Demonworld (39 page)

The mass of slaves huddled against one another, more terrified of their captors than ever. The Ugly circled them, cursing and spitting like madmen. When mothers cried out for lack of their children, the gunmen lashed out with insane oaths that often were not even intelligible.

Because the perimeter had drawn in, the outside world was utterly dark. The tent, the truck, and even most of the horses had been abandoned. If the bodies of their brothers were being eaten by demons in the night, then that was the concern of the dead.

A handful of horsemen stood about, some drooping so low in the saddle that they appeared to be asleep. Others complained loudly, so loudly that Barkus himself had to listen to every ding-bat who’d never been on a successful slave run explain in great detail exactly how he would have run the operation.

“
Shut up!” Barkus bellowed, sending a nervous twitch through his horse.

“
Shooting in the dark, ridiculous!” said an Ugly. “Ridiculous!”

“
I said shut up, god damn you!”

Wallach, still naked atop his horse, edged his mount alongside his master’s as he spoke into his radio unit. “Anyone not with the slaves, report,” said Wallach.

There was silence while the beaten killers waited. Wallach finally turned to his master and said, “I count forty-seven of us. Goddammit, that’s all I can count. All I can make out.”

“
Fachimundi!” Barkus yelled, the veins in his neck standing out like wounds. “Fachimundi, what have you got?”

The skinny accountant among the slaves rose up straight. “I count less than three-fifty,” said Fachimundi. “That leaves fifty gone, including the girls that were in the Feast.”

Barkus shook his head, his permanent smile now obscenely out of place.

“
Devil’s balls,” said Wallach. “Gotta be more of us!” He laid his teeth against the radio, said, “If you’re not with the slaves, report! Now! I don’t care how drunk you are!”

Almost immediately the radio crackled, said, “
I’m
not with the slaves.”

“
Who is this?” said Wallach.

“
Not a slave,” said the voice.

He heard neighing through the radio.

“
Is that the horses?” said Wallach. “Is this -”

Barkus snatched the radio from Wallach, ignoring the one on his own belt. “Who is this?” he said, grating the words through his fierce smile. “What have you done?”

“
Just stepping out for a walk,” said the voice. “That’s the right of every free man, isn’t it?”

Barkus hesitated for a long time, wondering if another gang had snuck weapons to the slaves. Had the Coil planned this to humiliate him?

“
What’s the matter, Barkus? Did you cut off your tongue to show the Ugly your team spirit?” Barkus heard laughter on the other end of the radio, then the voice said, “How’s your smile look now?”

“
It’s that little bitch-pup!” said Wallach. “The boy we had in the tent!”

Barkus’s eyes widened. “What are you trying to do?” he said quietly.

“
Live my life on my own terms,” said Wodan. “Same as every human being does, or should do.”

Again Barkus hesitated. He gripped his saddle as if the world was disappearing beneath him.

Wodan continued. “Did you really think we would follow the path of least resistance? Why, Barkus? Is it because your own path through life is a steady downhill slide?”

Wallach jumped violently and leaned sideways in his saddle such that his horse buckled and wobbled under him. Wallach fell against Barkus, grasped the wrist that held his radio, and said, “The horses! Don’t you dare-”

“
Ye-e-e-es,” said Wodan. “That’s right! We’re only taking a few for ourselves, but I did notice that you have quite a surplus. Nice job defending them, by the way.”

“
Don’t you do it, you little bitch!” Wallach spat into the radio.

“
You only gave us a handful of rice every day,” said Wodan, “but when you wake up, you’re going to find an entire banquet of fresh meat laid out for you.”

“
You!”

“
Wait,” said Barkus. He leaned his head against Wallach so that they were both crowded around the radio. “If you shoot the horses, we’ll kill some of the slaves.”

The radio crackled quietly.

“
I’ll do it,” said Barkus. He felt his control coming back. “The old don’t fetch a great price anyway.” He waited.

“
I can’t very well have you chasing after us,” said Wodan.

“
Be that as it may,” said Barkus, “all I have to do is give the word, and we start shooting. Parents and grandparents, boy! Ha. Probably brothers and sisters, too!”

“
Okay,” said Wodan. “But they won’t be easy to find.”

Wallach blinked as a little idea formed, and said, “Hey, come back now, or we’ll shoot some of the slaves anyway.” Barkus hissed in annoyance.

“
Don’t be stupid,” said Wodan. “They had their chance to leave, and they didn’t.”

Barkus shot Wallach an annoyed glare, then pushed him away.

Into the radio he said, “You’re just going to get eaten by demons. You know that, right?”

Wodan laughed, then said, “We’re ready for them. If you need help tracking us, just follow the trail of dead we leave behind.”

Before Barkus could reply, they heard gunshots and the clamor of horses running and spreading in all directions. Barkus was almost convinced that he could hear singing. The radio on the other end turned off.

Barkus and Wallach sat in silence for a long time, then Wallach said, “Do you think the Coil snuck some weapons among the slaves, and that’s how they got out?”

Barkus paused for a long time, then said, “That’s not the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day, but it certainly comes close.”

“
Stay away from those,” said Sevrik, and Professor Korliss jerked his hand away from the node of keys.

“
Now you talk,” said Korliss.

Several bright white lights hung over Didi’s inner sanctum, casting stark shadows on the half-naked Guardians that lazed about drinking nutrimilk or polishing armor that was already shining brightly.

Sevrik rubbed his face with shaking hands racked by chemicals. His eyes did not bounce lightly from point to point but glided along with inhuman smoothness, and while Korliss did fall inside their path from time to time, his old friend began to doubt that Sevrik saw him at all. Most of Didi’s monitors were shut down, and Sevrik had his own monitors and automated feeds apprising him of the hunt for Haven’s missing citizens.

“
You’ve beaten any record ever set for staying awake, even with drugs,” said Korliss. “You know,
friend
, if the body does not sleep, it does not heal. If the mind cannot shut off its conscious apparatus, then the garbage of experience piles up, and systematic thought breaks apart, and eventually you will go mad.”

There was silence. Korliss watched Sevrik’s head loll back and forth like an animal worn ragged with deprivation and abuse.

“
I admit I don’t know what you’re doing,” said Korliss.

“
If you move rational,” said Sevrik, “then they figure you out.”

“
But why did you have him arrested, man?!” said Korliss.

“
You don’t understand because you’re a rational man. Sometimes crazy beats rational. It upsets plans.”

“
A fancy way of saying that you’ve done something incredibly irresponsible and unbelievably stupid. Is Didi the enemy now?”

“
We allied for the Project,” said Sevrik. “I keep Project alive.” But when he said this, his face screwed up, and he seemed to wince utterly, at the bottom of his soul.

“
Listen,” said Korliss. “Didi’s under house arrest, but now that it’s out that he tampered with the unborn, he’s... Sev, he’s looking at the death penalty or a hundred years at least. No one’s died under the law in Haven since either of us has been alive, and when it did happen long ago, it certainly wasn’t because two friends had a misunderstanding.”

Sevrik raised his face, eyes closed in corpse-like repose.

Korliss leaned in close, whispered, “Do you think he could even
begin
to make the common man understand the importance of Project, even if he had to do it to save his life?”

“
Looks like the strong will have to come into the light,” said Sevrik coolly.

“
Looks like
all three of us could go down for this!” shrieked Korliss. “I’m the only one that could possibly articulate his motives, you’re the only one with connections to the Guardians of the law - and we’re all well-known friends, we’re
all implicated
, this stupid thing you’ve done could... it could end us all, you giant fool!”

Sevrik turned away from Korliss. Korliss felt eyes on him, then sensed a Guardian approaching to politely force him out. Korliss turned and left on his own. He wondered which of them would come out best: The one who was executed, the one who ended up in an insane asylum, or the one who committed suicide?

The Monster

They rode through the night, freezing cold and terrified of dropping into a ravine at any moment. When so many hours passed that it felt like they had lived in darkness forever, they stopped and lit the torches they’d taken from the camp. They looked like skeletons to one another. Now that they could ride faster with torch-bearers in the front, those that knew how to ride showed others the finer points of equestrianism. Wodan had never ridden a horse, but his shaggy blond mare seemed to like him from the start. The sides of the mare were covered in bruises; Wodan scratched her ears.

Red and blue seeped through a blanket of thick clouds and they could see distant rises and jutting contours on the black earth. The miles of rock rattled their bones. Now that the stream of panic and bloodlust ran dry, exhaustion and hunger and thirst caught up with them. They slowly came to a stop. The horses blew thick reams of steam into the chill air.

“
We gotta eat one of these horses,” said one among them.

“
They’ll see our smoke,” said another.

“
Didn’t say cook it,” said the first.

No one moved. Some curled against their horses, as if to sleep atop those long legs.

“
If we eat we sleep, and if we sleep we die,” said Wodan, his face buried in his horse’s mane. After the words were absorbed he lifted his face. “We have to assume they’re right behind us.”

“
But we scattered their horses,” said a tired voice.

“
All they need is a few,” said Wodan, “and we’re too tired to fight. We have to figure out where we are, then figure out where we’re going.”

“
I know the area,” said Agmar. Wodan perk up. “Know it well,” he finished, nodding.

“
Been all around, have you?” said Wodan.

Agmar nodded, said, “We ran off course a little, no fault of ours, but... I could get us to Sunport.”

“
How long?” said Wodan.

“
Half a day, a day,” said Agmar. He smiled cynically, said, “But we’re tired, we’re hungry, and these horses are gonna start dropping if they don’t get watered. Only a day to the city, but I reckon it’ll be the longest day of your life.”

“
Damn, we were lucky,” said Wodan. “To be that close to the city!”

“
You’re right.” Agmar scanned the dark roof overhead, then said, “If we’d stayed just one more night with the Ugly…”

“
We might have gotten to Sunport by nightfall tonight,” said Brad, “and then we never would have been able to escape.”

The thought was sobering and terrifying, a reminder that they should be grateful for what little they had.

Wodan turned to Agmar, then said, “Thanks. For coming with us, I mean. We wouldn’t be able to find Sunport without you.” Wodan looked the old man up and down, remembering his words of caution and wondering exactly why the old man had risked his life to come with them.