Another bundle of cloth bandages dropped beside Meleng.

“This is the last I can find,” Fra-Tepeu said. “It will have to do.”

There were bundles of cloth all about the room now. Some were stacked against the walls, but when those stacks became too precarious, smaller piles began appearing in other parts of the room, too. It was now getting difficult to move in some spots.

“It should be loads,” Meleng said. If it wasn’t, they had bigger problems.

Fra-Tepeu lowered himself into the chair beside his sister. “My weekly trips into the City have netted me many things that may not have seemed useful at the time, but cloth was something I always knew would be needed one day.”

Quilla was pacing around the room, paying little attention to the piles. Meleng occasionally had to move some out of the way to ensure she didn’t step on them. “When can we expect word?” she said.

“You asked that ten minutes ago,” Fra-Mecatl said. “Now calm down. Pacing about like that will achieve nothing.”

Quilla sighed. “I know.” She found an open spot of floor and sat down. “But what if something went wrong?”

“Then we will learn that in due time,” Fra-Mecatl said. “Honestly, young woman, you are nearly as bad as your lover. Except I have not seen this from you previously.”

Quilla groaned. “I know. Garet just sort of sucks it right out of me. When he’s around, I’m calm. When he’s gone, my natural impatience and worries return.” She stood up and resumed her pacing.

Ses-Inhuan whispered in Meleng’s ear, “I wonder which learned it from the other, or were they both like that and that’s what brought them together?” She giggled and Meleng couldn’t help laugh too.

“And what are you two giggling about?” Fra-Mecatl said.

Ses-Inhuan snapped to attention. “It’s nothing, Reverence.”

“Ah, I see. One of those incredibly funny nothings.”

Meleng returned to work on the walls, tracing out the patterns and equations. Back on Scovese, he had tried blocking the library door by warping its frame so it didn’t open and close as easily. Ever since then, he’d had ideas of how he might reinforce something. In some ways, it was like the reverse of the spells he had devised to break apart and explode things. He had no idea how well they would work as there simply hadn’t been an opportunity to test them; however, if they worked even a little, they might prove useful slowing assailants down.

The fact was, they were all well aware that if the attack went awry, then this house would be targeted for retribution. It was probably a large part of what had Quilla so on edge—that and anxiety over Garet’s safety and Corvinian’s whereabouts. And Jorvan’s. Meleng hoped Jorvan was okay. And Felitïa and Nin-Akna and Rudiger, and everyone else...

At any rate, if this worked, it would make the house at least a little more resilient to a counter-attack. It might give them enough time to get away. He had done most of the house and was just finishing up with the communal room.

Quilla passed by the window again and looked out again. She stopped. “There are people coming! They’re on the road near the gate.”

Ses-Inhuan bounded over the piles of cloth and looked out the window. “Warriors.”

“Are they ours?” Quilla asked.

“Hard to tell in the dark, but I’m not seeing any white feathers to mark our side. Oh, I recognise her. Queen’s Guard. And there’s Ses-Zeltzin.”

Fra-Mecatl lowered her head. “It seems the attack has failed.”

“Or it’s succeeded and this is a revenge strike.” Fra-Tepeu didn’t sound convinced.

“Either way, they’ve come for us,” Fra-Mecatl said. “Are you ready, Meleng?”

“I think so, Reverence,” he replied.

Ses-Inhuan and Quilla picked up the large, wide piece of wood that they had left lying against the wall under the window. They placed it over the window while Fra-Tepeu started to hammer nails into it. He moved fast despite his frailness.

Once it was nailed in place, Meleng added a couple of inscriptions to the nails. Then, a couple quick swipes along the walls, activated all the inscriptions throughout the house, including the ones he’d put on the wooden slab over the window. Next, he rushed over to the door and activated the locking equations he’d left there. Not only was the door reinforced, but the lock would be harder to open as well. At least, that was the idea.

Quilla helped Fra-Mecatl to the back of the house. Meleng helped Fra-Tepeu, and Ses-Inhuan grabbed a spear, bow, and quiver of arrows, then took the rear.

They reached the back door, and Quilla opened it a crack to look outside. “Looks clear.”

“I estimate they’re about halfway up the path by now,” Ses-Inhuan said. “Some will be running ahead to come round back. We must move faster.”

They hustled out the door, and Ses-Inhuan closed it. “We are not going to make it,” she whispered to Meleng as he activated the locking equations. “They are too slow. Be ready to fight for them.” She held out her dagger to him.

Meleng nodded, put the dagger in his belt, and took Fra-Tepeu’s arm again.

They hustled into the field. They were fully exposed at the moment, but there was a depression in the direction of the river. If they could reach it before any of the warriors made it round, it would hide their movement. After that, they would make for a place to hide—the barn or the river and the forest.

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But Meleng knew Ses-Inhuan was right. Fra-Tepeu and especially Fra-Mecatl could not run fast enough. They would be spotted before they reached the depression.

Meleng had suggested earlier that they wait in the barn, and use the horses to escape if necessary, but Fra-Mecatl had refused. “I cannot ride,” she had said.

Fra-Tepeu had agreed that she was too feeble. “And none of the horses are strong enough to carry two without being significantly slowed down. The wagon would be too slow as well. Our only hope is to hide.”

So now they were stuck trying to outrun their enemies on foot.

There were shouts from the house. And bangs.

“It’s all right,” Ses-Inhuan said. “They’re from the front. Keep going.”

Meleng hoped his spells were giving them a hard time. The worst part was, he would probably never know.

Ses-Inhuan ran up beside him. “Keep going. I’ll try to hold them off a bit.” She dropped her spear and took the bow and an arrow.

Meleng kept going, but he kept looking back too. Fra-Tepeu was going slowly enough that it made no difference to the rate Meleng could manage.

Ses-Inhuan nocked an arrow and waited. As soon as the first warrior came into sight, she loosed. The arrow flew too high and wide. It collided with the back wall of the house and bounced away.

It bounced!

The arriving warriors yelled round to the front.

Meleng hadn’t actually expected bouncing, but it was a positive result.

“Go!” Ses-Inhuan yelled at him.

She fired another arrow at the approaching warriors, hitting one in the arm. She fired again and hit no one. Then she picked up her spear and ran back several paces.

Meleng and Fra-Tepeu reached the depression and Meleng helped the old man down the slope. Quilla and Fra-Mecatl arrived shortly after. Then Ses-Inhuan bounded over the edge and slid down beside the rest of them.

“I have a confession to make,” she said. “I’m not very good with bows.”

“You’re better than I am,” Meleng said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t say much,. She smirked. “We must keep moving. They will be here soon. Make for the trees.”

Meleng kept hold of Fra-Tepeu’s arm and they continued down the slope. Ses-Inhuan stayed in the rear, bow still raised, taking slow steps backwards down the hill. She shot another arrow as the warriors appeared, but Meleng didn’t see where it went. His foot slipped and he nearly knocked Fra-Tepeu over.

“Sorry,” Meleng muttered. He couldn’t look back to watch Ses-Inhuan here. He just had to hope she was okay.

As they reached the bottom, arrows thudded into the ground around them. One grazed Fra-Tepeu’s arm.

“Behind the trees!” Meleng pulled Fra-Tepeu along with him and behind a large tree just as more arrows whizzed by, several lodging in the tree trunk.

Quilla ducked behind another tree, but there was no sign of Fra-Mecatl. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Meleng peeked round the side of the tree. Fra-Mecatl lay face first on the ground near the base of the hill, an arrow protruding from her back. He groaned.

Ses-Inhuan was near the bottom of the slope. She had disposed of the bow and was fighting with her spear now. She thrust the spear into the stomach of one of her opponents, but another on her other side lunged, her spear scraping Ses-Inhuan’s side.

Ses-Inhuan took several steps back, ending almost over top Fra-Mecatl’s body.

Meleng tried to think what he could do. He darted round the other side of the tree and dropped to the ground. There, he desperately scrawled in the dirt. “Ses-Inhuan! Back here! Quickly!”

She knocked aside another blow and hurried back to him. “We’re probably going to die together here, so you might as well call me Inhuan.”

“Fine, stand back, Inhuan.” He activated the spell and dove away. The ground exploded, showering dirt and and stones into the the approaching warriors’ faces, but not back at him or Inhuan. It had worked!

Inhuan leapt forward again with a triumphant cry and drove her spear into one of the disorientated warriors, then another. “Keep moving! Deeper into the forest!”

Meleng found Fra-Tepeu again, and started moving back. He looked back at Inhuan, who was once again engaged in mêlée with their attackers. They were overpowering her. She kept taking steps back, trying to avoid the onslaught of thrusts.

Then one caught her in the side.

Meleng’s heart skipped a beat.

Another spear caught her in the other side.

Meleng’s heart skipped another beat.

They held her there pinned on both spears. Her upper body fell forward, hanging almost limp.

Then a woman in the same kind of uniform as Inhuan came forward, out of the still-settling dust of Meleng’s spell.

“Ses-Zeltzin,” Fra-Tepeu said. “Commander of the Queen’s Guard. We must keep going. There is nothing we can do for the girl.”

Meleng watched Ses-Zeltzin clutch Inhuan’s cheek in her hand, lift Inhuan’s face up to look at her. The Queen’s Guard said something to the Youth Guard, but Meleng couldn’t hear it.

Damn it!

He was sure Akna would want to know what was said.

Then the guards ripped out the spears and Inhuan fell to the ground.

“We must go, lad!” Fra-Tepeu said.

Meleng wiped the tears from his eyes and helped Fra-Tepeu farther into the woods.

The warriors would catch up with them in a moment. Was there really a point anymore?

There were yells from farther back. Meleng paused and looked back. Several of the warriors had stopped and Ses-Zeltzin was directing them back the other way. Between the hill and the night sky, however, it was impossible for him to see what else was happening.

“Something’s distracted them,” Meleng said. “Help maybe?”

Several warriors were still coming after them, though they were moving more slowly as it was much darker and harder to see in the forest. Maybe there was something Meleng could do with that.

Of course!

Except, could he make it work? He would need precise control, and he’d never had very good control. Not to mention the energy it would require. He’d expended a lot of energy already. At full strength, he couldn’t be sure he’d have enough; at the moment, there was no way he’d have enough. But perhaps if he only did it to one of them...

He led Fra-Tepeu behind a tree and directed him to press his back up flat against it.

“What are you trying to do?”

“I’ve got an idea. This won’t be very comfortable. Just stay still and quiet.” He scribbled the equations as fast as he could on the dirt, leaves, and bits of branches at Fra-Tepeu’s feet. The underbrush began to rise up, covering over the old man. It wasn’t perfect. There were a lot of gaps in addition to the ones Meleng had purposely left for Fra-Tepeu to breathe through. In daylight, it would be obvious, but in the dark, with other targets to follow, the warriors might miss it.

Then Meleng took off full speed into the woods, yelling and making as much noise as he could to draw the attention of the nearest warriors. A couple behind him picked up speed in his direction. After a few more seconds, he cut the yells and kept running in what he hoped was a quieter manner.

He had lost sight of Quilla. He hoped she was okay.