The Deed of Paksenarrion (49 page)

Suddenly a horrible howling stunned her, followed by a blinding blue flash that lit up the entire city. For just an instant, Paks could see the breach in the wall, just behind the enemy she faced. Then came blackness, utter and thick. Screams and bellows filled the air. The lines crashed together; Paks was crushed in a welter of bodies, all struggling. Something raked her sword arm. She could not get free for a swing, but drove the tip of her sword into what she hoped was an enemy. Someone fell into her. She lost her balance and fell sprawling under a pile of men and weapons, the stink of blood and sweat strong in her nostrils.

All at once light returned: not torchlight, but a mellow golden light over the city itself. In an instant the pile of fighters separated into warring factions, struggling to kill and get free. Paks felt a stabbing pain in her leg, as she wrenched her shield free of a wounded man’s shoulder and parried an enemy thrust. She made it to one knee. Someone grabbed her shield arm and pulled. She tried to pivot, but a man on the wall thrust up at her; she had to counter that. The pull steadied her; she got her legs under her again, and whoever had grabbed her let go. She was in a ragged line with several Halverics and some from her own cohort. Most of the enemy were down, some crawling away. They waded into the rest, and cleared the wall as far as the breach before the golden light faded. Paks looked for the source, but could not see it.

“Are you all right?” It was a Halveric private beside her.

Paks nodded; pain shot through her head. “Yes—just winded, I think.”

“Your arm’s bleeding a lot. Sorry I grabbed you like that—”

“Was that you? It helped. I thought you were one of them, at first.”

“I know. You seemed dazed, and those scum were moving—”

“Paks.” Devlin had come along the wall. “What besides this arm?”

Paks shifted her weight as Devlin took her arm, and the pain in her leg reminded her. “Left leg—something, I haven’t looked. And something hit my head hard; it feels like the helmet’s too tight.”

“You’d better go back—”

“No, I’m fine, Now that I’ve got my breath—”

“Go back. This isn’t over yet. Get that arm tied up, at least. We’ll need you later.” He shoved her toward the rear.

As Paks edged her way past those who had just come up, she felt the day’s fatigue like a smothering sack of wool. One of the surgeons stationed near the bridge from the siege tower waved her down next to a group of wounded. Paks sank down and tried to ease her helmet off. It wouldn’t come; she felt a dint in the front.

“Wait,” said the surgeon. “Just sit there—” he turned to one of the others. “We’ll need more torches here.” The man nodded and moved off, and the surgeon tightened the bandage he was applying. “There. Yes. Now let me see that helmet—yes. Quite a dint. Do you know what hit you?” Paks shook her head. “Did you fall down?”

“Not then.”

“Let me get it off.” He pulled it off and touched her head. Paks winced. “Tender, eh? I’m not surprised, with that lump.” Several men came up with torches. “Good,” he told them. “Hold one here. Now look at it,” he told Paks. She squinted at the bright glare. “Not too bad. Let’s see that arm—anything else?”

“Something stuck my leg.” Paks moved her left leg a little. Someone—not the surgeon—took off her boot. It hurt. She tried to see what it looked like.

“Hold still,” scolded the surgeon. “This arm needs work; I’ll see the leg in a moment.” Paks smelled the pungent cleansing solution and braced herself. It felt cold, then burned. Her head throbbed, and she closed her eyes. She felt the surgeon start probing the wound in her leg. She heard him mutter to someone else, and hands steadied her leg as the pain sharpened. She wanted to argue with him, but it was too late. She thought he must be sewing up the hole, whatever it was, but it felt much worse. She wanted to throw up.

“It’s the head, mostly,” said the surgeon; Paks opened her eyes. Kefer was there, staring at her, and Arcolin stood by the tent flap. Tent?

“I thought we were on the wall,” she said. The surgeon turned to her.

“You were. You’d been hit on the head, and you passed out while I was working on your leg.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t remember anything of that, just being on the wall, and fighting, and strange lights.

“Was there a blue light?” she asked doubtfully. “And a yellow one later?”

“Yes.” Arcolin stepped nearer. He was scowling. “That was clerics—theirs first, then ours.”

“Clerics?” Paks felt even more confused. She had never seen any priest or Marshal make strange lights.

“Never mind that now.” He turned to the surgeon. “How long?”

The surgeon shrugged. “A good night’s sleep, I expect. Maybe a day.” He brought Paks a mug. As her vision blurred with numbwine, she saw the surgeon follow Arcolin and Kefer from the tent.

She woke to broad daylight. The surgeon, busy with others, saw her test the tender lump on her head.

“How is it?”

“Fine.”

“Try moving around.” Paks sat up and winced as her bandaged arm and leg twinged. But these were minor pains; she could move easily. “Go on and stand.” She had no trouble with that, either, and he sent her out. “Get a new helmet—size or so too large, and use extra padding for a day or so. If you get dizzy, or your eyes blur, come back at once. And eat before you go back on duty.”

Outside, their camp was in turmoil. Paks could see more troops—Westland men—marching into Sibili through the breached wall. She wondered why they weren’t using the gates. Smoke rose over the city walls. As she headed for the quartermaster, she saw Dorrin’s cohort returning from the city, faces black with soot and grime.

Her new helmet felt unwieldy, even after she wrapped a cloth around her head. She tried again. Still odd-feeling. When she got to the cooks’ tent, she found Barra and Natzlin.

“We heard you were hurt,” said Barra, dishing up stew.

“Something hit my head.”

“Are you going back in?” Paks wondered if she imagined the edge in that tone.

“Of course. Where’s Arcolin—or Pont?”

“They’re inside. It’s a mess in there, too.”

“What about it?”

“They’ve got some kind of wizard or priest and just when you think you’ve got a group on the run, there’ll be a stinking black cloud all around; you can blunder into anything. Walls, a fire, their fighters—you can’t see your own nose.”

“And look out for the ones that don’t look armed,” added Natzlin. “They dress like rich folk, but they carry throwing knives.” She gestured to a cut on her cheekbone. “They’re good with them, too. You could lose an eye.”

“Who’ve we lost?” asked Paks.

“In Arcolin’s? I heard that Suri fell from the tower last night, and someone—who was it, Natz?—took a crossbow bolt in the eye.”

“Gan, that was—Gannarrion. And Halek—”

“Halek? What happened to him?”

“Sword thrust in the gut, on the wall.”

Paks finished her stew in silence. She had not liked Halek, not at all. But she wished she knew it had not been her sword, there in the darkness. She found her cohort; by the end of that day, the gate tower had fallen, and the attacking troops moved freely through the twisting streets of the lower city. Paks hardly noticed; she marched with the others back to camp, aware only of great weariness.

She woke early, just at daybreak, and was startled to find Volya beside her.

“You were acting strange, yesterday,” said Volya. “We thought someone should keep an eye on you.”

“I was?” Paks had only the haziest memory of the previous day. There’d been fighting on a wall or a gate or something like that. “I’m fine, now.”

“That’s what you told Barra yesterday.” Volya looked stubborn.

“It’s true now, anyway.” Paks combed her hair and rebraided it; the lump still hurt when she ran the comb over it. She was very hungry and wondered if she’d eaten the night before.

Although the outer part of the city had fallen, the inner citadel still resisted. Sapping teams were busy at those walls, now. Plas Group had repaired the damaged siege tower; Paks found herself once more hauling on a rope with others, and cursing the ungainly monster that lurched from stone to stone. Suddenly a shout made her look up. A black cloud rolled over the citadel wall and flowed down toward the sapper’s shelter. A man in glittering mail spurred his horse toward that part of the wall, raising a mailed fist over his head. Light streaked from his fist to form a web between the cloud and the sappers. When the blackness reached it, green flames sprang up and the cloud disappeared.

Vik nudged her in the ribs. “I heard that’s a paladin of Gird.”

Paks stared. “That?” She had never believed she would see one.

“Yes. There’s a High Marshal here too, and two Swordmasters of Tir, and more—I don’t know what—from Pliuni and Westland.”

Paks felt ignorant again; she didn’t know what a High Marshal was. “What have they got inside?”

“I heard it’s a temple to the Master of Torments—some southern god, I suppose. But their priest or whatever they call him has power enough. That’s what that blue flash and darkness was, the night we broke the wall. And these black clouds.”

Paks watched as the mailed figure rode away from the wall. Paladin or not, she had never seen such a warrior. Every bit of metal glittered like polished jewels, and the horse—it moved lightly as wind-blown down, yet gave the impression of strength and power. For an instant she pictured herself in that mail—on that horse—but that was ridiculous. She leaned her weight on the rope.

By the next afternoon, they were fighting their way through the citadel streets, upward and inward toward Siniava’s palace. At last Paks could see an open space behind the defenders. Foot by foot they pushed Siniava’s men back toward a broad paved court or square. Directly across from them, enemy troops poured from a high arched doorway in a tall building ornamented with balconies and turrets. Paks assumed it was Siniava’s palace. To the left she could just see a massive edifice with a pillared porch above the wide flight of steps.

Then their own reserves managed to force themselves to the front, and Paks and the others in front edged back. She leaned on a wall and caught her breath, watching. More reserves passed her. With them were two Swordmasters of Tir, in their black armor, and a High Marshal of Gird in chainmail under a blue mantle. Beside the Marshal strode a man in glittering chainmail under a flaming red surcoat embroidered with the crescent of Gird. The paladin, thought Paks. She had not seen him so close before. Without thinking, she pushed herself away from the wall to follow him.

By this time, the attackers had forced the enemy most of the way across the square, where they battled fiercely before the palace doors. Paks and the clerics had almost reached the rear of that melee when an ill-armed rabble poured out of the pillared porch on their left to take the attackers on the flank. Quickly the unengaged rear ranks swung to meet them; Paks thought the newcomers looked too scared to be really dangerous, having lost surprise. Behind them, she saw a small group of mailed figures poised at the top of the steps. Even as she parried the unskilled blows, and killed the first of those attacking, a strange sound shook the air, and sent a tremor through her. The sunlight dimmed. Someone beside her shrieked and dropped his sword, scrambling backwards. The attackers screamed too, flailing ahead with even less skill.

From behind her a loud voice shouted a word Paks had never heard and could not afterwards remember. A crackling bolt of light shot past her ear toward the group on the porch. She gaped, a cold chill rippling down her spine, and nearly fell when someone slammed into her leg. She looked back at the attackers barely in time to dodge a sword thrust at her neck. Light flickered over her in blues and yellows, but she paid it no mind. The frantic crowd in front of her demanded all her attention.

Then they were gone—dead, wounded, or run away—and she looked around. A knot of struggling fighters still contended in front of the palace. Some of her own cohort stood near, watching her. She realized they were waiting for her to tell them where to go next; she had no idea what to tell them. The Swordmasters, High Marshal, and paladin stood just behind the battle; they seemed intent on the group on the stairs, but Paks could not tell what they were doing. She glanced again at the enemy on the stairs, and stopped, fascinated.

The tallest one wore a blood-red surcoat over dead-black mail. On its head was a horned and spiked helmet; the visor was beaked. It carried an immense curved jagged blade with one hand, and a many-thonged whip in the other. A length of black chain clasped its red cloak, and chain belted the surcoat and scabbard. The others also wore black armor, and tunics of red and black plaid. All their weapons were spiked or jagged. Paks shivered. She wondered if she should offer to guard the clerics. Did they know what they faced?

Suddenly the black-armored figures moved, racing down the steps and screaming strange words. Something stung Paks’s chest; she thought at once of Canna’s medallion. The light dimmed; the enemy fighters brought a cloud of darkness with them. One of the clerics spoke: golden light lay over them all, bright enough for Paks to see the glitter of eyes within the visored helmets. Then the two groups crashed together. Eerie howls, blasts of wind both hot and cold, sizzlings, cracklings, flashing lights—she fought to keep her attention on the fight.

At first both sides ignored her, and they were so closely engaged that she could not find a good opening. Then she saw that the paladin was fending off two: one with both sword and whip, and the other with an axe. The spikes on the whip were catching in the paladin’s mail, little jerks that might catch him off balance. Just as Paks reached the paladin’s side, the whip fouled his shield-arm, and the axeman aimed a sweeping stroke at it. Paks threw herself forward, trying to block it with her sword.

When the blades met, a flare of blinding light sprang up, and her blade shattered. The hilts burned through her glove before she could drop the broken blade. She staggered into the axeman, seeing nothing but spots from the flash. Pain shot up her arm. She couldn’t seem to draw her dagger. She blinked furiously to clear her vision, and felt herself being hoisted by shoulder and hip. She kicked out strongly, and hit something. Then she fell, hard, onto the stone, and had just time to see a black-booted foot swing back before the kick landed.