“There’s gonna be another wave of men come down here any minute, with every chance it’ll be a bigger group.” I grabbed a half-burnt stick from the fire grate and started sketching on a nearby wall. “So, we have a rectangular formation on this floor, hallways here and here?” Tess came over and nodded.
“And the central stairs are here. They lead down into the main foyer. Out here is the courtyard, with barracks either side, as well as other servants, footman,” Natty said.
“What proportion would be proficient with weapons?” I asked.
“Hard to say. We never saw many other than the officers. He said he had a battalion come with him into exile,” said Tess.
“So, about three hundred men,” I said. "Right, we need explosives, whatever you can carry, get it and now. We need gear that’s going to wipe out large swathes of the hostiles and make it easier for us to pick off the rest. If we can lob something sizeable into the barracks, we can take out a goodly number of blokes on R’n’R. That’s less left to attack us.”
“The big issue is here,” Flea said, drawing in the compound perimeter and grounds. He sketched a processional way between the courtyard and the gate. “We get through this gate, we can go through the portal and be back in town in a matter of seconds, but it’s getting there.”
“We have to hold off whoever’s left from here,” Gabe’s finger stabbed the outline of the citadel, “while travelling backwards to here,” he tapped the gate. “A hail of gunfire isn’t going to be enough to hold them back if they are keen. We need something big, really big to make a safe retreat.”
“I’ve got an idea of what that might be,” Tess said. She turned to me, “Show me which of the magical things here can be used to create explosions.”
“Of course, lass. Now, this here be the staff of the witch queen of Bathinogen . . .”
I pointed out pieces to the little slip until she was fair groanin’ with mystical weapons. I’d intended to send her out without the words that would make them in any way useful, just as a laugh, but she caught me fair and square, forcin’ the answers from me with her weird twist of magic. Before I could use me powers to wriggle into her brain, real quiet like, and work out the way of it, she stood straight and frowned, “Back to your previous form.”
“So, are we ready? You got a diversion to get us safe to the gate, princess?” I asked.
“Princess? Really? I—”
“They’re coming!” Natty snapped from his position by the door. One long ear was swivelling above his head. “Sounds like seven of them just rounding the corner to come down the hallway.”
“Right,” I grabbed several rifles from the wall, tossing them to Natty and Tess as I went to the door. “I’m going to lob some grenades first; then I want Flea and Gabe with me. Short bursts from the rifles, take the rest out. Natty and Tess, get around the corner and get down.”
“Ash . . .!” Tess cried.
“Nope, it's go time. Let me do my job, you do yours,” I said. I swung the door open and sure enough, there was a group of the canine hostiles walking toward me. They took a while to notice me; they were not expecting trouble, paws weren’t on sword hilts. I pulled the pin on the grenade and lobbed it down the hall, making sure to keep the arc low, so as not to graze the high ceiling, now was not the time for Muppet arms. I caught a glimpse of their looks of surprise before jumping back through the doorway and slamming the door shut, holding it in place with my shoulder as–boom!–the explosion rocked the building, the windows rattling in their sills. “Go! Go! Go!” I shouted and jerked myself back out the door, rifle at my shoulder. I shot into the haze of dust and debris, short, sharp bursts of bullets to try and take out the stragglers. When Gabe took his place beside me, I risked a look over my shoulder to see Tess and Natty hanging about. “What the fuck? I told you to go!”
“Soldiers coming up the stairs,” Natty said.
“Well, fuck,” I snapped. “Flea, Gabe, see if there’s anyone left. Toss another grenade and get back into the room if anyone else decides to join the party. You two, stay down here,” I pointed at the ground near the corner. I ducked my head around and sure enough, about ten men were making their way up the stairs to my floor, this time swords drawn. “Take this, cunts,” I muttered, tossing an explosive at the top of the stairs and another down into the stairwell itself. It wasn’t a great tactic, the area was too open and would let the blast diffuse, as well as possibly taking out the stairs we needed to use to get out of here, but I needed to send a message, don’t send any more people up here. I grabbed my rifle, looking down the scope and picked off a few guards who seemed determined to come forward, then ducked back to see how the others fared. “Got ‘em?” I asked.
Flea nodded, “Not for long, though. Next floor is the prince’s and he’s gotta have more guards coming down. With the noise we’ve made, it’s time to leg it.”
“Right,” I looked back around the corner and it seemed my strategy had worked. “Let’s get down those stairs. Everyone got grenades?”
“We don’t,” Tess said, pointing to herself and Natty.
“Plan is get down there then use enough of these to try and scare off the hostiles and create enough chaos with the non-combatants to make it difficult for the true believers to be effective,” I said.
“But there’s innocents down there, people who haven’t hurt anyone,” Tess said.
“Some of them cooked Knox’s body for dinner,” Flea said.
“We can get out of here, or we can protect all of the staff, but we can’t do both, so work out what you want, princess, because time's a ticking.”
She looked at me, big blue eyes starting to glisten a little as she stared, her head shaking slightly. Fuck! I looked away. I hated it when women cried. By the time I glanced up, she had pulled herself together somewhat. “I just have to remind myself that this isn’t really you,” she said.
“Dunno who you think I am, but we don’t have time for deep and meaningful’s right now. We need to move before all the other little furry fuckers come weaselling out of the woodwork.” I didn’t wait for a response, taking point, stepping over the bodies of the guards as we approached the stairs. While one side of the staircase had been severely damaged, it was such a grand, wide thing that it looked like there was still plenty of room for us to make our way down. “I’ll take the left, Gabe, you on the right. Flea, you keep an eye on the rear. We good?” I asked. The boys nodded and off we went.
I expected to have to gun down some wide-eyed bunnies who’d come blundering over to see what all the noise was about. Civilians, they were like sheep, kept safe and compliant by the big, bad sheepdogs. I was surprised to walk into the big foyer that flared out at the base of the stairs, spreading out to run the width of the grand manor house. There were a few dead or unconscious furries–some guards, some staff by the look of the discarded baskets of food and dropped cleaning rags. I jerked my head to Flea, trying to get the civvies moving before they fell to pieces, sobbing for the poor, benighted, furry cunts. He seemed to get the message, gesturing to the big front door, placing a hand on Tess’s shoulder to encourage her to move where he wanted her. Yep, total babysitter material. I nodded to Gabe and we moved forward, eyes on the doors that led into the rest of the ground floor. It turned out I had good reason.
The doors to the right si
de of the foyer opened and guards poured through, swords in hand, led, of course, by fucking Mellors. His eyes went wide, then narrowed down to slits when he saw me, stopping in his tracks, forcing the rest to mill around his back restively. “It’s you? You’ve been creating all this commotion? I thought your family had staged some sort of rescue. What the hell do you think you’re going to do? There’s only five of you and hundreds of us?” His lips curled back in a snarl.