War of the Fathers (24 page)

He registered their surprise as he pulled the trigger
twice and watched big holes rip through them. As they fell, he got to his feet
and ran to the broken window. Tere hadn’t wasted any time and was limping
across the street. A few more steps and he would disappear into an alley.

Adar fired the blaster in rapid succession, but in his
anger, his aim was terrible and the brick walls to the side of Tere took the
brunt of it. Tere didn’t even look back as he disappeared into the alley.

There was a flurry of activity below and Adar was
surprised to see that Karn had broken through a window and was running towards
Tere. In his fury, Adar almost fired at Karn but stopped as he had begun to
squeeze the trigger. Karn had been a boy at the time of Nelion’s death.

Adar was about to jump and follow them when a handful
of Hunwei raced after Karn and Tere. While Adar waited for the way to clear, more
Hunwei began to pour into the street below, some herding people in front of
them, but others were actively scanning the area looking for more humans. Adar
sunk out of view of the window and struggled to regain control.

After all these years, he’d finally confronted his
wife’s killer. Adar had always had his suspicions, but he couldn’t quite bring
himself to believe it of his old friend. He didn't remember making a decision
to charge Tere. The revelation had caused him to react. Tere had known that in
his anger Adar would make a mistake. Lucky for him the Hunwei had shown up,
otherwise who knew how things might have gone? It was strange to think that the
appearance of the Hunwei had saved his life and he looked over at the lifeless bodies
as he wondered at his luck.

Tere had played his card well. Adar’s hands shook as
he thought of Nelion and remembered the night when Tere had found Adar, only
now Adar accepted that Tere had been there all along. He’d been a fool for not
doing so before. Melyah, what a fool!

“What have you done?” Tere had said all those years
ago. “Who is that man?”

Adar hadn’t known.

“What madness is this?” Tere asked after a pause. “No
matter what she did, it’s not your right to do this. Even as the Ghar.”

Adar hadn’t responded and had only been able clutch
Nelion. If it hadn’t been for his grief, maybe he would have wondered how Tere
had found him so quickly. The gods knew how often he’d wondered since. The
Rarbon Palace was a vast place, what were the odds?

He looked back out the broken window and for the first
time seriously considered if his father had been behind Nelion's murder. It had
been Abel who had come between Adar and Tere in the first place, or it was Abel
who had put Tere there to pretend to befriend him. In the end, the result was
the same. Had Abel sent Tere to do it? Was Adar jealous enough to have killed
his only son's wife? Adar shook his head and took several calming breaths. Now
was not the time to sort it all out, he had to get back to Jorad.

He froze. The tablet. How had he forgotten about it?
How long until the tower's weapon outside the town hall was deployed? He
shouldn’t have been so hasty to arm it. How many people would die because he
hadn't taken the time to think things through?

Jorad tried to ignore his pain as the rain pelted his
bruised face but it wasn’t working very well. He stifled a grunt as he looked
out from behind the overturned cart at the thirteen Hunwei that were
congregated around the alley that led to the Arches. Two of the monsters were
snarling at one another and had been for the last several minutes. If there had
been one or two, Jorad would have taken his chances and used the blaster, but
not with thirteen. As he studied the Hunwei, racking his brain for a plan, he
wondered how Adar was doing. Had he gotten to the tablet before the invasion
had started? Jorad wished Adar was here. He could have used a measure of his
father’s confidence to handle the situation before him.

Unfortunately, from his vantage point, he was unable
to tell if the arch was still open. If Xarda hadn't been able to close it in
time. . . . He didn't dwell on the thought. She had most likely closed it, but
not before the Hunwei saw something that made them want to investigate further.
This was probably the reason that there was a group of them arguing. Perhaps
one had seen Xarda and the others as the arch had closed and was having trouble
convincing the other Hunwei about what had happened.

As he ran his hand through his hair, he grimaced when
he realized he’d just smeared blood from his hair onto his hand. He tried
wiping it on his pants but his hand seemed more bloody afterward. That effect was
hopefully caused by the pouring rain and not because his pants were soaked with
blood. If it was the latter, it wasn’t his own blood on his pants. The look on Thon’s
face as Jorad had stabbed the man came to mind and he was almost overcome with
paralysis. Maybe Thon would survive; perhaps Jorad had missed the vital organs.

Jorad frowned, Thon hadn’t been breathing when Jorad
had last seen him and he wasn’t likely to live through his wounds. He took
several breaths and shook his head to clear the image away but immediately
regretted the action because he could feel his swollen cheeks. He didn’t dare
touch his face, not wanting to know exactly how swollen it was.

He noticed that Soret and Barc were whispering behind
him again and had to refrain from spinning around to chastise them. Even though
he was hidden, he didn’t think that making a sudden movement so close to a
group of Hunwei was a wise thing to do. The others that still followed Jorad,
hoping he could carry through on his promise to save them, were hidden
throughout the alley as well and were doing a far better job of keeping quiet.
There weren’t nearly as many as before the fight with Thon, but there were
still half a dozen. The young man with the baby was several feet away clutching
it to his chest. Jorad wasn’t sure how the man had managed to keep the kid
quiet, but he was glad that he didn’t have to deal with a screaming baby as
well. He turned and glared at Barc and Soret hoping they’d notice. When they
didn’t, he touched them both and put a finger to his lips. Barc looked angry
and Soret indignant.

Never mind all the Hunwei less than a stone’s throw
away,
Jorad thought as he ground his teeth,
or that you’re putting
everybody else in danger, go ahead and ask your questions now!

One of the Hunwei was getting louder and Jorad
returned his attention to the argument. If Jorad would have been able to speak
their snarly language, it was loud enough he would have understood what was
being said. The longer the Hunwei argued, the more worried he became. He didn’t
want them to discover the truth. The arch was his only hope of getting everybody
with him out alive.

He looked back down the alley, afraid that at any time
a group of Hunwei would come wandering through, and was glad to see that the
way was still clear. He hated staying in the open like this and if the Hunwei
didn’t move soon, he would be forced to make everybody take cover. He’d been
hoping that some of the others might have stumbled on to their location. Where
could Tarner have gone? A second blaster would be real handy just about now.

Jorad waited as long as he dared but when the Hunwei
still hadn’t moved after a few more minutes had passed, he withdrew from his
hiding place and backtracked to a door into the building they'd been crouched
beside and motioned for everybody to enter when he cracked it open. As they did
so, something clicked in his mind and he realized that this was the bakery where
he had set the Hunwei head down on the countertop to the consternation of the
baker.

It was an indication of how tired and on edge he was
that he hadn't figured that out sooner. The room they entered was the living
quarters for the bakery and there was no sign of the baker or his family. Jorad
couldn't remember if they had gone through the arch or not. He hoped they had,
they seemed like decent people, and he couldn’t fault them for not believing
his story until the attack had began.

The room had a table with four chairs and stairs going
up on the left. To the right was a fireplace that still had a small fire
burning and a door to the kitchen that was ajar.

Jorad approached the door and examined the kitchen to
make sure it was clear before he eased it shut. He was concerned that those who
followed him would take the apparent security of being indoors as a sign that
they could make noise again. It was a good deal warmer in here and he relished
the idea of drying out by the fireplace. It was too bad they couldn't stay here
for long. He needed to come up with a plan to get rid of the Hunwei and he
needed to do it quick.

Once everybody was inside, Barc barely waited for the
door to shut before he laid into Jorad.

“This is crazy! We need to run. Why are we waiting
around for them to catch us?”

 Jorad held up his hands and lowered them in an effort
to get Barc to lower the volume of his voice. “Run where?” Jorad whispered. “Considering
how many people we have, we’re lucky to have made it this far. You can bet the
gates are well guarded.” Jorad snorted. “Don’t let me keep you though if you
know a better way, feel free to leave at any time.”

“Anything is better than to pin all our hopes on this
magic door of yours.” Barc was still yelling and Jorad noticed that he wasn’t
the only one that was looking at the kitchen door, afraid that the Hunwei on
that side of the building may overhear something and come to investigate.

“How many times do I have to tell you, papa?” Soret asked,
her voice was a whisper but the tone was unmistakable. “We came through it to
get here.”

Barc reached for the dagger on his belt that was
beside his sword but didn’t draw it out. Jorad wondered how Barc had obtained the
sword. It looked like it was well used and he doubted that Barc had ever had
need of such a weapon until now; he must have picked it up from somewhere. He
probably had got it off a dead soldier. Jorad thought about the Zecarani town
guard he’d seen a couple of days ago, rushing away to the south, and wondered
if the Hunwei had slaughtered them.  

“Soret, he murdered Gorew and Thon.” Barc was quieter
now, but he was still nowhere close to a whisper. “We saw it happen. Don't
trust anything he tells you.”

Soret refused to meet Jorad’s gaze and didn’t bother
to defend Barc’s accusation. Was she trying to avoid an argument or did she now
see him as a murderer as well? Melyah! He’d only been defending himself.
Regardless, the guilt started to creep into his chest and Thon’s face danced
above him, howling with fury. He pushed it away. Gorew had attacked Jorad first
and Thon had been trying to strangle him again, what was he supposed to do?

“This is your fault anyway.” Barc’s knuckles were
white around the hilt of his dagger and Jorad refrained from reaching for
either his sword or one of his daggers. There was no need to escalate the
situation if he could avoid it; he could handle anything that Barc had to throw
at him. “Hira would still be alive if you had told us. You knew the Hunwei were
coming and said nothing.” Apparently, Soret had told Barc that Adar and Jorad
had advance warning of the Hunwei.

“Adar told the mayor and she laughed in his face.” Jorad
growled softly with a glance toward the doors. “Like you were going to trust me
anyway while Erro was whispering lies into your ear.” Jorad didn’t have time to
try to sort this out. It wouldn’t do any good anyway and the others in the room
were beginning to look uncomfortable.

“Well,” Barc said, “he was right about you, wasn’t
he?”

Jorad was too tired to fight any longer. As it was, he
was having trouble standing and he still needed a plan to get the Hunwei to
move so that they could access the Arches. Jorad shook his head in frustration
and momentarily shut his eyes against the pain he was feeling in his back and
head. When he opened them, Barc had lunged towards him with the dagger in hand.
 

Barc moved faster than Jorad had thought possible for
the fat little man, he shouldn’t have closed his eyes. One moment Barc was
standing several feet away, the next he was lunging with his dagger and Jorad
only had time to turn and take it in his right shoulder instead of his chest.
Jorad threw Barc to the ground and brought his sword to Barc’s neck. Soret started
to scream, but covered her mouth at the last moment.

“Kill me, you murderer.”

“Fool,” Jorad said. His shoulder burned and he could
feel the blood dripping down his chest. “I’m your best chance of getting out of
here.” He pulled the knife out of his shoulder, and hesitated before he flung
it at the fireplace. He stared down at Barc cowering on the floor as he went
upstairs.

On the first step, he slipped and almost fainted.
After several labored breaths, he pushed himself to go up the stairs. When he got
to the top he looked back down and saw that Barc was still where he had left
him. Barc’s face was white and his eyes were wide. Jorad frowned before he
turned around and looked at the second floor. There were several doors and he
went to the first. When he opened the door, he discovered that it was a bedroom
and spotted the comforter on the bed. It was high enough from the ground to
make a decent place to sit while he tried to gather his thoughts and do
something about his new wound.

If Soret wouldn’t have been there, Jorad wasn’t sure
what he would have done. Barc’s yelling had been bad enough because it was
putting them all in danger of a passing Hunwei hearing the commotion and coming
to investigate, but now he’d flat out tried to kill Jorad.

The question of what Jorad would have done without
Soret there to stop him continued to bother him until he started taking deep
breaths. He supposed that he should be thankful that Soret had been there to
keep him from killing again but at the moment it wasn’t a thought he wanted to
dwell on.  

After several minutes had passed without Barc coming
to renew the attack, Jorad decided to risk it and laid his sword down on the bed.
While he made sure to keep an eye on the door, he used a dagger to rip shreds
from the bedding and then unbuttoned his rain and blood soaked shirt. There was
a part of him that had wished he’d stayed in the warm and dry comfortable
entryway of the Arches and waited for Adar to return but he knew that he’d done
the right thing, even though it had come at a terrible cost. Even if they
weren’t able to get past the Hunwei and died here, they had been able to save
scores of others. He felt a brief glimmer of satisfaction, but it disappeared
quickly when he tried to wrap one of the strips around his wounded shoulder.

After several attempts, he lost hold of it and it fell
to the floor. As he bent to pick it up, the pain stopped him halfway. Melyah,
he could have done without a bleeding shoulder on top of everything else. It
was crazy that Barc wanted to fight now, all of their lives were in danger and
he was just making it worse.

There was a footstep outside the bedroom door and Jorad
grabbed hold of his sword until he saw it was Soret. After he was certain that
Barc wasn’t with her, he let go of the hilt.

“Here, let me help you,” she said. In answer, Jorad
bent down and this time was able to get the cloth from the floor, though it was
painful and he straightened quickly. He tried again to tie it but Soret took it
from his hands and wrapped it around his wounded shoulder and tied the ends.

“Not that I am trying to make excuses for my father--”

Jorad interrupted. “This isn’t your fault.”

She made eye contact briefly. “Mama’s dead. He’s not
in his right mind.”

You could say that again,
Jorad thought,
he’s
lucky I didn’t just kill him on instinct
. It had taken every last bit of
self control for Jorad to keep his sword from slicing into Barc’s neck. Tears
rolled down Soret’s face and Jorad hesitated as he watched, glad that he hadn’t
said what he’d been thinking.

He felt bad for the hope she must have felt for her
mother when she’d seen her father alive, only to have it ripped away again.
Would she reject his comfort? He tried putting his arm around her waist and
when she didn’t pull away, he encircled her with the other one. “I’m sorry.
Barc’s right, I should have done more to warn them.”

Soret continued to cry but didn’t pull away from his
touch. Painfully, he stood and embraced her as best he could. He didn’t know
how long they stood there but he had to pull away, his shoulder was hurting too
much and he needed to check on the entrance to the arch. Their window of
opportunity would be closing soon if it hadn’t already disappeared completely.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Now’s not the time for this.”

He tried to give her a comforting smile but found that
he couldn’t. “If not now, when?”

When they went downstairs, they found Barc pacing. He
stopped and his eyes narrowed when he saw Jorad’s arm around Soret’s waist. Barc’s
dagger was back in its sheath and Jorad eyed the man warily as he noticed there
were several less people in the room. He was too tired and in too much pain to
ask about them. He wished them the best and hoped they would make it.