Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [97]
"You're wet," said Sauk, looking Lewan up and down. "And already dressed, I see. Well and good. You're about to get wetter." He grabbed the front of Lewan's shirt and dragged him from the room.
"My boots!" Lewan protested.
"No time," said Sauk, and threw Lewan in front of him. When Lewan tried to stop, Sauk pushed him onward.
"Lewan!" Ulaan called. He looked back and saw her standing in the open doorway.
"Go inside and bar the door!" he said, then Sauk pushed him round the bend in the hallway. Even if the half-orc had not held two feet of naked steel in his hand, Lewan knew he would be no match for Sauk, so he went along. "Where are you taking me?" he asked.
"Out," said Sauk.
"Why? What's going on?"
"Someone made it inside the walls," said Sauk as they walked down the stairs. Sauk took them two at a time and saw to it that Lewan did the same. "Got through the guardians on the mountain and inside the tunnels. Took out the guards we set-either killed 'em or hurt 'em so bad that they wished they were dead." A feral smile lit the half-orc's face. A wolf's smile. "Only two people alive know the tricks of the tunnels and could do all that."
"I don't understand. Who-?"
"Me, for one."
"And the other?"
"Kheil."
"Kheil is dead."
Sauk snorted. "Berun, then."
"Berun died too. You saw it yourself."
They reached the main floor and Sauk forced them into a slow run. "That man cheated death once already," he said. "Looks like he's back again. Damned if Talieth wasn't right."
The obvious question hit Lewan then. "Why drag me out?" He gave Sauk's short sword a meaningful look.
Sauk stopped at the door. Hand on the lever, he turned and grinned at Lewan. "Kheil's a killer, a hunter. You want to catch a hunter, you put out the thing he's hunting."
"You mean bait," said Lewan.
"I mean you." Sauk pulled open the door and dragged Lewan out into the storm.
They were not alone. A group of five, cloaked against the weather, waited for them at the bottom of the stairs.
Talieth stepped forward and eyed Lewan, but she spoke to Sauk. "Did you have to drag him out bootless?"
"You said hurry," said Sauk. "I hurried."
"No matter." She looked to Lewan, her hood up against the rain. The lamps set to either side of the door gave off ample light, and he could see her face, could see the regal look she turned on him. It was not the look of a benevolent queen, but of a ruler ready and eager to pronounce judgment. "What happened on the mountainside today," she said, "what you saw, what you were told. We will speak of it later. At length. For now, you're with us."
"I won't help you capture him." There. Lewan had said it, though it took all of his courage. He half expected to be slapped, maybe even beaten to submission and tossed over Sauk's shoulder.
Instead, Talieth turned to face him and said, "I'm not out to capture your master, Lewan. I'm out to stop him from doing more foolishness. He's already killed several of my men. I'm hoping that your presence will be a… calming influence upon him."
"But," said Sauk, and he laid the full weight of one hand on Lewan's shoulder, "you are coming with us. One way or the other. Don't make it the hard way."
"Truly spoken," said Talieth, and she turned away. Her men followed in her wake. Sauk pushed Lewan after her, and he followed. For now.
+++++
The first sight of the Tower of the Sun only increased Lewan's fear. The physical layout of the Tower seemed unchanged since the last time he'd looked upon it. But something set Lewan's teeth on edge, almost as if the Tower hummed at an octave just out of his range of hearing. It had a…presence to it. Something inside that tower was watching him.
As they drew closer, Lewan saw the lights. Like bits of mist that glowed, the lights filled the garden in the courtyard below the Tower. Lewan had no gift for the arcane, but even he could recognize magic of this magnitude. Some of the lights were no larger than fireflies, but some were big as faces, and they