[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Prince could ascertain and even some he wasn't sure of were put to death, their bodies
burned so that they weren't even allowed the dignity of becoming part of the growth
cycle."
"Why hasn't anyone chilled this prince?" Ryan asked.
"He is too well guarded," the boy replied, "and we have no weapons. No blasters,
anyway. The seed heralds know their futures depend on the prince's well-being. If they
fall out of his favor, they won't be granted immunity from the plague."
"What will the plague do?" Krysty asked.
"It's specially designed. My father was able to look at some of the plans for it. He was
high up in the Prince's hierarchy. When it is released, the plague will replicate itself,
killing everything remotely human that it touches."
"Including muties?" Ryan asked. "Some of those can be hard to kill."
"Mutations were expected," Tarragon said. "With the amount of nuclear radiation
involved in the war, Prince Boldt's father knew the surviving humans would be radically
affected. He feared monsters. When the raiders came among us, killing the bands of
pollinators and caretakers, and raping the women among them before putting them to
death, my people felt certain only the vicious had survived the end of the first world."
"That's not always the case," Krysty said.
"But more often than not, it is." Ryan wanted the boy to get it straight. "If Boldt releases
this plague, how does he plan to survive it?"
"There are cryo chambers beneath his castle. He and his chosen few are supposed to go
there and wait out the effects of the plague."
"How long?"
Tarragon shrugged. "A generation. Two. Perhaps longer."
file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...20Deathlands%2035%20-%20Bitter%20Fruit.html (190 of 291) [1/3/2005 12:27:09 AM]
file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%2035%20-%20Bitter%20Fruit.html
"Why didn't your father and the other people dissatisfied with life around Boldt leave?"
Krysty asked.
Tarragon looked at her, his feverish eyes opened wide. "There is no place to run to that
the plague will not reach. It was designed to cover the entire world in a decade or less.
Wind-borne, waterborne, even spread by carriers that will later die, it will be
everywhere."
Ryan felt chill with the knowledge. It wasn't just Mildred in the line of fire now. So was
Dean. And so were his friends. "What about an antidote?"
"There is none," Tarragon answered hoarsely.
J.B. FOUND ONE of the stable boys leaning over a section of fence inside the barn that
had been made from one of the older buildings. He reached out, unseen and unheard, and
seized the dozing boy.
The stable boy started fighting at once. He was beefy and strong, twenty pounds heavier
than the Armorer. But J.B. was relentless. The Armorer kept his grip on the younger
man's carotid artery, shutting off blood flow to the brain only long enough to cause
unconsciousness and not death. He kept his other hand clapped over his victim's mouth to
prevent shouts or screams.
When all struggle had died away, J.B. eased the boy to the ground amid the straw
covering the concrete floor.
The barn housed about forty horses. All of them seemed to be well cared for, and all of
them belonged to Gehrig or Gehrig's people. Ryan had found that out during a brief trek
down to the kitchens for their evening meal.
The structure was dimly lit by oil lanterns that hung on support posts lining the paddocks.
Saddles, bridles and blankets hung from shelves on one side of the barn.
"O'Neil?" a male voice called out.
J.B. froze, his hand gliding to his hip where he kept his flensing knife.
"O'Neil, where the bleeding hell are you, mate? I got the bottle."
file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...20Deathlands%2035%20-%20Bitter%20Fruit.html (191 of 291) [1/3/2005 12:27:09 AM]
file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%2035%20-%20Bitter%20Fruit.html
Footsteps came closer as the Armorer took cover beside a paddock. The horse inside
whickered and stamped its hooves restlessly.
The boy came forward, carrying a whiskey bottle by its neck, the dark liquid sloshing
inside and catching light from the lanterns. He looked enough like the other boy that they
could have been brothers.
Reversing his knife, J.B. waited until the boy had passed him, then stepped out of hiding
and brought the hilt of the blade crashing into the boy's temple. He muffled the groan of
pain with his free hand, at the same time catching the boy's sudden slack weight.
J.B. dragged the second stable hand over by the first. He returned to the saddles and other
gear. In minutes he had six horses saddled, tied together and ready for travel. Getting
down the alley on one horse while leading five others was going to be no easy thing, but
it was worth the risk, since riding out of the ville was a better option than escape on foot.
Stealing one of the wags had been an alternative, but Gehrig kept guards posted on them.
One of them went missing, the raider captain would know immediately.
A hissing cat that had been plundering the garbage bins streaked away as J.B. led the
horses through the alley.
Then he saw the two shadows moving on the other side of the Bent Rose. He caught only
a brief glimpse in the moonlight, but he was sure the man he'd spotted was one of the
military people that had followed them into the mat-trans unit in White Sands.
Muttering a curse, the Armorer stopped the horses and pulled himself into the saddle, the
leather creaking as it took his weight. Taking up the lantern he'd brought, he struck a self-
light and lit the wick.
When he had the flame burning well on its own, he keyed it up, then wrapped the red
homespun napkin he'd stolen from the Bent Rose around the glass. The light turned red.
He held it up, looking toward the window where Ryan was.
A self-light flared inside the room, briefly tracking illumination over the one-eyed man's
face. He shook it out.
J.B. waited, hoping. Two self-lights meant that Doc and Jak had returned. There was no
other light. And there was no time, because the Armorer knew Burroughs's team was
closing in on Ryan.
file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...20Deathlands%2035%20-%20Bitter%20Fruit.html (192 of 291) [1/3/2005 12:27:09 AM]
file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%2035%20-%20Bitter%20Fruit.html
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]