Wartorn Obliteration

AQUINT (5)

He had dried flecks of blood in his hair and kept combing his fingers through it, trying to get it out. Abraxis wasn't the first person he'd seen killed, but it certainly was one of the most violent and sensational deaths he had ever witnessed, though Tyber's had been gruesomely spectacular, too.

Radstac definitely knew how to handle that sword of hers.

She and Aquint had fled the marketplace together. They had gone sprinting through streets and alleys, along a preplanned route to shake off any pursuers. Though Aquint had heard the alarm being raised behind them, no Felk soldiers had followed.

Now they had met up at some rooms that were behind a row of smithies and woodworking shops.

Aquint looked around. He saw the Minstrel and the woman who had been with him at that burnt-out granary. A few of the others he recognized as belonging to the Broken Circle were here, plus one new face. It was thin, and wore grey stubble. Also present was Deo, of course.

"Tell me something," Aquint said, addressing the Minstrel. "Why did you move your operation here from that warehouse where you were?"

The Minstrel said nothing. Someone else spoke up, "How do you know about that?"

"It used to be my warehouse," Aquint said. "In another life. Isn't that ironic?"

"No one's in the mood for humor," a large elderly man said. Aquint vaguely remembered his name was Ondak. "We've lost a good man today."

That would be Tyber, of course, the one who'd gotten himself turned into a torch by Abraxis before Radstac took the wizard's head off. Aquint had known the old thief from bygone days.

"Funny," Aquint said. "I lost one yesterday."

Though his tone was nonchalant and sarcastic, the truth of what Aquint said still stung. He missed Cat terribly. He did have some cause to think the boy was still alive, but that meant trusting what these people had told him, that Cat's body wasn't there when they had gone back for it.

There was silence in the rooms. Then the Minstrel stepped forward.

"That's the bag?" he asked Radstac.

She had the small red bag under an arm. "Of course it is," she said curtly. Having decapitated a man a short while ago, she showed no obvious reaction.

"May I have it?" asked the Minstrel.

She tossed it toward him. But Aquint's hand flashed upward and caught it. He dangled it by its strap.

"There's something in here I need before you do whatever you think you're going to do," he said.

The Minstrel blinked. A murmur went through the others of the Broken Circle.

"What is it?" the Minstrel asked. It was a courtesy, since there were more than enough here to overpower Aquint and take the bag.

"When I was in the city of Sook," Aquint said, "I was assigned to the quartermaster. That's where Lord Abraxis came to recruit me. Never mind why he picked me. But when I accepted his offer to become an Internal Security agent, he did something curious."

They were waiting to hear. "What?" the Minstrel prompted him.

"Abraxis made a cut on my thumb," Aquint said, "and dabbed up the blood with a bit of cloth that he then put into... a bag."

"I thought it was just the wizards from that Academy place who had to give samples of their blood," Deo said. He had set down the crossbow with which he'd shot Abraxis in the back, before Radstac had finished him off.

Several heads turned toward the thin-faced one in the room Aquint didn't recognize, though he could now guess who he was. The man shrugged and said, "That is my understanding of it. Luckily, my own sample was disposed of after it was presumed I was dead. That is the standard procedure."

"It was Abraxis's measure," Aquint said. "His idea, to maintain discipline. Yes, all those magicians had to provide samples. But Abraxis told me that other, prominent figures throughout the empire were also included."

"And you are prominent?" Ondak asked scornfully.

"I was an Internal Security agent on a very important assignment."

"I like that you say 'was,' " the Minstrel said.

Aquint gave him a stony look. "What else would I say now?"

The Minstrel nodded. He considered, then said, gesturing, "This man here is named Nievze. He is late of the Academy for magic in Felk. He's a deserter. He is also a skilled practitioner of blood magic. The whole point of today's operation, which cost us the life of our cherished colleague Tyber, was to secure Abraxis's bag of samples so that Nievze here could... make use of them."

"I understand that," Aquint said sharply. It had been explained to him. "But before that happens, I need what's mine from this bag."

Silence came again. They might choose to simply ignore what he wanted. Aquint knew full well the enormous potential that this bag contained. Would these rebels pause in their plans to accommodate him—he, who had until very recently been hunting this same group, meaning to turn them over to the Felk?

Aquint wished he'd had the chance to say goodbye to Cat before everything had gone so wrong.

The Minstrel looked to Nievze. "Can you find his individual sample among all the others?"

"There'll be hundreds," Nievze said, aghast.

"Answer my question."

The wizard thought, finally scratched at his stubbly face, and said, "It can be done. But—"

"Do it," the Minstrel said, in a voice that brooked no defiance.

Aquint, still holding the bag by its strap, now handed it directly to the Minstrel. He, in turn, passed it to Nievze.

"I will need a fresh sample of his blood," the wizard grumbled. "Then I will have to match it to one of these in here. Oh, it'll be a bother."

He opened the bag, and Aquint caught a glimpse of the many, many bits of blood-blotted cloth jammed inside. Doubtlessly Abraxis had had some magical means to quickly and accurately identify each and every sample in there. But Abraxis was gone. It was up to this deserter magician from Felk.

Aquint submitted to the new sample. Nievze took it unhappily and went off into the next room for privacy while he worked. Aquint sat down to wait. The Minstrel wordlessly pulled a chair near and sat with him. The others quietly retreated.

They heard the criers.

"What watch is it?" Aquint asked, glancing up. He had sunk into a dull reverie, wondering mostly about Cat and remembering their good times with maudlin hindsight.

These rooms had only a few windows, and those were shuttered up tight. But lines of daylight still showed around the edges.

"It's an early curfew," the Minstrel said.

"That's not good," someone muttered ominously.

"What did you expect?" Aquint said tartly. "An important official from Felk, the number two man in this whole bleeding empire, was beheaded today just outside the Registry. Remember what happened after that one soldier was murdered?" He directed this poignantly at the Minstrel.

"I remember," the Minstrel said, without inflection.

"I'll bet you do. Well, let's all try to imagine how the garrison is going to respond to this." Aquint listened a moment to the criers outside calling for the clearing of the streets. "Governor Jesile has no doubt contacted Felk by now. It's a safe guess that Matokin is none too happy."

"It'll be worse than last time?" a youngish girl said, looking like she didn't quite grasp the whole situation.

Aquint gave her an offhand glance. The Minstrel had killed that garrison soldier, and for a while after that incident Callah had been subjected to the full brutality of the garrison. The Felk soldiers had entered homes randomly, assaulted citizens, seeking the murderer of one of their own, and doing a good deal of damage in the process.

"That's another safe guess," Aquint finally said to the girl. She looked uneasy.

"Don't worry, Gelshiri," the Minstrel said reassuringly.

The other members of the Circle had come back into this room, apparently rallying around their leader.

"But we should be worrying, shouldn't we?" Ondak said. "There will be a citywide search—for you and you." He pointed to Aquint and Radstac, respectively.

Radstac stood with her arms folded, no emotion on that scarred face. Aquint knew enough to realize she was the most dangerous one here. He wondered if the rest of these people knew it.

"The Felk will tear this city apart!" Ondak continued, voice rising.

"Calm yourself," Deo said. He was avoiding looking Aquint in the eye. Aquint had certainly not forgotten that he had been the one to shoot Cat with that crossbow.

"We should have Nievze cast that blood magic spell right now, while we can," somebody said.

"It's a very complicated spell," the Minstrel said. "It will take some while to perform it."

"Then let's get it started!" said Ondak.

The Minstrel glanced toward the next room, where the wizard was still murmuring mysteriously over the contents of Abraxis's bag. "Nievze hasn't yet found Aquint's blood sample."

"It's too late for that!"

"I said, calm down, Ondak," Deo said, more sharply.

The Minstrel nodded. He looked around the room. "This man lured Abraxis here in the first place. Without him we wouldn't have that bag. If Nievze casts that spell with Aquint's sample still among..." He shook his head. "No. Aquint has earned that much from us. I'll hear no more about it."

They all quieted, the matter dropped. Aquint didn't quite give the Minstrel a grateful look, but he was impressed by the man's authority.

The wait continued.

A passing commotion was heard now and then, in the distance, as night fell. Tension mounted among the group. Finally one among them, asking the Minstrel's permission first, crept stealthily outside for a look around. He returned a moment later, somewhat white-faced.

"What did you see, Minst?" asked the girl, Gelshiri.

"There must be many more Felk soldiers in this city now than there have been since Callah's invasion," the one named Minst said. "I saw a company of them, several streets distant. It looked like hundreds."

The Broken Circle members absorbed that with varying degrees of apprehension.

"Jesile probably had troops Far Moved in," Aquint said. "Or maybe Matokin ordered it."

His eyes flickered around at the surrounding faces. Now that danger was looming, would they change their minds about waiting for Nievze to locate his sample among the contents of that bag?

"Gods," Ondak said. "Listen to that."

There was a great rumble nearing, booted feet pounding Callah's streets, the rattle of arms. Voices cried out as—presumably—houses were being entered by the soldiers and the inhabitants forced outside.

It would be worse than the last time the Felk had acted so. In fact, the Felk might be slaughtering Callahans indiscriminately, as a reprisal for Abraxis's grisly death. However, Matokin would also know about the bag. He would understand how important it was to get it back.

The Minstrel rose to his feet. "Nievze, are you nearly done? Time is growing short."

From the next room, the wizard said, "I'm working as fast as this can be done. I'm trying—" He sounded slightly hysterical.

The tumult outside was growing closer still. Deo picked up the crossbow and laid a bolt in its groove. The Broken Circle members exchanged grim looks amongst themselves. Radstac put her hand almost casually to the pommel of her sword.

There was suddenly the sound of someone moving about on the roof overhead. The footsteps were soft, but the old rafters creaked nonetheless. Grit sifted down from the ceiling.

"They're on top of us!" Ondak said in a raspy, frightened whisper, ducking his head instinctively.

Aquint finally stood from his seat. This wasn't right. Why would the garrison bother climbing atop the roof?

In the corner of the room's ceiling, a hinged hatchway abruptly came open to reveal a space just large enough to accommodate a person. Aquint hadn't noticed the hatch before. If the expressions of surprise on the faces of the others were any measure, no one else had known it was there either.

When Cat ducked his fair-haired head down through the hole, Aquint was gripped simultaneously with shock, joy, and a strange feeling that the boy's reappearance just now was somehow inevitable.

"Are you hurt?" Aquint asked, hurrying toward the corner, grinning broadly up at his young friend.

"Being shot with a crossbow isn't as much fun as you'd think," Cat said, an uncharacteristic try at humor.

Aquint wanted to whoop with laughter. But there wasn't time.

"Can we get away from here over the roof?" he asked.

Cat, head hanging upside down, nodded. "You'll want to get moving fast."

"I have it!" Nievze suddenly cried out, then came hurrying into the room. He brandished two bloodstained bits of cloth, one the sample that Aquint had just surrendered, the other evidently the one Abraxis had taken from him back in Sook.

Aquint stepped forward. He seized the two pieces of bloodied cloth.

"You're sure?" he asked the wizard, intently.

The man with the grey stubble nodded. "I was trained in this magic. It's what I know."

Aquint continued to search the gaunt face, looking for signs of treachery.

"You will have to trust him, Aquint," said the Minstrel, behind him.

Aquint realized that this was true. He pocketed the blood samples.

"Let's go, let's go!" Ondak was urging, wrestling a chair toward the corner. He hopped atop it, then levered his grunting weight up into the hatchway.

One by one, they swiftly evacuated the rooms. When Aquint finally rolled out onto the roof, he felt the bite of the night air. He heard the large Felk patrol nearing in the street below.

"Keep your heads down," the Minstrel whispered. He was standing by the hatch, making sure everyone got out. Aquint went ahead, catching up to Cat, wanting to put his arms around the boy, but knowing that would only make the lad uncomfortable. He settled for slapping him cheerily on the back.

"I knew you weren't dead," Aquint said, half-lying.

Cat gave him a look that, briefly, was warm and welcoming. Then the boy grimaced and resumed his more normal, stoic expression. He said, "I was able to track you to that granary, then to here." Then he said, pointing, "We're going this way."

Aquint followed, seeing how Cat moved a bit awkwardly, a hand to his side. He hoped the boy's wound wasn't too serious. This rooftop connected to the roofs over the row of craft shops, and these led some distance away from the approaching patrol. The Broken Circle members came after them, everyone hunkered low, moving quickly and stealthily. Nievze was among them, Abraxis's red bag clutched tightly to him.

Frightened voices rose from the street, as people were turned outdoors. If their group could get off these rooftops at the far end, Aquint judged, they could stay ahead of the patrols, long enough to find someplace where Nievze could cast his elaborate blood magic spell.

And after that... what? After that, this whole war might be over. It was a delirious, intoxicating, exciting thought, one Aquint couldn't help but entertain, no matter that his pragmatic instincts told him not to wholly trust this plan.

"You! Up there! Hold!"

Aquint looked back, dread closing over him. The Broken Circle members were rushing toward the roofs' far end, but somebody must have gotten careless. Now the patrol had spotted them.

"Hurry!" Cat said. He had apparently used a ladder to get up onto the rooftops in the first place. It was still leaning against the building's eaves. Gelshiri bounded down it. Ondak followed her over the side immediately. But there wasn't enough time to get everyone down that way.

The Minstrel was still toward the rear. Deo, with his crossbow, was with him. Radstac had reached Aquint near the edge. She looked back now, saw Deo, and reversed course.

"Radstac, don't!" Aquint called, forgetting for the moment that she was partly responsible for Cat being shot.

Cat grabbed Aquint's sleeve. "Come on," the lad said.

He was right, of course. "Everybody jump!" Aquint said to the others, all vying for a chance at the ladder.

As if to demonstrate, Cat nodded and vaulted fearlessly over the edge of the roof. It was a fair distance to the street below, but most would probably survive the fall with a minimum of broken bones.

Aquint took a last look behind. Deo, aiming at the street, fired off his crossbow, then fit it with another bolt. Radstac had drawn her sword. That woman who'd been with the Minstrel at the granary, the one with the amber eyes, was with him now, at his side.

Nievze suddenly stepped in front of Aquint. "I'm frightened!" the wizard said, voice quivering.

Aquint roughly seized Nievze's arm. "Come with me, friend. We still need you to work your magic."

With that, Aquint leapt from the roof, carrying the magic-using Felk deserter down with him.