Paladin's Strength

by T. Kingfisher

  “…I’ll pass.”

  Clara paused as they drew level to the snake’s cage. “Well?” she said, in a colorless voice.

  The old man shook his head. “Go on. They can’t pin this one on me.” Something flickered across his face and he added, “I know it was wrong, Sister. I know. I didn’t do it because I thought I was doing right.”

  She nodded once, grimly, and tugged Istvhan back up the run.

  Forty-Eight

  Sigrid was waiting for them. Her eyes were bright and she had a huge grin, despite her arm being in a makeshift sling that probably hurt like the devil. “Couple of critters wanted to go out this door. We let them, so long as they went left instead of right.”

  “Critters?” said Istvhan.

  “I’m no expert. Looked like a bunch of red dogs with black tails. I growled at them a little and they decided left was just fine.”

  “Dholes,” said Istvhan. “That’s…fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Actually, I’m not sure of anything. How far away is the dock?”

  “Two flights down, through a guard level,” said Clara promptly. “Then we’re in the loading area.” She steered Istvhan out the door and to the right, where the rest of the nuns were pressed against the wall. Sister Emilia was twittering over Jan the novice, and the Sister Cellarer had grabbed a spear at some point and was holding it in a menacing fashion.

  “Will we have to fight more of them?” asked Sigrid.

  “The guards were not particularly friendly before,” said Istvhan. “Nor inclined to listen.”

  “I’ve got maybe two more changes in me,” said Sigrid. “I doubt the others have more than one.”

  “We’ll let them save it for the water, then,” said Clara. She was already worrying how Sigrid was going to manage the swim with her arm broken, and what to do with Istvhan. No. Focus. You’ve gotten this far. Do the next thing and worry about it when you get there. There may be a boat, or you may figure something else out.

  “Nice work with the old guy,” said Sigrid.

  “Paladins aren’t supposed to take hostages,” said Istvhan morosely.

  “Yes, but you didn’t keep him, so it’s probably fine.”

  The corridors were not empty, but since the sounds of roaring were already echoing through the halls, no one seemed to have any interest in stopping them. In fact, two more people in servant’s livery joined them. “Where are we going?” whispered one.

  “Away from the screaming,” Sister Emilia said, patting the man’s hand. “You stick with us, you’ll be fine.” He looked reassured. Clara wondered what he’d think when everyone else turned into a bear.

  They reached the stairs that funneled down to the guards. Istvhan looked at her. “Any thoughts?”

  “Let’s try subtlety.”

  The guard at the foot of the stairs was already looking jumpy, and the appearance of a large group of unauthorized people didn’t help. He put his hand on his sword hilt. “No farther.”

  “Don’t be an ass,” said Clara, striding toward him. “Haven’t you heard what happened?”

  “Heard what…?” He clearly didn’t want to draw on her, but he also didn’t want to let her past, so he ended up skipping backwards in front of her. “What are you talking about?”

  Istvhan shoved his way forward. “There’s been a breach. All the beasts are out.”

  “What? All of them?” The man blanched. “How is that possible?”

  “Damned if I know, but they are. The big tiger, you know—”

  “Crabby,” said Clara helpfully.

  “—he’s out and a bunch of boars. They’re clearing the halls as fast as they can, but we’ve got to get these people to safety.”

  “But—I—” He looked at the crowd pouring down the steps. “I can’t let you—"

  “Get your ass back on the stairs,” said Istvhan, “and watch for tigers. We’ll get them clear.”

  “Watch for tigers?”

  They left him standing in the middle of the hall, staring up the steps, his throat working.

  The actual guard patrol was a little more difficult, but only just. “Who’s your superior?” demanded the captain. “Who authorized this?”

  “Authorized? You blithering idiot, there’s a pack of wild boars charging around up there! Who authorized them?!”

  The captain set his feet. “That’s as may be, but I can’t let you past without orders.”

  Clara looked at Istvhan. Istvhan looked at Clara. There were six of them, although the five behind the captain were staring up at the ceiling, as if boars might fall through at any moment. Could they take six? Probably, but not without someone getting hurt. She was already tired from the drowgos, and the adrenaline was bound to wear off eventually.

  And then Sister Emilia pushed her way past Istvhan and planted herself in front of the guard captain. The tiny old woman put her hand on the startled man’s chest—that being as high as she could reach—and said, at absolute top volume, “There are tigers loose upstairs, and you want to stand here waving your dick around? We’ve got wounded!”

  The captain said, “Um?”

  Wisps of white hair flew around Emilia’s face, animated by her fury. “A tiger grabbed my leg!” She yanked up the edge of her robe to reveal a bony shin, marred by a single slash mark. Clara was pretty sure it had been from a drowgos’s blade, but it wasn’t as if anyone could tell the difference.

  The captain said, “Er?”

  “I got away from it by the grace of the gods and this brave man here hitting it and you want to pull a sword on him? When he got us all down the stairs and away from those beasts? What is wrong with you?”

  “Ma’am—” said the captain, who was clearly made of stern stuff indeed, “I understand but my orders—”

  The novice burst into tears.

  Jan was fifteen and she cried as only a teenage girl on a mission could cry, with hitching sobs that joined into a rising wail. Sigrid steered her alongside Clara and released her arm with a whispered “Atta girl!” The novice stumbled forward alongside Emilia and latched onto the captain like a limpet.

  “W-w-why are you doing this?” she sobbed against his tabard. “We were attacked and—and—people are dead and there’s all these animals—”

  The captain said, “Oh shit,” and patted her awkwardly on the back. He looked up with panic in his eyes.

  “Now you see what I’m dealing with,” growled Istvhan. “But if you want to take charge of them, I’ll go back and get another load—”

  “No!” The captain began trying to disentangle the girl from his tabard. “No, no, if it’s—ah—an emergency—” He eyed the group crowded into the hall and evidently decided that no one was storming the fortress with old women and servants. “Why don’t you just take them down and we’ll—err—guard the rear—”

  “Good choice,” said Clara. She raised her voice. “All right, everyone, orderly fashion, two at a time, these nice men are going to see that no beasts come after us, keep moving…”

  They reached the stairs down. The guard there buckled before Sister Emilia had even finished yelling. “Yes’m. Yes. If the captain said it’s okay, then yes, of course. Sorry to bother you.”

  “Didn’t know you could cry on command,” said Clara to Jan, as they went down the stairs.

  The novice managed a smile. “I don’t do it much at the convent. Worked a treat on my Da, but the mistress of novices just says to get it all out and I’ll feel better when it’s over.” She snorted. “Given…everything…today, it wasn’t hard though.”

  “No, I imagine not.” Clara squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sorry about Ari.”

  Jan nodded. “Me too.” She dredged up another smile, although it trembled at the edges. “Your friend there saved me. They were going to get me, too. I didn’t even think about fighting, I was just trying to climb out. I knew I couldn’t climb that wall, but I kept trying anyway.”

  “I know,” said Clara. “It happens to all of us sometimes.”


  They reached the bottom of the stairs. It seemed bizarrely quiet. People were rolling barrels and moving crates, just as if there weren’t wild animals loose on the upper levels. Maybe they don’t know?

  Istvhan took the lead, grabbing a woman who looked like a supervisor. Clara caught the words “beasts” and “escape” and “don’t want a panic.” The supervisor stared at him in astonishment for a moment, then swung into action, clapping her hands. “Everyone! There’s been a problem on the upper levels, so I want you all to go to the cheese cellar and wait there until we get word, understand? Quick, quick, now! Quick like a fish!”

  “Thank you,” said Istvhan gravely, as the people unloading responded, mostly with groans about the inconvenience. None of them seemed terribly alarmed, though. Sister Emilia detached the two servants from the group and sent them on after the supervisor.

  “And you?” asked the woman, looking over at the nuns.

  “We’ve got wounded,” said Clara. “We’ll probably send people along in a few minutes, but we’ve got to make sure they get treated first.”

  “No healers down here.”

  “We can’t very well go back up. We’ll work something out.”

  The supervisor nodded. Clara recognized the look—a problem had been identified as not her problem, and therefore she could move on. “How long should this take?”

  “I wouldn’t think more than an hour or two,” said Istvhan. “I’ll go check with the guards upstairs once we’re done and bring word.”

  “Thank you. We can’t afford to get too far behind, you know.” She nodded, then began herding the stragglers towards a door, and presumably, the cheese cellar.

  “Now what?” asked Sigrid in an undertone. “Do we have to fight even more people?”

  “Only a few, I think.” She sniffed the air. The smell of seawater was coming strongly from a double-wide hall ahead, which squared with her memory of the map. “This way to the docks.”

  There were three guards on the docks. Clara started trying to think of a cover story, and then Sigrid simply turned into a bear, roared once, and smacked the nearest one over the side with her good paw.

  “Subtle,” said Istvhan, and stabbed the second one, then kicked him into the water for good measure.

  “Oh hush,” said Clara. The third man was gaping at them in pure astonishment. Sigrid advanced. He tried to shout an alarm but only managed a kind of limp squawk, then jumped into the water himself, which was possibly the most intelligent thing he could have done.

  “Right.” Clara clapped her hands, aware that she sounded not unlike the supervisor. “Bear form, everyone. This is where we swim.”

  One of the older women—Istvhan didn’t know her name—was the first one in. The water level was a few feet below the docks but apparently bears did not fear diving. She hit the water with a great splash. A moment later her head popped up, fur soaked against her skull, and she began swimming south without looking back.

  “That simple, then,” said the young novice. She turned to look up at Istvhan. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “Of course,” he said, which was probably an inadequate response. She smiled at him, and then she was a young bear scrabbling over the edge and into the water behind her sister.

  “Right,” said Clara. “I was hoping for a boat.” She looked around the dock, her hands on her hips.

  “I’m going back,” said Istvhan.

  “What?”

  “I can’t go with you. I’d drown. Or freeze. And I’d rather die here with a sword in my hand.”

  She stared at him. “Okay, but you don’t have to go back! Go hide in the cellar, talk your way out…”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand. Stachys’s creature is here. It—he—is working for Antony.”

  Clara inhaled sharply. “Oh,” she said after a moment. “Oh, that makes sense. You saw him?”

  Istvhan nodded. “If I have a chance to cut the head off the snake…”

  Clara looked toward the water, obviously torn. The old woman was herding the remaining sisters to the edge of the dock. “I…”

  “Go with your sisters,” he said. Even the slap of water against the dock and the cold wind off the water of the bay was making him queasy. “Get them out. Your part is done.”

  Her eyes were full of anguish. He heard a splash as a bear hit the water, then another. “Istvhan…”

  “Go. They won’t keep the beacon lit once your sisters start to arrive. You don’t have any time.”

  She looked behind her again.

  “You belong with them, not me,” said Istvhan desperately. “You know you do.”

  For a moment he thought she was listening. She half-turned away. And then:

  “Well, that’s a load of horseshit if I ever heard one,” said Sister Sigrid, and slapped him upside the head.

  “Ow!” said Istvhan.

  “Uh?” said Clara.

  The two of them drew together, gaping at the nun. Sister Sigrid put her good fist on her hip and glared at the both of them. “’You belong with them, not me,’” she mimicked, in a high-pitched voice that somehow sounded both nothing like and uncannily like Istvhan. “Horseshit. If the two of you get any more in love, I’ll puke on the floor right here. Clara, did I raise a damn fool?”

  Clara’s lips twitched. “I think you must have,” she admitted.

  “Well, then I suppose it’s up to me to fix it. Come on, then, let’s find this drowgo master. My arm’s broken, I can’t swim out of here, and I want a pound of flesh for what those bastards did to poor Ari.”

  “The others—”

  Sister Emilia cleared her throat. The tiny old woman was the only one still on the dock. “They’re in,” she said. “I’ll go last.”

  “Don’t wait for us,” said Clara. “The people at the bonfire are with the Temple of the Rat. They’ll help you.”

  “Follow us when you can, then,” Emilia said, “and may Blessed Saint Ursa watch and keep you.” Her form flickered and then a great grey-muzzled bear rose up, twice Istvhan’s height, turned, and lumbered off the dock and into the water.

  “Do you know where you’re going?” asked Sigrid.

  “Haven’t the foggiest,” said Istvhan. He did not know whether to shove Clara off the dock or crush her to him and kiss her senseless.

  “Then let’s get moving, shall we?”

  Forty-Nine

  They hurried back down the corridors they had just passed through, which were by now completely empty. The guards were gone. Istvhan guessed that they had gone upstairs to help with the escaped beasts, rather than risk another encounter with weeping girls.

  The beast level was eerily silent. That seemed like a bad sign.

  “We’ll take the nearest stairs up,” said Clara. “But I’ll be a little lost once we get there. I didn’t memorize all the levels.”

  At one cross corridor, they saw bodies. Something dark and shaggy was gnawing on one. The trio moved on quickly.

  “Can they really have killed them all?” whispered Istvhan.

  “Maybe. But the animals are valuable. I can’t imagine they’d just kill them when there’s a chance they might be contained.” Clara shrugged helplessly. “More likely they’ve just gotten all the humans out of the way or behind doors, and now the beasts are wandering around and seeing what’s interesting.”

  “I almost don’t know whether to hope for them to be recaptured or not,” Istvhan admitted.

  “Neither do I.”

  When they came up to the gladiator level, a man in servant’s livery was standing at the head of the steps, staring at a blood stain on the floor. Istvhan didn’t think it was one of their stains, but it was hard to tell these days.

  “Can you help us?” Istvhan said. “We’re looking for where they keep the drowgos.” The servant narrowed his eyes and Istvhan waved forward. “There’s been an escape. Animals got out, and they’ve blocked off the beast runs.”

  “I heard the shouting, aye. The captain to
ld me to stand here, but he didn’t say what to do if something showed up. What got out?”

  “A tiger and some bears,” said Clara. “They’re trying to round them up, I heard.”

  Istvhan nodded to her. “I was over that way and ran to help but…bears.” He looked down at his sword and gave a self-deprecating shrug. “Might as well stab the things with a toothpick.”

  “Anybody hurt?”

  Clara shook her head grimly. “From what I’ve heard, there’s been a lot of injuries. They got out of the run.”

  “Did one of ’em get you?” the man asked, gaping at Sigrid’s arm.

  “Nothing so dignified,” said Sigrid. “Fell on the damn stairs trying to run away. The keepers told us to go find the drowgos because…ah….”

  “They’re hoping to use them to herd the beasts,” said Istvhan, stepping smoothly into the gap. “Animals don’t like the smell, I guess? But I don’t know where I’m going. I only ever saw the gladiator side, and not for long. Can you help us?”

  The man relaxed. “Oh, aye, certainly. It gets confusing if you’re only ever on one side or the other.” He pointed down the hall and rattled off a list of turns, ending with, “And you can’t miss it.”

  “You’re a life saver,” said Istvhan, saluting with the sword. The trio hurried around the corner.

  “Good plan.” Clara nodded to him. “Subtle, even.”

  “I had a most excellent teacher.”

  “The teacher had a most attentive student.”

  “If you two don’t stop flirting, I’m going to be ill.”

  “Sorry, Domina.”

  “Hmmph.”

  The door looked like all the others, but there was a familiar scent in the air, a stench of burning hair and rotten milk. Istvhan halted. “This is the place,” he muttered.

  “Saint Ursa have mercy,” said Clara. “Sigrid, you know how to kill them?”

  “I got the gist. Go for the clay bits.”

  “Right.” Istvhan pushed the door open.