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."AndSheila, and Sunlight, and Rawl, and O, and Khalid, and even Brenner." More faces flashed briefly, thenfaded.Bredon felt his throat tighten at the glimpse of Lady Sunlight's radiant features."What are you talking about, Thaddeus?" Geste asked."Bluntly, Geste, I'm talking about blackmail.I have seven of your friends here, all alive, at least for themoment, but all very much in my hands.If any of you interfere with my plans for that matter, if any ofyou fail to give me your fullest cooperation I'll start killing my prisoners."He smiled malignly down at the party aboard the Skyland, and for a long moment no one spoke."Just what are these plans that we aren't to interfere with?" Geste asked at last."I would suppose that you've already guessed.You all know who I am.I intend to rebuild my empire, andthis time I won't be stopped.""No? You've lost two empires already, haven't you? Why should the third be any different?" Geste saidsweetly.Thaddeus's expression turned dark, and he hissed, "Watch your mouth, Trickster, or I might just stuffSheila's guts in it."Geste's smile vanished, and Thaddeus calmed slightly."I should have expected that from you, Geste," he said."Yes, I lost two empires.The first one waspoisoned against me by my father and my brother, so that I couldn't hold it.The second was built on abunch of stupid primitives who betrayed me because they didn't have the brains or the guts to understandanything.This time that won't happen.I'll build my own empire, one that Peter and Shadowdark didn'tmeddle in, and I won't trust anything important to savages I'll use artificial intelli-gences or my owntailored creatures instead, or just preconscious machines.""And you expect us to just stand by and watch?""Oh no, more than that I expect you to help me.I've got your woman, Geste, and your man, Imp, andthe others as well, and I expect you all to turn over all your equipment to me, so that I can use it to build myfleet.And in exchange, when I've built my empire, you can each have a planet to rule as my viceroy."The three immortals on the Skyland exchanged glances with one another; Bredon looked from one to thenext, but they ignored him.Thaddeus did not, however.He said, "Oh yes, and if you care about the primitives like your friend here, ifyou cooperate, I won't kill any more of them either, unless I have to.""Any more?" Geste asked, startled."Well, certainly; I had to kill off all the tribes that lived right around the Fortress.I couldn't trust them, notafter what hap-pened back on Alpha Imperium.That was how I got Khalid here, as a matter of fact; hecame to protest about one bunch that were his special pets."The four stared at him, speechless.Thaddeus smiled back."Oh, I see you want time to think about it or rather, to talk it over beforeyielding, in order to save a little face.That's fine; I won't rush you.I understand how it is.I've studiedpsychology for thousands of years, and I know that you need to salve your pride by holding out for a while.You go right ahead; make a foolish gesture if you have to, but just remember, I have your friends here, andI have enough auto-mated weapons to kill you all and build my empire without your help, if I have to." Heraised a hand in sardonic salutation."Until the next sunset, as measured at the Fortress.I want yourcapitulation no later than that, or the first captive dies."The image vanished.Bredon stared at the empty air, trying to decide whether or not to believe the casual confession of massmurder.Had Thaddeus really butchered hundreds of innocent people? Yes, he probably had, ifGamesmaster had told the truth about what happened on Alpha Imperium.Bredon's own tribe was safe; they dwelt far to the east of the mountains, while Fortress Holding was farto the west.Still, a shudder ran through him at the thought of what a Power could do to them on a merewhim.The others were also staring at the air, but their thoughts were clearly different."It's a bluff," Geste announced."I don't know," the Skyler said.Imp glanced at the others, then turned back to the empty air without commenting, obviously involvedin-her own-considerations."Of course it's a bluff!" Geste insisted."He wouldn't dare kill helpless prisoners like that.Someone wouldfind out [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]