Fortune's Light Part 25

"No."

His offer refused, he slithered down the far side of the wall. The snow had drifted deeper here; it was up to the tops of his boots. He replaced the sling.

A moment later Lyneea joined him. She landed like a cat, gracefully.

They looked out on the rolling fields that const.i.tuted the grounds of the estate. The place was pristine, beautiful, interrupted only by a few tall, stately trees. In the distance there was a stone house, not all that big but cla.s.sically intricate in its design.

It brought back memories.

"Let's try the device again," said his partner.

Riker activated it, expecting to hear the beeping. There wasn't any. But a change had come over the digital display. It now showed only three numerals: seven, four, and three.

"What's the matter?" asked Lyneea. "Don't tell me the d.a.m.ned thing's broken."

"I'm not sure," he told her, "but I think it switched over to another mode-automatically." He looked around. "Maybe because we've gotten within a certain radius of the transmitter."

He took a few steps away from the wall, and the three became a two. Another few steps, and it turned into a zero.

"Anything happening?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I've got a three-digit number here, and as we get closer to our objective, the number decreases. Or at least, that's how it looks."

"Then theoretically," said Lyneea, "when it gets down to zero, we will have reached the seal."

"That's right."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Riker went. And as he did, the number continued to decline. The display read five-nine-nine before he realized the direction in which they were going.

"You know," said Lyneea, "we're heading toward the house."

"I've noticed," he told her. "But it's not as if we've got a choice. Let's just be as careful as possible, and hope we're not spotted."

It made sense, didn't it? Using the house as a heading now, he kept his eyes open for Imprimans, checking the homing device only from time to time. The number kept on diminis.h.i.+ng at a steady rate.

"At this rate," observed Lyneea, "we'll be in the house before we're finished."

Riker estimated the distance. He shook his head. "Not quite. I think we'll wind up by that tree there." He pointed. "The last one."

She made a derisive sound. "That's almost in the house, isn't it?"

"Want to turn back?"

His partner scowled. It didn't make her any less lovely, he noticed. "I'll shut up," she a.s.sured him.

By the time they reached the vicinity of the tree, they were down to a single digit on the readout. And then, as they got near enough to touch it, the digit became zero.

"All ash.o.r.e," said Riker.

"I beg your pardon?"

"An old Earth expression. It means we've reached our destination." And still no sign of a guard or anyone else. They'd been lucky so far.

Lyneea pointed to the ground at their feet. It was a smooth patch, nestled between two of the tree's immense roots and covered, like everything else in Besidia, with snow. "Here?" she asked.

"Here."

She removed a pouch from her belt, knelt, and emptied its contents on the frozen ground. It was a small sharp-bladed shovel that came in two parts. As Lyneea put them together, she surveyed the spot.

"He couldn't have buried it too deep, right? That would have taken too much time."

Riker shrugged. "I don't know. If he was using a blaster, it might not have taken much time at all."

She looked up at him. "Now there's a cheery thought." Then she shook her head. "No. A blaster would have scarred these roots. And I don't see any scars." She jammed the shovel blade into the earth. "Why don't you keep an eye out while I do some work?"

As she bent to the task, the human surveyed the grounds of the estate. They were as tranquil as deep s.p.a.ce, as serene as an uninhabited planetoid. A light breeze tickled the hair on his chin where it jutted out from his hood.

The house might have been empty, it was so quiet-though, more likely, it was just that no one was up yet. On the side of the structure that faced them there was a large oval window. Inside it Riker could see the well-appointed library that he and Teller had once visited.

He watched the window for a couple of seconds, just to make certain no one was looking out at them. Satisfied, he turned away.

But as he did so, he glimpsed a movement out of the corner of his eye. Ducking instinctively behind the tree, he took another look.

This time there was no mistaking it. Someone was on the other side of the window. And not just anyone.

A Ferengi.

"d.a.m.n," he said.

When Lyneea saw him take cover, she'd hunkered down a little lower herself. "What is it?" she asked. "Have we been seen?"

Riker shook his head. "That's not what made me jump." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the house. "There's a Ferengi in there."

Lyneea regarded him. "Are you certain?"

"Take a look for yourself."

She peeked around the side of the tree. And cursed.

"There aren't supposed to be any Ferengi on Imprima," said Lyneea. "Under penalty of law."

"But there's one here," said Riker. "Smuggled in somehow as the guest of Madraga Terrin."

She took a breath, let it out. It dissipated on the wind. "Treachery," she concluded.

Riker nodded. "Terrin hasn't fared well under the Federation treaty, has it?"

"Not as well as when we were trading with the Ferengi. But that was the whole point of the merger-to put Terrin in a better position to benefit from the Federation agreement."

"Obviously the Ferengi made them a better offer." He thought about it. "Terrin is the wealthier party in the merger, isn't it? So its first official, Larrak, would be first official of the newly merged ent.i.ty as well. With that kind of power, he could cut any number of deals with the other madraggi."

"Enough to vote the Federation out and the Ferengi back in."

"Not exactly what Criathis had in mind, eh?"

"Far from it."

He had a thought. "And Terrin may have killed Teller as well. If he came here to bury the seal and screw up the merger, and noticed the Ferengi as we did ..."

"They'd have killed him for it. Without a second thought," said Lyneea. "Just as they'll kill us if they find us here." Her eyes narrowed. "But then, what was Conlon doing in the maze?"

"That's probably just where they chose to dump him. They couldn't have antic.i.p.ated that Norayan would think to look for him there." He pursued the thought to its logical conclusion. "It was just dumb luck that she found his body. And those settings on the device, for getting out of the maze-they must have been left over from his lovers' trysts."

As they spoke, another figure came into view on the other side of the window. He was taller than the average Impriman, and even slimmer. Nor had he changed much in five years.

"Larrak," spat Lyneea. "And he's greeting the Ferengi."

"That cinches it," said Riker. "We've got to alert Criathis." He started to move away, but she grabbed his good arm.

"What about the seal?" she asked.

"Leave it here for now. What's the difference? When Criathis finds out what Larrak has in mind, they won't want to go through with the merger anyway. Then, when all the dust clears, you can recover it at your leisure."

Lyneea frowned. "Fortune's Light isn't something that's needed only for the merger. Nor is it merely a family heirloom. It's the heart and soul of the madraga-the most precious thing we own." Her frown deepened. "We can't just let it lie in the ground, not when we're so close to recovering it."

He sighed, moved back toward the tree. "All right. Let's just be quick about it."

"That was my intention," she told him.

She resumed digging. In the meantime, Riker watched Larrak and the Ferengi. Fortunately they were too engrossed in their conversation to take any notice of what was going on outside.

After a while, Larrak poured a liquid-probably a liqueur-into a couple of ornate goblets. The Ferengi said something, and they put their goblets together in a toast.

It made Riker's stomach turn. To murder someone for the sake of profit ...

"Ah," said Lyneea. Thrusting her blade into the earth one last time, she put her weight on the handle and used it as a lever. A moment later, something rose from the earth with great reluctance. It was small, covered with some rough variety of hide.

"You were right," he noted. "He didn't bury it too deep."

"A fact for which I am most grateful." Laying aside her shovel, she began to unwrap the package. Suddenly she raised her head and looked around. "What's that?"

He tried to follow her gaze. "What's what?"

"That sound. Like ... oh, no."

Now he heard it, too, and recognized it immediately.

"Isakki," he snapped.

A couple of seconds later he saw them. Four or five of them, deadly black streaks on the otherwise flawless fields of snow. A couple of Terrin's retainers ran behind them, struggling to keep up. And they were all coming from the spot where he and Lyneea had climbed the wall.

"We've got to get out of here," he told her, pulling her up off the ground. "Now."

She resisted just long enough to grab up the seal. Then she ran along behind him.

Riker didn't know where he was headed. He just knew that he didn't want to be caught in those powerful jaws. And the only place that seemed to offer shelter was the house.

"What are you doing?" asked Lyneea. "There may be more retainers inside!"

And more isakki as well, if his last visit here was any indication. But he didn't have time to stop and think about it.

Their only chance was to get into the library, somehow neutralize Larrak and the Ferengi, lock the doors against pursuit, and contact the Enterprise. Then the captain could send for the authorities, who would be more than a little interested in their report of a Ferengi in Besidia.

As they skirted the side of the house, he could hear the isakki bearing down on them. And the strident shouts of the Imprimans in their wake.

Come on, he told himself. All we need is a door. As he recalled, this structure had only one entrance, and that was in the front. Snow crunching beneath their boots, they skidded around another corner.

The isakki growled, closing the gap with dizzying quickness. Riker's blood pounded in his ears.

Yet another corner. Surely after this one ...

And there it was-the front door. An oversize specimen carved out of dark wood and inlaid with precious metals. It was set into an overhanging stone archway.

Now, with any luck, it would be unlocked.

It was.

Riker ushered Lyneea inside. Then, together, they shoved the door closed behind them. Finding a dead bolt, he slammed it home.

A moment later they heard the skittering of claws on the outside of the door, and the shrieks of the frustrated animals, and the shouts of the two retainers.

Riker took a deep breath, let it out. But before he'd finished, Lyneea was pulling him away.

"Come on," she told him. "If they've got blasters, that door is history."

She was right. There was no time to waste. They had to get to Larrak before he could hear the commotion and prepare himself.

Behind them was a corridor that seemed to lead into the center of the house; Riker didn't remember for certain. They followed it.

The inside of the place was still a lot like the outside. The walls were made of large gray stones; the ceiling was a tight latticework of a.s.sorted woods polished to a high gloss.

The corridor ended in a hub from which six other spokes extended. Five led to closed doors. The sixth showed them the entrance to the library.

Riker could see Larrak standing in the opening, his back to them, as yet unaware that there was anything wrong.

Lyneea pulled her projectile weapon out of her tunic. Somewhere along the line, she had stuffed Fortune's Light into the pouch at her belt; it dangled there heavily.