Eighth Circle

'Hold fire!' she yelled.

The gunner raised a calming hand.

'It's alright, Princess. We know who they are,'

The man was little more than a skeleton in prison uniform. The guardians had reduced him to a shadow of his former self but his mind remained alert. Liala was impressed.

'The tall one is Bryn Entwhistle,' she said.

'You mean Allain's nephew?'

'Yes. He recruited me into Plaid Koerno.'

'He's grown into a fine young man.'

'He has,' Liala agreed.

The reply brought a titter of laughter from the lookalikes. Liala guessed they knew she had spent the night with Bryn. Many of them had spent the night with their Crispin lookalike boyfriends. Like her, they probably wondered if they would live to see another night.

She hit the control panel beside the door.

'Get ready to join them!'

The door opened and she launched herself into space. The other girls followed. Some used the ladder. Most jumped. They splashed down in the shallow water and waded towards the bank.

Liala was the first to get there.

Bryn was waiting for her.

He pointed to a gap in the trees.

'The arms factory is over there. Allain has an agent in place. He says it's defended by a detachment of trolls. He knows where they are and will direct fire.'

'What forces have you got?'

'Me and the other Crispins.'

'What about the prisoners?'

'They are too weak to fight. They can go in search of vehicles and man the pods but they don't have the energy to storm the factory. We'll have to go in without them. It will be just us ... the Crispins and the Lialas'

He reached for his radio and muttered into it. The reply was a string of numbers. Liala guessed they were the coordinates of points on the map he was holding.

'This is where the trolls are.'

He circled places on the map and handed it to her.

'Those outside can be eliminated with rockets. We'll have to go inside to take out the rest.'

He shouted for attention and called for volunteers. In the eyes of his Uncle Allain he was Private Entwhistle. Others saw him differently. Liala understood why. Bryn got things done. He was a natural leader.

'We have an agent in the arms factory ...'

He told them what was happening and everyone wanted to volunteer. That made it easy because Bryn had already picked his group leaders and they chose who they wanted. Liala watched them prepare for combat and was reminded of the adventure books on sale in the shops.