Hantis. First, I must give you my apologies for having treated you like this in your own home.'
'Will you tell him to stop talking?' said Goth, crossly. 'Let's get the captain and go and look for the Leewit.'
'What did the little alien say?' asked Arvin.
'She is very worried about her younger sister. The humans are good klatha operatives, but this is a young one to be off on her own. She wants you to free the other human, who is something of a guardian to both of them, and to start looking. If I may suggest, we could use Pul to track her down. Pul knows her scent, don't you, my clever one?'
Pul growled. 'Can't miss it. It's the soapy teeth.'
'He is a magnificent male,' said Arvin enviously, petting Pul. The grik-dog gave the High Lord a none-too- friendly glance, but, to Hantis' relief, didn't even bare his fangs.
'Yes,' Arvin said decisively. 'Let us do it.' He snapped orders. Hantis could see that, once he grew up a little more, this would indeed be the ruthless and effective Arvin of legend. It was also plain that, although he might doubt Hantis, Pul had the High Lord under his paw.
Together, they went to Pausert's holding chamber. The captain was very pleased to see them. And, Hantis realized at the same time, in a very dangerous state because of his worry about the Leewit. Toll and Threbus had not put their children's welfare lightly in the care of just anyone. He took his responsibilities very, very seriously. The captain was probably unaware of the klatha energies surging around him. Hantis wasn't.
But all he said was: 'Let's get onto the trail, quick.'
Pul sniffed around the storage chamber and found the trail of three, mixed in with the smell of the Leewit. He set off at a run along the curving corridors of Castle Aloorn. They had to race to keep up with him.
They caught up with the grik-dog at a beautifully inlaid door, covered in an intricate knotted pattern in strings of opaque glass. Hantis had no chance to ask Pul, privately, if he smelled the odor of Nanites. All she had time for was fear.
'Luwis. Luwis crystal-crafter!' said the High Lord incredulously. Captain Pausert shoulder-charged the door. It didn't break.
'Open the door,' said Arvin to his guards.
They added their slighter weight to the captain's, but to no avail.
'Stand aside,' commanded Arvin. Pausert might not have understood the words, but he understood the tone of voice and the behavior of the guards. He stepped aside, and the door imploded into dust and a wash of heat that frizzed the hairs on the captain's hands.
From the moment the captain had shoulder-charged the door to its disintegration had taken at least a minute. By the time they got into the chambers, the last of the room's three occupants were leaving into the predawn, via the balcony and the stairs leading downward.
They rushed after them, out onto the balcony. Hantis caught sight of the fugitives far below. She could see no sign of the Leewit, either accompanying them or bundled in any way. But the light was poor, and the shreds of morning mist soon obscured them completely.
'Shall we pursue, my lord?' asked one of the guards.
The High Lord shook his head. 'No. Give the order to release the gnyarl. Let them hunt. The flight of Luwis proclaims his guilt.'
'So does this.' Hantis pointed to the mauve powdery remains on the table, and the little piles of fine dust on the carefully placed and lit shelves. 'She was here.'
'If they've so much as hurt a hair on her head . . .' The captain balled his fists.
A worried Hantis wondered why the Leewit had not been taken by those who fled. Had she been infected? Nanite infection patterns were well known. The invaders immobilized the victim within minutes; then, over a period of several days, reproduced and gradually took control. It took roughly a week before full control was established. They wouldn't have had to take her along, if they could hide her well enough.
'Any sign of Nanites, Pul?' Hantis tried to keep her voice casual. She sensed Pausert's gathering fury, and the immense klatha energies that fury could unleash. If the captain realized what Hantis would have to do if the littlest witch had been infected . . .
'No,' growled Pul. 'Not a trace.'
Relief washed her. Pul sniffed the floor, and rose onto his hind legs, sniffing upwards.
'She went up,' the grik-dog said, pointing with his nose to the mirrored-chimney skylight that was catching the first rays of dawn.
Goth might not have understood the words but she understood the gesture. She levitated towards the chimney, with a scant regard for what remained of Luwis crystal-crafter's prized creations. The upper end of the chimney-skylight was nearly too narrow for her, but she managed to force herself in. She got to the top and called down. 'This window does open, huh?'
CHAPTER 31
The Leewit woke, shivering and hungry. It was bad enough that it was cold, and dark, and that she was alone, but the thin rain that had started to fall seemed just too much to her. No one could hear her snuffle, so she did. But she wasn't going to stay out here in the rain. So she started trying to find a way off the roof of Castle Aloorn, that didn't involve going straight down a long, long way. As worn out and hungry as she was, she was afraid to try levitating even for a short distance, much less that great drop to the ground below. Levitation was a new klatha skill for the Leewit, and she still wasn't as good at it as her sister Goth.
The answer seemed to be to climb into a skylight. A different skylight.
The problem was that most of them seemed to be shut from the inside. It took her a long time to find one that wasn't. And then to climb in with her hands so cold they were almost numb.
Inside it was gloriously warm. The ledge up here wasn't as narrow and uncomfortable as the last one, but there was no point in staying on it. Carefully, the Leewit started climbing down. As usual, there were loads of shelves on the walls, full of glass and crystal. She had a very difficult time descending without kicking something off, especially since she was sorely tempted to smash everything in sight anyway. But the room she'd climbed into seemed to be empty, and it wouldn't be smart to make any noise.
When she finally reached the floor and looked around, dim light filtering from panels left the whole place a rather ghostly blue. Kind of eerie, in fact. But the Leewit decided that the place was as good as any to hide out. It was warm and dry, if nothing else, and there might just be some food somewhere.
'Maybe in one of those jars or bottles,' she murmured to herself. 'Clumping stuff has to be good for
* * *
'The night-rain has washed away the scent,' growled Pul. 'And I do not like being up here.'
Pausert could see why. The roof of the castle sloped steeply, and the slope was treacherous in places. The thought of the Leewit wandering around up here in the dark made his blood run cold. Blessedly, the High Lord's guards hadn't found Pausert's worst fear, a small broken body on the ground far below. And they'd now searched everywhere she might have fallen, so apparently she hadn't.
The Leewit was just missing. She wasn't responding to their shouts, either. But there were any number of the chimneylike skylights and odd towers sprouting from the top of the castle.
'She could be hiding anywhere,' said Goth tiredly, leaning against him. 'When Hantis said those skylight things opened for ventilation, I was pretty happy. Now, I almost wish they didn't. The Leewit can get herself into impossible places.'
Despite his simmering anger, the captain had to fight down a smile at the cross tone in Goth's voice. As if
Hantis came across to them. 'Come. We must go within. The High Lord Arvin will call a council and get everyone to help look for her. And, besides, you look all in. You both need food.'
'You're pretty chummy with this High Lord Arvin now,' said Goth, eyeing the Sprite. 'He tried to kill all of us, remember?'
