Artemis Invaded (33 page)

“Kipper!” Adara called softly, as soon as Sand Shadow had identified him. “What happened?”

“Follow me,” the boy replied, his voice hardly louder than a breeze. “Away from here.”

Without question, they did. Kipper led them across several brooks and over bare stone to hide their tracks. At last they came to a sheltered grove hidden within a stand of long-needled pines. A small, nearly smokeless fire burned in a stone-lined hollow. Above it the smallest cookpot was suspended on a tripod.

Kipper crouched next to the fire. When puma and huntress entered his camp, he poured hot water over leaves and set tea to steep. Then he refilled the cookpot and set more water to heat.

“I have food,” he said, his voice low, though Adara had detected nothing larger than a raven in the vicinity. “You've got to be hungry. Eat. I'll tell you what happened.”

Adara accepted what the boy offered. In her shock, she had all but forgotten how for the last hour or so of her climb she had been anticipating just such a hot meal. Sand Shadow sent her an image of a bear, gave Kipper a rough stroke of her tongue, and padded out into the evening gloom.

Kipper served Adara fish, journey cakes, and overripe blackberries.

“Talk,” Adara suggested, taking a bite so courtesy would be satisfied.

Kipper did, the words spilling over each other. Adara listened to his unfolding tale without comment, knowing that the slightest interruption could push the boy to tears.

“Griffin might have been very happy to see his brothers,” Kipper said, after explaining how they'd found the Dane brothers in the hallway. “The rest of us were just shocked, especially with the Old One there. When Bruin confronted the Old One, he motioned me back. I hung out of sight around the corner, where I could hear but not see. Then the one called Alexander spoke some words…”

Kipper stopped and shivered. “Those words made me feel strange, as if I'd been wrapped in a blanket and couldn't move. Then I heard Alexander ordering the other three to obey his commands.”

Adara nodded encouragement. “Bruin, Terrell, and Griffin?”

“No. Not Griffin—Ring—though Alexander didn't have a name for Ring. Then Alexander said something about Griffin not having done his research right or something. After that, Griffin got nasty. I didn't know he could get so mad. There was a lot of arguing. Somewhere in there, I felt like the blanket had loosened. I got out of there. Bruin had warned me back. I didn't think anything that had happened would have changed his mind. Still…”

“You did right,” Adara said, knowing that the boy was worried she would think him a coward, “to get away. If you hadn't, who would have told me what happened?”

“Honeychild stayed out here when Bruin went into Leto's complex,” Kipper said. “I can't talk to her, so I'm not sure how much she knows. She's the one, though, who told me to clear away our camp. She started rolling up the blankets, pulling out the tent pegs.”

Adara forced a smile. “Honeychild doesn't have hands like Sand Shadow, but she's learned to do a lot with her paws. I've watched her help Bruin break camp before.”

“I caught on pretty fast,” Kipper said. “I went and got the pack horse to help me. I'd noticed this camping spot before, when I was out foraging. Me and Honeychild shifted the horses to a more distant pasture. Sam the Mule decided to come along. Honeychild has been checking on them regularly.”

“Good that you cleared out,” Adara said. “Now, even if anyone comes looking for our camp, they're going to have trouble finding it. Julyan might, but would he go to that much trouble to find you? If Griffin's brothers are anything like Griffin, they're going to be so fascinated by that facility they'll forget anyone else exists.”

“And they'll know,” Kipper said, “that you and me won't go for help. We can't, not without admitting we've been poking around a restricted area.”

“You thought of getting help, then,” Adara said, “and had the sense not to. Good man. From what I gathered when I visited my family, events in Spirit Bay have shaken people up badly. The folk in Crystalaire might have locked you up for the loremasters to judge, rather than helping.”

Adara gave Kipper a quick summary of what she'd learned from her family, concluding, “I thought that the footprints in the Sanctum had been left by the Old One and some of his followers. I did wonder if they might be connected to whatever hit down in the bay, but I certainly didn't consider that it might be Griffin's brothers. He'd been certain years would pass before anyone came looking for him.”

“Terrell said something like that, too,” Kipper said. “And when they were arguing, Griffin got angry, said his brothers hadn't come to help him. That they were trying to steal his glory.”

“Oh, I bet that went down well.” Adara sighed.

“It didn't,” Kipper said. “That's why I figure I had to get out of there. If people started taking sides and Ring couldn't use his weapons … I haven't spent as much time in Leto's complex as the others, but enough that I figured those Dane seegnur had to have nastier weapons than our knives and bows. They might not kill Griffin, but they might show him they meant business by hurting someone else.”

“You
are
quick,” Adara said approvingly. “Have you had a chance to scout? Can we still get into Leto's complex?”

Kipper hung his head and looked ashamed. “I haven't. I was…” Adara expected him to make excuses about how busy he'd been, but the boy was honest. “I was scared. I didn't want to get caught. I figured I would be pretty useless to them, except to make Bruin do what they wanted.”

Adara reached out and hugged him. “You're far from useless. I'll let dinner settle, then I'll do some scouting. There are four of us now. I can't talk to Honeychild any better than you can, but Sand Shadow can relay to her. That means even if I get caught, you'll know.”

She saw Kipper stiffen. “I don't plan on getting caught, but we've got to plan for that. Now, Bruin and I have worked out some simple signs that our demiurges can use to relay information. They aren't much use in this situation—mostly meant for hunting—but let me show you them. That way, if Honeychild starts writing in the dirt with her claw you'll know what she's about.”

*   *   *

Afterwards, Julyan was astonished at how quickly the situation changed from what had looked like a family reunion to him pacing a corridor along which three widely separated rooms had been converted into cells. He had no idea what the argument had been about since, soon after Alexander had said those seven syllables and Griffin had exploded into white fury, the Danes had shifted to their own language.

“Keep alert,” the Old One warned him when they had a moment alone. “We know that Griffin Dane has resources we didn't anticipate last time he was our ‘guest.'”

One of those resources was the mysterious girl-woman who called herself “Leto.” Alexander had explained that this Leto was only a more elaborate version of the recording that had warned them about the intruder security systems, but Julyan wasn't buying that without more evidence. True, he hadn't seen her, only heard her, but from what he'd heard she had sounded like a real person, and one with a temper.

He'd been able to understand what Leto said, because apparently she didn't speak the Danes' language. As best as Julyan could gather, Leto had been created to serve the seegnur who used this complex. However, she still wasn't certain if the Dane brothers qualified as seegnur. She'd been on the way to accepting Griffin, but now she was uncertain again.

Alexander had apparently presented the best argument in favor when he demonstrated his ability to control the residents of Artemis. Julyan had served as his example of this and hadn't enjoyed it at all. He'd cooperated, though, because he didn't want Julyan to know about that little bit of wiggle room he'd created for himself. For now, he was more on the side of Alexander and the Old One than he was of Griffin, so cooperating was all for the best.

Leto, however, had gathered that Alexander was Griffin's full brother. This meant that anything that proved Alexander was seegnur also served to prove that Griffin was seegnur. Therefore, it was a case of which seegnur would dominate. That was one reason that Griffin was currently residing in one of the three rooms Julyan guarded. However, that had not been enough to convince Leto that the other Dane brothers were now in charge. Apparently, she had been scared by the slaughter of the seegnur and death of machines. In Leto's view, might did not automatically make right.

In fact,
Julyan thought,
if they're not careful, Leto may decide that “might” means they're in the wrong. She may decide these newer Danes are just like the invaders who attacked her former masters. If she does that, I'd better make sure I know how to get out of here. She sounds like a brat, and I don't want to be at the mercy of a brat who controls the lights and the locks on the doors.

Leto's control was why, even though Falkner had locked the rooms in which Griffin, Terrell, and Ring were imprisoned, Julyan patrolled the corridors with a newly issued nerve burner in his hand. Even though the nerve burners were the least lethal of the weapons the Danes had brought with them, Falkner warned Julyan that they could be deadly enough.

“I've got it set so that it'll knock someone out, not kill them,” he said, “but that's only an estimate. Ring and Bruin carry a lot more weight than Terrell and Griffin. Then, too, a person's health plays a role, too. If someone has a weak heart, say, a charge that would knock out someone else of the same weight might kill him. I suggest you shoot only if you must and aim for a limb.”

Another reason they were taking extra care was that Bruin had admitted that one of his students, a boy named Kipper, remained at large—as was Adara the Huntress, her demiurge, Sand Shadow, and Bruin's demiurge, Honeychild. The Dane brothers were inclined to dismiss a puma and a bear as players, but neither Julyan nor the Old One would make that mistake.

The Danes are pretty smart. They're not hunting down this Kipper because they know he'll inform Adara. The Old One has them convinced that she'll rush to the rescue. They want to bag her, and this Kipper's news is the bait.

He licked his lips and paced restlessly along the corridor. Alexander had reassured Julyan that he had not forgotten his promise.

Soon … Soon … I'll have you again, my willful lady. We'll show you where you fit into the scheme of things. I'll make sure you know your place …

*   *   *

Griffin tried to regret the things he'd said to his brothers. Surely if he'd been more prudent, more diplomatic, he wouldn't be locked up in this little room with nothing but sessions cleaning the spaveks to break the monotony. He tried to regret, but he couldn't—he was too damn pissed. When he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he was embarrassed as well. He thought he'd covered all traces of his research so carefully, given no indication of his plans. For his brothers to arrive within a few months of his departure must mean that his intentions had been discovered almost immediately.

Or worse,
he thought, sinking down on the cot that was one of the room's few furnishings,
they knew all along and simply waited for me to get here and do the initial research, take the initial risks.

A terrible suspicion grew to certainty in Griffin's mind.
The warbot that attacked back at Shepherd's Call … It wasn't some relic of the old wars. It was planted, probably built right into my shuttle. My crash is what damaged it.

He surged to his feet, started pacing again.
If that's the case, then it would explain a lot—like how they found me, but why they didn't show up sooner. Maybe they had suspicions I'd located Artemis but no certainty as to where it was. They would've had to wait for beacons to lead them here. The
Howard Carter
might have been “bugged” as well. If I were them, I'd also have made sure the spider would release some antiviral nanobots into Artemis's system, so they could use their gear once they got here. Was the warbot also meant to kill me? That doesn't make sense. Maybe it was sufficiently damaged by my crash that it malfunctioned—a tracking program got out of control or something.

The spider's attack left Griffin uneasy. His brothers could be ruthless, but surely they wouldn't want to kill him.

I'm going to need to get my brothers talking … learn what they're after, how much they suspected in advance. I certainly had no suspicion that Artemis was anything but the resort of legend. Would a resort interest Siegfried? Maybe, if he thought he would find relics from the final conflict here that he could turn to new uses. That would be enough for Falkner, too. And Alexander …

Griffin's uneasiness grew as he thought of his bronze-haired brother and the mockery in those shifting eyes.
Alexander has been playing his own game … From the look on Falkner's face, he had no idea that Alexander had found that ancient control sequence. Siegfried? I don't know … I bet Alexander bragged about having something up his sleeve. It would be like him. How did Alexander find it?

Griffin stopped pacing, knowing that his real question was, “Why didn't I find it?” He resisted admitting that Alexander might be better than him in his chosen area of expertise. He'd always thought of Alexander as more interested in military history, rather than in the complexities of Old Imperial culture.

And what, moron, would be of greater military use than the ability to control your opponents? Alexander probably came across the information in one of those old soldier's journals he loves. Does it matter where he found it? Really matter except to your damn ego? What matters is that Alexander can apparently make a few weirdly inflected sounds and even strong-willed people like Bruin and Terrell become obedient puppets.