Even in the moonlight, the figure in crimson seemed to burn.
“She’s dead, you know. And only Grand Duke Valcua can bring her back to life.”
Struck by the crack of a gun and a fiery blast, Kima was blown back ten feet. The hem of his long robe spread across the ground like flames, gently enveloping him as he fell backward.
“You didn’t kill some stranger named Sue. Your younger sister’s also called Sue. And it’s your sister that you murdered with your own two hands.”
“No, it can’t. . .”
Matthew was going to refute what he said, but he couldn’t open his mouth. Kima’s statement was correct. It was his sister Sue that he’d killed. The girl he’d loved so well since they were children, and stuck up for, and protected.
How could you betray me after all that? It’s all your fault, Sue. I didn’t do anything. All I did was choke you a little, playing around.
The shotgun slid out of Sue’s hands.
“You can’t run from this any longer. What’ll you do, Matthew? Will you go with me to see the grand duke?”
“I didn’t kill her,” Matthew murmured. “I always looked out for Sue, always protected my little sister. I could never kill her.”
“No, you weren’t able to protect her at all. Did Sue ever thank you?” Matthew pondered the answer. It came to him quickly. And that was why he was silent.
“As far as your sister was concerned, having an older brother like you around kept the gates to the whole wide world shut. You were a nuisance who kept her locked away in a stuffy little room. Everything you did repulsed your sister, and the praise you gave her sounded like curses spewed by a corpse just back from the graveyard. Face the facts, Matthew. Surely you must’ve noticed. That’s why you stuck up for Sue more than you had to, kept her safe, concealed the truth. And then, when a man a thousand times more handsome than you started to undermine your dominance, you took your own two hands and—”
“Stop it!” Matthew bellowed, charging at the crimson figure. Grabbing the front of the robe, he reached for the hood, but the garment didn’t move at all.
“You bastard!” Matthew exclaimed.
Now the hood was off, and the face that stared back at him was that of the Sue he’d just dispatched. Frozen in place, Matthew felt
an icy white arm wrap around his neck, and breath that smelled like foul grave dirt tickled his nostrils.
“I can’t believe you killed me,” Sue said. “Come with me, Matt.” The instant Matthew realized the face was that of his sister, the girl’s arm came away from him, and she scampered off like a startled rabbit.
III
At about the same time Matthew was leaving the village with the other Sue, in the forest seven days’ ride from there the following conversation was taking place.
“Why did we stop?”
“The sensors have detected an invisible barrier before us.”
“I don’t care. We have a force-field projector that was installed back at the fortress. Give it full speed and smash right through it.” “The enemy also has a force field. Anything that touches it is broken down to its constituent atoms.”
“And ours does the same thing. It’s our power pitted against theirs, with one being absorbed and the other remaining. Go!”
The engine of Braujou’s car gave a vicious snarl as it began to speed forward.
Up ahead—only about six feet away—the space suddenly warped like a heat shimmer.
The engine stopped without a sound.
“What is it?” Count Braujou shouted.
“This is dangerous,” the female voice said. It sounded like the voice of an incredibly beautiful woman. “The computer has concluded that five seconds after we make contact, space will be distorted, and this vehicle will disintegrate within fifty seconds.”
“I don’t care. Go!”
“Would you stop already?” said the thing that rested on his shoulder. “Sue’s here. Do you intend to have her caught in the middle of this battle between your force fields?”
“Oh, damnation!” the count snarled, shaking the hand off his shoulder.
Falling to the floor, the hand said, “Ouch!”
“There is what appears to be a person currently approaching from the south-southwest. Aura readings indicate that it is not a human being.”
It was Seurat floating in the air. The holograph advanced through the trackless forest without pause, while ahead of it and around it bushes and titanic trees were pushed away or knocked over by an unseen force.
“It doesn’t seem like he has a force field around him. But he’s trailing us sure enough—someone must be helping him. Give me a view of the living room.”
Sue appeared. Thanks to dimension-bending technology, the vehicle’s interior seemed like the vast and luxurious residence of a Noble, and in one of its rooms, the girl was curled up in a chair fast asleep.
“I wonder whom she’s dreaming of,” the Nobleman said, his tone strangely placid. Looking at the door, the count ordered, “Open it.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” the left hand asked from the floor.
“I’ll fight the foe who’s pursuing us-—what else can I do?”
“He’s about your size—so be careful.”
“I wish it were someone other than you wishing me well,” Count Braujou replied before he was swallowed by the darkness.
“That tricky devil—he was all too happy to go. Seems a bit old to be getting so jealous. Ah, the green-eyed monster is a fearsome thing in a man,” the left hand said, grumbling away to its heart’s content on the floor. “Hold on. Tell me I’m wrong. Hey! Open the door to the control room!”
“I cannot respond to any commands but those from my master.”
Extending its forefinger at this reply, the left hand murmured with interest, “Hmm, so that’s where you are?”
Going ten paces from his car, the count switched on the thought-activated force-field device he wore on the right side of his chest. As it was attuned to the barrier around his vehicle, he had no problem slipping through it. The unearthly aura that blazed from every inch of him was undoubtedly the hatred he felt for his approaching foe. However, the count didn’t comprehend the clinging flames of emotion that stoked his hatred the way gasoline fed a fire.
After going another thirty feet, Braujou came to an area that was all shrubs.
“This should do nicely.”
The long spear in his right hand flashed out, knocking all the scrubby growth away, and then the count stood still in the center of the sixty-foot clearing he’d created.
He didn’t have to wait two seconds before a stand of trees in front of him parted down the middle.
“We met during the day, didn’t we?” the count said, shifting his gaze to Seurat’s club. “I’m surprised you made it this far. Whose help did you have?”
There was no change to Seurat’s expression, which could have been described as sluggish.
“Hmm, not talking? In that case, you can keep holding your tongue as I send you to hell!”
Moving with unbelievable speed, the count raced toward the giant. When he was just thirty feet from his opponent, the space between them rippled violently, and the count’s body broke like a wave when it burst through. Perhaps because the characteristics of the two force fields differed, the count seemed to be pushing through an opaque membrane as he tried to pierce Seurat’s shoulder with his spear. The tip of the weapon vanished before it could touch Seurat’s shoulder.
With a low grunt, Seurat swung his club. He brought it down on top of the count’s head, but the count was distorted like a staticky TV picture while the weapon passed through him.
“The only thing that can slay me is this spear,” the count said, and his weapon flashed out once more.
A line ran through Seurat from his forehead to his jaw, and when it stretched all the way to the hem of his shirt, the front of his gigantic form was laid bare in the moonlight.
The count’s eyes
were focused on the massive red maze that had been drawn on the front of his opponent’s body.
“Hmm. Why didn’t you paint one on your face?”
Braujou’s spear went through Seurat’s face with a thrust that had all his might behind it. Not thinking about pulling it out, the count drove it in as far as it would go. A few seconds later, a complete lack of resistance made his eyes widen. The tip hadn’t come out. Seurat’s hand clutched the shaft of the spear. The count let out a cry of surprise. Seurat gave a great shake of his upper body and the spear— still jammed into the giant’s face—came out of the count’s hands.
The fearful moment had arrived. In the time it took Seurat to level the spear he’d taken, the count didn’t have a chance to flee. He set his force field to maximum strength.
Space was distorted. Jabbing through it, the glowing head of the count’s long spear went for the Nobleman’s heart before he could dodge it—but it stopped just shy of impaling him. A hand had suddenly appeared and gripped the shaft of the weapon. A disembodied left hand.
“Carelessness is our greatest enemy.”
The twenty-foot-long spear began to fall, but then suddenly flew back up, spun around, and was hurled with the strength of the left hand alone.
Just before the spear could penetrate Seurat’s face he dodged it, losing just some flesh off his cheek-—no, actually it was all the skin on his face that he lost. The other face that appeared from beneath it had a vibrant red maze drawn on it. The mask he’d worn over it had most likely been intended to keep anything from touching it.
“Well, looks like we’ve got ourselves a deadlock,” the left hand remarked with glee.
“You needn’t have interfered,” the count spat. His body quaked the tiniest bit—not due to having such a close brush with death, but rather from the humiliation of being rescued by someone.
“What are you gonna do?” the left hand inquired.
“Never underestimate a Noble,” the count said, his right hand reaching into his cape and coming back out with his longsword.
As if in response, Seurat leaped back and bit down on his right index finger. Using it, he drew something on the palm of his left hand.
The count kicked off the ground. He looked like a wild animal pouncing. As he brought down a blow from overhead that would’ve split a boulder in two, Seurat caught the sword in his left hand. Its blade disappeared, for the giant had drawn a maze in blood on the palm of his hand.
The count poised himself for a second blow. But Seurat sank unexpectedly. It was neither a feint nor an invitation to strike; rather, he’d tumbled forward. There was no hesitation in the count’s swing. He brought the blade down with no intention of letting the giant escape this time—however, Seurat abruptly vanished beneath its steel.
“Not again, you bastard!” His white fangs bared, the count laughed hoarsely at a stand of trees. “Are you in there?”
Just as the Nobleman’s gigantic form was about to leap forward, the left hand shouted, “Don’t!"
But it was too late, and red spots like drops of dew flowed together on the count’s chest. The screen of the force field was stained crimson. When it faded, the count seemed to have lost his beastly will to fight, gazing into the depths of the stand of trees as he picked up his spear and walked off.
“It seems we’ve just gained another foe,” the left hand said to the count when he returned.
Perhaps the Nobleman was angry with himself for not finishing off his opponent, because he gave no reply.
Nevertheless, the left hand continued, saying, “After luring him out and all, that’s gotta be really annoying.” “What?”
“Earlier, I checked the course logs in the control room. From where we picked up Sue all the way to here, you were broadcasting on a subspace frequency—the same secret wavelength Nobles use to communicate with each other. You used that to lure Seurat out, didn’t you? Were you that angry about Sue trying to protect him?” There was the sound of something knifing through the air before the left hand had finished speaking.
The left hand leaped a yard away. Seeing the long spear sticking out of the ground where it had just stood, it jeered, “Come now, pretty little Sue is watching! I left the view screen on.”
“You little bastard—can you make my car do whatever you like?” Roughly pulling his spear free, the count headed for his vehicle. Sue’s face appeared in one of the windows that had its shades open only by night.
“Too bad she didn’t get to see you at your best, eh?”
Not replying to the silently laughing left hand, the count made a swipe of his spear, and then walked toward his car.
As soon as they were in the living room, Sue came by. Not saying anything, she stood in the doorway, gazing at the count as he set down his spear and took off his cape.
“What are you looking at?” the count asked irritably.
“Um, nothing,” Sue replied, hanging her head low.
“Did the left hand say anything to you?”
“No, it’s just—well, I just. . .”
“You just what?”
“I was just worried if you were hurt—that’s all.”
“Worried about me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you think a mere servant of the Nobility could slay a Noble?” The girl had no answer for that.
“Go to bed,” he said without even glancing in Sue’s direction. The girl didn’t know what to say.
“What is it? Go to bed already.” “I’m sorry.”
The count didn’t seem to understand what she meant.
“Um ... I mean . . . thank you.”
This time, it was the count who was at a loss for words.
“You get hurt, risk your life in battle ... all for our sake . . . But I . . . I can’t do anything in return . . .”
“It’s my job—now go to bed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Bowing to him, Sue left. Before the door closed, he heard her thank him once again.
The count heaved a sigh. And a long sigh at that. As if there was something funny or unavoidable about the situation.
Down by his feet, a voice chortled, “You old man, you! All it takes is a thank you to put you over the moon? As Nobles go, you’re a pushover. Oh, thank you so much, kind sir!”
A chase then ensued that lasted a good ten minutes, at which point the left hand leaped out of the room.
CHAPTER 5
I
It was Sue who noticed something wasn’t right. Waking with the dawn, as had been her habit back on the farm, she peered out the window through the still-open shades and called to the left hand on the floor, “This is strange.”
“What is?"
“The sun’s to our right, so if that’s the east, we’re going in the opposite direction. We—we’re going further and further away from the fortress!”
“That’s preposterous,” a voice snorted, but rather than the left hand’s, it was that of the count. “I was up all night. Even without consulting the instruments, I can tell what direction I’m going. This car is definitely headed for the fortress.”
“Wait just a second—the light is coming from the east. That’s bizarre. Look into it.”
With this remark from the left hand, the count ordered an investigation. There wasn’t long to wait before a female voice responded, “There’s nothing out of the ordinary. We shall reach the fortress in approximately one hour.”
However, the natural world beyond the windows offered the two of them a contrary opinion.
“Yes, this really is quite strange. Stop the car,” the count said, now
that he too realized all was not right.
After the span of a breath or two, the female voice announced, “We’ve come to a stop.”
Beyond the windows, the scenery continued to roll by.
“So, your computer’s been taken in, too?” the left hand said. Perhaps it was a quirk of its character, but it seemed to delight in the problems of others—even when it was cau
ght up in the same situation. “Yeah, this is probably the work of whoever’s been helping Seurat. That’s a formidable opponent. The computer alone would be bad enough, but whatever it is has screwed up our sense of direction, too.”
That’s right, Sue thought, her blood running cold. The Nobleman and D’s left hand had both easily fallen prey to this spell.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to leave this to you. I’ll send out a projection of myself. You may use it as you see fit.”
The count’s words overlapped with the creaking of his coffin’s lid—the coffins of the Nobility always made this sound. Perhaps their kind had a sort of nostalgic need to hear it.
“Damned irresponsible Noble,” the left hand yelled, but then it quickly gave the command, “Hey, stop the car!”
It didn’t stop.
“So, you won’t follow my directions either, eh? Okay.”
“What are you gonna do?” Sue inquired, no longer able to restrain herself.
“Wait until it stops. Come what may, we’ll be safe so long as we stay inside the car.”
It was more than an hour before the vehicle finally halted. The blinds had closed automatically, so there was no way to view the scenery outside except holographic images, but the computer didn’t comply with the left hand’s requests.
Just then, the lights went out. They were enveloped by the darkness. “Hmm, looks like we have no choice now. Shall we step outside?” “We can’t do that!” Sue shouted in the direction of the left hand’s voice. “It’s certain to be dangerous. If our enemies brought us here, they’ve obviously laid traps for us.”
“I agree with you there. But we’re not gonna accomplish anything sitting here like this, either. The first thing to do is let in some fresh air and sunshine, eh?”
“But—can you get the door open?”
“That’s the rub.”
There was a rap down by the floor—apparently the left hand had banged against it. Perhaps it was trying to say the girl was right on the mark.
“Hey, open the door!”
Light beat back the darkness.
Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four Page 8
