Part 16 (1/2)

I was too late. There had been four Numantians living there, a man, his wife, and his two sons. I don't remember what had brought them to Sayana. All four of them were dead, the Tovieti strangling cords still wound around their throats. The house was stripped nearly bare.

I cursed and ran to my horse. As I remounted, a mocking laugh came from somewhere, but I saw no one.

My next address was luckier, although I nearly had to knock a grandsire out to convince him hemust leave. He kept trying to tell me he'd lived in this city since he was a boy, the Kaiti were his friends, and nothing bad would happen. I dragged him to his doorway and pointed to where a knot of glowering men stood, held back only by Lance Karjan's menace. He looked at his neighbors and erstwhile ”friends,” and I thought his heart would break. But he, his equally aged wife, and their grown son then obeyed my orders.

As we rode off, I heard cries of triumph as the Kaiti began looting their house.

A half-dozen other addresses went smoothly.

The next I sensed something strange about, even though there appeared nothing untoward. It was a large building in a wealthy part of town.

I slipped out of the saddle and went to the door. I was about to lift the knocker whenI felt something.

My sword was suddenly in my hand. I began to knock, and the unlocked door was pulled open, and a blade flashed.

But I was not there. I'd slipped to one side without willing the motion, and as my mind ”saw” the attack I lunged, and put my sword deep in a Tovieti's guts. He gasped helplessly for air that was rus.h.i.+ng from his lungs, dropped his blade, reached for mine, and died. I yanked my sword free, and went into the house. Curti and Karjan were behind me.

There was the body of a young woman on the floor, her head half-severed. An infant lay beside her, the silk strangling cord around its neck. I heard the sound of cras.h.i.+ng from another room, and crept toward it.

A man was pulling drawers out of a cabinet, eyeing them for valuables, then dumping them on the floor.

An open sack sat on the table nearby, half full of loot.

”Mil y' stop admirin' your skills with th' blade an' gimme help,” he snarled, half-turning.

His eyes had time to widen just a trifle before my sword took his head off, and sent it tumbling, blood spraying in a half-circle against the walls.

I was about to search the house for other Tovieti when a voice came from the larder: ”Thank you, soldier.”

A little girl, no more than six, her hair as golden as mine, walked into the kitchen. She looked at the headless corpse and nodded soberly.

”That's good. I think he's the one who killed my father.” Then she looked at me. ”Are you going to kill me now?”

I almost burst into tears.

”No,” I managed. ”I'm a Numantian. Like you are. I've come to take you to a safe place.”

”That's good. I wish you had come a little while ago. While my sisters were still alive.”

I could stand no more. I picked her up and rushed her out of the house, telling Curti to prepare a bundle for the girl. I'd stay with her at the horses.

I set her down, and she looked up at Lucan.

”Is he a nice horse?”

”He's a very nice horse. His name is Lucan.”

”Can I pet him?”

I nodded, and she walked forward as Lucan lowered his head. He nickered when she rubbed bis nose.

”h.e.l.lo, Lucan. I'm Allori.”

In a few moments Curti and Karjan came out. He shook his head in response to my unasked question.

There was no one still alive inside. He had a full armload of clothes, stuffed into a heavy storage bag.

”I took mostly heavy clothes,” he said. ”There was some coins in the bag mat b.a.s.t.a.r.d in the kitchen had. I stuck 'em in here. She'll need 'em when we get her to safety.”

I told Allori we must leave, and helped her mount in front of me.

As we turned away, she looked back at the house, then up at me.

”I don't want to live here anymore,” she announced quietly. Her eyes were dry, and I never once saw her cry.

We rode back to the compound. The Kaiti watched, but stayed well out of our way. There were grumbles and occasional shouts, but the tale of what had happened the day before had spread, and no one was willing to chance our wrath.

Of the or so Numantians in the city, we'd managed to save more than . The others either had changed addresses without telling us, been killed, or fled from their rescuers, sure they still had nothing to fear.

But real safety still lay more than miles distant.

The officer of the watch shook me awake just after midnight. I came to groggily, since I'd been asleep for just over an hour, and the first thought that wandered across my mind was that the greatest blessing peace can bring is an uninterrupted night's rest.

”Sir,” the man said. ”You'd best come to the main gate.”

I'd fallen asleep almost completely dressed. All I had to do was pull on my boots, my heavy coat and helm, sling my sword belt, and we hurried out It was seething rain, and the torches the watch held smoked, sending shadows against the water-walls that washed across us. But I could see well enough.

Lance-Major Wace's head was impaled on his broken-off lance just outside the gate. Piled against the lance were the heads of my other men.

We were cut off from Urey.

”But what is it you desire of me?” Achim Fergana asked, trying to sound concerned.

”Since Your Majesty evidently can no longer govern his jwn city, cannot guarantee the safety of the public streets to men and women of my country, I must ask for permission to depart, along with all other Numantians and those who've chosen me as their protector.”

”What will your masters think of that?” he said.

”The Rule of Ten will be most displeased,” Tenedos said. ”That I can guarantee. What action they may choose to make, I cannot say, but I know it will be harsh, and not in the best interests of Kait.”

”I do not see why my kingdom should be made to suffer because of the actions of a handful of fanatics.” Achim Fergana actually looked worried; perhaps he'd never considered the course of his actions, or, more correctly, inactions.

”Where were your soldiers when my Residency was attacked, O Achim? Where were your wardens when innocents were slaughtered yesterday?”

”Sayana is experiencing great unrest,” Fergana said. ”They were occupied with other duties.”