Calm's gaze flickered to Josey, and fingers of dread closed around his heart. In concentrating on Ral, he hadn't noticed Markus's arrival. Bandages peeked over the collar of the man's uniform, which was now white instead of red. Waxy scars dimpled his face as he stood behind Josey, one arm around her waist and the other holding a dirk to her slender throat.
'You should have joined me,' Ral said. 'You could have been my viceroy, a man of wealth and power, but you have proved too untrustworthy. I'm afraid you'll have to die.'
He nodded to Markus. 'Or perhaps you'd prefer to watch her bleed to death before your eyes first?'
Caim pulled the bowstring back another inch, making the bronzewood creak. 'You won't kill her. You need her too much.'
'Are you certain about that?'
Ral lifted a finger. Josey gasped as a line of blood trickled down her neck. Markus's burn-scarred lips curved upward in a grin.
Caim cursed under his breath. His plan was falling apart. Rather than rescuing Josey, he had placed her in even greater danger. Retreat wasn't an option. Come morning, Ral's hold over the city might be impregnable. He could shoot, but Markus might kill Josey out of hand. They were at an impasse, and he was out of options. The string strained against his fingers.
The clack of boots on the marble flagstones stole everyone's attention. All heads turned as a soldier in militia livery dashed into the audience hall. An angry clamor followed in his wake. Ral took the opportunity to descend a couple of steps. Calm's aim didn't waver.
'The outer gates have fallen!' the militiaman shouted.
Ral swore a vile oath. 'What of the bailey?'
'We hold it yet, but it may not stand for long.'
Caim smiled. 'Looks like your plot is unraveling around you, Ral. Maybe you should give up now and save everyone the trouble.'
As Ral opened his mouth to speak, a metallic twang pricked at Calm's ears. He threw himself aside as the baluster before him shattered in a shower of marble shrapnel. Caim reaimed and let fly. The arrow sped like a diving falcon, but Ral ducked behind a powdered dowager. The missile passed over their shoulders to thud into the leg of the vacated throne.
Caim reached for another arrow, but Ral was already darting across the crowded hall. He threw down the bow and vaulted over the broken balustrade. His knives cleared their sheaths before he hit the floor. Heels stinging from the impact, he raced after his adversary.
'Caim!' Josey screamed as Ral and Markus hustled her through a side exit and slammed the door behind them. Three Brothers took up positions in front of the exit with weapons bared.
Caim smiled as a familiar feeling spread through him, a tingling that started in the tips of his fingers and vibrated up his arms until it coursed through his entire being. Sparks of light glimmered on weapon points and flashed from rings of mail, igniting his blood. An insistent pressure throbbed behind his breastbone as his powers awakened, but this time he welcomed it like a long-lost brother. It was time to put aside the veneer of civilization and revel in pure barbarity.
With a snarl, he launched himself at the soldiers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
osey's breath rushed from her lungs in a gasp as she thrust out her hands to cushion the impact with the wall.
Ral didn't give her time to recuperate before he dragged her along the candlelit hallway, raving as he devoured the passage in long strides. 'This doesn't change anything! One madman can't change the course of history.'
Josey was too jubilant to care what Ral said. Ever since her assault at the cabin, she had been terrified to discover what Ral and Markus would do next. But when she'd seen Caim in the Grand Hall, her heart had jumped. He had come for her! She looked around for some means to get away from her captors, but there wasn't much hope of that. Ral was much stronger than he looked, and Markus followed them with a squad of Sacred Brothers.
She was racking her brain for a plan when the corridor opened into a wide anteroom. Display stands and trophy cases crowded the floor. A menagerie of stuffed animal heads on the walls seemed to watch as Ral hustled her through.
'We'll go north,' he said. 'Assurances have been given. Whatever else they take, I'm to have the capital. I've done my part. Then, after the city's been tamed, I will return to begin my reign. He'll see who's the better man!'
'You sound frightened.' Josey couldn't help herself from taunting him, trying to hurt him as she had been hurt. She didn't know whom he meant by 'they,' but she hardly cared anymore. She was tired of being yanked back and forth between hands like some tawdry carnival prize. 'You should be. Calm's not going to show you any mercy.'
'He had his chance two nights ago and fled like the coward he is.'
Despite his bluster, Josey didn't believe a word of it. Caim was like a force of nature, as unstoppable as the tide. However, if Ral could get outside the city, he might be able to take her beyond Calm's reach.
Ral stopped on the other side of the trophy room and pointed to one of the sergeants. 'You come with me. The rest of you wait here.' Then to Markus, 'Do whatever it takes, but stop him. When I return, you'll have everything I promised, lands and title.'
Markus glanced at Josey, his scarred face rigid with tight lines. Clearly, he wanted to object, but he merely nodded. 'He won't get past us. Phebus speed your journey and hasten your return. My liege.'
With the barest nod, Ral dragged Josey along. He thrust her down another corridor. She looked around for something, anything, to slow their progress. She dragged her heels, only to have Ral tighten his grip to a painful, viselike clamp and pull her all the faster. She scratched his hand and received a slap across the face.
When they passed a steep flight of stairs, Josey bit down hard on Ral's knuckles. Blood filled her mouth as the skin split beneath her teeth. An unholy screech erupted from Ral. He shoved her away. Josey kicked off her slippers and dashed up the steps. The hard stamp of boots pounded close behind.
The staircase turned back on itself twice before letting out in a narrow passageway of bare stone. Josey hiked up her skirt and ran. She passed a bas-relief carving on the wall depicting a regal griffon in the same style as the design on the cellar floor at the earl's manor. The floor was caked with thick dust. Cobwebs drooped from the ceiling. She needed someplace to hide. She turned a corner and ran past several closed doors. She grabbed at their handles, but they were all locked. Her breath burned in the back of her throat as she came to another flight of steps. Josey rushed up them without a pause.
The stairs rose on and on above her in a dizzying tunnel of steps and railings. As she rounded a heavy stone newel post, a sinewy hand grasped her ankle and wrenched her to a standstill. She kicked and clawed. They had molested and abused her, killed her foster father and oppressed her people. She would not give in! But the grip wouldn't let go. Ral pulled himself up her body, crawling over her in a disturbing imitation of a lover's ardor. She didn't see his other hand until it smashed into her cheek. The buffet knocked her against a wall and scattered her senses. She slumped, hardly aware as he draped her over his shoulder.
Josey struggled to keep her eyes open even as a gray blankness threat ened to overtake her. She was swung around several times, then carried down some stairs and through a winding passageway. Ral's shoulder ground against her stomach, making her want to throw up. It was over. She had lost. Now Caim would never find them.
Then, a gust of freezing wind blew up her dress. Raindrops splattered on her back. Josey shivered despite her fogginess. When she lifted her head, she saw not the pavers of the outer courtyard she expected, but sloping gray tiles. They were on the roof, of a side wing by the look of it. The bailey wall loomed in the darkness like the spiked back of a slumbering monster. Torch fires blazed beyond the rampart, where a great mass of people swarmed. Flashes of steel and iron. No sounds reached her between gusts of wind, but she imagined the cries of pain and
