The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [85]
"He's lying, Cado," the man holding Li was saying. He grunted, and there was a thud and a groan as Li hit the stone floor. "We didn't even talk to them-"
Cado just snarled back, "You're a stinking piece of chum, Ledek!"
Metal scraped on leather-a knife being drawn. "Hold on there, Cado!" gasped Tycho's captor. He shrugged and suddenly Tycho was rolling off his shoulder. He landed on his side and pain screamed through his shoulder. For a moment, all he could do was lie there, gasping and watching as Cado circled the other men. The tall guard had a knife in his hand, held low and ready to strike. He stepped slowly, warily.
"You've always had it in for me, haven't you, Vencil? You were jealous because the Hooded favored me. You wanted to move up. And you, Ledek-I've seen you hanging around my stash." Ledek's eyes narrowed and darted off toward one of the vaults. Cado snarled. "I knew it!" Ledek drew a sharp breath, stepping over Li's fallen form and into an area of unobstructed footing.
Li must have sensed that he was clear. He twisted and started rolling away from the conflict-and straight toward the roiling pool! Tycho choked. "Li, stop! Stop!"
The Shou froze just in time, only inches away from the water's edge. Unfortunately, Tycho's warning brought Ledek and Vencil's attention back to their prisoners. "Bind me," hissed Ledek, "it's a trick! Cado, it's all some kind of trick!" He turned to grab-or push!-Li.
"Sweet chum right, it's a trick!" Cado growled. "One I'm not falling for!" He lunged at Ledek's exposed back and Ledek yelled as the knife sank into his shoulder. With a gasp, Vencil leaped for Cado.
Tycho stretched out his legs, tangling Vencil's feet. The man went down hard-and took an even harder blow as Cado, whipping his knife out of Ledek's shoulder, jumped back and stomped down hard on his hand. Vencil howled and clutched the injured hand close. His good hand snapped up and latched onto Cado's belt, pulling him off his feet. Cado twisted and stabbed as he fell.
Beyond the two struggling men, Ledek was staggering unsteadily. "Li!" shouted Tycho. "Roll toward me now!"
Li spun his body around and right into the back of Ledek's legs. With a startled yell, the Hooded's man toppled back. He almost caught himself and for a moment his arms flailed through the air as he fought for balance-and lost.
He splashed back into the dark pool. His last scream was choked off as the current sucked him under.
Cado reared up, whirled around at the noise, and looked down. Vencil lay still beneath him, Cado's knife buried in the side of his chest. Confusion washed across the tall man's face. "Bloody-"
Tycho sang magic at him. Light, sharp and bright, flashed briefly in front of his eyes. Cado reeled back, stumbling over Li's still-rolling body. Guided by the brief moment of contact, Li gave a tremendous shout, drew back his legs, and kicked hard. His feet took Cado square in the backside and sent him slamming headfirst into the stone wall of the vault. He hit with a meaty thud and slid down to sprawl limply on the floor. Li struggled to his knees, panting, hood still in place, but poised to attack anyone who came near. Tycho drew a deep breath. "Li," he said, "it's over."
"There's one more," snarled Li.
"Cado did him." Tycho got himself up onto his knees and shuffled over to Vencil's body. He plopped himself where he could grab the hilt of Cado's knife with his bound hands. It made a wet, sucking sound as it slid free. "Come here and hold out your hands."
It was tricky work, cutting rope that neither of them could see with a knife that was slippery with blood. He managed to do it without nicking either himself or Li more than twice. Hands free, Li immediately ripped off his hood and stared around. His eyes settled on the water of the pool. His mouth opened and, for a moment, no sound came out. Then he gasped, "How close did I come to that?"
"You almost went where Ledek did." Tycho let the knife clatter from his fingers