Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

But the bishop's men took no pause. They sped past Kiram into the open road. The little girl froze in terror and then fell beneath the soldiers' horses. Her single pathetic cry crushed to silence in a moment.

Kiram jerked his eyes away from the bloody dress and broken limbs. He heard a woman screaming but couldn't bring himself to look at her. The cold, terrible reality of just what these men would do rushed over Kiram.

At Kiram's urging, Verano leapt clear of the child's remains and surged after the bishop's men. One of them bore down on Elezar and a second shot after Nestor. The remaining eight tore after Javier. Kiram only wondered briefly why he had been of no interest to them. The bishop's men were expecting to hunt down well-dressed Cadeleonian noblemen fleeing from a wedding, not some Haldiim boy wearing traveler's leathers. He was nothing to them, just as that child had been.

The clash of blades rang out as one of the bishop's men swung his sword and Elezar parried the blow and then struck back with such force that the other man tumbled from his horse. Kiram glimpsed Elezar's expression then. He looked terrified. Following his glance, Kiram saw why.

The man pursuing Nestor was almost on top of him and Nestor didn't even know it. Elezar rode for his brother, but Ki- ram could see that he wouldn't arrive before the soldier's naked blade drove through Nestor's back.

Kiram's heart felt like it was ripping apart in his chest. Fury and frustration at his own helplessness coursed through him. And then Kiram realized that there was something he could do, must do. The thought terrified him-but not so much as watching his friend die.

He urged Verano ahead and gave him free rein, trusting the horse's training and instincts. In a quick shrug he swung his bow from his shoulder and drew an arrow. Kiram concentrated on the man riding down on Nestor as if he were just another of so many targets Kiram had struck. The chaos of the street, Elezar's wild howls of rage, even his own pounding heartbeat seemed to fade.

He released the arrow. It punched through the man's neck. The rider jerked. Then his sword dropped from his hand and he fell beneath his own horse. Only as the horse whinnied and veered to the side did Nestor see it. His face was ashen as he peered through his gold spectacles.

Kiram met Elezar's gaze for just an instant and Elezar nodded to him. Then Elezar closed the distance between himself and his brother. Kiram concentrated on the men pursuing Javier.

Kiram had eleven arrows left and ahead of him rode eight men. No, eight targets. He couldn't think of them as men with faces and families. They were things, things that would kill Javier if they weren't stopped.

Kiram shot two men down before a third turned back from his pursuit of Javier. When the solider laid eyes on Kiram and saw the bow in his hand, his wary expression turned to rage and he charged. Kiram loosed an arrow. But he missed the exposed gap at the man's throat and instead his arrow punched into the thick leather protecting the man's chest. The strike only seemed to enrage the soldier more.

"Haldiim coward!" the soldier screamed. He was close enough that Kiram could see his pale face clearly. Kiram fired a second arrow and this time it drove deep into the soldier's mount, burying up to the fletching in the animal's unprotected leg. The horse fell, throwing its rider like a rag doll into the flagstones of the street. The soldier didn't move again, though the horse struggled piteously to rise.

Kiram felt sick but raced on. The street curved and as Kiram rode past abandoned carriages and overturned flower carts, he saw the bloody bodies of two more of the bishop's men. Just ahead of him, the bishop's three remaining men closed in on Javier.

Javier wheeled Lunaluz around and met the nearest of the soldiers head on. Their blades crashed and rang as they passed and circled each other. Then the other two soldiers attacked Javier's back.

Kiram screamed a warning but still one of the soldiers landed a blow across Javier's shoulder. Kiram buried a black arrow in the man's skull. The remaining two soldiers were already on Javier and he parried their blows with a blinding speed. But Kiram saw Javier's blood spill across Lunaluz's white hide.

The combat was too close for Kiram to dare release another arrow. He raced to reach Javier's side.

Javier swore in Cadeleonian and Haldiim. Lunaluz reared back, striking at the other horses. Then Javier plunged his sword into one of the soldier's chests. The man rocked back and toppled from his saddle. Javier spun his blade back, parrying a blow from his one remaining attacker. The soldier thrust for Javier's thigh but Javier moved faster, driving his sword up through the man's leather armor and severing his neck.

The soldier's head struck the ground a moment before his body. The flagstones of the street were slick and red with blood.

When Kiram reached Javier's side he could see that Javier had received at least two deep slashes, one across his right shoulder and another just above his left knee.

"I'm fine," Javier said before Kiram could ask.

"Their swords were poisoned."

"That would explain the familiar tingling." Javier flashed a hard smile, all teeth and bravado. "Honestly, I'm beginning to find muerate poison a little passe."

"I'm serious."

"I know. But let's not frighten the children. We've still got a city gate to get past." Javier pointed and Kiram turned back to see Elezar and Nestor round the corner. All semblance of gold dust was long gone from their faces and Elezar's coat front was spattered with blood, though as far as Kiram could see he looked unhurt. They drew to a halt beside Kiram and Javier.

"How bad?" Elezar asked, taking in Javier's injuries.

"I'll live. You two?"

"Safe and whole, thanks to Kiram" Nestor responded. "Good shooting."

Kiram just nodded. He was glad to have saved Nestor and Javier, but the fact that he'd murdered five men wasn't something he was ready to feel proud of.

"The two soldiers who went after Atreau and Morisio apparently lost them and came back for you," Elezar informed Javier. "They've been dealt with."

That explained the blood on Elezar's coat. Nestor looked a little queasy.

In the relative quiet Kiram could hear alarm bells ringing. People watched them warily from balconies and the doorways of shops.

"The men we lost at the Grunito house will probably have regrouped by now. They'll follow us up from High Street, I'll bet," Kiram commented.

Javier nodded his agreement almost absently. He scanned the discarded and abandoned carts, wagons and barrels that littered the street around them.

"Any thoughts about the city gates?" Elezar asked Javier.

"One." Javier offered them all a smug smile. "What do you say to dazzling them with a little hellfire?"

Kiram knew better than to point out that the 'hellfire' hadn't been all that dependable or that Javier didn't seem to be in any condition to control the shajdi even if he could summon it. Javier gave him a glance as if expecting an objection.

"Hellfire sounds good as anything else at this point," Elezar replied. Nestor nodded his agreement.

"All right. Then we need those jars of oil." Javier pointed to the red clay jars in a cart. He glanced at Kiram. "You don't by chance remember the name of that lieutenant who's waiting for us with his pikemen, do you?"

"Montaval," Kiram supplied.

"Good. Then I think we're ready to depart Anacleto."

The huge northern gates of Anacleto stood open, but a slow moving sea of merchant's wagons, farm carts and carriages filled the wide street. Herders directed flocks of goats, sheep, and even geese around their fellow travelers. Ahead Kiram recognized the purple crosses and gold bars on the uniforms of the bishop's men. The city guards stood aside, looking annoyed, while the bishop's men harassed traders, travelers and beggars alike in their search for Javier.