Someone cleared his throat, loud and obvious.
"Entertaining, but not really useful," he commented.
I stepped back from Tayvis, finding myself blushing. I slipped my pack off and set it on a rock, bending to hide my face. I opened the pack and pulled out the emergency beacon.
"Late afternoon," I said, "day after tomorrow. This needs to be set. Alpha channel if everything is clear, beta if trouble is expected, and zed if they need warned off."
"Who?" one of the men, vaguely familiar to me, asked, leaning over the beacon.
"Lowell is bringing in one fleet and eight battle groups. They should be here within forty hours, if everything goes as planned."
"Nothing ever goes as planned," Tayvis murmured as he sat next to me.
"Which is why the three codes. We didn't have time to work out anything more complicated. The voice unit was too heavy to bring." I set the beacon aside and pulled out the next item.
"Emergency rations, how thoughtful," Tayvis said.
"The diet here is short on several essential minerals," I answered. "A few of these should help. Those who've been here the longest need it most. You really don't want to know how they found out."
He took the package without comment and passed it on.
I saved the best items for last. Besides the few things still in my pockets and the hand scanner, I had four very lethal blast rifles in the bottom of the pack. I pulled the first one free and was awarded several whistles.
"I have four," I said. "And only a dozen extra power packs. I wasn't sure what the situation was going to be when I got back here."
"Without the rain we might not have been here," Tayvis admitted. "What did you promise Lowell to get him to give you these?" He held up one of the rifles.
"You don't want to know, Tayvis." I settled by the empty pack.
He passed the rifle on to someone else and sat next to me. The others shifted away from us, closer to the fire where the light was better. Tayvis took my hand, pulling it into his lap. "Tell me."
"After you tell me what's been happening here."
"They blew up the Electoriate. And the Triad. And then Lilliasa marched into Conclave and announced that she knew who the traitors were. They burned Sylena's estate the next day." He squeezed my hand. "Lilliasa got Mayguena stoned to death. And then proclaimed herself the heir to the Triad and took over. You were right about her. She's ruthless and bloodthirsty. She led them here, hunting us. She blamed everything on Sylena, Mayguena, and the human slaves."
"She wanted power, not change. I misjudged her."
He shrugged. "I don't think it would have made much difference if Mayguena had been the one to survive."
"You're probably right." I leaned on his shoulder, yawning. I'd worn myself out, slogging through rain and climbing cliffs of mud. "Who made it?"
"Here? We started with about a hundred. Some stole flyers and made it this far. Lilliasa is camped by the foothills with her army. They've been catching us a few at a time."
"But as soon as the rain stops she's going to be here in force." I sighed. "The rain was clearing up this afternoon."
"So we hold out for two days until Lowell brings the Fleet in." Tayvis slid his arm around me. "What did you promise him, Dace?"
"I didn't promise him anything." It wasn't technically a lie. I hadn't promised Lowell anything, I'd already done it.
"Why don't I believe you?"
"No promises, Tayvis."
"Then what did you do already?"
"Gave him information on Trythia, linked it to Vallius."
"And? I know there's more to it than that."
I shook my head, rubbing it against his shoulder. "It won't matter soon."
He sat up, turning to look at me. "What are you not telling me?"
I squirmed uncomfortably. "It's nothing. Really."
He lifted one eyebrow.
I looked away, down at the sand colored rocks at my feet. "He made me join the Patrol before I could come back." I said it in a small voice, almost hoping he wouldn't hear me.
"You didn't have to come back." He sounded upset.
"I had to. Don't tell me you don't understand why. I know the situation here, better than anyone. I can access their computers. None of the others with me could do that. None of them really knew what was going on here. I had to come back."
"You could have just sent Lowell with the Fleet."
"To fly in blind? Who knows what they would have found. And someone had to find you and warn you. I was the only person who could do that. You understand why, or you're not the agent Lowell believes you to be."
"I know why you had to come back. I don't have to like it. And you gave in to Lowell, when he should have been begging you to do it for him?"
I shook my head. "He wasn't listening to reason. He wasn't going to let me come back. He insisted it was Patrol only."
"Which he was right to do. Why did you have to enlist?"
"It isn't all bad. He made me an admiral. Paltronis thought of that."
His lips twitched, he was trying to stay mad and losing. He finally grinned. "An admiral?"
"I think you still outrank me. Was I supposed to salute?"
"How long was the enlistment?" he asked, sobering.
I looked away. This was the part I really didn't want to admit. He turned my face back, not letting me hide from him.
"How long?" he asked.
I was saved by the entrance of a messenger. Half the sentries came in with him. He looked tired, exhausted and muddy.
"We're not through with this," Tayvis let me know.
"Will found them," the messenger gasped. "Two hundred or so. About ten miles north of here. The Trythians are moving on them. They'll catch them at sunrise."
It was as if someone had stirred an ant nest. All of them moved, quickly gathering supplies and leaving the cave. Someone took the beacon and put it back in the pack. I was glad I wouldn't have to carry it anymore. It was heavy. Tayvis held up a rifle.
"Who's got sharpshooter marks? Besides Dace." He handed me a rifle.
I took it reluctantly. I might have to shoot someone. I knew how good I was. I also didn't know if I could shoot even a Trythian.
They doused the fires as we left the cave. Tayvis kept me next to him, holding my hand when he could. I saw Vance, following us and watching every move Tayvis made. Vance's face was blank, his eyes distant. It made me shiver and I wasn't quite sure why. I trusted Vance. I brushed aside the shivers and picked my way through the moonlit night.
I was tired to begin with. I was stumbling with exhaustion when we finally caught up with the other group. They were more slaves, men from estates scattered over this continent. We were almost halfway around the planet from the space port. They looked worn, thin and tired. Their clothes were rags. But none of them wore collars. That much of Mayguena's plan had succeeded.
"There are too many of them to go back to the cave," Tayvis said after talking with their leaders. "And they wouldn't make it anyway."
"You know how to shoot that thing?" Will asked me. He was with the group, trying to help them find a better place to hide.
"What do you need?" I asked him.
He grinned. "Can I borrow her for a while, Tayvis?"
"Just bring her back in one piece," Tayvis said.
"This way," Will said.
I followed after him. We were in a high valley, steep and sloping down to a jagged canyon. Trees covered most of the valley sides, tall spiky green ones that effectively hid the men. Will led me down the slope. At the mouth of the canyon were two tall cliffs of yellowish stone. I scrambled up after Will, feeling for handholds in the moonlight. Dawn wasn't too far off. The stars were starting to fade.
We climbed one side of the cliffs to a narrow niche near the top. There was a hollow in the rocks there, protected by an overhang of solid stone and walled by rocks bigger than my head. Will crawled into the space, moving to make room for me. I dragged myself into the hollow. I was ready to collapse. I scooted around to sit with my back against the overhang, looking out over the canyon. The moon was too low to shed much light into the canyon. Will leaned close to me. He pointed at the cliff opposite.
"Those rocks, the slightly darker ones, should collapse half the cliff if you can hit them hard enough. Think you can make the shot?"
I shifted forward and squinted down into the canyon. "I can make it in my sleep." I yawned. "What's your plan?"
"Lilliasa is too overconfident. All of the Trythians are. She'll come marching up the canyon. It's the easiest way here. The only other way that might even be remotely passable is over the top of the ridge, the way we came. That would add miles to their hike and is a lot harder. She'll come up the canyon. You wait until they're almost in the gap and shoot the rocks down on their heads." He grinned, teeth flashing in the night.
"First of all, I have no idea if the rifle can hit hard enough to bring the cliff down. And second," I fingered the gun uneasily, "they're people, even if they are Trythians. I can't shoot them."
He sat back, settling against the rock. I could feel him watching me in the darkness.
"You shoot it," I said, holding the rifle out to him.
"It would take a miracle for me to hit it at that distance. Are you saying you can't hit it either?"
"Hitting the target isn't the problem."
"They'll kill us. If they catch us. They'll slaughter us all up here."
"I know that." I cradled the rifle in my lap. The charge light glowed green, a faint light that barely reached my hand next to it. "I don't want more nightmares." I didn't want to face the monster that lurked in my soul.
"How many people have you shot?"
"Vunia was the first."
"You could have fooled me about that." He had been there, on that hot crazy day on Dadilan when I'd shot a woman point blank with an almost dead blaster.
"Xqtl was the worst," I said.
"Do I want to ask why you were there? It's nothing but ruins. Interesting, true, but not what I imagine you are interested in."
I scrunched down, pulling my jacket around me. My eyes were drifting shut. "It was the headquarters of Targon and Blackthorne. Crime syndicates. Was." The last word came out through a yawn.
"Tell me about it," Will begged.
"I haven't slept much for over three days, Will."
"Then tell me what else you've been up to."
"Ask Tayvis," I mumbled through another yawn.
"He won't talk."
I let my eyes close. "Wake me up when they get close."
"One day, I'm going to get you to tell me about all of it," Will answered.
I heard him shifting around, lying down to watch the sunrise and the canyon below. I went to sleep.