The Tyranny of Ghosts_ Legacy of Dhakaan - Don Bassingthwaite [121]
They were at the bench behind Pater. “Wait for me,” she said. Keeping her head down and praying that Tariic kept his attention on the Iron Fox and the Kech Shaarat, she pushed her way along.
“—Do you accept the challenges that I set before you? Do you follow the will of your lhesh for the glory of Darguun?” asked Tariic.
“—Be careful!” said Dannel d’Cannith.
“—I can’t see!” complained Esmyssa Entar ir’Korran.
“—I accept your challenge!” roared Taak.
“Ashi, sit down,” ordered Laren Roole. The ambassador of Breland pushed her aside. “This could be an historic moment.”
Ashi ground her teeth together. She took out the folded paper with Tariic’s plans on it with one hand and reached for Pater’s shoulder with the other. The viceroy of House Orien saw her and started to turn.
“Tariic!”
Ashi’s head snapped around at Midian’s scream. She looked up just in time to catch the flicker of movement as he jumped onto the rail at the edge of the stands, his crossbow steady in his hands. Everyone else looked up, too, including Tariic.
Midian loosed his bolt.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
24 Vult
Do you accept the challenges that I set before you? Do you follow the will of your lhesh for the glory of Darguun?”
Taak Dhakaan drew his sword and raised it high. “I accept your challenge!”
Geth struggled to stand as still as the hobgoblins around him, facing forward, eyes fixed on the air in front of him. It wasn’t in the nature of shifters. His gaze switched from the Kech Shaarat beside them on the sand; to Dagii, standing with unbelievable control; to Tariic in the raised box above, acting like the emperor he wished he were. Geth’s hand curled on the hilt of Wrath. Just wait, he told himself. Just wait a little longer. Tariic will gives his blessing and we’ll all leave—
“Tariic!”
He whirled. Glimpsed Midian perched on the railing high above. Saw Ashi’s face behind him. Recognized the madness in Midian’s eyes. Spun back around and heard the hiss of the gnome’s loosed bolt as he did.
At Tariic’s side, Pradoor leaned forward suddenly, her hand swiping the air as her withered lips moved in prayer.
Midian’s crossbow bolt dropped as if it had been slapped aside, clattering against the stone of the box just in front of Tariic. The lhesh’s face twisted into something hard and vicious as he stared at the gnome and Ashi.
Geth felt his gut twist too. Midian had betrayed them again! Maybe out of madness rather than malice, but he’d betrayed them.
“Midian,” whispered the Iron Fox warrior who was Ekhaas, “you fool!”
Tariic’s voice rose. “Icegaunt!” he howled, and up on the stands Ashi cried out, clutched her arms, and fell back against startled dragonmarked viceroys and Five Nations ambassadors. Tariic thrust out the Rod of Kings. “Midian Mit Davandi—jump!”
Midian stiffened on the railing high above and turned slowly to face Tariic. The crossbow hung loose in his hands. On the tier of stands below, goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears stared up, then scrambled over each other to get out of the way. Midian leaned forward—
“No!” shouted Ekhaas. Her disguise as an Iron Fox warrior unraveled as she moved, plunging a hand into her pouch and ripping out her shaari’mal. She turned around and held the byeshk disk high, a look of concentration on her face.
It seemed to Geth that he felt a tremor pass through Wrath. Up on the railing, Midian blinked and jerked back, the color draining from his face. A shout turned the gnome around—guards had appeared on the stairs. Geth saw a look of almost feral cunning come over Midian. He flung the crossbow at the guards and plunged in among the spectators still in the stands.
Chaos spread through the arena. Spectators in the stands were yelling and shouting and—incredibly—still cheering as if the unfolding events were mere spectacle. In the raised box, warlords had surrounded Tariic, maybe out of a desire to protect him, maybe to ask what was happening. Pradoor screamed for the wrath of the Dark Six to fall on Tariic’s assassins. The Kech Shaarat warriors had drawn back, weapons ready for whatever might happen next.