In The Shadows of the Cavern of Death (Shadows of Death Book 1) (22 page)

With these two in there with me, nothing would stand in the others’ way. Even if the other soldiers I was sure were hiding in the woods waiting to move on this town and the city that stood behind it heard and tried to help, they’d never make it. Not in time to help these soldiers or stop the city barracks from hearing the shots and taking the element of surprise away. The shove at my back brought me back to the now as the barrack doors were opened and I was pushed through, falling to my knees. The building was just as large as it appeared on the outside. The whole floor was one big open space and I was now in the front of it, as close to two hundred soldiers turned to look at me––about a hundred more than I expected to have been snuck into the town without notice. I wasn’t getting out of here alive and if the others tried to come in and get me out, the only resistance in this town would die with me. I let none of this show on my face as I was roughly gripped, pulled up, and tugged between the two eager soldiers. Speculative eyes watched me as I was brought through them, my eyes taking in everything without appearing to. I was right; the equipment that was blocking the signals was here. Careful to not be seen looking, I moved my eyes, trying to find the only thing that might get me out of here, but I shouldn’t have bothered. When I was thrown down in front of a man that I assumed was the commander, the door was plainly there to see, not far behind him.

Keeping my eyes straight ahead, I didn’t even flinch when I heard the loud smacking sound next to me. “We don’t have time for entertainment and I have no patience for soldiers abandoning their posts,” the commander said in a bored voice, totally making a mockery of the violence that he just did. This was a dangerous man.

“Sir, it’s not like that. This girl is the cavern escapee that we’ve been looking for,” the soldier to my right said––the one who hadn’t just been smacked.

“We thought that you would want her immediately, sir,” the one to my left put in, not about to be forgotten in my capture.

A soft hand gripped my chin and lifted my face. Keeping my gaze dead, I looked into a gaze deader than mine. His thumb caressed me and a smile moved across his lips. “You, my dear, have been a naughty girl. What do you have to say for yourself?”

I knew that this would hurt, but I needed to move things along. I let my mask drop and life move into my eyes, locking them to his. Letting a smile curve my lips, I moved my face into his caress turning it until my lips grazed his thumb. Widening my parted, smiling lips I struck hard, biting down till I felt blood releasing. I was ready for the hand that came at my face, letting it throw me to the ground. Kicks rained onto me, and using the distraction I activated the device, than started to laugh. The kicks stopped as I knew they would, these bastards too curious for their own good. Rolling over, I pulled myself back to my knees, keeping my smile through the blood and pain. Tilting my head back I gazed at the commander, the sick bastard’s expression never changed as he gazed at me with that dead look. “You’ve been too long from the caverns, my dear, and have forgotten your place,” he said. 

Raising a finger, I wiped at the dripping blood coming from my lip before bringing it to my mouth and letting my tongue dip out to taste it. “Now, commander, why ever would you think that?”

What must pass for a true smile of anticipation curved his lips. “I thought that we had beat the last of resistance from you cattle long ago. I have to admit that I like the fact that I’ll have to break you to get what I want.”

Needing to keep the focus on me, I said, “You would think, commander, that one little slave escaping from the caverns wouldn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things.”

Giving me a thoughtful look, he said, “Yes, I have to admit that the fact that you and the male have caused such a disturbance has been quite unexpected. Somehow the two of you have managed to destroy centuries of planning in a very short time.” Running his hand across my cheek like he was petting me, he added, “I am curious to know how you found that fissure to escape from and where it came out at.”

“Just lucky, I guess. Your soldiers chased us right into it.”

A sharp smack hit my check before he started caressing it again. “My dear, let us make a little deal, you and I. You don’t lie to me and I shan’t cut off pieces of your lovely body.”

“Now, commander, let’s not lie to one another.”

Inclining his head, he said, “So true, my dear, my apologies.”

“Well, commander, what is the plan for this little get together?”

Chuckling, he said, “For you, my dear, why you are to be sent back to the city for a short, painful visit. For these people, we’re going to slaughter them and whatever’s left of the population when we’re finished will be kept to do the farming and manufacturing that we have been forced to trade for. Many of our people will be glad for the change of scenery. Our population is overcrowding and we need to expand our territory––this seemed the logical solution. Why should we build when everything is here for the taking?”

Seeming to consider his words, I said, “These people have been free, do you really think it will be so easy?”

“These people are your people, my dear, and as you know, your people adjusted to slavery quite easily. I expect that these ones shall be no different. Like the ones in the caverns, I’m sure that a few shall be trouble makers, but the traitors among them shall make them easy to identify.” Releasing my chin, he sat down in the chair behind him, never taking his eyes from me.

“Speaking of traitors, how did you find where Tristian and I were hiding?”

A dry laugh left his throat. “Ah, my dear, haven’t you figured it out yet? I would have thought that you’d know by now. But, then again, that old man is quite good––he has been playing both sides for so long, I’m sure that he even believes his lies by now.” He smirked and went on, “though the bastard thinks he could betray us now that he managed to gather this little rebel force, but what he failed to realize was that he wasn’t the only spy that we had among you. It’s how we found out that you knew of our little attack to come and moved it up.”

A shadow moved past the window to my right, telling me that time was up. Rising to my feet, I stood in front of the commander, only the wave of his hand stopping the soldiers from knocking me back down. “Well, commander, it has been wonderful speaking with you and I truly hope that you survive so that we can continue our conversation,” I said, giving him my darkest smile. There was no way that I was going to die now or not be victorious, no matter how many of them there were. I had unfinished business. Reaching up, I pulled the jammer from my hair and threw it at his feet. The smile slowly dropped from his face as he looked at it. Moving to my hair once more I pulled out what looked like a stick from the top that was holding my hair up. Turning just the right spot with my thumb twice, I smiled at the whizzing sound that it made. “But, then again, either way you’ve already given me what I needed,” I said, before throwing the grenade behind me into the mass of soldiers and throwing myself to the ground.

Wide-eyed, he had no chance to say anything before the explosion rocked the room, sending his men flying in every direction. My ears were ringing as the sounds of gunfire began to echo. Pushing the dead soldier that landed on me off, I tried to get my bearings. The rebels had stormed the building, killing any that they could. Pulling myself to my feet, I kept low as I made my way to the door that represented our only hope of winning. So focused was I on my goal that I didn’t see the commander until it was too late. Throwing himself into me, we both fell hard to the ground. Taking the brunt of the impact, my breath rushed from my body, leaving me stunned long enough for his fist to tangle in my hair and slam my face into the floor. Pain shot through me, disorientated, I clawed at the hand behind me, causing a curse to leave his lips. When he slammed me down again, I saw stars. Flipping me over, he straddled me and encircled my throat with his hands. Fear raced through me as I fought for breath, his smiling face gloating down at me as a black spot swam in front of my eyes. Smacking, hitting, clawing at him only caused him to tighten his grip. A glint caught my eye from the corner and reaching out, I fought to grasp it. My bloody hand grazed it again and again, unable to catch it––I was going to die.

A tear fell from my eye as I realized that I had lost, after everything that I had done to survive, this was going to be it. As if reveling at my display of defeat, he leaned down and licked my falling tear, brought his lips to my ear, and said, “I would have loved to spend more time with you, my dear. The little that I was able to spend with your friend gave me quite a rush. We’re only given you cave dwellers after you’ve been properly trained, so I never realized the spirt that they had to break to get you there.” He chuckled, causing rage to infuse me, the bastard. Using the last bit of my strength, I bucked my hips up hard, moving him just enough so that I was able to reach the bottle. Grasping it, I brought it across the side of his head as hard as I could. He fell from me and I gasped at the sudden release of his hands, trying to pull in air to my denied lungs. Flipping myself over, I fought to get to my knees. This bastard had tortured Tristian––he was probably the leader of the unit that captured him and killed those people. Crawling through the blood to a fallen soldier, I threw myself over him, desperately clawing for what I needed. A hand slammed into my head, gripping my hair tightly and swinging me around. On my knees I was forced to look up, his face was a mess. The piece of the glass from the bottle was still there, deep in his eye and I smiled at the sight. Enraged by my amusement, he screamed, “Bitch,” wildly lunging for my neck. Meeting his lung I swung the arm behind my back around, taking the knife that I pulled from the corpse and imbedding it to the hilt in his chest.

The momentum of my hit had thrown him back with me sprawled atop. Blood gurgled from his mouth as his hate-filled eye met mine. Pulling myself up, I tugged the knife free, causing his body to spasm and spit blood. Wiping the blade across his chest, I gripped the top of his uniform and pulled him up until we were nose to nose. “This is for Tristian,” I whispered, right before taking my knife and running it across his throat. Dropping his body, I sat there on my knees slowly looking around. I was behind the enemy line. Michael’s troops were fighting, but there were too many for them to win. Gripping the post next to me, I pulled myself up and stumbled toward the door. Reaching it was the hardest thing I had ever done, and with blood-slick hands I fumbled with the bolt until I was finally able to throw it clear. Opening the door, I think I shocked the troops when they saw the blood-soaked thing releasing them. “If you want to live than you have to fight,” I said. Stunned, they still looked at me. “Now!” I roared, spurring them to action. Moving from their path, I slid down the wall and watched as wave after wave of them poured out. With bare hands they attacked the unaware city soldiers from behind. Now fighting two fronts caged in the middle, they hadn’t stood a chance. The battle, harsh and unforgiving, was over in minutes.

Watching the troops gather the few still living surrendering soldiers and bring them toward the room that I had just released them from at Michael’s orders forced me to my feet. Standing firm, I made my way over, blocking their path. Taking the gun from one of the troop’s hands, I raised it and shot the soldiers in the head. After another eleven out of the twelve fell to the ground, I ignored Michael’s shouts to stop. Placing the gun back into the troop’s hand, I looked into Michael’s face that was now right in front of me. “Question that one, now that he knows what will happen, he’ll be more forthcoming with his answers.” Turning without another word, I made my way to a door off to the side of the room.

Chapter 23

Stepping over the bodies, I could hear Michael yelling orders, trying to prepare the troops for the soldiers that would soon be joining us. Reaching the door, I went directly to the sinks, careful to avoid looking at the mirrors. Turning the water on, I brought my hands under, smiling grimly as I thought of how easily blood washes off. No matter how much is spilled, water will take it away like it had never been there. In slow, studied movements, I cleaned my hands and arms before leaning down to clean my face, careful of the gash I could feel on my forehead. Running my hands over my neck, the water ran down my shirt, causing small bloody drops to rain from me. Ripping a piece of my shirt at the bottom, I brought it under the water, rinsing it until the water that rained from it was clear. Bringing it up, I held it to the gash, wanting to stop the blood from running into my eyes when I stood up. Holding it as firmly as I could, I straightened, finally allowing myself to look into the mirror. Nothing stared back at me, not pain, not regret, nothing. Moving my eyes, I caught Michael’s who stood behind me. “Where are we at? Were you able to get the messages out to warn everyone?”

“Yes, everything went as planned,” he said in a clipped tone.

Not having the patience to deal with this, I turned to face him. “I did what had to be done. These people understand one thing and that is strength. Mercy is the same as being weak, so I did what you wouldn’t do. We’re out of time,” I said, finished with the issue. “What’s the new plan? What team am I with and where am I going?”

“You’re not going anywhere, you’re a mess. Go to the medic, he’s waiting to take a look at you,” he told me, and with barely suppressed anger he turned and walked away.

Moving forward, I followed him out, going to the medic and letting him do what he could for the gash to stop the bleeding. Refusing the painkiller, I watched as the groups left were being given their orders. Most of the troops had already been sent out to take positions to defend the town against the soldiers that were even now moving in. These last groups will be headed into the city to help hold it against the soldiers that had already infiltrated. Murmuring my thanks, I walked to the door, going out into the night. Townspeople were running through the streets as troops directed them to shelters. The ones they consider old enough to fight were armed and sent in a direction to join a unit. Their terror at what was to come could almost be tasted in the air. Following the path I had taken to get here, I went and got my bag. Moving out of the alley, back onto the main road, I saw Michael charging up.