Jane Carver of Waar (36 page)

“Tomorrow, at dawn.”

Sai gasped again. I told you, lots of gasping. “Then we must leave at once. The forth crossing already begins.”

Lhan motioned out the window. “But we are wanted criminals. These cursed relatives of yours have made sure of that. We shall be stopped before we get half way.”

I looked around at the masked corpses. “Uh, guys. I hate to even suggest it, but...”

***

And so, for the umpteenth time on this planet, I had to play dress-up.

When we were ready Sai made to kill Shao-Lar, but Lhan reminded him that a true gentleman was merciful, so we mercifully tied Shao-Lar up and mercifully dumped him in the garbage heap behind the building with the other vermin.

Even though I’d suggested it, I wondered how inconspicuous we’d be wearing masks in the street. Lhan told me not to worry. Vendetta and assassination were a penny a pound around here. People were used to seeing guys running around dressed up like masked wrestlers.

We talked over ways to get into the navy stockade as we hurried across the city, but everything came up short. Lhan had served at this camp and knew how they ran things, which was tight as a drum. I wasn’t going to be jumping the wall here. Navy issue crossbows could stop a charging vurlak. I’d be a pincushion when I landed.

We couldn’t just disguise ourselves as airmen either. The gate guards had lists of who went in and out. Besides, an airman’s harness wasn’t going to cover my, uh, more recognizable features.

Our ideas got wilder and wilder; hide in a wagon full of supplies, ride in on the underside of an airship, start a fire, start a riot.

I groaned. “Why don’t we just get ourselves arrested. At least then we’ll be inside the damn place.”

Lhan stopped dead and turned to me with that crazy Clark Gable grin of his. “Mistress Jae-En, truly you are divinely inspired. You have found the way!”

“Huh? Whaddaya mean?”

“I mean we give ourselves up.”

“Lhan, I was kidding! It was a joke!”

Sai stared. “Truly, Lhan, are you gone mad? They will kill us.”

“Not on sight. We are not such barbarians here in Ora that the authorities would deny us the formality of a trial, even if only to parade us before our peers before they beheaded us. Convening such a trial would take several days. In the meantime they would lock us in the barracks brig.”

Sai rolled his eyes. “Ah, cast in a dungeon. Of course. The advantages are obvious.”

I wasn’t exactly catching on either. “Come on, Lhan. Where the hell does that get us?”

Lhan leaned in, excited. “I shall explain. While stationed here, I, on more than one occasion, became intimately acquainted with that brig. ’Tis not a dungeon. ’Tis but a wooden lock-up, the primary function of which is the punishment of junior officers who have been arrested for public drunkenness. ’Tis a homey, accommodating jail, which while more than strong enough to contain young fools who can’t hold their tisol, should be no match for a phenomenon such as Mistress Jae-En. And once free inside the camp, it will be nothing to reach Kedac-Zir’s quarters.”

Well, I had serious doubts it would be as cake-and-pie as all that, but it was the only plan that even got us to square one. “You’re the boss, Lhan. And I want you to know I wouldn’t go to jail for just anybody.”

Sai bit his lip. “It seems foolhardy to me.”

Lhan nodded. “Indeed. But have you a safer, quicker plan?”

“Er, well...” Sai shrugged. “Lead on, Lhan. Your follies seem to succeed more often than do mine.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

TREASON!

A
t the gate, Sai looked down his nose at the watch commander and did his prince-of-the-blood act. “Be so kind as to inform Kir-Dhanan Kedac-Zir that Dhan Sai-Far of Sensa wishes to meet him on a matter of honor.”

Guards were circling around behind us. That was fine. All part of the plan. I hoped.

The watch commander stared, dumbfounded. “My pardon, sir. Your name again?”

“Lout, I am Sai-Far, son of Shen-Far, Dhanan of Sensa and these are my companions, Lhan-Lar of Herva and Mistress Jae-En of... elsewhere.”

The guy was torn. You could see it. He was used to kissing ass to guys like Sai, but he was also looking at three walking wanted posters. “Your pardon Dhanans and—” He gave me the once over again, just to make sure, “And Lady, but I must place you under arrest.”

Sai stuck his nose in the air as the guards moved in. “You insult me, sir, but as you have an advantage of numbers if not quality, I will go quietly.”

He surrendered his sword belt. Me and Lhan did too. This was the part of the plan I liked the least. What if they put our weapons in another building? What if they didn’t just lock us up, but chained us too? I was strong, but breaking out of chains might be pushing it.

They marched us through the camp, a huge hexagonal layout of big, twelve-man hexagonal tents. One wedge-shaped sixth of the camp was filled with permanent buildings; a big stone joint with skelshas coming and going from its roof that Lhan said was Naval HQ and Kedac’s private quarters, a cookhouse, a stable, some other administration buildings, and the brig, which was a one-story wooden hexagon with tiny barred windows and guards outside the door.

It was pretty much like Lhan said, a front room with a desk, a burly jailer, and a door to the cells behind. It reminded me of the hoosegow in a TV western, except there were torches on the walls, and a little hibachi in the corner where the jailer was barbecuing lizard kebabs—I don’t remember Marshall Dillon ever barbecuing lizards. The jailer was a barrel-chested pug-ugly with a five o’clock shadow all over his skinhead dome. He gave us the once-over and curled his lip at me with the, you-ain’t-so-tough sneer I’ve gotten from lock-up bulls all my life. I just seem to bring it out in ’em. I don’t know why.

He threw our weapons and armor into a chest that was bolted to the floor and locked them up, then took us to the cells.

We had a surprise waiting for us back there. Lhan’s “sleepy little lock-up” was packed to the rafters. I counted eight thick wooden doors, four on each side. Each door had a narrow, barred window, and six of the eight windows were crammed with faces, all pushing and shoving for a look.

I recognized some of the faces. There was a big burly guy with a full beard looking out of one, and a swarthy chick with a square jaw and long thick eyelashes. It was Captain Kai-La and her crew! Guess they hadn’t ducked Kedac after all.

I almost said something to Kai-La as we passed, but Lhan nudged me. Smart boy. No need to let our jailor know we were all old pals.

The pirates didn’t speak either. They just stared. I locked eyes with Kai-La for a second. Her face was as blank as an unplugged TV.

Ugly put Sai and Lhan in one cell and me in another. Damn prudes, keeping boys and girls separate. Now I had to break out of two cells.

The room was built from the same heavy wood as the door, with one small barred window on the outside wall which looked just big enough to squeak through. I was pretty sure I could rip out the door or the window no problem. The hard part was going to be noise. If I kicked open the door, pug-ugly would come running, which wasn’t a bad thing. It would save us going after him. But he’d probably send those guards outside the front door for back-up, and that was suicide.

As I was eyeballing the door up close, Kai-La’s voice echoed down the hall. “It grieves me to see you captured, friends. For I believe we were the cause of it.”

Sai snarled back. “Speak not to me, slaver.”

Lhan was more polite. “Mean you some other cause than selling us in Doshaan?”

“Aye. When we were captured, they tortured us to know your whereabouts. Not all of us were strong.”

I heard a thump from Sai’s direction, like he’d thrown himself against his door. “’Twas you who put Wen-Jhai in Kedac’s hands? ’Twas you who...”

Lhan cut him off. “Sai, you must stay quiet.” His voice rose slightly. “Mistress Jae-En, what keeps you?”

I sighed and looked up from the door. It was hopeless. The lock was buried deep behind hard wood and metal straps. “I can’t figure how to blow this joint without waking up Ugly. I can break down the door, but I ain’t gonna be able to get to him before he screams for help.”

“Hmmm, think you that you can open the door with one blow?”

“I’ll give it a shot, but it’s gonna make a hell of a racket.”

“Worry not. Just be ready to act.”

“When?”

“You will know.”

I sure as hell hoped so.

I jumped as Lhan started shouting. “You cowardly cuckold! ’Tis you who has gotten us into this fix. If you had even enough spine to stand upright we’d be celebrating your wedding now, instead of rotting in durance vile.”

Sai screamed back. “Blame me, viper that I was fool enough to once call friend? Who was it that lifted not a finger when I went to challenge my rival singlehandedly in his mountain fortress?”

“There was no challenge, you lying...”

They started to wrestle around, shouting and banging into the walls. The door to the front slammed open and Ugly rushed past my cell. “Belay that noise, you filthy ructuks, or I’ll flay you alive!”

That was my cue. I heel-kicked the lock as hard as I could. The door frame splintered, but didn’t break.

Ugly’s face appeared in the peep hole. “What’s this? You try to trick Las-Har?”

How could I resist? I kicked the lock again. The door caught Ugly right between the eyes. He slammed against the far wall and sagged to the floor. I stepped out. He was out like a light. I took his keys and unlocked Sai and Lhan’s cell.

Lhan smiled at me. “Well done, mistress. Often have I wished to do that very thing.”

We bound and gagged Las-Har, then tiptoed down the hall.

Kai-La spoke through her window. “You appear to have a plan, friends.”

Sai glared at her. “And it does not include you.”

We snuck into the front room, listening for the guards out front. All quiet. Another key opened the weapon lock-up. I felt a hundred percent better once I strapped my armor and sword back on.

Lhan grinned. “Now we take our leave.”

We went back to my cell and looked at the window. The bars were set into a steel frame that was built into the wooden casement. If I just ripped it out of the wall somebody was going to come running. We had to pull it apart piece by piece.

I tried, but my fingers weren’t strong enough. Lhan drew his sword. “Perhaps this?”

I drew mine and slid the tip into a join. “Even better.” It made a perfect pry bar.

As we got to work, Kai-La’s voice followed us again. “Sai-Far, bedmate, can you be so cruel? Have you no fond memories of our time together?”

Sai sneered. “They are obscured by the memories of you leaving us to die.”

“But we did not. In fact you may recall that we went to great lengths to not kill you.”

“For your own profit.”

“You do not feel that being allowed to live has been profitable?” She sounded as sincere as a casket salesman.

Sai wasn’t buying it. “As a slave? Your charity is most meager, pirate.”

Kai-La didn’t give up. “And meager charity is all we ask of you. Unlock but one of these doors and you may leave us to our fate. We ask not to be saved. We ask nothing that we did not do for you. Merely give us opportunity to save ourselves.”

Sai snarled. “You waste your breath, skelsha.”

I pried the last piece of frame away and lifted the bars out. As I set ’em gently on the floor, Kai-La spoke again. “And you, the she-Dhan, can you leave a sister of the sword to the noose of Oran justice?”

I blushed, but kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know what I wanted. Kai-La had fucked us something fierce when they’d sold us down the river in Doshaan, but that didn’t stop me from liking her for some reason. Next to Lhan she was the sharpest cookie I’d met here. On top of that I saw, the way Sai would never be able to, how Wen-Jhai had forced her hand.

Kai-La kept talking. “We two both know how close you came to joining us. Can you now turn your back on us?”

Sai and Lhan shot me a surprised look. I shrugged, sheepish. Sai glared. “Heed her not, mistress. We must go.”

I gave him a flat look—he was such a weenie sometimes—then shrugged. “Right. You first. Let us know when it’s clear.”

I hoisted him up and he slipped through the window like a weasel. He was so thin he had room to spare. “All clear, mistress.”

My turn. I had to be second because I was the most vulnerable going through. I needed Sai outside and Lhan inside in case someone came by and caught me with my ass hanging out like a horse stuck halfway over a fence.

Lhan offered me a hand up. I hesitated. I looked at the ring of keys on the floor, then at Lhan. “Any objections?”

He shrugged. “On a purely pragmatic level, their escape will draw attention from our own.”

“Good point. “ I grinned and snatched up the keys, then dodged back into the hallway.

I unlocked Kai-La’s door. She smirked as I opened it. “As always, one must look to a heart other than that of a Noble Oran Dhan to find Nobility.”

I tossed her the keys. “Yeah, whatever. Just give us a head-start before you make your run.”

Kai-La bowed and crossed her wrists, but she didn’t stop smirking. I ran back into my cell. Lhan laced his hands together and I heaved myself up to the window.

Now that I was trying to get through it, it seemed tinier than ever. Getting my shoulders and boobs through was tough. My hips were tougher. Luckily I’d slimmed down and toned up since I’d landed on Waar. If I’d tried this trick my first week here I’d have needed a crowbar and axle grease. As it was I had scrapes down both hips that rubbed against my sword belt every time I moved.

Sai looked around, nervous, as he helped me out. “What delayed you, mistress?”

“My conscience got caught on something.”

He started to ask me what I meant, but just then two airmen came around a corner. We ducked into the shadows. They didn’t see us. Lhan slid out as soon as they were gone. I gotta hand it to the pirates. They didn’t make a peep once.

We reconnoitered. Kedac’s HQ was at the end of a row of buildings just behind us. There weren’t many people around this time of night, so it was pretty easy going. We kept to the shadows and ran low, commando style.