“I didn’t know you had a beloved.” Eric eyed the pot-shards and splattered vegetables littering the floor. Footsteps heralded the arrival of Professor Temerin, Selva, and the others.
“A fair maiden of the Arztillan plains, from a family which fled after Dulane declared the Panarchy,” Wotoc answered, then pounded a wall and spat. “Now that traitor Gerend has taken them!”
“He went over to Dulane’s side, right?” Rachel asked. They’d only recently heard rumors of that, after finding him no longer in evidence at Lord Leon’s court when they returned.
Wotoc said, “Aye. A foolish move, Caesar will kill him for resisting the invasion.”
“Unless he can deliver him something valuable,” Temerin said. “For instance, us, after we are captured trying to help you mount a rescue.”
“A trap it is, but I cannot do nothing. Her father has written to those he trusts, myself included, calling for aid.” He turned to Temerin. “For months I have accompanied you, fighting by your side and asking nothing save for a new purpose in life. Now I ask for help in turn.”
“What can we do? Where are they being held?”
Wotoc grinned, held up the letter. “It is hidden in code, phrases from a poem which every man-of-honor knows. Gerend must not have read it closely.” He passed the parchment sheet to Temerin. “The poem speaks of a castle by the mountains, where a river splits. That is the place for which we must look.”
“That could be anywhere,” Eric protested. “Even with gryphons it’d take—”
Without a word, Zandra righted the table and slapped a little triangular device down on it. A holographic globe of Meridian projected above it.
“Oh.” Eric scratched his head.
“We didn’t go on a survey mission just to look at dinosaurs and play zero-ball in the station cargo bay.” Zandra worked the globe, zooming on the inland sea around which Meridian’s human civilization centered, then panning left to the Freeholds and environs. “It’s a river splitting, not one that merges?”
“Aye,” replied Wotoc.
“That’ll narrow it down a bit—splitting rivers are pretty rare.” She brought up a wireframe keyboard, punched in a few commands. A river forking like a wishbone highlighted up north. Zandra zoomed in again, revealing the unmistakable rectangular outlines of artificial structures.
Rachel studied the map. “Maybe two days’ flight, assuming good weather.”
“It will be heavily guarded, with archers set against approaching gryphons,” Wotoc said. “The roads, too, will be watched.”
“If only Captain Prex hadn’t left,” Cobb mused. They could really use an airship right about now.
“So what do we do?” Eric asked. “Make it up as we go along?”
Temerin grinned.
Cruising above the clouds, wind whistling outside his earmuffs, Eric pondered what might happen next to Meridian should they succeed. Recontact wasn’t the most well-funded thing, and there was no shortage of smooth operators who’d exploit an underdeveloped planet like this if given half a chance. Still, he doubted things could get much worse than the depredations of Caesar Dulane.
He led the formation now, Rachel’s gryphon falling back to his left. Zandra flew to her left, while Felden completed the lopsided-V on Eric’s right. A winding river passed by below, scattered patchworks of fields with buildings near their center denoting villages. Trees were sparse and scraggly, perhaps a fire had swept through a few years ago. Near the horizon Eric saw the castle at the fork where the river split, and circling above it several gryphons. No doubt sent up when the intruders entered view, for that reason they’d arranged to pass by at a distance, as if going elsewhere. Eric maintained his heading and studied the castle through a telescope. Red banners fluttered from the tops of ancient-Asian-styled towers, a drawbridge connected to a dirt road which curved down along the riverside. The guardian gryphons made no move to bother them, Eric continued on and glided down to a landing once they were out of sight.
“Now, we wait.” Rachel dismounted her gryphon as Zandra and Felden touched down. A herd of stegosaurs grazed on thick fire-resistant grass beside a stream. No other people were in evidence, they waited for several hours until night fell and Meridian’s fast-orbiting moon dipped below the horizon. Now Felden was up. He pulled on his flight goggles, switched them to night-vision mode, Eric wished him luck and he took off into the darkness.
Eric fell asleep and awoke to the sound of a computer tablet chiming as the sun began to rise. He unrolled it and a video played: men on horseback, an entourage, leaving the castle. Filmed by Felden, whose voice came over the connection asking, “That him?”
Rachel and Eric studied it. She said, “Yep, that’s Sir Gerend all right. Let’s give it a few hours, in case they try to summon him back once we get there.”
Going over to his pack, Eric took out the fake beard, fancy robes, and other elements of his disguise. Rachel did likewise—even with Gerend gone, he may have described their appearance to others in his new castle.
Once afternoon came they took to the sky again, this time flying straight for the castle. Felden met them on the way, gaining altitude and falling in behind them. The castle’s gryphons went up again, circling overhead as they landed on the road outside.
Dismounting and leashing Ed to a post, Eric adjusted his beard and oversized floppy hat.
“You look ridiculous,” Rachel said, in her far more practical toga-like robe. The avens, far harder to disguise, had leather vests and daggers as if they’d been their guides for a while.
“That’s the idea.” He grinned, took a deep breath, and approached the drawbridge. The gate across it stood closed, from the ramparts above a man with a helmet called down:
“Who are you, my good sir?”
“Who am I?” Eric put his hands on his hips, puffed up his chest. “Who am I? I am... Oz! The Great and Powerful! I must speak with your master!”
“My most sincere and deepest apologies, Lord Oz, my master is away and shall not return for several days. Tell me, great sir, who are your companions and what is the occasion of your visit?”
“This,” Eric gestured to Rachel, “is...Dorothy. And, uh, Fred and Sally. We have heard much of your lord’s excellence, his wondrous deeds and... exquisite taste in poultry. I must arrange an audience!”
“Certainly, my great sir. You shall have our finest quarters and best cook! Open the gate!”
“All right, we’re in,” Eric whispered. Selva, Sir Wotoc, and others would still be a ways away, even riding the fastest horses money could buy. He’d just have to hope they arrived in time.
The great bronze-plated doors swung open, a servant stood behind it and ushered them inside. “I am Jaglen, head-servant to Lord Gerend. Welcome!”
Eric looked around. The castle’s courtyard was small and grassy, with two towers at opposite corners. He asked, “Have you had the pleasure of other guests?”
“Not in a while.” Jaglen shook his head. “My lord values solitude, ever since the Freeholds betrayed him. They arrived in a plaster-walled great hall. “You are starmen, yes?”
“Indeed we are!” Eric kept up his act. “I am a merchant, a Free Trader, come to this planet in search of precious valuables!”
“Then I hope you will not leave here unsatisfied.” Jaglen bowed. “Wait here, my great sir, we will bring your gryphons to our roost and prepare a feast!” The door latched shut behind him.
Zandra took out her scanpad, switched it to backscatter mode. She swept it around, Eric watched the screen. The display was inverted, solid objects like rocks and wooden beams appearing as ghostly white shapes against a dark backdrop. He saw the castle’s interior structure outlined, the silhouettes of people in various rooms. Zandra pointed it towards the other tower.
“Upper floors.” Felden pointed. “There’s guards by the doors, and two people inside.”
Sir Wotoc’s fair maiden Medren and her father Corvel, Eric hoped. Now to get them out of there...
After the meal, they retired to gentlemen and ladies’ rooms in the first tower. Night fell again, Eric wondered how their gryphons were faring. As he stood in the hallway, Rachel opened the door to her room and peered out, checking the stairs for signs of eavesdropping servants.
“Time to go for it?” Zandra asked, standing behind her.
Felden nodded. “Selva said to hit it at night.” He held up a fistful of little disks like small coins. “I got the neural dampers. Let’s go.”
The tower’s multi-tiered roofs made descent possible from the window, though still nerve-wracking as Eric clutched a rope while lowering himself down to another balcony. He put his gaudy, floppy hat back on as Rachel dropped down beside him.
“I’ll go check the gryphons,” she said.
A flight of stairs led to the ground, to any servants watching it would appear as if he’d gone for a late-night stroll. Across the courtyard, more stairs led up to the second tower. Eric checked his scanpad, verified no one was in the room he’d enter, and headed inside. Up a set of interior stairs, he saw the shadows of guards. He hit the radio button on the scanpad’s side. “Go.”
Out a window, a black shape passed below the stars. Something thumped against an upper wall, Eric heard the guards murmur and then came the sound of shattering ceramic. The guards opened a door and stormed through. Eric, following after, drew his stunner and swept it across them with an electric hum. The guards slumped to the floor and he found himself standing in a room facing a young woman in a green dress, Zandra in front of the window with her own stunner in hand, and a rather portly man also unconscious on the floor.
“What did you do to him?!” the woman gestured from Zandra to the man. “To them?” She looked from Eric to the guards.
“They’re just stunned, it’s not harmful.” Eric doffed the ridiculous hat. “We’re here to rescue you.” He bent down and stuck neural dampers on the guards’ foreheads. Someone would come round and pull them off, hopefully in a few hours’ time.
“So you break in and take a weapon to my father?” Medren shouted again.
Zandra protested, “He threw a jug at me! And keep your voice down!”
“Of course he did, such things happen to people who break in through the window!”
Eric looked to Zandra, then Medren, “You’re not the least bit surprised that’s she’s... you know, not human?”
“I was there when the first starman vessel landed outside Grand Arztilla,” replied Medren. Little can surprise me now—save this. What would bring the mere plight of my father and I to your notice?”
Eric said, “Sir Wotoc sent us.”
“Wotoc?” Medren raised an eyebrow. “What’s that fool gotten himself into this time?”
