Vengeance

CHAPTER 53

The enemy reached the base of the cinder cone, hundreds of feet below them. Rix drew his sword, Tobry a knife. Tali picked up a stone that fitted neatly in her hand, and waited.

‘Come down,’ said the pock-faced captain.

‘Go to hell,’ shouted Rix.

‘Send down the slave and we’ll allow you a merciful death.’

‘We know all about Cythonian honour,’ Rix sneered. ‘And Cythonian treachery. That’s why the war started in the first place.’

The captain clenched his grey fists. ‘The war started,’ he said, biting off each word and spitting it in their faces, ‘because your Five Heroes used vile sorcery to forge King Lyf’s name on a charter — ’

‘They made a solemn agreement with your king which gave us half your country.’

‘Cythe belonged to the people. No king ever had the power to give it away.’

‘Well, that was two thousand years ago and what’s done can’t be undone,’ said Rix. ‘Go back to the Rat Hole where you belong.’

‘I’m not sure it’s wise to insult them,’ Tobry murmured.

‘I’ve had enough of their stinking lies.’

‘Take them!’ ordered the Cythonian.

The enemy had just begun to climb the slope when Tali, who was higher than Rix and Tobry, noticed a cloud of dust back the way they had come. She climbed onto a honeycombed rock as tall as she was, then up onto a cart-sized boulder. Could they be that lucky?

‘Tobry, riders!’

He scrambled up beside her and stared across the raddled plain. ‘Dozens of riders, coming this way. The Cythonians don’t have horses, do they?’

‘They could have stolen them.’

‘What do you think, Rix?’ said Tobry.

Rix shaded his eyes with his hand. ‘They’re flying our standard.’ He raised his voice. ‘You’re too late, rock rats! Run back to the Rat Hole and some of you might survive.’

‘Don’t taunt them, Rix,’ said Tobry.

The enemy turned to study the galloping horsemen. ‘Our blood will nourish the motherland stolen from us,’ said the captain. ‘But before it does, cut them down.’

The Cythonians whirled and their archers raised their bows.

‘Down!’ cried Tobry, throwing himself behind the boulder.

Rix dropped flat. Tali could not get down quickly enough. A blinding pain speared through her right thigh and she was driven backwards off the boulder. Arrows were smashing against the rubble all around.

‘Kill the Pale!’ bellowed the captain.

Tobry pulled Tali into cover. The Cythonians were scrambling up the steep slope and the riders were still several minutes away. She touched the arrowhead, which was protruding from the back of her thigh, and a worse pain lanced through her.

‘The riders won’t get here in time,’ said Rix. ‘Tobe, put your shoulder behind this.’

Through a haze of pain she saw them heaving on the smaller boulder. They rolled it out from behind the larger one and sent it crashing and bouncing down the slope, carrying smaller rocks with it and turning into a fan-shaped landslide. A man screamed. The sound of falling rocks grew to a roar, though it soon rattled away into silence. Dust drifted up the slope.

‘Got two,’ Rix said with grim satisfaction. ‘And swept another four down to the bottom. Give us a hand, Tobe. Let’s see if we can tidy up the rest of them.’

More arrows fell as they pushed another boulder, and another. ‘The survivors are turning to face the riders,’ said Tobry. ‘They can’t get to you now.’

He crouched beside Tali. She opened her eyes but even the dull daylight made them ache.

Tobry pulled the hat brim down. ‘How are you feeling?’

She was hard pressed not to whimper. ‘Leg hurts.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ He raised his voice. ‘Rix? Get up here.’

She heard him scrambling up the slope and smelled his sweat amidst the dust. Tobry stood up. He and Rix spoke in low voices, though not low enough.

‘Better pray it’s not poisoned,’ said Rix. ‘Or covered in plague pox. I wouldn’t put that past the bastards.’

‘Let’s just worry about the wound,’ said Tobry.

They bent over her thigh. Tali hurt too much to be embarrassed. Rix wiggled the arrow. She gasped, but bit her tongue.

‘There’s not a lot of blood,’ said Rix, ‘and it’s only ebbing, so it hasn’t hit an artery.’ He reached out, then jerked his hand back. His tanned face had gone pale.

‘What’s the matter?’ said Tobry sharply.

‘What’s wrong with my blood?’ said Tali.

‘Take no notice,’ said Tobry. ‘Rix has nightmares about tanks of blood.’

‘Thanks for telling the world,’ Rix snapped. ‘Some poxes and pestilences are spread from bad blood, and it’s getting worse all the time.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my blood,’ said Tali, insulted. ‘Besides, there aren’t any diseases in Cython.’

‘What, none?’ Tobry sat back on his heels.

‘I’ve never known anyone to be ill. Save from overwork or food poisoning.’

Tobry felt under her thigh. ‘The head’s gone through, luckily. Hold her leg up. I’ll cut it off.’

‘No!’ cried Tali. ‘You’re not — ’

‘He’s cutting off the arrowhead, not your leg,’ said Rix gruffly.

She felt like a fool as he raised her leg. Tobry sawed at the tough shaft. It took ages and every movement sent shudders of pain through her.

‘There,’ he said. ‘Pull it out.’

Rix lowered her leg to the rubble. Tobry took her hands in his. ‘This is going to hurt.’

‘Just do it,’ she said. ‘In Cython we learn to endure — ’

‘We know!’ Tobry and Rix said in a chorus.

As Rix pulled on the shaft, agony echoed along nerve endings down as far as her toes, as high as the middle of her back. She squeezed Tobry’s hand so hard that he winced. Tali arched her back, clenched her toes, then the shaft came free and the pain died to a series of sharp throbs, each one matched to a heartbeat.

Rix pressed a big thumb against the wound. ‘Don’t think it’s done too much damage, though it’ll scar.’

Tali took his hand away, pressed her palm against the entry wound and murmured her healing charm. Warmth extended along the arrow line but the pain did not diminish. Her healing gift was drained, which was not surprising. She had used it more in the past few days than in her previous life. And even at full strength, treating such a deep wound would have taxed her.

‘But I’ll still be able to walk?’

‘When it’s healed. In a week or two.’

She groaned and lay back. Rix rose. ‘I’m going to check on the enemy.’

He crunched away. Tobry tore a strip off his shirt and bound it several times around her thigh. That hurt too. Tali closed her eyes and drifted.

In the distance she heard battle cries, the clash of steel weapons, the screams of men dying brutal deaths.

Tobry stroked her brow. ‘Don’t look now.’

‘Why not?’

‘The riders have surrounded the enemy. It’s going to be rather unpleasant.’

Tali drifted again, not knowing whether minutes were passing, or hours.

‘Shit!’ said Rix, from below.

‘What’s the matter?’ said Tobry.

‘That’s Seneschal Parby. What the hell is he doing here?’

‘Lady Ricinus must have sent him to find you and drag you back by the — ’

‘He’s got a telescope. He’s seen me. I’ll have to go.’

‘Yes, Tali needs a good healer.’

‘We can’t take her to the palace!’ cried Rix. ‘You know what Lady Ricinus is like.’

Tali’s eyes shot open. What manner of a woman was his mother, to drive a brave man to such panic?

‘Not going to any palace,’ she said limply. ‘Going after Rannilt.’

‘No, you’re not,’ said Tobry. ‘Rix, if that wound gets infected, Tali will die.’

‘I know.’ Rix crunched back and forth across the slope, scattering rubble like confetti. ‘She needs the best healer there is. Where can we send her that’s safe?’

‘I thought the Cythonians were dead,’ said Tali, clutching at Tobry’s wrist.

‘They are. But you’re not safe from our allies.’