"The station is empty," he said, the look of puzzlement back on his pudgy face. "I took the wine to Don Carlos and found him even more furious than ever. The storm has passed, but the whole of Alto Arete is still swathed in clouds. The wind seems to have died and the clouds aren't moving away. The signal wouldn't be seen. If they don't clear soon, Don Carlos will use his radios to call for the revolution."
"That means we don't have any time to fool around," I said. "We'll put on the uniforms of the dead guards and you can lead us out of here. Do you know where the guards are — the ones from the guard station?"
"I have no idea. When I returned from the palace and found the station empty, I thought perhaps you had killed them all. These four," he said, indicating the dead guards whose uniforms we were stripping, "aren't on duty now. They must have found the station empty and come down to steal wine."
That much was obvious, but I was still puzzled by the absence of guards at the station. And I was worried about Elicia. But, again, I thought, there's no time for anything but action. We donned the uniforms of the dead guards and, with Sagacio going ahead to make certain the way was clear, we went up the steps again.
The guard station was indeed empty. I checked the cabinets of rifles, grenades and mortars, pocketed a couple of grenades, and peered out into the courtyard.
In the dim distance, the palace loomed like a fairyland castle in swirling fog that was the immense cloud resting on top of Alto Arete. Lighted torches fought vainly against the darkening cloud, but I could see the main gate of the palace, see that no guards stood in the courtyard or near the gate. I opened the door leading to the courtyard and held up my hand as a signal to those behind me.
"Sagacio, you take the lead. When you're halfway across the courtyard, we'll follow."
The chubby monk took one fearful look at the empty courtyard and the swirling fog, hitched up his smock and marched through the doorway. I watched as he strode across the cobblestones and wondered where he was keeping the Russian rifle I had given him earlier.
The shot rang out clear and loud, only slightly muffled by the thick cloud. I looked around to see where the shot had come from, but it was dark and silent out there. When I looked back Sagacio, he was stopped in the center of the courtyard, his face peering up through the cloud at the upper stories of the palace.
Another shot came. I saw the pinpoint of flame this time. It was from the roof of the palace.
This time, Sagacio didn't merely stand in the courtyard. He turned toward us, his face writhing in pain. He held up pudgy hands in a kind of supplication, begging us to understand that he hadn't betrayed us. Then, he spiraled to the ground, his smock settling about his fat dead body like a shroud.
Even as I was feeling sorry for the hefty little monk and trying to decide what to do next, the rain of bullets began.
Thunder seemed to break out on the mountain-top. Bullets crashed through the windows of the guard station. The courtyard filled with rushing, running shapes, all firing rifles. At us.
A kind of hell had come to the mountaintop, and we were at the core of that hell.
Chapter Ten
The gunfire was murderous. It seemed that every gun in the possession of Don Carlos Italla was being aimed and fired at the guard station where Uturo, his fellow warrior and I were hiding.
All the windows were blasted into glass confetti in the first few seconds, and the rain of bullets were chipping away stone and splintering wood so fast that the station wouldn't be standing in another-couple of minutes.
It was then, when the gunfire seemed at its peak, that I decided to act. I cradled an automatic rifle in my right arm, clutched Wilhelmina in my left hand, clamped Hugo in my teeth and, with a jerking motion for Uturo and his friend to follow, dashed into the courtyard.
It was the last thing the enemy expected. While all guns still blasted away at the empty guard station, we zigzagged our way across the courtyard. Our guns blazed away at the pinpoints of fire indicating enemy gunmen. It was a suicide dash and we knew it, but remaining in the guard station was equally suicidal.
We reached Sagacio's body without incident, although I was certain that my luger had picked off at least two or three gunmen in the swirling cloud. From screams in other directions, I knew also that Uturo and his friend were having similar luck. They had come a long way from their fear of the cave's curse.
We regrouped in the center of the courtyard and I jammed a new clip into Wilhelmina and pointed toward the gate to the palace grounds.
"If we can make it inside, we may have a chance," I hissed through the blade of the stiletto. "They won't dare turn that withering fire on the palace itself. Let's go."
Bullets were already dancing in the courtyard when we started our final dash toward the gate. I emptied the automatic rifle and threw it away. I took the luger in both hands and, instead of firing wildly, began to pick out specific targets on the roof of the palace.
My first shot got results. A scream ripped through the muffling fog and I saw a man with ammo belts all over his body come tumbling down the side of the white stone building. He crashed into the bushes near the main door of the palace. Another shot and another heavily armed man plummeted from the roof.
And we were at the gate, all three of us still alive and still firing.
I skipped inside the gate and plunged behind a clump of bushes alongside the stone fence. I felt Uturo land just behind me. On the other side of the path, the other warrior took refuge behind a stone fountain. As I had expected, gunfire from other areas stopped immediately. We had only the fire from the roof to contend with.
I shoved in a new clip and methodically went along the roofline, picking off guards as I went. When five of them had fallen into the gloomy darkness at the front of the castle, the night went suddenly quiet.
There was no chance, though, that we had destroyed them all, or that we could expect those outside the palace to continue to hold their fire. The only thing to do, then, was the unexpected. They expected us to remain hidden inside the stone wall alongside the gate.
"Let's rush the door," I snarled. "Now."
Both warriors leaped to their feet, their rifles aimed and ready. We took two steps toward the door and I heard a whistling sound from above, felt a fluttering of the wind around my face. The net dropped so neatly into place that we were entangled in it before we even knew what was happening.
I was struggling to take aim on an immense tall guard who had opened the palace door when I felt the net tightening around me. I saw Uturo and his friend fighting the tightening net. I fired, but a sudden jerk of the net spoiled my aim and the bullet bounced harmlessly off the white stone of the palace wall. The net closed in, so tight now that it was cutting off circulation to my arms and legs.
A strand of strong nylon encircled my neck and I could feel it tightening even more. I was strangling. Even so, I rammed the luger between two strands and took aim on the huge guard standing in the open doorway. I was preparing to fire when the pet jerked swiftly against my wrist and I found the luger pointing at the ground. The strand about my neck went tighter and I felt myself passing out.
"Leave go of your weapons," a voice boomed in the silence, "and the net will be released. Keep them and you will die of strangulation."
I tried to look around to see who was talking, but the net was cutting into my skin now. I couldn't move, and I could tell that Uturo and his friend had also stopped struggling. I heard their rifles clatter to the pavement. I tried once more to aim Wilhelmina at the guard in the palace doorway, but the breath of life went out of me. The stiletto fell from my teeth. I went momentarily unconscious, awakening to feel someone taking the luger from my hand.