Pathspace: The Space of Paths (21 page)

“
You could try,” Xander
said. “But there is a smarter way. You tie all of us up except one,
and leave your young man to cover him so you can get a decent head
start. After you're gone, he ties up the last one and catches up
with you.”

Brutus laughed even harder. “And who covers
the last one while he ties 'em up?”

“
No one,” said Xander. The
last one gives his word not to try anything, in return for
your
word that you'll release Aria
unharmed, once you're safely away.”

“
And why don't we
tie
all
of you up?” Brutus
inquired. “I'd rather shoot you, myself, but I'm just
curious.”

“
Because I won't let you,”
said Xander. “You've seen what I can do. If you don't agree to this
plan, I'll be forced to take action and see what happens. I'd
rather not risk her life, but I won't let myself be killed or tied
up so she can suffer at your hands. You have two shots with those
crossbows. Think before you roll the dice.”

“
You don't have a campfire
for ammo this time, old man.”

“
I don't need a campfire,”
said Xander, and vanished.

Brutus fired. The bolt from his crossbow
smacked against the wall behind where the wizard had been.

“
I'm not there any more,”
said the voice of Xander. “You now have only one shot. Choose
wisely. Ludlow can't get you all past the guards without
help.”

“
We agree to your plan,”
said Jeffrey. “You promise not to keep us from leaving and we
promise not to hurt her.”

“
Agreed,” said Xander. But
he did not reappear. “Tie the others up. I'll reappear when your
associates leave. Not before.”

“
All right.” He handed his
crossbow to Brutus and picked up the rope.

As he tied up the two guard the wizard's
apprentice regarded Brutus. “I don't believe we've been
introduced,” he said. “I'm Lester. Who're you?”

The commander looked at him as if he were
crazy. “Brutus is my name. What's it to you?”

Lester met his gaze. “I just wanted to know
who I'm going to kill,” he said.

Brutus snorted and strode forward, jamming
the point of an arrow against Lester throat. “That's real funny,”
he said. “Everyone needs a dream, I guess. If your crossbow makers
are as good as ours, this arrow will go clean through your neck
before you can blink. Now shut up and you might survive.”

Lester smiled. “Enjoy life while it lasts,”
he said.

Jeffrey finished with the guards and tied
Lester up. Then he picked up the discharged crossbow and its arrow,
which mad managed to survive bouncing off the wall. He reloaded and
turned to Ludlow and Aria. “Saddle up,” he said.

“
Cover her while I mount,”
said Ludlow. While Jeffrey complied, hating the idea of aiming a
loaded crossbow at girl, Ludlow swung into the saddle. Scowling,
Aria climbed up in front of him and took the reins while his knife
returned to the vicinity of her throat.

As the others rode out of the building,
Ludlow turned. “You gave your word, wizard,” he said.

“
So I did,” said Xander's
voice. “And I'll keep it. But we'll meet again.”

Ludlow chuckled. “Part of me hopes that
you're smarter than that,” he said. “But the rest of me
doesn't.”

As soon as he was gone Xander reappeared.
“I'm a man of my word,” he said. “Soon as I'm sure Brutus won't
circle back to finish us off, you can put down the crossbow and tie
me up. Brutus doesn't like you very much, does he?”

“
No,” said Jeffrey. “And
it's mutual. But what makes
you
say
that?”

“
The fact that he agreed
to leave you behind, knowing who you are,” said Xander.

“
I'm nobody special,” said
Jeffrey.

“
I think we all know your
father is someone famous.”

“
If you keep your word, I
rejoin the others. If you don't, well, I'm out of the picture with
no blame on the commander. He wins either way.”

“
The Honcho might not see
it that way, if you don't make it back.”

“
Perhaps. But Brutus's men
will confirm that it was my idea.”

Xander nodded. “I'm sure they will.” He
glanced at the crossbow. “Soon it will be time to tie me up. What,
exactly, will you do if I don't let you?”

Jeffrey shrugged. “I could always shoot one
of the guards.”

Xander smiled. “You could, but you
won't.”

“
What makes you so sure of
that?”

“
Because it's something
Brutus would do. Perhaps you had better tie me up now.”

“
If I put down the
crossbow,” said Jeffrey, “you could probably knock me out with your
staff.”

“
Probably,” Xander agreed.
He leaned his staff against the wall and stepped away from it. “But
I did give my word.” He regarded Jeffrey. “Now that I am unarmed,
you might be able to kill me.”

“
I might,” said Jeffrey.
Then he laid down the crossbow and picked up the rope. “But I gave
my word, too.” He began to tie Xander's feet together.

“
You realize,” said
Xander, “that this rope will not hold me very long.” He held up his
hands for Jeffrey to tie them together. “I am a wizard, after all.
I have a reputation to maintain.”

“
I expect I'll be seeing
you again, then,” said Jeffrey. “I think you will find that Brutus
is not so easily surprised a second time.” He finished the knots
and stood up.

“
Certainly,” said Xander.
“But I'll think of something.”

“
Good,” said Jeffrey. “I
would hate for him to get away with what he did.”

“
Don't worry about that,”
said Lester. “He won't. Not this time.”

After Jeffrey got on his horse and left,
Xander glanced over at Lester. “What was that about?”

“
I recognized Brutus,”
said Lester. “I've been looking for him.”

Xander lifted part of his cloak and shook
it. A coin fell out. “Why? Have you met him before?”

Lester watched him. “We met ten years ago,
when he killed my father.”

Xander crouched by the
coin on the floor and wove
tonespace
around it. Presently a point of blue-white brilliance
appeared above the surface of the coin. “I think our young friend
wants us to catch Brutus,” he said.

“
What makes you say
that?”

“
Because he tied my hands
in front of me,” said Xander, as the rope began to smolder over the
new everflame. “This would have been a little trickier if he'd tied
them behind my back.”

In a few seconds the charred rope parted.
Xander shook the remains off his hands and stroked the side of the
coin, shutting turning the everflame off. Then he freed his feet
and came over to untie Lester. Lester stood and groaned.

“
What's the matter?” said
Xander.

“
I want to kill Brutus,”
said Lester. “But I still can't ride a horse. I'd just slow you
down. You'll have to go without me. Damn it!”

“
What was that about him
killing your father? Isn't he still back at the inn?”

“
Gerrold's not my father,”
Lester informed him. “My dad was a farmer. Gerrold took us in after
what Brutus and his men did at the farm. That's why you found me at
the inn.” He looked out into the street. “It's also why my younger
brother doesn't look like me.”

“
I see,” said Xander. He
was silent for a minute while he was untying the two guards. “Then
I guess you'll have to come along after all.”

“
I want to! But I'd slow
you down. Or worse, fall off the horse and break my fool
neck.”

“
I have something faster
than horses,” said Xander, heading for the stairwell. “But you'll
like it even less. Come on!” He surged up the stairs, nearly
knocking over the Governor, who was descending.

“
Where are you going?” she
asked him. And where's my daughter?”

“
Ludlow helped the
prisoners escape,” he told her. “They've got Aria with them. We're
going after them. Try not to worry.”

“
I wasn't worried, until
now,” she said. “Who's going with you?”

“
My apprentice, of
course.”

She glanced at his staff. “Is he ready for
that?”

He shrugged. “Probably not, but he has to
learn sometime. Now would be a good time.”

She shook her head as the boy followed him
up the stairs. “Poor devil.”

The stairs seemed endless. “Aren't we going
in the wrong direction?” he asked the wizard. At first he had
thought the reason for going up was to notify the Governor. But
they'd already done that.

“
No,” said Xander. “It's
easier to do this from the roof.” He stopped on a landing to catch
his breath.

“
I don't understand,”
Lester complained. “Why go up? By the time we get to the roof
they'll be out of the city. If they aren't already.”

“
That doesn't matter,” the
wizard told him, resuming his climb, though not so fast as
before.

As they ascended, Lester tried to imagine
what the old man was planning. Could he signal someone from the
roof, was that it? It had to be. Once they reached the roof he'd
send some kind of signal to someone far enough away to head off
Brutus before he was long gone.

But he wanted to meet the redhead again
before he was returned to his cell.

After another eternity, they emerged onto
the roof. Xander waved to the guard on lookout duty, then reached
for the top of his staff and unscrewed it. The top came off,
revealing a couple of inches of pipe protruding from the end of the
wood. Then he did the same with the bottom.

Lester watched him. “Why is there a steel
pipe inside your staff?”

“
Two reasons,” said Xander
as the staff began to hiss. “Keeps me from breaking it when I have
to fight. That's one. Also it cuts down on wind erosion. I have to
turn up the flow rate pretty high. We'll have to make you one like
it soon.”

Lester blinked as the hiss began to get
deeper. “It's a swizzle,” he said. “Are you going to shoot up some
kind of signal? Is that it?”

Xander laughed. “No,” he said. “We have
other ways of sending signals. Have you ever heard of Newton's
Third Law of Motion?”

“
No. Why?”

“
You're about to get a
practical demonstration. As you've guessed, I often use my staff as
a swizzle.” The outflow from the bottom of his staff stirred up a
cloud of dust from the roof of the skyscraper. “As you know, the
swizzle is a free-energy pump, commonly used nowadays for
irrigation and to supply mill ponds. A few smiths have them for
bellows, where they make light work of heating the forge for
metalworking.”

“
What has that got to do
with pursuing the escape prisoners?”

From a pocket of his clock Xander produced a
small bottle of something which he daubed liberally on the wood at
two locations on the staff, one a foot from the upper end, and the
other nearly a foot below that.

“
What is that for?” Lester
asked.

Xander showed him a frightening grin. “It's
to keep us alive, by preventing the staff from slipping through our
fingers.” He moved around to the opposite side of it from Lester
and grabbed the upper area he had daubed. “Now take hold of the
other spot I put the stickum on, and don't let go, whatever
happens.”

Wondering what this ritual was all about,
Lester did as he was told. The sound made by the air flowing
through the staff was quite deep now, a growling roar. “You still
haven't said why we are doing –”

And then he shut up. Not because the roaring
hum of the staff was making his chest vibrate and would have
drowned out his words in any case. He shut up because they were
rising off the roof. Risking a glance down, he saw the roof
receding and Xander's boots crossing around the bottom of the
staff. Without a word he crossed his own boots around it also. In
moments they were over a hundred feet above the tallest buildings.
At that point the staff began to tilt. The top of it leaned over
toward the South. The roar became even louder.

The next half hour Lester spent being more
terrified than he had ever felt in his life.

Once outside the building he pushed the
walking horse into a trot, letting it warm up its leg muscles
before he urged it faster. Posting to the trot, the learned action
of moving with the horse's back to minimize the jolting to both of
them, was easy at this speed, as the horse smote the pavement first
with front left and rear right hooves, then the opposite pair,
making a clop clop sound with the two-beat gait.

After a few blocks of this, though, he began
to worry about pursuit and urged the animal into a canter. The
clop-clop-clop clop-clop-clop of the three beat canter was
reassuringly faster, although he knew the animal could not maintain
the greater exertion for long.

By now he had swung onto the south-bound
lanes of the old Highway 25. There had been no time to discuss
routes with Brutus before the scouts left, and in any event it
would have been unwise to do so in front of the wizard. Now that he
was on the road, he wondered if he was doing the right thing.
Should he have remained in Rado?