WarriorsApprentice (16 page)

So deep and profound were his thoughts that for a moment he
had been distracted. Hopewood’s attention had turned to him.

“I’ll have to kill you first. I can’t leave you lying around
the office.” A sigh escaped from his mask-like face. “I won’t even have time to
enjoy it much.” He raised the knife above his head. “Business before pleasure.”

The lights suddenly winked out, the electrical hum from the
open doorway of the weapons room died and the blue light glowing on the top of
the box faded and went out. Tybor, still straining against the bonds, rolled
sideways, freed of his restraints. Hopewood’s knife slid past him and hit the
floor with a thud.

“What’s happening? Where are you?” Hopewood shouted.

The centuries of underground living forced on the Dvalinn by
the hatred of humans was about to save them. All Dvalinn could see in very low
light levels. The darker shadow that was Huon stirred. Hopewood twirled and
thrashed, trying to connect with either of the two men. Tybor’s limbs still
felt sluggish and heavy but he shuffled over to Huon and rolled him under the
table.

“I’m all right,” Huon whispered. “I can get up.”

A beam of light from a powerful torch pierced the darkness
and in its glow Tybor saw Hopewood look up.

“Help me. There are two demons here. We have to kill—”

The torch dropped and the sound of a heavy thud accompanied
by a soft clang filled the office. Hopewood sagged to his knees, then toppled
face-first onto the floor, his progress illuminated by the beam of the torch as
he fell to join it.

“Can you two get up? We have to get out of here.”

For the second time that night, Tybor found himself unable
to move. Judie Scanlon stood there, a small shovel used to scrape coals out of
the fire dangling from her hand, the blade stained with blood. At her feet,
Hopewood lay, his head in a pool of blood.

Tybor forced his legs to gather under him and stood up. “Huh…?
Why…?”

What movement of the universe on its axis had caused this
sudden reversal of reality?

Judie moaned, “I killed him. Oh God, we have to get out of
here. The police will arrive any minute.”

Tybor hesitated and looked longingly at the knife Hopewood
had dropped. He would have loved to plunge it into Hopewood’s heart, to make
sure he was dead, but no Dvalinn could use such a weapon. He thrust his hands
in his pockets and closed them around the chemicals there, but he could do no
more than that. His hands were still weak and he knew it would take minutes to
regain the energy to compress them and hurl them. He grabbed Hopewood’s wrist,
felt for a pulse, but found nothing.

“We have to destroy the weapons Hopewood used.”

Judie tugged on his arm. “We should go now. I called the
police when I first heard a noise.”

“Not until we do what we were sent to do,” Tybor insisted.

“Then I’ll help you. Only please, please hurry,” she begged.

Tybor picked up the bloodied shovel and moved into the
weapons room, swinging it wildly, smashing everything in sight except the gas
packs, which he gathered into a bunch and tossed into the center of the room.

“We can leave these here. The authorities will destroy them.
It is obvious they are dangerous to humans.”

“We need to break the computers,” Judie said frantically. “I
don’t think anyone else will be able to read my diagrams but we ought to get
rid of all the information on there. I don’t understand what’s happening but I
know I don’t want the police to associate me with any of this.”

“She’s right, Tybor,” Huon said. “Whatever information
Hopewood has on the Dvalinn has to be destroyed.”

They moved about the room in a frenzy of destruction. If
Judie had already called the police, silence was a wasted effort. When nothing
remained intact and his chest heaved with exertion, Tybor looked at Hopewood
and his lips twisted in hatred. He pulled his leg back to deliver one final
blow.

“I can hear sirens. We have to go. Now!” Judie yelled.

He wanted to punish Hopewood, but kicking a dead man
wouldn’t achieve anything. His head still felt fuzzy with a combination of rage
and pain, but he stepped back and grunted his agreement and let Judie lead the
way back to the open door. They raced down the stairs and out into the street.

Tybor wrapped his arm around Huon and took as much of his
weight as he could. On his other side, Judie did the same.

“What are you doing?” Tybor asked her.

“I’m coming with you,” she said. “Or you’re coming with me,
whichever.” She hitched at a leather satchel slung over her shoulder. Tybor
hadn’t seen her pick it up but now it swung as they rushed along, bumping
against her hip. “A train leaves Venice in less than an hour. I already planned
to be on it.”

“You were leaving?” Huon spoke, his voice sounding firmer,
and he pulled away from Judie. “Why?”

“Because I’d already decided I couldn’t work for Brian
anymore, and I had other reasons why I wanted to leave,” she replied
breathlessly. “I packed up my apartment today and arranged to have my stuff
shipped home.”

“Were you going to tell us that?” Huon asked. The hours of
physical training he had undergone stood him in good stead and as they ran he
straightened up, shrugging free of Tybor’s grip, his gaze fixing on Judie’s
face.

“Does it matter?” she asked. “I wouldn’t have found you if
I’d looked, would I?”

They turned a corner and Tybor realized they had reached the
suite of rooms he and Huon had rented.

“If you need to get anything from your apartment that
identifies you, we have a few minutes to spare,” she panted.

His mind must have been more affected by Hopewood’s device
than he thought. How else could he explain Judie’s transformation? Lacking the
time to figure it out, Tybor muttered, “Since it appears we’ll have to stay in
the human world a little longer, I’ll go up and get our things.” He looked at
Judie. “After I find out how you got involved in this.”

“I was on my way out,” Judie said. “I came downstairs and
heard voices. I looked into the office and I saw…” Her voice shook and her face
was white in the moonlight and she seemed to address her words to Huon. “The
people I worked with, they were all dead. I called the police. I wanted them to
arrest you. I waited in the hall, too scared to do anything or say anything,
too scared to run away.” Tears welled in her eyes and she began to shake. “Then
Brian started talking. I heard what he said. What you said. I thought his ideas
were crazy, but I never thought he’d… He tortured you and he was about to kill
Ty I had to do something.” Her eyes grew shiny with tears. “That device he used
on you wasn’t finished yet. He uses a huge battery pack in the field, but here
it operates through wireless technology from a mains-powered hub. I grabbed the
torch we have in the power box and threw the switch. You know the rest.”

“You saved us,” Huon said and put his hand reassuringly on
her shoulder. “If you hadn’t come along Tybor and I would both be dead by now.”

“And if I don’t get packed in a hurry we could still end up
that way. Wait here,” Tybor said and leapt up the stairs two at a time.

Moments later he reappeared in the doorway, wearing a clean
shirt and a different pair of pants, carrying a large bag of his own slung over
his shoulder. The sprint up the stairs had made his head swim, but he was
damned if he would let anyone know that. He tossed a shirt and coat to Huon.

“Here, these should cover the cuts that bastard gave you.
Let’s go.”

They arrived at the railway station and bought tickets.
“Three to Vienna, first class,” Judie instructed the vendor.

“To Vienna?” Tybor repeated. “Any reason?”

Taking the tickets, Judie walked to the waiting train in
silence. They boarded and found an unoccupied first-class compartment, went in,
sat down and slid the door shut. Only then did Judie answer.

“We’re not going to Vienna.” She leaned forward, first looking
out of the window, then checking the people walking past in the corridor.
“Brian had his top men with him, but there are more scattered around the world.
The police may not know who they’re looking for, but I assume the others will.”

Tybor nodded.

“I worked with these people and they are obsessed,” Judie
continued. “I don’t know how long it will take them to get here and start
asking questions about the passengers on this train, but we need to cover our
tracks.”

“She’s right, Tybor,” Huon said. “If there are any surviving
Gatekeepers they will know Dvalinn are responsible for this, and if anyone
describes us, they’ll know you are Dvalinn.”

“We get off the train at the next stop and head overland,”
Tybor said. “Judie, you go on to wherever you intended to go and forget you
ever met us.”

“No. I can’t. The other Gatekeepers and the police will know
I lived there. How am I supposed to explain what happened?” She shook her head.
“We should stick together, at least until we’ve had time to work out a practical
solution. I have a plan. We’ll get off the train at Klagenfurt. It’s a
university town in Austria. I share emails and information with other
post-graduate researchers there. At this time of year, lots of students are
coming and going. The station will be crowded and we can pass unnoticed in the
crowd.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Huon said, leaning back. “So what
shall we do until we get there?”

“I have an idea,” Judie said, her voice tight and grim.
“Let’s talk. And we’ll start with…who are you? And more to the point,
what
are you?”

“What do you mean?” Tybor asked, keeping his face impassive.

“I mean,” she said, looking him straight in the eye, “you
can start telling me the truth. Back there,” she gestured vaguely toward the
back of the train as it sped away from Venice, “Brian Hopewood called you
demons, but Ty said you were Dvalinn. And you,” she looked at Huon, “what you
said about your people? If that was true, then Hopewood was a murderer.” Her
cheeks turned red. “If you had been just average humans like me, those
electrical impulses should have had no effect on you. But I saw what my black
box did to you.” She shuddered. “Brian said you were evil. Are you?”

“No. The Dvalinn are not evil.” Huon looked at Tybor, who
sat next to him, arms crossed, lips set in a hard, narrow line. “There can be a
mighty streak of mean in us, though,” he said. “Especially in Tybor.”

“Tybor?” Judie looked at him. “Is that your real name?”

“Yeah, it’s al—”

He broke off and glared out into the corridor at a lone
passenger who had not yet found a seat. The man’s hand dropped from the
compartment door handle and he backed away.

Huon laughed. “See? A definite streak of mean.”

“Let’s get back to the subject,” Tybor grumbled. “How did
you know to turn off the electricity to free us when Hopewood had us trapped?”

“I designed that box,” Judie said. “Brian told me what it
was for. Of course before tonight I didn’t believe it but…”

Taking her hand and holding it in his, Tybor said, “The Dvalinn
exist and Hopewood hated us and vowed to destroy us all. He has killed hundreds
of our people and he planned to kill thousands more.” He let his lids lower.
“Tonight you saved them.”

“I understand,” Judie whispered. Her face paled to a sallow,
ashen shade, but she met his gaze and didn’t flinch. “You will do what you have
to do.” Her voice grew firmer and she said, “And if you let me, I will help you
any way I can.”

Huon leaned forward and took her other hand. “You are a
remarkable woman, Judie Scanlon,” he said. “We are honored to have met you.”

“For now, we are as safe as we can be,” Tybor said.

A knock on the compartment door disturbed him and he looked
up to see the conductor standing outside, a key-like tool in his hand.

Judie followed his gaze. “He’s come to convert the seats to
beds. I guess we could all use some sleep.”

She nodded at the conductor and they stepped into the
corridor while he worked. Then they moved back into the now-crowded space.
Judie settled onto the edge of the double bed and stretched, reaching her arms
up to brush against the single bunk that had been pulled out of the wall above
her. Her breasts lifted and pushed against the thin silk of her blouse and
Tybor’s blood thickened and heated, flowing downward to swell his cock, turning
it rock-hard.

In the aftermath of battle, this wasn’t an unusual
occurrence, but the strength of his need took him by surprise. Sitting with her
face level with the growing bulge in his pants, Judie couldn’t miss seeing it
and her eyes widened.

Her tongue slipped out between her lips to moisten them and
she sighed, “Ohhh.”

Immediately, Huon stepped into the compartment past Tybor
and turned to see what had drawn her attention. He snapped upright and his body
hummed like plucked guitar string.

“Yes,” he whispered, his voice low and intense.

Behind his back, Tybor grabbed the curtains and pulled them
closed and snicked the lock on the door, slipping the chain onto the hook by
feel.

* * * * *

“We can’t do whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, can
we?” Judie’s voice rasped from constricted lungs.

“It might require a balancing act, but the main bed is a
double.” Huon grinned, a wicked twinkle lighting his eyes. “We’ll just have to
stick close to one another.”

Along the corridor, Judie heard the sound of the passengers
in another compartment talking as they waited for their beds to be made up.
“What if someone hears?”

“What if they do? Why should we care?” Tybor took one step
toward the bed, pulling his shirt off over his head as he did.

He looked at the sweat stains, visible in the overhead light,
and tossed it in the wastepaper basket. He pushed his pants down and his cock
sprang free, pulsing and vibrating, a bead of pre-cum dampening its tip. Huon’s
gasp harmonized with the longing groan that issued from Judie’s lips. Completely
naked, Tybor leaned down and removed Judie’s shirt. Behind him, Huon shucked off
his coat.