Taaki rolled onto her feet, took one look at the offending lizard-she didn't even roar-and jumped, reminding Lewan of a barn cat lunging on a mouse. Perch avoided the first strike, but he was not quick enough to dodge the second. The tiger struck again, trapping the lizard between paw and pavement. The tiger's head ducked down. Her back faced Lewan, but he heard her massive jaws snap closed. She shook her head left and right once, then threw her head back as she swallowed the treeclaw lizard whole.
'Perch!' Berun screamed.
Sauk laughed. 'Don't cry too much. Your little friend got her eye. A lot more than most of her prey get. But only the strong survive. Your little lizard never had a chance.'
Sauk backed away and lowered his sword. Berun just stood, looking at the tiger.
'Stop this now,' said Sauk. 'Before someone else you care about gets hurt. Drop the knife. Now. Drop it or Taaki takes you down.'
Berun stood still a moment, then he stood straight. Lewan gasped, and the hammer wavered in his hand. Was it over?
Then Berun grabbed the clasp of his cloak. A twist, and the heavy fabric fell to the ground. Unencumbered, he dropped into a defensive crouch and brandished the strange ivory blade.
'Your choice,' called Sauk. He pointed his blade at Berun and told the tiger, 'Taaki, anukh!'
The tiger came in slowly, each paw placed carefully on the wet pavement before her, her head low to the ground. Lewan knew that a knife would be no match against the tiger. He brought the hammer back, preparing to throw-if he could hit the tiger in the head, it would stun her long enough for his master to get away.
But before Lewan could throw, Taaki went still as stone. She crouched, unmoving, and Lewan counted five quick beats of his heart. Then a tremor passed through her, so violent that she sprayed thousands of tiny droplets of rain out of her fur. She twisted around, snapping at her midsection with her teeth.
'Taaki?' called Sauk, his voice thick with worry. 'What's wrong?'
The tiger screamed-high, pitiful, and with such strength that Lewan flinched and covered one ear with his free hand. 'Taaki!'
The tiger bit at her side several more times, then threw herself onto her back and began to flop and writhe like a live fish thrown onto a hot pan. Again and again she screamed, drowning out Sauk's cries. She writhed and squirmed, her rear paws kicking the air, and then she clawed at her own torso with her front claws. Fur wet with rain flew-and then fur wet with blood and bits of skin-and still she screamed. Lewan had never heard such cries of agony.
A few assassins ran over. One of the archers approached Sauk, his bow in hand and arrow still on the string. He pointed it at the tiger. 'Sauk, shall I-?'
Another shriek from the tiger drowned out his last words.
The bowman raised his bow, pulled shaft to cheek, and pointed the sharp steel at the tiger. Sauk snarled and cut off the man's head with one backswing of his sword. The archer's body fell one way, his head the other, and blood flew up in a great gout over his companions, who were quickly stepping back.
Talieth was screaming something, and even though she was only a few paces away, Lewan could not make out her words over the tiger's cries.
Sauk dropped his sword and tried to approach the tiger, but as soon as he came within reach of her claws, one raked across his leg, gashing a wide red swath through his trousers and skin. Grimacing in horror, he backed away.
Taaki slapped her torso with both paws three times in quick succession-with such force that Lewan was shocked he didn't hear bone snapping. Then she arched her back and let out a long, final scream that rose and rose until it was beyond human hearing. Her muscles seemed locked in that position, the middle of her back arched almost a foot off the ground, when Lewan saw it The torn fur and skin high up on her stomach… bulged — then fell back.
Her back relaxed, and she hit the pavement. Her stomach bulged again, larger this time, and kept expanding until the skin ruptured and tore. The lights hovering over the tower courtyard brightened from a pale blue to a bright green, and Lewan saw a tiny claw emerge from the torn skin. Then another, scratching and raking at the bloody flesh. The rupture widened, and Perch's horned head emerged-his skin black from blood and other fluids, but when he opened his eyes, they reflected the unearthly green light.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sauk roared, his own cry of grief fierce as any tiger's, and raised his fist to smash the treeclaw lizard. His arm was halfway through its descent when Berun tackled him. The two combatants struck and slid across the pavement in a great splash of rain and blood.
Sauk used the momentum to throw Berun off and away. Berun hit the courtyard wall-had it not been thick with green ivy and moss, he would have had broken bones-and then fell to the ground. The half-orc scrambled for his sword, and Berun regained his feet.
Talieth turned to her men. 'Stop them! Hurt them if you must, but do not kill them!'
But Sauk was beyond reason. The rage of a maddened beast filled him, and he came at Berun swinging with all his strength, no longer using the flat of his blade. It was all Berun could do to avoid each strike, stab, and swipe.
The assassins advanced, none of them exhibiting any enthusiasm. Lewan had no idea where Perch had gone.
Sauk and Berun's battle took them under the arch of the gateway and inside the courtyard. The lights seemed to gather round them, bathing the combatants in eerie green light.
One of the assassins ran forward and tried to grab the half-orc's free arm. 'Sauk, plea-'
Sauk plunged his blade into the man's gut up to the hilt, roared in the man's face, and pushed him away. Another man tried to grab the half-orc's sword arm, but was either too slow or Sauk's rain-soaked skin was too slick. A backhand swipe, and the man was missing a hand. Screaming and spurting blood from the stump of his wrist, the man fell back onto the pavement.
Talieth ran toward them, but stopped well out of range of the combatants.
'Sauk!' Talieth screamed. 'Stop this at once! I command you!'
Sauk ignored her. Lewan wasn't sure if he'd heard her. The half-orc's face was twisted by grief and fury, and his eyes were fixed on Berun.
Talieth twisted the clasp of her cloak, threw it off, and raised both hands, her fingers twisting in an intricate pattern. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, 'Targelu engethlimek!'
Sauk hesitated in his advance.
'Sauk,' Talieth said, forcing calm into her voice. 'Listen to me, Sauk. We need him.'
Sauk snorted like a bull and shook his head, almost like a sleeper shaking off a fading dream. His lip twisted in a snarl, the green of the lights gleaming off his silver tusk, and he leaped at Berun.
But the distraction had given Berun time to back away. He tried to make it out of the courtyard, but one of the assassins lunged for him. Quick as a serpent, Berun's knife-hand shot forward and back, but then he had to turn to face Sauk.
The assassin lurched backward, both hands at his throat. He turned and stumbled into Lewan. The hands gripping his throat were dark with blood. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but he only made a choking sound as he fell to his knees, one hand at his throat while the other clutched at Lewan's shirt. His death grip and heavy weight pulled Lewan to his knees. The man's body was trying to breathe, but he was drowning in his own blood.
Horrified-more at his own actions than the dying man- Lewan brought his hand with the hammer around in a swing. Crack! went the assassin's forearm…
The sound of the arm breaking brought it all back to Lewan-his mother's pleading, agonized face. The look, almost of relief, in the moment before Lewan brought the black iron kettle down on her skull. That day, he'd thought all hope of happiness had left him forever. With Berun, he'd found, if not happiness, then at least hope. Perhaps even meaning. And all of that hung like a heavy stone caught on a spider's web, sinking and about to snap at any
