3

THERE’S A LOT OF WHAT’S COMING GOING AROUND

Emil walked up to where I had the sniper bound. I had dropped the M40A1 in favor of my own Ruger Blackhawk, and the sprite was making itself visible, flashing around us in a strobe effect. When the little bastards do decide to reflect light, they like to show off.

Up close, Emil looked worn and tough, a hard and rangy man in his fifties with brown hair salted with gray. His skin was leather, his eyes were flint, and his heart was a lump of coal that wasn’t becoming a diamond any time soon. He was missing half his left earlobe and the top of his right pinky. “The sniper was always a long shot. No pun intended.”

“Just so we’re clear,” I said, “I’ll let you take me in. But that’s all. I’m not agreeing to be your prisoner for life. If I get a chance to escape after that, I’ll take it. The sprite here has agreed to witness the contract.”

Emil gave me a stony look. There are rules among the old races, and if it became known among the supernatural community that knights no longer honored promises of amnesty or truce, the knights’ hard lives would become infinitely harder. “You won’t get a chance to escape.”

“Then you have nothing to lose. Make your offer formally in front of the sprite.”

“On my word of honor, no Knights Templar will harm or harass your friends if you come with me now,” Emil said softly. “And I swear as the knight who has been officially chosen to bring you in by the Grandmaster of the Order himself, it is within my power to make that promise.”

“And the Knights Templar won’t hire or encourage or manipulate anyone else into doing it, either,” I said firmly. “Or attack other people close to my friends. They are hereby bound to honor the spirit of this agreement as well as the literal meaning of it, and you will report that to your loremaster.”

“Agreed,” Emil said with a sudden expression that was a smile the same way a tiger is a housecat; they had something in common, but only if you got extremely technical or optimistic.

“And I’ll let you take me to your superiors,” I said, ignoring the dark flash of amusement in his eyes. “And I won’t attempt to escape until after I talk to them, unless someone tries to restrain or kill me.”

“That is acceptable,” Emil said.

I addressed the sprite tonelessly. “Thank you; you can go now.”

The sprite disappeared, and Emil waited for me to make the first move.

“There’s one more thing,” I said. “Sig has to believe that I took you captive, not the other way around.”

Emil remained inscrutable.

“I can’t see this working any other way,” I continued. “If Sig even thinks I’m trying to give my life for hers, she’ll come after both of us.”

“She’s going to declare war on the Knights Templar,” Emil repeated mildly, just so I could hear how stupid that sounded.

“She might.”

To his credit, Emil absorbed that thoughtfully. “What exactly are you proposing?”

“I’m going to take you all captive and drive the van out of here,” I informed him. “I’ll release you after I’ve talked to Sig and we’re safely out of sight.”

“I never agreed to that,” Emil said, and then he didn’t say anything else. It’s hard to say anything else when you’re lying unconscious on the ground.