Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(207)

Everyone there froze in place. Amara closed her eyes and heard a distant sound, though the tiny openings that passed for windows obscured most of what she could only describe as distant tones of some kind.

"What's that?" Bernard wondered aloud.

Rook's face suddenly went bloodless. "Oh," she said, and the young woman's voice was thready with panic. "Oh, oh crows and bloody furies. Hurry."

"Why?" Amara demanded, following hard on Rook's heels. "What is that?"

"It's the fanfare," Rook stammered, terrified. "High Lord Kalarus has just returned to the citadel."

"Bloody crows," Amara snarled.

And then there was a cry from somewhere far below on the staircase, and the alarm bells of the citadel of Kalare began to ring.

"Guards," Amara snapped.

"Six on the top floor," Rook said. "They'll come down the stairs and hold the only way to the roof."

"Where the prisoners are," Amara said. "We have to go through them."

"Right," Aldrick growled, and drew his sword. "Calderon."

Bernard already had his bow untied from the quiver on his shoulder. The weapon was already strung, since he would have had to use earthcraft to give himself enough strength to do so. He set an arrow to the string, then he and Aldrick started up the stairs.

Amara turned to Lady Aquitaine. "Can you counter Kalarus?"

"This is his house," Lady Aquitaine said in a cool voice. "A confrontation with him here would be unwise."

"Then we should hurry," Odiana said. "To the roof, free the prisoners, and leave immediately."

"My daughter!" Rook snarled. "She's on the level below the guard station."

"There's no time!" Odiana insisted. "They're coming, now!"

"He'll kill her," Rook cried.

The thud of heavy boots on the stairs below them began to grow steadily nearer.

"She isn't important!" Odiana shot back. "The prisoners are what matter. We have what we needed from the spy, Countess, and it is clearly your duty to-"

Amara slapped Odiana across the face, cupping her hand as she did, to make the blow sting and startle.

Odiana stared at Amara, utter shock on her face, which then immediately darkened with fury.

"Shut. Your. Mouth," Amara said in a quiet, cold voice, each word carrying acidic emphasis. Then she turned to Lady Aquitaine. "Take Odiana and go to the roof. Help them clear the way-but for goodness' sake, don't employ any overt crafting unless you must. If we don't have a clear path of retreat when the gargoyles waken, none of us are getting out."

Lady Aquitaine nodded once, gave Odiana a firm push to get her moving, and the two of them started up the stairs after Aldrick and Bernard.

Amara turned back to Rook to find the spy staring at her, eyes wide.

The Cursor put an arm on the woman's shoulder, and said, quietly, "There's no time to waste. Let's go get your daughter."

Rook blinked tears out of her eyes, then something steely slid into her features, and she led Amara up the stairs at a run.

Rook opened a door and hurried through it, though Amara lingered for a moment as steel rang on steel up the stairway. Aldrick had engaged the guards, it would seem. He was likely one of the three or four deadliest men in the world with a blade, a former singulare of the Princeps Septimus, which was doubtless why the Aquitaines had retained his service to begin with. But even so, the difference between an excellent swordsman and a world-class swordsman like Aldrick was very fine-and six excellent swordsmen might well be able to overwhelm even Aldrick ex Gladius.