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Back and forth didn’t free it, and Joe had no idea how to clear the old gun.
Out on the wall, two more attackers appeared. “Time to go,” Joe said. “We’re about to be flanked.”
* * *
• • •
KURT CROSSED the dry moat and made it back to the main building, where he found a stairway. He rushed up three flights and came up on the third floor of the pagoda. As he stepped from the shadows, a sword flashed through the ai
r toward his head. He ducked at the last second and the blade cut a chunk out of the wall behind him.
Surging toward the attacker and using the crossbow as a battering ram, he found himself colliding with Akiko. He tackled her to the ground.
“Mr. Austin,” she said.
“Careful where you swing that thing,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you were one of them.”
He let her up and she stepped back, holding the sword tightly.
Kurt noticed she was now wearing a vest of loose metal plates held together by laced twine. “I see you’ve changed for the occasion.”
“I am the armorer,” she said. “I must protect Kenzo.”
She went to brush past, but Kurt grabbed her arm. “My friends are with Kenzo. They’ll protect him. Take me up to the tower; we need to take the high ground. From there, we can keep their men off the walls.”
“This way.”
She turned on her heels, pulled open a door and dashed up another flight of stairs. Kurt followed, surprised by how quickly she moved in the heavy vest.
They reached the top and broke out onto a platform that covered the highest level of the tower. The small antipersonnel cannon was there, along with bags of powder and a neatly packed pyramid of iron cannonballs. As much as Kurt wanted to fire it, the cannon was too bulky to be helpful. He ignored it and stepped to the rail with the crossbow in hand.
From this height, he could see most of the castle grounds below. The situation looked grim. “They’ve made it over the wall,” he said, noticing three groups of men moving about.
When one group appeared in the open, Kurt loosed a bolt at them, hitting the leader in the thigh. As the man fell, Kurt placed the crossbow on the ground to reload and Akiko stepped forward with a longbow in her hand.
She let the arrow fly and knocked a second man in a flash before adjusting her aim and firing again. Both shots hit their targets. One man fell where he stood, the other dropped his weapon and lumbered for cover as Akiko took aim once more.
The third arrow sung as she released it, but the target had ducked behind an out-jutting wall and the lethal projectile caromed harmlessly off the stone. Still, he was injured and that group of attackers would have no choice but to retreat.
“Save some of them for me,” Kurt joked.
She didn’t sense the humor. “Unfortunately, we have plenty of enemies left to fight.”
Seeming to prove the point, an assault rifle began hammering away, shells splintering the wood above them and pinging off the heavy iron bell.
Kurt and Akiko dropped to the ground and took cover in the center of the platform as additional gunfire came in from the other side.
“We’re caught in a cross fire,” Kurt said, as he crawled toward the rail and risked a look. “They’ve taken cover behind the wall. Might be time to break out that cannon after all.”
Before they could do more, a muffled explosion, followed by a whoosh of flames and smoke, rumbled on the far side.
“Molotov cocktail,” she said.
“Without oysters or caviar,” Kurt said, “just uncivilized.”
Down below, tongues of auburn flame licked at the edges of the pagoda and began snaking their way up toward its crown. The ancient wood was bone dry and lacquered in oil-based paint. Dark and noxious fumes billowed upward. The fire would soon follow.
