By this time, however, Aldo had analyzed her style and moves. They were effective, but relatively simplistic and repetitive. He did not think any less of her for this, as she was young and inexperienced.
As she came in, he feinted low, and when she parried he beat aside her blade and thrust. He did not aim for her thigh or abdomen, however, as these were defended. He stabbed his blade into her mount. The tip penetrated the hard metal case and jolted the mechanism inside. The vehicle bucked and heeled over. With a whoop, Baroness Droad dropped her sword and fell into the slushy flow.
Old Hans and Aldo both rushed forward to save her. Aldo, being much closer, reached the spot first. He reached down and grabbed a small gloved hand that reached above the surface. When he hauled her up, he could not help but allow himself a small smirk.
“Looks like you’ve dropped your blade, Baroness,” he said in a breezy fashion.
Her eyes were shocked and wide due to the cold, but a fury still burned there. She moved then, and Aldo was provided with a shock of his own. She pulled on his arm, and used it to lever forward her other hand. In the other hand was another sword.
Aldo immediately cursed at himself. He’d forgotten that she always carried twin blades, hers and her brother’s. The blade was dark, as the power had automatically shut off upon contact with liquid. Even without power, it was a deadly weapon. He twisted, off-balance, in an attempt to ward off the second sword. The black metal moved and plunged.
It did not pierce him, but rather fatally injured his mount, exactly as he’d done to hers. A moment later, they were both in the river.
It was Old Hans who dragged them both out like two cats from a barrel. Carrying them with arms extended to either side, he guided his mount expertly with only touches of his knees.
“If you don’t mind, good lord and lady, I would ask that you contain yourselves until we reach dry land.”
Glaring and speechless with shock and anger, the two said nothing. Less than a minute passed before they were dropped on the shoreline where they shivered and crawled to their feet. They swayed and dripped, half- frozen. Aldo felt fatigue creep over him. He wondered how long he could have survived in water so cold. Even in his riding suit, he felt sure he would have perished in minutes.
“Shall we call it a draw?” Aldo asked.
Nina shook her head. Silvery droplets flew everywhere over the muddy shore.
“Bow to me, or die. That is how this will end.”
“Baroness,” Old Hans interjected, “permission to speak, milady?”
Nina glanced at him, but then turned her eyes back to Aldo, where they remained fixed. “Speak if you must.”
“This disagreement is unnecessary, and wasteful.”
“Wrong on both counts, good Hans,” Nina said, pointing the tip of her dripping sword at Aldo. “This man is a snake, and I mean to reduce his length.”
Hans cleared his throat and waved back the excited throng of men who’d gathered around to quietly wager on the outcome. They retreated reluctantly.
“Listen,” Hans said. “I have an idea what this is about. You should focus your anger where it is best deserved.”
“Explain yourself.”
“The true snake here is the Duchess.”
Nina scoffed loudly. “I’m sure she plied him with drink and strapped him to the bed. Afterward, she felt so ashamed she gave him command of her army.”
“Not exactly,” Hans said. “But listen, Baroness. Have you not noticed the Duchess holds you in contempt?”
“I’m not blind.”
“But do you know why?”
Finally, Nina turned her full attention to him. “No,” she said. “I suppose she just doesn’t like Droads.”
“Exactly. And that habit started with your father.”
Here, Aldo groaned aloud. Again, another enemy uncovered. How many good reasons did Lucas Droad have for not returning to his homeworld? Aldo had to face facts, he told himself. He’d been duped into accepting this mission by a wily man.
The others glanced at Aldo. When he did not see fit to explain his response, they ignored him.
“She disliked my father?” the Baroness asked Hans.
“She was in love with him-once. Then he took up with that mother of yours. The Duchess never got over it. She never forgave your mother, your father-nor you yourself.”
Nina nodded, seeing the logic of it.
Aldo heaved a sigh. “Your father is another form of snake, girl. I curse him here and now for saddling me with so many of his women. He set me up for this horrid moment!”
“My father is no snake!”
Aldo raised his hands. “I misspoke, I apologize. He simply is-a difficult one to lay hands upon, let us say. I was once his bodyguard, don’t forget. I know him fairly well.”
Nina licked her lips, which were turning blue. “I do not wish Duchess Embrak to get the best of any of us. You are right, good Hans. I have been manipulated, as has Aldo, to some degree.”
“I’m sorry for any hard feelings,” Aldo said. “I’m quite simply trying to save your planet. A much greater threat than these mechs will soon fall upon us from the skies. We must set aside our conflicts and gather all our strength for that moment. The survivors can sort out past injustices afterward, should they still feel it worthwhile.”
“Are they truly as dangerous as all that?”
“Absolutely.”
“Do you fear them?”
Aldo hesitated. “Not exactly. But then, I have long since made my peace with death.”
Nina looked at him oddly as she rubbed rime from her hair. “All right. Will you make me a bargain? March with me for three nights. If we do not meet the enemy and vanquish them in that time, we will return to Twilight and await these terrible aliens.”
Aldo considered. He knew that she commanded not just these one hundred knights, but thousands more besides that sat at Droad House. If he didn’t agree, she might well summon those troops, with or without the Council’s blessing. He suspected, in fact, that was exactly her plan.
“I agree,” he said, extending a gloved hand.
They touched gloves, and sheathed their weapons. The avid onlookers who loosely encircled them cursed and passed money among themselves. The Baroness took only the time required to retrieve her sword from the bottom of the river before the army conjoined and rode sunward.
Twenty-One
Gladius finally entered the star system on the ninth hour of the fourth day of the week, local time. The great ship glided toward its destination, still smoothly decelerating in a curving trajectory that was destined to end in high orbit over Ignis Glace. Red sunlight gleamed on a thousand modules as they swung majestically around the ship’s central torus like a spinning constellation of stars.
A flotilla of small Nexus ships was on hand to greet them, as had been anticipated by all sides. Millions of miles from the target world, a battle was to be fought in deep space. The Nexus patrol ships, sitting quietly in cold space, became suddenly visible. Their tiny engines flared and they swept forward to intercept the bigger vessel from a dozen different angles. They would be in weapons range within hours.
For the express purpose of witnessing this historic occasion, the Empress summoned the nife commander and all of the Parents into her august presence. Small thrones of lumpy brown secretions had been erected for the Parents. The younger four arrived early and took their seats, warbling through their foodtubes excitedly. The Empress regaled them with a lengthy speech about Imperial invincibility.
