They're herding us. To the bridge. What's waiting for us on the other side?
The alley widened into something like a street just past the first flanking buildings, and directly before them was the low wall encircling the park.
T'amber slowed, as if unsure whether to skirt that wall to the left or the right, then she staggered, lifting her sword as attackers closed in on her from both sides.
The Adjunct cried out.
Blades clashed, a body tumbled to one side, the others swarming round T'amber – Kalam saw two knives sink into the woman's torso, yet still she remained on her feet, slashing out with her sword. As Tavore reached them – thrusting her otataral blade into the side of an assassin's head, a savage lateral tug freeing it, the rust-hued weapon hissing into the path of an arm, slicing through flesh and bone, the arm flying awayKalam saw, in the heartbeat before he joined the fight, T'amber reaching out with her free hand to take a Claw by the throat, then pull the attacker into the air, pivoting to throw the Claw against the stone wall. Even as the figure repeatedly stabbed the woman in the chest, shoulders and upper arms.
Gods below!
Kalam arrived like a charging bhederin, long-knives licking out even as he hammered his weight into one Claw, then another, sending both sprawling.
There in the gloom before the wall of Raven Hill Park, a savage frenzy of close-in fighting, a second Hand joining what was left of the first. A dozen rapid heartbeats, and it was over.
And there was no time to pause, no time for a breath to recover, as quarrels began pounding into the wall.
Kalam waved mutely to run along the wall, westward, and somehow – impossibly – T'amber once more took the lead.
Screams erupted behind them, but there was no time to look. The wall curved southward, forming one side of the street leading to Admiral Bridge, and there stood the stone span, unlit, so buried in shadows that it might have been at the base of a pit. As they drew closer, that sorcery wavered, then died. Revealing… nothing. No-one in sight.
'T'amber!' Kalam hissed. 'Hold up!'
Whatever had struck in their wake had snared the attention of the pursuing Claws – at least for the moment. 'Adjunct, listen to me. You and T'amber, get down into the river. Follow it straight to the harbour.'
'What about you?' Tavore demanded.
'We haven't yet encountered a third of the Hands in the city, Adjunct.' He nodded towards the Mouse. 'They're in there. I plan on leading them a merry chase.' He paused, then spat out a mouthful of phlegm and blood. 'I can lose them eventually – I know the Mouse, Tavore. I'll take to the rooftops.'
'There's no point in splitting up-'
'Yes, Adjunct. There is.' Kalam studied T'amber for a moment. Yes, despite everything, not much longer for you. 'T'amber agrees with me.
She'll get you to the harbour.'
From the streets and alleys behind them, ominous silence, now. Closing in. 'Go.'
The Adjunct met his eyes. 'Kalam-'
'Just go, Tavore.'
He watched as they moved to the edge of the river, the old sagging stone retaining wall at their feet. T'amber climbed down first. The river was befouled, sluggish and shallow. It would be slow going, but the darkness would hide them. And when they get to the harbour… well, it'll be time to improvise.
Kalam adjusted his grips on the long-knives. A last glance behind him.
Still nothing there. Odd. He fixed his gaze on the bridge. All right.
Let's get this over with.
Lostara Yil made her way across the concourse, leaving Rampart Way and the bodies at its foot behind her. The sounds of rioting were still distant – coming from the harbour and beyond – while the nearby buildings and estates were silent and unlit, as if she had found herself in a necropolis, a fitting monument to imperial glory.
The small figure that stepped out before her was thus all the more startling, and her disquiet only increased upon recognizing him. '
Grub,' she said, approaching, 'what are you doing here?'
'Waiting for you,' the boy replied, wiping at a runny nose.
'What do you mean?'
'I'll take you where you need to go. It's a sad night, but it will be all right, you'll see that one day.' With that he turned around and headed off along the avenue, southward. 'We don't need to stay on the path, not yet. We can take the first bridge. Lostara Yil-' a glance back, 'you're very pretty.'
Suddenly chilled despite the sultry air, she set off after him. 'What path?'