Chapter 33
Bobo was a coward.
He'd accepted that long ago. Whenever he was confronted with a choice to run or fight, he'd always chosen to run.
Life as a librarian had suited him fine for a while—there was little danger to be had there—but his grandfather's stories of great adventures had eventually proven too enticing to ignore. Bobo simply needed to find an adventure that required knowledge and intellect rather than brawn.
His first adventure had proven less adventurous and rather more greedy than he liked to remember—gathering up all the notes and translations he'd made from Ellerie's book, then slipping out of town in the dead of night. He'd considered asking her to let him participate in the search, but he'd expected her to turn him down, and worse, he'd feared that once she knew he wanted to find the ancient city himself, she'd take the book away and not allow him to translate any more of it. So he'd finished translating the important parts for himself, then ran away. He'd left the book itself, so it wasn't theft, exactly, except for the wages she'd paid him, but it certainly wasn't the grand start to his adventuring life that he'd always dreamed of.
In the hills east of the Black Crow Mountains, where he'd hoped to find evidence of old ruins that might lead him to Tir Yadar, he'd pretended to be a priest of the Fox. That, too, had been cowardice. He could put fancy words on it, pretending he'd done just as much for the people as any of the other fake priests roaming the hills, but the truth was, the hillfolk were a rough lot and he'd been scared of them. To keep himself safe, he'd decided to take advantage of the respect they showed their priests. While there, he'd come to realize that he liked being thought of as an important man, rather than just a bookish librarian with a talent for languages, so he'd remained in the hills even after it became clear his search had failed. But, eventually, he'd had to run again.
When Ellerie caught up with him in Circle Bay, he'd wanted to flee that time too, but Corec had forced him to make things right with her. It was hard to say no to Corec, especially after the man had saved his life. That incident had turned out better than Bobo could have hoped—working together, he and Ellerie had succeeded in finding Tir Yadar—but it hadn't changed who he was inside.
Despite his fear, though, he usually managed to find some way to contribute when his friends were threatened, even if it was typically just to stand in the back with Nedley and try to keep anyone from attacking Katrin or Shavala while the two women did whatever it was they did during a fight.
But this time, he couldn't see a way to help. They were on the third floor of a building, with Nedley guarding the stairwell. Katrin was cradling Shavala in her arms, the elven woman still moaning in pain from whatever had happened. Bobo hadn't been able to find anything wrong with her, but she still hadn't managed to get to her feet. Marco stood in the corner, looking as scared as Bobo felt. He wasn't a fighter either.
The enemy hadn't caught sight of the group inside the building yet, so there was nothing for Bobo to do other than watch as his other friends were surrounded. There were simply too many attackers for Corec and the rest to stop them all. Shavala's role in the plan had been pivotal, and when she'd collapsed, everything had started to unravel.
Some parts of the plan had worked. The enemies were still headed toward the decoy building, where Leena would remain until the last minute. And they were mostly following the two routes Corec had expected them to take.
But other parts hadn't worked. In addition to whatever had happened to Shavala, Josip had been injured, and Treya had been forced to leave Boktar and Razai to fend for themselves. Something else odd was happening down there too that Bobo couldn't quite put his finger on—something to do with the two men in heavy armor that were now facing off against them.
What could Bobo do, though? His salves wouldn't help Shavala. Did she need a healer? He should go fetch Treya, but that would mean he had to run into the battle. Could Treya even be spared from the fight? There were so many men down there. Corec would need her help.
No. It was better to stay here. After all, if the enemy discovered where they were, Nedley wouldn't be able to fight them all off on his own. Yes, that's what he'd do. He'd stay right where Corec had asked him to stay. He wasn't abandoning his friends. He was simply sticking to the plan.
Bobo waited for the wave of relief he usually experienced when avoiding a fight, but this time, it didn't come. Below him, Boktar was being forced back by the two heavily armored men, whose weapons—one carried a warhammer, the other a sword—were now glowing. The white glow reminded Bobo of the light that often surrounded Treya's fists when she was fighting. Were these the priests? Boktar was trying to fight back, but his strikes seemed to be blocked by a flickering aura that overlaid the men's armor.
Nearby, Razai was crouched down, her hands over her ears. Her curved knives lay abandoned on the ground. There were stories that priests sometimes had powers over demonborn.
Still watching over Shavala, Katrin began singing again, but the battle had grown so loud, it was impossible to tell if it had any effect. Josip was sitting up now, leaning against a wall, and Treya was helping Corec and Sarette guard the intersection.
Bobo glanced uncertainly from the melee to the stairwell and back again. He'd turned down Corec's offers to teach him how to use a crossbow. He'd turned down the occasional suggestions to buy some armor and learn how to use his walking cudgel as the weapon it truly was. Part of the reason he'd stayed with the group for so long was because they'd always protected him when he needed it, but now they were the ones who needed help, and there was nothing he could do.
It didn't matter, he decided. He had to try anyway. Taking a firm grasp on his cudgel, he jogged to the stairwell. He'd have to hurry if he was going to get to Boktar before the priests wore him down. If Bobo could distract them, the dwarven man might still be able to win the fight.
Then, something ... changed. Bobo's vision flashed with different images that went by too fast to see. His cudgel suddenly burst with white light as new knowledge forced its way into his brain. He didn't understand it all, not yet, but he knew enough. He couldn't do anything for Shavala, but he
could
help the others, and now he knew how.
He changed direction and took a running leap out of one of the openings that had once served as a window—though if it had ever held any glass, it was long since gone. He landed on the street two floors below with barely a stumble, his legs feeling sturdier than they'd ever been. Then he waded into the battle, swinging his glowing cudgel back and forth against the men with the knives, knocking them away with each hit. Had he always been this strong?
"Release her!" he shouted as he approached the priests, his words echoing strangely.
They ignored him, but Razai suddenly looked up, an expression of intense surprise on her face, which then grew into an evil grin. Snarling, she grabbed her knives and tackled the nearest priest, knocking the armored man to the ground. She straddled his chest and pressed her knee against his sword arm, pinning his weapon down, then rammed one of her knives up under his helmet, into the underside of his jaw.
Bobo gripped his cudgel with both hands and swung at the other man, hitting his shield hard enough to force him back. The protective aura flickered one last time and faded away. While the priest was off-balance, Boktar slammed his warhammer into the man's knee. The priest cried out in pain and collapsed, and Boktar finished him off by piercing his helmet with the spiked end of the hammer's head.
Bobo flinched as a spurt of blood hit him in the face. Cowardice wasn't the only reason he tried to avoid fighting.
"What was
