“So, Cousin! I see your welcome home was short-lived. What a pity – my spies tell me you and your … err … consort are going to intervene in the matter of some thieves. Are you quite sure that it is wise to renounce your status as an Elder of Coriolis for the sake of a couple of dirty Namuri beggars?”
Diva stood tall. She seemed to shimmer, rather like Arcan did sometimes when annoyed, and Six felt a moment’s deep pride as he looked over at her. “Are you pleased by that, Tartalus?” she asked, with a touch of scorn.
“Not exactly. Just thought I would come to say goodbye. Wish you well. See you on your way.” He brushed a lock of hair away with one hand, and Six narrowed his eyes. There was an undercurrent here that he didn’t like. He looked from Diva to Tartalus and tightened his lips.
“Well, you needn’t have bothered, need you?” Diva curled one lip.
“You know me, Divina – always anxious to oblige …”
Six’s hand crept to the hilt of his kris.
“Perhaps,” the man went on, “you should have listened to your father, after all. If you and I had made an allegiance, then you wouldn’t find yourself forced to leave Coriolis under a cloud.”
Diva’s eyes flashed. “You think too much of yourself, Tartalus! I would never have married you. Never!”
“I assure you, I have much more to offer than this … this … Kwaidian untouchable.”
The Kwaidian untouchable ground his teeth audibly and Diva put out a light restraining hand to prevent any action on his part.
“You and I would never have made a good couple,” she told the Coriolan.
“You need to be put in your place. You have got above yourself. You need a man to tell you how to behave – not some plebeian unmentionable from the most backward planet in the system.”
Unfortunately, at that point, Tartalus was prevented from continuing. A plebeian unmentionable from the most backward planet in the system had thrown himself at the Coriolan meritocrat with a growl, and the two of them crashed to the ground under the impetus of the leap. There was chaos for a few seconds as the two groups of guards postured at each other, trying to decide if they were required to join the fray or not. Finally they limited their participation to a wary circling of the two combatants.
Six and Tartalus were rolling around on the ground, and Diva found herself in no doubt whatsoever of who she wanted to win. She watched as the two men struggled together, using their fists to the best of their ability.
The Coriolan was palace-trained and knew exactly how to get the better of an opponent, but Six was battle-trained and not one to give in easily. It was hard to see who was getting the upper hand, but then Tartalus pulled out his dagger, and there was a collective intake of breath from those watching.
“Six! A blade!” Diva shouted a warning, but it was unnecessary. As soon as Bennel had spotted the dagger, the bodyguard had plunged into the fray with no thought for his own safety, and was forcibly extricating his master. Six was now struggling against his own bodyguard, and Diva laughed at the expression of total disgust on his face.
“Let me go!” He struggled as Bennel signed to a couple of the guards to help with Six’s restraint. “I don’t care if he has drawn a dagger. I have my own. I can beat him hands down anyway! Let me go, I say!”
Bennel shook his head. “My job is to protect you, Valhai Six. I may not be able to stop you from leaving Coriolis, but I must and will make sure that you leave intact.”
“You are hurt,” Diva pointed to a deep scratch on Bennel’s arm. It was bleeding copiously and blood was dripping to the ground from his elbow.
The bodyguard shrugged. “It is of no import, my lady.”
Tartalus had staggered to his feet, and was now regarding Six with a supercilious expression. “Need your bodyguard to save you, do you?” he taunted.
Six struggled to free himself. “I do not!” he snarled. “Let me get at him!”
But the guards kept a tight hold on Six. Tartalus gave a triumphant smile around at his own followers. They applauded, and Six looked as if he were going to be sick on the spot.
“See, Divina? Your Kwaidian can’t even protect you!” Tartalus crowed.
“Six has saved my life countless times,” snapped Diva. “You drew a weapon, shame on you!”
“He had a blade too!”
“Yes, but he didn’t draw his, did he?” Diva shook her head. “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you Tartalus? You make me glad I am leaving Coriolis.”
“The feeling is quite mutual, I assure you. But don’t worry. I will be sure to keep a throne warm for your heir. Although, of course, such a lot of things might happen between now and then, mightn’t they?”
“You are not man enough to rule Coriolis, Tartalus, so stop plotting and accept it. Whoever made you believe I would ever marry you did you no favours.”
“There are ways.”
“You will never get your hands on the running of Coriolis.”
“Says the girl who is about to be repudiated!”
Six, who had stopped struggling and started to listen, began to realize something. He went quite still as his mind played around the unwelcome thought that had crept into his brain. His heart sank.
He listened to the exchange of pleasantries going on between his wife and this pompous fool of a meritocrat, but only with a distant part of his brain. The rest was going over and over the realization that had come to him.
He moved slowly forward, and took Diva by the hand, giving it a slight tug so that she would interrupt her conversation with Tartalus. She looked at him strangely, but obeyed, and they moved apart from the rest of the group.
Six kept hold of her hand, but turned her to face him. “You can’t go,” he told her quietly.
“Wh-what?”
“You can’t let yourself be repudiated.”
“B-but …”
“I know. You made up your mind to make a point of it. But think about it, Diva. If we are both repudiated we can do nothing more here on Coriolis. We will never be able to come back – at least not to the palace, not to be able to make a difference in anything. All we are going to do is save a few felons who happen to be in the Lublank prison right now – we aren’t going to change anything long term, are we?”
“Well, no, but …”
“And we could! If you just stay here for a bit longer I am sure you can persuade your mother to change the punishment system, make people more equal here. You would be able to bring Coriolis right up into the thirty-second century. If one of our children is to inherit this planet then we owe it to them to make it as civilized as we can.”
“Six! I … I can’t. You can’t ask me to stay here now …”
“Now what?”
“N-nothing. It’s just that I had already taken a decision about it.”
“I know. But you have to stay here. We must change the laws about criminal punishment.”
“Oh, all right. But I will have to repudiate you.”
“I know. Don’t worry about me – I will be fine on Kwaide.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at him with some suspicion. “Are you sure you aren’t doing this just to get rid of me?”
“Me?” He stared. “Of course not! Whyever would you …? Oh! … the girls … but I thought we had agreed that we would each go our separate ways?”
“We did.” Diva’s teeth grated together.
“Well then? I mean, by the same token, I might be jealous of Tartalus here.”
“TARTALUS?”
The Coriolan turned to look in their direction as Diva shouted his name, and then primped his curly locks rather smugly. Six eyed him with disfavour.
“Lower your voice, can’t you?” he whispered.
“Well, honestly! Tartalus! I wouldn’t have him if he were the last man in the system.”
“I’m glad to hear I rank higher than he does, but as I said, I thought we had decided to go our own ways.”
Diva was well and truly cornered. �
��We did,” she admitted. “As if I care how many girls on Kwaide find you attractive!” She looked as if she had been forced to eat a lemon.
“I didn’t think you did. Though it is pleasant to get attention, I must say.”
“Fine!”
He smiled, well-satisfied. “And in any case, you can’t leave this Tartalus character here on his own. He’ll poison your good name, and turn the rest of the population against your mother. She has started some changes here – and all that will be ruined if we both bale out now. If you turn your back on all this you will never forgive yourself.”
Diva gave a shaky sigh. “I suppose you are right. But I’m not staying here for long.”
“You have to stay for as long as it takes. So – let’s part company for the time being. I have to go ahead with the plan, because I am the only thing that will stop those two children from being executed, but there is no reason why we should both go. I will ask Arcan to send you a bracelet of orthogel so that you can join us if we need you on Pictoria, but in the meantime you should stay here on Coriolis, talk with your mother, get changes put into place, and make sure that Tartalus – or any others of his ilk – cannot get their hands on the running of the planet.”
They stood for a moment together in the middle of the road, then Six hugged her quickly before stepping deliberately back.
“Bennel!” he called.
“Valhai Six.” The man was immediately in front of him.
“I want you to guard Valhai Diva with your life. You will never allow any harm to come to her, do you understand?” Six ignored Diva’s movement of discomfort.
The man puffed out his chest with huge pride. “Thank you, Valhai Six. You will not regret the trust you have placed in me. I will keep her safe, from whatever foes might appear.” The man’s eyes tracked over to Tartalus, in no doubt which category to put the Coriolan meritocrat in.
“Then it is time for me to go.” He smiled down into Diva’s face.
“Make sure you get that bracelet to me. I won’t be left out of anything that happens on Pic—you know where.”
“I promise. Be good!”
“You too.”
“Oh, I don’t think so!” With that, he turned away, and began to march quickly along the road, towards the prison. He hoped he had not been mistaken – it seemed to him that he had seen signs of weakening on Diva’s side. He began to whistle. He would have to take care to build up as extensive an entourage of girls as possible while on Kwaide. He grinned. Life was hard.
Chapter 12
GRACE LOOKED UP as Vion came into the hospital room on Kwaide. It seemed so long ago that she had met him at the orthogel lift in the skyrise back on Valhai. Now he was a respected doctor on Coriolis and Kwaide, a trendsetter amongst the Sellites, and happily married. It felt strange to be seeing him in such a setting, to have lost the closeness they had at one time felt. She breathed out slowly. She hoped he was happy.
Vion smiled down at Grace. He had bitter-sweet memories of when they met back on Valhai. He wouldn’t change any part of his life now, but there would always be a very special place in his heart for this uncertain Sellite girl. He hoped she was happy. She deserved it, if anybody did. His eyes tracked down to her hands, and his smile turned into a frown. That was a terrible thing to have happened.
Ledin saw the direction Vion’s eyes had taken, and covered Grace’s hands with his own immediately. He hated to see the sympathy in people’s eyes; he loved her with such a fierce feeling that he wanted to protect her even from that.
“What is the verdict?” he asked the doctor.
“We can discharge you tomorrow. There would seem to be no lung or other internal damage due to the blast, and your heart is as sturdy as it ever was. The deafness is already passing, and those intermittent headaches you have been getting should be a thing of the past within a couple of weeks—”
“Thank Sacras! I was getting stir crazy in here.”
“—Though you should still take things easy at first. No going directly into battle. Not this time. You really need to let your body heal on its own.” Vion turned to Grace. “Will you be staying here for long?”
She nodded. “At least a couple of weeks, I think. My mother has persuaded us to give a few lectures at the university. Ledin is to talk about astronavigation, and I am to talk about Valhai and the Sellites. We tried to get out of it, but you know what Magestra is like – nothing if not persistent!”
“I certainly do know. She has me roped in to teach a semester of basic medicine, and another of surgical procedures. That’s partly why I come over so often.”
“How is Mercy? How does she like Coriolis?”
Vion pulled a face. “It has taken her a long while to acclimatize, and I think she would rather be back on Valhai, but she is managing. I … that is we … are expecting our first fiftieth generation in a few months.”
“Vion! That is terrific news. Please give her our congratulations.”
“Thank you. And are you two planning to marry soon?”
Grace looked down at Ledin, and they exchanged grins. “Not yet. We’re not quite sure that we believe in all the paperwork, and we definitely don’t need the ceremonial part of it. We’re leaving all that for the time being.”
“Of course. I understand. Well, I wish you both well in your relationship.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“By the way, Six came over with me this trip. He seems to have emptied one of the Coriolan jails, and brought a batch of its inmates over to Kwaide.”
Grace giggled. “That sounds just like Six. Is Diva with him?”
“Strangely, not. I gather she has decided to stay on Coriolis for the time being.”
Both Grace and Ledin looked up sharply at that. “On her own?” asked Grace.
“Yes. Six didn’t seem too keen to talk about it. But you can ask him yourself. He said he would be up here as soon as he had found a suitable place for the Coriolan immigrants to stay.”
SIX SETTLED THE fugitives into the uncomfortable wooden shacks which were now their assigned homes. He had been able to save a total of fifteen Coriolans, including the two children he had seen in the Widowmaker. When it was their turn, the children stared around the bare cabin on Kwaide with widened eyes.
“All this space is just for us?” asked the boy.
“Yes. This will be home for you and your sister.”
The boy stared around him, while his sister walked over to touch the rough wooden planks with one finger. “Forever?” he said suspiciously.
“For as long as you wish, yes.”
“And we will be given food?”
“Certainly. Though you will be expected to form a part of the society – they will ask you both either to work or to study.”
“Nobody needs to steal here?”
Six shook his head. “Nobody on New Kwaide has to steal. We all look after each other. You will like it here.”
“We will repay you. You saved our lives.”
Six grinned. “I want no repayment, I assure you. Just enjoy being here … that is more than enough.”
“I owe you my life, and so does my sister. We will defend you and yours to the death.”
“Anybody would have saved you from the rexelene blocks.”
“No. They wouldn’t. You have saved my life and I must therefore swear a binding oath to protect you.” The boy whipped out a small knife, cut a nick into the palm of his hand, and raised it towards Six. His sister followed suit, repeating the same words with a solemn expression.
Six was completely taken aback. “Err … Thank you. I hope you will never have to. Well, I will leave you to get settled in – I have to visit someone in hospital up at the black peak.”
As he walked away, he shook his head. He would have to talk to Cimma about that young pair. Perhaps she could get them into some classes. They needed to lose some of the intensity. Then he thought of himself back at that age, and couldn’t help but smile. He felt the full weigh
t of all his nineteen years.
He found Grace and Ledin still up at the hospital, but they were making plans to move down to the base camp. Grace was worried because Diva had been left on her own on Coriolis.
“You should have stayed with her.”
Six explained about the Widowmaker, the children, and the Lublank prison. Grace nodded, but she was still not completely convinced. “Couldn’t you have done it some other way?”
He shook his head. “I don’t see how, Grace. Just imagine – if both of us had been repudiated it would have been impossible to get Indomita to change anything at all. No – it is much better that Diva stays there on Coriolis. She should be able to get some changes pushed through in a few months, and she can soak her cutis to her heart’s content in one of her favourite Mesteta wine baths.”
“Rumour has it that you have been seen around Kwaide with a couple of girls …”
Six grinned. “And? Since when has that been any of your business, Grace?”
She went red. “It isn’t, of course. It’s just that … I thought …”
“You must let me do this my way, Grace. I’m not going to sit around all my life waiting for Diva, you know.”
Ledin gave Six a strange look, but held his tongue.
Grace wasn’t so reticent. “But Six, I thought that … well, that you and Diva … you know.”
“Diva and I are in a relationship? Well, we are. But our relationship is limited to the children. That’s the way we both want it to be.”
Grace frowned. “Is it? Are you sure? Only … Oh, never mind, I expect you know what you are doing.”
Six gave her a hug. “I wish I could be so sure,” he told her rather cryptically.
As he walked away. Grace stared after him. At some stage he had changed from a boy to a man, and she hadn’t even noticed.
CIMMA LOOKED AT the two young Coriolan immigrants standing in front of her. Reports said that the other Coriolan felons had settled in very well at the base camp, eager to wipe the slate clean and start a new life in this young country. They had all taken on jobs which accorded well with their few skills, and seemed to be enjoying life at the camp, despite Kwaide’s bitter weather.
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