Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2), стр. 16
Stepping into the open, I scanned to the right seeking the other guard. He was looking down in horror at his comrade on the ground, then looked up at me as I approached as if I was some ghoulish apparition. I already had the katana raised in both hands above my head, ready to strike. He leveled his spear. Turning my hips quickly, I evaded his hasty, clumsy thrust with ease as my hands pulled the grip of the now horizontal sword to my left in a quick slashing stroke that caught the left side of his neck, the blade almost decapitating him. He fell to the ground, his blood spraying from the grievous wound.
Dropping the sword for a moment, I grabbed and pulled the bodies, one by one, into the guard hut, where I deposited them both on the floor. After unbolting the gate, I pulled it open enough to slip inside the enclosure. After retrieving my sword and yanking one of the burning torches from the ground, I entered the enclosure.
In the torch’s light, I saw a group of naked females huddled on the ground in a corner. As I approached them, I saw another woman, also naked, lying on her back on the ground in their midst. I counted a total of eight females. The potent odor of unwashed bodies and human waste assaulted my nostrils. As I drew near, by the light of the torch, I saw unconcealed hatred in every eye. I stopped a few meters from the group and removed my helmet.
“I mean you no harm,” I said. “I have come to free you.”
From the group, someone said, “Tobias Hart?”
I glanced quickly over at a woman struggling to her feet. My heart leapt, and tears stung my eyes. She was pale and emaciated. She had a large festering wound on the front of her left thigh. But it was Idril. She was alive. Dropping the sword and torch, I rushed into the midst of the group and embraced her, almost knocking her off her feet.
“Thanks be to the Goddess Queens,” I cried. “I haven’t arrived too late.”
Idril freed herself from my grasp and held me at arm’s length.
“What are you doing here,” she said, “wearing the uniform of an enemy warrior?”
“Idril, I’ve come to carry you away,” I said, now laughing. Then turning serious, I said, “We must flee this place before the guard changes.”
“Where are the guards?” Idril said.
“Dead.”
“All?” Idril said in wonderment.
“All,” I said. “But, we must go before their reliefs arrive. Is this all the warriors of Thiva?”
“Yes,” Idril said solemnly. “Many have died of infection and sickness. The miserable wretches denied us medical care and even adequate rations.”
“How is your wound?” I said, examining her thigh.
“Long since septic,” she said, grimacing. “I find it difficult to stand.”
Looking around the group, I saw all had dirty, untended wounds. Some wounds were more severe than others. Idril told me the woman on her back on the ground, near death, had been unconscious and feverish for days.
“We must work together,” I said. “We are all leaving here together soon. Wait here.”
I released Idril and ran back to the guard hut and picked up a shield. I then returned to the enclosure.
“Here,” I said, placing the shield face down on the ground. “Lift the unconscious woman onto the shield. We will use it as a litter.”
One of the less injured warriors helped me lift the unconscious woman. We gently placed her atop the shield.
“Can you help me carry her?” I said.
“Yes,” the woman said firmly.
“Everyone else, help each other, those who can, help those who can only walk with difficulty,” I said. “We must go.”
I helped one woman lift and carry the unconscious woman on the shield. The others able to walk helped those who needed it, and we stumbled out of the stockade. I sent two women into the guard hut to take the swords and sword belts from the dead guards. Two others collected from the ground the spears for use as walking canes more than weapons.
Together we moved away from the enclosure into the grim night.
9
The Escape
Some ten minutes later, we halted in a dark alley to rest. All the women were in poor condition, and bearing the unconscious woman on the shield was fatiguing. We had stayed to the shadows to avoid the roving patrols.
“How will we escape the city?” Idril asked. The gate will be barred until morning. It would require a team of veovarks to open the gates.
Inwardly, I cursed myself. Far from a military tactician, my plan had been limited to freeing the warriors from the stockade. I had not even thought of how we might escape the city once that had been accomplished.
“There is another way out,” a woman said.
“How do you know?” I said.
“She is Emer, a warrior of Nisa and knows the city,” Idril said.
I nodded. “Where is the other way out?” I said to Emer.
“There is a small gate, little used, near the southeast corner of the city wall. But, it too will be guarded.”
“Show us,” I said, signaling the other to get up to move out.
“This way,” Emer said, putting the arm of one of the more seriously wounded around her shoulders. She continued walking up the alley. The rest of us followed. After a scant distance, we came upon a handcart that someone had left next to the rear of a building.
“Stop,” I said. “Let’s put this woman on the cart.”
Gently, we laid the unconscious woman on the back of the cart. Then I went to Idril, picked her up in my arms, and carried her to the cart.
“I can walk,” she protested.
“You can barely stand,” I said. “If you ride, we can move faster.”
The woman who had helped me bear the woman on the shield took one handle of the two-wheeled cart. I took the other, and we continued walking. After about ten minutes,