Knight

by Timothy Zahn

  “Never mind—I can figure it out for myself,” Bungie said. He took a step to the side, veering around the dip Nicole had hoped he might fall over, and started toward the gun.

  “Stop!” Nicole snapped. He was moving toward her and away from Jeff, and she had to stop him from doing both.

  Bungie paused in midstep, a small frown touching his forehead. The sheer strength of Nicole’s outburst had stopped him for the moment, but that wouldn’t last long. She had to come up with something else, and fast. Bungie started to take another step—

  And in desperation Nicole pulled the sealing strip of her jumpsuit partway open and jammed her right hand inside. “I mean it,” she bit out. “Stop or I’ll kill you.”

  Bungie barked a laugh, not even slowing down. “What, with what you’ve got there?”

  “You have no idea,” Nicole shot back. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jeff moving forward, the sounds of his footsteps masked by the river’s roar. “Did you really think that’s the only weapon Fievj gave us? Remember your gun, the one you killed Jerry to get?”

  Bungie stopped, a sudden crazy look in his eye. He’d had that stolen gun on him when the Wisps first brought him aboard, and he’d been trying to get it back ever since. His eyes narrowed, and Nicole could see him studying her jumpsuit, looking for an extra bulge or sag, trying to see if she really had it or was blowing smoke herself. She’d seen him do this visual search thing a lot on the Philadelphia streets, but as usual with Bungie he wasn’t nearly as good at it as he thought he was.

  He got three seconds to stand there, looking and thinking, before Jeff’s arms snaked around his shoulders and neck and locked him in a choke hold.

  Bungie might have snarled or cursed. Nicole couldn’t hear him. He almost certainly struggled. Nicole didn’t wait to see. The instant Jeff’s arm went around Bungie’s throat she rolled back toward the paintball gun.

  She got only halfway there when part of the net caught another branch. She swore and tugged, finally tearing it free. She reached the gun and snatched it up with her right hand, grabbing at the net with her left and pulling it partially away from her jumpsuit. She rolled over onto her back and brought up the gun.

  Just in time to see Jeff lower an unconscious Bungie to the ground.

  “Come on,” Jeff called, beckoning with a quick double twitch of his fingers. Kneeling beside Bungie, he started fiddling with something on Bungie’s jumpsuit.

  By the time Nicole finished untangling herself and made it over to them he had two strips of cloth torn from Bungie’s sleeves. “Grab that net,” Jeff said, jerking his head back toward it. “The better he’s trussed, the better I’ll like it.”

  “I thought he was out,” Nicole said, reversing course and pulling the net free of the bushes. A quick look downslope showed the green team was still huddled around the side of the bluff. Were they all faking it?

  “Not for long,” Jeff said. “I didn’t want to risk crushing his windpipe, so I just cut off blood to his brain for a few seconds.”

  “Not like that’s something he uses very often,” Nicole said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Wrap up his legs,” Jeff instructed. He rolled one of the cloth strips into a ball, then started fastening it and the other strip around Bungie’s face as a makeshift gag. “As tight as you can—we don’t want to leave him any extra slack he can use to get out.”

  “What about his arms?” Nicole asked as she levered his legs up off the ground and started wrapping her net around them.

  “We’ll use my net for that,” Jeff said. “Snap it up—he could wake up any time.”

  That wasn’t what Nicole had seen in movies and TV. There, if you knocked someone out, they stayed that way for minutes or even hours. But Jeff was right. She’d barely gotten her net wrapped once when Bungie’s eyes fluttered open. For a second he just looked confused, then his eyes widened—

  He was starting to reach for the gag around his mouth when Jeff’s grip on the side of his neck sent him back under.

  A minute later they had both nets wrapped snugly around him. “Find me some sticks,” Jeff ordered as he finished up the last part. “Sturdy, but thin enough to fit through the holes in the net.”

  “What are they for?” Nicole asked as she got to her feet and looked around. One of the nearby trees had a few broken branches on the ground at its base, and she scooped them up.

  “Can’t have our guest wandering off,” Jeff said, taking the branches from her with a nod of thanks. “We don’t have any padlocks, so we’ll have to improvise.”

  “Ah,” Nicole said. She watched as he wove the branches in and out of the holes in the two nets, fastening the nets’ outside edges to the layers beneath them.

  Bungie woke up again midway through the process. By then it was far too late to struggle, but that didn’t stop him from trying. After a few useless attempts, he gave up and glared at the two of them instead. Jeff finished his work, checked everything one final time, then tapped Bungie’s chest. “Here’s the thing,” he said. “You’re wrapped like a Fort Knox gold delivery, the tree canopy will keep the Shipmasters from seeing you, your team isn’t likely to come hunting for you—I don’t think they really like you all that much—and you’re lying in a nice little dip so you aren’t going to roll out on your own. If I were you, I’d take the opportunity to have a little nap. Don’t worry, we’ll come back and get you before you starve.”

  He stood up and took Nicole’s arm. “Come on, let’s go someplace where we can talk.”

  “What are you doing here?” Nicole murmured as he led the way upriver. “How did you get across?”

  “Kahkitah brought me over,” Jeff said. “I didn’t know he could swim that well. Did you?”

  Nicole shook her head, thinking about what Wesowee had said about the Ghorfs and their exploration of the Fyrantha’s waterways.

  It was interesting, though, that he’d implied earlier to Duncan that if Nicole crossed the river she’d be trapped on Bungie’s side of the arena, when it was clear now that the Ghorf could easily swim over and get her anytime he wanted to. Did that mean he was trying to keep his swimming abilities a secret?

  “No, I didn’t,” she murmured. “Not until he charged out into the ocean after me.”

  “Yeah, that was really something,” Jeff said, shaking his head. “I always thought that shark face of his was just decoration. I guess not.”

  “So you saw him swim out?” Nicole asked. “Were any of the others with you?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jeff said. “Oh, and when he came back he asked me to keep it a secret, so you probably should, too.”

  “Already figured that out.”

  “I figured you had.” Jeff looked back at Bungie. “Okay, I don’t think he can hear us.”

  “If it’s about Allyce screwing us, he already knows,” Nicole said. “What exactly did she do?”

  “She made up two different batches of the drug,” Jeff said. “The one she made for us will last two or three hours. The batch she made for the paintballs and Greenies only lasts about twenty minutes.”

  Nicole squeezed the barrel of the gun. So that was why she’d seen Fauke react the way she had. “How did you find out?”

  “Kahkitah again,” Jeff said. “He followed you downriver, just to keep an eye on you. He saw you drug one of the Greenies, but then saw the guy start to come out of it only fifteen or twenty minutes later. He came back and warned me, and I leaned on Allyce until she cracked.”

  Nicole sighed. “Thinking about her husband.”

  “Yeah,” Jeff said darkly. “Still buying into Fievj’s lie about going home.”

  “People usually believe what they want to,” Nicole said. “What are you going to do to her?”

  “Do?” Jeff shrugged. “Not much we can do. Humans aren’t warlike or vindictive, remember?”

  “I’m serious.”

  “So am I,” Jeff said. “Anyway, the damage is already done. Punishing Allyce won’t fix t
hat.”

  “I suppose you’d already drugged our side?”

  “Yeah,” Jeff said sourly. “High as a California commune, all of them.”

  “Do you have any more of that batch?”

  “Some. Probably enough for the Greenies if we’re careful with it.”

  “So how do we get it to them?”

  “That’s the question,” Jeff agreed. “Any thoughts?”

  Nicole craned her neck, looking toward the bluff. The rest of the green team wasn’t completely visible from where she and Jeff were standing, but she could see enough glimpses of color through the trees to tell her they were still there. “You have it with you? And what’s it in, a jar?”

  “A squeeze bottle,” Jeff said, pulling a water bottle–sized container from his belt pouch. A mostly empty bottle, she saw, with only an ounce or two of liquid at the most sloshing around inside. “Capped so it won’t evaporate too fast.”

  “How fast will it evaporate?” Nicole asked. “Like if I squirted it on someone’s chest, how long would it take to get enough of it into his nose and lungs?”

  “A few seconds’ exposure ought to do it,” Jeff said, eyeing her closely.

  “And how long before it was completely gone?”

  “I’d say two to three minutes,” Jeff said. “Maybe four. What have you got in mind?”

  Nicole chewed her lower lip. Two or three minutes … yes, that ought to work. “I’ll show you,” she said.

  She reached for the bottle, but he twitched it back out of her reach. “Tell, then show,” he said firmly. “If you’re pulling something crazy, I want to know about it.”

  “So you can stop me?”

  “So I can back you up.”

  Nicole made a face. But he was right. “Okay, but no arguing,” she warned. “I want to do this before the stuff I already hit them with wears off.”

  She hadn’t expected him to like her idea. He didn’t. But he also didn’t have anything better to offer. A minute later, she headed toward the bluff and the green team, Jeff’s belt pouch clutched in her arms. It’ll work, she told herself firmly as she hurried down the slope. The last thing big men are afraid of is helpless little girls.

  She didn’t try to conceal her approach. Still, with the green team’s focus on the beach beyond the bluff and the roaring of the water masking all other sounds, she was nearly on top of them before anyone spotted her.

  “Hey!” someone shouted, spinning around to face her. It was Fauke, she saw, his eyes clear and wary and hostile, his hands with a white-knuckled grip on his trident as he swung it around to point at her. “Hold it right there, little lady.”

  Little lady. Insulting and dismissive and unafraid.

  Perfect.

  “You need to see this,” Nicole called back, ignoring his order and loping the last few yards down the slope. “You all need to.” Bracing herself, she walked straight toward Fauke’s weapon. If he didn’t move it …

  To her relief, he did, twitching it aside. Not very far aside—he clearly didn’t trust her. But far enough. Little lady. “I stole this from Jeff,” she continued, dropping to her knees and setting the pouch on the ground in front of her. “He said Fievj gave it to them. I guess Fievj wants to make sure you don’t win.”

  “What is it?” Iosif asked, stepping closer.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Nicole said, mentally crossing her fingers as she started to pull out the mass of twigs and leaves she and Jeff had stuffed into it. Iosif leaned down for a closer look …

  And in her peripheral vision Nicole saw feet appearing as the rest of the group gathered around. Clearly, despite Bungie’s enthusiasm—or maybe because of it—none of the green team really trusted the Shipmasters not to pull a fast one.

  Jeff had argued that she should mix the Setting Sun liquid into the leaves in the pouch. Nicole had insisted that a pouch sitting on the ground would be too far away to ensure enough of the drug reached them. She’d also pointed out that handing the pouch to Iosif or Fauke wouldn’t guarantee the rest of the group would get close enough to breathe in the stuff.

  Besides, with the drug flowing from the pouch past her face Nicole would have to hold her breath for the crucial minute or two. Even if she could do that—and she had no idea if she could—it was bound to look suspicious.

  Jeff had reluctantly accepted her arguments.

  Which made it all the more satisfying that she’d been right on all of them.

  The package and its implied threat had them worried enough that they’d gathered around for a look. The fact that Nicole was a harmless young woman meant they’d gathered closer than they probably would have if Jeff, say, had tried this. Even though they were all leaning over, none of them was close enough to the pouch for the drug to reach them, just as she’d anticipated.

  But they were all close enough to breathe in the fumes now rising from Nicole’s hair.

  “Don’t get me wrong—I don’t want you to leave the Fyrantha either,” she said as she continued digging stuff out of the pouch. “I already told you that. Remember, Fauke? I told you it would be bad for us to fight. But I don’t want anyone hurt, either. I know Allyce told you some stuff, but Allyce doesn’t know everything. I guess Fievj wants both ends of the deal—he wants to see us fight, but he doesn’t want to let you go home like he promised. I’ve known guys like that. Bunch of weasels. Okay, wait a second…”

  She finished emptying the pouch, pausing as if in confusion. “That’s weird—I saw him put it in here. Hold on.” She pawed through the pile of leaves, spreading them out as if looking for something small that might have gotten lost inside. “Damn it, I know I saw him put it in.”

  She ran to the end of her chatter and paused, still looking down at the ground, focusing on the feet and legs gathered around her. If they hadn’t gotten enough of the drug, someone ought to be grabbing her by the collar about now and demanding to know what the hell she was doing.

  But there were no hands and no voices. Bracing herself, she turned her head and looked up.

  Fauke was staring at the empty pouch and pile of leaves, a thoughtful look on his face. Iosif was looking at the bluff, apparently studying the pattern of the rock. Two of the others were gazing out at the ocean, fascinated by the waves. The rest were just looking around the area, their tridents held loosely in their hands, all but forgotten.

  It had worked.

  Nicole picked up the pouch and began to carefully back out of the circle. No one tried to stop her. She headed upslope, still walking backward so she could watch them, still half-afraid it was all a trick or a joke and that they would suddenly turn and charge at her.

  But none of them moved. Or at least, none of them moved toward her. One of them squatted down and picked up an odd-shaped leaf from her pile, but as far as she could tell his only interest was in the leaf, not in the con she’d pulled on them.

  Halfway back toward the nearest clump of trees she risked a glance behind her. Jeff was there, waiting in backup position just as he’d promised. He stepped half out of concealment and beckoned her toward him. She nodded and turned her gaze back toward the green team, still not sure she believed it had actually worked.

  A small voice in the back of her mind pointed out that this Setting Sun was one hell of a drug. If Bungie ever got back to Philadelphia with a sample …

  She shook her head. He wasn’t getting back. None of them were. Even letting the thought pass through her mind was a bad idea.

  She reached Jeff’s hiding place. “I think it worked,” she said.

  “I think so, too,” he agreed. “They reacted the same way our side did when Allyce and I dosed them, anyway.”

  Nicole took a deep breath, feeling a terrible weight lifting from her shoulders. “So that’s it?” she asked, almost afraid of his answer. “We just run them all together, let them mill around a little, and Fievj will send everyone back to work?”

  “I assume so,” Jeff said. “I’ll probably do a little half-heart
ed poking and cringing to help sell it, but I think we’re about clear.”

  Nicole took another deep breath, huffed it out. Suddenly, she was very tired. “Thank you,” she murmured.

  Jeff snorted. “I think it’s us who need to thank you,” he said. “Us and everyone back on Earth. Too bad they’ll never know how you saved all their lives.”

  “Yeah,” Nicole said, wincing as her life on the Philadelphia streets rose like a ghost in front of her eyes. “If they don’t just kill themselves and each other.”

  “That’s not your problem,” Jeff said firmly. “You’ve done all you can to—”

  “Protector!” a voice boomed through the arena.

  Nicole felt herself tense up. Fievj.

  “Protector!” Fievj called again. “Come to the beach. I will speak with you.

  “I will speak with you now.”

  eighteen

  Nicole looked at Jeff. “What do I do?”

  He was facing the beach, his eyes narrowed. “I guess we go see what he wants.”

  “He only asked for me.”

  “Well, he’s getting a bonus,” Jeff said grimly, picking up Bungie’s trident. “Let’s go.”

  They walked down the slope, passing Iosif and the rest of the still-oblivious green team. They reached the beach—Nicole noted as they passed the bluff that the ocean had receded enough for easy passage—and looked around.

  “There,” Jeff said, pointing toward the green side of the arena. “Near the wall.”

  Nicole peered that direction. Pushing his way through the reeds onto the beach was one of the Shipmasters in full centaur armor. Fievj, probably. Behind him, appearing out of the tree cover, were a pair of Wisps.

  Clutched in the arms of each Wisp was an alien—a big alien—of a type Nicole had never seen before.

  “Who the hell are those?” Jeff muttered.

  “No idea,” Nicole muttered back. “But I don’t think I like them.”

  The aliens were huge, for starters: each of them a good seven feet tall, with the chest, arms, and legs of prison weight lifters. They wore full-head helmets made of shiny metal that covered everything from their chins up. Nicole couldn’t see the backs, but the front parts bulged out into half spheres and were dotted with small holes that ran from mouth to forehead level.