The Changelings Part 26

Jared used the distraction to sneak up behind me and cut the vines around my wrists. He whispered in my ear before heading off to Finn, "Pretend like you're still attached. Don't let them see you're free until I get everyone. Get ready to run that way." He signaled the direction that was behind the biggest group of orcs, all sitting down having some sort of powwow together. Probably planning when they were going to eat us. I wasn't so sure I wanted to run in that direction, but there was no way to communicate that to everyone, and the worst thing we could do was get separated. Jared had already left me, moving on to Finn.

I kept my hands together, like they were still connected, but my eyes immediately went to Chase. He was getting his a.s.s royally kicked by the burned orc and there was nothing he could do about it. Now he had another bleeding gash, this one over his eye. I could see him trying to blink the blood away. Spike wasn't looking anymore. His head hung low, but I could see him still flinching every time Chase was. .h.i.t.

I felt horrible that I'd made this happen a sure it had provided a great distraction for Jared, but it wasn't worth it. I had to figure out a way to help Chase, but part of me was panicked that I'd make the situation worse. Unfortunately, the gift of future sight had not come with the gift of talking to The Green.

Suddenly, I saw my chance. Another orc was coming across the clearing, obviously hyped up by the violence he saw. He was nearly jumping with joy, and making motions with his hands like he wanted in on the action. He stood just behind the other orc, ready to take his turn.

I quickly communicated with The Green, asking for another tripping. The vine came out of the trees, moving rapidly across the ground towards the second orc.

Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down. I kept chanting fervently to myself until the vine secured itself around the second orc's feet, effectively tying them together.

The first orc took a step back from beating Chase to catch its breath, and the second orc took a step forward to begin its turn at the fun game called 'Beating the s.h.i.+t out of Chase'; but its feet didn't cooperate as expected. The orc's arms went out, flailing and searching for something to stop its fall. They made contact with the first orc whose back was to the entire scenario and didn't expect to be touched or, in this case, tackled.

The first orc spun around, shoving the second orc to the side, causing it to land in the fire, face first. But the second orc had managed to grab the first's arm, and it didn't let go. The first orc found itself pulled into the fire too. It stumbled, looking for something to grab, knowing it was about to be burned again. The only thing there was to grab onto was the dwarf on the spit. The orc grabbed it, intending to right itself, but the spit wasn't strong enough to hold it.

The stick holding the roasting dwarf split, sending both the orc and the dwarf into the flames and hot coals below.

The group of orcs that were sitting off to the side grunting and conspiring jumped up, enraged that their dinner was being compromised. A few of them came stalking over with angry strides to take care of the problem.

The second orc got pulled from the edge of the fire by its feet, its face a ma.s.s of bubbling blackness, its screams of pain and rage ringing out through the forest. Another orc grabbed Tony's axe that was leaning against a nearby tree and hacked the screaming orc's head off, throwing the axe off to the side when it was done. It landed where the other unguarded weapons were.

Black goo spurted out of the headless orc's neck, sizzling as it landed among the coals. The screams of the second orc ceased immediately, but the first orc's screams and roars continued. I barfed a little in my mouth, spitting it out on the ground next to me. Seeing gore on television is one thing; seeing orc beheadings live a a whole other deal altogether.

I looked over in horror at the group of orcs that were mobilizing in the direction of the fire, and I saw that all of our weapons were leaning against a tree where the orc had thrown Tony's axe. I put my foot on the root and sent out a message for the vines to take our weapons and pull them into the forest behind Tony for safekeeping. I could get them later as we left a I knew I was going to grab Tony before I did anything else. I looked toward the action for a second and when I looked back, the weapons were already gone. Good, one less thing to worry about. Thank you my Green friends.

Two more orcs pulled the first orc off the dwarf body and began beating the s.h.i.+t out of it. I didn't know if the orc was roaring or screaming from the painful burns or the beat-down it was getting, but scream and roar it did. I covered my ears with my hands to block out the sound, forgetting I was supposed to still be tied up. I quickly moved my hands back to the vine dangling above my head.

I saw Jared now behind Chase. He'd cut the vines from Finn, Tony, Spike and me. Tony was still out cold. I agonized for a brief minute about what a bad sign this was, but I knew I couldn't take the time to really freak out about him now. Hopefully, there would be time to worry later, if we were lucky. Right now, I had to figure out how to get him and the rest of us out of here.

Jared couldn't figure out how to get to Chase without being seen. The orcs were fighting very close by, some of the bodies even falling at Chase's feet. Chase turned, seeing Jared behind him for the first time. I saw Chase's head jerk and then something flashed near the tree. Chase's movements told me that Jared had tossed the knife and Chase had caught it, now using it to cut his own vines.

I looked over at Finn and grabbed his attention. Then I pointedly looked at Tony and then back at Finn. Finn looked at Tony, then me, nodding his head. I took this to mean that he knew that I wanted us both to grab Tony when it was time to go.

I saw that it was almost time. I caught flashes of Jared through the trees; he was heading back to Tony, which made me feel a little better. We'd be able to move Tony with us faster if we could trade-off carrying him. Between Finn, Chase, Spike, Jared and me, maybe Tony wouldn't slow us down too much.

I sent one more message out to The Green before I quickly slipped my sock and shoe back on. Luckily the orcs were too caught up in their bloodl.u.s.t to pay any attention to what I was doing. I didn't have time to formulate the idea in my head, really, so I hoped The Green knew what I wanted and that I hadn't forgotten to consider any consequences that could backfire on us.

As soon as I saw Jared coming through the trees behind Tony, I made my move. So did Finn. We grabbed Tony's very still form and dragged him back into the trees. Our weapons were there, vines wrapped around them. I reached down to retrieve them, the vines dropping off as my hand touched them. I tucked the gun, stick and axe into my waistband; the bow and arrows I slung over my back. Spike's slingshot wasn't among the weapons.

One of the orcs saw us and immediately started roaring. I didn't stick around or even look back to see whether the other orcs paid him any attention. I just took off running next to Finn and Jared who were running as fast as they could, dragging Tony between them.

We made a wide circle around the camp of orcs, hoping to come out on the far side, just as Jared had instructed. Chase and Spike weren't with us, so we had to go that way if we were ever going to hook up with them again.

The sounds of cras.h.i.+ng and pursuit resonated behind us.

"They're coming!" I yelled, panic reaching up into my throat, nearly choking me. The adrenaline was coursing through my veins. I felt like I was going to vomit again. My legs were tired; they didn't want to move as fast as I needed them to.

Finn was huffing and puffing, his face bright red and sweating. He and Jared were trying to get through the trees and brush and over fallen logs as fast as they could. Tony's dead weight was a serious problem; especially it seemed, for Finn.

I could still hear the orcs behind us, but occasionally I'd hear a loud thump and then a roaring that sounded like rage. Hopefully, that meant my plan was working, and with any luck, it would give us more time to get away.

We had finally reached the point to where Jared had told us to run to. We were behind the spot where the group of orcs had been sitting and talking, or grunting, to each other.

Chase and Spike weren't there. We stopped for a minute so Finn could catch his breath. Jared wasn't even winded.

We started running again, heading in the direction Jared told us was towards the last waypoint. I had no reason to doubt him now; without him we'd still be sitting around that fire and Chase probably would have been beaten to death. Jared had redeemed himself in my eyes. Whether he'd needed to, I still wasn't completely certain, but it didn't matter now. We were getting the h.e.l.l out of there.

The sounds of orc screams were growing more distant. Finn shook his head as he jogged along. He tried to talk, but couldn't, too out of breath. "Stop ... for a ... sec ... ," he gasped.

We stopped and I took over holding Tony for Finn as he bent over to get his breath. I looked at Jared to see how he was faring, but he seemed fine. He was barely out of breath, hardly breaking a sweat. Man, is he in shape or what?

"Why haven't they ... caught us yet?" asked Finn, still gasping for air.

Jared had a confused look on his face. "I have no idea. I expected to have them on our heels the whole way back."

"Back? Back where?" I asked, suddenly suspicious again.

Jared sighed, but it was no use lying. "Back to the final waypoint. I've already been there."

I knew it. "Why didn't you just leave?"

"Because I was worried about you guys." He shrugged his shoulders.

His answer made sense. It's what I would have done a it's what Tony and I did do when we had Becky with us. My throat tightened at the thought of her, bundled up by my feet that one morning. Poor little thing ...

I cleared my throat and continued. "Well, I set up a little plan of action as we were escaping which is probably why they've been slowed down; but they're only delayed. It's not going to keep them away forever."

The light bulb went on for Finn. "Ahh, I see. Okay, then, let's get going."

Jared looked at us, confused. "I don't get it. What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," I said. For some reason I still didn't want him to know. I trusted him, but then again, I didn't. I felt like he was keeping secrets, so I had no regrets about keeping some of my own.

Finn took Tony from me, and he and Jared set off jogging again. I followed behind, the sounds of our pursuers still echoing through the trees behind us.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.

We stopped several times so Finn could catch his breath. The trees around us were all green. I wondered how many orcs had come from this area of the forest.

Jared looked around him, shaking his head in what looked like disbelief.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"When I came through here before, all these trees were black. They were all dead. Now everything's green a I don't understand what happened."

"It's because Jay... "

Finn didn't get the rest of his sentence out because I kicked him hard in the s.h.i.+n.

"Gol durn it!" he yelled limping around, nostrils flaring as he kept the pain in. "Jayne, you sure are lucky you're a girl, that's all I got to say right now." He shot a dirty look in my direction and then limped away.

I did my best to plaster an innocent smile on my face.

"What were you going to say?" asked Jared, looking at us suspiciously.

"He was going to say, that it's probably green because it rained." I nodded my head to add believability to my story. "It rained, you know, pretty hard. Like, for hours."

"Huh," was all Jared would say. He wasn't buying it, but he knew I wasn't going to fess up. And now Finn wasn't either, thanks to the lump on his s.h.i.+n.

We all heard a moan coming from the area by our feet.

"Tony!" I squealed, bending down to touch his face.

His eyes were open and he was looking up at us. His hand reached up to touch his head. "I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"You kind of did," I said, "only it was an angry orc with the strength and att.i.tude of a silverback gorilla."

He closed his eyes in pain. "Don't remind me. You mean those things weren't part of a nightmare I was having?"

"No, they're real, all right," said Finn. "Real as the two inch hairs growin' off the end of my granny's chin."

I looked at him aghast. Ew. And I thought orcs were gross.

"Help me up," said Tony as he struggled to get into a sitting position.

Jared and I grabbed him under the arms, helping him stand.

He swayed on his feet a little but soon shrugged off our help. "I'm ready to go. Where are we heading? Did we get to the finish line yet?"

"No, we're on our way to waypoint four."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Hopefully, Chase and Spike are headed this way too. We lost them when we escaped from the orcs."

"Where'd you come from?" Tony asked Jared, his eyes narrowing.

"I followed you guys to the orc camp."

"He's already been to the last waypoint," I explained. Let Tony noodle that one through.

"What's it like? Is Dardennes there?"

Jared sighed. "You'll see."

I didn't like his answer at all. "You know, I'm getting pretty f.u.c.king tired of all these secrets, Jared."

He looked at me, a small smile playing on his lips. "Seems like I'm not the only one with secrets, Jayne."

I raised my eyebrow at him. Touche. "Well f.u.c.k you anyway a I don't want to know what's there. If Dardennes is smart, he won't be."

"Jayne!"

"What, Tony? He's been lying and sneaking around this whole time. I don't even know why he came back for us. For all we know he needs us or something. Or he's leading us into something worse."

Tony looked nervously at Jared. "Listen, Jared, she's just tired. She gets kinda cranky when she's tired. Just ignore what she's saying right now." Then he ducked, waiting for the smack he surely deserved.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Tony. And you're just lucky you have a concussion right now, because otherwise I'd smash you one. I'm tired, yes, but I speak the truth. Unlike some people around here." I looked pointedly at Jared.

He shrugged his shoulders and turned around. "What was that sound?"

"Stop trying to change the subject."

"Shhh!"

I frowned, but shut up, listening for whatever he was talking about.

Then through the trees behind Jared walked Chase and Spike.

"Oh, thank the lord!" I exclaimed, running over to them and grabbing them in a three-way hug. Actually it was me hugging them and them hugging me back, but they didn't hug each other. Guys.

"How did you find us?"

Spike answered with a smile, "It was kind of hard to not hear you, actually."

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." I couldn't handle losing another friend, I really couldn't.

"We missed you too, Jayne," said Spike, giving me an extra squeeze, his fingers spread out on my back. I put my face in his neck and inhaled deeply. d.a.m.n, he smelled good.

I released Spike and then looked up at Chase. "d.a.m.n they sure did a number on your face, didn't they?"

"Don't know; can't see it."

Spike laughed. "Trust me, dude, they did."

I looked in Chase's eyes, truly sorry for the part I played in that. "I'm so sorry I caused that to happen."

Chase lifted his hand and gently touched the side of my face. "It wasn't your fault."

The tears came up in my eyes, much as I wanted them to stay hidden.