Ghost Legion (56 page)

And she heard, beneath her, a heartrending scream.

The scream was terrible, worse than the explosion. It stopped her
breath. Horrified, Kamil crawled out from beneath her ledge, stared
down below. Raoul was standing over the crumpled figure of his
diminutive companion. A large bloodstain covered the back of the
raincoat.

Raoul screamed again, a wail of sorrow and anguish; then he collapsed
beside his friend. Black hair falling around his shoulders, Raoul
gathered the Little One close, cradled the head— still wearing
the battered fedora—close to his body.

The archbishop was hastening up the path, oblivious to the laser
blasts bursting around him. One whizzed past Kamil, but she didn't
even flinch. She was suddenly shaking so much she couldn't move.

"Go on. Xris'" the archbishop was yelling. "I'll take
care of them! Go on!"

A strong hand grabbed Kamil's arm, pulled her along.

"Stay here! Keep under cover!" Xris ordered her, shoving
her toward a grove of trees.

"No," she said through numb lips. "I'm coming."

And she came, though nothing made sense to her anymore. It was all
fear and confusion and noise. She fixed her eyes on Xris and did what
he did, went where he went, ducked when he ducked, ran when he ran.

They reached a ledge jutting out just beneath the cavern. Xris caught
hold of Kamil, jerked her back when she would have crawled up and
over without looking. He pointed and she understood. They would have
to cover a large open patch of ground, with no cover anywhere, to
reach the cave.

Astarte stood just inside the cavern's entrance, her soft white robes
falling in folds around her. Her hands were on her hips; she was
staring down the mountainside. And she didn't look frightened, as
Kamil had expected. By her fixed expression and rigid stance, she was
angry. So angry that it might have been her anger alone causing the
mountain to shake.

"At least she has sense enough to keep out of the line of fire,"
Xris muttered.

He was pressed back against the ledge, absorbed in removing the
rocket launcher from his arm, reattaching the weapons hand. Kamil
held the lasgun, covering them both. She couldn't see the commandos,
couldn't hear them.

"Are .. . are they gone?" she asked, daring to hope. "Did
we frighten them off?"

Xris snorted. "Frighten? Hell, no. They're out there. Waiting to
see what we do. They've probably guessed it was all phony, but
they're not sure. They can't afford to take chances. Once we break
cover, though, they'll know."

He twisted his head to look at the cave. "But if we can make it
inside there, we can hold 'em off until DiLuna's forces get here."

He turned back to her. "I'm gonna run for it. You cover me. You
can handle that, can't you, sister? You okay?"

"Yes," said Kamil, drawing a deep breath. "I'm okay. I
can do it."

He smiled at her. Taking a twist from his pocket, he stuck it in his
mouth. "We come out of this, I might have a job for you on my
team." His tone grew bitter; he glanced back down the mountain.
"Looks like there may be an opening. Ready?"

"I'm ready."

Xris gave her a final, reassuring nod, then pulled himself up over
the rock ledge. Firing as he went—small torpedoes shooting out
of his weapons hand—he dashed headlong for the cav-ern. Kamil
kept up a steady stream of laser blasts. The commandos opened fire on
Xris, but the cyborg crouched low and ran for it, ducking into the
cavern just as a tree behind him burst into a ball of flame.

"Now, sister!" he shouted.

Smoke stung her eyes and filled her lungs. She heard more rockets
going off. Unable to see, impelled by sheer panic, Kamil clambered
over the ledge and hurtled toward the blessed safety of the cavern.
Xris ran out, stood in front of the cave, blasting away.

A woman's hands caught Kamil, halted her mad forward rush. For a
moment all she could do was cling blindly to Astarte, gasp for
breath, and try to understand that she was safe, she'd made it.

"We're okay for the moment, Your Majesty," Xris said,
dodging back inside. "You and Kamil go into the back of the
cave. Both of you keep down. I'll stop 'em at the entrance." He
was reloading his weapons hand, began shouting into the commlink.
"Raoul! Damn it, Raoul, come in!"

"Xris!" came a voice over the commlink. "This is the
ar— Brother Daniel. The queen? Is she safe?"

"For the time being. My guess is they want her alive, or else
they'd have killed her by now. Alert the baroness—"

"I already did. But she refuses to bring her forces inside the
temple grounds. It's against their law—"

"Law? The hell with that shit!" The cyborg swore.

The woods began to move. Shadows beneath the trees came alive, began
closing in. Kamil grabbed hold of Xris's good arm, tugged and
pointed. "Look . .."

"I see. Get in the back, damn it!" Xris shouted at the
queen.

"No." said Astarte calmly. "I will not. And put away
your weapons." Reaching out, she plucked Kamil's lasgun from her
hand, tossed it far back in the cave. "There will be no
killing."

"Too late. Your Majesty," Xris said, keeping his eyes on
the commandos, who were moving nearer with each moment. "There's
already been killing. Some of your people are dead. Maybe some of
mine." He was back on the commlink. "Brother Daniel, go to
the baroness. Make her listen to reason. Tell her we're surrounded
but we can hold out—"

"Archbishop, this is Astarte." The queen raised her voice
to be heard. "Tell my mother I am safe and well. I intend—"

"Xris!" Kamil cried.

Three figures, two men and a woman, had emerged from the swirling
smoke. The men held beam rifles, the woman carried a lasgun, all
leveled in the direction of the cavern.

Xris shoved the queen behind him, raised his weapons hand.

"No, Xris! I forbid it!" Astarte cried, grabbing hold of
his arm. Her voice was stern and commanding. "There will be no
more killing. Those who bring violence to these holy grounds will
bring violence upon themselves."

She stepped out in front of the cyborg, moving swiftly, before he
could stop her. "You have defiled sacred ground," she said
to the invaders, her voice stern. "What do you want?"

One of the men came forward, actually raised his hand to touch his
helmed forehead. "Captain Richard Dhure, Your Majesty. We'd like
you to take a little trip with us, ma'am."

"If I agree to come with you, will you leave in peace? Will you
stop the killing?"

"We never wanted to harm anyone, Your Majesty. But we have a job
to do and that is to deliver you safe and sound to the chosen
destination." Dhure was polite, respectful, and he never lowered
his rifle. "If you'll come with us, ma'am, we'll be out of here
in five minutes."

"Very well," Astarte agreed.

Deliberately keeping her body between that of the commandos and the
cyborg, the queen walked toward the front of the cavern. Such was her
calm, imperious air that Kamil stared at her, dazed, let her go.

"Stop her!" Xris ordered, out of the side of his mouth.
"I'll take care of them."

Jolted to action, Kamil jumped forward, reached the queen's side. The
cyborg dodged to his left, to get a clear shot at the leader.

A sniper, hidden in the woods, had apparently been waiting for just
such a move. A single deadly beam sizzled into the cavern, struck
Xris in the chest. The cyborg flew backward, landed heavily on the
cavern floor.

The two women froze, immobilized, clinging involuntarily to each
other. Xris lay motionless, his eyes closed, smoke rising from his
burning shirt. The twist dangled from his flaccid lips. LED lights on
the cybernetic arm flashed, the fingers twitched spasmodically.

"Oh, Xris . . ." Astarte pushed Kamil aside, tried to go
back to him.

"This way, Your Majesty," called Captain Dhure. "Out
front. Like I said, we don't want to hurt anybody, but we have a job
to do. The next shot takes out your girlfriend here."

"Don't hurt her," Astarte commanded. She had stopped,
turned around. "I will come with you."

"Don't go," Kamil whispered.

Astarte smiled reassuringly. "I am in the hands of the Goddess,"
she said softly.

Kamil was numb with shock, shivering. She couldn't say a word.

Astarte walked steadily out of the cave. But she had taken only a few
steps when she staggered, swayed on her feet.

"Careful," called the captain, halting his men, who had
been about to leap forward, "it may be a trick. You, girl"—he
gestured with his rifle at Kamil—"help your mistress."

But Kamil was already there. She caught Astarte in her arms, lowered
her to the ground.

"Are you hurt?" Kamil asked anxiously.

Astarte shook her head, made a weak attempt to sit up. "No ... I
just felt faint____I'll be—"

Kamil's breath caught in her throat. She didn't know how she knew,
except that she had helped her mother bring six baby brothers into
this world. "You're pregnant!" she gasped.

"Hush!" Astarte gripped Kamil tightly. "Don't say
anything. No one must know. The Goddess has told me. 'The baby may
not be born .. .' Promise me! Swear by your God!"

"Just rest. Don't talk anymore." Kamil looked up at the
captain of the commandos. She didn't know what these people wanted.
Perhaps it would be best if they
didn't
know they had an
additional prize, that the queen was carrying the royal heir. Was it
Dion's child? Kamil swallowed hard, squeezed Astarte's hand.

"I promise," she said softly, swiftly. "Her Majesty is
ill," she said to the captain. "She shouldn't be moved."

"We'll take good care of her. We have a medic on board."
Captain Dhure was saying something into a commlink. Looking skyward,
he made a lowering motion with his hand.

A dark shadow fell over them. A hovercopter was overhead. At the
captain's signal, the craft tilted, began descending sideways down
the side of the mountain, using blasts of air to push itself aw ay
from the rocks.

"Help me to stand," Astarte ordered.

Kamil regarded her anxiously. "Should you?"

"Yes. The dizziness is past."

Kamil did as the queen commanded, assisting Astarte to her feet. The
captain kept one eye on them, another on the cave, but even he must
have been able to determine that the cyborg wasn't faking.

The hovercopter reached ground level. Air jets blasted around them,
whipped up dust and smoke, spreading the fires among the trees. It
was difficult to stand in the fierce wind. Astarte's long hair came
undone, blew into her face.

Kamil brushed stinging bits of rock and sand from her eyes, tried to
see. When the hovercopter touched down, Captain Dhure firmly but
respectfully led Astarte toward it.

Feeling helpless and wretched, Kamil watched the queen depart.
Astarte walked with dignity, one hand holding her hair back from her
face in order to see. The commandos treated her with deference. The
queen might have been making a royal junket.

Suddenly, on impulse, with no clear idea what she was doing or why,
Kamil ran forward.

"Let me go with her!" she shouted above the roar of the air
jets.

Captain Dhure eyed her dubiously.

"I'm her . . . her handmaiden," Kamil told him, saying the
first thing that came into her mind.

Shieldmaiden . .. handmaiden.

The captain didn't have much time for consideration. Perhaps it
occurred to him that the queen might be more tractable if she had a
companion along. He agreed with a wave of his hand, and Kamil ran to
the copter. The queen was already inside. One of the commandos
assisted Kamil.

"What are you doing?" Astarte stared at her.

"I'm coming with you."

"You don't need to do this."

"Yes, I do," said Kamil fiercely, and turned her head away,
ending the conversation.

She knew, without asking, whose child the queen carried.

A soldier strapped Kamil securely into her seat. Another wrapped a
blanket around the queen.

Captain Dhure climbed in. "Take 'er up," he told the pilot.
"You patched through to the baroness? Yeah, put her on.
Baroness, this is Captain Richard Dhure, Ghost Legion. We've taken
your daughter hostage. ... No,
you
listen to me, Baroness. Her
Majesty is fine and she'll stay fine so long as you follow our
instructions. We had hoped to keep this low-profile, but your people
ruined that.

"This is what you tell the press: An assassination attempt was
made today against Her Majesty, the queen. The attempt was foiled.
The queen is safe and she has gone into hiding on this planet until
you are assured that all the people involved have been captured . .."

The copter lifted up, its motion erratic and jerky as it fended off
the rocks. The noise of the jets drowned out whatever Dhure was
saying. Kamil had heard enough anyway.

Clinging tightly to the sides of the seat, she stared down at the
ground, which was falling away rapidly beneath her. Fires burned.
Smoke was spreading through the temple gardens. Other hovercopters
were whirring overhead, dropping down to pick up the remainder of the
commando force left on the ground. They wouldn't be picking up all of
them. She saw a few bodies, probably from Xris's rockets. Their
retreat was swift and easy; no one made any attempt to stop them. The
commandos left their dead behind.

Crowds had gathered in the temple gardens, were staring up at them.
Kamil could see a small procession descending down the mountainside.
It was led by the bright robes of the archbishop. Following after
came the flamboyant pink of the Adonian, and beside him two healers
bearing a litter holding a small raincoated body.

Other priests and healers were scaling the mountainside. They'd find
Xris. Find him dead ... alive ...

And Astarte was carrying Dion's child.