Song of the Sword (25 page)

But the shard is mine.
The part of her that was the Lady made her fingers tighten around it.
I will not give it up. I will not.
I will not –

Major shoved the pistol harder against Wally’s cheek, so hard the boy cried out in pain.

The part of Ariane that was not the Lady made the only possible choice.

There were other shards. But she had no other friends.

“Take it,” she said, and held out the shard.

“Ariane –” Wally started, then winced and subsided as Major jabbed him again with the barrel of the pistol.

“Drop it,” Major said, no longer trying to Command her.

“Let him go first,” Ariane said.

Major smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. “I can still kill him,” he said. “And
then
take the shard.
Drop it
.”

Ariane held out the shard. She willed her fingers to unclench, to let if fall. For a moment they refused to obey her. Then, convulsively, they snapped open. The shard fell to the ground. She gasped as its song turned discordant, filled with anger that she had let it go.

“Step away from it,” Major said.

Ariane backed away toward the pit.

Still holding Wally, Major shuffled forward. When he stood over the shard, he pulled the pistol away from Wally’s face and shoved the boy so hard he fell and rolled twice. Ariane hurried to him. By the time she had helped him to his feet, Major was holding the shard in his left hand. He barely glanced at it before he shoved it into his pocket. His right hand still held the pistol, now pointed at both of them. Wally stood panting beside her, one hand rubbing his bruised cheek.

Ariane reached desperately for the Lady’s power. All she could call from the mud and snow around her was a fine mist that rose no more than an inch, then subsided.

Major laughed. “Out of steam, are you? Magic takes its toll, girl. Well, save your strength. Your magic can’t harm me anyway: that much of my old power remains. Go home and forget you ever saw the Lady, and I promise, I will leave you alone. But get in my way again – well, I have many servants, both human and...not. You can’t escape them all.”

“You can’t hurt me, or you already would have!” Ariane flung at him, hoping it was the truth.

“It’s true I can’t
kill
you – not yet,” Major said. “Now that you have the Lady’s power, to kill you would be to destroy that power, and the power of Excalibur with it. But I
can
hurt you. Or lock you away where no one will ever find you. Or both.” Major showed his teeth in a savage grin. “And even the dubious protection from death you enjoy doesn’t extend to those around you – as your boyfriend just discovered. As your aunt can be taught.”

Ariane felt the blood drain from her face.

“If you are fortunate – and smart – we will not meet again.” Without turning his back on Ariane, Major edged toward to the pickup in which Wally had arrived. At the open door, he spun around and replaced the pistol in the security chief’s holster, then Commanded Drezner:
“Wake!”

The big guard suddenly sat upright, and Major shouted, “There she is!”

As though he had never been asleep, Drezner leaped out of the truck and drew his gun. “All right, you,” he growled. “You’re coming with me.” He reached into the pickup again and picked up the microphone. “Security Five here,” he said without taking his eyes off Ariane. “I’ve got her.” He frowned, glanced at the pickup’s passenger seat, then looked over at Wally, still sitting on the ground where Rex had thrown him. The frown gave way to a confused look. “Uh, both of them, I mean.”

Behind Drezner, Rex Major bowed once to Ariane, then got into his own pickup and drove away.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sinks, Pools, and Toilets

The sorely puzzled Drezner cuffed Ariane and Wally
. He saw the spreading bruise on the boy’s cheek and pointed. “How’d
that
happen?” But neither Wally nor Ariane answered him.

What’s the point?
Ariane thought. No one but them had seen what Major had done, and Drezner apparently had no idea he’d even been asleep. He’d never believe a wild story of a successful businessman like Rex Major threatening a teenage boy with a stolen gun. Ariane could already see him brushing away his curiosity like an annoying insect.

The radio crackled, and Ariane heard Major’s voice over the open radio channel. “Security? Rex Major here.”

“Mr. Major!” Ursu’s voice crackled back at once. “Where are you?”

“Just driving out of the pit. It looks like your people have your little problem under control.”
A little problem
, Ariane thought bitterly.
That’s all I was.

“This is highly unusual, Mr. Major. I assure you, we rarely have –”

“No need to apologize, Mr. Ursu. I was very impressed by the professionalism of your security staff. Very impressed. And, I might add, impressed by everything else I’ve seen today.”

“I’m pleased to hear it, Mr. Major.” Ursu sounded relieved. “I’d still like to show you the crushing facility, if you’ve –”

“That won’t be necessary – or possible. I’m afraid I must ask to be flown back to Yellowknife immediately.”

“So soon? But there’s so much –”

“I’ve seen enough, Mr. Ursu. I’ll be directing my financial people to make a sizeable investment in your company. Once I’m back in Yellowknife, we can finalize matters.”

A pause. “Really? I mean, that’s wonderful but –”

“Have the pilot meet me at the airfield immediately. I trust that won’t be a problem.”

“No, sir.” Another pause, filled with the indistinct murmur of voices in the background, then Ursu said, “He’s on his way.”

“Thank you, Mr. Ursu. You’ve been most helpful.”

The radio crackled and went silent.

That’s it, then
, Ariane thought.
He’ll be gone before we’re even out of the pit.
She leaned her head back against the tire and closed her eyes, letting her exhaustion take her.

“Taking a nap?” Drezner’s voice snapped her back to wakefulness. “Get up.” He pushed her and Wally through the pickup’s open passenger door and rounded the front of the truck to climb into the driver’s seat. As he started the engine, he glanced at Ariane. “I don’t know how you got away last time, young lady, but don’t think you can manage it again. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Ariane said nothing. She could feel her power seeping back...but slowly, so slowly. Food or sleep might bring it back faster, but there seemed little chance of either.

She’d just have to wait.

They drove out of the pit, passing half a dozen trucks headed the other way, probably full of maintenance workers and mine officials going to have a look at the crippled shovel. Ariane had no doubt she’d cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And I didn’t even manage to hang on to the shard. I actually made it easier for Merlin to get it! Lady of the Lake? What a joke!

She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window and stared at the ground rolling past, wishing she had never heard the singing of the water in Wascana Lake.

~ • ~

Wally glanced at Ariane. It didn’t take a mind reader to see she was upset. He couldn’t blame her. He felt more than a little low himself.
Some Companion of the Order of the Lady. Kidnapped by the villain. Used to blackmail the heroine. I should have stayed home.

He touched his bruised cheek and winced. He’d been bullied his entire life, thanks to being both small and smart, but no one had ever threatened to kill him before – not someone who really meant it anyway (Flish didn’t count). It proved Major’s – Merlin’s – ruthlessness, of course, proved he couldn’t be allowed to get Excalibur...but there was something Major had said, about needing the sword to free his own world from tyranny, and waiting fifteen centuries for this moment, that had struck a chord in Wally. He could almost sympathize with him...probably
would
have sympathized with him, if he had been a character in a book. Locked away without magic for centuries, freed at last but almost powerless, fighting to free his world? When you thought about it that way, Rex Major was a character straight out of a fantasy epic.

Wally snorted.
He’s Merlin.
Of
course
he’s a character straight out of a fantasy epic!

They rolled out over the lip of the pit, and Wally saw a Twin Otter lifting into the sky from the airfield beyond the lake. “Major, headed back to Yellowknife,” Drezner commented. “And after he finishes up his business, he’ll be heading to Toronto.” He leaned forward to see the plane better. “Lucky dog. I’m stuck here six more weeks before I get any leave.”

Finishes up his business?
An idea suddenly blossomed in Wally’s head. What had Major said?
“Once I’m back in Yellowknife, we can finalize matters.”

He’s not heading straight back to Toronto
, he thought.
He could be in Yellowknife for hours. There’s still time!
Wally glanced at Ariane.
We have to talk...

But Ariane didn’t seem to have noticed the exchange. Her head remained pressed against the glass, and her eyes stayed closed. Wally could only imagine her exhaustion. How much energy would it take to lift a slab of rock that size that high and that fast?

He spent the rest of the short ride trying to calculate it, but hadn’t managed to figure it out before they rolled to a stop in front of the main building. Drezner ushered them inside. “The Mounties are on their way. They’ll be here in a couple of hours. Then we’ll get to the bottom of this. For now, you can cool your heels.” He knocked on the glass of the reception booth. The guard inside, who had switched from
Sports Illustrated
to a five-year-old
National Geographic
, looked up and frowned. “What is it, Drez?”

“Is 104 still empty, Ben?”

Ben heaved an exaggerated sigh, put down his magazine, and tapped the computer keyboard to his right. He peered
at the screen. “Until the crew refresh next Saturday.”

“Let me have the key.”

Ben sighed again, hauled his rather large bulk out of the chair, and disappeared from sight. He returned with a keycard and slid it through the small square opening at the bottom of the glass window that separated him from the world. “Is that all?” His tone implied that it had better be.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Drezner slipped the keycard into his shirt pocket, then took Wally’s arm with one hand and Ariane’s with the other. “I’m going to lock you in one of the apartments until the Mounties get here. But don’t think you can use the time to get your stories straight because I’m going to be with you every second.”

To Wally’s surprise, Ariane spoke for the first time since Drezner had loaded them into the pickup. “What if I have to go to the bathroom? Are you going to follow me in?”

“Maybe I should, since you got out of one locked bathroom already,” Drezner growled, but then he unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt and said into it, “Security One, this is Security Five, over.”

“Security One here. You got those kids locked up yet, Drez? Over.”

“Just about. I’m going to put them in 104. But I need a female guard too, to watch the girl in case she...you know. Can you send Jenny down? Over.”

“Roger that, Drez. I’ll have her there in two minutes. Over.”

“Thanks. Over and out.”

Drezner clipped the walkie-talkie back onto his belt. “Satisfied?”

Great
, Wally thought.
Her best chance to get away, and she blew it.

Not that it would help
him
if she pulled a disappearing-from-the-bathroom act again.

Drezner led them down the corridor to the main hallway, and across it through fire doors into what looked for all the world like a hotel – not a fancy Banff Springs kind of hotel, maybe, but at least a Travelodge in Moose Jaw. The door Drezner opened with the keycard, though, led not into a hotel room but into a small – very small – apartment, with its own kitchenette, a separate bedroom and a bathroom located just inside the front door. The main living room featured a couch, a desk, bookshelves, a TV (complete with a video game console) and a couple of big armchairs covered in leather dyed an unfortunate shade of purple.