The Burning Crown (Stone Blade Book 4)

by James Matt Cox

  Ferrel walked slowly along with the crowd, all of them headed to the entry point off the tarmac. The port around him still bustled with people busy about their tasks. Merchants seeking one last trade or finishing a bit of paperwork, vendors selling their wares and tourists buying them. The crowd flowed in all the colors and sounds of normalcy, giving the port a life of its own. Overall, he thought, things here had changed not at all. He joined one of the queues leading through Customs and into the port complex proper.

  "Good afternoon, seigneur. Welcome to Faircoast." said a young port officer, House Sjoerd by his crest, "Are you here for business or personal reasons?"

  "Both," smiled Ferrel.

  He placed his hand on the palm plate and looked into the retscanner. The terminal beeped and flashed red and the young man looked up in surprise.

  "Prince Gunter! Welcome back, sire!" Then, as the display cleared the man took on a fearful look. "You should not be here, your highness! Go back quickly, sire! I'll say the scanners malfunctioned and gave a bad reading."

  "Thank you, lad, but I cannot do that. I'm here for a reason and even otherwise I'd not besmirch the honor of House Sjoerd."

  The man started to say something but the alert had spread. Four Elder Guards now trotted quickly toward them.

  "In that case, your highness, I fear I am compelled to place you under arrest."

  Ferrel smiled. "Then do your duty, good Sjoerd," he said with full formal inflection, "Ever honor in heart and skill in craft. Don't worry, young sirra, you are a credit to your honor and your House."

  One of the Guards, a Varl, shackled Ferrel's hands roughly and smiled wickedly. The others smiled not at all.

  ***

  Micah observed a certain house closely as he drove by. He viewed it from several angles with nothing to show for it. Nothing set it apart from any other house on this block or any others around it. After Kidwell acknowledged his meet point he heard nothing more from her or from Thompson. Very unusual. Then things went from unusual to disturbing when no one appeared for the meeting: no Kidwell, no Thompson and no Elder Guardsmen looking for Micah. The situation escalated to alarming when he sent her a silent blip and received no response.

  Micah parked the hover, wriggled into a noseeme and crept toward the house. It lay between two others and separated from them by a modest yard. Try though he might, Micah detected no alarms on the fence or on the exterior of the house itself. It was neither large nor small and not unusual in any way save the locator blip that led Micah here.

  The house did show occasional signs of activity. Lights came on and went off at irregular times and occasionally a shadow moved across the curtained windows. Micah assumed the place full of well-armed guards and acted appropriately. The back porch had no security he could detect so Micah crossed it slowly. He had a blaster along with several types of grenades but he hoped not to need them and would not use them unless forced. He held a stunner in his hand and had a needle pistol close to it.

  Micah slunk to the back door where he found a trivial alarm. He bypassed it easily and unlocked the door as quietly as he could. It opened into a utility room that in turn led to a kitchen. One man sat sleepily at the table; he dropped into total slumber when Micah stunned him.

  Moving quickly now, Micah cleared the rest of the house. He swept the rooms, stunned three more people and still found no sophisticated security gear. He also found no Kidwell or Thompson! He checked the house again, thoroughly, mentally muttering profanity all the while. Still nothing!

  Micah risked another locator blip which returned immediately and here. This close, the small readout indicated a location below Micah yet the house had no basement. Now Micah checked the place yet again, this time in search for a path leading down.

  Something nagged at him. Both the kitchen and utility room had cryoboxes with the latter considerably larger. When Micah looked closer, he saw it was firmly anchored to the floor. Nor was it a cryobox! Its door opened to a small, tight stairway down.

  Micah took the stairs quickly but quietly. He did a cursory check for security but speed mattered more now. At the bottom of the stairs and around a sharp turn Micah caught a brief glimpse of multiple figures raising weapons. He fired, dropped, rolled and fired some more. Four unconscious guards later he stood in front of a heavily-armored door. He settled it with a small thermex capsule, kicked it off its still-glowing hinges and fired through it.

  Chaos! The six mobile people didn't have space to maneuver properly in the small room and Micah had no worries on friendly fire. Two of the six fired stunners but succeeded only in felling one of their own. Five shots later Micah had the room entirely to himself with only a bound Kidwell and Thompson for company.

  "Micahhhh. Loverrrrr..." Kidwell slurred the words badly. "We knew... you'd be here sooooon."

  Thompson looked more alert but had several bruises and a cut. Micah wasted no time freeing him.

  "I'm sorry, Sergeant Stone. They... bombed our hover. I didn't get a chance to..."

  "Don't worry," said Micah, "You did enough. What did they give her?"

  "Babbabble. Bulll," bubbled Kidwell, smiling sloppily.

  "I don't know, sir. It was something in a hypo. Ahh... Shouldn't we be leaving?"

  "As of ten minutes ago," said Micah.

  He examined the others strewn about the room and collected comms and weapons. Two of the unconscious figures wore nicer and different garb than the rest.

  "Those two questioned us," said Thompson, "The other guards snapped to when they spoke. I think they had us under observation for a long time."

  "They were gooood, toooo," said Kidwell. Then she giggled.

  "Fight it, hon! You know the drill," said Micah.

  Thompson looked at Micah with disbelief. Kidwell swallowed hard, twice, then giggled again.

  "Leeeeeeaving," she said, "Goooood. No fun here."

  Micah fetched his hover quickly, certain he was under scrutiny. It made a tight fit with the other two hovers there but fit it did! Working as quickly as he could Micah disconnected the locators and other nonessential circuitry in all the hovers. He levered the still-sleeping interrogators into the boot of one and motioned Thompson and Kidwell into its back seat. He programmed the other two hovers to random destinations, killed the lights and took the front seat of the remaining vehicle. As soon as he opened the garage door all three hovers whooshed out and away. To any outside eyes all three would appear empty.

  "Thompson! Open the aid kit and administer the bright orange and green hypo. It's a Marine-strength purgee and it should take care of what they gave her."

  Micah, crouched down away from sight, monitored their progress on the autonav display.

  "Where are we going," asked Kidwell, alert and sweating now, "League mission station?"

  "Nak," said Micah, "The house guards have a few sport houses around town. They keep them under the garble for certain activities they don't want known. I'm headed for one of those, eventually. Tell me what happened."

  Kidwell recounted their story swiftly. Thompson looked distressed toward the end of it but Micah dismissed his concern out of hand.

  "Everyone gets firsted now and again, John. You should know that better than anyone. We need to focus on what happens next."

  ***

  Three off-duty Varl house guards swore as the strange hover sped to a short stop in their garage. One strode angrily toward Micah as he left the vehicle.

  "Hoy, nubb! I don't know what you bloody..."

  "Quiet!" Micah put a command snap into his voice. Then, spotting a guard he recognized, "You there. Usaag! You know me, yes?"

  "Aye..."

  "Then help me!"

  The two others, much more irate now, made no move to help Micah as he shut the garage door and opened the boot. One stepped back as Micah pulled out the first body.

  "You listen cully," started the man.

  "You listen, cully," interrupted Micah, "Everyone knows why you keep this house. It's no secret. I have need
of it now and you will help me!"

  "The feces we will," said Usaag, "We know who you are, bally boy. I don't know who you think you are but me nor Pruse nor Vassey are taking your ruddy orders! You think otherwise maybeso we just teach you some manners!"

  "Slib," said Micah, showing exasperation now, "I'll settle all of you right now and I'll tell Sir Beau you abandoned your duty! These... persons are enemies to the Great House Varl and likely traitors to the crown besides. If you'd rather take a drubbing than serve your Laird, I'll report that too! Then I shall discover these traitors' names and the extent of their crimes. After that... After that, justice will be visited upon them! You can either help me or join them!"

  Usaag paled when Thompson and Kidwell dragged the man out and dumped him on the floor.

  "Polarize, Stone," said a much-subdued Usaag, "That one, he has the look of nobility to him! Duffs like us, we don't meddle with that!"

  "He has no such look to me," said Micah, voice cold and even.

  Vassey and Pruse looked closer, then Pruse spoke.

  "Spike me, boy, he is noble!"

  "Then he should talk quite easily given the right... persuasion."

  Micah threw the lady's limp body over his shoulder. Again none of the others moved to help.

  "Bloody rut," swore Micah, "If you won't flaming help then you might as well leave!" He jerked his head at the hover. "Take that with you, burn you, and lose it somewhere away from here. Don't be seen leaving it, either. We should be done by tomorrow. When you clean the place, use something that will degrade blood."

  ***

  Micah sat back and sipped tea, comfortable in a room in the house's basement. The guards, only too eager to help now, furnished the tea, food packs and an aid kit for Thompson. The two prisoners now lay across a bed both large and well-equipped with straps, shackles and similar equipment. Micah didn't want to contemplate the guards' use of it but it fit their needs for now.

  "Sergeant Stone," said Thompson, "you know I have nothing but the greatest respect for you. There are times, though, when you frighten me. I've seen some ruddy good bluffs in my life but something tells me you were dead serious."

  "As serious as necessary," said Micah, "Can you two handle things from here?"

  "Six-sigmas," said Kidwell, "I can handle our allies. As for these two... You know I don't like babble when it's used on me. I also do not like being observed; I'm the one who observes!"

  Thompson's eyebrow tried to lift at that.

  "Polar," said Micah, "I didn't give Sir Beau much of a reason when I left so I'll need a ruddy good one when I get back."

  "Do what you must, lover," said Kidwell, "We'll have these whistle-fish singing soon enough."

  ***

  Micah did indeed find a very displeased Outremin awaiting his return.

  "I suppose you have an explanation, Stone."

  "Yes sir."

  Micah looked at the two guards in the room and kept silent. Finally Outremin motioned to them and they left. When Micah still didn't speak he activated a garble.

  "One of our senior house guards here brought me troubling news."

  Micah nodded. "Yes, sir. I was busy handling two troublesome miscreants. I saw them at the warehouse when I delivered your datacube. That wasn't the first time, either. I've seen them about more often than I should. I decided to settle the matter."

  "You decided. Describe them, Stone."

  "A man and a woman, sir."

  Micah said no more and Outremin's expression grew more and more impatient. Finally Micah spoke again.

  "I'm not telling you more than that, sir. Not until I've extracted everything I can from them."

  "Suppose I decide otherwise," said Outremin with a brittle tone.

  "You know about the house I used, no secrets there. It's a sport house for the guards. I saw them there and one of them said one of our prisoners looked noble. He was worried about it, sir."

  Outremin's expression hardened and Micah saw a spark of uncertainty in his eyes.

  "Neither one of them looked noble to me, sir," said Micah, "Besides, the two of them had a lot of company with them. Those should all live."

  "Stone..."

  "Sir? I knew you'd be impatient so I left the questioning to a pair of friends."

  Now Outremin's gaze turned suspicious.

  "Friends, Stone? Friends of yours who just happened to be here? That does not bode well for your future, no matter what your skills."

  "Friends of convenience, sir. I've not hidden my skills or talents or aught of my past from you. I have no doubt you verified them, too."

  Outremin nodded.

  "My friends are two Brightcrowns of bastard blood. They weren't easy to find, but I looked bloody hard for them. Brightcrown abandoned them and left them with nothing but anger and venom. They hate Brightcrown more than anyone in the Great House of Varl or anywhere else in the Crown. They'll have your answers ere long."

  Now Outremin relaxed a little. "Still, Stone, if you have harmed noble blood..."

  "Your hands will be unstained, sir. If aught comes of it I will take responsibility. Matters won't come to that, though." Micah shrugged. "My questioners are very useful but... disposable."

  ***

  Outremin nodded but hid his emotions carefully. The casual ease with which Stone spoke, along with his lack of concern for any consequences, chilled him. His treasure just proved even more dangerous than he thought!

  "Very well, Stone. I applaud your efforts and your initiative! I hope the prisoners do not prove too bothersome. When next you speak with your friends, urge them to speed. I received important and wonderful news! Fate and fortune and great effort have given the Great House of Varl a chance to mete out justice long overdue! My Laird Fadding's masterwork is ready at long last. We shall be leaving for Barinhall late tomorrow and there is much to be done between now and then."

  "Justice, sir," said Micah eagerly.

  "Indeed, Stone." Outremin smiled. "Curb your impatience. We must tidy our details here that we may truly savor what is to come. Soon, now. Very soon."

  "Yes sir."

  As Stone walked away Outremin considered what the coming days would bring. Justice, to be sure, and justice long overdue! Justice and a settling against Brightcrown; an appetizer and main course House Varl would deliver by the hand of the Moot itself! Afterward, though...

  Outremin knew his Laird would reward him, yet he'd spent no time considering what to ask. The culmination of Laird Fadding's long-nurtured plan would yield rewards not possible in many lifetimes and Outremin knew he needed to take full advantage.

  He also considered how he would reward his own and whether or not Stone would be on that list. He would, Outremin decided. For now. He also made a careful note not to let Stone slip away. The man was deadly dangerous but even more so as an enemy. And, as Stone himself said, even dangerous tools were disposable.

  Chapter 15. My Enemy, My Friend

  Lacy Blue woke to a horrible, piercing splitting headache. Stunner, thought some rational part of her brain. One that didn't hurt so much. Once she sorted that out a score more pains separated from it and scattered, only to settle at other points in her body. When she finally managed to open her eyes a harsh, bright light stabbed through them and into her brain. That hurt too.

  "Awake now? Good."

  Something cold and blessedly wet touched her lips. She sipped and then drank as the cool water roused her thirst. Then she choked as the room swam into focus.

  "I know you're dehydrated, dear. Go ahead and drink. It's quite safe, I assure you. I'm not planning on poisoning you. Not just yet."

  Vera Kittley stood over her. She heard a noise to her side and when she looked she saw Karr beside her. His chest moved up and down so he still lived as well. But for how long?

  ***

  Of all the McReelys and Karr, Blue alone thought their not-plan ill-conceived and ill-advised. They had Kittley under surveillance along with her companion Thomas, Outremin, Stone, Ama
l, Zaba and several others. They noted Stone's strange behavior after delivering Outremin's package to the warehouse and the meeting between him and Kittley that soon followed.

  Kittley, Stone and Thomas garbled their table. That was difficult to overcome but one McReely there, a courageous young lady, knew how to read lips and she moved in close enough to do it unobserved. Of course, the three at the table did seem distracted but Blue counted that fortunate. When the young McReely returned to them, terrified, she said they spoke of Brightcrown, Varl and the Consortium.

  The last part frightened the girl into leaving. She knew little of the Consortium other than it was huge, powerful and full of League-hating killers. It frightened Karr and Blue no less and they knew more about it. At Karr's behest they transferred most of their resources to keeping track of Outremin, Stone, Kittley and Thomas.

  Karr decided to act when Kittley and her companion rushed to the Fallstar building with an urgency apparent even through the holocaster. Were circumstances less dire, he said, he'd have waited. Their targets stayed inside Fallstar long enough for Blue to break into their hover, plant a bug and conceal the gas canister.

  Karr knew more about interrogation but their captives refused to talk. He tried splitting them, then questioning them together, threatening first one then the other. After he struck Kittley the first time, Thomas tried foolishly to fight.

  Though bound, Thomas did land one solid kick. That infuriated Karr more than hurt him so, while the other guards held Thomas down, he administered some drug to Kittley.

  Karr assured Blue that, despite the woman's flaccid state, he'd not overdosed her. After a few minutes she roused to a half-conscious state and Karr began questioning her again. She babbled and burbled yet despite his most blatant or subtle effort to extract information she resisted him.

  The comm beeped and the detail assigned to watch Stone reported that he might have given them the vanish. Then they heard a noise outside the door, it crashed inward and Stone himself appeared to wreak havoc on them. Blue remembered some of the fight but not very much.