Leda

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Fury

There seemed no obvious way between the rocks; their dark mass shadowing the grasslands above a bank of shale like an impromptu fort. Nevertheless, Jools and Salvesté continued to run straight at them, Jools bolting ahead with astonishing speed.

Hal tried to hoist Lauré upright, but Magda grabbed the maid by the waist and pulled her on ahead. There was nothing to do but run then, aware of Roc lumbering behind, of hooves pelting over wet farmland, of the horses' shrill shrieks and the excited calls of imperial riders as they gained ground.

Salvesté had already peaked the bank with athletic grace, his lean figure disappearing between a slim crack in the rocks. Jools scrabbled up after him and slipped inside. So there was a way in! As Magda clambered upwards, Lauré fell again. Hal reached for her, seizing her left arm and dragging her on, the horsemen almost upon them. Red-faced and gasping for breath, Roc slipped, staggering to his feet with a groan as an arrow slammed into the ground to his right.

"Quick!" Hal urged, wiping sweat and rain from her face. They pulled Lauré up the bank and pressed between the cleft in the rocks, panting, groaning, almost on their knees. And wheezing away behind them, Roc squeezed his mighty girth through the foot-wide crack, dropped forwards once again, and spat onto the stony ground.

The rocks towered above them in a rough semi-circle, with trees fanning out to their backs. Magda rested Lauré against a lichen-flecked stretch of wall and the girl closed her eyes, slipping downwards as if merely taking a nap on a summer's day.

"She'll not keep this up much longer," Hal warned.

"I know, Hal," Magda replied through clenched teeth. "I know."

"Don't make us come after you!" A voice yelled through the rock cleft. "The Emperor promises a fair trial to anyone who'll return to his justice."

Salvesté snorted. "We've seen his justice. We've had our share."

Jools threw Salvesté a sharp look. "Don't let them take you alive. You know what they'll do. Quick, or they'll be all over us. Get the blades."

A boulder rested against the northern most tip of the rocks with a hollow beneath it and a canvas sack stashed within the cavity. Hal recalled Jools' earlier promise of weapons and helped the thief to dig them out. As they did so, Jools bent over her and whispered. "I'd hoped we'd not need them so soon. Remember what I said to Salvesté. None of us gets taken." She jutted her thumb towards Lauré.

Hal nodded, chilled to her stomach.

They shook out the sack to reveal an impressive array of bows, broadswords, axes, sabres and a crossbow. Salvesté snatched a bow and loped over to the southern tip of the rocks, while Roc lumbered across, picked up a broadsword and grunted his way to the opposite side. Shouldering the crossbow, Jools clambered up the inside of the rock face, scrabbling for handholds on the wet, mossy mass of stone.

"We'll not give you another chance," the voice called again. "Out. Now. All of you."

"Your pick." Hal gestured at the remaining weapons as Magda pored over them. Magda seized a sabre, arcing it twice; three times through the air before moving wordlessly to the rock cleft. Hal seized the remaining sabre and broadsword, dragging the bigger weapon behind her until she was opposite Magda.

Magda raised an eyebrow. "Can you use that thing?"

"We'll find out."

They flattened themselves against the rock, Hal's heart pumping with such violence it might burst from her chest. She bit her lip and raised the sabre, peeping out through the gap.

Their pursuers had fanned out across the fields ˗ a mistake, she thought. It would make them easier to pick off. But then they knew nothing of Jools' secret horde of weaponry. A lump of stone slid from above, crashing at her feet, and she glanced upwards. The thief lay flat across the rocks with her head below the peak, the crossbow propped in a niche.