30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 13 Free Prompt - The Rescue

The sky was an inky blackness far above them. Wispy clouds obscured the stars and there was no moon to light the path of a late night traveller. The vast, open plain stretched out like a dark carpet, hiding from the watcher any creature who walked across its rugged surface.

For the four watchers, dressed from head to toe in black, it was a perfect night for what they planned to do. Hidden behind the summit of a hill, they surveyed the small compound below them, watching the soldiers as they patrolled the compound’s boundary. Two large garrison tents stood on either side of the compound, each capable of holding up to ten soldiers. A large campfire blazed in the centre, the flickering flames casting dancing shadows upon the canvas walls, illuminating the forlorn figure of the man suspended between two poles, his body appearing lifeless.

“Damn, what did they do to him?” Kato muttered as he stared at Caillen, his fingers clenching around the hilt of his sword. “With his powers he should have been free by now.”

“Perhaps they used an enchantment to hold him and he can’t break it,” Jenna suggested as her blue eyes travelled over the still figure.

“There is no enchantment that can hold Caillen. His power is … Damn, they must have.” A wave of curses in various languages slipped between Kato’s lips before he remembered Jenna’s presence with a rueful smile. “Sorry, Jenna.”

“What must they have done?” Jenna questioned, curious about the sudden tension that had gripped them all at Kato’s outburst.

“Caillen’s power is enhanced by his blood. To weaken him he needs to lose a lot of blood, to the point of near death.” Kato glanced back down at the compound, his face grim. “They must have tortured him from the moment they captured him.”

“Judging by the guard rotation, we’re looking at an almost full complement of soldiers down there,” Dar advised, his attention having been focused solely on the compound’s occupants. “They look to be mainly infantry but there are some imperial guards.”

“No signs of any possessing magic,” Tao added. “I think they are waiting for some sorcerer to join them.”

Kato raised his eyes from the compound and looked out into the darkness around them. His eyes drifted shut before swiftly rising to reveal those keen grey eyes. “There’s a large party heading this way, about three hours out. They appear to be making camp for the night. There appears to be a sorcerer amongst them but I could not identify him from the brief scan I did.”

“We need to get him out now. They obviously want to keep him alive, in his weakened state, for when this sorcerer gets here. We can’t allow that to happen.”

“Agreed.” Kato studied the compound once more, noting the movements of the soldiers, the location of Caillen and the flickering campfire. “Tao, can you keep the guards pinned in the tents with your bow?”

“They won’t even dare to stick a nose out of those flaps.” He reached behind him to pull up a large, intricately carved bow and two full quivers of black tipped arrows.

“Good.” Kato smiled. “Dar, I want you to use your speed to back Tao up. Try not to get shot whilst you dart about.”

“No problem,” Dar replied, checking the knives sheathed on his body for ease of movement.

“What can I do?” Jenna asked, loath to be left behind. It was her fault that Caillen was in this predicament. She had forced Kato and the others to take her with them when they had rested at the ship. Threatened to follow them back across the desert if they hadn’t agreed. After much arguing Kato had relented, with great reluctance and an insistence that she obeyed his command. She had complied with it until now.

“You can stay here with the horses. We may need to leave fast,” growled Kato, his mind not on her but on the forthcoming rescue.

“No. I’m coming down there with you.” At Kato’s questioning raise of an eyebrow whilst his jaw firmed at her refusal she continued in a rapid tone. “You all ride horses which have been trained in military use which means they will stay where you leave them and come to you when called. I can help you down there.”

“And how can you do that?” Kato’s voice was a rough growl warning her not to press the matter but she ignored him and plunged on with her idea.

“I have magic. Not magic like the sort you all seem to be blessed with but magic all the same. I mainly do nuisance spells like playing with fire, moving things, messing with door locks.”

“Party tricks that are not going to help here. You stay!” His grey eyes hardened like cold steel as his voice broached no refusal to his command and he turned back to study the compound.

“I can also see spells,” she added, once more securing his attention. At his glance she took a shaky breath and continued. “I can see when a spell is used on something. Not always, but often enough to get round things.”

“How?”

“He appears to have been tied to the stakes. Even in his weakened state he should be able to undo the knots which suggests to me that the ties have been enchanted. I can see the enchantment and unlock it and therefore enable you to free him.”

“I can just cut the ties.”

“No, if the ties are enchanted then not even the strongest, most powerful blade can sever them. You have to break the enchantment.” She looked at him, her eyes pleading with him to allow her assistance. “I can do this, Kato.”

Kato looked from Jenna to Dar and Tao before glancing back at the compound. If he was going to release Caillen then he would need some sorcery to free him. His own magical powers would not be enough to free him and keep the soldiers at bay. “Alright, you can come but you do what I say. Now, how do you propose we get near to him without being seen?”

“We put the fire out,” Jenna replied with a mischievous grin, her eyes lighting on the large water barrel situated near the campfire.

The patrolling guards, their attention focused on the land outside the compound, failed to notice the large water butt levitate off the ground and float towards the campfire. The barrel, filled with water drawn from the nearby spring, tilted over the flames. As the water cascaded over the fire, great clouds of white steam arose obscuring the area around the campfire from the patrolling guards and plunging the compound into darkness.

Confusion erupted as the patrolling guards tried to work their way through the steam seeking out intruders they could not trace. As their cries alerted the occupants of the tents, arrows rained down upon them preventing reinforcements from joining them. If a soldier did manage to slip out he was met by an assassin who delivered a fatal stab of a knife and disappeared before the body had collapsed to the floor.

Jenna made her way to where Caillen was tied, letting her instincts guide her through the billowing clouds. She could hear Kato nearby, his great sword clanging against the blades of the guards before a strangled gurgle indicated that the blade had claimed another life.

She refused to dwell on the men dying around her as she came to stand before Caillen. A cry escaped her lips as she saw his battered face, the eyes swollen shut hiding his piercing amber gaze from her. His lips were bloodied and cut, swellings visible along his jawbone and cheekbone, his skin as pale as death, reminding her of what Kato had told her about his blood. More bruises and cuts were visible on his arms and across his muscular chest whilst his back was a mess of raw flesh from where he had been whipped repeatedly.

Forcing herself to look away from his injuries she stared at the ties binding him to the wooden stakes. She focused her mind, looking for the sorcery within the ties. She had almost given up finding it when she saw the faint golden dust like flicker around the ties. The more she stared, the clearer the spell became until she could see it as clearly as a golden thread wrapped throughout the ties. Taking a deep breath, she began to unravel the threadlike imagery, pulling it like a chord through the leather bindings.

It seemed to take an eternity but within moments the ties were free of sorcery. She half expected Caillen to free himself but saw he was too weak to even acknowledge her presence. “Kato!” she called, wondering what to do. She could not cut Caillen free herself for he was too heavy for her to hold up.

Like a ghost, Kato appeared at her side and sliced through the ties, catching Caillen as he tumbled to the ground. More curses escaped without apology as he saw the extent of the torture he had been subjected to. “Can you secure the tents?”

Jenna nodded at glanced at the strappings that would close the tent flaps. Closing her eyes, she pictured pulling the straps tight and knotting them in complex knots so that the occupants could not get out. A relieved smile crossed her features when she opened her eyes and saw the secured flaps being tested in vain by the tents occupants.

“He’s not healing,” she heard Kato mutter to Dar and turned to see him giving Caillen a quick examination. “He’s too weak.”

“What does he need?” she asked, kneeling down on the dirt earth beside them. She was aware of Dar leaping up to dispatch another guard who was still roaming around the camp but paid no heed to him. Her attention was focused on the man lying as still as death before them.

“He needs blood, a lot of it.” Kato picked up his knife and pulled the sleeve of his leather jacket back to reveal a darkly tanned forearm.

“Wait,” Jenna cried, placing her hand over his before he cut his arm open. “Let me do it. We need you at full strength if we are to get out of here. I don’t know how long those men will stay in the tents before they attempt to cut through. Let me give him the blood he needs. I don’t weigh much so one of you can carry me to my horse.” She attempted a faint smile whilst her stomach knotted with nerves.

“Alright, but as soon as you feel faint you stop. All we need is enough for him to start recovering so we can get him out of here.” He waited whilst she bared her own arm before slicing a deep cut across the inside of her wrist.

Jenna watched the blood well up inside the cut and placed her wrist as instructed over Caillen’s mouth to allow the blood to trickle directly into him. Later she would question what sort of man was Caillen that he needed blood to recover but for now her attention was focused solely upon him.

Moments passed before colour started to return to the pale skin of his face. His eyelids started to flicker as his chest rose with slow, painful breaths. She was starting to feel drained herself as his eyes opened and she was pinned by that piercing amber gaze. As the world started to go hazy around her she felt a trembling hand grip her wrist and move it away from Caillen’s lips.

“Enough,” he rasped.

Kato passed his hand over the cut, sealing the wound before grinning down at Caillen. “Damn, that was close. Let’s get the hell out of here”