Bactine (51 page)

Clelem had been hiding behind a few large barrels. He had found a piece of rope and a short stick. Suddenly he saw Daniel, fighting one of the pirates and the odds were against his former security man. The pirate was forcing Daniel back, and that was in the direction of Clelem's barrels. At the moment Clelem estimated to be the right one, he got up, threw the rope around Daniel's neck and yanked hard.

Daniel fell backwards over a barrel, his breath cut off and the pirate coming in for the kill, while his former employer tried to strangle him with the rope and the stick.

Birkle screamed at the Bonto to kill, and pushed Huajo towards the animal. The bleeding ship owner tripped over his own feet and fell on the deck.

Brinno and Darigyn charged at the pirate captain from two sides. Brinno was intercepted by a pirate, Darigyn slammed full into Birkle who was about to throw his dagger towards someone. The dagger flew as an unguided missile and hit the Bonto in the shoulder. The animal wailed out loud and yanked the sharp thing out of the wound.

A loud scream was followed by a solid body that flew over Daniel, who was still in his desperate situation. Tomlin had jumped off the bridge. Despite spraining an ankle he had managed to get to the pirate before the pirate got to Daniel. The pirate was sent flying over the side of the ship, his trajectory leading him to the hard floor of the shipyard.

Clelem was too busy killing Daniel to notice the heavy boot coming towards his head. The result was therefore his own fault. And his own problem. Tomlin's foot connected to the side of Clelem's face with a bone-cracking sound. The man's head collapsed to the side, the side of his face a mess of torn skin and blood.

Tomlin did not need much time to see that Clelem was finished for the fight and helped Daniel get rid of the rope around his neck.

"Thanks man," Daniel coughed.

"Don't mention it. Kill a pirate for me," Tomlin grinned, as he handed a sharp stick to Daniel.

Darigyn was thrown to the side. It was not fair, he had only had two good punches at Birkle. The Bonto however, who had been hurt by the pirate captain, claimed its own revenge.

Birkle was relieved that he had been freed of the sailor. He was relieved too soon. The Bonto had seen who had thrown the dagger. It had no idea that Birkle had not aimed it at him, it just felt the pain of the wound, and the dagger in one of its hands. The Bonto grabbed the captain by the shoulder and had a swing at the man. With the dagger. Birkle tried to ward off the arm and the knife, but that did not help. The dagger went into Birkle's shoulder, but the force that the Bonto put into the strike shattered most of the pirate captain's ribcage, dragging the dagger through most organs it encountered.

Then a thunderous roar lashed over the fighting men. It marked the end of the fighting too, as all eyes were suddenly at the large red-haired Kotrvayk that was standing in front of a thin man in a green robe. From behind the senator, for it was him, a score of policemen swarmed over the deck. They started to disarm everyone, friend or foe, as for them there was no difference.

The sailors of the old Pricosine gladly threw down the sticks they had used, and started laughing. Some of the pirates tried to escape by jumping over the side, but they had forgotten that the ship was still on dry land. The sickening screams and thuds of men falling to their death was disconcerting, even painful to hear.

Daniel, supporting Tomlin and his busted ankle, made his way over to Sygra.

"In the name of the Lady Nahmyo, Daniel, you look awful!" the senator said.

Daniel was, as all others, severely scratched and bruised. Blood ran in little trickles from almost everywhere on him. "That can be remedied, senator," he said with a painful grin. "We did get the pirates. And Dandra ko Galem."

Behind Sygra, the president of the Ship Owner Society came on deck.

"Seigner Skinsh ko Talush," said Daniel as he handed over Tomlin to someone who looked capable of doing some healer's work.

"Mr. Zacharias," the man said. "You do like to cause somewhat of an upheaval, don't you?"

"I seem to attract that, indeed." Daniel hoped that his grin was not out of place, as around them, pirates were escorted off the ship.

Skinsh ko Talush looked at the forced exodus for a while, tugging his moustache. "I have to admit, sir, that you do get the job done. Even when you utilise some rather exotic means."

Police officers also looked over the deck for sailors who needed medical assistance, and carried the ones in need off on stretchers.

Kernak lay at the feet of Daniel and Sygra. Seigner Skinsh ko Talush kept a weary eye on the animal and made certain that Sygra was between himself and the Kotrvayk. "The senator came to alert us about things that would be going on here. I see that was with reason. Perhaps you'd care to explain what happened here, Mr. Zacharias?"

A man in uniform had joined them. "I would be interested in that also, gentlemen." The man introduced himself as a high ranked police officer. "I do think that you, sir, should see a medic as well, before we have a talk about all this," he said to Daniel.

Daniel agreed.

Slowly the deck was cleared of people who could still walk and those who could not anymore. Also the very dead, and there were far too many, were carried off.

"What is going to happen to the Bonto?" Daniel asked, as someone tried to help him off the ship. The Bonto was sitting on the deck, near the bridge. Birkle's dead body lay next to it. The animal clearly was confused, with its master dead by its own hands, the havoc and the pain from its wound.

"Well, honestly sir, we were not prepared for a creature like that," said the police officer. "But we have some very good animal carers around who are notified as we speak. They will sedate the animal and after treating its wounds they will probably see to it that it is returned to its natural habitat."

"By the winds," Seigner Skinsh ko Talush said as two large men carried Huajo past them.

"I'm fine, dear friend," the fat man said, tired, dirty, bruised and limping, "Mr. Zacharias, I think we did a good job." The ship owner had been beaten up quite a bit, but he turned out to be stronger than Daniel had thought.

"We certainly did, Seigner," said Daniel, "and we all have you to thank for a lot."

"It was my pleasure, Mr. Zacharias." And with that, Huajo was carefully guided to the gangway, to start the long descent.

Daniel grinned.

"Mr. Zacharias," said Sygra, "you should let someone look at you. I do not like the many injuries you have gained now."

"I'll do that, sir, don't worry," said Daniel. "I just have to make sure that everything will be taken care of."

Two men carried a stretcher past. There was a body on it, under a piece of canvas. The arm that was not covered showed Daniel that it was Clelem that was taken from his own ship. Unwillingly, he touched his sore throat.

"How is... your guest, sir?" he asked Sygra.

"She is fine. You need not worry about her, Mr. Zacharias. Now please, find a doctor and be seen to, before I have to tell Kernak to chase you down."

Daniel grinned. After stroking the big head of the Kotrvayk, he started down the gangway.

-=-=-

"There are a few things in your story, Mr. Zacharias, that are rather weak. You claim something about a person in a black cloak who asked you about compromising Seigner Dandra ko Galem, but this person also kidnapped the Seigner's daughter."

"No, sir," Daniel said to the police officer. "I said it looked as if she was kidnapped by this person. She did not say anything about that. Just that someone drugged her and she found herself in the cellar of the building where I lived."

"I see. And you found her there, on account of the fact that you had gained illegal entry to the shipyard. Well, I think we can safely waive that." The officer nodded to himself as he wrote down a few more things.

They had gone over the affair a few times, making sure that the statement was how Daniel had told it and that the officer understood it all.

"Very good, sir. I think that will be all for now. If we have any questions, we can always locate you through the hydger. Can you tell me where you will be living for now? The apartment block will not be rebuilt soon."

"The senator has invited me to stay at his house as long as I need to," said Daniel, "so I will be there most of the time. If anything changes in that respect, I will let you know."

"Much appreciated sir. Thank you for your time."

Daniel left the man. In the hall, Sygra was waiting for him, Kernak by his side, and they shared a carriage back home. All others had left already.

Kernak was running along behind the carriage.

"The police have gone to see Rayko already," Sygra told Daniel. "They have told her about what has happened. Someone is also on the way to lady Dandra ko Galem with the news."

"Oh. I see." Daniel had worried about that part ever since he had gotten back some peace of mind again. "Do you know how they took it?"

"No. I guess we will have to find that out when we arrive."

"I am relieved you managed to round up the forces, Sygra," Daniel said after a while. "We were losing."

Sygra nodded silently.

The carriage came to a halt in front of the house. As Daniel and Sygra got out, Kernak was already waiting by the door. The animal had not even broken into a sweat, Daniel noticed.

They entered the first small building. Sygra opened a door that Daniel had never seen before, allowing Kernak to slip into the garden again.

"I suggest you go and fresh up first, Daniel. You look rather a mess, if you allow me saying so."

Daniel did not have to look at himself to know that the senator was speaking the truth. He was feeling enough of a mess to last for the next month. This planet was very good at tearing him up.

"Do you want me to talk to Rayko alone, Daniel? I understand that it must be very hard for you."

Daniel took in a deep breath. "No. I have to be there also. It is the proper thing to do. After all, I was the one who set all this in motion, and she has to know that."

"I don't want to see you!" Rayko's voice came through the corridor they were in, she had caught their voices.

Daniel and Sygra went into the room, where Rayko sat in bed, her face red and wet and her eyes puffy.

"You killed my father!" she said, as loud as she could. "And I said I don't want to see you, murderer!"

Daniel stood as nailed to the floor. He had not expected this and he wondered what the police had told her.

Sygra put a hand on Daniel's shoulder and gently pushed him out of the room. "Clean up and rest. I will talk to her," he said calmly, before closing the door.

Daniel stared at the door for a while. He heard Sygra talk in a voice too soft to understand, and Rayko crying. Another sigh escaped him and he walked to his room, where he drew a bath for himself and then slowly started to undress.

The hydger, on the chair next to the tub, dragged him from his drowse. Daniel was almost grateful for it, as the drowse introduced him to all kinds of thoughts he would rather avoid for a while. Huajo was calling, asking him how he was.

"I am doing well, sir, thank you. How are you doing?"

Huajo told Daniel that he was not hurt badly. The cut looked worse than it was. "I do hope, Mr. Zacharias, that we can meet again someday, and look back on this day with satisfaction and a good glass."

Daniel hoped so too, and thanked Huajo for the call. After that he sunk away in the warmth of the bath again, which was kept to temperature by an array of tubes that had hot steam going through them.

When he finally got out of the water, he was hurting all over. Most of the band aids the medical people had stuck on him were freely floating in the water. He couldn't really care, so after towelling himself dry and putting on some clothes, he scooped the things out of the drained tub and tossed them away. Then he sat down on the bed and wondered what to do next. He wanted the matter with Rayko resolved. She had to understand that Daniel had had no choice, but also that Clelem was not her real father. The man had said so during the meeting with the pirate captain.

He rubbed his face with both hands and fell back on the bed. "Damn, I hate these games," he muttered. Even when he had been young, Malcolm and some of his friends had been ploying and scheming, something Daniel had never gotten into. And here, on NGC6637-VIII, he felt as if he was sinking into more and more of them. It was as if everyone here had secrets, hidden agendas and other stuff the world should not know about.

The hydger rattled again, dragging him from his sorry feelings.

"Hey, Tomlin," Daniel greeted his friend, "how are you doing?"

"Don't worry about me, Daniel. I feel like crap, but the doctor wrapped up my leg and Nadinka is taking good care of me. How are you? And where are you?"