“Or maybe they are her young,” a third said with a wicked sneer, “and she can’t find a mate to make them whole… so she eats them.”
“Gross!” the first one said as all three burst into raucous laughter.
I turned my head to Beatrix, ready to motion for her not to kill anyone yet. But she looked like she was enjoying the joke as well. Not nearly as much as those who were teasing her, but enough to show an appreciative smile. Somehow, it was more frightening than if she’d drawn her power-hammer.
“Oh, dear,” Nyna said from whatever she was typing on. “This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. Nope, this is definitely not a good thing.”
I noticed Timo-Ran had his ax in his hand but was concealing it behind his back. Several politicians, I’d decided, were gathering around and speaking harshly to both of them.
Nyna didn’t seem to mind. She didn’t look like she noticed them at all. Whatever she’d found had her completely absorbed.
I turned back to the kakul and squatted down a bit so that I could look the froggy creature in the eyes. “How about you tell me what I want to know so that you don’t get hurt. Otherwise, I’ll find out anyway and kill you for the inconvenience.”
The kakul stammered, licked his eyes, and tried to stand as tall as possible. He took three deep breaths to steady himself for what I knew was coming next. When he reached out to slap me again, I caught his arm at the wrist and held it tightly. The creature croaked in surprise.
“I’m going to give you one more chance,” I said softly as I drew the kakul’s face close to my own. “Where is Tortengar?”
The sound of shuffling feet told me the audience I’d gathered had seen enough. They were slowly backing away, unwilling to go any further with their taunting.
“He’s in the tower,” the kakul said. “There. I saw him just this morning. He’s there. He hasn’t left. I’ve been out here in the gardens all day.” He pointed over his shoulder at the central tower.
“Confirmed,” Nyna said loudly from the thing she was staring at. “That’s his house… uh… fortress. Well, really this whole thing is his fortress, you know? But that’s like his super-fortress kind of place. His little keep. There’s a hovercraft on top. It’s still there, I can see it right here. There’s also an escape hatch, aaaand I locked it.He’s not going anywhere unless his plan is to fly around in little circles, it’s the only way for his hovercraft to get out. Oh, right, so this is a computer terminal. I hacked into the main server. Awesome, right?”
“Sounds like you were telling the truth,” I said to the arrogant kakul who was struggling feebly against my grip.
I was about to turn him loose after warning him against doing anything stupid when he pulled a short, thin knife from a hidden place in his toga and tried to stab me in the face.
I’d had enough.
I caught the kakul’s hand, spun him around and dragged the blade across his throat. His blood poured between my fingers and over my hand. When he stopped struggling and gurgling a few seconds later, I dropped his lifeless corpse to the grass.
“Anyone else?” I asked.
One of the politicians screamed, which sent the others into a headlong panic. They ran in every direction except toward my team. One tried to climb a tree, decided that wasn’t a good place to hide, and sprinted down a dirt path away from us toward the tower.
Another two took temporary shelter behind a gazebo, realized it didn’t provide any cover or concealment at all, and sprinted toward an outside wall. When they reached it, one of them found a small button, pressed it, and a door slid to the side, revealing a small office. Both ran inside and closed the door behind them.
Well, at least they were out of the way.
“Uh-oh,” Nyna said.
I was about to ask what that meant when the question was answered. Panels on the high ceiling began to open up, and from them, metal shapes began to extend, unfold, and take shape. So Tortengar had an automatic security system. One of the guests must have triggered an alarm. I counted no less than 20 dual-barreled guns pointed in my team’s direction. They weren’t energy weapons. I could see their muzzles. They were good, old-fashioned, magnetic slug-throwers.
The rest of the politicians had vanished, probably into their offices within the exterior walls of the dome. They weren’t my immediate problem. I could always deal with them after the city was freed. What I had to deal with at the moment was 20 rapid-fire gauss cannons aimed in my direction.
“Almost got it,” Nyna murmured under her breath. I wasn’t sure what she was up to, but I hoped she would hurry.
I couldn’t order my team to run while I tried to draw fire. There were too many guns for that, and since they appeared to be automatically controlled, I doubted they’d fall for it. Not only that, but even if they moved fast enough to get into the antechamber and get the door closed in time, they wouldn’t all fit. At least two, maybe three, would have to stay in the dome and try to avoid being killed. I’d stay, but I wasn’t sure I could order any of them to risk death with me.
Gauss cannons were capable of launching steel or alloy slugs at incredible speeds. There were some the Martian Navy used that could catapult a 40-pound rod of titanium at one twentieth the speed of light. Though I didn’t think the ones pointed in my direction were capable of that, it couldn’t hurt to assume they could. In any case, it was likely they could fire a heavy enough volume that I wouldn't have a chance to block them all with Ebon. There would be no absorbing the
