Azel moved in.
The Dartar's hand came out thrusting with a javelin.
Azel dodged and blocked just well enough to keep from getting killed. The headof the javelin sliced along his left cheek and ruined his ear. He grabbed thejavelin's shaft and pulled.
The Dartar hung on and kicked violently with his left foot. Azel turned hiship to take the blow but it came higher than he anticipated, struck squarelyon his right elbow, numbing his arm so badly he could not hang on to hisknife. He kneed the Dartar and at the same time flailed the numb arm hard enough to knock the knife out of the boy's left hand. The Dartar pulledhimself in and clung. Azel started to crush him in a bear hug.
The second man's knife came in and ripped along his ribs, a hairline of fire.
The kid was trying to hold him while the other man killed him.
He kneed the Dartar again and felt his grip go watery with the pain. Azelshoved him back into the other man, backed away, jumped.
First try, his still half-numb arm betrayed him. He slipped back. He jumpedagain. As he went up, the Dartar's companion buried a knife in his right calfand tried to pull him back down. He kicked the guy in the head with his rightfoot, pulled himself onto the roof. He yanked the knife out of his calf, dragged the brat all the way onto the roof so nobody could grab a leg and pullhim back down.
Azel heard nothing stirring below. He lay there panting and hurting for aminute, till he heard cautious voices approaching in the darkness. Then he gothimself up, picked up the brat, and started moving.
He ignored the fires in his cheek and ear, his calf and side. He told himselfhe was too good to let a little pain distract him.
When the uproar broke out outside, Zenobel growled, "What the hell?" andheaded for the door.
"Hold it!" bel-Sidek snapped. "Kill the lamps. Whatever it is, we don't wantit getting interested in us."
By the time the lamps were out and bel-Sidek had gotten to the door and hadopened it a crack, the uproar was that of a battle. Bel-Sidek said, "It's aband of Dartars slaughtering a bunch of Qushmarrahans."
Carza asked, "Why?"
"How should I know?" bel-Sidek was troubled.
Zenobel asked, "What are Dartars doing in Char Street at this time of night?"
"Why don't you go ask?" bel-Sidek backed away so the others could take turnspeeking. Zenobel ended up being the sentinel at the crack who reported to therest, sitting there in darkness. "They've gotten a torch lit. Collecting upthe dead and wounded. Looks like three prisoners and seven dead. None of themDartars. Make that eight dead. They just brought in another one. Looks likethey're getting ready to question the survivors. Some more around a doorwaydown there, talking. Funny. Nobody's come out to see what's going on."
Bel-Sidek said, "It isn't strange, here where the night belongs to the beastsof the maze. Close it. They aren't interested in us. Let's keep it that way.
Light a lamp, King. Just one. Can't anybody think of an alternative to Hannobel-Kaifa?"
Salom Edgit asked, "Why don't you trust him?" "I trust him, Salom. That's not the problem. I don't like him. The dislike is so strong I think it would affect my ability to work with him."
Zenobel took another peek outside. He planned to sneak another in a minute. He held the door closed with his hand instead of latching it.
It exploded inward.
The Dartars helped Aaron out of the alley. By the time they reached Char Street he could move under his own power. Mumbling, he invited them to bring Yoseh into his home so they would have light to look him over.
Aaron stopped in the doorway. A Dartar with bare saber stood guard inside. The fallen invaders had been removed. Laella, battered but apparently all right, knelt over her mother, in front of the hearth. Across the room Mish satagainst the wall and held Stafa tight against her breast. She sobbed softly.
Laella looked up. Aaron shook his head. Her face turned to stone. She rose, came to examine his injuries. He moved aside so the Dartars could bring Yosehin. They invited themselves to bring all their injured. Laella did notprotest.
She touched his face. He winced, asked, "How is she?"
"I think she's hurt inside." There was an edge of hysteria in her voice.
"Take it easy. What about you? How about Stafa and Mish?"
"We're all right." She leaned against him. "What did we ever do to those men, Aaron? How could they do that?" "I don't know. I'm going to find out." He pushed her away gently, went to his toolbox, and took out a heavy, bronze-headed maul.
"What are you going to do?"
"Go break bel-Sidek's other leg, then twist on it till he tells me the truth." And he actually meant it when he said it, though it sounded absurd a second later.
"Aaron ..." "They've got Arif, Laella. Just like they've got Zouki. I can't stand still."
He started for the doorway. On his way he tapped Yoseh's two brothers. "Come on." Bel-Sidek was completely boggled by the apparition in the doorway. Thecarpenter looked like he had been beaten half to death. He looked incrediblyferocious with a huge hammer in his hand. "Aaron?"
"I want my son back, bel-Sidek. Your men took him, and killed his grandmother, and if you don't get him back to me I'm going to see that whatever is left of you when I get done hangs from a Herodian gibbet."
Bel-Sidek felt the bite of fear. He understood the threat. The carpenter knew or suspected enough to do the movement irreparable harm. "Calm down, Aaron. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have your son."
"Just like you don't know anything about Naszif s son, Zouki, but you can show him to Naszif anytime you want to make him do something."
What would the General have done in this situation?
The carpenter was getting a little nervous, his crazy anger deserting him. He had not expected to break into a room full of hard-faced men. He did not know what to do next. He stepped forward, raising the hammer threateningly.
Zenobel, Carza, and Dabdahd responded. Zenobel had murder in his eye. Bel- Sidek said, "Wait." A Dartar stepped through the doorway, set the tip of a saber against Zenobel's throat. Another followed, threatened King and Carza. They backed away carefully. The first Dartar asked, "Is the old one the man who knows, Aaron?"
"I think so. If not him, one of them."
Bel-Sidek started. The carpenter had guessed who they were. But he had not betrayed them. Yet. "Aaron, what do you want?" "You know: I want my son back. And I want you and yours to leave me and mine alone. Forever."
Or he would tell the Dartars where they could scoop up the whole ruling council of the Living.
A voice from outside said, "Nogah! Troops are coming."
The Dartar with the saber pushed Zenobel back among the others. He looked bel- Sidek in the eye. "I see your face, old man. And I will remember it." He raised a hand, removed his face cloth, revealed a gruesomely mutilated visage.
"You have till the fog rises this high tomorrow night. Then I come for you." He turned, gently urged the carpenter out the door. The other Dartar backed out behind them, closing the door.
"Silence!" bel-Sidek snapped, before they could start. "Do any of you not understand what just happened?" He got back a babble of outrage.
They did not understand, except for Carza.
"Quiet, please. So you're not as familiar with Dartar customs as you should be. But none of you ever served with them. When the man removed his face cloth he was doing what Dartars call 'showing the face of death.' Essentially he took a vow to hunt us down if the missing child isn't returned. I remind youthat most of the Dartars outside are probably his brothers and cousins. Familywill assume the vow as a matter of course. When word gets around, the restwill probably take it on, too. It's just romantic enough."