Blood Red Road

Where we’l find Lugh.

Jest then, somebody grabs me.

Strong arms yank me into a stinkin al ey. I throw wild punches. I twist an turn, tryin to free myself.

Wait! Stop, you idiot! a voice yel s. I’m a Hawk!

I stop fer a second, pantin. The person pushes back their hood. It’s a girl I ain’t seen before. Six foot tal , light brown hair, hard eyes.

Strong lookin.

I’m Ash, she says.

Oh, I says. Right.

Didn’t have you down as the nervous type. She reaches unner her cloak an throws me a crossbow an a quiver. Right. This way.

I hesitate.

C’mon, she says.

I’m exhausted. Sore. In no shape to fight her. I’l play along now. Ditch her the first chance I git.

The al ey’s short. It ends in a high metal wal , bat ered an bent.

You go first, I says.

No, she says. You go.

I sling the bow an quiver on my back an launch myself at the wal . I grab the top an pul myself up. Nobody in sight. I drop down on th’other side an Ash is right there behind me.

We race along a narrow street with shanties crowded up close together, turn right, left, then right agin. White rays of light slice through the darkness. I got no idea where we are.

There’s the sound of runnin feet. Voices. Shoutin. To our left.

Fan out! somebody cal s. Cover al the streets!

This way! Ash dives into a ramshackle stone buildin. I’m right behind. She runs to the corner an lifts a wooden hatch in the earth floor.

Fol ow me, she says. Close the hatch behind you.

I wait fer a split second. Then I turn to run.

She grabs my arm an twists it behind my back. She’s strong. Real strong. Oh no, you don’t, she says.

Let me go, I says. I got a find my brother. I try to twist out a her grasp, but she’s got me in a strong grip.

I see, she says. The Hawks help you out, risk our lives fer you an yer sister an you cheat us.

You couldn’t of done nuthin without me. I glare at her. I could of kil ed Epona, you know.

The Hawks help you, she says, you help the Hawks. Then yer free to go after yer brother. That’s the deal you made with Maev.

She yanks harder on my arm. I cry out. You don’t need me, I says. There’s enough of you.

So you’l leave al them ghters, she says, the ones stole by slavers jest like you an yer sister was, you’l leave ’em in this place. That’s the kinda person you are. Somebody who don’t keep their word. Somebody who lets people down.

No, I says. No, I ain’t like that.

She waits.

She waits.

Al right, I says. Al right, I’l keep my word. I promise I wil .

She lets me go. I straighten up, easin my sore arm. I’m sorry, I says.

We look at each other a moment. Then she smiles. Her eyes don’t look so hard after al . She lifts the wooden hatch. After you, she says.

I swing myself down into the hole, set my feet on a rickety ladder I nd there an start down it. Ash fol ows me an closes the hatch behind her.It’s black. I cain’t see a thing. The cool earth smel of bein unnerground l s my nose. I feel my way to the bot om, ten rungs. Ash jumps down beside me an lights a torch.

Where’re we goin? I says.

You’l see, she says. This way.

We crouch over an head down a low tunnel. Pret y soon, we reach the end. The tunnel ends in a brick wal . There’s weapons piled up along with a crowbar an some glass bot les fil ed with what looks like water an rags stuf ed in their tops.

Hold this. Ash hands me the lit torch. Keep it wel away from them bot les. She picks up the crowbar, sticks it in between the bricks an starts workin one free.

What is this? I says. Are we breakin in somewhere?

I sure hope so, she says. Otherwise we’ve jest spent the last three days clearin out this tunnel for no good reason. We’re talkin in whispers.

The first brick’s free. Take it, wil you?

While I pul the brick free an put it on the ground, she starts on the next one. So this was already here, I says. How did you know about it?

Where does it lead to? The second brick’s loose. I take it away.

There was a big escape from this place about ten year ago, she says. The ghters dug theirselves out. One tunnel from the men’s cel block an one tunnel from the women’s cel block. They fil ed in the tunnels afterwards. If they’d bin smart, they would of col apsed ’em.

Third brick done. So we’re breakin into the cel block, I says. My cel block?

That’s the idea, she says.

An yer gonna tel me that there’s a good reason why we ain’t jest takin out the guards an cut in through the fence to let ’em out? I says.

There’s a ful guard shift on duty, she says. They must of bin nervous that the ghters ’ud try somethin unner cover of al the activity in town. You should always have a Plan B.

I’l remember that, I says.

Shhh, says Ash as I take away the fourth brick. She blows out the torch. She nods at the hole an we look through.

We’re lookin straight into the female fighters’ cel block. In fact, we’re lookin down into my cel .

My cot’s directly below us. My cel door stands open. The girls in the big main cel ’s al mainly sit in or lyin down on the floor. They ain’t got no cots, not even blankets. At the far end on eether side of the main door, there’s two cel block guards sit in on chairs.

We can work the last few bricks free with our hands. We’re silent, quick about it. When we got a hole big enough fer us to slip through, she takes a blowpipe out a her belt an slides a dart into it.

Jest then, one of the girls in the main cel sees us. Her eyes go wide. I shake my head. She gives a lit le nod.

Ash lifts the pipe to her lips. Takes in a big breath. Blows.

It’s a hit. The guard to the left of the door cries out. He slaps a hand to his neck an fal s o a his chair. Th’other guard jumps to his feet, but Ash sends another dart flyin. He don’t make a sound. Jest crumples to the ground.

Very neat, I says.

Let’s go, she says.

She slides through the hole an jumps down. While she gits the key ring from the guard’s belt an unlocks the main cel to let the girls out, I toss the weapons down onto my cot. Bows, quivers ful of arrows, slingshots, bolt shooters.

Help yerself to weapons, girls! Ash says. Then wait fer us by the door. They come runnin into my cel an in a minute or two they’ve scooped up al the ammo.

Now, says Ash. We’re gonna take four of the bot les an leave the rest there. Be careful.

I hand the rag-stuf ed bot les down to her an she sets ’em gentle on the ground. Then I jump down out a the hole. Strange to be back in my cel like this.

Ash takes two of the bot les an I take two. Th’others should be let in the men out, she whispers. She cricks open the main door of the cel block. She waits fer a moment, then she slips outside an starts up the outside steps, real slow an careful.

She comes runnin back down an throws the door wide open. Git out a here! she says.

The girls don’t wait to be told a second time. They go runnin past her an don’t look back. When they’re al gone, when the cel block’s clear, Ash grabs a lit torch from a wal sconce an says, Let’s git this party started.

I fol ow her out the door an up the stairs into the exercise yard. She holds up one of her bot les. She grins a wicked grin. Wreckers cal ed these cocktails, she says. Two should do the trick. Throw it, then run like hel .