"He needs no defense," said Kodir angrily," from baseless accusations."
The sneer returned to Khoss's face." It's clear you've made your choice as to where you stand. If treachery can buy your loyalty, you'd better be satisfied with the price you got for it." As though dismissing her from his consciousness, he turned his gaze back toward Kuat." You see the numbers arrayed against you." With both hands outspread, Khoss gestured toward his followers." Rather an obvious majority, isn't it? And they've appointed me to speak for them-they have sworn oaths of liege fealty to the Knylenn bloodline. Those oaths are binding and irrevocable. It is on that basis that I thus make the wishes of the ruling households known to you, Kuat of Kuat."
"Ah! Is that so?" Kuat stroked his chin as he looked round at the wall of faces, then back up at Khoss." That seems a great deal of power to be invested in one who is not, in fact, the head of the bloodline that he purports to represent."
Khoss's sneer changed to a dark scowl." What do you mean by that?"
"It's very simple. And it is just as I say. You are not the head of the Knylenn bloodline; you are still but an heirling of that one from whom you will someday inherit the title. Those oaths from the other ruling households are not sworn to you, but to the person of another." Kuat gestured toward the ancient, withered visage of the Knylenn Elder." Should he not be the one to state the charges against me, and the one to pronounce whatever retribution this world's heirs demand?"
A moment passed before Khoss replied." Just so," he said, his expression even more murderous than before. On the raised platform atop the portable life-support system, he took a step backward, still letting his hands rest upon the shoulders of the metal-encased Elder." If it is your wish to hear him speak, then that is something easily granted."
The Knylenn Elder's yellowed eyes balefully glowered at Kuat." I am old. . ." His voice was heavy with weariness and loathing." And have not the strength. . . that I once had." The sighing, gurgling noises of the life-support system formed a counterpoint to his words." That is why. . . this younger one. . ." The Elder's head raised in a gesture indicating Khoss standing above." He speaks the words. . . that I would speak. He speaks. . ." The last words seemed to be forced out of the Elder's mouth by sheer willpower." With my authority. Doubt him not. . ."
"And is that your understanding as well?" Kuat looked across the faces of the Knylenns' affiliates, ranked on either side of the life-support system's machinery." You listen to Khoss of Knylenn, because he speaks for the Elder of that household?"
He received a few nods from the affiliates. One of them, the Kadnessi Elder, spoke up." Our loyalty is to the Knylenn Elder; he received our oaths long ago. But if he wishes his heir to speak for him, we have no objection to that." The Kadnessi Elder peered sharply at Kuat." Do you?"
"Not at all," said Kuat." Your oaths are sacred, and I respect them. But let us see if everyone honors them as I do." He strode across the small distance between himself and the portable life-support system, one hand reaching up toward the controls visible on its front panel.
"Stop him!" Atop the machinery, Khoss of Knylenn shouted, his gesture jabbing frantically down toward Kuat.
Before he could lay his hand upon the portable life-support system, another grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around. The former security head for Kuat Drive Yards gathered one side of Kuat's formal robes and pulled him close against himself.
"I know what you're trying to do-" The former security head's expression was set grim and tight as he reached with his other hand inside his jacket." I didn't sell you out to these people just so I could watch you defeat them." A glistening vibroblade appeared in the former security head's fist." You have to realize-I'm on their side now."
Kuat shoved the butt of his palm hard against the former security head's chin, pushing the other man's face to the side; with his forearm, he blocked the thrust of the vibroblade at his ribs. The former security head was younger and stronger than Kuat, too strong for him to break free of the other's bearlike hold across his shoulder and neck. The vibroblade slashed downward across the sleeve of Kuat's robe, parting the heavy fabric and slicing a millimeter-deep wound, precise as a surgical incision, along the back of Kuat's arm. Blood welled out and seeped across the chests of both men, pressed tight against each other.
The fist holding the blade slammed up into Kuat's solar plexus, knocking the breath from his lungs and forcing him a step backward. That gave the former security head enough space to draw his arm back and aim a slashing, fatal blow with the weapon, straight toward Kuat's throat.
The blow never reached its target.
Gasping in sudden shock and pain, the former security head dropped the vibroblade; clattering, the blade spun across the floor. The former security head's fingers clawed at Kodir of Kuhlvult's forearm, jammed hard against his windpipe. With the same move, Kodir had thrust the point of one knee against the former security head's spine; his shoulders arched backward in a tensed bow, his greater weight balanced against hers. Before he could act in any way other than pure, unthinking reflex, Kodir's free arm swung her fist into the man's temple, with enough force that the crack of bone was audible. The whites of his eyes rolled upward behind the trembling lids; when Kodir let go of him, he crashed unconscious to the gathering place's floor.
Under the luminous dome, the assembled crowd had been struck silent by the quick burst of violent action in front of them. Before any of them could move, Kuat of Kuat had already darted forward and snatched up the vibroblade that had fallen from the former security head's grasp. Blood trickled down his forearm and dripped from his elbow as he held the weapon up.
"I would advise everyone to continue standing very still." The rush of adrenaline in Kuat's veins had anesthetized him from the wound in his arm. The front of his formal robes, slashed open and spattered with red by the same blade that he now gripped, hung down toward the top of his boots. He kicked the scrap of heavy fabric aside as he stepped closer to the portable life-support system." That goes for you as well," said Kuat; he held the vibroblade higher, its glistening point on a straight line toward the throat of Khoss of Knylenn." Stay right there. That way you'll get a good view."
Khoss of Knylenn froze in place, as though hypnotized by the sight of the blade. Before him, the yellowed eyes of the Knylenn Elder watched from beneath drooping lids, mouth slack and wet at its corners.
Kuat knew that he had only a few seconds before the Knylenns managed to break free of the shock that now held them. But that would be long enough.
He stepped close to the portable life-support system. The machinery shrieked, as though its metal and silicon were capable of feeling pain, when the vibroblade sliced through the exposed cables and hoses. The blood-cleansing apparatus sped up, then ground to a halt as its workings ran dry; the recycled blood and other floods spread in a glistening pool beneath the machinery's tank treads.
Up above Kuat, the face of the Knylenn Elder distorted in a frozen rictus, the cords beneath the wrinkled flesh of his neck tightening and straining against the confines of the cylinder's metal collar. A red bubble formed and burst at the wet corner of his mouth.
Another blow, this time with the point of the vibroblade, pried open the front panel of the portable life-support system. Kuat forced it open wide enough to get his fingers underneath the smooth edge of metal. As he strained against it, he was joined by Kodir of Kuhlvult at his side; the two of them managed to pull the front panel off the machinery and drop it with an echoing clang onto the gathering place's floor.
Kuat no longer needed the vibroblade. Now he was able to reach into the workings of the life-support system and disable it.