Текст книги "The Banshee's walk"

Автор книги: Frank Tuttle

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

This time it was Evis who attacked. He simply leaped up, grabbed the black mass, and wrestled it to the floor. It thrashed and grappled, but Evis kept it down, pinning it with hands and knees.

Gertriss came charging down the stair, a cut on her temple and bloody murder in her eyes. The sword in her hand gleamed.

“Flew right through the window,” she said, taking the last few treads with a jump. “I’m sure I hit it, but it kept flying.”

I leaned over it. Evis grinned, having no trouble keeping the flapping thing pinned to the floor.

In the light, it looked like black paper, wadded and glued and stuck together at random. There was no face, no body, no wings as such.

I grabbed a corner of the thing.

It tore like paper.

Hell, it was paper. Black paper, that somehow moved in my hand, trying to fold its way out of my grasp.

I poked and prodded while it flapped. There was a cavity in the middle of the thing. A cavity just big enough to hold most of Buttercup.

A bevy of gardeners came charging up, bearing the torches Marlo had ordered. I took one and thrust it down into the thing after pinning it with Toadsticker and my boot.

It went up as quickly as the first one.

Everyone grabbed a torch. Gertriss came around to stand on my right, which put her well away from Mama. I surmised their relations were still a bit strained.

We put another of the paper things to the torch before the fires in the chimneys and the torches at the windows rendered the House impassable to them.

Mama hummed some more, but Buttercup didn’t sing. She just clung to either Darla or Gertriss and when she did peek out from behind them her eyes were wide and fearful.

Another tree fell outside. I smelled the first faint stench of smoke, and I wondered if our besiegers would have the sense to pile the cut timber against the house and set it afire. The House would resist burning, to a point, but if the walls themselves got hot enough we’d find ourselves in a well-furnished oven.

“Gertriss. Darla. Keep torches handy. Stay with Buttercup.”

Evis whispered something. Shadows moved at the end of the hall, as Victor and Sara flitted away on some errand of their own. I lifted an eyebrow at Evis, but he just grinned and winked at me over his dark spectacles and I let it go.

“Reckon we might ought to move the banshee to a room,” said Marlo. “One on the second floor with no windows, one door, stone floor, timber ceiling. Nothing getting in there unless we let it.”

“They’ve got wand-wavers. We keep her moving. Make it harder for them to aim another spell at her.” Marlo didn’t like my plan, but he had the sense not to argue.

“Mama, keep an eye on things. Evis, you’re an art enthusiast, are you not?”

The vampire shrugged. “The House maintains a modest collection,” he replied. “Seems an odd time to discuss it.”

“Walk with me. I have some interesting works to show you.”

I turned before anyone could argue and headed for the gallery. Evis fell into step beside me while Mama began bellowing orders designed to move Buttercup up the stairs.

“What have you got on your mind, Markhat?”

We reached the door to the gallery and I pushed it open and motioned Evis inside.

“Hell if I know,” I whispered. “But have a look. Tell me what you think.”

The gallery was just as I’d left it. The silent ranks of artists worked feverishly, wordlessly, oblivious to anything and everything save their paints and their canvases.

The only sounds were those of brushes.

Evis pulled down his spectacles. All but two of the lamps had gone out. The room was dark enough for vampire comfort, and yet the painters painted on.

“Oh my.” Evis stepped cautiously into the room. He moved to stand fang-to-face beside a skinny young woman with big mouse eyes.

She gave no sign of knowing a halfdead was beside her.

Evis reached up, stroked her pale neck. Nothing, save the darting of her brush.

He put his hand before her eyes.

She made no reaction at all. Her brush stabbed and scraped, as purposefully as before.

“Sorcery.”

“Looks like. But it isn’t the Lady. And I don’t think it’s our friends on the lawn.”

Evis frowned. “The Corpsemaster?”

“Yes. No. Maybe. But if it was his, why not tell us? And what on Earth is he hoping to accomplish?”

Evis frowned, and his gaze moved from the painter to the painting.

“I can’t quite make out the subject here. Interesting.”

I squinted, but in the dark all I saw were blotches. “Mind if I light a few lamps? I don’t see in the dark as well as some persons.”

“I’ll help.”

It took us a few moments. The lamps had run out of oil, and a couple needed new wicks. I realized some of these kids had been at it for hours on end.

But what they’d been at wasn’t obvious, even with fresh lamps lit.

I brought my lamp close to the nearest canvas. On it was a splash of grey, a few apparently random black lines, and a hint of reddish glow at one corner. I could have done much the same just by smearing one of the paint-boards across the canvas with my eyes closed.

“This is not what they were doing yesterday.”

Evis regarded another canvas. His was similar to mine. If either painting depicted anything at all, neither of us could discern it. Yet the painters continued their work with precision and care.

“Perhaps the magic that led them to create masterpieces has failed, or been corrupted by the intrusion of magics from elsewhere.”

I snatched a brush from the hand of the nearest artist. Without pausing, they took up a fresh one and resumed their work. I took that brush too, and they dipped their finger in the paint and carried on, never taking their eyes from the canvas.

“It’s gotten stronger.” Realization hit. “They couldn’t stop now if they wanted to.”

“They’ll start dropping from exhaustion soon,” said Evis. He laid a hand on the neck of the nearest, and I realized he was feeling for a pulse.

“This one isn’t far from it.”

I cussed.

“They’re dead if the doors are breached. We don’t have enough hands to pick them up and carry them to the tunnels.”

“We need to get the Lady in here. See if she can wake them up. Unless she’s the one who did this in the first place.”

“I don’t think she has this kind of range.”

“The Lady looks hot in a tight black dress. So you’re biased. Look. You heard the Corpsemaster. Whatever is down there, – ” he tapped his foot for emphasis, “-isn’t thrilled about it. Maybe the Lady got to dabbling, maybe she made contact, maybe all this fine art pouring from nowhere is something’s way of pushing the door open, bit by bit. Think about it. The Lady starts getting rich, she lets more and more mojo leak out, then the alarkin gets free.”

“With the Corpsemaster watching over her shoulder?”

“Nobody’s perfect. Even Hisvin blinks. It’s just a theory.” Evis glanced toward the hall. I didn’t hear anything, but then I’m not a vampire.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I said. “But I don’t think I’ll mention it to Hisvin.”

Evis smiled. The lamplight glinted on the tips of his teeth.

“Yes, you probably don’t want to go upsetting the Corpsemaster any more than necessary. You may have noticed that she has a nasty temper.”

Icicles scampered down my spine.

“She?”

“That’s the conclusion around Avalante. We don’t spread it around. But it’s been known to us for years. You do attract the most fascinating women, Markhat.”

I made frantic gobbling noises of denial. Evis laughed, clearly enjoying himself.

“Come now. She pops up here the instant your hide is in peril, she saves you from the sorcerers, she even gives you a shiny dagger? What more do you need? Long walks in the Park? Flowers and poetry?”

I turned and made for the door. Evis set his lamp down and followed, still chuckling.

Chapter Eighteen

Mama was keeping Buttercup on the move. Marlo had taken up a station on the third floor, squinting through a freshly broken window and cussing.

They were burning the outbuildings. The barn had gone first. Marlo’s hut was being set aflame as we watched.

“Bastards.” That was all he said, over and over. The way he said it spoke the mayhem he was longing to visit upon them. “Bastards, bastards, bastards.”

I couldn’t think of any comfort to offer, so I watched in silence.

There were two more catapults on the lawn. Both were nearly assembled. A crew was winding the ropes on the nearest engine. From the looks of it, they were within an hour of being ready to load the basket up with stones and hurl them against Werewilk’s venerable walls.

The House was as solid as it could be. But three catapults, each able to hurl their loads unimpeded?

I figured the first wall would be breached well before dark. After that, matters would proceed quickly, with either a panicked flight through the tunnels and the woods or a massacre inside the shattered walls.

The dagger in my boot was cold. I’d hidden the hilt. No point in tempting Marlo or anyone else to solve our little problem with a bit of theft and a quick stabbing.

Voices sounded behind us. The Lady came marching in.

Her eyes were weary and her hands were stained with soot, but her smile was wide and not entirely friendly.

“Gentlemen,” she said. “The catapults. Are they nearly assembled?”

We nodded. The Lady widened her predatory smile.

“Then it is time. Observe.”

She produced a bundle of thread and silver needles and held it to her lips. She whispered a word, one we couldn’t quite hear, and then she cast the bundle out the broken window.

It fell. The Lady began to count.

“One.”

Marlo frowned. “What have you done?”

“Two.”

Mama came stomping up, scowling and clutching at her dried owl. “Darla wants you downstairs. Who’s been castin’ hexes?”

“Three.”

Shouts rose up outside. Shouts and thuds and rasping noises. I looked to the catapults, and could see men rushing around them in alarm, but at first I couldn’t see why.

Then I saw a catapult rope simply unravel and part. The tension mechanism sagged, clearly undone.

The Lady sank against Marlo, her eyes fluttering and showing only the whites.

Mama grabbed her, and together with Marlo eased her into a chair.

“It worked,” she gasped. “Bought us time.”

And then her eyes closed, and she went limp.

Marlo shook her. Mama shoved him back and cussed.

“Let her be!”

“She’s dying!”

“She’s sleepin’, you daft old fool. Wore herself out on that hex. Needs to rest. Gonna rest, whether you likes it or not.”

Marlo stroked the Lady’s cheek. “You sure?”

Mama shook her bat authoritatively in Marlo’s face. “I damn well reckon I knows sleep when I sees it. Get her to somewheres safe. If she asks for water get her some. Can you do that, you reckon?”

Marlo picked up the Lady and hurried away. Mama chuckled.

“That there man needs to quit pretending he’s just a hired hand.”

I nodded, still watching the catapult crews gather around their stricken machines. “She bought us some time.”

“How much, you reckon?”

“Depends. They’ve either got more rope or they don’t. If they do, another five or six hours. If they don’t, another day, maybe two.”

Mama put her face to the window and snuffed.

“I bets they do, boy. But that ain’t gonna matter neither. Guess where your vampire friends is, right now?”

“Playing pinochle in the basement?”

Mama laughed. “I reckon they’s on the roof. Watch this, boy. You’re gonna like it.”

I watched. Nothing happened for a moment, until a black-clad wand-waver rode up next to a catapult and started yelling at the crew.

Something arced down from above and struck the siege engine right on the throwing arm and burst with a tinkling of glass. Flames splashed, spreading over the timbers and scattering the crew.

Men shouted. Archers whirled and let loose on the House. I pulled Mama away from the window and dodged away myself as the sounds of bolts and arrows splintering on the walls outside the room.

More shouts from below. I dared not look, but I hoped the other two catapults were in flames as well.

“That boy can throw as good as he said.”

“That something you and Evis cooked up?”

“Like I said, the boy has his talents.” Mama waggled her owl at the window. “All they’ll do when they start dowsing it with water is make it spread.”

I dared a quick glance. The catapult frame was engulfed in oily black flames. But the timbers were massive, and the iron bolts huge. I knew in my heart we’d inconvenienced the crews, but we’d hardly damaged the actual machines.

“Don’t look so glum, boy. Bet they wasn’t expectin’ wand-wavers and halfdead. At least we’re makin’ ’em work for it. Now are you going to see Darla or not?”

“I’m going. Keep your head out of the window. Lots of archers down there. A few of them might be that good.”

Mama cackled. “I didn’t get this old by acting the fool, boy. And today ain’t the day I die, neither, so don’t you be worried about me.”

I made for the door. When I left, Mama was shaking her owl at the yard and muttering hexes under her breath.

I was halfway down the last flight of stairs when Evis caught up with me. He was wrapped in black, against the sun, and he smelled of lamp oil and soot.

“Having fun?”

“Just getting a bit of exercise,” he replied. “They won’t be using their siege engines for a while.”

I grunted, not quite ready to start sounding any victory trumpeting just yet.

“Saw something strange in the woods. Not sure what it was. Come nightfall, Victor is going to slip out and see.”

I slowed a bit. “Strange how?”

Evis glanced around. “Not the time or the place. But if I’m right, the catapults are the least of our problems.”

I stopped and turned to face him and kept my voice at a whisper. “Worse than catapults? What the Hell is worse than catapults from forty feet?”

Evis put his finger to his lips. “You don’t want to know, and you’ll just have to trust me on that. I will say this much-if I’m right, and if I give the word, you’ll want to grab Darla and Mama and Gertriss and get to the tunnels. There won’t be time to haul every soul down there, and you won’t be able to stop this and you won’t be able to save them.”

Hell. Evis was scared.

“I’m serious, Markhat.”

“About what?”

“Remember the worst thing you saw used during the War. This makes that look like a snowball fight.” Footsteps and voices sounded, coming up the stairs toward us.

Evis put his hand on my shoulder. “Trust me. If I give the word, you grab your women and you run for the tunnels. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Evis removed his hand. There’d be a bruise on my shoulder that would linger for weeks. I doubt he ever realized how hard he’d gripped me.

A bevy of grim-faced carpenters came stomping up toward us. The carpenters put their backs to the wall as they sidled around Evis. One made some sort of holy sign with his hands as he passed.

“I’m having them make a couple of new openings in the attic,” said Evis. We started back downstairs. “Our friends on the ground know about the existing bolt hole, and are watching it now. But with any luck, we can open a new one in secret. Victor and Sara have expressed a desire to take a stroll around the property in the moonlight.”

I grinned, sure they’d find numerous ways to amuse themselves, each at our attackers’ expense.

I found Darla and Gertriss in the hall, right beyond the gallery doors. Buttercup was between them, prancing around in a pair of slippers twice the size of her feet.

“Mama said you were looking for me.”

“I was. Gertriss? A moment?”

Gertriss nodded and caught Buttercup up by her waist and spun her around. The banshee clapped and squealed. Gertriss dropped to one knee a few paces away and began a game of hidey-face with the giggling banshee.

Darla took my elbow.

“Someone around here listens at doors,” she whispered. “Gertriss and I both heard some of the staff talking about daggers and how no one here need die just to protect some half-Elf wild thing you dragged in from the woods.”

I cussed. Darla pretended she didn’t hear.

“It’s just talk right now, my intended. But let things go a little longer, or get a little worse, and it might turn out to be more than idle conversation.”

I made sure no one was idling nearby, and then I bent, pulled the dagger from my boot, and handed it hilt-first to Darla.

“I can’t be forced to give it to anyone if I don’t have it. Get it to Evis if things get complicated. Like to see one of these bumpkins take on three halfdead.”

Darla frowned, but took the thing. She withdrew a prim but freshly sharpened dagger from her own right boot, slipped the Corpsemaster’s dagger in its place, and then gave hers to me.

“Give them this one, if they insist,” she said. “They might be inclined to be civil if they think they’re getting what they want.”

“Not a bad idea.” I put Darla’s dagger away. Gertriss danced with Buttercup, who was having trouble keeping her feet in her too-large shoes.

The House shook. Dust and bits of plaster fell from the walls and ceilings. Shouts rose all around.

Buttercup shrieked. Gertriss wrapped her arms around Buttercup and put her back to the wall.

“Markhat. Come quick.”

“Stay with Gertriss.” I gave Darla a quick kiss on the cheek. “Keep the tip of your blade level with your waist. They’ll likely come in overhand. Sidestep and stab. Works every time.”

I ran. The shouting continued. I burst into the front room and was met by a mob of panicked household staff, with Marlo at the fore.

“They’ve done something to the sky.”

I frowned. But the room was dark, and getting darker by the second.

Evis darted down the stairs, pausing halfway to the landing to motion me up.

“He’s right,” he said. “The wand-wavers are busy.”

“Busy doing what?”

“Come and see.”

“Keep this lot right where they are,” I snapped, when feet began to shuffle my way. “Wash some dishes. Mop some floors. Just keep your fool heads away from the windows, got it?”

I dashed up after Evis.

I was panting by the time we reached the attic. Victor and Sara were already there, as were the carpenters, who had dropped their tools in favor of huddling in a corner and engaging in silent prayers.

I put myself by the opening Serris had nearly leaped from, opened it quickly and glanced up.

Then I slammed the makeshift door shut and held it closed as a trio of arrows broke against it.

The sky above was gone. Just gone. Instead, and impossibly, it appeared as though a vast flat mirror hung just above Werewilk’s peaks. I’d even seen my own frightened face reflected back at me, seen the upraised faces of the men on the ground, the tops of the roofs, the ravaged, burned yard.

The carpenters paused and looked my way. “Pray harder,” I said.

Evis snorted. “Ever seen anything like that?”

“I’ve never had that much to drink. You?”

“Never saw it. May have heard of it, used at a place called String during the War. If that’s what it is, it’ll drop slowly lower and lower. Anybody it touches gets pulled into it. They still move, still try to talk-but they never come out. When it hits the ground, it breaks up and melts like ice.”

“Marvelous. Wonderful. Any defense against it?”

Evis shook his head no. “The wand-waver that cast it was called Three Eyes. Heard of him?”

“Maybe. Didn’t hear much if I did. Died during the war.”

“Didn’t die. Just didn’t resettle in Rannit. Went into hiding in what was left of Prince. Fits with what else I saw out there.”

“This day gets better and better, doesn’t it?”

“Seems that way. Look. If you have any more chats with a certain mutual acquaintance of ours, she needs to know all this. Make sure you tell them, or that I’m there to tell it myself.”

“I’ll have the invitations printed right away. What about this lot? Any point in keeping them working?”

Evis sighed. “No. We’re going to lose the attic soon to that.” He hooked a thumb up toward the missing sky.

“You lot. Beat it. Change of plans.”

They scurried off, leaving their tools behind.

Evis lit a candle and handed it to me. “We’d better get downstairs. The Lady. She out of the picture, as far as wand-waving goes?”

“Looks like. That one trick with the ropes laid her out.”

Evis’ face didn’t change.

“Hisvin is still in the mix. If I know what’s up there, there’s a good chance she does too. Maybe she knows a way to turn it all into a flock of geese or something.”

“You trying to make me feel better?”

We headed down. Evis grinned.

“You’re on your own, pal. I’m trying to talk myself into feeling lucky right now.”

A flood of shouted questions met us on the stairs. I lifted my hands and yelled for silence and made reassuring noises that sounded pretty strained even to me.

The House was engulfed in darkness now. People were carrying candles or lighting lamps. A clock didn’t help morale by striking out noon in a lull amid the grumbling.

I was glad Darla and Gertriss were keeping Buttercup out of sight. I was also acutely aware of how few places they’d have to hide her, should the mood in the House turn ugly.

I looked at the faces glaring up at me and amended that. The mood was already ugly. The sudden descent into midnight dark at noon had just completed the transformation.

Evis moved first, simply marching down into the mob. I’m not sure they’d have parted for me, but Evis sent them tripping in their haste to give him room.

I followed in his wake. Marlo came thundering down the stairs and fell in behind me with a curse and a piercing glare. The crowd broke up. This time.

“What have they done to the sky?” Marlo had the good sense to whisper.

“No idea. But it isn’t an immediate danger.” I explained that it would lower itself very slowly. Marlo took little comfort from that.

“Looks like they’re planning on just squeezing us out.”

“They don’t want to hurt the banshee. They can’t bring down the House without risking that.”

Marlo snorted, obviously unconvinced. I changed the subject.

“How’s the Lady?”

“Resting. Took a lot out of her. And no, she ain’t up to another hex, and ain’t gonna be for a while.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

“Right. But that’s your answer anyway. Reckon that man in the cornfield is brewin’ up something for us about now?”

“Bet on that.”

“Reckon he’d better be quick about it.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Darla and Gertriss came darting out of the gallery hall, Buttercup dangling between them. The banshee was giggling and swinging, one hand clutched on Darla’s shoulder, the other on Gertriss.

“You two. Upstairs. Find Mama. Stay with her.”

Gertriss nodded, all business. Darla gave me a weak smile and hurried off up the stairs.

Marlo glanced around before he spoke. “Just so you know, Finder. There’s been talk about that there banshee of yours, and how it ought to be gutted and thrown out the door.”

“Thanks for the warning, Mr. Marlo. And just so you know, the first one to try it will likely experience some gutting themselves.”

“Just watch your self, that’s all I’m saying. People are scared. You know what happens when people get scared.” He looked suddenly thoughtful. “Maybe I ought to show them a room with a good strong door. Might be best to get them out of sight.”

I just nodded, and was suddenly glad that Mama and her cleaver were handy.