The Killing Song

"Well, you"re not." With Singe"s help, Dandra climbed to her feet. "What do we do now?"

Somewhere above, the chime of Nevchaned"s shop door rang. Nevchaned ignored it. "We"re going to have to go back to the council of elders," he said. "This is going to frighten some of them-they hoped we"d found all of our answers."

"I hoped we"d found all our answers," Dandra said. "Which do you think the elders will feel more threatened by, the killing song or Dah"mir?"

Nevchaned and Hanamelk glanced at each other. "The killing song," Hanamelk answered. "They know it"s a threat. They see it in front of them. It may be infecting another kalashtar right now. But Dah"mir ..." He shook his head. "You"ve put a compelling case before us, Dandra, but we don"t know anything yet. Maybe Havakhad and the seers will find something. For now, there"s no immediate danger. Dah"mir hasn"t moved against us yet. He may not move against us for weeks or months."

"You can"t wait until he strikes!" said Singe. The wizard"s angry words were partly drowned out by Erimelk"s screams and by a new series of rapid, insistent chimes from above. Nevchaned"s face flushed dark. He reached out and jerked the door of the storeroom shut, dampening one source of noise.

"We know!" he said. "But if we have to choose between something that threatens our community now and something that may threaten us weeks from now, we have to deal with the urgent threat."

"You"ve warned us. We"ll be ready," Hanamelk added. "But what is there we can do until we know more? We may seem like a large community, but we"re not. We don"t have the resources to fight two dangers we only barely understand."

"You have us," Ashi said. "Help us to find Dah"mir and-"

She didn"t finish. The chimes from the shop ended and replaced by a loud impact and the sound of splintering. Nevchaned"s eyes went wide. "My shop!"

Hanamelk"s face slackened for a moment, colors danced in the depths of his eyes, and he appeared to look into the distance. "There are humans at your door," he said. "Five men. They"re trying to break in-" There was another crash. Hanamelk blinked and corrected himself. "They"re in."

"What?" Nevchaned sprinted for the stairs.

"Wait!" Hanamelk called after him, but the old man didn"t stop. Hanamelk turned to Singe. "He"s not going to be able to stop them."

Singe glanced at Dandra. She nodded to him. He and Hanamelk raced after Nevchaned. Ashi"s eyes followed them longingly. She still had her sword drawn. "Should we go?" she asked.

Dandra leaned against a wall. Her head still spun slightly from Erimelk"s kick. "Just a moment-"

"No, don"t go!" Shadows moved on the stairs. Moon stepped down into the corridor. It seemed he hadn"t followed either her request or his father"s orders-he hadn"t washed and he was still in the house. He looked unsteady or nervous, and when he met Dandra"s eyes, she once again saw that same soft love in them.

This time, however, it was mixed with a strange determination. She frowned in concern. "Why not?"

"There"s something I need to tell you-" The young man seemed to brace himself, then added "-Dandra." He flinched as she stood up straight and Ashi tensed, and continued in a rush. "Last night at the Gathering Light, I eavesdropped on what you told the elders. I know what you told them-"

She looked at him. "I spoke to them through kesh."

He blushed. "When there are so many people partic.i.p.ating in kesh, it"s easy for one more to join. I"m sorry. But I heard what you told them. About Dah"mir. About his herons. I heard what you were just talking about now too. I can help-"

There was a shout from above as Nevchaned raised his voice in challenge to whoever had invaded his home. Ashi"s head snapped up like a dog scenting prey.

"Moon, we have to help your father!" Dandra said. "Tell us later!"

"No!" the young kalashtar blurted. "You have to listen now! I"ve seen the herons in another part of the city. I know where you can find Dah"mir!"

For an old man, Nevchaned could move fast. Singe supposed that he would move quickly too, if someone were breaking into his home and shop.

He caught up to the smith and grabbed his arm before he could race up the stairs to his shop. A hand over Nevchaned"s mouth and a hard look silenced him before he could say anything. Singe pulled him back from the door to the stairs, pushing him into Hanamelk"s hands, then stepped up to the doorway himself and listened. He could hear the men moving around, but it didn"t sound like they were trying to steal anything. The sounds of the square outside the shop were m.u.f.fled. They must have closed the broken door behind themselves. The wizard frowned. Broad daylight-who would be so bold and why?

Floorboards creaked at the head of the stairs and someone finally spoke. "Stairs," growled a soft voice. "Dol Dorn"s mighty fist, what"s that screaming?"

The response that drifted down the stairs answered Singe"s question and left him cold at the same time. "Forget the screaming and go down," said Mithas d"Deneith. "I can feel the mark. She"s close!"

CHAPTER.

11.

Singe"s heart seemed to stop. He stepped back, his hand darting to his sword. He felt a touch on his shoulder-Nevchaned-at the same moment that he felt a touch against his mind. He opened his thoughts to the elder and felt Hanamelk through the kesh as well.

Nevchaned"s mental voice was stronger than his speaking voice, and Singe could imagine that he must have commanded impressive respect in his younger days. What"s going on? he asked.

House Deneith, Singe said. They"re looking for Ashi.

Even communicated at the speed of thought, the whole story would have taken time they didn"t have. How, he wondered, had Mithas managed to find them? He didn"t doubt that the sorcerer was using some kind of divination magic, but he shouldn"t have been able to locate them all the way across the city. Singe still couldn"t believe that he would try to draw on the resources of Deneith-he"d want to keep Ashi"s secret to himself.

Ashi"s secret ... With a sinking heart, Singe remembered Ashi"s cry of glee during their escape: "I like Deathsgate much better than Overlook!" Someone had probably sold the memory of that shout to Mithas. As much as Singe disliked the man, he had to admit that he wasn"t stupid.

Nevchaned didn"t ask any further questions though. There"s a back door, he said. Take it and run. An image flickered into Singe"s head of the b.u.t.tress-towers, one of them with Nevchaned"s shop at its peak, that hugged the side of the greater tower. More images followed in a rush: a door on the lower level of the apartment, a long and twisting flight of stairs past other apartments, an exit onto a lower street well away from Mithas and danger. Singe blinked at Nevchaned.

The elder scowled. Go! We"re not helpless!

Their leader is a sorcerer.

We have powers of our own, said Hanamelk. A seer can confuse as well as clarify. Go the Gathering Light. You"ll find refuge there if you need it.

Booted feet were already treading softly down the stairs. Be careful, Singe told the elders and dashed away. He had barely left them behind when he heard Nevchaned raise his voice in a loud demand. "What are you doing in my home?"

He almost wanted to stay and watch the two elders stand up to Mithas-he could imagine the frustrated look on Mithas"s face-but escape was a better alternative to fighting. Hanamelk had said five men, and Singe guessed that Mithas had brought four Blademarks mercenaries with him. He, Dandra, and Ashi could have taken the mercenaries, but he wouldn"t have put it past Mithas to prepare some special magic to use against them. And they couldn"t afford to fall to Mithas.

He ran down the stairs to the lower level as softly as he could, blessing Erimelk"s screaming for the cover that it gave him. "Ashi! Dandra!" he hissed. "We need to-"

He slid to a stop at the sight of Moon standing before the two women. Both Ashi and Dandra looked startled by something-and Singe knew that whatever it was, it wasn"t him. "What"s going on?"

Moon turned and looked at him with such hatred that Singe wondered what he"d interrupted. "Moon says he knows where Dah"mir is," Dandra said.

"Twelve b.l.o.o.d.y moons." The door that Nevchaned had shown him lay at the end of the corridor. Could they spare an instant? Nevchaned and Hanamelk both had their voices raised. Singe clenched his teeth. "Where?"

A nasty cunning entered the young kalashtar"s expression. "Take me with you," he said. "I"ll show you."

Dandra"s eyebrows rose, and she glanced at Singe. Their spare instant was over-on the floor above, Mithas shouted down Nevchaned. "Get these old fools out of my way and find me that woman!"

The elders" voices just grew sharper. Ashi drew a sharp breath. "Is that Mithas?"

"Yes. Nevchaned and Hanamelk are buying us time. We"re getting out of here." Singe pushed past them all and went to the back door. Two stout bolts held it closed. He pulled them back and wrenched the door open. "Moon, you"re coming with us for now at least!"

He didn"t bother to look at Moon"s expression. Moon could have been staring holes in his back for all he cared. On the other side of the door, stairs dropped down into a well of flights and landings lit by everbright lanterns. He glanced over the rail. The bottom of the stairwell was a long way down. He clenched his teeth and prayed that no one would be coming up the other way, then waved the others through the door. "Come on! Hurry!"

Ashi pa.s.sed him without a second glance, sheathing her sword as she moved. Dandra looked at him in a little surprise. "How did he find-?"

"I"ll explain later."

Moon was the last through and looked at Singe with loathing. The wizard resisted the urge to punch the love-drunk youth, and closed the door behind himself. Maybe Mithas"s men wouldn"t think to check the door.

That hope lasted no longer than two turns down the stairs as the echoes of their racing boots filled the stairwell. The landings between the flights of stairs were lined with the doors of other apartments in the tower and people were beginning to open their doors to see what was happening outside. Singe had to dodge around a portly old dwarf as he stepped out from his apartment. Fortunately, the old man was faster than he looked, and he got back inside in time to avoid Ashi. Curses and shouts followed them. Periodic glances over the rail gave Singe a rough idea of their progress down the height of the tower. A third of the way down. Halfway- Exclamations from high above joined the curses of the disturbed inhabitants. Mithas and his men had discovered their quarry"s escape. Singe, teeth bared against the exertion of running, allowed himself a taut smile. There was no way Mithas could catch them on the stairs. They"d be out of the tower and away onto the street before the sorcerer was even close. Maybe Mithas had realized that too. Or maybe he thought his tracking magic could find them again-Singe hoped that Hanamelk"s comment about confusing things was true. In any case, no footsteps followed them, and they approached the last few flights of stairs, Singe slowed. "We"re away," he said. "They"re not chasing us."

Dandra glared up at him. "They"re not chasing us because this is Sharn! Keep running!"

She didn"t slow-Singe increased his pace to keep up with her. They burst out of the doors of the tower and onto the street a few moments later. Heads turned briefly to stare at them. Singe looked at Dandra with curiosity, but the kalashtar had her face turned up toward the sky. He followed her gaze, but couldn"t tell what she was looking for. Dah"mir"s herons?

Then five forms launched themselves off the courtyard-roof of the great tower overhead. The energy that crackled around the soarsleds under their feet was dim in the afternoon sunlight, but the silver and blue of their Blademarks uniform jackets was bright. Soaring like birds, the figures arced out from the tower wall, then curved back and dived toward the street.

The crowd on the street scattered with cries of alarm. "Deneith claims its own!" screamed Mithas as he plunged down from above. "Stop the kalashtar first!"

The sorcerer hadn"t chased them through the tower because he"d known they"d come out the bottom-and because this was Sharn, he had a faster way to intercept them. Singe didn"t waste energy cursing. Options flashed through his head instead. They were all but alone on the rapidly clearing street, an easy target. Mounted on the soarsleds, the mercenaries could easily run them down if they tried to flee-the scattered crowd offered no concealment and the nearest cover was far along the street. If they ducked back into the tower, they"d be trapped. Mithas would just send men in from top and bottom to catch them in between. There was only one thing he could see to do, but at least it made the anger he felt toward Mithas burn with a joyful heat.

"Take them down!" he shouted. He thrust a hand toward the diving mercenaries and called out the words of a spell. A bolt of orange flame erupted from the air, streaking the sky with fire as it leaped for the men. Singe caught a glimpse of eyes that were suddenly wide and faces that were suddenly pale. The soarsleds curved away from one another, and the flame flashed through in empty s.p.a.ce.

Exactly as he"d intended. Their charge broken, the mercenaries circled, trying to reorient themselves. "Scatter!" ordered Singe.

Dandra broke to the left, Ashi to the right. Singe stuck with Ashi, grabbing her hand as she reached to draw her sword once more. "No! No weapons-kill them and we"ll have the city guard after us."

"Rond betch, what am I supposed to do then?" Above the scarf over her face, her eyes widened. "Moon!"

Singe whirled. The kalashtar still stood frozen in front of the tower doors. In the air overhead, one of the mercenaries had brought his soarsled to a halt. He had a shortbow in his hands, an arrow nocked and aimed at Moon. The head of the arrow was strangely blunt, but it shimmered with a strange amber energy that raised a chill on the back of Singe"s neck. He focused his will on the man, crooked his fingers, and hissed the words of the sleeping spell.

The man blinked, but nothing more. Singe bit back a curse-this was why he preferred fire spells!-as the mercenary pulled back his bowstring.

Ashi was quicker. Someone had abandoned a mesh shopping bag containing the still wet body of a good big fish on the street as they fled the mercenary attack. The hunter s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, spun around twice, then let the bag fly. It hurtled through the air and struck the mercenary, slapping him completely off the soarsled. His arrow snapped out of the bow to strike the wall of the tower over Moon"s head. A spray of amber light burst from it, coating a broad patch of the wall in a honey-like sheen. The mercenary hit the ground with a hard thump and lay still. His soarsled-and the fish-tumbled down beside him. Mithas let out an angry shout.

Moon didn"t even move. There was a weird, hungry look in his eyes. Singe felt gooseb.u.mps rise on his arms and followed his gaze.

One of the other mercenaries, also armed with a bow and the shimmering arrows, had gone after Dandra, but she had simply stepped up onto the air. Gliding above the ground, supported by her power, she twisted and turned with matchless speed and grace. In order to have even a chance at hitting her, the man had to keep his soarsled in constant motion.

Moon"s eyes followed Dandra"s every move with a frightening intensity.

The sweep of a shadow overhead forced Singe"s attention back to Mithas and the remaining two mercenaries. They circled him and Ashi like vultures. Both held swords rather than bows and seemed reluctant to land and use them, but Mithas held the slim stick of a magic wand in his fingers. He watched Ashi in a way that reminded Geth of a farmer inspecting prime livestock.

"Surrender!" he called down.

Ashi spat a few words in the tongue of the Bonetree clan. Mithas may not have understood the words, but he clearly understood the tone. His face twisted into a savage grin, and he flicked the wand at Singe.

The wizard tried to throw himself aside, but dodging magic wasn"t quite the same as diving away from an arrow. The spell that leaped from the wand didn"t produce a tell-tale glowing ray, but instead seemed to bend the sunlight in the air around itself. For something with no apparent substance, however, the lancing beam carried a powerful punch. It caught him on the side, and his dodge turned into tumble. He ended up on his belly beside the fallen mercenary, staring across the filthy stones of the street as pain radiated through his side-it felt like he had taken a blow deep into his soft tissues.

His fall gave openings to Ashi and Dandra, though. He watched in a daze as Ashi sprinted forward and jumped up, grabbing for the edge of a soarsled that had drifted too low. Energy crackled around the hunter"s fingers, and the disc tilted wildly, but the mercenary on the sled managed to keep his footing, though his sword dropped to the street with a ringing crash. As Mithas whirled to flick his wand, Ashi gave a mighty twist and kick, pulling herself up onto the sled. The invisible bolt bent the light where her feet had been. Heedless of the disc"s wild rocking, Ashi grappled with the mercenary.

Dandra put on a burst of speed and darted directly underneath the soarsled of the mercenary who had been stalking her. The mercenary"s head twisted as he tried to follow her, and when she stopped, he brought his soarsled skimming around in a quick movement, bow already drawn and aimed. Dandra"s eyes narrowed in concentration. The air between her and the mercenary rippled as she spun out the force that kalashtar called vayhatana-and the man jerked to a stop, captured in midair by the power of her mind.

His soarsled, however, didn"t stop. Momentum carried it away from his feet, the crackling energy faded, and the disc arced down to smash into the street below. The man"s eyes went wide. He stared at the empty air under his feet, then at Dandra, and in an instant his bow joined the falling soarsled as he raised open hands in surrender.

The remaining mercenary sent his sled darting for his suspended comrade. Dandra swung her captive-who screamed like a girl-at him, but the movement was sluggish and more a threat than anything else.

Mithas"s wand wavered between Ashi and Dandra. Both were easy targets.

Singe forced himself up. The bow of the first mercenary Ashi had knocked down lay beside him with blunt, amber-tipped arrows scattered all around. The wizard grabbed for the bow, laid an arrow across it, and pulled the string back. "Mithas!" he shouted. The sorcerer turned. Singe loosed the arrow and grabbed for another.

The shot was wild, of course, but he would have been happy if the arrow had gone anywhere near the man. All he needed was a moment"s distraction for the chance to aim the second arrow more carefully. His first arrow, though, found a target after all.

It struck square in the back of the mercenary struggling with Ashi. The man stiffened as honey-colored light wrapped around him, freezing him in place-and the disc dropped for the ground with Ashi caught in the paralyzed man"s arms. Dandra gasped, her face tightened, and vayhatana rippled again, slowing the soarsled"s fall.

But Mithas flicked his wand and air bent like a counterstroke to the ripples of vayhatana. The beam struck Dandra in the belly, flinging her backward as everyone she had held in the air dropped to the ground. Singe gasped-and it was utterly swallowed by a heart-rending shriek from Moon. Mithas"s wand, already aimed for Singe, rose and flicked toward the terrible cry, but the sorcerer was too slow. Silver-white light exploded onto the street, overwhelming the afternoon light. Mithas flung up an arm to shield his eyes-and Singe watched in amazement as the fabric of his sleeve fell to shreds. Spots of blood burst across the flesh of his arm, across his chest, across his face. Red-soaked rags were all that remained of his clothes. He screamed in pain, and Singe saw his eyes blaze with rage. He thrust out his hand in an arcane gesture, abandoning wand for spell.

The second arrow still lay across Singe"s bow. He lifted the weapon almost without thinking and loosed the arrow.

The expression of surprise on Mithas"s blood-streaked face was caught behind the honey light that surrounded him. His soarsled stayed aloft, and he bobbed in the air like an outraged amber statue.

The last mercenary, still uninjured, took one look around and shot up and away into the sky.

Singe dropped the bow and dragged himself to his feet, his side aching. Ashi, her face twisted in pain, was extricating herself from the embrace of the paralyzed mercenary. The mercenary Dandra had snared with vayhatana and the mercenary Ashi had felled with a fish were groaning and stirring feebly. Dandra was sitting up, rocking slowly as she clutched at her belly. Singe met her gaze, and they both looked up at Mithas. The wounds that the sorcerer had suffered reminded Singe of what Erimelk had done to him, only far worse and more extensive. He turned to look at Moon.

The young kalashtar stood rigid, his body trembling and his skin pale, as if the energy he had put into the psionic attack had left him with barely enough strength to stand. Singe would have gone to him and offered him support, but he wasn"t certain that he wanted to. He"d seen terrible magics unleashed during the Last War. He"d killed people with his fiery spells. He would gladly have killed Mithas. Somehow, though, seeing such a b.l.o.o.d.y power projected from Moon"s young body left him deeply shocked.

As if he could sense that shock, Moon focused on Singe and gave him a strange smile of grim triumph. The smile of a rival who had proven himself.

Then the smile was gone, and Singe had to wonder if he"d even seen it. Moon shook himself, strength seeming to flow back into his limbs, and he stepped past Singe to offer his hand to Dandra. "We should go. The Watch will come."

Dandra looked stunned too, but she allowed Moon to help her up. Ashi came to Singe"s side. The struggle had wrenched her scarf askew, and she was tucking it back into place, though Singe still caught a glimpse of a long, b.l.o.o.d.y sc.r.a.pe across her jaw. "What happened?" she asked. "I saw a flash of light, then Mithas just started to bleed. Was that Moon? Is he that powerful?"

"I wouldn"t have thought he was." Singe ground his teeth together and forced himself to look around the street. The crowds were creeping back now that the violence was over, eyes wide with fear and curiosity. A number of less than scrupulous types were looking greedily at the magical arrows that the battle had left scattered about. Singe thought the groaning mercenaries would probably recover quickly enough to take care of themselves, though it was too bad that Mithas hovered out of reach. The sorcerer"s vengeful gaze seemed fixed on him. Singe put his back to him and went to Dandra and Moon. He was developing an uneasy feeling around Moon, but the young kalashtar was right-the Watch would come to investigate.

He also likely knew the streets of the area better than any of them. Singe swallowed his pride, if not his caution. "Moon, show us a way out of here."

Moon nodded once and, still holding Dandra"s hand, started along the street at a swift trot. Dandra twisted around to look back at Singe and he felt kesh touch his mind. This isn"t right, Dandra said inside his head. Something"s wrong. Moon shouldn"t have been able to- I know, said Singe. But we"ll have to worry about that when we"re away from here.

The street wound like an enormous balcony along the side of the great tower, a ledge on the side of a mountain. At the end toward which Moon ran, it met the wall of another tower and became a tunnel lit by everbright lanterns. The crowds were somewhat thinner inside, though the walls of the tunnel were lined with as many shops and stalls as if there were open sky overhead instead of stone. Between a fruit vendor and a cobbler, Moon turned sharply and plunged down a broad staircase. Like the tunnel-street, the stairs were also lined with stalls, precariously balanced. A stiff breeze blew up the stairs, bearing the warm air and strong smells of an even lower thoroughfare.

Singe cursed, and called out. "Moon! Where are we going?"

Moon, already partway down the stairs, didn"t show any sign of hearing him. Dandra, however, planted her feet and dragged him to a stop. Moon blinked at her in surprise, then glared at Singe and Ashi as they caught up. "You told me to show you a way out."

"Hanamelk said we"d find refuge from Mithas at the Gathering Light," Singe told him. "I think we should go there, and I"m pretty sure that"s up, not down."

Moon"s mouth twisted. "You don"t want to go to the Gathering Light. You"d just end up stuck in there. Besides, you don"t need refuge from Mithas anymore."

"He"s not dead. He"ll come after us again." Singe gave Moon a hard look. "Do you know somewhere better than the Gathering Light?"