Faces of Deception (4 page)

A pair of teak window shutters slammed open beside the howdah, revealing the murky interior of a second-story apartment. Atreus glimpsed what looked like a curved yellow dagger whirling out of the darkness, then cried out and raised his arm. Something soft struck his wrist and fell to the floor. The two guards in the Howdah rose and turned toward the window, directing their fellows below into the building. Yago roared in alarm and began to bull his way past his escorts raising a great clamor of clanging armor and whinnying horses. Atreus looked down and found a banana lying at his feet. Scratched into the peel was a brief message: “Be ready”

He glanced into the window and saw a plump silhouette retreating into the darkness, then snatched the banana off the floor.

Atreus looked back to see Yago, separated from the elephant by four double ranks of riders, shoving a startled horse out of his way. “There’s nothing to worry about,” he shouted Atreus displayed the banana, then quickly peeled it and tossed the skin out of the howdah.

“It’s only a banana, Yago. Go back to your place.” Yago furrowed his heavy brow in puzzlement, then turned to scowl at the nearest rider. “You call that guardin?” He pointed a dagger-length finger at the banana in Atreus’s hand. “That coulda been a knife!” “But it wasn’t,” Atreus said. “So let’s not worry about it.” He turned forward again and passed the banana to his elephant driver. “For Sunreet.”

You are too kind, Sahib,” the driver replied, eating the banana himself. “She thanks you very much.”

The guards guffawed loudly and called their fellows off. The procession resumed its slow pace down the street. Atreus sat back and tried not to look obvious as he scanned the verandahs and windows ahead. He could not imagine who had sent the message. Even if Rishi Saubhari had weathered his plunge into the moat, he hardly seemed likely to have the means to overpower two dozen of the queen’s horsemen. That left only an unknown Ffolk nobleman, no doubt eager to use Atreus’s hideous face in some intrigue that had less to do with finding Langdarma than unseating a sickly queen.

The procession twined its way through the streets for another ten minutes until the remnants of a gatehouse and wall appeared fifty paces ahead. Built entirely of white marble, the “Pearl Curtain” had once enclosed the entire city, but the fortifications had been razed during the Bloodforge Wars and never rebuilt. Now the ruins served only to mark the official city limit. Beyond them, the tenement buildings grew smaller and less closely packed, finally giving way to crop fields, then grazing lands, and eventually a lush forest.

The forest would be an ideal place for an ambush, and Atreus was debating the wisdom of using the confusion to escape when a string of sharp cracks echoed through the street. Atreus dropped his gaze and saw bursts of light flashing around the hooves of the horses ahead. Several of the beasts whinnied and reared, bringing the whole procession to a sudden halt and dumping their riders into the clouds of smoke swirling about the street.

Sunreet raised her trunk and let out a shrill trumpet. The Mar in the street began to jabber in unintelligible hysteria. The two guards behind Atreus shouldered their way forward and kneeled in the front of the howdah. “Shou powder,” observed one. “Expensive,” said the other. “Too expensive for this.” Atreus glanced to the side and found himself looking across a dilapidated balcony, to where a shadowy Mar stood waving at him from inside a dark doorway. Atreus made no move to leave the howdah, preferring his own plan of escape to becoming involved in some traitor’s plot against Queen Rosalind.

The Mar stepped into the light, revealing himself to be Rishi Saubhari. “Good sir, what are you waiting for?” Rishi asked. “I thought you wanted to see the Sisters of Serenity!”

The two howdah guards spun around.

“Do you know what you’re about, wog?” demanded one. “We’re on the queen’s business here.”

The other placed a foot on the howdah’s rail, gathering himself to leap onto the balcony. “You’ll answer to Her Radiance’s jailer for this!”

Rishi ignored them both and slipped a hand inside his cloak. “We can still find Langdarma,” he said, withdrawing a wad of soggy parchment. “I have your map!”

Though Atreus had long ago memorized every feature of the map, seeing it again overcame any reservations he had about accepting Rishi’s help. As a gift from Sune herself, the map possessed a worth far in excess of the symbols written on it. He stood and shoved the first guard out of the howdah onto the elephant’s shoulders, then grabbed the other by the belt and jerked him back inside. The fellow landed heavily on the floor, and Atreus knocked him unconscious with a big-knuckled fist to the hinge of the jaw.

A clamorous uproar arose behind the elephant. Yago, looming a full head above the riders surrounding him, began to fight his way forward, shouldering men from their saddles and shoving horses off their feet. Seeing that the ogre was about to lose his temper, Atreus pointed into the tenement building where Rishi stood waiting.

“Yago, kill no one!” he ordered. “Meet me inside.”

The ogre nodded, then punched a horse unconscious and stepped over its fallen bulk, heading for the nearest door. Atreus sighed in relief. The last thing he needed was to anger Queen Rosalind by killing one of her guards. He grabbed the smallest cargo basket from the back of the Howdah.

“What are you doing?” Rishi cried. “My profuse apologies, but we have no time for luggage!”

“We have time for one!” The basket was heavy, and Atreus groaned as he tossed it across the small chasm to the verandah. “Catch!”

The basket struck Rishi square in the chest, driving him back through the doorway and onto the floor of the darkened room. Atreus stepped onto the rail to follow his basket across, but by then the first guard had clambered back into the Howdah and grabbed hold of his leg.

Atreus jumped anyway, dragging his attacker along and catching hold of the verandah’s balustrade. The guard swung like a pendulum and smashed into one of the horsemen who had ridden forward to stop the escape. When the fellow did not immediately drop off, Atreus simply pulled him along onto the balcony. Atreus was as strong as he was ugly—anyone raised by ogres had to be—and he hardly noticed the extra weight

As Atreus tumbled over the balustrade, he twisted around and landed on his back. He sat up and drew his fist back to strike, then realized he could not hit his attacker in the face. The man was ruggedly handsome, with a square jaw and flat high cheeks, and it would have been an affront to Sune to ruin his good looks.

Taking advantage of the delay, the guard pulled his dagger and pushed the tip under Atreus’s chin. “Don’t move!” Atreus grabbed his foe’s knife hand and twisted against the thumb. The guard screamed and dropped the dagger. Atreus continued to twist, rolling the man onto his back, then spun onto his knees and gathered the fellow up and pitched him back into the Howdah. Behind the elephant, a tangle of soldiers and horses lay in Yago’s wake, struggling to unsnarl itself. The ogre himself was nowhere in sight, but the muffled crashes coming from the floor below left no

doubt that he had made his way into the building.

By now, three more guards had clambered onto the verandah. They were advancing from both sides, eyeing Atreus warily and reaching for their swords. He slipped toward the pair on his right, slapping down the leader’s sword and simultaneously launching a side-thrust kick at

the second man in line. The blow caught the guard square in the chest, launching him off the verandah and down into the tangle of men and horses below.

The rickety balcony shook as the third guard rushed to strike from behind. Atreus grabbed the leader’s collar and dropped to the floor, swinging around behind him. The move catapulted his captive into his attacker and sent both men tumbling over the balustrade into the confusion below.

Atreus rolled to his knees in the doorway. Rishi was standing inside the murky chamber, staring gape-mouthed out onto the verandah. At his feet sat the heavy basket Atreus had thrown to him, and there were fresh scrape marks on the teak floor. Whether or not the Mar’s intention had been to steal, he had clearly been trying to take the cargo basket and flee.

Rishi pointed at the empty balcony behind Atreus. “You… how did you defeat so many, good sir?”

“An ugly man learns to fight,” Atreus said, standing.

“It was a … a thing of beauty!” Rishi’s mouth continued to hang open, then his arm shot up and pointed out the door. “Good sir, watch your back!”

Atreus twisted forward and away, then glimpsed the tip of a sword arcing toward his head from across the verandah. Behind it came the guard he had knocked unconscious earlier, hurling himself off the balustrade in an assault as wild as it was foolish. Before Atreus could raise his arm to block, a tiny dagger flashed past from Rishi’s direction and sank deep into the guard’s gullet. The sword slipped from the man’s grasp, as he let out a surprised gurgle and collapsed through the doorway.

Atreus kneeled beside the man and pulled the dagger free, unleashing a stream of bright red froth. He looked at Rishi in horror.

“Why did you do that?”

“Perhaps the good sir forgets he owes me money,” said Rishi. “It would hardly do to let him get killed before he pays.”

“I wasn’t going to get killed,” said Atreus. He glanced back to see several pairs of hands reaching up to grasp the verandah railing. “But now you’ve made a marked man of me. The queen’s guards will take a poor view of having one of their own killed.”

“Then I suggest we go.” Rishi gestured at the basket on the floor. “I fear the good sir must carry his own cargo. The basket is too heavy for me.”

Atreus pulled his purse from his belt and dropped it on the floor for the dying man’s family, then he grabbed his basket and followed the Mar across the dingy room into a dark, cramped corridor. An angry outcry erupted behind him as the guards climbed onto the balcony and noticed their dying comrade. Rishi pulled the door closed and led the way toward a dingy stairwell at the end of the hall.

As they approached, Yago’s heavy steps began to rumble up the stairs, then the ogre appeared in the doorway, doubled over and packed into the narrow passage. When he saw Rishi and Atreus, he dropped to his hands and knees and tried to squeeze through the doorway.

“Not this way,” Rishi called. “We must go up the stairs. Quickly!”

Yago retreated through the door and scrambled up the stairs on all fours, the whole stairwell shaking beneath his pounding feet. Rishi followed close behind, shouting at the ogre to move faster. Atreus brought up the rear, his knees limping furiously as he hauled the heavy basket up the steps.

A door slammed open behind him, then someone cried, The stairs!”

The hammering footfalls of a half-a-dozen charging men began to echo up the stairwell. Upon reaching the next floor, Atreus saw how well Rishi had planned their escape. on the landing, a dozen oil casks lay stacked on their sides, held in place by a single wooden wedge lodged between the floor and first barrel. After Yago and Atreus squeezed past, Rishi turned to kick the wedge free.

It twisted sideways, but did not come out.

Rishi’s eyes widened. The angry guards reached the bottom of the stairs and started up, nostrils flaring and swords waving. Again, the Mar kicked at the wedge. This time, his toe bounced off without budging it.

Atreus squatted down and dropped the heavy basket on the floor. Rishi spun around at the resulting jingle, but he did not step out of the way.

“Move!” Atreus shouted, pulling the Mar aside.

The first guard was only a dozen steps below, staring up at the casks and sneering in relief.

When Atreus reached down and grabbed the wedge, the man’s smirk vanished. He cocked his arm to throw his sword, and Atreus jerked the wedge free. The casks tumbled loose with a deafening rumble, bouncing down the stairs to bowl the guards over backward. One keg split and spilled oil everywhere, turning the whole stairwell into a slimy avalanche of somersaulting men and flying casks.

“Well done!” Rishi exclaimed, once again eyeing Atreus’s heavy cargo basket. “Very well done. Now escape is assured.”

“I’ll believe that,” Atreus said, “once we’ve actually escaped.”

Atreus picked up his cargo, and he and Rishi started up the stairs after Yago. Although the basket was ungainly and difficult to carry, he did not even consider abandoning it. The coffer inside held many ten-thousands of gold lions, a full quarter of the fortune bequeathed to him by his unknown mother. This was the amount he had dedicated to finding Langdarma, and he had no intention of leaving it to Queen Rosalind’s guards.

They ascended three more flights of stairs, then stepped into a long hallway leading toward the rear of the building. Yago stopped and pointed toward a window at the end of the corridor, where a long plank lay on the bottom sill, stretching across a narrow alley to a similar casement in another building.

“Am I supposed to fit through that?” the ogre demanded.

“Most definitely not,” Rishi replied. “Your weight would snap the board like straw. You must continue up to the roof.”

“The roof?” asked Atreus.

“I have seen how strong the ogre is,” said Rishi. “I am sure he will not be troubled by such a small leap.”

Yago squinted out the distant window. “How far is it?”

“Oh, it cannot be far,” said Rishi. “The board itself is not five paces long.”

“Five paces?” The ogre stretched his arms apart, trying to envision the distance. “That’s got to be as long as a—”

“Five of our paces. It is no more than two of yours,” Rishi said as he braced his hands on Yago’s hips, struggling in vain to shove the ogre into the stairwell. “Now go up on the roof—and hurry! Can you not hear our enemies?”

Atreus cocked his head, listening to the sound of the pounding feet below, then nodded to Yago. “Go on. We’ll see you on the other side.”

Yago reluctantly squeezed back through the door and rumbled up the steps, leaving Rishi and Atreus to continue down the corridor alone. The Mar stopped at the window and turned to Atreus.

“No indignity is meant, but you are heavy enough without your basket, and the board is very old. Perhaps I should go first and drag your cargo along behind me.”