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CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

19 Vult

Aruget reacted instantly, vaulting over the table and slamming the door of the room in Pradoor’s face. Ashi heard the old goblin priestess yelp in pain. Aruget put his back to the door and pointed at the table. “Get that over here!”

Ashi dropped the torn pieces of Tariic’s false letter and heaved against the table. Papers went flying. Aruget hopped up out of the way, and she rammed the table against the door just as something—a bugbear’s shoulder, probably—struck from the other side. The door shuddered, but the table held it closed. Aruget joined Ashi, and together they threw the table up on its end so the heavy top leaned against the door.

The silent door of Tariic’s chambers. The thick, muffling carpets in the outer room—the same things that had hidden their entry, Ashi realized, had let Pradoor and the bugbears sneak up on them. How had she known they were there, though? Ashi glared at Aruget. “You set off that ward on the cabinet after all!”

“I didn’t!”

“The Six hear our secrets,” Pradoor called from the other side of the door, “and I hear you. Do you think Lhesh Tariic would keep his plans behind just one ward? The Keeper commands that both inner and outer doors be guarded.”

A second ward inside the cabinet. Ashi ground her teeth together and Aruget cursed. “What now?” she asked him.

He looked around at the scattered papers, then scooped up both the folded paper she’d written on and the rolled map she’d copied from. He thrust the folded paper at her and stuffed the map through his belt. “We fight. Whoever gets out has to get this information to someone who can warn Breland.”

Ashi’s mouth went dry as she took the paper and slid it into her jacket. “What about stopping Tariic before he can attack?”

Aruget looked at her and shook his head. “That’s not going to happen. I’m sorry, Ashi, but this could be the end for Darguun. The Five Nations will crush Tariic.”

Another blow rocked the door and shifted the heavy table back by a handspan. Ashi jumped away from it and drew her sword. Aruget drew his as well and shifted around to the side of the door. When the next blow came, the door burst open, and a bugbear pushed his head and shoulders through. Aruget lunged.

His hobgoblin sword wasn’t made for thrusting. The broad end of it, though sharp, left only a shallow cut in the bugbear’s shoulder. The bugbear yelped and just jerked back. Aruget cursed. “Useless bloody—”

With a roar, the bugbear hit the door again. This time it flew wide, the table toppling over, and the bugbear surged into the room. Aruget leaped for him—and Ashi heard Pradoor’s voice crack in prayer, invoking the power of the Dark Six. “See the glory of the Mockery!”

Aruget stiffened before he could land a blow. His eyes went wide with unnatural fear, and he leaped away. The bugbear lumbered after him, but the changeling pressed himself back toward the farthest corner of the room.

Ashi reached out and grabbed his arm. She focused her will, and heat spread through her dragonmark. Aruget sucked in a breath and the fear faded from his face.

“You’re welcome,” said Ashi. No further tricks of the mind lurking in Pradoor’s prayers would touch either of them anymore. She ducked past Aruget and slashed at the first of the bugbears. The bright Deneith honor blade flashed and the big dar reeled back, clutching the gaping wound across its belly.

The other two bugbears pushed it out of the way, almost filling the room with their bulk. They were armed too. One carried an axe, the other a heavy hammer. Tariic might have had them deafened, but that hadn’t taken away any of their battle skills. Both swung their weapons in easy circles. Ashi backed up a pace. She didn’t even notice that Pradoor had also crept through the door until the priestess flung an arm toward her. “The Fury scours your soul!”

Black fire tinged with licking colors seemed to rush up around Ashi, feeling as if it were burning all the way through her. It vanished