Authors: Marion Zimmer Bradley
Mikhail's other side, they raced along the corridor past their rooms as the ceiling began
to collapse behind them, great and small blocks of masonry tumbling down on all
sides.
The door at the end of the corridor was closed, and Mikhail knew it was barred from
the opposite side. Marius pulled at the knob, his face twisting with frustration. Now
they were all crowded together, trying to escape the falling debris. There were screams,
and shouts. A rafter crashed down, catching one of the men on the shoulder.
Marius was white and panicky now, and Mikhail could see him scrabble at the wood of
the door, clawing it with his long fingers. It was futile. The door had been solidly built,
intended to keep people in or out. Marguerida leaned against him, and he could sense
her mind racing. She narrowed her eyes to slits, her expression grim. Then he heard the
bar pulled back.
The door swung back. One of the silent servants stared at them. He did not try to stand
in their way, but just
remained there, looking dull-witted. He glanced at Marguerida. She must have used the
Alton Gift to compel the man to open the door. Then there was the sound of another
explosion, and no more time to think. They raced through the next corridor, and the
man who had opened the door followed behind them.
The huge kitchen was almost deserted. One of the servants rose from the hearth,
looking very puzzled. The whole building was quaking around them.
One of the
leroni
urged the servant ahead with little shooing gestures. They started for
the door of the kitchen. Mikhail knew, from his explorations of the past few days, that
it opened into a small courtyard that backed on the stables. They entered the space, into
a world of flickering orange light and billows of black smoke. Sparks filled the air, and
he could hear the voices of men shouting for water. The smoke made his lungs ache,
and horses neighed frantically. There was another smell, an acrid stench he recognized.
Explosives! That bone-rattling boom a few minutes before must have been the armory
going up.
They rushed into the stable, and everyone pulled open stall doors as they fled down the
length of it. The horses were frantic, but the presence of humans seemed to calm them
a little, and only a few reared dangerously. It was a frightening experience, but he was
strengthened by adrenalin and when he found his big gelding, he grabbed the
hackamore on his muzzle, and dragged the large animal along with him.
Mikhail looked for Marguerida then, and found her on his heels, her face white and
strained. With a quick movement, he pulled himself onto the horse, then leaned down
and helped her up behind him. Then he bent low over the horse's long neck, and the
steed bolted toward the far end of the stable.
Exiting the barn into the yard where they had arrived, they were surrounded by
terrified, hysterical animals, guards in various states of undress, and some of the
leroni.
A few had managed to duplicate Mikhail's feat and were mounted, and he could
see Marius and Betha pulled up behind him. But it was too chaotic for him to count
people, and he kneed his horse through two staring guards, who only jumped aside at
the last second.
Beside him, a horse reared and struck out at one of the men, screaming with panic. He
pulled the gelding aside, cursing the clumsiness of the hackamore, and risked a glance
over his shoulder. Marguerida was clinging to him, holding him tightly around the
waist, her huge eyes reflecting the orange lights of flames. What remained of the top
floor of the Tower blew at that moment, releasing the energy remaining in the matrix
screens in a blast that shook the earth and nearly knocked them both off the animal.
The shock wave sucked the air from their lungs, and then it struck the second tower.
There was a great thunder of falling stonework, and the ground trembled beneath the
horse. Mikhail's only thought was to escape while they could. He headed toward the
high wall that surrounded the keep, aware of the
leroni
around him, but so focused on
the task of keeping his horse steady that he was not certain everyone had escaped.
Several figures ran toward him, and he caught the flash of swords in the ruddy glow of
the fire. He saw the slender face of
Dom
Padriac among them, his features twisted with
rage. He ran straight at Mikhail's horse, clearly intending to skewer the animal, and
Mikhail barely managed to pull the horse aside before he did.
Dom
Padriac turned gracefully, and Mikhail yanked at the horse's mouth, trying to
escape the sweep of the sword. He felt the tip of it whisper past his soft slippers, and
wished he were not weaponless. With two riders, the gelding lacked the power to move
quickly, and he knew that the unmounted man actually had a small advantage.
Davil seemed to appear from nowhere and charged toward their attacker. He lifted
something oblong and brought it down on
Dom
Padriac's skull, a glancing blow.
Mikhail saw it was a rolling pin, from the kitchen. How ignominious, he thought,
elated.
Dom
Padriac staggered, and his knees buckled slightly. Then he shook his head,
regripped his sword more firmly, and headed toward Mikhail again, shouting
something as he did. In the roar of the fire, and the screaming of the animals, his words
were lost.
There was a rush of wind past Mikhail's head, and some-
thing dark flew into
Dom
Padriac's face. In the flare of the fire, Mikhail saw the sea
crow dig its talons into the proud face, then pierce an eye with its sharp beak.
Dom
Padriac's words turned to incoherent shrieks, and he clawed at the crow with his free
hand, then brought his sword up in a sweep of metal. It caught the great sea crow
across the rise of its wings, and even in the poor light, Mikhail could see a line of
blood appear on the black feathers.
The crow fluttered, struggling. He heard a rough caw, and saw the great talons sink
into the throat of
Dom
Padriac El Haliene, piercing the flesh. Blood spurted out,
gushing over the dying bird. For a moment,
Dom
Padriac remained standing. His hand
closed around the crow and pulled it free, dropping it onto the now blood-slicked
stones at his feet. He stared at Mikhail and Marguerida from his remaining eye,
gurgled, and fell headlong beside the dead bird.
Mikhail felt heartsick at the loss of his avian friend. He forced himself to pay attention
to the men milling nearby, to the
leroni
who were grouping themselves around him,
like some honor guard. He turned the gelding toward the gate again, and saw the
guards hesitate at the sight of their dead liege.
Then there was another rumble of collapsing masonry, and the fire seemed to enlarge
and consume the remaining floors. One man, more clearheaded than the rest, turned to
his fellows and said, "Let's get out of this accursed place. Open the gates!"
"But, Raol," another protested.
"The
dom
is dead—we are finished here! Do you want to die, Fredrik?"
Several of the men did not wait to hear his answer, but ran to the huge gate and began
to slip back the great wooden bar. They pulled the gate back with ropes, and pushed
through it without a backward glance. Mikhail breathed a lungful of smoky air, and
then kneed the gelding. He coughed a little as he went beneath the arch of the gate, and
into the flickering darkness.
The night was cloudcast, and a little chilly, but Mikhail decided he had never seen a
lovelier night. Wearing only a woolen robe intended for indoors, cloakless, he could
feel
the pleasant warmth of Marguerida's body pressed against him. He could almost make
out the heavy scent of trees, as he started to urge the horse forward, with the others
around him. There was a silence between them, as the sounds of destruction continued.
They rode for several minutes, and Mikhail had no idea which direction they were
going. He was very tired now, and sad as well. The crow was dead. It had saved him
for the last time. Depression began to eat away at his earlier elation. Then he felt
Marguerida's grip tighten on his flat stomach.
Mik
—
there is someone following us.
Friend or foe?
I think it is that little woman
—
Leonora?
—
and she is very angry. They are not very far
behind either.
Just then Davil spoke. "We are being pursued. It looks as if the old woman managed to
save her blasted riders. They would follow her into hell itself. She always was a tough
one." There was a kind of grudging admiration in the words.
"Who is she?" Marguerida asked.
"The
dom's
mother,
Domna
Leonora. She was too old to become a Keeper when the
Lord of Hali organized his Tower, too old and already a mother as well. But ambitious
nonetheless, they say."
"We are no match for armed men," Marius complained. There was an undertone of fear
in his voice, as if he kept his terror at bay by will alone.
"No, we aren't," Mikhail agreed. "But she must be mad if she thinks she can ..."
"Crazy and cunning,
Dom
Angelo. My father always said it would have been better if
she had been a man, not a woman, and he should know, being her younger brother and
all." Davil gave a slight shrug in the dimness. "She was a wild girl, and grew into a
strange woman, he said. Full of hatred, because my grandfather married her off to
Dom
Rakhal El Haliene, who was mean and passed his meanness on to his son."
What should he do? Mikhail felt the exhaustion of the past few hours envelop him. He
was too weary and sad for this. He tried to summon up some energy, but felt only his
own emptiness. He needed rest, and a place to hide himself and Marguerida.
Go to the Lake, my son.
The Lake?
Hali will conceal you.
The command rang in his mind firm and comforting. He could not imagine how Lake
Hali might conceal him, but he did not question the voice in his mind. Instead, Mikhail
felt a vast relief that he did not have to make any decision at all for the present.
Mikhail cleared his still raw throat. "I think it best if we split up. They will have a
harder time if they are trying to follow several parties instead of one."
Davil was looking at Mikhail. "That will be fine for us, but she is looking for you,
Angelo."
"Then we will just have to trust she will not catch us. She will regret it if she does."
"No doubt." Davil hesitated. "Very well. We will split up—I will take some of us to the
north, and Marius can take the others to the south. Which group will you join?"
"Neither, Davil. Here we part ways forever. I have been honored to have met all of
you, but I have another path which I must follow." He spoke with more confidence
than he felt.
Davil looked a little sad, and so did several of the other
leroni.
But he nodded,
accepting the decision. "Fare thee Well, Angelo—or whoever you may be! You are
well-named!" Then he flashed a grin in the darkness, his white teeth gleaming, and
began to reorganize the
leroni
into two groups.
Mikhail kneed the gelding ahead. He had his bearings now, and he could just see the
faintest glimmer of the rising sun on the horizon, coloring the clouds a delicate pink. A
soft rain started to fall, and as they rode away, the wind rose a bit. The rain began to
soak their robes, and he shivered. The pink dawn was all gray now. ,
Mikhail felt Marguerida's head rest against his back, her fingers laced around his
middle. He could feel her healing shadow matrix lapping though him, refreshing and
invigorating. The horse was moving at a decent pace, considering the weight of two
riders, and he knew he could not force
the animal to go any faster. He breathed the clean air and waited for the sound of
hoofbeats behind him.
The bloody sun had just edged above the distant horizon when he finally heard them,
and he could see the banks of the lake ahead of him, cloaked in rosy mist. It was not
far, but he urged the tired horse on, and saw the mist creeping toward him. The gelding
gave a grunt, then moved into a laboring canter. The noise of several horses drew
nearer and nearer.
"There they are! Get them!" It was the shrill voice of a woman.
The gelding stumbled and went down. Mikhail rolled free with Marguerida still
clinging to him, then stumbled to his feet as he saw the first of the riders racing toward
him. It was one of the identical constructs who had captured them, silent and utterly
expressionless.
Mikhail pulled Marguerida to her feet, and they stood together a moment. Then she
pushed herself free, swallowed hard, and gave an eerie vocalization that made his
blood run cold. The oncoming horse jerked and reared, dumping its rider on the ground
and then dashed away into the few trees that grew near the lake.