Secrets of the Stonechaser (The Law of Eight Book 1) (35 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

THE EVENING SUN had nearly blinded Nerris when he stepped out from the corridor leading from the dungeon into the courtyard. Since he carried Len-Ahl’s limp body in his arms, he could not shield his eyes and squinted as he looked around, trying to decide what direction to go.

Dist appeared to have made his decision already as he moved to the right, keeping under the shade of the balcony overlooking the cobblestones of the open area. Nerris ducked under the overhanging and followed his friend, hoping he knew what he was doing. They circled around until they found an archway leading to the next section of the Aeternica.

Dist looked both ways before stepping out onto the path which led back toward the royal chambers. “All clear,” he announced.

No sooner did Nerris step out to join his friend than several arrows whistled through the air and bounced off the wall next to them. Dist recoiled, and he and Nerris ducked back behind the archway as the air came alive with the shouts of men.

Nerris glared at his friend. “All clear,” he muttered under his breath.

“Did they find us already?” Dist asked, peering around the threshold.

“Most likely they were sent to help quell the riot,” Nerris said. “I don’t think they’re looking for us in particular. Follow me. I know the layout better than you do.”

Nerris moved to the right, trying to watch for guards while desperately listening for any signs of life from Len-Ahl. She was alive; he knew that much. He could hear the soft hiss of her breath, but if he didn’t get her to Surnal soon, he knew she would not make it. The tarp he wrapped her in did little to stop the blood. He could feel it continue to seep through to his arms.

He led Dist up a stairway toward a parapet. Once at the top, he changed directions, heading south this time. They stayed low, running in a half crouch and using the crenellations for cover from any more arrows. They made their way toward the front gate. Given that they did not want to attract attention, Nerris cursed himself for not telling Jhareth to meet them at the secondary gate at the east part of the compound. Nerris had entered it the night he had killed King Lahnen, and it was not likely to be under heavy guard. In his haste, he had made plans to leave through the most obvious location.

Their path on the parapet took them all the way to the bailey, putting them in sight of the front gate. Before he could look for Jhareth, however, Dist’s cursing distracted him. Wrenching his head around, Nerris saw five guards coming at them from an adjacent stairway. Dist rushed forward to meet them with his saber as Nerris carefully propped Len-Ahl against the stones. He drew Noruken out of his belt and went to Dist’s aid.

He faked a cut at the first man to reach him, only to change directions and slash him across the throat as he moved his blade to parry. As Dist dispatched another guard, Nerris block a stroke from a third, allowing Dist to hamstring him with a slash of his own. The two remaining guards hung back, realizing now who they were facing. They shared an uneasy glance between them as Nerris stalked forward, and began to back away.

“You might have more luck with the other prisoners,” Nerris suggested.

The two men fled, grateful for the excuse. Nerris picked Len-Ahl up and swore as the sentries on the wall shouted. He and Dist ducked to avoid more arrows, and Dist looked over to the stair leading down to the bailey. Nerris followed his gaze and saw an entire detachment of guards rushing toward them, sabers at the ready.

“Go back,” Nerris said. “There’s another way to the ground if we go right and circle back around.”

Dist nodded and took off. Before Nerris could follow him, he heard another shout from below, followed by the protesting snorts of horses. “Nerris!”

Nerris looked down and saw Jhareth in the driver’s seat of a cart pulled by two horses. Surnal rode in the back amongst an enormous pile of hay. “Dist, wait!” he called. “It’s Jhareth!”

Dist came back as the guards reached the top of the stair. “Jump!” Surnal shouted.

Dist vaulted over the merlons and landed dead center in the cart bed. Nerris followed and jumped as carefully as he could, trying to minimize the impact of landing for Len-Ahl’s sake. Dist and Surnal caught his arms as he landed in the cart, bracing him so he did not fall.

“I found you a bow,” Jhareth told Dist. “It’s somewhere back there.”

Dist dug through the hay, unearthing a short bow and quiver as Jhareth snapped the reins. Their mounts took off for the gate, but the guards were wise to them. They began to lower the portcullis, but Dist nocked an arrow and drew back on the bowstring. It twanged as he released, and the man operating the winch keeled over as he suddenly sprouted feathers.

Jhareth whooped with joy as their cart approached the gate. Dist got another guard on the wall with an arrow, and they were through, careening down the streets of Palehorse. Arrows hit the ground around them and one even embedded itself in one of the cart’s wooden posts, but they soon passed out of the sentries’ range.

“Slow down,” Nerris told Jhareth. “Let’s not give the City Watch reason to come after us too.”

Jhareth grunted in assent and pulled back on the reins. Finally, Nerris handed Len-Ahl off to Surnal. “What happened?” the Nateus asked.

“Qabala took a knovim to her,” Nerris said. Now that they were out of immediate danger, he had a moment to fully contemplate what had befallen this innocent girl, and he had difficulty keeping his voice from cracking. “She’s lost a lot of blood, Surnal. Can you help her?”

“Without my staff and my herbs and roots, I can only do so much,” he said. “Much of my magic depends on materials from the earth, just as Len-Ahl’s music depends on the wind. I promise you, I’ll do everything I can.”

Nerris nodded, too choked up to speak. They lay Len-Ahl on her stomach as Dist pitched some of the hay over the side to give them more room.

“Where did you get this thing?” Dist asked Jhareth.

“The stables,” Jhareth said. “It’s lucky you showed up when you did. The entire palace guard was heading toward the dungeon. A few more minutes and you would never have gotten out.” He looked back at them. “Did you get the medallion?”

Nerris took Jinn’s medallion out of his tunic and showed Jhareth before putting it away again. “Now what?”

“We head southwest toward Lesta,” Surnal said. “Hopefully I can gather materials in the forest to ease Len-Ahl’s suffering and stop her bleeding, but she won’t be able to truly heal until we find a safe haven.”

They wound their way through Palehorse, keeping off the main roads. Surnal unwrapped Len-Ahl’s bleeding back and put his hands over her, muttering in the Xenean language as they cantered along. His hands glowed, and her bleeding seemed to slow, though it was hard to tell. Judging by the way Surnal sweated as he worked, even doing that much cost him a great deal of effort without his instruments.

Jhareth came to a halt as they entered the square inside the south gate. As they assessed the situation, Nerris noted the city guard was checking any person or cart which wished to go through.

“Looks like word from the palace has reached the city guard after all,” Dist said.

“Hang onto something,” Jhareth said.

“What are you—”

Jhareth snapped the reins and their mounts charged ahead, emitting shrill neighs. Dist fell to the floor of the cart bed as Nerris wrapped his arm around one of the posts. Even with all the jostling, he still managed to see the surprised faces of the guards as their cart came bearing down on them.

A man with a pack mule who had been in the middle of his inspection dove out of the way as they tore through the gate. The guards didn’t even have a chance to order the portcullis lowered this time. As they tore down the southwest road, more arrows rained down around them, getting stuck on their cart.

“Here we go again,” Dist muttered as he ducked down.

“I hope these horses are fast,” Nerris said. “After that stunt, the sabres are going to be on us in minutes.”

Jhareth grinned back at him. “You know I have an eye for good horses, Nerris. How’s Len-Ahl doing?”

Surnal sighed. “I think I can stop the bleeding once I have the proper materials, but she has already lost so much. I’ll be honest, Nerris, if we can’t stanch the lacerations and get her to a more comfortable spot soon, Len-Ahl is going to die.”

“But you can heal her, right?” Nerris asked.

“Absolutely, though she will be bedridden for a while.”

Nerris breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. To the west, mountains rose in the horizon, hazy and beautiful. To the south, Nerris could see the forest Surnal had been referring to. Once they were within the trees, only the road would be open to them while they were in this cart, and with Len-Ahl incapacitated, they had no choice but to stay there.

Dist had apparently had the same thought. “How soon until your friends can find us?” he asked Surnal.

“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “I don’t know how far away they are, and I have no way to signal them.”

“We can’t count on their help,” Nerris said. “If soldiers come after us, we’ll have to defend ourselves.”

They entered the forest, and their path became even more narrow. The road cut straight through a vast ravine, making evasion impossible while in their cart. Surnal tore pieces of his sleeve away, using them to wipe the blood from Len-Ahl’s back so he could see the source cuts better. Jhareth slowed down to rest the horses, but their respite was short lived.

A short time after entering the ravine, two horsemen galloped into view at their rear. Upon spotting them, they drew their sabers with a shout of triumph.

Jhareth snapped the reins more frantically, picking up their speed. “Any chance of taking an alternate route?” he asked Surnal.

“The road is like this all the way to Lesta,” he said. “All forests and mountains and ravines.”

“Just keep driving,” Dist told him. “Me and Nerris will handle these whoresons.”

Nerris nodded and moved to the right side of the cart, while Dist took the left. The first sabre thundered up to Dist’s side, his mount’s hooves kicking up dirt. Before he could even reach them, Dist sent an arrow into his chest and the rider tumbled from his saddle with a surprised cry.

The second rider came up on Nerris, challenging him with his saber. Nerris twirled Noruken in response and their blades clashed. It felt good to have the katana in his hand again. He ducked a swipe from the rider, then blocked his wrist as he slashed back at him. Nerris turned and cut clean through the man’s arm with Noruken. The rider cried out in terrible pain, looking upon his bloody stump. His horse slowed, and they soon left him behind.

“Only two?” Dist asked.

“Young men,” Nerris said. “Overeager. Here come some more.”

Five more riders rounded the corner they had just passed and closed the gap fast. Dist nocked another arrow, aimed, and loosed in one fluid motion. It caught his target in the shoulder and the man recoiled in response, losing his balance. He fell from the saddle right into the legs of the mount of the man next to him. The horse tripped and tumbled headlong to the ground, throwing its rider to a like fate.

“Nice shot,” Nerris said.

“Actually, I was aiming for the horse,” Dist said. “If someone could keep from hitting every bump in the road, I might be more accurate.”

“Do you want to steer this thing?” Jhareth asked.

An arrow whistled past them, causing them all to shy away. “Watch it, one of them is an archer,” Nerris said.

The horse archer hung back as Dist took aim at him. The other man sped up to reach Nerris, taking him by surprise. Nerris flinched back from the man’s saber, but took a cut under his shirt. His torso warmed as blood seeped out, and Nerris turned his full focus to the rider. He did not even bother to block the man’s next stroke and instead caught his arm and wrenched down on it. The rider dropped his saber with a cry and Nerris slammed Noruken’s hilt into his face. Nerris shouldered into the man to send him careening off his mount and down a steep ledge, kicking up the brush in all directions.

“Remind me never to make you angry,” Dist said, grabbing Nerris’s tunic to keep him from going over the side. “Are you all right?”

“He only grazed me.” Nerris put his hand to his chest, where blood seeped through his garments. “Think you can get that archer?”

“Of course.”

Dist grabbed the quiver and stood. At that moment, the cart shuddered, sending everyone tumbling. The quiver flew from Dist’s hand and landed on the road.

“Sorry,” Jhareth called.

“You idiot!” Dist fumed.

“What do you want me to do? I can’t dodge every rock on the road at this speed!”

The horse archer galloped alongside them, staying out of Nerris’s reach. Instead, he went past him and rode parallel to Jhareth. He drew another arrow as Jhareth stood.

“Take the reins!” he shouted.

Nerris dove forward and managed to grab the reins as Jhareth launched himself at the rider. He landed in the saddle behind the startled archer, drawing a knife. He plunged it into the man’s ribcage and shoved him from his horse. The nimble thief pushed off the horse’s back and into the saddle, snapping the reins harshly. Once he caught up with them, Jhareth swung his leg over and stepped off into the driver’s seat of the cart, taking the reins back from Nerris as if he had never left.

“No matter how many times I see you do that, it never ceases to amaze me,” Nerris said.

“Thank you,” Jhareth said. “I’ve been stuck in a dungeon so long I’ve forgotten how good it feels to have the ego fed.”

They waited a few minutes, but no more riders appeared behind them. “Did we lose them?” Dist asked.

“I doubt it,” Nerris said. “That was most likely a vanguard. If they’re sending this many men, they know by now that it’s us who escaped the city.”

Dist looked back down the road, and his eyes went wide. “Get down!”

They hit the floor as a stream of arrows thunked into the cart. Surnal cried out, and Nerris saw a shaft sticking out of his leg. He moved to help the Nateus.

“It’s all right,” Surnal said, waving him off. “Help Dist.”