Bel-Sidek and the Dartar passed through and walked parallel to a file ofbedraggled Herodians being escorted from the Shu. Fa'tad was accepting thesurrender of those he had entombed in the labyrinth. Maybe the Eagle was notinterested in a total blood baptism.
Bel-Sidek spied General Cado among the captives. Ha. Now the man would know how it had felt for the vanquished after Dak-es-Souetta.
Cado met his eye, recognized him, smiled wanly, winked as though they were fellow conspirators. Bel-Sidek snorted. Co-conspirators in defeat. Pawns who had let themselves be manipulated by the old genius of the Khadatqa Mountains.
The gulled and downcast.
Whatever else, he thought, you had to admire the Eagle's daring.
Yoseh was scared again. They had looked everywhere, over and over, and had found no sign of the Witch or child-taker or Arif, no hint of a hidden exit. Every minute fled meant a greater danger.
Nogah observed, "The sorceress probably could find it but she's too busy making like udders on a bull." She could not be diverted from the corpses she was cooking. The stench was enough to gag a vulture. Yoseh said, "Maybe she knows what she's doing." "Like hell. She's riding with her eyes shut same as the rest of us. What's keeping the damned veydeen?" The Qushmarrahans had not yet tried to get in.
Mo'atabar made periodic sallies toward the bonfire, to remind the sorceress that she had said the Witch could recall Nakar without his body. She showed no real interest. Yoseh hoped she knew what she was doing.
"They're here," said the man posted where they had broken in. Mo'atabar hustled over, listened, said, "They're not in any hurry."
Once they got the carpenter calmed down Nogah decided to stop waiting on the woman. "Aaron. What would you do if you were going to put in a secret exit?" "Eh?" "You're a carpenter. Think like a carpenter. A carpenter probably did the building. Wouldn't you think?"
The man thought. "I'd use a cabinetmaker. I'd put it where it wasn't obvious and I'd demand the finest possible joins so nothing would show."
Yoseh said, "Tamisa told me that's the kind of stuff you do."
The carpenter nodded.
Impatient, Nogah snapped, "So prowl around. Think like a cabinetmaker. Show us where some other carpenter might have put a hidden door. The fix we're in it won't matter if we tear things up."
It took only minutes. "Got to be this wardrobe," the carpenter said. "Best place for it." Medjhah ripped the wardrobe apart. Nogah went after Mo'atabar. Mo'atabar cameand crawled through the wreckage. "There's a room back here, all right. Butthere isn't anybody in it."
"There would be a way out," the carpenter said. "The room is just to buy time."
The sorceress appeared. She exchanged words with Mo'atabar. Mo'atabar said,
"She tells me there are three ways out. One is in the floor, here." Hestomped. "One is in the wall, here." Thump went a fist. "The other one is inthis wall, here. Open them up."
Medjhah tried brute force again, without luck this time.
"Let me," the carpenter said. He had pulled himself together. Other thanthunder nothing had happened for so long he was starting to hope again. Maybethe sorceress's lack of haste encouraged him.
It took him just a minute to open the secret doors.
"Good." Mo'atabar studied the openings. "Kosuth, down you go. Medjhah, youtake this one. Yoseh, you take that one. Be careful but don't waste time. TheLiving have started in on that wall."
The sorceress said something, went away. Yoseh hoped she was going to delaythe veydeen. He could not worry about them, though. He stared at that littledoorway, scared stiff. It barely seemed big enough ... Mo'atabar kepttalking, did such a good job making it sound routine that he felt shamed byhis reluctance. He swallowed, crawled into the hole.
It became an upward shaft immediately, that had to go all the way to the sky, up and up and up, into silence, into darkness like Nakar's own heart.
It got scarier. After he climbed so far he lost count of rungs, thunder shookthe citadel. He felt the vibrations. For a moment he was afraid the placewould fall down around him.
He climbed more slowly, conserving his strength. The ringing cleared from hisears-and what at first seemed imagination proved to be a genuine whisper thatfrightened him more till he realized it had to be rain falling on a surfaceoverhead.
He paused, rested, marshaled his courage, resumed his climb. Three rungshigher his hand closed on slick moisture. It remained sticky when he pulled itaway.
The crown of his head bumped something hard and cold. He felt around. Rustyiron? The rain drummed away. It would be thick and heavy.
This was the final test. He could retreat and report and suffer no questionsbut he would always wonder, was he a Dartar warrior or some cringing veydeenmouse?
He pushed with his head, increased the pressure till the metal gave. Nothinghappened. He pushed again, slowly, steadily, till his eyes rose above theedge-and he was face-to-face with someone just a foot away.
He nearly let go. He did squeak. That was the child-taker, lying dead orsleeping in the rain. Nobody could sleep in the rain, could they?
He pushed till his shoulders reached roof level. He saw Arif and the Witch, sprawled in the rain, dead or sleeping, too.
What now?
He reached for his knife, to make sure of the child-taker, then changed hismind and reached for Arifs ankle. If he could drag the boy over and carry himdown ...
Something hit him so fast he never saw it coming. He slammed back against theside of the shaft, then fell.
Squeak. Azel remained motionless only because of the watery state of hisflesh. Weak as a newborn, he couldn't betray himself when he wakened.
He cracked an eyelid, saw the Dartar kid from the Shu. That little bastard waseverywhere. Haunting him. How the hell had he gotten up here? Azel realized hehad rolled off the trapdoor after he'd fallen asleep.
Gorloch or luck gave him the moment he needed and the energy to capitalize.
The Dartar turned, reached for the Arif brat, got him by the foot. Azel puteverything he had into his punch. The Dartar flew backward, fell, the brat'sshoe flipping after him. "Hope you land on your head, asshole."
He didn't have energy enough to stand. The rainwater where he'd lain was red.
Clots of blood floated there. Damn! He was bleeding to death. Wouldn't that beironic? He rolled into a sitting position atop the trapdoor. Thank Gorloch ithad fallen shut. He would not have had the strength to close it had it fallenthe other way.
He fiddled with his bandages till he got the bleeding stopped. One more smalleffort, then he would put down roots.
He eased over to the Witch. "Wake up, woman." No response. Whap! He crackedher cheek with his palm, rocked her head halfway around. "Come on, damn it!
This is it. You get on the stick and call up Nakar or kiss your ass good-bye.
They know where we're at and we got nowhere else to hide." He popped heragain. This time he glimpsed a flash of eyeball.
That was it. That was all he had, except an ounce of iron will that let himguide himself as he collapsed, so his torso sprawled across a corner of thetrapdoor.
The first blow reached her but the drug held her. The second sent alarums ofpain coursing through her. She opened one eye far enough to see her tormentor.
Azel? But how ... ? She was soaked. She lay in a pool of water. Rain fellupon her still. Thunder stalked overhead. The chill followed the pain insideher, opening channels through which thought and sense began to flow. Shegained control as Azel fell as if he had melted.
She shoved her upper body up to the length of her arms, turned her headslowly. Her thoughts did not run crisply but she could reason. And she couldremember some of what had been happening around her while the drug ruled her.