“Duchess again, is it? Very well, I shall explain: he has combat experience. He is a Nexus representative. He was once associated with your father. I’ve selected him to command my troops on this basis.”
“Who shall be in overall command of the mission?”
“It will be a joint venture between the two of you. Did you think I would place my personal army completely at your disposal? I’m not quite as taken with you as the rest of the council. You are young, inexperienced and I find you to be-overreaching.”
Nina fought to control her expression. She swallowed hard, and when she spoke again, her voice cracked slightly. “The Ruling Council has ordained me as-”
“The Ruling Council has no jurisdiction under these circumstances. These troops are my own, the defenders of my duchy. I’m free to choose my own commander.”
“In that case, I must refuse your aid.”
The Duchess’ eyebrows shot high in mock surprise. “Really? You will take on the mechs with your one hundred knights alone, then?”
“No. I will await the arrival of my full forces from Droad House. We will lose a day or two, but the mechs will not escape in that time.”
“Ah, I have another point to pass on in that case: the army is to remain on station at Droad House. With the invasion of the system imminent, we can’t afford to have the army roaming Nightside and out of reach. They must be ready to move within Twilight for defensive purposes.”
Nina didn’t know what to say. She’d been set up. She thought about resigning on the spot, telling the Duchess she could keep her troops and Aldo both-but she didn’t. She didn’t want to see the mechs escape her again. She thought of Leon, and how they had killed him. She nodded at last, deciding to endure these insults for now. She had no choice if she wanted to stop the mechs from vanishing into Nightside.
“I will accept your terms, under protest.”
The Duchess nodded, unsurprised. “Very well. Report your progress within the ten-day.”
Nina murmured her agreement. Both women reached out to break the connection as quickly as possible.
Flopping back in her chair, Nina cursed for a full minute.
The slippery Aldo Moreno. How had he managed to maneuver his way into a command position under the Duchess so quickly? Nina had a very good idea what the answer to that question was-and it made her furious.
Twenty
Sixty-Two had managed to reach the border regions of Nightside, but his relief was short-lived. He ordered his group to halt and reorganize, sending out scouts in every direction. The scouts that backtracked in the direction they had recently come from returned with highly disturbing news.
“Lizett, they follow us. We did not slip through Twilight unseen.”
The skald popped up from the skin sack where he resided still on Lizett’s broad back. “We are pursued?”
“Yes,” Sixty-Two said.
“That’s awful,” Lizett said. “Must we kill them all now?”
Sixty-Two thought about it. “There do not seem to be many of them. They are following us at a distance. I would think that means they are waiting for a future moment to attack. We are either running into their greater force, or they are waiting for more troops to catch up. In either case, our relative strength is at an excellent ratio now.”
“We should forget about those behind us and press ahead,” the skald urged.
Sixty-Two flicked his orbs to the odd man. Not for the first time, he wondered why he’d tolerated his presence for so long. Perhaps it was because he was interesting. After working with half-bright mechs for so long, a real mysterious human was stimulating.
“Why do you care where we go, Ornth?” Sixty-Two asked the man in the sack.
“There is a lost place, not far from here.”
“Farther out-you mean deeper into Nightside?”
“Yes.”
“And you want us to take you there? You can’t survive the central region of Nightside, you know. Your lungs will freeze when you take in a breath.”
“We don’t have to go that far.”
“And what do you expect to find?”
“That which has been forgotten.”
Sixty-Two shook his head in bemusement. As he watched, Lizett absently fed the man bits of edible fungus she’d brought along from Twilight for the purpose of his sustenance. The human was wrapped in cloth now, covering most of his face except for those odd, piercing eyes. Lizett had picked up scraps and oddments for her pet on her own initiative. He’d even seen her methodically clean filth from the sack with her grippers.
“We’re going to attack,” he said at last, coming to a decision. “I’ll relay the command to my captains. We’ll turn on these men who follow us, and ambush them. It is unfortunate, but I really don’t see that we have any other choice.”
Lizett didn’t argue with his decision. The man riding on her back likewise said nothing. He only nibbled bits of fungus and stared at Sixty-Two with strange, burning eyes.
Nina was aroused by a heavy hand on her shoulder. She lurched awake and half-drew her power-sword before she recognized who it was.
“Hans? What’s wrong?” she demanded in a whisper.
“The mechs, milady,” he said quietly. “We’ve spotted one of their scouts.”
She climbed to her feet and pulled her on clothes. Hans tried not to look at her bare form, but she didn’t care if he did. A commander in the field couldn’t afford to worry about such things.
“How close?”
“Close enough to count our numbers.”
“Who saw the enemy?”
“I did, milady.”
She looked at him. “Why didn’t you fire? Couldn’t you have brought it down?”
“Probably not. But I didn’t want to try in any case. The mechs have built-in radio. There is virtually zero chance to destroy one before it reports to base.”
Nina nodded. “Of course. You did the right thing. Now, they don’t know we saw them. This does little to change things, however. They will come back in strength soon.”
Old Hans hesitated. “You think they will attack?”
“Yes. Immediately.”
“Why are you so certain? After all these days of running, I’d thought perhaps-”
Nina shook her head. “I’ve come to know this mech who apes a man and leads the rebellion. He thinks in a manner similar to us. And he does think, never doubt it. He has a cunning mind, fully-functional inside a mech’s body. He’ll attack because we are weak now, and we are trailing him, threatening him.”
“I’ll sound the alarm, Baroness. Every man will stand at arms.”
Hans lifted a signal whistle to his mouth. Nina’s quick hand stopped him.
“You will do no such thing,” she said. “We are going to run, not fight.”
The old knight nodded, relieved. He did not question her bravery. Fighting a thousand mechs with a hundred men was not brave-it was suicide.
They broke camp as quickly as possible, leaving behind much of their equipment in the process. There was no time to pack and store it. They simply mounted up with whatever they could carry, and less than ten minutes later the camp was deserted.
Fleeing southward on their buzzing mounts, they felt the freezing winds buffeting their insulated suits and
