Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Ash’s friend
Trace looked at his wife’s horrified expression and tried to smile reassuringly.

“You go hide, I’ll stay here and knock him out when he gets to the top. He’ll be too tired to fight me off right when he finishes climbing,” Trace whispered hopefully.

“What if you dropped something on his head before he got to the top at all?” She pitched.

“If I miss, he’ll know something’s up, and probably call for reinforcements,” Trace frowned.

“What if you push him?” Anaisa said thoughtfully. “Instead of trying to knock him out.”

“He’d probably scream, and that would draw a lot of attention,” Trace sighed. “I don’t like it.”

“But it would certainly draw the others out of the cave to come investigate. Maybe even most of them. We could run around and sneak in from another direction, and free the hostages while they’re distracted, and then we’d have more people on our side,” Her eyes narrowed in thought.

“And vulnerable children who could get caught in the crossfire of any arrows or fighting,” Trace shook his head. “I think we need to take each man out as quietly as we can. This one is coming alone, so I can take him alone… I hope.”

“And if you can’t?” Anaisa frowned.

“Then you’ll have to come shove him off the cliff.” Trace tried to joke, but it fell flat. “Go. Hide. I’ll stay behind that rock over there until he makes it to the top.”

“Won’t he see his friend tied up under the bush?” She asked as she rose into a crouch.

“Probably, but hopefully it’ll just confuse him long enough for me to make a move.” Trace spoke more optimistically than he felt, but he needed Anaisa gone, and quickly. “Go.”

Frowning more deeply, she nodded and took off, quietly hopping from stone to stone instead of walking on the loose gravel and dirt. He smiled fondly at how quickly she learned things, but he couldn’t afford to dwell on that right now. He needed to concentrate.

Slipping behind a boulder near the top of the trail, he waited impatiently. The occasional cursing and crunching of gravel on the trail let him keep loose tabs on the guard’s progress up the slope, and he knelt down to grab a rock the size of his fist before reconsidering. After all, he had his sword, and if the guard was indeed alone…

Trace risked a peek around the far side of his hiding place. He saw no one besides the man climbing up, and carefully, silently, he shifted the rock to his non-dominant hand and drew his sword as silently as he could.

He tried to remember his army training. Slow breathing, keen ears, light feet.

“Blasted man, chasing a ram up a cliff just to make my life harder,” The guard was complaining as he neared the top. Trace pressed against the boulder, remaining out of sight, until he passed. “Ash, where–”

Trace stepped smoothly out behind the stranger and pressed the edge of his blade against the man’s neck.

“Don’t move or make a sound,” He threatened in a low voice.

The guard froze, but Trace saw his hand twitch slightly towards his belt.

“Hands up!” He pressed the blade closer and winced as it drew a little blood. He didn’t actually want to hurt anyone. It also suddenly occurred to him that he’d used his rope tying up the other man… poor planning on his part, certainly.

As the guard complied, Trace glanced down. He couldn’t search or disarm the man with the rock in his other hand. Ugh. This was terrible. Why wasn’t he better at this?

He shook his head. Why did he want to be better at holding people against their will?

“How many guards are there in the cave? How many hostages?” He demanded.

“Like I’m gonna tell you anything,” The man spat, and Trace pressed a little more firmly against his neck.

“You know, I only have enough rope to tie up one person,” Trace decided to turn his predicament into a threat. “And I have to say, the most helpful person is probably going to win that honor. As for the other…”

He left the sentence dangling, the implied threat nowhere near what he intended to do. He had no idea what he intended to do, honestly, but the man’s mind made the jump Trace wanted it to.

“Ash’s an idiot, he doesn’t know as much as me!” The man scrambled to explain. “I got no loyalty to anyone but who pays me. If you put me on your payroll, I’ll be your best man!”

“How much are you getting paid?” Trace raised an eyebrow. The man tried to turn to see his face, but the sword deterred the movement.

Clearly the farmer was much less readable when the person wasn’t looking at his face. He wasn’t about to waste that advantage.

“A copper coin a day to babysit the prisoners,” The man gulped. “And Boss says we a bonus every time we get a new one.”

“I can double that pay,” Trace lied, “for helping me free them. How many are there?”

“Prisoners? I don’t know. That girl. The older couple. The family with three kids, and the other couple. That old guy.”

“How many guards?” Trace pressed.

“Me and Ash watch the entrance, since we’re the newest, came along with the latest prisoners. There’s four others down there now.”

“That’s all?” The farmer frowned. He hadn’t expected a battalion, but four more guards over the two he’d already taken down seemed too few. “Are any of them magical?”

“Martin.”

“What does he do?”

“Move rocks. He can shut off the cave entrance when no one’s due to come or go.” The man swallowed.

That complicated things. A lot.

“It’s open now?”

“Yes, but if Ash and me don’t come back soon, he might get suspicious and close it out. Plus he just doesn’t like us that much, he might think it’s funny.” The man’s voice dropped a little with annoyance.

Trace pondered for a moment. If this was true, he needed to act fast. Much faster than he was comfortable with. But then, now that he’d begun kidnapping guards, the others would grow wary sooner rather than later.

“All right,” Trace took a deep breath and caught something from the corner of his eye. “Start walking forward.”