Текст книги "The Sword and the Dagger"

Автор книги: Ardath Mayhar

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

22

As he grew stronger, Ardan took advantage of the Palace's excellent facilities, exercising to the limits of his ability every day. Sometimes Melissa joined him. Though there was a fragility about her, she had grown into a tall girl who was tough as whipcord.

They laughed and joked as they worked out in the gymnasium, using the computer-controlled exercise machines. But when they were alone in one end of the huge space, out of earshot of me trainers and other exercise enthusiasts, they often talked seriously.

Winter was on the wane when Ardan made a crucial decision. He knew that he had to return to Stein's Folly, but it would have to be done secretly. And for that he would need help. For one thing, he had to get a message to Sep. He hoped she had forgiven his harsh behavior and words during their last meeting, and that she would keep her promise to help him, if ever there was a need. He clung to that promise, which was his only hope of accomplishing what he intended.

He found Melissa an attentive listener, when he gasped out his conclusions between surges of effort on the Total Musculature Machine. He had felt, all along, that she alone of the people on Tharkad believed his story about that weird double of Hanse. Now he felt her agreement, though she said nothing while pumping the handles of her own exercise machine.

"I am just about back to normal," Ardan began. "Strong enough to hold up under long periods of effort, if the computer readouts are to be believed. That means that I'm going to have to find some way to look into...that matter."

Melissa nodded, her cheeks pink with exertion.

"I've got to go back to the Folly. Things have quieted down there since the enemy pulled back. All the mop-up has been done, too, from what your mother says. The garrison at Main Port has been beefed up, but all the lesser ones have been closed and booby-trapped. Hanse doesn't want anyone else to be able to use our own installations against us."

He paused to change machines and also to catch his breath.

"I have to have assistance. I need my junior officer, Candent Septarian. She said she'd come any time I called, and now I need to contact her as quickly as possible. Have you access to ComStar?" he asked Melissa.

She smiled secretively. "I have made close friends with the Acolyte here. She is very bright and most dutiful. She doesn't go by the book, either."

"She can access the HPG system? I need to get word to Sep as quickly as possible."

"Three weeks," said Melissa. "The laws of physics are pretty immutable. But in three weeks she will have word. What should I tell her?"

Ardan thought intensely for a few minutes. "Is there freighter service now between Tharkad and the Folly?" he asked finally.

"Kerrion has gone back into service there, since the restoration. His freighter DropShip is in port right now. But a freighter is too slow. You need your own JumpShip. A small and unobtrusive one that can get you there unremarked. They're not going to want you back on the Folly, you know."

"But I haven't a JumpShip," he said patiendy. "And I must do with what I can manage."

"Mother doesn't believe in your doppelganger," said Melissa, "but if I ask her, I know she'll lend you a ship."

He signed with relief. "Then tell Sep to rendezvous with me at Point X-r-23, behind the larger moon of Stein's Folly. The transit time for the message...plus time for getting herself ready and whoever she can recruit...plus the eight jumps from New Avalon...We should rendezvous fairly well together, timewise."

He sprang for the hanging rings and swung himself into a handstand. "Tell her to bring anyone who can manage some leave-time. And their 'Mechs, too, if possible. We may have a hard time breaking into that installation."

"She can ask Hanse for help," he gasped. "But make it private. Even secret. We don't know what's going on, or who is involved."

Melissa rose from the machine and reached for a towel. She wrapped it about her shoulders, put another over her sweat-soaked hair, and said, "I'm glad you're doing this. I've had a bad feeling about the whole situation from the start. Something is going on that I can't quite figure out"

She turned to add, "I'll send the message first Then I'll ask my mother for the ship. She hasn't lasted this long as Archon, much less as a Mech Warrior, by hanging back when action is called for. I don't think she's entirely comfortable with your 'delusion', either. Now, work hard!" Then she was gone.

As he pushed his still-painful body past its limits, Ardan thought deeply. There might not be anything left on the Folly to give him a clue to his weird vision. But if there were, he would find it

And then what? His only hope was to have an impartial and dependable observer present Not Sep...it might be said that she was prejudiced in his favor, having been his junior officer in their unit. He hoped that she would bring friends, but he also prayed that she would find someone who knew him only casually.

After finishing his exercise routine, Ardan showered and returned to his room, where there was an invitation to dinner from Katrina Steiner. Ardan rather suspected it meant that Melissa had been persuasive, and the first step in his enterprise was in the works. The loan of a JumpShip, even a small one, was no small matter—their being among the rarest and most prized remnants of the Star League era. Katrina Steiner must have much love as well as much confidence in her young daughter to grant such a tremendous favor.

He dressed carefully in the formal attire Katrina Steiner had thoughtfully provided. The Archon was never able to dine privately. There was always business to be done, as well as dignitaries to pacify or potentates to impress.

She did it well, too, he decided. He had attended such affairs before, but only as a member of the Guard. As a guest this time, he found the difference interesting. Here he was, mixing with a flower-garden of brighdy clad people, men and women from every corner of the Lyran Commonwealth, as well as representatives of lesser systems.

Indeed, tonight Katrina had a full house. Also present were Kiefft, the ambassador from the Capellan system, who was talking intensely with Hardt, his opposite number from the Draconis Combine. And there was Baron Sefnes from New Syrtis...Ardan hadn't even been aware that Michael Hasek-Davion maintained his own diplomatic relations with Steiner. As head of the strongest economic force in the Inner Sphere, Katrina was a pragmatist who tried to keep trade and military matters from interfering too much with one another. No matter that her House was in conflict militarily with Kurita and Liao—business was business. Indeed, it was House Steiner's innovative economic and trade policies that had nurtured the continuing economic growth and strength of the resource-rich Commonwealth. Its military fortunes were another matter, of course, which was one of the reasons the ever-practical Katrina had wooed and won Hanse Davion as an ally and future son-in-law.

Ardan moved among the guests, talked idly with Melissa's cousin, the Margrafin Kelya, and watched intently the interactions of those on differing sides of the present conflict between Davion and Liao. There were undercurrents in that spacious chamber that he found it impossible to read.

When the gong announced dinner, Ardan found himself beside Melissa, who took his arm and steered him toward the tall arch of the doorway. "We are seated together. I arranged it with the arbiter elegantiae.He kicked a bit, but I know where a few of his skeletons are buried, in a manner of speaking. He daren't risk my blowing the whistle on him," she said, her tone smug.

An elegantly attired gentleman stood beside the dining room door announcing the entry of the important guests. Pointedly ignoring Ardan, he cried, "The Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner. And escort.''

Ardan tried not to grin. Feeling Melissa quiver lightly against his arm, he knew she was stifling laughter, too. They were of one mind when it came to formal occasions and the haughtiness attending them.

Once they were all seated at the long, richly covered table, Ardan watched Katrina discreetly, pondering once more the ways of life at the royal courts of the Inner Sphere. He had never been able to play the elegant and treacherous wordgames that passed for conversation there. Rarely did anyone say what he meant, and even the most innocuous comment might have some sinister double intent. Tonight, Katrina sat between the Kurita and Liao ambassadors, smiling, nodding, and interjecting a comment from time to time. Ardan couldn't always hear what the three were saying, nor could he read their bland, diplomatic expressions.

Just after the servants had brought out the first course of creamed aspergrot soup, Katrina glanced around at all her guests and lifted her voice so that all might hear. "Honored guests," she began, mustering her most gracious royal tone, "may we say what a pleasure it is to have you here. And may we add how especially gratifying it is to welcome several distinguished representatives from our neighboring Houses to our midst as well." Katrina smiled at Hardt, Kleff t, and Semes before continuing.

"We live in uncertain times, but House Steiner continues to forge strong bonds of trade and commerce wherever and whenever possible. This has ever been our strength. Our merchants are gifted and resourceful, and make us friends in even the most unlikely places."

"House Steiner's great gift for commerce is the envy of the Inner Sphere," said the ambassador from Liao, perhaps too smoothly. "All admire this talent..."

"...and would do well to emulate it," said Katrina, playing the game. "We have even had news of late that our free traders venturing into the Periphery have fared well among the outlanders there, prospering themselves and our House. As my scholarly daughter put it"—Katrina smiled down at Melissa—"our merchants seem to have the Midas touch!"

"Ah," said Kurita's man Hardt, "Your Grace refers to the old Earth tale of the king who so loved wealth that he asked the gods to turn everything he touched into gold."

"So, the ambassador from Luthien is familiar with the old stories, too," said Katrina affably.

"Well, if memory serves, the story tells that this Midas almost starved to death when his magic touch also turned his food and drink to gold."

Katrina ignored the hidden sarcasm, and laughed easily. "Well, one thing is for certain, and that is that no one shall starve this night"—and she gestured at the mounds of delicacies piled up and down the table—"Let us enjoy this bounty, one and all, for it is the real thing, untainted by the Midas touch."

The servants continued to bring in course after course of viands imported from all over the Steiner sphere. The plain dishes Ardan accepted, but passed over the impossibly furbished and sauced ones. Now that he was getting better, it was no time to get sick again from sampling rich dishes from distant worlds.

When servants brought in silver basins for the convenience of guests who had indulged in finger-foods, Katrina took advantage of the pause to tap a cut glass bell with the handle of her knife.

"We have had, for the past few months, a most welcome guest here on Tharkad," she said, gesturing at Ardan. "Please meet Ardan Sortek, friend and subject of Hanse Davion, Prince of the Federated Suns. To our joy, he is now recovered from the wounds that brought him here. To our sorrow, he is now ready to rejoin his ruler at his summer retreat on Argyle."

She raised her heavy wineglass. "I propose a toast to this brave young officer. May we all command such devotion in time of trial!"

There was a polite murmur as the guests raised their glasses. Taking a sip from his own cup, Ardan noted that Klefft, from Sian, and Hardt, Kurita's man, seemed inscrutable, yet Ardan knew there was discomfiture in their very rigidity.

He smiled, stood, and bowed. "My thanks to my gracious hostess. A warmer welcome and better care have never been extended to anyone. I am anxious to rejoin my Prince, but I am desolate to leave the company of those here present" He sat amid polite applause.

It was the diplomat's art to disguise what he thought and felt, yet Ardan was sure he caught surprise, even anger, flickering momentarily across the faces not only of the Liao and Kurita ambassadors, but over that of Michael Hasek-Davion's man as well. He was sure, too, that the trio exchanged a look among themselves that was neither casual nor diplomatic. Ardan might have expected some kind of reaction from Klefft and Hardt, but what had Michael's man Sefnes to do with any of this?

Melissa leaned to whisper in his ear, "My mother never does anything without a good reason...and perhaps more than one good reason. You saw?"

He smiled, as if replying to a casual comment "Indeed, I did. Unexpected. Watch, Melissa. There may be rot at the root of more than one tree."

Without changing her gay expression, his friend twitched her brow slightly. She had thought of that already, he saw. What a ruler she was going to make!

As the meal finally wound down to its end, the servants brought in decanters of fiery Atrean brandy, which they poured into snifters that resembled bubbles of light, each cut from a single crystal and ornamented until it refracted every beam blindingly. The arrival of the brandy seemed to relax the gathering even more.

Ardan turned down his glass, however. His body chemistry was still disturbed, and the doctors recommended that he abstain for some months more. Melissa accepted a finger of amber-brown brandy and sipped it slowly while talk of everything from trade relations with the Free States to the recent retaking of Stein's Folly swirled around them.

Finally, though, Katrina Steiner rose from her chair. "If you will join me in the ballroom, those who wish to dance may do so. Oldsters like me may prefer to play at games that we have set out for your amusement. And, of course, those with duties or early rising hours may feel free to retire."

This was one of her most civilized habits. Many rulers required everyone to remain in attendance until they themselves had decided to retire. Katrina's leave gave Ardan the opportunity to return to his room and his preparations to leave Tharkad on the morrow.

He had barely had time to change when there was a light tap on his door. Melissa waited outside, clad again in her warm day-gown.

"What a deadly business that was," she said, "but we learned something valuable, don't you think?"

Ardan had been thinking of little else. "Yes, it seems strange...If my glimpse of that double had been accidental, you would think that whoever is behind it would hope that it remained a secret, and that no one would believe me. But tonight it looked as though some powers are disappointed that I seem to have accepted the doctors' verdicts and have ostensibly given up insisting upon its reality.

"I had expected...them...to be glad of my going to Argyle, to be with Hanse. But they weren't. They seemed shocked, as though expecting me to take some other step. Liao's man Klefft looked appalled."

"I saw it," said Melissa. "Did you know that Doctor Karns used hypnotherapy while you were so very ill? He said that it was to help you to deal with your fixations. And nobody was allowed to monitor, because he claimed it would be dangerously distracting."

Ardan stared at her, his mind going in circles, speculating, discarding theories.

Melissa looked grave. "He might have implanted something. Be very careful, Ardan...This next move of yours may not have originated with you."

Though he rejected that thought at once, it had shaken him, troubled him. "Did your mother agree to lend me a ship?"

Melissa nodded. "Not without a lot of argument, I must say. The doctors have almost persuaded her to their way of thinking. But she respects my judgment, too, thank goodness. The Atlanis charged. She is small but dependable. After your final jump, her DropShip will get you into synchronous orbit with the Folly's larger moon and keep you there until your friend Sep arrives. If, that is, she doesn't get there first"

The girl shook out and refolded neady the clothing he had crammed into the case she'd provided for him. Her hands busy, she continued, "The ship will be ready for jump just after sunrise. We thought it best to get you away quickly, just in case..."

Ardan dropped onto the edge of the bed and stared out the window. With the snow almost gone now, the rocks of Tharkad showed through like bones through tattered flesh. He turned his mind from the darkness of that thought, and bowed to Melissa, saying, "I am forever obliged to you, Your Highness."

She laughed. "None of that! Just plain Melissa is good enough for fellow rogues. But I will be eternally obliged to you, Ardan Sortek, if you save my future husband from disaster."

23

It had been a grueling day. The transshipment of all the personnel, 'Mechs, and supplies for the Guard to Argyle was always an unwieldy process, and Sep had just begun to get her unit back into shape after the move. She was well aware of the reason for the summer sojourn, however. Argyle was important to the Federated Suns, and its inhabitants were a crucial factor in the Prince's constant need to walk a tightrope to maintain his balance of power. Nevertheless, it was hell on the Guard, not to mention the servants of the Palace.

Sep had just now put things enough in order to begin drilling the unit again. The summer Gauntlet was in operation, and she had spent the morning putting MechWarriors through its inhospitable bag of tricks. They needed to get back their edge after the enforced inactivity.

She was tired. Tired and a bit sick of pushing resisting men and machines. She needed leave, but Ardan's departure had delayed her scheduled R and R. Jarlik, too, as her new second-in-command, was ready for some free time. She wondered if he might not like to join her. It would do Denek good to be in command for a time, as a MechWarrior never knew when he would have to take over without notice. And Denek was her own successor, as she was Ardan's.

These were the thoughts occupying Sep as she returned to her quarters and stepped into the Cleaning Unit. With the sweat and grime removed from her skin, she felt infinitely better as she stepped out to don a light robe. Already Argyle was balmy.

There was a message capsule in the drop inside her door. The messenger must have come while she was freshening up. It looked...it was!...a ComStar transmission.

Sep felt her heart thud warily, dreading bad news. The worst possible news had been Ardan's disappearance during the battle on Stein's Folly, but it had been wiped away by that of his recapture. What now?

Picking up the capsule, she felt for the seam, and cracked it open. A hiss of air guaranteed that the sealed message had not been tampered with upon receipt by the local ComStar Adept

The code was familiar. Ardan needed her! The thought sang through her like a fresh breeze.

She had known, of course, of his illness. Even word of his obsessions had been transmitted to her and Ardan's other friends, for Hanse understood the value of personal devotion among MechWarriors.

She reread the message, thinking all the while of the things she had been told. When she finished going over it for the third time, she knew what her old friend intended. She would have done the same.

Ardan was too sound a person to insist upon something that might be unreal. He believed he might uncover some evidence on the Folly. She knew fairly certainly that no search had been made of the facility where he had been found, for Davion's troops had been busy subduing the invaders and putting things back into order.

The planet's civilian population was scanty, principally employed as service personnel about the cities and the ports. The few others were farmers, intent on growing enough to supply the needs of the cities. She could see no reason for any of those people to go poking about in sealed bases, either.

No, if what Ardan had seen was real, some clue might have been left behind. The Liao forces had, after all, retired in considerable disarray. She and Ardan would need 'Mechs for their investigation, though. Davion's booby traps would make short work of any unarmored intruder prying into the installations.

All she needed do to gain an audience with the Prince was to move her name up the list of personal guards. Tonight, he was scheduled to consult with representatives of the New Avalon Institute of Science, and that was always a long, drawn-out affair. It had been a week since her last such duty. As she was the one making up the duty-rosters, there was nothing remotely unusual about her drawing it again.

Sep took quite seriously Ardan's request that she keep this matter secret and private. That night, she waited patiently while the Honorable Doctors of Science talked endlessly on abstruse subjects that did not seem to bore the Prince as much as it did his guard.

She could see the alertness in his eyes. He understood what those persons were saying, no matter how technical and puzzling. From time to time, he made a suggestion or an objection, and always it was one the men and women from NAIS had to consider seriously. She found herself with increased respect for the strictly intellectual side of this complex man.

When the last of the Doctors had gone and Hanse was preparing to leave the chamber, Sep gestured for him to remain, without speaking.

Hanse could have given lessons to the most subtle spy in existence. He sighed, closed the window against the sudden breeze from the river beyond the garden, and turned down the glow of the lamp above his desk.

Sep swept the room yet again with the electronic device that spied out any bugging element. She activated the stronger one that could intercept any signal from a distant amplifier that might pick up what they said. Nothing registered.

"Your Highness," she said finally, "I have had a message, via ComStar, from Ardan Sortek. To save time, I would like for you to read it" She handed it across the desk.

"Thank you. Major Septarian." He took the capsule, opened it, and rapidly scanned the contents, nodding several times.

When he finished, Davion looked at Sep and said, "The Archon sent me word, some time ago, about this claim that Ardan saw my double on the Folly. The doctors insist that it is delusional. I know Ardan. If he wants to check it out—which I guess to be the motive for this message– then he must have the chance. If not for my sake, for his own."

He turned to the computer console beside him, and quickly punched up the records of Septarian and Jarlik.

Sep almost grinned. The Prince's mind was running along the same channels as her own.

"I see that you and Captain Jarlik have not had your regular leaves. We can't have our officers overworked in peacetime. How would you like some time, Major? You might even like to choose several of your fellow officers to accompany you. I know how close you become, in a unit. And you have no family nearby, I see."

"I'd like that very much, Highness," she said. "I have been wanting to see Stein's Folly, ever since our reconquest of that world. There should be some valuable learning there for a commander, both defensively and offensively. I'd like to take Jarlik and Ref Handrikan with me, if you approve. With our 'Mechs. We might get tired of relaxing, and want to get in some training, too, while we are there."

"It happens that I have a small JumpShip waiting to convey a...message...to Stein's Folly. It will also be convenient for your purposes. I shall put it at your disposal." His eyes twinkled at her in a conspiratorial fashion.

"Find out for me," he said, his voice so low as to be nearly inaudible. "And take care of Ardan."

"Thank you, Highness," she said, saluting. "And good night. My relief is in the hall. I can hear him already."

She moved rapidly after that Jarlik was already asleep when she pounded on the door of his quarters.

"Whoozat?" came his bearlike growl. "Betterbe'n' emergency!"

"Jarlik! Septarian, here! Let me in at once!"

The door clicked, and a suspiciously yellowed eye looked out.

It widened, as did the gap in the door. "Sep! Come in. I thought it was that triple-damned Fram playing a trick on me again. What's up?"

"We're going to take a trip," she said. To Stein's Folly. But no more now. Just get yourself and your 'Mech ready to be loaded on a DropShip waiting to rendezvous with a ship at our jump point. Get Ref. He's going, too. I don't want to say anything else until we reach our first recharge."

Jarlik was now fully awake. He was fumbling for his case, pulling gear from drawers and cupboards, and cramming it in without folding or even looking at what he grabbed. The excitement he seemed to feel thrummed through the room like a high-powered generator.

Sep grinned. Her own packing would probably go something like this.

"I've got to alert Denek, too. He'll be in charge of the unit until we get back. We have, by the way, two standard months, excluding recharge time, and two more months discretionary time. We're both well behind in leave-time, so there will be no question about it. Be ready, though. We're leaving as soon as I can get things in hand."

She hurried away to Denek's quarters, which he shared with his bosom enemy, Fram. A tap at that door was never enough to wake the pair. She used her override key and walked in.

Sep pulled the covers off Denek and turned up the cooling unit He shivered. His eyes opened.

"Hey!" he protested. "What goes?"

"You're in charge," she said briefly, "until Jarlik and I get back off leave. We've been working our tails off while you dopes goof off. Now we've got the chance to take some time off and a way to do some traveling, and we're grabbing it. Oh-six-hundred hours tomorrow, my friend. Don't be late, and don't forget the drill, or your tail will be in the fire when I get back." She stepped to the door and turned to grin at the sleepy officer.

"Don't think I won't know if you pull anything stupid. No pranks, now. No practical jokes. No great ideas. Just do your job, Denek, the way I know you can. Now, goodbye."

Doing her own manic version of packing a bit later, Sep shivered with excitement. What was it that Ardan thought he would find, there on that embattled world where he had so nearly died?

She puzzled over that thought while overseeing the storage of their 'Mechs on the DropShip that would take them to the JumpShip waiting in deep space. Her Tech had been joined by those of Jarlik and Ref, and all three were yawning. Their standbys were being left behind, however. This was no trip into war. A holiday jaunt, even with some training purposes, did not require taking along an entire battle-ready group.

The ship embarked a few minutes after sunrise. Only a sleepy guard-’Mech and a handful of troopers saw it go, and none of them thought twice about it. DropShips were in and out of the Prince's private port at all times of the day and night, as he sent and received messengers from all over the system, and beyond.

Sep found her billet and closed her eyes for a nap. When she woke at the jump point, she would tell her companions what was afoot. For now, she intended to catch some sleep. There would be plenty of time for everything in the long transit to Stein's Folly.