"Come on, Stuart. Surely you can see now what kind of a man he is. He's no good for you."
"But I love him," said Stuart Lennox, bitterly, helplessly. "I love him."
Emma finally got him calmed down enough to leave, and then she strode restlessly back and forth in her apartment, trying to work out what to do next. The Paragons had gone too far now. The heroes of old had become monsters, and they had to be stopped. But she couldn't just barge into the Sangreal and accuse them. They'd had plenty of time to hide the evidence. They'd call her a liar to her face, and laugh at her. No, she'd have to do this the hard way. Follow them, spy on them, gather hard evidence that couldn't be overlooked or buried. And for that, she was going to need her new ally, the reporter Nina Malapert.
All it took was a short vid call, and a few dark hints, and Nina was on her way. She was hammering on Emma's door in under half an hour, and swept briskly into the apartment in a flurry of garments of clashing colors, her tall pink mohawk waving proudly above her shaved skull. She and Emma embraced happily, and then Nina tore herself away to prowl around the room, oohing and aahing loudly, and making sure her floating camera was recording it all.
"Another exclusive! Emma Steel's very own private home life! Gosh, darling, Channel Two Seventy-nine would kill for material like this. Not that you'd want to appear there, Emma dear. Very downmarket, and tris tacky. They'd probably want pictures of you in a bubble bath, showing your bosoms and doing something suggestive with a loofah." She stopped in the middle of the room and looked about her, frowning prettily. "I have to say, it's all rather spartan, isn't it, darling? I mean, these furnishings are so last week, and you haven't even got any little bits and pieces, to give the place character. Everyone has a few little bits and pieces. Tell me you've at least got some stuffed animals in your bedroom."
"Just the one," said Emma. "Head of a Hob hound. I shot and stuffed it myself."
"Ooh! Ooh! A little bird told me on the way up here that you've had a gentleman caller. Very young and very fit, but looking totally miserable. Be honest now! Have there been tears and tantrums? Is someone on the way out? Is someone new on the horizon? Is he a celebrity? "Tell me everything, darling!"
"Nina, calm down and sit down, please." Emma tried to sound stern, but the young journalist reminded her irresistibly of her younger sister back on Mistworld, always eager to get involved in everything, especially when it involved scandal and excitement. "Nina, this could be the biggest story of your career, but what I have in mind is very dangerous, and I need to be sure you understand the risks."
Nina sat bolt upright in her chair, wide-eyed and quivering with excitement as Emma laid out the bare bones of the story for her.
"Well, honestly, darling, this is… utterly wonderful! It's got everything. Sex, politics, treason, and a touch of gore for the tabloid shows! We could sell the rights to this story for enough money to retire on. We're talking miniseries here! I wonder who they'll get to play me? Yes, yes, don't look at me like that, darling. The wind will change and your face will get stuck that way. I know, it's all very serious and dangerous and all that, but one of us has to concentrate on the business side, or we'll get screwed over the contracts. It's a jungle out there these days. So, what's the plan? Does it involve shooting lots of people? Should I go home and change into something that doesn't matter if I get blood on it?"
"Take a deep breath, Nina, you're hyperventilating. This is going to be a fact-finding mission, and nothing more. What do you know about Paragons?"
"Well, absolutely everyone's been keeping an eye on them recently, darling. From a respectable distance, of course. There's all kinds of stories about the things they've been getting up to, since they all came home with their tails between their legs. But no one knows anything for sure. I've been doing some research, or rather, I haven't but I persuaded this sweet young boy at the office to do it for me. It seems that all but a handful of the Paragons have returned from the quest now, and none of them found even a sniff of Owen or Hazel. Everyone's been chasing stories about them doing terrible things, but there's never any proof or any witnesses. Or at least, none willing to speak out, even for really impressive sums up front. The few times someone has got a piece together, one of Finn's people would turn up and have a, quiet word with the editor, and the story would be quietly spiked as not in the public interest."
"Finn doesn't own all the media," said Emma.
"No, darling, but he does scare the shit out of most of it. No one's going to risk going head-to-head with the Durandal over anything less than a totally watertight story. And that's where we come in! I'm going to be journalist of the year! They'll give me my own chat show for this!"
"They'll cut your head off and dump your body in the waste pits, if we get caught," Emma said dryly.
"Well, yes, there is that." Nina pouted, and frowned. "According to my researcher, sweetie, all the usual Paragon groupies and hangers-on have run for their lives. Ordinary people don't go into the Sangreal anymore, or if they do, they have a distressing tendency not to come out again. No one knows what they do with the bodies. The rest of the street have abandoned their homes and businesses. They couldn't stand listening to the screaming anymore. And all of this is happening just down the road from the House of Parliament, with the Imperial Champion's knowledge and support. So you see, I am taking this seriously, darling. I just believe in seeing the positive side of things as well. Like, if we pull this off successfully, we're going to be rich, rich, rich!"
She jumped up and did a little happy dance in the middle of the room. "I think I've discovered a taste for real journalism, darling! No more puff pieces and horoscopes for me! So, what do we do first?"
"Well, to start with, we're not going anywhere near the Sangreal until we've got a better idea of what's really going on. These people were heroes once. The best of the best. Some were my friends. Some-thing specific must have happened, to change them so drastically. According to your news channel, one of the last few Paragons to return from the quest, Miracle Grant, landed at the main starport just a few hours ago. He wouldn't give any interviews, which is almost unheard of for Grant, but he did say he hadn't found Owen or Hazel either. There has to be a connection."
She broke off as her viewscreen chimed with an incoming call. She looked at the screen curiously. Most people knew better than to bother her when she was off duty. She accepted the call and scowled at the screen. "This had better be really important," she growled.
The face on the screen was female, oriental, the left half covered with a series of intricate overlapping tattoos. She wore her hair in a black buzz cut, her mouth was a severe pink rosebud, and her eyes were dark and fierce. A single razor-edged throwing star dangled from one earlobe.
"I am Rachel Chojiro Random," she said bluntly. "I'm one of Random's Bastards. And you need to hear what I have to say, Paragon."
Emma sniffed. "That'll be the day. I take it there's no point in trying to trace this call?"
"What do you think? I'm calling from the Rookery, and that's all you need to know. Now shut up and listen. I know things you need to know."
Emma folded her arms across her chest. "Convince me."
Rachel scowled unhappily. "I'm a Random's Bastard, and proud of it. Direct descent from Jack Random. Disowned by both sides of my adopted family, ever since I discovered at a young age my God-given talent for parting fools from their money. I'm a career criminal, and proud of it. But there are lines even I won't cross. I speak for all Random's Bastards in this. The Durandal has desecrated Random's and Journey's graves in the Victory Gardens. The bodies were dug up and then destroyed with transmutation bombs. Sacrilege. We're all mad as hell, and we want revenge. We can't take on the Durandal, but maybe you can."
"Get to the point," said Emma. "What have you got to tell me?"
"Miracle Grant's come into the Rookery, supposedly to meet with Finn. Get here fast, and you'll catch them together. Word is, they're going to be discussing things they wouldn't dare di
scuss anywhere else. Interested?"
"Give me directions, and then get the hell out of my way," said Emma Steel.
Emma Steel and Nina Malapert made their way into the Rookery, disguised under heavy cloaks and holo faces, with just enough hints about them to suggest they were two well-off ladies, slumming it in the Rookery for pleasures unobtainable in the more civilized parts of the city. They kept to the side streets and the shadows, and avoided contact with anyone. Miracle Grant wasn't difficult to find. He strutted through the Rookery streets as though he owned them, and everyone gave him plenty of room. No one dared to touch a man under Finn's blessing, even if he was a hated Paragon. And besides, there was something odd about the man, something off… He wore his armor sloppily, and he was seriously overweight. His eyes were wild and dancing, and he laughed a lot, even when there was nothing obviously funny to laugh at. He took food from a market stall without paying, and crammed it into his mouth with both hands as he strode along. Emma and Nina followed him discreetly through the crowded streets, keeping well back.
" That's Miracle Grant?" said Nina. "God, he's really let himself go."
"Something's seriously wrong here," said Emma. "The Grant I knew was always a fop and a dandy, immaculately turned out with never a hair out of place. Hell, the man was an epicure of the first rank. There's no way he'd lower himself to eat street food…"
"So," said Nina. "Are we going to drag him into a back alley and beat some answers out of him?"
Emma looked at her. "We?"
"Well, all right then, you. I have to handle the camera."
"We stick to following him. I need to know what he's doing here. I also want to be sure this isn't some kind of trap. Never trust a Random's Bastard."
Miracle Grant went back and forth in the Rookery, talking to really unpleasant people in really unpleasant places. No one seemed pleased to see him, but no one was stupid enough to object either. He was Finn's man, and he was a Paragon, and both were scary things these days. Finally he came to a small bar in a back street and went in. Emma and Nina watched from an alleyway on the other side of the street, but some time passed, and he didn't come out.
Emma scowled. "We can't risk going in ourselves. See that window on the second floor, partway open? Can you get your camera in through there?"
"Piece of cake," said Nina. "And I have state-of-the-art stealth protocols. They'll never hear it coming."
She concentrated, and her camera emerged from under her cloak and flew swiftly up to the second floor window. It slipped easily through the gap, and then Nina guided it delicately downstairs until she could see into the main bar.
"Got it," she said. "Grant's in there with three others, all in Paragon gear."
"Plug me in," said Emma. "I need to know what's happening in there. And be sure to record everything on a remote link. This could be evidence."
Nina hesitated. "I'm going to have to get in really close for that, darling. You will pay for a new camera, if anything goes wrong, won't you? I'm not made of money, you know, and I can't get insurance since I started hanging around with you…"
"Yes, yes, get on with it."
"And I should point out that stealth fields are technically quite illegal, for news cameras. You do promise this won't come back to haunt me later."
"If you don't get a move on, you'll be the one who's doing the haunting."
"Bully."
Emma and Nina plugged in to what the camera was seeing through their comm links, and a window opened up before their eyes, showing the interior of the bar. The camera had to stick to the shadows up by the ceiling, but its picture came through clear enough. Miracle Grant was drinking brandy straight from the bottle at the bar. Three other Paragons were keeping him company. Emma knew them all. Good men, by reputation. But in this backstreet bar they laughed and drank and behaved like animals. They didn't seem to have anything important to say to each other. They were waiting. And then Finn Durandal walked through the door, and Emma and Nina both jumped. They'd been so taken up with what they were seeing that they hadn't even seen Finn approaching. The four Paragons fell silent as Finn entered the bar. He smiled on them all, and they looked flatly back at him. There was a sense of Finn's being surrounded by a wolf pack that would turn on him the moment he showed any sign of weakness. Finn knew this, and wasn't in any way disturbed. If anything, he seemed amused.
"Well, my fine friends," he said calmly. "How are we today? Been having a good time?"
"Why couldn't we meet in the Sangreal, as usual?" said Grant.
"Because you've all been very naughty," said Finn. "Reduced poor little Stuart to tears. Can't I leave you people alone for a minute?"
"You promised us action," snapped Miracle Grant. "You promised us revenge. You promised us blood and slaughter and the evening of scores. We're tired of sitting around, only let out to play bodyguard and run errands for you, like so many puppy dogs."
"Are you saying you haven't been enjoying yourselves?" said Finn. "Because of me, the ELFs finally got to possess their greatest enemies, the Paragons, and destroy their reputations while indulging yourselves in every vice and whim that comes to you. The Paragons are your slaves, aware of the evil you do with their bodies, but unable to stop you. They suffer the Hell you've made for them, and all because of me. There's just no gratitude anymore."
"We're still waiting for the bill," growled one of the other Paragons. "The ELFs know better than to trust Finn Durandal."
"You're not still mad at me for betraying you at the Parade of the Paragons, are you? It was all part of the plan. To get you where you are now."
"We could have done this without you," growled Grant.
"Could you? Could you really? I don't think so. I gave you the location for each individual Paragon on his quest, so you could get there first and ambush and possess them. No one else could have done that. Only I had the information, because I helped plan the quest. You really must be patient. Stick with me, and you'll get everything you ever wanted. Soon enough my position will be unchallengeable, and then I will unleash you on our mutual enemies, and we'll all get to have a little fun, I promise."
He turned his back on them and headed unhurriedly for the door. He'd almost got there when a voice behind him said, "That esp-blocker won't protect you forever, Durandal."
Finn left the bar without replying. Out in the street, Emma and Nina watched Finn walk away. Nina shut down her camera, and called it back, and then she and Emma looked at each other.
"I should have known," said Emma. "I should have known …"
"ELFs!" Nina said breathlessly. "ELFs possessing Paragons! Story of the century! We've got to get this on the air, Emma."
"If we'd gone in there ourselves, we'd be dead now," said Emma. "Up close, those telepaths would have identified us immediately."
Nina looked quickly at the bar, as her camera returned to nestle under her cloak again. She patted it absently, like a good dog. "Can they sense us from in there?"
"No. Possessing a thrall limits their range considerably."
"Emma, we have to tell someone!"
"Hush, girl, and let me think!" Emma scowled fiercely. "We can't just go public with what your camera recorded. Even if we could find someone brave enough to run it, Finn would just say it was faked, a smear job by his enemies. Most people haven't heard what the Paragons are doing. Finn's seen to that. And then he'd have ELFs possess us, and we'd stand up and say yes, it was all faked. We'd be very convincing. And then we'd kill ourselves, for shame. And the ELFs would laugh themselves sick. I'd better get esp-blockers for both of us, just in case. We can't afford to have anyone peeking into our thoughts."
"Isn't private ownership of esp-blockers illegal these days?" said Nina.
"I have contacts."
"The great Emma Steel, breaking the law. Now that really would be an exclusive. Pity I'll probably never be able to run it."
They shared a small smile.
"There must be someone we can show this to," said Nina
. "The people have to know what's going on."
"The ELFs' involvement changes everything," said Emma. "I don't know who I can trust anymore… anyone could be possessed. Anyone. We're going to need allies. Powerful allies. Normally I'd go to the oversoul for help, but Finn's driven them away…" She stopped, and looked at Nina. "Is that why he did that? Is he really thinking that far ahead?"
"Darling, I'm starting to get a little scared," said Nina.
"Good. It'll keep you sharp, keep you safe. Look, we're better off now than we were. At least now we know what's going on. The world is starting to make sense again. Finn got rid of the oversoul because they could have exposed what's happening. It was probably also part of the deal he made with the ELFs, to make up for the massacre of their people at the Parade of the Paragons. And, he's got rid of the only people who could have exposed him for what he is."
"Isn't there any way we can get at him?" said Nina.
"He must know this alliance can't last," said Emma. "The ELFs hate his guts. They'll turn on him first chance they get. Finn's playing a very dangerous game…"
"I say we just lob a grenade into the Sangreal, and kill the lot of them," Nina said briskly.
"Tempting," said Emma, "but no. We can't attack the Paragons directly. We'd only kill the possessed bodies; the ELF minds would escape. We have to find a way to drive the ELFs out of their thralls, and rescue the Paragons."
Nina snorted. "You don't want much, do you?"
"You! Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Emma and Nina looked round sharply, to see Miracle Grant glaring at them from the door of the bar. Emma grabbed Nina by the wrist and ran like hell. They couldn't let the ELF get too close, and learn who they were from their thoughts. Grant pounded after them, and the other Paragons came boiling out of the bar to join the pursuit. Emma reached into a concealed pocket and pulled out a mind-bomb. Utterly illegal on Logres, but still in common use on Mistworld. Emma believed in being properly prepared, and not letting trifling little technicalities get in the way of doing her job. She charged down the street, Nina plunging gamely along beside her. From the sound of the ugly voices behind them, the Paragons were gaining. Emma primed the mindbomb, let it fall to the ground, and kept running. The bomb detonated just as the Paragons reached it. Its vicious energies sleeted through their minds, disrupting all mental activity in its limited range, and the Paragons staggered to a halt as ELF and host mind were both thrown into confusion. By the time the ELF minds were back in control, their prey was long gone.
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