Dawn of Empire (43 page)

“This is the one who attacked her, Captain.” The guard gave the prisoner a jab in the ribs. “Klexor caught him before he could escape.”

Cries of “kill him … kill him now” went up from the soldiers, but Eskkar raised his hand for silence. He turned to Bantor. “Watch him, and keep him alive.”

Esk kar fought the urge to strike the man, but that could wait. Think first, then act, Trella always told him. He started thinking coherently for the first time since they’d brought her in. He looked around the garden and spotted Klexor, sitting alone on the ground, disconsolate, his head in his hands.

“Klexor, come here,” Esk kar called out, then said to Bantor, “Clear out the courtyard, but keep twenty men here. Close the gates and send the rest of the men to the walls. I don’t want anyone to escape by slipping over in the darkness. Kill anyone that tries. Then come back here. Gatus, Sisuthros, come with me.”

Klexor stood up, shaking, and nearly fell. Esk kar took the man’s arm and guided him into the house. Ignoring the crowd around Trella, he led the man upstairs and sat the bodyguard on a chair in front of the table.

Esk kar poured two cups of wine, a small one for himself and a large one for Klexor.

“Here, take this.” Esk kar waited until the soldier had drained half the cup, then pulled it away from his lips. “Easy, now. Tell me what happened.

Take your time and tell me everything.”

Esk kar went to the other side of the table and sat. He looked carefully at the guard. A seasoned veteran and a bull of a man, Klexor stood a few inches shorter than Esk kar, but broader and wider, with hands like hammers. He wasn’t one of the original soldiers, but Esk kar knew him well enough, and the man had guarded Trella before.

Klexor wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Captain, it wasn’t my fault, I …”

“I just want to hear what happened, Klexor. It wasn’t you that struck her. Tell me exactly what happened. Leave out nothing.”

Klexor took another sip of wine, then glanced at Sisuthros and Gatus, who leaned against the wall.

“I was assigned to guard Lady Trella today, and we walked all over the village, back and forth, visiting people, training with the women. Finally we started back here, but some women wanted to talk to her, so she stopped and spent time with them.”

His voice cracked and he took another mouthful of wine. “By then dusk was approaching. We were in the Street of the Butchers. The lane’s narrow there, and I walked in front, making a way through the crowd.” He stopped and ran his fingers shakily through his hair.

Get on with it, man
, Esk kar wanted to shout.

“We were only a few steps from the carpenter’s shop, you know, the big one where they make wheels and …”

Esk kar nodded his head.

“That’s where we were, when there was a shout … some street boy screamed out ‘… knife, he’s got a knife.’ I turned and there was this man, his blade striking down. Trella screamed, and fell.”

Klexor emptied the cup and set it clumsily on the table. “I stood there, Captain, for a moment, I couldn’t move. But the boy, the one who shouted, he grabbed the assassin by the leg as he tried to run off and tripped him. Good thing he did, or he would’ve been killed himself. I saw the knife fl ash by the boy’s head. By then I’d recovered my wits and ran at the man just as he got up. I hit him, he went down … I hit him a few more times.”

The man stopped, thinking. “I heard Lady Trella say, ‘Alive … keep him alive’ before she fainted. That man, Ventor, I think his name is, came up and pushed me away. He bound up the wound and told me to send the boy ahead to you, then ordered me to carry Trella here.”

“And the one who stabbed her, do you know him?” Esk kar asked.

“No, I never saw him before,” Klexor answered, “though … wait, I did see him earlier in the afternoon. He could’ve been with the crowd at the wall when the women went there to practice. I’m sure I saw him there. The women may remember him.”

Klexor started to shake again, aware he could be put to death for failing in his duty.

“You said he tried to stab the boy? Did he still have the knife when you struck him?”

The guard concentrated on what had taken place, then answered. “Yes, Captain, he still had the knife. But he was trying to get away, not use the knife.”

“So you hit him. Why didn’t you use your sword?”

“Lady Trella said to keep him alive … no, that was later. I don’t know, I just wanted to get to him. I don’t remember what I was thinking. I forgot to draw my sword.”

Esk kar tried to visualize what the man had seen and done. “My thanks to you, Klexor. I’m sure no man could have done better. You did well to keep the assassin alive. Now go to the kitchen and get some more wine, but only one cup. You need to stay sober. Others will want to hear your words later.”

The man got up, his relief evident. “Captain … I’m sorry about what …

she’s … she’s a good woman …” His voice choked, and he couldn’t get the words out.

“I know. Go now, and send up the boy who brought us the news.” He turned to Gatus and Sisuthros, then paused as Bantor returned, squeezing past Klexor on the landing. “It sounds as if the man was following Trella, and that Klexor did his duty.”

“The men have complained that it’s impossible for one man to guard either of you,” Gatus said. “You know that, with all these crowds. But Lady Trella didn’t want another guard assigned. Klexor performed as well as any man.”

“Nobody takes good advice, Gatus. She said the same thing to me. I should have …”

The door opened again and Annok - sur escorted the boy into the room, a crust of buttered bread in his hand, with crumbs and grease on his chin.

He looked frightened.

Esk kar stood and guided the boy to the seat just vacated by Klexor, but this time Esk kar pulled a stool around and sat down next to him. He judged the lad had about nine or ten seasons. “Don’t be afraid, boy. What’s your name?”

The urchin’s eyes went wide as he looked around. No doubt he’d never seen a room this big in his life, nor one as finely furnished. Esk kar prompt-ed him.

“Enki, Noble One, I’m called Enki.”

The name of the water god who dwelt in the river. “A fine name, Enki.

You’ve done a great deed today, and I’m in your debt. Without you, Lady Trella’s attacker would have escaped. Now I want you to tell me everything you did today, where you went, when you fi rst saw Trella, everything. Do you think you can do that? Start from where you first saw Trella today.”

“It was at the training ground, Noble. I went there to watch the women train. Sometimes they slip and fall, or their dresses come loose. When Lady Trella came, many of us ran over to her. Last week I carried a message for her, and she gave me a copper coin.” He looked crestfallen as he remembered. “But then some older boys took it away.”

“I can fix that.” Esk kar stood up and went back to his table, opened the drawer and extracted two copper coins. He presented them to Enki who took them with his free hand, the other still firmly clutching his bread. Eskkar sat down again. “Then what happened?”

“Lady Trella watched the women practice, then she began to train, too.

She’s very strong for a girl, you know, and she can handle the short spear by herself, or the forked stick. Many were cheering and laughing. When they fi nished for the day, the women washed themselves at the well. I like to watch that.”

Many of the women would take off their shifts and pour water over themselves. Esk kar smiled briefly. He’d watched such things himself. “Yes, that’s always fun to watch. Now, Enki, while you were there, did you remember seeing the man who attacked Trella? Was he there?”

Enki frowned as he tried to remember. “No, not there. I didn’t see him there. But later, when we began walking, he walked by me and Trella. I was following along, hoping she might need another message delivered or something. The man pushed past her and moved ahead. Then he came back and walked behind us again. He kept looking around, I remember that.”

“Good, Enki. What happened next?”

“Lady Trella stopped to talk to someone. Some of the boys crowded around her and the guard pushed them back. She and the women talked for a long time, whispering to each other, then Lady Trella smiled and gave one of them a coin before she started walking again. The guard had to push people out of the way so they could get through.”

The boy looked around the room and saw everyone watching him.

Probably no one had ever paid any attention to him before, and now four grown men listened carefully to his every word.

“Don’t be afraid,” Esk kar reassured the boy. “Go on.”

“I got left behind, and was trying to catch up when the man pushed past me again. I almost fell, and I cursed at him. Then I saw him pull the knife from under his tunic. He walked very fast, and headed for Lady Trella.

I yelled, and she started to turn around. Then she saw the knife and she raised her arm, but he stabbed her anyway. I kept yelling. He turned and ran away, ran right past me, so I grabbed his leg and held on until we both fell down. He got up, but the guard caught him and started hitting him.”

“Do you remember what you yelled, Enki? The exact words?” Esk kar wanted all the details.

“I remember. I yelled, ‘Lady Trella, he’s got a knife. Lady Trella …’

Then I saw the blood on the knife as the man ran past me.”

“How loud did you yell, Enki? Can you show me?”

Without hesitating, the boy screamed out the words, showering Esk kar’s face with bread crumbs, the high - pitched voice piercing in the closed room. It was loud, all right, loud enough to make anyone stop and turn around. If Trella hadn’t turned, she would have taken the blade in her back.

Esk kar made the boy go over the story again. When nothing new emerged, Esk kar glanced up at the three subcommanders, standing quietly against the wall. “Anything you want to ask?”

Gatus and Bantor shook their heads, but Sisuthros stepped over and bent down to examine the back of the boy’s head, pushing the unruly hair back and forth until Enki jumped in pain.

Sisuthros withdrew his fingers, some dried blood stuck on them. “I thought I saw blood. The blade didn’t miss by much, though I doubt it would’ve killed him.”

Enki’s eyes grew wide at the sight of his own blood. Sisuthros rubbed the boy’s head. “Just a scratch. Nothing for a brave man to worry about.”

“Thank you again, Enki,” Esk kar said as he stood. “Who is your family?”

“I have none, Noble. I had an older brother, but he disappeared. I sleep in the stables, or near the river.”

The brother had probably been picked up off the streets and sold to a slaver. “Then you’ll stay here from now on.” Esk kar turned to his men.

“Now it’s time to talk to the assassin.”

Taking the boy’s hand, Esk kar led the way downstairs, where he turned Enki over to Bantor’s wife before checking on Trella. The healer sat quietly beside her, his work for the moment finished. Ventor stood as Esk kar approached.

Esk kar stared at her pale face, her body covered with a soft blanket and another folded under her head. They’d combed her hair. Her eyes were closed but she was breathing regularly.

“How is she, Ventor? Will she live?” Esk kar couldn’t stop his voice from breaking.

“Yes, Captain, I believe she will recover,” Ventor said. “Unless the wound fills with pus. The blow struck her ribs and glanced downward. Her attacker should have directed his blade upward toward the heart. The ribs open to a thrust from below, but a downward stroke glances from rib to rib.

Not a very expert assassin.”

Ventor lifted the blanket and looked at Trella’s wound. “She’s young and strong and should heal quickly. I gave her some wine and ordered that she be fed soup as soon as she’s able to take some.”

Esk kar breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Ventor. I’d like you to stay the night. Then come at least twice a day to look in on her. You’ll be well paid for your good work tonight.”

“The nobles use their own healers, Captain.”

“Yes, but I’m just a soldier, and you’re more familiar with battle wounds.

Besides, I’ll not have a dozen healers standing around arguing about what potions to give her or gods to pray to. Tend to her wound, as you would for any soldier.”

Esk kar walked out into the courtyard. A cheer went up from the men.

Despite his order, more than twenty soldiers still crammed themselves into the courtyard, which now blazed with torchlight.

He held up one hand. “Trella is being cared for by the healer. Now we’ve work to do here, and you’ll be needed later. So clear the courtyard.

The Hawk Clan and the house guards remain.”

“Get the rest of them out of here, Gatus. Bantor, bring the assassin to the back of the house.”

Esk kar followed the guards as they dragged the man into the cul - de -

sac behind the house.

The small garden contained only one bench and two small trees scarcely taller than a man. He stepped in front of the attacker. Two men held the prisoner by his arms. The man knelt in the dirt, arms bent up backward behind him, the gag still stuffed in his mouth.

Esk kar went down on one knee, his face close to the prisoner’s. His eyes bulged wide with terror, and the stink of urine hung over him. Esk kar pulled the gag from the man’s mouth, heard the quick gasp of air as the man filled his lungs. He started to speak.

“Silence!” Esk kar ordered savagely. “If he speaks or cries out, give him some pain.”

Both men tightened their grips on the man’s wrists, twisted high behind him, until he yelped with pain and saliva ran from his open mouth.

Esk kar studied the man carefully but didn’t recognize him. That didn’t mean anything. He could have been in Orak for months or days, though he was more likely to be a newcomer. “Anyone know this man?”

No one said anything. “What is your name?” The man said nothing, and Esk kar nodded at the men holding him. They jerked the man’s arms up a little, and the fresh pain loosened his tongue.

“Natram - zar … my name is Natram - zar, Noble.” He spoke in a hoarse voice with a trace of an accent. Esk kar guessed the man came from the south, probably Sumeria.