Warlord's Wager

by Gwynn White

  Ice rushed into Axel’s veins. He spun to Stefan. “Dragon’s testicles! Lynx? Where is she?”

  The slow shake of Stefan’s head made Axel want to hit him.

  “Stefan!” Axel dropped down on his haunches in front of him. “I’m waiting.”

  “She’s gone.” Stefan’s voice was mournful. “Vanished.”

  Axel’s feet collapsed under him, and his backside crashed down onto the sand. He didn’t even care about the sharp tug of his stitches. “When? Where? How do you know?”

  “I’ve been in contact with your father every day since we got here. At first, Thorn was reluctant, but I persuaded him to let me report in. I think showing him the image of fifty armed airships waiting to destroy the Norin camp convinced him.”

  Axel’s stomach roiled. Fifty airships! That was Chenaya’s entire fleet.

  “Felix told me that Lynx didn’t arrive at the coronation. She hasn’t been seen since. Neither has Tao. Apparently, he also refused to swear allegiance.”

  Axel’s mouth opened and closed.

  Tao, too? He was supposed to be second in line for the throne now that Lukan was emperor. Did that mean Axel was now crown prince? No joy trilled through him.

  And my Lynxie? Gone?

  Rage surged through Axel. “If Lukan has harmed Lynx—or Tao—I will kill him. With my bare hands, if I have to.”

  “Your father made no mention of executions. In fact, he implied that they are very much alive. But then a couple of raiders always go with me into the airship when I talk to him. Felix knows that, so he’s been very vague.” A troubled sigh from Stefan. “I suppose Lukan has them imprisoned somewhere.”

  His father had been vague? Why even mention it, then? His father never acted without a clear purpose. There had to be more going on than a fear of listening raiders if he had thought it necessary to mention anything at all.

  Axel shot to his feet. “We have to get home. Now. Today.” He looked over the camp. “Where would Thorn be?”

  Stefan faced him and looked pointedly at their Norin guards. Still as statues, it was obvious they were eavesdropping. Axel didn’t care. Smarting against thorns and pebbles digging into his bare feet, he hobbled in the direction Heron had taken. With a speed that belied his bulk, Torn-Ear flashed in front of him, crossbow aimed at Axel’s heart. The other three guards moved in, too.

  “Like I said, Warlord,” Torn-Ear warned, “the king will be here when he’s done. We have council meetings in Norin, too, and hearing that our princess has vanished is not going to raise too many laughs there, either.” He waved his crossbow in the direction of the food. “So, listen to your mummy and eat your dinner like a good boy.”

  The urge to deck the man was overwhelming, but Axel wasn’t in the mood for another round of poisoned quarrel. Eyes hard as the line of his jaw, he said, “Lucky for you, raider, I have rather a soft spot for you Norin these days. Something to do with Princess Lynx. Believe me, I will find her—even if I have to kill a few people to do it.”

  Mouth working, Torn-Ear studied Axel. “Talk in the camp says you took that quarrel for her.”

  “It still aches.” The throb in Axel’s back confirmed that. “I’d do it again.”

  Torn-Ear’s crossbow dropped a couple of inches. “Why, that’s what we don’t get.” A ham-sized fist gestured to the three other raiders standing close by.

  “I would have thought that was obvious,” Axel’s said, eyes flickering back toward the camp. “Now, how about letting me pass. Batting the breeze with you, while entertaining, isn’t going to get Lynx found.”

  “No, what I mean is, why would Lukan imprison her for not bowing to him? He knows she has sworn fealty to the Norin king.”

  “More reasons than you’ve had hot breakfasts.” Axel turned to Stefan and gestured at the airship. “The crew? Where are they?”

  “Under guard. Same as us.” He pointed to Axel’s untouched food. “Patience. A few more hours will not change anything.”

  Axel closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. It did nothing to cool his temper. “Stefan, maybe now would be a good time to tell you how infuriating your calmness can be.”

  “At least I don’t annoy people like you do. I also get along with authority better than you do. Both traits we can use right now. Do us all a favor and listen to Asp.” Axel guessed that was Torn-Ear’s name. “Thorn will summon us when he’s ready.”

  Despite everything, Axel smiled. This was Stefan at his best—and worst. Still, Axel knew that, as defiant as Thorn was, the Norin king’s hands were tied by fifty airships waiting for any excuse to attack. He could not keep them here indefinitely.

  Resigned, Axel sat. He was about to ladle some stew into his mouth when a raider ran over, shouting something in Norin. Both Axel and Stefan looked up expectantly.

  Torn-Ear—Asp—got to his feet. “You got your wish, Avanov. The king wants to talk.”

  Chapter 16

  “You summoned me.” Felix eased himself into Lukan’s office and onto a leather chair without bowing. After a long coronation day yesterday, which included helping Morass orchestrate Lukan’s complex escape plan for Tao and Lynx, he was exhausted. Yet Lukan had called a meeting.

  Reclined on a large chair behind his new desk, Lukan showed no sign of noticing that lack of deference. A day into his new reign, the emperor looked fatigued, whether from the coronation ball that had gone on long into the night or from his sexual exertions with his new mistress that had gone on even later, Felix wasn’t sure.

  More than anything, Felix wanted answers.

  Oh, how I miss the Final Word that had once recorded Lukan’s thoughts.

  The camera he had slipped into Lukan’s apartment after the pre-coronation meeting just wasn’t as effective.

  Why hadn’t Lukan put Tao to death as he’d promised the High Council to do if his brother didn’t swear allegiance? And how had Lynx escaped death when she too had refused to swear? Even more intriguing, why had Lukan lied to everyone that they had escaped to the Free Nations when the pair was chained up back in that cellar?

  It was all a mystery, and Felix hated mysteries.

  Lukan had insisted that, apart from the cameras lining the road to the ship, no devices be used to record Tao and Lynx’s escape and recapture.

  As enigmatic as that was, Felix snorted with derision; as if he, Felix Avanov, Lord of the Household, could be told where he could and couldn’t use his technology. After Morass and his men had first dumped the unconscious Lynx onto her stinking cot, he had visited her cell to hide a single recorder in a dark corner.

  As tired as he was, as soon as this tedious meeting was over, he fully intended on listening to whatever Lynx and Tao had spoken about while they planned their doomed escapade.

  If all that wasn’t enough to worry about, Felix had an even bigger, more troubling fear pressing down on him. His daughter Malika had not attended the coronation or any of the festivities that followed. The only consolation was, with all the other drama going on, Lukan hadn’t appeared to notice.

  If Felix could, he would have wrapped his silly daughter in the pretty chintz she had worn as a girl and hidden her somewhere safe, far, far away from Lukan’s ravening grasp. Unfortunately, not even he had the power to do that. Malika and his wife, Katrina, who controlled him with determined wiles, would kick up such a fuss that—

  Lukan’s voice broke into his musings. “It’s thanks to your son that I had to go to all those lengths yesterday with my wife, and now my brother.” The ice in Lukan’s voice and eyes startled Felix. “My wife even used his axe in her escape.”

  Yesterday, Morass and Felix had found Axel’s axe when going through Lynx’s trunk; it had solved the problem of what to give her to aid her and Tao’s escape.

  They had also come upon two common-looking silver bracelets. Morass had insisted on giving them to Lukan. Perhaps the low-born wanted to prove his worthiness to bear his new title. The gesture hadn’t impressed Felix.

  “I am well
aware of Axel’s . . . foibles from before the shooting,” Felix gritted out. “And I—”

  “He better have his ‘foibles’ under control when he gets back here.” Lukan pulled the two bracelets from his pocket and rolled them gently between his fingers. “So, as a deterrent to any trouble the two of you might hatch, I have given Morass a new job.”

  Felix’s face twitched with concern.

  “From now on, he will be guarding Malika. Perhaps that will convince her—all of you—where your loyalties lie.”

  Lukan knew about Malika!

  Not even a lifetime of training could stop Felix’s audible gasp of shock. At first, he refused to believe his ears, but Lukan’s eyes were hard. Felix knew he meant every word. He grabbed for his handkerchief and started to stammer a reply, but Lukan cut him off.

  “Now, about the Final Word I asked you for.” Lukan held his hand out expectantly. “Having made my promises to the Sixteen, I don’t want any delays with the program.”

  The emperor had asked for a full-spec version of the Final Word, but Felix had no intention of handing that masterpiece over until he knew exactly what Lukan planned to do with it. So, instead, he had brought a less powerful device to the meeting. He fingered it in his pocket, no longer sure he had made the right decision.

  Nothing in the world was more important than protecting Malika.

  Felix snorted loudly into his handkerchief. It took three concerted wipes of his nose and mouth before he decided that to show weakness would be catastrophic. He had to brazen through with the ice crystal at hand. He popped his soiled cloth back into his pocket and steepled his fingers.

  “As impatient as you are, sire, I cannot deliver exactly what you want today because—if you had read my notes properly—you would know that the Final Word isn’t ready for implantation.”

  Lukan’s fist slammed down on his desk, rattling the penholder and a couple rolls of parchment. “That does not help my problem, and solving my problems is the only reason you are here. Cross me, and Malika will pay.”

  Anger burned in Felix’s breast, but he suppressed it. “Trust me, sire, you will not be disappointed with what my scientists and I can deliver to you today.” He pulled a blue ice crystal, bristling with barbs and no bigger than a grain of rice, from his pocket and laid it on the desktop. “An early prototype of the device you want injected into every person in the empire.”

  Lukan leaped from his chair and scooped it up. “But it’s . . . huge. How do we inject this thing?”

  Even quaking with terror in his soft leather shoes, Felix only just managed to resist a snort at Lukan’s ignorance. “Clearly, it is still very crude—after all, you only briefed me on the need for such a device a few days ago.” He ignored the glare Lukan fired at him. “If you wish to use these, a priestess will have to surgically implant them. Once in the tissue, the ice crystals will emit a pulse, detected by a controlling receiver here at—”

  “Range?” Lukan snapped.

  “For now, limited. The receiver is housed in my lair. If the subjects are obedient and remain within the approved area, the ice crystal will have no effect on them. If they stray, it will fire an electrical current”—Felix let go of an involuntary chuckle—“and while not necessarily lethal, it is incapacitating, paralyzing the victim for a short time. Believe me, sire, the human guinea pigs we have played on have experienced the most excruciating pain with it. After a few tests, the quick death needed to stop any leak of security was, for many of them, a much-appreciated reprieve. My device makes all flight, all self-will futile.”

  Felix grinned with pride. “And should the victim tamper with it, it will emit a killing shock.”

  “You’ve done it.” Lukan’s eyes, wide in surprise, were both insulting and gratifying. “We can now confine the low-born to their miserable villages, stopping them from ever leaving the outer limits of their fields. I can ensure the safety of the empire.” A satisfied smile spread across his face. “This is better than I could ever have imagined.” A questioning frown replaced his grin. “The receiver in each town and village? Where will it be placed?”

  “I had thought we would seek the Dragon’s help with that, sire.” Every town and village in the empire had at least one Dragon statue at whose clawed feet their subjects prayed. A receiver planted in the Dragon’s bellies would indeed turn the icons into something worth worshiping.

  Lukan chuckled at the inside joke. “That won’t help us with the Norin, though.” He clinked one silver bracelet against the other as if they held the answer to that problem.

  It had always annoyed Felix that the Norin had not been forced to bow to the Dragon. Perhaps this was an opportunity to change that. “Unless, of course, after we inject them, we strip them of their weapons and their ostriches, force them into settlements built around the Dragon, and ban all mention of the Winds.”

  “They will fight like demons to prevent that.” Lukan twirled one of the bracelets around his finger. “Nothing our guardsmen can’t solve with the right programming.”

  Felix pursed his lips. “But first, we need to secure our ice crystal supplies so we have the devices to inject the Norin with. For that, we need Axel.” It didn’t harm to remind Lukan of how valuable Axel was.

  The comment seemed to irritate Lukan more than soothe him. He rose and strode to the open door leading to the patio outside the office. Felix could almost see his mind churning. He hoped it was about the ice crystals and not Axel’s foibles. “You have other questions, sire?”

  Lukan paused. “Your notes on the effect of this device are most unclear. How will the shock affect children, for instance, or old people?”

  Felix frowned. Why would Lukan suddenly care about babies or geriatrics when he had no problem with shocking people to death in the first place?

  “Or people with bad hearts, epilepsy, or pregnant women?”

  A light went on in Felix’s mind. He rejected his idea as ludicrous. But years of listening to his instinct refused to be denied. The need to know if he was right won out over caution.

  “These remain the challenges, sire. We will have to program the final ice crystals to accommodate all those parameters, or we will have massive amounts of death all around the empire. That will be self-defeating.” Keeping his voice neutral, Felix prodded, “But, as neither the crown prince nor the empress are children, elderly, pregnant, or have weak hearts, or epilepsy, we can create one program to suit them both.” Eyes hooded, he waited for Lukan’s reaction.

  “I see.” Lukan’s face clouded.

  That distant expression, coupled with Lukan’s pensive acceptance of Felix’s comment, confirmed Felix’s deduction.

  Lukan intended to embed his brother and his wife with the Final Word. Felix had thwarted him, and now his nephew was forced to look at other alternatives. The question was why, when Lukan had been so specific to the High Council that he would only use the Final Word in the most extreme cases of risk to the empire.

  A threat presented by someone like the Dmitri boy.

  Felix’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

  That explains everything!

  He pulled his olive-green cape tighter around his frail shoulders. But not even the comfort of the heavy velvet was enough to lift the dread in Felix’s core.

  Never before had he ever been so torn between two equally urgent but irreconcilable objectives. The father in him screamed to protect his daughter from her folly. But a lifetime of devotion to ensuring the safety of his third child—the Avanov empire—also clamored for his ear.

  As long as he drew breath, Felix would never allow the Dmitri boy to threaten the empire. For that, he would employ every bit of technology he had or could ever devise. But thwarting the traitor would mean working with Lukan, the very man who held his daughter hostage.

  This was worse than anything Mott had ever schemed.

  Felix’s sinuses clogged, and he had to force himself to calm down so he could breathe. Not even his handkerchief could help him
here. He closed his eyes for a second to collect his wits.

  “How many of these shocker devices do you have ready?”

  Felix’s eyelids fluttered open to see Lukan’s back. It gave him a moment to gather his shattered composure. He made a quick decision to cooperate with Lukan until he had time to plot his own course. That didn’t stop him from telling one white lie to keep the emperor in check.

  “Two suitable for permanent deployment right now, sire.”

  Hopefully, Lukan never learned about the stash of shockers Felix had in his lair.

  Lukan stared out at the ornamental lake beyond the patio. All the while, his fingers caressed Lynx’s bangles. At last, he turned to face Felix. “As you correctly surmise, I am not averse to further punishing my brother. Consider the poetic justice when I embed him with an ice crystal. But, as we do intend to roll this shocker out to the whole empire, let’s run some tests. I want you to find a young woman with some physical problem that would cause this device to be fatal, and bring her in.”

  Felix narrowed his eyes, calculating. “As it so happens, I have a pregnant woman in the cells right now.” He didn’t, but he soon would, based on Lukan’s reaction.

  “I have no interest in who or what she is,” Lukan snapped. “You will take the test subject and Mother Saskia to the cellar. Tao and Lynx are to watch as Saskia implants one of the devices into the girl. When she dies—”

  “But sire,” Felix interrupted, only too keen to test his theories along with anything else Lukan had in mind. “I told you, I only have two devices ready now. What stops the untagged one escaping before I can prepare a third specimen?”

  Lukan loped across the room and pressed his face right up next to Felix’s. “You will not interrupt me. Ever. Do you understand that?”

  “Of course, sire,” Felix muttered, pulling back.

  Lukan’s squint morphed into a glare. “And as for one of them escaping—if that happens, I will not only kill your daughter, I will torture her, too.”

  Felix swallowed a watermelon-sized lump in his throat. “With my device, escape will be impossible, sire. It is escape without it that concerns me.” He now regretted his decision to only offer two shockers. If a third appeared, Lukan could track it, discovering Felix had lied.