Their gauntness appalled him. Obviously, the Zr'gsz fed their slaves only enough to enable them to drag their bodies down to the skystone mines every morning and toil the day away. That their slaves' numbers diminished every sundown made no difference to the reptiles.
A man pushed his way through the crowd. Not a tall man, he walked erect despite the air of deprivation, exhaustion and despair that swirled about him like a cloak. He'd once been a stocky man, Fost judged from the folds of loose skin on the scarecrow frame. But his eyes blazed clean, firm.
'I am Ludo, Chief Warden of the Watchers of Omizantrim. Who are you and what is the meaning of this?'
I'm Fost. This means you and your folks are escaping. But they have to move.' 'The Hissers -'
'Are taken care of. We can have a nice chat later. But get your people moving and do it now unless you love such lush accommodations.' He waved his hand at the rude makeshift huts, little more than slumping piles of rock or tens made from tattered clothing. Ludo took a deep breath and came to his decision.
The Watchers moved silently and efficiently, even the children. While Fost hovered by the gate watching the barracks nervously for sign of movement, they filed out through the gates and dispersed into the night. Leery of the apparent ease of their rescue, Fost advised them to scatter so that pursuers would have the hardest time possible rounding them up. In a few minutes all but a few lean men and women Fost took for the leaders had slipped out of the gates and blended into the darkness. 'I can't believe it's gone this easily,' Fost said.
'It won't be,' came Ludo's calm voice. 'They'll have their hounds on us as soon as they realize something's amiss. I only hope enough of us get free to wage effective war against the evil ones.'
Moriana hadn't mentioned hounds, but she couldn't know everything about the Zr'gsz.
'My partner's hiding that way in a bubble cave,' Fost said, pointing toward Moriana's command post. 'We know of it,' said Ludo.
'I'll meet you there.' The Watchers made for Moriana's cave. Fost admired their skill. They didn't beeline for the cave and risk being spotted on the open ground. Instead they bent over and scuttled to the jumble of rocks and bushes on the far bank of the arroyo and worked their way down from there, all but invisible in the light of the pink moon.
Before he followed them, Fost had work to do. Hurrying, he shut the gate and dropped the bar back into place. Then he picked up the guards one by one and propped them back in place, their spears serving to support their slack bodies. One he couldn't get into more than a slumping squat, but he thought it would fool anyone casually glancing down from the buildings. A close inspection would give the whole game away. But the deception might buy precious minutes, and time was more precious than gold.
Grabbing his scabbard so it wouldn't flap against his legs, Fost followed the Watchers into darkness.
'You!' Ludo's face turned to a mask of blood-dark fury in the light from twin moons. 'You witch! Traitor to all mankind! What are you doing here?'
Moriana faced his anger squarely, hands on hips and head held high as she replied, 'I'm setting you free.'
'And who caused our imprisonment?' the Chief Warden hissed. Fost respected the man's self-control. Despite the consuming rage, he kept his voice low. Fost and Moriana and the band of fugitives had travelled a good ways from the prison compound across terrain that gripped at them with knife-edged fingers before stopping and revealing to the Watchers the identity of their second benefactor.
'You speak only the truth, Ludo,' said Moriana. 'But I didn't know the Hissers would do this to you. Indeed, I had instructed that you only be detained so that you didn't impede the… the Vridzish mining operations. Ludo spat into the sand between her feet.
Her lips pulled back in a snarl, then relaxed. She was better able to accept impertinence from this lowborn groundling than any other of her kindred, but it was by no means easy. Still, she had to empathize with the man.
'I was wrong.' A note of desperation pushed its way into her voice. 'I thought allying myself with the Fallen Ones was the only way to prevent my sister from seizing control of the Realm for the Dark Ones.' Her eyes dropped from his. 'Now it seems I and not my sister was the tool of the Lords of Endless Night. But I did not know!'
Fost's gaze made a nervous circuit of their surroundings. He saw nothing but the blank black walls of the draw and the hunchbacked shapes of trees along the banks. The pink moon had ridden past the zenith and the blue one just began its mount of the eastern sky. This took too long. And Moriana revealed too much before the hostile Watchers.
'It doesn't matter.' No scion of the Sky City could have bettered Ludo's haughty disdain. 'You served the interests of mankind's enemies. You are a traitor; your life is forfeit. Were it not for the dilemma posed by the fact that we now owe you our freedom, we'd take your life.'
Fost cleared his throat and loosened his sword in its scabbard. Moriana laid a hand on his forearm.
'Yes, kill the witch!' a woman's voice hissed from the darkness, sounding almost like one of the Hissers.
'Idiots.' Glowing softly, Erimenes hung in the air by Fost's right shoulder. 'The past is gone. You must deal with what pertains now – and the simple fact is that only Moriana's sorcery gives humanity any chance of defeating the Fallen Ones.' Ludo looked at the spirit, his face still bleak with anger.
'The princess knows she did wrong,' continued the genie. 'She said as much, and if you don't know the effort that took, you know little of the Skyborn. Now she's set you free. The Vridzish are militarily naive. The ease with which we released you proves that. Instead of wasting the night with recriminations you should be laying out a guerrilla campaign to deny the Hissers access to their skystone.'
The Watchers murmured among themselves. Finally a man whose chin was fringed with a silvery beard spoke.
This is true, Ludo. Killing the princess won't bring back the Ullapag or pen the damned lizards in Thendrun once more. If she'll help us we can't say no. Or so it seems to me.'
Scowling with fierce brows that were still as black as the surrounding lava, Ludo turned on his followers.
'The witch has brought ruin on us all, on all of humanity,' he exclaimed. 'Justice must be done!'
'We failed in our charge,' a woman's voice cried. 'That's what's rankling you, isn't it, Warden? Moriana helped the Hissers overcome us – but we were charged to guard the mines and we failed. Don't we share the guilt?'
Ludo's broad shoulders slumped. He turned back to Fost and Moriana, as if his limbs had transmuted to lead. Fost almost hated to hear the acquiescence of this proud, strong man.
'Charuu is right,' he said slowly. 'So be it. On behalf of the Watchers of Omizantrim I hereby…'
He broke off to stare past Fost's shoulder. Fost felt a soft breeze tug at his sleeve, heard a quick, soft moan. Ludo jerked. He raised his hands to his chest, spread them against the dark stain spreading across his smock from the arrow embedded in his chest. Fost spun, sword ready. Brilliant light blinded him.
'Don't do anything foolish, my friend,' came the command. A soft chuckle accentuated the order. And it was a voice as human as his own.
CHAPTER SEVEN
'And what of my sister?' Synalon leaned forward, her eyes narrowing into slits. 'What became of my sister?'
She hissed the words like an angry serpent. The young Sky Guard lieutenant flinched but held his ground. 'Your Majesty, I did not see -'
'I am not my Majesty until I know whether or not my sister lives!' she snapped. The young officer's gaze slid around nervously, looking for something other than the blazing pits of his queen's eyes. The walls of the makeshift tent around them were made of the collapsed skin of a silk hot air balloon. Giant ruby red, blind, legless spiders who ate the Sky City's organic refuse produced the light, virtually unbreakable threads. Saplings cut from a nearby stand of tai had been lashed together to provide a dome framework. The covering silk was rolled some feet off the ground to provide shade without cutting off the sultry breeze.
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br /> Prince Rann, despite the rents and stains disfiguring his black and purple uniform, managed to look as neat and collected as if he'd just turned out for a morning inspection. He appeared to be uninterested in the byplay between officer and queen; this made Lt. Cerestan even more uneasy. He forced himself to look directly at Synalon. She leaned forward even farther, waiting for his answer with the predatory intensity of a falcon watching its prey.
'You must have seen it!' persisted Synalon. Her words snapped like a banner in a brisk wind.
He flushed. Cerestan felt even more uncomfortable for what he had to report.
'Y-Your Highness, I was commanded to organize the evacuation of the City.'
Synalon's eyebrows shot up. Her right breast popped out of the robe she wore loosely wrapped about her lush body.
'What? My sister ordered the City in the Sky abandoned?' Sparks popped and ozone edged the air. 'That weak-kneed, cowardly slut! How could she!' She brought her hands up to angrily tear her garment. It resisted her wiry strength. Fat blue sparks travelled the length of her frizzled strands of hair and exploded in the air.
Cerestan made himself watch the princess's head shed sparks as a duck's wing sheds water. It kept his eyes off the naked breast which bobbed about in tempo with her efforts to rip her robe. The skin was the translucent white of snow the upper crust of which has melted in sunlight and then frozen again to a fine glossing. The nipple was a dainty blossom pink…
'She thought it necessary to save as many of our people as possible.' He forced himself to hold his head high. But it put a severe strain on his nerve to face Synalon this way, a fact that only peripherally had to do with her spiritual and temporal power. 'She herself battled the Demon Istu and bought time for as many to escape as possible.'
Rann had been watching the officer sidelong, his tawny eyes distant. Now they fastened on Cerestan. 'You did well. You saved several thousand of our subjects.'
Hardened as he was, Cerestan shuddered. Several thousand people – perhaps a quarter of the City's population. And the rest…
He looked out under the rolled tent wall. In all directions vultures crowded the sky and dotted the landscape in grave clumps, strutting stiff-legged with hooded heads drawn between their shoulders, bending down to partake of the unprecedented feast. The voracious birds extended in a line hundreds of yards across and a mile long, following the route of the Sky City. Though the hills were bright with fragrant wildflowers, the smell riding the wind was a ghastly charnel stink.
'So?' Synalon slumped back on her stool. 'Well, she defeated me and that made her the most potent wizard alive.' She propped her chin on one hand. Sparks stopped dripping like raindrops from her hair. 'How did she fare?'
'I couldn't see – not more than quick glimpses – Your, uh, Highness. But she must have survived because she kept the Demon at bay for a long time.'
Synalon slapped her knee. Her other breast bounced into view. Cerestan swallowed hard.
'That's my sister! I knew she could achieve real power if only she'd quit dabbling with her pathetic healing spells.'
Glancing toward Rann in his growing discomfiture, Cerestan noticed that the prince, too, was looking pointedly away from his cousin. The scarred cheeks showed pink like sunburn, though no bird rider of Rann's experience could possibly sunburn. For a fleeting instant, Cerestan almost shared a human bond with his commander.
'Very well.' Synalon settled back on the stool as if it were a throne. 'Now tell me,' she said, purring the words, 'tell me, good Cerestan, which of your brother and sister officers did you happen to observe wearing the armband of my sister's faction?'
Cerestan squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. Conflicting loyalties pulled in opposite directions like dogs, worrying a corpse, but one loyalty overrode all.
'I saw none, Highness.' Then realizing how bald the lie sounded, he quickly added, 'None so well I'd recognize them, at least.'
A blue glow started to play around the roots of Synalon s hair. Cerestan prepared himself for death. She would either fry him with a lightning bolt or summon other soldiers to exact a painful penalty for his defiance. He cast a quick look out over the plain covered with feasting vultures. With luck, that was the least of all possible fates awaiting him at Synalon's hand.
'I'm sure you didn't, Lieutenant,' Rann murmured. Cerestan stared at him, trying not to show his surprise at having such an unlikely ally. 'In the press of prisoners you probably got no clear look at your captors. And later during the evacuation you had no chance to see which of your comrades might be wearing Moriana's colors. Isn't that so?'
The prince ended in a tone well-known to his men, one that clearly stated anyone contradicting him would shortly wish he had died in his sleep the night before. 'Y-yes, milord.'
Rann nodded. Frowning, Synalon glanced from Cerestan to her cousin. It seemed to her that the young lieutenant should have recognized some of the traitors ar least. By the Dark Ones, yes! But Rann was expert in internal security and he must have reasons for this action. She pouted slightly in frustration. It was bad enough that her own loss of the City was compounded by her fumble-witted sister losing the damned place the very same day. She had counted on at least a dozen agonizing executions of rebels this very night to take away the sting of her disappointments.
'Very well. You've done the Guard proud, Cerestan. Dismissed.' Rann turned and bent his head toward Synalon. Cerestan stood as if his feet had put down roots. It couldn't be this simple. Rann's head swiveled.
'I said, dismissed. Are you waiting for your mother's beak, Lieutenant?' It was a bird rider taunt referring to a weak fledgling that must be physically shoved from the nest. Cerestan saluted and fled.
Once more Rann bowed his head to speak to Synalon. A slim, raised finger cut him off. 'Cousin dear, what was that young man's name again?'
'Cerestan, Your Highness. Flight Lieutenant of the Guard. A good man.' She smiled wickedly.
'I judged as much.' He was a well-proportioned youth, tall for a Sky Citizen, wide-shouldered, with black hair and blue eyes and a look of innocence hidden behind the veneer of veteran hardness that marked so many of Rann's officers. And Synalon hadn't missed the bulge between his legs and the way he oh-so carefully looked anywhere but at his monarch's naked breasts. 'But tonight, I think, I shall find out for myself what kind of man he is. We should always strive to know the more promising underlings. Well, Rann, isn't that so?' Rann licked his lips and his cheeks flamed scarlet. 'Yes, Your Highness.'
Blinking into the sudden glare, Fost was momentarily transported back to his childhood. Night was the favorite time for street urchins of High Medurim to play their games. Usually there was some reward. Always there was penalty for losing. Adding spice to the game was the possibility of being caught by the watch for violating curfew. What happened next depended entirely on the whim of the arresting officer. A low caste, impoverished out-Guild youth pulled in after sunset could be let off with a lecture, whipped… or enslaved. It was all in the luck of the game.
The yellow beam shining directly into his eyes came from a bull's-eye lantern exactly like those the Medurim city guard used.
Fost felt the familiar, clammy thrill: caught!
An almost pleasant voice brought him back to reality.
'Ho, my friend, don't do anything foolish now. It would be a shame for you to end up like that dolt on the ground.'
He tore his gaze from the lantern's shine. Ludo lay on his back, kicking spastically at the black sand, his motions becoming more and more feeble. Moriana knelt by his side, but the man was clearly beyond the reach of her healing magics.
Dark shapes detached themselves from the misshapen trees along the bank. The men appearing held flexed bows on the huddled people in the arroyo.
'Why was it necessary to shoot the Warden, Fairspeaker?' a voice from the darkness asked.
"Twas necessary so that these rabble shouldn't attempt futile resistance, great Sternbow,' replied the first disembodied voice in tones bot
h oily and smooth and suasive. 'It brought their helplessness home to them. So now it proves unnecessary to slaughter them. Such forebearance does us all credit.'
The lantern was uncovered and flooded the draw with sallow light. Tall men jumped down from the banks with swords drawn and herded the recaptured Watchers together. They wore tunics and trousers that reflected black and gray in the torchlight. In sunlight they would have been forest green and brown.
Beside the lantern at the head of the draw stood a tall, stately forester, his arms folded across his chest, his sword sheathed. His blond hair and beard were sprinkled with gray. His brow creased and the frown-lines deepened as he studied Fost. 'Longstrider,' he stated quietly.
The courier folded his arms across his breast. 'Sternbow.'
'What? You fail to recognize me? I'd thought your memory more tenacious, good Fost.' The unctuous voice belonged to the lantern-bearer who stood at Sternbow's side. He was young and slender, with a chestnut fringe of beard adorning his jaw and brown eyes that laughed at some private jest. 'I know you, Fairspeaker,' Fost said quietly.
Slowly and ponderously, Moriana rose from the side of the fallen Warden.
'He's dead,' she said. 'What's the meaning of this senseless murder?' A look of pain crossed Sternbow's angular face. 'No murder,' Fairspeaker put in quickly, 'to shoot a fleeing felon.'
'Felon?' Moriana's eyes blazed. 'How can you call him that? He was a victim held as a slave by the Zr'gsz.'
One of the Watchers moved to touch her arm.
'Save your breath, Lady. These are the very hounds of the Hissers set to hunt us down even as Ludo foretold.'
'But they're men,' she said, stunned. The Watcher's chuckle was as dry and bitter as an old root left in the searing desert sun.
'On behalf of our ally the Instrumentality of the People I hereby place you under arrest for aiding and abetting the flight of prisoners of war,' Sternbow said formally. 'Am I not your ally, as well?' demanded Moriana.
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