Empire Rising (21 page)

SAM BARONE

charged, every man shouting at the top of his lungs, as ordered. They carried with them the rest of the ropes, and would soon be over the palisade and into the village, even if the gate remained fastened.

Eskkar kept his eyes moving, and finally saw for what he searched. A flash of silver in the flames, and he saw the leader of the defenders on the move. Eskkar cursed the bad luck that let the man survive the archers’

arrows. Now Ninazu would need to be hunted down and killed before he could escape over the fence into the darkness. No, even now, the darkness had started to give way to dawn, and the fi rst rays of the sun already climbed slowly into the heavens. “Grond! Mitrac! Come with me!”

Eskkar ran to the side of the house and swung himself down, Grond, Mitrac and his two archers following him. Ninazu and a group of his men were moving down one of the village streets, already out of sight, and no doubt headed toward the river gate. The bandits’ horses would be kept there, close to the rear gate and the river.

Ninazu had decided to run for it. The bandit leader would have no idea how many soldiers had slipped inside Bisitun, not that it made any difference. With all the casualties his men had taken, the Akkadians now outnumbered them. More important, Ninazu’s men had lost the will to fight. Every bandit’s thought would be on fleeing the village and saving his own skin. To stay meant death. Within hours, the villagers would turn in or denounce any of Ninazu’s men still in Bisitun. Only escape could save them now.

Eskkar didn’t care if a few dozen leaderless bandits escaped, but a man like Ninazu, who could organize and lead others, would only cause more trouble if he remained on the loose. Ninazu must be stopped, before he escaped.

In his younger days, Eskkar believed his strength and skill with a sword had brought men to follow him. Now he knew better. As Trella said, those skills might be useful, but they didn’t make a man a true leader. A good leader, she’d told him, could think months ahead as he bent men to his will.

A great leader, she added, could think years ahead.

Eskkar didn’t consider himself a great leader, but he knew he didn’t want to be chasing Ninazu around the countryside for the next few months.

So now he and his men ran headlong down the lane, ignoring the frightened villagers who screamed and shouted in terror, panicked by the fi res that lit the sky, and worried their entire village might go up in flames.

For the fi rst time that night, Eskkar drew his sword, raising it up over Empire Rising

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his head as he lowered his shoulder to clear the way whenever some panicked villager blundered into his path. But before they had gone very far, Grond passed Eskkar, whirling his sword overhead, as he opened the way for his captain.

Then the lane widened and converged with the other, and they ran right into Ninazu and his followers. The bandits had started first, but they had the farthest distance to travel, and the two lanes joined here. Eskkar guessed Ninazu had twelve or fifteen men with him, at least three times Eskkar’s group. But these confused men had only flight on their minds.

Half of them kept running, screaming in fear, while the others turned, raising their swords more in surprise than anything else.

Grond struck down two of them with two rapid strokes. Eskkar slashed at another. The man parried the stroke, but the force of the blow took all the fight out of him and he turned and ran. Eskkar and Grond kept running, hardly slowing their pace and still pursuing the fleeing Ninazu and his men.

This time the narrow streets and villages worked to Eskkar’s advantage.

The frightened villagers slowed Ninazu’s men. One of them stumbled, and Grond slashed at the man as he ran past, opening a gaping wound in the man’s shoulder. Another man tried to duck into a house, but a woman peered out from the doorway and they collided. Eskkar struck at the man’s back, and again a scream went up into the night, as the wounded man staggered against the doorframe. Eskkar and Grond ignored their victims.

Wounded bandits would be easy to gather up later.

He and Grond burst into an open area where two lanes joined. Eskkar caught the stable smell even before he heard the animals whinnying in fear of all the shouting and the scent of fire. Someone attempted to rally the bandits at the corral. Three of Ninazu’s men turned to face their pursuers, but others pushed their way into the corral, diving through the enclosure’s fl imsy bars.

Three men or a dozen meant nothing to Eskkar. He and Grond charged ahead like men possessed, each of them shouting at the top of his lungs. They rushed at the bandits. One raised his sword and died when Eskkar’s blade struck twice, once to knock the sword aside and then a killing thrust before the man could recover. The other bandits changed their minds before Grond could reach them, one dropping his sword and diving through the corral.

The screams of horses split the darkness, and one of them reared up, 110

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crashing into the corral. The horse’s weight knocked the bars loose, and the frightened animal pushed its way through the gap. Another riderless horse followed. Two more horses loomed up, men clinging to their necks, as Eskkar reached the fence. One horseman swung a sword at Eskkar’s head.

He sprang aside, then dropped low as he thrust his sword into the horse’s rear leg. The horse whinnied in fear and pain, then twisted as its leg gave way, stumbling into the second horse, and sending both riders tumbling to the ground. A third bandit attempted to ride through the cleared opening, but an arrow struck him square in the chest, and the man slid backward off the horse. Eskkar turned his head for a second. Mitrac had caught up to his leader, and stood to the side of the lane, already aiming a second shaft.

All the horses still inside the pen had panicked now, moving away from the entrance of the corral. After they bunched up in the rear, they turned in unison and moved forward once again. Terror-stricken animals would not be easy to mount. Eskkar tried to see past them. The night’s darkness had turned to gray, and in a few more moments the sun would be up. He swore again. He wouldn’t let Ninazu get away now.

“Grond! Mitrac! Shoot the horses!” With those words, Eskkar rose up, bringing the great sword up over his head and striking directly at a horse that suddenly appeared, charging right at him. The horse shied away, just enough for Eskkar to move out of its path even as he struck the blow at the beast’s head. The animal’s cry of agony rose up, its shoulder knocking Eskkar to the ground.

He rolled away, but even before Eskkar regained his feet, the horse had taken an arrow in its neck, the two wounds driving it beyond control.

Another horse went down, then a third, their almost-human cries mixing with the noises of panic from the other beasts. But the remaining horses turned away, moving once again toward the rear of the corral. One animal, riderless, jumped the fence in panic, its hooves kicking the top rail to splinters.

Eskkar looked again into the corral. With the first rays of dawn, he had just enough light to pick out two forms, both of them struggling to hold on to their mounts. Another man lay senseless on the ground, while a fourth pushed himself up from the dirt, trying to get to his knees. One of Mitrac’s arrows took him, and he pitched forward without a sound.

Then three more men from Akkad rushed up behind Eskkar, swords Empire Rising

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in hand, calling out as they did so. By now, between the dead or dying animals and Eskkar’s men, any chance of escaping from the corral had ended.

“Alive!” Eskkar shouted. “Take them alive!” He wanted Ninazu in one piece if possible, to show the villagers the power of Akkad. Grond shouted something, too, and Mitrac’s young voice cried out, reminding his archers to aim at the horses.

The bandit leader had not given up yet. He and his companion, each holding on to a horse’s halter, pushed against the rear of the corral. In a moment, they’d knocked two of the wooden bars from their fastening.

Immediately the frightened horses took advantage, breaking through this new gap. Ninazu and the last of his followers swung up onto their mounts, hugging the animal’s necks as they urged their beasts into the opening.

But this new passage led directly into a narrow lane, forcing the frightened horses to turn sharply. More chaos ensued as the animals jammed together for a moment. Mitrac and his archers moved forward and loosed their shafts.

One arrow, either on purpose or by mistake, struck one of the escaping men in the back. The other two struck Ninazu’s horse in the haunches, and the animal whinnied in agony, reared up, and crashed into the wall of a house. The flimsy mud bricks gave way, and both man and beast half fell into the dwelling amidst a swirl of dust and crumbled mud. By then, Eskkar had raced through the shambles of the corral, ducking away from one horse that reared up at him and pushing another aside, until he and Grond reached the side lane. “Up on the roof, Grond! Don’t let him escape!”

Grond stepped back, sheathed his sword, and jumped for the top of the house, pulling himself up and out of sight in moments. Eskkar shoved his way past another frightened horse until he reached the rubble of the half-crushed house, the dying animal still struggling to reach its feet. Behind Eskkar, the rest of the half-crazed horses finally broke free, hooves pounding as they made their escape from the smell of blood and death that filled the corral.

He saw Ninazu there, on his knees, barely a shadow in the darkness at the rear of the house, but a sword shone in the faint light. The bandit had nowhere to go, and even now the tip of Grond’s blade glinted at the top of the ladder, the tiny house’s only other exit. Ninazu was trapped.

Mitrac rushed up, as did several more of Eskkar’s men. “Shall I fi nish him, Captain?” He had an arrow on the string.

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Eskkar shook his head, but kept his eyes on the trapped man. “Put down your sword, Ninazu,” Eskkar commanded. “You’ve no place to go.”

For an answer, Ninazu leapt to his feet and flung himself at the opening. Eskkar saw Mitrac start to draw the bow and knew that he wouldn’t have time. Eskkar shoved Mitrac to one side, even as he jumped to the other. Ninazu’s blade flashed between them. Eskkar struck at the man’s sword, but Ninazu recovered, then thrust again with his own weapon.

Eskkar’s own sword countered the stroke, though he gave back half a step from the force of it. Ninazu raised his weapon to strike again, a shout on his lips, and charged forward. Then he jerked back, his balance upset, and his sword flailed wildly. Grond had dropped down from the roof, landed on his feet, and leaped on Ninazu from behind, yanking the man back by his hair with one hand as he caught the man’s sword arm with his other.

Eskkar ducked through the jagged opening, his blade pointed up in the ready position. As Ninazu struggled with Grond, Eskkar struck the bandit in the face with the butt of his sword, the thick knob of bronze smashing against the man’s nose, stunning him. Grond tore the sword from Ninazu’s slack fingers, and struck him again with his free hand on the side of his head. Ninazu collapsed like a sack of grain, unconscious before he hit the earth. The fight for Bisitun was over.

7

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T he same dawn that greeted Eskkar’s victory found Trella lying in her bed, awake and already thinking about Korthac. Yesterday afternoon the council had accepted Korthac’s petition, and his gold, to establish a trading house in Akkad. Though he’d complained loudly enough last week when given the terms, he’d handed over the forty gold coins with scarcely a comment. To everyone’s surprise, he offered up more than the coins, presenting a large peridot crystal to each of the seven council members. A small gift, he explained, to express his appreciation, show the value of his goods, and encourage further purchases from his stock.

Each of the gemstones glittered even in the dimly lit council room, the dark green crystals tinged with a hint of yellow. Trella’s peridot stood out in quality from the other fine stones, much larger and with a deeper shade of green enhanced by the well-polished surface.

Trella would have preferred not to accept the costly bribe. But even she could not go against the looks and words of the other council members, who quickly took their gifts as they gave thanks to Korthac. Hers, of course, would be sold to help pay Eskkar’s expenses.

Gifts for council members were nothing new, but since they all had wealth in their own right, they had little need for outright bribery. No, Trella recognized this more subtle offering. Korthac wanted friends in high places, influential friends who could assist him in the future, in a way that she still couldn’t fathom.

Sleeping on it hadn’t helped, and this morning the puzzle remained unresolved. That meant more positive steps would be needed to uncover 114

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the mystery. After breakfast, she waited for Annok-sur to return. Every morning, Annok-sur walked the village, giving those with information a chance to meet with her, away from their homes or places of labor. Some women dared not venture far from their husband’s sight. By moving about, Annok-sur gave these women, free or slave, the opportunity to pass along what their men said or did the previous night. More than once, Trella had garnered useful information through this informal network. When Annok-sur returned, midmorning had just passed.

Alone in the workroom, Trella fingered the gold coin that hung around her neck as she faced Annok-sur across the table. “Have we learned anything further, anything new, about Korthac?”

“Only that he’s ready, today or tomorrow, to purchase a place to live.

He’s looked at a few houses, but he’s still staying at the inn and . . .”

“Nothing from his men, nothing from the women they’ve approached, people he’s dealt with?”

“No, nothing like that. His men keep to themselves and stay close to the inn. Twice he’s brought women back there for a few hours, to entertain his followers, but I haven’t found any woman who’ll admit to pleasuring him.” Annok-sur shrugged. “Perhaps he prefers men or boys, though I’ve heard nothing of that, either.”