The Mongoliad: Book Three

their first training sessions. It is an extension of you, here and here. Touching his head and his chest. We will do these exercises until you understand this. I want to forget all of your names and see only swordsmen on this field.

Styg shook off the thoughts, sensing the melancholic trap that a fighter could easily fall into after combat. He had used his sword to take a life. That act changed a man-there was no doubt of that in his mind-but to stop and dwell on that transformation would be as foolish as thinking while fighting. If he survived, he could dwell on his first blooding all he liked.

He looked about for some sign of Eilif, and saw none. The orange tent, he reminded himself, and he jogged to his right, getting away from the two corpses before someone stumbled upon the scene. If Eilif was still undetected, Styg mused, it might fall to him to lead the Mongols away from the tent to give his friend enough time to free the prisoners.

That is, if he hadn’t been spotted.

Continue with the mission, he chided himself. He came around the curve of another tent, and was surprised to find a thick post standing in the middle of an open space. A man, his hands bound by leather straps that, in turn, were lashed to an iron ring set in the top of the post, half leaned, half sat on the ground. His hair was long and unkempt and he wore no shirt. Styg could make out the puckered edges of a still suppurating wound on the man’s back.

A coarse shout sounded behind Styg, and he glanced back toward the tent with the two dead men. The bodies had been found, and already a Mongol was running toward him, sword drawn.

Styg darted toward the block of wood and, as he came abreast of it, he swung his sword. The blade severed the leather straps, and he pivoted around the block, swinging his sword in a wide arc in his wake. The Mongol drew up short, avoiding Styg’s wild swing, and once the blade had passed, he leaped forward with a howl. Styg caught the Mongol’s cut on the strong of his blade and let the momentum of his enemy’s attack drive his pommel upward and into his enemy’s face with skull-cracking force.

The freed prisoner stared uncomprehendingly at the senseless Mongol lying on the ground next to him. Styg kicked the Mongol’s curved sword toward the man, hoping the sight of the weapon would bestir the man. The man reached for the weapon finally, fingers wrapped around the hilt with a practiced familiarity.

We all know what to do with a sword, Styg thought as he moved on, seeking the orange tent.

He caught sight of a piece of orange felt, and relief washed over him that he hadn’t been running in the wrong direction. Drab and worn down with mold and rain, the tent’s coloration was not unlike that of a rotting gourd, left too long in the field.

His elation was momentary, cut short by more shouts behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted three more Mongols rapidly approaching. They all carried spears.

His hand tightened on his hilt, memories of watching Andreas fight the Livonian in the Circus filling his head.

Spears against swords. Not a good match.

The smoke burned Dietrich’s eyes and throat as he slid off his horse and dashed toward the bridge. He didn’t have time to figure out who had put these barrels on the bridge or why. The Mongols were coming, and if he could clear a path, he might still escape.

His boots clattered on the wooden boards of the bridge as he approached the first barrel. Up close, he could hear the hissing frustration of the fires inside the nearest barrel as it tried to devour the green and wet wood that was the source of the smoke. The barrel was surrounded by a primitive fire circle, and he kicked the broken rock aside. Clenching his eyes shut against the billowing smoke, he wished he still had his cloak to cover his nose and mouth. Trying to breathe as little as possible, he bent and shoved with his shoulder. The barrel slid across the bridge, rocking slightly, and he staggered against it, inhaling a lungful of smoke.

Coughing, his eyes watering, he hunched over. His eyes were filled with tears, and his throat ached, but he couldn’t stop to hack up all the smoke he had inhaled. He had to shove the barrel off the bridge. He had to keep moving. The Mongols were coming. He had to get his leg to move.

Wiping tears from his eyes, he stared stupidly at his recalcitrant leg. He had removed the arrow earlier. The one that hadn’t penetrated his armor. Why was it back? Forgetting about the smoking barrel for a moment, Dietrich reached down and touched the long shaft of the arrow protruding from his right thigh.

It was longer than the other one, he dimly realized, and the fletching was different.

Through the haze of smoke, he saw horsemen approaching. More arrows began to land around him, skipping off the planks of the bridge, burying themselves into the wood of the barrel next to him. Shorter arrows, fired from Mongol bows.

“No,” he coughed. This isn’t fair. This isn’t the way it was supposed to end.

He wasn’t going to die like Volquin. That wasn’t his destiny. He grabbed his stiff leg and hauled it with him as he staggered around the barrel. He was going to survive. He was going to escape.

An arrow punched him in the shoulder, spinning him around, and he tried to arrest his fall, but his right leg crumpled under him. A brilliant spike of pain shot through his hip and made him cry out. His head rebounded off the bridge and his vision darkened. No. I will not die today. God is protecting me.

Sprawled on the bridge, Dietrich found he could breathe more easily as there was less smoke. He could see more readily as well. The edge of the bridge wasn’t too far away. Could he crawl that far? He dragged himself through the talus scattered across the bridge, one agonizing inch at a time. Arrows continued to fall around him, and he dimly heard shouts and the clanging sound of steel on steel. The Mongols had been engaged by another host, and if his world had not been reduced to nothing more than this painful crawl, he might have wondered who had sprung this trap on the Mongol host.

It was only as he tipped over the edge of the bridge and fell into the river that he caught sight of the arrow in his leg again. The white fletching. Chicken feathers.

A Templar arrow.

And then the water closed over him, and he knew nothing else.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The Mouse’s Trail

Monferrato’s sedan chair had gotten them into the compound, though Monferrato had been dismayed to learn that he missed the vote and apoplectic to realize that a simple priest had been elected. Ocyrhoe thought the Cardinal’s eyes were going to pop out of his head when he learned that the College of Cardinals had not immediately invalidated the election.

“How is this possible?” Monferrato had spluttered to the ostiarius who was leading them through the dark halls of the Castel Sant’Angelo.

“You had best speak to Cardinal Fieschi,” the tall ostiarius said, his pace quickening as if he could escape further interrogation.

“Where is he?” Monferrato demanded.

The ostiarius slowed, confusion showing on his face. “He is with the other Cardinals,” he said. “But I thought-”

“We do,” Lena said smoothly. She indicated Ocyrhoe and Ferenc. “However, these are longtime companions of the Pope. He will want to see them immediately. After which, you may escort Cardinal Monferrato to see Cardinal Fieschi.” Unlike the Cardinal, her voice was calm and soothing, and it had an immediate effect on the ostiarius, who nodded eagerly and started walking again.

Monferrato started spluttering again, his eyes bulging even more, and Lena forestalled any further discussion by putting a finger to her lip and shaking her head.