Eric Flint: The Sorceress of Karres

"Or hadn't been stood on by fanderbags, or hadn't run into the human equivalent of a threshing machine," said Olimy, jerking a thumb at Ta'zara.

"Hanged?"

Sedmon nodded approvingly. "Justice around here is swift and salutary. They were easy enough to round up. Not many places to hide-and rather obvious in appearance compared to the locals. Some tried to flee out onto the plains. Others sought refuge among the wisent buyers. Except the wisent buyers-the real ones-suddenly found that they had a good reason to co-operate."

Olimy laughed. "Yes. I believe they suddenly decided to increase their purchase price too, before the hanging seemed like too much fun to stop."

"Anyway. The citizens of Pampez, the citizens of the Empire, even some of my operatives are very pleased with the way things have come out. And the ISS and my operatives, and indeed I believe Karres, are hunting for any trace of the Venture, or Marshi. And yes, the ISS are assuming that the plant-infested criminal brethren are potentially infective," said Sedmon.

"It came out all right," said Goth. "But it's not over yet. She could do the same, or worse again if she finds what she needs to breed. Imagine if she'd got those spores into your Daalmen. Or the

"Or worse, Karres," said Sedmon, grimly. "She is not a spent force yet. And we're determined to make sure she-and this plant-are destroyed. At any cost."

Goth had a sinking feeling that cost might include the life of Captain Pausert. She had to stop that from happening.

It took nearly two weeks before the news came in.

"We have a positive sighting on the borderplanet of Merega V. The Venture set down with four other vessels to refuel. Marshi was seen." Sedmon paused. "The operative is busy sending through an image. But there is also a person that fits the description of Captain Pausert."

Goth heaved a sigh of relief. "Let's go. You are about to experience the Sheewash drive, Sedmon."

Olimy held up a hand. "Goth. The operative said that he was in no way a prisoner. In fact he was seeing to the refueling."

Goth looked at Olimy. Sedmon. And then at her sister."He's part of the plant!" she said in horror.

The Leewit ground her small fist into her palm. "I guess we're just going to have to get it out of him, Sis."

Olimy said nothing, but Sedmon bowed. "A leech was put onto the Venture. We can track her. If you want to make use of the Thunderbird ?"

Goth stood up. "Farewells will just have to wait. Let's go, Leewit. Is Ta'zara fit to travel again?"

"I reckon," said the Leewit. "And we can work on him some more if need be."

"Going to go Sheewash. That takes it out of you too." She looked at the adult Karres witch. "You coming, Olimy?" she asked innocently.

He laughed. "No. You'll have to do your own Sheewash. I am coming along, but I'll be a step behind you. We've been calling people in from the nannite cleanup. Karres herself is coming. But that's not so quickly or easily organized, as you know.

"Well," said Goth, pacing. "Let's get moving. They've got quite a start on us."

"You can't catch it all up at once," said Olimy, warningly. "There are some Empire ships, some Uldune ships, and Karres also on track. The Venture 7333 is on a remote patch of the starways, but we're converging on them. Try to work on a delaying strategy if you get there too soon." He made no attempt to stop them. That was not the Karres way, after all.

The hexaperson was worried. The Daal of Uldune was no saint. He couldn't be, as the ruler of a planet like Uldune. Still, of late he had found that he was less unfeeling than was it was good for the Daal to be. Uldune treated the Witches of Karres with the respect-and the suspicion-that a powerful and bloody ruler treats a even more powerful force. That had, in the past, proved wise. But as the Daal he had grown up in an intrigue-filled and un-gentle environment, in which the six were, of necessity, almost entirely isolated from contact with the rest of the populace of Uldune. Emotion had largely been a stranger to the Daal… until Hulik do Eldel had woken a slumbering giant.

The hexaperson had discovered that he cared very deeply about someone. And as if that had been a crack in his defenses, the hexaperson was discovering that he cared about other people too. Not many other people. But Goth and the Leewit had somehow wormed their way in. They were not just Karres-which was respected, but as an enemy, because all who were not the hexaperson were some kind of enemy, except Hulik. But those two small witches had become something more. He liked Captain Pausert too, for that matter. The man was just so… unbelievably un-devious and well, idealistic. It had been a shock to realize that Karres too was rather like that. Yes, they were secretive. But had they been interested in ruling he had come to realize that they could have seized power fifty times over.

The hexaperson was worried as a result. He was worried because he had come to think of Karres, not merely as a powerful enemy to remain on good terms with because it could destroy or at least cripple you, but not even as an enemy. Almost… a friend. Bizarre. Not something a leader of Uldune could afford, but yet he had a feeling that he could not afford not to befriend Karres, even if it meant changing the way Uldune operated.

And he was worried for a second reason. He had seen the desperate addict that Mebeckey had become. He knew that that was the best that Goth could hope for Captain Pausert. And secondly, he knew Pausert's chances of survival were rather poor. His own instinct, as the Daal of Uldune was to regard the man as collateral damage, if the opportunity arose, to kill off Marshi.

Only he did not want to tell Goth that. Firstly, it would hurt her. And secondly, even if he was only one sixth physically here, and had a special cap that in theory would protect him, he thought that killing Pausert might just be very bad for his health.

There were limits even on the Sheewash drive. Both Goth and the Leewit worked at it in concert, but Goth knew that it was vital that they arrive at the Venture able to use klatha to its full potential. That meant not over-tiring themselves. They were still pushing the Thunderbird along at far faster than the fastest imperial cruiser-and her over-powered engines were thrusting her along while they rested. But it would still take at least five ship-days to intercept the Venture. Meanwhile, subradio information came out of the leech, letting them plot a vector.

"They're heading for the Chaladoor," said Goth looking at the screen plot.

"So why am I not surprised," said the Daal of Uldune sourly. He was busy with some calculations of his own, about the progress-at rather more modest speeds-of his fleet. He had ordered out all the ships he could spare. Uldune had watching enemies too.

The last probe into the Chaladoor had not been a successful one. The ships had in fact managed to send out quite a comprehensive report of the conflict with the Phantom ships.

They just hadn't been able to win, or escape. The Daal had, since then, acquired some insight into what the Phantom ships couldn't withstand. But that didn't alter the fact that a ship crewed with three of the witches, using their special drive, had barely escaped. The hexaperson knew that he could not afford to lose the better part of his fleet, or Uldune-the wolf-would fall to the jackals.

There was a narrow crawlspace down along the Venture 's tubes. It was the sort of place, especially for a large man like Captain Pausert, that was only visited with some discomfort while doing tube calibrations. If one was really determined and crawled along a long way one came to a slightly larger gap created by the updating of tube-liners. They'd been longer back in the long ago day that the Venture was first launched as a pirate-chaser. Modern tubes were just that little bit shorter before the final choke and outer flares. That left a gap. It was a hot, noisy spot.