He turned his head to the left, to the right, listening.
A soft guttural call. From our right. Just behind us. An animal? Ryko frowned, concentrating.
It came again.
Suddenly he threw back his head and copied it, a broad smile cutting the sound short.
Around us, shadows in the undergrowth surged and shifted into human shapes.
'For the Pearl Emperor,' a voice whispered.
'Solly?'
'Ryko?'
A face appeared in a gap in the undergrowth: pig-eyed, big-jawed with a broken-toothed smile. I lurched back, holding up my knife. Was it some kind of demon?
'Ryko, you scared the piss out of us,' the face whispered. 'We thought you were army scouts.'
It was just a man, although the ugliest I had ever seen. I lowered the blade, relief slumping through me. Ryko's Resistance.
'I didn't know if you'd make it,'Ryko said.
'Nearly didn't. Not sure how many of the others got through.'
'Solly, I have Lord Eon with me,' Ryko said quickly.
So, he had not told them the truth about me. Who was only giving half the story now?
Solly's tiny eyes widened. 'Lord Eon?' He quickly bobbed into a fervent bow. 'My lord, an honour.'
I nodded, transfixed by the man's ugliness.
'1 counted you as twenty,' Ryko said. 'Is that right? Are you all armed?'
Solly held up a large metal hook and grinned. All armed. What do you need?'
'We must get to the Rat Dragon Hall and then back to the palace.'
'We'll get you there,' Solly said. He turned to me, bobbing his head again. 'We'll get you there, Lord Eon.'
'Thank you, Solly,' I said. 'You're from the island Resistance, aren't you?'
'Yes, my lord. We came when Ryko, here, called.' His smile shifted into a strange shyness.
'We all know you're the one who's got the way of beating Sethon. We'll serve you, lord. To the death. For the Pearl Emperor.'
Ryko's eyes flicked across to me, but I ignored his hard look.
'For the Pearl Emperor,' I said.
'Let's get going,' Ryko said sourly. 'Solly, fan out. Once we get to the wall, stay hidden. And send someone back for our horse.'
Solly turned to his men and issued soft instructions as Ryko held his hand out to me. I pushed it away and stood, straightening the Story Robe.
'Here,' I said, offering him the knife.
He stared down at it. 'Have you ever stabbed anyone?'
'No.'
'This is the best place.' His hand lightly touched the top of my sash over the delta of charisma.
Aim up and you'll reach the
heart. The knife is long enough.' He turned away. 'Thrust hard and do not be surprised by the resistsnce ol skin and muscle.'
A memory leaped forwards: Ryko ramming a blade up under Ranne's armour. Was this the knife that had killed Ranne? Pushing away the dark memory, I carefully secured the knife between the thick folds of my sash.
Solly ordered his men into their positions. I followed Ryko as he started the push through the undergrowth, taking some solace in the fact that our backs were now well guarded. Although the brief stop had rested my hip, the good effect was soon worn away by Ryko's relentless pace. There was nothing I could do to ease the pain, but if someone had offered me a dose of Sun drug, I would have eaten it dry
I was wheezing by the time we broke out of the heavier brush into the sparser covering opposite the Rat Dragon Hall. Ryko signalled to Solly, and he and his men suddenly seemed to blend back into the denser foliage. I peered at the place where two of the men had stood a moment ago. There was no sign of them, although I knew they were in there somewhere, watching and waiting for our return. It was a comforting thought.
Ryko scanned the top of the huge wall for any guards. 'We'll go through the same gate as before.' He looked at me more intently Are you all right?'
I nodded, taking two deep breaths before managing to say, 'It will be locked.'
He shrugged. 'Locks are no problem. It is the number of guards that worry me.'
'Most of them will be…' I forced the words out, '…at the other Dragoneye Halls.'
Ryko's face held the same haunted question as my own: how many of the Dragoneyes were already dead?
'Come on,' he said. 'Keep low.'
We crossed the dangerously open space between forest and hall, making for the safety of the dark shadow cast by the wall. I
hiti the rough stone with my back, gulping for air, but Ryko was already moving towards the gate set further along. I stayed pressed against the wall. He would need time to pick the lock
— time for me to recover.
Slowly, the squeeze and fold of my heartbeat evened into a less frantic rhythm. Ryko was still crouched in front of the gate lock. 1 crept along the wall, watching him work with the focus of a craftsman. The small hiatus had crowded my mind with the problems that faced us. Had Lord Ido returned the folio to his library or did he have it with him? How were we going to get back to the palace? And was it even going to be possible to reach Lady Dela?
I squatted beside Ryko. 'Nearly there,' he whispered.
The mechanism clicked. He smiled then pulled the two pieces of wire out of the lock and turned the latch, easing the metal gate open. I held my breath as he stepped through the narrow opening. He beckoned me through.
I slipped through the space and followed Ryko up the long alleyway. We pressed ourselves against the stone wall and scanned the courtyard. It was lit as it had been before; the yellowish light from the bronze lamps casting deep shadows across the cumquat trees. But the sounds of normal hall life were strangely absent. Even the kitchens were dark. I shifted until the arch of the back corridor came into my line of sight. Beyond that was the library. And — I hoped — the folio.
Ryko leaned his head back against the wall.
'Either the household has fled or they have moved to a safer location,' he said. 'It is possible Lord Ido has not been back here.'
I looked at him, aghast. 'Then the folio will still be with him.'
Ryko nodded.
I tried to breathe through the swell of desperation. How was I going to get the folio away from Ido without calling on the Rat Dragon?
'We have to check the library,' I said. 'Just in case.'
He eyed me, unconvinced. 'Every moment we waste is costing lives.'
'We have to check it,' 1 insisted.
Ryko studied the courtyard again. 'Come on'
Bending low, I followed Ryko to the row of cumquats, and then across to the archway.
Nothing else moved or made a sound. At the end of the passageway, we stopped and studied the garden in front of us. This time there were no Twelfth Day festival lamps in the blossom trees. There were no lamps at all; the path was lit only by the weak moonlight that silvered paving and pond. The smell of jasmine was still strong in the air, and beyond the bridge and pavilion I could make out the hulking shadow of the library
'Not all the household has left,' Ryko said quietly
I peered into the garden, finally making out the figures of two guards near the pavilion.
Ryko held out his hand. 'Give me the knife.'
I pulled it free from my sash and passed it to him.
'Do you remember Solly's call?' he asked, releasing the other blade from its arm sheath.
