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Zacham hiding under a table weeping. He grabbed the boy, "Go for help," he
said, and with a word of power popped the boy out of the room and into the
warehouse where Aejys' caravan guards wintered.
A man came at Josiah with a knife. He pivoted, caught the man's wrist with a
twist, and broke his arm at the elbow across his knee: Josiah Abelard started
out in life as a battlemage and that was where Josh's uncanny ability with
weapons came from. He had been accessing Josiah even then, though he had not
known it. Josiah wondered as he fought if he and Josh would ever merge
completely as two incarnations of the same mon should or if it would take
another death and rebirth to achieve the successful merging of the two halves
of himself. He hoped fervently for the former, because they desperately needed
each other, needed to have no more shifting back and forth in either half or
complete awareness. He stomped the fallen man across the back of the neck,
killing him.
Nearby a serving woman screamed in shrill terror as a man slammed her into a
wall and jerked her bodice open. Josiah yanked him back, summoned fire and
smeared it across his eyes, blinding her assailant, then dropped him with a
knee to his crotch: they could pick that one up later for questioning if no
one killed him first. Worry for Aejys slid across his mind and he pushed it
back so that it would not slow him down. Josiah intended to show Cedarbird the
full fury of an enraged battlemage. Josh's consciousness would not be able to
contain him.
Skree, with the tremendous strength of his race, lifted a large mon into the
air and brought him down across his knee, shattering his back, then dropped
him. A shrill, ululating war cry rose from his throat as he spun into the
assailants: like Josiah he had not survived by his magic alone. After spending
months in the Cock and Boar while Taun tended to Aejys' liegemyn, he knew who
belonged and who did not. Skree's and Josiah's eyes met across the melee for
just an instant, saying to each other silently "anything you can do I can do
better," and then they moved on.
Josiah spied a beset caravan guard; saw one of his two assailants cut him.
None of the guards had brought their weapons, they were wintering, not
working, and clearly no one had expected to need them in the tavern. The guard
clutched his side, kicking at the mon. The second assailant brought a club at
his head, but the guard twisted and took it on his shoulder instead. The force
was enough to send the mon to his knees. Josiah seized the knife wielder's
wrist, breaking it with a snap. He caught the blade as it fell and shoved it
in hard just under the breastbone. The tough cried out in pain and collapsed,
dying. Josiah pivoted, kicking the second tough in the face twice, then the
stomach, and then the face again. The man dropped the club. Josiah lunged,
driving two fingers into the man's chest stopping his heart. Josiah offered
the caravan guard a hand up. "You be okay?"
"Yeah. I been cut worse."
"Good mon."
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The kitchen staff emerged with cleavers and knives in hand and pots on their
heads as helmets, wading in with savage ferocity. Josiah shook his head, if
their attackers had been soldiers instead of a local gang of toughs, the staff
would not have had a chance. As it was they would have their hands full. But
he admired their courage: Aejys picked good people. It was not Becca's fault
that she had been taken in by Arlethan while he and Aejys were away.
The side door near the stables opened and the rest of the wintering guards
rushed in with drawn swords deciding the bloody contest in Aejys' favor.
* * * *
No one saw Dinger slip up the stairs, heading for Aejys' rooms to be certain
of his handiwork. He missed Josiah's entrance in the confusion and did not yet
know he had failed to kill him. His eyes no longer looked even vaguely human,
having gone completely dark amaranthine and without whites, iris or pupil. The
diminutive sa'necari was tired of posing. Once this day's work was done he
intended to inform Cedarbird of who was truly the master and who the servant.
From this day on Vorgensburg would belong to Prince Mephistis through his
loving servant Dingarim. Dingarim planned to send Aejys to him as a gift,
knowing how Mephistis longed to take the mortgiefan from her.
Dingarim peered around the door and saw only Taun, the wussy healer, with
Aejys. They were still huddled on the floor with Aejys' head lying back
against his shoulder, looking very, very pale. There was no sign of Josiah. He
had arrived, fully expecting to see the mage lying dead upon the floor that
disappointed Dinger; he had been so certain Josiah would fetch the books.
Clearly the serpent had gotten her instead. Apparently the famed Sharani
resistance had failed her. Which was, after all, to be expected: taking out
Sharani was the ultimate purpose behind his development of these genetically
altered vipers. Eventually he would have a breeding colony of them to release
in Shaurone. No matter. He would find other gifts for his master after he had
finished with the little nerien. It would take a stronger death to cure
Mephistis' deijanzael. Perhaps one of the seafolk.
Taun laid Aejys gently aside and got to his feet. She had lost consciousness
moments before. Had she been fully recovered before the attack she no doubt
could have fought it off, but clearly Cedarbird knew better than to allow
Aejys to regain her strength before making his move. Taun glared at the small
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