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hrj"Jeanne, I never set anyone to watch your house," Barbara said. In that moment, they all realized the same thing: Kreiser's men knew Antuniet was back. And she had just set off alone through the streets of Rotenek. Alone, except for that fateful book.
***
Crossing the yard at a run, she added one of the grooms. If Antuniet were heading for her old workshop, she’d have gone down the Vezenaf to Pont Ruip. The bridge was the worst place to be trapped; she knew that lesson well. Barbara ran as if before the hounds and heard the footsteps of the others falling behind. What would Marken say now! Traffic was sparse on the road but still too crowded to see whether Antuniet had made the turn yet. It wasn’t until she turned onto the bridge herself and began the rise that Barbara saw the struggling knot of people she’d been searching for. No one figure could be discerned as they surged against the parapet but of a sudden a dark object arced over the rail and hung suspended against the sky before falling into the river below with a splash.
Every actor in the scene stood frozen watching it fly, released at last by a harsh shout, “You stupid bitch!” as the knot convulsed inward again. Hearing footsteps and panting breaths close at her back again, Barbara surged forward with her own shout and waded into the fray. There were fewer of the others than it had seemed at the first and they had no stomach when it turned to a true fight. Even so, when they fled they left Sikipirt nursing a bruised head and Marzo sporting a bloodied nose and a triumphant grin. Antuniet had sunk to a huddled ball close up against the bridge parapet. When Barbara crouched down beside her, the only word she could make out was, “Gone.”
***
Crossing the yard at a run, she added one of the grooms. If Antuniet were heading for her old workshop, she’d have gone down the Vezenaf to Pont Ruip. The bridge was the worst place to be trapped; she knew that lesson well. Barbara ran as if before the hounds and heard the footsteps of the others falling behind. What would Marken say now! Traffic was sparse on the road but still too crowded to see whether Antuniet had made the turn yet. It wasn’t until she turned onto the bridge herself and began the rise that Barbara saw the struggling knot of people she’d been searching for. No one figure could be discerned as they surged against the parapet but of a sudden a dark object arced over the rail and hung suspended against the sky before falling into the river below with a splash.
Every actor in the scene stood frozen watching it fly, released at last by a harsh shout, “You stupid bitch!” as the knot convulsed inward again. Hearing footsteps and panting breaths close at her back again, Barbara surged forward with her own shout and waded into the fray. There were fewer of the others than it had seemed at the first and they had no stomach when it turned to a true fight. Even so, when they fled they left Sikipirt nursing a bruised head and Marzo sporting a bloodied nose and a triumphant grin. Antuniet had sunk to a huddled ball close up against the bridge parapet. When Barbara crouched down beside her, the only word she could make out was, “Gone.”
