“That was close, my friend. I have no wish to see you shattered on the cobbles, so do be careful.”
“Thanks” came the dry reply, and the two men began to step forward again. Samir sighed. He hated this with a passion, but there was no choice. He couldn’t allow the guard to follow him beyond the beam. There would be nowhere better than this to halt the pursuit.
He clenched his teeth as he stepped from the end of the beam onto the edge of the flat rooftop, where the water channel continued to run in a narrow gutter and turned to face his pursuer. The guard really was good and had made it almost three quarters of the way across.
“This is my last offer. Turn round and go back, officer. I can’t have you following me.”
The guard shook his head.
“You know I can’t do that, captain Samir.”
“Then I apologise for what I have to do now.”
Reaching down, Samir cupped his hands and collected a scoop of gritty, dirty water, swinging his arms forward and flinging the liquid across the beam. With a splash, the water covered the wood, becoming slick and reflecting the tiny, scudding fleecy clouds in the otherwise clear sapphire sky. As the guard frowned and slowed, reaching the edge of the slippery section, Samir bent and repeated the process twice more, soaking the beam thoroughly.
“Turn round, for Gods’ sake. You can’t safely cross.”
“I wouldn’t say I can turn round safely either. Get running. I won’t let a little water stop me.”
“For fuck’s sake, turn round.”
He grimaced as the guard took a step into the water, shaking slightly and wobbling back and forth. Another step. The man was managing to maintain his balance, but there was a long way to go yet. He’d never make it. Samir shook his head sadly.
“Listen… I’m not a bad man and I don’t really want your death on my hands.”
Another step and suddenly a slight slip to one side left the man teetering. Samir watched with dismay as the man rocked back and forth, picking up momentum. He was about to go.
“Jump for the roof!”
But before the man could get enough purchase, he slipped. Samir watched for only a fraction of a second before leaping into action, quite literally. As the man slipped, he did his best to push himself forward, his flailing arm launching him out from the beam at an angle. As he did so, Samir crouched, grasped the iron clamp at the very end of the beam, the searing heat here only slightly tempered by the water that flowed by and over it and the soaking he had just given it. As he vaulted out over the open space, feeling his shoulder jerk, he clenched the hot iron tightly. His other hand caught the falling man by the arm and the pair of them seemed to hang, suspended in the air for an eternity before the pull to ground began to assert itself.
With agonising force, the pair swung down against the wall, Samir’s arm almost breaking where it held the clamp and carried the weight of two men. Below him, the guard slipped from Samir’s wet grip and, eyes wide, grabbed desperately onto the pirate’s leg, gripping tightly. Samir grunted, the pain intense.
“I’m going to try and pull myself up. If you can find any purchase on the wall to take some weight it would be a great help!”
The guard nodded vigorously and began to scour the plaster wall quickly. There were pits here and there; nothing that could be considered a handhold but, with some effort, he got his toes into one and pushed up.
Samir felt a slight relief in the extraordinary weight of the big man below him. Gritting his teeth, he swung his free arm up and grasped the really rather hot iron clamp with both hands. Groaning with the strain and tearing muscles painfully, he slowly hauled the pair of them up to roof level.
After a minute that seemed like hours he managed to get his elbows over the edge and used his powerful shoulder muscles to haul himself the last stretch. Once his torso was flat on the roof, his legs still hanging, he shouted down to the unseen guard.
“Can you grab the edge of the roof now? There’s a very slight lip; it’s not much but it should be enough if you’re strong.”
The man made an affirmative grunt and, clinging to Samir’s leg with one arm, began to search out a hold with the fingertips of his other. Samir watched with relief as the fingers gripped the edge and he felt a sudden release on his leg. Two hands now gripped the roof.
Swinging his legs up and around, Samir climbed wearily to his feet and walked across to the dangling man.
“Are you alright?”
“I’ve been better, but I could be a hell of a lot worse.”
Samir laughed.
“I’m afraid I have to leave you now. I hope you manage to climb, but you’ll understand that I can’t afford to hang around.”
The guard looked up at him.
“Be assured that when I climb up, I’ll be after you again… but I think I may have twisted my leg in the fall, so I might be a little slower now.”
Samir grinned down at him.
“Get drunk tonight, officer. I think you deserve it.”
“Jun”
“What?”
“That’s my name: Jun.”
“I’ll remember that next time I get to the races” Samir laughed.
With a node, he turned and ran off across the rooftops toward the palace complex.
In which Asima seals a deal
Samir took another deep breath as he made the penultimate jump. Many times and many years ago, he’d sat on this slight incline and stared across the gap at the walled complex opposite. He’d always meant to walk those roofs but had never expected it to be under such circumstances.
From here the building that faced him was the residence of the local governor himself, or, at least, it had been when they were children. He had seen governor Talus standing at the ornate windows several times in the past. It was quite possible that the new governor had taken other quarters, but the chances were against it. These would be the best appointed of all the rooms in the complex.
So long ago he had spent time studying the complex and, while he’d never had the opportunity to put his observations to use, now would seem to be the time.
There was only one possible route to the roofs of the complex. It had made him too nervous as a child to even contemplate trying it, but he was a great deal faster and stronger these days. Of course, it was still life- threatening and a ridiculous proposition even for a grown man, but it was the only option if he wanted to get a step ahead once more.
He watched for several minutes. There were figures moving around in the room, but they staying deep in the room and never came close to the window. One was tall and well dressed and Samir was prepared to put money on that being the governor. There were two or three other shapes that he could make out, but they were too distant and shadowy to identify. He couldn’t even tell what gender they were.
Still, he had to try and that was the only window that seemed likely.
Gritting his teeth, he offered up a quick prayer to whichever of Ha’Rish’s faces was currently keeping an eye on him and crossed the roof to the small, low pile of rubble in the corner. It had been over twenty years. Of course, rope didn’t rot and iron didn’t rust in the M’Dahz climate, but it could easily have been found and moved.
Fumbling in the dusty rubble, he sighed with relief as his fingers closed on the curved iron. Moving a few of the heavier blocks aside, he extricated the grapple that he had ‘liberated’ from the docks more than two decades ago. Time had been kind to his little prize. The grapple, along with the thirty feet of thin cable coiled behind it, had lain in secret all these years, awaiting the day when Samir plucked up the courage to actually execute his plan.
He frowned at the rope. Long ago he’d selected this specific rope as being light enough when coiled to carry
