Chapter 28
Despite the pain, Augni held perfectly still as Thjorn carved into his chest. The available tools weren't the sharpest, but Thjorn assured him the glyph he'd inscribed would keep the blade clean and free from fear of infection. The blood glyph would burn up when used, sealing the wound, and it didn't bleed too much at the moment.
Blood glyphs were old. When the First Ones taught man the basic glyphs, blood glyphs had been symbols of power. Carving glyphs into the body gave immediacy, granting a burst of power greater than that from worn glyphs. They drew partly on the energies bodies absorbed from proximity to active glyphs. Since the energies intertwined with the individual's life force, blood glyphs had their dangers. They burned out quickly, literally boiling the exposed blood, and the pain was intense. They fell out of use when the tribes started to become civilised, but before that time a berserker would have a few drawn on their body before combat. They used the pain to incite a battle lust which let them ignore other pains.
While Augni didn't really want to experience that, they had little choice.
Standing back, Thjorn gave it a quick appraisal before nodding.
'So this'll get me through the wards?' asked Augni.
'No, that's for the getaway.' Thjorn rechecked the glyphs he'd scratched in their manacles, which disabled the existing glyphs.
'Do I need another blood glyph to get through the barrier?'
'Too dangerous,' said Thjorn. 'I need you able to concentrate for the getaway. One blood glyph is bad enough, but can't be helped. Two would be pushing it. We'll have to fall back on the secondary plan.'
'Which is?'
'Break everyone out.' Thjorn glanced at his right wrist, examining the unburned glyphs. 'No, it'll have to be a blood glyph,' he said to himself. Raising his shirt he started carving.
'What do you mean, break everyone out?'
'I let all the prisoners go so we can escape in the chaos.'
'These are dangerous men,' said Augni.
'I'd hope so, or they shouldn't be here.'
Augni felt his irritation grow, exacerbated by the pain from his chest. 'This is your plan?'
'It is now,' said Thjorn.
'What was the previous plan?'
'To walk out of here.'
'Just walk out,' said Augni.
'Yes.'
'Through all their defences and guards?'
'Yes,' said Thjorn. 'It’d have been at night, so not that difficult.'
A horn sounded before Augni could say any more. It signalled a call to assemble prisoners in the yard. They were far enough ahead of where they should be working that they had time to finish before rejoining the procession, so Thjorn didn't rush. Not that he would have. The only sign of his pain was in how tightly he gripped the makeshift knife.
Securing his shirt, Augni pulled darker rags over it to hide the blood soaking through. He was careful not to apply too much pressure to the contact-triggered glyph. It should take more than a glancing touch to set off, but when things started moving they wouldn't have time to carve another.
Thjorn finished in plenty of time for them to wait off the corridor their group used to march towards the surface. They slipped in without disturbing the guards.
It was dawn when they emerged. The first daylight they'd seen for a while.
The area inside the posts filled as prisoners emerged from the caves, some newly woken.
Thjorn and Augni made their way to the front of the crowd, just shy of the invisible barrier. It wasn't difficult. Most avoided the front for fear of drawing attention.
The guards lined up beyond the barrier. Directly ahead of Thjorn and Augni stood Garveig, his armour shining. He scowled, his gaze lingering on Thjorn a touch too long for comfort.
Mutters laced the crowd. The guards were silent. When they were all assembled, the horn sounded again, a drawn-out blast to silence them.
Garveig continued his sweeping glare for a moment before addressing them in a booming voice, enhanced by glyphs so all could hear.
'You may have heard yesterday's scare was a closed section of mine collapsing. Some will know that a few of your number were missing during the roll call following the incident. We've dug the body of one from the collapsed section.
'I can't believe the prisoners left their assigned tasks without anyone knowing. I know most of you aren't on their cell block, and don't have a clue, but until I get answers all will suffer. If you think things are bad, wait until your shifts are extended, your rations cut, and surface visits curtailed. Apart from those from the dead men's cell block. They'll be out here a few times, when the other blocks are allowed out. I'm certain you can encourage them to be forthcoming with the truth. This needn't be so of course. If anyone who knows what happened cares to step forward...' he stopped dead as Thjorn stepped forward.
Barely ten feet – and the invisible barrier – separated them. Garveig glared hard at Thjorn.
'You know something about what happened?' asked Garveig.
'No,' Thjorn said in a bored voice. 'I know everything about what happened.'
'And that would be?'
'They interfered with my plans.'
Garveig's glower deepened. 'Plans?'
'Well I'd hardly come here for the company, would I?'
Seeming on the verge of exploding, Garveig reined his temper in enough to avoid having Thjorn summarily executed.
Augni had trouble maintaining a calm appearance. Most eyes were on Thjorn now, including those of the guards, and Augni still had little real idea what was coming next. Usually Thjorn would at least share some generalities, but he’d become close-mouthed.
'I'm so sorry to hear of your setback,' Garveig said with an expected degree of insincerity. 'So what do you intend to do next?'
'I'll walk out,' said Thjorn.
Garveig stared, bemused. 'You'll walk out of here?'
'Yes.'
'One of the most isolated spots in the lands. Walking back to civilization would take a week. Do you really think we wouldn't come after you?'
'To be honest I hadn't given you much consideration.'
'Well, please, I'm sure we'd all be interested to see how you intend to achieve this.' Garveig waved at the invisible barrier separating them. 'Please, walk out.'
Thjorn did so, striding towards the warden, not stopping as he approached the barrier. The nearest posts exploded as he passed, quickly followed by the next in line, and the next, a high pitched shattering that drew the attention of all.
Even Augni, alert for whatever would happen, flinched. He barely saw Thjorn reach Garveig, drawing the warden's knife before he could respond and holding it to his throat.
In the aftermath of the exploding defences, everyone froze. All attention was on the reversal between the warden and Thjorn.
Thjorn met Augni's eyes. What did he want? Presumably Augni to join him. To prove the glyphed barrier was no longer there, and drawing the useless attacks of the guards.
Steeling himself, Augni walked forward. He crossed the shattered barrier without incident, before the guards could react. A couple regained their senses in time to fire their glyphs at his manacles, and he couldn’t help tensing despite his trust in Thjorn. They had no effect. On him.
He heard a few grunts behind from others caught in the attack, but they were ignored as most just saw him advance unaffected. The charge started almost immediately – first in small clumps, but quickly in a torrent. The guards also saw the glyphs fail, and a number decided to retreat to the wall and hold the line there.
They were soon engulfed by the riot, unable to hear above the confused roar or see through the charge for the gate. The crowd gave the three of them a wide berth, allowing Augni space to glower at Thjorn.
'What now?' asked Augni.
'Once they’re clear we’ll head to the wall.' He nodded off to the side.
Garveig said nothing, his attention on the flood of prisoners cascading past. The knife at his throat probably also held an urgen
t place in his mind. Some passing prisoners sent glares his way, but none seemed inclined to press Thjorn's claim.
As the flood died down Thjorn prodded the warden into motion, and Augni fell in alongside. He could see the front gates still open, and the leading edge of the riot must have passed through. The guards with any sense would have retreated to the wall, shut it on both sides, and dealt with the prisoners from that secure vantage point. It shouldn't take them long to realise the glyphs still worked.
The bodies of a few prisoners strewn about the place would be mainly due to the glyphs. The few guards among them wouldn't be. Augni didn't have time to see how many still lived. It was bad enough knowing Thjorn's plan had caused all this. That his presence had necessitated it laid the deaths at his feet.
Knowing Thjorn could well be dead if he hadn't been here did little to assuage his guilt. Thjorn's indifference to the carnage didn't help.
Reaching the outermost door on the side of the wall, they came to a stop.
'Tell them to let us in,' Thjorn told Garveig.
'You can't imagine this'll get you anywhere,' said Garveig.
Thjorn prodded him with the knife.
'Let us in,' said Garveig.
There was silence, but shadows could be seen moving through the spy slot, so they waited.
'Open the door,' Garveig said more forcefully. 'There's only the three of us.'
After another short silence the door opened, and Augni led the way in. Two guards stood there, one to the left and one to the right. The right passage led towards the stairs, the left towards a dead end. Augni advanced on the guard to the right, forcing him to back away with his sword before him.
Thjorn directed the warden in after him, and turned to the guard behind him. 'Shut the door. We don't need the rabble in here.' He turned to Augni. 'To the top.'
They ascended, the few guards near this end of the wall regarding them with suspicion. The top offered a view of the escape. Numerous prisoners lay insensate near the gate. Not all, and the roar of hopeful escapees remained audible.
'Everyone off this section of wall,' said Thjorn.
The guards exchanged glances, uncertain what to do. Seeing little option, they retreated to the tower separating this section from the next.
Loosening his grip on Garveig and removing his sword – which he tossed into the yard – Thjorn forced the warden to his knees between them and the tower.
'You remember the glyphs we had in case of falls?' asked Thjorn.
'Yes,' said Augni. Among the emergency glyphs Thjorn arranged was one which reduced the rate at which they fell. Requiring activating, it would only be useful for falls of longer than a second, but had proved its worth in the past.
'These go a step further.'
'How much further?'
Thjorn regarded the peaks around them. He pointed at one to the east. 'You see that mountain?'
'You are actually mad, aren't you,' said Augni. He had trouble dragging his eyes from their apparent destination. He didn’t know whether not being able to make out the details at that distance was a good thing or not.
'The jump shouldn't be difficult if you aim yourself. Any significant wind you'll need to compensate for, pulling yourself towards your target.'
'You expect me to jump that distance?'
'To begin with. We'll need to do quite a few to get clear. Not sure how long the blood glyph'll hold, so we'll stop occasionally to check.'
'You are actually serious.'
'When have you known me otherwise?'
Sighing, Augni glanced again at their destination. 'So how do...' Thjorn slapped his chest, and the glyph burned to life. It took a moment for the initial surge to recede into dull agony. He could just about focus on his surroundings.
'Ready?' asked Thjorn.
Not really, but seeing no point delaying, Augni nodded.
Thjorn flicked a glyph on his wrist. He leapt, soaring towards the distant mountain.
Steeling himself against the pain on his chest, Augni followed. He had to feel out how the glyph reduced the pull of the ground on him, while doing his best not to look directly down. He felt out – with some urgency – how to control the ground’s pull on him, but doing so up here it was too easy to overcompensate.
While the burning of the glyph threatened to distract him, the sheer panic of flying through the air at this height focussed his attention. Drifting off course as the wind increased, he tugged himself back the other way. Too far, he had to adjust it again, and back the other way. The process took constant focus. He pushed down to slow his descent as he came in to land near Thjorn.
'Okay?' asked Thjorn.
Augni managed to nod. He should be able to keep it going at least a few more.
The nod was enough for Thjorn, who leapt again.
After waiting to determine where he'd land, Augni took a deep breath and followed.
They took over a dozen more leaps before Augni could afford the time to think about anything other than controlling his jumps. The peaks were noticeably lower now. He could see the edge of the range ahead, and Dadfnir just beyond.
Thjorn lifted Augni's shirt to examine the glyph. 'Might get another few jumps out of it,' he said. His voice was cold and harsh. 'We'll need to check it every jump.'
'You released dangerous criminals,' said Augni, his breathing laboured. He hadn't intended to say anything yet. But pain and exhaustion got the better of him.
Stiffening as he was about to jump, Thjorn turned with a hard stare. 'I had little choice.'
'So it's my fault they're loose, is it?'
'They won't get far. Their manacles still work, and there are guard posts between them and civilization. There's no way a serious number of them will be free in a few days time, if any.'
'A serious number!' said Augni. 'Any number is serious. And what about those killed in our escape, prisoners and guards?'
'Unavoidable.'
'No, they weren't. You could have gone and left me.'
'No, I couldn't. A former guard? You'd be dead within a moon.'
His frustrations taking hold, Augni couldn't stop himself. 'How much of all of this did you plan? You wanted them after us, so was the ambush in Culvik part of it?'
'I couldn't let them catch us too easily, or they might be suspicious.'
'You nearly let Aemere get arrested?'
'There was little danger of that.'
'Little danger,' said Augni. 'We were nearly overwhelmed.'
'I had contingencies,' Thjorn growled.
'And you made sure it was the Irnskylians who arrested us, didn't you? So the Society wouldn't be able to question us about the arvinim. You left a trail so they'd find us in Kodgreid.' Receiving no response, he pressed on. 'And how exactly did Snaenjar know we were the ones who stole the arvinim? They knew about it quickly, before most knew there'd been a theft.'
'Yes, fine, that was me. Well done. Happy?'
Stifling his instinctive response, Augni had to control his swelling temper. It had gone too far, though. 'You nearly ruined Aemere's life when there was no reason for her to even be there.'
'I needed the regular numbers for the job to avoid drawing suspicion. You chose her for...'
'You could have told me. For once you could have bothered to tell someone what you expected to happen. So I'm sorry if I interfered with your grand plan...'
'Interfered,' Thjorn screamed. 'You think I wanted the guards dead? They're not the enemy. But yes, you interfered. It happened because the one person I trust completely didn't abandon me when I told him to.' He glared, calming his tone to a surly growl. 'Obviously I’ll have to do the rest alone. You can rely on one more jump from the glyph. Make it to somewhere you can walk from.'
With that he turned and leapt away.
His rage merging with the pain from his chest, Augni nearly followed. But why bother? If the fool wanted to go off alone, let him.
He'd had enough of following plans he didn't know the end goal of, and of all the s
ecrets between them. He'd been working towards Thjorn's goals since being forced out of the guards, and what did they have to show for it?
Thjorn may claim they'd achieved something, but it was increasingly possible he was delusional. That they both were.
Had he ever been anything more than another pawn? Had Thjorn been manipulating him all the time, like he'd seen him do to so many others? Maybe he'd used Augni’s hatred of the Alliance to guide him into actions that had little to do with them.
Well, he'd had enough. Searching the terrain ahead for a suitable landing spot, he turned his mind to what to do with the rest of his life.