Blood of the Neko - 19. Chapter 19

"Shit, the boy did it," Marcus whispered from where he was crouched in the brush next to Saladin and the two other hybrids.

They had carefully kept an eye on the kit as he slipped into the window of the first barracks. They had waited with baited breath, fully expecting guards to suddenly burst to life as they discovered whatever Kayden had done. But the compound remained blissfully quiet, even as they saw Kayden's small form slipping back out of the window.

"If anyone could do it, it would be him," Saladin said grimly, in grudging admiration. "None of us could have made it through that window."

For the next hour, they tensely kept watch on the kit's movements around the compound to each of the other slave quarters. There were a couple moments when a guard seemed to pause abruptly in their movements, as if having heard something off, but eventually he went back to pacing idly.

"Do you think he'll come back here or wait in the last barracks?" Marcus queried.

Saladin shook his head. "Don't know. Not with that kit. Honestly wouldn't surprise me to see him trying to sneak into Laos quarters and try to take him out before his grace gets here."

Marcus's eyes went wide. "Do you really think he'd do that?"

Saladin set his jaw, eyes focused on the compound for any hint of alarm. "No, I don't. I don't think Kayden really has the heart of a killer in him."

"Well, he did kill all those hunters," Robert piped up from his other side.

"Yeah, but he was trying to save those slaves as well as keep them from attacking his lord, let alone his own safety. If anyone directly threatens his grace, yeah, I think he'd attack them. Just like he did that assassin a year ago. He will protect his master with lethal force. Of that, I have no doubts."

The other hybrids nodded quietly around him. Saladin checked the sky, seeing the faintest slip of lightening sky on the horizon. It wasn't but a few minutes later that their keen feline ears picked up the low rumble of horse hooves.

Saladin's shoulders straightened. "He's here."

Apparently, the duke was keeping to a slower pace to minimize as much of the noise the horses made as possible until the last minute. Soon, they would hear and feel the thundering of the numerous horses as they made their final approach.

"As soon as the duke makes his arrival known, the guards and everyone will be distracted by them. We'll go in and take out any guards by the slave doors. We should be able to get keys off them to open the doors. If we're lucky, Kayden will have already unchained the slaves. We each take one barrack," Saladin ordered, as he pointed to which one each of them would approach.

"Yes, sir," they whispered in unison.

"On my mark," Saladin said, holding up one hand in a fist to keep them still.

They waited anxiously for the moment of action. Too early and they would be the ones alerting the compound. They had to wait until the duke's arrival had created enough chaos for them to hide in.

As the sound of horses' hooves increased exponentially, there was an abrupt scurrying within the compound as the overseers, guards, and hired mercenaries scrambled to alertness. Saladin tensed as they were quickly racing to form ranks that would stop the duke's approach.

Shit. Saladin cursed silently in his head. They had prepared more solidly than they'd hoped. They could hear the shouts now, louder in the mining compound as a few of the overseers took over issuing orders.

The Duke's deep voice could also be heard now, although it was vague, as he ordered Laos and the men to stand down.

"We're just going to have to make a break for it," Saladin grumbled, having hoped for a better opening.

BOOM!

The loud blast echoed from within the compound, a flare of light and fire briefly lit the slowly lightening sky. Chaos broke out among the guards and mercenaries as they scrambled with what appeared to be an attack from within.

"Now!" Saladin shouted, not worrying about being heard. The four hybrids darted into the chaos, not caring what had caused it, only seeing their best chance.

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Damien had thundered Gemini toward the compound, breaking from the pass as quickly as possible. He could see that his arrival hadn't gone unnoticed. There was organized chaos in the maneuvering of the mass of men. Damien looked grim in the slowly breaking dawn.

He rode forward with his Captain right at his side. There was a tight group of his own men surrounding him, as the others fanned out to create a formidable line. They did have the advantage of being on horses, but it looked like it was still going to be rather ugly.

"Laos!" he shouted as he could make out the man's arrogant stance next to his armed men. "In the name of the King, I order you to stand your men down. The mines are property of the king, and you were only entrusted with their operation."

The balding, slightly portly man pulled up to his full height, a sneer forming on his face. "I've spent years running this mine. I've slaved over it, made it productive. It's MINE!"

"You've acquired slaves illegally and are harboring them in unsanitary conditions. You are stealing coal from the king's mines and selling it across the border without consent. You have no right to the mines. Your service over them is terminated," Damien told the man forcefully.

The standoff between the two men was tense as each side waited to see what the other's next move was. Laos sneered back at him, obviously not willing to back down. "Jaken!" he shouted, not taking his eyes off the duke.

An abrupt movement from the traitorous ranks, caused Brenner to shove his horse into Gemini as a man aimed a shot at the duke. Horses skittered, and a man behind him cried out in pain, causing Damien's fury to rise.

A second shot sounded and the man who had fired at the duke, fell over, blood blossoming from his chest. Damien withheld a smirk as Laos looked shocked, his gaze darting to the mountains where the shot had been fired from.

Damien opened his mouth to order the charge forward when a loud boom echoed from within the compound behind Laos, startling everyone. A large portion of the men shouted in shock, breaking the line in fear of a surprise attack from the rear. Laos's eyes widened in shock along with the men near him, obviously wondering how the duke could have surrounded them.

Damien didn't worry about what had actually caused the distraction only that it had happened. "Go!" he ordered the men, most of whom thundered forward around him, galloping into the compound.

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Saladin had raced forward at the explosion, followed by his own men, he nearly skidded to a halt as he saw a small figure darting away from the source of the blast, his black tail trailing behind him.

Gunpowder. Kayden had thrown a bag of gunpowder into one of the fires, successfully creating the needed distraction.

Saladin didn't have time to wallow in his admiration of the kit as he raced to the door of the first barrack, his men racing for the others. A guard who was staring in stunned shock at the blast turned just as Saladin was nearly on top of him. The hybrid slammed his fist into the man, not giving him a chance to really register his presence. As the man dropped and Saladin bent over to search for keys, the barrack door burst open. The huge slave in the doorway eyed him momentarily, obviously assessing his intent. Saladin grinned at him and nodded.

"Kayden got you free. Good." He stepped back allowing the slaves free of their dungeons. "Go, but be careful. You can make it to the woods. You'll be safe there until--"

But the slave took off for the nearest mercenary, his fellow male slaves following his lead. Saladin noticed the female slaves ran out last, and he quickly urged them to take refuge in the safety of the woods.

He had to smile when some of them ignored him and joined the fight, apparently eager to vent their anger and frustrations at being held as slaves for so long. A few of the older or less able ones kept to the shadows as they darted for the protection of the woods.

Saladin turned, searching frantically for the kit now that the slaves were being freed. He could see the slaves from all the barracks joining in the fight, practically before the duke's men even galloped into the chaos.

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He was unaware of the abrupt rise of shouts and the sudden increase of numbers in the compound's open courtyard. His focus was solely on the traitor to the crown in front of him.

Damien shot forward toward the man, Brenner right next to him. His leg kicked out as the overseer tried to drag a short sword free. Damien leveled his sword at the man as Brenner swung down from his horse to grab him.

Laos's men were beginning to scramble as the horses thundered toward them. But suddenly shouts from behind them also drew their attention, and they turned to see slaves flooding from their barracks, free of their chains, and racing to attack any guard or mercenary they could find. It didn't take weapons as two and three slaves, fueled by adrenaline and fury, took down one after another of Laos' men.

Damien narrowed his eyes at Laos as he fought against Brenner's hold.

"Look around you!" Damien shouted at him. "Your men are running. Your slaves are rebelling. You've lost! It's over!"

"How the fuck did you get through the pass? Our lookout should--"

"My men took over your lookout last night," Damien stated. "And my best sniper is up there," he nodded toward the fallen gunman, "as you can see."

The chaos around him began to settle as Laos' men were subdued by the slaves or Damien's own men. Laos himself slowly, but grudgingly began to cease his struggles as he seemed to realize that he had lost.

Damien dismounted as the fighting dissolved into surrender. His heart lightened as he realized just how easily they had managed to take over the mining compound, with much less bloodshed than he had expected. He grinned as he took in the overwhelming number of slaves fighting back against their tormentors. Damn, Saladin and his men must have made the decision to infiltrate the camp and work to free the slaves.

"Looks like your workers don't want to remain under your supervision," Damien commented easily.

The overseer was red with fury as he saw the slaves he'd so carefully broken and tormented, rising up against his men. "How the hell did you manage to free them all? The fuckers were chained together in a locked barrack!"

Damien only smiled, glancing at Brenner who looked equally pleased. "Remind me to give Saladin and his men a reward for their bravery," he said, and Brenner grinned and nodded. "And everyone else. But Saladin's distraction saved a hell of a lot of men today."

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Saladin's heart nearly stopped when he spotted the young kit fending off one of the mercenaries who was nearly twice the boy's size. Saladin broke into a run as the bulk of a man swiped his dagger toward the boy. He froze momentarily when he saw the boy duck low under the man's arm, his small body crouched as he wrapped the man's legs up in his arms. The shocked man dropped his dagger in surprise, obviously having expected the boy to be easy prey, as he attempted to grab at the slippery neko. Saladin gaped in shock as the boy's grip around the man's legs knocked him off his feet, the huge bulk of the man thudding heavily to the ground.

Thankfully, Kayden scrambled away from him quickly instead of staying to try and fight more. As Saladin burst forward again, he saw three slaves jump the downed man, so he ignored his original target and took off after the fleeing kit.

Marcus and Robert were next to him, having freed the slaves from the barracks they were assigned to. The three of them took off after the kit darting around the side of one of the buildings into the dark.

"Kayden!" Saladin shouted as he rounded the corner. For a second, he didn't see the boy, and he wondered just how the kit could move so fucking fast.

"Damn it! Where did he go?" he shouted, ignoring the quickly fading fighting behind him.

"Sir!" Robert called, pointing.

Saladin turned and looked. The man was pointing up. He laughed, grinning as he saw the boy perched on the back side of the barrack roof, gazing down at him.

"Kayden!"

"Sir?" The cocked head of the kit as he regarded the hybrid guards on the ground was priceless, and Saladin couldn't help the grin of relief that the boy was unhurt.

"What are you doing up there?"

Kayden cast a look over at Marcus. "He told me not to get caught. That's what I'm trying to do."

Fuck, the kit was a bit of a smart-ass. He chuckled, Marcus and Robert fighting back their smirks too at the boy's retort. "Come on down," Saladin urged, as he glanced back at the quieting compound. Almost all fighting had stopped by now; only the last mercenary or two were still putting up any fight. "It's safe now. We've got you. And I'm sure your master will want to see you as soon as possible."

Kayden leaped down gracefully, and Saladin couldn't help but to quickly check the boy over for any wounds. His hand brushed the side of Kayden's jaw, a slight bruise forming which made Saladin frown. The smaller neko pulled away.

"I'm fine," he said. "Just ran into one of the guards."

"Yeah, I noticed. He was twice your size," Saladin said, dropping his hand onto the boy's shoulder. "You fought real good, boy. Really good."

Kayden smiled under his praise, quickly ducking his head shyly. "I'm sorry I tricked you."

Saladin's smile fell into a small frown. "Yeah, well, that wasn't so good--stealing the keys, sneaking off, lying to my men..." Saladin could feel Kayden practically shrinking under his admonishment as he continued. "...infiltrating the mining compound, sneaking into the slave quarters, freeing all those men..." Saladin paused to lift the boy's chin. "No one else could have done it, kit. You saved a lot of lives today. I'm very proud of what you've done."

Those bright green eyes glittered with hope as the boy stared up at him. Saladin chased back his smile as he continued, "But I don't like that you risked your own life like that. The duke will be pretty upset that I let that happen. Hell, Brenner will too."

"But--"

"Come on, kit." Saladin wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders, leading him across the compound to where the Duke and captain were surveying the corralling of the traitorous men. Saladin knew the moment that the kit saw his master because the boy jerked out of his arms and raced toward the tall figure of the Duke.