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A Thief ran at Blade, so blindly that Blade only needed to hold his sword out and let the man spit himself on it. Then Blade was hauling himself up on top of the barrels. As the Baran reached out to help him up, Blade heard an ominous crack from below. The bracing was giving way.
Slowly one of the heavy beams pulled free of its fastenings, while a second below it split completely across. A loud creak, and one of the immense oil barrels began to shift. With the deadly inevitability of an avalanche, it rolled out of place and dropped six feet to the floor, splitting open as it did.
Golden-brown oil poured across the floor like an incoming tide. It reached the glowing ashes of the pile of parchment. Suddenly there was hissing blue flame sweeping across the surface of the oil, toward the pile of barrels and toward the fighting men.
The flaming oil reached two Thieves and their robes blazed. As they screamed and twisted, Blade raised his voice until it could be heard even over the flames and the screams. «Get off the roof!» he roared. «Get off the roof, fast! The building's going up! Get off the roof, you idiots!» The Baran was staring around him, eyes fixed on the flames that were begi
Blade waited long enough to see the Baran on his feet, then jumped, hurling himself twenty feet through the air and dropping twelve feet to the floor. He landed with a jar that seemed to loosen every joint in his body and every tooth in his head. His fall was cushioned by the sprawled body of a Thief, so he was on his feet again in a moment. As Blade rose, the barrels of the pile behind him began to give at the seams, leaking their oil into the fire. The blue flames blazed higher.
The Baran and the four men who'd caught him were already on their way toward the door. Blade looked around him. The warehouse was filling with smoke, but the light of the flames let him see that the fighting was nearly over. The floor was littered with bodies of both sides. Some of Kubin's men and the Dyes were dragging off struggling prisoners, while others tried to gather up the bodies of their comrades.
Blade stopped them. «No time for that,» he shouted. «We've got to get out of-«His words were lost as the whole pile of barrels erupted in flame. A roaring blue wall swept to within feet of Blade, swallowing most of the bodies and nearly catching several of the living men. They jumped back, beating out smoldering patches on trousers and tunics. One tore a flaming hood from his head just in time to keep his hair from catching fire. Then all of them were scurrying for the doors, with Blade bringing up the rear.
Blade had just reached the bottom of the steps up to the street when the flames reached the barrels along the wall. A score of them burst in a single moment, and it was as if someone had set off a bomb. Blade was thrown flat on the stairs, and got to his feet just in time to leap clear of a wave of blazing oil. He ran up the stairs and out into the cool fresh night air, sucking it into his lungs in great gulps. Behind him the cellar steadily filled with blazing oil, until the sea of fire was lapping halfway up the stairs.
They'd never learn anything useful from what was left in the warehouse, Blade knew. How much had they snatched clear of the battle and the flames?
At least the Baran was alive, although no thanks to the man himself! Blade sheathed his sword and turned to begin counting his men.
Chapter 22
The warehouse burned all night, clearly visible from the walls of the Baran's palace. There was nothing to be done about it except keep the flames from spreading.
By dawn the fire was out and men black with soot were pouring buckets of water on the last smoldering ashes and blackened timbers. By dawn the Baran's men had also added up the score of their night's work, and Giraz was reading it off to the Baran and to Richard Blade.
«Of the Council of Twelve, eight are dead, four are our prisoners. Five other Thieves were also taken. We do not know precisely how many were present, since-«
The Baran nodded impatiently. «Yes, yes, Giraz. We know what happened to the bodies. Please-consider that none of us has had any sleep, and we have had a rather busy night in addition. Save the fine detail for your formal report, and for now be brief.»
«Very good, my lord. As I said, we took five lesser Thieves. Six Hashomi were known to be present, and I believe they all perished. As for the Fighters of Junah-«Giraz swallowed and seemed to be hesitating.
The Baran sighed. «Bad news will grow no better with waiting, Giraz.»
«Yes, my lord. We took two of the leaders among the Fighters. We have interrogated them, and one has begun to answer questions.» Blade couldn't help wondering what had been done, to break one of the dedicated Fighters of Junah so quickly. He decided he didn't really want to know.
«The man who spoke said five other leaders of the Fighters died in the fighting. One was the First Lord of the Warriors, their military commander. Another was their leading priest. The others-«
«I see,» said the Baran. «That is not good.»
Blade felt that remark needed explaining. «Why is that so, my lord? It seems to me that we have done extremely well. We have not only destroyed the leadership of the Thieves Guild, we have badly hurt the Fighters of Junah.»
«Yes,» said the Baran. «And by doing so, we may have made open war against them inevitable. Even now they may be pla
Blade took a deep breath. The Baran had given him the perfect opening, and now he intended to do everything he could with it. The job of saving Dahaura wasn't over yet!
«That depends on how we deal with the Fighters of Junah,» he said. «If we give them a chance, they may indeed decide to launch the war the Baran fears. But if we take the offensive, then-«
«How can we take the offensive?» interrupted the Baran. «We do not really have enough men to pry the Fighters of Junah out of every hole and corner in Dahaura and the other cities.»
«I was not thinking of calling out the army against the Fighters of Junah,» replied Blade. «At least not immediately. Against the Thieves, yes-they must be rooted out, at once. But not against the Fighters. I think the first move in our offensive against the Fighters of Junah should be a proclamation.»
«A proclamation?» said the Baran. He seemed to be interested but confused.
«Yes,» said Blade. «A proclamation that they are outlaws. Any found within-oh, let us say, all the large cities or towns and the lands around them-after five days will be killed on sight «
The Baran sighed. «Blade, you obviously have some plan for dealing with the Fighters. I will say to you what I said to Giraz-it has been a long night and we are all tired. Speak briefly.»
«I will do so, my lord. If Giraz will get me a map-«
Blade unrolled the map the eunuch gave him on the floor and the other two stood over him while he crouched and explained his plan.
The Fighters of Junah should be driven out of the large cities of the Baran's proclamation. Nobody should attempt to stop them-in fact, they should be encouraged to leave. After that they should be driven west, toward the edge of the desert.
«We can use rumors, small shows of force, anything necessary to do this,» said Blade. «But we may not have to do anything at all. They move west of their own free will, in the hope that the Hashomi will cross the desert in force and aid them against you.»