The God Mars Book Four: Live Blades (50 page)

Our swords come within centimeters of him, but he
doesn’t move. Again, to the rafters: “Is that it? I’m supposed to
play the enemy again? Big scary… Make one of these poor pawns take
the deal? Fine…”

In a flash, he’s gone black again. And liquid. He
swats our weapons away, then dodges like a cloud as Silvermen
arrows fly at him. He suddenly reverses, sweeps out a tentacle that
knocks Bly off his feet, then swats his sword out of his hand.

“I’m
really
sorry about this…”

A tentacle arcs around and hits Elias from behind,
staggers him. Then the black mass goes wide around us, heads for
the case. The Silvermen that try to get in his way get knocked
clear, as does the Ghaddar when she jumps between him and his
prize. But he isn’t really hurting anyone…

Gunfire erupts—fully automatic. It’s the pair of
bots, hammering Chang. But the only thing it manages is to slow
him, stagger him. Then they abruptly stop, and stop moving all
together.

“You, too?” he says to the machines as he partially
re-forms. In my head, I can hear the bots’ command signal, active
again. He’s taken control of them, but instead of using them
against us, he’s just shut them down. He turns back toward the
case.

“No!” I hear Ishmael shout, but not at Chang.
Terina
has made a dash for the case. The lad dives after her
and tackles her before she can get her hand on it, and they crash
to the floor just as a Silverman’s spearhead flies where she’s just
been. She fights him, screaming. She draws her knife, recoils her
arm to stab, but stops herself, and the two freeze like that,
staring wide-eyed at each other, Ishmael on top of her.

I run for Chang, leap, slash. He dodges the first
stroke, liquefying, but I clip him on the return swing, and there’s
a flare of arc-light like what happens when my sword clashed with
Elias’. Chang seems to become solid at the point of contact, and
the tentacle that crosses with my blade becomes a blade itself. We
hold, locked together, as he oozes back into human shape, sword in
what would be his right hand.

“Bel said you had a Companion,” Straker confronts,
coming to support me. Chang is less than three meters from the case
now—he could lash himself out, reach it, but he seems to be
ignoring it. Or maybe he’s putting himself
between
it and
us.

“What else did he say?” Chang hisses at her.

“He said there was an accident. You tried to kill
yourself, tried to make something that would strip the Mods.”

“
What else did he say?!
” He’s getting angry,
losing control.

“He said it consumed you, remade you… That you’re
really not you anymore. But then, neither are they, the other
immortals…”

“He has no idea…” Chang growls. Elias and Bly are up
and backing us. But then Chang shifts, becomes Long again. With his
free hand, he points to his mismatched eye. “I wasn’t the only one
who was consumed that day.
This
is all I’ve got to remind me
of her. I didn’t mean… It wasn’t supposed to happen…”

“The fifth blade,” Bly is focusing on the weapon,
ignoring Chang’s misery.

“
No
, you moron,” Chang snaps at him, slapping
his sword between our blades, holding us off. “I made my own. And
it fucking
ate
me, just like it was supposed to. And then
her, when she tried to save me… stupid… Because I made it to!
I
made it!
I made it to kill Yod!”

He shifts, breaking, parts of him shifting to black.
Then he starts hacking at us, screaming as he strikes:

“
I! MADE! THIS! TO! KILL! GOD!!!
”

He liquefies, and the sword disappears into him, but
now every tentacle that strikes at us flares on contact with our
blades like one of them.

(Is this what we’ll become?)

“
Don’t you understand what He’s done?!!!
”
Chang is wailing. But we’re getting him to move away from the
case…

“
Nooo!!!
” Ishmael screams again, only in much
more agony this time. I can’t see—Chang is in the way…

“Idiots!” Chang rages, becoming a wave that sends us
all sprawling. “
I’m His fucking diversion!!
”

It’s Abbas. He’s got his hand on the panel above the
occupied case.

Jonathan Drake:

It all goes wrong slowly, like a video file played on
partial speed.

“SAVE THEM. KILL YOUR ENEMY. KILL CHANG. FREE
ME.”

The voice is still in my own head as I struggle to
hold Terina down—she’s strong (but she could have stabbed me with
her knife and she didn’t). Chang is fighting back Erickson and Bly
and the others, revealing himself to be a sword but not, their
battle blinding as they clash, each blade-on-blade strike like a
welder’s arc, making the air reek of ozone mixed with smoke. The
bots—Dakota and Snyder—are frozen, locked up. And then a blur of
cloaks flashes past me, someone running toward the case. I see
Murphy turn and try to get in his way, but he’s too far. The figure
gets to the sword’s prison, slaps his palm on the glowing surface
above the cylinder…

My father.

“
Noooo!!!
”

I scream but he doesn’t hear, doesn’t want to. The
cylinder that contains the sword slides away. He looks back at me
once, just a flash of regret, but he’s…

Another blur of cloaks slams into him from the side,
knocks him away from the case just as arrows begin flying. It’s
Rashid. I see him take an arrow in the shoulder that was probably
meant for my father.

I let go of Terina, scramble to intercept as my
father lunges for the sword. Rashid—on the floor—tries to grab for
his legs. The Ghaddar leaps on his back, ignoring the arrows
bouncing off her armor, just as he gets his fingers on the hilt.
There’s a brighter flash, and the two of them look much like Bly
did when he was struck by the lightning on the ship. I can’t see
for a second or two…

…and when I can, I see the Ghaddar staggering back,
and my father slamming her across the faceplate with his left
forearm. I hear bones break, but I think they’re his.

Arrows and spearheads fly, but the sword swats them
away, dancing in his grip. He’s screaming…

I dive low, sliding into him under the blade, grab
his sword arm, try to wrestle it from his grip. The way he tries to
throw me off, I feel like I’m riding a bot. I need to get it out of
his fin…

Pain. As soon as I touch the hilt, I’m being burned
alive from the inside out. But I can’t let go. I pry…

“YES. YOU ARE YOUNG. YOU ARE STRONG AND BRAVE. WE
WILL DO GREAT THINGS…”

“
No!!
” I’m screaming. Even through the searing
in every nerve, I think I can feel my father’s fingers pop. He
starts hitting me from behind with his free hand, pounding on my
back, on my arm like he’s trying to break it, roaring at me in rage
and pain, incoherent.

Two hands against his one, I pry the blade from his
fingers. It feels like I’m tearing off his flesh. I smell blood,
burning skin. Feel blood, slick and warm. I don’t know if it’s his
or mine.

The Ghaddar is up, her mask knocked sideways to
reveal a bloody nose, and she wraps herself around my father,
holding him fast. Rashid has him by the legs again. Somehow, the
sword is still managing to swat the random incoming arrow that
flies at us. My arms are fire from the shoulders down…

“I AM YOURS, JONATHAN DRAKE.”

It knows my name… my other na…

There’s a surge of power, another flash, and my
father and those trying to hold him are thrown free. I’m left
holding the blade. The Silvermen are all shooting at me now, but
the sword is drawing their arrows and spears
to
it, knocking
them away.

I see Terina. She’s up on her feet, hands out, open,
trying to get me to stop. I want to tell her I know what I’m doing,
what I have to do. I want to tell her…

Rage floods me, turning my world red, narrowing my
vision on the attacking Silvermen. I’m losing control, losing
myself.

“PLEASE WAIT WHILE I FINISH…”

“
No!
”

With everything I’ve got, I throw myself at the case,
shove the sword back inside.

“STOP. I KNOW WHO YOUR PARENTS WERE. YOD TOLD ME. I
KNOW…”

“
Close it!!!
Cut my arm off and close it! Now!
NOW!!!
”

The Ghaddar draws her sword. Murphy does the same.
But they hesitate, hope.

“
NOW!!! I CAN’T…!!!
”

It’s Bly that steps up to do the deed.

“I’m sorry, lad,” he mutters like it hurts him. He
raises his blade, brings it down. I want to close my eyes but
don’t…

His sword passes through me without making contact.
It’s like it became a gas. Think I see the blade re-forming below
my arm as he looks at it dumbly.

“I think that’s enough drama for one day,” a deep but
calm voice cuts through my head. In a flash, I’m kicked away from
the sword. I stagger, drop to my knees, then fall on my back. My
hands look burned, charred. I realize I have arrows sticking in me.
When did that happen? I taste my own blood, realize it hurts to
breathe…

Terina is over me. She’s crying.

I’m having trouble seeing, but I think the case has
sealed the sword back up again.

“YOUR PARENTS,” the thing still pleads in the back of
my head. “I KNOW THEIR SECRET. I KNOW WHERE YOU CAME FROM. YOD TOLD
ME.”

“No spoilers,” the deep voice comes back.

“
Let me through!
” I hear Chang, see the black
shape pushing past Erickson and the others, turning back into his
human self with the different eyes. He kneels over me. “I have
control over my Companion.”

He kneels over me, puts a hand on my chest, and I
feel more electricity. But it doesn’t hurt, doesn’t burn. It feels
good. Weird. He starts pulling the arrows out with his other hand.
I feel my lungs clear, my pain go away. I’m pretty sure I’m dying.
Then he takes my burned hands in his, looks like he’s praying. My
hands feel like they’re melting. The others are all standing around
us like I must look funny to them.

He gets up. Terina throws herself over me, holds me.
I feel her tears on my face. I put my arms around her, my hands…
They’re numb, but mostly healed when I can finally see them.

“Now you, old fool,” Chang grumbles at my father,
pushing aside Rashid and the Ghaddar to get a grip on my father’s
hands and repeat his prayer. When he’s done, he pulls the arrow out
of Rashid as an afterthought, and presses his hand into the wound
for a few seconds.

When he’s done, he finds himself facing the swords of
Erickson, Straker and Elias.

“There’s a story in the Mahabharata,” he tells them
lazily. “After the five Pandava princes were exiled into the
forest, they found themselves in need of water. Splitting up to
search, the youngest brother came across a lake that looked
extremely pure and inviting. But as soon as he approached the water
to drink, a Jinn appeared and announced:

“’This lake is my domain. Its water can give you life
or take it from you as I see fit. Drink, and answer me one
question. If you answer correctly, you may drink of my waters
freely. If you answer incorrectly, you will be struck dead.’

“Desperate for water for himself and his brothers,
the prince consented to the challenge. So the Jinn asked:

“’What is the one true thing about man?’

“The brother could not find an answer, and fell dead
on the spot. Some time later, still in search of water, the next
oldest brother came upon the lake and the body of his sibling.
Immediately the Jinn appeared, offering the same challenge, but
offering to restore the dead boy to life as well if the question
could be answered properly.

“’What is the one true thing about man?’

“Again, the brother failed to answer, and fell dead
beside his sibling. This process repeated until four of the five
brothers had come to the same fate by the lake. Finally, the eldest
prince found his four brothers dead by the water. The Jinn appeared
to explain their fate, posed his challenge, and offered to restore
all four to life if the remaining prince could answer his
question.

“’What is the one true thing about man?’

“Taking one look at his four dead brothers, he told
the Jinn:

“’Man never learns.’”

It’s funny. It’s a funny story.

Why is Terina still crying?

“Mike Ram told me that story, a long time ago now,”
the deep voice booms, sounding like it’s all around me. “It’s a
good story. A true story. All good stories are true, even if they
never happened.”

“Words to live by?” Chang grunts back.

“If you like.” The voice is gentle, friendly,
familiar.

It’s Jed. He’s suddenly just standing there, in the
midst of us, leaning on his stick.

“We’re here, Captain,” Erickson turns to confront
him. “Now what? We’re not going to let these things take any more
of our friends. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

“Mission failed,” Straker summarizes, backing
Erickson.

“There’s still one sword missing,” I hear my father
rasp, sitting on the floor nursing his hands, Rashid helping him
stay up.

“Appearances deceive, intentionally so,” Jed tells
him lightly. As we watch, his stick reforms into a sword, more
elegant and beautiful than the others. “All present and accounted
for.”

“For what purpose?” Chang demands.

“Containment, now that the adventure is over.”

“Is that what this was to You?” Chang continues to
challenge Jed, the three swordsmen between them, not entirely sure
who the most dangerous threat is. “An ‘adventure’?”

“Not to me. To
them
.”

“What are you talking about?” Erickson takes a turn,
pointing his sword at Jed.

“They know,” he says flatly, nodding at the
blades.