Bladesinger,
bladesinger, sing me a song,
With your weapons so
deadly and your magics so strong
You chase through the
Void on the Winds of Hell,
And death is the only
story you tell.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Barundar rolled to his feet, snatching up his axe from
where it had fallen a few feet away. He
was bleeding from a dozen cuts - some serious - but he didn't feel them. The battle rage had descended on him.
"Go!" Reanyn said
An iron grip fastened on his ankle. The nearest of the two dizanter, still
stretched out prone on the floor, had seized him. Barundar swung down with all his might, going down to one knee
with the momentum, the blade of his axe striking the armored gauntlet
immediately below the wrist.
The blade sparked as it connected, and rebounded from the
armor with a ring. The dizanter's armor
buckled under the tremendous blow, and there was a sound not unlike the
crunching of bone. The creature gave a
hissing scream, its fingers spasming and releasing their hold on the giff. It pulled its hand back, cradling it.
The second dizanter had already come to its feet. It leaped for the giff, impossibly swift,
its ornate pike coming down in a killing blow.
Barundar scarcely had time to lift his axe to block,
still down on one knee. The two blades
met with a fearsome clash, and for a moment the giff feared the terrible blow
would snap the haft of his weapon.
But it held firm, and the dizanter whirled the pike away,
striking out with a sideways blow aimed for his midsection.
Barundar came to his feet smoothly, blocking it, then
blocking again as the dizanter lunged with a blow aimed at piercing his heart.
Again he blocked.
Again. The damn thing was fast - much faster than it looked. He backed off a half step under the onslaught. In his peripheral vision he saw that the
other dizanter had come to its feet, still cradling its injured wrist. He felt something bump his thigh - the
wreckage of one of the tables, half demolished but still standing on two of its
legs.
The dizanter stepped back, whirling its pike above its
head and swinging the blade to attack from the opposite direction. Barundar seized the smashed table behind him
and with a grunt, hurled it at the creature.
The dizanter was momentarily surprised by the unexpected
maneuver. It sidestepped, but not
quickly enough to avoid a glancing blow on the shoulder by the flying
table. It staggered back a moment.
Barundar didn't hesitate; he used the distraction. With a growl he turned and flung himself at
the nearby window.
Most of the glass was already gone. The few shards that remained shattered under
the impact of his body, some scoring deep cuts on his arms and torso.
He smashed through, landing in a roll on a heap of
crumbling stonework that lay piled up on the ground outside.
He grunted as he landed hard on the uneven rock; there
was a splintering crack and a rush of pain in his side as one of his ribs was
broken, and the air was forced from his lungs.
But he hauled himself to his feet.
The battle rage had taken him; he would feel his hurts later. Somehow he had lost his grasp on the axe -
it had skittered to a rest on the rocks a few feet away.
There was a man not five paces away, a shorthaired human
armed with a shortsword and wearing a black tabard. The man had been running by when Barundar had come crashing out
of the window, and he had just brought himself to a surprised halt as the giff
came to his feet. The man looked
uncertain but he raised his sword, stepping forward for a quick blow while the
giff was off balance.
Barundar tensed, coiling his muscles for a dodge or
jump. If the man was any kind of
swordsman at all, the giff probably wouldn't be able to move quickly enough to
avoid the blow, but maybe he could avoid a serious injury if he was fast…-
WHOOM!!!!
The world rocked, as a deafening explosion thundered,
shattering the night.
A gigantic fist of hot air smashed into his back, lifting
the giff off his feet and hurling him through the air.
* * *
His hands were fast, their movements assured. In a half crouch, his back to the main rock
they sheltered behind, the newcomer worked.
Calmly he laid out several balls and smokepowder charges, and in seconds
he had reloaded the pistol.
Tianna stared at him in disbelief. This... boy
was Twilight Jack?"
"Now then," he said, finishing. "Where is Windhook?"
There was a second, smaller explosion from within the
building, an aftershock of the first, and a tremble went through the
ground. Both she and Nym were startled
by the blast, but the young man never lifted his clear blue gaze from
them. He lifted his pistol and pointed
it at her. "Windhook," he
repeated.
"I... in the building, maybe," she said,
shaking her head. "I don't
know. We never saw him. These others came crashing in-"
But he wasn't listening to her anymore. He turned to the side, raising a finger to
his lips, motioning her to silence.
Beyond him, in the dim light of the small fires still
burning, the rocky courtyard looked empty.
There was no movement, no sound.
She looked at Nym for some explanation, but the dracon
had retrieved his arquebus and was busy reloading it. He wasn't as fast as Jack but he was well-familiar with his
weapon.
"What's going on?" she asked.
At that moment Jack rose, whirling and aiming at once. There was a crack as he fired, and almost as
quickly as he had stood he was back in his crouch again.
From out in the darkness there was a startled yell, and
the scrabbling sounds of men dodging back for cover.
Jack was already reloading.
"They're trying to get around us," said Nym,
raising his arquebus and sighting down it, scanning the darkness. "We're in a good spot."
"Forward, dogs!" yelled a voice from closer to
the building. "It's only one lone
dracon and a girl! He's reloading! Move!"
From off to the left, someone gave a battlecry and Tianna
could hear the sounds of running footsteps.
Nym fired, and a man out in the darkness screamed.
A heartbeat later, Jack stood and fired out into the dark
again, returning to his crouch and reloading.
"Down!
Down!" shouted someone else.
"He's got more than one gun!"
"Fool!" came that first voice - the one from
nearer the building (maybe even from within it, Tianna thought) "It's just one dracon! Take him before he reloads!"
"Yes," shouted Jack suddenly, "come and
die. I've a liking for killing
fools." His hands had not paused
in their work. Deftly he loaded another
shot into the starwheel. "Watch
the building," he said to Nym in a lower voice. "Once they realize they can't cross the open space to get to
us, they'll try to flank us by coming through the hole in the wall or over the
roof."
The dracon jerked a nod.
He was still reloading.
"Got seven charges left," he said. "You?"
"Five," said Jack. "Enough, if we make them count." He looked at Tianna and jerked a nod toward
the crossbow. "Know how to use
that?"
She gave a startled nod.
"Hold!
Hold!" cried the voice from near the building. "That's no dracon!" A rich, melodious laugh followed - the sound
of it seemed odd and out of place in the middle of a battle. "Twilight Jack, or I am very much
mistaken," the voice called.
"I thought you were dead, old man!"
"Hoped, you mean," Jack shot back. "Sorry to disappoint you." He had finished reloading and now crouched
with his back to the rock, weapon held ready.
Tianna had crawled over and retrieved the crossbow. It looked in good order but was not
loaded. She spied a quarrel of crossbow
bolts on the body of the crossbowman and started towards him.
Jack put out an arm to bar the way. "Hold girl," he said shortly. "That's Cyril Blackthorne out
there. Step from cover and he'll send
you to join your ancestors."
"We're not here for you, Jack!" called the
other man. "We just want the girl
and the Wayfarer! Walk away, old man,
and you get to keep breathing!"
Jack said nothing.
In a lightning quick move his hand darted from cover, seizing the ankle
of the dead crossbowman. He hauled him
within reach and nodded to the quarrel of crossbow bolts. "Now load.”
"What do you say, Jack?" the man called
again. "Leave and live. Stay and die. There's paper on them, but there's none on you."
"I thank you for your courtesy," said
Jack. "Your concern for my welfare
is touching. In like spirit, I'll
extend the same courtesy to you. Stay
and die; leave and live - with the provision that you turn Windhook over to
me."
That strangely pleasant laugh sounded again. "Such bravado!" Blackthorne
called. "I don't think you
understand your situation, old man.
I've got fifteen men out here with me, all well-trained lads. And I've got two dizanter, and the most
powerful psionicist in known space. You
might want to rethink your position."
"I've got one dracon who's a crack shot, three
starwheels in perfect working order," - Jack glanced over at where Reanyn
lay - "one very dangerous bionoid, and one elven girl to reload and a good
supply of ammunition. Add to that a
thirty-yard killzone that any of your men foolish enough have to cross and
fairly good cover for us. You might
want to rethink yours."
"Is that the Wayfarer you're talking about, old
man? The bionoid, I mean? Because the last time I saw him he didn't
look so good. I haven't heard much from
him during our conversation, old man. I
wonder if that's because he's dead."
"Maybe he is," Jack called back. "Why don't you come over and find
out?"
"They're moving," said Nym in a low voice. "He's trying to mask them by
talking."
Jack gave a nod.
He listened for a moment, then held up three fingers meaningfully and
pointed to the left.
"Don't be stupid, Jack," the man called
back. "I've got you hemmed and
pinned on three sides. Time is on my
side, not yours. I have the luxury of
calling for reinforcements." There
was a pause. "You still there, old
man?"
"Just a second," said Jack. He gave Nym a quick nod, and suddenly the two
of them were on their feet, firing out into the darkness in the direction Jack
had pointed.
There was a scream of pain from that direction as well as
a ringing 'SPANG', as if one of the shots had ricocheted off of some metallic
object.
Jack and the dracon dropped back into crouches again the
instant they had fired. From out in the
darkness there were two loud reports of firearms and the whine of a crossbow
almost before they had dropped behind cover.
Two fist-sized holes were punched into the wall behind
Nym by the gunfire, a quarter-inch apart.
They had appeared, Tianna thought, at the spot where the dracon's head
had been a mere heartbeat before. Nym
took no notice, busy with reloading.
"You missed," said Jack quietly. He shoved the crossbow at Tianna. "Reload, girl."
Nym gave a half shrug.
"He's shielding them with the dizanter. Their armor's too tough to penetrate at this range."
Tianna fumbled with the crossbow, turning it point down
and cranking jerkily at the windlass.
It moved slowly, falteringly.
"You were saying, Blackthorne?" called Jack.
For a moment there was only silence. After a long minute the voice came
again. "Last chance, old man. You're no bounty hunter, Jack; this has
nothing to do with you. You can still
walk away from this."
Tianna thought it strange to hear Twilight Jack referred
to as 'old man'. To her eyes he looked
like a human boy on the verge of manhood.
She knew the legend, of course - everyone had heard the Storyteller's
verse on him - but seeing him in the flesh it was difficult to believe he was
virtually an eternal. Still, there was
something dangerous about his eyes...
"I intend to," Jack called back. "After you're dead." He nodded to Nym. "Be ready," he said, lowering his voice. "He wouldn't be delivering ultimatums
if his men weren't in position."
That rich laugh sounded again. "Have it your way, old man."
There was a scrabbling sound from out in the darkness.
"They're coming." said Nym grimly.
Jack nodded.
"Alternate your shots with mine," he said. "They'll drop for cover and then run
for us while we reload. The longer it
takes them to get to us the better. And
keep an eye on that building." He
looked at Tianna. "Keep that
crossbow handy, girl. And lay out the
bolts."
"I know what to do," said Tianna. "Don't call me 'girl'."
Jack paid her retort no mind. He gave a nod to Nym, stood and whirled in one motion, and fired
into the darkness.
Just as quickly he was down again and reloading. There were four sharp reports and the top of
the pile of rocks they were huddling behind exploded into tiny clouds of dust
as missed shots clipped it. A crossbow
bolt skittered into the wall behind Nym and shattered, tumbling to the ground.
Nym started to rise, but Jack held up of a forestalling
finger. "Give it a moment. We don't want to be predictable, and be
careful to move between each shot.
Blackthorne will have a weapon trained on the spot you rose at last,
never doubt it... now!"
The dracon rose, took aim, fired. Immediately he was down again.
"Seven," he said, quickly reloading, "the
closest still twenty yards off. He was
rising as I took him."
But Jack had finished loading his weapon. He held it for a moment, then glanced at
Tianna.
He moved so quickly that for a moment Tianna wondered
where the crossbow had gone. Her hands
held only air.
Jack rose and fired the starwheel with his left hand, the
crossbow with his right.
He was down an instant later, shoving the crossbow back
at her. "Reload," he said
simply.
He can't have had
time to aim, she thought in wonder.
Not that fast. No one is that fast.
"Nine," he said, "not counting the two I
took. I only see one
dizanter." His hands worked
quickly, reloading.
Nym stood to fire again, bringing the stock of his
arquebus to his shoulder in one fluid motion.
There was a small burst of flame at the end of the weapon as the dracon
fired. He gave a small cry of pain and
surprise at the same moment, and lurched backwards, nearly dropping his weapon
as he stumbled.
Tianna's first thought was that it was the weapon's
recoil that had knocked him off balance, but the dracon had clutched the far
side of his draconian face with a clawed hand.
It came away bloody.
"Blood and hells!" snorted the dracon. "Neogi-spawned bastard clipped
me!" There was a line scored into
the side of his face, Tianna saw. It
ran along his cheekbone from the edge of his toothy mouth to where the shot
must have richocheted off his the bony fan-shaped spur which protected his
sinous neck. A little to the left and
an inch higher, and the shot would have taken him in the eye, killing him.
There was a hissing scream from overhead followed by a
sound like a distant explosion, and suddenly the sky overhead was turned brighter
than day, flooding the entire area with a brilliant white light. Slack-jawed, Tianna glanced upwards, then
immediately winced at the brightness.
"Reload, girl," said Jack curtly. His eyes flickered to something beyond her
shoulder, and his starwheel whipped up, pointing straight at her.
And fired.
* * *
"No use," said Tavras angrily. "That hell-spawned starjewel... the
girl is too close to it. Every time I
try to make contact I get nothing but noise."
"And the others?" asked Blackthorne.
The psionicist shook his head. "Contact is strictly line-of-sight. It would be more difficult with them anyway
- I don't have a previously established connection."
The two took shelter behind the wall of the
building. Blackthorne was closest to
the corner, and kept a wary eye on the pile of rocks where his prey was
sheltered.
"I think you are drained, mindbender," he
said. "Your mind-battle with that
human left you weakened."
Tavras gave him an angry look. "Never think I am weak, Blackthorne. That would be a mistake, and you are a man
who doesn't make mistakes. You might
have warned me you were going to destroy the building. The explosion nearly caught me off-guard, and
I was still linked to the man when death took him. Do you know the risk of touching a dying mind?"
"You're paid well for your risks, mindbender... Thayliss!
Report."
A lean tall form had come loping up. It was one of the dizanter.
It came to a halt.
When it spoke it's voice was disconcertingly low hiss. "We have them encircled," it
said. "Etrayslith leads the men
who approach across the clear space, as you instructed. A second group stands ready to come through
the building. All are in position, and
await your signal."
"And the giff?"
It shook its head.
"We lost him in the explosion, lord. It is likely he is destroyed already."
"Never take anything for granted, Thayliss,"
said Blackthorne. "It is a hard
lesson to learn, and one that will kill you if you disregard it."
There was a bundle at his feet; a large woolen sack with
something in it that squirmed.
Blackthorne nudged it with the toe of his boot. "The much sought-after Jarren
Windhook. You will take him away from
here, back to the city proper."
The dizanter made an angry sound. "I am to shun the battle and perform
wet nurse work? I hunger for
blood!"
"You are injured, Thayliss." Blackthorne nodded at the dizanter's left
wrist, which was turned at an odd angle.
"I don't waste my assets.
The Duchess' men will suffice, I think."
"They are useless dogs!" hissed the
dizanter. "If the Wayfarer lives,
he will scythe them like wheat."
"That," said Blackthorne, "is precisely
why I hired them. We-"
"You were saying, Blackthorn?" called Jack from
out in the darkness, interrupting the quiet conversation.
Blackthorn gave the dizanter a hard look. "You will obey my will, Thayliss. You are bound by your oath. Take Windhook to the city and await my
arrival."
The dizanter made an angry sound in the back of its
throat, then stooped, taking a grip on the sack. It hoisted the bag up in one arm, then turned and sped off into
the darkness.
"You're certain you want to send it away just
now," said Tavras after the dizanter was gone. "If that's Twilight Jack out there; it does change the
odds."
"It's perfect," said Blackthorne with a
smile. "I knew he was on Syrrus B;
that's why I sent Diamond Jill after him.
But I never expected him to walk into the same ambush I set for the Wayfarer. Two birds; one stone. And there's more paper on Jack than the
Wayfarer and the girl combined."
He raised his voice, calling back.
"Last chance, old man.
You're no bounty hunter, Jack; this has nothing to do with you. You can still walk away from this."
There was a pause.
"You don't really mean to let him go," said Tavras in a low
voice.
"Of course not," he answered.
"I intend to," Jack called back. "After you're dead."
Cyril Blackthorne laughed. "Have it your way, old man," he called back. He smiled.
"The men are nearly in position, I think."
"Why not blast them with your sorceries and have
done with it?" asked Tavras.
"I may yet; they must not be permitted to leave this
place alive. But I will try the
hirelings first. There is paper on
three of them, at least, and I need trophies to prove that they have been
taken. My magics would leave little
remaining traces of them."
* * *
Slowly Barundar swam back to consciousness. His back felt scorched; a stinging mass of
blisters and bruises. Somewhere to the
left of him he heard the crunching of gravelly stones underfoot grow and
quickly fade as someone went running by.
He ached everywhere - his side especially - but he forced
himself up onto hands and knees. His
muscles protested the move in a dozen different places.
His vision was blurred, but gradually came into
focus. There were a few scattered small
fires from the... what had it been? An
explosion? The flickering, dim light
seemed only to heighten the surrounding darkness, making it even more absolute.
The building was farther behind him now and slightly to
the left. The explosion had flung him
some fifteen yards, to land helter-skelter among the rubble. The building itself was still intact, for
the most part, though good sections of the roof were missing, along with
scattered holes in the walls. It glowed
with the dim flickers of tiny fires from within, but the force of the explosion
had obviously blown out the larger fires.
There came the distant report of a firearm firing
followed by a man's scream. The far side of the building, the giff
thought. A moment later came a second,
louder shot, from the same direction as the first, and Barundar tensed.
He knew that sound.
Nym's arquebus.
On his knees, he began searching for his axe, feeling
with his hands in an attempt to locate it.
The darkness was such that he couldn't make out individual shapes on the
ground, the rocks fading into one indistinct mass, but he scanned the
surrounding area anyway, hoping the dull metal of the axehead would gleam in
the flickering light. The last time he
had seen the weapon had been after plunging through the window, when it had
slipped his grasp and tumbled to the ground a few yards-
His left hand encountered something soft and fleshlike,
covered with a warm, sticky wetness.
When he raised his hand to the light, he saw that it was covered in
blood.
He lowered his hand again, feeling around. The
swordsman, he realized, it must have
been the swordsman he'd faced off with just before the explosion. His questing fingers traced the
unfortunate fellow's face - his touch told him that most of the skin had been
burned away and the eye sockets were empty - and down to the man's chest,
pushing away a few of the rocks that covered him.
The man had obviously been killed in the blast. Barundar reflected with a shiver that he had
been standing closer to the explosion than the human had.
"Good thing giff aren't as delicate as humans,"
he muttered aloud. He'd located the
man's right shoulder and was following the line of the arm. The man had had a sword. Not as good as an axe, but it would do...
Barundar suddenly swore under his breath. The man's arm ended in a ragged tear of
flesh and exposed slivers of bone below the elbow. Of the sword there was no sign.
The damage the human had taken was surprising, and the giff made a mental
note to count all his fingers and toes when he had a chance to see himself in
the light, and make sure nothing was missing.
There was another report from the far side of the
building, and Barundar grunted. He
pulled himself to his feet (with a suppressed groan) and turned toward the
building. Weapon or no, Nym needed
help. If he had to, the giff would use
his bare hands.
He had gone no more than six paces when something shifted
beneath his foot and he nearly stumbled.
He went to one knee, feeling underfoot, and his palm
contacted the cold, familiar shape of his axe.
Quickly he snatched it up, running towards the
building. The haft felt good in his
hands.
Keeping close to the wall, he turned to the right,
skirting it at a quick walk. Strangely,
despite the explosion and the fires that still burned within, the wall was only
slightly warm to the touch.
He rounded the corner and froze.
Ten yards ahead, at the next corner of the building,
stood a man. He was facing away, a
crossbow held braced on his shoulder, aimed out into the darkness. Except for his head and weapon, the man kept
his body ducked back behind the corner, no doubt for cover.
Barundar waited a long moment, but the man didn't
fire. He held his pose, his crossbow
trained on something out of sight around the corner.
Probably waiting
for a signal, thought Barundar.
Stealthily he crept forward, his axe held ready. Giff weren't known for silent movement, but
Barundar did a fair job. Fortunately
there were still a few scattered reports of weapons being fired, and the
occasional cry of pain from out in the darkness, and the sounds helped mask his
movements. Still, if the man turned and
saw him, there was plenty of time for him to shift his aim with that
crossbow...
At the midpoint there was a jagged hole torn in the wall
which emitted a dim glow from the fires flickering inside. Barundar paused at the edge, glancing in
quickly and then returning his gaze to the crossbowman.
It was an empty room, smaller than the main chamber, with
chunks of burning debris on the scorched floor. Must be the back room,
thought Barundar distractedly. The far
wall had been wooden, and little remained of it but the support beams for the
roof, for the explosion had torn great sections of it away. Beyond, through a smoky haze, parts of the
main room were visible.
Barundar darted across the opening, then halted, looking
back in. Had there been a flicker of
motion through the smoke in the main chamber?
Someone entering the front of the building? Perhaps...
But the haze of smoke was deceptive and he saw nothing
more. He returned his attention to the
crossbowman.
The man was still frozen in place, muscles tensed,
ready. The giff edged closer. The tiniest sound could betray him now, and
he walked softly.
Barundar reached striking distance and the man still
hadn't moved. A quick blow to the base
of the man's neck dropped him like a stone, the crossbow tumbling from
nerveless fingers. Fortunately the
weapon didn't discharge.
Barundar dragged the man's limp body back a few paces,
dumping it, then retrieved the crossbow and started towards the corner. He slipped the haft of his axe in his belt
and cradled the missile weapon in one arm.
He had never been expert with ranged weapons, but if he was going to be
caught in a crossfire, it might be handy to have one.
He peered around the corner, in the direction the
crossman had been focused.
Some twenty yards down he saw the dim outlines of a
number of people crouched behind a pile of rocks.
A shot was fired from out in the darkness beyond the
huddled group, and Barundar flinched as it ricocheted off the wall a few feet
from where he stood.
Immediately one of those behind the rocks stood and
returned fire.
It was Nym. The
dracon was facing away from him, but Barundar would have recognized his large
yet slender frame anywhere.
Barundar considered.
A quick rush would bring him to Nym and whoever else was taking shelter
behind the rocks, but if he came on them unawares, one of them might fire on
him before realizing who he was. On the
other hand, if he called to alert them to his presence, he would also be giving
away his position to whoever was firing on them.
From far out in the darkness there was a hissing sound,
and a globe of bluish-white light streaked upwards. It rocketed up for half a second, then with a
CRACK! burst into a
blindingly white explosion that flooded the entire area with dazzling light.
Barundar winced at the sudden brilliance and turned his
eyes away, blinking furiously. Spots danced
in his vision.
At the same instant four humans seemingly stepped out of
the wall at a point farther down from where he stood, not far behind Nym and
those who were taking shelter with him.
* * *
Twilight Jack's shot took the first man in the
throat. At such close range it did
terrible damage, ripping through the entire left side of the man's neck and
nearly decapitating him. The force of
the impact flung the man backwards like a ragdoll.
Tianna gave a small cry, whirling.
There were three more of them, none more than five paces away. It was obvious they had come through the hole in the building.
The second man vaulted over his fallen comrade, slashing at Jack with a wickedly curved scimitar with a serrated edge. With a grunt Tianna fell on her side as he slammed by her.
The third man leaped for Nym. The dracon had just finished reloading and was turning when the man came down on him, viciously swinging a long-handled axe with an large blade.
The dracon took a step back and to one side, narrowly
escaping, but the man was fast, and swung again, this time in a side-chopping
attack.
Hampered by the very rocks he had taken shelter behind,
Nym could do little more than back off a faltering half-step and block with his
arquebus. There was a 'crack!' as the
two weapons met, and instantly the axe-wielder pulled back and swung again,
this time aiming an overhead blow at Nym's head.
Nym managed to block again, but the force of the blow
nearly drove him to his knees, and the crescent blade of the axe had halted,
quivering, only a few inches from his face.
Realizing the dracon was off-balance the man pulled back and swung again
and again in a quick flurry of blows designed to keep Nym from regaining his feet.
Tianna fumbled for the crossbow. It had tumbled to the dirt a few feet from
her, and though it was cocked and ready she had not yet fitted a bolt to the
bowstring.
At the same time Jack was facing off with the other two
men. The one with the scimitar had
attacked with three quick slashes to the head, groin, and torso. Jack held himself calmly in reserve until
the man had committed himself, then shifted back from the first blow,
side-stepped the second, and stepped into the third swing, seizing the man's
wrist and yanking him off-balance. He
had reversed his grip on the starwheel, and aimed a blow at the base of the
man's neck.
The man was well-trained though, and rolled with the
pull, twisting free of Jack's grip. He
ducked his head into the roll, escaping the main force of Jack's blow and
earning only a light graze instead.
Nearly instantly he was back on his feet, the scimitar ready to strike
again. He advanced a little more
cautiously.
The third man had a pole-axe, and swept a blow at Tianna
as he passed. She had been reaching for
the crossbow, but gave a small shriek and scrambled back. The man was obviously less-than-expert with
his weapon; he had missed her by more than a foot. Still he swept his weapon overhead, leaping forward in a strike
that surely would disembowel her.
Jack sent the man with the scimitar into a low roll,
swiping at the back of the man's head and landing a glancing blow. He turned his backswing into a throw,
sending his starwheel flying.
The man with the pole-axe gave a grunt as the hurled
firearm slammed straight into his face with a crunching sound. He stumbled backwards, nearly dropping his
weapon, blood streaming from his nose and torn lips, then whirled on Jack,
forgetting the elf girl.
The one with the axe was chopping furiously at Nym -
again, again, and again. Desperately
the dracon blocked, each time narrowly escaping the blows. Suddenly an unexpected blow knocked the
arquebus from his hands. With a
triumphant cry, the man lifted his axe high and brought it down in a killing
blow.
Desperately Nym caught the haft in his hands as it
descended, grunting under the force of the blow. The axe trembled as Nym fought to keep the blade from descending
any further. Forced nearly to his knees, it seemed inevitable that he would
succumb to the furious attack... until suddenly his right foreleg lashed out,
the clawed foot striking into the man's abdomen.
The man screamed as the claws dug into his flesh, scoring
deep wounds and catching on bone. His
grasp on the axe faltered, and Nym snatched it away, at the same moment pushing
down on his leg, putting more and more of his weight on it, and the man cried
out as he was forced to the ground. The
dracon reared, dragging his claws free of the man's flesh, then plunged down
onto the man with both forelegs, crushing, and rending at once.
Tianna scrambled to where the crossbow lay, snatching it
up. She grabbed at one of the quarrels
in the dead man's quarrel - fumbling it, grabbing it up again, and fitting it
to the bowstring.
Three men came vaulting over the makeshift rampart from
the opposite direction - the first wave of those who had been advancing across
the 'kill' zone. Two of them bore
swords and kept coming. The third held
a crossbow, and came to a rest at the top of the rocks, bracing himself with one
foot atop a flat rock, the knee bent.
He sighted down the crossbow and fired, all in one motion.
Nym had just begun to turn to confront the
newcomers. That motion was the only
thing that saved his life. There was a
meaty sound as the bolt slammed into him from behind. He staggered off-balance as the crossbow bolt tore through his
right shoulder, the force at such close range propelling it straight through
his body. His right arm spasmed and
hung useless.
"No!" cried Tianna helplessly, raising the
crossbow and firing. The bolt went
wide, missing the man by several feet and whipping off into the darkness
beyond.
The man cast his crossbow aside and drew a dagger. "Time to die, slut!" he shouted,
leaping on her.
Nym's cry of agony turned to one of fury as he caught his
balance and whirled. One of the
swordsman slashed at him, but with his left hand he caught the man's wrist in
an iron grasp and pulled him closer. He
growled, his fearsome mouth opening wide to engulf the man's head, then
snapping shut in a crushing grip.
The man's limbs quivered once as the dracon shook him
furiously, snapping his head from side to side, his teeth digging into the
man's neck with tremendous force. An
instant later, the man's head was torn from his body, which collapsed in a
bloody heap. Nym spat out the remnants
of the man's head, roaring with rage.
Tianna tried to roll aside as the man came down on her,
but he caught her hair, hauling her back off her feet.
Tears sprang to her eyes as he threw her down onto the
ground, a fistful of her hair clutched in his free hand. He reared back with his dagger, but she
managed to catch his wrist with her right hand. She clawed at his face with her free hand, but he merely yanked
her head up and slammed it back down onto the hard-packed earth, stunning her.
Stars danced at the edge of her vision. Still she managed to keep her hold on his
wrist, and though she could not remember how she'd done it, she now had both
hands on his wrist, forcing the point of the dagger away.
He leered above her, a fierce grin on his face. "Think you can stop me, whore?" he
sneered, and brought his full force to bear.
She groaned in despair as the dagger began lowering
towards her breastbone despite her best efforts. Even with one hand he was much stronger than she.
He yanked her head up and slammed it into the ground
again, and the dagger jerked another few inches towards her flesh.
"How's it feel to die, slut?" he asked, still
grinning fiercely.
She realized she was going to die.
It happened so quickly that for a moment Tianna wasn't
certain what had happened.
There was a furious roar and the weight of the man was
suddenly hurled upwards and off of her by some tremendous force. The dagger went spinning from nerveless
fingers and the torso was lifted nearly to a kneeling position before it came
crashing back down again, half-on and half-off her, so that only her legs were
trapped beneath it. Of the man's head
there was no sign.
She managed to pull herself free of the limp body and
scrambled to a sitting position.
More men had come over the low rocky wall in the
meantime, at least five of them, though maybe more. The battle was pitched, and in the uncertain light of the
flickering fires it was difficult to tell.
There were two bodies sprawled at the top of the rocky embankment, both
human, one with a crossbow bolt jutting from its left eye (who had fired it she
couldn't guess).
Barundar had appeared from nowhere, hewing right and left
with his great axe. There was little
doubt that it had been the giff that had saved her.
A group of three men surrounded Jack, stabbing and
slashing at him. The body of the man
with the pole-axe was on the ground not far away, eyes staring sightlessly up
at the eternally black sky. Jack had
his weapon now, whirling, ducking and slashing to keep the three attackers at
bay. As Tianna watched, one of the
three gasped and fell backwards, his hands clutching at the bloody and gaping
wound Jack had opened in his throat.
The other two ignored their companion and leaped to the attack, hoping
to catch Jack off balance. For a moment
Tianna thought the young assassin would be caught off-guard, but a quick
side-step and parry saved him. Calmly
he counter-attacked, driving the two men back again.
Barundar had charged at the two men attacking Nym. The dracon had one of them by the throat,
shaking him like a ragdoll. He cast him
aside as Barundar appeared. The second
man shifted to the left to avoid being caught between the two nonhumans, then
swung a blow aimed at Nym's knee with the warhammer he held.
Tianna didn't see what happened next, for another pair of
men came over the top of the rock pile and a third appeared around the right
side of it, running to help those attacking Jack.
Barundar caught one of them in midair in a ferocious swing that nearly severed the man in two and sent his body flying aside. The other screamed a shrill battle cry and slashed at the giff's face.
The third man tackled Jack from behind, grabbing him with both hands and trying to hamper Jack's effectiveness with the pole-axe and drag him to the ground. The two swordsman darted forward, hoping for an opening. Jack whipped his head back, smashing the man's mouth and loosening his hold, then did a quick side-step, evading the first swordsman's slash and parrying the second one's strike even though his motions were restricted.
Tianna had scrambled back a few paces from the
dagger-wielder's corpse and the fury of the battle. Her palm came down on something cold and metal.
Nym's arquebus!
she realized with a start, though how the dracon's weapon had been flung so far
from where the dracon fought was a mystery.
She lifted it, and was surprised by how heavy it was; the dracon wielded
it so effortlessly she had assumed it was a much lighter weapon.
Clumsily she turned it, looking for the trigger. She knew virtually nothing about smokepowder
weapons, but she had seen Nym fire it enough times to know the basic mechanics
of the thing.
There was a hiss and the lean, inhuman form of the
dizanter came bounding over the rock pile, vaulting over the combatants in an
impossibly high somersault landing in a half crouch right before her.
It cocked its head, scanning from her to the prone figure
behind her. "Wayfarer," it
said in a hissing, sibilant voice.
She closed her eyes and pulled back on the trigger.
Nothing happened.
"Void!" she swore, looking at the weapon. Maybe it hadn't been loaded after
all... Then she saw that the hammer
wasn't cocked.
There was a moment of blackness, and the world
blurred. When it came back into focus,
she found herself sprawled akimbo a few feet from where she had been
sitting. She wasn't sure what the
dizanter had hit her with, but her head throbbed painfully and a wave of
dizziness almost took her back into unconsciousness. Incredibly, she still had her grip on Nym's arquebus. Somehow she focused on it, fumbled back the
hammer.
The dizanter itself had bounded over to where Reanyn
lay. With a triumphant hiss it whirled
its alien pike so that the point hovered just above the Wayfarer's
breastbone. It raised the haft a few
inches, preparing to drive the weapon home in a killing blow.
She raised the arquebus in unsteady hands and fired.
The weapon jumped in her hands like a thing alive. The recoil slammed the stock hard into her
ribs, knocking the wind out of her and tumbling her backwards. The noise of the blast deafened her
momentarily, and she found herself laying on her back, gasping for breath and
staring upwards at the darkness.
Her hands were empty; she must have dropped the
thing. She tried to force herself back
to a sitting position, but her side was on fire and her muscles wouldn't obey
her. She managed to raise her head a
few inches before dizziness forced her back down; it was the best she could
manage.
The cries and yells of the fighting and the clash of
steel on steel sounded like a distant, far-away dream in her ears. She felt consciousness slipping away from
her...
...And fought to bring it back.
Her breathing steadied and the blurriness of her vision
eventually came into focus. The
youthful face of Twilight Jack suddenly appeared above her. "You alive, girl?" he asked,
eyeing her critically. Some distant
part of her mind noted that it was quiet; the sounds of battle had vanished.
"Reanyn," she asked, "Reanyn was being
attacked by that... thing. Is he...
?"
"Dead," he said. "Not Reanyn. The
dizanter. At that range your shot took
off most of its head, armor or not."
"But Reanyn?" she persisted.
"Alive," grunted Jack, helping her to a sitting
position. "But he won't be for
long if we don't get moving."
She felt lightheaded and faint for a moment, but she
forced herself to remain upright until it passed. A few paces away Barundar huddled over a groaning Nym, quickly
tying off a rough armsling with a makeshift bandage torn from the dracon's
shirt. Blood soaked through the
bindings on his shoulder, and his arm hung at an unnatural angle.
He caught Tianna's gaze and gave her a weak smile. "That's going to make it difficult to
aim, I suppose... Unh!" He gave an involuntary grunt of pain as the
giff tied the makeshift bandage off.
Between them, all around them, were the bodies of slain
men. In the darkness it was difficult
to make anything out more than still forms, but she knew what they were.
"What happened?" she asked, surveying the
carnage.
"We won," grunted Barundar without
turning. "For the moment,
anyway."
Jack hauled her to her feet. "No time for explanations, girl. Blackthorne will blast this place to the Nine Hells any
moment. If you can walk, fine. If not, too bad for you. I need the Wayfarer alive. I don't need you. We’re leaving." He
strode to where Reanyn lay.
"Where are we going?" she asked, swaying but
managing to keep her feet.
"The fires have burned down enough for an
escape," Jack said, hoisting Reanyn's limp form up into a carry over his
shoulder. "Blackthorne has us
ringed. We go the way I came. Come on."
Barundar was on his feet, pulling up Nym. The dracon stood unsteadily, but he stood.
Tianna took a step and almost tottered as a wave of
dizziness came over her. Barundar put a
hand on her shoulder, steadying her.
"You've taken a blow to the head," he said. "I'll help you."
Together the three hurried after Jack.
About twenty paces back from the rock pile, in a
direction away from the building, there was a low ridge which ran in a straight
line in either direction. Beyond it lay
a ten-foot drop into a small trench.
When Jack reached it, he summarily dumped Reanyn over the
ridge and into the trench.
"Careful!" said Tianna angrily. "He's hurt."
"He's a living weapon, girl," said Jack without
looking back. "Hurry!" He overstepped the ridge and landed lightly
in the trench.
Barundar nodded to her and quickly she followed Jack down. She landed hard and stumbled, though the
drop was not far, for the darkness of the trench made it impossible to see the
bottom.
The giff was right behind her, and helped the dracon to
follow. It would have been a difficult
task for Nym in any case, for his body was not suited to climbing, but injured
it was twice as difficult.
There was a scream from the sky and Tianna looked
up. A pair of bluish white globes were
streaming upwards, much like the one that had lit up the sky earlier. Except that these didn't explode when they
reached the apex of their climb, but rather arced back down, headed for the
ground, leaving hazy white tails behind them as they plummeted. It seemed to Tianna that they were headed, generally,
in the direction of the rock pile they had sheltered behind during the battle.
"Hurry!" said Jack, "we don't want to be
here when those hit!"
He had hoisted Reanyn and was running full fledged
towards the end of the trench, where a circular black hole continued on,
forming a large tunnel in the rocky ground.
Tianna raced to follow.
She had just reached the entrance to the tunnel when
there was a ground-shaking roar and a burst of white light so bright it was
nearly blinding, even though she was facing into the darkness of the tunnel. A tremendous shockwave sent her flying
through the air.