by Mick Farren
'Okay, okay, I'll take a chance, just this one time.'
'You are going to have to get off the train very soon.'
'On your say so?'
'On the captain's say so, as a matter of fact. A number of rebels are already in pursuit of this train. They have photon cannons and the fastest, rough country flippers they could find in the city. Their plan is to stop the train as it comes out of Similla Tunnel and arrest you and the ex-president. This information has already been telegraphed down the line to the captain and he plans to put you and Chrystiana-Nex off before he takes the train into the tunnel.'
Phaid was puzzled.
'You say he's going to put me off too? Why should he do that? Chrystiana-Nex is the only one that's wanted.'
'You are too, now. They've found out all about the phoney wanted posters. They know that you're a fake and a traitor and they want your head.'
'I suppose you didn't have anything to do with them finding out about me, did you.'
'Will you not start that again.'
Phaid signalled for another drink.
'Okay, but I don't call it very helpful to tell me I'm going to be thrown off the tram just before Similla Tunnel. That's well into the edge of the cold. We'll be lucky not to freeze to death.'
'You won't freeze to death.'
'Thanks for your confidence.'
The steward poured Phaid another drink. He had obviously caught enough of the tone of Phaid and Dreen's conversation to keep out of it. Phaid swallowed the cocktail in one gulp and straightaway wished that he hadn't. Once again, he started to slide off his stool.
'If that's all you've got to tell me, I think that I'll be going.'
'There's more if you wait.'
There is?'
'You want to hear it?'
Phaid sighed and nodded.
'Okay, I'll listen.'
'Once you get off the train, follow the line back, away from the tunnel. After you've walked for about an hour, you'll come to an old hunters' trail. It's rough, but it's still clearly defined. It runs due south.'
'Due south takes us further and further into the cold.'
'It also takes you directly to Bluehaven on the edge of the ice plain. There you will find an iceboat to take you clear across to Tharmier country, which I belive was your original destination.'
Phaid looked troubled.
'I'd be a lot happier following your directions if you told me how you knew all this.'
'I can't tell you. That would be giving away the secrets of my trade.'
'And what is your trade, Dreen? That's another thing I've never found out.'
'Information, Master Phaid. My trade is information. Sometimes I buy it, sometimes I sell it and sometimes I give it away. In your case I'm giving it away.'
'Why?'
'I like to think of it as an investment.'
'I suppose I should thank you.'
That's very gracious of you. There is one more thing that you should know.'
'What's that?'
'Your pursuers are being led by people you know.'
'Who?'
'Your one-time companion Makartur and the woman who calls herself Flame.'
Phaid slowly and carefully set his drink on the bar. He felt sick.
'So those two are after us.'
'They are particularly after you. The man Makartur has sworn to kill you.'
Phaid was slowly and unhappily realising that, once again, he'd landed right in the middle of yet another horrific situation. Very soon he'd be out in the cold and in the open with an experienced warrior on his trail. He rounded bitterly on Dreen.
'Why don't you tell me what you really want? You can't be telling me all this for nothing. What are you after?'
Dreen shook his head. He looked genuinely sad.
'I'm afraid I can't tell you that. My masters do not want you to know their aims as yet. All I can tell you is that you may receive help if you manage to reach Bluehaven.
'And who are your masters?'
'Wait until Bluehaven, friend Phaid. Wait until Bluehaven.'
Phaid put out a hand to grab Dreen, but the small man slipped off the stool.
'You'll find out in Bluehaven if you haven't guessed already.'
Chapter 25
Just as Dreen had predicted, the captain himself had come to the suite with a small squad of security men. He had been polite but firm. He was slowing the train to a stop and he expected Phaid and Chrystiana-Nex to get off. There was no space for argument. The security men bowed and smiled, but the small, discreet blasters under their coats made it very clear that things were going to be exactly as the captain ordered.
The captain withdrew, leaving Phaid, Edelline-Lan and Streetlife to figure out how to make the best of their fates. For Phaid, it was easy, if less than pleasant. He was being thrown off the train, and that was that. The other two had a choice, and that was where the problems began.
Streetlife was sure about what he was doing.
'I'm sorry, my buddy, but it cold out there. I like you, Phaid. You know that, but I don't like you enough to go jumping out of a nice warm train and into ice, snow and Lords knows what else.'
Thanks.'
'You don't really expect me to, do you?'
'No, I guess not.' Phaid turned his attention to Edelline-Lan. 'What about you?'
'What Streetlife says makes a lot of sense.'
'You too, huh?'
'On the other hand . . .'
'On the other hand what?'
'I did give my word to Roni-Vows to see the president safely out of the city and deliver her to the Tharmiers.'
'Roni-Vows is either dead or being tortured.'
'That's no reason for me to break my word. In fact, in some ways it's all the more reason not to break it.'
Phaid gave her a long searching look.
'So, what are you going to do?'
Edelline-Lan was silent for almost a full minute. Then she straightened her back and set her jaw.
'I'm coming with you. It's my duty. There is no other way.'
Phaid wasn't sure quite how to take this, but he made no comment. Instead he addressed himself to the problems at hand.
'We need to make a few preparations before we get dumped off in the cold.' He looked at Edelline-Lan. 'You've still got a weapon, haven't you?'
She nodded.
'Okay then. I'm going down to the shopping centre to buy us some warm clothes, backpacks and anything else useful that I can find. You had better go and see that Assistant Captain, or whatever he called himself, and get the refunds on our tickets. We are going to need all the money we can get our hands on. Also, you could try and hit the marikhs up for some supplies, food concentrates, self heat containers or whatever. This is going to be a little rugged.'
The two of them were starting to go about their business when Streetlife spoke up.
'I don't know if you want to listen to me, seeing as I deserting you and all, but it seems to me that your worst problem is her.' He pointed to the still unconscious Chrystiana-Nex. 'You going to need something to get her on her feet and walking, else one of you going to have to be carrying her.' He pointed to the flurries of snow that were drifting past the window. That wouldn't be easy in this kind of weather.'
Edelline-Lan turned to Phaid.
'He's right, you know. Somehow we have to start her moving again, except I'm damned if I know how.'
Streetlife looked a little embarrassed.
'Listen, I could maybe go scout around and see if I could find something to wake her up, scholomine or something.'
'You'll need some money.'
'I'll try and hustle it. Look on it like a parting gift.'
Phaid grinned and held out his hand.
'Thanks.'
Streetlife shook it and then hurried out. Edelline-Lan looked thoughtful.
'I suppose I could try the Assistant Captain, tell him that the president cannot be moved and that we need drugs or something.'
Phaid nodded.
'Good thinking. But hurry.'
The vibration of the train's drive had perceptibly altered in pitch. It was obvious that the marikhs had already started the long process of slowing the train to a stop. It was down to a little more than walking pace before Streetlife returned. Phaid and Edelline-Lan were already getting bundled up in all the clothes that they could find.
'I got it! I got scholomine!'
Streetlife was so excited that Edelline-Lan didn't like to tell him that she had obtained some capsules of praxene, a powerful stimulant, from the train's private pharmacy. Streetlife held out two vials. Phaid took them. He dropped one in his pocket and cracked the seal on the other.
'Did you have to go through a lot to get these?'
Streetlife rolled his eyes.
'I had to make some promises you wouldn't want to hear about.'
'You're a good friend.'
'You better believe it.'
Phaid eased open the still prone Chrystiana-Nex's eyelid and dropped an almost foolhardy amount of the drug into her right eye. He muttered under his breath.
'Come on, Madame President, let's see some life. I ain't going to carry you.'
At first nothing happened. Phaid was starting to get close to the verge of panic. Then both the ex-president's eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright.'
'Kill them!'
Phaid put a hand on her shoulder.
'Stop that. You're somewhere else entirely.'
'Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!
'Cut it out, will you?'
'Move out the Guard. No prisoners! They must be taught a lesson!'
Phaid saw no other alternative. He took careful aim and slapped the ex-president across the face. She shrieked as though she had been goosed with a tingler, but she did come partway back to reality.
'Do we have a problem that requires my attention?'
'More than that, we have to get off the train.'
'Have we reached our destination?'
'No, I'm afraid that we are being thrown off the train.'
'Thrown off the train?'
'Remember that you're a fugitive.'
'Oh . . . yes.'
To Phaid's surprise she was immediately acquiescent and co-operative. He and Edelline-Lan quickly dressed her. Just as they had finished, there was a soft jerk as the train came to a halt. Next there was a knocking on the cabin door. It was Hant Vozer V'Cruw come to tell them that it was time to go. Phaid once again shook hands with Streetlife.
'We'll catch up again.'
'Sure we will.'
They were led through back companionways, down service elevators, and fire stairs. At one point Phaid realised that they must be in the marikh areas of the line train. Phaid knew that the three of them had to be among the first non-marikhs to ever walk there.
They were allowed no time to linger, however. Without meeting another passenger, they were escorted to a small emergency exit deep in the bowels of the train. When the small hatch was popped open, a blast of icy air hit the three companions. Hant Vozer V'Cruw dropped a telescopic ladder.
'It's cold out there. I'm sorry your journey had to end this way.'
Phaid scowled.
'So are we.'
'I hope you won't hold this against Marikh Transit Services.'
Phaid suddenly lost his temper.
'You don't expect us to be grateful, do you?'
'I suppose not.'
'Well thank the Lords for that.'
He started down the ladder. Chrystiana-Nex followed and finally Edelline-Lan. The ladder was withdrawn and the exit hatch snapped shut. For a few minutes, the three of them stood looking up at the enormous line train. The sun had set and the lights of the train were starting to come on. Luminous, rainbow discharges played around its towering exhaust stacks. The three of them took five or six steps back as the multistorey metal monster started to vibrate and finally, very slowly, to move off. High above them, tiny people were clearly visible in the clear plexiglass observation galleries. They were probably looking out, wondering why the train had made an unexplained and unscheduled stop. Phaid knew their curiosity wouldn't last long; very soon they'd go back to the bars, the staterooms and their warm cabins.
A feeling of utter desolation folded around Phaid as the train pulled away. Flurries of light snow spiralled down. The sky was quickly growing dark. The pylons supporting the line pointed up at it like pale, accusing fingers. On either side of the line there were stands of dour, forbidding conifers. It was bitterly cold. When Dreen had been giving his instructions it had seemed a comparatively simple matter to make their way to Bluehaven. Now it had become reality in the teeth of a biting wind, Phaid was starting to have doubts. Apart from the cold and the snow and the natural dangers of the forest, there was the fact that Makartur was not going to give up and go home just because he found that Phaid and his companions had dropped off the train. As it rolled away from them, Phaid looked at the two women.
'We'd better start walking.'
'Where?'
'I heard that if we follow the line back for a while we hit a hunters' trail going south that will eventually take us to Bluehaven on the ice plain.'
Edelline-Lan raised an eyebrow.
'We're walking?'
'Have you got a better idea?'
She turned and fussed over Chrystiana-Nex, pulling up the hood of her orange mourning robe and brushing the snow from her shoulders. The ex-president was up and moving, but with a zombie-like passivity. Phaid turned his back on the now rapidly disappearing train and started walking down the line of pylons. Edelline-Lan took Chrystiana-Nex's arm and followed.
The snow was now falling more determinedly and there was a sprinkling on the ground. It seemed as though there was no sign of the promised trail. Above them, the line hummed eerily on top of its pylons. Edelline-Lan, still steering Chrystiana-Nex, caught up with Phaid and looked at him doubtfully.
'What happened to the trail south?'
'We don't seem to have reached it yet.'
'Who told you it was there?'
'A well wisher.'
Phaid wasn't inclined to tell Edelline-Lan the story of Dreen. In fact, he was starting to worry whether Dreen might have been lying to him. Edelline-Lan, however, was unwilling to accept his cryptic answer.
'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'
'It means that I heard there was a trail back this way and that's all I know. If you've got a better plan, you take charge.'
'Do you have any experience at all of surviving in this kind of country and climate?'
'I was born in the hills.'
'But you left the hills when you were a kid. Ever since then you've been earning your living with a deck of cards.'
'That's true.'
'I don't like this at all. We could freeze out here and not be found for years.'
'I'm more concerned that we will be found, that Makartur will catch up with us before we even have a chance to freeze. He's fresh out of the hills and can probably track like a dog.'
'If only this wind would stop. Wait a minute, what's that?'
There appeared to be a break in the trees. Phaid grinned, despite the snow that was clinging to his eyelashes.
'I think that's our trail.'
'It is?'
There was certainly a track leading off into the forest. It was narrow, dark and winding and overhung by trees. Edelline-Lan looked at it apprehensively.
'We are going to go down there?'
'It's a hunters' trail, not a six-lane highway.'
'I can see that.'
Phaid himself was scarcely happy about the condition of the trail, but he wasn't about to admit it to Edelline-Lan. Showing more determination than he really felt, he took the first steps into the forest.
Moving down the trail was a lot more difficult than walking on the cleared ground beneath the line. Phaid managed to keep his footing, but both Edelline-Lan and Chrystiana-Nex stumbled more than once, almost fa
lling in the semi-darkness" and cursing loudly. There was a compensation, though. The forest did afford a certain protection against the bitter wind.
They walked on and on until it seemed as though they had been tramping for hours. The darkness became complete. More roots grabbed at their ankles, branches scratched their faces and, if anything, they got worse. Finally Phaid had to admit that they were attempting the impossible. He halted the two women.
'This is ridiculous. We can't go staggering on like this. It's absurd. We're just blundering about in the dark.'
Edelline-Lan was sagging visibly.
'What else can we do?'
'Rig some sort of shelter and build a fire.'
'Can you?'
'I sure as hell hope so.'
Phaid found what looked like a sheltered spot beneath a high bank. He fixed up a wind break with a blanket that Edelline-Lan had been smart enough to steal from the train. His next move was to get a fire going. He knew that there were a number of firemaking techniques that his people used when stranded in a hostile environment, but not a single one sprang to mind. Phaid had been out of the hills for too long. He pulled out his blaster and aimed it at a patch of ground just in front of the bank. He kept the release pressed down for a full fifteen seconds until the earth glowed white hot and started to melt.
Phaid stopped blasting and began to collect twigs. He dropped them on the superheated ground. Edelline-Lan did the same. As wet as they were, they straight away burst into flame. Soon they had a modest but merrily crackling fire. After that they became more ambitious. Phaid cut down a fairly substantial length of branch with his blaster, then Edelline-Lan burned it into more manageable lengths with hers.
This is fun!'
It was also wasteful and produced a lot of charred and flaming debris.
'If it wasn't snowing, we'd probably start a forest fire.'
For a while they played like destructive children, hacking at the trees with the flames of their blasters. By the time that they had exhausted themselves they had a substantial campfire and more wood to spare. The two of them settled by the fire, one on either side of the seemingly catatonic Chrystiana-Nex, warming their hands and generally revelling in a very primitive sense of achievement.
Phaid rummaged in his pack and produced two self heat food containers. He pulled the pins on both of them and waited until the seals burst, then handed one to Edelline-Lan. She undipped the attached spoon and tasted it. Her face twisted into a grimace.