Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (35 page)

Private ship locks, which were usually only accessible by trusted
friends and employees, were seldom very well defended. This one was no
exception. Within a few seconds she felt the gentle snick that signaled
that the lockpick had done its electronic magic. The lock was open to
receive new data.

She looked down the corridor. Halberd was still talking quietly on
his comm clip, but his forehead was starting to crease into a frown.
Sliding the lockpick back beneath her nail, Alison reached her left
hand a little higher behind her back and pressed her thumb to the
reader.

Behind her, the door slid open. "Hey!" Halberd shouted, pointing
toward her.

The other two turned to look. Their eyes widened as Alison took a
long step backward into the office and slapped the lock control.

One of the guards lunged sideways, making a last-second grab for
her. But the door was faster, sliding into his arms and batting them
aside and back out into the corridor.

"That was close," Taneem murmured as Alison circled Neverlin's
desk and headed for the door to the communications nook. The K'da
lifted her head from Alison's shoulder, then bounded out through her
collar. "What do you want me to do?"

"Right now, just stay out of the way," Alison said. She opened the
door to the nook and sat down at the console. Keying for long-range
radio, she hit the switch. "Attention, K'da/Shontine refugee fleet,"
she said into the microphone. "Attention. You're in danger. The ships
coming toward you are not, repeat
not
, friends or allies.
They're enemies attempting to get behind your defenses—"

"Identify yourself," a voice demanded in heavily accented English.

Not a human voice, Alison decided, or Valahguan or Brummgan, or
even K'da. Shontine? "My name is Alison Kayna," she said. "I'm a friend
of Draycos, poet-warrior of the K'da, who arrived six months ago aboard
the
Havenseeker
."

"Let me speak with Draycos."

"He's not here with me," Alison said. "He's in another ship, whose
communications have been cut off."

"Which other ship? Can you prove you are friend of Draycos?"

"He has golden scales, each with a red edge—"

"Not description," the other cut her off. "Can you prove you are
friend of Draycos?"

Alison felt her stomach tighten. It had never occurred to her that
the refugee fleet might not believe her story. From the way Draycos had
talked, she'd assumed they would be coming in alert and suspicious and
not trusting anybody or anything.

But of course, the Lordover on the
Foxwolf
had gotten to
them first. In fact, he was probably talking to the fleet right now,
feeding them his version of who and what Alison was. "No, I can't prove
it," she gritted. "But you have to—"

And then, to her surprise, Taneem leaned over her shoulder, her
gray-scaled snout pointed toward the microphone. " 'The sky was fair,'
" she said. " 'The evil's lair

" 'Was scattered on the hill's black side.

" 'The warriors grim, in light so dim

" 'Were gathered like the ocean's tide.

" 'For evil they would not abide.

" 'Though death await, if death their fate,

" 'From this their faces would not hide,

" 'For evil they would not abide.' "

She seemed to shake herself. "The start of
Troodae's Saga
,"
she identified it. "Translated into English by the poet-warrior
Draycos."

"Well?" Alison prompted.

There was no answer. "Refugee fleet?" she called again, looking
over at the status display.

One look was all she needed. "Neverlin's cut us off," she said,
standing up and crossing back into the main office.

There she came to an abrupt stop. There were voices coming from
the corridor. Lots of them. None of them sounding friendly.

"What do we do?" Taneem asked nervously from behind her.

"We surrender." Alison eyed Taneem. "Or rather,
I
surrender. Come on."

Alison retreated again into the communications nook. "No time for
subtlety," she said, pointing up at the room's ventilation duct. "Shear
off the bottom two bolts, then get aboard."

Taneem leaped up, slicing the heads off the bolts with two quick
swipes of her claws. She landed on the deck and bounced up again,
touching the back of Alison's neck and melting onto her skin.

Alison reached up to the grille and managed to force her fingers
under the now-loosened bottom. "Go," she ordered.

A moment later the K'da was safely in the duct. "Stay there until
the cavalry arrives," Alison said. "Good luck."

"Wait," Taneem called softly. "What about you? And what cavalry?"

"I'll be all right," Alison said, hoping fervently that that was
true. "And by cavalry I mean Jack and Draycos."

"They're aboard?"

"Not yet," Alison said. "But they will be."

"How do you know?"

"Because they know we're here," Alison said. "And I know Draycos."
She paused. "And I know Jack, too. Now scoot."

Taking a deep breath, she stepped back through the door into the
office.

The Malison Ring soldiers were just charging in, guns ready in
their hands. "Easy," Alison called, holding her hands up, palms
outward, as the weapons swiveled in her direction.

From outside in the corridor, Neverlin pushed his way between two
of the soldiers. His face was carved from stone, his eyes blazing with
barely controlled fury. "So here we are," he said, his voice deathly
quiet.

"Here we are," Alison agreed, rather surprised at how calm she
sounded. "It's still not too late to call this whole thing off."

His lip twitched in a sardonic half smile. "Don't be ridiculous,
child. You think your pathetic little effort has made any difference?"

"The fleet's been alerted," Alison pointed out. "You're not going
to be able to split up the defenders now the way you hoped."

"I never thought that trick would work in the first place,"
Neverlin said casually. "Frankly, I was surprised they fell for it at
all. No, my dear Alison whoever-you-really-are, that was simply our
most optimistic Plan A. Plan B has already been implemented."

Alison gazed into his eyes. If the man was lying or bluffing, she
couldn't see it. "You're still way outnumbered," she said.

He barked a short laugh. "You still don't understand, do you? We
were monitoring your call. We heard everything you managed to get out
before we cut you off."

Alison felt her pulse pounding in her ears. What had he heard that
she'd missed? "And?" she asked carefully.

Neverlin smiled, the smile stopping halfway to his eyes. "You were
so busy trying to convince them to listen to your poem," he said
softly, "that you never got around to mentioning the Valahgua. Or the
Death."

Alison felt her chest tighten. He was right. Mother of God, he was
right.

"And so the defenders will regroup to cautiously intercept us and
escort us into a protected place away from the main fleet while they
try to figure out which of us is telling the truth," Neverlin went on.
"And when we have them all neatly bunched up, we'll kill them. All of
them."

He held out a hand to her. "Come," he said. "You'll have a much
better view of the slaughter from the bridge."

"Thanks," Alison said through dry lips. "I'll pass."

"The Lordhighest insists," Neverlin said, his hand still stretched
toward her. "I've promised the Valahgua they could have you to deal
with as they see fit after this is all over."

He raised his eyebrows slightly. "I trust General Davi won't mind
his daughter being tortured to death?"

"Would it matter if he did?" Alison asked.

"Not really," Neverlin said. "But then, General Davi has never
even heard of you, has he? Come. The K'da and Shontine are waiting."

"Something's happening," Uncle Virge called over the roar of the
Essenay
's
drive. "The K'da/Shontine warships seem to be changing formation."

"Let me see," Draycos said, raising his head from Jack's collar
for a better look at the displays.

The computer was right. The K'da/Shontine defenders were
definitely reconfiguring.

"Maybe Alison got through to them," Jack suggested. "If the
Advocatus
Diaboli
's radio is set up to transmit through the bubble, she might
have gotten to it and clued them in."

Draycos didn't answer, his eyes on the
Essenay
's display.
The defenders finished their maneuvering. . . .

"No," he told Jack. "She didn't get through. At least, not enough."

"What do you mean?" Uncle Virge asked.

"That's an intercept-and-capture formation," Draycos said,
flicking his tongue toward the display. "Not the pattern they would use
if they knew they were facing the Death."

"Great," Jack muttered. "You sure? I mean—no offense."

"None taken," Draycos assured him. The boy's question had no
implied insult to it, he knew. "A Deathguard formation cannot be
mistaken for anything else."

"I didn't think so," Jack said.

Draycos lowered his head back flat onto Jack's shoulder, feeling
the dark stream of his host's thoughts. No, there hadn't been any
insult in Jack's question.

Because there hadn't even been a real question there. Jack's words
had been little more than sound designed to fill an empty space that
would otherwise have held a terrible truth, and a dark conclusion.

A conclusion Draycos himself had already come to.

"More movement," Uncle Virge said. "This time it's those three
crowds of Neverlin's ships angled out behind us. They've put on a burst
of speed."

"How soon before they catch up with the
Advocatus Diaboli
?"
Jack asked.

"At current speeds, roughly the same time the
Advocatus Diaboli
and
Foxwolf
reach the defenders."

Jack exhaled in a long hiss. "So the scam part is officially
over," he said. "They've switched to your basic full frontal assault."

"So it would seem," Draycos agreed.

"Blast it all, why don't they just run?" Uncle Virge asked
tensely. "I mean the K'da and Shontine. Why don't they just turn the
fleet around and run?"

"They can't," Draycos said. "Our hyperdrives need time to cool
down and reset before they can be used again. They won't be able to
escape into hyperspace for at least eight hours."

"By which time they'll all be dead," Jack murmured.

Draycos studied Jack's face out of the corner of his eye. The boy
had seen the truth, all right, and had come to the same decision
Draycos had. The only decision possible for a K'da warrior. "As things
stand now, yes," he confirmed.

"So what do we do?" Uncle Virge asked.

Jack took a deep breath.
Draycos
?

I understand
, Draycos said.
But you don't have to do
this. You could eject in the
Essenay's
lifepod. Someone might
arrive to rescue you before the air ran out
.

Someone besides Neverlin's goons
? Jack countered.
Thanks,
buddy, but I'd rather go out with you than with them
.

"So what do we do?" Uncle Virge asked again. "Draycos?"

"We can't get through the bubble fast enough to alert the
refugees," Jack told him. "Not forward, and not sideways. At least, not
before Neverlin calls in one of those outriding Djinn-90s to blow us to
bits. So we're going to do something else."

"Such as?"

Draycos felt Jack brace himself. "We're going to attack the
Advocatus
Diaboli
and try to knock out its Death weapon."

"We're
what
?" Uncle Virge demanded. "Jack lad, in case you
hadn't checked the weapons board lately, we're out of missiles. I used
them all getting you off that troop carrier."

"I
did
notice, thanks," Jack said. "I also know our
meteor-defense lasers and particle beam probably won't even scratch
Neverlin's paint."

"So how do you intend to attack?"

"The only way we can," Jack said quietly. "We're going to ram him."

"Oh no," Uncle Virge said, his voice horrified. "No, no,
no
.
Jack lad, you can't—Draycos, please. Talk him out of it."

"It has to be done, Uncle Virge," Draycos said gently. "I've
already offered Jack the option of ejecting before then."

"And I've already refused it," Jack said.

"It won't work," Uncle Virge insisted. "Langston said Harper
rammed, too, remember? Neverlin won't risk that happening again,
especially not with a ship this size. He'll use the Death on you, just
as he did on Harper."

"Which will accomplish the same thing," Jack said. His voice and
thoughts, Draycos noted, had gone strangely calm. The same calm he'd
seen many times in fellow warriors preparing to face death. "If
Neverlin uses the Death on us, the K'da and Shontine will see it and
know what they're up against. Either way, we win."

"You'll also
die
."

Jack looked down at Draycos. "It's sometimes a warrior's duty to
die for his people," he said.
Isn't it, Draycos
?

It is
, Draycos assured him, feeling a stirring of emotion
he hadn't felt in a long, long time.
I knew from the first, Jack,
that you were more than you seemed. Far more than your uncle Virgil had
allowed you to become. I'm so very gratified to see that I was right
.

I'm kind of surprised myself
, Jack replied dryly, giving
Draycos a somewhat forced smile.
Let's do it
.

Draycos lifted his head again to look out the
Essenay
's
canopy at the drive glows of the
Advocatus Diaboli
and
Gatekeeper
in the near distance.

And beyond them, at the last hope of his people.
Yes
, he
confirmed.
Let
's.

This time, they made sure to handcuff Alison's wrists behind her.