Pierre Pevel - By The Alchemist in the Shadows Page 0,60

the door for anyone except the captain or myself. Is that clear?'

'Yes, monsieur.'

The two men did not wait to see if they were obeyed.

They hurried down the great stairway to join Almades on the ground floor where, as a security measure, he had already extinguished most of the torches. Only a few candles remained lit here and there.

'Well?' La Fargue asked in the large front hall filled with shadows and echoes.

'They are still not showing themselves,' said the Spaniard, standing slightly back from the window through which he kept watch on the courtyard. 'But I've seen some wisps of that black mist—'

'So it is the dracs.'

'They've come to capture La Donna,' said Leprat.

'Yes. Or to kill her.'

The old captain also took up a position at a window from which he tried to take stock of the situation. The hunting lodge consisted of a small central pavilion and two wings enclosing its courtyard. The whole building was surrounded by a dry moat crossed by a stone bridge, a bridge which, unfortunately, they were too late to defend. The servant quarters lay beyond the moat, on either side of a long forecourt that stretched along the axis of the path leading to the woods.

La Fargue spared a thought for the servants housed in the outbuildings. Were any of them still alive?

'All of the windows within a man's reach are solidly barred,' Leprat indicated. 'And only the main pavilion, where we are now, is occupied. Elsewhere, the doors are locked and the rooms are empty.'

Of the three of them, he was the only one who knew the place well.

'In fact,' replied La Fargue, 'right here in this front hall is where we stand the best chance of defending ourselves, isn't it?'

'Yes. And from here we can guard the main stairs.'

'There are others. There are service stairs. And the hidden ones.'

'To be sure, but the dracs won't know where to find them. Whereas this one . . .'

In French chateaux the main staircase was always found near the entrance of the central pavilion, of which it formed the backbone.

'Then let's barricade ourselves,' decided the captain of the Blades, already pushing a bench into place. 'God only knows when the dracs will make their assault.'

Shots were suddenly fired, and the window panes by the main door shattered. The horses that La Fargue and Almades had left outside whinnied. Almost immediately, the three men heard a dull thud from above, the sound of a body falling heavily.

'Hold them back!' exclaimed La Fargue as he rushed to the staircase.

Already, other shots resounded and more musket balls came crashing into the walls.

The captain of the Blades climbed the steps two at a time, crossed the antechamber in La Donna's apartments, and ran into a locked door.

He swore, striking his fist against the panel, calling:

'Open up! It's La Fargue!'

Receiving no response, he moved back a pace, lifted a knee, and sent his foot crashing against the door. It shook on its hinges without giving way. He swore even louder, took a running start, and threw himself forward shoulder first. The wood split, the lock broke and the door flew open as if it had been hit by a battering ram. La Fargue stumbled into the bed chamber. But he managed to keep his balance and unsheathed his sword by reflex when he saw what awaited him inside.

The chambermaid was lying unconscious on the floor, next to the scattered keys from her bunch. At the rear of the room a wall tapestry was folded back, caught in a door that had been shut too quickly. But above all, there was a black drac who had just entered by the wide-open window.

From the yellow patterns decorating his facial scales, La Fargue identified him as the chief of the drac mercenaries who had been sent after La Donna by the Black Claw. As for Kh'Shak, he recognised the old gentleman soldier who had barred his way in Artois with surprise and pleasure.

The captain of the Guards immediately placed himself en garde.

His opponent smiled and, instead of a sword, brandished a pistol.

'I promised you we would meet again, old man,' he said taking aim.

The very same moment the shot rang out, the entire building was rocked by an explosion.

On the ground floor, the main door had just been blown into pieces, destroyed by the explosion of a black powder charge. Thick smoke invaded the front hall and, dazed, Leprat and Almades painfully picked themselves up from the floor, coughing amidst the last bits