Freelance Heroics (22 page)

Twenty-plus spells exploded around the orcks’ eyes and faces, giving the Blue Boar a much-needed chance to put space between himself and his adversaries. Red Feathers tried to break away and head for the tent, but the superhero threw himself at her, forcing her attention back on him. Mazik turned to Jewels—and found him gone.

“Crap. That one’s probably my fault.”

Cursing up a storm, Mazik dashed back into the tent, and found it likewise empty. His eyes glowed as he ran to the hole he had blasted in the tent earlier. There was no one outside either.

Thump thump.
The sound was coming from inside the tent. Mazik turned back, but didn’t see anything.
Does this guy have invisibility magick too?

Mazik stared hard, watching for anything, any movement or detail that might give away where Jewels had gone. He stared—and then saw something move at the top of the ladder that rested against the central tree trunk.

The platform overhead. Of course.
Mazik chastised himself for assuming magick when there was a simpler answer available.
Sneaky bitch.

Before Mazik could do anything, the front flaps of the tent opened, and Red Feathers charged inside. Mazik threw himself out of the way, his shoulder glancing off a stack of crates as the orck leader’s hand scythed through empty air.

Red Feathers didn’t wait for him to recover. She tried to grab him, but Mazik hopped and rolled out of the way, a burst of force magick carrying him out of the orck’s reach. He came to his feet near the central tree. He kicked the ladder away, then pointed high on the walls.

“
Mazik
, uh,
Cutter!
” A straight beam of white-hot mana cut into the tent’s sides. Mazik grabbed the tree with his free hand and spun around it like he was pole dancing. His spell cut a jagged line through the tent. As he completed his circle, the walls dropped, falling over the boxes of stolen valuables—and Red Feathers too, temporarily blinding and entangling her. Only the small platform above remained obscured. Now if Jewels wanted to come down, he wouldn’t be able to do it without being seen.

But Mazik didn’t wait for the walls to finish collapsing. As Red Feathers howled, he sprinted through the crumbling entrance, a spell forming as he moved.

Mazik watched as the Blue Boar fell. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Mazik watched as the superhero’s right arm flopped at an odd angle, and he could see the blood seeping out of the numerous cuts in the man’s costume. One of the orck warriors was stepping back as Mazik emerged, the other raising his blade to finish off the Blue Boar.

Mazik didn’t hesitate. “Hey, you orck pieces of shit!”

The orcks turned to look at him.

Mazik raised his hands to his eyes. “
Mazik Flash!
”

As the night sky lit up like a supernova had touched off in their midst, Mazik’s other spells struck the orcks, forcing them to defend. Mazik dashed between the blinded orcks and picked up his equally blinded ally. He slung the Blue Boar’s good arm over his shoulders. The two of them rose with a grunt, and, with the air of someone invoking a spell, Mazik barked, “Get out of my
way!
”

Force winds whipped out, catching the orcks in the shoulders and shoving them back. Mazik ran through the gap, dragging the Blue Boar with him.

Gavi loosened her grip on her sword, and forced herself to take a breath. “Can you hold them for a second? I’ll think of something.”

“Sure.” The strain of casting so many powerful spells was beginning to show, both in his voice and the way his arms were beginning to shake. Green bindings wrapped around both orcks, holding them at bay.

Gavi stepped closer to Raedren, her back nearly touching his chest. She was tall for a woman, but Raedren still had most of a head on her. Gavi took another deep breath, trusting him to protect the two of them while she thought.

I don’t have enough attack power. Maybe if I had more time I could do enough damage to kill one of them, but Rae is going to run out of mana long before that happens. That means . . . that means we need something else, something outside of us that can help do that damage.

Gavi looked around. There was the forest, the jail, the edge of the camp nearby. She thought about the loose logs in the jail walls—and then her eyes fell on Leafy. He had been lurking in the trees, waiting for someone to try to rescue the hostages. He’d gotten the drop on her, and if it weren’t for Raedren, Leafy’s surprise attack would have crippled her there.

Gavi felt a Mazik-like grin spread across her face.
Got it.

“Rae, let them go and follow me!” Gavi turned to run, but stopped when she realized that Raedren wasn’t following. He seemed dazed on his feet, barely standing. Gavi grabbed Raedren’s hand and ran, dragging her fatigued friend toward the jail.

Gavi angled for the left side of the building. She looked behind them, and watched as Raedren’s binds fell away from the orcks. Leafy bellowed, and the two orcks charged. And they were
fast
.

The two humans reached the jail maybe six steps ahead of the orcks, with Leafy in the lead. “Rip the roof off and throw it at them!” Gavi shouted, pointing overhead.

Green mana yanked the tent-like roof off the jail and threw it at the orcks. Completely blinded, they both came to a stop. A black stone blade thrust through the material as the guard began cutting her way out.

Gavi let go of Raedren’s hand and gripped her sword in both. Squaring her feet, she took a deep breath and lunged at the blinded orcks. Mana sparked beneath the animal skins, and Gavi could feel her sword sink into flesh. Leafy howled.

“Not enough. Let’s go!”

Gavi and Raedren disappeared around the front of the jail just as the orcks tore the animal skins off their heads. Blood dribbled down Leafy’s chest as he gave chase.

“What now!” yelled Raedren as they turned the next corner, circling the jail.

“Tear the upper logs down on top of them after we pass! They’re loose!”

“Got it!”

Gavi led them around the building, circling it as fast as they could. Heavy pieces of wood flew off the jail behind them, crashing into the orcks. Gavi heard them roar in surprise. The two humans hurtled along the back side of the jail, hurdling over the bottom log Raedren had yanked out earlier as he filled the ground and air behind them with obstacles.

They made it halfway around the jail again, back to the front, before Gavi heard the orcks snarling something in what sounded like a language. Orcks weren’t smart, but she had never expected them to do this forever. “Do this side, and then we’re going straight!”

Split logs rained down behind them as Gavi and Raedren ran away from the jail. There was a tent ahead. Gavi ran along it until she found the entrance, then dragged Raedren inside. She disappeared just as the orcks came around the jail—on both sides, this time; they had split up—and saw them enter the tent.

The orcks charged. Not bothering with the entrance, Leafy ripped stakes out of the ground and lifted the side of the tent to enter.

Gavi’s sword buried itself in the orck’s chest, right next to the injury from her previous attack. Before the orck could retaliate, Gavi pulled the sword out and hopped out of range.

“Bring the tent down!” said Gavi as she ran for Raedren, who was on the other side of the tent, holding up the side like Leafy had. The guard tried to come in through the entrance, but green winds met her—and then the tent tumbled down, ripped from where it was tied to the tree overhead, covering and blinding the orcks again. Footsteps ran past them, back the way they came.

The orcks recovered more quickly this time, cutting through the tent material, their weapons held at the ready. They found Raedren alone, running back toward the jail, only halfway there. Leafy bellowed and pursued.

Raedren turned, green mana forming a silhouette around him, and the logs at his feet rose into the air. Raedren hurled a dozen of them, firing them like ballistae, and though they lacked the auras that would have made them more effective against barriers, the sheer kinetic force of so much mass crashing into them brought both Leafy and the guard to their knees.

As the last log rolled to a stop, Gavi cut her way out from the collapsed tent behind them. She rounded the still-standing tree that had originally supported the tent, and which had just protected her from Raedren’s assault.

Gavi oriented herself. The guard was to her right, still on the ground. Leafy was straight ahead, staggering to his feet, his barriers in tatters. Leafy bellowed—which covered up Gavi’s footsteps nicely as she dashed forward and sunk her sword into the orck’s back, skewering him through the heart.

Leafy froze, trying to turn—and collapsed.

While the corpse twitched, Gavi skirted it and rejoined Raedren. “Good job.”

“You too.” Raedren held out his staff. Gavi crossed her sword with it in a salute.

Now only the guard orck remained. While the hostages clambered out of the ruined jail, Gavi rubbed her shoulders and neck. She was tired, tense, and was having to force her hands to stop shaking from all the adrenaline and fear. She also couldn’t help but notice the green dome that was dissipating around the escaping hostages—even with everything else he had been doing, Raedren had made sure the rickety jail couldn’t fall inward and hurt them. “How’s your mana?”

“I’m nearly out. I’ll need to channel after this. I should be able to help you finish this one, though.”

Gavi nodded. “First things first, then.”

The guard approached slowly, more hesitant now.

Gavi forced away her exhaustion and raised her sword. “
Ichn ir ukk—Swiftness!
”

Mazik could hear shouts behind them as the orcks began to recover. Still supporting his stunned ally, he dragged the Blue Boar to the outermost edge of the camp. Blood kept dripping from the costumed hero’s wounds, forcing Mazik to keep stopping to kick dirt over their trail. They took a right along the camp’s perimeter, and stopped at a tent on the opposite side of the encampment from the jail.

Mazik pushed open the front flaps with his foot and guided the Blue Boar inside. They flopped to the ground on the opposite side of the central tree trunk, next to a smelly pile of leathers.

Blue light filled Mazik’s eyes as he knelt beside the Blue Boar. “How are you? Can you move on your own? They’re going to recover soon, and I don’t want to let the leaders get away.” He examined the Blue Boar’s injuries. There were a lot of them. He pursed his lips. “Sorry for leaving you like that. I thought you could handle it, but that was too many. Was a dumb assumption.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine.
Will
be fine,” amended the Blue Boar. He wiggled his limbs, assessing the damage. His broken arm twitched, and he winced. He leaned back against the tree, relaxing. “I’ll be able to move on my own, provided I have a few minutes to regain my strength. In the meantime, we need a plan.”

“Agreed.” Mazik craned his neck, listening. The orcks seemed to be getting quieter, less enraged. They would be coming for them soon, if they weren’t already. Mazik lowered his voice. “I’m going to call the others. We need to take out their leaders while we have a chance.”

“I agree.” Already, the Blue Boar’s voice was stronger. “We’ve uncovered good intelligence, so it’s imperative that one of us escapes and deliver it. But if we can destroy their leaders here and now, we can—”

“Yeah yeah, shut up. I’m making a call.” Mazik rushed through the spell’s prayer and raised a finger to his ear. “Rae, can you hear me?”

A pause. “
What’s up?
”

“How are you doing over there?”

“
Fine
,” said Raedren, after another pause. His voice sounded strained. “
We rescued the hostages, and they’re escaping now. Got attacked by two orcks. One is dead, and we’re dealing with the other now.
”

Mazik would have whistled, though he didn’t dare make the extra noise. “Nice. Can you come help us? BB is injured, and we have four enemies, two of them leaders, including the real red feather orck and a human who appears to be giving them orders.”

If Raedren was surprised to hear that a human was giving orders to orcks, it didn’t carry over the connection. There was a lengthy pause. Mazik assumed he was talking to Gavi. Then: “
We can be there in two to three minutes.
”

Outside, Mazik could hear running. “Hurry, please,” he whispered, and severed the connection. He and the Blue Boar held themselves still as the footsteps ran past their tent.

Mazik relaxed as the sound receded. It had sounded like only one orck. Hopefully they were spreading out, and hadn’t been able to follow their trail. That would increase their chances of staying hidden until Gavi and Raedren had a chance to come.

A chilling thought occurred.
Or, they could happen across Gavi and Raedren instead. I was supposed to be providing a distraction for them.

Mazik shook the Blue Boar. “Hey. We need to distract the orcks before they find the others.” He pulled himself into a crouch, his black-bladed dagger gripped loosely in one hand, the other hand resting on the tree. His watched the tent’s front flaps. “Can you run now?”

The Blue Boar nodded, gathering his feet beneath him. He still looked groggy, but it was clearing rapidly.

“In a second, go out the back side and run. Try to draw the attention of one of them. If we can divide them, then when Rae and Gavi get here we can—”

The front flaps opened, and the orck silhouetted in the entryway roared. Mazik leapt to his feet, a spell flaring to life in his free hand. “Or not. Go! I’m lighting this tent on fire!”

“Wait, what?”

Blue flames splashed across the interior of the tent. As the Blue Boar scuttled out the back, Mazik slashed a hole in one of the sides and tumbled into the cool night air.

He looked around. He saw an orck disappear off to his left, running in the direction the Blue Boar had gone. Mazik didn’t see Gavi or Raedren, or either of the leaders.

Mazik glanced behind him—and realized that the orck who had found them was only two paces away. Apparently it wasn’t bothered by fire. The big orck nimbly danced around the blue-white flames, quickly closing the distance.