Chasing the Dragon (20 page)

"I can't see to aim," Carson growled, surprising Alto. He turned his head and saw the ranger had his bow ready with an arrow nocked even as they ran.

The people of Mira cried out when they saw them running with weapons drawn. Shouts were raised and spread down the street quickly. In the chaos, the two Stalkers escaped. Alto cursed and sheathed his sword, signaling his friends to do the same. He turned and looked behind him. Namitus and Karthor strode up to them.

"This way," Namitus hissed as he kept walking.

They followed him until he turned abruptly and ducked into a darker side street that was little more than an alley. Alto wondered why until he saw a group of guards scanning the crowd ahead of them. He turned and followed the rogue, trusting he remembered the city well enough to get them through.

"Keep
your wits about you," Namitus warned over his shoulder. "This alley used to be an entrance into the Shadows."

"Used to be?" Alto asked.

The rogue nodded. "It's been a long time since I was here. A lot of people knew about it. They might have closed it."

"Or not," Carson said as two men stepped out from the darkness near the end of the alley. Just beyond them
, another side street offered escape. Carson raised his bow and fitted his arrow to the string.

"You shouldn't let the fire burn," Patrina muttered.

"It's only two men," Garrick scoffed.

"Look up," Patrina counseled.

They did as she bade and saw men standing on either side in windows with bows aimed down at them. Alto looked behind them, thinking he might call on the city guards for assistance. Instead he saw a wagon being pulled across the entrance to the alley, blocking entrance or exit in that direction.

Alto scowled and looked to Namitus. He found the rogue looking back at him, his eyes wide. "They'll take us alive," Namitus hissed. "Or at least they did me before. Surrender and we can try to escape."

Patrina snorted and lifted her axe into both hands. Alto caught her gaze and nodded. "We won't surrender," Alto said.

Namitus shook his head. "We'll be killed," he insisted.

More men climbed from shadows ahead of them, joining their brothers and facing them. "He's right," one of them called out. "Thrown down your weapons."

"I got the archer behind me on my right," Garrick breathed loud enough for them to hear.

Alto turned and saw that the large warrior had his great sword in one hand and his hand axe in his other. "Carson?" Alto asked.

"I'll take the other three," he promised.

"All three?"

"Well
, not at once," he admitted. "I've got the bow. They'll probably aim for me."

"That's not very reassuring," Alto said.

"I'll keep the men on the ground busy," Mordrim growled.

"There's six of them," Karthor pointed out.

"They taught math in that church, did they?" Mordrim responded.

"Enough! Surrender or die," the man demanded.

"Death it is," Alto said.

Garrick raised his hand axe and threw it,
and then turned and ran after the dwarf, who was already pounding the ground. Carson's first arrow struck the archer high on the chest, piercing him just under his clavicle. It fouled his shot and made him fall back into the room away from the window. The other two loosed their arrows, only to have them both strike the ground where Carson had already leapt away from.

Alto, Patrina, and Karthor charged the men ahead of them. Namitus let out a curse and followed at a slower pace, limping as he ran. Two more men climbed from trap doors at the base of the buildings as they passed by,
stopping Namitus and forcing him to face them with the tulwar he'd taken.

The battle was brief, with steel striking steel and then smacking wetly into flesh. Mordrim was left fussing over a dent to his armor from a sword strike while Patrina turned at the sound of a curse and saw Namitus being backed up by the two men. She started towards him to help when Alto grabbed her shoulder.

"He needs help!" Patrina hissed. "He's hurt—see how he's moving?"

Alto nodded. "Why isn't he fighting with dagger and sword?" he wondered aloud.

"He's not used to that sword," she said.

Alto nodded and watched as Carson moved behind Namitus, and sent an arrow
into a window just as the fourth archer stepped back into it to fire. He fell away, pierced through the throat by the ranger's shot. Carson continued to circle and tried to find an angle to help Namitus without risking the rest of them in the background.

Alto scowled and ran forward.
Namitus was taking too long. The hero of the north thrust his sword into the back of one of the Stalkers, distracting the other one and causing him to turn on Alto. He lunged forward before Alto could free his blade from the ribs of the man he'd killed, jabbing his sword into Alto's side hard enough to dig the point of his blade against Alto's skin through the chain links.

Alto slapped the sword aside, gouging more of his flesh in the process. He swung his sword up and over and had to jerk his head to the side to avoid an upwards thrust from the assassin's tulwar.

His sword crashed down at an angle on the killer's shoulder, cutting him only a little with the edge but slapping hard with the flat of the blade. The man grunted from the impact and staggered back a step, giving Alto a chance to grab his arm and tug him off balance and spin him around. Alto shoved his sword up and in through the man's side, and then pushed him off the blade and watched him fall to the ground.

"Poison on those blades?" Alto asked Namitus.

The rogue glanced at the sword and then his own. He shook his head. "Just their daggers."

"Alto!" Patrina hissed. "Come on!"

Carson, Namitus, and Alto jogged over to meet them. Carson held out Garrick's hand axe for the man to reclaim. The street ahead was lit with light streaming out from taverns and houses but the foot traffic was lighter. "Back to the
Kraken
," Alto said. He reached down to his side and pulled his hand away to see it had blood smeared on it.

"You're hurt!" Patrina cried out.

Alto shook his head. "Just a scratch. Not poisoned either," he reassured her.

She frowned but finally took her eyes away from the dark spot spreading on the tunic under his chain shirt.

"Should have worn your plate," Mordrim muttered.

"Ship. Now," Alto reminded them. "Namitus, lead the way."

The rogue sheathed his sword and slipped ahead of them. He looked up and down the street and then stepped out into it and led them down the road to the north. At the next cross street, they saw several people milling around outside of a building. They stared at it and talked to each other while Namitus led them through the crowd.

"Is there a fire?"

"Someone said they smelled smoke."

"It'd serve him right if it burned down!"

When they were clear, Mordrim chuckled and shook his head. "Must be this was where we were at," the dwarf guessed at the snippets of conversation they'd heard in the crowd.

"You put the fire in the tunnels out, right?" Patrina asked.

"We did," Carson insisted.

"You started a fire in the Shadows?" Namitus asked.

"It was an accident," Alto said, his eyes darting to a blushing Carson. "And we put it out."

The rogue shook his head. "You're going to get me killed yet," he muttered. "Come on."

He turned down another street and stopped abruptly. A group of guards was approaching them. Namitus glanced back and then turned. "Come on, hurry!"

The rogue took off at a jog across the street to a
shop with a ship's helm on their sign. The guards cried out, forcing Alto and the others to catch up to him after he ducked into the building. They slammed the door shut and looked up at a surprised clerk who was straightening some coils or rope.

"Can I help you?"
he asked, his eyes narrowing as he took in their rough appearance.

"Just passing through," Namitus said.

The clerk stood up straight. "Passing through?"

"You have a back door?" Alto asked even as Namitus was moving down an aisle.

"Yes, but—"

"My thanks," Alto said. He dug a few coins out of his pocket and tossed them on the coil of rope in front of the man. "Sorry about the door."

"What about the door?" the surprised clerk asked. He was answered a moment later when the guards pushed against it and found it locked. They hammered their fists against it and then resorted to their shoulders, smashing it open just after the last of the companions had slipped into the back room of the store.

Namitus led them through a doorway into another alley. He glanced left and right and hesitated. He nodded to himself before Alto could ask and pointed to his right
. "This way," he said.

"There they are!"
a guard shouted as they hurried down the alley.

Alto cursed and looked behind him, only
to run into Namitus a few steps later. The rogue grunted and swore at him as he staggered. He looked ahead and saw several Stalkers gathering. On a whim, Alto glanced up but saw no open windows with archers in them.

"We're trapped," Namitus hissed. "Maybe we can give ourselves to the guards?"

Alto shook his head. "That won't go well for us."

"Nobody likes you very much, do they?" the rogue asked.

"He grows on you," Patrina offered with a grim smile.

"Twelve guards and eight of the
Stalkers," Carson said as both groups approached them.

"
Aye, but that doesn't leave anyone for you to fight," Mordrim said.

Garrick chuckled.
"And he's only half the man you are."

Carson smirked and shook his head.

Mordrim scowled and swung his hammer, causing the barbarian to leap back to keep his hips from being crushed. Garrick snarled and drew his great sword. He chopped down at Mordrim but the dwarf raised his axe and blocked the strike. Garrick staggered back towards the Stalkers, his hands ringing from the parry. Mordrim stalked after him.

Garrick recovered and swung his sword, forcing Mordrim to fall back to avoid being clipped by it. As soon as it passed
, Mordrim bellowed and charged, raising his axe and running. Garrick continued the swing, using the sword's momentum to pull him around and out of Mordrim's path.

The short but stocky warrior
kept running. He charged into the surprised group of assassins. Garrick was a step behind him, recovering from his spin and launching himself forward. The two warriors dropped a Stalker each and stood back to back as the others recovered and pressed against them.

Alto met the guards
who had broken into a jog at the sight of the fresh battle. He kicked out at one and blocked another with his blade. An arrow jutted out of the chin of a third guard and then Carson tossed his bow aside and drew his twin swords. Patrina and Namitus joined in as well but Karthor turned and ran to join the dwarf and barbarian in the other direction.

Namitus fought more like his old self, slipping around and looking for openings. He seemed sluggish with his sword but still struck true when he had the opportunity. Patrina's armor continued to serve her well, pulling strikes that would have crippled her to the mail and deflecting them. It also served to distract one guard with how low cut it was, allowing her
knock his sword aside and use the pick at the end of her axe to poke a hole through his ring-studded leather harness and into his belly.

Alto led the fury of the battle, as always, but Carson wreaked his own havoc with his unique fighting style. The guards were unable to fend off the two aggressive warriors and when they tried to escape
, they ran afoul of Patrina's axe or Namitus's sword. Soon they stood among a pile of freshly slain, breathing heavy and bleeding from lesser wounds.

Mordrim and Garrick walked back towards them, both warrior
s cradling their weapons over their shoulder. Karthor stared at them from behind and shook his head, his only testimony to their violent but effective fighting styles.

"Is everyone all right?" Alto checked.

"No," Patrina said.

Alto turned, concern in his eyes. "Are you hurt?"

Patrina ignored his question and turned on Namitus. She stepped closer to him, her axe still in one hand, and glared at him. "I'm not going any further until I know who you really are!"

Chapter 19

Rosalyn gasped as the final barrier parted before her. She stared at it, seeing with her mind what her eyes could not. She felt the energy beyond the barrier. It called out to her and urged her to come in. She ached to join with it and feel it surge through her. To be enveloped in its warmth.

"Queen!"

Rosalyn gasped and blinked. Her concentration was broken but she still saw the image in her mind's eye. She'd reached out and felt her fingers touch it. She shook her head and pulled her hand back from where they'd brushed the statue. She turned and saw a goblin standing and looking everywhere but at her.