"Hornsbuck," said Mika, never taking his eyes off the priest.
"Hmmm?" said the huge nomad. Mika felt him turn before grunting, "oh," as though Hornsbuck had tasted something unpleasant.
The priest motioned, and a full complement of the guard moved into sight, positioning themselves behind the priest.
"Make no struggle," said the priest. "Or it will go hard with your friends."
"What friends? I've got no friends here! Get away from me, kid, you've been nothing but trouble since we met!" Mika shoved Margraf away from him as hard as he could.
Margraf looked up at him with wide, disbelieving eves, and tears began to make streaks down his soot- stained cheeks. Mika did his best to frown, but Margraf stood frozen in place and looked as though Mika had struck him. His stricken face twisted a knife in Mika's heart. Lowering his head, Mika winked broadly at the boy and jerked his head to one side, telling him to go.
Margraf smiled, his eyes lighting up with understanding. He put his head down and bulled through the guard, taking them by surprise and making good his escape.
Mika, hoping to give the boy a better chance, yelled out defiantly, "Well, what are you waiting for, a bigger crowd? Come on, priest, let's see whose magic is stronger, your god's or mine!"
Hornsbuck looked at Mika as though he were mad and tightened his grip on the length of wood he had used to prod the fire. Lotus Blossom clenched her mighty fists, and the wolves bared their teeth and crouched low, ready to spring.
The guards moved to either side of the priest, outflanking them neatly. In an open area the situation might not have been so serious, but Mika's group had been caught in the narrow space between two buildings that ended in a solid adobe wall, a cul-de- sac with no exit other than the one blocked by the priest and the guards.
"Tarn! On the ready," murmured Mika. The wolf bent low, ready to hurl himself at whomever Mika directed. RedTail and the princess took up their positions on either side of him.
"Come," the priest said pleasantly. "Put down your weapons and do not think to fight; you have done more than enough damage tonight."
"Hah! We haven't even started!" roared Hornsbuck as he leaped at the priest, striking hard with the length of wood. But as he came thundering out of the cul-de-sac, two men, both hidden from sight on opposite sides of the buildings, struck out. One clubbed him on the head with a massive cudgel and the other pounded his own club down on Horns- buck's length of wood, forcing its point into the ground. It happened so quickly that Hornsbuck had no time to react; he sank senseless to the ground like a heavy sack of grain.
All the heart went out of Mika at that point and he signaled Lotus Blossom and the wolves to surrender, not wishing any of them to be killed. The guards seized them roughly and dragged them through the crowd. People moved away and eyes turned aside as he passed, even those whom he recognized as having rescued.
The city was deserted. But it seemed different in some other way… offkilter. Even the guards noticed it, staring around with wide eyes, nudging each other. Over to the left, a building seemed to sag to one side, and the door was lying on the ground. To the right, the window to the wheelwright's shop was wide open, the shutters lying on the ground, apparently ripped from the wall hinges and all.
The guards took out their sense of unease by handling their prisoners roughly. Mika tried to endure it stoically.
He could see that the sky was beginning to lighten, and his spirits dipped. Was this the morning of his borning? Was this really the way his life would end? It seemed quite possible unless he could think of something to forestall the inevitable. He searched his mind for something, anything that would work. A spell of any sort that would free him from the priest. But no matter what he thought of, he either did not know it well enough to recite from memory or it would not free his companions, too. And like it or not, he could not convince himself to leave them behind.
A building shuddered on the right and then slowly collapsed in a rumble of bricks and creaking timbers. Underlying the noise was a soft chittering as familiar forms scurried by him and rushed off down the street to disappear into the next building.
There were more people in the streets now, none of whom gave them a second glance. More than a few were inebriated, women as well as men, and some w ere in various stages of undress, screaming and yelling with joy and drunken abandon. At any other time Mika would have cheered with them, but now that his life was at stake, he cursed them blackly.
He caught sight of a towering form outlined against the dawn sky. A rust monster as tall as a two-storeу building ponderously pushed its way into a building, grinding the girders under its immense feet and grazing contentedly on spikes and nails.
Joyous shrieks and boisterous laughs mingled with the crash and rumble of falling buildings and the distant crackle of the burning wall. A naked, giggling woman ran past them, pursued by an amorous admirer. The city was going to pieces.
No one realized the situation more acutely than the priest. He kicked at one of the rusties and cursed as he banged his toe on its hard exoskeleton. Mika grinned in spite of himself. He could have told him as much.
The rusties became more and more numerous as they approached the section of town that held the pyramid. They were everywhere, large and small, fat and thin; they rushed in and out of buildings, cluttering and squealing, squeaking and waving their antennae. They munched on hinges, chewed on doorknobs, licked torch posts, and nibbled on name- plates.
As they came within sight of the pyramid, Mika saw more than a few of them lying belly up in the middle of the road, legs stiff, and he wondered if they were dead, victims of their own gluttony, or merely drunk on overindulgence. He smiled, proud of the havoc he had created almost single-handed. Maybe the priests of Exag would kill him, but, he reflected as yet another building collapsed, they wouldn't have much of a city left to show for it.
CHAPTER 27
Dawn was breaking over the crest of the mountains, the sun a small red crescent, when they arrived at what remained of the prison. The roof and walls had collapsed, leaving only a pile of rubble to show where it had once stood.
The priest, his face white with fury, his thin lips compressed in a tight line, mounted the pyramid's narrow stairs, which seemed too small for human feet. But that did not deter either the priest or the guards, who dragged Hornsbuck and Lotus Blossom up the entire steep length and prodded Mika before them at spear point.
The priest glared at Mika from time to time, his nostrils pinched and his fingers opening and closing convulsively as though anxious to wrap themselves around Mika's heart.
Mika hung as heavily as he could in the guard's kands, his feet dragging on the steps. But the guards' muscles were made of iron, and Mike was lifted above the level of the steps and carried as easily as a parent would a reluctant child.
Tarn whined. Mika turned his head and commanded him to leave, but the wolf ignored him, as did the princess and RedTail, all of them staying out of reach of the guards' spears. They continued to follow.
In spite of desperate ploys, none of which worked, they came at last to the very peak of the pyramid. It was not pointed at the top as Mika had thought, but flat, with enough room for a large, white, stone altar.
The altar had a deep groove cut in one side, and it was darkly stained. Blood, thought Mika. My blood soon.
The guards wrestled him forward, holding Hornsbuck and Lotus Blossom one level lower. Hornsbuck was only just regaining consciousness. A trickle of blood coursed down his face, and he wobbled unsteadily between his captors. Lotus Blossom still struggled against the four guards who held her, throwing one, then another off balance, but they managed to hold her. The wolves circled behind, growling and snapping at the backs of legs, drawing blood and causing distraction.