Uglies (41 page)

“What if they don't leave?” Alek said. “What if they
can't
?”

“Then they won't last long,” Volger said flatly. “There's nothing to eat on the glacier, no shelter, no fuel for a fire. Just ice.”

Alek turned to stare at Volger. “But we can't leave shipwrecked men to die!”

“May I remind you that they're the
enemy
, Alek? Just because the Germans are hunting us doesn't make Darwinists our friends. There could be a hundred men aboard that ship! Perhaps enough to take this castle.” Volger's voice softened as he peered into the sky. “Let's just hope no rescue comes for them. Aircraft overhead in daylight would be a disaster.”

Alek looked out across the glacier again. The snow thrown up by the crash was settling around the airship, revealing that it lay half on one side, like a beached fish. He wondered if Darwinist creations died from the cold as quickly as natural beasts. Or men.

A
hundred
of them out there . . .

He looked down at the stables below—food enough for a small army. And medicine for the wounded, and furs and firewood to keep them warm.

“We can't sit here and watch them die, Count. Enemies or not.”

“Haven't you been listening?” Volger cried. “You're heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Your duty is to the empire, not those men out there.”

Alek shook his head. “At the moment there isn't much I can do for the empire.”

“Not yet. But if you keep yourself alive, soon enough you'll gain the power to stop this madness. Don't forget: The emperor is eighty-three, and war is unkind to old men.”

With those last words Volger's voice broke, and suddenly he looked ancient himself, as if the last five weeks had finally caught up with him. Alek swallowed his answer, remembering what Volger had sacrificed—his home, his rank—to be hunted and hounded, to go sleepless listening to wireless chatter. And with safety finally at hand, this obscene creature had fallen from the sky, threatening to wreck years of planning.

No wonder he wanted to ignore the airbeast dying on the snows a few kilometers away.

“Of course, Volger.” Alek took his arm and led him down from the cold and windy parapet. “We'll watch and wait.”

“They'll probably repair that godless beast,” Volger said on the stairs. “And leave us behind without a second glance.”

“No doubt.”

Halfway across the courtyard, Volger brought Alek to a sudden halt, his expression pained. “We'd help them if we could. But this war could leave the whole continent in ruins. You see that, don't you?”

Alek nodded and led the count into the great hall of the castle.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Westerfeld
is the author of the
New York Times
bestselling Uglies series and the Leviathan trilogy.
Leviathan
was the winner of the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. His other novels include
The Last Days
,
Peeps
,
So Yesterday
, and the Midnighters trilogy. Scott alternates summers between New York City and Sydney, Australia.

ALSO BY SCOTT WESTERFELD

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SIMON PULSE

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This Simon Pulse edition May 2011

Copyright © 2005 by Scott Westerfeld

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The text of this book was set in Minion Pro.

Library of Congress Control Number 2004106866

ISBN 978-1-4169-3638-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4424-1981-0 (trade paperback)

ISBN 978-1-4169-3450-9 (eBook)