Shield and Crocus (22 page)

On the left flank, Ghost Hands had most of the guards pinned against the wall, assaulting them with stray weapons and debris. A large Millrej guard fired crossbow bolts as fast as she could, but did little to waylay the Qava.

The rank-and-file guards on the door had spread out to cover the left flank. Aegis hit them with a wave of bodies and overwhelmed the guards, pressing inside the bank.

His eyes adjusted to the lower light, but it was his ears that cued him in as taut strings snapped loose. “Down!” he called, leaning forward behind the Aegis. A half-dozen bolts glanced off the shield but he heard even more find deadly purchase elsewhere.

“Close the distance; don’t let them pick you off!”

Aegis charged into the crossbowman, bounding over a long counter filled with blank deposit slips. Ten in the middle of the rank dropped the crossbows and went for their swords. “Close!” he called again as the room filled with his army.

There were another fifty guards inside, most posted in the center crossbow line. Behind them, another ten stood around the vault door. The last group was back and to the side, flanking the guards at the vault. Reserves. They’d press when he most need them not to.

At the vault door, a serpentine Millrej reared up on her tail and laughed. “I had hoped you’d survive long enough for this. I wanted your head for my own, the first prize to mount on my desk as executor Dlella.”

He wasn’t surprised that Dlella had made a power play for the position of executor. Hold the bank and you held the domain’s power. And if she could repel their attack, she’d cement her spot among the oligarchs.

The four can’t be allowed to become five again.

“Don’t clear your desk too soon, Dlella. Or have you not noticed the hundreds at my back?” he raised his shield and a cheer erupted, more people spilling through the doors every moment. His host numbered the better part of two hundred, and by the time they engaged, it could be as many as three.

The nearest reinforcements would be in a district away. And by then, the people would be entrenched; they’d be doing the defending while he and a select few looted the bank to get the money to distribute.

Aegis thought loud, counting on Ghost Hands to keep her attention up. [
Put Sabreslate and Blurred Fists on the door, watch for more guards. Dlella’s in here with of them. Keep the reinforcements out of the bank and we can continue as planned. Alert me when they arrive.
]

Aegis advanced slowly, the shield forward to protect against the crossbows. “You can back down, Dlella, keep your forces intact. I’m sure you aren’t stupid enough to leave all your cash in the primary bank, are you? Not a smart move if you’re bankrolling a coup.” The crowd behind him shuffled in place, nerves and fatigue tearing at their energy.

Have to make it sound good, rally their spirits.

Dlella hissed. “I’m not going anywhere, Aegis. Bring your common horde; throw away lives like chips in a game. Every heart that stops beating is a tally in my ledger. And when I have your head on my desk, their will to fight will evaporate.”

Aegis scanned the crowd, re-evaluated his numbers
. It’ll have to do.
“Take the vault, and watch the left flank!” he shouted, and pushed forward into another charge.

Dlella’s guards unleashed a volley of crossbow bolts.

Most shattered on an invisible sphere of Ghost Hands’ making. Aegis and his forces crossed fifty feet of finely tiled floor and took another crossbow volley before reaching the vault. A red blur emerged from the crowd, with steel-grey streaks following it.

Aegis brought up his shield as the blur approached and a blade skittered off the side, forming sparks in its trail.
Pronai bladesman. No, woman.
That would be Red whirlwind, another of Nevri’s heavies. If she had already thrown in with Dlella, then the Millrej was already well positioned to succeed Nevri as the executor.
Not good.
he had hoped for more infighting, less unification. “Get Blurred Fists in here, now!” Aegis shouted, hoping they could spare him on the outside. Aegis scanned the room for Red whirlwind, expecting another pass.

He caught her too late, a painting of blurred grey lines and sprouts of blood appearing to his left.

She’s eviscerating their entire left flank, softening it up for the reserve group.
Aegis kicked an Ikanollo guard in the gut, pushed off, and turned, trying to catch up to the Pronai slaughterer.

Aegis cried out above the din of battle. “Why don’t you stop dulling your blades on them and face a real challenge, whirlwind?”

The woman’s answer came in the ringing of steel on steel as a sword glanced off the Aegis. He felt a sting along his thigh, then saw the line of orange through the cut in his raiment.
Better me than any of them.

“Fists!” Aegis tracked the lines, anticipating the next strike as it came overhead, then side-stepped to the right, keeping the shield up and reaching out with his leg to trip the Pronai.

His interior First Sentinel voice spoke again as Aegis closed the distance:
The more you can tie her up, the less she can use her speed. Turn it into a brawl and you’ll have her on muscle. Make your opponents’ strengths their weaknesses.
She lashed out with a thrust to the chest. He dodged to the side, but his body void wasn’t fast enough and he felt the sword slice him below the nipple before the Aegis stopped the swing. The sword stopped by his shield, Aegis grabbed Red whirlwind’s wrist and squeezed.
Got you.
he channeled the pain into his grip. Aegis felt a crack but couldn’t hear it over the melee. Her sword clattered to the floor and Aegis brought her in as close as a lover. The Shield reached around with his left hand and forced the other blade out of her grip. He pulled Red whirlwind off the floor and slammed the both of them into the tile, the Pronai on bottom. He heard more cracking, and then she vanished from his sight. A hunched red river poured through the crowd and streaked out the door.
That will do for now.
Aegis stumbled to the side, and then picked himself up.
That cut needs a bandage immediately.
“Rally to the vault!” Aegis shouted to the crowd inside, his voice strained. He reached out Ghost Hands, calling, [
I need Ghost Hands or Sapphire to the vault door, immediately. Red Whirlwind just vanished. She’s wounded but might re-engage. Keep your eyes open, Fists
.]

In front of the vault door, Dlella drew a slight Qava woman up in her tail and sank her fangs into the woman’s neck. The Qava’s brown skin paled, veins running blue with poison, and Dlella dropped her to the floor, spasming. The snake-woman then wrapped her tail around an Ikanollo man in a threadbare suit.

As she pulled him in, Aegis jumped between them and filled her mouth with the shield. Dlella distended her jaw, opening wide to dislodge the Aegis. He let the shield drop free and flipped around the Millrej to grab her around the neck, just below the opening of her hood. Aegis wrapped his legs tight around her core and squeezed.
Let’s see how you like being constricted.
his strength was diminished without a direct connection to the shield, but it was enough for the task.

Dlella flailed and writhed, rearing up to her full height.

Aegis was level with the top of the vault door as he rained punches down on the back of her head. He spotted Sapphire wading through the crowd in the middle of the room. He punctuated his thoughts with blows to her head.
Between the two of us, we should be able to force the vault door.

The Millrej bashed Aegis against the vault, trying to shake him off. They traded blows as Sapphire approached. The taste of copper on his lips, he felt blood dripping down his shirt. His grip slipped when Sapphire pulled on Dlella’s tail. The two of them dropped towards the tile. Aegis pulled on Dlella, maneuvering around to land on her rather than the ground. The air went out of his lungs when they hit, but Dlella was limp below him, coiled on the floor.

“Thank you,” he said after catching his breath. Sapphire beamed, her jade thread shining from his praise. “Shall we?”

Aegis nodded. He looked down to grab Dlella and hand her off to someone as a hostage.

She was gone. He scanned the room, trying to pick out her scales. Aegis bit back a curse and reached out with his mind to draw Ghost Hands’ attention.

[
Dlella’s gone. I think Red Whirlwind pulled her out. Keep your eyes open.
]

“Let’s get the door,” Aegis said to Sapphire. He turned to several loose clusters of citizens, bruised but determined. “You, empty the drawers behind there.

Spread the money around, and get it out of the building immediately!” The groups pushed toward the teller’s area.

A Freithin woman wrenched open the door, opening the way for her smaller companions.

Sapphire wrapped her hands around the brass wheel while Aegis retrieved the shield and moved to the hinges.

He brought down the Aegis on the joints as Sapphire forced the wheel. The metal warped in her grip but it turned even while groaning in protest.

A few seconds more and the vault door snapped off the lower joint. Guards were swarming the door, but they were held at bay by the citizen’s army. The citizen army wouldn’t last long under the pressure, not without the Shields leading them directly.

“Faster!” Aegis turned and took control of his forces. “Hold the line! Stay together, defend your neighbor!” The vault continued to groan and creak.
Come on, Sapphire.

Off to one side, the group he’d sent off passed bags of marks through the crowd, each person taking a handful of bills. If nothing else, they’d given people a taste of victory.

The money could pay for a long overdue doctor’s visit or put food on the table for a hungry family.

“Almost there,” she shouted through grunts of exertion. Aegis swatted away a pike aimed for a Jalvai’s head.

“Push them back, and prepare to move inside the vault.

This is a chokepoint, the advantage is ours.”

Risking a glance over his shoulder Aegis saw the vault door jutting out towards the bottom. Sapphire bent over and tried to rip it out of the upper joint. She pulled clockwise, then counter-clockwise, straining and stretch ing the metal.
It won’t be long, now.

He held the line against another wave of guards, pushing forward to lead from the front, a kick here and a swing of the shield there. With Audec-Hal’s greatest warrior at their fore, the people were brave, sharp, and powerful.

Their threads of gold and red shone brighter than he’d ever seen from anyone but a Shield or Shield-bearer.
Is the City Mother with us somehow, working against Yema’s corruption of her power?

Most likely, it was just the strength of the citizens, stirred up enough to overcome the threads of control.
The strength is their own; all we’re doing is letting it show.
Aegis heard a creak, then a tear. He dropped a Jalvai with a roundhouse kick and scanned the door as he turned through the kick. Sapphire threw the vault door open. “Twenty of you, inside with me. Sapphire, hold the door, and then follow us in!”

Aegis dropped back, handing over control of the bank door to Blurred Fists. Aegis’ squad and more followed him through the vault door, into the tall room with shelves running all the way to the ceiling, numbered and ordered bags and boxes and guards.

Lots of guards.
instead of having most of the security outside the bank to dissuade them or even inside to keep them from the vault, Dlella had arrayed the majority of her guards inside the vault itself. Nearly every inch of the floor was filled with the boots of her forces. The dozen felled by the door left enough space to charge in, but Aegis backpedaled as he saw the overwhelming numbers. He thought loud once more so Ghost Hands could relay the situation. [
I see the better part of a hundred guards inside the vault. We’ll need everyone inside now if we’re going to go through with this, otherwise we pull back now. What’s the situation outside?
]

He listened, but there was no response. Aegis hoped the message got through via Ghost Hands. There were so many people in the fight, so many thoughts to sort through.

He kept his squadron close and they held the opening to the vault. If nothing else, he could keep the guards inside from getting out into the main floor of the bank. Ghost Hands’ voice filled his head. [
We’re going to be swamped in about half a minute. Reinforcements coming from both sides of the street. I was just about to bring everyone inside and move to a siege defense.
]

Aegis threw his frustration into a punch that lifted a Pronai guard off the ground and crashing into his comrades, sending all five of them tumbling to the ground.

[
No good. We’d be surrounded in a vulnerable position
.] Scenarios and possibilities played out in his mind.

None ended well. [
We can’t do it. Sound the retreat. I need a new door out the south side of the building in less than a minute. We get the citizens out first. Dlella’s guards will stick with us.
]

[
All of this for nothing?
], asked Sabreslate through the mental link.

[
Not nothing. Several thousand marks in bills are already making their way into the crowd
].
But it should have been hundreds of thousands.

Aegis yanked a guard’s halberd out of his grip, sent them down with a kick, then handed the weapon to a citizen on his right. “Keep them at bay, use the reach it gives you.” [
Plus, we stirred up enough anger and courage to start a focused riot, I wouldn’t call that nothing
,] Aegis responded. Sabreslate said, [
A couple thousand marks won’t go very far in a crowd this size. This momentum will vanish as quickly as you were able to muster it
.]

[
And if we stay, those people who might fight for us again will all be dead, and us with them
,] Sapphire said. [
We can argue later. Get people out safely, now
.] First, he had to control the group in the vault. He pulled out a fire grenade, contained magic bound to an explosive core, and tossed it all the way into the back of the vault, clattering among the stacks of gold and platinum. The explosion filled the vault with dust and smoke and shouting. If Aegis was lucky, it’d ruin tens of thousands of marks of currency and would keep the mass of guards confounded until they could stumble over one another and out of the vault.