“Ill-intentioned. No doubt about that. It’s a merc ship,” Linc whispered. “An expensive one. There’s only one reason it would be on the outskirts of a rural village here. It came for a runaway Orium girl with property. Mine.”
They moved closer, and Darx made a series of gestures signaling the boarding strategy. Linc nodded, taking the lead. He knew who he was looking for.
He and Darx entered the ship silently and only encountered two mercs before Larsinc opened the client cabin.
Sitting back in a padded chair with his feet on an elevated rest was the doughy magistrate who’d sentenced him to death over the girl the bastard now planned to abduct. A girl decades younger, and one the man had threatened and manipulated even when she was underage.
“You!” Urcolin said as Larsinc advanced. “There’s a breach!” he yelled, as if expecting help from his mercenaries.
Linc stood still for a moment as the man scrambled first for the communicator and then for a tray to use as a makeshift weapon. Knocking the tray aside, Linc raised his blade.
The man’s eyes widened, shocked horror dawning.
One quick slice, and blood sprayed from the magistrate’s neck.
“She was never yours,” Linc said as the evil man fell from his seat, gurgling and clutching at his throat. Linc waited, watching the life drain from his enemy. “A faster end than you deserved,” he said when he was sure Urcolin was dead. Larsinc wiped his blade on the bunk linens and slipped back out of the cabin. He passed through the control room and took a souvenir.
Outside Darx and Detrey waited for him.
“Not many of them on the ship. Some must have left on their mission.”
“You could wait here, in case they get past us by taking a different path,” Detrey said to Linc.
“A disabled ship is better insurance,” Larsinc said. “If they get past us with her and, finding him dead, don’t release her, they won’t get off the planet before we catch up.”
“Good,” Darx said, pointing for him to do it.
Linc held up the capacitor for the navigation system. “Done.”
Darx smiled darkly. “Even better. Let’s go.”
They ran back through the woods and spotted the merc raiding party just outside Falise’s family farm. Varse, clearly visible, sat sentry at a door that led to a room where his wife and Gissandre slept.
There were six mercenaries to contend with. Not likely to be an issue for three Ketturan warriors under the cover of darkness. Detrey made a whistle for Varse.
Varse’s position in his chair did not change, but he did straighten his fingers in a silent symbol of acknowledgment.
They moved on the mercs with Darx taking the lead and he and Detrey on each wide flank, running hard with blades drawn. The biggest merc spotted them just in time and drew a weapon, but Darx’s long sword fell heavily and cut the man almost in half. Linc ran past and dropped his blade straight down behind the collarbone of one of the mercs nearest him. The other seemed to recognize Ketturan weapons because he said the planet’s name and dropped his weapon. Linc knocked him to his knees and turned his head slightly to survey the situation. There were two more dead on the ground and the last man was wounded at Detrey’s feet.
Linc advised them that their client was dead, and the two living mercs left the woods in a hurry. The three of them entered the yard, and Larsinc rinsed his blade at a water pump before setting it next to Varse’s chair near to the door.
“I’ll see her a minute,” Linc said.
Varse moved aside.
Linc went in silently and passed the other woman. Gissandre lay on her side, asleep, beautiful and untroubled.Good.He backed out without a word.
* * *
“You’re sure?” Giss asked him for the second time. “Urcolin is dead?” The relief she felt was so profound that she almost couldn’t trust it.
Larsinc nodded. “I waited until I was sure.”
She stepped forward and hugged him. “Thank you.”
He kissed her temple.
Gissandre stepped back and shifted her weight nervously in the small cool room with the examination table. “Turn around, please.”
