Certainly Voros's raid or something just as big must have happened. Every soldier she saw was moving as fast as she was, and most ordinary Doimari were staying inside or at least out of the soldiers' way. Lifters were also going overhead in swarms. Even though Baliza knew that Doimar had more lifters than Kaldak, she still hadn't expected to see so many. She thanked the Laws that she'd ordered the two lifter-thieves to steal a citizen's machine. All the soldiers' lifters would now be closely guarded.
They reached the street of Feragga's building, and Kandro grabbed her arm. «Look. Our people must be there already.» A lifter was just settling down on Feragga's roof.
Baliza squinted into the sun, then shook her head. «Not unless they got away with a soldiers' lifter. That one's got army markings on it. Come on!» They had to be in the building and out of sight from the roof before the soldiers in that lifter started getting out. After that-well, she would see. This wasn't a «Do it or don't come back alive» mission-Sidas didn't give that kind of orders. But she had her pride in doing the impossible and making it look easy. Sidas said that was another thing she seemed to have got from her father.
They charged into the building and headed up the stairs. Three flights up, and one to go, they heard the ominous crackle of lasers. At the foot of the last flight of stairs they heard a scream. It sounded like a man's scream, thank the Lords! Then two bodies crashed down the stairs, locked together in a death-grapple. One was a Doimari soldier, the other, one of Feragga's guards.
The two Kaldakans looked at each other, then up the stairs. Things seemed clear. Baliza wished briefly for a grenade, then decided she wouldn't have dared throw it, not without knowing where Feragga was.
Lasers crackled again as they ran up the stairs. Baliza was the first to reach the top floor. As she stepped into the open two soldiers stepped out of a door across the hall. She shot one and he fell against his comrade, spoiling the man's aim. Before he could shoot again, Baliza kicked him in the stomach, then smashed him across the back of the neck with both hands as he doubled up.
From where she stood, Baliza now had a clear view down the hall to the open roof and the door of the lifter. The hall was smoke-filled and smelled of burned human flesh, but the lifter's pilot also had a clear view of her. He fired a solid-shot at her, and succeeded in hitting Kandro as he stepped out into the hall.
Kandro shot back as he fell. He'd won prizes for pistol shooting, and now proved the prizes had gone to the right man. The pilot flew out of his chair, headless. Baliza shot the man who tried to pull him away from the controls.
That seemed to be the last soldier. Baliza was trying to think what she'd do if there were any more, when she heard wheels on the rug behind her. Then:
«Put your hands up and turn around-slowly.»
It was a strong voice, but with a note of old age. Baliza obeyed. She wasn't surprised to find herself looking at Feragga. The older woman was in her wheelchair, with one hand on its controls and the other holding a short, thick-barreled laser rifle.
Recognition was mutual. Feragga's eyes widened. «What in the name of everything unlawful-! Baliza! What are you doing in Doimar?»
Baliza didn't lower her hands but snapped out her reply. «To get you out of the city. And I don't think I've come a day too soon!»
Feragga looked up and down the hall, counting the bodies as if she was seeing them for the first time. Then she nodded: «No, I don't suppose you have. All right. I'll go.»
Baliza's jaw dropped. Even though every second counted, she'd still expected to spend some time arguing. She almost suspected a trick or a trap. Why should Feragga be so tame and ready to flee to her city's hereditary enemies?
Yet if Feragga was telling the truth, this was a gift of minutes which might save them all. Baliza decided not to question the gift. She knelt beside Kandro, who was unconscious and pale from loss of blood but still breathing.
Feragga looked on approvingly as Baliza bandaged her companion's wounds. «Your father would have done that,» she said. «He never abandoned friends. Your mother owes her life to that.»
«I know.»
«Nungor, my old war captain, was like that, too. It was a sad and un-Lawful thing, that he and Blade could not have met in a way that let them be friends. But life is that way, more often than not.»
Baliza had no attention to spare for life's tragedies. Instead, she hoisted Kandro over her shoulder and carried him out to the lifter. Then she returned for Feragga. The old woman's grip on her rifle was so loose that Baliza was tempted to grab it. She resisted the idea. Feragga obviously wasn't going to be taken alive, and in fact it was this determination which had kept her fighting long enough for Baliza and Kandro to arrive. Snatching her rifle would just make her angry, without helping a bit against other Doimari.
Baliza wheeled Feragga, rifle and all, down the hall and into the lifter. She was strapping the chair firmly in place when she heard lifter propellers and the crackle of laser fire outside. They seemed to be a long way off but getting rapidly closer.
Baliza looked out. A battered and dirty citizen's lifter was heading for them. A hundred yards behind was a Doimari soldiers' machine, with men firing lasers from both doors and windows. They'd already hit the lifter in front several times, but the propellers were still intact.
A moment later Baliza recognized the other two Intelligence people in the pilots' seats. A moment after that, a shot from their pursuers got home. One propeller disintegrated. Baliza saw one of the Intelligence men throw up his hands as flying metal drove into him.
«Here, girl. It's heavier.» Baliza turned at the words and took Feragga's rifle. It wouldn't do much good soon enough, but at least she owed it to the men and her own conscience to go down-
Her finger was on the trigger when the captured lifter suddenly swung around in a sharp turn. The turn took it directly into the path of the Doimari lifter. The captured lifter was moving slowly, but the Doimari lifter was speeding up as its pilot closed in for the kill. The impact as the two machines came together was enough to wreck both.
They bounced apart, spewing pieces and smoke, then began their long fall to the ground. Baliza didn't take her eyes off them until they both plunged through the roof of a building three streets away. Smoke boiled up, and she imagined she heard screams.
«Come on, girl,» said Feragga irritably. «You can't do anything for them. It's wasting their deaths not to use the time they gave you! It's Detcharn's men who were coming for me. If what's happening is what I thought might happen, he'll be too busy to send more until we're-«
Baliza cursed, then glared at Feragga. «Old woman, just exactly what did you think might happen? And I want an answer, or we don't move an inch off this roof!»
Faragga grinned. «That would really be cutting off your toes to spite your feet, now wouldn't it? But indeed, you ought to know. I suspect you'll be finding out from someone else before long, but-«She broke off, as Baliza let out a gasp as if she'd been punched in the stomach. Somehow she knew what had to be coming.
«It's time you knew. Your father the Sky Master Blade has come back. He's probably stamping Detcharn and the rocket base into the ground right now.»
«My fa-ther?» It was a croak. She'd known it, but still she couldn't face hearing «Your father's come back» said like «The sun will rise tomorrow.»
«You probably know him as Voros,» Feragga went on. «But it's Blade all right. His Doimari daughter Moshra got it out of his mind. There's no doubt about it. «I–Lord's sake girl, what's gotten into you?»