“You won’t have to.” Logan said gently. “I’m having packs made for the men to carry the stones.”
“That’s not very fair to you.” She replied, although her face showed her relief.
Logan shrugged. “We won’t have to carry them for very far; just enough to reposition them and set them up. After that we should be done—if this works, that is.”
“You’re not sure?” Grady looked up with a slightly worried expression on his face.
“No. I’m not sure. You know as well as I do that the very first casualty in any military operation is The Plan.”
“Yeah, I’d forgotten.”
“It’s not something we should...” Logan stopped.
“Get your weapons!! The Zzzkntti are here!” Everyone dove for their packs, snatching at their weapons just as the door crashed open.
Logan had no time to do more than fight, as three Zzzkntti bore down on him. A crossbow bolt buzzed by his ear, taking out the first and nearest. “Thanks!” He shouted over his shoulder. The second he hacked down in a bitter spray of green blood, its four hands clutching futilely at the gaping wound in its throat. After that he lost count.
Suddenly it was over, as quickly as it had begun. Somewhere in the distance, outside their shelter, there were shouts and screams. He ignored them. “Grady!” He gasped, leaning on his sword trying to catch his breath. “Close the front door and brace it with the table. Hurry!”
“Right, boss.” As Grady struggled with the twisted door, Tanden Barr dragged the heavy table across the floor, and together the two men wedged it firmly against the door. Nothing, not even a Zzzkntti, would get through THAT without a struggle.
“Aileen. How is...”
“Logan.” The medic’s voice cut him off. “You’d better look at this.” Her tone made the color drain from his face.
“What is...” He saw Max lying curled on the floor, a thick stream of blood coming from under his still form. “Is he...”
“He’s already dead, Logan.” Her voice was flat, like someone who has been hit once too often.
Slowly the captain of the Marines rolled his youngest member onto his back. He heard gasps from behind him. Obviously the Zzzkntti were now using sharpened sticks as weapons, as the end of the crude spear protruded out of the boy’s chest. Logan thought for a second that the boy had tried in vain to pull the spear out, and then he looked more carefully. The boy had had his hands together, clasped tightly to his chest when the spear hit, piercing hands, chest and heart in one blow. Logan gently pried the boys fingers open and a small crystal cube fell out of the lifeless hands. Logan didn’t even breathe as he carefully wiped the blood off. One side of the fragile cube had a small chip taken out of it. He picked the black cube up off the floor and wordlessly dropped the data crystal in the waiting depression of the black square.
“Media damaged.” A soft voice came out of the speaker. “Please try again.” Logan did, placing each side in the player, with the same results. He set the crystal down on the floor and put his head in his hands.
“It’s all been for nothing.”
“But shouldn’t we check on the others?”
“Shut up, Grady.” He heard Padraig Hansen mutter.
Blood, both human and Zzzkntti gave the air in the small shelter a harsh bitter smell, touched at the edges with coppery overtones. It made him want to gag, and Logan sighed. Grady was right, for once. “He’s right, Padraig. We should.” He put the broken data cube in his pocket. “We should check on the sailors. I suspect that they had a worse night than us.” Tanden reached for the propped table. “Be careful; there may be more Zzzkntti about.”
Bel and Ryanne, acting as scouts, came back in a matter of minutes, faces white and hands shaking. Ryanne swallowed deeply before she spoke, because Bel seemed to be having some difficulty in that department.
“They’re all dead, Logan. They’ve been...” She paused and took a deep breath. “They’ve been torn apart. Some have been eaten. It was horrible.”
Logan touched her arm and she flinched. “Sit down, ladies, you’ve done enough.” He looked up at Tanden and Padraig. “Grab some shovels, gentlemen. I think that I saw some in one of the smaller outbuildings yesterday. We’ll bury what we can find. They were our shipmates after all.” To their credit, Tanden, Grady and Padraig found the shovels and began the grim job without another word.
Logan set his shovel down and wiped his sweating forehead. Try as they might, the four men had only been able to account for eight of the bodies of the fifteen seamen. There was one extra head, however, and Logan would remember the captain of the Darter’s frozen look of surprise for the rest of his days. He picked up the ice cold bucket of water they had raised from the well and dumped it over his head. Shaking the water out of his dark hair, he looked around.
“All right everybody. We’ve done as much as we can here. Gather your things—we’re going home.”
“But the mission?” Maeve sounded shocked.
“The mission ended when the crystal got broken. We don’t play well enough to snap Zzzkntti out of their madness. Hells, we could practice for the next ten years and not be good enough.” He picked up his pack and his mandolin. The well-used forest green pack was lumpy and heavy because of the crystal player and the stone that broadcast the music. He didn’t really notice. “It’s all over.” The group clustered closer and he put his hand to his medallion. “Please bring us home.”
Chapter 19
They buried Max next to his brother, on a small lushly green hill overlooking the clear dark blue lake. Swallows and finches filled the crisp air that smelled of new mown hay. A large oak tree spread thick limbs over the boys’ final resting place, and Logan wondered just how Medin had managed to grow a massive oak in just a few short months.
There were no mounds and no headstones. In a very few weeks the grass would cover the new grave and no one would be the wiser. The only memorial was a small brass plaque attached to the trunk of the tree, about six feet off the ground.
It read:
Lucas and Max Eakins.
They gave their lives for mankind.
Logan thought it a fitting epitaph. The rest of the small somber-faced burial party wandered off, leaving him to his private thoughts. He looked up at the old, but recently created oak tree one last time, before he headed home.
“Daddy!” The pair of voices chimed in near unison. “You’re home. We missed you.” A pair of miniature missiles caught him around the waist and threatened to squeeze the air out of him.
Laughing, he collapsed to the carpeted floor, the children on top of him. “I missed you too, kids.” He kissed Silvie, thought about it for a second, and then kissed Kensie too.
“Ewww.” The little boy wiped his cheek furiously. “Boys don’t kiss boys, Daddy.”
Logan looked at the small child’s serious face, and pointedly kissed him on the forehead. “There.” He looked at Kensie in a m
ock glare, “Is that any better?”
The little boy thought about it for a moment. “That’s OK, but only because you’re my daddy now.”
“Good.” Logan was having trouble not laughing aloud. “I’m glad that’s settled then.” There was a soft chime at the apartment door. “Come!” Logan said into the air, and the door slid silently open.
“Thought that you might like a little adult company.” It was Tam Kirby, and he had a fat bottle of wine in his hand, and a lopsided grin on his face. “I heard that things didn’t go too well.”
The children, sensing that the adults were about to have a boring adult discussion, moved off to the far side of the room and began to have a serious game involving two balls and a lot of giggling.
Logan went to the kitchen and returned with two glasses while Tam opened the bottle. “You might say that.” The wine gurgled redly in the glasses, reminding Logan of Max’s pooling blood. He drained the glass in one long swallow, and it tasted like ashes in his mouth. He poured himself another. The two men brought their glasses back to the comfortable living room and sat in overstuffed chairs before the fire. “The Zzzkntti came in the middle of the night, and we had almost no warning.” He thought Jade’s comment. “That ‘almost’ saved our lives. Jade gave us the few seconds we needed to reach our weapons.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew the small cracked crystal cube, setting it on the table in front of them. “Max died trying to protect this.” Logan’s voice was heavy. “It didn’t do him much good, or the crystal either. Without the crystal we have no chance of quelling the Zzzkntti blood lust.”
Tam drained his wine, set the glass down and picked up the blue crystal. Logan noted idly that Tam’s missing finger had grown back. “Pretty little thing.” Kirby rumbled, holding the cube up so that it caught and reflected the flickering firelight. “Who could imagine that this little trinket would be so valua...”
“Oh, you have one too?” Silvie’s voice chimed brightly over Tam’s wide shoulder. Both men froze.
“Ahhh, Silvie. Have you seen more of these little cubes?” Logan asked gently.
She laughed. “Sure. I saw lots of em. In the library in Stirling. Nobody knew what they were for, just that they were real real old. They kept em on a shelf in a back store room. Kensie and I found them one day when we were exploring.”
“How many would you say that there are, Silvie?” His voice had gotten even softer, as if he were afraid that he would scare the little girl away.
“Let’s see...” She began counting on her fingers. “Caera has been teaching us how to count.” She said proudly. “I do real good.” She kept counting, her small face furrowed in concentration. “Ten little cubes in a row, ten rows in a box.” Her bright eyes looked up. “Maybe five rows of ten boxes. Is that good?”
Logan lifted the little girl into the air and swung her around as she laughed. “Better than you can imagine little one.” He kissed her soundly, thought about it for a second, and kissed her again, laughing himself. “Medin.” He said to the ceiling. “Can you locate Caera Nunan?”
“Yes, sir.” The melodious voice said out of the air. “She’s already on her way here.” Logan frowned. “I guess that Rhiannon...”
“She is on her way also—sir.”
Logan was silent for several seconds. “Medin, do you always listen to us?”
“Not always, sir.” The voice was flat, but...
“That wasn’t much of an answer.”
“I know, sir.”
“Medin, are you laughing at me again?”
“Would I do that, sir?”
Logan chuckled. “You have a fine command of the language, my friend.”
“Humor is a difficult concept, sir.” The lugubrious voice murmured.
“I’d say that you’re doing just fine.”
The voice was silent for several seconds. “Are you laughing at me, sir?”
“Would I do that?” Logan’s eyes were sparkling, and he made shushing motions to Silvie.
“I’m beginning to understand.” There was a pause. “The ladies have arrived, sir.”
“Very good. If you would let them in, please.”
Caera Nunan walked in first, a look of frank curiosity written on her face. When Rhiannon, following close on Caera’s heels gave him a slow wink, he knew who Medin got it from. He mumbled to himself.
Jade returned primly.
“Silvie just told me that when she was in the library back in Stirling, she and Kenzie found some of these.” He held the goddess’s eye. “Five thousand of these. The people never knew what they were because they never had a player, or one that worked, anyway. Tam, Caera and I are going to go bring them back.” He gave her an impudent grin. “Want to come along?”
Her violet eyes gave him a hard glare, but she couldn’t hold it long. “Of course I want to go.” She gave him a thousand volt smile. “Just a sec.” Her form faded away. Two heartbeats later she was back, dressed in a full set of Stirling armor, her long red hair somehow tucked up inside the helmet. The armor had been modified, somehow, to fit her fabulous shape. “Well?” Her smile widened. “How do I look?”
Logan could feel his jaw hanging open. “You look like the reason the riot started. I would like to tear that armor right off you.”
“Well, now.” Her look turned smoky.
Logan shut his eyes and struggled to catch his breath. “Tam. I think that we had better be going, I’m losing my perspective.” There was dead silence. Logan opened his eyes and found Tam Kirby staring at Rhiannon, dumbstruck. “Tam?” He said in a normal speaking voice. Nothing. He reached out, took the lobe of the big man’s ear between his thumb and forefinger and twisted.
“Yeowww!” Tam jerked around, angrily rubbing his damaged ear. “Why the hells did you have to do that you son of a b...” His jaw snapped shut when he saw the women and the children. “Why did you have to do that?” He continued in a more reasonable tone.
Logan shrugged. “It worked with my horse.”
“Your horse?” Tam sounded a little shrill, even while Rhiannon and Caera were laughing quietly.
“I needed to get his attention. We had to have a little talk about his inclination to bite me when I try to mount him. He got the point almost immediately.”
Kirby rubbed his ear. “I’ll have to remember that. The same technique could be useful with new recruits too.”
“That’s very true.” Logan was chuckling as he turned to the others. “The only place that I’m familiar with in the library is right in the middle of the main room. We may startle a few people, so be prepared.” He frowned at Tam. “No killing.”
“But...”
“No! If they bother you twist their ears.”
Tam was still chuckling to himself when they arrived.
“Eeep!” A young girl chirped shrilly as she jumped to her feet, knocking over her chair.
“It’s all right, Jinny.” Caera stepped forward speaking calmly, as if she were talking to a skittish colt. Her smile was comfortable and reassuring. “You know me. These people are friends.”
“But... you appeared out of thin air!” Logan stood calmly, watching the thin girl who was on the verge of taking flight. Behind him he heard a soft noise, and assumed that either Rhiannon or Tam had closed and locked the door to the library.
“It was just your imagination, my dear.” Caera murmured soothingly. “We’ve been trained to move quietly.”
“Well...” She glared at the ex-teacher. “You kind of look like Caera Nunan, but Caera was old. You’re only a couple years older than me, and I’m only sixteen.”
“I, uh...” Caera was tongue tied.
“We need to pick up some things from the store room.” Rhiannon said quie
tly, stepping forward. “The captain sent me to assist these people.”
“Ohhh!” The young librarian’s eyes went wide. “Well, if the captain sent you, then it must be all right.” Logan suppressed a grin, thinking that there might just be a little bit of a crush at work here. “I don’t recall seeing you, the last time I...”
“The last time you went to see the captain?” Nan guessed shrewdly.
“Uhhh.” The girl blushed scarlet.
“You wouldn’t be seeing Captain Basil Flett, would you?” Tam Kirby growled.
The girl took a step backward. “Gently, Tam.” Caera whispered. “She’s right on the edge of flying apart.”
“Sooo.” Logan asked more gently than Tam could have managed. “Answer the man’s question, my dear.”
“Yes.” Her eyes were on the floor. “That’s him.”
“That son of a...” Tam swallowed. “Basil Flett is in his fifties, girl.”
Her eyes widened to impossible dimensions. “But he said that he was only thirty, and the stress of command had aged him prematurely.”
“Ha!” Kirby let out a contemptuous laugh. “Captain Flett has six lieutenants who do all the work and lead all the patrols for him. He sits in his office sipping wine and telling stories all day, and then goes home to his wife and children.” He gave the girl a speculative look. “I believe that his eldest daughter is about your age.”
“But he said...” Her eyes hardened to cold brown agates. “He said that his wife and children all died of the plague.” Her small fists clenched until her knuckles were white. “He said that he rescued a goddess and saved a city too.”
Tam glanced at Logan. “Looks like he stole your story, my friend.” He turned back to the girl. “My quiet friend here lost his family to the plague five years ago, and is the one who saved the Goddess Rhiannon and rescued the city of Ballinasloe.” Kirby watched the fury grow and he timed the moment perfectly. “Captain Flett and his family live at 1402 Corridor CB.” The girl tore the door open in her haste to leave, crashing it against the wall, and stormed down the hallway.
The Darkness at the Edge of Noon: a Thalassia novel Page 26