A Land Without Kings

Chapter 20: Egalo

"You didn't have to tell them! You idiot!" Harod was fuming as usual, but with great reason this time.

"I know I didn't have to, but I could not live with myself if I didn't." Pierce kept his head down; a glum look spread across his face.

"Well you might not live anyways now that you admitted it." Harod had no sympathy.

"I do not want to be associated with you, Pierce. I'm sorry, its better if we split up so that they won't know that we were the ones in the tent." Baradorn tried to sound empathetic.

"It's too late, I heard him tell them who was in the tent." Egalo had chirped in, lying all the way against the far side of the tent, crammed between the tent and another man who was sprawled out on the tent floor.

Baradorn relented, "well I guess since they know now, it's better we stay as a pack in case they try to take us out."

Harod was already flustered, "Well that's it now, we're already lucky as it is to have Egalo's incident with that guard keep us alive, but now we have our fellow slave men out to get us. I say we escape sooner rather than later. Let's leave tonight."

"No!" Egalo shot up, "I have a plan and we must be patient. We have to wait, we have to!"

Harod replied, "Oh yeah? Well what's this perfect plan of yours, huh? We wait until The Worm beats us and then we steal his whip and slay the camp? Yeah I think I'll just go do that by myself after I get my arse beat by the enemies Pierce has kindly granted to us."

Harod finally finished and then realized everyone was just staring at him. It was the six of them jammed in a tent, but Harod never felt so small.

Egalo nodded his head with his lips pursed, feeling a bit irritated by it—but he kept a cool head and kept calm as he replied, "No Harod, we'll escape by night, since you want to know so bad—"

"—by the night? No one has ever managed to escape by the—" Pierce had interrupted but Egalo finished what he was saying.

"—as I was saying we'll escape by the night. However, there's more to it. We saw Randor Redcloak's remains, yeah?" The men nodded sullenly but unsure of what he was getting at.

"Those creatures, those animals, they have a feeding frenzy whenever they have a chance. I don't know how many there are, but I think I know a way to get us the time to escape."

"Let me guess," began Pierce, "I'm willing to be the distraction sacrifice, its only right."

The men in the tent chuckled, but no one realized Pierce was serious.

"No Pierce, we find a different sacrifice. To pull this off, it must be a night when the creatures are out. If so, we have to have tent as close to The Worm as possible. When the creatures are out, we have to put on such a racket, that The Worm does not even realize the creatures are out in all of his rage. At that point, he'll make his way to our tent, but in the process hopefully he gets eaten by those things."

Baradorn wasn't convinced. "Just a moment, Egalo. Tell me what happens if The Worm doesn't throw himself out as bait? And what if the creatures of the night are many, and they are just waiting for us to come along as seconds?"

Egalo was ready for the question, "That's where I will come in, but don't you worry about me."

"No, no, no. That won't work for me. I need to know if this will work or I'm not in." Harod had overcome his embarrassment to reassert himself into the discussion.

"We'll just have to leave you behind then, I guess." Egalo wasn't about to give in that easily.

The men finally began about their nightly preparations, beginning with the usual awkward process of positioning themselves within the tent, most times some legs had to cross over another pair or else it just wouldn't work for space.