Glass shattered.
Tikaya whirled, grabbing the heavy book as if she could use it as a shield. A shadow moved at the window. Something long and small slid between the boards and rolled onto the floor. Flame spit and hissed on the end of a string. Not a string, a fuse.
Rias yanked her off her feet. The furniture blurred past as Rias leaped over it, arm clenched around her waist. He landed in the dark hallway, and shadows swallowed them.
He sprinted but only made it three steps before the explosion tore away the darkness. A great boom roared, and a concussion pounded Tikaya’s back, ripping her away from Rias.
The wall filled her vision. She tried to bring her arms up to protect her head, but she crashed first. Something popped in her shoulder and agony seared her body. The book dropped from her hands. She landed on the floor, which sent a second jolt of pain rocking through her. She gasped, trying to stifle cries, not sure who might be nearby.
A door at the end of the hall opened, and lights swam in the darkness. Tears blurred Tikaya’s vision. She gritted her teeth and blinked them away. Half a dozen men raced into the hall, lanterns swinging, swords and pistols waving.
The door at the opposite end flung open. They were surrounded.
Tikaya staggered to her feet. Her shoulder flamed with pain. She gasped and braced herself against the wall. Next to her, a shot cracked with a flash of orange flaring from Rias’s rifle.
“ There she is!” someone shouted, voice ragged and rough, almost inhuman. “Give us the woman!”
“ This way,” Rias whispered.
She grabbed the book and ran into a room after him. A return shot echoed through the hall behind them.
“ Don’t shoot us, you idgeets!” came a cry from the opposite end.
Rias shut the door. A hint of starlight came through the window, but darkness reigned inside.
“ They sound drunk,” Tikaya said, words broken as she gritted her teeth through the pain.
“ Where are you hurt?” Rias snapped the lock, and furniture scraped as he shoved something in front of the door.
An image of the dead men in the other office invaded Tikaya’s mind. They had been trapped in a room, and this was exactly what they had done. It had not worked.
“ Dislocated shoulder,” she said.
“ Let me see-feel-it.”
“ Don’t worry…about me. I’ll-”
But he was already sliding her parka off. She clenched her teeth, trying not to whimper.
Footsteps thundered down the hall, and light slipped under the crack in the door.
“ Which room?” someone barked.
Rias unbuttoned her uniform jacket and probed her shoulder. “Bite down,” he whispered, putting something wooden in her mouth. Knife handle, she guessed. It was smooth and hard. He gripped her arm and shoulder, then jerked with one powerful motion.
Agony erupted. Tikaya clenched her teeth on the handle, panting to keep from crying out. Blackness encroached on her vision, and her legs gave way. Rias caught her and held her gently.
“ You hear something?” someone asked.
“ That room.”
“ No, that one!”
“ It’s whichever one’s locked, you halfwits.”
“ Sorry,” Rias whispered, cupping the back of her head. He leaned his forehead against hers, and even in the darkness she sensed his distress over hurting her.
“ Not your fault,” she said.
Someone rattled the doorknob.
Tikaya found the strength to stand again. Already the pain was fading to a manageable ache.
“ I’m ready,” she whispered.
“ Strong lady.” Rias squeezed her good arm before pressing a pistol into her hand. “Back corner. Find something to crouch behind, but stay where you can aim at the door. If they get past me, shoot them. Here, take this too.” He loaded her up with the second pistol, a powder flask, and an ammo pouch.
“ Shoot to kill?”
He hesitated. “Do what you have to do to stay alive.”
She nodded, then, realizing he would not see it, added, “I understand.”
Someone pounded on their door. “They’re in here!”
Tikaya set the book on a chair and slid behind a cabinet where she could see the window and the entrance. She gripped the pistol. At least the wall had been considerate enough to mangle her left shoulder instead of her right. “Maybe we’ll get lucky, the blasting stick will have destroyed the device, and everyone will return to normal any second.”
“ Maybe.” Rias’s tone made the possibility sound unlikely, and Tikaya wondered if he had seen explosives used on the strange technology before.
More pounding-louder pounding-hammered the wood, and something snapped. A crack of light appeared, but the desk kept the door from opening wide. Rias waited in the wall’s shadows.
She glanced toward the window, wondering if they could escape that way. Lantern light danced past-men were out there, too, perhaps counting rooms to figure out which office she and Rias occupied.
The door opened wider, and the slash of light broadened, illuminating the corner of the desk and a coatrack.
A rifle barrel slid through the gap.
Tikaya tensed, expecting Rias to shoot first. Despite the chill, sweat dampened her hands.
The rifle slid in farther, and Rias burst into motion. He grabbed the barrel, yanked it into the room, and slashed upward with his cutlass. The attacker yelped in surprise and pain, releasing the weapon. Rias planted a foot, thrust the other man back, and slammed the door shut.
“ One man disarmed, seven to go.” He shoved the desk against the frame again.
Muffled voices came through the door-the sound of people plotting. The next attack would not be so easy to thwart.
“ There are men milling around outside too,” Tikaya said.
“ You think I don’t know that?” Rias snapped.
She stared at him, startled. He had never so much as looked crossly at her. Then she remembered: “I guess the protection from whatever the artifact is putting out was limited to that room.”
After a silent beat, Rias said, “You’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. It’s like before; something’s making it hard to keep my equanimity.”
“ Your breakdown is a lot less disturbing than that of most of your countrymen.”
He grunted.
“ I feel it too,” Tikaya said. “It’s nothing you can see, nothing you smell or feel. Maybe I’ve been going about this the wrong way. Like a, well, like a philologist. But maybe I don’t need to translate the writing on the bottom in order to cut the device off. If we can guess what its purpose is, maybe we can switch it to another purpose, something less troublesome. It has all those options you can put in-doesn’t that imply you ought to be able to get more than one thing out?”
“ What could it be putting out that would affect us mentally? It’s nothing we’ve seen or heard or smelled.”
“ An odorless gas?” Tikaya guessed.
“ Ah, being disseminated through that pipe, perhaps?”
“ It’d have to be something invisible but heavy enough to float down and blanket the town. Something designed to irritate people, to outright anger them, even make-”
A shot fired.
Tikaya jerked her head up in time to see Rias slam the door shut again. The scent of black powder tainted the air.
“ Only two in the hallway now,” Rias said. “They’ve either lost interest or they’re going to try another way in.”
“ We have to get back to the device,” Tikaya said. “If we punch in another gas, maybe it’ll change the output. Something innocuous that won’t hurt anyone.”
Thumps continued at the door, probably more for the purpose of distracting Tikaya and Rias than getting in. The lanterns previously visible through the window had disappeared, which made her think the marines had stopped planning and were now engaged in that plan. She shifted her stance, readying herself to fire toward the window if necessary. The last thing she wanted was to dodge another blasting stick.