The Cyber Chronicles - Book I: Queen of Arlin (31 page)

Tassin jerked
awake as a hand clamped over her mouth, stifling her scream. A man
with sparkling lights on his brow crouched over her.

"Hush. It's
me."

Sabre's husky
voice made her slump with relief, and he removed his hand. Becoming
aware that it smelt of leather oil and horse, she scrubbed her
lips. Indignation rushed in to fill the void that the sudden ebb of
dread left, and her anger flared.

"I wish you
would not keep doing that!"

"What, rescuing
you?"

"Putting your
dirty hands on me," she growled.

"It's a good
thing I wasn't expecting gratitude from you. Would you like to stay
here? I'm sure Torrian stinks worse than me."

"No!" Tassin
squeaked in panic, then realised that he was joking and relaxed.
"You are well now?"

He smiled, and
she stared at the brow band. Many of the lights that had been
flashing red after his fall from the cliff were now steady green
again, and a few flashed amber. The diagonal line of lights
remained red, and the topmost two flashed. Obviously he was not
under the cyber's control, but something had changed.

"No thanks to
you," he said.

"You made me
angry."

"I take it that
means you're sorry?"

"Go to
Hell."

"Likewise.
Shall we go, your high and mightiness?"

Sabre stood,
ducking to avoid the tent's low roof. Tassin pulled on the
overdress while he rolled her bedding into a bundle.

Leaving Tassin
to finish dressing, Sabre wandered over to the stew pot that hung
above a cook fire's glowing embers. Sampling it, he glanced at the
cyber's data. The sentries patrolled on the camp's outskirts,
staying well away from the tents to avoid intruding upon the
royals' privacy. The cyber tracked their meandering progress and
frequent meetings to chat.

Tassin emerged
and glared at him. "What are you doing? This is no time to
eat!"

He glanced at
her. "On the contrary, I'm hungry." Taking in her ruffled pink
finery, he chuckled.

She flushed.
"This was Mirrial's idea, not mine."

Sabre tried to
stifle his laughter, coughing. "It suits you."

"It is a stupid
dress!"

"I think it's
cute. All those bows and ruffles, little flowers too. You look like
a real queen."

Tassin stamped
her foot. "Very funny. Let us go!"

Sabre chuckled
and turned his attention back to the food. "What's the rush? This
is a really good stew."

"What if
someone wakes up?"

He shook his
head. "That will only happen if you wake them with your squeaks of
rage."

Tassin glanced
around. The waning silver moon, Argos, gave little light, and the
orange moon, Pythal, had not risen yet. Bridling her impatience,
she waited while Sabre ate his fill, since he was not going to
listen to her. The pot was almost empty when he put down the spoon
and rose.

"Where are the
provisions?"

"I think they
are strapped to the back of the coach."

Sabre vanished
into the darkness, and Tassin crept over to Torrian's tent. Just
inside the flap, she found the bundle of armour and weapons she had
seen him place there earlier, and uncovered a gleaming gold-hilted
sword sheathed in soft leather. Digging in the bundle, she drew out
a long, slender dagger and wrapped it, together with the sword, in
a length of cloth.

Tassin glared
at the hulking form of the sleeping king, wishing she had the skill
and strength to end his life while he slept. She had never killed a
man, and, much as she longed for his death, the thought of plunging
the dagger into his flesh sickened her. If she did not kill him
with one blow, he would rouse the camp and Sabre would be forced to
fight again. Somehow she doubted Torrian would be easy to kill.
Sabre could do it, but he would not, and she resented his refusal
to do as she wished. With Torrian gone, Victor would marry her, she
was certain, and her problems would be over.

Sabre returned
a few moments later, with water skins and food, which he bundled
together with her bedding, then paused, turning his head slowly,
like the cyber had done.

"Okay, the
sentries are moving away. Hold onto the back of my webbing, and try
not to make any noise."

Sabre led her
through the bush to a pair of tethered horses, making her
previously impossible wish to escape seem ridiculously easy. He
loaded the supplies, then turned and spotted the bundle she
clutched to her breast.

"What have you
got there?" Tassin displayed the sword, and his teeth flashed in a
white grin. "At last, the warrior queen is armed!"

"It is not
funny!"

"But it is! You
couldn't swing that thing if your life depended on it." He held out
his hand, and she stepped back.

"It is
mine."

Sabre chuckled.
"Okay, keep it. Just don't drop it on your toe."

"I know how to
handle a sword, Sabre." She lashed it to her saddle.

"So, where to,
Your Majesty?"

"Back to
Olgara."

"Are you
nuts?"

"Nuts?"

"Never mind."
He ran a hand over his hair. "We can't go back to Olgara. That's
the first place Torrian will look, and Xavier will help him."

"There is
nowhere else to go." She sank down on a rock. "If Torrian does not
find me in Olgara, he will search Arlin, and his kingdom, and
Grisson's and Bardok's. Beyond those kingdoms is the Infinite Sea,
which cannot be crossed, and otherwise there is only the badlands,
which cannot be crossed either."

Sabre rubbed
his chin with a faint rasp of stubble. "What's beyond Olgara?"

"The sea."

"And the other
way?"

"Badlands. The
desert cuts right across the land, stopping at the Barrier
Mountains."

Sabre gazed
into space, digesting this. "But there's good land beyond the
Badlands."

"No one knows
that. The legends say there is a paradise there, but we cannot
cross the Badlands. It is cursed." She shuddered. "And if you try
to cross it, you have to go through the Death Zone."

He nodded.
"Mother Amy said something about that."

"It was to have
been the cyber's mission, before Pervor ordered it to protect me
instead. The cyber was meant to destroy the Death Zone. It is
getting bigger, and the monsters that come out of it are crossing
the mountains and attacking villages in Arlin. The lands we live in
are Life Zones, the desert is the Badlands, and in the middle of it
is the Death Zone."

Sabre turned to
gaze into the desert. "Radiation."

"What?"

"The curse.
It's radiation, from the nuclear war. That's what causes the
monsters. They must be mutants."

Tassin shook
her head. "It is evil magic, like Mother Amy said."

"Call it what
you will, it's deadly."

"So we go to
Olgara."

"No. We'll just
get caught. We cross the Badlands."

Tassin jumped
up. "You are mad! You will kill us both! Even if it could be
crossed, I do not want to live in a strange land, where I will be
nobody. I have a kingdom. I am a queen!"

He shrugged,
tightening his horse's girth. "Then marry Torrian."

"No! I wanted
to marry Victor, but Xavier made a stupid deal with Torrian, and
Victor is too spineless to go against him."

Sabre looked
thoughtful. "What about that young lord we met on the road to the
pass. What was his name? Algar or something. He's in Olgara. I
stole his horse. You could marry him."

"He is not
important enough. Torrian would kill him. He would not kill Victor,
because that would start a war with Olgara, but that young lord is
small fry."

"Then marry
Grisson, he'll kick the bucket soon enough."

Tassin
shuddered. "He is disgusting."

"Doesn't
Grisson have a son? Or Bardok, for that matter?"

"No. Grisson's
two sons died, and Bardok has only twelve illegitimate
daughters."

"Then it'll
have to be Grisson. You have no other choice."

Tassin paced
around. "If only Victor was not such a coward!"

"But he is, so
forget him."

"Perhaps he
will agree now. After all, Xavier has fulfilled his bargain and got
his money."

Sabre watched
her with an exasperated expression. "I think he'll still hand you
back to Torrian."

"I want to try.
We will go to Olgara!"

Sabre leant
against the horse and draped an arm across the saddle. "Right now,
we have horses and supplies. If we go back to Olgara, we lose them,
and our chance to cross the Badlands."

"I do not care.
I have no intention of crossing the desert. I am not going into the
Death Zone." She folded her arms and glared at him, daring him to
refuse.

Sabre muttered
a curse and glanced eastward, where the first pale glow of dawn
brightened the sky. "Tassin, if we go to Olgara, you'll end up back
with Torrian, and I'm not saving your butt again. If you go to
Olgara, you go alone." He glared at her, a twinge in his brain
warning him of the cyber's dislike for this idea.

"How dare you
defy me?" she cried.

Sabre groaned
and leant his forehead against the horse's withers.

She stamped her
foot. "You will do as I say, damn you, Sabre! You will take me back
to Olgara, now!"

Shaking his
head, Sabre untied the chestnut and gathered up the reins,
preparing to mount. "Go if you want, but count me out."

Tassin flew at
him and grabbed his webbing, trying to drag him away from the
horse. Sabre turned to her, and she pounded on his chest, then
slapped his face. He frowned, surprised when she burst into tears
and sank down in a plethora of frilly skirts, sobbing and covering
her face. Sighing, he stared across the foothills, quelling a surge
of sympathy and reminding himself that this was how women got their
way, when all else failed, by resorting to tears. This particular
gem of wisdom he had learnt at the women's spa, when he had been
the old woman's bodyguard.

"You cannot
leave me like this, I need you!" she wailed.

He shook his
head. "You need me to kill people. You certainly don't want my
advice. You're a damned warrior queen, and now you've got a sword,
so kill them yourself."

"I need you to
help me, not to tell me what to do!"

"I'm trying to
help you!"

"Then kill
Torrian!" she shouted.

"What?" Sabre's
eyes snapped down to her in shock.

"Kill him! He
has no heir. His cousin will inherit, and he is a coward. He will
cause no trouble. Grisson and Bardok will not prevent me from
marrying Victor. With Torrian dead, there will be no reason why
Victor cannot marry me. Do you not see? It will change
everything!"

Sabre turned
away in disgust. "I know you're desperate, but that's really low.
I'm not murdering anyone to facilitate your little dream of what
your life should be. If you want him dead, kill him yourself."

"If I am forced
to marry him, I will!" She stood up, wiping her eyes.

Sabre gathered
up the chestnut's reins. "Fine, go murder him then, but leave me
out of your sick little plans."

Tassin grabbed
him again. "No! Do not leave me!"

He pushed her
away hard enough to make her stumble back and sit down with a thud.
"What do you need me for? You've got it all worked out. A few
convenient murders and your life will be idyllic."

"I cannot! I
could not kill anyone in cold blood, not even Torrian!"

"Well, at least
you have that much sense. But I'm not doing it for you,
either."

She gazed up at
him, her eyes shimmering with tears. "You do not know what he is.
If it was only a loveless marriage, I could live with that. He is
not a decrepit drunkard like Grisson, or a fat smelly lecher like
Bardok. He is far worse, he is a rapist and a woman beater. Would
you condemn me to that?"

Sabre frowned.
"No."

Tassin drew up
her knees and buried her face in them.

Golden sunlight
quested across the land, and he looked inward at the cyber's
scanner information. Many red and blue dots, indicating men and
horses, moved on a black backdrop with a green grid for scale. A
close-packed twenty came from the direction of Olgara, and the
dozen in Torrian's camp moved about in agitation. They had run out
of time. Victor was coming after him, and Torrian would soon be
heading back. They were caught in between, with a mountain range at
their backs, and a radioactive desert before them.

Tassin looked
up. "Help me, Sabre... please?"

He gripped her
wrist and hauled her to her feet, shoving her towards the bay
horse. "Get on the bloody horse."

Shooting him a
calculating look, she swung into the saddle. Sabre took her horse's
reins while she clung to the pommel, the copious skirts of the
ridiculous dress billowing around her. Mounting the chestnut, he
turned it towards the road.

"We are going
to Olgara?" Tassin asked.

"No."

Urging the
chestnut into a canter, Sabre guided it through the rough terrain.
When they reached the road, he slowed it to a trot and glanced
towards Olgara, where a distant cloud of dust marked Victor's
approach. The new-born sun glinted on weapons and armour, and the
faint drumming of hooves carried on the wind.

Tassin cried,
"It is Victor! He has changed his mind! He has come for me!"

"No, he's
coming after me."

"Why would he
do that? He has come for me, I tell you!"

Sabre guided
the chestnut across the road, leading Tassin's horse. "He wants me
to show him how to fight. I escaped last night."

"Where are you
going? Turn towards him!"

"Shut up,
Tassin, we're crossing the desert."

"No! Let go of
my horse! Victor is coming to rescue me!"