'It was a misunderstanding,' said Hantis, quietly. 'We fell over our mutual pride. I assumed too much. And High Lord Arvin did not send us to the
'But that was the name of the boss of the little old guy who came to rescue us!'
'Yes.' Hantis' eyes were cold. 'The same Lord Nalin. Who also claimed that we were assassins from Delaron. In whose apartments Pul smelled Nanite exudates. While Arvin was unconscious, Lord Nalin ordered us executed as spies and murderers because that would help to fan the fires he's trying to start. When objections were raised in the council, Nalin sent his servant to free us and send us fleeing to Delaron. The High Lord is actually the only one who can pass the death sentence, so Arvin sent his guards for us. Only we'd escaped, which made us look guilty and Lord Nalin seem to have been correct. That was why I put us in the position of honorable prisoners.'
'So what's all this got to do with the Leewit's kidnapping?' asked Goth.
'We don't know,' admitted the Sprite woman. 'Come. Let us eat and contemplate our next move. Good Sprite food may help me to think properly, anyway. I've had to reassess my ideas about history.'
'Apparently so,' said the captain wryly. 'I thought you said that this Arvin was the greatest villain in your history?'
'It appears that history blamed the wrong person. It appears that the greatest villain in the history of Nartheby may be . . . me. Come. I will explain while we eat. The High Lord needs to marshal his soldiers. Nalin has gathered many adherents, some of whom may be Nanite controlled.'
Down inside the castle, sitting at a construction of glass and silver on velvety upholstered translucent chairs, Pausert realized that the holding chambers they'd been put in were probably the Sprite equivalent of the cell he'd been put into on Pidoon. The food wasn't the usual breakfast fare for humans. The ice-crystal layers of sweet and tart and definitely alcoholic stuff wasn't anything Pausert had encountered. Neither, really, were the thin nutty- tasting pancakes and deep purple jelly. But they were very welcome, nonetheless, and they were certainly easier to digest than Hantis' explanations.
'Don't you see? The Nanites are doing precisely what they are trying to do in the Empire in our time: decapitate. At this stage, their numbers are probably very few. They take control of key individuals. Ones like Lord Nalin, whose position makes them powerful but whom few people really know well. The Nanites can take over the body of the victim, but the behavior and mannerisms change. So: the Nanites must either take over a whole group, which is difficult for them at this stage, or someone like Nalin. He has been away from Castle Aloorn for some twenty years, as a governor of one of the outlying dominions.'
'You think this is what we're facing in the Empire too, then,' said the captain, spooning the fragrant purple jelly onto yet another pancake. 'So why are we trying to reach the Empress Hailie? She's a well-known recluse. The Empire only sees her twice a year. I would have thought that she would be the perfect Nanite victim. She still wields a lot of power.'
'That would be correct, except that Hailie disappears. Between official engagements, the Empress goes . . . somewhere. She tours her Regency anonymously. She's been the unofficial friend of Karres for some years now. The best premote-teams on Karres predicted that the only chance of defeating the Nanite plague was to reach Hailie first, and provide her with information and protection. If necessary I am empowered to call for certain drastic steps.'
Hantis looked grim. 'I've never explained the details, Captain, but the plague wars were the worst episode in our history. High Lord Arvin destroyed any ship incoming to Nartheby—even when they appeared to be full of refugees.'
She took a deep breath. 'He was renowned for his brutal efficiency in disposing of enemies here on Nartheby. They were always incinerated, as were their homes. It was a technique he put to use against the Nanite-possessed in the later phases of the war, when we Sprites set out to destroy the Nanites.'
'Is there any other way?'
'Not a really effective one, no,' admitted Hantis. 'Grik-dog venom affects all those in the host. But the environment they are found in should still burn. A colony of several thousand could be hiding behind a grain of sugar on the floor. But we did not know . . . I suppose—it makes sense, now—that it was always kept secret that Nanites had reached Nartheby's surface. I am afraid that Arvin did what was necessary, and shouldered the blame. He is a braver and better Sprite than I could ever be, but I must have been the one who told him it was the right method to use, and that it had to be done. He's young and scared; and, in truth, quite gentle. He wants nothing more than peace with his neighbors. He has to act the part of the arrogant High Lord to hide the fact.'
The captain struggled to absorb it all. 'So, this all happened in your history. Arvin, the shrimpy little Sprite, turned into what you thought of as a monster and dealt with the problem. Is that why the vatch brought you here?'
'No. I think vatches understand humans and time imperfectly. The vatch brought me here because Arvin was the worst thing in my mind. He is also an ancestor of mine. The vatch, I think, thought it would be funny if I killed him. Because then I would not have existed either. In which case, how could I have killed him?'
'Great Patham!' exclaimed Goth. 'A sort of impossible loop. Stinking critter! It just wanted to see what would happen.'
Hantis smiled. 'Yes. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly what I did in history because records from that time are very poor. But if you want loops . . . well, I think the vatch outsmarted itself. An impossible loop is, after all, impossible. So it will be replaced by loops which aren't. Just to name one: I believe Pul is off fraternizing with High Lord Arvin's lady grik-dogs. The origin of grik-dogs with anti-Nanite venom and the ability to smell out Nanites comes from Arvin's breeding program, you know.'
'You mean Pul's his own great-grandfather?' demanded Goth, laughing. 'That's not exactly 'fraternizing.' '
Hantis nodded and smiled. 'It's quite a bit further removed than that. But, yes.'
'And Pul is the end product of a long breeding program. It does beg the question of where the first Nanite- killing grik-dog came from,' said Pausert. 'But right now I am more interested in finding the Leewit, and somehow getting back to our own mission and own Nanite fight.'
'If we can get her back at all,' said Hantis, biting her lip. 'The gnyarl caught one of those who kidnapped her. A Sprite called Luwis who owned the apartment. Unfortunately, he won't be talking to anyone. But the Leewit definitely wasn't with him. They think the other two may have dodged back into the castle.'
Captain Pausert rubbed his temples thoughtfully. 'So they're still on the loose, the Nanites are here and can only be destroyed, with difficulty, and the Leewit is still missing.'
He rose abruptly to his feet. 'At least we've had a good breakfast. And I can still rell a hint of that blasted big vatch. If it would get closer . . .'
Goth stood up from the elegant table. 'Old Nasty-Vatch has been caught before, I reckon. He's not going to come close enough, Captain. He's watching us from a distance.'
'Then we'll have to go vatch hunting,' said the captain grimly. 'In the meantime, we have a Leewit hunt to organize.'
Goth grinned. 'Catching a vatch might be easier.'
Her confidence cheered Pausert up. His worst fear, now that it was clear the Leewit hadn't fallen to her death, was that her abductors might have murdered her and hidden the body somewhere. But that dark thought was difficult to maintain in the presence of Goth. The girl had a way of projecting serenity, somehow.
As his greatest worry faded, a smaller one finally had the chance to push its way forward.
'Oh,' said the captain guiltily. 'We'd better ask our hosts to release old Vezzarn.'
'Oops. Hadn't thought of that either, Captain,' admitted Goth.
Pausert yawned. 'Well, at least he got some sleep last night, even if I'll bet his breakfast wasn't as good as ours.'
* * *
The Leewit, however, was enjoying a far more varied and even bigger breakfast. Moreover, she had two new . . . well, friends was the wrong word. Young Sprites who had the delusion that a fascinating new pet had wandered into their chambers. It could even talk! Far better than their dolls, although it was the oddest looking creature they'd ever seen. And it could play games and do all sorts of tricks!
They'd successfully hidden her from their nursebeast and their parents, so far. And then they'd raided the larder to see what their new pet would eat.
