31

When Dillon offered to take the leather bag containing the gold, Sean did not object. Sean allowed himself to be swept along beneath a stone sky, down a central avenue broad as a six-lane highway. Their destination was a building set into the market’s side wall, squat and solid as a bunker. Two troopers stood on relaxed guard by the massive double doors. Inside was a single vast room of stone and airy space. Sean wondered if the original builders designed their structures so large in order to ignore the fact that they lived permanently underground.

Within minutes of entering, they were surrounded by curious troopers. Sean tried to tell the difference between the so-called ghost-walkers and the regular soldiers, and failed. He took this as a very good sign. There was no sense of separation that he could detect, no superiority, no special status because of their singular gift.

Dillon drew him around with, “This is Commander Logan. My brother, Sean.”

Logan demanded, “You understand our tongue?”

“Some. Yes sir.”

The leader of Dillon’s allies was scarcely older than Sean, mid-twenties at the most. But he bore a general’s severity, calm and distant and constantly calculating. He was an inch or so taller than Sean, with a three-day growth over cavernous cheeks. His eyes were surrounded by plum-colored bruises. Logan looked as though he had not slept in weeks.

He asked Dillon, “You will let me try this language crown?”

“Whenever you like,” Dillon said.

Logan nodded and said to Sean, “So you’re the thinker. Does the fighter obey you?”

“Sometimes,” Dillon said, continuing to play their spokesman. “When I have to.”

Logan liked that enough to reveal an officer’s smile. Tight, quick, and very angular. “You brought the gold?”

“Enough to make the satchel a burden.” Dillon kicked the leather bag, and the coins inside clinked softly. “Somebody else can take it from here.”

“So let’s see what our turncoat has to offer,” Logan said. As they headed for the back room, he added, “I like a man who guards his counsel. Welcome aboard.”

Logan directed them into the office formerly belonging to the chief militia officer. When the gold was spread across the desk, Logan stepped back into the corridor and motioned for Dillon and Sean to stay inside the room. Isolated now with Sidra and his two officers, Logan said, “Tell me what you think.”

Vance was uncharacteristically silent. Nicolette said, “I asked Dillon what his brother was like. He said people used to be unable to tell them apart. No longer.”

Logan liked that. It indicated an honesty that went beyond simply fulfilling his duty to his allies. “Anything else?”

“I like the fighter,” Nicolette admitted. “I was ready to dismiss him out of hand. But he has made himself part of the team.”

Logan nodded, then asked Sidra, “Did they say anything I need to hear?”

She revealed a street urchin’s laugh, raspy and edged by old pain. “The thinker has taken the fighter’s woman.”

“Tell me what they said, word for word.”

When Sidra had related the exchange, Nicolette said, “They hide nothing.”

Logan nodded again. He had been thinking the same thing. But Vance continued to frown. “Something bothering you?”

“You want to know if we should join with them when the battle starts.”

Nicolette countered, “The battle is almost over. The market’s ours.”

Vance shook his head. “The turncoat’s news changes everything.”

“If what he says is true,” Nicolette said.

“Confirming the rumors that brought the off-worlder here is warning enough,” Logan said. He asked Vance, “Well?”

“I would have Dillon at my side. Willingly,” Vance replied. “But the other? I think he is weak.”

Nicolette said, “Dillon claims Sean is the better strategist.”

Vance shrugged. “Thinkers hesitate. If we are facing a real enemy, that instant of hesitation could get us killed.”

Nicolette studied the floor at her feet, then decided, “Give Vance the warrior. I will see if the thinker can also be a man of action.”

Logan nodded. It was the response he had hoped for. He said to Vance, “Bring us the turncoat and let’s see if the off-worlders’ enemy is truly out there.”