Bride of the Dark One Read online

hundred worlds.

  * * * * *

  On the rough floor of Mytor's place, Dura-ki stirred and groaned.

  Ransome didn't like the way things were going. He hadn't planned toreturn to the Cafe Yaroto, to wait with Mytor for the arrival of thepriests.

  "There are a couple of my men outside," Mytor told him. "When thepriests are spotted you can slip out through the rear exit."

  "Why the devil do I have to be here now?"

  "As I have told you, I am a businessman. Until I have turned the girlover to the priests I cannot be sure of my payment. This girl, as youknow, is not without friends. If Captain Jareth knew that she was herehe would tear this place apart, he and his crew. Those men have ratheran impressive reputation as fighters, and while my guard here--"

  "You've been drinking too much of your own rotten liquor, Mytor. Whyshould I try to save her at the eleventh hour? To hand her back to herlover?"

  "I never drink my own liquor, Mr. Ransome." He took a sip of his kaliin confirmation. "I have seen love take many curious shapes."

  Ransome stood up. "Save your memoirs. I want a guard to get me to theship you promised me. And I want it now."

  Mytor did not move. The guards, ranged around the walls, stood silentbut alert.

  "Mytor."

  "Yes, Mr. Ransome?"

  "There isn't any ship. There never was."

  The Venusian shrugged. "It would have been easier for you if youhadn't guessed. I'm really sorry."

  "So you'll make a double profit on this deal. I was the bait forDura-ki, and Irene was bait for me. You are a good businessman,Mytor."

  "You are taking this rather better than I had expected, Mr. Ransome."

  Ransome slumped down into his chair again. He felt no fear, no emotionat all. Somewhere, deep inside, he had known from the beginning thatthere would be no more running away after tonight, that the priestswould have their will with him. Perhaps he had been too tired to care.And there had been Irene, planted by Mytor to fill his eyes, to makehim careless and distracted.

  He wondered if Irene had known of her role, or had been an unconscioustool, like himself. With faint surprise, he found himself hoping thatshe had not acted against him intentionally.

  * * * * *

  Dura-ki was unconscious when the priests came. She had looked atRansome only once, and he had stared down at his hands.

  Now she stood quietly between two of the black-robed figures, watchingas others counted out gold coins into Mytor's grasping palm. Her eyesbetrayed neither hope nor fear, and she did not shrink from theburning, fanatical stares of the priests, nor from their long knives.The pirate's consort was not the girl who had screamed in the dimnessof the Temple when the Sacred Lots were cast.

  A priest touched Ransome's shoulder and he started in spite ofhimself. He tried to steady himself against the sudden chill thatseized him.

  And then Dura-ki, who had called him once to blasphemy, now called himto something else.

  "Stand up, Ra-sed. It is the end. The game is played out and we loseat last. It will not be worse than the pit of the Dark One."

  Ransome got to his feet and looked at her. He no longer loved thiswoman but her quiet courage stirred him.

  With an incredibly swift lunge he was on the priest who stood nearestDura-ki. The man reeled backward and struck his skull against thewall. It was a satisfying sound, and Ransome smiled tightly, ahalf-forgotten oath of Darion on his lips.

  He grabbed the man by the throat, spun him around, and sent himcrashing into another.

  A knife slashed at him, and he broke the arm that held it, then sprangfor the door while the world exploded in blaster fire.

  Dura-ki moved toward him. He wrenched at the door, felt the cold nightair rash in. A hand clawed at the girl's shoulder, but Ransome freedher with a hard, well-aimed blow.

  When she was outside, Ransome fought to give her time to get back tothe _Hawk of Darion_. Also, he fought for the sheer joy of it. The airin his lungs was fresh again, and the taste of treachery was out ofhis mouth.

  It took all of Mytor's guards and the priests to overpower him, butthey were too late to save Mytor from the knife that left him gaspingout his life on the floor.

  Ransome did not struggle in the grip of the guards. He stood quietly,waiting.

  "Your death will not be made prettier by what you have done," a priesttold him. The knife was poised.

  "That depends on how you look at it," Ransome answered.

  "Does it?"

  "Absolutely," a hard, dry voice answered from the doorway.

  Ransome turned his head and had a glimpse of Irene. With her, ablaster level in his hand, and his crew at his back, was CaptainJareth. It was he who had answered the priest's last question.

  Mytor had said that Jareth's crew had an impressive reputation asfighters, and he lived just long enough to see the truth of his words.The priests and the guards went down before the furious attack of themen from the _Hawk of Darion_. Ransome fought as one of them.

  When it was over, it was not to Captain Jareth that he spoke, but toIrene.

  "Why did you do this? You didn't know Dura-ki, and you despised me."

  "At first I did. That's why I agreed to Mytor's plan. But when I hadspoken to you, I felt differently. I--"

  Jareth came over then, holstering his blaster. Irene fell silent.

  The big spaceman shifted uneasily, then spoke to Ransome.

  "I found Dura-ki near here. She told me what you did."

  Ransome shrugged.

  "I sent her back to the ship with a couple of my men."

  Abruptly, Jareth turned and stooped over the still form of Mytor. Fromthe folds of the Venusian's stained tarab he drew a ring of keys. Hetossed them to Ransome.

  "This will be the first promise that Mytor ever kept."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Those are the keys to his private ship. I'll see that you get to it."

  It was Irene who spoke then. "That wasn't all that Mytor promisedhim."

  The two men looked at her in surprise. Then Ransome understood.

  "Will you come with me, Irene?" he asked her.

  "Where?" Her eyes were shining, and she looked very young.

  Ransome smiled at her. "The Galaxy is full of worlds. And even theDark One cancels his debts when the night of Bani-tai is over."

  "Let's go and look at some of those worlds," Irene said.

  * * * * *