Kiram met Elezar's gaze for just an instant and Elezar nodded to him. Then Elezar closed the distance between himself and his brother. Kiram concentrated on the men pursuing Javier.
Kiram had eleven arrows left and ahead of him rode eight men. No, eight targets. He couldn't think of them as men with faces and families. They were things, things that would kill Javier if they weren't stopped.
Kiram shot two men down before a third turned back from his pursuit of Javier. When the solider laid eyes on Kiram and saw the bow in his hand, his wary expression turned to rage and he charged. Kiram loosed an arrow. But he missed the exposed gap at the man's throat and instead his arrow punched into the thick leather protecting the man's chest. The strike only seemed to enrage the soldier more.
"Haldiim coward!" the soldier screamed. He was close enough that Kiram could see his pale face clearly. Kiram fired a second arrow and this time it drove deep into the soldier's mount, burying up to the fletching in the animal's unprotected leg. The horse fell, throwing its rider like a rag doll into the flagstones of the street. The soldier didn't move again, though the horse struggled piteously to rise.
Kiram felt sick but raced on. The street curved and as Kiram rode past abandoned carriages and overturned flower carts, he saw the bloody bodies of two more of the bishop's men. Just ahead of him, the bishop's three remaining men closed in on Javier.
Javier wheeled Lunaluz around and met the nearest of the soldiers head on. Their blades crashed and rang as they passed and circled each other. Then the other two soldiers attacked Javier's back.
Kiram screamed a warning but still one of the soldiers landed a blow across Javier's shoulder. Kiram buried a black arrow in the man's skull. The remaining two soldiers were already on Javier and he parried their blows with a blinding speed. But Kiram saw Javier's blood spill across Lunaluz's white hide.
The combat was too close for Kiram to dare release another arrow. He raced to reach Javier's side.
Javier swore in Cadeleonian and Haldiim. Lunaluz reared back, striking at the other horses. Then Javier plunged his sword into one of the soldier's chests. The man rocked back and toppled from his saddle. Javier spun his blade back, parrying a blow from his one remaining attacker. The soldier thrust for Javier's thigh but Javier moved faster, driving his sword up through the man's leather armor and severing his neck.
The soldier's head struck the ground a moment before his body. The flagstones of the street were slick and red with blood.
When Kiram reached Javier's side he could see that Javier had received at least two deep slashes, one across his right shoulder and another just above his left knee.
"I'm fine," Javier said before Kiram could ask.
"Their swords were poisoned."
"That would explain the familiar tingling." Javier flashed a hard smile, all teeth and bravado. "Honestly, I'm beginning to find muerate poison a little passe."
"I'm serious."
"I know. But let's not frighten the children. We've still got a city gate to get past." Javier pointed and Kiram turned back to see Elezar and Nestor round the corner. All semblance of gold dust was long gone from their faces and Elezar's coat front was spattered with blood, though as far as Kiram could see he looked unhurt. They drew to a halt beside Kiram and Javier.
"How bad?" Elezar asked, taking in Javier's injuries.
"I'll live. You two?"
"Safe and whole, thanks to Kiram" Nestor responded. "Good shooting."
Kiram just nodded. He was glad to have saved Nestor and Javier, but the fact that he'd murdered five men wasn't something he was ready to feel proud of.
"The two soldiers who went after Atreau and Morisio apparently lost them and came back for you," Elezar informed Javier. "They've been dealt with."
That explained the blood on Elezar's coat. Nestor looked a little queasy.
In the relative quiet Kiram could hear alarm bells ringing. People watched them warily from balconies and the doorways of shops.
"The men we lost at the Grunito house will probably have regrouped by now. They'll follow us up from High Street, I'll bet," Kiram commented.
Javier nodded his agreement almost absently. He scanned the discarded and abandoned carts, wagons and barrels that littered the street around them.
"Any thoughts about the city gates?" Elezar asked Javier.
"One." Javier offered them all a smug smile. "What do you say to dazzling them with a little hellfire?"
Kiram knew better than to point out that the 'hellfire' hadn't been all that dependable or that Javier didn't seem to be in any condition to control the shajdi even if he could summon it. Javier gave him a glance as if expecting an objection.
"Hellfire sounds good as anything else at this point," Elezar replied. Nestor nodded his agreement.
"All right. Then we need those jars of oil." Javier pointed to the red clay jars in a cart. He glanced at Kiram. "You don't by chance remember the name of that lieutenant who's waiting for us with his pikemen, do you?"
"Montaval," Kiram supplied.
"Good. Then I think we're ready to depart Anacleto."
The huge northern gates of Anacleto stood open, but a slow moving sea of merchant's wagons, farm carts and carriages filled the wide street. Herders directed flocks of goats, sheep, and even geese around their fellow travelers. Ahead Kiram recognized the purple crosses and gold bars on the uniforms of the bishop's men. The city guards stood aside, looking annoyed, while the bishop's men harassed traders, travelers and beggars alike in their search for Javier.
When a Mirogoth musician attempted to ride past, he and his horse were nearly impaled on the long pikes that the bishop's men held ready. Even at a distance Kiram could see that the musician was simply drunk. Still the bishop's men knocked him to the ground and searched him for coins and trinkets before allowing him to pass.
Kiram took a deep breath and gauged the route he would ride between carriages and wagons one last time. Nestor, Elezar and Javier would be charging down behind him and he knew he wouldn't have the luxury to pause or slow his ride.
"In the name of the royal bishop, make way!" Kiram shouted. He urged Verano down the slight hill and between two black lacquered carriages.
"A message for Lieutenant Montaval! Make way!" Kiram roared. Men and women bolted out of his path. Kiram didn't dare look back to see how well the confusion in his wake masked Javier, Elezar and Nestor's passage through the crowd.
"Make way!" Kiram drew as much attention to himself as he could. "A message for Lieutenant Montaval! In the name of the royal bishop, make way!"
Hearing his name called, the lieutenant commanded travelers to the side, just as Javier had said he would.
Verano dodged a slow-moving old man and nearly threw Kiram as he leaped past two snarling Mirogoth hounds.
Ahead of him a path cleared. The city guards looked curious but made no attempt to approach. They left Kiram to Lieutenant Montaval and his hulking pikemen. The portly lieutenant started towards Kiram. The pikemen studied him, some with curiosity, others with suspicion. But not one of them watched the movements to Kiram's left.
"Message for Lieutenant Montaval!" Kiram hollered as if he could some how fail to recognize who the lieutenant was.
"What's your damn message!" the lieutenant demanded.
Verano pranced and snorted beneath Kiram, seeming to catch Kiram's nervous energy.
"Javier Tornesal is on his way!" Kiram pointed back through the crowd and out to his right, where a group of horse traders mingled among carriages and carts.
As the lieutenant and his pikemen turned to the right, Nestor and Elezar hurled their oil jars at the pikemen. The clay shattered, spattering oil, and Javier charged forward. White flames gushed from his hands and wild sparks sprayed out. In an instant the oil caught fire and the pikemen fled or fell burning. Lieutenant Montaval spun on Kiram and Kiram kicked the man back into the wall.