“I’m worried to death about her.”
“Lady, guilt is a weapon they can, and will, use to kill you. Organizing an attack like this? At least three, probably four bowmen, firing from two sides of your mound? These people are deadly serious, and equally competent. If it were me, I’d have my shooters waiting around, just out of sight in the darkness. They know you’re going to be back sooner or later.”
“By now the alert has been sounded. My palace is probably surrounded by an entire squadron.”
“A squadron in darkness,” he reminded her simply. “A bunch of warriors called in from here and there. Mostly strangers. And a couple of assassin archers added to mix in with theirs. To be ready for your return. And as soon as one of the commanders lifts a torch to identify you … thwip!” He mimed an arrow being released.
“How do you know all this?”
“Because if I were trying to kill you, that’s how I’d do it.”
That left her with an empty feeling in her breast.
“Do you think these are the same people who tried to kill the Morning Star, slashed my father’s throat, and tried to kill my aunt?”
“Probably. And, Lady, I wouldn’t take any comfort in the fact that they’re using different tactics. If so much as a patch of stars had been out, they’d have had enough light to have killed us all.”
Lightning flashed, catching him in the act of rubbing his neck, a most worried gesture.
“If you hadn’t grabbed me back there, I’d be dead now, wouldn’t I?”
“Most likely.”
Thunder rumbled across the city.
She plodded along, feeling the Piasa’s presence where it stalked the darkness beside her. The terrible beast seemed to be smiling.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what? Attack you? I assume the culprit is some poor and desperate fool like I’d be but for that accursed oath. Someone who’s sworn to pay you and your kind back for ruining his life, destroying his clan, murdering his relatives.”
“No,” she told him coldly. “Why did you save me?”
“I’ve been asking myself that same question over and over.”
“Any answers, Red Wing?”
“I can only conclude that you’re alive because my uncle once took time to impress something on a very young boy.”
“What was that?”
“I owe you my loyalty and obedience, Lady. Not the intricacies of my souls.”
She smiled wryly. “If the attackers are fleeing to the east, you know they’re going to come right down this road.”
“Are we past that big marsh?”
“Pretty much.” She waved around. “From here to the bluffs the country is dry. But pick any other direction and you’re going to end up in marsh or an old oxbow lake if you go far enough. And as dark as it is, we’ll get turned around among the houses.”
Patters of rain streaked down from the sky.
“Looks like we’ll get wet one way or another.” He was looking around when lightning illuminated the rising bulk of a building atop a mound. “What’s that?”
“Fish Clan charnel house. Matron Red Temple’s lineage processes their dead here.”
“Come on,” he said, reaching for her hand. “It’s someplace no assassins are going to check. The combination of being safe and dry outweighs the stench of decomposing corpses.”
“And you won’t fall into anyone’s latrine in the darkness.”
“Thank you for reminding me.”
“I did let you walk into the marsh to get the stink off.”
He couldn’t see her carnivorous smile as she savored the memory. But his feet really had stunk. It wasn’t her fault that they’d gotten turned around and floundered this way and that trying to find their way back to dry land. In the end a strong gust carrying the scent of other latrines and smoke had given them the direction.
As they climbed the stairway to the top of the Fish Clan mound, he hesitated. They were high enough to clear the roof lines of the buildings to the east. “What’s that?” He pointed to a flickering yellow light on the bluff top.
“Blue Heron’s witches,” she replied wearily. “They’ll be burning for another three days.”
She paused as he passed the guardian posts, nodded respectfully, and opened the door. She followed him into the stygian interior. The cloying odor of rotting human beings thickened in the back of her nose. Down inside her gut, she felt the tendrils of Piasa’s presence stir at the proximity of the dead. Fish Clan had Spiritual ties to the Underworld. Perhaps the Spirit Beast felt the body-souls, perhaps it even called to them. She grunted, placing a hand to her stomach.