The Radiant Dragon

'What does a bionoid clan have to do with this?'

'Bionoids,' Tekura echoed bitterly before Wynlar could respond. 'The name we were given says it all. Bionoid, a simulated life form, not quite alive. Don't you see, Hectate?' she concluded passionately. 'As far as the elves are concerned, we are monsters that they once created and now regret, not true and living beings. They have no concern for us; do not waste yours on them.'

Hectate's eyes drifted shut. He had no arguments for her. He had left Clan Kir because he could not agree with their increasingly militant goals, yet he had no illusions about the elven opinions concerning his race. For years he had traveled alone, gaining a measure of acceptance because of his skills. More than anything, Hectate wished to be known and valued for his ability as a navigator, not be defined as a bionoid or even a half-elf. Despite Teldin Moore's persistent efforts on his behalf, life aboard the swan ship Trumpeter had been a painful reminder that this dream was unlikely to come true, at least not as long as the elves ruled wildspace.

'What do you want from me?' Hectate asked finally.

'You travel with Vallus Leafbower,' K'tide observed. 'Since he is wizard to the grand admiral of the Imperial Fleet, he certainly will know the current location of the command base.'

'Vallus Leafbower is not in the habit of confiding in me,' Hectate said dryly.

'Nevertheless, he will take you to Lionheart, and you will lead us there.'

'But how?' the bionoid hedged.

Again the antennae quirked, this time into a skeptical angle. 'Surely the swan ship has logs, records of some sort. You could find them and relay the information to us.'

Hectate considered. 'But if your plan succeeds, the scro will have an almost endless supply of new troops.'

The insectare permitted himself an evil smile. 'Not at all,' he assured Hectate. 'I assure you, the thousands of orcs, hobgoblins, bugbears, goblins, and kobolds that now live on Armistice will die on Armistice. Once the destruction of Lionheart is accomplished, one of our training crews will kill the priests and witch doctors whose spells keep the primary Witchlight Marauder in time-stop hibernation. Let the monster forage for a year or two, and there will be no life left on Armistice.'

'You see?' broke in Tekura, her pale eyes bright with fierce excitement. 'With one hand we behead the Imperial Fleet. With the other we destroy a goblin world!'

The swan ship Trumpeter was badly damaged in battle, and far too many of its crew members were killed.' K'tide leveled a glance at Wynlar. 'Some of our troops were too caught up in the joy of battle to follow orders, it would seem. Since Lionheart is our primary goal and the swan ship merely our means of finding the elven base, I called off the attack before the elven vessel was destroyed. It landed on Armistice.'

A small sigh of relief escaped Hectate. 'Then Teldin Moore is unharmed?'

'For the present,' the insectare said meaningfully, 'but, as you can imagine, the Armistice orcs are unpredictable allies.' K'tide shrugged. 'The temptation of an elven ship may prove too great for them to resist.'

'Unless…' Hectate prompted.

'If you will agree to return to the swan ship as a spy, we will send down a bionoid team to stall the orcs until we get the necessary information from you. Although the goblinkin are not known for being farsighted, perhaps we can persuade them to allow the swan ship time for repairs so that it might lead us to Lionheart.'

'If it's Lionheart you're after, you have to keep the swan ship safe,' Hectate countered.

K'tide inclined his head in a gesture of congratulations. 'That's an astute observation, but not entirely correct. We easily could persuade our orc friends to lay waste the elven ship and bring us any information they find on board.'

'But what makes you think you could get near Lionheart, even if you discover its location?'

'Aboard the swan ship, of course,' K'tide said smoothly. 'Whether the Trumpeter is manned by elves or bionoids in elven form, it will be admitted to the elven base and it will carry with it a secondary marauder.'

Hectate was silent for a long moment. 'I owe Teldin Moore pledge loyalty,' he said slowly, counting on the insectare's knowledge of the bionoid battle code.

'I understand your dilemma.' K'tide's thin lips stretched into a magnanimous smile. 'All the more reason for you to return to the swan ship, for then you can see that Teldin Moore is safely removed from Lionheart once the marauder is released.'

'That is reasonable,' Tekura urged Hectate.

Hectate looked at Tekura and then at the expectant faces of the other Clan Kir bionoids, all known to him, all dear, yet all were strangers.

'And if I don't help?' he asked.

'You die, and every member of Clan Kir with you,' K'tide said flatly.

The bionoids responded with an quick intake of breath. Tekura's eyes widened, but she did not look unduly surprised. Even if the rest of Clan Kir did not, Hectate thought sadly, Tekura knew insectares well enough to expect such treachery. She'd come to the clan as a young girl, under circumstances identical to his own.

Wynlar stepped forward. 'I would like to believe that you are bluffing, K'tide, but I can't make that assumption when the safety of my clan is concerned. On what basis do you make such a threat?'

A strange gleam lit the insectare's multifaceted eyes. 'When I called off the attack on the swan ship, I instructed the other members of Clan Kir to return to the scro ship. Very soon they all will be aboard the Elfsbane, under the albino paw of our good friend General Grimnosh.'

'But they were to reconnoiter on Vesta!' cried Wynlar.

'I took the liberty of changing that order,' K'tide said. He raised one green hand in a placating gesture. 'Oh, I wouldn't be overly concerned about your clan, Captain Wynlar. At the present, they are useful to Grimnosh. I imagine, however, that their value would tarnish considerably if the scro general knew they were plotting to destroy the goblins of Armistice.'

'But they are not,' protested the bionoid leader. 'We in this room did not learn that aspect of your plan until this very hour.'

K'tide laughed, a dry, grating sound. 'Do you think that will matter to Grimnosh, when his plans lie in ruins around him?'

Wynlar's face crumpled into a mask of despair. 'My people are doomed.'

'Not at all,' K'tide said pleasantly. 'If all goes well, I should be able to get a message through to the bionoids aboard the Elfsbane before we release the primary Witchlight Marauder on Armistice. They can be safely away before Grimnosh learns of his ultimate failure.' The insectare's eyes fixed meaningfully on Hectate. 'If all goes well,' he repeated with quiet emphasis.

For a long moment, Hectate weighed his options: On one hand, the destruction of a planet of goblins and the haughty elves' high command; on the other, the lives of his adopted family and his first love.

'Hectate…' Tekura whispered, her voice a barely audible plea.

Finally he bowed his head. 'It would seem that I have only one choice,' he murmured.

'Splendid,' the insectare said with quiet triumph. 'Now, suppose we plan how we'll get you back into the good graces of Vallus Leafbower and Teldin Moore.'

*****

Aboard the elven man-o-war Windwalker, a battle wizard sat in deep trance despite the eery, low-pitched hum that pulsed from the magical alarm. An ancient disk hung from the ceiling of the bridge on a thick chain, and each pulse of sound that came from it pushed the fears of the assembled crew to new heights.

The battle wizard was oblivious to the other elves in the room. Waves of golden hair fell around her, curtaining her abstracted face and the narrow hands that cupped a scrying globe. On the wall before the entranced elf was a large, mirrorlike panel, a thin, shimmering oval sliced from the heart of a giant crystal. The captain and officers of the patrol ship Windwalker stood behind the wizard, and their eyes were fixed on the crystal panel in tense anticipation.

For centuries the elven ships that patrolled Armistice had been alert for the magical alarm, but this was the first time one had ever been activated. Its ancient voice warned them that a ship had breached the Armistice net.