A little boy ran from a doorway not five paces away, stopped, and then stared at her. He was ragged, his hair a mess, and there were sores about his mouth. Sasha moved past him, Errollyn following, and the boy just stared at them dumbly. Another bend, and a darker patch of shadow…she stepped in some foul water, then froze to see some men gathered ahead in a patch of light. Their weapons were rough-rusty knives, some clubs with nails or spikes, an improvised spear. Crude, but effective enough at close quarters.
Movement behind the wall at her right caught her ear, and she stepped back a little…then dived as a spear thrust came fast through a gap in the wall, fending with one arm. Ahead, the men saw and yelled. Errollyn shot one as Sasha raced back past him, her forearm stinging. They ran toward the little boy once more, his mother emerged to grab him and screamed…Sasha saw a narrower alley to the left and took it, Errollyn in close pursuit.
“Keep right!” he shouted, and she hugged the right wall, missing some obstacle she could barely see in the gloom. The alley's end was blocked so she darted through an open door, to the horror of residents-a pregnant woman clutching a sickly infant, an old man lying on a dirty blanket on a bare dirt floor, a small fire for light and the air thick with smoke. In the adjoining room, a huddled family leapt screaming for the walls. Sasha hurdled their little fire, spying a doorway beyond, and went through it. Rats scurried in the lane, squealing as she passed, and into a wider alley.
Several men ran by, then halted at the sight of her. They were ragged and dirty like the rest, but better armed. One had a long staff, with a rusty blade jammed in the end, another held a genuine sword.
Sasha moved before they could decide what to do, cutting the man's staff clean in two. He stumbled and another tried to dart past, but she slashed his arm and he fell, clutching a shallow wound. The big man swung his sword, but his terrible technique was made worse by his panicked fury…she knocked it aside, kicked him in the groin, then cracked his skull with the hilt.
The others ran, but now there were rocks flying past-someone behind her was throwing stones. She made another turn and ran, desperately trying to recall her bearings…a woman ahead fell to the ground and covered her head, Sasha simply hurdled her. “Which way?” she yelled to Errollyn.
“Next left,” he said, close behind. He knew cities better than she did. She'd always thought her sense of direction excellent, but now she had no idea which way she was going.
She took the left and realised that somewhere near, something large was burning. Light danced on rooftops and shadows wavered. There were many voices yelling. And fighting, very near.
Peering about the next intersection, she found trouble. Three fighters, clearly Nasi-Keth, were trying to move down the alley. At least twelve mudfoots pursued. Two Nasi-Keth turned to slash at their pursuers, keeping them back, the third coming ahead…and now, three more mudfoots emerged from a door between Sasha and the Nasi-Keth. The twelve charged, emboldened. Sasha ran. Errollyn shot one of the near three in the back, the arrow hissing past Sasha's ear.
One of the remaining two did not notice-wielding a big axe in fury. His Nasi-Keth opponent was small and not particularly good, awkwardly dodging one blow, barely parrying a second. The second man noted his companion's fall, and spun about, his club raised. Sasha feinted left, sprang right and slashed him across the middle. The axeman disarmed his opponent with a slashing blow and aimed the next to kill, only for Sasha to drive her blade through his middle before the axe could fall.
“Move!” Sasha yelled at the besieged Nasi-Keth behind. Both were fighting desperately, several bodies on the ground and another falling as the big Nasi-Keth felled him. And suddenly Sasha recognised Rodery and Liam. Errollyn shot one mudfoot, somehow finding a gap in the confined space, Liam barely parried a blow from a sword, retreating as he went, and then a spear thrust found Rodery's leg. He stumbled and a mudfoot bodily tackled him, pulling him down. Another angled a long knife for a killing blow-Errollyn's bow thumped, and arrow punched through skull like a melon.
Sasha charged, but already there were more mudfoots coming from further along. A wall of them, yelling and waving weapons. Liam took the hand off one attacker, then Sasha arrived at his side, and killed the next two with fast, simple blows.
“Go!” she yelled at Liam. And looked back to Rodery, to find a mudfoot had already driven a spear through his throat, and was twisting it viciously. A girl behind her screamed-the disarmed Nasi-Keth, a rare woman. But the wave was almost on them.
Sasha ran after Liam, and Errollyn sent another arrow past her, felling the leader of the wave whose fall tangled those behind. Someone tried to club Sasha from a doorway as she ran, Sasha replied with a slash that took the club and half the wielder's face with it. Only as she ran on did she realise it had been a woman.
Stones came at the four of them as they ran, ducking along new alleys. A stone struck the top of Sasha's head, stinging but not felling her. Children on the roofs, she realised, glimpsing a small shape against the firelit sky. All of Riverside was trying to kill them.
She did not know how far they ran. Gloomy alleys and lanes became a blur, the occasional stone thudding nearby, the yells of pursuit and other, nearby fighting. Sometimes they would come across bodies, corpses dealt by some other group of Nasi-Keth. Several more times they had to fight clear-Sasha killed two more men, Liam one, and wounded several more between them. Errollyn began to run low on arrows, sometimes firing into the dark at targets Sasha could not see. His earlier mercy, it seemed, was all evaporated. The girl was Yulia, and she'd not recovered her lost sword. Mostly, she was crying and terrified, and tried hard to keep up and stay out of the way, with little more than her belt knife for a weapon.
Finally they emerged onto the banks of a dark lake. Its level was low, and the water putrid, afloat with debris. Sasha, Errollyn, Liam and Yulia ran along the muddy, exposed lake bed headed toward the eastward hills of Backside and the high ridge beyond. Shouts and yells pursued them, armed men gathering on the lake edge beyond, waving weapons and torches. Some threw stones and bits of wood, but their aim was poor in the dark.
“Walk!” Sasha gasped to the others, her boots sinking in the foul mud. “Walk. They'll not venture beyond Riverside.” Above the lake, and beyond, larger houses rose, several of them grand and old, surrounded by fields and trees. Old lands, not yet claimed by the expanding city.
A stone made a wet smack nearby, another splashed in the water. Yells reached a crescendo and men began pouring off the lip and onto the muddy lake bed. Sasha swore, pulling a knife and noting that Errollyn had only three arrows left. He shot the most well-armed man first-a sword-drew fast and shot the next squarely through the chest. Her target struggling slowly through the mud, Sasha had plenty of time to aim and throw, and hit her man in the gut. Several of the attackers faltered, save one who came straight at Sasha, and died immediately after from the simplest of swings. The others turned and ran back the way they'd come.
Sasha shook her head in disbelief and trudged through the mud to reclaim her knife, sidestepping stones as she went. The screams of abuse grew louder. The man she'd struck was still alive. Then she saw his face, wide-eyed and panicked, and barely more than thirteen. She swore and pulled her knife clear-it would increase the bleeding, but there was no choice if the wound was to have any chance of healing.
“Here,” she said in Torovan, and barely recognised her own voice-hard, tired, devoid of emotion. She bunched up a handful of his ragged shirt and pressed it hard onto the bleeding gash. “Press hard. Hard, understand?” She placed his hand over it and made him press. A stone hit her shoulder, another hit the boy's leg. Shit-eating fools didn't care who they hit.
“Sasha, come on,” said Errollyn, directly behind her. He swayed aside from a stone lazily. The last arrow was on his bowstring. “The kid has no chance, not in this cesspit.” He was right, of course. The wound would turn nasty and the kid would be dead in two days. They couldn't take him with them, that would just invite pursu
it, and the look in the kid's eyes as he stared at her suggested he would fight any attempt to save him, if such help came from the likes of her. “Witches!” they screamed on the rim of the lake. “Demons of Loth!”
Errollyn yanked her backward as a stone whistled through the spot where she'd been. She staggered to her feet and stared darkly at the gathering line of hysterical slum dwellers. A new man arrived in their midst, holding a makeshift spear with something dark and hairy on the end. A human head. He lofted it skyward and there were screams and shouts of furious, frightened triumph. Sasha could not recognise the head in the chaos of fire and shadow, but she was certain it was someone she knew.
Errollyn raised his bow as the spear holder turned side-on to address the crowd. The bow thumped and thrummed, and the arrow skewered its target in one ear and out the other. People scattered in panic as body and spear-stuck head toppled. Sasha stared at Errollyn. Grey hair wild and matted, his face wet with sweat, his green eyes burned like the torch fires themselves. A demon of Loth indeed.
“Who was it?” she asked him quietly.
Errollyn looked as though he'd like to kill several more. He took a deep breath, and lowered his bow. “Never mind. Let's go.”
“Errollyn,” said Sasha, in rising alarm. Her heart stopped. “Surely it couldn't be…”
Errollyn saw. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Not Kessligh.” Her heart restarted. “It was Aiden.”
The foursome limped tiredly across a field, headed for some tall poplar trees along the next wall. A farmhouse loomed near-three floors, like no farmhouse Sasha had ever seen in Lenayin. The night was dark and shadowy against the dim background light, occasional hung lamps and lit windows on the Backside slope above. Grass felt wonderful underfoot. How long had it been since she'd walked on grass? All in Petrodor was stone. Across the vast arc of sky above, a swathe of stars.
Yulia walked quietly, except for an occasional, shaking inward breath. Errollyn had unstrung his bow and walked now with sword in hand. Liam limped on a twisted ankle, but said nothing and refused to slow down. As the heat of battle left her, Sasha felt aches and injuries that she did not recall accumulating. Her head was cut from a stone, her temple swollen from where she'd bashed it on a corner in the dark. Her shoulder ached from that last stone and her right forearm had been gashed from the first spear thrust through the wall. But mostly, she was worried about the other Nasi-Keth, scared for Kessligh, and her other friends. They'd not seen anyone else on this walk away from the battle. Surely many others had taken different directions. Riverside was large and there were many, many routes of escape, she told herself with each aching, worrying step.
When they reached the low wall, Sasha leaned against a poplar and considered the rising Backside slope, dotted with light. “See anything?” she murmured to Errollyn.
“Just the same lights along the ridgetop,” he replied. All of the big family houses along the ridgetop were awake, having seen or heard the commotion down in Riverside. Along the riverfront, there was a big fire burning-probably started by Errollyn's little whatever-it-was that he'd thrown into the warehouse roof. She could see several other fires in the near distance. Further west, there were more lights from the river port town of Cuely, a short distance upstream from Riverside. When Riverside erupted, all the neighbours became alarmed. It gave her little comfort to know that she was not alone in having a sleepless night.
“We should go up,” said Liam, tautly, gesturing up the slope. “All this walking around is pointless. We could walk for leagues.”
“The families will guess it was Nasi-Keth that caused the commotion,” said Sasha, shaking her head. “There'll be a big line of them, all along the ridgetop, waiting for us. It's the perfect chance to catch some scattered Nasi-Keth trying to make it over the top to dockside.”
“So where do we go?” said Liam, unimpressed.
“I know a place,” said Sasha.
“And where the hells is that?”
“Let her alone, Liam,” said Yulia, quietly. “She saved our lives.”
“After you got Rodery killed!” Liam hissed. Yulia's young face was stricken. “You're useless! We had to fight twice as hard to make up for you, and it killed Rodery! The first thing we should have done is thrown you in the river…”
“Liam!” Sasha snapped furiously. “You arrogant shit, you're not half the fighter you think you are! It's just as likely you got Rodery killed!”
Liam might have swung at her, but Errollyn grabbed him from behind, twisting an arm while locking an elbow about the young man's throat. The hold was effortless and held Liam as helpless as a fly in a spiderweb. He struggled, twice, then held still, breathing heavily.
“The mudfoots killed Rodery,” Sasha told him. “I don't know why they attacked us. Maybe some traitor tipped Symon Steiner off and he told the mudfoots some lies about how we were coming to attack them. Put your blame where it belongs, Liam. Be useful because I've no time for baggage right now, d'you hear?”
“So the warrior princess has herself a pet serrin to do the hard work for her,” Liam spat.
“He's saving your life, idiot,” Sasha retorted. “Don't fight me, Liam. I'm not big enough to box your ears. If there's fighting, all I have is this-” and she patted the hilt of the sword over her shoulder. “And you've seen how I use it.”
Liam blinked at her, finally disconcerted. He looked at the ground. “Let go,” he said. “I said, let go!”
Errollyn let loose his arm, but took a hard grip on Liam's throat. “Pet serrin?” he said, leaning close, staring the young man in the face. His green eyes seemed almost to glow in the dark. Liam grabbed his wrist, but could not dislodge the fingers. Sasha was not surprised-a lifetime of archery had made Errollyn's grip like steel.
“You don't scare me,” said Liam, clearly scared. “Serrin don't kill in cold blood.”
“Doesn't mean I can't break a few bones,” said Errollyn, his voice low with threat. “I'd never killed anyone for just waving a spear in the air before tonight, either. Now you drop your selfish whining and pull yourself together. The night's not over yet and there's a fair walk ahead of us. Can you do that?”
Liam nodded stiffly. Errollyn let him go, with a last, deliberate pat on the shoulder. Liam had the makings of a strong young man, but Errollyn was all quickness and all muscle.
“Did it work?” said Errollyn in Lenay as they set out across the next field in the dark.
Sasha spared Liam a glance. He walked with his head down and did not look likely to make more trouble. “I think so,” she said. “Did you mean it?”
“I'm not certain,” said Errollyn. “Maybe. If he'd tried to hurt you.”
“I can look after myself.”
Errollyn shrugged. “Even wolves hunt in packs,” he said.
Sasha looked at him sideways. “Are you proposing to be my mate?” she suggested. “Or just commenting on my table manners?”
Errollyn smiled. “I thought you liked wolves?”
Sasha sighed. “I do. But not everyone has the luxury of such a close-knit family.”
“Serrin do.”
“Is that how you describe the serrinim? A pack?”
“Every analogy is fraught. But we share many things amongst ourselves. We hunt together. We raise young together.”
“You don't pair-bond for life,” Sasha objected.
“Some do,” said Errollyn.
“Truly? I've never heard of it.”
“There's much about the serrinim you've never heard.”
“There's much about humans you haven't heard,” Sasha countered.
“I know,” said Errollyn, sombrely. Tiredly. “One day, I'd like to learn more.”
Nearby, some sheep bleated. There was a pen over by the farmhouse. This near to Petrodor, it was not safe to leave livestock unattended in the fields at night. Not with so many hungry Riversiders so near.
“What are you talking about?” asked Yulia in Torovan. Her voice was small in the darkness. She w
alked close, thumbs in her belt, in obvious distress.
“Oh, just things,” Sasha replied in Torovan. “Serrin things.”
“Lenay sounds so different,” said Yulia, bravely. “My father thinks it's an ugly language, but I think it's pretty.”
“I've had the same argument with Lenays about the Torovan language,” Sasha admitted.
“To say nothing of the Torovan people,” Errollyn remarked. Sasha gave him a wry look.
“Is Lenayin very beautiful?” asked Yulia.
“Oh yes,” said Sasha, wistfully. “It's stunningly beautiful.”
“Tell me about it,” said Yulia, with faint desperation.
“Maybe later,” said Sasha, squeezing the girl's shoulder. “There's a road approaching. Be on your guard, we're a long way from safe yet.”
The grand gardens of Pazira House were surrounded by a stone wall, but here, away from the treachery of Petrodor, the walls were not rowed with spikes, nor guarded by watchposts. Errollyn ran first across the road and took position at the base of the wall. Sasha followed, placed her foot into Errollyn's cupped hands and was propelled upward. She lay flat atop the wall for a moment, searching the ground below in the dark, and then jumped, landing on soft grass.
Yulia came second, and fell heavily as she landed. Sasha helped her up, but the girl refused attention. Liam and Errollyn followed.
Ahead, its outer walls lit with lamps, stood Pazira House, a grand mansion of three floors and several turrets. The turrets, Sasha had gathered, were only ornamental-this was a house for living, not a castle for defending. All of the Torovan dukes owned such properties about Petrodor.
Sasha took a stone from the garden and followed Errollyn between tall, trimmed hedges. Beneath the branches of some tall trees, Errollyn gestured them flat, and Sasha pressed herself against a tree trunk. She heard a dog bark somewhere across the gardens, but the wind was blowing into their faces and the dogs would not smell them. Not immediately, anyhow.
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