"We must at least try to determine whether or not his story is true," Draycos said, stepping away from Bolo and padding to Jack's side. "You must find a way to convince the One to allow a hearing."
"Not necessary," Jack assured him. "Langston's telling the truth."
Draycos's neck arched with surprise. "How do you know?"
"Simple logic," Jack said, rubbing at his throat. "Tell you later."
They went out to the aircar and Jack climbed into the pilot's seat. He glanced around, checking the controls—"Uh-oh," he muttered.
"What is it?" Draycos said, lifting his head from Jack's shoulder.
"That," Jack said, pointing at a small flat box half hidden beneath the instrument display panel. "It's a UniLink, a gadget for patching through to the nearest InterWorld transmitter and sending direct messages." He pulled it out on its attached cable and peered at the display. "And I'd say it's just been used."
"Do you think Bolo sent out word of your death?"
"Let's hope that's all the message said," Jack said, tucking it back away out of sight and turning on the main engines.
"Wait a moment," Draycos said. "Can we use that to contact the Essenay?"
Jack shook his head. "A UniLink's designed to send to only one specific location, which means it's got the target receiver preloaded," he explained. "They're also typically loaded to the gills with encryption and ping-testers. No, we'll have to grab Langston and head back to the spaceport InterWorld building and call Uncle Virge the old-fashioned way."
As a passenger, Jack had already seen that flying into the canyon took a great deal of concentration and skill. As a pilot, he quickly found out that it took all that and then some. Twice the shifting winds nearly blew the aircar sideways into one of the stone columns, and once he came within inches of ramming a guy wire he hadn't noticed.
But after what seemed like twice the time all his earlier trips had taken, he made it through and set the aircar down onto the landing pit.
A small crowd was waiting there, standing in a nervous-looking cluster at the northern end of the pit. A pace or two in front of the others were Thonsifi and the One.
"Good morning, One Among Many," Jack greeted the latter as he walked toward the group. "My apologies for the delay. I'm now ready to begin the day's judging."
"Where is he?" the One demanded, his eyes flicking past Jack's shoulder to the aircar's empty passenger seat.
"You mean Bolo?" Jack asked pointedly. "The man who wrecked your other Assembly Hall and murdered two Judge-Paladins?"
The One twitched violently, his face turning into a solid mass of wrinkles. "Disaster and death," he whispered. "I was right. You have brought disaster and death upon us."
"Relax—I'm not blaming you," Jack said. "Neither will the Judge-Paladins' Office when they—"
"No!" the One cut him off, his voice edging into panic. "You cannot tell them! You must not tell them!" He jabbed his right arm straight up into the air.
And suddenly, the entire front of the waiting crowd sprouted bows and arrows.
All of the arrows pointed straight at Jack.
CHAPTER 22
For a long moment no one moved or spoke. Jack? Draycos asked urgently into the taut silence.
Jack measured the distance with his eyes. Way too far, especially against multiple armed opponents. Stay put, he told the K'da. "You don't want to do this, One Among Many," he said quietly. "And there's also no need. You and your people were Bolo's victims in his crimes, not his accomplices. You have nothing to fear from me."
"Do you think it is you we fear, Jupa Jack?" the One demanded, his voice a mixture of bluster and anguish. "It is his people we fear. His people who will now unleash vengeance against us."
Jack felt his stomach tighten. He should have seen that one coming. "Not if I can get the Judge-Paladins' Office on this quickly enough," he said. "Let me go to the spaceport and get a message off to them."
The One's face wrinkled. "We cannot take the risk," he said, his voice regretful but firm.
A chill ran up Jack's skin. "You planned this from the beginning, didn't you?" he said quietly. "Once I was here, you never intended to let me go."
"I am sorry, Jupa Jack," the One said. "I should have sent you away when you first arrived. Now, it is too late." He slowly lowered his arm, and the arrows pointed at Jack dipped slightly to aim instead at the ground in front of him. "You will return now to your apartment."
"As you wish," Jack said, starting to breathe a little easier. He and Draycos were still in big trouble, but at least it didn't look like they were going to be shot. Yet. "But understand this. I said before that you weren't in trouble with the Judge-Paladins' Office. You still aren't. But if you continue to hold me a prisoner you will be."
"Your meals will be brought to you as usual," the One said, as if he hadn't heard a single word of the warning. "Your duties are . . . for the moment . . . suspended." He gestured, and two of the armed Golvins stepped over to Jack's pillar and took up positions on either side of the bridge. "You will go now," he said.
Jack looked at Thonsifi, but her eyes were avoiding his. Clearly, she was upset by all of this. Just as clearly, she wasn't going to interfere. "Very well," Jack said. With as much dignity as he could pull together, he strode between the two waiting Golvins and climbed the bridge into his apartment.
For a moment he paused just inside the doorway, peeking between the colorful streamers as he watched the crowd drift away. Thonsifi was the last to go, her eyes and expressionless face turned up toward his apartment. But finally she, too, lowered her head and walked away. The two Golvins at the foot of his bridge slung their bows over their shoulders within easy reach, and settled themselves as if for a long stay.
Draycos leaped out of the back of Jack's shirt and eased an eye between two of the streamers. "What do you think?" Jack asked.
For a moment the K'da was silent. Then, with a twitch of his tail, he stepped back from the doorway. "They have the look of determination," he said.
"Yeah, so did the One," Jack agreed grimly. "I don't think we're getting out of here anytime soon. Not without a fight, anyway."
Draycos twitched his tail again. "I don't wish to fight these people."
"You think I do?" Jack retorted. "I wasn't just spinning soap dust when I said they were victims. But we can't help them—or ourselves—if we're stuck in here."
"Agreed," Draycos said. "Still, despite their weapons, these are not a warrior people. A few uneventful days, I think, and their vigilance will fade into routine and boredom."
Jack glanced out the doorway at the landing pit. "Though they'll probably stash Bolo's aircar out of sight before then," he warned.
"We'll find it," Draycos assured him. "In a few days we should be able to make our move."
And while they sat here doing nothing, the K'da and Shontine refugees were moving ever closer to their destruction. "I'm sorry, Draycos," he said, dropping wearily onto the couch. "I should have gone straight to Langston's cave, picked him up, and headed straight out again."
"In hindsight, perhaps you should have," Draycos agreed. "But any blame must be shared between us. I also didn't expect such a strong reaction from the One."
"The real irony is that he's probably jumping at shadows," Jack said. "He thinks there's a whole army out there ready to come charging in to avenge Bolo's death."
"You don't believe that will happen?"
"I'm sure of it," Jack said. "You don't share a secret like a double Judge-Paladin murder with any more people than you absolutely have to. I'm guessing that with Bolo gone, the only one who knows anything about this is whoever it was who hired him in the first place."