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longer pauses lying in pools of shadow that should provide concealment, then
on again. They could not move silently; chunks of rubble turned under their
weight or came loose and went clattering down slopes.
Over the last crest now, and down the last slope, half-climbing, half-falling,
down into the shadow of a massive slab of fallen wall precariously balanced at
an angle. Stare out into the empty street, grip weapons, catch breath, get
ready to make the final rush across the level street to the door of Narlena's
building.
Blade turned to Narlena and murmured with teeth bared in a flickering grin,
"Almost there, Narlena.
If your people had known how to move like this by night, half the ones the
Wakers got would still be alive and free."
She nodded. Then he motioned her forward again. They had just slipped from the
shadow of the wall slab and were straightening up, ready for their run, when
the sound of racing feet hit their ears from farther up the street. A second
later a human figure burst from the shadows. It was a man in Dreamer clothing,
sprinting toward them as though he were running for his life. He was. Hard on
his heels came half a dozen Wakers.
Chapter Eight
«^»
Blade waited long enough to get a clear look at the approaching Wakers, a
brief few seconds that were enough for the Dreamer's frantically churning legs
to carry him many yards closer. Then Blade plunged forward, passing the man at
the edge of the rubble. He crashed into the Wakers before they could notice or
prepare to meet the gigantic figure hurling itself at them out of the
darkness.
Blade took out his first victim without using either sword or spear. He shot
out one long leg, and his foot connected with the nearest Waker's kneecap. The
man screamed and dropped to the ground. Blade leaped over his falling body
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into the gap his fall left in the advancing line. He swung the sword in one
hand to decapitate the man on his right and thrust with the spear at the man
on his left at the same time. The second man jumped back in time to escape
with a graze on his side, but he could not save himself a second later from
the sword. Blade whipped it around and brought it down in a slashing blow that
took off the man's arm at the shoulder.
One dead, one dying, and one down in a matter of seconds. Two of the survivors
were on his left, one on his right. Blade retreated a few steps until he could
get a clear view of all three survivors. They showed no signs of either coming
after him or of running. They were going to stand and fight. As he watched,
they drew into a rough triangle, each facing outward in a different direction.
They lacked the precision Blade had seen in the first gang of Wakers. No doubt
they were of a different gang, not as well trained. But that would not make
them easy victims. Blade began sidling around the triangle, keeping out of the
range of a spear thrust or sword slash. He was afraid of a lucky spear cast
and also of the fight going on and on until time or the noise it was making
brought yet more
Wakers on the scene. He spared a glance toward where he had left Narlena. She
had flattened herself in the rubble again, and beside her was the fugitive
Dreamer.
Watching Blade circling around their triangle without venturing to attack
seemed to have given the
Wakers more courage. They flourished their spears and made feints, faces, and
obscene gestures with them, but they said nothing. Were they also afraid of
other Wakers hearing the fight? If these men were
outside their own gang's "territory," they might be so, and with good reason.
Time to end the fight. The triangle was not something Blade cared to try
breaking by force. But his opponents could not come at him, either, without
breaking up the triangle. How to get them to come at him? Blade shifted his
grip on both sword and spear ever so slightly, feeling underfoot for a loose
piece of rubble. Then he bore down hard on it until he felt it turn under his
foot, exaggerated the stumble with a whiplike snap of his trained muscles,
went down, hit the ground with a thud and rolled hard to the right, straight
into the legs of a Waker rushing out of the triangle, spear poised high to
thrust down into Blade's chest. Blade took the man off his feet with a crash
and a thump, leaped to his feet, and hurled his spear into a second man before
either of the others could recover from their surprise. Then he spun around to
slam the heel of his right foot hard into the fallen man's chest; the man fell
back and lay still. The last
Waker turned to run, but Blade caught him before he had gone ten feet.
Desperately the man turned to fight, but he was no swordsman. Blade feinted at
his thigh to bring his sword down; then he thrust hard at his stomach. The
heavy, clumsy sword would be no good against a target smaller or less
vulnerable than a man's stomach. But into that it plunged straight and deep.
As Blade jerked the sword free, the man doubled over and sagged to the ground,
blood gushing from the wound just above his greasy belt.
Blade retrieved his spear and used it to finish off the man with the smashed
knee. Then he turned back toward where Narlena and the man had gone to cover.
They were still there, crouched still farther back in the shadows under the
slab. They were so motionless that if Blade had been a casual passerby, he
might not have noticed them at all. He wiped his sword and spear clean on the
ragged, scanty garments of his victims and walked toward Narlena and the new
man.
Blade saw the man flinch and show signs of wanting to crawl out and run as he
approached. He smiled. The Dreamer had just seen him cut down six
Wakers single-handed. Now he saw him approaching steadily, smeared with
sweat and the blood of his victims, loaded with weapons, and looking
formidable and even terrifying. But Narlena grabbed the man by the arm and
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spoke urgently into his ear. Blade could not catch her words, but her tone was
a reassuring one. The man nodded reluctantly, rose, and with Narlena came out
to meet Blade. His hands were spread wide in the universal gesture of peace.
"My name is Erlik," he said nervously. "You are Blade, and Narlena says that
you are from a world where all people are Wakers. Why do you help us, the
Dreamers of Pura?" There was uncertainty and skepticism on his face as he
looked at Blade.
Blade decided that right now was the time to start working on Erlik. "Because
you need help," he replied bluntly. "In my home world, where all are indeed
Wakers, those who want to live by robbery and violence find many other people
to oppose them." Not always enough, he added to himself. But Erlik didn't need
to know everything about Home Dimension. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]