‘EIGHT!’
‘We could rush him,’ Handy suggested.
‘NINE!’
I stared at the commoner. ‘You’re crazy! We can’t take him on! Don’t you know what he…’
‘TEN!’
‘Of course I do,’ he replied. ‘But we can’t just stand and wait.’
‘ELEVEN!’
Lion said: ‘Handy’s right. It’s all we can do. Yaotl, get back up on the roof. Tell Kite and Lily what we’re about and send those two lads down here.’
I stared stupidly at the top of the building.
‘Go on, move! If he attacks first then we’ll hold him off down here as long as we can. If he shows himself out there first, we’ll charge him. He won’t be expecting that. If we can at least wing him...’
‘TWELVE!’
‘... you may have a chance. Now go!’
I looked at the roof, at my brother’s tense, determined face that was already swinging away from me towards the doorway, at Quail and Handy, standing firm although the swords shook in their hands, at the doorways leading into the interior of the building with their false promise of safety, at Lion once more, and I took them all in so fast I made myself dizzy.
‘THIRTEEN!’
I made up my mind. I could stand here and argue with my brother or I could do as he said. I ran towards the steps as the next number rang out in time to the pulse beating in my head.
‘FOURTEEN!’
I burst onto the rooftop. Lily dashed towards me, a cry forming in her throat, but I waved her away.
‘No time,’ I gasped. I stammered out the instructions Lion had given me.
Kite’s men looked at each other uncertainly.
‘FIFTEEN!’
‘Go on!’ the policeman cried hoarsely. ‘You can’t do anything for me up here. Get down into the courtyard and fight!’
They ran to obey. I started after them, but Lily called me back sharply.
‘Where are you going?’
‘I can’t let Lion and Handy and Quail do this on their own. I’ve got to help,’ I said.
‘You can help me.’
My mistress had her bandaged hands on one of the plant containers that decorated the rooftop patio: pots with mesquite shrubs, maguey plants, prickly pears and other cacti. She was trying to manoeuvre one of the thornier specimens towards the top of the steps. ‘We’ve got to make a barricade. If he comes up here after us then he’ll have to fight his way through a hedge.’
‘SIXTEEN!’
I did as I was told. I dropped my sword and the two of us hauled as many plants as we could to the edge of the patio, with me standing at the top of the steps, dragging the pots, and Lily pushing them as best she could with the palms of her hands.
‘SEVENTEEN!’
The cry stung my ears. ‘Didn’t know he could count up that far,’ I grunted.
‘Will it be enough?’ Lily wondered.
‘It’ll have to do,’ I said. I took a step backwards, surveying the makeshift barricade. I had intentionally put myself on the wrong side of it, meaning to run down the steps to be with my brother. Now it formed a wall between me and Lily, one which, I realised with a pang, neither of us might live to cross.
‘Go on,’ she said brusquely.
‘EIGHTEEN!’
‘And don’t forget your sword!’ She turned away without another word. I opened my mouth to speak, thought better of it, picked up the weapon and dashed back down into the courtyard.
‘Where is he?’ one of Kite’s men was asking.
‘No idea,’ Handy muttered. ‘We can hear that madman all right, but we can’t see him.’
Lion had taken charge, directing Handy, Quail and the others into their positions with a few gestures. Now he and Quail were crouched, on one side of the entrance to the courtyard, with Handy and Kite’s young warriors facing them.
With a silent jerk of the head, my brother summoned me to his side. ‘Keep quiet,’ he hissed. ‘For all we know he might be right outside. When I give the order, I want everyone through the gateway at the same time. Then we spread out. Hopefully we can confuse him, make him waste a heartbeat or two choosing his target.’
I looked ruefully at the sword in my hand. ‘I’ve not used one of these in years. Any tips?’
‘Just hit him with the bloody thing.’
I lifted my eyes to look again at the plaza outside. As before, I saw nothing.
‘NINETEEN!’
The only illumination came from the stars and the little brazier burning at the top of the pyramid.
There was something strange about the light from that brazier. I noticed that it was growing stronger, as though someone had stoked the fire. I wondered briefly what the priest, who ought to be tending it and keeping watch from the pyramid’s summit, was doing: hiding in the sanctuary at the back of his temple, perhaps. Possibly he had had some premonition of what was going to happen tonight and remembered a prior engagement elsewhere.
A peculiar shape seemed to be dancing in front of the pyramid, and for a moment I wondered what it might be, before I remembered the idol that lived at its summit, and the long, grotesque shadow it would cast in the light of the temple fire. The flames’ flickering would make the shadow seem to gyrate, I thought, although it seemed to prance about too vigorously for that.
I felt my mouth suddenly go dry as I realised my mistake.
‘It’s the sorcerer,’ I gasped. ‘Look! Dancing on top of the pyramid!’
‘With my wife’s forearm?’ Beside me, Handy started forward.
I caught his arm. ‘Where are you going? You can’t do anything from here!’
‘But don’t you see?’ He cried. ‘He’s got…’
‘TWENTY!’
Handy fell silent.
I glanced up at the rooftop patio, but could see nothing beyond the barricade of plant pots.
The men around me in the courtyard were like carvings.
There was silence, broken only by the crackling of the temple fire.
The fire was crackling much too loudly.
As the sound grew, becoming impossible to ignore, I found my eyes drawn towards its source.
At first it was hard to make sense of what I saw. The glow at the top of the pyramid was growing,
