Champions of the Apocalypse (18 page)

Something moved in the corner of the room and she tried to move away but found her hands chained to a ring on the wall and the minimal movement they offered gave her no chance to move to safety.

“Stay away!” she growled in the direction of the sound.

No sooner had she spoken that the sound disappeared and the room reverted to its previous quiet state. For a second she thought it may have all been in her mind.

“Synne, Synne?” asked a hoarse voice.

“Who is that?” she asked though certain she recognised the tone.

“It’s me, Ulric.”

Synne pulled hard on her chains but no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t get any closer. After one final tug, she dropped down and looked over to the man in the shadows.

“Ulric, is it really you?” she pleaded.

Before a response was forthcoming, a large door to the side creaked open. A dull light poured through and lit up the room. She glanced briefly about the room, spotting at least five other people chained up along the walls.

“It’s time we had a little chat,” came the booming voice from her hated foe, Cainon.

“You bastard, Cainon. Why have you done this? We are allies!” she shouted.

The tall man stayed where he was and waited whilst two men in body armour entered the room and removed her chains. They forced her to her feet and pushed her towards the doorway.

“Synne!” shouted the prisoner.

Once everybody had left the room it was just Cainon stood there in the light. He looked around the room and then directly at the man who had been shouting.

“Don’t worry about your little sister Ulric, we’ll take really, really good care of her!” he said.

He turned and stormed out of the room to the sounds of shouting and screaming from the tiny prison.

* * *

Jonas and Eric were dressed in the captured garb of the Raiders and carrying the looted weapons. They walked casually along the road and towards the wide building just a few hundred feet from the Citadel. As they approached, they spotted Thrax who had already taken position in the undergrowth near the locked door at the front. Eric stopped a few feet short of the door and turned, giving the impression he was guarding the place. At the same time, Jonas moved over to Thrax and into the cover.

“We’ve checked the route behind the prison, you’re right, Thrax. There are only three guards between the buildings and the storage sheds with the train.”

“Good, you ready for this?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m ready,” he said though Thrax didn’t look overly convinced.

Staying as low as he could, Thrax crept to the door and inserted two pieces of metal into the heavy lock. One of the tools was a simple metal rod with a twist at one end. The other item was flatter and he placed this near the entrance of the lock to apply pressure.

“How much longer?” asked the nervous Jonas.

“Patience, it will open when it’s ready,” he said almost at the same time as the lock clicked and the door swung open.

Thrax looked behind them, checking for signs of trouble. It looked clear.

“Get inside,” he said quietly.

Jonas entered the building first and Thrax followed quickly, pulling the door shut behind them. The two pushed on inside, both looking in awe at what they could see around them. The building was a single room, like a large storage depot and decked out with shelving on all four walls as well as three rows running through the centre, also packed with shelving. Thrax took the left whilst Jonas went down the centre, looking at the equipment. Most of the space was taken up with edged weapons and there were hundreds and hundreds of items. The majority of the weapons were the simple and crude curved and straight blades used by the Raiders. They were simply made and hilted in cloth and leather. Next to them were dozens of crossbows and bows and even half a dozen of the powder weapons. The end wall was taken up with box after box of supplies including arrows, bolts, lead balls and powder.

“They’ve got enough for an entire army here!” said Jonas.

Thrax knocked the lid off a wooden crate and pulled out a well-crafted metal helmet. He placed it on his head and was pleased so find it fitted.

“You’ve got that right, my friend, I suggest we put it to good use.”

“How can we get the prisoners here though?” asked Jonas.

“Did you see the building a little further along, the one with the cylinder outside?”

“The one with the two guards outside?”

“Yeah, that one. Did you smell the naphtha? That place will burn and burn well. I suggest we start a fire to get their attention. The naphtha will spread around very quickly. Once they start panicking, we break out the prisoners into two groups. One to secure the train, the second will come here and grab everything they can carry. We will meet back at the train.”

 
“What about us?” asked a confused Jonas.

“Well, without engineers we aren’t going anywhere are we?” he asked rhetorically.

“What if they aren’t there?”

“We have to take that chance. Anyway, I’m not leaving without Synne.”

Thrax grabbed one of the large canvas packs and started to load in knives, maces and small swords.

“What are you doing?” asked Jonas.

“We need to give the prisoners a fighting chance. They can’t take and hold the train with just harsh language now, can they?” he asked with a grin. “Come on, grab what you can and let’s get going.”

They continued to fill two packs until they carried over forty weapons between them. Lifting the heavy sacks, they approached the door that led back outside and towards Eric. Thrax opened the door a crack and looked outside. He paused for a moment before turning back.

“It’s okay, let’s go!”

The two left the building and walked past Eric and back onto the path. It was hard to look nonchalant as they walked through the town but luckily, the only other people wandering about looked more worried of the guards than they were. Some were workers and others looked like they were the lower echelons of the Raider’s organisation and running menial errands. In less than two minutes they had reached the prison buildings and were inside. They dumped the weapons on the floor and the people inside eagerly grabbed them.

“We need to get you to the train. I need volunteers to get more weapons from the armoury, the rest of you will wait here until we can arm you,” said Thrax.

A chatter started and before long it turned into a heated debate. Jonas, sensing trouble stood on a chair to get their attention. One of the ringleaders called out to him.

“Why can’t we go to the train now, we have weapons?”

“All you will do is draw attention to yourselves. Wait here until we are altogether and then we will get to the train in one group.”

Thrax joined in, “It is pretty simple, we need those with combat experience to go first. They will secure enough weapons for you all and meet back here. If we go early all we will do is draw attention to our plan,” he explained.

“Won’t they see us going for the armoury?” asked one.

“What are you going to be doing,” asked another.

“Listen, we don’t have time for this. Jonas and I have more prisoners to rescue from the Citadel. You will all wait here until you here a blasting sound. That is the diversion and the signal for all of you to get going. Once you hear it the combat team, that is you,” he said as he pointed to the armed volunteers waiting at the front, “will get to the armoury. Don’t dawdle, get what you can, get back here and then secure the train and the sheds. We will be back soon. Understood?”

The group nodded and started chatting to each other excitedly. Jonas jumped down and walked over to Thrax.

“Come on then, we have a job to do.”

“No kidding, let’s go,” replied Thrax.

* * *

Synne was strapped down on a large wooden table and surrounded by four men, only one of whom she recognised, the traitorous Cainon of the Brotherhood. Above her hung a series of lamps, each one adding to the dull yellow glow that pervaded the room. She looked over to Cainon who stood to one side with a sneer on his face.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Cainon turned to the wall and removed a tool with a short, razor sharp looking blade fitted to the end. He moved towards her and stopped a few feet away from her face.

“First, I want you tell me all you know about your library. Where are all your books, little girl? Even more important though, we’re going to have a little fun with you,” he said with a laugh.

The other three men all started laughing, enjoying her squirm and no doubt looking forward to whatever plans they had in mind. He moved closer and ran the blade lightly along her leg and towards her thigh.

“Tell me then, where are the books?” he demanded.

Synne tried to move but the thick leather straps held her firmly to the table, she was totally helpless.

“What books?”

“Funny!” shouted Cainon.

He pushed the blade through the fabric of her trousers just above her knee and cut into the flesh. It was a shallow cut but the pain was evident as Synne cried out. With the blade still stuck in, he drew it up an inch, cutting through her skin. Blood dripped from the light wound onto the table and a few drops fell to the floor.

“We lost the books when you destroyed our library!” cried Synne.

“No, you know that isn’t true, my dear. Of course we burned the library, we burned everything but all the books were gone.”

Cainon pulled the now bloodied blade from her leg and drew it gently along her thigh and towards her breasts.

“Now, I will ask you once more and then we start removing things, one at a time,” he said with a lewd tone.

A low rumble shook through the room and one of the lamps fell to the ground, the oil running over the wick and extinguishing the flame. Several more blasting sounds echoed through the place and two men rushed in through the open door.

“We’re under attack, the outer palisade it breached and the naptha stores are burning,” said the first.

“Who is attacking us? We have a deal with the rest of the clans. Send the signal, all warriors to their posts!” he barked.

Turning back to the wounded Synne he rubbed the blade along her torso, scratching the black leather of her corset before the sound of the action outside forced him to leave. As he went for the door, he turned back.

“I will be back soon and we will continue our fun!” he said and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Thrax, Eric and Jonas were waiting behind the inner wall of the compound, the last fortification that stood between them and the Citadel. So far, the plan was going even better than planned. The naphtha had proven easy to spread around four locations and once the fires were started the entire storage shed had burned and then exploded. Thick black smoke spread across the town and it provided the perfect cover for their escape. With the alarm raised the prisoners had successfully rushed the armoury, and helped by Eric, had taken a vast quantity of arms with which to defend themselves. A small number had gone on the rampage, attacking any guards or property they could find in a violent orgy of burning and chopping. The majority had stuck to the plan though and were already securing the storage sheds and train ready for their escape. All that was needed, was the rescue of Synne and the engineers.

A group of Raiders came rushing out through the main entrance and headed off down to the path to the sound of the battle. Over a dozen of them, all armoured and well equipped were on their way and Thrax was certain there couldn’t be many of them left in the Citadel.

“Come on, we need to get inside!” he said.

He reached behind and pulled the massive two-handed sword from his back. Even in his hands, the sword looked like the kind of weapon that should be carried by a Titan. Pushing ahead, he moved out into the open space in front of the guarded entrance to the Citadel. As expected the numbers were low, just four men remained and only two were looking towards him. He stepped forward with the weapon low and trailing behind him to the right. To the inexperienced fighter the sword looked like any other and being so low, it looked far from dangerous. He moved past the gate and inside the compound. The two nearest guards drew their swords and moved to block him.