Deadly Games

heshould regain a measure of cognizance. I mixed in some of my truthelixir, too. He resisted it before, but perhaps if he’s familiarwith you and doesn’t see you as a threat…” She eyed him a littletoo knowingly. “The more you can get me, the more favorably thingswill turn out for you. I want to know his parents’ names, whetherthey were distinguished warriors or athletes, and what mix of bloodis in his veins. The Turgonians are mongrels through and through,but most of them are a combination of their ancient Nurian rootsand the brawny tribesmen that roamed these lands before they came.He looks like he might have some Kendorian in him though. Find outas much as you can.”

Basilard nodded. She propped her hip againstSicarius’s table and waited. One of the guards at the head of theaisle yawned. No privacy for this chat.

Basilard waited for Sicarius to come around.Already his own toes felt numb from the straps around his legs andankles. He was conscious of the steel of the knife behind him, itsmetal warm now from his body heat. It reminded him not to squirm,lest he drop it.

His gaze drifted toward the nearest of thestrange tanks where a fleshy blob floated. Something nagged at theback of his mind, a feeling that he should have put the puzzlepieces together and figured things out by now. The women’s wordsfloated through his mind. He’s already what our clients wish usto create….This is a long-term project.

Babies? He stared at the blob. Were theycreating babies? Was that possible? Would that make thecaptured men and women the parents? Not parents. Brood-stock. Likehounds being used to whelp offspring with desirable traits.

One of Sicarius’s fingers twitched. Basilardwatched his face, waiting for a sign that the drugs were losingtheir hold. It came, not in an expressive show of recognition, butin a hardening of his features-a resumption of the stony mask healways wore. It replaced the blank stare, though his eyes were notas sharp as usual.

Basilard signed, You recognize me?

Sicarius nodded once. His eyes shifted fromside to side, taking in the woman and the looming guards.

I got captured, too, Basilardsigned.

Though Sicarius’s wrists were strapped to thetable like the rest of his body, he could manage some of theone-handed signs. The one he chose was, Obviously.

Basilard clenched his teeth, sensingcondemnation in that brief gesture. Sicarius must assume Basilardhad done something foolish to get here. He didn’t even considerthat Basilard might have been planted as part of a rescue plan fromthe team.

Basilard forced his jaw to loosen. He couldnot read Sicarius’s thoughts, and, even if his guess were close,Sicarius would be right, wouldn’t he? Basilard had beenfoolish and had gotten himself captured.

I was competing at the Imperial Games whenthey got me. How did they capture you?

Heartbeats thumped past with Sicarius doingnothing but gazing impassively. Maybe he had done somethingfoolish, too, and was loathe to admit it. The thought pleasedBasilard. Sicarius was too cursed perfect. Nobody should be soperfect that he never made mistakes. It wasn’t human. Of course,Sicarius might not be responding because he could not explain withone-handed signs what had happened and did not want to speak of itwith their captors listening.

Amaranthe is looking for us, Basilardsigned. She’s concerned about you. He did not know why headded the latter. Even as an incapacitated prisoner, Sicarius didnot look like someone who needed bolstering, and he probably didnot care if anyone ever worried on his behalf or not.

“I presume we have a limited time to talk,”Sicarius whispered in flawless Mangdorian. “Stick to relevanttopics.”

Basilard winced, both because his offering ofcompassion was being shoved aside, and because he was all too awareof the reason why Sicarius had learned his tongue.

“I’ve learned little,” Sicarius added, “onlythat we are in the lake, possibly deep enough that we’d drownbefore reaching the surface if we simply went out a hatch. Ibelieve there are forty people in the facility, half scientists andhalf guards. Have you obtained any information?”

Litya glanced at the nearest guard.

The man thumped Sicarius on the temple withthe butt of his pistol. “Speak in Turgonian.”

Sicarius leveled a cold stare at histormentor. Even though Sicarius was immobilized, the guard steppedback, shifting uneasily.

Even the dullest wolf knows it’s not goodwhen the moose and the rabbit conspire in a language foreign to thepack, Basilard signed.

It was an old saying that usually elicited asmile amongst Basilard’s people. Sicarius stared at him withoutcomment.

I’m supposed to be getting your lineageout of you, Basilard signed.

“My parents?” Sicarius asked inTurgonian.

Basilard suspected it was for the sake ofthose listening rather than a need for clarification. The guardsrelaxed at the words.

I just got here, Basilard signed.If we’re so deep, how do they travel to the surface?

“I was never told,” Sicarius said as hisfingers twitched his real response. With his hands separated andrestrained, he could not make the arm motions that accompanied manyof the Mangdorian signs, and Basilard struggled to follow thewords.

Mental sciences. No thing. Women create whenneed.

Thing? Basilard guessed he meant there was nomagical artifact or other contraption they could snatch to travelto the surface on their own.

…unconscious…don’t know how manydays… Sicarius kept speaking as he signed, “Though I wasgiven to understand it was an arranged mating, and my parents werechosen for their desirable attributes.”

Basilard caught himself listening to thewords. Were they the truth? Had Sicarius been bred like a hound? Basilard had heard what Hollowcrest said in Larocka’s mansion, thatSicarius had been trained from birth to be a tool for the empire,to obey Hollowcrest and Emperor Raumesys. Which meant he hadnot likely had a choice about the assassination mission toMangdoria.

That didn’t matter. He had still done it.

Sicarius was glaring at him, and for a momentBasilard wondered if he read minds in addition to his other skills.But, no, Sicarius signed slowly, with emphasis, and Basilardrealized the glare was for not paying attention.

Amaranthe know where we are? Sicariusasked.

Not when I saw her last, Basilardsaid, but perhaps by now. It’d be best to assume we must escapeon our own.

A few heartbeats passed without a word or asign from Sicarius. He seemed to be considering Basilard. His darkeyes appeared black in this lighting, and Basilard felt them boringinto his soul. Was he suspicious of something? Did he thinkBasilard had cut a deal with the women that would leave himstranded?

Yes, was all Sicarius signed.

You know how many guards watch thisroom? Basilard rushed to sign, wanting Sicarius’s mind onescape, not anything else.

“Yes,” Sicarius said and signed, Fourguards…split twelve-hour shifts. These soldiers worked forHollowcrest…now rogues. “A cook who used to give me balmsafter childhood punishments told me my father was an army officerand my mother a university professor.” Sicarius’s brow crinkled, asif he was surprising himself with how much he was revealing, and heglanced at the glowing orb controlling his drug dosages. Manypractitioners here…only sisters and one male…transportsurface.

Basilard signed, If we can capture one,perhaps we can force the other to-

“So,” Litya said, “you don’t know yourparents’ names?”

“No,” Sicarius said.

“But they could still be alive?”