Then something--I can only call it a sixth sense--bore it on me that
there was _someone_ outside the door. I was perhaps the only creature
there, except for Evarin, not drugged with _shallavan_, and perhaps
that's all it was. But during the days in the Secret Service I'd had to
develop some extra senses. Five just weren't enough for survival.
I _knew_ somebody was fixing to break down that door, and I had a good
idea why. I'd been followed, by the legate's orders, and, tracking me
here, they'd gone away and brought back reinforcements.
Someone struck a blow on the door and a stentorian voice bawled, "Open
up there, in the name of the Empire!"
The chanting broke in ragged quavers. Evarin stopped. Somewhere a woman
screamed. The lights abruptly went out and a stampede started in the
room. Women struck me with chains, men kicked, there were shrieks and
howls. I thrust my way forward, butting with elbows and knees and
shoulders.
A dusky emptiness yawned and I got a glimpse of sunlight and open sky
and knew that Evarin had stepped through into _somewhere_ and was gone.
The banging on the door sounded like a whole regiment of Spaceforce out
there. I dived toward the shimmer of little stars which marked Miellyn's
tiara in the darkness, braving the black horror hovering over her, and
touched rigid girl-flesh, cold as death.
I grabbed her and ducked sideways. This time it wasn't intuition--nine
times out of ten, anyway, intuition is just a mental shortcut which adds
up all the things which your subconscious has noticed while you were
busy thinking about something else. Every native building on Wolf had
concealed entrances and exits and I know where to look for them. This
one was exactly where I expected. I pushed at it and found myself in a
long, dim corridor.
The head of a woman peered from an opening door. She saw Miellyn's limp
body hanging on my arm and her mouth widened in a silent scream. Then
the head popped back out of sight and a door slammed. I heard the bolt
slide. I ran for the end of the hall, the girl in my arms, thinking that
this was where I came in, as far as Miellyn was concerned, and wondering
why I bothered.
The door opened on a dark, peaceful street. One lonely moon was setting
beyond the rooftops. I set Miellyn on her feet, but she moaned and
crumpled against me. I put my shirtcloak around her bare shoulders.
Judging by the noises and yells, we'd gotten out just in time. No one
came out the exit behind us. Either the Spaceforce had plugged it or,
more likely, everyone else in the cellar had been too muddled by drugs
to know what was going on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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