The Burning Crown (Stone Blade Book 4)

by James Matt Cox

  "Anything of interest, Piotr?"

  "Aye, m'lady. I've checked eleven of the units that failed long enough ago to reach the League archives. The units did perform properly under normal circumstances but fail in combat simulation. They were all sold by House Brightcrown through Catonatta."

  "Is there something else?"

  "Aye, lady." He gave her a level, emotionless look. "Every single unit was purchased by House Brightcrown through loss-recovery from Varl, Binkor-Sud or Imix."

  Karr looked ready to continue but one of the guards spoke a foul word very sharply, his attention focused entirely on the holovee. Two of the others seemed ready to swear so someone turned up the volume.

  "... and we repeat," said the reporter, "This is breaking news brought to you by the Elder Stars News Service."

  The view switched to a distant view of a group of people surrounding one man, the lot of them marching down a starship ramp. Crowds gathered at the barriers and pressed against the Elder Guards who only barely held them back. The view zoomed in and another voice spoke.

  "Greetings and good day to you all, nobles and citizens of the Star Crown Worlds. This is Gilroy Marta reporting for ESNS. We're here on Astraboria with live coverage of the transfer craft. The announcement this morning made by the Great House of Varl represents a major coup on their part. According to their herald, they captured the renegade Fyrelm as he attempted unlawful entry into Crown territory on the world of Faircoast. The criminal was taken into custody after a brief but futile struggle, at which time he was officially charged with his crimes.

  "As many of you may recall, his banishment almost twenty years ago, along with the despicable and dishonorable acts that caused it, led to Moot censure of House Brightcrown. It was the first such in the history of the Great and Noble House of Brightcrown. At that time the then and current Laird of House Brightcrown refused comment. Sources close to Laird Reginald hinted that he thought the censure unwarranted and the banishment excessive.

  "Some might speculate that now, amid persistent rumors of a much more severe censure against House Brightcrown, the appearance of the fugitive Fyrelm is not coincidence. We here at ESNS do not engage in rumor or speculation, but 'strange' and 'unlikely' do fit the situation well. Then there is... wait! Zoom in, Jake! We should be able to get a close-up of the criminal before he's taken to meet his justice! There..."

  Marta droned on unheard as the holocaster zoomed in. Two of the older McReelys plus Karr gasped. It was him! More surprising to Blue, though, was the cry of surprise, disbelief and denial from Thomas!

  "Nooo!" Thomas leaned forward, heedless of the blasters suddenly drawn, and stared at the holovee as hard as he could. "Vera. Vera! That's Charlie. Bloody floppers! It is!"

  "Hush, John," hissed Kittley imperatively, "Close it now!" She elbowed Thomas hard enough to knock the breath out of him, her expression one of utter doom!

  ***

  Karr stood and muted the holovee despite several protests. He then walked to stand before Thomas, his expression unreadable.

  "What did you say?"

  After a brief glance at Kittley, Thomas clamped his mouth shut.

  "Don't bother denying it, man. Speak now and quickly!"

  Thomas remained silent. Much to the horror of Blue and several others, Karr took one of the guards' blasters, checked the clip professionally, charged it and leveled it at Thomas' head.

  Though visibly rattled, Thomas kept his mouth shut.

  "Very well, then," said Karr, "I suppose we could extract the information from you but that would waste valuable time."

  Slowly, deliberately, Karr transferred his aim to Kittley.

  "Be quiet, John," she hissed.

  "Shh!" Karr jammed the pistol against her head with his finger tense on the trigger.

  Thomas looked from Karr to Kittley, his breath rapid and choppy.

  ***

  "His name is Charlie Ferrel." The words seemed to explode past Thomas desire to keep them in. "Actually it's Gunter Rene du'Charle Ferrel but he won't answer to anything but Charlie."

  "How do you know him?"

  "We served in the Navy together. I enlisted before he did but he blew through every comm, astrogation and computer curriculum they had. He never met a system he couldn't own and he never passed up a chance to do it. He never turned down an expensive meal or a fancy dessert and if you told him to do actual work you'd better be ready to eat raw beans without sauce. He would burn the food delivery net and take a masting to make it happen. We served a good hitch, Charlie and me. He never talked much about his past but in the service you learn not to ask."

  "Go on," prompted Karr.

  "He took the big boot after the Corpses ambushed us on Ceto. They firsted us cold and Charlie and me barely made it out of orbit alive. That's only because there was this ruddy psychotic jarhat of a Drop Marine who got us down to the surface alive, led us across half a continent and took down a whole starport with only twenty Marines and me."

  Thomas fell silent and refused to meet Kittley's eyes. Karr activated the safety but didn't lower the blaster.

  "Keep talking."

  "That's about it. After the League re-took Ceto I rotated inside and Charlie transferred... somewhere. I don't know. We lost touch after that." Thomas visibly considered his words before continuing. "Just so you know, that brain-spike crazy Marine that kept us alive and took down the starport was Micah Stone. Yes, Lady Blue, that's the same Micah Stone who went Imperium on all your duffs and rescued us."

  Karr looked coldly at Kittley. "Anything to add, my lady?"

  Eyes emotionless now, Kittley shook her head.

  "Very well then," said Karr. He powered down the blaster and tossed it back to its owner. "Release them. Release them fully. You'd best bring us food and drink. This day and our lives have just grown more complex."

  ***

  Kidwell tried to glare at Thompson but he still avoided her gaze. Bad enough he'd blathered out what he did but at least he held a few things back. Even though Micah would be in link and safe for at least a couple of days she wanted to communicate the potential danger and caution him. That could wait. Would have to wait.

  "His name," said Karr, as though he hadn't threatened her life a few minutes earlier, "his true name is Fyrelm. Gunter Rene du'Charle Lord Fyrelm, Prince Elmer, Fourteenth to the Crown. He took his lesser name when he was stricken and exiled. That was when he joined your Navy.

  "I did not know him personally but my uncle did. Between them they tightened and secured the Edders House nets, after Prince Gunter owned them once too often. My uncle said the prince was a joy to work with but a terror to keep in check. He never acted from malice, though, and he always helped patch the breaches he made.

  "I'm told that even as a child Prince Gunter was brilliant, and even more so with a dex on his fingers. He cared little for the trappings of royalty but he always took his duties to heart." Karr grinned. "Even then, Sirra Thomas, his taste for sweets was well-developed. His only great fault was the ease with which he gave his friendship and trust.

  "His downfall came from a Varl agent, carefully placed and better hidden, whom Gunter counted as a great and close friend. Gunter graduated the Royal Academy two years early and started it before most of his peers entered college. He was bound for the Elder Guard, of course, and he would have excelled. He had one last furlough before entering the service so he and his pack of friends traveled to Lithceau to celebrate it.

  "I do not blame strong drink for what happened but it surely played a part in things," said Karr, "Gunter and the rest were rowdy and high-spirited, and their judgment perhaps lacking for it. Gunter's supposed friend wagered him a full kilogram of Kandy's Chocolate-Mint Decadence that he could not own League Financial's internal net in less than an hour. Gunter accepted the wager and won it handily.

  "Binkor-Sud was and is the primary backer for League Financial in the Crown worlds and for a few others close by. Unbeknownst to any, they had agents in place and ready t
o pounce. Gunter stole nothing, nor did he corrupt or alter any of their data. Both Binkor-Sud and Varl were eager to discredit House Brightcrown so they brought the matter before the Hausmoot. Varl exerted as much effort as it could, as did Binkor-Sud at their prompting, on the other Houses in order to force King Hartwig to declare censure against Brightcrown.

  "Reginald Laird Fyrelm, Gunter's father, was ready to issue blood-challenge and damn the consequences, but Barrick Laird du'Varl had long plans and short under his cloak. The resulting chaos would have savaged the Crown Worlds, weakened every House save Varl and torn bitter divides among all the Houses, Orders and Halls. Perhaps past any healing. Laird Reginald saw the truth to that and so he accepted Moot consensus. Prince Gunter was exiled from the blood, stricken from record and banished from the Crown.

  "My uncle was part of the group that conducted Gunter into his exile. Though his decision tore at his heart, Laird Reginald stood by it and gave Varl and any other House no cause or weakness to exploit. I do not know how Price Gunter learned of House Brightcrown's peril but I wish with all my heart and that of my kinsmen that he had not. He has nothing here but a proper execution and he should not have returned."

  Kidwell kept her expression neutral. Barely. She tried, and failed, to reconcile 'Prince Gunter' with the lazy-acting, dessert-loving techno-genius she considered as close as a brother. Still, she could not deny the facts before her.

  "So there it is," said Karr, "The two of you are free to go as you will. I would ask that you not take vengeance on House Edders or House McReely for your treatment here. I cannot imagine that you feel well-disposed toward either, but for myself and House Brightcrown I would beseech you to stay and help us to free your friend."

  Bonusjack!! Kidwell felt a sudden hard surge of triumph with equal satisfaction in its wake. She worked hard not to show either.

  "Pardon me, seigneur," she said to Karr. Some emotion leaked into her voice but she really didn't care. "What was that last part?"

  "We are asking for your aid, Signora Kittley," said Blue simply, "I, for one, do not know how we might succor Prince Gunter. I certainly know nothing on how to influence Hausmoot. My House and my family deal in trade and that is what we know best. Unlike our stubborn Brightcrown brothers and sisters, though, I am not too proud to ask for help."

  Kidwell absolutely could not stop the sudden smile that split her face.

  "Seigneur Karr, do you agree with what she said?"

  "Aye, my lady. I am the one who asked."

  "Polar to orbit!!" Kidwell punched Thompson's shoulder for no reason other than high spirits. "Those are very important words for me to hear!"

  Thompson scowled at her and rubbed his shoulder.

  "Now I do have a few words to say," continued Kdwell, helping herself to nibblers and chog, "Charlie and I have worked together a lot, and we've worked under some ruddy dangerous conditions. And yes, he always complains about it but he also delivers platinum in buckets, on demand or before.

  "I can't say much more than that, but I will tell you this. All that blather about Charlie putting up a fight is pure feces. The only reason they caught him was because he wasn't interested in hiding. That means he has at least one plan in place, and you can bet your last that any plan he makes is going to be thermex on turbo!

  "I'll give you one more fact, my friends. Micah Stone is every milligram as dangerous as you think and a thousand times more besides and Charlie is his best friend in the universe. That means you'd best prepare for bloody carnage on an Imperial scale because Micah will not be gentle or happy when he hears about this!"

  Chapter 17. Rapid Flight Protocol

  Micah blinked his gritty eyes and tried to focus on Kidwell's report. He and Amal now worked alternating four-hour shifts piloting Outremin's small vessel. Not a strain under normal eight-hour conditions, RFP made it a nightmare now. He spent his first down-shift reading what he could of Kidwell's findings but after a second shift in the chair, maintaining Amal's go-for-hades course plot, he knew not to even think about skipping sleep. He compromised with himself by spending his first thirty minutes reading and no more!

  He tried hard to balance what Kidwell reported against what he already knew. If, as she reported, Brightcrown had fallen victim to a Varl plot, that would explain quite a few inconsistencies she and Thompson found. It would also fit nicely with what Micah had observed with Outremin and the few Varl guards who befriended him, but he discounted those due to lack of sample size.

  The biggest problems lay in the discovery. Kidwell knew interrogation absolutely and performed it with expertise. That meant the two prisoners, Karr and Blue, completely believed what they divulged. Fact. Also, by what she found and was able to verify, Karr and Blue were indeed exactly who and what they claimed. Fact.

  That left the trail of defective parts. The megafac he and Outremin visited might have been making something else but Micah wouldn't bet against it. Factoring in the Consortium made it even more likely the source. Near-certain fact. Only the exact nature and structure of the plan remained. Fact.

  The only specific questions: other House involvement, specifically Brightcrown. Micah powered down his reader and lay back. As of now they had ample evidence for a Guild Arbiter to conduct an audit and equally as much for Intelligence to launch a full-scale investigation. That would take time to begin, and give time for the parties and Houses involved to conceal or destroy evidence.

  Reading between the lines, especially Kidwell's lines, told Micah she believed Karr and Blue. Not just that they believed what they said, but that she did. She believed Brightcrown the victim of some complex machination against it. Micah's doubt stemmed from the fact that Kidwell's empathy, while invaluable for what she accomplished, tended to cloud her judgment from time to time. Even she admitted that and tried to factor it out of her reports. Still, she, Thompson and himself were the agents in place, here and now. When he did present his conclusions to Ionoski, Micah would, by the stars, have every shadow investigated and every turnable stone turned!

  ***

  Arrival in the Astraboria system allowed Micah a solid six hours of uninterrupted sleep. He took it gladly, since Amal would have no pressing duties after they grounded. He also had more time to consider what he'd read, though little time to read more of it.

  Something Big happened. Micah knew that. Outremin rushed about at a frenetic pace, meeting with one House personage and then another. Some he charmed, others he bullied. Yet others he simply informed. Micah learned that Hausmoot had been called to gather. The reason: censure against the Great and Noble House of Brightcrown.

  "Be thankful that you are here and alive to see this, Stone," said Outremin, and not for the first time, "This is justice. Justice! After centuries of insult. I cold only wish Hermann du'Varl here to witness it alongside us!"

  Micah forbore comment. From what he read of the man, Hermann du'Varl would dispatch House Varl and more than a few others, personally.

  Of the current Laird of House Varl, Micah learned he'd arrived just after Outremin. He didn't particularly care to meet the man personally, nor did he care not to. From what Micah learned he would wait to meet the man before passing judgment on him. As for judgment, Laird Fadding would visit it upon the alleged criminal before they all left for Barinhall. Given the rabid slaver Outremin took on when speaking of the returned exile, Micah could only imagine Fadding's disposition toward him.

  At long last Outremin finished meeting the various Nobles and Notables. Almost all of them on Astraboria had already left for Barinhall but Outremin still managed to find enough to satisfy propriety and law, albeit lesser scions and lower blood. To Micah's outward disdain but inner amusement, Lord McConney and Sir Simmons ranked among the highest blood remaining on the planet. According to Outremin that would put them beside Laird Fadding in the Seats of Judgment. Not that Outremin doubted their verdict. No, he assured Micah, they simply did not have the right or the appreciation for the execution they would command.

 
; "It is an honor they do not deserve," said Outremin. Also not for the first time. "That such weaklings should have a hand in du'Varl justice is unconscionable. At times I wonder, Stone. Perhaps our civilization has declined past the point of recovery. Are we indeed worth the effort of preserving?"

  "Of course, Sir Beau! We..."

  Outremin smiled and held up his hand.

  "I know, Stone. The human eye sees the single dot and not the vast expanse of blank page surrounding it. Prepare well tonight and comport yourself properly tomorrow. If you serve m'Laird Fadding with honor you may well receive a title on the spot!"

  ***

  Thompson applied a very slight correction to his vector. The ship hummed around him eagerly as she adjusted and that filled him with a satisfaction that only a mater pilot could understand.

  After Kidwell's sudden change in attitude, the which he still didn't understand, she, Blue, Karr and all the others swarmed into frantic action. That left him to his own devices and that suited him six-sigmas!

  After he absorbed all he could from the news, Thompson powered up a terminal, connected to the House Lore archives and researched what he could of the original incident. He didn't find much. Someone had indeed stricken all mention from every official archive they could find. Thompson focused on that last part: apparently the Crown citizens loved their prince and House Lore, the masters of archival technology, managed to hide a few tidbits.

  Thompson still had trouble connecting Prince Gunter - Elmer! He'd give Ferrel grief over that, to be sure - with his slpatfest-loving genius astrogator and burner friend, but slib. He had twenty-five credits from Kidwell. Wagers, she told him, she'd have lost to Micah or Ferrel. And, truth for blather, now that half the Crown wasn't trying to persecute him, they turned out to be really decent folks.

  Decent and well-connected, he corrected. Once the swarm accomplished some goal known only to themselves, they began discussing how quickly they could make the trip to Astraboria. He knew not what they planned to do there or what they might find, but unlike any of them save Kidwell he'd seen Stone in action. Moreover, he remembered the look on the man's face when they discovered a farm full of innocent casualties. No, he decided, even Kidwell likely hadn't seen Stone that way. House Varl had best look to what little sense it had and Keep Ferrel alive and unharmed. Otherwise Stone would wreak such havoc on them that the Consortium would feel it!