Down the street, Soffjian was gone but some of the Imperial Syldoon that hadn’t been completely blinded or incapacitated were forming back up, and Braylar’s company charged, loosing crossbows first and then drawing their other weapons. The Imperials didn’t have the men or time to reform a phalanx, but they did their best at small impromptu shield walls here and there, their long spears angling out.
One Jackal Syldoon took a spear in the chest and was vaulted out of the saddle right into the overlapping shields, and another had his horse speared out from underneath him and went rolling across the stones, trampled under the Jackal horse behind him. But the other Jackals made it past the spear points, knocked men over, hooves smashing, swords and axes and maces bashing and cleaving the small pockets of Imperials out of the way.
When Vendurro drove our wagon through, we rolled over a body and I nearly flew from my seat. An Imperial on my side pivoted, shield up, the spear tip coming at me. It struck the bench right behind me and I trained my crossbow and loosed. The bolt struck him in the face, and he staggered back and fell as we raced past.
“Nice one!” Vendurro hit me in the arm. “Next time, try shooting the whoreson before he has a chance to stab you though. Reload.”
I looked at him for a moment, then grabbed another bolt as we rounded a corner, nearly running down a Thurvacian carrying a wicker basket on his head.
“Out of the way, you dumb bastard! Jackals coming through!” Vendurro laughed, laughed like a madman, and I felt myself giggling as well.
And then the stunning dawn clouds were more visible everywhere as this street was wider, the buildings crowding less of the sky. And the immense wall and the eastern gates were before us. The captain slowed, arm raised, and our entire group followed his lead. There were far more civilians about now, their bright colored coats and long tunics everywhere, some leaving the city, others coming in, so the portcullises were up. And it was early still, so the path wouldn’t be congested.
The eastern gate. The sun rising before us. Surely that was a good sign.
I glanced around the wagon and looked back-the Imperial infantry were nowhere to be seen. We had a chance.
Our company rode forward, Thurvacians turning to object as they were driven aside, until they saw not only Syldoon soldiers, but several covered in their own blood or someone else’s.
We crossed the small plaza just before the gate, riding into the shadow of the wall. I glanced up at the wooden hoardings that lined the top of the high walls, and imagined rocks or boiling water dropping out of the trap doors above us. I started to look behind us again when Vendurro hit me in the arm. “Easy does it, Arki. And point that bolter downside, would you? You shoot a Syldoon in a gatehouse on accident, we ain’t never seeing the other side.”
I did as he ordered, watching as Braylar rode briskly up to the first gatehouse. He spoke to a guardsman, pointing back toward the middle of Sunwrack, then gesturing in the direction of the bridge, the other gatehouses.
The guard nodded, stepped back, sent another guard running to the next gatehouse on the bridge. Then he barked at some Thurvacians to get out of our way, and waved us through. Our company rode and rolled along through the next two gatehouses without any problem, despite the fact that the Jackals had clearly just been in combat of some kind. Perhaps given that it was the Capital of Coups, guards were used to bloodletting occurring by armed bands in Sunwrack, or maybe the guards were from a Tower affiliated with the Jackals.
No matter the cause, we were three quarters of the way across when we heard commotion behind us. I looked, despite Vendurro hitting me in the arm again, and saw the Imperial troops at the first gatehouse, the Sun and Leopard standard held aloft.
A few moments later, a horn sounded, and Braylar shouted, “Ride, you whoresons! Ride!”
We were off again, the wagon bouncing, rocking, and I nearly bit my tongue in half as we hit a divot in the stone bridge. Arrows started coming down from the gatehouse behind us as well as the final one in front. I looked up, saw Syldoon scrambling along the ramparts, shouting orders, and then heard a horrible grinding sound. The bridge was shifting underneath us, being winched away toward either tower, rolling away from the middle. The Jackals whipped their horses, and Vendurro snapped the reins on our team, and we plummeted forward, arrows raining down, two or three tearing into the back of the wagon. Syldoon were loosing crossbows up at both gatetowers, and I did the same, watching my bolt ricochet off the stone, but maybe keeping an archer from shooting another Jackal down.
I heard the portcullis winch free behind us after we rode through the last gate and made it to the solid ground surrounding Sunwrack. We kept riding down the road until we were out of bowshot. Braylar looked back at the bridge-while a good number of our company had escaped, more than a dozen Jackal soldiers were trapped, the bridge being rolled out from underneath their horse’s hooves, arrows picking them off as they rode away from the opening in the middle, toward the portcullis on either side. Even well armored, there were simply too many arrows and nowhere to go. Horses were shot out from underneath them, and Jackals were cut down one by one, or fell into the chasm as the bridge rolled further into the gatetowers.
We were all watching, helpless to do anything, when I heard a muted whump and then a strange keening whistling sound. I looked everywhere before seeing the trebuchet missile flying down from high in the sky. The huge stone struck the earth twenty yards away and bounced several times in the distance. If it had been on target it would have destroyed the wagons, crushed men or horses into red sludge.
Mulldoos was still sitting oddly in the saddle, one shoulder more hunched than the other, body twisted somewhat, and when he pulled his helm off his head, I saw one eyelid drooping, and when he spoke it was through half his mouth, the other half almost paralyzed. “Best clear out, Cap.” He might have said more until he realized how stricken he was.
Captain Killcoin looked around at our bruised, bloodied, and battered company, his face still obscured by mail. We’d lost at least two dozen men. Maybe more. Though I couldn’t see the captain’s expression, I could feel the fury as he called out, “We ride for Thumaar. We can lick our wounds when we are well away from here. Take a final look. If we ever set foot in Sunwrack again, it will be as conquerors.”
He turned his horse around and rode off, and we followed into an indeterminate future, deserters from the Empire, very likely to be hunted by an Emperor who now commanded the mightiest armies and Memoridons the world had ever seen.
We rode hard for much of the day, stopping to feed and water the horses only briefly before moving off again. Even with the wagons slowing our pace, I still worried the beasts might come up lame or blown. Clearly, though, the Syldoon knew their horses better than I did and just how hard they could push them.
I left the bench frequently to check on Hewspear, but he was unresponsive each time, in the same position, chin on his chest, breath shallow, body stiff. He refused food and my attempts to give him water only ended with a wet beard. Whenever I returned to the front, Vendurro gave me a hopeful look, which soured as I shook my head.
Several times I found myself craning around the edge of the wagon and looking at what remained of our convoy, wondering if Imperial troops were thundering down the road after us, but scouts reported no immediate pursuit.
Vendurro hardly spoke at all during the ride, but my anxiety must have been palpable, because after seeing me look behind us for the tenth time, he said, “Got a few things working in our favor, bookmaster. Cynead must have figured those battalions and Memoridons would take us clean in Sunwrack, didn’t have a hunting party ready to come after us. So we got a lead. That, and must have been survivors to report Soffjian turning on them, so they probably figure she’s riding with us. Which she ain’t, of course. But they don’t know that.”