“I’ll be as rude as I like,” retorted the old man. He faced Don Emilio again, and his expression remained unyielding. “If you did all that for my granddaughter, then thanks. Decent of you. As for El Raton’s boys, we’ll both profit from being rid of them.”
Don Emilio’s smile had long since vanished. He inclined his head proudly. “De nada, senor,” he said and gestured for his horse to be brought to him. “We shall not detain you. If I may have your prisoner? I think he will find justice swifter and more deserving in Mexico, no?”
“All right,” said Trask.
Cody dismounted and took El Raton’s reins from Noel. He led the horse forward.
“This is a United States territory,” blustered El Raton. “I demand the justice of the gringos.”
“You are in a position to demand nothing,” said Don Emilio softly. One of the vaqueros led El Raton’s horse away.
Noel glanced around the collection of men. Some were still sitting on the ground; others leaned against their horses; a few were mounted. The vaqueros were grinning; they had the cocky, triumphant look of men who had done well and knew it. Leon stood sullenly in Noel’s clothes, giving no trouble for once. He was holding his left arm close to the elbow as though it hurt, too.
Noel dismounted and walked over to Don Emilio. “A moment please,” he said quietly and kept walking so that Don Emilio was obliged to turn his back to the Trasks and keep step with him. “Lisa-Marie—”
“—will never look my way,” said Don Emilio grimly, “and her grandfather will never consent to a marriage of alliance. You see how he has ground his own prejudices into the minds of Cody and Lisa-Marie.”
Noel frowned in disappointment. “I’m sorry.”
Don Emilio shrugged. “Ah, but she is something, is she not? A vision even now, streaked with dirt and her magnificent hair blowing wild in the wind. I have let myself think a little of courting her. There is a fiesta, you see, where the man comes on horseback to the house of the senorita. He carries flowers across his saddle, and he is dressed in his finest charro suit. His friends ride with him, and there is a serenade at the young woman’s window. Ah, yes, I have thought of it, but thoughts are all I shall ever have. As a matchmaker, Noel, you are not successful.”
Noel rubbed the back of his neck, where the sun was scorching it. “I guess that’s so. But—”
“Besides, it is you who have caught the senorita’s eye.”
“Oh, no!” said Noel with a grin. “She was just pretending all that to keep you at arm’s length.”
“You are kind to say such a thing, but I do not believe you.”
“She’s not like the Trask men,” said Noel. “She’s smart and she knows her own mind. The rest is just immaturity, and she’s leaving that behind pretty fast. She doesn’t agree with their opinions about a lot of things. Mining interests, for one.”
Don Emilio’s mouth twisted. “You must understand that I promised my father on his deathbed that I would reclaim the mine. It is not a personal obsession, but I like to keep my word. That is all. I have never wanted to maintain the old feud between the Trasks and the Navarres family, but there is pride to be considered. Senor Trask thinks nothing of stepping on mine whenever he has the chance. He is a hard man.”
“He’s old,” said Noel. “Be patient.”
“Perhaps.” Don Emilio sighed. “If you stay and continue to teach Cody a broader view of the world, then perhaps—”
A sudden commotion broke out. Noel glanced up and saw Leon spring at El Raton’s horse. A knife flashed in his hand as he sliced through the bandit’s bonds.
“What the devil—” said Noel. He started running toward his duplicate. “Hey! Stop them!”
Several vaqueros started toward Leon, but he was already swinging up behind El Raton, who spurred his horse savagely.
“Damn!”
Without hesitation, Noel jerked the reins of the nearest horse from the hand of its startled owner and climbed on. He kicked it into a gallop, and the animal responded with an explosion of speed.
Only then did Noel realize that he’d borrowed Don Emilio’s black Arabian stallion. The animal stretched out its wellshaped head and lengthened its stride, skimming the ground effortlessly. Already they were gaining on the other horse, which labored beneath two riders.
A sound from behind Noel made him glance back. He expected it to be Don Emilio riding after him, but it was Cody, grinning with excitement and lashing his cow pony on both shoulders with the reins.
Noel grinned back, then urged the stallion on. It drew even with El Raton’s mount and swerved in so close their stirrups locked. The stallion had obviously been trained for bulldogging, and Noel took the hint. He kicked free of his stirrups and threw himself bodily at Leon and El Raton, using his own impetus to knock them off their horse.
A fall off a galloping horse was a good way to end up with a broken neck. Noel heard the frightened yells of both men as the three of them sailed through the air. His grip had landed on Leon, and he clung desperately to his duplicate until the stunning force of impact with the ground knocked them apart. Noel rolled over several times, scooping dirt into his mouth and flattening several sticker weeds in the process. Every bone felt shaken apart, and he sat up slowly, the world still spinning around him.
Spitting out dirt, he brushed stickers off his shirt and winced as fresh bruises and cuts made themselves felt. To one side of him, El Raton lay in a sprawled heap. He moaned dismally but didn’t move.
Cody reined up and jumped off his horse beside Noel. “Golly, that was a tumble! You all right?”
Noel nodded, but before he could speak he glimpsed Leon edging away. Noel lurched to his feet and grabbed Leon by the shirt collar.
“Not so fast,” he said. “You’ve caused enough trouble—”
Leon turned around and swung a roundhouse punch at him. Noel ducked just in time and drove his shoulder into Leon’s chest, knocking his duplicate off balance. While Leon was still staggering, Noel got in a series of blows to his stomach, then drove a solid left cross to Leon’s jaw that felled the man. Noel’s knuckles split painfully. He winced and shook his hand, blowing to take away the sting.
Leon squirmed about in the dust, then pulled himself up. Just in time Noel noticed the glitter of a knife in his hand and dodged a vicious swipe.
“Watch him, Noel!” shouted Cody in encouragement. “Kick his teeth in!”
Leon swung again, and again Noel had to dodge. Leon’s pale gray eyes glittered with malevolent intent. “I am going to finish you,” he said.
Noel grabbed at Leon’s wrist, but Leon twisted free and slashed. The knife blade cut through Noel’s shirt but missed skin.
“You finish me, you finish yourself,” said Noel breathlessly.
“Not anymore,” Leon said with a wild laugh. His thin face, so like Noel’s own, glowed with malice. “The time stream is closed. We’re here forever. I can exist without you now.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Noel. “I—”
“Noel!” shouted Cody. “Watch out!”
The warning came too late. El Raton’s strong hands seized Noel from behind, pinning his arms and leaving him exposed to Leon’s blade. Laughing like a madman, Leon drew back his arm to plunge the knife into Noel, who kicked and struggled frantically, knowing he hadn’t a prayer.
“Leon,” he said desperately. “Don’t—”
Just as Leon swung, a pistol fired. El Raton jerked with a hoarse cry of pain and fell, knocking Noel off balance. Leon’s knife blade missed Noel by scant inches. He ducked and scrambled to elude Leon, who was cursing loudly. Leon swung at him again, and Noel threw dirt in his eyes.
Howling, Leon put his free hand to his face and staggered back, giving Noel time to gain his feet. He kicked Leon’s feet out from under him, and when Leon fell Noel stamped on his wrist until he dropped the knife. Noel scooped it up.
“Now,” he said, panting heavily. “You stay put for a moment.”
Leon was st
ill clawing at his face. “You blinded me, damn you!”
Cody ran up beside Noel, still holding his drawn pistol. “You all right?”
Noel turned to him with a smile. “I am now. Thanks, Cody. You saved my life.”
Cody’s blue eyes were alight. “That makes us even now. A man’s entitled to have a fair fight. I couldn’t let ’em both gang up on you.”
Noel nodded. “All right, Leon. On your feet.”
Leon hunched on the ground, hiding his face. “No. I can’t see.”
In exasperation, Noel bent over him. “Stop whining. Some water will flush out the—”
Unexpectedly, there came the barely glimpsed flash of bright steel through the air and the thunk of its impact with something solid. Cody made a strangled noise and staggered into Noel, who caught him just as he sank to his knees.
In shock, Noel gripped him hard, too stunned by the sight of the knife hilt protruding from Cody’s chest to think, much less act.
“Cody,” he whispered. “No!”
Cody’s eyes darkened with pain. His gaze shifted, as though seeking Noel’s face. A shudder went through his body, and Noel tightened his grip as though to hold his life together by physical strength alone.
“Hang on, kid,” he said, his voice raw with grief. “Oh, God.”
Cody’s eyelids fluttered. “Should have…should have checked Raton’s boot,” he said softly, fading. “A Mex always carries a…always in his…boot.”
He sagged, lifeless in Noel’s arms. Stricken, Noel went on holding the dead boy, heedless of Don Emilio and Trask galloping up, heedless of Don Emilio shooting El Raton with two quick, lethal shots, heedless of anything until Trask knelt awkwardly on the ground beside him and took the boy from his grasp.
The old man touched Cody’s still face and began to weep. Don Emilio joined him quietly and put his hand on Trask’s shoulder. His hazel eyes, compassionate and filled with sorrow, met Noel’s over the old man’s bowed head.
There was nothing they could say. Noel pulled himself wearily erect, aware of Cody’s blood staining his shirt, and turned on Leon with a swell of rage so strong it blanked every other thought from his mind.
“This is your fault,” he said.
Leon, his eyes open again and bloodshot, scrambled back from him, but Noel gripped him by the shirtfront and hauled him to his feet.
“You’ve gone too far,” he said. “From the moment you came into existence you set yourself to create mayhem and anarchy. Now you’ve done murder—”
“I didn’t!” gasped Leon, shrinking from him. “I didn’t. El Raton—”
“You set him free,” said Noel furiously. “You tampered with his mind. You forced him to kill Cody.”
“But Cody was supposed to die!” said Leon. “You know that. He was—”
With a roar, Noel gripped Leon’s throat in his hands and squeezed with all his might. “I…don’t…care!” he said through gritted teeth, seeing nothing through his haze of anger except Leon’s terrified face. “This is the last of you!”
Leon clawed at his wrists without effect. His face turned purple, his eyes frantic.
Don Emilio gripped Noel’s shoulder. “Fratricide is a bitter crime, amigo. Consider if he is worth it.”
Noel could barely hear the man through the roaring in his ears. He didn’t care, he thought grimly. He wanted Leon gone, forever.
Then the bracelet on his wrist grew painfully hot, breaking through his madness, and the LOC’s toneless voice said, “Warning. Time course ending. Prepare for recall. Warning. Time course ending. Prepare for recall.”
Startled, Noel forgot what he was doing. His head jerked around and he stared at Don Emilio, who had turned pale and retreated from him.
“Sangre de Cristo,” whispered Don Emilio, his eyes widening. “What is this?”
“Good-bye,” said Noel, but the darkness of the time stream caught and dissolved him before he could finish the word, and he went hurtling through the void.
Epilogue
He materialized with a hard thump onto a wooden floor gouged heavily and full of splinters. His hands were still locked about Leon’s throat, and Leon was still jerking at his wrists in an effort to break free.
Around them was a weird darkness and fury, interspersed with flashes of light that illuminated tall masts and crowds of fighting men for brief seconds. The most ungodly din of shouting voices, screams, cannon roars, and clashing swords filled the air, making Noel’s head ring.
He smelled blood and gunpowder, tar pitch and fire, and the dank, salty odor of the sea itself. Cannons roared again, making the deck shudder like a living thing.
Flung flat, Noel dropped his grip on Leon, who shouted something incomprehensible and sprang away into the mad crush of fighting men.
A flaming torch swung at Noel, who ducked and lifted his hand to shield his eyes. He was knocked sprawling with the flat side of a cutlass.
A gruff voice boomed, “Stand up and fight, ye sniveling coward! We’ve a ship to take, aye, and booty to plunder. Get to yer feet and help board that damned merchantman, or I’ll have yer guts for my cummerbund!”
He swung the sword at Noel, who scrambled to his feet and ran, knowing in disgust that once again his LOC had failed him and he was no closer to home than before.
More from Deborah Chester
Time Trap
In the 26th century, chaos threatens to overwhelm civilization—but the historians on staff at the Time Institute are determined to change things for the better. Through first-hand recordings of the greatest events of the past, they hope to reawaken the modern-day populace and restore its zest for achievement. The trouble for the Institute is that saboteurs have infiltrated.
The trouble for time-traveler Noel Kedran is that his mission lands him in the wrong place and century.
Medieval Greece is little more than a way-station for European knights headed for the Crusades. All but forgotten, this small pocket of history is awash in treachery as Greek bandits, French knights, and Constantinople's diplomats battle for supremacy. Caught in their clash to rule Greece, Noel fears that any alteration to the course of history could destroy his own time, until he meets a stranger who is his mirror image. This twin, as determined to destroy the future as Noel is to save it, will take both Noel’s fate and history into his own hands.
Pieces of Eight
In his attempt to return to the 26th century, historian and time traveler Noel Kedran is transported back to the Caribbean in 1697, where black-masted ships rule the treacherous seas and murderous pirates kill without mercy.
Stalked by enemies—including his evil twin, Leon—Noel fights to prevent a human sacrifice that could change history, and to stop his twisted twin before he destroys them both for a few glittering, golden pieces of eight.
Restoration
In his attempt to return to the 26th century, historian Noel Kedran is transported, alongside his evil twin Leon, to the squalid streets and royal palaces of Restoration England—and into the blazing heart of the Great Fire of London.
Amidst the inferno, Noel will distinguish himself as a hero, whose only hope is to get home to his own time. To do so, he will have to outwit the treacherous, equally brilliant Leon.
But how can any man hope to outwit himself?
Turncoat
A time loop drops historian and time traveler Noel Kedran into the Revolutionary War—and into a deadly battle with himself. While America fights for its independence, Noel wages a desperate struggle against his evil twin, Leon.
Leon's plan is to assassinate George Washington and change the course of the Revolutionary War. If the plot succeeds, history will be as warped as Leon's mind. Now it's up to Noel to defeat the British army, and his own worst enemy—himself.
Termination
In Renaissance-era Italy, as rival houses of nobility use deception and murder to gain power and wealth, historian and time traveler Noel Kedran struggles against the machinations of his evil twin, Leon.
/> Thrust into sixteenth-century Venice, Noel arrives just in time to step into a trap set by his mad double. Sentenced to torture for a crime he didn't commit, Noel attracts the interest of a sorcerer who wants the mirror-image twins under his control. He will plunge Noel into a shadowy realm of terror, madness, and death.
There's only one person Noel can trust to help him survive—the very twin who has pledged to destroy him.
The Children of Anthi
In the grand tradition of Dune, an epic of adventure and survival on a dying world.
Omari has violated every sanction of his world to hijack the Forerunner and blast his way through a black star to reach the Uncharted Zone—and freedom.
But on Ruantl, a toxic world lit by a black sun, Omari found himself hostage in an underground citadel deep beneath a radioactive wasteland. Here the enigmatic high priest and his horde of black-robed barbarian mutants guard an army of crystal caskets—and plan a bloody rebellion to save their race from extinction.
To survive, Omari has one chance. But does he dare undergo the ultimate sacrifice and become one of the CHILDREN OF ANTHI?
Requiem for Anthi
In the grand tradition of Dune, an epic of adventure and survival on a dying world
The world of Ruantl is nearly dead, its waters tainted and its land scorched by a poisonous black sun. Members of the Galactic Space Institute have crossed into the Uncharted Zone, eager to strip Ruantl of its gold and gemstones. They will not—and cannot—be stopped. Not by the few survivors of a dying race.
But one ancient lord is ready to fight back—even if he must reawaken the mighty goddess Anthi herself.
The Omcri Matrix
In the Planet Patrol, Costa was the best. The smartest, toughest, most ambitious officer in the ranks. Until the day the Omcri—a deadly alien force of faceless assassins—kidnapped the Kublai of Drugh, killing Costa's patrol but leaving her alive.
The brass think Costa has sold out. And now she's on the run, desperately trying to clear her name. Her search for the truth will lead her from the back alleys of her own planet to the savage dangers of unknown worlds—and finally, into the dark heart of the Omcri Matrix.
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