Sword Empire (24 page)

“You made mistakes before,” Dral added a word of warning. “But your record is otherwise sound. You and your crew have another chance to serve the empire.”

Raven nodded. It made sense that they would want him out of the city and off the planet as soon as possible. Two problems would then be solved with one stroke. There was to be no mention of Karn, no explanations, and no questions invited or answered. Karn was dead, and now there was nothing that would bring him back, and Raven was not a man given to empty gestures. In any other circumstances, he would have sought a full explanation of Karn's death, and a spearhead role in the all-out attack on Alpha. However, he knew that at this moment in time he was in no position to refuse the offer, which he guessed had been orchestrated by Dral. When he returned from Earth, the war with Alpha would be over. Then, he determined grimly, he would make a full investigation into the death of his old mentor.

He made the open palm salute and said formally, “I hear the command of the empire, and I obey.”

Maryam had listened closely to every word, and now she felt faint with overpowering waves of relief and joy. Not only were they safe, but she was going home, home to Earth, and home to Karakhor. All the other implications of what had happened here were momentarily lost to her. As the meaning of Raven's orders sank in, her heart sang and her soul soared. She almost swooned with delight and Taron had to grab at her shoulder to hold her steady. She was going home to Karakhor!

 

 

 

As Jayna was thrown unceremoniously into the waiting sky-car, a third guard appeared from the doorway of the Green Fish. In one hand he held Jayna's shoulder pack, and in the other he held her communicator.

“The evidence,” he called loudly to the two-man crew of the patrol car. “The bitch is an Alphan spy.”

Kananda was on his feet, his sword drawn as he moved swiftly to the doorway of the Silver Blade. Zela was as fast and her hand on his shoulder checked him for a split second.

“We must get her out of there,” Kananda snapped over his shoulder.

“No.” Zela snapped back. “We take the sky-car. It's the only way.”

Kananda hesitated, his mind racing. This was an idea that had not occurred to him, and yet suddenly, despite the odds against them, it made perfect sense.

“You must take the three on the ground,” Zela ordered grimly. “I will take the two in the car.”

Her long dagger was in her right hand and she was moving past him. There was no time to argue and Kananda raced at her side. They were through the door and halfway to the sky-car before they were spotted. The three city guards were conferring with the two men inside the patrol car, but by now a small knot of spectators had assembled to gawp, including Lars who had also emerged from the Green Fish. It was the tall boatman who saw them coming and shouted a warning.

Zela veered slightly to the left, aiming a course that would take her to the left-hand side of the sky-car, and at the same time keeping her out of sight of the men inside. Kananda charged to the right-hand side of the vehicle, in full view and heading straight for the three guardsmen who had brought Jayna out from the inn.

“Stand! Stand for Karakhor!” He roared a defiant war cry. The words belonged to a distant planet that had no meaning for any of those who heard it, but it distracted every eye from Zela and brought the full attention of the City Guard to his own charging figure. Even the crew of the sky-car were twisting their heads to seek him out.

Two of the black-leather-clad guardsmen already had their swords drawn and leaped forward together to meet Kananda's whirlwind attack. Kananda's blade smashed through them, one cut almost severing a sword-arm and reducing the odds against him to two. He whirled lightly on his heel as the second man also turned, and the narrow street echoed with the deafening ring of steel upon steel as their two blades cut and parried with blinding speed.

The third guard dropped Jayna's backpack and her communicator. With his right hand, he drew his sword and with his left, he cleared his hand lazer from its holster. The two movements were performed together in perfect synchronization, but initially his comrade blocked his line of fire. For a moment he danced undecided on the edge of the field of combat. One part of him lusted for a prestige kill with the sword, another saw the practical wisdom of finishing the business with a quick blast from the lazer.

While the third guard made up his mind, Zela had reached the cabin door on the blind side of the sky-car. She flung it open, and the startled pilot whipped round in his seat to face her. Zela grabbed his shoulder with her left hand and heaved him toward her with all her strength, pulling him out and straight onto the thrusting dagger in her left hand. The blade cut through the lacing securing his leather tunic and hammered up below the breastbone to his heart. His shocked eyes glazed and he was dead before the single gasping cry of pain had erupted from his throat.

Zela let him fall to the road. There was no chance to retrieve her dagger, but that had never been her intention. Instead, she snatched at the lazer holstered at the dead man's hip.

The second man in the cabin had already drawn his hand lazer, but like the third guard on the ground, he was holding back, expecting the sword duel to end in the favour of their companion, but ready to fire if it did not. Now he too twisted in his seat to face this new and equally unexpected attack, but he was already a split second too late. As he tried to swing his lazer across his own body to bring it to a new firing position, Zela fired a single shot that blasted him out the opposite door.

Swift as a jungle cat, she swung herself up into the pilot seat of the sky-car.

The two remaining guards both saw what was happening. The man with the lazer swung to face the sky-car, aiming quickly at Zela. In the same instant, Kananda saw an opening and ran his blade through the throat of his distracted opponent. Turning, he charged the last surviving guardsman, drawing his attention with another howl of, “Stand for Karakhor.”

The last guardsman twisted his body once more, leveling his lazer at Kananda, but by now he had missed his chance. Zela blasted him with a single shot before he could pull the trigger and he spun away and fell in a sprawling heap.

Kananda braked to a stop, breathing heavily with his sword in his hand. His blood was up and he looked for Lars. The boatman was still standing as though transfixed, staring with horror, but as their eyes met the sudden inrush of fear brought him back to life and he turned to flee back inside the inn.

Kananda would have sprung in furious pursuit, but Zela's voice stopped him.

“Kananda, no! We must get out of here.”

In the same moment, she fired the engine of the sky-car and its wing blades began to whirl above them. Kananda hesitated, then jumped over the intervening bodies and ran to join her. As he swung up into the seat beside her, the engines roared into full life.

“Can you ride this thing?” he asked doubtfully.

“If you mean can I fly it, the answer is yes.” Zela grinned at him as her hands moved deftly over the controls. “Gheddan technology is almost identical to our own. They stole most of it from us in the first place.”

The rotating blade-wings spun faster as the craft powered up, and then the sky-car began to ascend. Startled faces still stared at them as they lifted off the ground, but with five of the City Guard scattered limp and bloodied along the street, no one dared to interfere. They cleared the tops of the buildings and Zela turned their nose north. Giving the motors full power she sped toward the city's outer walls. Darkness was falling swiftly now. The lights of the city twinkled below and the last shreds of a dying sunset were fading on their left.

Within minutes, they were flying over the great, black bulwark of the city wall, with the rearing sword blade that marked the river entrance to the city on their right. Zela continued to follow the course of the river to the north for a few more minutes, until it made a great right hand loop. Here she dropped down low, still heading due north as though to straighten out the bend of the loop. Then she abruptly cut out all their lights, letting the sky-car fly in darkness for another minute before making a tight curve to their left and heading due east across the night sands of the open desert.

She turned to smile at Kananda, relaxing her concentration for the first time since becoming airborne. “The guards we attacked had no time to get a message back to their base, so with luck we've got a small head start on any pursuit. We're in okay with the fuel. The tank is full and we might just have enough to get us all the way back to the skimmer.”

“The sky-chariot will fly such a long distance?” Kananda was still amazed by the wonders of this strange new world.

Zela nodded. “If I can skirt the Kaz-ar space base without running into any more trouble, then it should get us across the Gar Desert and back to the Black Swamp River. The direct route is not so far when you don't have to walk, or travel on a slow old riverboat.”

Kananda gazed with admiration at the control panel switches and screens, remembering the even more bewildering control complex of her space ship. “You say that all this is Alpha technology.” He fumbled slightly with the unfamiliar word. “And that the Gheddans stole it all from you.”

“Well, they didn't exactly steal all of it,” Zela said wryly. “A lot of it was foolishly given to them. There was once a group of naive scientists and philosophers on Alpha who believed that we had a moral responsibility to share our discoveries with Ghedda. They dreamed of a future where both civilizations pooled their talents and resources for the benefit of all, and they reasoned that Alpha must make the first steps to make this dream come true.”

“So they gave your secrets to your enemies!” Kananda was shocked.

Zela nodded sadly. “It was a wonderful, beautiful dream. But Ghedda was not ready for such a dream. They are still locked into the culture of the sword. Our great benevolent thinkers, our prophets of Love and Unity, were premature in their hopes. Now they are reviled as traitors, and it may be that they have consigned us all to oblivion.”

She was silent again as Kananda struggled to understand the full, ironic implications of what she had said. Those who sought peace had sown the seeds for war. The gods here, or the One God Behind All Gods as Zela and her father proclaimed, seemed as frivolous as those on Earth. He wondered what old Kaseem would make of that?

While they talked, the sky-car had raced across the black, undulating contours of the desert. The stars were now bright in the brilliant, cloud-free sky above them, and starlight glittered off their steel wing-blades. Far to the south now was a dim, earth-bound glow that marked the site of the Kaz-ar space port. Zela's eyes searched all their horizons, but constantly flickered back to that southern glow. They were well clear of the city, so if any pursuit followed them now it would come from Kaz-ar.

A low groan sounded from behind them, and guiltily they both looked back over their shoulders. Jayna had stirred for the first time, still sprawled on her back on the rear seats where she had been thrown.

“See to her,” Zela said, a little angry with herself for having forgotten their injured companion.

Kananda hastened to obey, climbing awkwardly through the cramped and narrow gap between the front seats. He had been desperate to rescue Jayna, but in the heat of the attempt and the excitement of their escape, he had given her no more thought. Now he too was slightly ashamed of having neglected her and he hurried to make amends.

There was blood at her mouth and nostrils, and severe bruising on the side of her face and around her eyes. Her shirt had been ripped away from one bared breast and there were deep red scratches across her shoulder. She looked as though she had been crudely but badly beaten with bare fists.

He gently eased her into a more comfortable sitting position and then began to examine her for any more serious damage. He ran both hands gently up and down her arms and then her legs, and was relieved to find no indications that any of her limbs might be broken. Sliding both hands inside her shirt, he made the same light-fingered examination of her rib cage, and at that moment she opened the one eye that was not swollen shut and smiled weakly at him.

“Be my guest, at least you are more gentle than the last one.”

Kananda was relieved to see that she had regained consciousness. “Where are you in pain?” he asked.

“Everywhere.” Jayna groaned and winced as she sat more upright. “But I think I am all in one piece.” She tentatively drew a slow, deep breath. Her breasts rose and fell again, and then she forced another small smile as she pushed Kananda's hands away. “All ribs intact,” she assured him.

“What happened?” Kananda asked her.

“They were waiting for me. They were in our room and they had already tipped out our packs and found my communicator. They slapped me around, wanting to know where the two of you were. Then they decided to call down a patrol car and get me out of the way while they waited for you both to return. They beat me up some more while they waited, and that is as much as I can remember.” She looked around the cabin of the sky-car, and then through the window at the night sky and the desert below. “How did I get here?”

Kananda explained and she heard him through without interruption. “I don't remember seeing Lars,” she said at last. “They must have kept him out of sight when I walked back into their trap.”

“I should have killed him,” Kananda said sourly. “Before I went in search of you, I should have run him through.”

Jayna shrugged. “There are always some loose ends. But at least I am alive and free, and I know just how to thank you.”

Kananda stared at her uncertainly, and even Zela half-turned her head to look back at them with doubtfully raised eyebrows.

Jayna laughed. “Kananda, I have news of your sister.”