"Help! Ysdar's devil has blinded me!" Bharat screamed and tried to fling himself off the wagon, but Rishi jerked him back to his seat.
Yago sat up facing the rear of the cart, and Atreus rolled to his knees facing the front. Outside the cart, the Wu-jen was twisting around to reach into his saddlebags while Naraka, on the far side of the sorcerer, was awkwardly trying to bring his lance to bear. Yago started to push himself out the back of the wagon, but Atreus caught the ogre by the shoulder and shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to fight it out with Naraka's patrol here.
Bharat continued to struggle, crying, "They're after my gold!"
Rishi's free hand flashed up and struck Bharat in the gullet, then whipped back, launching something small and silver in the opposite direction. The Wu-jen screeched and clutched at a tiny dagger protruding from his throat, and Bharat tumbled back into Atreus's lap, coating everything in the cargo bed with gouts of warm, coppery blood.
As Atreus struggled with Bharat's gurgling form, Rishi ducked Naraka's awkward lance thrust, then slapped the yaks with the reins. The wagon lurched forward and the leader began to shout at his patrol. Atreus pushed aside Bharat's gurgling form and spun toward the rear of the wagon, expecting to find Yago struggling to block half a dozen flying lances.
Instead most of the patrol was on the other side of the river struggling to organize itself. Only the last three riders in line were able to answer their commander's call, and even they were just backing their ponies off the bridge.
"I could go wreck that bridge," suggested Yago. As he spoke, the ogre struggled in the cramped space to gather his legs beneath him. "Wouldn't take much to get past them three riders."
Atreus shook his head. "If it did, you'd be trapped and alone," he said. "Better to stay together."
"Help!" screamed Rishi. "Help-he will kill me!"
Atreus turned to find Rishi trying to duck Naraka's lance and steer at the same time. He caught the weapon by the shaft and shoved it away, then peered around the front edge of the canopy.
When Naraka saw Atreus's hideous, blood-covered face, he shrieked and released his end of the lance to reach for his sword. Atreus jammed the butt into the patrol leader's chest and pushed hard. Naraka fell, dragging his pony down on top of himself, then tumbled away into the snowy willows.
"Hah! Well done, good sir!" Rishi said, then dragged himself back onto the bench and slapped the reins, somehow urging more speed from the trotting yaks. "That will delay them!"
Atreus glanced back and saw that the three pursuers from the bridge had indeed seized on their leader's fall as an excuse to stop. One of the riders was kneeling on the road, holding the limp Wu-jen in his lap while another man pressed his ear to the sorcerer's chest. The third was dismounting near where Naraka had tumbled into the willows, calling down over the road bank to see if he needed any help.
Now that the immediate danger was past, Atreus's ears began to pound with anger. He used his sleeve to wipe Bharat's blood from his face, then slapped Rishi's head with the shaft of Naraka's lance.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Wrong with me?" Rishi asked. He leaned away, rubbing the side of his head. "I am not the one beating my poor servant for no good reason."
"Murder is not a reason?" Atreus asked. He ducked into the wagon and touched his fingers to Bharat's slit throat. There was no pulse. "This wasn't necessary."
"Many profuse apologies for any mistake the good sir thinks I have made, but Bharat betrayed us. He deserved to die."
"He was your friend," Atreus retorted. "Losing his third of the gold would have been punishment enough. You could have let him jump, and it would have been the same to us."
"And what of the Wu-jen?" Rishi asked indignantly. "Should I have spared his life as well? Or does killing only bother you when it is someone you know?"
"Unnecessary killing bothers me," Atreus said. "The Wu-jen's death was necessary to avoid capture."
"I see," said Rishi. "A very convenient distinction. I will try to keep it in mind so as not to offend the good sir in the future."
"Uh-forget that Wu-jen," said Yago. "Tell me what you want done about them."
Thirty paces down the road, Naraka's men were reluctantly urging their mounts into a charge. With the riders stirrups nearly dragging the ground and the necks of the little ponies stretched forward in a fierce gallop, the sight seemed almost comical save for the sharp points of their lances and how rapidly they were to coming up behind the wagon.
"Can you make this cart go any faster?"
"Certainly… if I find a long hill and cut the yaks free," Rishi replied. "Until then, perhaps you would consider our pursuers? If you delay them for only five minutes, we can flee into the willows and escape to our secret caravan road. After that, the gods themselves will not find us."
Atreus thought for a moment, then shoved Bharat's body toward Yago. "Get him out of the way."
The ogre pitched the stout Mar out onto the road.
Atreus grabbed the dust cover and fed it over the rearmost canopy brace, draping it down to prevent Naraka's riders from hurling their lances into the wagon. He cut a tiny square out of one corner so he could see, then had Yago pick up the heaviest carpet in the cargo bed. By the time they finished, Naraka and his leading riders were only a few paces away, with the rest of the patrol hard on their heels.
Naraka barked an order, and the riders in front grasped their lances like spears. Watching through his viewing hole, Atreus realized that the Edenvale Mar were not quite as foolish as Rishi made them sound. Naraka rode up beside the wagon and reached out to jerk down the improvised curtain.
"Now, Yago!" Atreus shouted.
Yago shoved the carpet out under the dust cover, giving it a sideways spin so that it turned across the road. The six closest riders barely had time to curse before the heavy roll caught their mounts across the front legs. The ponies went down in a screeching mass, filling the air with a cacophony of panicked whinnies and clanging equipment An instant later, the second rank of riders crashed into the mess and tumbled over their fallen comrades, stretching the mayhem another dozen paces up the road. The men at the end of the column avoided the snarl of legs and lances by swerving into the willows, then returned to the road with their weapons ready to hurl.
Yago grabbed a second carpet roll. Naraka's hand grabbed the edge of the dust cover.
"Duck!" Atreus yelled.
The wagon swerved as Rishi obeyed. Naraka jerked the curtain down, and the riders launched their lances. Atreus hunched down behind the wagon's tailgate and heard three quick thuds and a wet thwack as one of the missiles sank into Yago's shoulder. The remaining lances hissed through the length of the cargo bed to clatter off the driver's bench.
"Not to complain, but are you doing anything back there?" Rishi demanded.
Yago shoved the carpet onto the road. The roll caught two of the galloping ponies across the breast and slid down to their legs. The beasts and their riders went screeching and tumbling in four different directions, tripping three more ponies and leaving only one of Naraka's men in pursuit.
"Here!" Yago plucked the lance out of his shoulder and passed it over.
Atreus wasted no time hurling it at the rider's chest. The man threw himself out his saddle and barely escaped being impaled. Naraka himself came swinging around the corner of the cargo canopy, sword blade flashing. Atreus caught the assault at the wrist almost casually, grabbed his attacker by the throat, and jerked him into the wagon.
Naraka landed on his back beside Yago, his sword arm pinned to the floor. He brought a knee up and slammed it into Atreus's side, then tried to jerk his weapon free. Atreus merely grunted, having suffered a thousand blows far more powerful at the hands of his ogre siblings. He began to squeeze Naraka's throat.