But maybe some of these people were actually Edi, and maybe they would be on their side. There was the remote chance, if the way to Najida was watched, that they could go over the wall, keep close to it, below the angle at which the surveillance worked, and hike to Dalaigi Township to get help.
But that was a long way, as best Cajeiri recalled his maps.
They could steal a car from the estate. But there was none in sight.
They could sneak down to the harbor and steal a boat—but that had not worked so well last night. The wind was blowing fairly steadily to the east, and the tide might be moving and the wind would just carry them right back to the Kajiminda dock, while the tide could get them into the same trouble they had been in yesterday.
He bet that the Edi staff was probably not happy with Lord Baiji, who, by his embarrassing performance with Lord Bren, had not managed well at all and who had been incredibly suspicious-acting on a lot of accounts, even beforethe Guild with Lord Baiji had started trying to assassinate nand’ Bren and kidnap him. He personally had had his fill of being kidnapped, and he was not going to let that happen again. He supposed the Edi might be considerably put out with Lord Baiji.
And if hewere an Edi major domo and he had a phone that was working, he would call the local magistrates down in Dalaigi Township, or he would call nand’ Bren at Najida and ask for help or at least apologize, and if he had time he would call Shejidan and tell them the situation herec if the Guild was not running things.
But probably the major domo, if he was Edi, had not had a chance to do that. He was very much afraid the Edi who had served Lord Geigi were not in charge at all, if it was Southerners who had moved in. Probably the Southerners had killed people. They had certainly done that in the Bujavid. So the Edi might all be dead. And that would make Lord Geigi very unhappy, and it would probably make Lord Bren very, very mad, all things considered, not to mention Great-grandmother, who, with nand’ Bren, was very certainly going to be laying plans to get him back before morning—one did not have to think hard at all to know that.
He did not, however, want mani to be where people were going to be shooting each other. Mani did not move as fast as she used to, and just getting up and down stairs was sometimes hard for her, and if these people hurt mani—
That worried him. That worried him most of all. Because mani had a temper. Nand’ Bren did not, not the way mani did, and he really, really hoped nand’ Bren would call his father and get some people here he did not care about as much, who would not get mad and take chances the way mani would.
Not to mention Cenedi was getting a little old to be climbing walls, too. He wished he had not gotten into this. People important to him and important to everyone were getting too old to be coming after him in places like this.
And it had all gone wrong when the shooting started.
He had tried to figure out how. He had tried to figure out what he had done wrong, and he had built in his head how the portico had been and how the driver had been shot and still got under the portico where they could reach the bus.
But when the bus had hit the pillar and the roof had come down he had started—he thought—to the side, just a step.
But that was not all of it. He had moved. And Jegari and Antaro were studying to be Guild; and among the very first lessons they had come home with was how to take cover, and how to position themselves to be sure to know where their Principal was—that being him.
And the disturbing fact was, they were still bumping into each other in practices—which happened. They were still learning how to watch out for him, and watch everything else, too, and he’d moved that one step sideways when the crash happened. It had not been the gunfire that had scared him: it had been the pillar. And he moved sideways.
That was just scary. He’d left nand’ Bren. He had just lost all common sense and shied off awayfrom the bus, and thatwas when everything had gone crazy.
What had he thought he was doing?
He had confused Jegari and Antaro, who had probably bumped into each other, what he had done was so crazy. And a half a second later Banichi had been going without them and after that he had no idea. He was worried that either Jegari or Antaro had consequently gotten in Banichi’s way, all because of him, which was so embarrassing he could not even think about it right now. It was just humiliating; and he hoped with all he had that Banichi and Jago had gotten nand’ Bren out all right.
Everythingdepended on that bus getting back to the house, one hoped with nand’ Bren and Banichi and Jago both—or everything was going to be running very late, and people at the house might not knowwhat had happened here.
Mani herself was hard to fool. He was very sure of that.
So somebody wouldcome. Eventually.
And they sat. Silent. It was very uncomfortable where they were, in a little space that looked like a grand fortress tower, but which inside was dusty and crowded with canisters of fertilizer and rusty old tools and hose, besides. Some of the garden claws could be nasty weapons. But trying to use something like that to threaten real Guild—that was outright suicide. He had no illusions. Hand-to-hand with those would get Jegari and Antaro killed in short order. So those were no good.
He had his slingshota. He had taken that along as a very precious thing: he had no wish to have some overzealous maid, cleaning, decide it was a dirty old stick and toss it out.
It was their only good weapon. But it needed rocks.
The plan had been to wait until dark and then climb down from the wall. If they hung by their hands, or maybe by a loop of that brittle hose, it was not too far a drop to the outside, to run through the small woods and then open land, trusting to speed and luck to get away.
But the closer dusk came, the more he began to think that that was going to be a very chancy thing to do, because that man on the roof might spot them. That outward window of the tower made it a scary bit further drop than it was from the landing outside the tower, from this one window where there was cover.
And the closer they got to dusk, the darker and scarier the woods got, and they knewthese towers held this perimeter equipment that would spot somebody moving in the woods.
Not, however, if they kept right up close to the wall—unless there was a system they had not spotted.
Still—if they left, and mani came in looking for them—
It was getting scary as it got closer to dark, was what.
It was going to be real scary, either way, trying to go crosscountry in the open, or waiting.
They could head for the train station instead of Najida. That might surprise the hunters. But the train station was farther, and might be watched, too, if there were Guild hunters out.
And, again, if nand’ Bren came hunting them here, being therewould be a problem.
The enemy had not searched the patio and tower. He had no idea why, except Antaro had been very clever, spotting that trap and getting them over the garden gate.
Or maybe these big Guildsmen were thinking of only hiding places on an adult scale. It was a very, very small tower, so small they sat all tucked up together inside it, with knees and elbows so cramped up together, they had occasionally to apologize to each other and shift around to relieve really painful cramps.
Small places had worked on the starship. Sometimes searchers would go right by them and never think to look where they had hidden, because it was too small to be useful.
He tried to think of other things they could do, being here, which was sneak down to the house after dark and see if they could talk to the Edi servants, and see if the servants, given direction and a plan, could lock the Guildsmen into a room. Or poison them. That would be a plan, too. Mani would do that. But trying and missing could get the Edi killed. And he was not sure how he would tell who was Edi and who was not.