Firebrand

“Do I look all right?”

Karigan searched for a mechanism that would release the trap, but couldn’t find one. Somehow it had been modified from what she knew of such contraptions.

“I left a note telling you not to follow me,” Estral said.

Karigan glanced up at her. “If that’s not like an invitation to me, I don’t know what is. What did you think I was going to do? Sip tea and eat Dragon Droppings by the fire until your return?”

“Whose fault is that? At least I told you where I was going.”

“Just like you did for Alton,” Karigan muttered.

“Oh, as if you’d ever bother to pick up a pen to write me once in a while.”

Karigan muttered an oath and jammed the bonewood into the trap beside her foot in an attempt to leverage it open, but it would not give. Those who had set it did not want their human quarry to escape.

“I just wanted to find my father,” Estral said.

“Next time, leave it to the professional.”

“Oh, you mean the one stuck in a trap?”

Karigan growled and tried to pull her foot out of her boot, but she could not get her ankle past the steel clamped above it, and her foot would not budge. Trying to force it was painful.

“You can’t free your foot?” Estral asked quietly.

“Maybe if I chop it off.” Animals were known to chew their paws off to escape such traps. A coughing spell sent her sprawling.

“I’m sorry,” Estral said.

“We can worry about that later. Can’t you cut yourself out of that net?”

“I can’t move an inch. It’s got me bound up like swine in a corset.”

“Swine in a—?” Karigan laughed despite herself and went back to work trying to release her foot. Whoever had contrived the traps had been clever. There had to be a way to free herself. Or maybe, those who had set the trap in fact expected to cut off the feet of the trespassers caught in it. It was not a comforting thought.

Sweat dripped off her brow as she continued to struggle. She even tried smashing the steel with a rock, but to no avail. She only succeeded in striking her foot. She stilled to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. Her foot had grown numb in the trap.

“What about Enver?” Estral asked.

“I left him a note, which I hope he’ll see sooner rather than later.”

“Hah! I guess I am not the only note leaver.”

Karigan scowled at her. Since she could not free herself, she decided to see what she could do for Estral. Using the bonewood, she pushed herself up to stand on her free foot. She hopped as close to Estral’s tree as she could, the chain clinking as she went until it tautened and almost yanked her back down. Using the bonewood for balance, she drew her sword and reached as high as she could, but the tip came up short of the net, no matter how she strained to reach it. Enver, she thought, had better hurry, but who knew how long he’d planned to scout? If only she had an ax, she’d chop down the tree.

“Someone is coming,” Estral whispered.

The hunters, Karigan thought, to check their traps. She was not wrong. Four men and a woman in woodland garb broke through the brush and came face-to-face with her. She raised her sword.

“Look at what we’ve got,” one of the men said.

“Don’t get too close,” the woman warned him. “That’s a swordmaster’s band on the blade.”

“Now what would a swordmaster Greenie be doing in our woods, eh?”

“We were lost,” Karigan said. “Let us go.”

They laughed at her.

“Truly,” Estral said, “we were just looking for a—a friend. He’s tall, middle-aged, sings . . .”

“We’ve got a bunch like that,” the first man said. “There is no way this Greenie doesn’t know what forest this is. I suggest she drop her weapons.”

“Release us,” Karigan countered.

“No way that’s happening, is there. If you drop your weapons, it’ll go much easier for you.”

Karigan shifted her stance to improve her balance. She did not lower her sword.

“Get the one in the tree down first; then we’ll deal with the other.”

They worked out of her reach. When the net came down, it opened like the strings of a purse and Estral spilled out. She looked like she could barely move from her cramped position. One of the men quickly retrieved the saber and her knife, and prodded her with his own sword. Karigan took a futile swipe at him, but only upset her balance. She struggled to remain upright.

The man and woman disregarded Estral’s protests and hauled her to her feet. She cried out as they whipped her hands behind her back and bound her wrists.

A droplet of sweat slowly rolled down Karigan’s temple and cheek, and splattered onto her sleeve. The soldiers, and she deemed that that’s what these people were by their manner regardless of their garb, gazed at her speculatively as she held her defensive position.

“I guess you want this the hard way,” the first man said. “Very well.”

In one quick motion, he drew his sword and came for her. She met his blade soundly, but she floundered hopping on one foot, the chain dragging on her. The bonewood kept her upright, but she also used it in concert with her sword to block blows and return them.

The man was a swordsman and a good one, and he stepped out of reach as if to mock her.

“I never fought a swordmaster before,” he said, “and I can’t say I’m impressed.”