“I need a fire. Get as many things as you can that will burn and pile them in the middle of the street. I don’t want to burn anything down. I just want to drive them out.”
Horazt frowned.
“Just trust me.”
Horazt shook his head, but raised his voice. “Stuff that’ll burn! Find it. Pile it in the middle of the street! There.”
The taudis-toughs spread out, and before long all manner of things had been piled in the middle of the street-old tree limbs, rotten boards and timbers, sections of broken shutters, dried brush and leaves.
Once the pile was big enough, I imaged flames into several places and waited until fire, ashes, and smoke were pouring upward. Then I went to work, imaging the hot air and smoke into the boarded-up building. A quint passed, and despite the coolness of the day, I was sweating profusely.
Then thumping and banging began to emanate from within, and finally the boards on one of the windows were pushed away, and a darker soot-stained face appeared, gasping. I imaged a shield across the open space. More thumping followed, but no window boards moved, or not much, and smoke began to seep out from between the boards.
Another half quint more passed, and then the front door burst open, and two men staggered out.
Horazt’s men were ready and immediately grabbed and tied them up.
More figures staggered out, followed by gouts of smoke, only to be caught and trussed. I stopped imaging hot air and smoke and wiped my forehead.
Finally, no one else emerged, and I walked over to the figures lined up along the sidewalk.
“This one . . . he’s the head priest,” offered one of Horazt’s men, pointing to a figure in blue and black.
I noted two others in the same garb.
“There’s Saelyhd.” Horazt gestured to a burly man who had recovered and was struggling against the ropes.
“You!” Saelyhd glared at the younger taudischef. “You have sold out to the trolies. . . .”
I stepped forward. “No. You sold out to the Tiemprans. You’ll pay for it. Just like Youdh did.”
His eyes turned to me. He started to speak, then looked again and fell silent.
“We need Saelyhd and the priests. We can leave the others.” I looked to Horazt. “You know who they are?”
“Yes. Most of them.”
“Are they safe to let go after we’re away?”
He looked over the others. “All but Donmass, there.” He pointed to a square-faced man in soiled gray. “He killed many.”
“We’ll turn him in with Saelyhd, then. Can we leave a few men here to let the others go in a bit?”
Horazt nodded. “Selyst, Boazt . . . you know how to cut them loose so they have to work themselves free.”
The smallest tough grinned. “I can do that good.”
“Just cut the ropes,” Horazt said, then coughed and shook his head. “That’s all.”
Horazt’s remaining nine men marched the three Tiempran priests, along with Saelyhd and Donmass, back the way we’d come, then up Weigand and across to Dugalle and then toward South Middle. About a half block short of South Middle, I gestured for a halt.
“I don’t want anyone here shot,” I told Horazt. “I need to arrange where we’re going to take them. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Figured something like that.” He didn’t look happy. I supposed I wouldn’t have, either, but I hadn’t been the one to create the mess.
Since I’d have to do it some fifty yards ahead, as I walked away I raised concealment shields.
“. . .frig! . . .”
“. . . do that?”
I thought that might provide some additional incentive for cooperation.
When I reached the wall at the end of the taudis, I saw a patroller on the far side of South Middle, but until I crossed the street, again dodging debris that had not been removed, I couldn’t tell that it was Slausyl. Then I was within ten yards, and I dropped the shield just before I reached him. His mouth dropped open, but surprising him was the idea.
“Where’s the captain?”
For a moment, his mouth didn’t work. Then he finally said, “Over there . . . toward Mando . . . he’s trying to keep the scripties from doin’ something stupid.”
“Thanks. I’ll see if I can help him.” I began to trot up along South Middle, avoiding more of the bricks and debris. I could smell the odor of smoke, and thin whitish gray plumes drifted up from the ruins of the Temple.
Harraf was talking to a mounted officer, who was glaring down at the captain and gesturing. Then, Captain Harraf caught sight of me, said something to the officer, and walked toward me.
I spoke first. “Captain . . . I think I can help stop this before it gets out of hand.”
“How, Master Rhennthyl?”
“We can come up with the Tiempran priests and the taudischef who engineered the explosion. That will give the scripties someone to be angry at besides the taudis-dwellers. It will also prove that the Patrol knows better what’s going on. Besides, the priests are the ones who blew up the Temple.”
“The major there isn’t likely to listen.”
“Let me try, sir.”
“Be my guest.”
Harraf turned and walked back to the major. “You might want to listen to Master Rhennthyl here.”
“About what?” The major kept looking toward the ruins of the Temple and the space along the sidewalk where marines had laid out the bodies of comrades they’d found.
No one had bothered with the bodies of the taudis-dwellers.
“About why it wouldn’t be a good idea to use force on the taudis right now.” I wasn’t going to say more until I got his attention. He was half listening at best.
“We’ll be going in before long. No one does that to us.”
“The taudis-dwellers didn’t do it to you,” I pointed out.
“I don’t care. We’ve lost more than a hundred men . . . and the colonel.”
“Major!” I snapped. “That’s exactly what the Tiemprans want. They’re the ones who blew up the Temple. That’s why it was set up that way. So the conscription teams would blame the taudis-dwellers and then go wild and slaughter hundreds. Now . . . do you want to call off this idiotic assault, or do you want to face a court-martial for playing into the Tiemprans’ hands? It’s your choice. I warned the colonel, but he didn’t care to listen.”
“Who are you?” For the first time, his eyes actually took me in, seeing the grays and the imager’s visor cap, not that different from that of the Civic Patroller’s, in form, but straight gray with the insignia of the Collegium rather than that of L’Excelsis above the bill.
“Rhennthyl D’Image, the Collegium’s liaison to the Civic Patrol, and yes, I am a master imager. And yes, I have served the Council directly. And no, you really don’t want to send your men into the taudis-not when the Council is aware that the Tiemprans threatened to do what just happened. Do you really want to lose your career? Maybe even be shot?”
Fury fought with common sense within him. I could see that in his eyes and in the hardening of his jaw.
“If it will make you feel better, let this settle over the weekend, and I’ll personally accompany your conscription teams through the taudis on Lundi. Maintain a cordon if you want, but don’t let your men shoot anyone. That’s what the Tiemprans are looking for. And I can guarantee it’s not what the Council wants.” I softened my voice. “And if you’re not happy, you can blame me.”
“You’ll personally accompany my men?”
“Any one team at a time.” I couldn’t do more than one at once, but he might expect the impossible, rather than the merely incredibly difficult.
“I’ll take that promise, imager. I don’t like it. I don’t have to like it.”
“None of us like having men killed. But killing the taudis-dwellers won’t get at those who did it.” I nodded. “Thank you. Now . . . if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to deliver the prisoners to Third District station for transport to the main gaol. Those are the Tiempran priests and some others who did it.”
“You have them?”
I gestured toward the far side of the wall. “Back there. That’s why I wasn’t with the captain. I had to get them before they escaped.”