Part 41 (2/2)
Right into a trap.
He walked the high part of the slope, trying for a clear view over the backs of the horses, worse now that men were mounting up. No sight of Ghita or Beijun, which might mean that they were not- But there was a wagon near the terrace at the main house doors. A good st.u.r.dy wagon and a double yoke of horses. That was where something had to come-the records, the gold, and likely not far off, the officers and the staff who had to make sure that wagon stayed safe. The elite guard, the Imperials, or the native Angen troops would be watching that, d.a.m.n sure no random lot of mercenaries who might take it into their heads, considering all that had gone wrong, to pay themselves all at once and the h.e.l.l with the commander and Chiyaden.
”That's the gold down there,” he muttered to another man afoot. ”d.a.m.n bet it is. Wouldn't y' like t' guard that? ”
”Ain't a chance,” the man said wistfully, and spat. ”You come near that, you're dead.”
”Where's the commander?”
”Ought to be out. Don't know what they're doin' in there.”
”Waitin' for th' rebels. I had a bellyful of waitin'. I lost m' tent, lost ever' d.a.m.n thing-”
”Me too.” Another spit. ”Not that it was much.”
”Lot of gold down there.”
”Don't say it. You can die for thinkin' it.”
”I ain't. I ain't thinkin' a thing. If I was thinkin', I wouldn't be here.”
He walked on, sauntered down the slope, down among the horses-looked up as the doors opened and light flooded out, with the shadows of Imperial guards and a number of official types coming out onto the terrace.
”Clear it back!” an officer yelled, and Imperials moved down to clear a s.p.a.ce around the wagon, and tobring certain horses in close to the steps. Moving fast now. Shoka edged his way closer to the line the Imperials were making, and kept an eye to the porch.
Plan your retreat, master Shoka.
Up the steps, cut a few throats and run like h.e.l.l down the terraces for the scullery gate-if the leg still has it.
d.a.m.n scullery lane's a dead end. Got to make that streetside corner in a hurry.
Where are you, kid? For G.o.ds' sakes, where are you?
He looked up to the porch as more men came out, one smallish man in robes being hustled along by others. And one tall, lank one in plain armor, with a gilt-embroidered robe thrown over it, and a helmet fancier than the armor.
None of that mattered. He knew Ghita's face, every nuance of body movements.
”You!” a voice snapped from the height of the steps, and he looked, alarmed, straight into an Imperial's face.
”Get him!” the guard yelled. And Imperials poured off the porch as soldiers scattered-as Shoka drew and took out the first and second to come at him, and charged for the porch, h.e.l.l with anything but the target, who was retreating behind his guards.
Horses screamed of a sudden and wheels cracked into the terrace steps, splintering wood, then jerking forward. Shoka cleared himself a s.p.a.ce about him and staggered back as a horse bolted between him and the guards, horses scrambling every way in mortal terror, over the terraces, breaking down railings, cras.h.i.+ng through hedges- He whirled clear of pursuing guards and reeled under the buffet of a horse's shoulder, dived into the general chaos of bolting and rearing horses and struggling riders and saw the fire burning, saw a fiery trail come through the air and rebound off a horse's rump, to fall and panic others as it burned under their feet.
”Taizu!”
He saw the outer gate opening, saw men running out into the lantern-lit street. Horses escaped that way.
From somewhere high in the air came a booming, echoing voice.
”d.a.m.n you, Gitu!” it howled, female and huge. ”d.a.m.n your cousin too! You pack of thieves, I'll have your eyes for pig-food! I'll roast you in h.e.l.l and have your bones for a necklace! And anyone with you, I'll lay diseases on him, I'll give him the plague and the pox, I'll curse you with cold beds and cold feet and cold in your bones all your life, till you die and I carry you off to h.e.l.l for my dinner, every one of you!”
Men ran in the firelight, crazed as the horses, bolting for the gate, the terraces, the gardens, grabbing onto horses and escaping as they could.
Ghita stared, looking up at the balconies, and Shoka jumped for the porch, vaulted the rail and sliced his way through startled guards and staff, two blows dealt before Ghita realized where he was and backed up to shelter behind clerkly men who wanted no part of it. ”You d.a.m.n dog!” Shoka yelled, and took his head off while staff ran for the inner halls and guards rushed to defend a dead man.
One, two, and three died, before the quick-thinking fourth a.s.sessed the situation and somersaulted backward over the terrace railing, out of his way.
There was Beijun cowering on the porch. There was his wife up there on the balconies somewhere, and he had no hesitation in that choice.
Even when at the bottom of his gut he wondered if therewere demons, and if he was rus.h.i.+ng up there to confront a sight he would never want to see.
He took the stairs at the corner up and up, one turn and another, while the firelit courtyard and the dark alternately swung past his vision, and he saw the paved area emptying, the wagon burning, riders rus.h.i.+ng out the gate, to shouts and curses inside and outside the walls.
He came out on a balcony at the very top of the house, face to face with a white demon shape and an arrow aimed for his heart.
”Taizu!”
The apparition whirled and sent the arrow out through the railings, several stories down into the courtyard.
And looked back to him, white-faced, white-armored, white hair streaming in the wind.
He stared. She said, with a breath: ”It's flour.”
”You d.a.m.nedfool , wife!”
”I figured you'd come here.” She drew another arrow from her quiver and studiously let fly at the chaos below.
”How did you get in here?”
”With Ghita's bunch.” She picked out another arrow. ”I rode in, slipped down in the dark and got the scullery gate open. And got some flour and coals and stuff in the kitchen. Walked right up here.” Another shot. ”The kettle there's the echoes. I was going to wait till they got the gates open, but I heard a commotion and I thought it might be you. -Is help coming?”
”I d.a.m.ned well hope so! But I've got no guarantee. Come on, come on, dammit!” He lunged after her and grabbed her by the arm, hauled her to the stairs. ”Drop the d.a.m.n bow!”
”It's yours!”
”Drop it, dammit!” He hauled her down around the turns, running, h.e.l.l with the pain in his leg. She followed that order the way she listened to everything, but he let her go, to follow him on her own. The bow banged on the railings and the steps as she struggled to stay with him, shedding flour all the way.
”The Emperor's down below. Hewas. I went to saveyour neck!Drop the d.a.m.n bow! ” She still had it when they hit the second floor. Fire was everywhere below, the courtyard deserted, the burning wagon lying wrecked, horseless, overturned against the terrace corner. A pine had caught fire, gone up like a wick. Loose horses still ran the garden and the courtyard, darting this way and that in thunderous panic, ignoring the open gates and the safety of the lantern-lit street.
He rounded the last turn, felt the shaking of the stairs, and in the next instant came face to face with guards coming up.
He yelled. Taizu yelled. They yelled. He took out the first one who stood paralyzed in shock and the hindmost three lit out down the stairs. The second came to life as he stumbled on the corpse. A sword flashed past his head and took the railing out with a downstroke: he followed up in the same direction and the man and his head followed the railing down.
Shoka ran, charged the rest of them, trying to keep the momentum, trying to gain ground-d.a.m.ned if he knew where anything was at the moment, except the terrace and the gate that was escape; and the place where he had parted with Beijun.
<script>