The courtyard was filled with milling townsmen, upwards of three hundred of them, some wounded and some tending the wounded; others looting bodies and many carrying booty out of the buildings that surrounded the courtyard on three sides. Two areas were little more than rubble and I guessed that the massive concussions I had heard from inside the audience chamber were responsible. Jocasta must have taken them down. There were also two archways that led elsewhere; I didn't waste much time on them as I dodged my way through the throng, Sapphire with me.
We moved as fast as we could; no one got in our way but most were about their own tasks and unaware of us unless we actually barged into them or passed so close in front of them that they reacted. Most moved fast and away from us when they saw us coming. I guess we looked like we meant business.
Just as we hit the bottom of the steps Jocasta and Dubaku appeared at the top. She stumbled but didn't fall, looking straight at me as she came forward, her expression puzzled. “No,” I used the word as flat denial of what I knew was true. Something had hit her, just at the moment she walked through the doorway. She began to fall. I bounded up the steps, putting everything I had into the effort but I was way too far away and far too slow. She fell to her knees, catching herself with her hands out in front of her, hair spreading like a mask over her face. Something small and black seemed to be resting on her back, stark against the cream colored cloth of the shirt she wore and I knew it was a crossbow flight, I knew it long before I was close enough to see it clearly. “No.”
Dubaku was at her side, one hand stark black against the cream shirt as he gripped her arm. He saw the bolt. Looked back through the doorway. Pointed with his other hand and said something low and intense that I didn't catch. I was only peripherally aware of him. All my attention was on Jocasta and the tufted end of the quarrel sticking out of her back. I fell to my knees on the steps before her, pushed back her hair tenderly and gently lifted her head so that I could see her eyes; they were dull and unaware. I glanced up and met Dubaku's gaze. Expressionless as always. “Help her,” I begged him.
“The arrow has to come out. The lady cannot heal around it.”
I looked back at the tuft of the quarrel, all that was showing. Imagined gripping it, which would be hard enough, and pulling it out; imagined the damage it would do her and shook my head. It would kill her for sure and I said so.
“Then she will die, Sumto. The lady cannot heal around it, and even then she may die. The lady's powers are limited.” I knew why he didn't use the lady's name; to name her was to call her. “And she may not come. Sometimes they do not answer.”
“Sumto,” Sapphire was suddenly kneeling at my side, or maybe I just became aware of him when he spoke. I looked at him, followed his jerked gaze back into the building. There was no one in sight; no one living. But in the distance I could hear sounds of conflict, and they were getting louder. I shook my head.
“Listen,” he hissed, turning his head. I did, and I heard it. From the city, a roar of voices raised in anger. “It isn't over. We should go. All we can do here we have done.”
“What? And leave her?”
“No. But what must be done must be done.” Slowly, as though afraid of startling me, he reached out and with extreme care gripped the end of the quarrel. “I can pull it free very fast.” he looked up and met Dubaku's eyes. “Are you ready?”
“No!” I reared slightly and reached for his arm. Jocasta was beginning to pant, her body trembling in shock. I could smell fresh urine. She was dying, was seconds away from dying.
“Don't touch me, you will hurt her. There is no choice, Sumto, and no time to pretend there might be one. We do this now or she dies. If we don't do this now she dies.”
I nodded once, a spastic jerk that took every ounce of control I had.
“Ready?”
“Ichalda, t'k'la,” he said. “Now.”
Sapphire moved. Jocasta cried out. And Ichalda answered her cry with the embrace of a mother comforting her child.