Those ancients had sacrificed themselves. Though their efforts had not beenfanatical or terribly courageous. It seemed a desperate attempt to buy time.
Which had to mean there was something to buy time for.
Nakar the Abomination.
Yoseh's fear deepened.
He glanced at the carpenter and felt sorry for the man.
Mo'atabar read the same story from the same signs. He admonished everyone tohurry. "Ready?" Like a good Dartar chieftain he led the charge.
The nothing of the opening hurled him back into the men behind him.
"It's blocked!" someone yelled.
"But there isn't anything there!"
Mo'atabar cursed and probed with a javelin snatched from someone's hand.
"Blocked," he admitted. "Some damned witchery. Break through a wall orsomething. I'll drag the ferrenghi witch up here."
Men dropped their packs, began unlimbering tools.
The Witch paused at the doorway to the place of worship. She told the womenwho had accompanied her, "Go help Azel. Tell him I will be watching over you.
Torgo, you stay with me. Keep control of the children."
Thunder shook the citadel. Torgo said, "It's like if they get too closetogether ..."
"Maybe. Zouki, come here."
The frightened women left. The Witch dragged the boy Zouki through thedoorway. "Close it up, Torgo. I'll seal it so it can never be opened. The samewith the other entrances."
"But ... Azel ..."
"He has served his purpose. I have grown tired of him. I am going to let himdie a hero's death defending his lord." She settled the boy Zouki by thealtar, took the other from the eunuch. "Go on, Torgo. Get busy."
Torgo followed his orders but he was uneasy. He was not a genius and not anastute judge of men but he did feel sure that when Azel died he would not doso for the sake of the High Priest. Azel was a complex man who had concealedhimself inside so many masks and lies he did not now know himself but he hadgiven himself away in his conspiratorial whispers. There was one tiny hole inhis emotional armor.
Torgo pursed his lips, feelings mixed. Because of that, and so much else, he wished Azel an evil end-but he feared that Azel might be their only hope forsalvation.
"Here they come!" Azel roared. The stall trick had been good for an hour. Hehoped the damned woman hadn't wasted the time, that she'd laid on a wholetroop of tricks and barriers. He shoved his sack of provisions out of the way, let fly with a throwing spear. It stopped the first Dartar dead. "All right!
Now! Run them in now."
The women whipped the terrified children into the battlefield of the kitchens.
They did not go far, mostly stood around screaming while the adults pelted theDartars with missiles from behind them.
The Dartars looked at that mob of brats, for a moment did not know what to do.
That cost them. Azel laughed.
Their captain pushed them out behind their shields, formed a miniature turtle, advanced toward the brats. Archers began spraying arrows around. The turtlegobbled half a dozen kids, delivered them to cover behind the bakers' ovens.
When the turtle advanced again Azel flung a pair of lanterns toward thebowmen. The lanterns smashed. Flames leaped up. While the archers wereoccupied he grabbed a woman and used her as a shield. He charged into theturtle, laid about him with a meat cleaver, put three of the damned camellovers down before he ducked back, still laughing.
The violence tore one of his wounds enough that it began to bleed again.
He could have held the bastards there and picked them off as they stampededaround trying to save the brats-if the citadel staff had not gone squeamishabout the kids. The women ran off. That left him and two men to hold four exits.
He hurled his cleaver at the Dartar kid who had shown him the Face of Death but the boy moved. Azel grabbed his provisions and fled toward the greatchamber where the cage stood. He wished he had a bow. He could give thoseDartar bastards fits, sniping from the shadows there.
The staff would retreat from there toward the Witch's chambers, leading thechase the wrong way, buying more time.
He laughed again.
He had lied to them. He had told them the Witch had fortified her quarterswith spells that would keep them safe once they closed the doors behind them.
They would flee there thinking they need do nothing but lock up and wait forNakar.
Hell. Maybe he hadn't lied. Who knew? The woman might have come to her senses.
She'd put out a few other barriers, hadn't she?
General Cado sighed. The water chute was packed with soldiers. Nothing elsebut to try it. He gave the order to go.
The first man out was waist-high into the drain when three arrows hit him. He fell back on the men below him.
The Dartar watchers sped a dozen arrows down the drain, began filling it withwhatever they found lying around loose.
A third of the way up the hill from the waterfront, in a second-level home inthe center of the Shu complex, a woman wholly insignificant otherwise noted atrickle of water running down a wall, starting at eye level. She was baffled.
Nothing like that had happened before.
Naszif stopped so violently he slipped on the wet paving stones and fell. Twohundred men surrounded the entrance to the citadel. Qushmarrahans. Armed. Herecognized several, including his former commander, Hadribel.
The Living! Out of the shadows now.
They meant to take the citadel from its conquerors as soon as they felt theDartars had done all the killing for them.
All he could do here was get killed himself. He got his feet under him andtook off. The Living noticed him too late to stop him.
Aaron looked around frantically, yelled for Arif. Beside him, on her knees, Reyha held a terrified little girl to her breast, rocked and crooned softly, gently tried to quiz the child about Zouki. She got no answers. Ahead, theDartar boy Yoseh stood in a doorway looking back, hesitant to leave them.
"Arif!"
His son did not answer. He was not here with the others. Zouki was not here.
Fear and horror redoubled. Several children had been hurt in the fighting, despite all efforts to avoid that ... The Herodian sorceress jabbered at himand pointed. She wanted him to move along. He determined to stand his ground.
"Aaron." Yoseh beckoned him. "Come on. The children are not here. The Witch has them."
"How do you know that?"
"I asked these kids. They told me she came and got them and took themsomewhere with her."
The bottom fell out of Aaron's stomach. A little hope died.
Yoseh led the way into the largest room he had ever seen, trying to stay alertenough for himself and the carpenter and veydeen woman, too. He had heard ofthis place. It was as awe-inspiring as the stories said. But there was no timeto gawk. It was a madhouse. Rock apes and more children were screeching andrunning around. Mo'atabar and the others were trying to fight their way up astairwell off to his left. They were up against another invisible wall. It let missiles come down but would not let them go up. Mo'atabar was ready to tearthe place down to get around it.
Then Yoseh glimpsed the child-taker flitting through far shadows. He yelled, sped an arrow, and charged. When he reached the spot he found nothing but asnarling rock ape.
The ferrenghi sorceress shouted a warning that no one but, perhaps, Mo'atabarunderstood.
Brilliant light. A blow like the sudden impact of a hundred fists ...
He did not know how much time had passed. When he came to he found his visionand hearing both impaired. He could barely hear Mo'atabar and the ferrenghisorceress arguing bitterly at the foot of the stairwell. Mo'atabar wanted tocarry the attack upward. The witch wanted to go another direction. Sheinsisted the upward retreat was a diversion. Somehow, she carried herargument-and that left old Mo'atabar looking very frightened.