He was about to leap to his feet when he heard a distant but unmistakable roll of thunder. As it died away he heard the echoing rattle of hooves on stone approaching along the street inside the gate. A Wolf appeared, mace swinging in one hand and leading his heuda with the other. Across the animal's back was tied a slender young woman with long dark hair, wearing only a stained and ragged shift.
As the Wolf stepped out of the shadows Blade recognized the red-bearded axman of Frinda. He led his mount out through the gate, across the wooden bridge over the ditch, and onto the road. Then he looped the reins negligently over a bush and drew his knife to cut the woman's bindings.
The mounted Wolf looked at him, and a grin spread across his face. «Ho, Sigo; you dog, you! I never thought I'd see you snatch off one of his Chosen. Are you ready to kiss your balls good-bye, then? I'd hardly thought you'd done all you wanted with them, but-«
«Oh, hold your wind, Ketz,» said the red-bearded Sigo. He hacked through the bindings of the woman's wrists and stepped around to do the same at her ankles. «This is no Chosen, for I'm no fool. These sheep in Dodini aren't going to do anything we need fear, so I thought I'd snatch one of their ewes for a bit of our own pleasure.» He freed the woman's ankles, grabbed her by one leg and one arm, and heaved her over his shoulder.
«Besides, I'm really doing her a favor,» Sigo went on, as he carried the woman across the road. «After we're through with her, she can no longer be a Chosen. I don't imagine you mind the trade, do you, little one? A few minutes with us, instead of a lifetime serving him?» He slung the woman off his shoulder and dropped her with a thud in the grass. If she said anything, Blade couldn't hear it. She lay motionless while Sigo began unlacing his trousers.
«Now then,» he said. «You'd better be a little more lively now, or it won't be just a few minutes with us. I'm not going to have my fun with-hayaiii!» he screamed, as Blade sprang out into the open.
Sigo had left his mace and crossbow with his heuda and was unarmed except for his knife. Blade closed in, Sigo threw up his free hand and thrust with the knife in the other. Blade's ax hissed down in a precise arc and Sigo's raised hand flew from its wrist. Sigo cried out again, but did not miss a step as he came at Blade, the dagger held with the grip of a trained knife fighter, ready for an upward thrust.
Sigo closed so fast that he got inside Blade's guard. Blade leaped backward as the dagger thrust up at his stomach. At the same time he raised the ax and smashed the five-foot handle across Sigo's neck. The dagger's edge tore Blade's trousers and the point pricked his skin. The impact of the ax handle knocked Sigo off his feet. He sprawled on his back, still clutching the dagger, trying to raise both his good hand and his bloody stump to ward off Blade. He was still trying when Blade brought the ax down on his chest. Sigo doubled up in one final convulsive spasm and gasped, «The Wizard will avenge me.» Then he fell back, limp and dead.
While Blade and Sigo fought, the mounted Wolf was unslinging and cocking his crossbow. He didn't dare fire, though, for fear of hitting his comrade. As Blade stepped back from Sigo's body, the archer found himself with a clear target. The crossbow came up, and as it did the woman suddenly came to life. She leaped to her feet, then lunged for Sigo's fallen dagger.
The movement drew the archer's eye as his finger closed on the trigger of the crossbow. The bolt that should have left Blade as dead as Sigo whistled harmlessly across the road and sank into a tree. Before either the woman or the archer could make another move, Blade charged across the road, ax held high and ready to strike.
The archer spurred his heuda into motion. It lurched forward, two, three, four slow steps. Then the Wolf dug in his spurs again, the massive hind legs quivered and tensed, and Blade swung sharply to the left. As the Wolf charged past him, he shifted his grip on the ax and swung it in a wide arc, his arms stretched out as far as they would go.
He struck with the blunt side of the ax head, in case he missed his mark and struck the heuda instead of the man.
The last thing he wanted to do was kill or even wound the animal. It was the safest way out of here, for him, for his prisoner, and now for the young woman.
Blade's ax smashed into the Wolf's side, hard enough to knock the wind out of him. His hands clutched the reins, pulling the heuda to a stop. The animal reared, pawing the air, then started to turn toward Blade. Blade shifted sideways, to keep away from the head with its jutting horns. Then he struck again, as the man drew his sword and raised it for a downward cut. The ax smashed the Wolf's sword aside and bit through his helmet as if it was a tin can. His eyes went blank, blood gushed from mouth and ears, and he toppled out of the saddle.
«Behind you!» the woman screamed. «Behind you! Behind-!» as thunder crashed overhead. Blade didn't need to have the words repeated even once. He was already whirling, ax ready, as the last Wolf charged at him from the gate. Blade raised the ax, the Wolf's sword whirled toward him, and its edge bit into the ax handle. The steel went halfway through the wood at one blow and stuck. Blade heaved on the ax, jerking the man toward him. The Wolf kept his grip on the sword and let Blade pull him in, then suddenly let go and leaped on Blade with his bare hands. Both fighters went down from the impact.
Blade found himself grappling the Wolf on the ground as if the man really was a wild animal. The man was smaller than Blade, but strong, nearly as fast, and utterly desperate. He bit, he clawed, he tried to gouge and tear every part of Blade's body he could reach, he shouted and screamed like a madman. Blade was too busy keeping his eyes and testicles from being mangled to try anything scientific against the Wolf. It was a straight contest of brute strength and ferocity.
The two men rolled over and over as they fought. Blade was vaguely aware of thunder rolling louder and more often from a darkening sky. He was more aware of the woman standing in the road, dagger in her hand, staring at the two fighters. He hoped that if she tried to join the fight she'd get the dagger into the Wolf, not into him!
Then suddenly Blade felt the ground dropping away under him. He barely had time to take a deep breath before he and the Wolf plunged into the scum-coated water of the ditch along the wall.
Blade had his lungs filled and his mouth closed as he went under. The Wolf didn't. He sucked in a great lungful of filthy water and exploded to the surface, coughing and choking horribly, clawing at his throat. Blade rose up beside him and slammed the heel of one hand up under the man's jaw. The Wolf sprawled backward against the bank with his head and shoulders out of the water. Before he could clear his lungs, Blade gripped his throat with both hands and squeezed hard. The Wolf's windpipe collapsed and his eyes rolled wildly. He wriggled and twisted like a worm on a hook for a moment, then finally lay still.
Blade scrambled up on to the bank and looked around. The heuda was snorting, honking, pawing the ground, and weaving its head from side to side. Blade picked up one of the Wolves' helmets and walked toward the animal, making soothing noises. The thunder overhead was growing louder and more frequent, but in the intervals between the crashes and rumbles Blade could hear horns and drums sounding inside Dodini. The alarm was up.
The woman was standing beside the heuda. Her garment showed several new stains and rips. Her face showed fear, relief, surprise, and disbelief all at once. She was shaking slightly, but the long-fingered hands she held out in front of her were steady. Good. If she hadn't panicked yet, she probably wouldn't.