Part 22 (1/2)

Karl spun around. Standing next to Ohlmin was a short, fat man in wizard's robes. The wizard raised his hands, and smiled with a wine-stained mouth.

”Leave him be, Blenryth,” Ohlmin said, his eyes never leaving Karl's. ”This one is mine.”

Ohlmin drew his sword and lunged, in full extension. Right into Karl's left arm, the one protected by Doria's robes.

The blade tinged, and bounced off, as though it had hit a wall.

Before Karl could strike, Ohlmin backed away. The slim man pursed his lips, ”In that case, you do it, wizard.”

Blenryth raised his arms higher, a rush of harsh syllables issuing from his wine-stained moutha”

The darkness shattered as a bolt of lightning crackled past Karl from behind, streaking through the air, striking the wizard square in the center of his chest.

Blenryth exploded, spraying Karl with gobs of flesh and shards of bone, knocking him to the ground, out of breath.

Move. You don't know where Ohlmin isa”

Hands grasped his shoulders; Karl reached back and up.

”Easy,” Walter's voice whispered. ”It's just the, umm, cavalry.”

Karl bounced to his feet. Standing next to the thief, Aristobulus, looking much the worse for wear, rubbed his smoldering hands together.

And grinned.

”No time for congratulations,” Karl snapped, jerking a thumb in the direction of the wagon carrying the others. ”They're in that one. Get in, and get moving. I'll catch up with you.” He quickly scanned the vicinity. No sign of Ohlmin. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was smart enough to know when to run.

For a moment, the other two stood still. ”Now,” Karl said. A shove sent Walter stumbling in the right direction. ”I've got to find Ahira.” And Ohlmin. He clutched the scimitar tightly. Definitely and Ohlmin.

The world was an incredibly deep, impossibly dark pit. Or well, Ahira?

No, I'm not well. I'm dead, aren't I?

”Pa.s.s me that last bottle.” Hakim's voice was calm. As always, or almost always. ”I'm going to pour a little more in the wound before it closes altogether.”

”His mouth's moving,” Aristobulus said. ”Pour it down his throat, instead.”

”But if he doesn't swallowa”if it goes down the wrong tube...”

”Don't be silly. Those are healing draughtsa”the only way you could hurt him with that is if you hit him with the bottle.”

A gentle hand behind his neck forced his head forward; a sickly-sweet, syrupy-thick liquid washed the taste of blood from his mouth. Ahira raised a distant palm, forcing the neck of the bottle away. ”Save. For later.” He opened his eyes. In the dim light of an overhead lamp, Aristobulus and Hakim knelt over him. ”We.” He swallowed, and started again. ”We are not moving.”

Hakim raised a palm. ”No problem. We're far enough away now.” He raised his head. ”Karla”he's awake.”

Far enough away? There wasn't such a thing as far enough away. ”Who,” he said, his voice a harsh croak, ”who says so?”

Karl Cullinane leaned in through the open door, his face splotched with dried blood and streaked with soot. ”I say so. They're going to be having other problems than chasing us in the dark.”

”How about...” He gasped for breath. ”How . , .”

”Shh.” Karl leaned out for a moment, then returned. ”They're both... here, anyway. Andy's not doing too badly.” He shrugged. ”All things considered. Doria's still kind of... rocky. Not physically,” he said, with a wan smile. ”They've both had enough of that stuff. But they've been through a h.e.l.l of a lot.”

”What... happened?”

”Later.” Karl nodded rea.s.suringly. ”The main thing is that we got away. You took a bolt in the lung; if Ari hadn't found that cache of healing draughts in a box strapped under the wagon, you'd be dead. But he did, and you aren't. How's that for now?”

Ahira tried to shake his head vigorously. It just came out as a twitch. ”How did I... get here?”

Walter patted his shoulder, then moved away, seating himself on a bench on the far side of the wagon. Idly, he picked up a crossbow, then took a quick fingercount of the quarrels in its strapped-on quiver. ”Karl found you on the ground, if that's what you mean. Carried youa”on a dead run, you should pardon the expressiona”until he caught up with the rest of us.” He looked over at the big man, who was still braced in the doorway. ”Eleven boltsa”that's not going to be enough, not with my aim.”

”Strap another quiver to your leg. And don't forget the cloth, and the lamp oil,” Karl said.

”And the flint-and-steel.”

”Right.” He looked over at Ahira. ”The other two are outside, in case you're wondering. They... want to be left alone for a while. And I can't say that I blame them.” Karl patted Aristobulus on the shoulder. ”Are you sure that you're up to keeping guard while we're gone?”

”Count on it.” The wizard clenched his fists. ”I've still got my Flame spella”anybody except you two who gets close, gets burned. And speaking of burned, do you think that Blenryth's spell books are still back there?”

Karl shook his head. ”I doubt it. The wagon we torched was probably his. But if we get the chance, I'll check.”

”Fine. And if you don't get the chance, don't worry about it.”

Hakim laughed. ”Ari, m'friend, I'm beginning to like you.”

The wizard scowled. ”Just be careful.”

Ahira struggled to rise, to get his arms to push him upward. But he couldn't. Easy. He forced himself to relax. It's just temporary. It's just the aftereffects. ”You two aren't going anywhere. Not back there.”

Karl stepped all the way into the wagon, bending his neck to avoid b.u.mping against the ceiling. ”Out.” He jerked his thumb at Hakim and Aristobulus. They stepped silently through the door; Karl sat next to Ahira. ”We are going back. Just Walter and me.”

”Noa”” Ahira tried to shout it.

”Shh. I'm going to give you the rational reasons first. One.” He held up a finger. ”There are two-count-them-two water barrels on the side of this wagon. That's about five too few. Two.” Another finger. ”We don't have our supplies herea”no food, no rope, this one lamp and one oil flaska”and that bottle there is the last of the healing draughts.” He patted at Hakim's scimitar, which was stuck through a sash at his waist. ”Three. This sword isn't worth much; I may need a decent one later on. I kind of like Ohlmin'sa”and once I'm done with him, he won't have any use for it.

”And lastly,” Karl continued, ”there's five, maybe six of them left. If they have any sense, they're not going to try to chase us, but I don't want to worry about their having any sense. Understood? We're the fox; the only good hounds are dead hounds.”

”Give me the real reason. You want to play hero?”

Karl held his breath for a long moment before answering. ”This isn't for show.” He toyed with the iron cuffs and dangling bits of chain that were still around his wrists. ”Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds raped two ladies I care about. Two of my friends, dammit. And right now, both Andy and Doria are... in kind of...” He trailed off. Cullinane closed his eyes and tightened his fists. ”They're hurt, and they're scared. And if Ia”d.a.m.n. The next time I talk to them, I'm going to be able to say that the animals that hurt them are dead.” He opened his fists and rested his face in his hands. ”I want to tell them that they're safe, but that'd be a lie in this G.o.ddam world. G.o.d, how I wish I were home.” He took a woolen blanket from the floor and, with the scimitar, began to cut it into strips. ”And if the truth be known, my little dwarf friend, Ohlmin scares the h.e.l.l out of me. I want him dead.”

”No. You're not going. Can't let you.” Couldn't Karl see that it was just too much of a risk? The thing to do was make a run for the Gate, not try to hunt down the surviving slavers.

”You can't stop me.” Karl tied the dangling chains from his left cuff to his arm, weaving the strips of cloth through the links. He shook the arm vigorously. No sound. ”And don't bother calling Walter and trying to talk him out of it.” He repeated the process with his right cuffs chains, then started work on his leg irons. ”You left me in charge, remember?”

”That was just whilea””