'Look,' I shouted in Ryko's car, pointing ahead.
Ryko's friend had cut down his opponent and was now methodically hacking a pathway through the soldiers in front of us. His strange call had gathered the guard around us. We were surrounded by a ring of the Emperor's elite, all doggedly holding off the soldiers and forcing a way through the melee. Ryko coaxed the exhausted horse one step at a time as the guards inched us towards the edge of the fighting.
'I need a sword,' Ryko bellowed.
A tall guard on our right flank drove his blade into the chest of a soldier and pulled the sword free, kicking the dying man away.
'Cover,' he yelled, stepping back. The two guards fighting beside him closed the gap without breaking the rhythm of their blows.
'Here,' the guard yelled to Ryko, passing up the bloody sword.
Ryko saluted, quickly testing the balance of the weapon. I watched the tall guard pull out a dagger from a waist sheath and rejoin the fight.
We were almost inside the gateway courtyard. The horse surged forwards, sensing safety With an agility that belied his heavy build, the front guard leaped aside, leaving his two adversaries standing in our path. We ploughed through them, the horse knocking one to the ground, the other slashed away by Ryko's sword.
We were through!
Ryko pulled the horse towards the servants' path. I looked back over my shoulder. The guards were forming a line to block pursuers. So few against so many One of them turned to check our escape. I raised my hand. He gave a quick salute then turned back to the desperate lighting.
'This animal's not going to last much longer,' Ryko said, easing the horse down to a quivering trot on the dark, uneven track. Are you all right?'
'I'm all right. What about your leg?'
'Just a cut.' He reined the horse to a standstill. Are you able to go on foot from here?'
As an answer, I pushed myself into a slide off the beast's back. I landed on the ground and folded at its hooves in a messy heap.
'My legs! They've gone all weak.'
'It'll pass,' Ryko said. 'Rest for a minute.'
He dismounted, keeping the bloodied sword away from the horse's tossing head. I kneaded my thigh muscles as he led the animal off the path and looped the reins over a bush.
'Do you think Lady Dela will be safe?' I asked. 'With all the soldiers…'
'Lady Dela can look after herself
He wiped the sword clean on the grass and slid it into his scabbard. A crunching sound up ahead made us both turn. Someone was coming. A lot of someones.
Ryko pulled me to my feet. 'Time to run.'
So began a deadly game of hide and seek. Sethon's soldiers had penetrated deep into the palace precinct and were systematically herding all of the occupants into the larger courtyards. As we darted between buildings, I saw groups of shrieking women and cowering eunuchs being bludgeoned to their knees. Too many times, we only just managed to press ourselves into the cover of shadows as soldiers passed by. I was sure they would hear my heartbeat or see the terrified whites of my eyes in the dim light. Once, my cursed hip slowed me down and a young soldier caught my movement. He backtracked to investigate. I would never forget the wet sound of his death under Ryko's knife or the surprise in his eyes.
When we finally reached the archway to the Peony apartment, I was sick with the sight of guards hacked to death,
servant women struggling under soldiers, and old men kicked into bloody pulp. Even Ryko, who had to be more hardened to such things, was pale, murmuring, 'Wr cannot slop, we cannot stop.'
The Peony courtyard was empty, the quiet manicured garden an abrupt contrast to the screaming, wailing horrors we had just passed. I leaned against the stone wall of the arch, pressing my hand against my chest to steady my gasps for air and hold down the heavy sickness rising from my belly. Beside me, Ryko surveyed the way across to the apartment. He suddenly stiffened.
'No,' he breathed.
I followed his gaze. The garden was not empty There was a body slumped on the far gravel path — a body in female clothes. Lady Dela? I grabbed the stone archway, the terrible possibility buckling my legs.
Ryko ran across the garden to the dark shape, with no thought for cover. By the time I reached him, he was on his knees, bowed over the body, his back heaving. I dropped to my knees, half afraid to look at her dead face. It was plump, oval, young…not Lady Dela. Ryko smiled at me, panting in hollow gasps of relief. I couldn't help smiling back; may our callous joy be forgiven.
Ryko gently passed his hand over the maid's face, closing her glassy eyes. We both looked up at the silent apartment. The night lamps had been lit, but there was no movement. No sense of life. Was Lady Dela in there?
'I must check it,' Ryko said roughly. He scanned the garden then pointed to the grove of ornamental trees near the pond. 'You take cover in there. And wait for my signal.'
I touched his arm. 'No, I'll go too,' I said.
'Don't be foolish. You cannot be risked.'
'But what if she's….'
He looked at me sideways. 'You think me too soft to do my duty?'
'I didn't mean that.'
He sighed. 'No, I know what you meant. It was a kind thought but you must stay behind.'
I did not like it, but I obeyed. The screen panel doors of the formal reception room had been left wide open. Even from my position behind the trees, it was obvious that Sethon's men had ransacked the place. The low table was upended and Master Quidan's beautiful scroll of the dragon had been torn from its alcove. I watched as Ryko edged his way into the room. He paused for a moment, studying the mess, then disappeared from view. I wrung the edge of the Story Robe into a tight twist, trying to curb the impulse to run in after him. Finally, he reappeared in the doorway and beckoned.
'She's not here,' he said as I joined him inside the ruined reception room. 'The place is empty Either she has been taken by Sethon, or she's hiding somewhere, waiting for us.'
His face showed the same tense mix of relief and anxiety that was surging through me.
'I don't know Lady Dela as well as you, Ryko,' I said. 'But it seems to me that if she was able, she would leave us some kind of message.'
Affection briefly softened his face. 'And even if she was in danger, she would enjoy making it as subtle as possible.'
I picked up the torn Quidan masterpiece and laid it carefully on the bureau. 'Let us hope it has survived all this damage.'
'If I were her, I would place it somewhere you would return to,' Ryko said, pacing across the room. 'Maybe near something that is dear to you.'
'There are only two things in this place that are dear to me,' I said. 'My ancestors' death plaques. They're in my bedchamber.'
I led Ryko through the apartment, noting that none of the flickering wall lamps had been smashed. Whoever had gone through the place had wanted enough light to do a thorough job.
Every room we passed had been ransacked: presses hanging open, linen strewn on the floor, broken cups and bowls, baskets
upended, bedrolls opened and lying askew, There were also two more bodies, but Ryko stopped me from going to them, murmuring that he had already checked, My bedchamber was more of the same devastation, The hed was stripped, the opulent linen ripped and strewn about. The bureau doors were smashed or torn from their hinges, precious porcelain lying in pieces on the floor. Barely glancing at the ruins, I crossed straight to the altar. It was the only thing untouched — even rampaging soldiers would not risk angering the spirits.
Lady Dela had gambled on that fear and won: a copy of her translation of Lady jila's Summer Poems was next to the offering bowls, undamaged. The scroll was tied with a ribbon strung with a large black pearl — the pearl that usually hung from Lady Dela's throat.
