Leonin immediately began struggling at his bonds, which rewarded him with a slap to the cheek by one of the guards.
“Don’t move again!” snapped the Aramite. “And no talking, either!”
Although they obeyed the latter, Morgis and his companion shared eye contact. The disappearance of the three sentries gave them hope, but how long could Kalena remain hidden from D’Kairn’s sorcery? Morgis was glad that she lived and admired her attempt to save them, but he feared that she would yet share her partners’ fate unless she abandoned her rescue mission.
The minutes dragged by. The howling wind added to the tension. Occasionally, unidentifiable noises would stir up both the prisoners and their captors.
Then, a slight scraping caught Morgis’s attention. Making certain that the guards did not notice his true reason, he stretched his neck as if trying to work the tightened muscles.
Above him, peering over the upstairs rail, a cloaked Kalena studied the tableau below her.
She noticed him watching her in turn and smiled. Morgis tipped his head to the side, a signal for her to depart the keep before the Aramites noticed her. Kalena, though, ignored his silent command, instead eyeing the movements of the three guards.
Fool of a girl! the drake wanted to shout. Run! Save yourself!
It was one thing to use her feline hunting skills to sneak up on individual sentries, but another to try to take three armed and armored men-never mind that one was wounded-in a place like this. The Aramites had not conquered a continent and become the fearsome legend that they were because of ineptitude. Even the Dragon Kings, separated from the wolf raiders by an ocean, had given them much respect, even dealing with them as they had no other humans.
The guards remained oblivious to her presence. One watched the front entrance while another stood near the prisoners. The injured one cleared away the remnants of the meal.
Kalena stepped to her right, apparently seeking a better venue in which to study all three. As she moved, however, her feet, all but hidden by the cloak, stirred up a small bit of dirt and dust.
The trickle of falling sediment made the injured soldier glance up in mild curiosity.
“There!” he roared. “Up there!”
The other pair instinctively reacted, rushing the stairway with weapons drawn. Eyes wide, Kalena hesitated, clearly stunned by what she had done.
“Run!” Morgis shouted. “Run!”
His cries stirred her to action. She fled down the hall and out of sight. The wolf raiders, however, were already more than halfway up and closing.
Brandishing his sword, the remaining Aramite angrily approached the drake. “Be silent you! I’ll-”
But as he neared, Leonin, who had remained subdued all this time, pushed himself up on his feet and charged into the guard.
They collided with a heavy thud and despite Leonin’s tied hands, he managed to bowl over their captor. The two fell in a desperate jumble, the guard’s helmet rolling away.
Morgis was right behind him. Also unable to use his arms, he came around the Aramite and kicked at the other’s now-unprotected head.
With a groan, the Aramite stilled.
“Can you reach his sword or dagger?” the drake asked of his comrade.
“The dagger would be better! And if I can’t, nobody-aah! You see? Turn around!”
Turning away from Leonin, Morgis waited tensely. Behind him, he could picture the human, his own back to that of the larger drake, trying to sever Morgis’s bonds with the procured blade. With Leonin’s own wrists still tied, the work was difficult. Morgis expected the other guards to return before the deed was done, but at last the bonds loosened, finally falling to the floor.
Spinning around, the towering drake dealth with Leonin’s ropes, then seized the sword dropped by the Aramite. His companion hurried to where the wolf raiders had deposited the captured weapons, locating his own beloved blade.
“We go after Kalena?” Leonin asked.
In response, Morgis simply headed toward the stairway. The cat woman had risked herself for them when escape had already been hers; they could do no less.
He had no doubt that with her claws she had climbed up the back of the crumbling structure and in through a window, but doing so in secret was a lot easier than trying to descend safely while being pursued. At the very least, if they chose not to follow her, the Aramites would drop whatever they could on top of Kalena, more than likely ensuring her death.
He and Leonin paused at the top of the steps. “I don’t hear anything,” the human declared anxiously. “Do you think-”
“We can only hope not.”
They entered the room where they had last seen the Aramites heading. The chamber was so dark that even Morgis, who could see better at night than Leonin, could not even make out the back of his own hand.
“We need light, Morgis. I’d better grab a torch.”
“It would not be good to separate-”
The bearded fighter backed out of the darkened chamber. “They’re still out searching the landscape. I won’t be a moment.”
The drake hissed. “Just flee, Leonin. Take your horssse and ride fassst! Alert others to what we found!”
“And leave the reward for our friend D’Kairn all for you? I’ll be right back! You do what you can, all right?”
Nodding wordlessly, Morgis watched his partner hurry down the hall, then turned to confront the darkness again. Kalena and her captors had to have gone this way. But where were they then?
As he stepped cautiously into the room, it seemed to get even murkier. A chill wind coming from well ahead wrapped around him, making the drake hiss again. An uneasy feeling crept over him.
His foot struck something solid.
Morgis bent down and felt for the obstruction with his free hand-then pulled the hand away when it immediately touched a hard yet ominously-moist surface.
A body.
V
His first reaction was to think of Kalena, but then common sense reminded him of the hard shell he had felt. His estimation of the cat woman grew by leaps and bounds. Now she had managed to slay yet another of their foes.
But that still did not answer the question of where she was now.
Wiping his hand as best he could, Morgis stepped beyond the body, seeking the source of the wind. He found it a few seconds later, a wide, shaded window opening into the pitch-black night. Again it struck him that the room was uncommonly dark, for the window, despite the decrepit shade, should have been obvious.
Pushing it open, the drake peered down, seeking some sign of Kalena.
Only then did he hear movement behind him.
“Leoni-”
“Die, monster!” roared a voice on the edge of insanity. “Die, damn you!”
An armored body struck Morgis with such force that the scaled knight tumbled out the window. As he fell, though, he reached back to grab something, anything-and took his attacker with him.
Morgis’s sense of direction vanished utterly. He heard the Aramite cry out. One arm struck stone and with what strength he could muster, Morgis seized a jutting piece and held on.
He swung back and forth like some mad pendulum, the strain on his shoulder almost too much. Desperately he reached with his other hand, trying to find some hold there. In his present form, he was subject to many of the risks of humans. A fall from this height might not kill him, but it would certainly shatter his bones.
From below came a harsh thud.
Spurred on by the wolf raider’s fate, Morgis finally located something for his other hand to grab. Still dangling, he tried to judge whether he had better hopes of climbing up or down.
The stone he had first seized made his decision for him, abruptly crumbling. Caught offguard, Morgis nearly plunged to his death. Instead, what remaining grip he had with his other hand gave him just enough time to locate another hold lower down.