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kill the nobleman, but it could slow him enough for Magiere to take the advantage. Fitting
it in place, he raised his eyes again as he pulled on the bow string.
Magiere knelt on the ground, hand to her neck. Her face was no longer twisted in rage;
rather her brow wrinkled in confusion, eyes wide. Her fingers were already dark with
blood.
 Chap! Leesil screamed, not even looking to see if the dog was free of his opponent.
 Chap, here, get him!
The nobleman pulled the quarrel from his stomach much in the same manner Leesil had
seen Ratboy do on the road to Miiska. Chap rushed by Leesil in a blur. The dog s feet
struck the ground only twice before he closed enough to launch himself at the nobleman.
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r r
As Leesil turned away, he heard rather than saw Chap connect with the nobleman
snarls, the clattering of metal as a sword tumbled to the ground, followed by a half
intelligible scream of anger. He focused his attention on Rat-boy.
Blackened and bleeding, the small undead battered out the last flames from his shabby
clothing where Brenden s torch had struck. Brenden was already charging with the longer
of his garlic-soaked stakes in both hands. The blacksmith dropped his full weight down
onto his smaller opponent and drove the stake through Ratboy s chest.
Ratboy s mouth snapped open to scream, but no sound came out. The undead did not fall
limp, or die. He thrashed, striking at Brenden s head and shoulders with one hand while
trying to grasp the stake with the other. Even with his size, it was all Brenden could do to
keep his small opponent pinned to the ground.
 You missed the heart, Leesil shouted. Then he whispered,  We re going to die.... We re
going to lose this ... Magiere!
Everything was falling apart around him. He could grab the falchion and try finishing
Ratboy or the nobleman with Chap s help but he didn t see how he could get both of
them quickly enough. He d never trained to use a sword. It was not his kind of weapon.
And even if he were that lucky, Magiere could die before he got to her.
Leesil reached into his bag, pulled out an oil flask, and smashed it against Ratboy s
broken coffin. He had to kick the coffin s base hard, twice, to get it to slide over against the
nobleman s own sleeping place, forming a low barrier around the blacksmith and Ratboy
struggling on the floor against the cave wall. As he hurdled over the coffins, crossbow still
in his other hand, he pulled a stiletto from his sleeve and slashed the remaining waterskins
filled with garlic water hanging from the back of Brenden s belt. There was no way he
could try a fast use of a stake with Brenden on top of his target, and he hoped luck was
with him now.
Water splashed out across both struggling forms on the ground, and Leesil saw the smoke
begin to rise. He grabbed Brenden by the shirt and jerked the blacksmith upright with all
his strength.
 Get Magiere! he shouted to Brenden.  Get her out of here, now!
Free of the blacksmith s weight, Ratboy clutched with both hands at the stake, off-center
through his chest. His body shivered as the garlic water burned into him. Brenden pulled
away and hurried off in Magiere s direction.
Leesil grabbed Brenden s torch from the ground in the same hand as his stiletto, and
moved outside the coffin barrier. As he turned, Ratboy was climbing to his feet, body still
quaking in pain, though the smoke had now dissipated into a thin haze around him. Leesil
didn t hesitate. He pointed the crossbow at Ratboy and fired. Then he struck the oil-coated
coffin with his torch. The aging wood ignited like a pyre, trapping Ratboy behind. Leesil
did not bother to see if his quarrel had struck the charred undead, and threw down the
crossbow so he could fumble in the sack for another oil flask.
Across the room, a bloodied Chap tried to corner the disarmed nobleman, or at least force
him farther away from the cave opening and Magiere. Chap s strategy against Ratboy had
been to knock the undead off his feet and land on top, but even wounded, the nobleman
was too large and strong for that ploy. The dog was limited to snapping and biting at the
nobleman s legs and hands, doing little more than holding him at bay. And that would not
last for long.
Brenden already had Magiere in his arms, having ripped off one of his shirt sleeves to
bind her bleeding neck. He grabbed her falchion as he stood up.
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r r
 Go, now! Leesil ordered him, then backed into the tunnel s mouth behind them and
smashed another oil flask on the ground.  Chap, come on!
Chap snapped at his opponent one last time, then wheeled and headed for the tunnel at
full speed. The nobleman was immediately behind the dog, but Chap was too quick. As the
dog rushed by into the tunnel, Leesil struck the oil on the floor with his torch and backed
hastily into the tunnel. The cave opening went up in flames.
 Run! Leesil yelled.
Neither Brenden nor Chap needed such coaxing. The blacksmith was well down the
tunnel when Leesil caught up to him, Magiere slung over his shoulder and Chap now in the
lead. Leesil could see blood already staining Brenden s back from Magiere s wound.
Darkness and dust and fear ran with them.
When they reached the cave-in, Chap crawled immediately through the opening on top of
the debris. Brenden crawled through and began pulling Magiere s still form after him.
Leesil heard the sound of booted feet coming down the tunnel. He did not have time to
wonder how anyone could have gotten through the flames.
 Hurry, he urged.
Magiere s feet slipped through the opening, and Leesil tossed the torch through and
followed as well. Sliding down the other side of the cave-in, he stopped to dig in his sack.
He had only one flask of oil left. Picking up the torch, he pulled the flask s stopper with his
teeth, spit it aside, and poured half the oil over the boards caught in the debris. He then
stuffed his oil-stained sack into the opening and lit it. The gap through which they d
crawled closed in flames.
 That will hold him for a while, Leesil said, trying not to breathe in smoke, and clutching
the remaining half-empty flask.  Go.
He barely remembered the rest of the flight down the tunnel, except that every step was
another drop of Magiere s blood lost. Brenden moved as fast as he could in the cramped
passage, and Chap s increasing pants suggested approaching exhaustion. Leesil kept
saying to him,  Keep going, boy. Just a little farther now. His own face burned from the
cuts Ratboy had dealt him.
When they reached the trapdoor to the decorative sitting room, Leesil set the torch and
half-empty flask on the tunnel floor and grabbed Brenden by the shoulder.
 Give her to me and jump up, he said.  You ll have to lift both Chap and her up one at a
time.
Brenden dropped Magiere s feet to the ground, and Leesil caught her limp body, pulling
her close. As the strong blacksmith lifted Chap under his arm and climbed the ladder, the
dog whimpered softly, but did not struggle.
If there were time, Leesil would have lowered Magiere to the floor, but, instead, he leaned [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]