The price of victory- - Thieves World 13 (103 page)

"But it's a public street!" Rashan cried, protesting. "If we try to dig it up, Walegrin's men will surely stop us!"

Chenaya grabbed his sleeve and drew him outside. "Look up!" she shouted in his ear.

The sky had taken on the color of a deep bruise. Clouds of purple and yellow rolled in from the north. Only the palest hint of the sun showed through the infrequent gaps. A wind swept down the streets, blowing

thick dust and refuse. Sanctuary's citizens went running in the gale as their garments whipped about them.

Rays of rainbow radiance began to leak from the purse about Chenaya's neck, giving her face an eerie, up-shadowed appearance. "This
Page 1152

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

is my fault!" she shouted over the rising wind. "While I kept silent the high priests ofRanke could not find the jewel." She clutched at the small bag again. The light from it was bright enough now to show the bones of her fingers through the skin. 'T didn't even sleep for fear of crying out in my dreams. But I broke my vow to save that old woman's life. The priests of Ranke still wield considerable magic. They know where I am now. The sound of my voice alerted them, as God, Himself, warned me it would, and they want the diamond back!"

"But Savankala wants it here!" Rashan answered, his voice rising 'n pitch, like the wind. He wrung his hands. "What-can I do?"

She grabbed the front of his robes again and pulled him close. The wind was screaming now, as if it were trying to drown her voice and stop her words. "Dig that thing up!" she ordered. "The Bright Father rejects it. The Fire in God's Eye can't dwell in the same house where it's buried. Purify this place. Use every priest you have. And prepare the mounting as swiftly as you can!"

"How much time?" Rashan wailed.

Chenaya gazed at the festering sky. "Very little," she answered with a cold shiver. "Do what I tell you," she charged. "The diamond must stay with me until you're ready. I'll send Dayrne and some men to help with the digging. He'll act as a messenger, also. Send him to me at the private
Page 1153

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

temple by the Red Foal River as soon as you're done!"

Rashan ran back inside to organize his priests, and Chenaya ran to her horse. There was no sign of Reyk. The dust stung her eyes as she leaped astride her mount and raced away. The streets were almost empty, but still she nearly rode down an unwary pedestrian. He cursed, and she cursed, and then she raced on.

People were huddled in doorways, in nooks and alleys, under carts, behind barrels and crates, all cowering down, faces half covered with shawls or cloaks or collars. On the docks, ships and timbers groaned and creaked. Sails snapped like angry whips, and riggings hummed wildly. Rising whitecaps danced on the surface of the sea.

Chenaya sped through the Gate of Gold, at last catching sight of Reyk as the falcon followed overhead. In no time she was at the southern gate of Land's End. She pounded furiously on it with her fists. "Let me in!" she shouted. "Let me in!"

The stablemaster opened the gate for her. She raced past him without explanation and rode for the training fields. There she found Dayrne

548 STEALERS' SKY

running his gladiators through drills even in the face of a budding storm. He brightened when he saw her, but she had no time for friendship.
Page 1154

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Take as many men as can leave right now!" she told him loudly enough for everyone to hear. His jaw dropped when he heard her speak. Then he snapped it shut. He knew her well, and he knew by her face alone when she was deadly serious. "Take shovels and do what Rashan tells you." She started to turn away, then paused long enough to add,

"Some of you may have to hold off Walegrin and his men. Don't let him interfere."

She sped away, taking the memory of Dayme's sudden grin as she crossed the field and pulled up before the armory. She dismounted. The door was unlocked. Rushing past the racks of wooden training weapons, she drew down four good swords with sheaths, whose weight and balance suited her. With the one she wore at her belt, that made five. She prayed they would be enough.

Carrying the swords under one arm, she mounted clumsily again. Reyk sprang from the armory's roof edge and screamed shrilly to let her know he was still with her. She rode off, weaving among the banks of huge training machines, casting a glance toward the stables, pleased to see Dayrne's force already assembling there.

At the east wall of Land's End was another double-doored gate with a wooden bar. Without dismounting, she wrestled with it, nearly dropping her armload of weapons, but managing. She sped through, leaving the
Page 1155

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

doors to bang in the wind.

The waters of the Red Foal lashed the shoreline furiously. She paid little attention, but rode straight for her private temple to Savankala. It stood, white and beautiful and open-roofed, a circular arrangement of eight slender columns, just above the shore. She jumped off the horse, clutching her swords.

The sky churned above her, as if she were the center of a great distur bance. It was not her, though. It was the diamond. Forces were marshal ing, forces that would steal the diamond back or destroy it. The priests of Ranke had not suffered the magic-stealing destruction of the Nisibisi Globes of Power, which had robbed Sanctuary of so much arcane vital ity. Their magic was still quite formidable. Already, in the strangely colored clouds, she could feel things probing, searching, taking shape.

Here, at her own temple, she stood the best chance of facing whatever shape their magic took. Also, out here beyond the city wall, there was far less threat to the townspeople. Chenaya ran up the three steps, across the round marble floor, to the small altar. Twin braziers stood at either end, kept always burning, tended each day by Rashan. She laid her swords

down upon the altar and added to them the one she wore. She cast away their sheaths, exposing the bright blades.

Page 1156

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Chenaya lifted each blade and prayed over it, then shoved it deep into the coals of a brazier. There was a small chest near one end of the altar where Rashan kept the fragrant incense, kasabahr, favored by the sun god. She scooped two bountiful handfuls and cast them on the coals. Smoke and sweet scent rose swirling up, and she prayed again, consecrat ing the blades in the heat and fumes, and with her prayers.

The air screamed suddenly. Out of the vortex of clouds, a pair of demons came shrieking down, the vanguard of an army taking form in the demented sky above the temple. The demons' eyes burned redly, and they reached for her as they dived, slavering, fanged mouths yawning.

Chenaya gave a scream of her own, snatched one of the swords from the coals. The blade shone, endowed with a white heat the braziers alone could never have achieved. It trailed smoke and light as she swung at the first demon. A red flash erupted, the demon wailed in pain, darting aside, and the blade's light dimmed a little.

The second demon flew at her. Again she swung, Striking at the neck as she sidestepped, and again there came a red flash as sword touched demon flesh. Twice more she chopped. Each time the flash nearly blinded her, and the sword dimmed a bit more. The demon emitted a piercing cry of pain. It seemed no more to the eye than a creature of gas and cloud, but Chenaya felt the impact of her blows. It clutched its vaporous body
Page 1157

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

suddenly, and with taloned fingers, as if to end its agony, it ripped itself apart and discorporated.

Chenaya had no time to cheer her victory. A rain of demons fell upon her then. She swung her blade in a dazzling arc, driving them back, striking a clawed hand, severing it in a red flash. It dissolved into noth ingness before it hit the ground, and the demon wailed. Others pressed her, and her sword dimmed, each blow having less and less effect.

Abruptly, the glow wavered and faded from her blade altogether, and it was just a sword again, its metal scorched and blackened. Before she could react, a demon sprang at her. One hand tangled in her hair, and she screamed with pain, while its other hand ripped open her chiton and closed on the purse and the diamond within. Chenaya tried to push it off, and though her fists beat on nothing tangible, still it struggled and clung on, grappling with the leather thong about her neck.

Then a sword swung down, passing harmlessly through the creature's skull. Chenaya twisted enough to see Daphne, crouched on the altar and swinging ferociously, but ineffectively, at the hideous shapes that swam around her.

"The consecrated swords!" she cried to Daphne. "Use those!"

550 STEALERS-SKY

Page 1158

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Daphne understood at once. She drew a blade and swung it in one practiced motion, and a burst of scarlet erupted over her head as a demon died. The red glow reflected spectacularly on the silver links of the man ica she wore on her sword arm. "Nice!" the princess muttered. With a weird smile she chopped at the demon wrestling Chenaya, slaying it.

Chenaya spun toward a brazier, grabbing a pair of swords. She whirled them twice, sectioning a creature as it reached for her. Cold hands raked suddenly at her back, and she cried with pain and despair as the severed thongs gave way, and the purse fell to the floor. The diamond spilled out, glowing like a compressed beam of sunlight.

A demon dived for the jewel, but a golden brown streak beat him to it. Reyk climbed again, clutching the Fire in God's Eye in his razor talons. immediately, the demons forgot Chenaya and Daphne and swept up into the sky after the falcon.

Daphne wiped the sweat from her brow. Blood flowed from a trio of lined cuts on her unarmored left arm. She glanced down from the altar where she stood. "You'd better have a damn good explanation, mistress," she said with her usual mocking lilt on the final word.

Chenaya ran out between a pair of columns to follow Reyk's darting flight. The demons were too close, too swift, and too many for Reyk to avoid very long. She gave a sharp whistle. The raptor folded his wings
Page 1159

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

tightly and plummeted earthward, momentarily leaving the demons be hind. Chenaya held out her gloved arm, and Reyk landed, dropping the jewel. Immediately, she sent him up again, set down one of her blades, and grabbed the diamond from the floor.

"I wish you hadn't done that," Daphne muttered, glancing at the charging demons and, briefly, at her sword. Its light was almost gone. Still, she struck fearlessly at the first to come near enough.

Then Dayrne was there, too. Picking up the sword Chenaya had set down, he lashed out, cleaving a demon in midair. "Rashan's ready!" He shouted, shielding his eyes against the unexpected flash. "Go!"

Chenaya threw down her blade and grabbed another from the brazier. Daphne did the same, taking the last of the consecrated weapons. "We all go!" Chenaya called back.

"I don't have a horse!" Daphne cried. "Go on!"

Chenaya ran toward her own mount, clutching sword and jewel. "Ride with Dayrne!" she ordered, throwing herself into the saddle. "If I go down, one of you get this thing to Rashan!"

She rode as fast as the horse could carry her, swinging her sword wildly at the pursuing demons. The air shimmered with flashes of red as creatures swarmed around her and tried to drag her off, caught her reins
Page 1160

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

and tried to tear them from her hands or gnaw them in two, as they

551

ripped at her hair and clothes. She felt blood trickle down her back. Though they were physically weak, their claws were sharp.

The guards at the Gate of Gold saw her coming and flung themselves into the ditches on either side of the road. She risked a glance over her shoulder as they scrambled up, shouting curses. Dayme and Daphne were right behind her. The demons had no interest in them at all. It was the jewel they were after.

She raced up Safe Haven Street and onto the Avenue of Temples. The way was suddenly blocked by gladiators and priests all clustered at the comer of the Rankan Temple. At her cries they turned, dropping shovels and tools, and scattered out of the way. A wide, black pit yawned before her. Even as her eyes widened in surprise, she felt the horse's muscles bunch. She hugged the animal with her knees as it leaped the pit and crashed to the other side, its great hooves hurling dirt.

All the way up the steps of the temple, she fought demons, until the fire faded from her consecrated blade. She threw it down, screaming with
Page 1161

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

frustration, and clutched the diamond to her breasts as the demons swarmed around her. But Dayrne and Daphne were swiftly at her side, their blades still bright and glowing. "Get inside!" Dayme shouted, push ing her toward the temple entrance. "Rashan's waiting! We'll try to hold these things here!"

Chenaya ran inside. A pair of young acolyte priests heaved the great doors closed behind her. It did no good. The demons followed, passing right through the heavy wood, like ghosts.

"Here!" Rashan called from the altar at the front of the temple. Savankala's sunburst had been lowered on its golden chains until its points touched the floor. Rashan stood before it, waving frantically to her. A half-dozen priests waited on each chain to hoist it aloft again.