The Cyber Chronicles Book III - The Core (27 page)

Tassin told
Dena the story of the trendil hive again and again, upon her
insistence. When she grew tired of telling it, Dena pestered Sabre
for his version, then compared the two and picked out any
inconsistencies. Sabre was able to smile again, a little wryly, at
her dedication to detail. He longed for the journey to end. The
constant travelling, fighting and hazards had drained him. All he
wanted was a tranquil life. That dream did not await him at the end
of this journey, however. Not for long, at least.

Sabre had lost
count of the days by the time they reached the mist wall. When they
emerged into the desert's brilliant sunshine, it seemed as if they
had been in the Death Zone for an eternity, and Real-reality was a
balm after the madness. Behind them, the mist wall shimmered, shot
with rainbows. He wondered how long it would take to fade once the
Core's residual power was used up.

The sand bore
the tracks of an exodus of monsters, and Sabre hoped most would die
in the desert. Purr gazed around with a disappointed air, becoming
almost bald in the heat. Not far from the mist wall, they came
across a battleground. The corpses of three Death Zone monsters lay
beside a partially devoured sand dragon. Sabre was sorry the sand
dragon had lost, but it had been badly outnumbered. Judging by the
tracks in the churned sand, at least a dozen monsters had fought
it, and blood-streaked trails told him that many wounded beasts had
left the carnage. He hoped they would die, and many more would fall
foul of sand dragons. They walked past the bloated corpses to
escape the stench, then made camp and rested through the heat of
the day, dozing in the cart's shade. At sundown they set out again,
Sabre keeping an eye on the scanners.

The nights of
endless trudging passed with incredible tedium, and Sabre wondered
if they were crossing a broader or narrower section of the
Badlands. He avoided patches of radiation, but at least when Dena
scampered away he did not have to worry about her, although several
times he warned her not to collect pretty stones that were slightly
radioactive. With plenty of provisions, the only discomfort was the
daytime heat, which made it hard to sleep, and the night chill.

On the third
night, they encountered one of the worm creatures. Dena studied it
with awed fascination, spending two hours watching it forage
amongst the rocks, selecting edible stones with its sensitive
feelers. While he waited, Sabre pondered the possible future of
these animals. When the edible copper-bearing rocks on the surface
were exhausted, the beasts would be forced to dig for their food or
become extinct, taking the dragons with them. A warning flash drew
his attention to the scanners' data, which showed a group of five
monsters two kilometres away. He called Dena, and they set off once
more, adjusting their course stay away from the beasts.

Sabre admired
the donkeys' stamina and hardiness, for they showed no sign of
fatigue or weight loss, despite the shortage of food and water. At
times their mournful, klaxon braying, which tapered off into
whistling moans and comical grunts, woke him during the day. On the
eighth night, he and Tassin discussed the plan to retake Arlin
while they walked.

"Taking the
kingdom back will be no problem," she assured him. "My uncle will
be regent now, and when I return it will automatically revert to
me, as the rightful heir."

Sabre nodded.
"Good. Then we just have to get to your castle without Torrian
finding out, and keep our presence a secret until I've installed
the weapons and trained the men. I think we should keep the cart
and travel as a poor peasant family."

"Yes, you
could wrap a cloth around your head, and I'll wear a veil. When the
soldiers were searching for us, that wouldn't have worked, but now
I doubt they'll give us a second glance."

Dena, who rode
a donkey beside them, said, "If they get funny, I'll distract
them."

Sabre glanced
at her in surprise, realising that the child longed to be useful,
and a part of their plans. "Good idea. Maybe you could throw a
tantrum or something, start crying, pretend to be ill?"

Dena grinned.
"No, I'll run away and pick a fight with someone, then you'll have
to come after me."

Tassin smiled.
"That would do it."

Twice more,
the scanners detected groups of Death Zone monsters, and once they
crossed a claw-footed track that meandered aimlessly. They came
across the bloated corpse of a bird-like creature with a fearsome
toothed beak and shrivelled venom sacks that appeared to have died
of dehydration, its vestigial wings useless for flight.

Sabre
calculated that they had travelled for twenty days when the
mountains appeared ahead one morning, blue in the distance. Tassin
joined Dena in a wild jig that left them breathless and giggling.
The donkeys' fodder had run out two days before, and the food and
water were almost gone. Purr eyed the distant mountains with some
excitement. He was still becoming accustomed to the fact that
nothing Changed anymore, but his ability to shift remained an
asset. During the day he was almost hairless and large eared, while
at night he became furry.

The following
morning, they reached the grassy flats that ran up to the road and
stopped beside a rivulet to rest, eat roast rabbit and bathe while
the donkeys grazed. Olgara was visible in the distance, so they
were three days travel from the mountain pass. Sabre cut a strip
off Tassin's old petticoat to wrap around his forehead, and she
used the remainder as a head cover and veil. The next day they
travelled along the dusty road, coaches and wagons overtaking
them.

Dena, who had
never seen horses before, begged Tassin to give her one when they
reached the castle. They came across a few wrecked carts, their
cargo strewn on the scuffed ground, a sure sign that some Death
Zone monsters had made it this far. Once they passed a freshly
killed beast, the soldiers who had slain it still standing around
discussing the battle.

At the pass,
they joined the traffic entering Arlin, carrying goods from Olgara.
Since Olgaran soil was poor, the city-kingdom traded mostly in
goat's cheese, powerful wines, dates and salt from the coast beyond
the city. Arlin traded fresh vegetables, salted meat and fruit. The
queue of carts was long, and Sabre realised that it was autumn
again, the harvests were in and the merchants busy. Border guards
leant on their spears, lifting tarpaulins to examine cargo.
Disputes broke out when guards demanded bribes to allow contraband
through the border, and merchants protested.

When their
turn came, the guards looked as if they would wave them through,
then one stepped up.

"What's in the
cart?"

Sabre ducked
his head. "Metal, Sergeant."

"I ain't a
sergeant." The soldier wandered to the back of the cart and lifted
the old cloths they had draped over the cargo. His eyes widened at
the sight of the gleaming silver tubes. "'Ere, where'd you get
this?"

"Found it,
Corporal."

The soldier
glared at him. "I ain't a corporal, either. Where'd you find
it?"

Sabre waved a
hand. "Beyond Olgara."

"What if it's
cursed?"

"It's not. We
were there for many days, and none of us is sick."

The soldier
grunted, eyeing the metal cylinders. "Where are you taking it?"

Sabre glanced
at Tassin, who replied, "To the smelters at Miller's Rest. They can
make good spear heads and swords from it."

The guard
frowned, and Sabre thought he was going to object to her assertion.
Surely he did not know that the alloy from which the weapons were
made was far too hard for a medieval smelter to melt? Evidently he
did not, for he dropped the cloth and came back to stand before
Sabre.

"Scavengers,
aren't you?"

"Yes,
Captain." Sabre bowed his head.

"I ain't a
captain!" The soldier looked back at the growing queue of muttering
merchants behind them and gave Sabre a final glare. "Go on then,
move this heap!"

Sabre led the
donkeys forward, and they crested the pass, emerging from the
mountains' rocky outcrops to descend into Arlin. Tassin grinned at
the vista of rolling green fields dotted with shepherds' huts and
flocks of sheep that lay before them. Belts of forest clothed the
land like patches of moss on a green, rumpled blanket, and she
revelled in the fresh, cool air and verdure.

The journey
became less arduous, although they had to camp in the forest.
Tassin wished she could to buy a wagon or at least afford to stay
at an inn, but was not prepared to ask Sabre to earn any money. The
donkeys grew fat and needed less goading, allowing him to ride on
the cart. Purr sat between them like a fat, oddly marked cat, and
Tassin hoped he would be accepted as such, as long as he did not
speak to anyone but them.

Niam would be
Regent, and she looked forward to seeing his expression when she
returned. Her cousin would be disappointed that he would remain a
prince. Sabre’s gloomy expression surprised her.

"What's
wrong?"

He shrugged.
"Just wondering what I'm going to do with myself now that our
adventures are over."

"You'll stay
with us, of course," she said, as if no other option existed.
"After all you've done, I shall make you a lord. As such, you'll be
entitled to an estate, which I shall award you, and a yearly
stipend from the crown. You'll have servants, and a community that
will rely on you to represent them at court. You'll have a stable
of fine horses and go hunting with your peers. You'll hold balls
and..." Tassin trailed off, dismayed by his dour mien. "You don't
like the idea?"

"It all sounds
very grand, but it's not for me. Once your problems are solved, it
will only be a matter of time before the spacer returns for me.
There's no point in giving me all those things. I won't be around
long enough to make it worth your while, and it's not my style,
anyway." Tassin opened her mouth to protest, but he added, "I'll
build a little home somewhere nice, and grow a few vegetables, have
a few animals. It's enough for me until he takes me away. It's more
than a cyber ever had before."

Dena cried,
"I'll come with you! We can get married!"

"Be quiet,"
Tassin snapped.

The child
pouted, clearly surprised by the rebuke.

Tassin studied
Sabre, who stared ahead. She said, "When I make you a lord, you'll
be a citizen of this world, with the right to live here for the
rest of your life. Manutim would not dare to steal you away
then."

He shook his
head. "Manutim won't care if I'm the bloody King. You don't
understand. To him I'm not even a human being. I'm a piece of
equipment. Don't you get it? As far as he, and the rest of the
universe, is concerned, I'm a damaged fighting machine, with no
rights at all on any planet."

"But you're
not a machine anymore, you're a man. You always were a man, but now
you're a free man. He can't enslave you!"

"No. To him,
I'm just broken. He'll have me fixed."

For a long
time, only the clip-clop of the donkey's hooves and the rattle of
the metal wheels broke the silence. Tassin frowned as she pondered
his words, dismayed but still unable to believe that such a
barbaric thing was possible.

"Then have
whatever you want," she said. "Build your hut and live in the
woods, but don't leave me. I won't allow Manutim to take you away,
I promise. I'll raise an army to fight him."

Tassin touched
his arm, desperate to persuade him to stay with her so she could
win his heart and protect him from Manutim. Sabre glanced at her
work-roughened hand, and a bleak, haunted expression flitted across
his face. He raised piercing pale eyes and met hers, then looked
ahead again.

"Maybe."

Tassin slumped
with relief, withdrawing her hand. Dena looked from one to the
other with a knowing smile, and the mosscat gave a purring chuckle.
Tassin shot him a dirty look, and he smirked, wiping his whiskers.
The Queen stared ahead, eager for the first glimpse of her
home.

When it came
into sight as they rounded a bend, Dena crowed, "Look, a
castle!"

Tassin's heart
swelled with joy and her eyes filled with tears. The grey stone
fortress stood like a bastion of sanctuary in its estate of green
fields, solid and comforting. Her home, where she had been born.
Pennants flew from the battlements, and she recognised her uncle's
colours, as well as his son's. In the valley below, Traytown
sprawled. Smoke rose from its chimneys and people moved like ants
along its cobbled streets. Death Zone monsters had ravaged parts of
it, and tracts of flattened, torn up crops led to smashed, burnt
houses. A cart trundled towards them, probably having delivered
produce to the duke. The farmer hailed them as he passed by, his
florid, weather-beaten face wreathed in a simple smile. It was all
so familiar and peaceful.

Sorrow mixed
oddly with her joy. After all the ordeals she had been through, now
a greater danger threatened. What if she could not prevent Manutim
from taking Sabre away? The thought brought a stab of exquisite
pain, and tears trickled down her cheeks.

Sabre glanced
at her and smiled. "Glad to be home?"

She nodded and
wiped her eyes, forcing a weak smile.

As the donkeys
approached the tall gates, two guards stepped out and blocked the
drawbridge with crossed spears. Sabre hauled the donkeys to a halt
and smiled at Tassin.

"Here's your
moment of glory."

She swallowed
a lump and climbed down to approach the unfamiliar guards, who were
probably from Niam's army.

"State your
business," one said.

"Where's
Captain Effan?"

"Killed in the
war."

"Oh." Tassin
pushed back the old petticoat that covered her hair and drew
herself up, aware of her outlandish leather dress and suntanned
appearance. "You may tell my uncle that his niece, Queen Tassin,
wishes to see him at once."