The Skypirate Part 41

Glendar nodded to the man Califa had almost forgotten, the man who stood to one side with that odd looking tool. He did something with it now, turning the handle. Almost immediately the tip, barely an inch across and shaped like anX, began to glow, first orange, then brightly, hotly red.

It wasn't until the man stepped toward Dax, and the two guards moved to hold his head, that she realized what was happening. She stared, in shocked disbelief. Surely he wasn't going to let them do this, to literally brand him with that searingly hot metal?

Then he moved, brus.h.i.+ng away the hands of the guards, and Califa breathed again. And as quickly lost that breath on a gasp; Dax had merely rejected their hold on him. He bent his head to one side, then reached up and tugged the thick mane of his hair out of the way, baring his neck to the man with the red-hot brand. He wasn't going tolet them do it, he was going to help them.

"d.a.m.n you!" Califa leapt to her feet, unable to bear it any longer. Dax seemed to wince, but he never looked at her. The man with the glowing tool paused. Glendar opened his mouth to speak, then closed it as she shouted again.

"d.a.m.n you, Dax, look at me!"

She strode across the room, oblivious of the sudden chorus of exclamations in the chamber. The guards moved to stop her, but at a wave from Dare, they let her pa.s.s. She came to a halt in front of the chair.

"You're not going to do this, do you hear me? You're not going to just sit here and make them do this to you."

"Califa, don't."

His voice was hoa.r.s.e, strained, but it was at least a sign of some emotion and she welcomed it.

"Don't what? Speak for you when you refuse to speak for yourself?"

"You can't speak for me."

She whirled on Glendar. "Is that true? No one else can speak for him?"

The silver-haired man looked miserable. "I'm afraid so, once he has declined that option."

Califa turned to look at Dare. He looked as torn as Shaylah had told her he was. But simply looking at him, thinking of something he had said earlier, gave her an idea. Desperately, she turned back to Glendar.

"What of my time before you? Will you let me use it?"

"Califa, no!" For the first time Dax looked up; she didn't look at him.

"Will you?" she demanded of Glendar.

"If you use it now," he cautioned, "you will shorten the time allowed for your own defense. Outworlders are only granted so much."

"It doesn't matter. I have little enough to say." Glendar hesitated, then glanced at Dare, who gave him a barely perceptible nod as Dax protested again.

"Califa"

She whirled on Dax. "So now will you talk? Will you tell them why you refuse to defend yourself? Will you tell them the truth?"

He lowered his eyes again. "I have," he said flatly.

"May your G.o.d preserve me from suicidal idiots," she grated out. Then she spun around to face the Council. "It is true I am an outworlder. And whatever else you have probably heard of me is true. But I have knowledge you need to hear, and despite the stubbornness of this...this Triotian of yours, you're going to hear it."

"Stop it"

"Quiet," Glendar ordered Dax, an odd light in his eyes now. "You refused to speak, now refrain from it." Dax seemed to shut down before her eyes, as if he'd gone numb to everything around him.

Glendar looked at Califa. "Go on. I would very much like to know why the son of one of the most honored families of Trios refuses to even try to defend himself."

"Because," Califa said flatly, "he feels he deserves exactly what you are about to do to him. In fact, if he had his choice, I am sure he would prefer your king had invoked that order for execution."

Glendar blinked. "He would prefer death?"

"He's been trying for it ever since he committed that treason he spoke of."

"There is no charge of treason against him," Glendar repeated, still clearly puzzled by the use of the word.

"In your eyes, perhaps. But he has already tried and convicted himself, of the treason of not being here to die with the rest of his world."

The gasps that went around the room didn't distract Califa from seeing the look that crossed Dare's face; that of a man whose guess had been confirmed.

"But that was no treason!" Glendar exclaimed. "It was not by design that he was gone at that time, we all knew that."

"That matters not to him. He is alive, and until a short time ago, he thought all of youincluding your king dead. For that reason alone he has risked himself time and again, hoping to join you all in that death."

She turned to face the council table. "He denied his ident.i.ty as a Triotian, denied his family name because he felt he no longer had the right to either. Even the Triotian child he rescued three years ago, though he loves her, has been a living, daily torture, a reminder of how he had failed. All because he lived on after his world had been destroyed. All because he hadn't been there to uselessly die along with the rest of his people."

Califa swallowed, knowing she was losing her emotional control but unable to fight it any longer. She had to make them understand.

"When he learned that some of you still lived, and of your rebellion, he tried to atone by saving those he could, and bringing them home. Some of you look upon this as an effort to buy forgiveness, but I tell you that deep down, he expected none. He expected nothing other than what you are about to do. But I tell you as well, that no matter what he has done, no matter what laws of yours he has broken, I swear to you, there is nothingnothing you can do to him that is any worse than what he's already done to himself. He has punished himself for six years, and in his mind, it is still not enough."

She was shaking now, visibly, and she couldn't help it. Dare was staring, not at the silent Dax, but at her, and there was a look in his eyes she'd never seen there before. She steadied herself and forced out the last words she felt she must say.

"If you must have vengeance this day, take it on me. I am the true representative of the Coalition here. I am the one you should hate, not Dax." Her voice broke. "Not Dax."

She knew she dare not go on; she who had wept but twice in two decades would burst into frantic tears before them all if she did.

"I would speak!"

The high, clear voice came from the crowd. All heads turned, and Glendar spoke.

"We recognize you, Fleuren, and your right to speak as an elder of the city ofTriotia ."

"I have reason to defend this man," she said. "You all know he rescued me from imprisonment, and brought me to the home I thought to die without seeing again. But there is more to my plea. During my imprisonment, I heard much of the skypirate known only as Dax. I heard that honest people had nothing to fear from him. I heard that only those who perpetuated the Coalition evil needed watch out for him. I learned of his generosity to those downtrodden by the very forces that defeated us, and that much of what he gained by admittedly criminal acts was given back to such as those."

She glanced at Califa, who watched the old woman through eyes suddenly br.i.m.m.i.n.g; she had feared no one else but she cared what happened to Dax. Dax himself sat with his head lowered, and Califa saw tiny shudders rippling through him, as if each of Fleuren's words was a blow. But he was feeling now, and that was something, Califa thought.

"And I heard of his recklessness, his carelessness with his own life for the sake of others. And when he came for me, I found it to be true."

Fleuren looked around, as if she were singling out each person in the chamber. "It is true that Triotians rarely believe that the end justifies the method. But we have all agreed some of our cherished laws needs be suspended in time of war. I submit that Dax Silverbrake deserves no less."

Fleuren glanced toward the back of the room, as if expecting something. Then she turned back, and this time her attention was fixed on Dare.

"And as the granddaughter of one of our greatest legends, I submit also, your highness, something you all seem to have forgotten. That only a Triotian of truest heart can fire the flashbow. Dax Silverbrake can."

The clamor that circled the room was instantaneous, as was the look of realization on Dare's face. The noise nearly drowned out the disturbance at the back of the room as the two huge doors swung open. Glendar had to shout for order as a large group swarmed down the aisle to the front of the room, Rina in the lead. Califa's heart leapt; it was the entire crew of theEvening Star. Roxton, Larcos, Nelcar, even the silent Qantar.

The girl came to a halt as every guard in the room surrounded her small troop. She glanced at Califa, who smiled through her tears. The girl seemed to take heart from that, and glared up at the guard who towered over her.

"They have told me I belong here," she said, loud enough for all to hear. "That as the last one alive, I have all the rights of the Carbray family, and the rights of any Triotian. Is that not true?"

Helplessly, Glendar looked at Dare.

"Let them through," Dare ordered. "I wish to hear all of this."

Rina darted past the guard and ran to Dax. She threw her arms around him. Only then did he look up, anguish vivid in his eyes as he looked at the girl he loved like his own blood. Roxton strolled up and stood beside Califa, grinning.

"d.a.m.n you, Rox," Dax said hoa.r.s.ely, "you're supposed to be a full day gone from here!"

"Shut up, Dax. You gave theEvening Star to us, didn't you? We'll do as we like with her. And we all voted to stay and save your worthless hide."

Califa laughed, she couldn't help it. She'd suspected something like this, when Roxton had so carefully worded his answer to Dax's order to break out of orbit and leave. And Dax was hugging Rina back. He was alive, responding. Roxton threw her a snappy salute.

Glendar scrambled to regain control. "Is there a point to this intrusion?"

"Sure is, your honor, or whatever you are," Roxton said.

"Your honor will do," Glendar said primly.

"The point is, you should be introduced to someone."

"Introduced?"

"To the man who has single-handedly done more to slow down the Coalition juggernaut than anyone. The man who has deprived them of more supplies, more s.h.i.+ps, more men, more ammunition than they've been able to make up for. The man who made one s.h.i.+p as effective as a squadron against the full force of the Coalition. The man who took target after target, all of which had only one thing in common; taking them in some way hurt the Coalition. It took Califa here to figure it out for us, but every move that man made, every thing he did, while it made us rich, did only one thing for himit was a blow against the Coalition. And maybe, just maybe, you should think about the possibility that the reason they didn't just blow your entire world completely to pieces when you first started this little rebellion of yours, was because they needed your resources. Because that man I'm speaking of took so d.a.m.ned much away from them."

Califa saw Dax stiffen, saw his eyes widen. Since he'd believed Trios already destroyed, he had obviously never thought of this aspect, and she could have kissed Roxton for realizing it.

Rina spoke then, never releasing her tight hold on Dax. Califa knew just how the girl felt; she wished she could grab him and hang on just as tightly.

"I remember little of Trios," she said. "What I do know, Dax has taught me. He taught me there was no other world like it, and when we thought it destroyed, he taught me that I should keep its memory alive, and honor it. He taught me there was no better place to have lived and grown up. But if this is what you see as justice, then he was wrong. And when you banish him, you banish me, for I go with him."

She released Dax then, and when the girl moved, Califa could have sworn she saw wetness glistening on his cheeks.

"But there is one more thing you need know. Dax left something with me"

"Rina," Dax said warningly.

"No, Dax. I've never disobeyed a direct order from you, but even if you never forgive me, I must disobey this one."

The girl walked boldly up to Dare. She stopped, studying him with all the fierce concentration of youth. Dare looked disconcerted, and Califa was as proud of Rina in that moment as if she had been her own child.

"You are the king, are you not?" she asked bluntly.

Dare's mouth quirked. "So they say."

"Dax told me that on Trios, even a child can speak to the king."

The quirk became a smile. "That is true."

"Then I wish to give you something. Dax left it with me. He ordered me to hold it until this was over, until you had decided. I didn't understand when he said no matter what happened, I was to give this to you when it was done." She gave Dare a look that was bitter far beyond her years. "I see now that he meant even if you killed him."

Dare winced visibly before the fierce anger of this child. Even the council s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably.

"I'm not even certain what it is," Rina said. "I only know that when Dax gave it to me, he said that there are some things too sacred to be used for the paying of debts, especially debts that are beyond repaying."

She reached into the loose s.h.i.+rt she wore. When she pulled out a large circle of hammered metal, an odd color between silver and gold, every member of the council gasped. Dare stared, clearly stunned.

"I see that it is as important to you as he thought," Rina said. "Yet he would not use it to bargain with, even for his life. Or to save himself fromthat." She gestured at the glowing tool that would sear the mark of an exile into Dax's flesh. Then she backed up a step. "Well, I will. If you want this, you will have to"

"Rina, no."

It was Dax, his voice short and sharp with command. Rina looked back at him.

"But"

"No, Rina. It is the Royal Circlet of the King of Trios. It is his by right."

"If it is so valuable to him, then he can"

"No." Dax swallowed visibly. "Please."

For a long moment Rina just stared at him. Whatever she saw in his eyes filled her own with tears. Her bravado vanished, and the hands that held the circlet trembled. Dax nodded slightly, toward Dare. With a strangled cry, Rina turned and handed the crown back to the king.

Dax slumped in his chair, letting out a long breath. Rina looked around a little wildly, her gaze stopping on Califa. Wordlessly, driven by an emotion she didn't even understand, Califa held out her arms. The girl ran to her, sobbing as she threw her arms around her.

There was a long moment of silence as Dare sat motionless, staring at the circlet in his hands. It was Glendar who spoke at last, gently, unexpectedly to Califa.

"You have time for a few more words. Have you anything to say on your own behalf?"

Califa gave a final hug to Rina, then straightened. She walked over to stand where Rina had stood; she could do no less than match the girl's bravery. She looked at Dare, who still held the royal symbol returned to him by the man they were about to irrevocably punish.

"Only this," she said, her voice none too steady. "I do not wish to die. But I am not sure anything less can atone for what your king knows I have done."

The guards around Dax and the crew tensed when she reached into her pocket, but again Dare waved them back. Shaylah gasped, and Dare sucked in his breath when she drew out the control unit. She heard a commotion, and sensed Dax had tried to rise.

"No, snowfox! Don't."

She didn't turn. She didn't dare look at Dax, or she would weaken. With a hand she couldn't keep from shaking, she handed the king of Trios, who knew all too well exactly what she was giving him, the controller that said he now owned her as she had once owned him.

Chapter 28.