Pathspace: The Space of Paths (22 page)

Somehow the wizard had guessed his identity.
That knowledge might have saved him from execution. But then, the
price of his life would have been testifying against Brutus and his
fellow Texans, and allowing Rado to extract a ransom for him from
the Honcho.

There was no way he could
justify to himself what Brutus had overseen at the border farm. He
knew that. But to return home with his father knowing he had gotten
himself captured
and
had informed
on his comrades, that was also hard to stomach. Bad enough that his
father thought him weak and useless without adding thew word
'traitor' to the mix.

But what sort of person keeps the secrets of
murderers and rapists?

No. He should report the
commander's actions to his superior, the Honcho, and give his
father the chance to do the right thing and make an example of the
scum. But that would only be possible if he could get back
before
them. If Brutus reached Texas
first, he would make his report, in all likelihood saying that his
men had been fired upon and found it necessary to make an example
of the farmer. The wife and daughter would not be
mentioned.

He urged the horse into a full gallop,
leaning forward as it shifted into the four-beat gait. Too much of
this would exhaust the beast, perhaps even lame it, but he had to
get ahead of them as soon as possible.

If he saw them, and rode
past without slowing, would Brutus fire on him?
No horse
can outrun a crossbow. But if I slow down, one of his men could
grab the reins and then there's no beating them back to
Texas.

Presently he was out of the city. He let the
horse slow back down to a trot and began to look for side roads. He
couldn't stay on the highway, much as he would like to. The paving
materials used for the main roads of the Ancients had stood up well
against the crumbling onslaught of time, but the best route south
was also the most obvious one for pursuit to take.

Surely Brutus and the other men had not kept
to Highway 25. If he stayed on it he could make better time and
arrive before them. But he would be safer off the main road.

He saw a stand of trees ahead on the left.
Slowing the horse to a walk, he guided it off the road and behind
the trees, out of sight of the highway.

While the horse rested, he
tried to think. If only he could send a message to Dallas before
Brutus beat him there. He didn't have to actually get there first
in person, if his report did. From what he'd read of the Ancients,
they'd had a communication system that circled the planet.
Now all we have is smoke and mirrors...

Wait! He had forgotten
about the Bangers! Fool! He'd been so bent on getting
away
, he'd forgotten that he should be
running
to
something. If he
remembered right, the nearest access point was less than fifty
miles from Denver. And of course that was where Brutus and the
others must be headed at this very minute. They had a few minutes
head start on him, but unless the secret had been compromised, they
wouldn't expect the Rado forces to be looking for them there. With
any luck, the Governor's men would be heading due south just as he
had been. And Brutus would know that, so he wouldn't be driving his
horses as hard as he could be. He'd be saving their strength for
the journey home.

And that meant Jeffrey had a chance of
beating him to the access point.

As he realized this, he heard a deep humming
sound. It was hard to localize, seeming to come from all around
him. It seemed familiar.

Aria: “You
are
a proper fool, I
said.”

For a time she rode in silence, reviewing
her actions, looking for the moment when she had gone wrong. Was it
when she decided to ask the wizard for help? Or when she had
settled for his apprentice? Perhaps her mother was right. She
should have gone straight to the Governor and given her a chance to
declare her opposition to any torture.

But that would not have prevented the
prisoners from escaping, though it might have kept her from getting
caught up in the jailbreak.

“
Why are you doing this?”
she asked.

“
Isn't it obvious?” said
Ludlow. “For a time now I might have thought that Xander would
reconsider his decision and resume teaching me his secrets. But
that's obviously not going to happen. He's found a more promising
student.”

“
But that's no excuse!
Being a wizard isn't the only thing you can do.”

“
It's the only thing I
wanted to do,” he said. “Ever since he found me in Boulder. All he
had to do is give me a little more time. But no, he was always in
too much of a hurry to get his school started.”

The school is important to him,” Aria
said.

“
My life is important
to
me
,” Ludlow replied. “Once he
discontinued my instruction, what was left for me? To become some
sort of minor official for your mother? Perhaps a filer of reports,
a carrier of messages for more important advisors? I will be more
than that.”

“
Yes,” she said. “You will
be a traitor, an abettor of criminals and a turncoat. Such a grand
destiny you are are stepping into. Do you really think the Honcho
will welcome such a person into his entourage?”

“
He will welcome the man
who brings him the daughter of his enemy,” said Ludlow.

She considered that. “Are you so sure you'll
make it to Texas?”

“
It may not take long for
them to discover the prisoners have escaped,” he allowed. “But we
have a head start on them.”

“
But you have only one
crossbow,” she pointed out. “Two, if the other man rejoins you. The
Governor will send an armed force. If you wait for the man you left
behind to catch up, that will give them a chance to stop
you.”

“
All it took to get us
away was one knife,” he said. “Besides, I expect Texas will be
sending an armed escort to reinforce us. They won't risk our
getting recaptured.”

“
You are a fool. Taking me
hostage won't change anything. My mother's not sentimental enough
to surrender to the Honcho just to get me back.”

“
This isn't about you,” he
said. It might surprise you to hear this, but your inclusion in
this enterprise is entirely an accident. I would have preferred to
have slipped out more discretely, but I couldn't leave you behind
to raise the alarm.”

“
Then why am I still here?
Why haven't you dropped me off somewhere along the way?”

“
You might still turn out
to be useful,” he said, “if they catch up to us before the escort
from Texas gets here.”

“
You are a proper fool, I
said. There is no escort from Texas. The most they could know is
that their scouts have not reported in. There is no way they could
know where to meet you.”

“
We will soon,” he said,
“be catching them up on recent developments.”

He knew that he should leave such things to
those he had assigned to them, but he could not resist checking the
preparations again. “You're sure all of the entrances are
covered?”

“
Positive, sir,” said
Lancer. “No one is going to get at His Holiness while he's
here.”

“
That's what the last one
thought, before they plugged poor Pope Rodrigo,” said Peter. But of
course that wasn't here. His own residence was more secure. Wasn't
it?

“
Someone's coming,” they
heard.

He glanced around the room another time.
Katarina looked up as he did so, a question on her face. “I think
he's here,” he told her, straightening his jacket.

“
You look fine,” she said.
“Don't fidget. It makes you look weak.”

Someone knocked on the door. He turned and
opened it, but the man standing there was not the Pope, or even one
of the papal guard. “What is it, Julio?”

The man saluted and held out an envelope.
“Message from Quintus, sir. He said you will find it both relieving
and disturbing, sir.”

“
Did he, now?” Peter
accepted the envelope and returned the salute, dismissing the
courier.

“
Who is it?” Katerina
asked.

“
Just a message,” he told
the Honchessa.

“
He's not canceling, is
he? The cook will be furious.”

“
No,” he said. He broke
the wax seal and removed the papers enclosed within the envelope.
“It's a report from the scouts.”

“
And about time! Is
Jeffrey all right?”

He read to the bottom,
then started from the beginning again. “Yes, that's the odd thing.
This report is
from
Jeffrey. Not
from our usual banger.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Completely. It's signed
'Pelion' which is his personal call sign. He chose that because
it's the name of a J-shaped mountain peninsula in Greece. I used to
think it was his way of proving he remembers his Geopolitics
lessons.”

“
Why didn't he have the
usual man send it?”

“
He must have been in a
hurry. Or he wanted to make sure no one else saw it.”
And
with good reason!
He's accusing his Commander
of war crimes...or what would have been war crimes, if a state of
war existed. Which it obviously would, soon.

“
Why the hurry? And how is
he doing?”

“
No so well, apparently.
They were captured by Rado, but managed to escape. He doesn't
mention any injuries,” he added, before she could ask. “But there
are other problems he wanted me to know about before they sent the
official report.”

“
What sort of
problems?”

“
Nothing I can't handle,”
he said. But as the old cliché went, the report raised more
questions than it answered. How had he managed to send it without
Brutus watching? Had the commander gotten himself wounded during
the escape? It was going to be very awkward when they returned.
Brutus was his most experienced officer. It would be bad for morale
if he let this matter reach a formal court-martial...and bad for
discipline if he didn't, if too many people knew.

Just what we need: more complications.

He slipped the papers into an inner pocket
of his jacket and poured himself a shot of Balcones whiskey. Taking
a sip pf the liquid fire, he reflected that Brutus and the Balcones
were both products of Texas grain that took time to appreciate.
Unfortunately, while his son had spent plenty of time getting to
know firewater, he'd never taken a shine to Commander Glock.

It had been Peter's hope that this scouting
mission would rectify that a little. Brutus was like good booze. In
times of stress you soon learned you could rely on both. No, the
man wasn't sweet like pancake syrup. Like a good shot of Jack, he
could make you rethink your willingness to acquire familiarity.
Just as good bourbon could make you cough and bring tears to the
eyes of a newcomer, Brutus could alarm new recruits with his
callousness and disconcert them with his apparent fearlessness
under fire. Yes, he could be a bully. But not a coward.

Well, so much for plans of bonding. The Runt
sounded like he wanted to bring Brutus up on charges, and that was
likely to hamper the process. And as Honcho, he'd be square in the
middle between his heir and his best officer.

There was another knock at the door. It
returned him to the present. Let the future take care of itself.
“Yes?”

“
We've sighted the Pope's
coach, sir.”

How do I handle it all?
The same way I always have. Plan for the future when you can,
and the rest of the time deal with the present. “We'll be in the
study.”

Katarina accepted his arm and he led her
into the study, where she ensconced herself in a rattan chair by
the fireplace and busied herself with appearing idle, lifting a
slim volume that she pretended to have been reading. He seized the
poker, prodded the dimly glowing coals, and decided to set another
split log on top of them. It had been getting colder lately, as
Winter came on, and for all he knew the new Pope (what was his name
again?) might be elderly and sensitive to the cold. The stirred
coals shone a little more brightly as the fresh addition began to
hiss, their ruddy glow reflecting off of the hundreds of hand-bound
volumes and folios decorating the shelves of his study.

He turned at the sound of the door. “Your
Holiness,” he said, extending a hand, “so good of you to visit us
on such a chilly evening. I trust you are well?”

The man in white clasped his hand with a
slight smile, evidently knowing he could not expect the traditional
ring kiss from the Honcho. “Let's not be over-formal,” he
suggested. “Here in private, please call me Enrique. How can we be
of service to your Excellency?”

“
Peter, please, if we're
cutting the bullshit. How are you settling in? “

“
As one of Pope Rodrigo's
advisors, I've been in Dallas for a couple of years now, so I
already know my way around, as it were,” said Enrique. “I was
surprised at your invitation. I had expected our first encounter to
take place at your headquarters in the 'scraper.”

“
Oh, my apologies, Ricky,
I wasn't sure how old you were,” said Peter. “For all I knew the
College of Cardinals had elected another geezer, and I didn't want
to risk him climbing all those stairs and maybe forcing another
election.”