Part 15 (2/2)
”Why did you come here tonight?” Javan's voice was flat, and for a moment Turek felt sorry for him. To recognize that you yourself had started the series of events that pointed to your own destruction... Turek knew how painful that could be. ”Are you supposed to convince me to surrender?”
Turek shook his head. ”I'm not 'supposed' to do anything. I'm here on my own initiative, to show you what you're up against and to show you the only way out.”
He pointed in the direction of the road. ”Leave. Now. Pack up your school and students and get out of Lazuli before Krain blockades the village.”
”And leave the residents to face him alone? I can't do that.”
”Sure you can. You said yourself that Lazuli's technology would be useless without you. If you leave, attacking Lazuli would be a waste of effort.”
”You don't know that. There are old rivalries between Lazuli and Masard- Krain may find sufficient motivation in that. Besides”-he smiled wryly-”do you really imagine he would go to all the effort to raise and equip an army and not use it somewhere? His authority could never survive such a humiliation.”
Turek hadn't thought of that. ”It's still your best chance,” he muttered.
”Perhaps. But there's a higher principle to consider. Lazuli risked a great deal to let us set up our school here before we were generally accepted. If we pull out and leave in time of danger, who would take us in again?”
Turek snorted. ”What's the matter-is a more nomadic life too much like the way we used to live?”
Javan didn't take offense. ”The number of students would grow too slowly.
You see, Master Turek, the only way Vesper will ever truly advance will be if almost everyone has at least some ability to destroy Shadow. The Mindlight technique is relatively easy to learn-but we have to become an established part of Vesperian society to attract that many people to our cla.s.ses. We can't do that if we're dispersed or off in our own community somewhere. No. We'll stay in Lazuli and fight.”
For a moment the two men gazed at each other in silence. Then Turek stooped down and retrieved his blanket, draping it again over his shoulders, and picked up his pack. ”I didn't expect you to be reasonable,” he said tiredly, ”but I had to try. I'd appreciate it if you and your friends outside would keep quiet about my visit.
Krain might not be happy with me if he found out.”
”You're going back to him?”
”Of course-he's hired me. Besides, he's got enough Shadow Warriors to handle things even if I left.” Turek gestured toward the light. ”Before I go, would you mind telling me how that works?”
”There's an absorbent wick that rests in a pool of something called alcohol, which we can get from plant leaves and stems. It burns cleaner than candles and has other advantages, too.”
”Progress.” Turek nodded. ”A good thing... usually.” He tapped the sword beneath his cloak. ”Perhaps it's time you and your people started considering the disadvantages, too.”
Javan stepped to the door and grasped the handle. ”Thank you for coming, Master Turek. I'll walk you back to the road.”
”Don't bother; I can find my own way. You've got more important things to do with the time you have left.” Brus.h.i.+ng past him, Turek pushed open the door and strode out into the noise of the inn.
Outside, he started back toward the road-but only long enough to make sure he wasn't being followed. Changing direction, he made for the river, moving upstream toward the cliff face that formed Lazuli's northern edge. His task there took only a few minutes.
Two hours later he was back in his room in Krain's house, sleeping like a dead man. Around the stolen sword, hidden once more under his mattress, new Shadows formed, troubling Turek's dreams.
The next few days were hectic ones for Krain's soldiers and planners, but for Turek they were relatively uneventful. His time was spent clearing out Shadows from the training area, the smithy, and the stored swords. The latter, especially, seemed to have wound up as his own personal ch.o.r.e; Brisher and the others never seemed to go near the shed anymore. Clearly, at least one of them must have been clearing the Shadows from it before Turek arrived, and he could only speculate that perhaps they had acquired so much distaste for the weapons that they were perfectly willing to dump as much of the burden onto the newcomer as he was willing to take. Whatever the reason, the situation suited Turek just fine, giving him that many more chances to study the weaponry.
At first he was surprised to find that his earlier theft seemed to have gone unnoticed; but on second thought it seemed less than remarkable. After all, no one would be periodically counting the weapons while they were all under guard together. The loss would be discovered eventually, of course, but Turek wasn't worried about it.
Krain had said it would take a week to finish his preparations, but his estimate turned out to have been on the cautious side. Less than four days after Turek's arrival at Masard the last sword was finished.
And at dawn on the fifth day the residents of Lazuli awoke to find an army encamped against them.
The setting sun was throwing long shadows across the camp as Turek made his way up the low hill to where Krain's command tent had been set up. Behind him the hum of conversation and laughter was dying down as most of the army prepared for sleep; beyond the camp, if Turek cared to look, were twin picket lines stretched between river and cliffs to guard against a sortie; and a quarter mile beyond that were barricades Lazuli had erected. Even an untrained fighter like Turek could see the barricades wouldn't do much good.
Krain and Pakstin were sitting outside the command tent, talking quietly, when Turek arrived. ”You wanted to see me?” the Shadow Warrior asked.
”Yes.” Krain gave him a cool look. ”Will the weapons be ready by dawn tomorrow?”
”No problem.” Except for the swords the twenty men on picket and guard duty were carrying, all the weapons were stored together in a tent at the center of camp. ”Brisher, Spard, and I will be clearing out the Shadow every hour or two throughout the night, and Rusten will do it again one final time right before you attack. The men will be able to fight for hours after that before the Shadows grow large enough to affect them significantly.”
”So you say. Tell me, did you by any chance walk off with one of the swords while they were back in Masard?”
Turek nodded. ”Yes. Why?”
His casual admission seemed to surprise the other. But he recovered quickly.
”Why did you take it?”
”To study, and to defend myself with if necessary. Or hadn't it occurred to you that Javan could ruin your plan instantly simply by killing the four of us?”
Judging from Krain's expression, the thought hadn't occurred to him. ”Well...
you should be safe enough in camp.”
”At least until dawn. You are attacking then, aren't you?””The village has refused to surrender.” Pakstin shrugged. ”It's on their own heads.”
”True.” Turek looked at Krain. ”Was there anything else?”
”No, I suppose not. Just make sure the swords are ready an hour before dawn.”
”They will be.” Nodding, Turek left, heading back downhill and into the camp.
But he didn't stay long. As soon as the darkness was complete he discarded his cloak and changed into dark, close-fitting clothing. Several large wicker baskets of the type used for carrying grain were lying empty by the storage tent; picking one up, he stole between the silent tents toward the river.
The cataracts and rapids that turned the river into a boiling torrent at Lazuli vanished a short distance south of the village, leaving a current that was swift but pa.s.sable. Four small boats, evidently used by Lazulian fishermen, were drawn up on the gra.s.s a short way below the encampment. Taking a few minutes first to clear away the Shadow that had gathered around it, Turek got into one of the craft and began to paddle.
He arrived on the opposite bank a good deal farther downstream, and for what seemed like a short eternity he waded s.h.i.+n-deep in the icy water, towing the boat toward Lazuli. The current got progressively stronger, and it was with aching arms that he finally beached the craft, pulling it ash.o.r.e at the base of the rocks where the rapids ended. Moving cautiously on the moss-slick stones bordering the river, he proceeded uphill, basket clutched awkwardly in one hand. It was hazardous going, and more than once he nearly fell into the water, where a reasonably certain death would have awaited him. But he made it, and at last stood just below the northern cliff face, looking across the river at Lazuli's northern end.
A thin cloud cover was obscuring the stars, leaving him only the dim light of Lazuli's lamps; but even so, it took him only a few minutes to find the fist-sized rock he'd thrown across when he'd visited the village several nights earlier.
Untying the rope from around it, he pulled carefully on the line, hoping its long immersion among the rocks hadn't snagged it on anything. Luck was with him; not only did the rope come easily free, but a cautious tug showed that the other end was still secure around the boulder where he'd tied it. When he'd first set up this backdoor approach into Lazuli, Turek had had only the vaguest idea what he would use it for; now everything depended on this thin, waterlogged line. Stepping a few feet downhill, he pulled the line taut and, after first running it through the handles on his basket, fastened it to a thick tree root. Taking a deep breath, he grasped the rope and stepped carefully into the river.
He got three steps before the current knocked his feet out from under him, plunging him up to his chest in the icy water. Gasping with the shock, he nevertheless managed to hang onto the rope, and after a couple of false starts he managed to stand up again. He slipped twice in the next ten feet, but after that he seemed to get the hang of it and only fell once more before staggering up the opposite bank. For a moment he lay among the rocks, getting his breath back.
Then, s.h.i.+vering violently in the night wind, he moved down toward Lazuli.
The afterimage method for locating Shadows was useless in such dim light, but even so Turek had no trouble locating the metalworking center at the village's northeast corner. The psychic light of Javan's Mindlight technique was visible to him from there, flas.h.i.+ng every few minutes in a faint glow that indicated Turek's old sensitivity to it had faded somewhat. At least he hoped it had.... Loosening the sword in his sash, he moved silently toward the glow.
Clearly, no one in Lazuli was expecting any trouble at the metalworking area.
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