Soon, all of Lilia's ex-Improbable Slaves were armed with makeshift weapons and ready to attack - well, free - the remaining Slaves. She hoped that, in the heat of the battle, they remembered the very important distinction.
Night had fallen more quickly than anyone had expected (such was improbability), and it was now or never.
She herself was armed with her knife and the adrenaline that had been slowly building within her for the past hour or so. It had only taken about twenty minutes for everyone to find a tool sharp enough to cut off the necklaces with, but the rest of the time had been dedicated to strategizing. Finally, they had developed a plan of sorts.
Alia knew the big shots in camp better than anyone, the Slaves who were on the top of the food chain due to seniority. Even though the necklaces dulled wits, Slaves still had their own individual personalities, which meant that Alia knew their patterns and habits - and most importantly, how to get close to them.
Lilia decided that two of both the men and women would be sent to free as many Slaves as possible, starting with the ones who slept the heaviest, enabling a quick and silent attack, and moving their ways up to the riskier, more sensitive ones.
The rest of the Slaves would form a shield around her as she moved to Connor's house. Lilia felt slightly foolish bringing so much protection with her, but Connor was an amazing fighter, and much stronger than she was alone. Even if he managed to subdue her (which Lilia had no doubt he could), the other Slaves could then battle him as well. It was her insurance.
Finally, they were ready to attack.
They split into the groups. Matt was leading Lilia's, as he knew the camp better than she did, and he directed them out of the forest and into the darkened streets of the Improbable Slaves' village. Lilia's heart was beating so hard that she was sure her shirt was lifting off of her chest.
She had memorized the position of Connor's house over the hour that she had been watching it. About twenty minutes ago, he had entered his house and hadn't emerged since, nor had there been any light coming from the window. All was dark, which Lilia sincerely hoped meant he was asleep.
"Is he a light sleeper?" Matt asked in a quiet whisper.
"Yes," replied Lilia in an equally soft tone, remembering that when she shifted in her sleep, it had woken him up a couple of times now.
Matt made sure everyone had heard her before announcing in a whisper, "He's probably going to wake up as soon as we enter, so everyone, get ready. Alec?"
Alec was the man who could wield weak magic. "Yes?" he asked tremulously. Lilia wondered if this was the first battle he would be in with a free mind. After all, before becoming a Slave, the man had been a pacifist.
"I need you to cast a spell of light as soon as we get in there. We'll need to see what we're doing without risking burning down the house. Can you manage that?"
Looking relieved that nothing more was being asked of him, the man nodded swiftly.
Matt crouched at the door of Connor's house. He rested his flat hand on the wood. "Three...two...one," he mouthed, and shoved open the door.
The ex-Slaves and Lilia tumbled into the house, weapons at the ready. Alec muttered a few words and a ball of light flew to the ceiling, illuminating the area in its entirety.
Connor was already rising from his bed, his expressionless face quickly contorting into cold fury.
"Connor!" Lilia screamed, unable to control herself. The sight of him, so helpless, a servant to such a simple necklace - it tore her apart.
But calling out his name had been a mistake. Connor turned his head to face her in a movement that was eerily reminiscent of something out of a horror movie. Lilia shuddered and readied her dagger.
Connor flung himself at her and was immediately attacked by the ex-Slaves, minus Alec, who shouted something about keeping watch at the door.
The struggle was confusing and painful. Since so many people were fighting in such a little space, there was a fair amount of curse words thrown around as people stubbed their toes on furniture and hit their elbows on the walls.
Lilia couldn't even get close to Connor. She was on the outskirts of the writhing crowd, unable to see exactly what was happening, what they were doing to him. "Please, don't hurt him!" she screamed over the roars and cries of the ex-Slaves from in front of her and the Improbable Slaves from outside who had awoken at the commotion.
Finally, exasperated and worried on Connor's behalf, Lilia forced her way through her forces and toward Connor. He had his back to her and was holding his own - she should have known - even against the odds.
Crap. She had completely forgotten about the improbability factor of their mission. Well, good thing that it's unlikely we'll succeed.
Not giving herself too much time to think about what she was doing, Lilia stepped forward and grabbed at the necklace. Her fingers found purchase and she yanked the strap as hard as she could, lifting the fabric off of Connor's neck just far enough to slip her knife under it, side up. Connor was making choking noises as she swiveled the knife and cut through the necklace.
Connor fell to the ground out of shock, wheezing. The ex-Slaves got closer, still thirsting for battle.
"No, no, no, no!" Lilia yelled. "He's not a Slave anymore. The necklace is off. Go help the others!"
With a cheer, her "troops" turned and quickly filed out of the house to go free the other Slaves. Matt lingered behind and, as Lilia pulled Connor's head into her lap, cleared his throat uncomfortably and said, "I'm...I'll wait right outside, then. For protection." With that, he left.
Connor blearily opened his eyes. He blinked at Lilia confusedly. "Wolf cub?" he asked in a husky voice.
Lilia smiled and bit her lip. "Yes, I'm here," she whispered, her eyes drifting to the irritated red line encircling Connor's neck.
"Oh, gods," Connor groaned, closing his eyes again. "Did...did I hurt you?" His voice was hesitant, fear an undercurrent.
"No, of course not. Don't you remember what happened?"
"It's hazy. Like I'm not remembering it accurately."
"You didn't hurt anyone too badly," Lilia assured him. "You were only a Slave for a few hours."
"Thank you so much. For everything," he breathed, his eyes still closed. He carefully sat up and turned to face her. Gently, he reached forward, took her face in his hands, and kissed her. Her hands raised to rest on his biceps.
Thank god that he's all right, Lilia thought, leaning farther into Connor. His familiar warmth was incredibly comforting, and it took a good deal of self control to break away from his lips.
"What was it like?" she asked in a whisper as they pressed their foreheads together.
Connor grimaced and she hurried to add, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine." Connor was silent for a moment before saying, "It was awful. I can't imagine being a Slave for months or years. I couldn't think right - it was like being incredibly drunk but without the buzz of good feeling you get before you crash."
Lilia couldn't relate to the connection but nodded her head slightly to show that she was listening.
"And there was this pain - this horrific pain that made me so angry, constantly. It's terrifying looking back on it, because it's the kind of anger that just makes you want to hurt people, even good people. Even loved ones." He met Lilia's gaze steadily and she tried not to get too hung up on the fact that he had implied that she was a "loved one."
"It doesn't matter," he said after a moment of silence. "It's over now."
"It doesn't matter at the moment, but it does matter," Lilia corrected him. "Now, let's go." She stood and waited for Connor to climb to his feet before offering him her dagger. "You're much better with it than I am."
Connor shook his head. "This is yours in every right. You deserve to use it." He cast around for something to use as a weapon before his gaze fell on the windowpane. He grinned and raised his eyebrows at Lilia before driving his foot through it. The shards burst into the outside world and he rushed to the door to retrieve one, Lilia close behind.
The scene outside was chaos. Lilia could no longer tell who was on their side or not. It was a tooth-and-nail fight, each Slave and ex-Slave battling purely for themselves. Torn necklaces littered the ground, giving Lilia hope that they might be able to save the entire camp. She felt a twinge of vindictiveness at the thought of victory - it would be one small blow against the cruel Wizard, but it would doubtless show their power. Maybe even make him respect them.
She knew it was a long shot, and she knew that the goal was to make him help them, not to defeat him, but it was worth a try.
Connor reemerged from around the house, now armed with a wickedly sharp shard of glass. "You're going to seriously injure someone with that," Lilia warned him, eyeing it nervously.
"I know what I'm doing," Connor retorted, flipping the glass into the air and catching it easily.
"Don't do that!" Lilia commanded, envisioning all the things that could go wrong with the trick. Connor just laughed at her nervousness and ran into battle.
Lilia followed more slowly. She stayed pressed against the walls of houses, looking for a target. Finally, she found one. A woman was sneaking up on one of the ex-Slaves, armed with a large branch - she had obviously gotten the idea for a makeshift weapon from Lilia's forces.
Lilia gave her some of her own medicine and snuck up behind her, kicking her squarely in the back and sending the smaller woman to the ground. She dropped to sit on top of her and, as the woman thrashed and struggled, quickly and carefully cut off her choker. The woman lay limp as Lilia climbed off of her.
She helped the woman to her feet and yelled to her over the chaos of the battle, "Cut off the necklaces! Try not to hurt them!"
The woman, wincing and holding a hand to the small of her back, glared at Lilia as if to say, really? Don't hurt them? Lilia just shrugged apologetically and moved on.
She hoped, dimly, that the other ex-Slaves who hadn't been part of her original team had the presence of mind to free their fellow imprisoned Dwirinelians rather than harm anyone. However, she couldn't stop to talk to all of them, so she simply weaved among the grappling men and women as she searched for more Slaves.
Soon, however, the battle began to die down. More and more quickly, it was becoming obvious to the ex-Slaves that they were all free.
Not a single Improbable Slave remained in their camp.
Someone cheered, and everyone followed suit. Soon, everyone was screaming and clapping and whooping for the realization that they were free. Their work here was done. They could finally go home.
Lilia moved among the celebrators, pointing to the hill where she and her original forces had gathered to create their plan. To each ex-Slave, she ordered, "Meet me at the top of the hill. Pass it on." Soon, everyone started straggling up the hill and into the woods.
Lilia searched their faces anxiously for Connor, but couldn't find him. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she whirled, knife at the ready, adrenaline still at a high level.
"Woah," Connor said, backing up and holding out his hands. "Just me."
"Sorry. I'm still on edge, I guess," Lilia said with a breathy laugh.
"You did really well," Connor murmured in her ear, making her shiver as she looked over the people awaiting her words.
"You can do this, too," Connor assured her, a tinge of amusement in his voice. She understood where it was coming from - after all, what kind of person easily survived a battle but got scared of public speaking?
"Thank you, all of you," she called out at loudly as she could without truly shouting the words. "Thank you to everyone who freed another Improbable Slave. Together, we have liberated this village and shown the Wizard of Improbability that he does not own any of us!"
Cheers rose from the crowd. Courage boosted, Lilia continued.
"Anyone who wants to go home now, can. If you have a family or a life of any sort awaiting you, I completely understand your eagerness to escape this territory and never return. However, my friend and I are the ones who freed you. We might not have cut the necklaces from each of your throats, but what we did do was free many of you, enabling you to help others. In return, I ask that a small team of you accompany us to the Wizard."
Murmurings rose from the crowd and Lilia noticed a few people around the edges of the gathering already breaking off and wandering into the trees. She swallowed nervously, sensing the crowd turning against her.
"I know this is a lot to ask, but we did save your lives, either directly or through association. Please, all we want is an escort, and we only need a few of you. Then you're free to leave this place and never return, I promise.
"So, who's with us?"