Tim Powers The Drawing of the Dark

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" Duffy knew he'd seen the man before, but these days he was not one to prod
sleeping memories.
'More ale here,' he said. 'Top everybody up, in fact, and heat another pot of
the stuff.'
Gradually, with the telling of a few jokes and the singing of an old ballad or
two, the group around the fire regained their cautions, fragile cheer. Most of
the soldiers who'd fought that day had plodded away to the barracks
immediately; but, the Irishman reflected, there are always a few who prefer to
stay up and talk for a bit, and get some distance between themselves and the
day's events before submitting to the night's dreams.
After an hour they began to yawn and drift away, and a light sweep of rain,
hissing as it hit the fire, sent the remaining men trudging off to their
bunks. Duffy had just stood up when he heard a sharp call: 'Who's that?
Identify yourself or I'll shoot!'
A moment later he heard a scuffle, and then the bang and ricochet of a
gunshot, and a burly, redbearded man burst out of a doorway under the wall and
came pelting up the street, running hard.
'Guards ho!' came a shout from behind the fleeing man. 'Stop him! He's a spy!'
Wearily, the Irishman drew his sword and dagger and stood in the man's path.
'Very well, Kretchmer, you'd better hold it,' he said loudly.
The bearded fugitive whipped out a sword of his own. 'Stand aside, Duffy!' he
yelled.
Two guards came puffing up from one of the side streets, and a sentry on the
wall was taking aim with a smoldering harquebus the rain had not yet damped,
so the fleeing spy ran directly at Duffy, whirling his sword fiercely. Just
before they collided, the red beard fell away on a string and
Duffy was surprised to glimpse the fear-taut face of John Zapolya. Knocked
unharmed to the side, the Irishman mustered his faculties and aimed a backhand
cut at Zapolya's shoulder. It landed, and the Hungarian gasped in pain as the
blade-edge grated against bone, but he kept running. The wall sentry's gun
went off but was badly aimed in the uncertain light, and the ball spanged off
the street several yards away. Duffy started after the fugitive, but, off
balance, he slipped on the rain-wet cobbles and fell, cracking his knee
painfully on a stone. When he wincingly got to his feet Zapolya had
disappeared up the dim avenue, pursued by two of the guards.
'God damn it,' Duffy snarled, hobbling to the shelter of a dry doorway.
Pounding hoofbeats echoed now from the same direction Zapolya had come from,
and a moment later a horse and rider appeared and paused in the middle of the
street. The' firelight was dimming in the rain, so it wasn't until the rider
called for the guards that Duffy recognized him.
'Hey. Aurelianus!' the Irishman called. Zapolya was just here! He ran away up
the street.'
The wizard wheeled his horse and goaded it over to where Duffy stood. 'Zapolya
too? Morrigan help us. Did the guards go after him?'
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'Yes, two of them.'
'Did you see Kretchmer? I was chasing him.'
'That was Zapolya! Look, that's his fake beard on the Street there.'
Mananan and Llyr! I wonder if Kretchmer has always been Zapolya.'
Duffy rubbed his knee and limped a step or two on it. 'Well, of course,' he
snapped irritably.
'Think about it -remember, Werner said Kretchmer wasn't home, the night of
Easter Sunday? That was the night Zapolya was at the Zimmermann with his siege
bombard.'
Aurelianus shook his head. 'A false beard of all things.' He spat disgustedly.
'Follow me. What, have you hurt your leg? Hop up behind me here, then, we've
got to get out of the rain and do some talking.'
Duffy swung up onto the horse's rump and they clopped down the street to the
southern guardhouse,
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file:///F|/rah/Tim%20Powers/The%20Drawing%20Of%20The%20Dark.txt where they
dismounted. 'Hey, Duff,' said the captain who opened the door, 'I saw you land
one on that spy. Too bad you couldn't get some muscle into the blow, you'd
have split him.'
'I know,' said Duffy with a rueful grin as he and Aurelianus clumped inside
and pulled a couple of chairs to a table in the corner. 'What was he doing
when the
-sentry challenged him?'
'He was trying to open that old ferrier's door,' the captain answered. 'The
one that crazy man sneaked out through this noon. They bricked it up, but
apparently nobody told old Redbeard; he was trying to pull the bricks loose
when Rahn saw him.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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