Ru Emerson - Keep on the Borderlands

“Change sides!” Blorys shouted.

She nodded and took the spear he held out. He shifted his sword to the other hand and turned to check on the brute she’d wounded. Thehobgoblin was staggering a little and bleeding heavily but still full of fight. When one of the Keep men ran at it with a boar spear, the monster batted it aside, snatched at the man, and threw him against the wall. He wobbled there, trying to gain his balance, but when the hobgoblin started after the man, Kadymus came up behind the creature and plunged a knife deep into the back of its neck. He skipped nimbly aside as it howled and slapped at the air, trying to grab him.

“Cover me!” Blorys yelled and brought his sword downtwo-handed on the brute’s neck. The first time, the blade hit something hard andrebounded with a clang, nearly flying out of his hands, but the second time it cut deep. Blood poured from the long wound, soaking into the shuddering monster’s clothing and hair, pooling around the suddenly still body. Another ofthe hobgoblin’s fellows came running, eyes fixed on Blorys, who freed his swordand let Eddis guide him back with a hand clutched in his near sleeve. The hobgoblin’s boots slid across a suddenly slick floor, and it went down, hard.M’Whan and another Keep man were there to make certain it didn’t rise.

Eddis yelled as something slammed into her left arm. She stared in surprise as blood welled from her sleeve and ran from a long, ugly cut just above her elbow. Blorys swore, snatched at the long knife caught in her torn sleeve, reversed it and threw, hard. The dagger sliced the ear of the hobgoblin who’d thrown it at her. If the brute hadn’t ducked, it probably wouldhave hit its eye. Eddis set her teeth against her lip and tried to press her sleeve against the cut. Ugly, not dangerous, she thought, but it hurt damnably, and from the elbow down, her arm wouldn’t respond. M’Baddah had her by the otherelbow, drawing her back out of the fray. He thrust her into Flerys’ tremblinghands and strode out to take Eddis’ place at Blorys’ side.

“Hurts?” Flerys asked. Her voice trembled.

“It hurts,” Eddis agreed, “but it won’t so much if you cantie my sleeve around it.”

The child nodded and leaned her spear against the wall, but it took her three tries to get the ends fastened.

“Better,” Eddis managed, with what she hoped was a reassuringsmile, though with the added pressure, it hurt considerably worse. “You stoppedthe bleeding, and my father used to say that if it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’thurt.”

Flerys clearly didn’t understand a word of the weak joke, butthe smile did seem to reassure her, a little. She retrieved the spear and scrambled to her feet to guard the swordwoman. Though I don’t know what she cando against one of those, Eddis thought. Or what more I can do. Her left arm hung limp, and the fingers of her right still smarted, but they’d hung onto Blorys’spear, somehow. She tightened her grip and watched the fray.

The fight was nearly over. The last two hobgoblins were tottering, and as she watched, they fell, one to a Keep man’s spear, the otherto a joint attack by Blorys and M’Baddah.

Jerdren had already sent Willow over to listen at the far door. “Bless me if the entire cave shouldn’t be down around our ears by now, allthe noise we made in here. Maybe we’re still in luck, and that door’s as thickas the one we just came through.”

He eyed the cowering huddle of females and young. “And blessme if I don’t want to run ’em through. I’ve had enough of killing beast babiesand their cowering mothers. Suggestions, Mead? Panev?”

The priest came forward, mace in hand and his eyes glittering. “If you cannot kill them, I shall. The females of their kind oftenfight and kill as well as the males. The young will grow up to become fighters. But-” he shrugged. “If you choose to bind them instead, I will strengthen yourropes with a charm I have that will keep them enthralled for several hours.”

“All we need is enough time to see what’s beyond that doorand get back out this way, if we need to.” Jerdren’s brooding eyes fixed on oneof the fallen hobgoblins.

Blorys picked his way across the room, his eyes dark with anger.

“Beyond? Are you mad, Brother? We have injuries here, andEddis is bleeding! And all you can think of is-?”

Jerdren’s head came up at that, his color high. Eddis draggedherself to her feet and stepped between the two men.

“Let’s not waste time arguing. Blor, I’ll be fine, M’Baddahwill tend this. Blor, remember the description Zebos gave of the way to that torture chamber, where he was chained to the wall? I think this is it, and I still say we are bound by honor to free prisoners. This is a cut, nothing more. It’s not-” She became aware of Flerys right behind her and shook her head, hereyes warning Blorys. “It’s nothing. Let’s finish up here and go. ”

“She’s right, Brother,” Jerdren said. “There’s the leastchance new guards will find that dead ogre or the dead guards just back there-orthis room. We’re leaving a trail, and I wager they’d be ready and waiting for usif we came back tomorrow. With things like hobgoblins, I’d rather have surpriseon my side when I attack.”

“Never mind that,” Eddis said. She bit her lip as M’Baddahbegan working on her arm. “These creatures might simply kill prisoners, oncethey realize we’re here. I’d hate that.”

“If there are any prisoners alive,” Blorys said as heretrieved her sword and wiped it clean.

“We won’t know until we look,” Eddis told him.

The rest of the party members were tending wounds or working their way around the chamber, looking for coins and other wealth. Panev watched two of the Keep men tie the unresisting females and young. When they were all knotted together, the priest waved a short black wand over them and spoke under his breath. Moments later they all slept, and when Jerdren nudged the nearest female with his foot, she didn’t move.

“Good work, man,” he said and headed toward the far door.Willow had it open and was already out of sight. “Good work, all of you. Eddis?”

She nodded. Her arm still throbbed, and she might be weak for a while, but her fingers and elbow were working once more. Blorys patted her shoulder awkwardly and went after his brother. Eddis stayed back with Flerys and Mead as the brothers strode through the door.

A long, shadowy corridor, cut into the rock, meandered aheadof them, fire or torchlight turning the stone ruddy some distance away. No sound, except for their own breathing. Eddis listened intently. No good. She wondered where the goblin had got to. If it had gone on this way, it could be anywhere by now. They could be heading for an ambush.

They were moving slowly, making as little noise as they could, but the passage was dark, the floor uneven, and complete silence impossible. Eddis’ boots shuffled aside a spill of gravel. Someone else’s footscraped across stone. Each sound seemed loud in the narrow place.

When they halted so Mead, Willow, and Kadymus could check ahead for side passages, Eddis leaned against the wall. Her arm throbbed despite the thick stuff M’Baddah had rubbed across the cut, and she felt lightheaded.She dredged up a smile as Flerys tugged on her sleeve. The child looked worried, and not much reassured when the woman breathed against her ear, “I’m fine.” Shetook a sip from the water bottle the girl held out to her. Beyond Flerys, M’Whanlooked no less concerned.

The passage seemed to go on forever, but Eddis felt a little better for the water, and her sword hand no longer tingled. A short jog right, then immediately left, another right a short distance beyond that-places where asmall group of enemies might lie in wait, but each was deserted. All at once there was enough light from well-spaced torches that they could make out the hallway for quite some distance ahead.