"I don't know that I can trust you," Rick said. "It involves a lot of people. Including some back on Earth. But assume I'm lying. It's still important to you. Without that crop, you won't be getting any juicy trade goods from the Shalnuksis. In fact, Andrй, just what are you accomplishing with your superior skills and experience?"
"Is there any point to this conversation?" Parsons demanded.
"Certainly. I hope to persuade you to join us," Rick said.
Parsons laughed.
"Why not?" Rick asked. "Together we can grow those crops and trade with the Shalnuksis. We might even be able to capture a starship and get the hell off this planet! If we work together.
"Or we can go on fighting, and no matter who wins we both lose. You aren't going to grow that crop. Sarakos can't even feed his army! The people here will never stop fighting as long as he's here. But you must know already that we've been welcomed as liberators. My alliance is with the legitimate king, and I've got most of the nobility as well. I can get crops planted and harvested. You can't.
"Come over to our side, and you'll have an honored place. Wealth and influence, and you won't have to fight all the time. We both win. Fight me, and we both lose."
"So," Parsons said. "You are persuasive, if overconfident. And yet I wonder. I have been thinking since I received your letter, what is it that you can do? Gunpowder? Muskets? I thinkyou have not had enough time. Hand grenades? Undoubtedly, and catapult bombs as well. Tell me, what range do you get with them?"
"Enough. And I have a lot of them," Rick said. "Andrй, for God's sake, let's end this damned war here and now. Can't you see it's better if we work together?"
"I see that you are the cause of my troubles," Parsons said. "The guerrilla war-"
"That was spontaneous," Rick said.
"I do not believe you. Without you the resistance will collapse, and in the morning we will destroy this barbarous army of yours." He smiled thinly. "What makes you think I will share power with you and your hill clans?"
"You share with Sarakos-"
"For the moment. I need him. But that will not be forever."
"Andrй, you've gone crazy," Rick said. "What do you want?"
"What I said I wanted before we left the Moon," Parsons said. "To be a king. And I do not think you can offer that. Rick, you are a fool. Without you, your cause collapses. I will have your army as well as my own." His hand darted under his jacket.
It seemed to Rick that everything moved in slow motion. Parsons' hand reached his pistol, and Rick threw himself violently aside, his hand scrabbling for his own weapon.
Then there was a shout. "No! Damn it, no!" Elliot's shout startled Parsons so that he fumbled his draw, but Rick was still too slow. He had the.45 in his hand, and the safety off, but before he could swing it around to point at Parsons, Andrй's own weapon was lining up with Rick's head-
There were three shots very close up. Rick's ears rang with the muzzle blast. He heard shouting, but it was incomprehensible through the ringing in his ears. Gradually he realized that he was still alive, and that he felt no shock or pain.
Andrй Parsons fell heavily. His face held a look of total surprise. "My honorable young friend-" he gasped. Whatever else he was going to say never got out.
"Take it easy," Sergeant Elliot was saying in the Tran dialect. "We surrender." Elliot held his empty hands high, and after a moment Bisso did the same.
"What happened?" Rick asked. "Who-"
"I tried to stop him myself," Elliot said. "I already made one mistake about you, Captain. I didn't want to let Colonel Parsons make another. But he was too fast. I didn't even draw. It was your girlfriend there." He pointed to Tylara. She sat motionless, still holding Mason's pistol in both hands in the approved military grip. One of the baggy sleeves of her cloak was charred, and wisps of smoke rose from where she had shot through it.
Mason came up the hill moments later. "You all right?" he asked.
"Yes-" Rick's ears still rang. Tylara had been no more than a foot behind him when she fired. His head was clearing, but it seemed to be a long time doing it. Tylara seemed dazed as well. And now here was Mason. "Where did you come from?" Rick demanded.
"Out there," Mason said. "I did a little scouting in case Parsons brought a sniper. Nobody around just at the moment, but after those shots there will be. We'd better get going. How you doing, Sarge?"
"Just what is going on?" Rick asked.
"Hell, Cap'n, I wasn't going to let you come out here by yourself," Mason said. "Figured I'd be more use out where they couldn't see me. Only you had to pick a place I couldn't get close enough to! Good thing Tylara thought of borrowing my pistol. She's been taking lessons dry-firing that thing for weeks now. Cap'n, we really had better get going."
"All right." He got up and felt himself swaying until Elliot steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. "Tylara-"
She got up slowly. She kept the pistol in her hand, but she was careful not to point it at anyone. "I had not known," she said softly. "I did not intend to- shoot-but once."
"They'll do that," Mason said. "Come on, I hear people comin' from both directions. You move out-I'll hang back and discourage visitors." He patted the H amp;K battle rifle affectionately.
"What now, Elliot?" Rick asked.
"We'll accept your offer," Elliot said. "If it's still open."
"It's open," Rick said. "But it won't be for long." He looked at his watch. "You have no more than two hours to get back to the village and bring any men who want to come. Bisso will stay with me."
"Yes, sir," Elliot said. "Two hours." He stood awkwardly for a moment, obviously fumbling for words. "I'm not much for apologies," he said. "I thought I was doing the right thing back when we first landed. Now-"
"You don't have to apologize," Rick said. "Just get back with the men. Leave equipment if you have to, but bring the men and what you can carry. Two hours."
"Yes, sir. Two hours."
Forty minutes after Elliot brought a dozen men and the light machine gun to Rick's pavilion, the gunpowder exploded.
EPILOGUE
Tylara looked down from the battlements of Castle Dravan with satisfaction. The last remnants of Sarakos's siege works had been removed, leveled over. They were gone without trace. Dravan stood strong again.
It would need to be. Sarakos was dead-had that been his body in the silken robes? The gunpowder bomb had obliterated the face. Whoever that was, Sarakos had died; and with neither king nor star men to lead them, his armies had dissolved at a touch from Rick's pikemen and archers. Drantos was free, but there were rumors of war from the north, and more than rumors of invasions from displaced tribes to the south.
The Demon Star stood brightly above the horizon, visible even at high noon. She thought she could already feel its warmth. The Time was coming, and there were myriads of details for the attention of the Eqeta and Eqetassa of Chelm. She turned away from the battlements to where Rick and Gwen stood, and she smiled faintly. Rick was sending Gwen away. She need no longer fear what her husband might feel for his countrywoman.
"They can't expect a crop for another year," Gwen said. "The invader star won't be bright enough. Are you sure you won't need me here?"
Rick shook his head. "I'll manage. Tylara doesn't like having you around anyway-"
"I've noticed."
"But the main thing is to start the university as soon as possible. You'll have Warner and Campbell, and I'll send you McCleve as soon as he's finished his work on a tetanus inoculation."
The medical sergeant had already developed a smallpox vaccination, and was teaching anatomy to someof Yanulf's acolytes. That knowledge would soon be spread too far for the Shalnuksis to eradicate even with atom bombs.
"I wish you didn't have to stay here," Gwen said. "Not-Tylara has nothing to be jealous of. But there's so much to do."