Mech 3: The Empress (31 page)

“I’m still here,” Nina said, “no matter what your plans might have been in that regard.”

Aldo slowed his mount and turned it, as it wanted to slip downstream with the water. The others seemed to have no such troubles. By some means not obvious to Aldo, they kept their mounts perfectly poised over the rushing river.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he said, leaning over the saddle and wanting to curse at his revving mount. “But the important thing is that we’ve found you. We must gather our forces into a single group. I don’t think we should camp here, I think we should get moving.”

“I agree fully.”

“Good! If we press hard, we can return to the Queen’s Highway before we need to camp again. Please bring your forces to the sunward side of the river and we’ll form up together. Another hard day’s riding will return us to Lavender City.”

“On that point, we have a disagreement,” Nina said quietly.

“What?” asked Aldo, not sure he’d heard properly. “Do you wish to camp then, or…?”

 “Not at all. I require you to bring your forces across the river to the Nightside. We will march immediately nightward and attack the enemy upon making contact.”

Aldo’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “I don’t understand. I was led to believe I was commanding a relief force.”

“You are commanding my reinforcements,” Nina said, “and I thank you for bringing them in a timely manner.”

Aldo looked to his side where the Embrak captain watched the exchange with dark eyes. “Captain? What are your orders?”

“I am to follow you, lord.”

“And upon meeting the forces of House Droad?”

The man shrugged heavy shoulders. “The Duchess said it was to be a joint command. You and the Baroness must agree.”

Great,
thought Aldo. He turned to Nina and contrived his best smile. “You are looking wild, lovely and capable today, Baroness.”

He could tell right away, this tactic did not work. At his words, her face went from cold to hostile.

“You refuse to follow my command?” she asked.

“Ah—Baroness, surely we could discuss matters privately—perhaps in a tent. I understand you lost yours—”

He got no further with his words. The Baroness drew her power-sword and let it flare into life like a torch. It ran with crimson plasmas, the light of which reflected from the slush-crusted river under them.

“In your tent? I find your suggestions insulting. As you will not relinquish command, I challenge you for the right to lead this army.”

“Challenge me?”

“To a duel, man!” she cried over her shoulder. She had wheeled her mount, and as he watched she rode it a short distance upriver.

Aldo did not quail at the thought of a duel. But to fight this fiery young woman—that was not his purpose. He did not fear to do so. In a way, he was elated. It was difficult to hold back. He wanted to shout out his acceptance of this challenge. Her attitude had angered him.

“What are the terms? Who will be our seconds? We must have an arbiter at least.”

She turned and threw back her head with a shout of unkind laughter, which rang out over the noise of the river. “Idiot! This is not Neu Schweitz. Defend yourself!”

With that, she bent over the steering yoke and charged. Her blade was held high for a downward stroke.

Aldo realized she already had him at a disadvantage. She had moved upstream and wheeled in order to charge downstream. The water would carry her mount toward him with a greater velocity than he could muster, even if he could properly control it.

He struggled to align his mount with hers and to drag out his blade at the same time. There was a fury in this girl, and he’d never started a swordfight feeling quite this unmanned. She howled as she came close, and he barely managed to engage her flashing blade, such was the speed and power of the attack.

Aldo parried in
quinte
, but had to duck under her blade as it slid, rasping over his blade and his head. In a flash, she was past and both were wheeling for another pass. Only his speed and expertise with the blade had saved him. He saw in her eyes a momentary flash of surprise. He realized this woman had meant to take his head clean off in a stroke. She’d felt sure she could take him easily.

Angered, he advanced at a controlled pace. This entire affair was a setup. He saw that now. She’d waited to meet him beside this river. She had planned to ride out and meet him above the frosty flood in order to ensure an easy victory.

Nina was a much better master of her mount than Aldo. She dodged to his left, then drove in against his unarmed side. She darted forward to attack him broadside. He tossed his weapon from one hand to the other, and brought his sword up left-handed to meet hers. They came close and their blades flashed and rang. This form of fighting was the most alarming variety. Aldo felt far from comfortable with it. There was no way to retreat when sitting on a mount, short of pitching off into the freezing waters.

“You are a mad woman, you know that?” he called to her.

“Stop defending and fight!”

“Are you so anxious to die?”

For a short moment, he saw her expression shift when she heard his confident words. She did not show fear, but she was puzzled. No doubt, she had expected him to be an easy opponent to defeat. Both fell back, breathing hard and circling their mounts.

“It is you who shall end your life in this frozen river today,” Nina said.

“And why is that? This is no dispute over command. You are in a lathering fury. I can only think of one reason. Perhaps you misunderstood the nature of our relationship.”

Now, her eyes darkened again. She lifted her blade again. “I misunderstood nothing.”

“Ah-ha! Yes, you expected me to be your consort on a more permanent basis, is that it? I apologize, if you’ve fallen in love with me. I’m very sorry to disappoint. But no woman possesses Aldo Moreno’s heart for long.”

Nina hissed at him. It was not a pleasant sound. Aldo grimaced. When courting newly-met females, he always knew what to say. In these situations, however, his words habitually failed him.

“I’m not in love with you, imbecile.”

“Then why are you trying to kill me?”

“You are a tool of the Duchess. She has done everything possible to thwart me, including preventing me from avenging my brother’s death this day. I’ll not turn away from these mechs. I’m going to run them down into Nightside, no matter what. If you wish to relent and follow my lead, I shall spare your life now.”

“Very generous, I’m sure,” Aldo said. “But I believe we are in the midst of a duel, and the matter has yet to be decided.”

He lifted his sword again, and touched the uppermost stud to cause it to flare with new life. Nina nodded and approached again, her blade held high to attack.

By this time, however, Aldo had analyzed her style and moves. They were effective, but relatively simplistic and repetitive. He did not think any less of her for this, as she was young and inexperienced.

As she came in, he feinted low, and when she parried he beat aside her blade and thrust. He did not aim for her thigh or abdomen, however, as these were defended. He stabbed his blade into her mount. The tip penetrated the hard metal case and jolted the mechanism inside. The vehicle bucked and heeled over. With a whoop, Baroness Droad dropped her sword and fell into the slushy flow.

Old Hans and Aldo both rushed forward to save her. Aldo, being much closer, reached the spot first. He reached down and grabbed a small gloved hand that reached above the surface. When he hauled her up, he could not help but allow himself a small smirk.

“Looks like you’ve dropped your blade, Baroness,” he said in a breezy fashion.

Her eyes were shocked and wide due to the cold, but a fury still burned there. She moved then, and Aldo was provided with a shock of his own. She pulled on his arm, and used it to lever forward her other hand. In the other hand was another sword.

Aldo immediately cursed at himself. He’d forgotten that she always carried twin blades, hers and her brother’s. The blade was dark, as the power had automatically shut off upon contact with liquid. Even without power, it was a deadly weapon. He twisted, off-balance, in an attempt to ward off the second sword. The black metal moved and plunged.

It did not pierce him, but rather fatally injured his mount, exactly as he’d done to hers. A moment later, they were both in the river.

It was Old Hans who dragged them both out like two cats from a barrel. Carrying them with arms extended to either side, he guided his mount expertly with only touches of his knees.

“If you don’t mind, good lord and lady, I would ask that you contain yourselves until we reach dry land.”

Glaring and speechless with shock and anger, the two said nothing. Less than a minute passed before they were dropped on the shoreline where they shivered and crawled to their feet. They swayed and dripped, half-frozen. Aldo felt fatigue creep over him. He wondered how long he could have survived in water so cold. Even in his riding suit, he felt sure he would have perished in minutes.

“Shall we call it a draw?” Aldo asked.

Nina shook her head. Silvery droplets flew everywhere over the muddy shore.

“Bow to me, or die. That is how this will end.”

“Baroness,” Old Hans interjected, “permission to speak, milady?”

Nina glanced at him, but then turned her eyes back to Aldo, where they remained fixed. “Speak if you must.”

“This disagreement is unnecessary, and wasteful.”

“Wrong on both counts, good Hans,” Nina said, pointing the tip of her dripping sword at Aldo. “This man is a snake, and I mean to reduce his length.”

Hans cleared his throat and waved back the excited throng of men who’d gathered around to quietly wager on the outcome. They retreated reluctantly.

“Listen,” Hans said. “I have an idea what this is about. You should focus your anger where it is best deserved.”

“Explain yourself.”

“The true snake here is the Duchess.”

Nina scoffed loudly. “I’m sure she plied him with drink and strapped him to the bed. Afterward, she felt so ashamed she gave him command of her army.”

“Not exactly,” Hans said. “But listen, Baroness. Have you not noticed the Duchess holds you in contempt?”

“I’m not blind.”

“But do you know why?”

Finally, Nina turned her full attention to him. “No,” she said. “I suppose she just doesn’t like Droads.”

“Exactly. And that habit started with your father.”

Here, Aldo groaned aloud. Again, another enemy uncovered. How many good reasons did Lucas Droad have for not returning to his homeworld? Aldo had to face facts, he told himself. He’d been duped into accepting this mission by a wily man.

The others glanced at Aldo. When he did not see fit to explain his response, they ignored him.

“She disliked my father?” the Baroness asked Hans.

“She was in love with him—once. Then he took up with that mother of yours. The Duchess never got over it. She never forgave your mother, your father—nor you yourself.”

Nina nodded, seeing the logic of it.

Aldo heaved a sigh. “Your father is another form of snake, girl. I curse him here and now for saddling me with so many of his women. He set me up for this horrid moment!”

“My father is no snake!”

Aldo raised his hands. “I misspoke, I apologize. He simply is—a difficult one to lay hands upon, let us say. I was once his bodyguard, don’t forget. I know him fairly well.”

Nina licked her lips, which were turning blue. “I do not wish Duchess Embrak to get the best of any of us. You are right, good Hans. I have been manipulated, as has Aldo, to some degree.”

“I’m sorry for any hard feelings,” Aldo said. “I’m quite simply trying to save your planet. A much greater threat than these mechs will soon fall upon us from the skies. We must set aside our conflicts and gather all our strength for that moment. The survivors can sort out past injustices afterward, should they still feel it worthwhile.”

“Are they truly as dangerous as all that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you fear them?”

Aldo hesitated. “Not exactly. But then, I have long since made my peace with death.”

Nina looked at him oddly as she rubbed rime from her hair. “All right. Will you make me a bargain? March with me for three nights. If we do not meet the enemy and vanquish them in that time, we will return to Twilight and await these terrible aliens.”

Aldo considered. He knew that she commanded not just these one hundred knights, but thousands more besides that sat at Droad House. If he didn’t agree, she might well summon those troops, with or without the Council’s blessing. He suspected, in fact, that was exactly her plan.

“I agree,” he said, extending a gloved hand.

They touched gloves, and sheathed their weapons. The avid onlookers who loosely encircled them cursed and passed money among themselves. The Baroness took only the time required to retrieve her sword from the bottom of the river before the army conjoined and rode sunward.

Twenty-One

Gladius
finally entered the star system on the ninth hour of the fourth day of the week, local time. The great ship glided toward its destination, still smoothly decelerating in a curving trajectory that was destined to end in high orbit over Ignis Glace. Red sunlight gleamed on a thousand modules as they swung majestically around the ship’s central torus like a spinning constellation of stars.

A flotilla of small Nexus ships was on hand to greet them, as had been anticipated by all sides. Millions of miles from the target world, a battle was to be fought in deep space. The Nexus patrol ships, sitting quietly in cold space, became suddenly visible. Their tiny engines flared and they swept forward to intercept the bigger vessel from a dozen different angles. They would be in weapons range within hours.

For the express purpose of witnessing this historic occasion, the Empress summoned the nife commander and all of the Parents into her august presence. Small thrones of lumpy brown secretions had been erected for the Parents. The younger four arrived early and took their seats, warbling through their foodtubes excitedly. The Empress regaled them with a lengthy speech about Imperial invincibility.