Timothy Zahn - Triplet

"What excitement?" Ravagin asked.

"That thing with Gartanis this evening—you know."

"No, I don't," Ravagin told him, glancing at Melentha. Her face was going rigid again...

"Oh, his private lar had it out with something nasty tonight—a peri or demon, probably. I'm glad as hell we weren't actually there when it happened—there're scorched buildings for almost a block around his place."

Ravagin felt cold fingers playing along his spine. Melentha had headed off to "deal with Gartanis"...

and Danae had claimed to see a demon and lar fighting in the fourth world. "What happened to Gartanis? Was he killed?"

"Not unless the dead can limp around picking up pieces of their houses on Karyx," Nordis said impatiently. "You suppose we could forget about Gartanis for a minute and get back to the more immediate problem? Melentha, do you know of any kidnapping rings that might be operating—"

He broke off abruptly as a faint scream floated into the room. "Good lord," Nordis said, jumping and looking uneasily around him. "What the hell was that?"

"Just a little trouble upstairs," Melentha growled. "Ignore it; it'll be dealt with." Her eyes flicked to the fireplate, and Ravagin caught a flash of green as the demon lurking there shot upward and vanished. Trouble upstairs... with Danae? Almost certainly. A fist seemed to close around his stomach; sternly, he forced the muscles there to relax. Whatever it was Danae had done—or tried to do—that had riled her own guard, the immediate result was that Ravagin now had only Melentha to deal with... and furthermore had an opening the size of a truck just waiting to be exploited.

And the sooner he grabbed it, the better the chances it would pay off. "Right, Nordis, let's get back to your missing client," he said briskly. "Was he experienced or armed or otherwise capable of handling Karyx at night?"

"Hardly. This was his first trip in, and you never saw a more useless person in your life. He couldn't ever figure anything out by himself; he was forever asking questions about everything imaginable. If he's just wandered off by himself, he's going to be in a pack of trouble."

"But if he disappeared in Besak, he should be all right there at least until morning," Melentha pointed out. "With the village lar enclosing it—"

"Hello, Melentha, wake up," Nordis cut her off, spreading his arms out to the sides. "Look; see?—I got out of Besak after dark. Besak's lar isn't there any more."

"What? How the hell—?"

"I don't know," he snarled. "Side effect of the attack on Gartanis's lar, maybe. Does it matter?"

"Not really," Ravagin agreed, standing up. "You're right, Nordis—we'd better get a search going right away."

"No!" Melentha snapped, scrambling to her feet as well. "No—I won't hear of it. It's too dangerous."

"If it's dangerous for us, what do you think it is for him?" Nordis growled. "Yeah, come on, Ravagin.

Melentha, can you scare us up a couple of spare horses?—mine's pretty worn out."

Melentha's jaw tightened, then relaxed. "Yes, of course. Haklarast!" A sprite appeared. "Have three horses prepared immediately," Melentha instructed the spirit.

"Three?" Ravagin asked as the glow-fire darted out of the room.

"Three of us will stand a better chance out there than two," she said calmly. "Nordis, you have anything better than the knife you're wearing?"

" 'Fraid not. The selection you get in the Tunnel isn't exactly the best."

"Yes, I know. There's a sword cabinet down the hall to your left—go and pick yourself out something."

"Thanks." Nordis strode to the door and out into the hall.

Ravagin eyed Melentha. "What did you do to Gartanis?" he asked quietly.

It was the deeper demon voice which answered him. "Less than I'd hoped to, it seems," it said. "His defenses were skillfully prepared, with the lar only one of them. But he won't be in Besak long."

"You think one lousy demon attack's going to scare him into running?" Ravagin snorted.

"Not at all—it'll be the leaders of Besak who ask him to leave. They won't risk losing their lar again."

"Ah-ha," Ravagin said, nodding. "Side effect, nothing—you took out Besak's lar deliberately. Is Gartanis that much of a threat to you?"

Abruptly, Melentha stood up. "I trust, Ravagin, that you won't try anything foolish while we're out looking for this wayward fool of Nordis's. Remember that Danae will still be here."

Ravagin felt his stomach muscles tighten. "Don't worry," he said softly. "I'll remember."

Five minutes later they were mounted and riding out from the house.

"Esporla-meenay," Ravagin murmured as they reached the post line, felt his jaw tighten as he noted the red flash accompanying the green. So Melentha had added djinns to the demon already trapped there. Great.

"We'll start at Besak, see if we can pick up his trail," Melentha said as they turned eastward. "This guy have a name, Nordis?"

"Rax Andresson," the other supplied. "I tried using a djinn to track him down, but the thing couldn't make contact."

"You'd have done better to use a demon," Melentha said shortly. "Djinns aren't much use for that sort of thing."

Riding a few meters off Melentha's left, Ravagin listened to the shop talk with half an ear and tried to think. Out here, far from Melentha's demon-infested house and grounds, getting away would be an almost trivial exercise. Getting back to the house afterwards and rescuing Danae, on the other hand, would be essentially impossible.

Damn it all. What am I supposed to do?

A Courier's primary responsibility is to protect his clients, the standard policy ran through his mind.

Fine; so what did that policy require here?

He could escape. Possibly even escape to the Tunnel and out of range of this spirit conspiracy they'd stumbled into. He could bring back assistance...

And would find that in the meantime Danae had disappeared.

Or he could cooperate with Melentha and walk meekly back into his prison once they'd rescued this Andresson idiot... and the odds still were that Danae would be killed. Along with him.

There wasn't any third option... and unfortunately, he knew what his choice had to be.

He would have to walk back into the lion's den with Melentha. Go back and do what he could to at least win freedom for his client.

And if that effort failed, to be prepared to die there with her.

From the window, Danae watched the three figures ride away from the house. Another flicker of red and green came from the post line just before they reached it—one of them checking on the spirits there?—and then they were past and riding off across the outer grounds in the direction of Besak.

She took a deep breath. For Melentha to send anyone out at this time of night was ominous in the extreme... but on the other hand, it meant that for a while at least there were going to be three fewer obstacles between her and freedom.

Would Ravagin read it that way, too? There was no way to know—no way to know, for that matter, if he even was aware that anyone had left. But it almost didn't matter. One of them had to get out if the Twenty Worlds were to be alerted to the threat sitting here across the Tunnels. If she could get Ravagin out too, they'd have a much better chance... but if she couldn't, she would just have to go it alone.

And right now was the best chance she'd ever have to make her play. It was time to close her carefully laid trap... and hope like hell she did indeed know what she was doing.

Turning from the window, she stepped over to the bed, surreptitiously testing the feeling in the fingers of her left hand. Still a little clumsy, but enough of the numbness had worn off. She'd just have to hope that her feet would behave properly when the time came.