By Lucifer, make my life mean something by
“They’ll shoot you down!”
“It will be a mercy, guv’nor. It will be a mercy.” He grimaced.
“Had a feeling I wouldn’t see England if I went with you. But you’re a damned interesting companion, Ethan Gage. More than just a Yankee card sharp, you are.”
Why do our worst enemies sometimes become our best friends?
“Ned . . .”
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w i l l i a m d i e t r i c h
“Run, damn your eyes! Run, and if you find me mums, give her a bit of that gold.” And, shaking us off, he rose doggedly, first to his knees and then his feet, weaving, and began staggering back the way we came, his side a sheet of blood. “Christ, I’m thirsty.” I was transfixed, but Mohammad hauled at me. “Effendi, we must go. Now!”
So we ran. I’m not proud of it, but if we stayed to fight Silano’s armed Frenchmen we’d lose for sure, and for what? So we hurtled past the Arab slumped at the wagon, leapt the one chewed by the lion, and on and on up the sloping canyon, our chests heaving, half expecting the maddened cat to leap out at us at every turn. But the lion was gone. As we came to the mouth of the canyon we heard the echo of shouts and then shots behind. There was screaming, a roaring scream a big man might make when subjected to unbearable pain. Ned was still buying us time, but with agony.
The horses were tethered where we’d left them the day before, but they were stamping with shrill neighs, eyes rolling. We saddled the three best, seized the line rope of the others, and began galloping back the way we’d come. There was more gunfire, but we were well out of range.
As we climbed to the highland plateau we looked back. Silano’s group had emerged from the canyon and were following in dogged pursuit, but they were on foot. The gap was growing. We couldn’t handle the extra horses, so except for three remounts we let the other horses go. It would take our pursuers time to recapture them.
Then, weeping and utterly drained, we set off north for Acre.
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At sunset we reached the Crusader castle where we’d camped before. I suppose we should have ridden farther, but after losing a night’s sleep retrieving the book and fleeing through the canyons, Mohammad and I were reeling in our saddles. Astiza was little better.
I’m a gambler, and I gambled Silano and Najac wouldn’t retrieve their horses anytime soon. So we stopped, the castle stones briefly orange t h e
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as the sun sank, and ate meager rations of bread and dates we found in the saddlebags. We dared not light a fire.
“You two sleep first,” Mohammad said. “I’ll keep watch. Even if the French and Arabs are stranded on foot, there are still bandits around here.”
“You’re as exhausted as us, Mohammad.”
“Which is why you must relieve me in a few hours. That corner has grass for a bed and the stone will still be warm from the sun. I’ll be up in the broken tower.”
He disappeared, still my guide and guardian.
“He’s leaving us alone on purpose,” Astiza said.
“Yes.”
“Come. I’m shivering.”
The grass was still green and soft this time of year. A lizard skit -
tered away into its hole when evening pulled down its shadow. We lay together in the wedge of warm stone, our first opportunity to be truly close since she’d slapped me in front of Silano. Astiza snuggled for warmth and comfort. She
“Always it is so
“Ned wasn’t a bad sort. I led him to disaster.”
“It was Najac who put the lion there, not you.” And I who took Ned along, and Astiza who carried the ring. I suddenly remembered it and brought it out from her little purse. “You kept this even after saying it was cursed.”
“It was all I had of you, Ethan. I meant to offer it back.”
“Did the gods have a purpose, letting us find it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” She clung even tighter.
“Maybe it’s good luck. After all, we have the book. We’re together again.”
She looked at me in amazement. “Hunted, unable to read it, a companion dead.” She held out her hand. “Give it.” When I did she sat up and hurled it to the far corner of the ruined courtyard. I could hear it clink. A ruby, big enough to set a man for life, was gone. “The book is enough. No more, no more.” And then she bent back down,
