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.Logic and training prevailed.He had no possibility of making a surprise attack, and he could not expect the thugs to stand patiently by as he hauled himself up into the ice wagon.His best chance of aiding Tzigone was to wait until the cart reached its destination.Paradoxically, the bloody robe gave him hope that she would be unharmed.Her abduction was meant as a warning and perhaps a lure.Very well, he would give them opportunity to deliver that message directly, and sooner than expected.With a grim smile, Matteo vowed to make the coming “conversation” as interesting as possible.Finally he saw the huge bulk of an icehouse up ahead.The cart veered around the small streets that surrounded the vast building and approached the rear.Wide, double doors swung open to admit them, then slammed shut behind.The ice wagon slowed, and the rumble died into silence.Matteo dropped quietly to the ground and swept the icehouse with a quick measuring gaze.Everything seemed to be in good order.The metal hooks and tools were free of rust.Fresh straw had been strewn on the packed dirt floor, and the high beams were free of cobwebs.The spells that opened and closed the doors for the cart were obviously well maintained.In short, this was no long-deserted building.Yet no one was working, even though highsun had come and gone and the sunsleep hours past.Matteo also noticed that the walls were thick to keep the ice cool and, not coincidentally, to muffle sound.The momentary silence exploded into a fury of thuds and curses-most of the latter coming from Tzigone, though a few muffled and pained exclamations from her captors suggested that she was making a good accounting for herself.Tzigone’s voice abruptly dwindled to a furious mumbling.The cart’s back gate fell open with a crash, and three men stumbled out from behind the curtain and down the ramp, carrying their uncooperative captive.They’d managed to stuff a rag into her mouth and bind it with a gag.She writhed and kicked and, presumably, swore, but to no avail.The men pinioned her so that her hands were stilled, leaving no chance that she might cast a spell.Another man followed them-a wizard holding a long wand in one hand.When he saw Matteo, he quickly touched the wand to each of the three men.Matteo noted the soft click as the wand touched the men, as if the wizard were tapping against granite.Stoneskin, he thought grimly.These men had expected him to follow, and they were well prepared.Quickly he calculated his chances against fighters wearing this magical protection.Four men against one was challenge enough-five men, if he counted the man climbing down from the driver’s seat.Now he would have to strike several solid blows on each man to dispel the stoneskin charm, and figure in the permutations presented by four such opponents.“Seven hundred and eighty-five to one, give or take,” he murmured.He shrugged, drew his daggers, and charged.“Get him,” shouted the thug holding Tzigone’s ankles.The wizard leveled his wand at Matteo and spat out a trigger word.The jordain dropped and rolled as a golden streak burst from the wand.The bolt missed him, but it did not disappear.The stream of light slowed, broke up, and began to reform.A swarm of bees traced a collective arc and buzzed unerringly toward their intended target.They swarmed over Matteo in a dark, whirring cloud.He felt a stinging jab at the back of his neck and schooled himself not to slap at the insect.Instead, he veered aside, heading directly toward the smirking wizard-bringing the bees with him.The wizard’s eyes widened, and he lifted the wand for another attack.Matteo dropped, using the leg sweep move that Andris had taught him just a few moons past to bring the wizard down.He seized a rock-hard ankle and thrust a dagger into the soft leather of the boot sole-the only unprotected place on a wizard wearing a stoneskin spell.The blade slipped through leather and past bone.Matteo leaned hard on the blade, scraping between the twin bones of the wizard’s lower leg and reaching for the tendon behind.With a quick wrench, he severed the cord.Ignoring the bees that still swarmed and stung, Matteo rolled to his feet and charged the men holding Tzigone’s hands.One of them trusted the wizard’s magic to hold firm, but the other released the girl and dragged a knife from his belt.Matteo’s bloodied dagger struck the man’s weapon hand before the blade could clear its sheath.The jolt of steel against stoneskin vibrated through his arm.He struck again and again.Through it all, the bees followed his movements like a treacherous shadow.The thug defended himself as best he could and managed to parry some of Matteo’s strokes, but with each hit Matteo landed, the efficacy of the stoneskin spell faded away.Within moments the jordain’s dagger struck normal flesh-then, bone.Matteo’s opponent stumbled back, shrieking in shock and pain as he stared at the gash that opened his arm and at the white bone beneath.The jordain spun and drove his one foot into the man’s gut.Reversing direction with stunning speed, he whirled and landed a high roundhouse kick to the man’s chin.His head snapped back, and he went over like a felled tree, arms falling wide and limp at his sides.Matteo spun toward Tzigone, who was down to one captor.She was standing now, her hands firmly pinioned behind her back.The big, bearded man who’d held her feet slumped against the wagon, spitting teeth into his cupped palm.Blood poured from a garishly broken nose.One of his eyes was already swelling shut, and the other was starting to lose focus.Tzigone continued to writhe and kick and stomp, wearing down the stoneskin spell on her final opponent with a barrage of blows and kicks.For a moment Matteo wondered if she had really needed his help at all.Suddenly Tzigone slumped as if in defeat.Matteo was not fooled, but the thug who held Tzigone let out a relieved sigh.The sound ended in a gasp, and the man’s eyes opened wide and glazed with pain.Apparently Tzigone had managed to seize something her captor held in great personal regard.She twisted free.Ripping off her gag, she kicked the man in the already offended area, then kicked him once more after he fell.She swatted at a circling bee and began the gestures of a spell.Fragrant smoke rose from the hard-packed ground, a scent reminiscent of poppies and summer sun.The bees swarming Matteo stopped their stinging attack.Their flight slowed, and they drifted off to settle on the wooden beams.Free of that hindrance, Matteo looked around for the final thug-the driver, who had not yet entered the battle.The back door flew open, and the man came on in a rush, followed closely by the reinforcements he’d apparently gone to summon.As the men rushed Matteo, they snatched up ice hooks long as swords, with wicked curved tips [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]