by Nathan Long
I’ll be honest. The idea of riding one of these things gave me the willies. I’m not afraid of heights, and I’ve ridden damn near everything from a rodeo bull to a blown-fuel Buell drag bike, but I’ve also wrecked just about all of them once or twice climbing that old learning curve. That wasn’t exactly an option here—once we got airborne the pavement was a long way down. I listened real careful as Sai gave me the crash course, so to speak.
We were so focused we didn’t hear the little bastard behind us until it was too late. He was just a kid, a stable boy. He must have been sleeping in the same room with the old guy. We forgot to check.
I caught him out of the corner of my eye, sneaking for the stairs. “Hey! You!”
I jumped up and ran at him, but he went like a rabbit, and started screaming like a banshee. “Murderers! Spies! Assassins! Help! Help! Help!”
Lhan called me back. “It is too late! We must fly, now!”
He was right. There were shouts coming up from below, and running footsteps out on the roof. Lhan and Sai cinched their saddle straps tight and mounted up. I tried to do it like they did, but my skelsha rolled his eyes and flapped aside like a skittish window shade. He could tell how freaked out I was and that freaked him out, which was freaking me out. It was freak-out feedback.
Lhan’s skelsha started to pump its wings and run. Ours began to follow. I hopped along beside mine, one foot in the stirrup, one foot skipping off the ground. “Hold still, peckerhead!”
The big bastard was catching air now. “Fuck! Stop!” I hauled myself up into the saddle by brute force.
The guards from the roof ran in, aiming crossbows, but Lhan dug his heels into his skelsha’s neck and it shot its wings wide, right in their faces. They fell back, firing blind and missing by a mile. We sailed right over their heads as marines poured out of the barn behind us, shouting and shooting.
My stomach lurched when we went over the edge of the roof and the ground dropped away. Christ, I wasn’t ready for this. Wobbling around in the sky without a good idea how to work the controls wasn’t my idea of a good time, particularly with crossbows blasting away at me. Lhan and Sai missed getting hit because of speed and skill. I dodged ’em ’cause I was all over the damn sky. That skelsha didn’t like me and I didn’t like him. He was turning loop-de-loops, the fucker. I almost lost my lunch when we whipped around in a big climbing circle and headed east. The marines kept shooting, but we were too high. Their bolts arced under us like sand-fleas hoping to catch a seagull.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
COUP D’ÉTAT!
The sun was rising behind the temple of Ormolu. We rode along its long shadow like we were flying over a black carpet until we reached the ginormous traffic circle that surrounded it, then Lhan started angling us down. Below, the morning light was creeping across the gardens of the big park area within the circle and lighting up the white marble palaces that filled it like they were glowing from the inside.
My skelsha and I had finally ironed out our differences. Well, actually I’d just given up trying to steer and it did what it wanted. Good thing it seemed to have that duck instinct and flew in formation behind its pals.
We were dropping toward a high, gold-roofed temple with a humongous Oran warship hanging over it. I recognized the ship. It was Kedac’s, and for a second I panicked. I thought maybe he somehow knew we were coming and had brought out the big guns. Then I noticed that the ship was covered with colorful streamers. I relaxed. It was the Oran version of the wedding limo. Kedac and Wen-Jhai were going to fly off to their honeymoon on a warship. Symbolic, huh?
We came in low, aiming for a wide courtyard attached to the temple, when suddenly a bolt of blue light, bright as the sun and thin and straight as a pencil, shot over our heads. Our skelshas panicked, squawking and flapping. I did too. Shit, wouldn’t you? Outside of a Star Wars movie I’d never seen anything like that in my life.
Lhan forced his skelsha into a dive. Sai followed suit. I banged on my bird’s skull. “Down, you idiot! Holy shit! What the fuck was that?”
Lhan shouted over to me. “Holy indeed. A holy relic. A wand of blue fire. With it the Aldhanan’s guard protects him from all attackers, even those in the air.”
“But that was... that was...”
“Holy.”
“If you say so.”
We touched down in front of the temple’s marble steps. A squad of guys in fancy red enameled armor, finned helmets and flapping white capes raced out to us.
“Now what?” I’d had enough confrontation lately.
They looked like extras from Ben Hur, except the three guys in front were carrying ordnance out of another movie altogether: long white tubes with pulsing lights down the side. They looked like something Casio might have made in the eighties. My head hurt looking at ’em. It made the whole scene seem wrong, like seeing King Arthur on a cell-phone or Beethoven slinging a Fender Strat.
Lhan and Sai jumped down from their skelshas and raised their hands like terrorists at the end of a stand off. I did the same. I don’t know about you, but wands of blue fire scare the piss out of me.
Sai started shouting, “Let us through. I am the groom. I am here to claim my bride.”
The captain stopped in front of him as his men surrounded us. He had one of the white plastic tubes and a pom-pom on his tin hat to let you know he was in charge. It bobbed in the wind. “Kir-Dhanan Kedac-Zir is bridegroom here. Who threatens the Aldhanan at his daughter’s wedding?”
Sai made a formal bow, crossing his wrists. “No one threatens the Aldhanan, noble captain. I merely make haste to my wedding. I am Dhan Sai-Far of Sensa, lawful betrothed of Princess Wen-Jhai. Kir-Dhanan Kedac-Zir kidnapped her. I demand the right to fight for her hand.”
The captain sparked at the name. “Sai-Far of Sensa, I have orders for your arrest.”
Lhan stepped up. “And who gave those orders?”
“Kir-Dhanan Kedac-Zir.”
Lhan sneered. “A coward’s way to protect his bride.”
The captain frowned. Sai saw where Lhan was going and picked it up, pouring it on. “Can this be? Does an Oran gentleman stand in the way of true love? When has the Sanfallah ever been decided by orders of arrest?”
That seemed to make up the captain’s mind. He turned to his men. “Search them and take their weapons.” Sai started to protest, but the captain stopped him. “Make your challenge and you will have your sword.”
They frisked us and took anything even remotely like a weapon. I let ’em. I was in shock. This was the loopiest thing that had happened yet in this whole damn adventure. Forget coming to another planet. Forget getting shot at by death rays or fighting for my life in an arena straight out of a gladiator movie. A cop who’d bend the law for true love? If we were back in LA we’d all be on the ground getting Rodney-Kinged for sassing back. For the first time since I got here I wondered if it was all a dream.
They led us through the hexagonal temple, a big echoey place with high, arched ceilings, all gold and white, and out a side door into the courtyard. There was a big crowd out there. They sparkled like the headdress on a Vegas showgirl—all wild colors and big chunks of silver and gold and jewels hanging off fancy harnesses. The gaudiest get-ups were in the front row: the royal family. On a stage a priest was doing some holy calisthenics with the crowd following along. It looked like fancy dress aerobics.
The altar behind the priest was a miniature version of the Temple of Ormolu’s rocket-tower. The real one loomed up directly behind the back wall like the Jolly Green Giant in a white suit. Kedac, the fucker, was over at stage left, looking smug. It made my hands itch just looking at him. Opposite him, Wen-Jhai stood with her jaw stuck out like a ship’s prow, defiant and brave, but I could see her eyes were wet. Right next to the altar dangled a rope ladder, hanging from Kedac’s ship. An airman with a bugle stood at attention beside it.
The priest looked like he was winding up for the big finish when we pushed in, boots stomping and harnesses jingling.
Sai jumped up on a bench at the back. “Stop this farce!”
Everybody turned. The priest dropped his arms. Kedac glared around, looking for the interruption. Wen-Jhai stared. Near the front, that creepy she-wolf Mai-Mar looked back, worried. She was sitting with Vawa-Sar and a woman who looked like Sai, only not so pretty—Shayah, his backstabbing sister.
Silence. Sai had everybody’s attention.
Now was my chance. Nobody was looking at me. It was an easy two hops to the stage. I could break Kedac’s neck and be over the back wall before anybody knew what was going on.
At least I could have if it wasn’t for Sai. I looked up at him and couldn’t do it. Not without giving him his chance. But would he actually take it? He was as pale a lavender toilet paper. He wasn’t saying anything.
Kedac sneered like he thought Sai was blowing it. Sai saw the sneer. His back stiffened. Finally!
“Kir-Dhanan Kedac-Zir, you have stolen my bride, and not for love, but for the basest reasons. I challenge you for the hand of the Aldhanshai Wen-Jhai!”
With his chin high, Sai hopped down off the bench and marched through the crowd, flanked by the royal guard. So much for my revenge. How could I jump in now when Sai was doing so well? I followed him, walking beside Lhan. We exchanged a proud look. I felt like a mom. My little Sai, a man at last. Of course, he was still going to get slaughtered. Maybe I’d be able to jump in and save his life. I’d sure as hell avenge him.
The crowd whispered like a snake pit. I could see Kedac’s jaw tighten like he was going to do something rash, but instead he just rolled his eyes and turned to complain to the priest.
The priest nodded and faced Sai. “You come too late, Dhan Sai. The ceremony has already begun. The time for challenges has past. Remove yourself.”
Sai snarled. “Kedac-Zir, will you hide behind ceremony to avoid me? Are you such a coward that you will let a priest save you?”
That got a gasp from the crowd. Point for Sai, but Kedac parried it. “Who is the coward here? Who tried to steal Wen-Jhai dishonorably, without facing me? Who tried to corrupt her with his craven philosophy and his modern ways?”
He turned to a guy in the front row. This was the richest-dressed dude there, with a robe that looked like it was made of solid gold and a purple gem on his forehead as big as a baseball. “My Aldhanan, let not this coward defile this holy day. Arrest him.”
The Aldhanan stood and turned. He was a big, powerful older guy who carried his heavy cloak like it was made of air. He looked like one of those sixty-year-old triathletes you see in vitamin commercials. “Sai-Far, you embarrass yourself here. You disgrace this court and your family. Leave now or face arrest.”
“My Aldhanan, I apologize, but I will not.”
“You defy me?” The Aldhanan signaled, and the guards who’d led us in drew swords and started to close in on us. I balled up my fists. Damn it, I knew we shouldn’t have given up our swords.
Lhan put a hand on my shoulder. “Not here.”
Sai dropped to one knee like he was signaling a fair catch. “My Aldhanan, I beg of you, indulge me but a moment. I may have lacked physical courage in the past, but unlike this kidnapper I have never been a traitor.”
The crowd gasped again. The Aldhanan stared. Kedac was white-knuckling his sword hilt. The Aldhanan held up a hand to his guards. “If this is some dissembling attempt to advance your suit you will not die quickly. Now speak.”
“My Aldhanan, you may do with me as you wish. I only speak in hopes of protecting you. While seeking Kedac-Zir at his headquarters last night in order to face him, I discovered a secret room in which there were plans laid out for an attack on...”
Kedac squawked, like a parrot. I don’t think he meant to. “My Aldhanan! Must we listen to this drivel...”
The Aldhanan held up a hand and waved for Sai to continue.
“An attack on Ormolu, my Aldhanan. And in his papers were correspondence from various Dhanans, some here today, offering men and gold to finance his overthrow of your throne!”
Another big gasp from the crowd. The Aldhanan raised an eyebrow. “You have evidence of this treason?”
Sai whipped out a handful of papers from his pouch. “Letters, my Aldhanan.”
A guard took them to the Aldhanan, who read them, scowling. Kedac twitched on the stage behind him. He couldn’t keep quiet.
“My Aldhanan, whatever papers those may be, they are fabrications, forgeries, meant to discredit me in your eyes. They are the unmanly weapons of a weak-hearted twister of words, without spine enough for an honest challenge of steel and blood.”
“I challenge you now, blackguard.”
“When it is conveniently too late.” Kedac played the crowd like a politician. “Look at him, my Aldhanan. Who will you believe, the commander of your navy, who has served you faithfully all these years, or this mewling half-man in his uncared-for armor, with his disreputable companions—an outlander giantess who apes the dress and manner of men, and a degenerate with a history of deviant scandal?”
Thanks pal. Thanks a whole bunch.
The crowd seemed to be leaning toward Kedac, and insults aside, I could see their point. There he was, square jaw, white teeth, shining gold armor. He looked like the hero. We looked like the circus had come to town—a big pink freak, a boy that looked like a girl, and a smarmy ringmaster. We hadn’t washed in weeks, our armor looked like it had been dragged behind a city bus, Sai and Lhan were unshaven, and I was having a class five bad hair day.
Sai didn’t back down an inch. “My Aldhanan, you have but to go to the navy barracks to see for yourself the truth of my story. I...”
Kedac cut him off again. “Miserable conniver, you will do anything to delay the inevitable. Go if you will, my Aldhanan, but I suspect a trap, a ruse to draw you from the safety of the temple. Come, arrest him. A marriage conducted after the first hour of dawn becomes inauspicious. Will you let him spoil your daughter’s happiness?”
The Aldhanan looked tired. We were annoying the hell out of him. We were ruining everything. “I begin to believe you are right, Kir-Dhanan. Guards.”
The guards moved in. Sai looked from Lhan to me, desperate. I shrugged. So did Lhan. We were fresh out of ideas, but suddenly Sai’s eyes flashed. “My Aldhanan! My Aldhanan, one more moment! I beg you! What if I could prove Kedac-Zir’s treachery right here, out of his own mouth?”
“You have had your say, quisling. I have said that dissembling would be your doom and so it shall. Take him away.”
The guards grabbed us and dragged us back toward the door, but Sai kept shouting. “My Aldhanan, Kedac-Zir does not love your daughter! He marries her solely for political gain, and I can prove it!”
“Stop!”
It was Kedac who’d shouted. His face was red with fury. He turned to the Aldhanan. “My apologies, my Aldhanan, but I must beg to take from you the pleasure of killing this excrescence. No man may insult an Oran Dhan’s most sacred honor and go unpunished. By your leave, bring him forth.”
The Aldhanan waved his okay and the guards carried Sai forward, but not us. They held us where we were. They lifted him onto the stage, handed him his sword and left him in front of Kedac.
Kedac drew his sword and curled his lip. “Now speak your so called proof or answer me with steel.”
Sai turned to the Aldhanan. “My Aldhanan, you may discount my evidence, but there is evidence not even Kedac-Zir can deny that his wooing of Wen-Jhai has been a sham.”
The Aldhanan grunted, impatient. “Speak or draw. Time grows short.”
Sai bowed and turned back to Kedac. “I ask but one question of you, Kir-Dhanan Kedac-Zir.” He paused for effect. “Who’s Balurrah wear you?”
The crowd went dead silent. Even the Aldhanan started to pay attention. Kedac was tofu-white. My heart pounded. Boy howdy, he’d done it.
Kedac turned to the Aldhanan. “My Aldhanan, no man shows his Balurrah to any but the woman he loves.”
But the Aldhanan had seen Kedac’s fea
r like the rest of us. “And yet, Admiral, to prove your innocence, and your loyalty to me, a tradition might be bent.”
“No, my Aldhanan. In all things but this am I loyal to you, but this is a private matter between the Aldhanshai and myself.”
The Aldhanan smiled, grim. “Then you will have no objection to showing her, here. Now.”
Kedac looked nervous, but bowed. “Very well.” He held out a hand to Wen-Jhai. “Beloved.”
She crossed to him, hesitant. Suddenly her grabbed her and put his sword to her neck, glaring at the Aldhanan. “Fool!”
The crowd babbled. Kedac backed toward the rope ladder. Sai shouted and jumped for him. Kedac kicked him into the front row, but lost his grip on Wen-Jhai.
That was my cue. I shook off my guards, ripped my sword out of another guy’s hands, kicked off a bench and arced over the Aldhanan. I landed on the stage and launched again, catching Kedac in a crossbody block as he lunged again for Wen-Jhai. We crashed to the stage. I drew my sword and slit Kedac’s harness up the back. It took a lot of will power not to slit his back up to his neck.
The crowd was backing away, freaked out by my leap. The guards were surging forward. The Aldhanan was shouting. I stood Kedac on his feet and ripped off his harness. He stood there, naked except for his loincloth and his balurrah. The medallion was decorated with Mai-Mar’s colors and symbol.
Even the Aldhanan gasped this time. Wen-Jhai shrieked and collapsed. The Aldhanan shouted to his guards, pointing at Kedac. “Arrest him!”
The guards climbed the stage. Kedac slashed back with his sword. Stupid me, I’d forgot to disarm him. He almost disarmed me. His blade chopped through my armored sleeve and bit into my arm. I fell back, clutching myself and seeing colors.
Kedac ran to Wen-Jhai and hauled her up, fanning back the guards with a slash of his sword. He dragged her to the rope ladder and shouted to the airman with the bugle. “Rise! Sound rise and fly!”
