Rebel's Honor(74)

Despite the smoke, Stefan threw open the window to ensure an open line  of communication. "King Thorn! Greetings. I would like nothing more than  to open my hatch, but I ask first that your raiders lower their weapons  and"-he gestured to the closest man hanging on the guy ropes-"their  torches. My craft is not a chestnut in need of toasting."

"Then you ask in vain, Colonel," King Thorn shouted back. "Your flying  contraption may sport the Dragon, but you are now on Norin soil. Prepare  to be boarded."

Stefan swore under his breath. This was bold, even for Thorn.

"Guns now, sir?" Malek asked hopefully. His beady eyes streamed tears  from the fumes and smoke billowing into the pod through the window.

It was about to get worse.

"No!" Stefan threw open the door hatch. "Sire," he called down, bowing  low to King Thorn. Vassal or not, Chenaya needed the Norin king's  support.

Thorn's raiders laughed, a ribald sound, and Stefan wondered what he had  done wrong. Then he remembered. Norin didn't bow; they punched their  chests. And they didn't call their king sire either.

"Sir," he called, thumping his heart, "I come in peace. I have a-"

A crackling sounded behind him in the pod. Someone was trying to make  contact with the ship. Only the royal family knew they were here, so it  wouldn't be wise to ignore them.

Awkward timing. Stefan sighed and snapped at Malek, "Handle that transmission."

He had just faced King Thorn again when Lynx's voice filled the pod.

"Stefan," she said, clear as if she were standing next to him. "Tao and I  see on his informa that you have reached Norin. We thought it would  help if I spoke to my father."

"Your Majesty." Malek jumped to attention and saluted the image of Lynx  hovering in the air above the control panel. "The colonel is negotiating  with King Thorn as we speak."

Lynx's virtual presence presented a lot of possibilities. Relief swept  through Stefan. He shouted to Thorn, "I have Lynx with me in the cabin."

Not entirely truthful, but close enough to get Thorn or a senior raider  into the craft so they could talk. It could halt the Norin aggression.

His words electrified the Norin. To a person, they froze.                       
       
           



       

Then, the hostility vanished from their faces, replaced with hope. A  wave of sound rippled through the crowd, all saying her name. A couple  of torches dropped to the ground. Clearly, their holders, while willing  to risk their own lives, were not willing to gamble with Lynx's.

Only King Thorn's sun-bronzed face remained hard. Unbelieving. "Then bring her out," he called, staring up at the pod.

Stefan swore again. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. How was he  supposed to explain that the airwaves carried her face and voice all the  way from Cian, thousands of miles away?

Impossible.

The Norin still lived in an age when coal and fire powered all  technology; they would not understand ice crystals and informas. As it  was, Thorn had been remarkably sanguine about the dirigible.

Could he have known about it? And if so, how?

"She wishes to speak with you inside the cabin," Stefan shouted to  Thorn. Then he remembered the letter Lynx had given him before leaving  the palace. He pulled it out of his pocket. "I have this." Praying it  would soften King Thorn's heart, he let the parchment flutter down.

The freckle-faced young raider ran forward to pick it up. He glared up at Stefan and then raced the letter over to the king.

Without taking his eyes off Stefan, King Thorn took the missive. He  glanced down briefly at the seal-Prince Tao's-and shot Stefan another  lingering look before cracking it open. "Heron, Clay, don't take your  eyes off him. If he moves, shoot him."

As if the two needed any encouragement. While King Thorn read the  letter, Heron, the older of the two raiders, lined up his crossbow to a  steely blue eye. Clay tensed, his body rigid with focus as he held his  weapon in a rock-steady hand.

A chill trilled down Stefan's spine, but he resisted the urge to fidget.  In the background, Lynx asked Malek what the holdup was.

"You expect me to believe that my daughter wrote this?" Thorn asked, his voice incredulous.

Stefan pulled himself up tall, refusing to be intimidated by the Norin  king's scorn. "If you come aboard, sir, you will hear it from her own  lips."

Thorn's icy blue eyes drilled Stefan. No one else moved. Every Norin watched their king. Time was ticking by.

Time Axel didn't have.

Panic surged through Stefan, but he fought to contain it. Another minute of nothing but the sound of Axel's jagged breathing.

Stefan was about to start pleading when Thorn held up the letter.

"So, you're telling me that not only do you have my daughter on that flying monstrosity, but you have General Avanov, too?"

"Yes, sir." Stefan wished they could hear Lynx's voice down on the  ground, but even turned up to full volume, the speaker in the control  panel would not carry that far.

"You do know that I have every reason to want Avanov dead?"

Thorn's bluntness shocked Stefan, but he masked it.

"Sir," Heron said with more enthusiasm than Stefan liked, "if you want  me to board that ship and stick a dagger in Avanov's chest, I will."

"Count me in." Clay's predatory smile sent another shiver down Stefan's back.

Thorn continued to eye Stefan.

This was getting them nowhere. Stefan thumped his fist on his chest  again. "Sir, I understand that you have good reason to want General  Avanov dead."

This wasn't the time to mention that Axel had been promoted to Warlord  of all of Chenaya's armed forces. He was right. A ripple of bitter  laughter spread through the Norin camp.

"However," Stefan said, speaking louder, "Lynx has made some friends in  the palace, General Avanov and Prince Tao amongst them. She would not  like to see Axel Avanov die." He considered adding that Axel had jumped  in front of the poisoned quarrel for her but decided not to. Despite the  fact that a thousand high-born had witnessed his friend's desperate act  of love, followed by Lynx's kisses, it was not for public consumption.  With careful control, Felix and the Fifteen could stop that truth from  spreading through the empire. If Lynx or Axel wanted to tell Thorn about  their relationship, it was up to them.

Baleful stares answered Stefan's words.

"You speak most eloquently for my daughter, Colonel. When will she step forward and speak for herself?"

Frustration welled up in Stefan, but he maintained an even tone. "You can speak to her right now, if you so choose."

Clay took a step forward, his movements eager.

Sensing weakness, Stefan studied him. The recent scars on Clay's face,  given his age and the feathers in his braided hair, could have been from  an egg raid. Young and green, he would have something to prove to his  fellow raiders. Stefan kept his eyes fixed on Clay.                       
       
           



       

"They can bring their machetes. As you can see, I stand defenseless  before you." Stefan raised his hands and then gestured at the dirigible  to convey that it had no weapons either.

Clay looked back at Thorn and said something Stefan couldn't hear. The  king frowned and shook his head. Thorn wouldn't believe the dirigible  was unarmed, but he was at an impasse-and they both knew it. Thorn could  not call his bluff that Lynx wasn't on board.

Something had to break the deadlock. Stefan prayed that Clay was  persuasive. The boy spoke again, more fervently, and Stefan waited,  motionless, for Thorn's answer.

Finally, the king nodded. "Colonel, send down a rope." He gestured to  Clay and Heron. "They will pay you a visit. Any trouble, and the rest of  us will cut you down and carve you up for jackal food."

It was almost as good as getting Thorn on the ship.

Stefan turned to the closest crewman. "Throw down the ladder." Then, he  added to both him and the other corporal, "When they arrive, I want you  at attention. If they attack, take them down."

With the ice crystals in his guardsmen's faces, they were virtually unstoppable.

Still, Stefan sighed. Fighting Thorn's raiders would not get Axel  healed. Lynx was the only answer, so this crazy plan had to work. He  loped to the control panel, where Malek waited. Lynx's image had  vanished.

Stefan's heart sank. "Is she standing by?"

"That she is, Colonel. I told her things were taking a time." Malek  looked smug. It wasn't every day a guardsman got to speak to royalty-and  never to the empress.

"Get her back." Stefan darted back to the hatch to welcome his guests.

Heron was the first to clamber into the cabin. He turned toward the sleeping compartment, where Axel lay, chest rattling.