Part 16 (1/2)
”Aye.” He nodded jerkily. ”I thought it was best to start it as soon as we could. I thoughta”-”
”You did fine. Perfect.” She put all the rea.s.surance she could into her voice. ”Now go to the center and tell the troop leaders I want three of them to gather their troops and wait there. Tell everyone else it's the evacuation plan. Hurry!”
He shot away. ”Cogswhallop, go scout for me. I need to know how many, where they're coming in, and when, and I need it now.”
”Aye, gen'ral.” His eyes flickered to the bound human.
First things first. She had perhaps five seconds to spare. ”We're in battle now, lordling. The rules have changed. Give me one good reason why I should let you live to fight against us.”
CHAPTER 16.
The Knight HER VOICE WAS COLD, the way his old commander's voice was cold when he ordered a charge. Tobin took a deep breath and answered carefully. ”Because I'm not the goblin's enemy, not anymore. I've seen . . .” There was no time to explain the things he'd seen, things he was only beginning to understand. He put it into the simplest terms he could manage. ”You should let me go, because I'll be more useful protecting the children than bleeding to death on the floor. I won't hurt the goblins.”
She glanced at the silent bell, then at his face. Tobin had no idea what she read there.
”I swear it,” he said.
She looked at the bell again, then, impatiently, out the door. ”Very well.” She pulled a bronze knife from her belt and tossed it to the ground at his feet. ”Natter took the children. I'm not sure where.” She turned and strode out, her small lieutenant following.
It took Tobin several minutes, fumbling behind his back with bound and shaking hands, to pick up the knife and brace it with his feet so he could slide the rope on his wrists against the blade. Once his hands were free, he slashed quickly through the rope on his ankles. Her healing spells had cured his sprain enough for him to stand. He lurched stiffly to his feet, hobbled to the door, and stepped out into his nightmare.
Late afternoon sunlight blazed over the meadow. He couldn't see the horses yet, but goblins raced frantically about, shouting the names of family and friends.
Where would the children be in this turmoil? The only place he knew to start searching was at Natter's house, on the other side of the clearing. Could he even find it without a guide?
A shouted command rang out, the harsh human voice overwhelming the goblins' thin cries, and fires sprang up in a ring around the village, bright orange in the sunlight. Tobin began to run, racing across the clearing toward Natter's house.
He could see the horses now. They all had riders, and footmen walked beside them. Gusts of smoke blew over the edges of the meadow, obscuring his vision.
A horse screamed. Tobin turned and froze as the girl and several dozen goblins rose from cover right in front of the line of soldiers and charged. The Flichters' a.s.saults drove the horses mad, but the footmen were less vulnerable. The goblins attacked thema”humans more than twice their sizea”with bronze axes and shovels against steel armor. As Tobin gazed in horror, the goblins began to die under steel swords.
Then the girl shouted, wordless, mocking, triumphant. She'd gotten through the line and, as the soldiers turned to look, she raced off into the woods. She shouted again, and every soldier on that side of the meadow ran after her! As soon as the line broke, hundreds of goblins rose from cover, pouring like a darting river through the gap she'd made.
Shouts of rage from the remaining soldiers drowned Tobin's shout of triumph. Then the commanding voice rang out again, ordering them to close up the line, close up the line, and the nearby troops ran forward, but most of the goblins had already gone.
Most, but not all. Had the children escaped? Natter? Erebus? Tobin ran.
The horses' hooves didn't break through the goblin's roofs, as they had in his dream, but picks in the hands of the footmen did, tearing the houses open like bodies ripped by a sword.
He was still some distance away when he saw them, one on horseback, two on foot, attacking the earthen part of Natter's house. The rooms in the tree were already in flames, and Tobin hoped for a moment the house would be empty. But as soon as the pick smashed through the roof, the older children shot out of the side door, with Natter behind them, running more slowly because she carried Nuffet in her arms.
Tobin redoubled his speed, heart pounding. Thank the Bright Ones they were running in his direction!
The soldiers had been watching the front door, so it took them a second to notice their quarries' flight. Then a shout rang out and the horseman turned his mount and set it galloping after the fleeing goblins. Tobin hurtled forward and grabbed the bridle, dragging the horse to a prancing stop.
”Demon's teeth! What do you think you're doing? Let go of my horse!”
”Your commander! I have to see your commander!”
”Later,” the horseman snapped, and kicked Tobin's wrist, breaking his grip.
Natter darted out of a small gully and the horseman let out a hunting whoop and raced after her, but she was far ahead of him now, alone and unburdened. At least she had a chance.
Where were the children? Somewhere between Tobin and the gully in the meadowland from which she'd run. He walked forward, slowly, carefully, but the open meadow held little cover even for creatures as small as goblin children. The gully was better, about four feet deep with a house on one side and several clumps of bushes nearby. They wouldn't be safe in any house.
Tobin found a small door and knocked, calling quietly for the children to come out. No reply. He called that they wouldn't be safe inside, that the soldiers were tearing all the houses open. No answer. But they had to be there! He was thinking about trying to crawl in when something tugged at the leg of his britches. Glancing down, he saw a small hand disappear into the brush. Staring through the tangled twigs, he met Onny's eyes. She gestured away from the house, and he walked beside her as she crawled through the undergrowth.
He didn't look down againa”if anyone saw him it might betray the hiding place. Since he was no longer looking for the children, his eyes wandered over the battlefield.
He could tell it was almost over from the way the soldiers moved, relaxed and confident, as if the destruction of the goblins' peaceful home was just a job. Like hunting vermin.
Smoke obscured parts of the scene, but the sight of the gutted houses sickened him. He saw a rider with three dead goblins tied to his saddle like pheasants, and a wave of hatred burned through him. He understood Makenna now. He hated these people for their casual violence. They didn't know anything about the people they killed, didn't even bother to find out about them, for they were only goblins. Now he understood the anger in Makenna's eyes when he'd said she was human too, for the thought of being one of them sickened him.
Three soldiers appeared at the top of the gully.
Onny froze, flattening against the earth. He couldn't see the others, but he guessed they were hidden in the bushes between him and the soldiers. One of the men carried a torch.
”I want to see your commander,” Tobin told them. It was easy to make his voice cold. He tried to keep his anger out of it, but some of it got through and they exchanged uneasy glances.
”What do you want with him? Sir,” the mounted man asked, belatedly polite. A peasant, thank the Bright Onesa”not likely to argue with a lord for long.
”That's my business, goodman. But Master Lazur won't thank you for keeping me waiting.”
They exchanged glances again at the name. ”Well, sir, we'll get in trouble if we break the line. We've got strict orders to open all the houses and search them.”
”I'm sorry.” He let his tone make it clear that he wasn't sorry at all. ”I can't wait for that. You.” He gestured to the man with the torch. ”You'll guide me. You two can stay and carry out your duties.”
”But with just two of us, we'll get behind,” the mounted man protested. ”We're supposed to open and burn everythinga””
”Then I suggest you get started,” Tobin told him. ”There's a house right in front of you, another just ahead, and another past that one. If you stop arguing and get on with it, you should keep up. I'll need your horse as well, for my ankle is injured. Now, goodman.”
A wave of relief washed over him as the man slid glumly from the saddle and took up a pick. The two of them attacked the house vigorously. Tobin kept the man with the torch beside him while he limped forward and made a fuss adjusting the stirrups till the other two men cast him a final glare and moved out of the gully and on to the next house.
Tobin mounted carefullya”his ankle really was throbbing, now that he had time to notice it. The sun was about to set. With the line of searchers safely past, the children could stay where they were and escape under cover of darkness. Tobin had to fight against the impulse to look back as he rode away.
There were several delays, for no one at the small camp they'd set up a few miles from the clearing had any idea where Master Lazur was. They settled Tobin outside the big tent to wait. Through the open flaps he could see a desk, several traveling chairs, and the familiar row of spell books, their rich bindings out of place in the spartan command post. He thought there was another room behind the one he could see. It hardly mattered.
They gave him water and offered him food as well, but the thought turned his stomach. He was grateful when they left him alone. The sun set, and torches were lit. They reminded him of things he'd rather have forgotten.
He thought the children had gotten away safely, and Natter, too, but what about Erebus, who was slow and clumsy? And what had happened to Bocami, and Regg's mother, and the others he had met? His imagination produced a vision of Erebus' body tied to a saddle, and he hugged himself, s.h.i.+vering.
Suddenly another set of arms went around him. ”You did it!” Jeriah's voice proclaimed. ”I knew it! I knew you could do it.”
”Jeri?”
He staggered stiffly to his feet, and his brother embraced him again, pounding his back. It was a terrible relief to hug him, to let loving arms wipe out the horror of the afternoon.