"Declare a winner, or stand aside, Excellency," he said. "You heard the captain," she said. "We must defend the Citadel!"
"That is the job of the evincar."
It all came down to this moment. Belbe looked from face to face, searching for an answer. Greven was impassive. Ertai smiled weakly, then sagged to the black pavement. Courtiers avoided her, soldiers pretended to be busy readying themselves to fight the rebels.
Finally, she looked down at Crovax. He had Volrath down, his head locked and his throat vulnerable. Only four mailed fingers prevented him from cutting Volrath's jugular. "Do
… your… duty!" Crovax gasped. "Behold!" Belbe cried. "Behold, the Evincar of Rath! Crovax!"
The sergeants broke ranks and shouted their master's name. Most of the assembled notables joined in, though a good number quietly fled.
"Let him up," Belbe said above the roar of the crowd. "He must die!" Crovax replied.
"He's lost. His life is forfeit, but your first duty is to quell the rebels in your own fortress."
Crovax agreed. He ordered his men to secure the former evincar and place him under close guard.
"Wrap him in chains of good steel," Crovax said. "Hang him by his feet so that no part of his body touches the structure of the Citadel. Seat ten men with bare swords around him. If the floor so much as trembles, strike off his head!"
Volrath was buried under a pile of sergeants. He didn't resist, but they pressed him hard to the floor and wound chains around his legs. His hands were wrenched behind his back and chained together. A hood was cinched over his head.
By the time Volrath was securely bound, the hall was almost empty. Guards and soldiers under Greven's command had already marched off. The sergeants bore Volrath away.
Crovax turned to Belbe. "Excellency! This is a great day!"
He dropped his sword and enfolded her roughly in his arms. Though she resisted, Crovax kissed her hard, smearing his sweat on her face as she stained him with glistening oil still oozing from her injured hands.
Alone, lying on the floor a few feet away, Ertai smiled.
CHAPTER 21
Garnan pressed his ear to the door. "It's quiet out there," he whispered.
Shamus listened too. "They didn't just go away!"
"They're there," Takara said flatly. "A company was left to watch the door while the rest retrieve a battering ram."
Shamus blinked. "Battering ram?"
"Do you think they'll try to starve us out?"
Medd filled the relatively quiet moment by inspecting Eladamri's injuries. He dabbed salve on his burns and rewrapped them in strips of cloth torn from their army cloaks. Eladamri was sitting on the cold black floor, leaning against one of Volrath's monumental pilasters. "Are you in much pain, Brother?" asked Medd. "No."
"The burns are superficial. I fear some of your nails are lost and won't grow back." Eladamri nodded. Medd tied off the last bandage and set the elf's arm gently into a sling. "Do you think we'll leave here alive?"
Eladamri opened his eyes. "I don't know. Are you frightened?"
"Yes."
"I'm not. Live or die, I've made up my mind not to fall into their hands again. I do have regrets, though. So many unfinished tasks…"
Kireno returned from reconnoitering the Dream Halls. Everyone but Shamus gathered around Eladamri to hear the Vec warrior's scouting report.
"This place is huge, but it's basically one big room," Kireno said. "At the far end is a transom, all glass. There don't seem to be any other doors."
"What can you see from the transom?"
"The windows look down upon the prison and map tower, O Eladamri."
"Could we climb down?"
Kireno demolished his idea. "The Citadel is cut away under the Dream Halls, so there's no way to climb down. It would require hundreds of feet of rope just to reach the bridge to the prison tower we just left. To reach the floor of the crater would take thousands of feet."
"What about up?" asked Medd.
Takara snorted. "Climb hundreds of feet up the outside of the Citadel? Are you mad?" She shook her cropped head at the rebels' leader. "How is he going to climb any distance up or down with those ruined hands?"
"You've made your point," Eladamri said. "Do you have any useful suggestions, Takara?"
Her eyes glistened. "Write your wills."
From the doors Shamus called, "People coming-lots of them!"
The rebels rushed to the doors, weapons drawn. Takara slumped to the floor in the corner and covered her face with her hands.
The tramp of many feet was plain even through the massive panels. Muffled shouts were heard, and the floor vibrated under their feet.
"Stand back," Eladamri advised his men. He had hardly said so when a tremendous boom reverberated through the hall. The doors shook but remained solidly closed. The impact was repeated again and again.
The noise was punishing.
"If the doors don't break, the noise will break us!" Medd shouted.
After many hits, the battering ceased. More muffled voices, and the rebels could hear men scurrying away from the door.
"Take cover!"
Fire sprayed through the narrow space under the door panels and through the gaps at the top and sides. For a few terrifying seconds, the rebels waited to see if the tall doors would topple from their hinges, admitting a horde of Rathi soldiers. The doors stood firm.
"Ha!" Kireno said, slapping a thick black panel. "That's workmanship for you!"
"I guess Volrath didn't want anyone to disturb him in his sanctum," said Eladamri.
Buoyed by the doors' resistance, the rebels prepared for a siege. Medd got out his whetstone and sharpened their swords and knives. Kireno departed on another reconnaissance, this time searching for hidden doors or secret passages. Shamus continued his watch.
Eladamri rummaged through his garments. He found a slip of ragged paper and a blunt charcoal stick, once the property of the Rathi soldier whose uniform this had been. He sat down on the floor and began to write in slow, carefully formed letters. Shamus asked him what he was doing.
"Following Takara's advice," he said. "I'm writing my will."
Crovax left to lead the attack on the cornered rebels, but Belbe had to see to Ertai before she could join the Rathi forces outside the Dream Halls.
She managed to round up four terrified servants and ordered them to carry Ertai to Volrath's laboratory. The men were frightened to be abroad on their own. The whole Citadel was in an uproar, and the air was rife with tales of cut throats and stabs in the back. It was only by considerable bullying that Belbe was able to get them to carry Ertai to the infuser.
She left him on his makeshift stretcher. "These men will get you to the laboratory," she told him. "They know what will happen to them if they fail." The bearers shifted nervously until Belbe frowned them into stillness. "I will go to the rebels. I must speak to Eladamri again."
He took her hand. "And how are you?" he said, fingering her bandaged palm.
"I feel no pain."
"You're a liar."
Belbe slipped her hand free. "When your treatment is done, find someplace quiet to rest. Crovax will come looking for you."
"Speaking of that…" Ertai urged her to come closer. Belbe knelt beside the stretcher. "We must both escape! You have the means-"
"Shh." She covered his mouth with her hand. "When the time comes, the door will open. But there is a part I must play here."
She dismissed the servants and hurried to the Dream Halls. As she neared the entrance, she found the corridors clogged with tense, eager troops. What seemed like the entire garrison was crowded into the outlying passages, and it took some time for her to work her way through the mass of heavily-armed soldiers. By the time Belbe reached the foyer, she found Greven supervising the palace guards in setting up a battering ram. An iron double A-frame had been brought in, and a massive bronze-headed ram hung by chains from the frame.