Shadow War Part 36

"We must hurry" was all he said as he swung away from the fallen men. He would not grieve for this enemy.

Together, he and the empress hastened onward.

A few minutes later, he pushed through a door and stumbled outside into the darkness. Barrels, stone amphoras, and casks filled the area. Dragging in a deep breath, Caelan looked around to get his bearings. They were somewhere along the rear of the palace, on the northwestern side, close to the delivery entrances for provisions. The mighty walls of the compound towered above him, seemingly invincible, their dark sides reaching up to the inky sky.

But no matter how thick or how high the walls, if the gates were opened, they counted not at all.

Caelan swung left, pulling her after him. "This way," he whispered.

They ran down an alley stacked with barrels and crates, half-seen obstacles in the darkness.

At the corner, however, torchlight flared orange in the distance, and behind them tongues of fire began to lick at upper-story windows.

Caelan plunged to a halt and peered around the corner. The parade ground stretched out ahead of him on his left, a vast distance filled with a melee of fighting men. The sight heartened him. If the Guard could hold the Madruns here, there was a chance of regaining the palace.

But right now, that was not his concern. He swung his gaze right, toward the stables, and saw bunches of Madruns trotting past. Fire could be seen blazing through the windows, and there came the neighs of panicked horses.

Elandra clutched at his cloak, her shoulder brus.h.i.+ng against his armored back. "You said the stables," she told him. "How can we reach them?"

Caelan shook his head. "Too late. The emperor is gone."

"But-"

A wave of sudden exhaustion, borne by defeat, rolled over him. He pushed it off and measured the distance to the stables with his eye, only to swear in frustration. Impossible to get there with so many of the enemy around.

"I will leave you here," he said, thinking aloud. "If I can get a horse, there is still-"

"No," the empress said firmly. "They will kill you."

"But-"

"Look at the main gates," she said, pointing. "Can we ride through them even if you did get horses?"

He turned his head and saw the ma.s.sive bronze gates s.h.i.+ning in the light of the bonfires and burning barracks. A group of guardsmen fought valiantly there, but they were outnumbered. As Caelan watched, screaming Madruns cut down the guardsmen and swarmed at the gates, pus.h.i.+ng them open.

Caelan's breath caught in his throat. He stared in horror as more Madrun troops poured in from outside.

It was over. The few pockets of resistance remaining in the compound would be hunted down soon enough. Already the enemy was running, swarming inside with their weapons held aloft in victory. They howled strange war cries that sent chills up the back of Caelan's neck.

He growled in his throat, gripping his sword tighter.

Beside him, Elandra was weeping. "Oh, Gault, no ... no!" she cried softly.

Caelan knew an insane urge to run full tilt out into the open and attack as many as he could, to kill and slash and destroy. Then he withdrew from the corner and pressed his back against the wall, breathing hard as he fought the se-vaisin. se-vaisin. To surrender to his grief and outrage, to go mad and fight now, was to die. To surrender to his grief and outrage, to go mad and fight now, was to die.

And he did not intend to be defeated-or killed-yet.

"It is over," Elandra said in a disbelieving whisper. "We are finished."

"No, there is still a chance," he said. He pressed his fingers to her lips when she tried to protest. "Hush. Don't argue. We must hurry."

When he pulled on her hand, she hung back. "I will die if I run much farther."

Caelan had no patience with that. "You'll die for certain if you don't. Now come!"

"But where can we go?"

He pointed at the dark and silent temples at the far end of the compound. The looting had not reached them yet; perhaps the superst.i.tious Madruns were avoiding them for now. Caelan knew there were underground chambers beneath the temples, at least the Temple of Gault. They could take refuge there. If nothing else, it would buy them some time until he figured out a plan.

The empress gave him a nod, her protests stilled.

Keeping to the shadows at the base of the walls, he trotted along as fast as he dared, freezing in place each time he spied another band of Madruns. More of them were scattering from the general conflict, intent on pillaging and destroying. Many carried torches, and they were laughing, talking loudly and arrogantly in their native tongue.

The riches waiting for them inside the palace clearly had them distracted, although as yet several were busy using their daggers to perform atrocities on the corpses of the fallen guardsmen. More than once Caelan tried to s.h.i.+eld the empress from witnessing these horrors, but it was impossible. She made no sound, no outcry. When he glanced at her through the gloom, he saw only the pale blur of her face.

They crept on, hurrying as fast as they dared while keeping to the scant cover available. The darkness was their ally, and the farther they ran from the palace, the less torchlight and firelight there was to expose them.

Caelan found himself wis.h.i.+ng for an army to command. If only he could wing his thoughts to the imperial troops camped and deployed elsewhere in the empire. If only he could bend the mysterious forces of time and distance to his will, and bring them here-instantly.

He would have given his soul right then to be able to turn the tables on these brutes and crush them. But the main army was far away, and only the Imperial Guard was stationed here. Now that esteemed fighting force lay ma.s.sacred.

Stupid, Caelan thought, the word beating in his temples like his pulse. Stupid. Stupid.

But he was not the Lord Commander of the armies. He was not the one responsible for the deployment of troops.

He was not the one who had declined to bring extra protection back to the capital city.

In the distance the screaming of men and women told Caelan of more horrors. He resisted the urge to look back, but the empress stopped and stared over her shoulder.

"The servants," she whispered in anguish. "The courtiers. My ladies-"

"Don't," he told her, tugging at her hand. "Hurry."

It was a long way around the perimeter of the walls. The farther they went, the more exposed and vulnerable Caelan felt. The edges of his consciousness sensed dangers lurking in the darkness around him, dangers not of this world, dangers he could not fight with sword and strength. Dry-mouthed, Caelan tried to shut off his own imagination. But for the first time in years, he longed for warding keys. The darkness cloaked him and the empress, but it was no friend.

Praying under his breath, he kept moving, refusing to let fear stop him.

At last, the grouping of temples loomed ahead, silent and unlit, ignored by the combat at the other end of the compound. To reach the Temple of Gault, Caelan would have to run across the open. He hesitated, caught between the steady trickle of time and the intense need for caution.

Beside him, Elandra sank to her knees, sobbing for air. Yet her grip never slackened on his. "The Penestrican temple is closest," she whispered.

"Are there underground chambers, for the secret rites?"

She nodded. "Yes."

He considered it, a trifle uneasy about invading the sanctum of the women priestesses. He knew nothing about the Penestricans, save that they were barely tolerated officially. The cults surrounding the earth mother were very primitive and old. He s.h.i.+vered a little, but hesitated no longer.

"We'll go there," he said.

Looking in all directions, his heart in his mouth, he led her out from cover and ran across the open distance. Overhead, the clouds parted to release a finger of moonlight along the steps. Caelan loped up them, two at a time, the empress's feet pattering swiftly beside his.

They reached the top, darting past the columns, and he lunged across the vestibule for the inky shadows behind the altar. Slinging the empress around it, he crouched beside her and pressed his sweating face against the gritty stone side of the altar. His breath came in loud, hoa.r.s.e gusts. The empress had doubled over, pressing her face against her skirts, but still he could hear her m.u.f.fled sobbing and panting.

He listened hard, every sense straining, but heard no sound of discovery or pursuit.

They had made it.

His taut shoulders sagged in relief, and he rolled his head back against the stone. Time to take stock. How long could they reasonably expect to hide?

There was a chance they might elude discovery altogether, especially if there were numerous hiding places below the temple, and depending on the degree of Madrun superst.i.tion and caution.

But what good was hiding? And how long could they last without food and water? Caelan knew he could hold out for several days. The empress was another matter. If they starved beneath the ground, what was accomplished except they did not die by Madrun hands?

Again, he drove such defeatist thoughts away. His goal was to keep this woman alive and well. Thus far, he had done that. If the G.o.ds were kind, he would find a way to get her out of here. Every moment of survival he carved out gave them a better chance.

Regaining his breath, he touched her arm gently. "Come."

She rose to her feet, although she swayed in his hold. Worried about her, he let her lead the way to the temple's entry.

A stout door of thick wood blocked the way. Though he put all his strength against it, it would not budge. Refusing to let a mere lock stop him, Caelan traced the metal with his fingertips, intending to pick it with the empress's dagger.

But intense heat seared into his fingertips.

Biting back a cry of pain, Caelan jerked his hand away.

"What happened?" Elandra asked. "What's wrong?"

Grimly he reached out again. Once more, his hand was repelled by a blast of heat.

He stepped back, wary and respectful now, and nursed his aching fingers.

"What's the matter?" Elandra asked insistently.

"It is spell-locked," he replied, flexing his hand. Although his fingers still hurt, there was no actual burn. "We cannot enter."

She drew in her breath audibly. "Even here, so close to the palace, the sisters fear desecration of the sacred places. By order of the emperor they are not permitted to keep this temple open, and so when they leave they lock it tight. It is a pity-"

"Pity for us," he said angrily. "We are denied refuge."

"Then we'll go to Gault," she retorted. "The Vindicants are always here. Surely it is open, unless the priests are cowards and have locked themselves inside."

He thought of the Vindicants, thought of Lord Sien, who was one of the traitors. "I do not think they will give us the help we want."

"Where, then, will we go?" she demanded. "To the treasuries? They will be looted. The priests are our last hope."

"Sien cannot be trusted."

"No one can be trusted," she said. Turning from him, she started down the steps alone.

The moonlight shone across her, and she hadn't even noticed. Swearing to himself, Caelan ran after her and shoved her to one side of the steps.

"Take care," he whispered furiously.

She stiffened under his hand, but did not waste her breath arguing.

Together they hurried to the imposing, larger temple, standing tall against the night sky. Its auxiliary buildings, containing living quarters and instructional rooms, stretched out behind it. Caelan considered circling around to the back and entering that way, but Elandra still hastened a step or two in front of him.

Picking up her skirts, she went up the wide marble steps with confidence. Caelan followed, watching for trouble, knowing they could be walking into a trap yet having no alternative to offer.

At the top, he moved ahead of her, keeping his arm outstretched to hold her back, and went first to the door.

Its lock was normal. No spell protected it. Caelan fitted the dagger's tip into the keyhole. A stiletto would have served his purpose better, but he had no such weapon.

Crouching there in the darkness, working by feel, the sweat of urgency running down his temples, Caelan felt the hand of the empress close upon his upper arm.

It was a silent warning. He reacted without looking, whipping his sword off his knees and coming up and around in one swift movement of defense.

The moonlight shone full upon the steps now, lighting their pale marble surface in silvery radiance. Skimming upward over the steps came the shadows of men, only no men walked the ground to cast them.

Caelan's blood congealed in his veins. Staring in astonishment and rising dread, he straightened fully upright, and for a moment his grip slackened on his sword. Although the empress had described these shadows to him previously, nothing she had said truly prepared him for the horror of seeing them coming so fast and silently.

He took one cautious step back, retreating deeper into the dark, and brought up his sword.

The empress did not retreat, however. Fumbling at the bodice of her gown, she drew out something secured on a cord about her neck. "Hurry and break the lock," she said softly. "I'll try to hold them off."

He stared at her, wondering what kind of talisman she held. "Do you have a warding key?"

"What is that?" she asked, then gestured at him. "Hurry! You cannot fight them with swords. I told you. Get the door open as soon as you can."

But Caelan knew that doors would not protect them from the unbound shadows of men. Even if they got inside, these creatures would follow. He s.h.i.+vered involuntarily and braced himself for the fight to come.

A faint golden glow appeared on Elandra's palm. He looked and saw that she was holding a large, square-cut jewel, and it was emitting the light. Astonishment spread through Caelan. He had not realized she possessed powers of her own.

Above the light spreading out from her hands, Elandra's face looked set and purposeful. She raised her hands to cast the light from the jewel a little farther, and the racing shadows stopped and curled back from the light as though burned.

Inside his amulet pouch, Caelan's fused emeralds grew warm against his chest. They had warned and protected him before. Now he marveled to see that the empress carried something similar. Even better, she knew how to utilize the powers within hers. Although he was long familiar with the magical ability of his emeralds to conceal their true shape and worth from the eyes of other men, Caelan had never dreamed his emeralds contained a force such as this. He had kept them all these years as a token of hope, as a reminder of his little sister. But perhaps they had other uses.

The shadows raced around behind him, and Elandra turned quickly in a small circle, casting the golden glow over both Caelan and herself. She was using her jewel exactly like a warding key. Its light kept the shadows back, although Caelan could feel danger pulsing at him. The shadows were vicious, angry, and intent on their prey. He could almost sense thought in them, a simple, hammering thrust of purpose-kill, kill, kill.

The heat cast by his emeralds intensified to an almost unbearable degree beneath his breastplate. Tempted to draw them forth and join their power to that of Elandra's jewel, Caelan tugged at the cord around his throat; then the corner of his eye caught movement to one side.

He plunged deep into severance, severance, and pivoted sideways quicker than thought. and pivoted sideways quicker than thought.

The thrown dagger came hurtling through the air, plunging through the spot where he'd been standing only a split second before. It thunked into the wooden panels of the door and quivered there.

"What-" Elandra cried.

In her startlement, she let her hands drop. The circle of light dipped low, and in that instant one of the shadows leaped at her.