Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys

the Minstrel Boy had witnessed was a matter of necessity as well as calculated depravity.

The entire area was a picture of demoralization. As Reave and the Minstrel Boy had skirted the lake, taking advantage of the darkness, they had encountered no guards, patrols, or pickets. The raiding party clearly realized that it had little or nothing to fear from the army of Palanaque, but at the same time, it did not seem ready to launch an assault on the city. The men appeared to be resting, gathering whatever strength they had left.

'What do you think happened to these guys?'

'It looks like they recently took a bad beating. They're a mess.'

They passed another head on a pole — it was still wearing its plumed helmet and was definitely one of the company from Palanaque. Reave and the Minstrel Boy no longer looked too hard at what the figures beside the fires were doing. A line of tethered lizards made a sorry sight. They looked as though they had been ridden long and hard. Their necks drooped, their skin hung loosely on their bones, and every rib was visible.

Beyond the fires and the circle of dirty tents, two bulky objects were secured with guy ropes and covered in plastic sheeting.

'What do you think those things are?'

'Beats me.'

'Does it occur to you that they might be a couple of aircraft?' the Minstrel Boy suggested.

Reave nodded. 'It does, indeed. Let's drift casually in that direction and take a closer look.'

'After that, can we get out of here? I feel like we're pushing our luck already.'

'Nobody's given us a second look so far.'

'It only takes one. I don't particularly care to be some degenerate cannibal's breakfast. Besides, we're too damn clean and well fed. We stand out.'

'We'll take a look at those things, over there, and then we'll melt away.'

They started walking slowly in the direction of the plastic-sheathed objects. They were just passing through the circle of tents when Reave froze. Three men had emerged from a nearby tent, the largest in the camp.

'I don't believe it.'

Reave quickly turned on his heel and walked off in the opposite direction, head down and hiding his face. The Minstrel Boy quickly followed him.

'You know those men?'

'Vlad fucking Baptiste! He's still alive.'

'What?'

'That's Gord, his driver, and the Old Metal Monster walking with him. They're all alive. This must be all that's left of his army.'

'How in hell did he manage to survive?'

'He must have somehow gotten out of Krystaleit before it blew.'

'And we've got to get out of here right now. There's bound to be others here who can recognize you.'

' You 're not kidding.'

They walked as quickly as they dared toward the edge of the camp. It began to look as though they were going to make it — until a figure lurched drunkenly out of a clump of bushes where it had been relieving itself. To turn back could have been too obvious, so Reave pulled his hat down lower over his face and decided to brazen it out. As the drunk stumbled past them, he eyed Reave and the Minstrel Boy with a total lack of curiosity or even interest. Then, suddenly, he beamed.

'Hey, Reave Mekonta! You're looking good, boy.'

He stumbled back toward the fires. The Minstrel Boy turned and watched his staggering progress. He slid a knife out of his belt.

'He's drunk, but he's going to realize at any moment.'

The drunk stopped. He seemed to be thinking. He slowly turned. The Minstrel Boy held his arm loosely at his side.

'Here we go.'

The drunk's voice was an incredulous croak. 'Reave Mekonta?'

The Minstrel Boy's hand flashed in an underarm throw. Theblade caught the drunk square in the throat. He let out a surprised gurgle and collapsed. The Minstrel Boy ran to the body and retrieved his knife. As an afterthought he took the beat-up SG from the dead man's belt and hung it on his own.

'Now can we get the hell out of here?'

'What say we grab a couple of lizards and make a run for it?'

'Let's go.'

They unhitched a brace of the exhausted reptiles and led them quietly off into the darkness, away from the camp. Once out of sight, they swung onto the animals' backs, not bothering with saddles. It took a number of kicks to get the beasts moving, but finally they set to lumbering up the hill that lay between the camp and the stretch of river where the boat was waiting.

At the top of the hill, the Minstrel Boy wheeled his horse and looked back at the camp. 'There doesn't seem to be any kind of alarm.'

Reave pulled up beside him. 'They probably won't find him until morning.'

'If the vulture bats leave anything.'

Reave turned his lizard's head. 'Let's get going.'

The Minstrel Boy hesitated. 'I've got an SG.'

'I know you have.'

'I could beat it into the nothings.'

'Are you going to?'

'We could ride back into the camp and get another one.'

Reave shook his head. 'I don't think so.'

The Minstrel Boy raised an inquiring eyebrow. 'You don't?'

'I'd feel bad running out on the others.'

The Minstrel Boy did not say anything; he just sat motionless on his lizard.

Reave looked at him questioningly. 'So are you going, or what?'

The Minstrel Boy avoided Reave's eyes. He did not answer.

Reave glanced back. 'Don't fuck around, man. Just go. I don't blame you.'

The Minstrel Boy viciously spurred his mount. The reptile reared and wheeled on its hind legs, croaking in protest. He kicked it again and plunged back down the way they had come, running for the nothings.

Reave sat and watched him go. He slowly shook his head. 'I guess that's the end of that.'

Reave kicked his own lizard and started down the other side of the hill, toward the river. There was already the ghostglow of pseudodawn beyond the mountains. He was halfway down the hill when the shooting started. At first there was just the sound of a sudden firefight. On the far side of the hill the quiet of the night was shattered by the angry ultrasonic hiss of particle beams and a series of impact bursts. After a couple of seconds there was the pumping chatter of an automatic weapon that could only be the Minstrel Boy's AK. Reave reined in and stared back, drawing one of his pistols. His first instinct was to charge back to the Minstrel Boy's aid, but he resisted it.

'Fuck him. He was the one who ran out.'

He did not, however, move on. He sat gun in hand, leaning on his saddle. Not for long, though. The Minstrel Boy crested the hill with energy flashes bursting around him. He was flattened along the back of his galloping mount; the strap of the AK was cinched around his shoulder so that he could use it with one hand, and he was firing wildly behind him. Reave's lizard skittered nervously, but he kept it on a tight rein and held his ground. The Minstrel Boy pulled up beside him.

Reave grinned. 'You're back.'

The Minstrel Boy was out of breath. 'I got to be insane.'

A half dozen riders came over the top of the hill. Reave stuffed the lizard's reins into his mouth and returned fire with both pistols. The riders scattered for cover. Reave put the spurs to his mount.

'Let's get out of here!'

They ran for the boat as fast as they could. As they galloped side by side, Reave yelled across to the Minstrel Boy. 'What happened back there?'