Empire Rising (51 page)

Nevertheless everyone knew that a cat came blessed from the gods, and brought good luck. Cats were plentiful on the nearby farms and in the villages, appreciated for their ability to hunt the rodents that ate and soiled the stored grain. Lani’s cat, as Eskkar called it, seemed sure of its place, and in the last few weeks, Eskkar had come to enjoy its company.

Tonight the stars shone gleaming white overhead. Eskkar and Lani sat side by side, facing the square, their backs to the wall of the house, at a small table. Grond and Tippu had their own table, a discreet distance away, where they, too, whispered to each other. A single guard watched at the entrance to the house, twenty paces away. The rest of the square stood empty at this time of night, and the incessant creaking sound from the well as people drew up the water had finally stopped.

Lani’s cat reclined on the table between them. It had dined on chicken scraps, then washed its face and paws, and now dozed lightly. Eskkar glanced up at the heavens, and knew it would soon be time to go into the warm house and warmer bed, to spend another hour making love, before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

“Tell me more about Akkad,” Lani urged, her arm around Eskkar’s neck and one hand stroking his manhood.

“I’ve already told you everything there is, Lani,” he answered. She asked the same question every night.

“Tell me something new, then,” she insisted, her hand tightening around him. Eskkar sighed, then found some new detail to talk about. She Empire Rising

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listened carefully as he spoke about the city, its people, the farms, the traders, even the wall surrounding it. Whatever he told her, sooner or later involved Trella, and then more questions would arise.

“Do you miss your wife so much, Eskkar? Are you not happy here?”

“I have to go back to Akkad, Lani, you know that. My son will be born soon, and I must be there. I’ve already stayed away longer than I planned.

In another two or three days, we’ll start for Akkad.”

“You will take us with you?”

She asked that question often. “Yes, Lani, you will come with me.

Though I’m not sure what I will do with you there. Trella will not be pleased with you.”

“As long as you do not forget me, Eskkar. I could not bear that.”

Trella’s reception of Lani had bothered him more than he admitted.

He needed to keep seeing Lani, but wanted Trella as well. As the time to return to Akkad grew closer, the problem had become more confusing.

Now even talking about Trella made him uncomfortable.

“I will take care of you and your sister.” He kissed her cheek and her ear. “And I will come to visit you as often as I can.”

“Do you promise, Eskkar? I don’t want to be apart from you.”

He reassured her again, and finally she seemed satisfied. The questions stopped and she relaxed, snuggling against him, her head on his shoulder.

His right arm reached around her, his hand inside her dress as he held onto her breast. He rolled her nipple between his fingers, and felt her shiver from his touch. She had very sensitive breasts, and he had discovered that he could sometimes bring her to arousal merely by playing with them. It was a new and erotic experience that never failed to excite him.

Now he leaned back, enjoying her presence and her touch, his head resting against the rough mud-brick of the house. He reached out slowly with his left hand, and gently stroked the cat’s neck, just behind its ear. Eskkar had learned not to make any sudden movements around the animal.

Not much tamer than a wild creature, even after all this time, it remained skittish and always ready to show its claws.

Tonight it let him stroke its rough fur, though the cat lifted its head toward him, as if to reassure itself, before lowering its head once again before settling down, its feet folded under its chest.

Eskkar’s hand was knocked aside as the cat’s head snapped up and to its left. Before Eskkar could follow the movement, the cat launched itself off the table with a blur of motion too quick to be seen. Eskkar turned 296

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toward whatever had alarmed the cat. Though used to the darkness, he saw nothing at first, then a faint reflection of something silvery moving toward him.

For a big man, Eskkar could move rapidly when he needed to. He shoved Lani away with his right hand, using his left to reach under the table and fling it up and between him and his attacker. “Grond!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, and then dropped to a crouch as the sword slashed the air where his head had been an instant ago. Chunks of dried mud sprayed from the wall where the blade struck. The table had hindered the stroke, not by much, but just enough to buy one extra moment of precious time.

Eskkar threw himself to the left, away from Lani, and found himself at the feet of another assailant. That man’s sword missed as well, an overhand swing that sliced into the air where Eskkar had just been, the attacker expecting Eskkar to move away, not at him. Before the man could thrust down with the weapon, Eskkar gathered his feet under him and drove his shoulder into the man’s stomach, and this time they both went down.

The attacker attempted to use his sword, but Eskkar rolled away with two quick turns, regained his footing, and made sure the wall protected his back. On his left, he heard Grond shouting for the guards. Not that Eskkar had time to worry about Grond. Eskkar saw two shadows advancing toward him, but at least he had time to draw his sword. He used the motion to move back to his right, closing in with the closest of his attackers, the blade slashing at the man nearest the wall. Bronze clashed on bronze, and Eskkar felt something burn against his left arm. Again he used his body, moving forward, lowering his shoulder and thrusting himself into the man before he could recover and swing again.

As Eskkar rebounded from his assailant, he flung himself back into the first attacker, again ducking under another cut, and pinning the man to the wall for an instant with his body.

The second man proved quick in his reactions. A hand struck Eskkar in the face, a thumb nearly in his eye, and Eskkar was pushed back before he could thrust with his own blade. He dropped to his knees, swinging his sword as he did so. The attacker grunted as Eskkar’s blade struck the man across the leg, but the tip of the sword struck the wall, weakening the blow.

Still, it did enough damage to allow Eskkar to dart away, this time back toward Grond.

The shouting and clash of swords in the square had raised the alarm, Empire Rising

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and even in the confusion, Eskkar heard men stumbling about inside the house behind him. He half expected the assailants to flee, but these two men were determined, and they again pressed the attack. From the darkness, Lani threw herself in front of one of them, tripping him up. That one cursed as he stumbled and fell, though Lani’s cry mixed with the assassin’s oaths.

The other man kept coming, and Eskkar swung his sword at the assailant’s head. The man parried the blade, but Eskkar took control now, his feet firmly planted as he disengaged his blade, rolling it around his opponent’s weapon with a motion trained in hundreds of hours of practice, and thrust hard, brushing aside the parry and sinking the blade deep into the man’s chest.

He didn’t dare risk a moment to withdraw it, just ducked immediately to his right, half expecting another blow from the other man, but Grond arrived now. He had no weapon in his hand, but he caught the second man from behind, his arm around the man’s neck. Grond twisted him against his hip and flipped the man over. The sound of the man’s neck breaking carried over the rising din in the square.

Eskkar wrenched his sword free and looked up, as a tiny bit more light filtered into the square from the main house as the door flung open.

Another assailant stood there, backing away from the opening as men stumbled out, swords in their hands. The man looked toward his fallen companions, then turned and raced away, but Sisuthros and two men burst from the house and pursued him.

The assassin ran for his life, dropping his sword and taking to his heels.

With a burst of speed, he darted down one of the lanes. But a doorway opened ahead of him and a woman stepped out to see about all the commotion. They collided, both crashing to the ground. The man got up in a moment, but Sisuthros had closed the gap and flung his sword at the running man’s back. The blade landed nearly true, and the blow, while not deep enough to be mortal, made the runner cry out and stumble. Drakis and another man dashed past Sisuthros and even across the square, Eskkar heard the sound of the blade as it crunched into the man’s shoulder. A scream rent the air, cut short by another blow, and then it was over.

Eskkar stood in the same spot, breathing heavily, his back to the wall, the great sword held out in front of him. He heard Lani crying on the ground, and remembered that she had managed to trip one of his attackers. Grond moved toward him, gathering up Lani as he came to Eskkar’s 298

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side, then pushed her roughly behind them. He’d picked up the fallen man’s sword, and the two of them stood in front of Lani, swords glinting in the starlight as the blades weaved back and forth in the empty space before them.

Another soldier came out of the house, a newly lit torch in his hand, its flame reaching full illumination as he raised it above his head. In the flickering light Eskkar could see the bodies of three men. He saw Tippu huddled against the next house, her hands up over her head. More of Eskkar’s soldiers rushed into the square, those who had not gone to the local taverns and alehouses rushing out of the nearby houses where they were quartered, swords or knives in their hands.

In a moment a line of men stood in front of Eskkar, and he allowed himself to relax a little. He turned and found Lani slumped to the ground, her back against the wall. He reached down and picked her up with one hand, then pulled her along the wall until they reached the house’s entrance.

She stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t clasped her around the waist. Inside, he saw blood oozing from her forehead and cheek. Someone lit another lamp inside the house, and it gave him enough light to see. He pushed her hair aside to examine her injury. Eskkar found a welt and a bloody scratch, but no wound, so he carried her into the bedroom. Someone brought Tippu inside, and she rushed to join her sister.

“Take care of her, Tippu. Close the door!”

When Eskkar went back outside, Sisuthros rushed up to him. His subcommander had recovered his sword, and Eskkar saw blood still on it. Drakis, a few steps behind him, dragged the body of the assassin who had nearly escaped. Eskkar remembered that Drakis had been the first one out of the house at the sound of the attack; he hadn’t bothered with any clothes.

More torches flamed up, and Hamati arrived at a run from the local alehouse with another dozen men. Sisuthros shouted an order, and the trumpet rang out, its notes summoning every soldier to the house. Lamps and candles started to burn in all the houses around the square, adding their light to that of the flickering torches.

Soldiers dragged the four bodies from where they had fallen and lined them up next to the table Eskkar had fl ipped over. Another body lay near the doorway, that of the guard stationed at the door to the house; he’d attempted to reach Eskkar, but had been struck down from behind by the fourth assassin.

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Eskkar grabbed the arm of a soldier bearing a torch, and ordered him to hold the light over the bodies. Eskkar studied each face closely, as did Grond and Sisuthros, but they recognized none of them. The torchlight showed that all the dead men looked hard and fit. They certainly had not backed off in their attempt to kill him, even after their initial attempt had failed.

“Sisuthros, get men out on horseback. They must have had horses hidden somewhere. Find them. Use torches to check for fresh tracks around the village. And secure every horse in Bisitun. I don’t want anyone getting away. If any have left the village, ride them down at first light, if you have to kill every horse.”

“I’ll do it,” Hamati said. He issued orders to his men, and they all raced off toward the stable.

Eskkar nodded and turned back to Sisuthros. “Have the rest of the men take a look at the bodies, see if anyone recognizes them. First thing in the morning, get every innkeeper . . . shopkeeper . . . no, get everyone in the village to look at these bodies. Somebody must know who they are, or where they stayed.”

“Yes, Captain.” He hurried off, giving orders to waken every member of the village council. The sound of hoofbeats rang out, and a single rider came back into the square, shouting for torches. He took two in his hand, struggling to keep control of the nervous horse spooked by the crackling and flickering torches. But the man retained his seat, and in a moment the horse steadied, and they galloped off down the lane.

“Grond, have a guard stationed behind the house tonight. And search inside, to make sure no one’s hiding with the women.”

Drakis came from the house, now dressed, with his sword belted at his waist. “Captain, why don’t you go back inside and let the women look at that arm. There’s nothing more you can do out here. I’ll send a healer to you.”

Eskkar stared down at his left arm, and found it dripping blood. He’d moved aside, but not quite fast enough, and the thrusting sword had lanced the outside of his arm. Looking at the wound, Eskkar realized it stung painfully. “I’ll go inside.” He looked at the other guards, their eyes wide with excitement. “You men sweep the square and the nearby houses. Make sure there are no others hiding inside.”

Grond followed him into the house, and once there, Eskkar saw that the palm of Grond’s left hand was bleeding as well. He must have grasped 300

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a blade during the struggle. Lani came out of the bedroom, still shaking a little but insisting she was all right, and sat down at the table. Tippu followed her, trying to wash the cut on her sister’s head. Another woman came up and ordered all of them to sit. In a moment she’d brought wine and cups for the four of them.