The weapon in Jarid's hand wavered.
"No, but you can't. Not now," he said between gritted teeth.
Slowly he swung to face his brother. "Didn't you learn the lesson before?" He took a step toward the window. "You always got in my way, Markis. You were always there to stop what I wanted. Not now! Not this time!"
He fired then, but the shot sailed out into the darkness. Karin flinched at the noise. Yosset swung to make sure that Markis Ka Vail was unscathed, and was just in time to see the older brother raise his arm and launch the spear. His teeth were bared. The shiny double-ended spear sailed unerringly, catching Jarid Ka Vail firmly in the chest. Jarid stumbled backward, dropping the weapon he carried, groping ineffectually at the hard wooden shaft protruding from his chest.
"No!" cried Karin.
"That's for Father, for the Guild, for everything," said Markis. He stepped into the room, fixed Karryl Ky Menin and Karin with a hard glare, and then stooped to retrieve the weapon that his brother had dropped.
Ky Menin looked about himself nervously.
"Markis, no," said Yosset. "We have better ways of dealing with them."
"You pathetic fool," said Ky Menin, taking a step closer to Karin. "Do you think with the resources at my disposal I would really let you do that?"
He suddenly whipped something out of his pocket, and throwing one arm around Karin, pressed it to her neck. Karin had told him about this device; Yosset knew exactly what it was. He stepped forward, holding up one hand. "Don't hurt her, Karryl," he said. "Don't hurt her." Despite everything, despite everything that had happened, he could not see her hurt.
Markis stood where he was, his brother lying dead at his feet, the weapon held in his hand, wavering.
"Don't, Markis," said Yosset. "Please."
"But -- "
"Listen to him, Markis," said Ky Menin, gradually maneuvering himself toward the open windows. Markis slowly lowered his arm, all the rage apparently gone.
Ky Menin smiled, ducking his head slightly as he moved closer to the windows. "I think it's time for us to go," he said. "And once we've all calmed down, we will work out what we're going to do." He made one more smirking statement. "Think on it Yosset. Think about the Guilds." And with that, he backed out into the darkness, taking Karin with him.
Markis turned to look at Yosset with a pleading expression on his face, but he could do nothing more than stand there and slowly shake his head. Perhaps Ky Menin was right. Perhaps there was too much at stake here. They would need Technology in the months ahead.
Suddenly, in the darkness there was a cry, a cry of pain and horror. Both of them turned to the window in shock, just in time to see a huge shape rearing up right outside the windows. A Kallathik! And there were more of them beyond.
Yosset backed away from the opening, away from the huge scaled creature with its twin sets of spears, fixing him with its double-eyed gaze. He stumbled and nearly fell, throwing out a hand to catch himself on the edge of the couch. Markis just stood there, looking back at the creature impassively. Relaxing his fingers, he let the weapon drop to the floor.
"Markis!" said Yosset.
The Kallathik swiveled its head, seemed to take in the picture in the room, the two solitary figures standing there, the body on the floor, the spear protruding from its chest, and then it stopped.
For several moments, nothing stirred, nothing moved. Yosset barely dared breathe.
And just as suddenly, the creature was gone, back into the darkness.
Huge shapes flitted past the windows at impossible speeds, and Markis watched, and then he turned, stepped over his brother, moved to a chair, and sat.
Yosset, still shaken, glanced nervously out into the darkness then back at the older Ka Vail boy. "Markis, what is it? What should we do?"
"I suggest you sit down and wait until it's over," he said, staring down at the body in front of him. "There's nothing else we really can do now except wait."
Thirty-Seven
