by Джеффри Лорд
A foot scraped on hard earth in the darkness. Blade stiffened.
«Neena?»
«Yes. I've got the rope. You can throw the stake across now.»
Blade picked up the two wooden bars and heaved. Two soft thumps were followed by another «Ouch!»
«One hit me on the shin,» said Neena. Blade laughed, the first time he'd been able to do that since entering the dark tunnel tonight.
Thudding and thumping noises followed, as Neena tried to drive the stake into the floor of the tunnel. The noises went on for quite a while. Finally-
«It's not in very deep. The floor's too hard.»
«Think it will hold?»
«It had better.»
There was nothing more to say. A faint hiss in the darkness, and something fell beside Blade with a soft thump. He bent down and touched the rope.
Carefully he tied a small loop in his end of the rope, to give himself a better grip. Then:
«All right, Neena-pull in the rope until I call.» The rope in Blade's hands started to tighten. «All right. I'm coming over now.»
Blade sat down on the edge of the gap, his legs dangling down into empty space. There was just enough slack left in the rope to provide a loop around his chest. He checked everything once more, took a firm grip on the rope, and slid off into space.
He swung down into the gap, seeming to float through the silence and darkness all around him. He thrust his legs out in front of him to take the shock of striking the far wall. He had a moment's impression that he'd stepped off into a whole new realm of space and would go swinging on through it for the rest of time.
His feet slammed hard into the far wall. He heard clods of earth break free and fall. He shifted his grip on the rope slightly, ready to start climbing up hand over hand.
Then the rope shivered, and a sharp cry came from above. «The stake's pulled loose. The rope's-«Blade didn't need any more words from Neena to know what was happening to the rope. Inch by inch it was sliding downward, carrying him with it. Eventually the end would pass through Neena's hands, and after that Blade was already acting as he thought, gouging at the wall with both feet, working furiously to dig out a foothold. He managed to make one that would take at least one foot. He jammed his left foot in hard, and the deadly sliding of the rope stopped for a moment.
The rope tightened in his hands, then there was a thump from above and it drew even tighter. Neena's breathing turned into painful gasps.
Cautiously Blade shifted his foot. The rope went still tighter. Neena gasped again, but Blade did not sink down. He began to work his way up the rope, moving one hand at a time. Each movement drew another gasp from Neena. But the rope held.
The minutes that it took Blade to make the twenty-foot climb seemed like hours. Eventually he reached up and his hand came down on hard level ground. He felt for one handhold, then for another, shifting all his weight onto his arms. There was a sigh of blissful relief from Neena. Blade hung for a moment, then heaved himself upward with all the strength in both massive arms. He flew up over the edge like a cork coming out of a champagne bottle and sprawled flat on his stomach-squarely on top of Neena. She gasped again. He hastily rolled off her and reached out to her.
She lay on her side on the floor, face toward the gap, several coils of the rope drawn snugly about her waist and hips. She'd thrown herself down and used her own body to anchor the upper end of the rope. The rope had squeezed and pinched and bruised her every time Blade moved. Even worse, it had dragged her slowly and steadily toward the edge. When Blade reached the top, there had been barely a foot to go before she reached the edge and they both fell down into the darkness together.
Blade sat beside Neena for some time, catching his breath and letting the princess catch hers. He wondered how to thank her adequately for her display of courage and quick thinking. In the end he said nothing, simply took her hand and squeezed it. Then he coiled up the rope and they moved on.
Side by side they crawled down to the mouth of the tunnel in the great pit under the Hearth of Tiga. The night was overcast, and no light came down through the grating overhead. A strong wind was blowing, and Blade could hear its whistles and moans clearly. The darkness and the wind would help hide the next stage of their escape.
Quietly he tied one end of the rope around one of the bars from the grating. Then he swung the rope around several times and heaved. The rope flew upward and dropped neatly over one of the bars of the grating. Blade and Neena froze, waiting to see if the sound would alert a guard. Nothing happened. Blade pulled hard on the rope, until the wooden bar was firmly wedged against the grating. The moment he felt that, he swung out over the pit and began swarming up the rope hand over hand, as fast as he could move.
He reached the grating, poked his head up through it, and looked around. The darkness and the wind made it hard to see or hear if anyone was lying in wait. He pulled himself the rest of the way up through the grating. Then he lay flat on the rough iron bars while he swung the looped end of the rope back toward Neena. She caught it on the second swing. Slowly Blade drew her up out of the pit, and in a few more seconds she lay beside him on the grating. In spite of her exhaustion and bruises, she was grinning widely and shaking with silent laughter.
It was too soon to celebrate, for there was still the city around them. But the luck they needed so badly had stayed with them so far. If it stayed with them for a few more hours-
Blade lifted his head to look around him again, then froze. Above them, on the wall of the Hearth of Tiga, was the unmistakable silhouette of an armed man.
Chapter 13
The guard would have to be taken out, swiftly and silently. Any noise or delay, and Blade and Neena would have half the palace guards swarming out after them.
Blade uncoiled the rope and adjusted the loop he'd made for climbing. Now it was large enough to fall over a man's head. He handed one of the wooden bars to Neena and pointed.
«I'm going to try getting him down here with this,» he said, raising the rope. «You be ready to knock him over the head with the bar and take his clothing and gear.»
Blade crept silently across the hearth until he could get a clear throw at the guard. The ashes underfoot and the wind blowing past above muffled his slow footsteps.
Once in position, Blade waited until the guard came to a stop and turned his back on the hearth. Then Blade sprang forward, whirling the rope around his head. It snaked through the air, twisting as the wind caught it, but still sailing straight to its target. The noose fell over the guard's head. Before he could move or cry out, Blade heaved. The noose tightened around the man's neck. He flew backward off the wall and fell with a muffled crash almost at Blade's feet.
The guard was still in midair as Neena sprang forward. She was beside him as he landed, smashing in his throat with the wooden bar. The man gave a choking gurgle, twisted and writhed for a moment, then lay still. Neena quickly began to strip off the guard's leather armor, weapons, and belt pouch.
Again they had a brief, nerve-wracking wait, to see if the alarm was up. In the windy darkness the guard's sudden disappearance seemed to have gone unnoticed.
The guard's armor was far too small for Blade's massive frame. So Neena put on the armor and belted on the sword. Then they tied the rope around Blade's neck, with an easily slipped knot, and Neena took the other end in her free hand. To the casual observer it would look as if Neena was a guard leading a slave somewhere. This was the best disguise they could manage now. It might even be good enough to get them out of Trawnom-Driba, a city where the drastic penalties for being too curious made people very willing to mind their own business.
The wind increased steadily as they climbed down from the Hearth of Tiga and moved across the square in front of the palace. Instead of following the main street, they plunged into the tangle of huts, sheds, warehouses, and simple ruins that lay to the south of the palace. Blade relied on his sense of direction to get them safely through the twisting alleys of that quarter. There
would be no one awake and about in those alleys, curious or otherwise.
The darkness among the buildings was almost as complete as it had been down in the tunnel. Blade moved up into the lead and Neena fell in behind him, eyes roving about and sword drawn. About halfway through the quarter they stopped to rest. They sat down in the shadow cast by an enormous pile of barrels. The barrels oozed black drops of something that looked and smelled like liquid tar. Blade recognized the liquid poured on the logs in the hearth. to produce the orange color in the flames of the ritual fires.
Blade leaned back against the barrels and took several deep breaths. Not much farther, and they would be at the last barrier before the safety of the forests. The guards on the outer wall would be more alert than any others in the city, although that wasn't-
The ragged blaring of trumpets and the thunder of drums reached them on the wind. The uproar swelled until it drowned out the wind, faded for a moment, then rose again. In the moment's lull they could both hear angry shouting from the direction of the palace.
«Oh, blast,» said Blade quietly. «The alarm's up.» He sprang to his feet and looked at the stack of barrels. «Neena. Give me the firelighter from the guard's pouch, and keep clear.»
«What-?» Neena began, then fell silent. She knew Blade well enough by now not to waste time asking questions. Her sword rose, and she sprang back, eyes searching the darkness.
Blade threw the rope off his neck, bent down and gripped one of the barrels. It must have weighed close to two hundred pound. Slowly he lifted it and backed away from the pile. Then he raised the barrel high over his head and brought it smashing down on two other barrels. All three cracked open, and the dark tarry liquid flooded out.
Blade sprang clear, picked up a long splinter, dipped it in the liquid, then struck a spark with the firelighter. As the spark landed on the soaked splinter. it flared up with the familiar orange flame. Blade let the splinter burn for a moment then flicked it away from him, squarely into the spreading pool of liquid.
The whole pool erupted in a sheet of orange flame and a crackling roar that drowned out both the wind and the alarm signals. For a moment Blade felt as though he was standing beside an open blast furnace. Then he turned and motioned for Neena to follow him. They plunged away into the no longer dark alleys. As they left the pile behind. Blade heard the barrels starting to explode, and saw the pillar of fire behind them climb still higher.
As they ran, doors and shutters began opening on either side of them and heads popped out to see what was going on. All eyes at once turned toward the fire. No one seemed to notice the small soldier and the oversized slave pounding past at a dead run.
«Why did you do that?» gasped Neena, as they turned down an alley that was still dark. «Now everyone will know which way we've gone.»
«Maybe. But if we move fast enough it won't do them a bloody bit of good! This quarter's a tinderbox and it's right next door to the palace. There's a good blaze going, and the wind's blowing hard enough to spread the fire. I'm sure King Furzun would still like to have you for his harem. But I'm betting he'll risk letting you go rather than have his palace burn down around his ears.»
Neena grinned wickedly. «I see. So all the guards will be running to put out the fire and not to catch us.»
«We can damned well hope so,» said Blade.
They slowed down as they gradually left the fire behind them. Twice they had to stop entirely so that Blade could get his bearings. The fire was already visibly spreading, and the wind was pushing it straight in the direction of the palace. They could hear a continuous roar and boom of flames.
They could also hear the mounting uproar caused by their escape. Trumpets and drums sounded all around them, louder than ever. Beyond the fire Blade could see the walls of the palace, and torches and blue lanterns darting back and forth along them. He hoped the guards would drop a few of those lanterns and torches and start another dozen fires!
The second time they stopped, Blade and Neena heard stolof-whistles joining the uproar. Neena's face turned pale under the dirt, but Blade only laughed.
«Why are stolofs so amusing now?» Neena snapped. She was obviously irritated with him as well as nervous about the monstrous hunter-creatures with their deadly ribbons.
Blade laughed-again. «If I were running the hunt for us, I wouldn't let a stolof out of the pens tonight. There's enough confusion in the city already. Those stolofs aren't very bright, and they'll just add to the confusion if their masters aren't careful.»
Eventually they found a path that turned sharply left, then ran into an alley. When they reached the alley, they stopped. Fifty feet farther on, the alley gave onto the open space between the quarter's buildings and the city wall. The towers of a gate rose above the roofs of the next row of the hovels and sheds. At the end of the alley stood three soldiers, all holding spears, all with their backs turned to the alley. Whatever they were watching for, they didn't expect it to come out of the alley.
Blade and Neena looked at each other. Blade hefted one of the wooden bars in each hand. Neena tied her helmet on the back of her head so that it wouldn't fall over her eyes and drew her sword. Then they plunged forward down the alley, as fast as their feet could cover the muddy ground.
The three soldiers had time to hear the footsteps and turn around. One had time to raise a spear, another had time to shout. Then Blade and Neena were on them.
Neena's sword leaped upward, straight into the throat of the soldier with the raised spear. He dropped the spear and clamped his hands on the sword. Neena twisted it in the wound, then jerked it free. The soldier gurgled, tried to clasp his hands over the gaping wound in his throat, then collapsed.
Blade swung one bar sideways to deflect a spear thrust, then smashed the other bar down on the arm of his other opponent. The man screamed and shifted his spear to his good hand. Blade struck the spear down, cracked the man hard across the jaw, then turned to guard his left side.
The man there made the mistake of raising his spear for a thrust downward. Blade dropped to a crouch, went in under the spear, and butted the man hard in the stomach. The breath went out of him with a whoooof and he slammed back against the wall behind him. Before he could thrust again, Blade swung a bar with all his strength. It smashed into the man's temple, knocking him sideways and down. Blade crashed a foot down on the man's ribs, then turned back to the soldier with the broken arm and jaw.
The man had more than that now. He lay flat on his back in the mud, and Neena was just pulling her sword out from between his ribs. Blade bent down and stripped off the man's belt with its sword and knife. Then he and Neena each picked up a spear. They dashed out into the open, crouching low and heading for the wall.
Seconds after they emerged, a flight of arrows whistled overhead and thudded into the dirt and the buildings behind them. None came near them. On a night this dark, the excited archers weren't going to be shooting very well. Like the stolofs, they were more likely to interfere with the hunt for the prisoners than help it.
And where were the stolofs, anyway? After all that whistling-
Blade had barely finished asking himself that question when Neena gave a shrill cry and grabbed his arm, pointing off to the right with her free hand. There came the stolofs, a pair of the great golden ones from the royal pens. Half a dozen soldiers ran beside and behind them, and ahead of them ran Lord Desgo himself, blowing his whistle and waving a sword in each hand.
The soldiers of Desgo's party saw the prisoners at the same moment. All of them dashed forward with wordless bowls of rage and triumph. Desgo saw them do this, stopped dead, and was nearly knocked off his feet by the stolofs. He jumped to one side, spat out the whistle, and began shrieking orders to his men. All of them were too busy fighting to have obeyed even if they'd been able to hear him.
The six soldiers charged straight at Blade and Neena. Blade and Neena raised their spears and threw. Two soldiers went down, one pierced in the throat, the other with his thigh torn open. Blade a
nd Neena didn't have time to retrieve their spears before the other soldiers were on them. So they stood back to back and went to work with their swords.
One of Blade's opponents ran after only a few blows. Blade was cutting and thrusting at the other man when Neena screamed behind him. He whirled, to see that Neena's two opponents had disarmed her and were grabbing her to drag before Lord Desgo.
Blade let out a roar of fury and launched a quick attack on his immediate opponent, a slash that opened the man's sword arm from wrist to elbow. Then he turned to save Neena. As he did, her two captors turned to face him, pulling her across in front of them to act as a shield against Blade's attack.
A moment later one of the stolofs launched its ribbons. As always, it was an excellent shot, but the ribbon fell neatly on one of the soldiers holding Neena, instead of on Blade or the princess. The stolof reared, and the soldier was jerked backward off his feet and dragged toward it.
Neena twisted out of the grip of the other soldier and drove her knee up into his groin. He doubled up with a howl just in time for the edge of Blade's hand to smash down on the back of his neck. Neena snatched up her sword again. She was so filled with the lust for combat that before Blade could stop her she dashed off after the soldier who'd been knocked down by the stolof. Blade was left alone for a moment, to meet Lord Desgo and the other stolof.
Blade closed with the nobleman until the stolof could not fire without entangling both of them in the ribbon. He feinted low, then went in over Desgo's guard and slashed at the man's head. Desgo twisted enough to keep his skull from being split apart, but Blade's sword slashed down from forehead to right jaw, just missing one eye. Desgo screamed, dropped his swords and whistle, and staggered, half-blinded by pouring blood. Blade grappled with him, drove one fist into his jaw and another into his stomach, then threw him to the ground.
Blade's ruby ring glinted like a drop of fire on Desgo's limp hand. Blade bent down, stripped the ring off, and put it back on the ring finger of his own left hand. That bastard Desgo wasn't going to get anything from him, except a quick death. Blade raised his sword, ready to drive it down into Desgo's chest.
