The demon ceased its assault at the sound, tilting its head and sniffing at the air. It turned to regard the greenlander, and there was a flare of recognition in its alien eyes.
“Nie’s blood,” Hasik breathed. “It knows him.”
The beast gave a great roar and charged, swiping with the claws of its good arm, but the greenlander was quick to leap aside, turning to run for the trapped alcove.
“Clear the way!” Jardir shouted, and his warriors moved as one to flow out of their path. As the demon passed, Jardir darted after them, followed by all the gathered warriors.
The Maze shook with the pounding of the demon’s feet, and it kicked up great clouds of dust in its wake that made it difficult to see the greenlander. But the demon kept howling and running, so Jardir could only assume the chin maintained his lead.
They made two sharp turns, and in the dim light of the oil lamps Jardir saw the greenlander turn into the alcove. The demon followed, and the Pit Warders sprang from concealment to reveal the wards.
The rock demon roared in triumph seeing its prey trapped, and lunged at the greenlander, who turned and darted right at the beast.
Magic flared, and the great demon’s claws skittered off the greenlander’s shield. He was knocked over by the blow, but he rolled back to his feet like a cat, springing past the demon before it could draw back to attack him again.
The wards were revealed, but Jardir saw immediately that the rock demon had stepped on one of the central wardstones as it stomped past. The ward was shattered beyond repair.
The greenlander saw it, too. Jardir expected him to bolt from the alcove before the demon could turn, but again the Northerner surprised him. He pointed with his spear at the broken ward, shouted something in his guttural tongue, and turned back to face the alagai.
“Repair that ward!” Jardir shouted, but he needn’t have bothered. The Pit Warders were already at work painting a fresh symbol on slate. They would be done in less than a minute.
Again the demon struck, and again the greenlander dodged aside, catching only a glancing blow on his shield. But this time, the demon was ready, swinging the stump of its other arm like a giant club. The greenlander managed to throw himself to the ground and avoid the attack, but the demon raised a foot to crush him while he was prone, and Jardir knew he would never rise in time.
The Warders were almost done. The greenlander would die a hero’s death, and Krasia would be safe. All Jardir had to do was let go the mystery of the brave Northerner, and turn his back.
Instead he gave a shout, and leapt into the alcove.
CHAPTER 8
PAR’CHIN
THE ROCK DEMON ROARED, smashing its taloned foot down. Jardir skidded on his knees underneath the blow, bracing his warded shield with his shoulder as he lifted it over them.
The blow rattled his teeth and jolted his spine. He felt his shoulder pop free of its socket, and his shield arm went limp.
But the magic flared and the great alagai was knocked backward, losing its balance. It struck one of the walls and the wards there flared, throwing the demon into the opposite wall, which flared as well. It shrieked in fury, knocked about like a child’s ball.
The greenlander was quick to rise, grabbing Jardir’s uninjured shoulder and hauling him to his feet. The Pit Warders had completed their work by then, and while the demon thrashed, they stumbled from the alcove.
A moment later the rock demon found its footing and threw itself at them, but the greenlander’s wards lit the night, and it was thrown back. The Northerner shouted something at the beast and made a gesture that Jardir assumed was as obscene in the North as it was in Krasia. He laughed again.
“What news from the Watchers?” Jardir asked Shanjat.
“Half the Maze is overrun,” Shanjat replied. “A few warriors succor behind the wards in ambush pockets, but most have gone to Everam’s embrace. The Majah are holding at the sixth; the alagai have not been able to penetrate the wards there.”
“How many warriors did we lose?” Jardir asked, dreading the answer.
Shanjat shrugged. “No way to know until dawn, when the men in hiding emerge and the kai’Sharum can make a full count.”
“Guess,” Jardir said.
Shanjat frowned. “No less than a third. Perhaps half.”
Jardir scowled. There had not been such losses in a single night since the Return. The Andrah would have his head on a block.
“If the inner Maze is clear, begin taking the injured into the dama’ting pavilion,” he said.
“You should be among them, First Warrior,” Shanjat said. “Your shoulder…”
Jardir glanced down at his arm, hanging limp at his side. He had embraced the pain and forgotten it. With this reminder, it screamed at him until he suppressed it again.
He shook his head. “The arm can wait. Have the Watchers bring their reports to me here. The sun will be rising soon, and I wish to see this alagai burn.”
Shanjat nodded and left, shouting orders. Jardir turned to regard the rock demon, clawing at the wards and roaring its fury as it tried to get to the greenlander. The greenlander stood calmly before it, and the two—human and alagai— had the same hatred in their eyes as they stared at each other.
“What happened between you?” Jardir asked, knowing the greenlander could not understand.
But surprisingly, the man turned to him, guessing at his tone perhaps, and made the same chopping motion with his hand that he had before. He held out his right arm, and chopped at it with the other hand, striking just below the elbow.
Jardir’s eyes widened as he caught the greenlander’s meaning.
“You cut its arm off?!” Others looked up at the words. When the greenlander nodded, Jardir heard the buzz of rumor that would spread like blowing sand throughout the city.
“I underestimated you, my friend,” he said. “I am honored to be your ajin’pal.”
The greenlander shrugged and smiled, not understanding his words.
Soon after, there was the deepening of color in the night sky that signaled the coming dawn. The rock demon sensed it, too, and straightened, as if concentrating. Jardir had seen this play out a thousand times, and never tired of it. In a moment the demon would discover that the cut stone beneath the sand of the Maze floor prevented it from finding a path to Nie’s abyss at the center of Ala. It would shriek and thrash and claw the wards, and then the sun’s rays would catch it, and Everam’s light would burn it to ashes.
The alagai did shriek, but then it did something Jardir had never seen before. It tore at the dirt and sand of the Maze floor, finding the great stone blocks that had been laid centuries before. With its one clawed hand, the demon smashed through the stone, tearing huge pieces free.
“No!” Jardir cried. The greenlander shouted in protest as well, but it made no difference. Long before the sun rose high enough to threaten it, the creature slipped back into the abyss.
Inevera was waiting when they limped back to the training grounds. Seeing his arm hanging lifelessly, she turned to Hasik.
“Bring him to the palace,” she said. “Drag him, if he resists.”
Hasik bowed his head. “As the dama’ting commands.”
Jardir turned to Shanjat as Hasik pulled at him. “Locate Abban and have him brought here. When he arrives, escort him and the greenlander to my audience hall.”
Shanjat nodded and sent a runner. Jardir and Hasik headed for the palace, but they had not reached the steps before the training ground was swarming with dama’ting tending to the wounded, and women wailing for husbands and sons who could not be found.
