Ertai, arms and legs stretched wide, was being held by two of Volrath's statues, animated for the task by Crovax. His shirt was torn open, and a bright red slash crossed his chest. Valmoral, an ugly gash on his head, had cut Ertai once and was poised to do so again.
"Finish him," Crovax ordered.
"No!" said Belbe. "Don't hurt him."
"You see," Crovax said to his surviving men. "Love conquers after all."
Two statues seized Belbe by the hands and feet, spreadeagling her off the floor like Ertai. Crovax found the discharger and picked his way over the fallen men and toppled statues to Belbe.
"You're quite formidable. The overlords built you well," he said.
"I'll be sure to relay your compliments," she replied, panting.
He held up the discharger. "Why wouldn't this work for me?"
"The mechanism is protected. It will function only if I use it," she lied.
Crovax tossed the exotic weapon aside. "Too bad. A splendidly destructive device."
He closely examined her wounded hand. "Not blood?"
Belbe shook her head.
"Interesting." Crovax sniffed the glistening oil and without warning licked the thin black liquid oozing from the wound. Belbe strained against the statues' grip. The one holding her wounded hand softened its hold, just for a second. It was enough. Belbe's open palm connected with Crovax's cheek and sent him sprawling.
Nasser and some of his men started toward him. Crovax got to his knees and stopped them with a blood-chilling glare.
"No one moves!" he hissed.
"Why not release me and make it a fair fight?" Belbe taunted, waving her free hand.
Crovax caught her hand in his, and they wrestled for a few seconds.
"Why do you imagine combat has to be fair?" he gasped.
He backhanded her across the face twice. Belbe's eyes filmed with gray until she shut out that pain as well. Crovax was plainly surprised when she took his blows and grimly smiled at him.
"You are the strongest," Belbe said. "There's no point resisting the inevitable. I will name you evincar."
All fell silent.
Ertai chewed through his gag and spat out the wad of cloth, croaking, "Belbe, no!"
"You heard her!" Crovax cried, pointing a finger at the assembled sergeants. "She said it!"
"I said it, and I mean it," Belbe said. "But it's not official until I proclaim you governor before the overlords on Phyrexia."
"How can you do that? Do I have to travel to Phyrexia?"
"No, I must declare you evincar before the open Window." She meant the voice-only message portal in the convocation hall.
Crovax stood back. The statues released Belbe and Ertai. "I give you this much grace, as you are the emissary and a redoubtable fighter," he said. "Summon the court to the Window and proclaim me evincar to everyone."
Belbe rubbed her battered hand. "I will. Tomorrow."
"Why not now?"
"It's late," she said. "We can do this in haste, or we can install you with all grave and proper ceremony. It's up to you. There's also the matter of Eladamri."
"What's he got to do with it?"
"Wouldn't you like to have him at your feet, in chains, when I name you to the throne? Everything in the hall will be seen on
Phyrexia, you know. Wouldn't you like to impress the overlords by presenting them with the defeated leader of the rebels?" She saw the glimmer of vanity in his eyes.
Crovax nodded with satisfaction. "I still don't see why we can't do it sooner," he said.
"Give Greven the night to break him," Belbe said coolly. "You wouldn't have him shout rebel slogans while the overlords are watching, would you?"
"Hardly." Crovax smiled. "You're much too clever for someone whose life is measured in weeks. Why don't you remain on Rath? When I am evincar, I will need clever servants to carry out my will."
She didn't say anything. She cradled her injured hand in her good one and regarded it thoughtfully. "The idea intrigues you?" said Crovax. "It's an interesting proposal. I shall consider it." The sergeants picked up their dead comrade, and the injured men hobbled away to the dispensary. Four of them, including Nasser, remained behind, surrounding Ertai.
"I'll keep the light of your life until tomorrow," Crovax said. "His life is my guarantee you'll not renege on your promise."
"You will be evincar," Belbe said. "You have my word as emissary of the overlords. Let Ertai go."
Crovax laughed. "Shall we say tomorrow, an hour past midday? I'd hate to become governor until after the courtiers have been fed."
"Choose the hour you want. I will be there." Crovax herded Ertai and the sergeants out. He paused by the door. "I'll have to do something about this clutter," he said. "My predecessor had appalling taste-such a weakness for the human form. Good night, Excellency. I enjoyed the fight."
She picked up the cast-off Phyrexian discharger. The jewels on the top were dark. Belbe turned the weapon over and discovered the powerstone was gone. Someone-presumably Crovax-had removed it during the melee. An impressive feat, considering he'd never handled such a device before. He'd also removed the powerstone without the special tool, barehanded. An ordinary man would have been struck dead by the potent energy stored in the stone.
CHAPTER 16
At the very pinnacle of the Citadel, Sivi and her comrades crouched behind a crane on the airship dock. A few yards away, Predator floated gently, tethered to the platform by a half-dozen thick cables. The airship's massive deck gun, which fired a huge barbed harpoon against enemy airships, had just been lowered to the deck by another crane. Gangs of moggs tugged on lines, rocking the gun carriage back and forth until it slipped onto the prepared barbette. Sivi counted at least thirty moggs and their Dal and Vec overseers around Predator. Maybe a hundred more were close by in various workshops.
"What do we do, Sivi?" asked Khalil, one of the Vec volunteers.
"If we could get on board, we could do some damage," she muttered.
"Teynel told us not to act alone," said Langwin, a Dal kinsmen of Darsett's. "We should meet up with him as planned and tell him we found the airship."
"Yes, and by the time we get back the damned thing may have flown away," Sivi said. "All the while Eladamri is in the hands of Greven! I tell you, we have to do what we can, now." She loosened the fake bandages and uncoiled the totenvec from around her waist. "Are you with me?"
Her Vec clansmen quickly agreed. The Dal were less enthused.
"Listen," she said. "If we can destroy Predator, it will create confusion throughout the Stronghold. It'll be easier for us to rescue Eladamri and get out of here."
The two Dal rebels mopped sweat from their faces.
"All right," said Medd, the elder of the two. "How do we get on board?"
Sivi looked all around. There was too much open floor between them and the floating airship. Though still dressed in Rathi uniforms, they were in a restricted area and were bound to be stopped long before they reached their target.
Sivi raised her eyes. The flowbot crane they were hiding behind was the largest on the dock. The gantry rose forty feet, and the gooseneck section reached out well over the moored airship.
"Feel like climbing?" she said.
She looped the toten-vec around her shoulder and started up the skeletal framework of the crane. One by one the others followed. The gantry was big enough to allow them to climb three abreast, but Liin Sivi took the lead.
She soon reached the end of the vertical section. Sivi paused and looked down. Her hands tightened on the framework. Not only was she forty feet above the platform, she could see over the edge of the dock to the Citadel far below. The ever-present energy beam was on the other side of Predator, and the sizzling blue stream almost drowned out construction noises from the dock.