Griffin’s eyes narrowed as he considered the implications of Julyan’s words, then he turned to the others. “Terrell?”
“About what Julyan said. I think that if Alexander ordered me to injure you or one of the others, I could resist, although I might not be good for anything except resisting.”
“Bruin?”
“Same as Terrell.” The hunter hesitated, touched his injured cheek again. “I might not be as good at resisting an order that didn’t involve causing harm. Siegfried scared me. I hate to admit it, but if I was given the choice of, say, locking myself up again or risking feeling that burn … I just might go to my cell.”
“Seamus?”
“Pollux,” the other insisted. “Before Seamus could be easily controlled, but now that I’m with him, Alexander will have no hold on either of us. If he tries to institute a command on me, he’ll find it doesn’t work, any more than he can work his mojo on you or Castor. For all I’m in this boy’s body, my mind and soul are not Artemesian.”
“Ring?”
“Hold on me, he never had. That I foresaw and avoided.”
“But a new hold?”
“He needs to say many sounds, clearly heard. I refuse to listen.”
“Wait!” Terrell interrupted, eyes narrowing as he realized what the other had said. “Ring, if you weren’t being controlled, why didn’t you get us out of our cells? You could have attacked one of those times they had you testing the suit. The energy weapons work and the armor would have protected you.”
Ring’s expression turned inexpressively sad. Julyan didn’t usually feel much pity for anyone other than himself, but at that moment he really pitied Ring.
“I traveled down the twisting ways,” Ring said, “and saw that for greater good, much bad must be permitted to happen. I am very sorry.”
Terrell’s lips thinned into a snarl. “You should be. You let a monster torment people you could have saved.”
“Saved to die a horrible death,” Ring said. “Believe me.”
Bruin put a hand on Terrell’s arm. “Terrell, I suspect anything we suffered, Ring suffered as well—and we at least had the comfort of knowing we didn’t have a choice. Think about it.”
Terrell did and his eyes widened, anger replaced by horror. “Ring, I apologize. I wouldn’t be you for all the world.”
“We each,” Ring said, “must be ourselves, for this world and all upon it.”
A startled silence met this statement.
“So we can fight back,” Griffin said, “at least to a limited extent. Castor, do you have any feeling as to the capacities of that suit?”
Whatever Castor might have said was cut off by the conclusion of the conclave between the three Dane brothers. Siegfried and Alexander turned, their nerve burners leveled. Falkner had stepped into the doorway and was working the device that would remotely summon the scooters. Julyan guessed that once the Danes were safely inside the protective field, they planned to imprison the rest until they figured out what best to do. He wondered if he could convince them to take him on as a retainer or if he should throw in his lot with Griffin and his allies.
He was still working through the options when a horrible roaring echoed down the corridor, followed by the sound of metal and plastic breaking. Falkner reeled back from his place in the doorway, blood spouting from where a grey feathered arrow had appeared in his shoulder. The controller for the scooters fell to the floor and was kicked out into the lab by a foot booted in soft brown leather.
Adara stepped through the doorway, her bow drawn and ready. Julyan thought he had never before seen her looking so confident, nor so deadly. Motion behind her indicated she was not alone.
In a clear, strong voice, Adara called, “Want to bet I can get another arrow into him before he can pull his weapon or get off a shot, even if you fire? It’s your call. Even if I miss, I bet the others won’t. Drop your weapons. Otherwise, this man is dead.”
Interlude: Separable
Lion’s heart, hunter’s will
Gone, but I am with them still
I cannot touch, nor hear, nor see
No matter. Trust links us irrevocably
18
Departure
“Adara!”
Beneath the chorus of delight, Griffin said to Bruin and Terrell, “Putty!” Then he stepped forward so that his movement would provide distraction.
“Hold it, Griffin!” Siegfried shouted. “Alex!”
Alexander immediately began chanting the control sequence, ending with, “Now, Adara, put that bow down.”
The huntress’s reaction was a lazy, very unkind smile. “Sorry, fellow. I’ve chosen my gods. I have no room for you. Now, if you’re done playing around, drop those weapons. My arm’s getting tired. I just might lose my hold on the string.”
Her arm was perfectly steady, her aim centered on Alexander. She padded into the room. After her, Honeychild and Sand Shadow raced in. The puma crouched over Falkner, one huge paw firmly on his chest, her snarl showing off her fangs, which she held inches above his face. Honeychild sped to Bruin’s side. The bear did not look in the least cuddly now. The way her gaze focused on Siegfried left no doubt that she knew precisely which man had injured her demiurge. Bruin threw a hand over her neck, and muttered, “Not yet, girl.”
“The man I shot is bleeding pretty badly,” Adara commented conversationally. “Can even seegnur survive such?”
Alexander’s hand twitched to raise his nerve burner. He might have managed a shot, but Terrell leapt at him, bringing him to the floor with a hard body slam. They rolled. Griffin knew Alexander was well trained in hand-to-hand combat, but it had been years since he had used his abilities at all seriously. Terrell, by contrast, had his hands on the man who had tortured him—in spirit as much as body—and was showing no mercy.
When Siegfried moved as if to interfere, Honeychild snarled and bellowed. Siegfried, perhaps reminded that weapons calibrated for human opponents did not work as well on non-humans, at last dropped his nerve burner.
Glancing behind him, Griffin saw that Castor had sealed the faceplate on his armor. Seamus—no, this was every bit Pollux—had moved to stand behind Julyan. He had the much larger man’s arm in a lock that would pop shoulder from joint if Julyan struggled.
Julyan didn’t look as if he intended to move an inch, but Pollux had apparently decided to rob Alexander of a possible weapon. Only Ring hadn’t taken any action. His eyes were closed and his hands were pressed tightly to his temples. Clearly, probabilities were changing so rapidly he could hardly keep on his feet.
Adara called. “Kipper. Bandages. You—” This to Siegfried. “You look dangerous. If you don’t want me to put a shaft through your leg, get your hands behind you and let Griffin tie them. Griffin?”
The struggle between Terrell and Alexander had ended. Terrell sat on top of his tormentor. Alexander’s nose was streaming blood and one eye was already swelling closed. Griffin kicked his feet out of his shoes and used one of his socks to bind Siegfried’s hands, the other to bind his ankles.
As he was doing so, he said, “Terrell, Alexander may be faking unconsciousness. I’d tie him, too.”
“With pleasure,” Terrell said.
Bruin meantime had taken the first-aid kit Falkner had given them to treat Bruin’s own wound and was moving to treat Falkner’s arrow-shot shoulder.
“Nice work, ladybug,” he said. “You missed the tendons. Lucky for him he had so much muscle.”
“Thanks, teacher.”
In a short time, they had divided into three groups. Siegfried, Alexander, and Falkner sat under Honeychild’s guard. Sand Shadow guarded Julyan, who had submitted to having his hands tied behind him. The puma clearly remembered what Julyan had done to Adara the last time they had met and was eager for any opportunity to get even. After the puma gave a leisurely lick to the back of Julyan’s neck, the man sat very still.
The second group consisted of Castor and Pollux. Castor remained suited up. Pollu
x had taken possession of one of the nerve burners. Other than these tacit threats, they remained observers.
The final group consisted of Griffin, Terrell, and Adara. At Bruin’s request, Kipper took Ring outside. The big man didn’t resist when the boy gently tugged his hand.
“Stay near the entrance to the lab, Kipper,” Bruin ordered. “That way Leto will be able to warn you if the Old One tries to sneak back. Right, Leto?”
The complex’s resident intelligence, silent to this point, replied primly, “If Griffin asks. You are not seegnur.”
“I ask,” Griffin said. “And thank you for not taking sides.”
“I didn’t do it for her,” Leto said, “though she asked. I am still not certain which of you is the right sort of seegnur—or if you are seegnur at all. However, you, Griffin have priority over the new arrivals. In this case, I will cooperate with you.”
“Thank you.”
Griffin turned his attention to his brothers. “Now, shall we resolve this?”
“Killing us won’t end anything,” Siegfried replied promptly. “Our deaths might make matters worse. Gaius is in orbit. If I don’t check in with him in a few hours, he’ll begin intervention.”
“Hopefully,” Griffin said, “we can resolve matters before Gaius needs to be brought in. We’d defeat him, then need to start all over again. Adara made allies who would warn us, so there will be no sneaking up on us.”
“What allies?” Alexander asked. Despite thick lips from the beating Terrell had given him, he managed a trace of his usual arrogance. “These ‘gods’ she mentioned? If she’s allied with Maxwell, she’d better be careful.”
“I’m not in a position to say,” Griffin said, “but take it as established fact that we will know when Gaius lands and where. If he sends down automated weaponry, we will know and action will be taken.”
Falkner, the only prisoner without his arms bound behind him, because Bruin would not permit it, reached out a hand toward Griffin. “Griff, I realize our showing up this way looks bad. I’ll admit, we weren’t completely honest with you. We knew when you set out and intended to track you if you didn’t come back in a set time.”
“To rescue me?” Griffin fought not to sneer. “If I ‘crashed’?”
“No. Because if you didn’t come back within a calculated time, it meant you had probably found the biggest prize in the former Imperial sphere. You were good enough at hiding your tracks that we couldn’t push in without making you balk. We had to let you go, innocent of our intent, then follow.”
“So you didn’t know everything I’d found out,” Griffin said.
“No, we didn’t. You kept enough of the information locked in your head that we couldn’t figure out the coordinates. Jada suggested…”
“Jada?”
Griffin felt a chill. Even more than Alexander, Jada was the sibling who made him uneasy. Alexander’s cruelties were understandable. There was something coldly calculating about Jada.
“Jada,” Falkner agreed. “Griffin, come home with us. We’ll have a family conference. All of us—Castor and Pollux, too. We’ll decide what to do with your find.”
“My find,” Griffin said, slowly, savoring the words. “The planet Artemis, my find. All for the greater glory of the family Dane.”
* * *
Adara listened with mounting apprehension as Falkner coaxed Griffin. From the quick briefing Bruin had given her, she gathered that of the three Danes who had come down to the planet, Falkner had been the least arrogant, the most thoughtful. Perhaps recognizing this, Siegfried and Alexander waited to learn if Falkner could persuade, now that they were no longer able to overpower.
Or are they merely waiting for this Gaius? Griffin seems confident that the warning Artemis now knows to give us will be enough, but what if it is not? Those “nerve burners” the Danes were carrying are nasty weapons.
Help came from the most unexpected quarter. Julyan spoke out, his singer’s voice clear and carrying. “Don’t believe him, Griffin. Either Falkner’s lying to you or he’s been fooled. They didn’t just follow you—Alexander meant you dead.”
Alexander’s handsome mouth twisted as if he would speak, but Honeychild laid a black-clawed paw on one side of his neck and he fell silent.
Julyan continued. “Alexander bragged to me about what he’d done. He hates you, Griffin. Didn’t you think it too much of a coincidence that a war machine attacked you so soon after your arrival?”
Eyes turned to Alexander. Honeychild moved her paw from his throat, granting mute permission to speak, but Alexander remained silent. Finally, Siegfried spoke in a voice rough with menace.
“Tell us what you did. Silence will serve you here, but not once we’re home. You know that.”
“If you get home,” Adara added politely. “We rough primitives may not choose to wait upon the leisure of such dubious seegnur. Surely if your clan is as warlike as Griffin has told us, the loss of one member on such a dangerous mission would be acceptable. I’m sure Terrell wouldn’t mind another go at you.”
Terrell spat on the floor, the action all the more eloquent in contrast to his usual studied manners.
Whether Siegfried’s threat or Adara’s convinced him, Alexander broke his silence.
“I mounted a warbot beneath the shuttle’s outer hull. I picked a model that folded flat and was sealed against damage from vacuum.”
“Did you remove the outer plating to do this?” Falkner asked conversationally.
“I did.”
“That may explain why Griffin crashed so quickly,” Falkner continued. “We already know that—despite our conclusions to the contrary—the nanobots released by the attackers remained completely active. It’s likely that when Alexander messed with the hull, he violated the shuttle’s integrity.”
“You’d already messed with the Howard Carter and the shuttle,” Alexander protested. “You set it to send you alerts as to Griffin’s position. You put a tracking device under his skin. The shuttle was gimmicked to release counters to the local nanobots, if they were still active. That’s what gave me my idea. If our tech would work, why shouldn’t I include a bit of my own?”
“He’s insane,” said Castor, the words all the more stinging considering their source. “Let Father and Mother deal with him.”
“Insane! You just don’t like that I was more clever than you. Falkner didn’t find what I’d done. My spider was more than a mere warbot. I also included some nanobots designed to subvert Artemis’s operating systems to our control.”
“It didn’t work, did it?” Adara said coolly but, remembering what Artemis had told her she thought, And I’m not going to tell you how close it came to working—or that fighting against it was what brought Artemis to what she is today.
Griffin had remained silent through this. There was something different about him, but it took Adara a moment to realize what it was. For as long as she had known him, there had been a mildness to Griffin, a calm temper that had made her disregard his claims of belonging to a warrior clan. That was gone. His brown eyes were alive now with fury, the detachment that so often dominated him vanished.
“I don’t think my shuttle was the only thing tinkered with,” Griffin said, and his voice held a new resonance. “I feel as if I’ve been just a little bit asleep all this time. Posthypnotic suggestion?”
Alexander snapped. “Don’t try to blame me for that! Everyone agreed it was a good idea to keep you focused. You’re so easily distracted by some interesting bit of anthropological trivia. We needed you to focus on finding traces of the Old Imperial technology.”
He jerked his head around to look at Falkner and Siegfried. “Even if I did have something to do with the shuttle crashing, you should be grateful. That made Griffin focus down really hard. Who knows how long it might have taken him otherwise to find the landing facility and this place, especially given how well hidden they were?”
“Don’t look for thanks,” Siegfried retorted. “If you had your way, Griffin w
ould be dead. I suppose you thought that we’d need to rely on you, then.”
Alexander’s expression showed that this was exactly what he had expected, but Griffin gave no further time for family bickering.
“Enough! We set out to resolve what to do with you. I never thought I’d be grateful to Julyan for anything, but I am for this.” He turned to face his Artemesian allies and, once again, Adara was taken by the new brilliance in his expression. “As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Siegfried that killing them would make matters worse. It’s as if I had forgotten just how dangerous my family could be … That leaves us with two options: keeping them prisoners and getting them off planet.”
“We need to talk about this privately,” Terrell said firmly. “And we don’t need them talking to each other while we do.” He held up the med kit. “I’m betting there’s something in here that will make them sleep. Griffin?”
“Good idea. If they’re out, we don’t even need to leave the room.” Griffin rummaged through the kit. In a few moments, Falkner, Siegfried, and Alexander were all drowsing. Then he turned to Castor who stood, still fully armored, next to the boy he claimed was his dead twin. “How much did you know—honestly?”
“I knew they intended to use me to test some Old Imperial relics,” Castor said. “I even knew you were involved, but not how. You know how my metabolism cripples me. They kept me in cold sleep for the trip. To be honest, I didn’t mind. I haven’t cared about much since Pollux’s body died.”
“I believe him,” Bruin cut in. “They’ve treated him like a hunter treats a well-trained dog—valuable, certainly worthy of consideration, but not an equal.”
Adara frowned. “Then is he one of them or—like you, Griffin—a tool?”
Castor answered for himself. “Whatever I was, everything is different now. I have found Pollux again. I will not leave him. Nor do I wish to take him ‘home’ with me. Our parents were never satisfied with how Pollux and I turned out. I do not particularly wish to give them a second chance at training us.”
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