Journey of the Messenger Cycle 1 Part 9a

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Ijah

Ijah had not expected the door to come off its hinges on Osran’s first attempt to force it open. The half-blood sprawled in the opening and someone with a spear took a stab at her. Ijah commanded her initiate, “Berri, shoot!”

Osran sat up, Ijah could not tell if she had been stabbed. Berri took her shot, there was a scream from beyond the entry. Breathing calmly Ijah advanced, staying to the side to avoid any archers that may have been lurking within. Osran scrambled back to the other side of the door. Berri held her position, reloading her crossbow.

Someone took a shot at Berri. It missed. Ijah did not think she noticed the shaft as it passed within a hand-span of her. The girl was focused on reloading. Across from her Osran was wrapping a morning star around her left forearm, gripping the handle. Ijah shifted to take a look inside, from behind a pile of furniture a man with a spear took a thrust at her, she saw blood on the tip of the weapons as she ducked back.

“Osran, are you alright?”

“I’m good!”

Another arrow came from within, Ijah heard Berri shoot her crossbow. There was a scream from inside and a shout of pain from Berri. Osran stood, her back to the wall, battle axe ready. Ijah shifted and rolled into the room towards the pile of furniture the spear-man was hiding behind. Osran bellowed as she followed her in.

The spear missed, she came to her feet thrusting upwards and ran him through, he stumbled away screaming. Osran was shouting and killing. Ijah jumped over the furniture, cutting down the man she had wounded. A quick glance around revealed a spacious room, it stank of blood and beer. A couple paces away a well dressed young man held a sword in the guard position, he faced her, fear etched on his face. Osran’s axe flew across the room and took another man in the back before he could flee through an open doorway, he fell with a scream, thrashing.

Ijah closed on her foe, the youth parried then countered, Ijah knocked his attack aside and thrust for his midsection. As he backed up and parried again, the fear left his face, replaced by intense concentration. He tried to move to her right, she circled the other way, taking a swing at him. Again he parried, then stepped forward pushing against her sword with his own. Ijah did not resist, stepping to the side and letting his effort push the blade back. A brief glint of victory showed in his eyes just before she stepped forward and slammed the hilt of her weapon into the side of his face. He cried out, stumbling away and managed to keep his weapon up between them. He might have become a good fighter, given enough time, Ijah knocked the sword from his hand and took his head off.

She turned away from the falling body to see that Osran had killed a fair number of the enemy. The wounded cried in pain, one man was on his knees in front of the half-blood, begging for his life. Two others were backing towards a door on the far side of the room. Berri came to the entry, the left side of her face covered in blood, Osran’s axe clove into the man on his knees as Berri shot one of the retreating men. The last of them turned and fled.

Osran was breathing heavily, Ijah suspected she was at least somewhat wounded, she was covered in blood and gore. The wound on Berri’s face was dripping. Ijah moved to follow after the man who had fled and told her companions, “Kill the wounded, tend to your injuries, search the place, free the women.”

“What women?” Berri demanded, bewildered.

Ijah ignored the question as she entered the hallway the last man had fled down. She passed a narrow stairwell going to the upper floor, she listened. Hearing nothing that made her believe the man was hiding in the darkness above her, she kept going down the hall. A door to the left was locked, in the dim light coming from the narrow window at the far end of the hall she could see some bloody smudges along the floor. She rounded the corner near the window cautiously. There was a partially open door leading out of the back of the building with bloody footprints leading to the exit, with a small cloakroom and a wider set of stairs leading up to the second level.

Cautiously she went up the stairs. She heard movement and whispered warnings, the voices sounded feminine. She called out before moving into the hallway on the second level, “The men have been slain or fled. I intend you no harm.”

A woman appeared in the doorway above her, she was a bit older than Ijah and not wearing much. The woman demanded, “Who are you?”

“My name is Ijah. How many women are here?”

“Around a couple of dozen.”

“Help me gather them. We need to be leaving here as soon as possible.”

“What do you intend to do with us?”

“Help you get to the freehold south of here, Lapri’s FreeHold, I believe.”

“Goddess be praised. I will help you. I’m from a freehold further south, but there is a Temple of Mercy near Lapri’s Keep, they would offer sanctuary.”

“Are you a priestess?”

“An initiate. How many did you come with? How did you hear of our plight?”

“I’ve two others with me. The first group of men we met stank of sex and filth, strong enough to be noticed over the horses. And there were no women in the village that I could see. It was an assumption on my part.”

“The goddess must have guided you. Come, I will need help with some of the women.”

Ijah followed, “We may not be able to do much for any who cannot travel well, they will send out a force once word reaches Freeton.”

The woman glanced back at her, “Then we will have to give them mercy, I’ll not leave any here to suffer further indignities.”

“As you say.”

It took a while to gather all the women, most were fearful and exhausted but otherwise sound enough for travel. A few of the women had been locked into rooms after repeated attempts to flee and most of those had shown signs of physical trauma. Two had been claimed by certain men who had kept them locked away, safe from their companions. The establishment’s largest suite of rooms had also been locked, the three women found in this room had suffered under the hands of a sadist, the depravities they had suffered left them unable to flee.

One of them, on seeing Ijah, immediately begged her for death. Ijah drew her knife and slid the blade between two ribs, into the woman’s heart, “I am sorry you suffered such, may the embrace of the Mother of Mothers comfort you.” She cleaned her blade and looked around. The initiate of Mercy was trying to call on her goddess to heal one of the other women. Ijah went to the third, who had remained unconscious, she appeared to have suffered more than the other two. Broken limbs, flayed in areas, branded numerous times, it was hard to recognize that she had even been human. Ijah was sickened by the depravities these women suffered, she killed the woman the same way she had the first, tears escaped her eyes despite her effort to remain detached.

Struggling to control herself she cleaned her knife again. The initiate came to her and held out a trembling hand, her voice was tight with anger when she asked, “May I borrow that?”

“I can do the deed if you’d rather?”

“No… This mercy is a thing our order deals in, even if it is not often talked about.”

Ijah simply nodded, reversed her hold on the weapon and passed it to the other woman, “Do you know who did this?”

“A young man by the name of Little Fingures. Fair featured and well dressed, a heart full of evil.”

“I believe I briefly met him earlier. I took his head off.”

“Good, he deserved worse.” She turned away and went to the other woman, who wept and begged for mercy.

Ijah looked around, the room had piles of clothing, weapons, various treasures, a lock box and really nice furniture, of which no two pieces seemed to match.

The initiate was weeping over the body of the woman she had just killed. Ijah went to her, took the blade and cleaned it once again, she discarded the bloody cloth. “If we’re going to get you and the others to safety, we have to leave. There are clothes and weapons here, get the women ready to go, I’ll check in with my companions. We will need to raid the kitchen before we depart. Do you know how far away Lapri’s FreeHold is?”

The woman replied despondently, “An eight-day under typical circumstance.”

“Alright, get the others ready, we’ll be going soon.”

Ijah tested the weight of the lock box, it was heavy. She hefted it up onto her shoulder, reclaimed her sword and went downstairs. Some of the women were wandering around the building, she encouraged them to find clothing and food, “We will flee south. Be quick about it, we do not have much time.”

She found Osran sitting on the front steps, She had a bandage around her right leg, across her right shoulder and around her left forearm. Three horses had been hitched nearby, there was no sign of Berri. “Where’s the girl?”

“Berri go to get horses, rode horse from here.”

Ijah was displeased, “We won’t be staying long, can I leave you here to meet up with her?”

“Yes.”

“Are you able to open this box?”

Osran eyed the box, “Looks tough, but I tougher.”

“Alright, I’m going to go encourage the other women to greater haste.”

Ijah went back inside leaving Osran to figure out how to open the box. It took longer than she would have liked, but she and the initiate of Mercy were able to get everyone clothed. They took food from the kitchen and at least half the women had armed themselves. Everyone filed out into the yard, many blinking at the brightness of the day. Some had been in this place since mid-spring.

To her surprise, Osran had managed to open the box without smashing it, within was a bounty of coins, jewellery and various small trinkets. “How did you open it?”

“Box not sealed tight, just moved the buckles and opened.”

“Oh… Those are latches, not buckles.” She raised her voice to be heard clearly, “Any who wish may take from this box. Don’t take too much, we have to move as fast as possible. Those of you in the worst shape should get up on the horses, anyone with the experience, please assist them.”

Osran stood up, took a handful of treasure and slung a bundle of weapons over her shoulder, “I wait for Berri near road, where fight start.”

“Very well, we’re going to go south to the nearest freehold, heading to a place called Lapri’s Keep.”

“I see you soon. That was good fight.” Osran limped off to the east using a spear to support her weight.

Ijah went over to the initiate who was leading a horse with three women on its back, “You know the way?”

“I do.”

“Then let’s get out of this gods-forsaken place.”

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