Incarceron Part 10

Her voice was grim.

"All right. A while ago my people broke into a deserted hall. It had been bricked up from the inside, maybe for centuries. The air was foul. When we crawled in we found some clothes gone to dust, some jewelry, a skeleton of a man."

"So?" He waited, intent.

She looked at him sidelong.

"In his hand was a small cylindrical artifact made of crystal or heavy gla.s.s. Inside it is a hologram of an eagle with open wings. In one claw it holds a sphere. Around its neck, like yours, it wears a crown."

For a moment he couldn't speak.

Before he could draw breath she said, "You must swear my safety."

He wanted to grab her hand and run with her, now, back to the shaft and climb up and up to the transitway. But he said, "They have to pay the ransom. I can't do anything now if we tried, we'd both be killed. Keiro too."

The Maestra nodded wearily.

"It will cost everything we have to make my weight in treasure."

He swallowed.

"Then I swear to you-on my life, on Keiro's life-that if they do, no harm will come to you. That I'll make certain the exchange is honest. That's all I can do."

The Maestra drew herself up.

"Even if you were once cell-born," she breathed, "you are fast becoming Sc.u.m. And you're as much a prisoner here as I am."

Without waiting for his answer, she turned and swept back into the Den.

Slowly, Finn rubbed a hand around the back of his neck, feeling the damp of sweat. He realized his body was a knot of tension; he made himself breathe out.

Then he froze. A dark figure was sitting ten steps down the dark stairs, lounging against the bal.u.s.trade.

Finn scowled. "Don't you trust me?"

"You're a child, Finn. An innocent."

Keiro turned a gold coin over thoughtfully between his fingers.

Then he said, "Don't swear on my life again."

"I didn't mean ..."

"Didn't you?" With a sudden jerk his oathbrother stood, strode up the steps, and stood face-to-face with him.

"Fine. But remember this. You and I are joined by sworn contract. If Jormanric finds out you're double-crossing him in any way, we both end up as the last of his pretty little rings. But I don't intend to die, Finn. And you owe me. I brought you into this warband, when your head was empty and you were stupid with fear."

He shrugged.

"Sometimes I wonder why I bothered."

Finn swallowed.

"You bothered because no one else would put up with your pride, your arrogance, and your thieving ways. You bothered because you saw I would be as reckless as you. And when you take on Jormanric you'll need me at your back."

Keiro raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"What makes you think-"

"You will one day. Maybe soon. So help me in this, brother, and I'll help you."

He frowned.

"Please. It means a lot to me."

"You're obsessed with this stupid idea that you came from Outside."

"Not stupid. Not to me."

"You and the Sapient. A pair of fools together."