Wysper

  Laying on the covers unconscious, Greywolf looked pale as death. "Is he going to die?"

  The Ogri... Titan, I think that is his name. He looked at Wysper and snorted. "Asena's son? His life is nailed to his spine as hard as hers is."

  Of course it is. Greywolf is the son of a goddess, and I am being foolish. "What will we do now?"

  "Sit tight and ride out the storm—” Titan stopped speaking as Castor’s head whipped around as if hearing something, and a moment later the sound of pounding footsteps began to echo from the hallway above. A Tartaros warrior appeared in the doorway and Titan rumbled, "Argat, what news?"

  "Madness and death." Wysper was wearing only the wide cloth she’d used to dry herself off with, and looking her way, the warrior’s eyes widened before he shook himself and concentrated on the Ogri. "Amazonia's whipped the Bukharan's into a frenzy, and now they’re killing anyone associated with the Sasnayams or their gods. Prince Timur believes they're likely to sweep through the Temple District the moment his troops enter Bukhara, but he's got to establish a stronghold around the main gate in case their army counterattacks. He wants you ready to move from here at a moment's notice."

  Standing beside Wysper, Pigeon gasped. "Most of the priestesses are inside the Women's Quarters. The doors are not stout and neither are the locks."

  Wysper’s hand went to her mouth. "But the eunuchs of the temples, they will be on guard."

  "Many will have been given the night off to drink and make merry as best they can. There will be perhaps a half-dozen to defend the house, but no more."

  The Ogri rumbled something in a language Wysper had never heard before and Osiris' glowing blue image smiled. "Titan, I have not heard anyone curse in Babylonian for at least several hundred years. However, if you are thinking of rescuing the priestesses, I would reconsider. The temple guards will not listen to you or let you speak to any of priestesses, and if you force the door, you will have to kill them."

  "Are you sure?"

  Osiris' image shrugged. "Temple guards are the same everywhere and eunuchs even more so. There is no possible way to enter peacefully."

  "Yes, there is." Titan looked at Wysper as she approached. "I know the secret entrance to the building."

  "Can you tell me where it is?"

  "It will not do you any good even if she did," Pigeon said. "Only a priestess can open the way and besides, even if you entered, no one will listen to you. If you want to save anyone, Wysper has to go with you. I would go," old bitterness sharpening her voice, "but the fools would listen to me even less than they would to you."

  She whirled around. "Is there clothing?"

  "Men's clothing," Pigeon said, hurrying towards an ornamental knob sticking out of the dais and wrenching open a drawer. She pulled out a pair of dark brown trousers and a tunic. "With your short hair, anyone outside who sees you will think you are a boy."

  Wysper was not used to dressing herself, and Pigeon helped her as Castor joined Titan. "I'll come with you as well. If the mob does catch up to us, you and I will have a better chance of scaring them off."

  "Staying hidden is preferable," Titan said, "yet I see your point. Argat, will you hold this building until we return?"

  "Don't be too long," Argat replied. "It's going to take some time to secure the area, but once the prince has his stronghold, he's going to want you there immediately."

  Pigeon pulled the tunic down before cinching the trousers with a leather belt. "Take the servant's road that runs alongside the district's walls. The temples and outer buildings will shield you from view. There," Pigeon stepping back, "Wysper is ready."

  The Ogri looked down at her and frowned. "If we need to run, can you keep up?"

  Wysper nodded as Pigeon said, "She will. When we traveled, the High Priest always made her walk the many leagues it took between the towns and cities we visited as a way to keep her too thin for men to desire... not that it stopped all of them."

  Wysper lowered her head in old shame, but Titan said, "Muzen's folly, and our fortune that Greywolf finds her the most beautiful woman in the world." Startled, she looked up and he winked. "It was the freckles."

  My freckles? What is he talking about? Titan chuckled to himself as he unfolded a blanket and wrapped Greywolf in it, then picked him up and carried Greywolf up the stairs, the rest of them following.

  As they reached the hallway and started down it, Zanzabel said, "Are you planning to walk outside barefoot?"

  "Wysper always does," Pigeon replied, "even in Tesiphon." Zanzabel glanced at her and she nodded, heading down the stone stairs after Titan to the bottom floor. The front room was a disaster, with the door off its hinges and on its side across the doorway, several men with crossbows crouched down behind it with their weapons out. The room had a coppery tang from the blood stains splattered on the walls and floor, but the bodies must have been dragged away, because the way to the kitchen was clear.

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  The half dozen warriors got out of the way as Titan laid Greywolf down gently onto the long wooden dining table. "Argat, keep him and the two women safe while we are gone."

  "What if the prince sends word to move?"

  "Delay if he sends word soon, yet if you feel it has been too long, get these three to safety. Act upon your own judgment."

  Osiris' image had floated down with them, causing more than a few startled expressions as he settled next to Greywolf's head. "Titan, what if this ill-fated rescue attempt does take too long and the mob discovers you? What then?"

  "Let me get straight to the heart of your question without bandying words," Titan replied in his voice like a mountain's. "Before I let the mob have Wysper, Castor and I will cut loose any other priestesses with us and get her to safety." Wysper opened her mouth to protest, but it died unspoken as he gave the girl a dark look. "That is not up for debate."

  Wysper swallowed. "Yes, Titan," she replied in a meek voice.

  Castor bared his fangs in what might have been a grin and went outside, poking his head in a moment later. "We need to move now," he said in a serious voice. "The mob's here."

  Titan motioned with his hand. "Lead on, girl, but walk as fast as you can." Wysper nodded and slipped past him through the open doorway.

  Around them, the Temple District was chilly and dark, but to her left the main plaza was lit from the torches carried in at least a hundred hands, illuminating the base of the main pyramid as the mob strode past it towards the buildings where the priests of the different temples lived.

  Several priests wearing the yellow robes of Yun-Kax ran towards them, waving their arms and shouting as the mob reached them. Their shouts became screams as dozens of hands pulled them down.

  Wysper shuddered in fear but kept moving, leading them along the side of the building towards the district's western wall as a man began shrieking behind her. Wysper glanced over her shoulder.

  One of the priests was running away with his robes on fire. The mob was chasing after him, with more moving into the plaza. Something was wrong with these new people, though, for they were not walking but lurching like drunkards, or... "Are the dead following after the living?"

  Castor gave her a gentle push to get her going. "You don't want to watch. The dead don't eat the living like some think, but they're not adverse to using their teeth to kill if they've got naught else."

  Wysper nodded and did her best to ignore the screams and shouts coming from the plaza behind them, the rising bile in her stomach burning her throat as they passed the building by and approached the outer wall, dark and foreboding. "Which way?" Wysper motioned left as Castor sniffed the air and looked towards the city. "I thought I smelled smoke. The old section's on fire."

  There was a red glow coming from the western side of Bukhara and more screams. Wysper turned left and broke into almost a jog, Titan merely lengthening his stride while Castor ran past them. The pyramid on their left shielded the three from view, and he ran to the edge and looked out towards the next plaza between more pyramids.

  He waited until they reached him before racing across to the next, smaller pyramid belonging another deity. The smaller pyramid blocked Wysper’s view of the priest's house, but there was shouting and the sound of axes on wood. "Best pick up the pace," Titan rumbled. She nodded and began to run.

  Beyond the smaller pyramid was the rectangular building called the Women's Quarters, and Wysper pointed straight at it as she stopped at the pyramid's edge and caught her breath. The witchlight lantern set into the far corner illuminated the mosaic patterns on the walls, which faded as they reached the corner nearest to them where there was no light other than the moon.

  The barred windows a level above the ground were all dark, yet there was enough light to see the crumbling statue set into its niche a stone's throw away, in the Women’s Quarters back wall. Wysper darted out across the space until she reached it.

  The statue, worn by time and harsh winds, depicted a woman wearing a long, layered dress, her arms raised, and curling horns rising from the temples on either side of her head. Her bare feet stuck out from the bottom hem of her dress. The other two were not even breathing hard as they joined her, Titan rumbling, "The goddess Inanna, unless I am mistaken."

  Perhaps it was the chilly air or her fear, but the mental fog shrouding Wysper’s mind was finally gone. "This was the sanctuary of her priestesses, before the Sasnayams conquered Bukhara." She dropped to her knees in front of the statue. "They left this statue since it is the key to opening the secret passage and tore down the rest." Wysper pressed her forehead against the statue's bare feet and the toenails turned blue.

  From inside the building came a loud click, and a section of the wall to the left of the statue popped open. "Wysper," Titan rumbled as he swung the section of the wall further open, "tell the priestesses to hurry. When the blood of men is up, women are not safe." She nodded and rose to her feet before slipping through the passage.

  The passage became a little used hallway, dusty and cluttered with broken and unwanted objects, its witchlight lamp flickering with a weak flame. Yet the temple guards had recognized the chime the mechanism made when the passage was opened, for the sound of pounding feet was getting closer. A massive eunuch with his scimitar in his hand turned the corner as she called out, "I am Blood-Wysper, not a thief."

  The eunuch came to a stop. "Wysper?"

  She gasped. "Fat-boy? I thought you were dead."

  He drew close as a sour expression twisted his face. "Everything is falling apart and she still calls me that. No, Muzen's secret entrance goes under this building, and he sent me here to let the head priestess know we were under attack. What are you doing here?"

  "Trying to save as many priestesses as I can from the mob. Where is everyone?"

  "Hedieh is leading them in prayer. Wait," he called out as Wysper slipped past him and ran down the hall, "where's Muzen?"

  "Back in Tesiphon," she called back. "Warn your brothers that the mob will be coming here next." The hall split off and she took the right hand way towards the worship room, while Fat-boy went straight, muttering something about the poor condition of the doors. The stone arch ahead of her had the oil lamps lit on both sides, and Wysper’s feet slid on the stone floor as she stopped just inside the entrance.

  The worship room was large and plain, with the twin statue of Yun-Kax on the raised dais facing several dozen priestesses on their knees in front of it, while the statues of the other deities in their pantheon watched with stone eyes from their niches.

  More oil lamps gave off a strong light, their scent overwhelmed by the billowing clouds of incense rising from the small brass pots on either side of the statue. Hedieh, a fire mage with orange-red hair and the chief priestess of the house, stood before the twin statue with her arms raised, invoking Yun-Kax's wrath against the invaders. The other priestesses on their thick prayer rugs chanted back the responses.

  Heads in the back of the room turned towards her as Wysper took a moment to catch her breath. "Everyone, please listen," she called out. The chant broke off and everyone's head turned as Wysper motioned with her arm towards the front of the building. "There is a mob sweeping through the Temple District with torches, killing all the priests they can find, and the dead have risen out of the charnel pits to join them." Hedieh whirled around and stalked towards her as she waved her other arm towards the back. "We need to leave through the secret passage before they break down the doors."