robert Charrette - Arthur 02 - A King Beneath the Mountain (34 page)

He waited until the trio went through the door and were gone, then waited some more before stepping out on the path. He looked around, hoping Sue would see him and emerge Irom the brush to join him. She didn't.

Softly, he called her name.

She didn't respond. Had she abandoned him?

He didn't think she'd take off on her own until she was sure that her way to the outside world was clear.

So where was she?

He stepped back into the shelter of the brush. There was no sense standing around in the open.

Should he wait for her to come back or should he go looking for her? If she was coming back, where would she come back to? They hadn't made any plans for a rendezvous. He'd have to go looking. But this place was huge; they could both stumble around for hours without running into each other. He didn't dare shout to her and she wouldn't dare either; there might be other dwarves about.

There had to be some way he could locate her without bringing down every dwarf in the place. If only he had some thermal goggles, he might spot her hiding place in the greenery by scanning for her body heat. But he didn't have thermal goggles and wishing for them wouldn't get him a pair; he might as well wish he could summon her by magic.

Then again, maybe he could. He hadn't been able to replicate the magic he'd done in the otherworld. Even though he had not gotten any effects, he'd almost always had a sense that
something
was happening when he tried. He remembered the feeling of vibrancy he'd had when he first returned to the mundane world; there was something of that sense here. He hadn't felt it anywhere else in the dwarves' halls, but he felt it here. Maybe a spell would work here.

If he knew one.

Which he didn't.

He felt useless. Was there anything he could try? Sometimes in fantasy stories, a magician could find someone just by thinking about them. A piece of clothing helped, a nail paring or lock of hair was even better; something with a psychic link to the person. John didn't have any of those things, but he could try anyway. All he could do was fail.

Crouched in the brush, he concentrated on Spillway Sue. He tried not to think about how foolish he'd look if Sue or a dwarf walked up on him. He tried to think only of Sue, picturing her as well as he could. He saw her standing in front of him, bare-chested and pants open. A hint of blue panties drew his eyes down. This wasn't the sort of picture magicians got in fantasy vids.

A vague sense of presence impinged on his embarrassment. He opened his eyes and looked guiltily to his right.

No one was there.

This was stupid.

He'd just look and listen for her; sooner or later she'd show herself. The perimeter path stayed deserted. Slowly, with nothing to disturb them, the insects returned to their workaday chorus around him. John waited, growing more fretful. Had he made a mistake in deciding to wait?

The line of his gaze kept drifting off to the right. Waiting was getting him nowhere. He stood slowly to stretch his cramped muscles and started moving through the brush at the edge of the woods, following the perimeter path. Without understanding why, he found himself scanning the wall rather than the forest. The stretch of panels, grilles, and pipes didn't look any different than the wall he'd been staring at from where he had hidden until he noticed that the colored strips tied on one of the vent grilles weren't moving; when there was air flowing, the strips fluttered with its passage. What was different here?

John emerged from the woods and crossed the path to examine the vent. The opening was covered by a grille about two feet across. The top of the vent was about head height for a dwarf; John had to crouch to squint in between the slats. The inside was pitch-black and he couldn't see anything. Moving his hand across the surface of the grille, he discovered that there was a slight airflow, but only in the corners.

Something was blocking the vent.

"Sue, come on out. They're gone."

She didn't answer.

Was she in there, or was he just making a fool of himself?

He found the latch. It was an automatic closure type and hadn't quite caught. He popped it open and the grille swung wide on its hinge without any urging from him.

The increase in light slanting into the duct was enough for him to make out a huddled form. He recognized the running shoes. She didn't respond when he called her name, so he reached in and grabbed her ankle. Her other leg stirred in a weak attempt to kick his hand away from her. He just hung on tighter and grabbed her other ankle.

He pulled her out. She was a deadweight. What was wrong? He felt better when she began to struggle feebly against his attempts to get her away from the vent.

"Take it easy," he told her. "It's just me."

"Jack?"

She sounded as orbital as a tapvid junkie, but she stopped struggling. Her knees were too rubbery to support her, so he helped her sit down. John didn't like the look of her reddened skin. Her breathing was uneven, too. She was sick, or something.

"Got sleepy," she mumbled. "Not real bright ta sleep."

"You're going to be okay." He hoped he wasn't lying.

"Was gonna hide. Couldn't stay awake."

"You just sit here a minute."

"Okay," she agreed lethargically.

John went back and stuck his head in the vent. The air in the duct was moving freely again; he could feel it on his face. There was a faint odor of old sweat and rotting food. He had a vision of a locker room inside a trash bin and realized that he was getting a little light-headed, Not much oxygen. He pulled his head out of the airflow.

A little woozy, he sat down beside Sue. She leaned over and laid her head on his arm.

"Wha' happened?" she asked in a voice that sounded a little more normal.

"You crawled into that vent to hide?"

"Only place I could see ta hide."

"You passed out in there."

"Passed out? I thought I was falling asleep."

"I think it's some kind of gas vent. Maybe carbon dioxide for the plants. It's sure not normal air. You're lucky I figured out where you went."

"Ya got me out?"

"Yeah."

She didn't say anything for a while. "Ya coulda left me there."

"Why would I do that?"

"Why not? I don't mean nothing to ya. Ya coulda gone back ta Bear and pretended nothing had happened."

Her hand slipped across his rib cage and she gave him a brief one-armed hug.

"We gotta get going," she said. "They're gonna come looking for us soon. We gotta get outta here 'fore that."

"You're not in very good shape," he protested. Though she was breathing and talking almost normally, he was still worried about her color.

Using the wall as a brace, she pushed herself up onto her feet. "I'll survive."

"I think we should go back. Maybe they haven't missed us. We could try another day."

"Got this far." She took a couple of wobbly steps before putting out an arm to hold up the wall. "I ain't gonna give up yet."

He hadn't really thought she would. "Try the main path

again?"

"Sounds good."

She started back toward the path, but stayed near the wall, using it to steady herself. John caught up with her and put his arm around her shoulder.

She looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her lace. She slipped her arm around his waist.

"Let's go," she said.

They had almost reached the opening in the greenery when the door in the perimeter wall opened. There were two dwarves on the other side. The dwarves looked surprised to see John and Sue; John was certainly surprised to see the dwarves.

"It's Reddy," the blond dwarf said. "Grab him!"

His dark-haired companion lunged through the doorway. John disentangled himself from Sue. The dwarf ignored the staggering girl and came at John. Sue stuck out a leg and tripped him, but it cost her her balance. Both of them went down, the dwarf pitching toward John. John swung his fist at the dwarf's head as he fell forward. The shock of contact burst through his hand as he connected. The dwarf hit the ground and sprawled limply. The blond dwarf came forward more cautiously, moving around the fallen Sue.

Something in Sue's hand reflected light: her stolen weight bar. With a sprawling lunge, she swung her weapon and managed to catch the dwarf in the shin. He howled and began to dance, hopping on one leg. John shoved him and sent him tumbling back through the doorway. Sue scrambled to her feet and started slapping at the wall in a vain attempt to activate the door mechanism. John stepped up beside her and ran his hand along the frame; he couldn't always find a door's hidden control panel. This time he did. He triggered it. The door slid shut, cutting off the dwarf's angry shouts.

They still had one opponent on their side of the door. Sue gave the fallen dwarf a nudge with her foot. He groaned, but made no effort to move.

"You're in it now, Tall Jack." She tugged on John's arm. "We're both going now, or staying forever."

John let himself be dragged into the forest. He kept looking back at the fallen dwarf, hoping the guy wasn't totally concussed. Sue let go of his arm and with a "Come on!" started trotting down the path. John couldn't bring himself to go. He stood in the shadows of the trees, staring at the dwarf he had taken down.

The door opened again, revealing three dwarves this time, the blond one and two new guys in gray coveralls. All were grim-faced, and all had pistols in their hands. Eyes roving, they came through the doorway. They did not seem to spot John standing still in the forest gloom. The three stopped by their fallen comrade and holstered their weapons. The two newcomers kept watch while the blond stooped over and examined the prone dwarf.

"Good thing Corey has a thick skull," the blond said.

"Gesham, you figure they went into the arbor?" one of the standing dwarves asked.

"Where else?" Gesham said. "You and Lorenkin go get them."

The two dwarves in gray nodded and started for the path, toward John. They had deadly grim expressions on their faces.

The dwarves hesitated at the edge of the path, as if reluctant to step under the arms of the trees. When Lorenkin started forward, the other stopped him with a touch on his arm, whispering something that sounded like, "Don't spook him." Lorenkin gave him a look, then squinted in John's general direction.

John felt as if he were in the petrified forest hunt scene from
Stellar Wars,
but at least Zan had had a tranq gun to take out the guys chasing him.

"I don't see anything," Lorenkin whispered.

"I do," the other said. He pulled something from his belt and pointed it toward John. There was a sharp crack and something pocked the tree next to John.

A bullet! That was a bullet!

Muscles frozen, John stared at the splintered wound in the

tree.

They were shooting bullets at him. Real bullets! No tranq guns here.

He stumbled a step backward. Lorenkin clearly caught the motion; he reached for his weapon. The other dwarf fired again. Chips of bark pattered on John as another wound appeared in the tree.

Why were they shooting at him?

John didn't think it wise to hang around and ask. He turned tail and ran, taking the path to run faster. Behind him he heard the dwarves start after him. With his longer legs he was by far the faster runner. He increased the distance between them easily.

But where was he going?

He turned a corner and found Sue standing in the path.

"I thought I heard shots," she said.

"You did." He reached out and spun her around as he passed her. "Run!"

She started after him, too.

When he came to a fork in the path, he didn't stop to ponder which might be the better way; he took whichever looked to offer a better path for running. He slowed his speed a little so that Sue could keep up, but he didn't stop running until he look a turn and nearly overran a figure standing in the middle of the path.

All he could do was stare.

Sue came around the turn at full speed and ran right into John.

"Jesus, what'd ya stop for! Ya crazy—"

Her words stopped as she saw why John had stopped. She stared openmouthed at the figure who stood in their way. His appearance alone would have been a shock, even without the shifting multicolored glow that surrounded him.

He was dressed flamboyantly and looked every inch the part of a fairy-tale elven prince, from his features to his clothes. The pointy ears, flowing silver hair, and slanted, opalescent eyes were familiar, but John had never seen the glittering mail, green thigh boots, and flowing cape. The tall elf bowed in an out-of-place, courtly way to Sue.

"Bennett is the name," he said. "In time to be of service, I trust."

John couldn't believe it. He'd never seen Bennett dressed so oddly, but he had no trouble recognizing him. But the outfit? The elf might have stepped out of a bad fantasy vid, except that Bennett was not an actor, and the swirling colors behind him were no Hollywood special effect.