"Oh." The tautness faded. "You won't have him in the front?"
Valentinian started to say something that Dhruva was pretty sure would come out as a snarl, but Anastasius hastily interrupted.
"That'd be silly, wouldn't it? What I mean is, those tunnels aren't wide enough for more than two men at the front, and what with me and Valentinian-" He waved a huge hand at his glowering comrade. "No room for Rajiv there, anyway."
"We're wasting time," snarled Valentinian. "The boy goes with us, Lady Damodara. No way I want some damn Ye-tai deciding when to blow the charges."
* * *
By the time Dhruva and Lata got all the servants and maids chivvied into the cellars, some order had been brought to the initial chaos.
Quite a bit, actually. Between them, the wives of Damodara and Rana Sanga practically oozed authority, and the majordomo was always there to handle the little details. Most of the cooks and servants and maids were now being guided into the tunnel by the Bihari miners.
That, too, had been planned long before. One miner for every four servants. True, they were now short the two murdered miners-and shorter still, in terms of the Ye-tai mercenaries who were supposed to oversee the whole operation. Still, there was no trouble. Khandik and one of the other two remaining mercenaries were staying in the cellars to help with the evacuation. The third one was upstairs with the two Roman cataphracts and Rajiv.
Things were even orderly enough for Lata to do a quick count.
"We're missing one of the maids, I think. That one-I can't remember her name-who helps with the washing."
Dhruva scanned the faces, trying to place her. The two sisters hadn't had much contact with the servants on the upper floors, as a rule. But because Lady Damodara insisted that all clothes washing had to be done indoors, they did encounter the ones who came to the laundry.
"I don't know her name either, but I know you who mean. The one. . Well. She's pretty stupid, from what I could tell."
They saw the majordomo walking quickly toward Lady Damodara and Sanga's wife, who were standing in the center of the big cellar watching over everything. From the frown on his face, Dhruva was pretty sure he'd just finished his own head count and had come to the same conclusion.
A moment later, he and the two ladies were talking. All of them were now frowning. The two sisters couldn't hear the words, but the subject was fairly obvious.
"I better help," Lata said. "Will you be all right with the baby?"
"Yes. I'll wait till the last. Be careful."
Lata hurried over. Sanga's wife spotted her coming almost instantly. A faint look of relief came to her face.
As Lata neared, Lady Sanga interrupted the majordomo. "Yes, fine." She pointed at Lata. "We can send her upstairs to find out what happened to the girl."
Lady Damodara looked at Lata and gave her a quick nod. An instant later, she was scampering up the stairs.
* * *
Even before she got to the main floor, Lata could hear the dull booming. The Malwa soldiery must be trying to batter down the main entrance door. Over the months, as discreetly as possible, Lady Damodara had had iron bars placed over all the windows on the palace's ground floor. To stymie thieves, she'd claimed, the one time a Malwa city official had investigated. He'd probably thought the explanation was silly, since that wealthy part of Kausambi with its frequent military patrols was hardly a place that any sensible thief would ply his trade. But he hadn't pursued the matter.
Now, that official would probably lose his head for negligence. Or be impaled on a stake, if the secret police decided that more than negligence was involved. The only way into the palace for troops trying to storm it quickly was through the main entrance. And that wasn't going to be quick, even with battering rams, as heavy and well-braced and barred as it now was.
Lata reached the landing and scampered toward the sound of the booming. The cataphracts would be there, of course.
So, indeed, they were. Along with Rajiv and the third Ye-tai mercenary, they were standing in a small alcove at the far end of the great entry vestibule. The same alcove that Lata entered, since it was the one that led to the basement floor and the cellars below.
"One of the maids is-"
Anastasius waved her down, without turning his head. "We know, Lata. She's over there."
Lata looked past him. Sure enough, the missing maid was cowering against a far wall of the vestibule.
"Come here, girl!" Rajiv shouted. "There's still time!"
There was plenty of time, in fact. The main door shook again, booming fiercely as whatever battering ram the soldiery had smashed into it. But, beyond loosening one of the hinges, the blow seemed to have no impact. The door would stand for at least another minute or two. More than enough time for the maid to saunter across to the alcove and the safety beyond, much less run.
But it didn't matter. The girl was obviously too petrified to think at all, even if she weren't dim-witted to begin with. She'd been overlooked in the initial evacuation, and now. .
"Step aside, Rajiv," Valentinian said harshly.
Lata could see the shoulders of the young Rajput prince tighten. He didn't move from his position at the front of the alcove.
"Obey me, boy."
Rajiv took a shuddering little breath; then, moved aside and flattened himself against the wall.
Valentinian already had an arrow notched. The bow came up quickly, easily; the draw, likewise. Lata wasn't astonished, even though Valentinian had once let her draw that bow when she'd expressed curiosity.
Try to draw it, rather. She might as well have tried to lift an ox.
She never really saw the arrow's flight. Just stared, as the poor stupid maid was pinned to the far wall like a butterfly. Only a foot or so of the arrow protruded from her chest. The arrowhead had passed right through her and sunk into the thick wood of the wall.
Valentinian had no expression on his face at all. Another arrow was already out of the quiver and notched.
"It was quick, Rajiv," said Anastasius quietly. "In the heart. We can't leave anyone behind who might talk, you know that. And we need you now on the detonator."
Tight-faced, Rajiv nodded and came toward Lata. Looking down, Lata saw an odd-looking contraption on the floor not more than three feet away from her. It was a small wooden box with a wire leading from it into the wall of the alcove, and a knobbed handle sticking up from the middle. A plunger of some kind, she thought.
Rajiv didn't look at Valentinian as he passed him. He seemed surprised to see Lata. And, from the look on his face, a bit frightened.
"You have to go below!" He glanced back, as if to look at Valentinian. "Quickly."
"I just came up to see what happened to her. We took a count and. ."
Turning his head slightly, Valentinian said over his shoulder: "Get below, Lata. Now."
* * *
Once she was back in the cellar, she just shook her head in response to the question in Lady Damodara's raised eyebrows.
The lady seemed to understand. She nodded and looked away.
"What happened?" Dhruva hissed.
"Never mind. She's dead." Lata half-pushed her sister toward the tunnel. "We're almost the last ones. Let's get in there. We're just in the way, now."
There were two Bihari miners left, still standing by the entrance. One of them came to escort them.
"This way, ladies. You'll have to stoop a little. Do you need help with the baby?"
"Don't be silly," Dhruva replied.
* * *
The upper hinge gave first. Once the integrity of the door was breached, three more blows from the battering ram were enough to knock it completely aside.
By the time those blows were finished, Valentinian had already fired four arrows through the widening gap. Each one of them killed a Malwa soldier in the huge mass of soldiery Rajiv could see on the street beyond.