Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four (21 page)

A stake gun rested beside his bed. It was the only weapon humans had to fight the Nobility. Otto picked it up. And something grabbed his wrist-a pale hand that reached out from under the blanket. Pulling free with a cry of surprise, he pointed the stake gun at it. With a bang the high-density gas fuse in the bottom of the stake propelled it a thousand feet per second, driving it ruthlessly through the center of the blanket. The female hand disappeared, as if it’d never been there.

Otto looked at his right hand. He saw purple bruises where the fingers had gripped him. The limb was also horribly numb.

Shifting the weapon to his left hand, Otto ran out of the sleeping quarters. He got two steps before he froze in his tracks.

The scene was perfectly ordinary. Kenny was working on the auto cannon; Breck’s eyes were gleaming as he inspected the ammo; Corey and Djavan, Law and Agrifass all hummed as they concentrated on repairing the barricades. And the doctor? He was right where he’d been earlier, rubbing his balding pate and smoking his pipe.

Otto thought he must have dreamed it. Then he looked at his right hand. The bruises remained distinct. His left hand lowered the stake gun. To his rear, the night wind coldly informed him, “Your kind was our food. And to think that now you turn a gun on a Noble.”

When he whipped around for a look, a stark beauty stood before him. Even more than her white dress, it was her pale skin that glowed in the moonlight, and the moon that night was reflected in her vermilion lips. Instinctively, Otto leveled the gun—and the woman made a swipe with her right hand. A terrific force exploded against his fingertips and the gun, which weighed about seven pounds, was sent flying like a dry twig.

“It’s a Noble!” he shouted, still staring at the woman as he backed away a few steps. “Blast her! Burn the shit out of her!”

“What kind of thing is that to say, Otto?” he heard the doctor remark. His voice resembled a woman’s.

Otto didn’t turn around. He knew all too well what had happened.

I’m the only one left.

“Well, say hello to our new master,” Kenny said. But what had been Kenny now had the voice of a monster.

As a hand brushed his shoulder and elbow from behind, Otto shook free of it with a scream and moved forward. The woman was right in front of him.

“I am Duchess Miranda,” she said. And then, as if granting him an audience, the pale Noblewoman slowly extended her right hand. Toward Otto’s throat.

He covered his face with his hands.

The black ground spread as far as the eye could see. Occasionally lightning flashed in the distance, but that was the only life to be felt amidst this death. Sue felt relieved.

“It’s just like the sea,” the left hand said.

“What’s the sea?” the girl inquired.

“Something really vast.”

“Vast?”

“Yeah, and blue.”

“Blue?”

“Ah, this is going nowhere. Just think of it as a massive lake,” the count snorted pedantically from where he reclined on an enormous sofa.

“A big lake, you say?” Though Sue tried to form an image of what they were describing, all she came up with was a picture of a pond.

“That’s right,” the count said with a rare grin, adding, “Only it’s salty.”

“Why’s that? I can’t believe there’s such a thing as salty-tasting water.”

“Salted salmon live in it,” the Noble stated.

“That’s some kind of fish, is it?”

“Yes, and they grow to be about sixty miles long. That’s why when they float at the surface for too long, people settle on them. They mistake them for islands. In less than a month a town’s been built, and people start developing the area and running businesses.” “Would you knock that off?” the hoarse voice said. “He’s just pulling your leg, missy.”

“Really? You’re terrible, count!” the girl exclaimed, pursing her lips.

The count looked down at her with no expression on his face, saying, “I see—it’s just as he said.”

More than the words, it was the tone that drew Sue’s attention. “He? Are you talking about my brother?”

Replying that he wasn’t, the count got off the sofa. “Get some rest now. You’re a human being. You must remember you were meant to live in the sunlight.”

Once his gargantuan form had departed the living room, Sue remarked disappointedly, “I think I’ve offended the count.”

“No, that’s not it. Oddly enough, it looks like he’s got some melancholy recollections.”

“I wonder who he was talking about.”

“Don’t get mixed up in it,” D said, his soft voice making the girl go stiff. “A life lived in the darkness of night might still be called a life. And after living ten millennia, one might have all sorts of memories. That includes memories that would vanish if they were exposed to the light of day.”

“Is that so?” Sue said, looking down at the floor. When she looked up again, her voice was resolute. “I’m sure that’s the case. After all, the Nobility have feelings just like us. They get happy and sad, angry and hurt. I suppose there’s nothing strange about it at all. All this time I’ve been with the count, I never even noticed that.”

“You’ve seen right through him. The Nobility are an odd lot. They hide in the bathroom to do all their laughing and crying. And they walk around with umbrellas, but never open them when it rains.” “Wow,” Sue remarked, her eyes aglitter.

“Don’t be so impressed. There’s not a word of truth to that,” D said, letting the air out of her.

“Well, I’ll be!" Shooting an angry glance toward the left hand, Sue announced that she was going to bed and left the living room. She was smiling.

The bedroom she’d been given was a guest room right next door. Nobles the size of the count were few and far between, and the other accommodations were scaled to an ordinary person. At a verbal command, a bath would be drawn or a meal prepared. However, the food was intended for Nobles, so Sue prepared her own meals from supplies she’d obtained at a village along the way.

D went over to the windows. The car had them in pairs, the higher ones of course being for the count, while the lower ones were for his fellow passengers.

“For the time being, there’s nothing out of the ordinary,” the left hand said. “But there’s something we’ve gotta talk about. I can’t stand it when you know something that I don’t. So, who’s this Kima character?”

“Why ask that now?”

“We’ll be in Valcua’s domain soon. I’m curious.”

“You don’t need to know everything.”

“That won’t fly. My feelings are at stake. This won’t be easy for me to get over, you know!”

“Oh,” D remarked. But he hadn’t been goaded into action by the left hand’s insistence. “Speak of the devil, and who should appear?” “Huh?”

“Kima’s outside.”

“Excuse me?"

“Remember whose territory this is. It’s not so strange.” “Precisely.”

D turned around.

Standing behind a guest chair that had exquisite armrests was Kima. His right arm was missing from the shoulder down—the result of D’s blade.

“Have you come with a message from Valcua? You won’t be leaving in one piece.”

“I’m aware of that.” Falling to one knee where he was, the hooded figure in crimson said, “I, Kima, am willing to risk my life to make this request. Please, turn around and go back.”

“What the hell is going on?”

After saying this, the left hand was at a loss for words.

“My job—didn’t Valcua tell you what it was?” D asked instead. There was neither a killing lust nor an unearthly aura about him. However, his foes learned how horrible that air could be the second it coalesced.

“I know. I curse the gods for this trick of fate. But there’s no point in telling you that. At present, my only mission is to safeguard your life, milord.”

“You’re working for Valcua. That’s all I need to know.”

“Do you think you can best the Ultimate Noble?”

“I don’t take jobs knowing how they’ll turn out.”

“I’m sure you don’t, milord. But he’s a fearsome one. Your own fa—”

Still in the same pose, Kima’s body was now on a spot on the floor ten feet away. Distance meant nothing when warping space. Kima needed essentially no time to travel to the ends of the earth—or perhaps even to the ends of the universe.

From the forehead hidden by that hood seeped a thick redness even deeper than the color of the cloth, running along the downturned face and the line of the nose, and then dripping onto the floor. Was it possible that in the nanosecond it took him to warp away, his forehead had been split by D’s blade?

“Back in the old days, that wouldn’t have cut you, Kima,” D said, not sheathing his sword.

“Correct, milord. But that was the best I could do. I don’t offer

you my worthless life alone in exchange for turning back. I’ll bring you someone you seek.”

“Ah!” a hoarse little voice exclaimed. “You mean Matthew?” “Indeed, I do. If you were to get the boy back, milord, you’d lose all reason to invade Grand Duke Valcua’s domain, would you not?” “No, I wouldn’t,” the Hunter replied, his words like a blow hewing through the other man’s psyche.

“But—why not?”

“Valcua wants the boy and his sister—wants them dead. Even if you bring the boy back to us, your master is sure to pursue them. Kima, if he were to order you to get them both back again, could you refuse him?”

“I came here ready to die, and will still be ready to do so when I bring the boy back,” he replied, the blood that dripped from the tip of his nose spreading out in a heavy red stain on the floor in front of him.

“This is quite an interesting bargaining session to be having in someone else’s house,” Count Braujou said, his voice raining down on them from the ceiling. “Cramped as it is, this is my manse. The master of the house has heard everything the two of you said. Kima, I suppose you’re prepared to meet your fate?”

The red hood didn’t move, and the figure didn’t seem agitated in the least.

“I should like to take you up on that, but ensuring Matthew’s safety must take precedence. What say you, D? Shall we trust him?” D’s hand returned the sword to its sheath.

A sigh of relief spilled from Kima’s lips.

“Kima, this deal you’re striking doesn’t cover me, does it?” asked the Nobleman.