The Wind Dancer (19 page)

Marco began to swear softly yet vehemently.

"That distresses you, Marco?" Damari asked. "But then you always did have a soft heart
where the ladies were concerned. Lion and I are of a tougher breed. We don't balk at
using any means at hand to get what we want." His gaze remained on Sanchia. "Do we,
Lion?"

"But I protect what is my own." Lion's grip tightened on the wooden chest. "You should
have known I'd never let you take the Wind Dancer."

"But I did take it, just as eventually I'll take everything from you, Lion. After I'm done
toying with you, I may even let you live so that you can appreciate your loss."

"And are you toying with me now?"

"Of course." Damari's smile widened as his pale eyes returned to Lion. "Isn't that clear?
When are you going to begin wriggling on my hook, so that I can enjoy myself? Perhaps
I should detail your predicament. There are ten men blocking this passage and another
ten outside the entrance. I've deployed another ten outside the north entrance of the
maze." He lifted his gloved hand and slowly closed his fingers into a fist. "The trap is
closed. Consequently, either you surrender or you run."

"Run where?" Lion asked warily. "You have a fancy to chase us through this damnable
maze?"

"How clever of you to understand. Naturally, it will be to no avail. I know this maze and,
even with the map I assume you've managed to bribe from one of my men, you'll soon
become hopelessly lost. It's impossible to read a map while you're being pursued. How
long do you think you'll be able to avoid capture, Lion? Fifteen minutes? An hour? And
every minute you'll know we're right behind you or waiting around the next hedge."

Lion studied Damari's expression. "You've played this game before?"

"Only on a few special occasions. I make it a practice not to indulge myself too
frequently or the pleasure loses its bite. Though I admit the maze was the reason I
purchased this particular palazzo. I immediately saw its splendid possibilities." He drew
his sword from its scabbard. "Now, which shall it be? Surrender or the maze? I do hope
you choose the maze. I'll even give you a few minutes' head start as an incentive."

"Then I'd hate to disappoint you." Lion shifted the chest under his right arm and his left
hand closed on Sanchia's elbow. "The maze."

He turned and ran down the passage from which they had come, dragging Sanchia behind
him.

Marco was right behind them as they made the first turn. "Cristo, Lion, what's the use in
letting him play with us when we--"

Lion's words cut through his question. "Damari's right; a map is useless in a chase
through this maze, but he doesn't know about Sanchia's gift." He turned his head toward
her. "Take us to the western perimeter and hurry!"

Sanchia wasted no time in questioning him. She turned and started at a dead run through
the maze.

"Your head start is over." Damari's voice rang through the greenery. "Do you hear me,
Lion? I'm coming after you!"

Sanchia's heart plunged and she began muttering frantic prayers beneath her breath. What
if she became too frightened to remember the way? No, there was the long border hedge
directly in front of her.

"This is it." She gasped. "But there's no entrance here. Why do--"

"The south and north entrances are blocked." Lion set the chest down, drew his sword
and begun to hack at the hedge. "But Damari didn't say that the entire maze was
surrounded. If we can hack our way through this hedge, we have a chance to slip away
into the shrubbery that skirts the gate."

Marco drew his sword and joined Lion, slicing away at the branches. "The gate has to be
guarded now."

"We'll worry about that when we get out of the maze. Dio, it's like cutting through stone."

Sanchia stood watching as the two men attempted to cleave their way through the living
wall. It was taking so
long
and she could hear Damari's taunting voice. He was closer.

"Take the lantern and go to the end of the passage, Sanchia." Lion didn't look at her as he
gave the hedge another mighty blow. "If you see or hear any sign of Damari run back to
us and we'll forget about getting through this wall and try the east hedge."

"Yes, my lord." She snatched up the lantern and ran the several yards to the end of the
passage, desperately glad to be able to do something to help.

The whacking of the swords against the hedge branches was ominously loud to her ears.
Surely Damari would be able to hear if he drew closer.

And he was very close! Damari's voice carried faintly to her from a distance that could
not be farther than two passages over. "Are you lost yet, Lion? Are you beginning to
choke on your fear?"

Sanchia's throat tightened in response to the taunt. Shewas the one choking with fear. She
cast a frantic glance over her shoulder at Lion and Marco. She was too far away to
determine how near they were to penetrating the hedge.

"We're almost through," Lion called softly as if in answer to her unspoken question.
"Damari?"

She realized he hadn't heard Damari's voice over the sound of the chopping. "He's
drawing near."

Lion muttered a curse and assaulted the hedge with even more force.

"Your precious Wind Dancer must be a burden to you as you run from me," Damari
called mockingly. "Soon you'll be glad to abandon it just to gain a little more strength for
the chase."

He couldn't be more than one hedge away, Sancha decided. She would have to warn Lion
and Marco.

But they were almost through the hedge and, if they abandoned the attempt, who was to
say Damari would not discover the mutilated border and realize they would now be
trying the same ploy on the opposite side of the maze. There had to be some other way.

If she could draw Damari and his men away through the maze and then double back...
She closed her eyes and tried to visualize the passages leading away from the western
border. Two right turns would put her on the same path they had traveled previously to
reach the storehouse. Then she could circle the small building and come straight down
the western border passage and rejoin Lion and Marco. She could give Damari only a
glimpse of her skirt going around the corner, or a gleam of the lantern disappearing down
the passage and he would think all three of them were still together.

She could hear the clank of armor in the passage diagonally across from the one in which
she was standing. If she was going to do it, it must be done now. Her grasp tightened on
the handle of the lantern and she drew a shaky breath. An instant later she was flying
across the path intersecting the passage Damari's men were traveling.

She heard a shout as one of the guards caught sight of her and then Damari's low, pleased
laugh.

The jagged opening in the hedge was scarcely three feet long and two feet wide, but it
would have to suffice.

Lion sheathed his sword, picked up the chest containing the Wind Dancer and pushed it
through the opening before calling softly over his shoulder, "Sanchia!" He started to
crawl through the hedge as he said to Marco, "Watch over Sanchia. I'll go through first
and make sure the way is clear and get rid of any guards at the gate." He was already
halfway through as he added, "be quick!"

He heard Marco's assent as he wriggled the last two feet, sharp broken twigs and thorny
leaves tearing at his jerkin and flesh like daggers. Then he was through the hedge and on
his feet. He paused, swiftly looking over the area. They were in luck. As he had hoped,
Damari had concentrated his forces at the two entrances and, though he could hear the
sound of voices issuing from the far side of the maze, this side of the labyrinth was
deserted. He picked up the Wind Dancer's box and moved quickly into the cover of the
bushes bordering the fence, then ran at full speed toward the gate. He slowed as he
neared the end of the shrubbery, moving cautiously forward. If the gate had been
refortified, then there should be signs of the guards soon.

"Do remind me to teach you the rudiments of stalking through a grove without sounding
like a pregnant ass." Lorenzo emerged from the bushes beside Lion.

"The guards?" Lion whispered.

"Dead. Behind me in the bushes. I thought there might be something amiss when three of
Damari's men appeared and started to search the woods. After I got rid of them I decided
to come and see if I could be of assistance. Where are the others?"

"Following. I think I hear them now." Lion looked over his shoulder.

Lorenzo grimaced. "How could you not? They're making even more noise than you did.
Still, I think we'll make sure it's not one of Damari's guards." He receded into the bushes.

Seconds later Marco pushed back the screen of branches and bolted into sight. He pulled
up at the sight of Lion. "
Dio
, Lion, she wasn't there." He panted. "She was gone. I tried
to--"

"What do you mean? Sanchia was only a few yards away from us." His hand closed on
Marco's arm with bone crushing force. "What the hell do you mean?"

"They've got her."

"You don't know that." Lion whirled and started back toward the maze. "You lefther,
God damn you."

Lorenzo stepped in front of Lion. "Listen to him, Lion."

"He left her in that maze alone." Lion's voice was trembling with rage. "You whoreson
coward, why didn't you look for her?"

"She screamed," Marco said simply. "I was going to try to search for her when I heard
her scream. Damari has her, Lion. Should I have stayed and let Damari capture me too? It
would have been of no help to her to have me in the same cage."

"And you won't help Sanchia if you let Damari get his hands on you, Lion," Lorenzo
said. "You can't do anything at this moment to free her."

Lion glared at him, his eyes wild in his white face. "I promised nothing would happen to
her. You're telling me to abandon her?"

"I'm telling you that you'll have to wait until later to help her," Lorenzo said. "Think,
Lion. You're not reasoning clearly."

He wasn't reasoning at all, he was only feeling. She screamed. "I promised her."

"Then keep your promise," Lorenzo said. "But you won't keep it by letting Damari toss
you into his dungeon."

Lion knew he was right. He couldn't help Sanchia, and he was endangering Marco and
Lorenzo by lingering. But, Jesus, she needed him and he couldn't help her. The guilt was
his, not Marco's.

"Damari won't kill her at once. We both know that's not his way," Lorenzo said. "We
have time. You can ride to Mandara and get more men."

No, Lion thought in rage, Damari wouldn't deprive himself by killing her immediately.
He would want to go slowly with her, very slowly, and wrench every vile pleasure for
himself that he could from Sanchia's torture. Frustration--acid hot, bile bitter--tore
through Lion. He whirled and strode toward the gates. "Mandara's too far away. We'll
ride for Pisa. Let's go."

Sanchia screamed.

Damari's hand cracked against Sanchia's cheek with such force that she fell to the ground.

"You mustn't scream again. Were you trying to warn your master?" Damari smiled down
at her in the moonlight. "But that's not how the game is played. Now, tell me where he
is."

"I don't know." Sanchia struggled to raise her head. "We became separated."

"I don't think so," Damari said slowly. "Now that I think back on it, you were a little too
slow in getting away from us. We caught far too many glimpses of you before I managed
to intercept you. You were leading us away from him, weren't you?" His pitted cheeks
creased as his smile widened. "Such inspiring loyalty. Did he tell you to distract us? How
unkind of him when he must have known we'd catch you eventually."

Sanchia shook her head, trying to clear it of fear as well as the ringing pain of Damari's
blow. "No, we were separated," she repeated hoarsely.

He bent down and effortlessly lifted her to her feet. "You mustn't lie to me." His voice
was seductively gentle. "I'll find them anyway, you know. It's amazing that I haven't
located them already. It's never taken me this long before." His smiled faded. "But
fortune has always been on the side of that bastard. Tell me where you left him."

"I don't know. We were separated and I became lost--"

Agony rocked her when Damari struck her other cheek.

"Tell me." His voice was even more gentle, almost tender. "Was he going toward the
north entrance?"

The maze was whirling, blurring around Sanchia. "I don't know."

He struck her again.

She swayed. "We became separated and I lost my way. I don't know where--"

Pain exploded again and she hurtled down into a welcome darkness.

"Come now, wake up. I'm becoming very impatient. You've been unconscious the better
part of the night."

Sanchia slowly opened her eyes to see Damari gazing down at her.

"Very good. I was afraid I had done you some grievous physical damage." He waved a
hand. "No matter. I had to send for Fra Luis anyway and would not have been able to
start."

"Start?" Sanchia whispered. She tried to sit up before realizing with a surge of panic that
she couldn't move. She was no longer in the maze but strapped at knees, waist, and
shoulders to a hard surface. She glanced wildly around her but could see only the wooden
table to which she was bound. The aureole of light cast by a torch in Damari's
outstretched hand barely illuminated his face. "Where--"

"In the dungeon." Damari strolled a few yards from the table and thrust the torch into an
iron bracket on the wall. "As is proper for a thief."

She became chillingly aware of the darkness surrounding her, the odor of the damp earth,
the smell of pitch and decay.

"I'm very angry with you, you know." Damari returned to stand beside her. "I lost not
only Andreas but the Wind Dancer. I sent my men riding after him in all directions but he
appears to have vanished. All I have is a slave who will be of absolutely no use in getting
either back. Lion obviously cares nothing about whether you live or die or he wouldn't
have sent you to divert me from his escape." He frowned. "And my lovely hedge is quite
ruined. It will take years to replace it with new growth."