Blade and Neena looked at each other. Blade hefted one of the wooden bars in each hand. Neena tied her helmet on the back of her head so that it wouldn't fall over her eyes and drew her sword. Then they plunged forward down the alley, as fast as their feet could cover the muddy ground.

The three soldiers had time to hear the footsteps and turn around. One had time to raise a spear, another had time to shout. Then Blade and Neena were on them.

Neena's sword leaped upward, straight into the throat of the soldier with the raised spear. He dropped the spear and clamped his hands on the sword. Neena twisted it in the wound, then jerked it free. The soldier gurgled, tried to clasp his hands over the gaping wound in his throat, then collapsed.

Blade swung one bar sideways to deflect a spear thrust, then smashed the other bar down on the arm of his other opponent. The man screamed and shifted his spear to his good hand. Blade struck the spear down, cracked the man hard across the jaw, then turned to guard his left side.

The man there made the mistake of raising his spear for a thrust downward. Blade dropped to a crouch, went in under the spear, and butted the man hard in the stomach. The breath went out of him with a whoooof and he slammed back against the wall behind him. Before he could thrust again, Blade swung a bar with all his strength. It smashed into the man's temple, knocking him sideways and down. Blade crashed a foot down on the man's ribs, then turned back to the soldier with the broken arm and jaw.

The man had more than that now. He lay flat on his back in the mud, and Neena was just pulling her sword out from between his ribs. Blade bent down and stripped off the man's belt with its sword and knife. Then he and Neena each picked up a spear. They dashed out into the open, crouching low and heading for the wall.

Seconds after they emerged, a flight of arrows whistled overhead and thudded into the dirt and the buildings behind them. None came near them. On a night this dark, the excited archers weren't going to be shooting very well. Like the stolofs, they were more likely to interfere with the hunt for the prisoners than help it.

And where were the stolofs, anyway? After all that whistling-

Blade had barely finished asking himself that question when Neena gave a shrill cry and grabbed his arm, pointing off to the right with her free hand. There came the stolofs, a pair of the great golden ones from the royal pens. Half a dozen soldiers ran beside and behind them, and ahead of them ran Lord Desgo himself, blowing his whistle and waving a sword in each hand.

The soldiers of Desgo's party saw the prisoners at the same moment. All of them dashed forward with wordless bowls of rage and triumph. Desgo saw them do this, stopped dead, and was nearly knocked off his feet by the stolofs. He jumped to one side, spat out the whistle, and began shrieking orders to his men. All of them were too busy fighting to have obeyed even if they'd been able to hear him.

The six soldiers charged straight at Blade and Neena. Blade and Neena raised their spears and threw. Two soldiers went down, one pierced in the throat, the other with his thigh torn open. Blade and Neena didn't have time to retrieve their spears before the other soldiers were on them. So they stood back to back and went to work with their swords.

One of Blade's opponents ran after only a few blows. Blade was cutting and thrusting at the other man when Neena screamed behind him. He whirled, to see that Neena's two opponents had disarmed her and were grabbing her to drag before Lord Desgo.

Blade let out a roar of fury and launched a quick attack on his immediate opponent, a slash that opened the man's sword arm from wrist to elbow. Then he turned to save Neena. As he did, her two captors turned to face him, pulling her across in front of them to act as a shield against Blade's attack.

A moment later one of the stolofs launched its ribbons. As always, it was an excellent shot, but the ribbon fell neatly on one of the soldiers holding Neena, instead of on Blade or the princess. The stolof reared, and the soldier was jerked backward off his feet and dragged toward it.

Neena twisted out of the grip of the other soldier and drove her knee up into his groin. He doubled up with a howl just in time for the edge of Blade's hand to smash down on the back of his neck. Neena snatched up her sword again. She was so filled with the lust for combat that before Blade could stop her she dashed off after the soldier who'd been knocked down by the stolof. Blade was left alone for a moment, to meet Lord Desgo and the other stolof.

Blade closed with the nobleman until the stolof could not fire without entangling both of them in the ribbon. He feinted low, then went in over Desgo's guard and slashed at the man's head. Desgo twisted enough to keep his skull from being split apart, but Blade's sword slashed down from forehead to right jaw, just missing one eye. Desgo screamed, dropped his swords and whistle, and staggered, half-blinded by pouring blood. Blade grappled with him, drove one fist into his jaw and another into his stomach, then threw him to the ground.

Blade's ruby ring glinted like a drop of fire on Desgo's limp hand. Blade bent down, stripped the ring off, and put it back on the ring finger of his own left hand. That bastard Desgo wasn't going to get anything from him, except a quick death. Blade raised his sword, ready to drive it down into Desgo's chest.

Then Neena screamed, «Blade, the stolof!» Before Blade could move, a ribbon fell across his back and left shoulder. Blade whirled and saw at once that Desgo's stolof had made a fatal mistake. It had come too close.

Before the creature could rear back and pull Blade off his feet, Blade closed in. He dashed straight between the forelegs and thrust over the dripping mandibles, squarely into the center of the three glaring red eyes.

The stolof jerked convulsively and let out a hissing scream. Foul-smelling yellowish fluid gushed out of the wound, stinging where it fell on Blade's skin. He stepped back.

Neena stood in front of the other stolof now, waving a dripping sword at it, shrieking curses. The stolof seemed paralyzed, its master silent and its comrade (or mate?) dying. There were no other soldiers in sight on the ground, and only a few on the wall. Blade had no doubt where all the others had gone. The fire he'd set was now roaring up in a solid wall of flame a quarter of a mile long, sweeping steadily toward King Furzun's palace.

The few soldiers still in sight were manning the gate, though, and there were archers among them. Blade scanned the area for some other way over the walls, and his eyes fell on the stolof facing Neena. It stood almost next to the wall, and rose halfway up it.

Blade snatched up a fallen spear and dashed toward the creature. He came in from the side, drove the spear point into the ground, and pole-vaulted up onto the stolof's back. For a moment he had to fight not to slide right off again. Then he braced himself and shouted.

«Neena! Here!»

The princess heard him, turned, and sprang toward the stolof. Blade bent down as she leaped, heaving her up beside him on the creature's back. Before its sluggish wits could react to what was happening, Blade practically threw Neena up onto the walkway of the city wall. As the stolof started to move, Blade caught the railing and heaved himself up after Neena.

He'd held onto his spear, and it was a good thing that he had. Someone in the gate tower shouted, and someone else let fly with an arrow. It came uncomfortably close. Before the archer could shoot again, Blade picked him out from among his comrades and hurled the spear. It was a long shot, but Blade's eye and arm had a machine's precision tonight. The archer staggered as the spear drove into his thigh just below his armor, then toppled back against the tower railing. It gave with a crack and he vanished from sight with a scream, to land with a splash in the water-filled ditch below.