'I told you it was easy.' Melcorka leaned back, still holding on with one hand. Grinning, she changed hands. 'Now, you have to come down here so that when I open the bottom, the man doesn't fall out.'
Bradan nodded, breathing hard. 'You may be cursed, Mel, but you've kept some of your brains and all of your nerve.'
Machaendranathar grunted. 'A demon's curse should have reduced her to a baby, or worse. Something inside that woman is fighting back. She is right. You will have to help me.'
Oh Lord, give me strength and balance, Bradan prayed, as he inched to the end of the cage and slid his feet over the side. Melcorka grinned at him, flicked back her dark hair and rattled the cage.
'Come on, Bradan! It's easy!'
'I'm coming.' Bradan manoeuvred himself beside Melcorka, clinging to the lowest horizontal strut of the cage with his feet, while clinging to the vertical bars with both hands. He felt the drop sucking at him, inviting him to release his hold and fall down and down forever.
''You'll have to release one hand to help me,' Machaendranathar said.
This is worse than fighting the Kalingo.
'I can do that.' Bradan forced a death's-head grin as the immense drop beneath him appalled and fascinated him in turn. Gripping tightly with his right hand, he forced his left to open. 'All right, what's next?'
Grinning, Melcorka slipped free the simple bolt that secured the bottom of the cage and laughed when it crashed open. The sound echoed from the cliff walls, bouncing back and forth before it slowly decreased. The cage swung back and forth, forcing Bradan to cling on with both hands once more.
'Shiva! The garrison can't miss that racket,' Kosala said. 'Hurry, Bradan!'
Clinging to the sidebars of his cage, Machaendranathar moved toward Bradan. 'I may be an aesthete,' the Siddhar said, 'but I place too much value on this life to throw it away.' He extended a slender hand, which Bradan gripped.
'Out you come, man.' Melcorka ignored the terrifying abyss. 'Then we'll climb up the chain or down the cliff.'
Machaendranathar's hand tightened on Bradan's as he manoeuvred himself from the cage and slowly began to climb up the bars to the roof. Refusing to look down, Bradan licked dry lips and pushed from below until they reached the top of the cage. Large pieces of rust flaked from the chain, which creaked alarmingly under the increased weight.
Kosala's voice was strained. 'Hurry! I can hear people moving!' Drawing his sword, he glanced right and left along the interior of the bridge.
Melcorka swarmed up to the bridge without hesitation. 'Come on! It's easy.' She poked her head through the gap, grinning.
Pushing Machaendranathar in front, Bradan hauled himself up the rusty chain, swearing in a constant monotone that helped relieve his feelings, while not aiding his climbing ability in the slightest.
'Come on! Come on!' Kosala urged, leaning forward with his hand extended. 'Somebody's coming. Shiva! It's an archer! Shiva help us!'
The first arrow whined past Bradan's ears, clattered against the chain and ricocheted away. The second pinged between two links and stuck there, with the feathers of the flight vibrating. Blaspheming, Bradan shoved Machaendranathar up the final few inches, where Kosala hauled him up bodily as a third arrow bounced from the ceiling of the bridge.
'Come on, Bradan! Run!' Kosala unceremoniously pushed Machaendranathar in front as he raced along the bridge. Bradan pulled himself out of the hole, gasping for breath. The archer had dropped an arrow but half a dozen men were running toward him, swords raised and yelling loudly.
'Run! Run!' Melcorka had caught Kosala's agitation.
Lifting a spear from a rack on the wall, Bradan threw it toward the advancing Thiruzhas, turned and fled along the bridge. He heard the twang of a bow and ducked as an arrow hissed well past him.
'We're lucky that these are the Thiruzhas' worst warriors,'Kosala gasped. 'If the best ones had not pursued the Cholas, they'd have killed us long ago.'
With his legs still shaking, Bradan could only nod as they plunged through the door. He looked for a bolt to lock it, swore when he saw none and ran again, to see Kosala propelling Machaendranathar through a wooden door while Melcorka laughed.
'Men chasing us,' she said.
'Come on, Mel!' Scooping Melcorka up, Bradan nearly threw her in front of him. 'Run! They're bad men, Mel, run!'
'Bad men,' Melcorka repeated. 'They're bad men!'
Going down the stairs was even worse than coming up, with Machaendranathar stiff and slow after his months in the cage and Melcorka looking over her shoulder every few seconds. Bradan heard the door at the top of the stairs crash open, followed by the raised voices of their pursuers. A spear clattered down the steps. Picking it up, Bradan wedged it in a crack on the stonework with the tip pointing upward. With luck, that may slow his pursuers down a fraction. With great luck, one of the pursuers might run into it.
'Come on, Bradan!' Kosala roared.
'Bad men!' Melcorka reminded him.
An arrow whistled down, and another, but the nature of the circular staircase made such weapons virtually useless. The Thiruzha pursuers had to catch them. Bradan heard the unmistakable sound of a man falling and nearly smiled.
'Keep going,' Kosala ordered. 'It's not far now.'
Voices echoed behind them, hollow in the staircase. They ran, sliding on the worn steps, gasping for breath, swearing, keeping together. Melcorka began to giggle hysterically until Bradan reminded her that there were bad men behind them.
'Don't waste breath,' Kosala said. 'Run!'
After an interminable downstairs run, they barged open the final door and emerged into the pass, to be greeted by a volley of arrows from the fort and the bridge high above.
Kosala jumped back into the shelter of the overhang. 'Shiva! We're trapped!'
'We can't stay here.' Bradan held Melcorka close to him. 'They're close behind us. We must run.' Lifting a shield from one of
