Honor Among Thieves

Chapter Nine: A Daring Rescue

The clang of an alarm rose from the fortress baileyas Fox poked his head into Muldonny’s workroom. Metallic footstepsclattered toward the workshop in numbers that suggested a dozenrunaway horses, or possibly a small rock slide.

“Time to go!” he called as he reached for therope.

Delgar seized him by the back of his shirt, hauledhim up into the room, and spun him toward the door. “Hold them offfor a few minutes. I know where the dagger is!”

Fox ran to the door and kicked it shut. He droppedthe wooden bar and looked around for something to reinforce it. Along shaft of metal stood propped in one corner. He added that tothe bar.

The first thunderous blow shook the room. Bottlesfell from shelves. A glass orb rolled across the floor.

His gaze tracked its path back to a low woodenbarrel. A pile of glass spheres shivered under the secondimpact.

“Avidan, over here!”

The alchemist tore his gaze away from the dead adeptand hurried to the barrel. Fox snatched up a handful of thesolvent-filled spheres.

“When the guards break through, hit them withthese.”

The alchemist nodded and cocked back his arm, readyto hurl the first globe at the door.

“Honor, you too,” Fox said.

The elf turned toward him.

Fox took an involuntary step back. Never had he seensuch murderous rage. His hatred of the adepts was a pale thing nextto what burned in her silver eyes.

“Rhendish will die for this,” she said in a low,terrible voice. “This I swear by wind and word, song andstarlight.”

She pulled a ring from the dead man’s hand and thrustit onto her forefinger. Then she rose, bloody sword in hand, andwaited.

Fox felt a stab of pity for whatever came through thedoor.

The wooden bar splintered, knocking the metal rodaside and sending the door flying inward.

The elf held her ground while Fox and Avidan peltedthe clockwork knights with Muldonny’s solvent.

The first fell in the doorway, half in and half outof the room. Acrid smoke rose from the ruin. Avidan took the nextknight out at the knees, sending it clattering backward down thestairs.

The clockwork guards did not, as Fox hoped, go downlike a row of dominoes. More came, and still more, and finally twoof them broke into the room.

Honor met them.

Fox had no idea such fighting was possible.

The clockwork knights came at her with two weaponseach, a sword the length of Fox’s arm and a short, stout knife. Sheslipped away from each attack like smoke and dealt two inreturn.

It occurred to Fox that she showed considerably moreskill against these metal warriors than she did when her attackerswere two thugs in an alley. Later, he’d have to give that somethought.

A thunderous crash rose above the clatter ofbattle.

Fox glanced back over his shoulder. Daylight shonebehind what had been a solid stone wall. Delgar stood amid therubble, warhammer in hand. He caught Fox’s eye and beckoned himover.

Since Honor had the clockwork guards well in hand,Fox hurried over to help the dwarf.

The courtyard lay far below. It was surrounded bywalls on four sides, one of which was built upon a rocky cliff thatfell in a long, sheer drop to sea. The cliff continued beyond thecourtyard wall, curving inward and hugging a rock-strewn bay. Atthe tip of the cliff stood a tall tower. A narrow stone ledge ledout over the bay, more decoration than walkway, supported only bythin buttresses leading to the stronghold one side and the tower onthe other.

Delgar pointed to the ledge, which connected to theworkroom’s outer wall about six feet from the new opening.

“Find a plank, anything we can use as a bridge.”

Before Fox could turn away, Vishni, framed by wingsthe color of a summer sky, burst from the tower’s highest window.She held a shining object in her hand and waved it triumphantly asshe flitted toward the workshop.

A small storm of arrows rose to greet her.

Fox screamed in denial as the fairy plummeted towardthe sea.

One small, flailing hand found purchase on the stoneledge. Vishni tossed the dagger onto the walkway to free her otherhand. She clung to the edge and wailed. Arrows protruded from herside, her shoulder, her thigh. Her wings draped her like a torn andbloody cloak.

Honor pushed past him and leaped through the openingin the wall. She landed on the ledge and and ran toward the fairy,as sure-footed as a bird on a limb.

She left behind her a spatter trail of blood and ahorrified thief.

He’d caught sight of the deep cut on her arm.

And the clockwork gears beneath.

Everything fell suddenly, horribly into place. Theonly adept who could possibly create a clockwork creature of suchsubtlety and complexity was Rhendish.

Shock flared into fury, then firmed into resolve.

“I’m going after Vishni,” Fox said.

“The elf’s got her,” Delgar said. “Let her handlethis.”

He shook his head. “She’s going after thedagger.”

Delgar pointed toward the courtyard. Some signal hadalerted the human guards to the clockwork knights’ destruction.Armed men stormed into the inner bailey.

“Make it fast.”

Fox hurried to Muldoony’s worktable and heaved itover on its side. Delgar got the idea right away. He pulled a smallaxe from his belt and with a few quick blows reduced the table tolong wooden planks. He and Fox carried one to the shattered walland slid it through the opening to form a bridge to the stoneledge.

“The sands are shifting,” Avidan said.

Fox glanced back. The alchemist held up a smallhourglass to indicate how much time they had left. He’d alreadyadded something of his own to Muldonny’s solvent, an alchemicalbrew that would create an explosion big enough to seal off theworkroom.

A disturbing thought leapt into Fox’s mind. “I addedmetal to that vat the last time we were here. Will that make adifference?”

The alchemist’s eyes widened. It was more expressionthan Fox had seen on his face in four years.

“You two go now,” Fox said, pointing to the shaft.“We’ll be right behind you.”

He stepped out onto the board and teetereddangerously. The next step was better. When he got to the stoneledge he spread his arms out wide for balance and concentrated onputting one foot in front of the other.

He was halfway there when the explosion shook thefortress.

Fragile rock crumbled under his feet. He saw Honorpitch forward. The dagger flew from her hand in a wide, shiningarc.

Vishni was gone.

Fox searched for the fairy as he plunged toward thesea, but saw no trace of her. He took a certain grim satisfactionin knowing that the dagger would either shatter or be lost in thewater. Either result was fine with him.

He heard the splash as Honor hit the water.

That was fine with him, too.

Dark water closed over him with a roar that rivaledthe explosion. Fox felt the pain of impact in every fiber as hesank deep into the cold northern sea.

Finally, his descent slowed. He blew out the scantremaining air in his lungs little by little as he clawed his waytoward the sun.

He broke the surface and dragged in air with longpainful gasps. A wave broke over him, leaving him sputtering andcoughing. He knew he should swim, but his arms refused to obeyhim.

“Hold on. Almost there,” a man shouted.

A small fishing boat came toward him. Relief sweptthrough Fox and lent him the strength to reach for the line thefisherman threw him.

His rescuer hauled in the line. As Fox neared theboat, he noticed a slash of paint over the place where the boat’sname was usually written. He lifted his gaze to the man in theboat. As he feared, the man had a long blond beard, a crooked scaron his forehead, and a nose that Fox had recently broken.

The last thing Fox saw was the man’s scowl ofrecognition, and the oar he lifted high overhead.