The lead archer raised his bow, and seven others followed. Before the first arrow was released, Orin had already shot off a bolt and Rezkin had drawn his swords. The silver blades flashed in the waning light as each arrow was knocked aside or cleaved in two. The minder and Orin, for all his bluster, both dove behind Rezkin for cover, but the mercenary was not fast enough to avoid an arrow through the leg.
As soon as the commotion started, Kai and Farson began picking off troops from the rear. The shouts initially went unnoticed, since Rezkin was keeping the closest troops and most of the officers busy. The unbound mercenaries responded quickly to fight for their lives. They attacked the nearest soldiers, collecting weapons as soon as they became available. One of the mercenaries was rendered unconscious before he even gained his feet but was saved from a killing strike by his comrade.
From the field on the right, Yserria danced into the fray, each of her graceful movements ending in a bloody swath. Jimson was at her side, and Malcius and Brandt were farther down the line. Most of the horses were gathered in the yard or were already in pens, but those still in the road were spooked. Some of them trampled the soldiers in their escape to the fields, likely to be eaten by drauglics if they did not return quickly.
While the soldiers, mercenaries, and Rekzin’s friends were fighting, the purifiers huddled around their pole of shackles. As Rezkin waded closer, he began to feel the tingle of mage power, and he realized that it was emanating from all three of them. Heavily engaged with a practiced opponent, Malcius was suddenly smashed against an invisible barrier, as if a wall stood between him and the purifiers. The female purifier reached into her robe and withdrew a long dagger. With a hateful glare, she lunged for him. Although Malcius was unaware of the attempted assault, he rolled out of the way just in time to avoid both the dagger and the sword strike aimed at his head. His opponent’s blade collided with the ward, deflected unexpectedly, and he stumbled. Malcius took advantage of the error and plunged his sword into the man’s exposed back.
Rezkin realized the barrier only blocked objects from passing in one direction when the woman suddenly charged through to attack Malcius from behind. Rezkin grabbed for a dagger, but before he could release it, an arrow sailed into the woman’s heart. Malcius and Rezkin both glanced to see that Yserria had liberated a bow and arrows from one of the dead archers, and she was apparently an excellent shot. Yserria lowered the bow just as Kai crashed into a man who was approaching her from behind. Farson swept across the road, making quick work of the remaining soldiers in the surrounding cluster. The surprise attack on the troops had been swift and efficient. Before long, soldiers began throwing their weapons aside and laying prostrate on the ground as a sign of surrender. Those that remained lost morale when they realized their officers had been the first to fall. The mercenary company lost another member and a second was severely wounded, but they had killed all but ten soldiers and two purifiers who were taken prisoner. They had also gained a little over sixty Gendishen red cavalry horses.
Orin groaned as he hobbled over to Rezkin. “What’ve we done?”
“Saved our lives,” Rezkin said.
“We’ll be lucky to be hung for this,” the mercenary mumbled.
“They were going to kill us anyway.”
Orin nodded. “No way to win.”
“We did win. The problem is them,” Rezkin said, pointing to the prisoners. Jimson and Kai were binding the soldiers’ hands while the others searched bodies and gathered horses.
Orin limped up to the prisoners, a broken arrow protruding from his calf. He leaned toward them and yelled, “I told yer commander we had nothin’ to do with it! They was gone or dead when we got here. But he had to blame me and my men! Now these’re all dead”—he waved toward the bodies scattered over the ground—“and we’re stuck with you lot! What do you expect us to do now?”
The prisoners glanced at each other, and one of the younger soldiers said, “You could let us go?”
Orin frowned at him. “Let you go? So you can get another patrol—or a battalion—and come after us?” He limped and huffed and growled and then kicked a rock in frustration. It thudded off the temple of a fresh corpse, which sent him into another juvenile tirade.
Yserria watched the rugged mercenary with fascination and muttered to Rezkin in Leréshi, “Men are too emotional.”
Orin stopped in his tracks and said, “What did she say?” He took a few steps forward and raised a finger along with his voice. “What did she say?”
“You should not let down your guard.”
“Ah,” Orin said as he released a breath. “Well, the Leréshi’s right. Enemies are all around.” He narrowed his eyes at the prisoners and motioned for Rezkin to step aside. “We’ve got drauglics—drauglics! And now our own army. But you, you could’ve left. You don’t know us. Why’d you stay and get yerself into this mess?”
Rezkin shrugged. “We needed the horses.”
“Bah, Behrglyn’s a day away. You coulda gotten horses there without makin’ an enemy of the king. Why’d you help us?”
Rezkin glanced at Kai who was selecting the best horses. “Boss says we fight, we fight.” Orin gave him a dubious look. Rezkin grinned. “We coulda killed you and taken yer horses when we first met.” With a nod toward the house, he said, “My friend in there don’t like senseless killin’.”
“The pretty one? I noticed he weren’t out here fightin’. So he’s the conscience and yer the sword?”
Rezkin tilted his head. It was an idea he would have to consider later. He shrugged and said, “Somethin’ like that. Besides, it woulda been a waste of resources. Yer men came in handy durin’ the battle with the drauglics. No tellin’ how many more we’ll meet.”
“Maybe, but now we’ve got them to worry about. Once they blab, the king’ll have an army after us.”
“Dead men can’t talk,” Rezkin said. Finwy looked up, obviously paying attention despite his preoccupied appearance, and Rezkin’s friends shared an uncomfortable glance.
The young soldier scrambled forward on his knees and exclaimed, “But we surrendered.”
Rezkin looked at the man with an icy gaze. “The mercs surrendered earlier, and your dergmyer woulda had them killed anyway. You’d’ve done the killin’ when he’d ordered it.”
Tears welled in the young man’s eyes as he shook his head. “No! I mean, I have to follow orders, but I wouldn’t want to.”
“Well, I don’t want to have to kill you,” Rezkin replied, “but yer a threat.”
The older purifier interrupted. “We are servants of the Maker. We do his bidding. You cannot kill us.”
Orin limped over to the man. He pointed back at Minder Finwy and said, “That’s a servant of the Maker, and yer troops tried to put an arrow through him. Damned purifiers—think they can go around takin’ and killin’ anyone they please who ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”
The purifiers both looked at the mercenary with fury in their dark gazes. The eldest said, “The afflicted have made pacts with demons. What could be worse?”
“Says you!” Orin said. “I don’t trust the scourge no more than you, but the rest of the world is sayin’ they’re blessed of the Maker.” He waved at the minder who was wandering about mouthing silent words over the dead. Finwy looked up and nodded then went back to his ministrations. “It always felt kinda wrong, but truth is, I didn’t care much before. I ain’t sayin’ I want anythin’ to do with the scourge. I don’t like no one havin’ that kind of power so as I can’t fight against it; but now I know what it’s like being accused of something I didn’t do and havin’ people gonna kill you fer it. That’s wrong!”
The sun had finally descended below the horizon, and Kai and Farson delivered a lamp and a few hastily made torches. Farson came to stand at Rezkin’s side.
“What do you intend to do now?” he asked in Pruari, since it was unlikely anyone present would speak the language. “We cannot keep prisoners. Will you kill them?”
“It is what you taught, yet I feel it is not what you want,” Rezkin replied.
Farson was silent for too long, but Rezkin waited. Finally, the striker said, “It would be a mistake to let them go.”