Another Fine Mess: 5
Love.
Love was all Gral knew. Love for HER.
The awakening that had come upon the tiny owl held nothing of surprise for the creature; he was incapable of questioning what had just happened to him. Or even consciously understanding that anything had happened to him. He knew only that he loved HER and that he would reflect HER voice back to HER.
When SHE held him, peace overcame everything, even hunger. Cupped in HER warm hands, Gral did nothing but look upon HER face, content to know that SHE was with him, that SHE needed him, and that he could be of use to HER.
*****
"So you have a pet owl now. What's that all about, exactly, Arrafin?"
Etienne listened to Elena and then chimed in with his own question.
"Yeah, does he have any friends? Maybe a bit bigger than him? More useful? We could get them to attack the guards."
"He's not a pet. He's a familiar. He's mine."
The others looked blankly at each other, shrugging in confusion.
"Okay. Does that help us? Somehow?"
Arrafin held the little grey-brown puffball to her face, kissing the tiny bird tenderly. She did not reply to Etienne's questions. The half-Kishak shrugged again.
"Well, we have to get out this hut, first of all. There's no way we're going to find Achmed stuck in this rat-trap."
There was a knocking at the door.
"My friends? It is Achmed al-Musharran beni Howetait. May I come in?"
Elena scowled at Etienne.
"Anything comes that easy, you know we're going to pay for it."
Etienne glided over to the door and pointed at Isaac. The big Saijadani grimaced, but called out, "The door's locked, Senor. We can't open it."
"Please do not worry. I have the key. Just a moment."
Rusty iron rattled and the door swung open, Etienne drifting back to take up a position behind it.
Standing in the doorway, silhouetted by an immense bonfire behind him, stood a lean, weathered Naridic man of middle age, with narrow eyes and a suspicous expression on his face.
Fayeeda stood up.
"Father?"
Achmed shook his head, startled. He stepped forward, into the hut.
"Fayeeda? How are you here?"
"Tariq. He made a deal with the mercenaries -- "
Fayeeda cut off as her father stepped up to her and backhanded her savagely across the face.
The cigar dropped from Isaac's mouth and he lunged forward, wrapping his powerful arms around Achmed.
"Steady there, Senor. None of that."
Elena knelt beside Fayeeda as Achmed spewed invective at his daughter.
"Whore! Did you spread your legs for him, you slut? Did you lie beneath him? My brother?"
Fayeeda cried out in desperate denial, but Achmed was clearly having none of it. His arms pinioned by Isaac, he kicked out at the girl, his cursing and anger overflowing him. Isaac lifted the smaller man from the floor and flung him aside.
"Enough. We're here for the gold. Tell us where it is."
"You'll never get it. The captain has it in his chamber. It's guarded around the clock."
Isaac grinned.
"Finally, we get to the killing."
Behind him, Arrafin got to her feet. The little owl sat perched on her shoulder.
"Yes. Time for killing."
The slender young woman, her eyes burning with certainty, walked out the door of the hut.
*****
The Shaeric soldiers not on duty lounged around the edges of the bonfire, laughing at the flames and the occasional collapse of burning wood. Many had a Naridic woman or boy beside them. None took any notice of Arrafin's slight figure as she strode across the dark compound, the massive fire reflecting crazy and brilliant in her eyes.
Behind her Isaac, Elena, Etienne and Fayeeda followed with less assurance, keeping to the shadows as much as they could. Nevid had simply walked off into the darkness without a word and the others, used to their friend's occasional disappearing acts, made no effort to follow him.
Achmed lay half-conscious on the floor of the hut, knocked senseless by a grimly enthusiastic Isaac.
Arrafin made for the large two-story building where the unit had their headquarters. She was thirty paces from the steps to the verandah when two soldiers emerged from the gloom beside her.
"Here now, lass. Where ye think ye be heading, now?"
She kept walking and one put a hand on her narrow shoulder.
"Here, now. Ye'll do best to stay with us, lass."
Arrafin turned to him and threw up a hand. Gral flew up into the night as a sudden eruption of darkness billowed up around her. The two soldiers, feeling their muscles weaken and their blood chill, stumbled back.
"What is -- "
Their words were torn from their throats as their very bodies seemed to stretch and rip, releasing howling sheets of gore that whirled up into the air, becoming a massive whirlwind of dark mist that towered up into the night air. With a shriek Arrafin gestured and the pillar of swirling blood roared overhead.
The two soldiers dropped to the ground, bleeding and dazed.
Her friends behind her just stared. What they were seeing was impossible, beyond any imagining. A few days ago Arrafin had animated a little stick figure, but this. This was something else.
Etienne recovered first, turning as he saw a pair of Shaeric soldiers rushing forward. He had no weapons but by the time the soldiers knew he was there, he had one's belt knife in his hand and plunged it into the man's side. Then Isaac was there with a heavy log and the second soldier lay on the ground.
Swords were grabbed and the next soldiers coming forward were met by better-armed resistance. Elena and Isaac fought with Kishak sabres, but Etienne had a knife in each hand and twisted and spun on the edge of the fight, somehow staying clear of the melee even as he darted in and out, his edges licking along throats and wrists, leaving long gashes. The fight was his kind of fight, half-lit in the red flames of the bonfire, confused and misdirected, enabling him to step up to his enemies before they knew he was there.
Elena and Isaac stood side-by-side and, heavy sabres held before them, kept the soldiers from Arrafin with desperate parries. Unskilled with these weapons, they could only defend themselves as Etienne, a whirling dark ghost, emerged from the shadows again and again to cut and stab.
Each wound he opened revealed a new horror; the blood shed by his victims came rippling up into the air to join swirling into the wild hurricane of bloody mist above them.
The house was almost completely obscured by the howling storm Arrafin had conjured. Voices came shrieking out from that cruel whirlwind, terrified and pleading. Arrafin stood with her feet widely planted, hands held up before her, her robes flying in the wind generated by the vortex. Her eyes were glassy black orbs.
Fayeeda had fallen to her knees, praying incoherently.
Prisoners and soldiers ran in all directions; screaming and shouting orders or panicky questions. Beneath all that noise the howling of Arrafin's storm grew steady and terrible. A sudden crunching told of the whirlwind reaching the house and tearing at the cedar planks.
Figures came stumbling out of the wall of blood, clutching at their eyes and staggering, falling to their knees.
Elena fought, keeping her focus on the next swordblow, deliberately ignoring the hellish sounds behind her. Suddenly there was no next swordblow. The remaining soldiers ran for the house, reaching for their blinded friends. Panting, she turned to Isaac.
"Now what?"
They both looked at Arrafin. The house, engulfed in her gory whirlwind, shuddered as though in an earthquake. Shingles tore from the roof and spun up into the dark sky. The stink of blood filled the air.
Arrafin turned to her friends. They stepped back at the sight of her eyes, and the thin dark veins crawling over her face. Gral dropped out of the air and settled on her shoulder.
"He's around the back. Trying to sneak away. Get him. He's blind."
She turned back to the storm.
Elena and Isaac looked at each other. Another squadron of soldiers approached, cautiously but with clear intent.
"Now what?"
And the gatehouse exploded.
*****
"He had a knife, Arrafin. We didn't have a choice."
Arrafin glared at Isaac. Her eyes had returned to their normal brown, but the strength and power in them still caught him off-guard.
"I wanted him alive."
They stood next to the body of Captain Garrickson, his throat a dark ragged grin.
"Well, he's dead."
Beyond them soldiers screamed. The Naridic prisoners had broken into the fort armoury and fallen upon their captors. Crucifixes were being assembled and retribution taken. Young boys hefted hammers and drove spikes into Shaeric wrists and ankles. Mothers shrieked encouragement and threw stones. Some cried out for the Kishak, seeking the most hated enemy of them all.
Arrafin's storm had spun itself out, but the fort still stank of blood and terror.
Nevid emerged from the darkness with a blanket-draped figure in tow. The young Saijadani's clothes still bore the burns and stains from the explosion he'd triggered at the gatehouse, hurling a torch into the magazine when the guards rushed off to save their captain. He pursed his lips and made a tiny gesture of his head.
"Who's that?"
Nevid grimaced at Arrafin's loud tone.
"It's Kan Koshar. He was injured by your storm. We need to get him out of here."
The others studied him for a few seconds. None of their faces showed the slightest concern for the Kishak's fate.
"Right. Get him out. Or, bonfire."
Nevid sighed at Elena's angry reaction.
"He's Nevakada. He knows valuable information. We need to send him back to Saijadan. The del Maraviez can take him."
Arrafin scowled but nodded.
"Nevid's right."
She looked down at Garrickson's corpse.
"I wanted him alive."
She choked and nearly sobbed. Elena put an arm around her friend's shoulder, sparing a glance for Isaac as she did so.
"Come on, Arrafin. Let's get out of here. There's enough blood in this sand for one night."
Arrafin turned a tear-streaked face to her friend.
"In the Narid we say, 'The thirst of the desert is never satisfied.'"
Her little owl fluttered its soft wings and pressed against her throat. Arrafin pulled herself from Elena to fuss quietly over the bird. Fayeeda whispered a prayer as she watched.
The bonfire painted them all with its lurid gleam. Isaac watched Arrafin for a second, then shook his head.
"No offense, Arrafin, but your country is full of crazy people."