I pointed to the stack and held up one finger then shrugged; I had only seen one, but perhaps there were more. He pulled out a knife and jerked his head at the grate, pushing me towards it.
Then he edged into the alley.
I waited a beat before creeping back to the corner of the bale. Ryko was crouched a few lengths ahead on the near side of the second stack, his head cocked, listening. I held my breath, straining to hear too.
Something stirred. Ryko was moving before I even recognised it as steel scraping stone. He slammed his shoulder into the top bale, sending it plummeting between the stacks. It landed with a thud, mingled with a stifled yelp. The cry propelled Ryko over the remaining bales, his knife angled for a deadly down thrust. The stack rocked. Gasps of hard struggle made me step forwards. The bales shivered again and then the clanging ring of a dropped sword. Was it done? But there was still scuffling. And then a fierce, pained whisper.
'Ryko!'
A sudden tense silence and then I heard a moan. I ran across the small space, my sword raised.
Ryko was kneeling beside the body of a soldier, pressing the heel of his hand into the man's shoulder, blood welling up between his fingers. The man's chest rose and fell in short rasping pants. Then I saw the swarthy, angular face under the helmet and my breath stopped.
Lady Dela.
Ryko looked up at me, his eyes hollow. The dark stain under his hand was spreading into the quilted armour. 'We've got to stop the bleeding.'
I dropped to my knees, pushing my sword aside. 'Ryko, what have you done?'
'He stabbed me,' Lady Dela said, opening clouded eyes. 'Idiot.'
'You look like one of Sethon's men,' Ryko said through his teeth.
'So do you,' she said drily.
'Stay still.' He lifted the armour and sliced into it with his knife, cutting through the heavily quilted vest.
Her shoulders jerked, either from pain or the sharp laugh that resonated through her body.
'He's not providing his men with very good armour.'
'You stole skirmish,' Ryko said, working the knife carefully through the soggy material. 'You should have gone for a swordsman, like I did. They get iron and leather.' He pulled apart the thick padding to show a nasty wound under the round of her shoulder joint.
'I'll remember that next time,' Lady Dela said faintly. 'Did you see they've broken through? It was Ido, I'm sure of it. I'm sure he used his power. It was like part of the wall just disintegrated. Like an earth anger.'
I glanced at Ryko. 'That must have been the rumbling we heard.'
He nodded. 'Check the alley,' he said. 'Make sure we are still alone.'
I crawled to the end of the bales. The alley was empty, but beyond it a group of dark figures crossed the other side of the
square: four soldiers dragging two women between them. They seemed to be heading towards the next section of the harem, in the direction of the screaming and wailing. A soft glow brightened the sky above it. A fire, or the light of many, many torches.
I pulled back. Ryko shot me a questioning look.
'Four soldiers with prisoners, but on the other side of the square. They're heading further into the harem.'
'There are so many soldiers,' Lady Dela said. 'No one would listen to me and I couldn't find Lady Jila.' She gripped my arm, her blood-slicked fingers slipping on the silk. 'I saw Sethon.
He's got her and the baby in the Square of Beauty and Grace. We have to do something.'
Ryko grabbed my hand and pushed it hard against the wet warmth of the wound, ignoring Lady Dela's pained hiss. 'Keep a firm hold.'
Lady Dela raised her head. 'Did you get the folio?'
'We got it,' I said.
'Good. That's good.' She shivered. 'I took your swords. Didn't want them to get in the wrong hands. They're somewhere here.' She closed her eyes. 'My apologies.' Her voice had dropped to a murmur.
My heart lifted as I saw the swords lying half hidden by the upended bale. I badly needed their fury to burn away my fear. Especially if Lord Ido was nearby Opposite, Ryko had dug a small vial from his waist pouch and was sprinkling a powder over Lady Dela's wound. It stunk like a hot-water spring.
'Lady Dela,' I said, rousing her. 'Did you see Lord Ido? Is he in the harem too?'
She gave a tiny nod, wrinkling her nose against the bad-egg stench. 'I think so. How can he use his power for war? I thought it was forbidden by the Covenant. Surely the Council won't allow it.'
'I don't think there is any Council any more.'
She frowned, losing focus on my words. Ryko squatted beside me and gestured to my robe.
I need bandaging. May I cut some of the silk?'
I nodded.
'Don't hurt the Harmony Robe,' Lady Dela protested weakly Ryko let out an exasperated breath, but I saw the flicker of a smile. As he ripped the thin undersilks, I tried to judge the amount of warm blood oozing through my fingers. The flow seemed to be easing.
'Up we go,' Ryko said, gently pulling Lady Dela into a sitting position. Ryko nodded for me to stop staunching the blood. I caught her around her waist as he deftly positioned a pad of silk over her shoulder and tied it in place. 'You'll have to get a physician to look at it soon,' he said. 'It's still bleeding.'
She tested the firmness of the bandage, wincing as she pressed on it. 'This will do for now.'
She held out her good arm. 'Help me stand. We need to get to the Square of Beauty and Grace.'
Ryko pulled her to her feet and steadied her as she swayed. Her face drained into a grey pallor.
'We're not going to the square,' Ryko said. 'We're going straight back through the Concubines'
Gate.'
'No.' She grabbed his arm, more for support than emphasis. 'Sethon has taken Lady Jila and the infant Prince. Don't you understand what he's going to do? He's going to kill them and claim the throne. We have to stop him.' She turned to me. 'Lord Eon, give me the book. We will find your dragon's name and then you must stop him.'
In my mind I heard my master's voice, thin with agony as the poison choked his Hua. Stop him. Stop Ido. Stop Sethon. It didn't matter which one he'd meant. They both had to be stopped and I had promised I would do it. And my master was not the only one I had promised. I had made a pact with Prince Kygo. Mutual survival. He'd said I had no honour.
Was it true? Was I a deserter of my own word?
Ryko shook his head. 'We go back. It is my duty to get you to safety'
'No,' I said. They both stared at me. '1 wish it was your duty, Ryko, but it is not. Your duly is to serve me, My duly is to stop Ido and Sethon. For the Pearl Emperor.' And my muster, I added silently 'We do not know if'lhe Pearl Emperor litis escaped. For all we know, he is dead and Lady jila's baby is now our overlord. We must try and save him and his not her.'
Ryko had stiffened under my words as though I had cut him with a whip. As you say, my duty is to serve you. But it is also to protect you. I will not lead you into certain death.'
I met his stubborn glare. 'You will not be leading me into death. You will be following.' I saw the rise of argument in his eyes. 'Who else is there, Ryko? You said yourself that I was the hope of the Resistance.'
'That was when you were Lord Eon, the Mirror Dragoneye.'
'I am still the Mirror Dragoneye.'
Lady Dela stepped between us. 'Enough of this pissing contest. We have no other choice. We must save Ladyjila and the Prince.'
I nodded. 'Give me a knife.'
Ryko stood looking at my outstretched hand.
'For Shola's sake, stop fighting the inevitable and give her a knife,' Lady Dela said. She leaned against a bale, sucking in pained breaths. 'Do it.'
He unsheathed a blade and slapped the leather-wrapped grip into my palm. I forced my fingers under the tight ties of my sash and began to saw through the silk.
Lady Dela's head snapped up. 'What are you doing?'
'Two soldiers dragging a captured maid to the square.'
The sash fell away I shrugged my way ou
t of the heavy Story Robe and let it drop to the ground. The moonlight flared across the dark depths of the black pearls and silvered my pale arms. I looked up and saw Ryko staring at my body, now only clad in three thin undertunics and emerald trousers. Under his gaze, I was suddenly aware of my shape beneath the fine silk and I
wrapped my arms across my chest. He cleared his throat, quickly moving around me to station himself at the edge of the bales.
Lady Dela's eyes followed his retreat. 'It is a good plan,' she said shortly, 'but you will have to take off the shoes and the trousers too. They are wrong.'
I removed the scuffed muddy shoes, then crouched down and worked my hand under the tunics, finally finding the trouser tie. I tugged them down and stepped out of them.
'And your hair,' Lady Dela said.
I closed my hand over the two Dragoneye braids looped and tied at the top of my head. With her injury, Lady Dela would not be able to loosen them. 'Ryko, you'll have to cut it free.' I offered him the knife and turned my back.
'This is madness,' he growled.
His fingers pulled on the base of the loop, bringing tears to my eyes. As he flicked the knife through Rilla's expert bindings, I carefully unwound the pearls from around my forearm and the folio. There was no resistance from the gems, only a slight quivering that could have been my own trembling hands.
'Lady Dela.' She crossed the few paces to me, holding her injured arm against her side. I poured the pearls into her good hand and placed the folio on top. 'Find her name.'
'If it is in there, I will find it,' she promised.
'Ryko, you take my swords. I don't want them left behind.'
I felt my braids release and fall stiffly against my head.
'There, it is loose,' Ryko said gruffly
I pulled a braid to the front and dug my fingertips into it, working the hair free. He walked around and eyed my clumsy return to womanhood. I faced up to the new look in his eye, lifting my chin. Did he now think even less of me?
'If you can throw off your years as a boy, we should pass scrutiny' he said.
He was echoing my own doubts. 'I will be just another
frightened maid,' I said and gave hima quick, wry smile. 'I will not need to act it.'
He grunted. 'You have the coutage of a wan mi '
1 watched him turn away and gather the clothes from the ground. He thought me courageous?
But 1 was terrified always terrified.
'No,' I saicj flatly. 'I don't.'
He paused from stuffing the invaluable robe between two bales. Are you frightened now?'
I nodded, shame flushing my skin.
'Is it going to stop you?'
'No.'
'That is the courage of a warrior.' He picked up my swords, sheathing them in the scabbards on each of his hips.
'It is also the courage of a cornered animal,' Lady Dela said caustically. She angled the open folio to the moonlight and squinted at the letters.
'Anything?' I prompted, my fingers busy unweaving the second braid into waves.
Lady Dela clicked her tongue in frustration. 'It is very faint,' she said. 'I need more light.' She frowned and shifted the book. 'These are the writings of a woman named Kinra. The last Mirror Dragoneye.'
I dropped my hands from my hair. 'Kinra?'
Lady Dela raised her eyes to me. 'What? You know the name?'
I dug my fingers under the wrap of my breast-band and ripped out the two death plaques.
'Look.' I held up the Kinra plaque. 'She is my ancestor.'
They both studied the worn lacquered memorial. Ryko pursed his lips in a soundless whistle.
'I did not think Dragoneye powers could be inherited,' he said.
'Perhaps it is just the Mirror Dragoneye,' Lady Dela said slowly. 'The female Dragoneye.'
I touched the stiff parchment. Kinra had once touched it too. My ancestor. Pride and awe held me still; I was from a line of Dragoneyes.
An abrupt image flashed into my mind — the first time in Ido's library, when I had reached for the red folio and the pearls had wound around my arm, I had felt the same rage in them that I had felt in the ceremonial swords. My swords must have once belonged to Kinra too.
'I've just remembered —'
A huge roar from deep within the harem rolled over the women's screaming wails, booming into the alley I flinched. Beside me, Lady Dela gripped the rough hessian bale. Ryko was back at the edge of the stack, knives raised. The terrible pounding cheers separated into the rhythm of a chant: Sethon, Sethon, Sethon. It was the sound of victory And threat.
Ryko suddenly pulled back, his face twisted with self-disgust. 'Too slow.'
'Oy who's down there?' a man's voice demanded.
CHAPTER 23
Ryko grabbed my arm, dragging me across his body
'Get ready' he murmured.
I shoved the death plaques back into my breast-band and sent a quick, fervent prayer to Kinra.
Protect us.
'Identify yourself,' the voice ordered.
Ryko's grip on my arm tightened.
'Swordsman Jian,' he yelled, beckoning to Lady Dela.
She looked wildly at him then yelled, And Groundsman Perron.'
Hastily shoving the folio under her armour, she stepped into place beside me, taking the knife that Ryko held out. For one silent moment, we met the fear in each other's eyes then Ryko shoved me forwards, twisting my arm halfway up my back. It was a pitiless hold and my breath caught as I was forced into a stumbling walk between them. Instinctively, I struggled against the tight restraint, Ryko's strength truly frightening. His face was hard, holding no acknowledgement of me. He jerked my arm higher until my shoulder was a straining curve of pain that hunched me into obedience. As I staggered, all I could see were the bools and legs of two soldiers standing at the mouth of the alley.
'What you got there, swordsman?' one of the soldiers asked. Even though I could not look up, I heard the leer on his face. The chanting from the next square suddenly stopped.
'Found her hiding in the stacks,' Ryko said.
'What are you doing sweeps for? That's not your job.'
'I wasn't,' Ryko said. 'Just found her when I was having a piss. Where do I take her?'
'All of the women are in the garden. 'The soldier paused. 'Give me a look.'
Ryko let go of my arm and bunched his hand into my hair. The sudden yank back forced a grunt out of me. Something deep inside crouched, ready to fight. I clamped my hands around his wrist and tried to pull free. My scalp seared with an agony that sent the night sky into a blur of tears.
'Got a bit of fight in her,' the soldier said, grabbing my jaw and holding me still. A pair of coldly appraising eyes, half shadowed under a helmet, swept over my face and down my body. 'Not bad,' he said. 'You know, we don't have to take her in. No one's going to miss a little house maid.'
Ryko jerked me backwards. 'I found her.'
The soldier eyed Ryko's size then shrugged and tilted his chin at Lady Dela. 'What are you doing here?'
'I heard something. Thought I'd check it out.' Her voice had lost its lightness and lilt. It was a man's voice, roughened with pain. At the corner of my eye, I saw her hand close over her wound to hide the makeshift bandages.
'You hurt?' he asked.
'It's nothing,' Lady Dela said, her eyes cutting to Ryko.
The other soldier, taller and better built, shook his head with disgust. 'For Shola's sake, she's not worth fighting over. 'You'll get better in the pleasure houses.' He jerked a thumb to the right, a natural authority in his movements. 'There's a
bone-man set up in that building over there. You should get yourself seen to.'
'It's not bad. And I waul to ser the executions,' Lady Dela said quickly.
'Then you better hurry. The High Lord is whipping himself up into his killing frenzy.' His disdain flicked over me then found Ryko. 'You better make it quick too.'
Ryko grunted his agreement and forced me forwards, steering me out of the a
lley. Behind us, one of the soldiers murmured something, the other man laughing derisively. It sent a hot wash of loathing through me.
'Keep going,' Ryko urged.
His ruthless hold slackened enough for me to straighten against his body Lady Dela was not near us. I hoped she had just dropped back, playing the part of the disgruntled loser.
Under the far portico, two sentries watched our approach. They were stationed at the main archway that led into a walled garden. Beyond the arch were the silhouettes of soldiers. Ranks and ranks of them, all transfixed by the voice of one man, the rich cadences of command spiking my memory.
Sethon.
The sentry on the right waved us over.
'Prisoner,' Ryko said, forestalling any questions.
I kept my face down, unable to meet any more callous appraisal.
The sentry grunted. 'Take her beside the pagoda.'
Ryko manhandled me through the archway into the press of men.
I was not prepared for the sheer number of them; scores and scores of soldiers, the sour stink of their anticipation like the reek of hunting animals. All their attention was fixed on the elegant raised pagoda at the centre of the garden square. I could only see the deep curves of its upswept roof over the heads of the men in front of me, but 1 could hear Sethon's voice booming with victory.
'I am your Emperor,' he roared. 'I am Emperor.'
'Emperor,' the men roared back, like baying dogs. Hundreds of fists punched the air.
Ryko pulled me close.
'Wait,' he said against my ear.
I gave a slight nod. There was nothing we could do until Lady Dela caught up to us. Until she found my dragon's name. I licked fear-parched lips. What if it wasn't in the folio? Or worse: what if she found it and I still couldn't call the dragon?
Four soldiers nearby noticed our arrival with sideway glances. The avidity in their faces made me shrink further into Ryko's hold. It was something I had once seen in the whipmaster when he beat a man to death. Bloodlust. These men wanted to see brutality. They wanted to see death. Any death. Behind me, I felt Ryko straighten into his full height, his free hand finding the grip of Kinra's sword. Three of the men looked away from the challenge, the fourth meeting Ryko's glare until Sethon's deep, resonating voice pulled his attention back to the pagoda. I swallowed the rise of acid terror. What could we do against hundreds of men eager for blood?