Broken World Book Three - A Land Without Law (23 page)

Law had become
a golden youth of exceptional beauty. Slightly taller than Letta
and slenderly built, he possessed a well-defined physique of
muscled shoulders tapering to narrow hips, his limbs filled out
with lean muscle. A strong chin and nose saved his fine, patrician
features from femininity, level brows had sprouted and a short
stubble of silky black hair covered his scalp. He turned to face
his would-be parents, and Vosh stared at him, a dawning realisation
filling him with loathing and horror.

"He's
Mujar!"

"Oh, god."
Letta raised a hand to her mouth. "But he's blind! Maybe he's a
Mujar crossbreed."

"No. He's as
pure as driven snow. Law, open your eyes."

The youth
frowned. "No."

"Why not?"

"I can't."

"Are you truly
blind?"

Law pondered
that, failing to arrive at an answer. "I don't know."

Vosh grunted.
"He's Mujar all right. Aren't you boy?"

"Yes."

Letta stroked
his cheek, marvelling at the serenity of his flawless features.
"He's so beautiful."

Law took her
hand and caressed her callused palm, smiling. She shivered,
entranced by the captivating seduction of his gentleness and
grace.

Vosh pulled
her away. "Don't let him touch you like that. Don't you know that
Mujar use their attraction to enslave Truemen?"

"He's too
young to be doing it deliberately. He can't help what he is; he's
only three months old."

Vosh took a
step towards Law. "He's a damned Mujar, and I want him out of here!
If I knew where there was a Pit, I'd take him and throw him in it
myself."

"No!" Letta
stepped between them as Law cringed. "Damn you, Vosh! You brought
him to me as my child, and now you want you throw him in a Pit?
You'll do it over my dead body!"

"We can't keep
him here!"

"Why not?
Mujar have lived with Truemen clans for decades. They do no harm.
They work for a living, and ask nothing in return but room and
board, which we've been giving freely up until now."

"He's
Mujar!"

She met his
eyes with a steely gaze. "So what?"

"He's got more
power at his fingertips than any other being on this world. I'd
give my right arm for a tenth of his power, but he won't use it. He
wouldn't lift a finger for us!"

Letta glanced
at the youth. "You don't know that. Have you asked? I doubt any
Mujar has been raised by Truemen before, like he has."

Vosh glared at
Law, who stood in an attitude of confused fear, one shoulder
hunched, his head turned towards the wall. His hands were clasped
close to his chest, as if to protect himself from an unseen blow.
Despite himself, Vosh could not imagine harming this gentle young
creature, Mujar or not. He sighed and stepped closer to put out a
reassuring hand.

"Be careful,"
Letta warned. "He knows you're angry, and he looks frightened. Talk
to him, he's not an animal."

Vosh withdrew
his hand. "Law. It's okay boy, I'm not going to harm you. It was
just a shock, that's all."

Law turned his
head. "No harm?"

"No harm,"
Vosh admitted with a sigh. "Letta's right, you're our child, Mujar
or not."

Law relaxed,
faced them and held out a hand. Vosh took it a little warily,
unsure of the youth's intentions. Law smiled, revealing the perfect
white teeth with which he had munched his way through so much food.
He took Vosh's hand and placed it on his chest, palm against his
heart, then held out his other hand, palm up.

"No harm," he
said again.

"We've just
been through that," Vosh muttered.

Letta nudged
him. "I think he's saying that he won't harm us, silly."

"Oh, good."
Vosh cleared his throat in embarrassment and pulled his hand away,
wiping it on his tunic. "Listen, Law, I - we were wondering if you
would do something for us."

Law cocked his
head. "Wish."

Vosh turned to
Letta. "What's he mean?"

She shrugged,
shaking her head. "Ask him."

The Trueman
licked his lips, irked by his inability to understand the strange
Mujar speech. He wondered where Law had learnt it, since he had
never known another of his own kind.

"What do you
mean, 'wish', Law?"

"You want
something?"

Vosh nodded.
"Yes."

"Wish."

Letta nudged
Vosh again. "I think he means that we're asking for a wish."

"Well I
suppose we are. But why does he keep saying it?"

"Ask him."

Vosh turned
back to the youth. "Law, why do you keep saying 'wish'?"

The Mujar
frowned, clearly puzzled. "You say you want something from me, but
you don't tell me what."

"Oh, I see."
Vosh looked embarrassed, and Letta grinned.

"Twit."

"You didn't
know what he meant either, dear," he pointed out.

"Listen,
before you start asking him for things, he should eat. He hasn't
had anything for days."

"He didn't
want it," Vosh protested, but she thrust him aside and bustled
across the room to find something for Law to eat. Vosh guided the
youth to a chair and pushed him into it as Letta placed a bowl of
stew before him. The Mujar savoured it, and Vosh sat opposite and
studied him.

"Law, we need
you to help us take over the hive. We're slaves here, the semi-ants
run the show. All you have to do is threaten the queen, and they'll
have to obey us. You don't have to hurt anything, I promise."

Law looked
thoughtful. Vosh knew that it was a weighty decision to be thrust
upon one so young, and hoped Law saw no harm in it. Surely he owed
a debt for the food and shelter he had received, but was it
enough?

Law inclined
his head. "Granted."

The Trueman
gaped at the young Mujar, hardly able to believe it. "You agree,
Law?"

"Wish,
yes."

Vosh turned to
hug the plump woman, delighted. "You're right, dear, he's
different! He's our own tame Mujar!"

Law frowned,
and Vosh realised that his words were perhaps a bit presumptuous
and ill advised. He did not know enough about Mujar to predict how
Law would react, and they were known to be unpredictable in the
extreme. He slumped with relief when Law shrugged and continued to
eat.

Vosh fidgeted
while he waited for Law to finish his meal, burning with
excitement. The moment the Mujar put down his spoon, Vosh jumped
up. "Come on, let's go and see the queen."

Law rose, and
Letta’s eyes glowed with pride as he followed Vosh, who took the
youth's arm to guide him along the tunnels towards the queen's vast
chamber far below.

"Just
remember," Vosh told him, "say nothing. I'll do the talking, you
just agree, right? If she asks you if you'll do as I say, you tell
her you will, okay?"

Law nodded,
appearing a little confused.

They passed
many workers hurrying along the tunnels, and these became more
numerous as they neared the queen's chamber. Wingless guards
challenged them, then let them pass after a conversation of clicks.
Vosh had learnt some of the semi-ants' language over the months,
but the guards' discourse was too complex. The tunnels grew larger,
the walls covered with shiny spit hardened to a smooth veneer. Vosh
had to grope along the wall in the darkness, and soon Law was
guiding him.

"Beats me how
you find your way around," Vosh commented. "Sometimes I think you
see better than I do."

Two more
wingless guards blocked the tunnel, and Vosh demanded to see the
queen with barely intelligible clicks. After a short argument, they
were allowed to enter a vast, well-lighted chamber. A shaft of
sunlight shone from an air vent that thrust up through the citadel
in a towering spire. Workers bustled around the chamber, carrying
eggs, food or waste, or tending the massive form of the immobile
queen.

Law sniffed
air redolent with spicy smells and endorphins the queen released to
command her workers. His limited senses perceived a seething mass
of shimmering blue Shissar shot with flickers of Crayash and
striped with silver Dolana. The individual animals defied
separation, for the speed at which they moved outstripped his
senses. Only the queen took on any real definition, her vast bulk
mostly shimmering blue, her foreparts rich with Dolana. Vosh
dragged the Mujar closer to her and waited until she finished
communing with a worker before stepping forward.

"My Queen." He
used his tongue to form clumsy clicks, where the semi-ants used
their mandibles. "I have something to tell you."

"Speak," the
queen commanded.

Vosh gestured
to Law. "This boy is Mujar. He has agreed to free the Truemen in
this hive. Unless you free us, he will destroy the citadel."

Law, who was
trying to separate workers into understandable images, turned in
surprise at this outrageous lie.

The queen
said, "I know what he is. Mujar won't harm us."

"He will, to
free us. He has granted that Wish."

She addressed
Law. "Is this true, Mujar?"

Vosh tugged
his arm and whispered, "Say yes."

"I granted a
Wish," Law allowed, frowning. He twisted his wrist from Vosh's
sweaty grasp, disliking the situation.

"To free
them?" she enquired.

"Yes."

Vosh fidgeted
while the queen pondered, and Law sensed his impatience. Finally
she clicked, "If a Mujar commands this, then they may go."

"No, no," Vosh
protested. "We don't want to go, we like it here. We want to be
free to do as we wish, not to be slaves."

"To live off
us, without doing anything in return?" she asked.

"Yes. We've
earned it."

Again the
queen pondered, then clicked, "The Mujar commands this also?"

Vosh nudged
Law. "Say yes."

"Yes."

"Very well,"
she acceded, lowering her long feelers as if in salute.

The queen's
easy acceptance seemed to embolden Vosh. "We also want women for
all the men, for their own use."

"As the Mujar
wishes," she agreed.

Vosh hopped
with excitement. "And I want all the half Trueman grubs
destroyed."

Law wondered
if the man thought he could command the queen to do anything; he
seemed intent on taking full advantage of his presence while he
could.

"No." The
queen shifted her foreparts in agitation. "The Mujar will not
command this."

"Yes he will."
Vosh turned to Law. "Tell her you will."

Law frowned.
"Kill her young?"

"You don't
have to do it, just tell her to. They're abominations!"

"No. No
killing," Law stated.

"Dammit, just
this one more thing, that's all I ask!"

"No."

"Law," Vosh
said, "you agreed to do this! You can't go back on your word."

"You have your
freedom."

The Trueman
grabbed Law's arm, startling him. "They're half Trueman! They can't
be allowed to grow up. They'll be monsters and probably kill
us!"

The Mujar
shrank from Vosh's hard grip, confused by the Trueman's sudden
anger. He tried to free his arm from Vosh's hands, but the man hung
on, his fingers digging into Law's flesh. The pain sent a flash of
fire through him, but he quelled it, not wishing to hurt the man
who had fed him for so long. He understood the silent language of
smells that wafted around the queen's chamber, and knew that she
summoned warriors to aid him.

"Do not harm
the Mujar," she warned, but Vosh ignored her.

He pulled the
struggling youth closer and rasped in his ear, "Tell her to get rid
of those grubs. Then we can go home."

"No!" Law
struggled harder.

The scent of
danger increased as the queen's winged warriors filed into the
chamber, their massive mandibles open. The sleek creatures were the
size of horses, with wings of gleaming Dolana folded on their
backs.

Law wriggled
out of the man's grasp, but Vosh caught his wrist and jerked him
back. "Dammit boy, it's a small favour for what we've done for you.
Just command her, then we can go home and eat. You'd like that,
wouldn't you? You like to eat, but when it comes time to earn it,
you're as lazy as all the rest. All you have to do is open your
damned mouth and speak!"

"No." Law
shook his head, smearing the images from his senses into a mash of
colour. Disorientated, he staggered. The queen, evidently sensing
his distress, ordered her warriors forward. Vosh gripped the Mujar
harder and addressed her.

"What's this?
A double cross? I warn you, he'll burn you all!"

"No!" Law
tried to make sense of the hazy images that trickled into his
brain. "Don't harm the Trueman."

The queen
clicked, "He harms you."

Law tried to
push Vosh away. "Let me go!"

"No way.
They'll kill me for sure."

"They won't
harm you."

"I'm not
stupid, boy! If I let you go now, I'm dead!"

Law knew that
the queen was only concerned for his safety, but he could not hide
the pain of Vosh's grip. With a quick twist that took Vosh by
surprise and wrenched his own arm, Law freed himself. The Trueman
leapt after him. Law stumbled and fell as the speed of his
movements outstripped his senses and left him floundering in a
world of smeared images. He sensed two warriors charge forward to
stand over him, their chitin-plated jaws open. Vosh’s hazy form
retreated, raising his hands.

"So this is
it, huh?" he demanded. "You're going to kill me."

"You must not
harm a Mujar," the queen said. "You are free to go, and you will
get your women."

Vosh gaped at
her. "That still stands?"

"The Mujar
commanded it."

Vosh turned to
Law. "Hey, kid, I'm sorry if I was rough on you..."

"Go," the
queen ordered. "You are forbidden to return here."

The warriors
jostled forward in a wall of armour and open jaws. Movement around
Law had slowed to the point where he was able to discern shapes
more clearly, allowing him to perceive Vosh backing away.