****
Taran
It was the next day when I knocked on the door to my parents’ room and heard Janos call out softly, “Yes? Who is it?”
“It’s me, Janos. It’s Taran. Let me in.”
The door opened a tiny bit and Janos peeped out. When he saw me at his door, he exclaimed softly and pulled me inside. “We were told not to go out of our rooms. What are you doing roaming the halls?”
“They’re called ‘passageways’ on a ship, Majesty. And it’s the same for space cruisers.”
“You knew exactly what I meant, though, so who cares? And what are you doing walking around?”
“They didn’t say we were confined to our quarters. Just to be careful who we took food from.”
“No, Taran, your General Vargarra was clear. He didn’t say ‘be careful.’ He said takenothingfromanyonenot on the list. And stay in our rooms.”
“Well, do you have the list? Because I’m hungry and thirsty.”
“Your father took it with him on his communicator.”
“And where did he go?”
“To join Mikos to get ready for this banquet. We’re supposed to land in the afternoon tomorrow.”
“Yes, I know. Kirstos told me. They’re having their ‘dinner’ tonight. The one they think the conspirators may try to sabotage. I think they’re too smart for that, though. They’ll never take such a big chance of getting caught as to try to sneak in beforehand and poison the food. I mean, what if we don’t eat it?”
“Maybe it’ll be in the wine.”
“It’s best not to worry about it until it’s over. I just came to see if you had anything to eat in here. No one has come by to give me anything.”
“Nor me, but they’re not all that late yet.”
“Almost an hour.”
“There may be some of those koo-kee things Blake likes over there. He gave us a box he said were Larz’s favorites.”
I went over to the desk he’d indicated and began to rummage around. I found the box of treats he’d mentioned and ate a couple of them. They were delicious, but I was still hungry. A knock came on the door, and I went over eagerly to answer, thinking it would be supper at last.
Too late, I heard Janos call a warning to me, but then I saw that it was Worron, the trauma medic who had saved my life on Moravia. He looked surprised to see me there.
“Oh, hello. It’s Lt. Worron, isn’t it? You helped me on Moravia. Look, Majesty, it’s Lt. Worron. The one who caught you when Kirstos threw you to him at the bridge.”
Janos smiled at him and nodded. “I remember. It’s nice to see you again, Lieutenant. Sureky you didn’t come to bring us our dinner?”
He smiled and stepped past me inside the room, closing the door behind him. “No, Consort Janos, I didn’t. I’m here to bring you something else entirely.”
Without another word, he reached behind him and pulled out his short sword. All the Imperials I knew wore their swords at their sides when they were working, along with various daggers strapped to legs or hidden in boots. Their weapon of choice was a disrupter, of course, but swords were ceremonial. And Imperials loved blades of any kind. The short swords were thick and very lethal, somewhere between the length of a dagger and a sword. They may have looked good in formation or during formal events, but carrying and unsheathing a sword from your back wasn’t very practical, and they could also be uncomfortable to wear that way for long periods of time. It was basically just a really long, wicked-looking knife. He held it out in front of him and began to walk toward me.
“You’ll never get away with this,” Janos said. “They’ll torture and kill you for this.”
“They won’t get a chance. Both my swords are dipped in poison. After I kill the two of you, I’ll kill myself.”
“That’s crazy,” I said, slowly backing up. “I’ve never done anything to you and neither has my father.”
“Perhaps you haven’t, and I confess I didn’t expect to see you here.But he has,” he said, pointing his weapon at Janos, only a foot or so from my face. “And he knows what he’s done!”
He was so furious that he suddenly hurled the short sword at Janos like a dagger. He had pulled it back over his head to throw it at him, though, and he was in such a rage that he was off balance. I cried out and lunged for him, catching him around the knees and knocking both him and his sword to the floor. My onlyhope was that Janos would have time to duck. It upset Worron’s plans to skewer us both with his poisoned sword, though, and that made him furious. He pulled back his fist to hit me and that’s when the door suddenly burst open and Kirstos practically flew across the room to land on top of Worron’s body. The short sword he’d thrown at Janos was in reach, so Kirstos grabbed it and with both hands drove it right into Worron’s heart. Even without the poison, a sword to the heart will do the trick.
