by Jean Rabe
"Hurry!" someone hollered. The crowd was only a few yards away.
"Yes, hurry," Rikali said.
"Where're the horses?" Dhamon gasped as he grabbed the leather sack and slung it over his shoulder. He parried the swings of the first Legion of Steel Knights who'd reached him.
"Mai didn't bring any horses," she answered, as she, too, engaged one of the Knights. "Rode our last ones out ‘til they were all but dead and thought we'd get some new ones here. You know I like a little shopping now and then."
"Wonderful," Dhamon said. He was besieged by Knights and looking for openings. He found one and swept his sword past one man's guard, cutting deep into his leg. The Knight dropped to his knees, hands pressed against his thigh.
The others were equally beset.
"Surrender!" someone hollered. "Surrender and you'll live!"
"That man! He has the commander's sword." This from a Legion of Steel Knight.
"Kill him!" A gravelly dwarven voice. "Kill the thief!"
"Guess surrender's not an option now," Rikali said.
Dhamon was exchanging blows with two dwarves.
"I'd prefer not to kill you," Maldred announced to the dwarves who had reached him.
"Don't be so polite," Rikali shouted to the big man. "I repeat, let's kill ‘em quick and be on our way-before even more come." She gathered the hem of her cloak in her free hand. In one fluid motion, she danced forward and whipped the cloak about the sword of a charging dwarf. At the same time, she thrust up with the knife into a Knight's vulnerable neck, whirled, and slashed at another dwarf, cutting through his tabard and deep beneath. "Look at the lights bein' lit about town, Mai. Can't you hear all the voices? Everyone's wakin' up! These odds are ugly enough, but in another few minutes they're gonna be too ugly to handle. There's lots of Knights around. Do somethin7!"
Dhamon drove the pommel of his sword down on the helmeted head of a dwarf, denting the metal and stunning the man.
"Yeah, do something, Mai," Fetch parroted.
The big man growled deep in his throat and instantly dispatched two in front of him, spraying the crowd with blood. Those next in line backed up and held their swords in front of them in an effort to keep him at bay and take better stock of the situation.
Fetch thwacked his hoopak soundly against the hands of his foe, the blow causing the dwarf to drop his sword. "I'd prefer not to kill you," Fetch sneered, imitating Maldred. The dwarf held his arms out to his side in surrender and backed up, and Fetch let out a victory whoop.
A few of the other dwarves were retreating, trying to push the crowd back so the Legion of Steel Knights who had come from the hospital could circle the thieves and deal with them. But there were a dozen town guards in the mix, and they continued to press forward. It was on these that Maldred and Fetch concentrated.
Rikali sliced at the dwarves on her side, who slightly outnumbered the Legion of Steel Knights. She guessed there were more than a dozen in the group facing her and Dhamon, and she wasn't going to look over her shoulder to see how many more there were. One of her attackers was an especially good swordsman, and she couldn't quite manage to upset the rhythm of his swings nor wrest the blade from his grasp. "Mai, more're comin' fast. I hear them! Knights all a' clangin'! I don't want to die in this town! Do somethin', Mai!"
The big man finally mumbled an acknowledgment, then let out a keening cry that sounded like a chorus of angry gulls. He swung his great sword in an arc over his head, the metal fairly singing and catching the moonlight. The light skittered along the blade and a shower of sparks-like swarming fireflies-leapt into the crowd, catching hold of the dwarves' garments. Maldred ran forward into the mass of startled dwarves. Unnerved by Maldred, or more likely frightened by the rash of fires, they parted like a wave. Fetch was quick to follow the big man, swinging his hoopak against the backs of those who were too slow to get out of his way and accidentally striking Rikali in the process.
On Dhamon's side, the dwarves also retreated. But the Knights, though momentarily stunned by Maldred's magical display, stood their ground.
Rikali spotted more dwarves emerging from their homes, most toting weapons of some kind-even makeshift ones, torches, a few crossbows-and these latter especially worried her. There would be too many now for Maldred to chase or to scare. Or to fight.
Dhamon saw Rig and Fiona running down the street. The mariner was shouting something and waving. Fiona was moving quickly despite her Solamnic armor, the torches illuminating her disbelieving, wide-eyed face.
Rikali and Dhamon ignored all of them, capitalizing on the momentarily stunned Legion of Steel Knights and whirling to follow Maldred, who had chased a group of dwarves beyond the stable.
As Maldred stopped and threw open the stable door, Fetch darted inside. The big man gestured at Rikali and Dhamon. Hurry, he mouthed. Behind the pair, a half-dozen Knights were running toward them. More dwarves were charging, cursing as they came, hollering "Thieves!" at the top of their lungs. Only the dwarves' stubby legs kept them from overtaking the Knights. A quarrel struck the stable, inches from Maldred's hand.
In the middle of the dwarves could be seen Rig and Fiona. The Solamnic Knight's eyes were fiery, and she was resolutely threading her way through to the front of the angry crowd.
"Inside!" Maldred urged, ducking as a quarrel whizzed over his head.
A heartbeat later he followed Rikali and Dhamon into the stable and slammed the door shut, throwing the bar across it. Maldred motioned for Dhamon to do the same with a side door that was barely discernible in the dark, cavernous interior.
"Oh, this is great!" Rikali jeered. "You've trapped us, Mai! Like rats, we are. And it stinks in here. Pigs, I see there's a Solamnic Knight in town on top of the dozen or so Legion of Steel Knights who aren't laid up in the hospital! That's all we need. A shining-in-armor Solamnic Knight!"
"She's an old friend of mine," Dhamon said as he brushed by.
"Friend?" Rikali put her hands on her narrow hips. "You have bad taste, lover. Least you used to. No one needs a Knight for a friend. They're trouble-at least for the likes of us."
"Quit complaining," Fetch said. He was huffing and wheezing, rolling a barrel to prop against the door. "Give me a hand."
"Oh, that'll work, wee man," Rikali said wryly.
"No. Fetch has the right idea," Dhamon said. He gestured to the center of the stable, where they could see the outline of a big wagon.
Maldred patted Rikali's shoulder as he rushed by and grabbed the front beam of the wagon. The muscles in his arms bunched, the veins on his neck stood out like ropes as he began to pull. The horses started whinnying nervously as Dhamon, dropping the backpack and leather sack, got behind the wagon and pushed.
Fetch scampered up into the wagon bed, tugging free a half-dozen canvas sacks. "Coins from the bakery, which was my idea to rob," he said as much to himself as to Dhamon. "Coins from the weaponsmith's. Spoons and candlesticks from an old manor. Stuck it all in here, Mai and me. Thought we were gonna use the wagon to ride out of town on."
Outside, the dwarves pounded on the doors, frightening the horses further. That was nothing compared to the tremor that suddenly shook the building. Someone outside shouted "Earthquake!" Another cried "Sorcery!" Finally the ground stopped trembling.
Fiona's voice cut above the din, shouting to be heard. "Dhamon Grimwulf! Come out at once!"
Rikali braced her back against the doors and gritted her teeth as blows continued to rain against the entrance. "Hurry, fellows," she urged. "This stable is sturdy ‘ole dwarven construction. But it ain't gonna hold forever. Not with them poundin' on it, and not with the ground grumblin' so." Fetch joined her and copied her stance, small legs spread wide. "Oh, you're a great help," Rikali said sarcastically, looking down at the small-sized one.
Then the ground trembled again.
"Is there another way in?" came the cry from outside.
"The hayloft!" came an answer. "An' the side door!"
"I've got an axe! Let me
up front! I'll chop the door down."
"That's my stable! Don't ruin it! Talk ‘em into coming out!"
"Boost me up. Human! Boost me up!"
"Find a ladder!"
"Thieves! They stole from the wounded Knights! Kill them!"
"Hurry, Mai!"
"Yeah, hurry!" Fetch added.
Dhamon and Maldred braced the wagon against the door and locked the brake in place just as an axe-head started breaking through the wood. They heard scrabbling against the wall outside, as if someone were trying to climb the wall. They heard the strangled cry of a dwarf. Then a thump.
"Try again. Boost me this time!" It was a human's voice, though not Rig's or Fiona's. Probably one of the Legion of Steel Knights.
"Where's the ladder?"
"Forget the ladder." It was Rig's voice, laced with anger. "Move aside. I'll open your damn door."
"My stable!"
"Not going to hold them for long," Dhamon observed.
"Really?" Rikali said in feigned surprise. "Have you a next move, Dhamon? Mai? I'd rather not die in this dungheap."
"Dhamon Grimwulf! Come out! This is Fiona!"
"The planks! Pry the planks free!"
"Damnable thieves!"
Dhamon dashed to the side door and began sliding crates and barrels in front of the door, anchoring the mass with pitchforks he thrust into the ground. There was pounding on this door, too.
Maldred retreated to the back of the stable, ignoring the jittery horses, Rikali's complaints, and Fetch's apologies. He splayed his fingers wide over the wood and felt the coarse grain.
"It's hard to see in here," Fetch grumbled. "For Mai and Dhamon especially." He jumped when an axe blade smashed through a plank. "I'll get us some light."
Dhamon joined Maldred, dragging the sacks that had been in the wagon. "I'll saddle some horses." He had noted a dozen full-sized steeds, two exceptionally large. If the Legion of Steel Knights had other horses, as Dhamon suspected they did, they were likely kept at a camp outside of town. The rest of the stalls contained ponies, stocky ones ideal for dwarves. He hurried at his work, selecting the two largest and leading them to the back of the stable.
Maldred closed his eyes and started humming, a low sound that came from somewhere deep in his throat and that fluctuated in pitch and tempo like a complex piece of music. His fingers fluttered up and down the planks. His fingertips lingered on the nails that held the wood together, and as he continued humming, the nails grew warm and faintly glowed.
"There, that'll help!" Fetch announced. The small man had started a fire with a pile of hay in the center of the stable. "Now we can see better."
"You scaly little idiot!" Rikali screamed when she realized what he had done. The light revealed the anger on her face. Her skin looked like smooth alabaster in the fire's glow, her wide eyes a pale watery blue outlined heavily with kohl, her lips thin and painted crimson. She snarled to reveal a row of tiny, pointed teeth, so small and uniform they looked filed. "You're worthless!"
Before she could reach the fire and attempt to put it out, it had begun to spread, racing along the floor on the scattered straw, then jumping from bale to bale. The horses' nostrils flared in fright. They were neighing anxiously in their stalls, pulling on the ropes that held them. The fire was spreading toward the animals, was spreading toward everything, and Rikali's efforts to stamp it out were ineffectual.
"Mai!" Rikali called. "We have another problem! Fetch decided to burn down the buildin'."
Maldred continued humming.
Cries of "Fire!" resounded outside. A dwarf hollered to start a bucket brigade. Another was yelling to leave the blaze be, to let it kill the thieves who would steal from the wounded Knights who risked their lives to save the town from the goblin army.
Dhamon had the two largest horses saddled and was returning to select another one or two. He sucked in his breath when he heard one of the center beams groan and saw the flames rising. "Riki!" Dhamon hollered. "Saddle one more for you and Fetch. Be quick."
She grumbled but complied, futilely kicking dirt on the flames as she turned and made a grab for a saddle. An axe splintered the door. She decided bareback was a better idea. Coughing and blinded, she cried out. Fetch tugged on her cloak.
"Sorry," he said. "Didn't think about the fire spreading. Wanted to try out that fire spell Mai taught me."
"You're always wantin' to try that spell."
"Just wanted everyone to see better."
She reached down and grabbed him about the waist, hoisted him up onto the horse, then got on behind him. "Shut up," she said. "Just shut up and hold on." She snatched the rope of another horse and jabbed her mount in the ribs with her boot heels, urging it forward and tugging the other one to follow. The other ponies were fighting their ropes, rearing frantically in the face of the fire and billowing smoke. The sound of the panicked animals and the crackling flames, the hacking of the axes against the front door, the shouts of the dwarves and of Rig and Fiona all made it difficult for her to think. "Dhamon!" Rikali screamed. "I can't see you. Dhamon!"
Dhamon followed her voice and managed to grab her horse and lead it to the back, where he began loading up the other horse with the sacks that had been in the wagon. Rikali was coughing deeply, Fetch, too, and Dhamon's eyes stung from all the smoke.
Then Dhamon spun and ran to retrieve his own precious plunder, relying on his memory as the smoke and flames obscured everything.
"I've got the door down!" Rig's voice called. "Help me move this wagon!"
"Thieves! Let them burn!"
There was a dwarf's voice-staccato and commanding-shouting orders. Voices swelled with the billowing smoke, angry and curious and filled with fear and outrage. A Legion of Steel Knight issued orders to his men.
Maldred was humming louder, his fingers moving faster, dancing in the air now. His fingers beckoned to the nails as they worked themselves out of the wood, the planks groaning in the process. The air all around was hot, the flames were growing wilder behind him. The wagon shifted, dwarves and Knights spilled inside, and some were immediately trampled by horses trying to escape.
Dhamon hoisted the leather sack onto the largest horse and thrust the reins into Maldred's hand. He struggled to slip on the backpack and heaved himself into the saddle of the other horse.
Maldred formed a fist with his free hand and struck the back wall of the barn. The wood groaned a final time, then the entire back wall of the stable began to topple.
In an instant the world was consumed by fire and chaos, and by heat as intense as red dragon's breath. The great gout of fresh air fed the flames, sending them dancing into the upper reaches, into the hayloft, onto the thatch roof. A hellish orange blaze devoured the wood and sent a billowing mass of thick gray smoke high into the night sky. The fireball chased Rig, the Knights, and the dwarves back outside, where they gasped and choked.
"Dhamon!" Rig's voice. Then Fiona's. But the words were drowned out by the thundering hooves of their stolen mounts as Dhamon, Rikali, Maldred, and Fetch escaped Ironspike, driving a handful of freed horses and ponies before them.
"So hot," Rikali moaned. She shuddered as she looked over her shoulder at the fire that had spread from the town's stable to a half-dozen other buildings. "I stink with smoke. I've blisters on my arms. My face! Fetch, is it…"
"Your face is lovely as ever, Riki, though that garish stuff you paint on your eyes is running down your cheeks like black rain. Hey, my robe!" Fetch started squirming. The hem had caught on fire. He slapped at it with his diminutive hands.
Rikali hissed and helped him put it out. "Worthless," she pronounced. "Absolutely worthless, Fetch."
"Sorry," he answered. "But at least nobody'll be following us. Ponies and horses are either dead or long gone. The humans have nothing to ride. Dwarves are gonna be trying to put out the fire rather than worrying about us. Gonna have to work hard to keep the whole town from burning. Summer's made everything so dry. Water's not so plentiful."
"The Knights, though" Rikali suggested.
"Yeah, the Legion of Steel Knights aren't gonna forget that their wounded brothers were robbed. Them, we can worry about."
The four didn't slow their horses until the fire and smoke were far behind, the scent of the blaze a memory, and a rose-petal dawn was creeping over the sky.
The land that stretched directly before them was barren and scrubby and flat. There were clumps of prairie grass, scattered like tufts of hair on a balding man. They were dry and rustling in the scant breeze, and balls of dried weeds spun recklessly across the quartet's path. Summer, never kind to Khur, had been especially brutal this year- the rains more infrequent than usual, the temperature higher, the wind too slight to grant any measure of relief.
A little distance to the west the scenery changed dramatically. Foothills rose toward the towering Kalkhist Mountains, jagged and imposing upthrusts of granite shielded by steel-gray clouds There were a scattering of stunted oaks and bushes. All of the plants looked like they were dying, except for the aromatic gray-green sage that thrived in such heat.
Maldred shrugged out of his shirt, tying it about his waist. His muscles gleamed with sweat. He tugged one of the waterskins free from his belt, drained it, and snatched free another, which he passed to Dhamon.
Dhamon looked thin riding next to Maldred, and his ropy muscles were dwarfed by the big man's thick arms, barrel chest, and square shoulders. Some of his cuts had been healed completely by the hospital's medicine, but the deeper ones had opened during the fight in town and glistened with oozing blood.
"Rikali," Maldred called, "you didn't need to scratch him quite so much."
"You said Dhamon had to look in a bad way," she cut back. "You said he needed to be convincing."
"Not that convincing," Maldred softly returned.
She shrugged, tossing her thick mass of hair. "Dhamon didn't complain."
"I was more than convincing," Dhamon admitted to the big man. "I should've pulled it off without a hitch. I'm not sure just what went wrong. I hadn't taken into account that patient dying, I guess."