Barehanded, of course. Facing a man with a sword, dagger, and armor.
Still, he had gotten the second guards attention, all right. That gave Kai a fighting chance with his.
Bluff, fool! He doesn't know you aren't some kind of barehanded assassin!
He stretched his mouth in a rictus-grin that he hoped was frightening, and beckoned to the bewil- dered guard. "Come on, fool! Come dance with me! I love to dance!"
Kai had a good hold on the other guard, and was clinging to his back like a monkey. The guard thrashed about, flailing wildly with his sword, but he was unable to reach Kai, and he couldn't go beyond the chain wrapped around his neck.
The second guard glanced over his shoulder Alaire made an abortive movement to get the man's attention back on him. "Come on, you lily-livered bas- tard!" he snarled, gesturing with his hands. "What's the matter? You scared of a little boy?"
He was dancing a fine line, and he knew it; he had to keep his man distracted, but if the guard decided to attack hi There was a clatter, a sword fell to the floor inside the cell. Alaire had a heartbeat to make a decision, and he opted for the chance to get his hands on a weapon.
He dove past his man, with his hands outstretched, flying just under the startled man's blade. He grabbed for the hilt of the fallen sword; caught it and rolled, then came up against the wall of the cell with a grunt of surprise. A moment later, he was up with the sword in his hands.
Two-on-one was unsportsmanlike, but this was not a sporting event. As the first guard spun around, finally knocking Kai off his back, Alaire swun But not for the chest; he swung for the legs.
The man went down with a scream. Kai leapt on him and grabbed the hilt of the dagger at the guard's belt. Alaire ran for the door of the cell, and was met there by the second guard. Kai would have to deal with his man himself.
This time it was an even match, sword against sword. Even -- except that this man was older and stronger than Alaire, and a trained fighter. Even -- except that Alaire was not going to fight fair.
He feinted for the eyes, before the man had a chance to settle himself. The guard automatically winced back, and Alaire took a step toward him, clear- ing the door, swinging again at the man's legs, then feinting up at his eyes again. He gained another step.
Now he was completely outside the cell.
Behind him he heard thrashing, but he dared not look back to see how Kai was doing. Kai would have to win or lose his battle on his own.
The second guard made a rush at him, and they closed. They struggled hand-to-hand and blade-to- blade for a moment.
Then Alaire let his legs collapse, and dropped into a back-somersault, catching the guard in the gut with his feet and flipping him over backwards, trying to roll his adversary into the bars and not into the open cell door.
The guard slammed into the bars; Alaire drove both feet into the man's belly, as hard as he could. The guard's eyes bulged out and his cheeks puffed with the impact.
Alaire rolled to the side, and came up on his feet.
The guard was still down, but Alaire did not hesitate.
He stabbed down, even though, at the back of his mind, a tiny portion of himself was stuffing hands into his mouth, horrified at what he was doing.
As he looked up from his bloody work, he saw Kai had won his battle as well; the boy was rising from the guards body, hand and knife dripping blood, face white as snow.
They exchanged a wordless, quick hug; then Alaire bent to the padlock holding Kai's chains to the floor.
The four keys still in Alaire's pocket did not unlock that padlock -- and Alaire was forced to rifle the two bodies, looking for more keys. The sounds of fighting came nearer.
Finally, he found the key, carelessly thrust into a pocket. He fumbled with the padlock and the blood- slick key, and finally heard the welcome click of the mechanism opening.
He freed Kai of the chains on his ankles and right wrist, but left a single chain dangling from his left. It made a good weapon, and was one that could not be knocked from his hand.
Kai snatched up the dead guards sword, and the two of them turned toward the sound of the fighting.
They exchanged a questioning glance, and Alaire finally spoke. "Whatever's bad for the Association is probably good for us," he said, and Kai nodded. They started for the entrance to the hallwa When the sounds of fighting faded, and turned to cheers.
"And whatever's good for the Association is bad for us," Kai replied. "Lets get out of here!"
"Do you know the way out?" Alaire asked. Kai nod- ded, and pointed glumly towards the hallway.
Alaire cursed, and glanced around. There was a stairway to the balcony he had leapt from, and he grabbed Kai's elbow and dragged him towards it.
"Come on!" he hissed. "I know a place to hide, at least!"
Back to Carlotta. Anything that happened would be reported directly to her -- and anyone looking for Kai would be looking in the opposite direction of Car- lotta's lair. Right now, hiding somewhere near her would probably be the safest place in the prison.
If there is any safe place here... for any of us.
Chapt Just before they reached the lair, Alaire took a moment to pull Kai toward him and whisper some cautions into his ear.
"Whatever happens, whatever you see and hear, don't move or make a sound unless I do," he said, cast- ing nervous glances up and down the hall. "We're going to hide out in a special room down here, where the real power behind the Association and Jehan lives.
She's pretty awful, but she's kind of -- a -- a cripple.
She can't move much, and even though she's a really nasty mage, she can't do anything to us unless she knows we're there. Got that?"
"I guess so," Kai whispered, his face mirroring his confusion. "Where she is, that's the last place anyone would look for us, right?"
"Right." Alaire took the lead again, half-running, his heart pounding, and expecting at any moment to encounter a guard or one of the Association mages.
But they made it to the room without incident, and as Alaire made a quieting motion to Kai, and wormed his way into the maze of boxes, it dawned on him why Carlotta had chosen to live in a storage roo Because it wasn't a storage room at all -- it was a room full of the tangible relics of her power.
Loot, in other words; valuable tilings she had probably had confiscated and brought to her. And like a dragon, she had piled up her treasures here, where she could look at them and gloat over them every day. Certainly there was no other way she could enjoy her power, except by having people brought down here to be killed. She could not move from this place, there was only so much food even a gross lump like Carlotta could eat in a day, and as for enjoying the kind of life -- and lovers -- she had enjoyed before the backlash of her attempts to break her Unmaking spell . . . Alaire doubted that there was anything in the universe that could be induced to find Carlotta's hulk tolerable, much less desirable.
Alaire found a place under a low couch where he and Kai could get a good view of the center of the lair without being seen. Kai started a little when he real- ized that the thing in the middle of the room was alive, and not some land of grotesque and obscene statue, or a pile of garbage, but he made no sound.