5x02
Arden staggered backward, suddenly on the far side of the second pit from the pacing, snarling lizard-dog. The amazing thought that she'd been magically teleported twice within the last hour – once by Signor Octavian and again, just now, by her cloak – flashed distantly across her mind, but mostly she was distracted by the creature across from her and the pain in her injured leg.
###
Back near the barracks room, the snarling from down the hall got everyone's attention. Savina felt chills cascade down her spine. As the echo died away, Twiggy leaped to her feet. "Arden's in trouble!" she said.
Kormick and Mena didn't have time to register full objections as Twiggy took off, running toward the first pit.
"Wait, no – "
"Stop –"
Twiggy vanished, fey-stepping across the pit. She re-appeared on the other side and continued running down the corridor.
Kormick gave an aggrieved sigh, backed up for a running start, jumped the pit, and followed Twiggy.
"Rose –" said Mena.
"I've got you," Tavi told his sister.
Mena jumped the pit and waited anxiously on the other side as Tavi solicitously picked up Rose and jumped across with her in his arms.
Savina felt a flash of panic as she watched her companions cross the pit. They're going to leave me behind! She couldn't possibly jump the pit, and she lacked the strength to make it across one of the ropes. She stood, her eyes growing wider and wider as she considered the possibilities. None of them were good.
Suddenly, Tavi was back, beside her.
"Do you trust me?" he asked, holding out his hand.
Savina nodded mutely and put her hand in his.
He led her toward the pit. He took her staff and tossed it carefully across to Mena. Then he picked her up in his arms and cradled her against his body. Savina twined her arms around him, feeling the slight dampness on the back of his neck. She was aware of the heat of him, the strangely attractive smell of his exertion. Her heart pounding, not only from fear, she buried her face in his strong shoulder and felt his muscles tense as he jumped. For an instant, she was weightless in his arms, and then they landed with a thump on the far side.
Tavi set her down, but Savina was trembling so hard that she almost fell. Tavi caught her gently by the shoulders and held her, looking into her eyes.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She looked back at him, still unable to speak.
"No!" yelled Mena, interrupting Savina's reverie. "Corani, don't be a fool – Tavi, stop her!"
Tavi wheeled away from Savina and they all watched in horror as the pregnant dwarf launched herself into the air. Her jump carried her across the pit, but only to the very, very edge. Mena grabbed her and the two staggered, on the brink of disaster, until Mena threw all her weight backwards and Tavi helped to catch them as they fell to the ground, safe.
Mena, Tavi, Savina, and Rose assisted Corani to her feet. "I must rescue my family," she said, daring them to argue.
"But … you must care for your baby, too," said Savina, aghast at the risks this mother-to-be was taking. The dwarf stared at her defiantly.
Mena sighed.
"Come on," said Tavi. "We've lost a lot of time."
They found Arden, Twiggy, and Kormick farther down the dim corridor, near the second pit. Light spilled toward them from a room across that pit, around the corner ahead. Everything was silent. Kormick was standing guard, his crossbow ready. Arden was kneeling nearby, doing her best to bind up a bleeding wound on her thigh. Twiggy was helping her.
"What's the situation?" whispered Tavi.
Twiggy jumped up and joined them, whispering quickly. "Stand-off. Arden says there's a lot more derro around that corner. They didn't see her, but a greenish-brown lizard-dog-like thing attacked her. I caught a glimpse of it – it was ugly – but it ran back around the corner. Then all the derro in there got quiet, and they've stayed that way. So here we are."
"They'll be back," said Kormick, "and I'm not wildly enthusiastic about our strategic position, trapped between two pits."
"I saw a side opening back there," Tavi suggested. "It might lead to an exit."
"It might also lead to ten derro chieftains at the head of an army of attack trees," Kormick said. "But either way, I guess we should find out. Slave, get yourself off the front line and do something useful."
Arden dragged herself to her feet and set off down the corridor toward the side opening, limping only slightly. Savina was glad that her wound didn't seem severe.
"Tavi," ordered Mena. "You should go with Arden."
Tavi looked slightly bemused at Mena's tone, but then he hurried after Arden. He never hesitates to confront danger, mused Savina, watching after him as long as she could.
###
Arden crept up the side tunnel behind Tavi, her dagger at the ready. The tunnel was narrower than the main corridor and sloped up steeply until it dead-ended in a shut door.
At Tavi’s gesture, Arden knelt and checked it. "It's not locked, Signor," she said. "Shall I -- ?"
He nodded. Arden eased the door open a few inches. She thought she had steeled herself for anything in this godsforsaken hellhole, but what she saw surprised her: under the green glow of moss, a derro woman rocked in a rocking chair, engaged in some derro version of knitting. Another woman carried more coals to a cozy fire, then sat down in a second chair and began spinning coarse yarn with a spindle.
As Tavi looked in over her shoulder, Arden wondered if he would order her to attack the two women. She waited. And waited. Finally, she risked glancing up at him just as he looked down at her. "Should we take them out?" he whispered, obviously uncertain.
She felt sympathy for the young nobleman confronted with a tough call: either kill two apparently peaceful people or risk them becoming a threat later on. She also felt relief that this wasn't her tough call. Enjoy the burden of freedom, Signor, she thought at him. Out loud, she whispered politely, "Whatever you will, Signor Octavian."
He looked startled, then slightly disgusted with himself, as if he had only just remembered who she was. "Right," he sighed. He thought for a split second more, then made his decision. "Close the door," he told her. "We're going back."
Arden closed the door as silently as she'd opened it. As they started back down the corridor, Tavi had an idea. "Can you lock them in?" he asked.
"The door has no lock, Signor, but – "
Arden pulled out her dagger and wedged it as solidly as she could between the door and the rough frame. It wasn't much of a barrier, but it would have to do.
###
Just before they reached the main corridor, Tavi heard Kormick speak out loud, a shock after all the whispering. "Well, hello!" he said. Then came the swish-thunk of a bolt flying true from his crossbow.
Tavi and Arden raced back to the front, passing Savina, Rose, and Corani, who had retreated from the second pit.
"What happened?" demanded Tavi as he reached the pit's edge.
"One of the derro poked his head around the corner and I shot him most magnificently through the eye," answered Kormick. "His comrades dragged him back into the room. Tell me you found a backdoor to the outside world."
"No," said Tavi. "It was kind of weird –"
Before he could say more, two derro soldiers jogged around the corner ahead, carrying the dead body of their comrade, the crossbow bolt still protruding from its eye.
"Ah, kind of them. They've come to show you my precise shooting," said Kormick, lining up a second shot. But then, with a violent motion, the derro heaved the corpse with all their strength across the pit. It slammed into Kormick, knocking him to the floor. Before anyone could react, the two derro leaped across the pit after their comrade, drawing short swords. Behind them, three more derro swarmed out of the room with – Tavi groaned without surprise – crossbows.
The battle went badly from the start. Tavi defended Kormick as best he could until the Justicar managed to arise, but between the derro flanking him, the archers across the pit, and the pit itself, he didn't have a lot of space to maneuver. Neither did Mena, who lacked a ranged weapon and had trouble getting close enough to hit the two nearby enemies. The slave, usually nimble with either a blade or her sling, seemed hampered by her injuries: only a few of her blows landed, and none with much force. Slowly but surely, the derro established more of a foothold on the party’s side of the pit. As they did, one whistled. A pair of the lizard-dogs came raging around the corner and leaped across the pit to join the fray.
You've got ’em, buzzed Phoebe. Sure, it's exciting right now, but you're going to be fine!
As long as those derro women don't make trouble, Tavi thought back, swinging with such artistry that the derro recoiled from the shock seemingly even before Tavi's blade made contact.
They were boring. That was a great hit! Do it again!
###
Farther down the hall, near the junction with the side corridor, Rose waited. Savina and Corani had been with her, but Corani had, as usual, attempted to race toward the fight, and Savina had followed her, begging her to stop. Rose hugged herself and dared to look past Savina and Corani to the battle itself. Through the dimness, she could glimpse a tangle of arms, legs, and snapping lizard jaws accompanied by grunting and snarling and fragmented shouts of instruction. It made her skin crawl, and yet – I asked for this, in a way, she thought to Whisper. Is this my destiny? Will pain and death always find me?
There was a noise from the side corridor, a clinking and scraping.
Arden's dagger came skittering down the passageway to rest at her feet.
That, she thought, one eyebrow arching, can’t be good…