Flight of the Fallen

aside, he reached in through the hole in the wall, shoving bricks and pieces of mortar aside. The prisoners helped from their side until a hole perhaps a foot and a half wide had been made. He reached through, grabbed the first arm he felt, and hauled the person out of the storehouse.

Linsha fell flopping in the mud at his feet and grinned at him. “Ouch,” she said.

“Leonidas, get her out of here!” Sir Hugh shouted. He reached in again to help the next Knight.

Linsha climbed to her feet and helped Sir Hugh pulled a Knight from the gap. “Lanther! Come on, get out now!” she cried into the prison.

But he ignored her and pushed one of the Legionnaires through. Another Knight followed.

The sounds of shouting orders and clash of weapons could be heard even over the rain. “Please, Lanther! They’ll be here any moment!”

She felt a muddy hand grasp her wrist, and Lanther’s face peered through the hole. “I can’t. They’re here already. Don’t go, Linsha! It’s too dangerous! Let the others go, but if you are killed, they will destroy Crucible. Remember what the general said! ‘Don’t do anything to jeopardize his well-being.’ ”

Her eyes wide, she stared at him, her heart torn by his words.

“Please!” he exclaimed. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Something sliced past her and buried itself in the wall by her shoulder. Another arrow struck the first freed Knight, sending him spinning to the ground. The fletched end of an arrow quivered in his chest. From somewhere inside the prison she heard the loud commands of a Tarmak guard.

“That’s it!” Sir Hugh shouted. He wrenched her out. “Leonidas, take her now! The rest of you, get out!”

Linsha hesitated. What if Lanther was right? What if her escape angered the Akkad-Ur so much he killed the bronze? Would he do that? Would Crucible understand why she left and be patient? Gods, what a muddle! And what did Lanther mean in his last plea?

She wasn’t given more time to think. More arrows rained down around them, and she could see warriors running around the building to cut them off.

The militia and the two freed prisoners bolted into the darkness, Sir Hugh close on their heels. She felt the centaur’s two strong hands on her waist swing her around and throw her up in the air. She landed with a thump on Leonidas’s back and scrambled to find her balance just before he wheeled and sprinted into the driving rain.

The night and storm swallowed them, and the old ruins vanished behind.

16

Into the Plains

At dawn the orgwegul, the officer in charge of the guards at the dragon’s palace, presented himself and his second at the Akkad-Ur’s headquarters to report the escape of the prisoners. In the proud manner of the Tarmak warrior, he did not cringe, complain, grovel, or make excuses. He explained the facts, including the deaths of five Tarmaks, one Solamnic Knight, a dozen slaves, and three militia raiders. He also reported the escape of the Rose Knight and two companions from the prison, and fifteen centaurs and slaves from the pens. He was standing so stiffly that it took his body several moments before it collapsed on the floor next to his head.

The Akkad-Ur gripped his sword and glared at the orgwegul’s second officer. The officer threw back his shoulders, lifted his chin, and waited. There was little tolerance for failure in the forces of the Tarmak emperor.

“You,” the Akkad-Ur said, stabbing the point of the sword toward the waiting warrior. “You and the rest of the guards in your command will report to the Dog Units until such time as I deem you are worthy to return to the ranks. If one word of this escape leaks to the dragon, I will personally flay you alive.”

The warrior bowed, his face stony. Only the tremor in his hands revealed the pent-up feelings he dared not express. The Dog Units were a punishment one step away from death. A position in the emperor’s cohorts afforded a Tarmak advancement, honor, and an opportunity to plunder. The Dog Units were little more than servants who served the cooks, the wagon masters, and the gravediggers. It was almost worse than exile. Stepping over the corpse of his dead commander, he bowed again and departed to give the news to the remaining guards.

When the warrior was gone, the Akkad-Ur shoved his sword at a waiting slave and said, “Remove that body and clean the sword.” He turned back to his officers. Three men who commanded the dekul of thousands and one black-clad Keena priest stood around his table.

“What of the dragon?” asked one of the dekegul. “If he learns the woman has fled, he may try to break the spell of the dart.”

“We will keep that news from him as long as possible. If he learns the truth and grows intractable, we will remind him of the Abyssal Lance.”

The Keena, a slim male with eyes the color of tropical seas, said, “There are the eggs as well. We should have enough left to discourage any thoughts of disobedience.”

“Take care of those eggs, Shurnasir,” the Akkad-Ur warned. “They are more valuable than the gold and steel of the dragon’s treasure.”

“They are well packed and warm, my lord. My assistants assure me they are still viable.”

“Excellent. Now,” he said, bending over the maps, “tell me of the condition of the army.”

“According to our spies and to Varia’s reports, the Tarmak can field about nine thousand men. That’s including foot soldiers, archers, and a small contingent of two-man chariots-gods know where they picked those up-which will leave about two to three thousand here in Missing City.”

Mariana’s tone of bitter sarcasm was not lost on Linsha. She thought about the dismal numbers of militia that had straggled into Sinking Wells-the escaped slaves, the few reinforcements from the scattered plains tribes, and the refugees that had found their way to the camp-and she wanted to weep. They could field ninety. Maybe. If they were lucky. If the wounded came. If the cooks and camp followers showed up.

“We have no choice,” Falaius said. “We must abandon the city.”

Leaving Missing City was a difficult choice for them all, but especially, Linsha knew, for Falaius and the Legion. This was their city. Falaius had come with the first group of Legionnaires that set up their tents in the shelter of the ancient ruins and began to rebuild the buildings from the ghostly images that still glowed and reflected the vanished city back to the world. He had stood in the sands and welcomed Iyesta and watched with pride as the lonely outpost turned into a thriving community. He had fought and bled to defend it and had watched his Legionnaires give their lives for it. Now he was being forced to leave it in the hands of the enemy.

“It would be better for us to leave,” Linsha said. “The Akkad-Ur has not bothered with us yet. But he will.” She reached over and squeezed Falaius’s arm. “The Tarmaks are vast compared to us, well-trained, and disciplined. Their commanders are experts and their equipment is plentiful.”

“They are also ferocious fighters-and brutal,” Sir Hugh added. He didn’t need to mention Scorpion Wadi. The massacre was still a raw place in all their thoughts.

“The Dark Knights trained them well,” Falaius said. “And they have a dragon,” said Linsha.

She sat back in her saddle, careful not to disturb Varia perched on her shoulder, and continued to gaze down toward the distant city. Smoke curled from a thousand fires and rose to meet an incoming bank of fog. The storm had finally ended just after dawn, but the clouds had remained thick and heavy. Now in the late afternoon, just out to sea a heavy bank of fog slowly rolled toward shore. On a hill miles away from Missing City the four riders sat quietly on their mounts and looked over the city they had tried so hard to save.

“Will they kill him?” Sir Hugh asked her again.

Linsha did not answer immediately. Lanther had seemed so certain the night before.

If she squinted hard enough and looked in just the right place in the center of the city, she fancied she saw a faint glint of bronze. “No,” she said at last. “I still don’t believe so. The Akkad-Ur wanted a dragon to help his army defeat the people of the plains. Thunder was too unreliable. Iyesta was too powerful. Crucible is just