CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was close to dusk when Jade at last awoke. Phoenix and Marcus took turns sleeping and watching over her. Phoenix grudgingly made use of the chamber pot. Marcus was surprised at his reluctance but Phoenix couldn’t imagine how to explain a flush toilet, so he didn’t bother.
At noon, a soldier handed some bread and cheese through the tent flap. The boys divided it into three and saved a large portion of the water for Jade as well.
By the time she stirred, Phoenix was restless. She’d slept close to ten hours. If they were going to come up with an escape plan, it needed to be soon. Night time was their best chance of avoiding guards.
Finally she shifted, groaned and sat up. She rubbed her eyes, stretched and blinked in the gloom. “Where....? Oh.” Recollection flashed across her face and she grimaced. “I remember. Marcus!” She swung her legs off the bed, squinted at the Roman boy then nodded in apparent satisfaction.
“What is it?” Phoenix murmured.
Jade waggled a hand at him. “I can see the spell I put on him like a kind of fuzzy purple aura around his body.”
“What kind of spell?” Marcus asked uneasily.
“Just a variation on an Illusion spell,” she replied. “I sort of tweaked it to make it deflect Farseeing. So you’re kind of like a Stealth guy, now.” She smiled a little at Marcus’ confused expression. “Basically, it should mean that Zhudai can’t Farsee you any more.”
Shoo-ing the boys toward the front of the tent, she made use of the chamber pot.
“Tweaked?” Marcus muttered to Phoenix. “Stealth-guy? Are these some sort of arcane magic words?”
“Um..yes?” Phoenix replied. “It’s a bit hard to explain. Don’t worry about it.”
“What was that noise?”
He jumped at the sound of Jade’s voice right beside his ear. “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he scolded.
“Sorry. Did you hear that?” She frowned in concentration. “I’m sure I heard something out there.”
Phoenix strained his ears but heard nothing beyond the normal camp-noises of people talking and laughing, pots banging and fires crackling. Marcus listened too but, eventually both shook their heads.
Jade huffed. “I’m sure I heard…I don’t know, maybe chanting? No. It’s stopped now…nevermind.” She sat back on a stool and began to gnaw on the bread and cheese they had left her. “OK. How are we going to escape then?”
“We were kind of hoping you’d come up with something.” Phoenix shrugged. “I’m more the action type.”
“Surely you came up with something,” she said thickly, swallowing down the food.
Phoenix raked his fingers through his hair. “Unfortunately all my ideas involved having our weapons and equipment – and there being about forty less guards; plus a lot of fog. Or even rain, at a pinch.”
“Has there been any sign of Zhudai arriving?” She seemed anxious about that. “I really don’t want to meet him right now. He’s way out of my league!”
“League?” Marcus shook his head frowning over the slang. “He will not be many leagues away at all. My father said he would arrive tomorrow. If he were here, we would have been taken before him already.”
“Well,” Jade chewed slowly on the last fragment of bread, frowning, “I guess our best chance is to wait until three or four in the morning – when the guards are sleepy.”
“They will be expecting that,” Marcus put in.
“I know but they’ll still be sleepy - or at least a bit less alert,” she grimaced. “Fog would have been nice. Before you ask,” she held up a hand at Phoenix when he opened his mouth, “no, I can’t make fog. Or rain.”
“Actually,” Phoenix said mildly, “I was going to ask if you could do something with that Illusion spell you mentioned. Like maybe make the guards think we were going one way...what?” He trailed off as the other two looked at him in astonishment. “Stupid idea?”
“No.” She blinked at him. “Quite possibly a brilliant idea! I think I can put maybe twenty of the guards on this side into a light sleep and still have enough energy to throw an illusion that should fool the others. After that we just have to make it to the edge of the forest and we can hide.”
“What about our gear and weapons?” Marcus reminded them.
“Oh,” she frowned, “I forgot. We might just have to leave them behind and steal weapons from the guards. We should have a Plan B in case one of us gets captured or held up, too.”
The three of them discussed their escape plan in as much whispered detail as they could. There were a whole lot of ways in which things could go horribly wrong but they had to make the attempt.
Finally, Marcus and Phoenix settled down to sleep while Jade kept watch. Sometime after midnight, she woke them. The glow of campfires had died down, so the world outside was lit only by the ghostly, clear white light of the near-full moon high above. Sounds of camp talk and revelry were replaced by the occasional cough or snore as hundreds of soldiers slept. Outside their tent sounded the creak of leather and low-voiced conversations of their guards.
“They’re still awake,” Phoenix whispered, easing a neck muscle stiffened from sleeping on the hard pallet.
“They are professional soldiers,” Marcus said.
Jade pulled back the tent-flap a few centimetres and peered out.
“The guards are standing in three circles around the tent.” she murmured. “There are ten close to us, twenty just beyond them and thirty even further away. The first ten and the twenty are facing us but the others are facing outward.”
“Can you do it?” Phoenix looked past her, into the moon-washed night outside.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just wish I had my herb bag. I could use some more energy but we don’t really have any other options, do we?”
The others shook their heads. Marcus laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
“You can do this, Jade. Believe it.”
She sent him a quick look of gratitude mixed with self-doubt. Taking a deep breath, she whispered final instructions. “I’m going to try and put a group of twenty on this side into a light trance-sleep so they will look like they’re still awake and standing up. Then I’ll throw the illusion of us running the other way to draw off the rest. Ready?”
“One problem,” Phoenix muttered. “We can’t see in the dark like you can.”
“It’s almost a full moon. It’s as bright as day. You should be fine.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded once. He’d feel better once he had a sword in his hand, that was certain.
“OK.” Jade spoke one soft word in Elvish and a kind of heaviness swept through the tent. Phoenix blinked, feeling the weight of her sleep spell brush him. She swayed a little. Marcus steadied her as she murmured again and pointed a finger toward the back of the tent.
For just a second, he thought he saw three ghostly figures turn and run through the canvas. Marcus gasped and shivered. Jade sagged between them, stumbled and recovered.
“Now!” she whispered harshly, shaking off their hands and hauling open the tent flap.
A hoarse cry went up from the guards around the side of the tent. For a moment, Phoenix thought they’d been seen but the sound of movement, yelling of orders and silhouettes of dark figures showed the guards rushing away from the tent opening. They were following Jade’s illusion people. The plan was working.
The three took several stealthy steps before almost colliding with the first sleeping guard. It was unnerving to see him standing, wide-eyed and motionless right in front of them. Phoenix had to snap shut his teeth to hold back a yell. His breath clouded in the cold night air. He managed to keep his wits enough to quickly slide two Romans’ swords out of their sheaths. Marcus followed suit, relieving two other soldiers of their weapons without hesitation. Phoenix hefted the gladii, feeling their s
trange weight and shape, wondering if he could use them effectively. They were several inches shorter than the weapon he normally carried and had no hand guard.
Jade tugged on his arm. “I can only hold both spells for a few minutes. Let’s go!”
Phoenix nodded and began to thread his way through the guards toward what he hoped was roughly north. From Brynn’s descriptions of Salisbury Plain in 80AD, he was pretty sure Stonehenge would lie west and maybe a little south of this Roman encampment. It shouldn’t be too far away, either. They had decided, though, it would be safer to try and return to the Druid forest sanctuary. Hopefully they could get Brynn and the Jewel of Asgard before the dawn ceremony commenced – and that meant going back northeast again.
The sound of guards chasing illusions began to rouse other soldiers. All around them men in tents were asking sleepy questions and gathering weapons. Any second now, dozens of tent flaps would fly open and hundreds more soldiers would join the fray. The three escapees began to run in earnest.
Suddenly they cleared the tents and were racing toward the perimeter guards. Dozens of men stood in a loose circle around the camp. Some faced outward, watching for danger. Others peered inward, trying to understand the chaos happening inside the camp. Many held torches aloft. They must have been ordered to stay put and hold the perimeter but they were clearly hoping to get some action.
Jade grabbed his arm and Marcus’. “Don’t start anything, if you don’t have to. We all have to get through if we can, remember?”
Phoenix nodded curtly. It was a nice idea but he had a feeling they weren’t going to be able to just waltz through the perimeter unchallenged. In a way, he preferred to stand and fight. He was tired of all this walking, talking, hiding and running away. He was a warrior. Fighting was what his character did best.
Sure enough, as they got nearer, the first soldiers stepped up and called out a command to halt and be recognised. The three kept running. More soldiers gathered. Phoenix glanced across at Jade and Marcus.
“There’s no way we’ll all be able to sneak through now. Time for Plan B!” he yelled at Jade.
She and Marcus looked at each other and nodded. Jade fell back a few steps, letting the two warriors take the lead. Phoenix didn’t see what happened to her next. He was too busy heading into battle in order to give her a chance to slip past. Holding a sword in each hand, he ran full-tilt at the nearest soldiers. It was time for action.
With a bloodthirsty yell, Phoenix fell on the enemy. His swords darted and flickered as he let his Warrior instincts take over. With a clang, one blade met an opponent’s. The collision jarred up into his shoulder. He disengaged, deflected a second fighter’s jab with his other sword and twisted away from both. Now three closed in on him, calling out instructions to each other. Another tried to slip behind but Marcus appeared, protecting his back.
“Where’s Jade?”
The Roman parried two thrusts with a grunt. “She made it through the lines and has gone for the Druids, as we planned.”
“Well,” Phoenix growled, “let’s hold them as long as we can and hope Jade can find Brynn and they can convince the Druids to help. Otherwise, this could be a very short fight. Why she thinks they’ll help when they betrayed us, I don’t know!”
“We don’t have a lot of other choices,” Marcus replied grimly.
There was no more time for talk. The pair fought on. Phoenix caught a blow on his forearm, glad the Romans hadn’t taken his leather and iron armguards. As it was the force of it almost numbed his fingers. For several frightening seconds he could barely grasp the sword. He lashed out with a kick to escape being skewered.
He stepped a little away from Marcus then realised the soldiers were trying to separate them and moved back. Behind him, Marcus’ heavy breathing and the slicker and clash of metal told him the Roman boy still fought strongly. They couldn’t afford to let anyone between them. The only reason they weren’t dead already was that the Romans couldn’t all get close at once. There were only ever three or four near enough to trade blows at any one time. If they got smart enough to back off and let the archers loose, though...
Desperation crept into Phoenix’s heart little by little. His arms slowed; the muscles starting to burn. His breath came in short gasps. Metal clanged again as he barely turned aside a jab aimed at his stomach. Five Romans were down on his side; three dead and two badly wounded but more stepped into the gaps. He wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate. Plus, he was at a disadvantage. He wasn’t used to working with gladii and they were.
He had to change tactics. Just being a barbarian warrior wasn’t going to cut it. He had to do something new.
Drawing a deep breath, he opened the part of his mind that held his aikido experience. There had to be a way to get this body to use both skills. He watched how his opponents moved, conserving his energy to deal with truly lethal attacks, rather than bluffs. Deliberately, he made his footwork more circular, more like aikido movements. It was difficult. His 80AD body-memory kept trying to revert to chop-and-hack. Phoenix clenched his teeth, focussing all his will on the basic concept of aikido - blending. Only this time it was not an opponent he had to blend with - it was himself: his two minds and fighting styles. This had to work, or they were dead.
A window opened in his mind, understanding flooded in. His body responded, moving as he wanted it to; his two styles of fighting seemlessly merging and under his full control. His movements became flowing, circular, his sword work more like that of a Samurai.
It was a brilliant move. These particular Romans had never fought against an Eastern style of swordplay. It confused them. They had no idea what to expect from his concise, centred movements. With a series of well-timed, well-placed blows, Phoenix sliced five soldiers from neck to torso or from side to side. The others fell back, stunned by the ferocity of his attack.
Behind him, Phoenix heard Marcus’ breath coming quick and deep.
“You OK?” he called anxiously.
“Not...for much longer,” Marcus managed.
“I know.” Phoenix’s heart sank as more soldiers crowded behind the ones now eyeing them with open hostility. “I’m sorry I got you into this and I’m honoured to have known and fought with you, Marcus.”
“And...you,” the Roman boy replied between white breaths. “Die well, friend.”
“Frankly,” Phoenix muttered as the soldiers moved in again, “I’d rather not die at all but we don’t seem to have much say in it.”
Marcus gave a short laugh as his sword came up to block a blow at his head.
Their opponents surged forward with renewed determination. Phoenix now blended his two sword styles to cause the most confusion possible. It worked for awhile but his strength drained away like water. More and more strikes came close to his body. He began to bleed from several small slices. He stumbled and barely managed to deflect a lethal cut to his throat.
Just as his weary mind and body were at the point of complete collapse, he felt an odd surge of strength. It flowed like warm honey into his exhausted muscles, seeming to ooze into his body from the outside. Not questioning his bizarre good fortune, he plunged back into the fray. Fighting with renewed vigour he ducked beneath a wild thrust to skewer another opponent.
Things got even stranger. His enemies slowed. He could see clearly every blow about to fall; anticipate the next strike from the corner of his eye; slide easily out of the way of a thrown pilum. As he watched, bewildered, they grew yet more sluggish. It was truly uncanny: as though the world had slowed down or he had sped up to super-speed.
He’d almost decided he really had developed some kind of super abilities, when the soldiers ceased all movement.
Stunned, Phoenix straightened and stared about. OK, he couldn’t be that fast. All around stood a freaky tableau of frozen motion.
Lit by the red glow of slow-flickering torches, snarling soldiers held swords upraised; one man had his arm drawn back to throw a pilum; an officer shouted silent orders. Dozens of men stood behind them, their faces distorted as they screamed noiseless encouragement. All as still as statues.
Movement caught Phoenix’s eye and he spun, sword ready. It was only Marcus, turning circles. His eyes were wide and wild as he ducked beneath a sword and came to Phoenix’s side.
“What the…?” He was breathing hard. Blood from a cut on his thigh dripped steadily into the dust.
Phoenix reached out and touched the hand of one of the soldiers. It was warm. The man rocked a little but didn’t spring to life.
“I’m thinking...magic of some sort,” Phoenix said. “Jade must be around somewhere. I didn’t think she was this strong, though.” He peered past the crowd of soldiers, toward the camp. He couldn’t hear anything from beyond the circle of angry faces. Distant firelight showed dozens of figures silhouetted like still shadow-puppets in front of the orange glow. The frozen-zone seemed to extend throughout the Roman camp.
“Let’s get out of here,” Marcus said. He snatched a cloak from the officer and tore it into shreds. With it he bound the wound on his thigh. Phoenix did the same with the worst of his own injuries then looked around.
“How do we get through?” He indicated the solid wall of bodies between them and anywhere else. He didn’t fancy trying to crawl between their legs.
Marcus smiled wickedly. “Ever played at ninepins?”
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