Part 6 (1/2)

”That's right!” Anketam called after him. ”Tell Jacovik first! And get more runners to spread the word!”

And then Anketam headed for his own home. Memi had to be told. On the way, he pounded on the doors of the houses, shouting the news and telling the others to get to the Big Swamp.

By the time the Invader troops came, they found the entire Samas barony empty. Not a single soul opposed their march; there was no voice to object when they leveled their beam projectors and melted the castle and the villages into shapeless ma.s.ses of blackened plastic.

VII

The wooden shelter wasn't much of a home, but it was all Anketam could provide. It had been difficult to cut down the trees and make a shack of them, but at least there were four walls and a roof.

Anketam stood at the door of the rude hut, looking blindly at the ruins of the village a hundred yards away. In the past few months, weeds had grown up around the charred blobs that had once been the homes of Anketam's crew. Anketam stared, not at, but past and through them, seeing the ghosts of the houses that had once been there.

Behind him, Memi was speaking in soft tones to Lady Samas.

”Now you go ahead and eat, Lady. You can't starve yourself to death.

Things won't always be this bad, you'll see. When that oldest boy of yours comes back, he'll fix the barony right back up like it was. Just you see. Now, here; try some of this soup.”

Lady Samas said nothing. She seemed to be entirely oblivious of her surroundings these days. Nothing mattered to her any more. Word had come back that Chief Samas had accompanied General Eeler in the fatal expedition towards the Invader base, and The Chief had been buried there in the Frozen Country.

Lady Samas had nowhere else to stay. Kevenoe was dead, his skull crushed by--by someone. Anketam refused, in his own mind, to see any connection between Kevenoe's death and the fact that Basom and Zillia had disappeared the same day, probably to give themselves over to the Invader troops.

A movement at the corner of his eye caught Anketam's attention. He turned his head to look. Then he spun on his heel and went into the hut.

”Lady Samas,” he said quickly, ”they're coming. There's a ground-car coming down the road with four Invaders in it.”

Lady Samas looked up at him, her fine old face calm and emotionless.

”Let them come,” she said. ”We can't stop them, Anketam. And we have nothing to lose.”

Three minutes later, the ground-car pulled up in front of the hut.

Anketam watched silently as one of the men got out. The other three stayed in the car, their handguns ready.

The officer, very tall and straight in his blue uniform, strode up to the door of the hut. He stopped and addressed Anketam. ”I understand Lady Samas is living here.”

”That's right,” Anketam said.

”Would you tell her that Colonel Fayder would like to speak to her.”

Before Anketam could say anything, Lady Samas spoke. ”Tell the colonel to come in, Anketam.”