Knight

by Timothy Zahn

  “Is that the stairway we used to get from the balcony to the arena?” Kahkitah whispered, pointing past the new stairs to another stairway a couple of meters away from the end.

  “Looks like it,” Nicole agreed.

  Kahkitah gave a plaintive whistle. “I don’t understand.”

  “Keep it down,” Nicole warned, trying to look toward the observation balcony. But the thickness of the deck below them blocked a view of anything in that direction. “The usual stairs—those over there—are for the people up here to go down to the arena. Probably not too much traffic going that direction. But if something goes wrong, you want everyone down there to be able to get out as fast as they can. That’s what these stairs are for.”

  “And those?” Kahkitah asked, pointing to the other broken sections ahead.

  “Probably the same,” Nicole said, feeling her heart speeding up. A bunch of other ways in and out of the arena that she’d never known were there.

  And could she really open them just by identifying herself as the Protector and asking the Fyrantha to do it?

  Maybe that was all it took. She’d called on the Wisps any number of times. She’d called for Ushkai a couple of times when she wanted information, though getting an answer had then required her to use her inhaler.

  Was this all it took? Could she just ask the Fyrantha to do something and it would?

  Even here in the Shipmasters’ stronghold?

  If that was true, she might have a new weapon that she’d never dreamed of. Definitely something she needed to explore.

  But not now. Now, there were other, more urgent matters to attend to. “Come on,” she said, painfully aware that her legs would be visible to Fievj or anyone else in the balcony long before she would even know if they were looking in her direction. “Let’s get this stuff to Allyce.”

  * * *

  There were no shouts of surprise or discovery from the balcony as she and Kahkitah crept down the steps, hurried across the short open area, and continued down the permanent staircase. Nicole glanced through the entrance as they passed, but didn’t see anyone.

  Unfortunately, enough of the balcony was out of view from her angle that that didn’t mean anything. She and Kahkitah would still have to be as quiet as possible once they were in the arena, and get to cover as quickly as they could.

  The cloth strip blocking the door open was still where they’d left it. They slipped through the doorway and headed through the trees toward the hive.

  They were halfway there when Nicole heard a quiet call from somewhere ahead. A moment later, they circled a pair of tall bushes to see Duncan walking toward them. “Noticed the breeze and figured that was probably you,” he said quietly, glancing around. “Hopefully, the Shipmasters didn’t notice, or else don’t know what it means.”

  Nicole winced. “The Shipmasters are here?”

  “Two of them, yeah.” Duncan’s lip twitched. “They came to give us our weapons.”

  “Hell,” Nicole breathed. “What are they?”

  “Three-pointed spears—they called them tridents—and a kind of square net weighted at the corners for throwing.”

  “Sounds pretty easy to use.”

  “Yeah,” Duncan said. “But don’t worry—Jeff’s got everyone playing stupid, like we don’t know which end of the trident goes where. But I don’t suppose Bungie’s crowd will go along with the gag.”

  “Do you know if they’ve been to that side already?”

  “I don’t think so,” Duncan said. “He said they weren’t going to get theirs until tomorrow.”

  “Handy,” Nicole said, looking toward the hills that divided the arena. That gave them a little more time.

  But to do what? There was no way they could prevent Fievj from delivering Bungie’s weapons, not without Jeff and the blue group using their own. No, their best bet was still to go with Setting Sun and hope the Shipmasters would conclude that, even if humans knew about weapons they were no good at using them. “Okay,” she said. “I need to talk to Allyce. Let me know when the Shipmasters leave, and we’ll—”

  “Whoa,” Duncan interrupted. “Allyce isn’t here. She’s been on Bungie’s side since yesterday.”

  Nicole felt her mouth drop open. With Jeff’s injuries still healing, she’d just assumed both Sam and Allyce would be watching over him. “Someone sick over there?”

  “They’re gearing us up for a fight, remember?” Duncan said sourly.

  “And they still need all of you to help fix the ship,” Kahkitah reminded her. “That would suggest that they really don’t want any deaths.”

  “Or at least no more deaths than they need to prove their point,” Nicole gritted. “Okay, fine—I’ll go over there. Come on, Kahkitah—I need you to help me across the river.”

  “You talking about the way you came over before?” Duncan asked.

  “Yes,” Nicole said. “Why, did the Shipmasters find it or something?”

  “Don’t know,” Duncan said. “I’m more worried about how secure you made your end of the tubing. Even with Kahkitah holding this end, if the other end breaks free you might find yourself white-water rafting without the raft.”

  “I wedged it pretty good.”

  “She’ll be all right,” Kahkitah said. “I’ll be with her.”

  “No, you won’t,” Nicole said firmly. “You’ll be here helping Jeff get ready.”

  “I thought you didn’t want us to fight,” Duncan said, frowning.

  “I don’t,” Nicole said. “But if we can’t get this stopped, I want to make sure Bungie loses.”

  “Preaching to the choir, sister,” Duncan said. “Just one other problem. If you leave the line up, what’s to stop Bungie from finding it and coming over here? We’re having enough trouble guarding the ocean route. We don’t need a flanking move down the hills on top of it.”

  “Don’t worry, he won’t come back that way,” Nicole said. “Once I’m across, I’ll toss off my end.”

  Kahkitah trilled sharply. “No!” he said. “If you do, you’ll be trapped there.”

  “I can always swim back.”

  “Under the very eyes of the Shipmasters?” Kahkitah’s gill slits fluttered. “They’d capture you before you could even dry off.”

  “And if you do try it, you’ll need to do it soon,” Duncan warned. “In about an hour it’ll start being open enough to cross, and everyone—from both sides—will be at the extra food dispenser.”

  “I thought Bungie’s side didn’t need more food.”

  “They don’t,” Duncan said. “But they don’t want us to have it, either.”

  Nicole caught her breath. “So you’re already fighting them?”

  “No, no, Jeff’s playing it cool,” Duncan said. “We go in just when the dispenser first starts to get clear, when the biggest wave crests still put it underwater but the troughs leave it clear.”

  “You have to be pretty fast, don’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Duncan said, making a face. “Even if you are, half the time you end up with soggy food. Water’s pretty damn cold, too.”

  “Sounds tricky,” Nicole said.

  “Tricky and a half,” Duncan agreed. “The upside is that none of the Greenies want to get in any deeper than they have to.”

  “Especially when they don’t need the food?”

  “Right,” Duncan said. “We get about half of it out before the water’s low enough that they’re willing to come in to stop us. When that happens, we just back off and let them stand there and keep us away.”

  “Shivering the whole time,” Nicole said. “Only this time, you’ll have weapons and they won’t.”

  “So what? Oh,” Duncan said, his eyes narrowing as he suddenly got it. “So we should be able to march in, point our tridents at them, and make them back off. Only we don’t want to do that, do we?”

  “Not if we want to prove we’re not fighters,” Nicole said. “You need to tell Jeff to run your usual trick and leave the weapons in the hive.”
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  “Pretty sure he’s already thought of that, but I’ll tell him,” Duncan said. “You still going across?”

  “I have to,” Nicole said. “I don’t know how long it’ll take Allyce to mix up this stuff, and I need to give her all the time I can. Actually, getting to her while Bungie and the rest are chasing you away from the dispenser is probably my best shot.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Duncan said. “Be careful.”

  “I still don’t like you being trapped over there,” Kahkitah said.

  “You got a better idea, I’d love to hear it,” Nicole said. “If not, I’m going. You going to come and help, or not?”

  “I’ll come,” Kahkitah said firmly. “And I will find a better way.”

  * * *

  To Nicole’s complete lack of surprise, he didn’t.

  There was little conversation possible with the river roaring beside them. But Nicole wasn’t in a mood for talking anyway. She took the pack of ingredients from Kahkitah and slung it over her shoulder, made sure she had the full list of instructions that they’d copied from his pad to hers, then watched as he fished the end of the tubing from where he and Carp had wedged it near the river’s edge. He tightened the line, looped it once around one of the trees, and nodded.

  Giving him a small wave—which seemed both childish and stupid, she realized an instant later—Nicole locked her left arm firmly over the tubing and stepped into the river.

  The water was just as cold as it had been the last time, and the buffeting and churning possibly a little worse. But this time she was ready for it, and managed to maintain her balance the whole way across. She reached the far side; and as Kahkitah stood on the opposite bank, his whole body a single hulking mass of unhappiness, she unhooked the crutch top from the branches where she’d wedged it and threw it back across to him. He caught it and, still watching her, coiled the tubing into a tight knot. He laid it at the base of one of the trees and gave her a little wave of his own.

  He was still watching as Nicole turned and started down the slope.

  Duncan had said it would be another hour before the ocean route became passable. Nicole found a nice spot where she could look down on the hive entrance without being immediately visible and settled in to wait.

  She’d been there about half an hour when the green group made their move.

  Bungie was first out, naturally—he’d learned his leadership techniques from Trake, and Trake always led the way, at least until they got close to where the danger was. He was followed by Iosif and Miron, the two men normally in charge of the team who should by all rights be in charge here, too. Behind them came the other five men, striding through the bushes like they owned the place.

  Nicole watched them, a lump forming in her throat. Of course they were determined. Fievj had promised to send them home if they won. Distantly, she wondered what they would think when that turned out to be a lie.

  What they would think. Not what they would do. There would be absolutely nothing they could do.

  She waited until the last of them was out of sight beyond the tree canopy, then gave it another two-hundred count just to be sure. Then, keeping as quiet as she could, she headed down and slipped through the entrance into the hive.

  She found Allyce in the corresponding room to the one where Sam had set up Jeff’s treatment and recovery over in the blue side. The other woman looked up, her eyes widening as Nicole stepped in. Allyce opened her mouth, her lips starting to curve into a smile—

  And closed it again as Nicole hastily put her finger to her lips. “Keep it down,” Nicole warned quietly. “The Shipmasters have a listening ear a few doors down.”

  “I know,” Allyce said, just as quietly, as she ran a quick, measuring glance over her. “I heard you’d come back. Are you all right?”

  “As all right as any of us are,” Nicole said. “But that’s going to change real fast if we don’t do something.”

  “Yes, I heard some of the others talking,” Allyce said. “You told them that the Shipmasters like watching people fight?”

  “Actually, it’s worse than that,” Nicole said grimly. “Here’s the deal.”

  Allyce listened in silence while Nicole gave her the full story. “That’s … incredible,” she said when Nicole had finished. “Where exactly did you hear this?”

  “The Caretaker told me.”

  “And this Caretaker is reliable?”

  “He’s part of the Fyrantha itself,” Nicole said. “So, yeah, I’d say so.”

  Allyce shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe it. Slaves—even military slaves—no. Creatures advanced enough for space travel wouldn’t be that unenlightened.”

  “What does enlightenment have to do with it?” Nicole demanded. “As long as there are wars, people are going to want people to fight and take bullets and die for them.”

  “Again, that doesn’t make sense,” Allyce said. “Surely advanced people don’t need to fight anymore.”

  Nicole clenched her teeth. “Allyce, listen,” she said as calmly as she could. “I’ve seen them fighting. All sorts of aliens, all sorts of weapons. The Shipmasters set them up, watch them fight, and figure out who they’re going to sell the winners to.”

  “And then send everyone home?”

  “I really don’t know. I know they leave, but that’s all.”

  “They send everyone home,” Allyce said firmly. “That’s what Fievj said. They send them home. If they can send them home, it means they can send us home, too.”

  Something cold ran up Nicole’s back. “This isn’t about us, Allyce,” she said carefully. “It’s about Earth. It’s about the whole human race—”

  “I have a husband, Nicole.”

  Nicole blinked. “What?”

  “You heard me. I have a husband. Back in Denver.” Allyce’s throat worked. “I haven’t seen him in twelve years.”

  “Allyce—”

  “He doesn’t even know if I’m alive or dead,” Allyce cut her off. “I’m sorry—I really am. But this is my chance to get home. Even if Fievj is lying, it’s my only chance. I have to try.”

  For a long moment Nicole just stared at her, trying to think. She’d hoped that once everyone knew the full stakes they were playing for, only Bungie and Sam would be selfish enough to risk the whole world for what they personally wanted. But if she’d lost Allyce, too, who knew who else might be ready to fight for real? “What did Fievj say?” she asked. “What words exactly? What did he want you to do?”

  “He said the winners would be sent back to Earth,” Allyce said. “I know you believe that’s a lie—”

  “Any rules on how you win?” Nicole cut her off. “Does anyone have to die, or bleed, or get carried off the field? Or is the loser just whoever runs away first?”

  “I—” Allyce broke off, frowning. “I don’t know. I don’t think Bungie said anything about that.”

  “Okay,” Nicole said. “So you just have to win.” She unslung the bag from her shoulder. “Here are the ingredients for a drug that’s supposed to make people sleepy or confused or something. Make them so they can’t fight, or at least not very well. I need you to mix me up enough for everyone in both groups.”

  “All right,” Allyce said slowly. “But if no one can fight, how can anyone win?”

  “Like I said, whoever doesn’t run away,” Nicole said. “As long as they don’t look like they’d be worth anything in a real war, they can poke at each other all they want.”

  “I don’t know,” Allyce said, still not sounding convinced.

  “At least mix up the stuff while you’re thinking about it, okay?” Nicole said. “We can talk more later if you want. But Fievj’s already starting to pass out weapons. We have to get moving.”

  “I suppose I can do that,” Allyce said. Gingerly, she took the bag. “I assume some instructions came with this?”

  “Right here,” Nicole said, pulling out her pad. “Got your pad?”

  “Here.”
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br />   Allyce watched in silence as Nicole transferred the instructions. Then it was Nicole’s turn to wait as Allyce skimmed through them. “You think you can do it?” Nicole asked when the doctor looked up again.

  “I think so, yes.” Allyce hefted the bag. “From the feel of this you’ve got plenty of ingredients, so I could probably even mess up the first batch and still have enough to work with.”

  “Well, don’t mess it up,” Nicole warned. “I don’t know if there’s enough stuff there, and I know there’s not enough time. Speaking of which, any idea how long it’ll take?”

  “A day or two at the most,” Allyce said. “Though I’m going to have to come up with something to tell Bungie about what I’m doing. Any idea on delivery system?”

  “What?”

  “You need a way to get the drug into the body,” Allyce said. “Injection, ingestion, or inhalation. Do you know which one this needs?”

  “Not a clue,” Nicole confessed. She didn’t remember anything like that being mentioned in the instruction list. “Which is easiest?”

  “You don’t get to choose,” Allyce said, a little impatiently. “You need to find out. And you’d better hope it’s not injection, because I hardly think Bungie and the others will line up for shots.”

  “Yeah, I’ll find out,” Nicole promised. “You just get some put together, okay?”

  Allyce sighed. “Sure. You’d better go before they all get back.”

  “Right,” Nicole said. “Thanks.”

  The area past the hive door was deserted as she slipped through. Instead of heading left toward the river, though, this time she turned right and headed toward the side wall. One of the arena’s main doors was back there, but she had no doubt the Shipmasters and Wisps had a close eye on it.

  But if all the broken flooring spots Kahkitah had seen were really emergency exit stairs, and if that same pattern was repeated on this side of the arena, she might have a secret bolt-hole the Shipmasters didn’t know about. She kept an eye on the branches above her as she walked, hoping she could make the trip without coming into view from the observation balcony—

  “You!” a voice came from somewhere behind her. “Stop!”