Denner_s Wreck

“Speak, then,” Rawl said. “'If thou hast any tongue, or use of voice, by Heaven, I charge thee, speak!’”

“Really, Rawl, if you're going to start quoting Shakespeare…” Sheila began.

“Hush, and let the man speak,” Rawl replied.

“I will,” Sheila retorted. She turned, and said, “Go on, Bre

“Right,” he said. “Yes. Well. We aren't going to die, because if that was all Thaddeus wanted I think he could have gotten in here a lot more quickly than he has. He hasn't tried anything really ruthless; he hasn't nuked us, for example. My castle could hold off a few small nukes, but if he laid into us with a series of serious high-yield thermonuclear warheads I think we'd all fry in pretty short order. There's something in here he wants intact, and I think it's probably us, or at least one of us."

“That's not very much more appealing than dying,” Sheila remarked.

“Speak for yourself!” Lady Sunlight snapped.

“I did,” Sheila replied calmly.

“It doesn't matter which is worse, because neither one is going to happen,” Bre

“Generally speaking, yes,” the Adjuster agreed cautiously.

“So if we get out of the castle, you can contact the others?"

“Easily,” Rawl said.

“Even if there's interference, and Mother isn't on line?"

Rawl paused, considering, then said, “Not as easily, but still yes."

“Can you transport us?"

“For short distances, or if I leave two of you behind to anywhere on the continent."

“Well, that's fine, then. We'll get out of here, and put through some calls, and get everyone together to take care of Thaddeus before he gets out of hand."

“He may already be out of hand,” Rawl suggested.

“Well, I mean before he becomes unmanageable."

“He may already be unmanageable. We don't know what's been happening out there for the last hundred hours or more; he's got us completely cut off. He could easily have done a lot of damage already. Most of the others wouldn't be prepared to resist as you have."

Bre

“What do you think he's trying to do, anyway?” Sheila asked.

Rawl shrugged. “He probably wants to rebuild his empire."

“Here? On De

“Why not? It's a start."

“Can we stop arguing about all this and get out of here?” Lady Sunlight demanded.

Something crackled loudly, and a nearly-subliminal flicker ran through the chamber's lights.

“Yes,” Rawl said, “I think that would be a very good idea."

“Right. This way.” Bre

Sheila rose and followed more calmly, and Rawl brought up the rear, glancing about with interest as they passed through passageways he had never seen before.

At the end of a winding corridor a dropshaft took them down into the depths of the mountain, where they followed a twisting and circuitous route through the surrounding bedrock, Bre

The lights flickered and died while they were still deep inside the mountain, and Rawl provided illumination for the rest of their journey in the form of a free-floating energy field radiating a warm yellow.

“How much further?” Lady Sunlight asked as they rounded yet another curve.

“Not far,” Bre

Rawl stopped dead in his tracks, and his light vanished, plunging them into darkness.

“Rawl, what the hell…?” Sheila began, as she, too, stopped.

“Shh!” he hissed.

“What's the matter?” Lady Sunlight demanded.

Bre

“That's why I stopped,” Rawl said. “Have you all forgotten? It was dark out when we came down here. According to my internal clock, the sun won't be up for almost half an hour."

“Then what…” Sheila began.

“Your clock is wrong,” Lady Sunlight said. “Come on."

“It's not,” Rawl insisted.

“That's right,” a new voice said, as light again filled the passageway, a harsh blue-white glare. Bre

“The sun isn't up,” Thaddeus said, “but your time is. Now, come on out, and I won't have to hurt you."

Lady Sunlight began sobbing; Bre

“And if we don't?” Rawl asked.

“Believe me,” Thaddeus said, “you don't want to know. Now, step on out and let my machines collect you. I have a fine welcome for you all here in Fortress Holding."

In the new light they could all see the little silver darts of heavily-armed floaters cruising slowly in toward them, weapons trained forward, ready to fire.

Still cursing into his beard, Bre

Chapter Seventeen

“The Lady of the Island, it is said, watches over all the islands of the coast, as well as her own, and whenever a boat founders, she is there, looking over its crew. She inspects them closely, and chooses the best, the strongest, the smartest, the most handsome, to come to her own island to be her lovers. Those who are almost good enough she takes as her servants. The rest she leaves to the mercies of the rocks and the sea.

"But be not too joyful, if you go to sea and find yourself wrecked upon the rocks, only to be carried away to her island, for when she tires of a lover she relegates him to the servants’ hall, and whenever any servant displeases her, or grows old and slow so that he can no longer fulfill her every whim as quickly as she demands, she transforms him into a beast. And if one of these beasts should trouble her, then it is killed and fed to the others-or perhaps not killed first.

"This, then, is the tale that is told, but the truth of it is doubtful. No one who has been shipwrecked will admit to having seen her, and those who have visited her island and then escaped alive have seen no men there at all-only beasts, many strange and varied beasts, some of which can speak as men do. Perhaps the tale is just a lie, concocted by someone who wished to explain the beasts-or perhaps a lie told by the beasts themselves, who would prefer to be thought ensorcelled humans, rather than the mere beasts they seem."

– from the tales of Kithen the Storyteller

A fine luncheon was served on a brightly-lit stone-paved terrace at the Skyler's main house, where balls of glowing colored fog drifted in slow patterns overhead, and where several varieties of polychrome mutant peacocks, made supernaturally splendid by their customized genes, stalked in silent beauty on the rippling lawn nearby. Soft sourceless music played unobtrusively.

The meal was not a pleasant one. Despite the Skyler's earlier declaration that she would not eat with a savage, she and Bredon were both present, and both ate. No one made any mention of this inconsistency; after all, the others all seemed to silently agree, it was the Skyler's home and she could do as she pleased.