34
The Rescue
There are, if you believe the old stories, dozens of excellent ways for a lone hero and his faithful familiar to outwit and defeat superior numbers of enemies in his quest to save the captured princess. Unfortunately, all those methods require magic – a lot more of it than I could work with my meagre breath band. Also, I didn’t exactly have a familiar. I had a … what was it Reichis had called it earlier? A business partner. It turns out that a ‘business partner’ is a lot like a familiar, only it doesn’t do any of the things you ask it to do.
‘We should create a distraction,’ I whispered, looking around for something we could use for that purpose.
‘No problem,’ Reichis chittered. ‘I can handle that.’
Without any warning, the squirrel cat leaped into the room, screeching and growling like a rabid creature gone mad. Apparently he hadn’t understood that the point of the distraction was not, in fact, to spectacularly announce our presence to our enemies. With no other options left, I gripped the rock tighter and ran in after him.
I recognised the grotesque black lacquered masks on two of our opponents as the same as the ones worn by the men who’d attacked us when we’d tried to summon power animals. One had a pair of misshapen tusks and a wide-mouthed frown carved onto its surface, and the second had a terrifyingly angry third eye at its centre.
The third man here had a mask I hadn’t seen before, mostly notable for long twisting ears on its sides. I briefly wondered if he felt bad at having been given the least intimidating mask, then noticed the long knife in his hand and decided that if he did, then he’d found a way to compensate.
Reichis went straight for Tusks, the biggest of the three, jumping high in the air to land on a narrow shelf carved into the tunnel wall, then using it as a platform to launch himself onto the big man’s head. It seemed like a poor strategy given the lacquer mask would protect the man’s face, but Reichis clambered over the top and dug his hind claws into the eye sockets. I heard a terrified shout as the man realised what was about to happen and tried to knock Reichis away. The squirrel cat jumped off, tearing a chunk of hair and scalp from the unprotected back of the man’s head in the process.
‘Nekhek!’ Ears screamed.
‘Don’t be an idiot,’ Third-Eye said, his knife held out as he faced off with the squirrel cat. ‘Didn’t you hear? They’re not demons at all. Probably just some kind of ugly dog.’
Reichis growled in response, so incoherently furious that I had no idea what he was saying.
‘Come here, mutt,’ Third-Eye said, getting ready to grab at Reichis while Tusks recovered enough to pick up a heavy club. They were moving to corner the squirrel cat.
Neither of them had noticed me yet, so I ran up and brained Tusks with the rock. His head was harder than I’d hoped, and as he spun around he elbowed me in the chest, pinning me against the wall. Having no better ideas, I decided to follow Reichis’s general approach and just kept hitting him with the rock again and again. I missed the side of his head, but caught him in the jaw, breaking off a piece of the lacquer mask and drawing a pained shout from him.
The third man, Ears, caught me around the middle and slammed me against the wall. I felt the air go out of me, but by a mixture of luck and instinct I managed to smash the rock down on his back while driving my knee as high as I could. I caught him in the chin, but I swear the pain that shot through my kneecap from the impact with his mask was worse than whatever I gave him.
I heard a loud grunt and turned to see Tusks kick Reichis, the toe of his boot hitting the squirrel cat full on and sending him flying backwards. I gave a scream and ran for Tusks, rock held high. He backed away from me so fast that his head hit the wall behind him and he looked as if he’d stunned himself. I turned back to the others only to see Third-Eye coming at me again, running past the post where they’d tied Ferius. At the last instant she stuck out her leg and he tripped over it.
Third-Eye landed face first on the hard, rocky floor. He wrapped a strong hand around my ankle and started pulling me down with him. I leaned over to try and knock him out with my rock, but Reichis beat me to it, leaping onto the man’s back and clawing through his linen shirt and into his skin. Apparently this was just as painful as it looked, because within seconds Third-Eye had released my ankle. He scrambled on hands and knees and fled the room, desperately trying to dislodge Reichis, who kept chittering, ‘Who’s the mutt now, bitch? Who’s the mutt now?’
‘Reichis, get back here!’ I shouted, even as I turned back to face the other attackers. Fortunately Tusks was on the ground, unconscious, while Ears was on his hands and knees, still stunned from my earlier efforts with the rock. He raised his knife and swiped, trying to slash at my legs. I saw Ferius, still hanging from the post, raise one booted heel and then kick Ears in the side of the head. He went down hard and stayed there.
‘Hey, kid,’ she said, eyes barely able to focus on me. Even in the dim light I could see the bruises on her face and angry red welts around her neck. ‘This your idea of a rescue?’
‘It’s not like I’ve had a lot of practice,’ I countered. I was shaking, barely able to keep hold of the rock, which now felt slick with blood. ‘How am I doing so far?’
She gave a hoarse chuckle. ‘Untie these ropes and help me get your sister out of this damned mine and into some fresh air so I can have a smoke – then I’ll let you know.’
I was in the process of doing just that when Reichis came racing back into the room. ‘We have a problem.’
‘What now?’ I asked, using Third-Eye’s abandoned knife to cut at the ropes holding Ferius’s wrists.
Reichis looked oddly embarrassed. ‘Turns out I was wrong when I said there was only three of them down here.’