Chapter 15 Brynn #4
Brynn didn’t have time to explain to him, much less everyone else.
“This way.” Leading him, she half-crawled toward the back corner behind Ovrek’s seat.
It was solid wood layered and sealed with mud between the beams. To bare hands, it was impenetrable, but Brynn sensed that their attackers were all gathered at the doors, stoking the fires as they watched the exits.
That made sense, but Ovrek’s hall was new. The logs had been cured, but they had been alive not so long ago. Wood was not as workable as leather or sinew, but it kept its memory of life long after leather had rotted away.
“Hróarr!” Cenric yelled, waving his cousin over.
The large Valdari warrior spotted them through the smoke and came to crouch beside them, dragging Vana after him.
“Cenric,” his expression was grim, “I’m sorry I called your wife a bitch.
” Hróarr did not apologize directly to Brynn, nor did he apologize for pushing her into the thrall pit, but he had spoken in Hyldish, which was close enough.
“Don’t let it happen again,” Cenric clipped back.
Kneeling before the wall, Brynn pulled power into herself and inhaled as deep a breath as she could without choking.
She released and her spells sliced through the wood.
Her power did not so much cut as melt, pushing the log into separate pieces.
She sliced down one side, cutting the logs into sections.
Sparks had begun to shower over the doors and screams filled the room until it seemed it would burst. Everything at Brynn’s back was darkness, hopelessness, and confusion. They had very little time.
Brynn finished cutting a line down the wall, slicing from about shoulder to knee height. Sweat beaded her forehead, and she coughed.
Snapper whined at Cenric’s feet. The smoke was getting to him, too.
Brynn took two steps further down the wall and used her spells to part the logs there, too. The wood was more stubborn on this side, better cured for some reason.
Cenric hovered at her back, sticking close.
“What are you doing?” Hróarr choked. As the tallest of their group, even crouching down, he was the worst off.
Brynn finally finished. Her work was sloppy and haphazard, but this wasn’t about looks. Coughing, she shoved at the logs. She had cut the wood, but the planks were still held in place by the daub packed between them.
“Cenric,” Brynn wheezed.
Smoke had filled the hall. Brynn could barely see anything, but she could sense the bodies around them, sinking toward the ground either to escape the smoke or because they had succumbed to it.
Brynn felt Cenric’s body shift beside her and he slammed his shoulder into the wood. It budged, just a bit.
“Hróarr!” Cenric reached back, grabbing his cousin.
Hróarr must have realized what they were doing. The large Valdari man added his force beside Cenric. They slammed into the weakened wall once, twice.
A crack rang out and both men spilled out, tripping as they tumbled into the clean air of the night.
Snapper leapt out past them, coughing and sneezing.
Brynn couldn’t see, but she caught Vana’s arm and dragged her toward the opening.
Hróarr and Cenric scrambled free, reaching back for them. Brynn wasn’t sure who grabbed her and who grabbed Vana as the four of them tumbled out into the night.
Brynn inhaled the fresh air, the cold breeze rushing into her lungs like the sweetest relief. Coughing, Brynn shoved herself up onto her hands and knees. “Get the others out,” she choked. “I’ll see what I can do about Tullia.”
“You’re unarmed,” Hróarr growled, sounding annoyed.
Brynn didn’t have time to argue with him as she stumbled to her feet. They needed to get the other people inside the hall out of the hall, but the moment they started shouting, they would give themselves away.
It was pointless to break out of the hall only to be slaughtered the moment they did. The people inside were weakened and weaponless.
Someone would have to draw their enemies off or at least hold them off until the survivors were away.
“Brynn!” Cenric scrambled after her.
“Get the others out,” Brynn wheezed, fighting to keep her choking down. “I’ll deal with Tullia’s men.” Or at least she would try.
Cenric turned back to Hróarr, but the other man was already dragging a soot-stained woman and choking man out of the hole Brynn had made. The large Valdari dragged them to the side as he reached back for another person. It seemed at least some people had seen the hole Brynn had made and followed.
“With you.” Cenric spoke the words like an oath.
The dear fool was weaponless, but Brynn knew there would be no arguing. She turned and stumbled in the direction of their enemies.
Cenric followed close on her heels, his breathing ragged. Snapper followed, though the dog hung back at Cenric’s command. Cenric at least let Brynn go first.
They slid around the outside of the hall. Cries rang out and screams echoed through the night air. There was fighting down in Istra, but it was impossible to see who fought whom.
Brynn thought of Esa, Kalen, little Guin, Daven, and the rest of their thanes, but she could do nothing for them right now. She needed to survive this first and then perhaps she would be able to save them.
The darkness shrouded them, but Brynn was sure Tullia’s warriors would hear her rasping breathing. Smoke in the lungs was always difficult to heal.
They sidled around to one of several entrances to Ovrek’s hall. Brynn peered ahead, heart thundering.
Warriors with weapons stoked kindling and paced back and forth. They were armed and ready, but Brynn could see necks and faces beneath helmets. They were armed for fighting other warriors, not sorceresses. She didn’t see Tullia, but it seemed obvious who was behind this.
Brynn paused, turning back to Cenric. “About forty of them.”
“It must be Egill’s missing crew,” Cenric muttered. “Or some of them.”
“I will do my best, but I will likely only be able to fell two or three before they notice me.” Without the time to prepare offensive spells or lay traps, Brynn was limited. “Do you prefer a spear or an axe?”
Cenric sounded confused, but answered, “A spear. If it’s a good one.”
Brynn thought one of the men had a spear that should suffice. “I’ll try to get it for you.” She pointed to Snapper. “Keep him back.”
“What…?”
Brynn lashed a spell at the farthest man in her line of sight, and his head yanked back, his throat sheared open. Several men turned to check on their companion, looking away from her.
Brynn concentrated, focusing on weaving a spell she had not used in a long time. She sent a burst of power straight into the flaming kindling blocking the doors.
Pieces of burning wood, splinters, and smoldering logs swept out as if from a great wind. Brynn didn’t remove all the kindling or even most of it from the door, but she blasted away enough of it that men jumped back, swatting at their clothes and screaming as embers burned them.
Curses in Valdari rose from around them and a man who appeared to be their leader stepped forward, yelling at the others. At least three men had been burned badly enough that they slumped on the ground. No one had been killed by that last spell, though.
It seemed that the men around her first victim realized what had happened—but even if they could see his throat had been cut, none of them had fought sorceresses before.
Brynn cast another spell, sending a line of power straight through another man’s eye. He collapsed without a sound, his eyeball erupting in a spray of blood. That had been a lucky shot.
She lashed out again for the man who appeared to be the leader. He turned around just as she cast and her spell caught the edge of his helmet instead of his neck.
That man let off a cry, the cut grazed him, but mostly deflected by the metal of his helm. The leader shouted in Valdari, pointing toward her. Two of his warriors separated from the group, weapons raised as they charged for her. Sure enough, the man with the spear was one of them.
“Wait here,” Brynn said.
“Brynn!” Cenric reached out as if to grab her, then snatched his arm back, letting her go. Snapper whined but remained at Cenric’s side.
Brynn slipped out from behind the protection of the wall, so the enemy could see her. Hopefully, they hadn’t noticed Cenric and Snapper in the shadow of the wall.
The two enemy warriors charged for her, one with an axe and the other with the spear.
Brynn retreated with her hands raised, making it look as if she was fleeing. Her heart raced and ka swirled around her in golden whorls that would be invisible to anyone without magic. She wanted to get them away from the others, even if only a few paces.
The man with the axe came first. He didn’t have a helmet, his hair and beard outlined in the light of the fire.
Brynn sent a spell straight for his face. His head whipped back and he went down.
The man with the spear had a shield and seemed at least smart enough to realize she was doing something even if he might not realize she was a sorceress. He raised his shield as he advanced, charging.
Brynn grimaced. She needed to get around his shield for a clean shot at bare skin. It was possible for her spells to slice through clothing, but it would take more effort, and she needed to save her power for…
A dark shape flew out from the wall. Snapper came bounding across the distance, barking at the spearman.
The warrior spun, probably thinking he was being attacked from the other side. He slashed for Snapper, but the dog skirted back, still barking.
The spearman turned his head to the side for just a moment and Brynn took the opening. Her spell slashed toward his neck.
The spearman hissed in pain, but from the ka that flowed from him, she hadn’t struck a lethal blow. He charged her again, ignoring Snapper’s barking this time.