by Renee Duke
“No, it isn’t,” I said. Trithox was an old man and was already looking strained. “We’ll go to your supporters, Taz. There are four of us. If we go out one by one, and scatter around the city, one of us is sure to find someone who can help you. Or, failing that, get to the Succession Tribunal in the morning. After we’ve told the tribunal members what Drazok’s been up to, I doubt they’ll be in favour of handing the rulership to your cousin.”
“No.” Taz’s voice was weak. “I…I cannot allow you to put yourselves in that kind of danger. Young as you are, Drazok would think nothing of having you killed if he thought… if he thought you were going to denounce him to the tribunal.”
“That’s a chance we’ll have to take, and it’s no worse than the others we’ve been taking. We’ve been in danger from the moment Simon stole your ring—which he wouldn’t have been able to do if we’d made him travel with us, so it’s only right that we should be the ones to go for help.” I paused and looked at him for a moment. “You’ve got to stop thinking of us as helpless little kids, Taz. We stand a much better chance of getting past Drazok’s men than Trithox does. If nothing else, we can run faster than he can.”
Trithox backed me up. “She is right, Your Highness. I regret being old and feeble, but that is what I am. Let the young people serve as your messengers. I will remain with you and try to keep you hidden from your enemies until help arrives.”
Taz glared at him. And at us. My proposal did not please him at all. But he was not in a position to rally his supporters himself. He had to let us do it.
“Very well,” he said at last. “I…I will give you letters of royal approbation to take to people I trust. The letters will confirm your identities and prove you…serve my cause. Should you be unable to get to anyone before the Succession Tribunal meets tomorrow, they will also gain you admittance to the Council Dome, and…and permit you to act as my representatives.”
Cholarians are ambidextrous, but one of Taz’s arms was broken and the hand of the other badly bruised, so it was fortunate that the letters didn’t have to be written manually. An onboard machine for printing out work orders made four copies of the missive he dictated, and he just scrawled a short, personal note on each one before signing his name and affixing the official seal of the High Prince of Cholar. Passing the letters to us with a shaking hand, he said, “Since my handwriting has always been considered deplorable, those extra lines should convince the letters’ recipients that they are genuine.”
As he watched us tuck the letters into our belts, he told us we could safely approach almost any tribunal member. “In spite of Drazok’s attempts to turn them against me, they will try to be…objective about the succession and…receptive to what you have to say. You can also ask for help from any of my Royal Guardsmen. Like the two Drazok’s men killed, they are pledged to me unto death. My…my consort will, of course, receive you, as will Chancellor Verim’s family, and…and Verim himself, if he lives.”
He told us the names of several other people we could trust, and listed a few we couldn’t, such as a Sub-Ruler who had spoken openly against him, and two Crown Councilmen he knew were friendly with Drazok. He also furnished us with what Cholarian money he had on him and gave us directions to his palace, the Council Dome, and a few other places. He then leaned back against Trithox, his energy completely spent.
After a moment, he looked searchingly at each one of us, and spoke again. “When the Ring of Beom disappeared, I vowed I would find it and go before the Succession Tribunal with it on my finger. That…that is not now possible. But my people have a saying; ‘When a friend does for you what you would do yourself, but cannot, it is…it is as though you have performed the task yourself’. I will consider that to be so if it comes that you, or one of those you now go to seek, must petition the tribunal in my place.”
He smiled weakly at Jip. “I would, however, like to hold my ring once again before then, if I could.”
Jip nodded, and slipped into the dimension in which she had hidden the ring. Returning with it clasped securely in one hand, she held it out to Taz. He took it at once, and gazed solemnly upon the ancient symbol of his authority, the sacred object with the power to help him rule an entire world. In his hands, the beauty of the ring seemed to intensify. One could almost feel the mystical qualities bestowed upon his ancestor, Beom, emanating around him. No one watching Taz at that moment could ever have doubted his right to be Cholar’s Supreme Ruler.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice regaining some of its old firmness as he handed the Ring of Beom back to Jip. “The ring has not restored all of my strength, but it has helped me. If my enemies find me before my friends do, recapturing me will prove no small task.”
He looked far too pale and drawn for me to share his confidence. I don’t think the others did either.
After Jip had returned the Ring of Beom to the inner dimensions of my belt, she gave Trithox her stun gun as a back-up for Taz’s liquidators. I relinquished mine too, but doubted they would do the two of them much good if they were attacked by a large force.
“I could fire one of those,” said Simon, pointing to a stun gun. “If Drazok’s bunch moves in on this place, I’d rather be here helping you and Trithox than out in the city just looking for help.”
Taz shook his head. “We will manage, Simon. And do not disparage your role. To fire a weapon at someone who is firing one at you takes far less courage than crossing an unfamiliar city in which it is difficult to tell friend from foe.”
Simon looked disappointed, but not sullen, like he usually did when someone refused to let him do what he wanted. I remembered watching him follow Taz around the immigrant ship, hanging on his every word. Having finally found someone whose opinion meant something to him, I suppose he was willing to go along with anything Taz decreed, even if he didn’t like it. A few minutes later, he was on his way to the home of one of Taz’s closest friends.
Kirsty waited until he was safely away before she set out to find her contact. Jip went out at the same time, disappearing into another dimension. A few minutes later, I slipped out a side door and hurried down the street, my feet echoing in the unnatural stillness. The buildings around me looked ominous and disapproving, as though they, too, observed the day of rest, and disliked having it disturbed.
It was an eerie feeling. I shook it off and made my way into a large residential area that provided housing for the people who worked in the factories I had just passed. Some of them were out in their yards playing with children, but I did not approach any of them. After what Trithox had said about even loyal Cholarians being likely to consider us outlaws, I felt I couldn’t risk talking to anyone.
My assigned destination was Taz’s palace. He’d told me there was a shopping centre beyond the working class neighbourhood, and after that, a recreation centre, some blocks of office buildings, and the turn-off for the road leading to the palace. The directions weren’t complicated but, unfortunately, I took a wrong turn and somehow missed the shopping centre. Unable to locate a tourist stand with a nice, helpful map, I toyed with the idea of hailing a taxi, but dismissed it because I knew Drazok would probably be monitoring all the cab companies’ communications. Annoyed with myself, I spent the next few hours trudging around the Cholarian capital trying to find some landmark that might help me get my bearings.
By evening I had wandered into an area filled with tall apartment buildings. I was prepared to keeping looking for the palace all night if I had to, but a sudden shout from across the street made me turn toward two burly men with beards. They were close enough for me to make out the Mardis support badges on their shirts as they moved in on me. Panic-stricken, I whirled around and dashed into an alley running between two of the apartment buildings.
I didn’t have much of a lead on the men. As I made an effort to increase it, another man sprang out at me from the shadows. Placing a hand across my mouth, he pulled me into a door recess and held me there until my pursuers had gone by. Then he seized m
e by the wrist and yanked me back out into the open.
A light from a ground level window revealed the all-too-familiar features of the Ralgonian. I gasped in surprise and dismay, but stopped myself from shouting out and attracting the attention of the first two men. The Ralgonian made no attempt to hail them, either. He plainly had no intention of sharing whatever reward Drazok had offered for our recapture. After looking around to make sure they had gone, he began to walk rapidly toward a rented ground car, dragging me with him.
Try as I might, I could not twist out of his grip. Even though I towered above him, he was, as I had seen on Klavor, extremely strong. Two passers-by out for an evening stroll looked a little concerned when they saw me struggling, but the Ralgonian said something to them in Cholarian and they went on their way. He threw me into the ground car without interference.
He drove much too fast for me to even think of jumping out, and while he had both a stun gun and a liquidator attached to his belt, they had safety clasps that made it impossible for me to grab one and use it against him. Ten minutes later he pulled up in front of a building with a Rooms To Let sign and hauled me up to the uppermost floor by way of the back stairs. With his free hand, he took an unlocking device from his belt and attached it to the door of the first room we came to. Thrusting me inside, he hurried off into the night.
After the door slid shut, I leapt forward to try to deactivate the lock, but it had several security features I was unfamiliar with.
A voice behind me said, “The lock’s impassable, Meda. Even I can’t open it.”
The speaker was Simon. He was seated on a couch on the other side of the room. Jip was beside him, and I knew from their grim expressions that they were as much the Ralgonian’s prisoners as I was.
Chapter Nineteen
I found a chair and listened to their stories. Neither of them had made contact with anyone useful before being intercepted by the Ralgonian. Simon had been too busy eluding Drazok’s patrols and Jip had, like me, simply got lost.
“But how did the Ralgonian come to spot you?” I asked. “Weren’t you travelling on another plane?”
“Not all the time. I have never been to Cholar before. It is difficult to find specific destinations from within another plane if you do not know your way around the initial plane. I had to keep coming back to it to find out where I was. That is what I was doing when the Ralgonian caught sight of me.”
“That doesn’t explain how he got hold of you, or why you’re still here now. Why didn’t you just zap yourself back into another dimension as soon as you saw him?”
Simon pointed to a little black box sitting on a table in front of them. “The Ralgonian’s wise to that trick. That cute little cube emits high-frequency vibrations that interfere with Jip’s mental adjustments. It’s as impossible to tamper with as the door. We tried dropping it out of the window, but it’s got a defensive shield around it. A nasty one. If you touch it, it bites.”
“We really are stuck in here then,” I said glumly. “The Ralgonian just has to get Kirsty and he can hand us over to Drazok in one neat package.”
“I’m not sure he works for Drazok. When he grabbed me, I yelled and kicked a lot so people would think he was trying to murder me and do something about it. But he picked me up and ran. He told me to shut up before I brought all of Drazok’s men down on us. And he seemed to think that would be as unpleasant for him as it would for me.”
“Yes, he tried to avoid them with me, too,” I said, remembering. “But if he isn’t in league with Drazok, what does he want with us?”
Simon shrugged and shook his head.
We sat brooding on the subject for a while. Then Jip spoke again. “He could just be after the ring. He might want to hold it for ransom, or melt it down for its oritin and sell the jewels separately. There are those who do such things.”
I frowned, not liking the implications of this theory. Unlike Drazok, the Ralgonian knew all about Jip’s dimension travel abilities. He would know she was capable of hiding the ring on some other plane. When he returned to question us, his questions, and his threats, would have a definite purpose.
Unsettling though that thought was, I tried to remain optimistic. “Well, even if he just wants the ring, he can’t know which of us actually has it. He’ll want to have us all here before he tries anything. And he might not be able to get Kirsty. If she had better luck than we did, Taz’s friends could be out looking for us right now.”
It was a nice theory. It folded an hour later when the Ralgonian returned dragging Kirsty behind him. She was giving tongue to an angry stream of Gaelic insults and putting up extremely violent physical resistance as well. He gave her a shove, which propelled her to the floor long enough to for him to lock the door. Leaning against it to catch his breath, he surveyed us all with a look of intense dislike. We responded by jumping to our feet and scowling back at him.
“So, I have you all at last,” he said, straightening up. “I must admit, there were times I doubted my ability to accomplish the task.”
“Were there now? Well, you’ll not profit from it,” Kirsty declared. “We’ll not tell you a thing. Not a thing.”
The Ralgonian went over to a long counter dividing the sitting room from the kitchen area and selected a drink from a dispenser.
“Since you have no information I require, you unwillingness to converse with me is of little importance.”
Kirsty snorted. “Do you expect us to believe you’re not wanting to know the whereaboots of High Prince Taziol?”
“I have no interest in either the High Prince, or his whereabouts.”
“You must just be after the Ring of Beom then,” I said. “Well, we’re not going to tell you where that is, either.”
The Ralgonian looked from one belligerent face to another. “This valiant united front you are presenting is quite unnecessary. What I want, I now have.”
“And what might that be?” Kirsty inquired.
“You. All of you. Safe with me, as per my instructions.”
“What instructions?” I glared at him. “Who are you?”
He gave us a low bow. “I am Skoko. Mister Skoko, to you. I am what is known as an intergalactic guardian. But after what I have been through guarding my present client’s wayward daughter and her fiendish friends, I think I might retire from that business and go into something less hazardous—like capturing wild Klavorian swamp creatures.”
For a moment, we just stared at him.
“Are you saying one of our parents is paying you to keep an eye on us?” I spluttered.
“Yes, and poorly, too, in view of what I’ve had to put up with. I was prepared to endure some indignities when asked to follow you from planet to planet sub-economy class. Had I known that, in the course of this assignment, I would also be trampled by snurboks, set upon by angry mobs, hit by stun gun blasts, and thrown into the midst of a dangerous power struggle on some accursed alien world, I would have increased my fee substantially. As it is, I intend to demand a bonus when I get you back to Heltiga.”
Heltiga.
I looked at Jip, who sighed, and nodded. “I thought Daddy agreed to let me accompany you a little too readily. He must have planned to do this all along.”
“That is correct, Miss Jipthidovrillavorimvaisse.” Mr. Skoko, snapped out Jip’s name with enviable smoothness. “Your father knew you were lonely on Heltiga. He wanted you to have the companionship of girls your own age. It was only the thought of you and your new friends wandering the stars unchaperoned that concerned him. He engaged me to provide you with physical protection and smooth out any difficulties you might, in your youthful inexperience, come up against.” He grimaced. “He was doubtless only thinking of the usual troubles that beset young travellers, however. Things like running short of funds or finding yourselves in violation of some unknown alien law or custom. I’m sure he had no idea of the lengths to which I would have to go to safeguard his, and I of course, quote, ‘little treasure’.”
Professor Vor-Zoag had evidently not been quite the preoccupied old duffer I had taken him for. Nevertheless, I was a little annoyed to find the Ralgonian was actually on our side.
“Well, I’m sorry we’ve caused you so much trouble, Mr. Skoko, but you’ve hindered us too. The land skimmer we escaped from the starport in was fired on this afternoon. High Prince Taziol was injured. We had to leave him in a disused warehouse and go for help. You grabbed us before we could get to any of his supporters. And we have to get to them. Now. This very night.”
“That will not be possible. And before you ask, it will not be possible tomorrow, either. I am not about to let any of you set foot outside this building while Crown Councilman Drazok and his henchmen are out looking for you.”
“But you’ve got to. A tribunal is meeting to decide the succession. If someone doesn’t speak up for Taz, the rulership will go to Mardis.”
“That is no concern of mine. I was commissioned to protect you four young people, not reinstate Prince Taziol as ruler of Cholar.”
“You were only asked to protect the girls, not me,” said Simon. “Jip’s father doesn’t even know about me. You have no right to hold me here.”
“Oh, but I do, Master Simon. I make frequent reports to my clients. And once Professor Vor-Zoag learned you were with the others, he said I was to consider myself responsible for you as well.” He put down his drink. “We should only have to hole up here until the Cholarian succession has been officially decided. After that, Councilman Drazok will have no further interest in you.”
“No further interest? You must be mad. We know too much for him to ever feel comfortable aboot oor being on the loose,” said Kirsty. “And that’s not all. We have the Ring of Beom. Mardis canna be crowned withoot it. Drazok’ll not rest ’til he gets it.”
I nodded in agreement. “That’s right. The only way you can protect us is to get us to that tribunal tomorrow. Once Taz is named Supreme Ruler, we’ll all be perfectly safe.”
