by Galen Wolf
"But you have engaged him? Before I instructed you?" Mehefin's face hardened.
"No," said the red lizard. "He's fighting the creatures from the silver pool. The creatures that Day makes before Night dissolves them again. So, lady, we may not be able to keep Severan alive. Not if they kill him first."
Gaijann exhaled. Fuck this shit, he thought. He looked at the grenade in his hand, gave a wry smile, then lobbed it down into the middle of the crowd of lizards while Mehefin and the Kissags stood working out whether they were going to kill Severan or not.
A most extraordinary thing happened. Everything that had been down in the room when the grenade exploded stopped moving. All conversation halted and Gaijann saw that not just people, but objects were frozen in place. He had heard of such weapons but believed they were long lost: the grenades were stasis bombs - they stopped time in their blast radius.
"Jumpin' Jimminy Jack." Gaijann pulled himself to the edge of the hole and lowered down while all movement was frozen below. He dropped lightly onto his feet. His stealth cloak was still up, but no one would see him anyway because they were held in a time field. The Kissag - their leader and their lieutenant stood stock still, halfway through their conversation with Mehefin. He went close to her and grinned. A wisp of her hair had blown across her mouth and was frozen there until the effects of the grenade wore off. Then he sucked his teeth. He didn't know how long that would be, so he drew his plasma dagger and with its vorpal blade cut the throats of the two Kissag leaders. "Doesn't seem fair, I know," he said. The lizards would be dead as soon as they awoke from the time glue. They'd never even know they were dead.
Gaijann gazed at Mehefin's slender neck. From what he'd heard from above, she was selling them down the river. One little cut and she would get what she deserved. He felt the weight of the knife in his hand. He gripped it tighter, put its blade close to her swan neck. Then he paused. He almost did it but then muttered, "Seems I still can't kill a defenseless woman."
Hearing the noise from where Severan was battling the Kissag down the corridor, he turned and went to help his friend.
Out of the range of the stasis grenade, the Kissag fighting Severan were unaffected. And without Torina's constant healing, Gaijann could see that his friend was suffering a lot of damage. The energy shield around him was mostly gone - fizzling and flickering grey and yellow where it should be invisible. Even the heavy duty λ-armor was battered and burned. Gaijann saw the blood running into Severan's human eye from a scalp wound, half-blinding him. The mechanical eye clicked and whirred as it selected targets and locked on. Some of the Kissag had grown wise to this and ducked to get behind what cover there was - ancient stone ornaments, holes in the wall and broken rocks fallen in the recent frantic battle. When they were out of sight, they could not be burned by the eye, but those who came close enough were grabbed by Severan's cyborg fist and their flesh reduced to the temperature of interstellar space.
Gaijann took another of the grenades from his belt. It weighed heavy in his hand. Only two left after this, but he lobbed it forward - aiming behind Severan and out of range so he himself wouldn't get caught in its stasis field. The grenade exploded silently, just as the previous one had. Gaijann felt nothing but saw the Kissag ahead of him stop dead and Severan with them. Now the Kissag were frozen in time no cover would protect them from Gaijann's blade. Gaijann ran up to them, and sliced and jabbed as he went past. His attack looked as much like ballet as fighting and then he was up to Severan, Gaijann paused while he took out some medical gauze from his hip pouch. He wiped the giant's brow free from the blood that was smeared over it. He took a second to admire the look of ferocious anger on his friend's face. "You know, sometimes you scare even me."
He turned to his right and dispatched the frozen Kissag there and then to his left. The lizards he had killed stood eerily upright even though they were technically dead. Gaijann finished his lethal work and went to lean against the wall, waiting for the field to fade away and Severan to return to normal time. While he waited, Gaijann heard the screams of anguish from the Kissag who had come out of the stasis around Mehefin out of sight down the corridor. They woke to find their leaders dead and they didn't know how. He wished he'd killed more of them, but he didn't have the time but he knew he and Severan would make light work of those that remained.
Severan shook his head and came back into the world. He looked disorientated and put his human hand up to his head.
"Hey there," Gaijann said.
Severan's face was a picture of confusion. "How did you get in front of me?" he said. Then he looked at the dead Kissag. "You?"
Gaijann smiled sweetly. "Yeppers."
"How?"
"I got some new toys."
Severan groaned and smacked his forehead. "My head feels like the top's been sliced off like a boiled egg. Then put back on."
Gaijann grinned. "Must be the effect of the stasis field. I got some stasis grenades."
"That's pretty high tech." Then Severan's expression clouded. "Where's Mehefin? Is she safe?"
Gaijann's face turned sour. He jerked his thumb. "She's thattaway. Still some Kissag round her."
Severan nodded and started moving in the direction Gaijann had indicated without asking whether the assassin intended to follow. Gaijann ran after him. "I think there's something you should know."
"Save it for later," Severan said over his shoulder, moving on quickly. Gaijann heard the cyborg eye clicking as it sought to acquire targets. Then he heard the first sound of a Kissag bursting into flames; something like the sound of gasoline on plastic. Then the dull thud of a skull popping as Severan's eye boiled its lizard brains.
Gaijann spat, grunted and ran to catch up. There wasn't much to do. He finished off one of the Kissag while Severan ran over to Mehefin. One of the survivors aimed an assault rifle at Severan's head. The giant was so preoccupied with saving Mehefin, he didn't see it, but Gaijann raised his vorpal knife. With a deft flick of his wrist he launched his dagger at the lizard. It struck it full in the chest and the thing went down. Then the dagger returned back through the air to Gaijann's hand. Its homing technology saving him from losing it.
Severan was embracing Mehefin like he'd known her all his life. Gaijann watched as she played the part of the rescued maiden, tears flooding down her cheeks, sobbing, thanking Severan for his courage - eternally grateful for him for saving her life. She even said those words. Gaijann's mouth stiffened into a cold hard line. He walked up to them. Mehefin saw him she reached out and stroked his arm. "You too, Gaijann. Thank you. You saved my life."
"Really?" Gaijann raised his eyebrows.
She frowned. "Really." She sounded serious. "I mean it. I would be dead if it wasn't for you."
He scratched his eyebrow. "Just that you seemed to be getting along famously with them from what I could hear."
He could almost see the cogs of her brain whir as she tried to work out if she was busted. "I'm sorry I don't know what you mean." She smiled sweetly.
"Just thinking maybe you aren't the damsel in distress you're pretending to be."
Severan turned and was looked at Gaijann, his face betraying puzzlement and a growing anger.
By way of explanation Gaijann said, "See the hole up there?" They both stared at the ceiling. Neither had noticed it before. Gaijann pointed. "That's where I was listening, just before I dropped the stasis grenade. I heard you giving instructions to our scaly friends. Seems like you and they and your father had a deal all along." Gaijann's smile was cold. "What do you say for yourself?"
Mehefin's multi-colored eyes grew hard. In a measured voice she said, "I don't know why you're lying Gaijann. But that's not true. They dragged me away." She turned to Severan. "You saw that."
Severan nodded. His hand went to Mehefin's shoulder to comfort her. The giant looked reasonably at the assassin. "You saw that too, Gaijann. We all saw it. I don't understand how you can think anything else,"
Gaijann thought, there's no fool like a man
mesmerized by a pretty ass. He straightened his shoulders. "I heard what I heard."
Mehefin attempted to be conciliatory. "I don't know what you think you heard, Gaijann. I know you always act from the best motives, but I think you've misread the situation."
Severan said, "That's right Gaij. I know you've always got my back. But if you think that Mehefin's trying to double-cross us, you're just wrong."
Gaijann looked at Mehefin coldly. Then at his friend. Now wasn't the right time to persuade his moonstruck boss. That time would come later when he had proof. That he would get proof was inevitable. She would trip herself up sometime. He nodded slightly. "Whatever you say boss."
Mehefin changed the subject. "Where's my father?"
"Long gone," Gaijann said.
"Sorry?"
"When you disappeared with the lizards, he was too keen to press on to allow him to wait for you. Seems fatherly love only stretches so far." He cocked his head. "Unless maybe he wasn't worried you were going to come to harm?"
Severan either missed his meaning or ignored it. "What about the others?"
Gaijann shrugged. "I left them in Morah's care. Just where we were."
"In Morah's care?" Severan looked incredulous.
"Sure. She is strong enough to protect them."
"You trusted her?" The giant stared at him.
"Not one hundred percent, of course not. But I can trust her to wait. She'll take care of them. She promised."
"She promised and you believed her? Really?"
"Sure. She's not that bad."
"She is. We need to catch up with them," Severan said.
"It'll be okay. Trust me. I wouldn't have left them if I thought she wouldn't take care of them."
Severan shook his head. "Come on, man. Show me the way."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Room of Things Reversed
"We need to hurry'" Mehefin was still holding Severan's human hand between both of hers. They moved off and she didn't let it go. Gaijann saw the giant staring at her as if she was the most beautiful thing he'd seen in a lifetime. Gaijann recognized the look on his old friend's face. He'd seen it before - a long time ago, on another planet, with another woman: a woman who was now dead.
"I must catch up with my father," Mehefin said.
Severan nodded but still didn't seem able to take his eyes off her. "And thank you again for saving my life," she said. As they made ready to set off she turned to Gaijann. "You too. I'm sorry we fell out."
Gaijann smiled. "Not sure we ever fell in." He didn't try to hide the sarcasm in his voice. Severan shot him a warning glance.
"Let's go then." Gaijann shrugged and walked off without waiting for them, then he halted until they caught up. They got to where the remains of the Kissag still littered the floor in a bloody mess and Gaijann stopped, noticing something."This is different."
"What is?" Severan cocked his head and listened intently.
Gaijann gestured to the tunnel that forked into two ahead of them. "This junction wasn't here before."
The giant was unconvinced. "How can solid rock change its layout? It must have been like this; we just didn't notice it."
Gaijann saw how Mehefin stood quietly beside Severan. She seemed confident, almost happy. The assassin frowned.
"Let's go down the tunnel we came up," Severan said. "We know what's that way." He looked at Mehefin. "We can find your father's trail easily enough from there."
"Both of these tunnels are new," Gaijann said stubbornly. "We've not been down either of them."
"Check your book," Severan said.
Gaijann reached to get it from its pack and couldn't find it. Somewhere along the way, it had dropped out of his bag. He patted his pack down agitatedly and then all of the pockets that he knew it wasn't in.
"You've lost it?" Severan said.
Gaijann shook his head. He said warily, "Or it lost me. There's too many coincidences in this place. It's as if the Library thinks for itself. Like it's drawing us to the cheese as if we are mice - unaware that a big metal spring is going to break their backs."
"I need to find my father," said Mehefin. She looked impatient. Gaijann saw her face harden, the angelic act slipping for a second. Then, disguise put back in place, her rainbow eyes gazed at Severan. "We need to hurry."
"I need a lot of things too, princess," Gaijann said. "Doesn't mean I get them all."
Mehefin brushed her white-blonde hair back from her face and fixed the assassin with a with a gentle stare. Her voice melted with reasonableness. "Gaijann, I know you're upset for some reason. And for some reason you don't like me. But surely we should try to get on? We don't have many friends down here."
Gaijann stared straight right back at her.
She sighed. "I don't know who you're trying to impress - Morah's not here anymore."
Severan cackled. "Touché, the lady got you there." Then he grew more serious. "Without the book, do you think you can find all the rooms?"
"Not all," Gaijann said, "But I remember enough." He threw up his hands. "Anyway, the Library will take us where what it wants."
"Let's go left," Severan said.
"The Left Hand of Darkness," Gaijann said.
"What?"
Gaijann saw that Mehefin had her hand on the giant's arm again, as if re-taking possession of him.
"Just an old book I read."
"Ah books. I think you've read too many of them, pal." The giant reached over with human hand and mussed Gaijann's hair. Gaijann's brow furrowed but Severan turned away smiling and began to walk down the passage.
At first Gaijann thought it was fireflies. But when he looked, he saw the tunnel they went down was lit by traceries of light that hovered and hummed in the air. Not creatures, but some sort of artificial effect. As the three of them walked, lines of poetry and snatches of music lit up in Gaijann's mind. "What the fuck?" He swatted at his head as if he could drive off these flowers of art like they were unwanted horseflies.
"Don't you like it?" said Mehefin.
He glowered. "These poetry lights? Any poetry in my head, I put it there myself. I don't want some kind of robotic sentience hologram shit doing it for me without my permission."
"I think it's beautiful. Really beautiful." She paused as if savoring the words and tunes - standing there like she was on a beach letting the waves break over her in foam and sunlight.
Severan gazed at her. "She reminds me of Oriel," he said quietly.
"She's nothing like Oriel." Gaijann rubbed his eyes. "Oriel had dark hair and she was shorter and had a better figure. Something about the face, maybe."
"I don't mean in looks. It's just that she feels like Oriel inside."
Gaijann looked piercingly at his friend. "What?"
The giant shrugged. "There's just something about her."
"I've never heard you talk about feelings before. It must be this place getting to you."
"No." The giant shook his head. "It's her."
"You mean she's twisted you round her little finger."
"It's not that."
"Sure looks that way to me."
Gaijann knew that Severan could swat his head right off if he got angry. Not that he had ever been angry with Gaijann before. But instead of getting mad, his face grew wistful. "I just like her. She's woken something in me. She's the first woman I've met since Oriel's death that—."
"Listen," Gaijann snapped. "We've known each other a long time, right?"
Severan nodded.
"And all the time you were stripping down your weapons and putting them together with a blindfold on and doing a thousand one handed pull-ups, I was in the taverns talking to the ladies. You weren't interested."
Severan laughed. "I guess I was a bit serious in those days."
"In those days?" Gaijann said. "Like up to about twenty-four hours ago."
The giant rubbed his eyes. "I just feel different now. She's like a breath of fresh air."
Gaijann exhaled heavily. "She's put the juju on you man. She
realized you know nothing about women and she's put the 'fluence on you."
Severan shook his head. He was finally beginning to get annoyed. "No, Gaijann. Before I met Mehefin, I would have said there was only one woman in my life that I wanted to be with. That was Oriel, the love of my life. And you know how she was taken from me, and how I will never forget her."
"I know, buddy. I know that."
"I thought that was it - the end of love. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe I can have a second chance. Don't I deserve that?"
Gaijann felt suddenly guilty. Love for his friend flowed through him. He said quietly, "If anyone does, you do."
Severan rounded on him suddenly. "So why won't you give me a break? Why don't you just leave her alone?"
Gaijann threw up a hand helplessly. Eventually he said, "I can't let you get used like this. But it's not just you. There's something very fishy here that impacts on all of us. You have a responsibility to us too - to Torina and Atorkh and me."
"Are you jealous she'll take me away from you? Is that it?"
Gaijann looked straight at Severan. "She's tricking you into doing something for her and her father."
"That doesn't make sense. We're working for them anyway. What the hell do you think she needs to trick me for?"
The assassin hesitated. "I don't know yet completely."
"Then you don't know shit," growled Severan.
"I know she's working you like a puppet."
Without any warning Severan punched his friend full in the face. Blood sprayed all over the assassin from his burst lip and he went careering back into the rock wall. Severan rounded on him. "Take that back."
"Severan!" Mehefin spun round in alarm. "What did you do that for?"
But Severan was looking at Gaijann slumped leaning against the wall. He leveled the finger of his alien hand and said, "That was a warning. If you keep running your mouth like that, I'll put you down and you won't get up again."
Gaijann got up, nursing his face. Blood seeped through his fingers.
"Severan, please," said Mehefin. "Please don't fight. Please make up with him."
"We don't have time," Severan said, then to Gaijann. "Follow if you want, but don't slow us down."
