That was the part of the game being played at present. Scag came and went. His kind could sense and track each other—he knew he was being sought by hunters as savage as he was. He wasn’t trying to evade them. His role simply was to make sure the encounter took place here. The gun Kolki Ming held had been designed for use against dagens, who weren’t easy creatures to kill.
Now Scag was back, and remained, half crouched, great head turning from side to side.
“They’re coming!” Kolki Ming started forward. “Stay here and don’t move!”
Abruptly, two other dagens appeared, to right and left of Scag. He hurled himself on the nearest one.
It became a wild blur of noise and motion. The street filled with the deep howling voices of the mind hounds, sounding like peals of insane laughter. They grappled and slashed, flicked in and out of sight, seeking advantage. Yellow blood smears began to appear on the paving behind them. Scag seemed not at all daunted by the fact that he was fighting two. For moments, it looked to Telzey as if he might kill them unaided. But he was getting help. Kolki Ming shifted this way and that about the spinning tangle, gun in sporadic action, perilously close to the struggle. But the dagens ignored her.
Then one of Scag’s opponents lay on the paving, neck twisted back, unmoving. Scag and the other rolled, locked together, across the street toward Telzey; she watched yellow blood pumping from the side of Scag’s neck and through his jaws. The Alatta followed, gun muzzle now almost touching the back of the other dagen. The beast jerked around toward her, jaws gaping. Scag came to his feet, stood swaying a moment, head lowered, made a gurgling noise, fell.
The other, braced up on its forelegs, paralyzed hindquarters dragging, was trying to reach Kolki Ming. She stepped aside from its lunge. The gun blazed again at its flank. It howled and vanished.
She waited perhaps a minute, gun half lifted. Then she lowered it, turned back to Telzey.
“Gone back to its handler!” She was breathing deeply but easily. “They won’t use that one again! But they’ll learn from its mind before they destroy it that Scag and the other are dead. Now the codes take over!”
Both in practice and theory, the maximum range of a portal shift was considered definitely established. The security of the Elaigar circuit’s control center was based on that. Sections within potential shift range of the center were heavily guarded; a threat to them would bring overall defense systems into instant action.
Alatta scientists had managed to extend the shift range. For ordinary purposes the increase was insignificant. But here specifically, it could allow Alatta agents to bypass guarded sections and reach the control center without alerting defenders. The four agents planted in the center had set up a series of camouflaged portal contacts which led for the most part through sealed areas and ended at the center. The chief responsibility for this part of the operation had been Tscharen’s.
After the work was completed, it became a matter of waiting for the next of the periodic gatherings of Elaigar leaders. Tscharen’s duties as a member of Stiltik’s staff kept him in the circuit; the other three were sent off presently on various assignments. Tscharen evidently decided to add to his security measures and was observed at it. As a result, he and Telzey were picked up by Stiltik when his associates returned to the circuit to carry out the planned operation, and the others were revealed as Alatta agents.
The original scheme had to be abandoned. Stiltik had forced Tscharen to face her in formal combat and outmatched him easily. That made him her personal captive; she could use any information she was able to wring from him to her own advantage. It wasn’t an immediate threat; it should be many hours before she broke down his defenses. But the Elaigar, in general, had been alerted. A direct approach to the control center section would almost certainly be detected.
The Alattas decided to play on the tensions between the Suan Uwin, considerably heightened at the moment because no one was sure of the significance of the events for which Telzey and her group were responsible. Ellorad and Sartes, the other two agents, controlled a number of minds in Boragost’s command. Through them, the feeling spread among both Boragost’s supporters and opponents that since Stiltik had walked the Lion Way in allowing the captured Alatta his chance in ritual combat, Boragost could do no less. He must give personal challenge to the three trapped in the sealed areas—which in turn would draw Stiltik back into the matter.
“You want to fight those monsters?” Telzey had asked, somewhat incredulously.
“I’d sooner not have to face either of them,” said Kolki Ming. “Stiltik, in particular. But that won’t be my part here. With Sartes and Ellorad openly committed, it will seem we’ve accepted defeat and are seeking combat death in preference to capture. That should draw the attention of the Elaigar temporarily off me and give me a chance to get to the control center unnoticed.”
She added, “The fighting will be less uneven than you think. Tscharen had no special combat skills, but we others were trained to be collectors of the Elaigar and are as practiced in the weapon types allowed under their codes as any of them. Boragost might prefer to hunt us down with a sufficient force of Elaigar and Tolants, but his prestige is at stake. He’s issued his challenge by sending his dagens in against ours, and that part is now concluded, with neither side retaining an advantage. We’ll accept the challenge shortly by showing ourselves. Boragost is bound then by the codes.”
She’d cut an opening in the heel of one of Telzey’s shoes and was assembling a miniature pack of portal keys to fit into it. Each of the Alattas carried such a concealed set, and, in case of accidents, a more obvious but less complete pack of standard size such as the one taken from Tscharen. That was what had enabled them to withdraw so quickly from Stiltik’s initial attack.
Telzey said, “It was the Alattas who were watching me on Orado, wasn’t it?”
“I was,” said Kolki Ming.
“Why? After you switched me into the circuit, you said there were people who wanted to see me.”
“There are. We haven’t as much information as we want about the type of psis currently in the Federation. We’ve avoided contact with them here, and even the Elaigar have had the sense to keep away from the institutions of the Psychology Service. But some now believe that the power of the Psychology Service is based chiefly on its use of psi machines rather than on its members’ ability as psis—in fact, that psis of the original human strain simply don’t develop a degree of ability that can compare with our own. And that can become dangerous thinking. We have our fools, as you do. Some of them might begin to assume that the Federation could be challenged with impunity.”
“You don’t think so then?” Telzey said.
“I happen to know better. But we wanted to be able to establish the fact beyond question. I learned on Orado that a Sattaram handler had set his dagen on a prying human psi and that the dagen then had inexplicably disappeared. That psi seemed worth further study, particularly after I’d identified you and discovered you hadn’t yet attained your physical maturity. There also seemed to be a connection between you and the Psychology Service. It was decided to pick you up for analysis by experts, if it could be done safely. Then the Tinokti matter came up and you transferred here. That gave me the opportunity to bring you into the circuit. We expected to conclude our operation quickly, and take you along.”
She added, “A lifetime of exile among us wasn’t planned for you. You’d have remained unconscious throughout most of the analysis and presently have found yourself on Orado again, with nothing of significance concerning us to relate. I don’t know what the arrangement will be now, assuming we survive the next hour or two.”
Ellorad and Sartes arrived soon afterwards. They’d been checking on developments through their mind contacts. Boragost had expressed doubts publicly that the Alatta agents would choose combat. However, if they did, he’d be pleased to meet them in the Hall of Challenge and add their heads to his minor trophies. Stiltik wouldn’t involve herself until Boragost had fought at
least once.
“Boragost will have a witness?” Kolki Ming asked.
“Yes. Lishon, the Adjutant, as usual,” said Sartes. “Stiltik, also as usual, will fight without witness—a hunt in the Kaht Chasm.”
Ellorad added, “Sartes will face Boragost. I’ll be his witness there. We don’t want to bring Stiltik into it too quickly.” He glanced at Telzey. “When we show ourselves, she may learn for the first time that she’s lost her human captive and grow hungry for action. But a Chasm hunt can be extended, and I’ll make it thoroughly extensive. You should have the time to do what’s necessary.”
Kolki Ming nodded. “Yes, I should.”
“Then let’s determine our route! When we’re seen, we should be within a few minutes of the Hall of Challenge, then out of sight again until Sartes and I actually enter the Hall. That will leave Stiltik no time to interfere with the present arrangement.”
When they set off, the Alattas wore the short-sleeved shirts, trunks and boots which had been concealed by their Sparan garments. Long knives hung from their belts next to guns. Combat under code conditions allowed only weapons depending on physical dexterity and strength, and the weapons of psi. Guns were worn by witnesses as a formal guarantee that the codes would be observed. Principals didn’t carry them.
Ellorad and Sartes strode ahead, moving with relaxed ease. They looked formidable enough, and if, to Telzey, even those long powerful bodies appeared no real match for the Sattaram giants, they should know what they were attempting—which might be only to give Kolki Ming time to conclude the operation.
Boragost’s technicians had been at work in fringe sections of the sealed areas they’d been able to penetrate, setting up a scanning system. Kolki Ming had followed their progress on her instruments. The route she’d outlined would take them through such a section. Telzey didn’t know they’d reached it until a Sattaram voice abruptly addressed them in the Elaigar language. They stopped.
The deep harsh voice went on, speaking slowly and with emphasis. When it finished, Ellorad replied, then started toward the end of the section. The others followed; and as soon as they’d left the section, they moved quickly. Kolki Ming said to Telzey, “That was Boragost’s witness! The challenge has been acknowledged by both sides, and we’ve been told to select the one who is to face Boragost first and have him come at once with his witness to the Hall. It’s the situation we wanted!”
They hurried after the men, came after another three sections into a room where the two had turned on a viewscreen. The screen showed a wide hall with black and silver walls. Two Sattarams stood there unmoving. The one farthest from the screen wore a gun belt. The other balanced a huge ax on his shoulder.
“They entered just now,” Ellorad said. “Sartes is pleased to see Boragost has selected the long ax. He thinks he can spin out that fight until the Suan Uwin is falling over his own feet!”
The two left immediately. Sartes had removed his gun, but Ellorad retained his.
XII
Kolki Ming said, “That hall is only two portals from here, but the Elaigar haven’t been able to establish access to these sections. Boragost doesn’t know we can see him. We’ll wait till the combat begins, then be off on our route at once.”
Telzey nodded mutely. Boragost looked almost as huge as Korm and seemed to her to show no indications of aging. The handle of the ax he held must be at least five feet long.
Ellorad and Sartes appeared suddenly in the screen, moving toward the center of the hall. Sartes walked ahead; Ellorad followed a dozen steps behind him and to the right. The two Sattarams stood motionless, watching them. A third of the way down the hall, Sartes and Ellorad stopped. Ellorad spoke briefly. Lishon rumbled a reply. Then Sartes drew his knife, and Boragost grinned, took the ax in both hands and started unhurriedly forward—
Kolki Ming sucked in her breath, sprang back from the screen, darted from the room. Telzey sprinted after her, mind in a whirl, not quite sure of what she’d seen. There’d been the plum-colored shapes of Tolants suddenly on either side of the great hall. Three, it seemed, on each side—yes, six in all! As she saw them, each had an arm drawn back, was swinging it forward, down. They appeared to be holding short sticks. She’d had a blurred glimpse of Ellorad snatching his gun from its holster, then falling forwards, of Sartes already on the floor—
Kolki Ming was thirty feet ahead of her, racing down a passage, then disappeared through a portal at the end. Telzey passed through the portal moments later, saw the Alatta had nearly doubled the distance between them, was holding her gun. Kolki Ming checked suddenly then, vanished through the wall on her right.
That portal brought Telzey out into the great hall they’d been watching.
There, Kolki Ming’s gun snarled and snarled.
Lishon was on his side, kicking, bellowing. Boragost had dropped to hands and knees, his great head covered with blood, shaking it slowly as if dazed. Smaller plum-colored bodies lay and rolled here and there on the floor. Two still darted squealing along the right side of the hall. The gun found one, flung him twisting through the air. The other turned abruptly, disappeared through the wall—
Portals. The Tolant troop had received some signal, stepped simultaneously into the hall through a string of concealed portals lining its sides . . .
Boragost collapsed forward on his face, lay still.
Kolki Ming glanced around at Telzey, eyes glaring from a dead-white face, then hurried past Boragost toward Lishon. Telzey ran after her, skirting Sartes on the floor, saw something small, black and bushy planted in Sartes’s shoulder . . . Throwing sticks, poisoned darts.
Kolki Ming’s gun spoke again. Lishon roared, in pain or rage. The Alatta reached him, bent over him, straightened, and now his gun was in her other hand. She thrust it under her belt, started back to Boragost, Telzey trailing her, stood looking down at the giant, prodded his ribs with her boot. “Dead,” she said in a flat voice.
She looked about the hall, wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “All dead but Lishon, who shares Boragost’s dishonor, and a frightened Tolant. Now we wait. Not long, I think! The Tolant will run in his panic to the Elaigar.” She glanced down at Telzey. “Tolant poison—our two died as they fell. Three darts in each. Boragost didn’t like the look of the Lion Way today! If we hadn’t been watching, his scheme would have worked. The Tolants and their darts would have been gone, the punctures covered by ax strokes. We—”
She broke off.
A wide flight of stairs rose up to the rear of the hall beyond the point where Lishon lay. It had appeared to end against a blank wall. Now a great slab in that wall was sliding sideways—an opening door linked to an opening portal. A storm of deep voices and furious emotion burst through it simultaneously; then, as the opening widened, the Elaigar poured through in a crowd. The ones in the front ranks checked as they caught sight of Kolki Ming and Telzey and turned, outbellowing the others. The motion slowed; abruptly there was silence.
Kolki Ming, eyes blazing, flung up her arms, knife in one hand, gun in the other, shouted a dozen words at them.
One of the Sattarams roared back, tossing his head. The pack poured down the steps into the hall. The first to reach Sartes’s body bent, plucked the dart from Sartes’s shoulder, another from his side, held them up.
At that, there was stillness again. The faces showed shocked fury. The Sattaram who had replied to Kolki Ming growled something. A minor disturbance in the dense ranks followed. An Otessan emerged, holding a Tolant by the neck. The Tolant began to squeal. The Elaigar lifted him, clamped the Tolant’s ankles together in one hand, swung the squirming creature around and up in a long single-armed sweep, down again. The squeals stopped as the body slapped against the flooring and broke.
The Sattaram looked over at Lishon, rumbled again. Three others moved quickly toward Lishon. His eyes were wide and staring as two hauled him to his feet, held him upright by the arms. The third drew a short knife, shoved Lishon’s chin back with the heel of his hand, sa
nk the knife deep into Lishon’s throat, drew it sideways.
Dead Boragost didn’t feel it, but he got his throat cut next.
They were elsewhere then in a room, Kolki Ming and Telzey, with something more than a dozen Sattarams. They didn’t appear to be exactly prisoners at present. Their key packs had been taken from them—the obvious ones—but Kolki Ming retained her weapons. The Elaigar codes were involved; and from the loud and heated exchange going on, it appeared the codes rarely had been called upon to deal with so complicated a situation. Shields were tight all around. Telzey could pick up no specific impressions, but the general trend of the talk was obvious. Kolki Ming spoke incisively now and then. When she did, the giants listened—with black scowls, most of them; but they listened. She was an enemy, but her ancestors had been Elaigar, and she and her associates had shown they would abide by the codes. Whereupon a Suan Uwin of the Lion People, aided by his witness, shamefully broke the codes to avoid facing Alattas in combat!
A damnable state of affairs! There was much scratching of shaggy scalps. Then Kolki Ming spoke again, now at some length. The group began turning their heads to stare at Telzey, standing off by the wall with a Sattaram who seemed to have put himself in charge of her. This monster addressed Telzey when Kolki Ming stopped speaking.
“The Alatta,” he rumbled, “says you’re an agent of the Psychology Service. Is that true?”
Telzey looked up at him, startled by his fluent use of translingue. She reminded herself then that in spite of his appearance he might be barely older than she—could, not much more than a year ago, have been an Otessan moving about among the people of the Hub in something like Sparan disguise.
“Yes, it’s true,” she said carefully.
There was muttering among the others. Apparently more than a few knew translingue.
“The Alatta further says,” Telzey’s Sattaram resumed, “that it was you who turned Stiltik’s dagen on her in her headquarters, that you also stole her omnipacks and made yourself mind master of her chief Tolant as well as of Korm Nyokee, the disgraced one. And that it was you and your slaves who drew Boragost’s patrol into ambush and killed them. Finally, that you chose to restore to Korm Nyokee the honor he’d lost by letting him seek combat death. Are all these things true?”
Complete Short Fiction (Jerry eBooks) Page 242