"Ivane!" gasped Landor. "The people do not know he is dead and she awaits the star-king's invasion to proclaim herself Empress!. . In the god's name, Kieron, don't kill me! I speak the truth!"
"Freka helped plan this?" demanded Kieron.
"He is Ivane's man," stammered Landor, "but I know nothing of him! Nothing, Kieron! The warlock Geller brought him to Ivane five years ago. . that is all I know!"
Geller of the Marshes. . again. Kieron felt the awful dread seeping through his anger. Somehow the connection between Geller and Freka must be discovered. Somehow. .
Kieron turned away from the terrified Landor. The picture was shaping now. Freka and Ivane. The star-king's rebellion. Toran… murdered.
"Keep this hound under guard!" ordered Kieron. Landor was led away, shaken and weak.
"Nevitta!"
"Sir?"
"You and the princess will go back to the ship as you came. She must be taken to safety at once. As soon as that pig is missed, we'll have visitors. ."
"No, Kieran! I won't go!" cried Alys.
"You must. If you are captured on Kalgan now it will mean a carte blanche for Ivane."
"But then you must come!"
"I can't. If I tried to leave here now, Freka would detain me by force. I know his plans." He turned again to Nevitta. "She goes with you, Nevitta. By force if necessary.
"Return to Valkyr and gather the tribes. We can do nothing without men at our backs. One of the ships will remain here with me and the men. We will try to get clear after we are certain that—" He looked over at the slim girl, his eyes sombre—"that Her Majesty is safe."
The Valkyr warriors in the room straightened, a subtle change in their expression as they watched Alys. A gulf had suddenly opened between this girl and their chieftain. They felt it too. One by one they dropped to their knees before her. Alys made a protesting gesture, her eyes bright with tears. She saw the chasm opening, and fought it futilely. But when Kieron, too, went to his knees, she knew it was so. In one fleeting moment, they had changed from lover and beloved to sovereign and vassal.
She forced back the tears and raised her head proudly; as Galactic Empress, Heiress to the Thousand Emperors, she accepted the homage of her fighting men.
"My lord of Valkyr," she said in a low, unsteady voice. "My love and affection for you — and these warriors will never be forgotten. If we live. ."
Kieron rose to his full height, naked sword extended in his hands.
"Your Imperial Majesty," he spoke the words formally and slowly, regretting what was gone. "The men of Valkyr are yours. To the death."
Kieron watched Nevitta and Alys vanish down the long, gloomy hall outside the Valkyr chambers — to all appearances a warrior chieftain and his slave-girl ordered away by their master. Even then, thought Kieron bleakly, there was danger. He saw them pass one sentry, two… three. . They turned the corner and were gone, Kieron's hopes and fears riding with them.
Already, there were sounds of confusion in the Citadel of Neg. Men were searching for the vanished Landor. Searching quietly, reflected Kieron with grim satisfaction, for the visiting star-kings must not know that Freka the Unknown held familiar audience with the Imperial First Lord of Space. Spur of the moment hunting parties and entertainments were keeping the visitors occupied while the Kalgan soldiery searched.
Kieron weighed his chances of escape and found them small indeed. They dared not stir from their quarters in the Citadel until the roar of Nevitta's spaceship told that the Empress was safely away. And meanwhile, the search for Landor drew nearer.
An hour passed, the sand in the glass running with agonizing slowness. Once Kieron thought he heard the beat of hooves on the drawbridge of the Citadel, but he could not be certain.
Two hours. Kieron paced the floor of the Valkyr chambers, his twelve remaining warriors armed, alert, watching him. Nervously he fingered the hilt of his sword.
Another hour in the grey, eternal twilight. Still no sound of a spaceship rising. Kieron's anxiety grew to gargantuan proportions. The search for Landor came closer steadily.
Kieron could hear the soldiers tramping the stone corridors and causeways of the Citadel.
Suddenly there was a knock at the barred door to the Valkyrs' quarters.
"Open! In the name of the lord of Kalgan!"
A Valkyr near the door replied languidly. "Our master sleeps. Go away."
The knocking continued. "It is regretted that we must disturb him, but a slave of the household has escaped. We must search for him."
"Would you disturb the Warlord of Valkyr's repose for a slave, barbarians?" demanded the warrior at the door in a hurt tone of voice. "Go away."
The officer in the hallway was beginning to lose patience.
"Open, I say! Or we'll break in!"
"Do," offered the Valkyr pleasantly. "I have a sword that has been too long dry."
How Landor must be sweating in that back room, Kieron thought wryly, thinking that the Valkyrs would rather kill him than let his message reach Freka. But Landor's death would serve no useful purpose now. Time! Time
was needed. Time enough to let Nevitta get Alys out of danger!
Kieron stepped to the door, hoping that some warriors of the Outer Marches might possibly be within earshot and catch the implication of his words. "Kieron of Valkyr speaks!" he cried. "We have Landor of Earth here! Landor, the First Lord — is that the slave you seek?"
But the only response was the sudden crash of a ram against the panels of the wooden door. Kieron prepared to fight. Still, no sound of a spaceship rising…
The door collapsed, and a flood of Kalgan warriors poured into the room, weapons flashing.
Savagely, the Valkyrs closed with them, arid the air rang with the metallic clash of steel. No mercy was asked and none was given. Kieron cut a circle of death with his long, out-world weapon, the fighting blood of a hundred generations of warriors singing in his ears. The savage chant of the Edge rose above the confused sounds of battle. A man screamed in agony as his arm was severed by a blow from a Valkyr blade, and he waved the stump desperately, spattering the milling men with dark blood. A Valkyr warrior went down, locked in a death-embrace with a Kalgan warrior, driving his dagger into his enemy again and again even as he died. Kieron crossed swords with a guardsman, forcing him backward until the Kalgan slipped on the flagstones made slippery with blood and went down with a sword-cut from throat to groin.
The Valkyrs were cutting down their opponents, but numbers were beginning to tell. Two Valkyrs went down before fresh onslaughts. Another, and another, and still another. Kieron felt the burning touch of a dagger wound. He looked down and saw that a thrust from someone in the melee had slashed him to the bone. His side was slick with blood and the white ribs showed along the ten inch gash.
Now, Kieron stood back to back with his two remaining companions. The other Valkyrs were down, lying still on the bloody floor. Kieron caught a glimpse of Freka's tall figure behind his guardsman and he lunged for him, suddenly blind with fury. Two Kalgan guards engaged him, and he lost sight of Freka. A Valkyr went down with a thrust in the belly. Kieron took another wound in the arm. He could not tell how badly hurt he was, but faintness from the loss of blood was telling on him. It was getting hard to see clearly. Darkness seemed to be flickering like a black flame just beyond his range of vision. He saw Freka again and tried to reach him. Again he failed, blocked by a Kalgan soldier. A thrown sword whistled past him and imbedded itself in the last. Valkyr's chest. The man sank to the floor in silence, and Kieron fought alone.
He saw the blade of an officer descending, but he could not ward it off. And as it fell, a great hissing roar sounded beyond the open window. Kieron almost smiled. Alys was safe…
He lifted his sword to parry the descending stroke, Weakened, the best he could do was deflect it slightly. The blade caught him a glancing blow on the side of the head and he staggered to his knees. He tried to raise his weapon again. . tried to fight on. . but he could not. Slowly, reluctantly, he sank to the floor as darkness welled up out of the bloody flagstones to engulf him…