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familiar scarred face.
Descares.
Blade instinctively stepped away from the wall and dropped into fighting
stance, one hand near the hilt of his sword. The motion drew Descares' eye. He
turned, then also froze.
"Blade!" he roared.
"Gursun! To me!" Blade thundered, even louder. The big Nessiri spun around,
drew his sword, and dashed toward Blade. At the same time the slaves pushing
the breakfast cart broke into a run, panicked by the sudden shouts. They
dashed across the courtyard, forcing Descares to jump aside.
Blade shouted to Gursun again. "Quick! Grab that cart!" Gursun made a furious
lunge, knocked two of the slaves aside, and grabbed the handles of the cart.
Blade broke away from the stunned guards at the inner gate, knocking one of
them flat, and ran up to the cart. He tried to pry the last slave loose, but
the man's terror was freezing his grip on the cart. Blade drew his sword.
"Quick! Which way to Duke Pardes' apartment?"
"T-t-throoo t'gate and t'ird door t'left, m-m-m-master. D-don't kill-"
"Hang on and we won't!" Blade nodded to Gursun and the two big men shoved hard
on the cart. It went rumbling across the courtyard, heading straight for the
gate.
Descares was screaming, "Guards! Guards! Assassins! Stop them! Stop-!" as he
leaped wildly aside again to keep from being flattened on the tiles of the
courtyard. Blade and Gursun ducked as one of the gate guards threw a spear. It
struck one of the silver dishes and knocked the lid off, sending a roasted
chicken tumbling to the ground. Then the massive cart crashed into the inner
gate with all the speed and power that Blade and Gursun together could give
it. Gilt ornaments, ironwork, dishes, cups, and silverware flew in all
directions. The gate flew open; the slave screamed and leaped down from the
cart, then ran for his life. Blade and Gursun vaulted over the twisted remains
of the cart and plunged through the open gate. Descares was only yards behind
them, shrieking incoherently and waving a snatched-up spear in each hand.
The two men headed to the right and began to run, feet crunching on the gravel
walks of the garden, vaulting bushes, zig-zagging like foxes with the hounds
after them. Blade wasn't sure they would be able to make it to cover in time,
but kept on running.
Then a massive figure loomed out of the shadows under the gallery ahead.
Pardes wore a white robe, and walked slowly and carefully, using his massive
club now as a walking stick. His appearance drew
another yell from Descares.
"Lord! Assassins! Hide yourself!" He raised his arm and hurled one of his
spears. But his targets were moving too fast and his aim was too uncertain.
The spear came nowhere near either Blade or Gursun. It soared through the air
and instead cracked into a marble pillar beside Pardes, only a foot above his
head.
Pardes jumped a foot into the air and let out a bellow of fury that echoed
around the courtyard. "I
thought you were against me, Descares! Now I know! Guards, seize Descares for
treason! NOW!"
Descares stopped as if he had run into a brick wall, and the other guards did
the same. But Pardes' roar paralyzed them so thoroughly they couldn't move to
obey his orders. Descares screamed hysterically, ran a few feet toward Pardes,
and threw his other spear. No one could doubt that this one was aimed straight
at Pardes.
Page 77
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But it never reached him. As it whistled across the grass, suddenly Gursun was
there in its path. Perhaps the Nessiri intended to catch it in mid-air.
Instead it drove into his stomach, so hard that the point drove out through
his back. It gleamed in the sunlight, wet with Gursun's blood.
For a moment, it seemed that everyone was totally paralyzed. Pardes stood,
mouth and eyes open with surprise and rage. Gursun stood, the spear jutting
out of him, shock glazing his expression. Blade stood, eyes focusing on
Descares. The soldiers just stood, completely at a loss for what to do.
Then movement began again. Gursun gave a choked cry and fell with a thud to
the ground, his face twisted in pain. Pardes moved forward, looking as
formidable as a charging elephant. Descares' eyes flickered wildly about him
as he looked for some place to run or hide. He was still looking when Blade
walked up to him and put both hands around his throat.
After that there was quite a long time when Blade didn't know what was going
on. The first thing he knew clearly was Pardes' voice sounding behind him as
he pounded Descares' head on the ground.
"Blade?"
Blade looked at the bloody thing Descares had become, wiped his hands on the
grass, and stood up.
"Yes, sir?"
"Perhaps you would tell me how you-let us say, how you managed to rise from
the dead. And also other things." He turned and led Blade toward the privacy
of his own rooms.
Chapter 23
Pardes read the message and listened to Blade in silence. After that he was
quite willing to forgive Blade for disrupting his breakfast, breaking down his
gate, and strewing his garden with bodies. He would have liked to hear more
details, but Blade cut him off.
"Sir, I will talk more later. But for now there is Gursun. Without him I would
not be here. He is certainly dying, and I can at least give him the comfort of
my being there, if nothing else." Pardes nodded and
Blade hurried away.
Blade arrived while Gursun was still conscious. He had refused any drugs
because he wanted to be awake to talk to Blade. His face was ashy and his lip
bled where he had bitten it because of the pain. He
gripped Blade's outstretched hand so hard that Blade thought the fingers would
snap. "Blade-your promise-for the Nessiri slaves-remember-remember."
Then the doctors scurried around, to fill Gursun with drugs so that he could
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