Blaedergil's Host by C.M. Simpson (reading well .TXT) 📕

“On both your heads, then,” he said, and walked slowly out the door.

I watched him go, aware of just how still Mack and Tens were standing. When the door closed behind Doc, we turned to face each other.

“Well,” Mack said, pushing away from the table. “Let’s go over it, one more time.”

So, we did. This time the plan was devastatingly simple, and I wondered why we hadn’t tried it the first time.

“Last time, we were trying to be subtle,” Mack told me. “This time round, we don’t care who we piss off.”

Oh. Well. Good, then.

“So, I’m not about die?” I asked, and Mack grinned, although it was more a baring of teeth than a smile.

“Not unless you argue with me,” he said, “and then I just might not be able to help myself.”

I glared at him, but Tens made a point of showing us the balconies, and we had to listen. After all, those suckers were the only way out we were going to have, if things blew six ways to Sunday while were still on the lower levels. I didn’t like the look of them, but Tens didn’t care.

When he was done making sure we knew how to get out onto them, he rose from his seat.

“I need to keep an eye on the data feeds,” he said. “See if anything comes up before we hit the porters in the morning.”

Porters?

Oh. Right. We were teleporting in, gonna set ourselves up a little landing bay right in the middle of Blaedergil’s back yard. I wondered what security measures he had against that.

“None,” Tens replied, reminding me that my mind had ceased to be my own, and that I tended to think direct to my implant which was currently open to any of the three who chose to keep half an eye on what went on in there. “There used to be some kind of dog, but Delight made a call, and now there isn’t.”

I didn’t want to know how Delight had pulled that off, but given I didn’t want to get bitten, I decided to just be grateful.

“Fine,” I said. “And how do we know the authorities aren’t going to detect us?”

Mack wrinkled his lip.

“We don’t, but Delight has arranged a diversion that should keep them busy for a while... and we’ve prepared something for when Skymander comes to visit.”

Tens frowned at him.

“Even so, you’ll need to be fast.”

Which was when I remembered that he was staying with the ship, that it was just Mack and me, who were going planetside—and Delight, although she wasn’t going into Blaedergil’s complex with us. She and Pritchard had to attend to other business.

As I thought about that, I remembered one of the questions I’d forgotten to ask.

“What happens to the children?” I asked, and caught Mack’s blank stare. “You know. The children that Blaedergil’s brides give birth to.”

“Ah. Those children.”

Mack’s expression grew bleak, and he pushed away from the table.

“We don’t know. We think they get sent to Skymander’s world, but we can’t be sure. The little bits we’ve gleaned about Skymander, is that inheritance descends through the male, which means that male heirs not born to a Skymander lord are considered illegitimate nobodies at best, and potential threats to the real heirs at worst. What Blaedergil did with his offspring, we do not know.”

I frowned.

“We need to find out,” I said, by which I meant that I needed to know, but Mack seemed to get it.

“Odyssey have put a team on it,” he said, and I felt a part of me relax.

As much as I disagreed with what they had done with me, I knew they were thorough, and I wanted... No. I needed to whatever information could be found. For once Mack seemed to understand, and he chose not to argue with me.

“I’ll have Delight pass on what she can,” he said, and then lifted his head to stare into space.

I’d seen that look before; it meant he was communicating direct via implant. It worried me that he didn’t look happy.

“One of Skymander’s lords just left the planet,” he said, when I thought the conversation was starting to go a little long. “I’ll have Tens put you in the loop.”

No sooner had he spoken, than the link to Tens went live in my head, and the files began to flow. I knew my face had taken on that same blank expression Mack’s had had a moment ago. For all I knew his face still had the same blank expression. It’s not like we weren’t receiving the same stuff, right now.

I reached out through the implant, and checked the locking mechanisms on the door to the conference room. I felt Tens following what I was doing, although how he was finding the time when he was watching the Skymander, and pulling the files as fast as he was pulling them, I didn’t know—and right now, I didn’t want to know. I was too busy reading about one Lord Sandoval Skymander.

He might not have been the biggest asshole in the universe, but the more I read, the more I counted him among them. There was a part of me that wanted him to arrive while Mack and I were still at Blaedergil’s, just so we’d have an excuse to rid the universe of his ass.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel Mack agreeing. It was strange to realize that we had a common vision—and one that we probably wouldn’t be able to fulfil. It frustrated the hell out of us. I don’t know about Mack, but I swore I’d take any opportunity I could to take Skymander out.

Prince or not, the man had to die.

“Keep reading, Cutter.” Mack’s voice cut through my thoughts, and snapped me back to the content of the file.

I gave myself a mental shake, and focused. There was always a chance I would be able to find something in this file that would help me bring the Skymander