They were making
a stand. They wouldn't last. There were too many hedeni.
"In here!" Jabari shoved the woman, who had picked up and was
carrying the child, through the open door of a hut. He dashed in after her
and Tau was right behind.
The hut was far larger than the one Tau shared with his father. It must
belong to a High Harvester. Maybe even Berko, he thought, as the first
hedena warrior burst through the doorway.
The man, hatchet out, made for Jabari. He didn't see Tau and Tau sliced
at him, cutting into his arm. Hollering in pain, the raider stumbled into the
nearest wall, and Jabari stabbed him in the gut.
The next hedena through the door had a spear. It was a woman. Tau
knew the hedeni fought women alongside men. He knew it like he knew he
had ten toes, but seeing a second female fighter gave him pause.
He should attack. He didn't. She thrust her spear at him and it would
have taken out his throat if Jabari hadn't reacted, knocking it from her
hands.
She drew a dagger from her belt. Tau remained rooted, noticing instead
that she wore no armor. She had on an earth-toned wrap that covered her
breasts and looped round her back, where it dove into loose and flowing
pants. She was sandaled and her hands were bangled, the golden metal
bouncing on slim wrists as she flicked her dagger at Jabari.
Jabari danced back. She came forward and Tau saw his chance. He was
behind her. He just had to kill her.
On weak knees, Tau stepped forward and swung his sword as hard as he
could, sending the flat of his blade hammering into the side of her head,
knocking her down. Jabari followed up. He kicked the dagger from her
hand and leapt on her, pressing his sword to her neck.
"You speak Empiric?" Jabari snarled. "How many ships did you land on
our shores? How many raiders?" He pressed the point of his sword into her
neck, drawing blood. "Speak or die!"
She looked frightened but spat in Jabari's face, closed her eyes, and
began to spasm. Jabari scurried back, making distance, as her skin, already
scarred by the Goddess's curse, bubbled and boiled. Blood erupted from her
nose, ears, mouth, and eyes, and she began to scream and scream and
scream. Then, like a candle blown, her life was gone, snuffed out.
The Lesser woman let out a choked gasp and turned away, holding the
child closer. The child was crying. Jabari was still as stone, watching the
dead savage with wide eyes.
He turned to Tau, mouth open, brow furrowed. "Demon-death," he said.
"Your father told us it's what they do when captured. I didn't believe it."
Tau could think of nothing worth saying.
Jabari stood, wiped the savage's spit from his face, and stumbled away,
using the wall for support. Tau, along with the woman and child, followed.
Jabari bashed out a shuttered window at the back of the building and they
crawled out of it, emerging in the middle of a circle of tightly packed
homes.
In front of them was a storage barn, and they were still a hundred strides
from the Ihagu's barricade. Jabari tried the barn's door. They hadn't been
seen and could go through the long building. With luck, they'd come out a
short run from the barricade and the rest of their people. Jabari broke the
door's lock and they went in.
The storage barn was large, but its interior was tight, crammed with
shelves, most empty. That was bad. It was almost Harvest, and if the
storehouse was any indication, the Omehi would have trouble feeding their
people.
As they slunk through, Tau began to have trouble breathing.
"What are you doing?" Jabari asked.
He couldn't stop panting and felt dizzy. "Too close," he said about the
shelves and walls.
"What?"
Tau squeezed his eyes shut. It didn't help and he couldn't get enough air.
He stopped moving, unable to keep going, when a cool hand slipped into
his.
"It's a few more steps," the Lesser woman told him. "Keep your eyes
closed. I'll guide you."
Tau nodded and stumbled after her.
"Ready?" asked Jabari.
Tau, still nauseous, opened an eye. They'd walked the length of the
storehouse and were at its front doors. "Hurry," he said, wanting nothing
more than to be outside.
"If the Goddess wills, we'll have a clear run for the barricade," Jabari
said. "We make it there and we're safe."
Tau wasn't sure anywhere in Daba could be called safe. He'd seen how
many hedeni were out there.
"Ready?" Jabari asked again.
The woman, eyes wide, nodded.
"Go!" Jabari yelled, kicking the door open.
Tau pitched his way through, fixated on being free of the barn, and ran
into a startled hedena. He bowled the man over and Jabari stabbed the
downed savage. There were four, maybe five other raiders, but they were
fighting Ihagu. Jabari joined the fight, and Tau, head spinning, grabbed the
woman's hand, pulling her away.
The barricade was just ahead and he made for it. The woman, carrying
the child, was slowing him, and he could picture raiders running them
down. Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on the woman's hand and
pulled her after him. The men behind the barricade saw him coming. Tau
thought he recognized one of them, but the blood caked on the man's face
made it hard to tell.
As they hit the barricade, the man shoved aside a pile of overturned
chairs, making a climbable path for Tau and his two charges.
"Your turn now," the bloody-faced Ihagu yelled, after the woman and
child were behind the ramshackle wall.
"Tendaji?" Tau asked.
"Tau?" said Tendaji. "What are you doing here? Never mind, climb up!"
"Can't. Jabari is still out there."
"Jabari's here?" The shock in Tendaji's voice spoke volumes.
Tau nodded, and with fear grasping at his guts, he forced himself to turn
and run back to the fighting. He didn't have to go far. They were coming to
him.
Jabari was bleeding through the arm of his gambeson and the other
warriors carried one of their own.
"I'm well," said Jabari, waving off Tau's concern. "Let's get behind the
barricade."
Tau helped carry the wounded Ihagu to the wall.
"Jabari?" Tendaji said, mouth dropping open. Tau had warned him, but
actually seeing one of the heirs to the fief in the middle of a raid must have
been too much for him to accept.
Tendaji helped lift the wounded man and then helped Tau and Jabari.
Once the last fighter was over the barricade, they shifted the rubble back in
place, blocking the way.
Behind it, Tau had hoped to feel safe. He didn't. Most of the Ihagu were
injured, the ones fighting at the contested sections were being
overwhelmed, and the townspeople were frantic.
Looking beyond the barricade, Tau saw that the hedeni were being
heavily reinforced, and possibly a hundred more of them were racing down
the paths and into the flats. Tau looked to Jabari, and for once, the
optimistic second son looked worried. This was not a battle they could win.
Even Jabari's honor guard, if they made to Daba before everyone was dead,
would only slow the inevitable.
"Get back, nkosi," Tendaji cautioned, remembering Jabari's honorific
this time. "They're coming."
"Let them," Jabari said, stepping up to the barricade.
Tendaji looked like he would say more. Instead, he shifted, making
room.
Tau stepped up on Jabari's other side. "For the queen," he said with little
conviction, which was still more than he felt.
"For the Goddess," intoned Jabari and Tendaji together. The three men
hefted their weapons. The barricade wouldn't hold and they wouldn't last,
not against the number of hedeni coming for them, but they'd give a good
accounting of themselves