altogether and dropped to his bottom to keep from sliding
down the incline back toward the gatehouse.
She heard Silena gasp as her bubble shifted, and time once
more resumed at its normal speed. Catelyn felt a rush of
exhilaration at this newfound aspect of her ability. This new
“shifting” of her bubble was nothing short of miraculous, but she
didn’t have time to stop and think about the possibilities. She was
acting on instinct, letting her talents manifest themselves out of
sheer need. She knew that time was not actually moving at
different speeds of course, but that her bubble shifting seemed to
have altered the way that she perceived time. She reasoned that
her senses had become so honed that the subtlest movements were
now able to be taken in, allowing her to see things and experience
things differently from what others were capable of.