The Gates Of Winter Part 42

He c.o.c.ked his head. "What do you mean, 'before we leave'? Where are we going?"

Deirdre glanced over her shoulder at Beltan and Vani. "To Denver."

The four of them sat around the dinette table and talked until long past midnight. Deirdre listened in amazement and growing horror as Beltan and Vani told them everything that had happened on Eldh. There was much she didn't understand, especially something about Travis returning to Castle City, only over a century in the past. But what chilled her most was the news that Duratek had somehow sent agents to the world Eldh.

"Crikey, it's a war, isn't it?" Anders said. "Duratek is getting ready to conquer Eldh."

Beltan heaved broad shoulders in a sigh. "They're not the only ones. We've learned the men of Duratek are in league with Mohg and the Pale King."

"Who?" Anders said, confusion plain on his pitted face.

"I'm probably not the best one to explain it," Beltan said, "but Falken's not here, so I'll do my best. One of the Old G.o.ds, Mohg, is trying to get back to Eldh so he can break the First Rune and destroy the world. That way he can make the world anew in his own image. And his servant, the Pale King, is nearly free again. Grace is marching north to Gravenfist Keep with an army to try to stop him, but I don't think even she believes there's much hope of holding the Pale King back." Beltan thumped a fist against the table. "That's why we have to find Travis."

Deirdre held a hand to her aching head. "Wait a minute, Beltan-what can Travis do to stop all of this from happening?"

"Everything," Vani said. She rose, prowling around the table. "Travis has two of the Great Stones, which Mohg seeks, and which are the key to breaking the First Rune. What's more, he is the Runebreaker spoken of in prophecy. It is his fate to be there at the end of the world."

Anders gaped at her. "So you mean Travis Wilder is the one who's going to break this rune thing and destroy the world? But how is that any better than this Mohg person doing it?"

Vani and Beltan answered only with silence.

Deirdre's brain struggled to grasp all these esoteric names and words. It still didn't make sense, but Beltan was right about one thing-they had to find Travis. Somehow he was the key to everything.

"I think we could all use a little more ale," Beltan said.

He stood and headed for the kitchen. Despite his turtleneck and blue jeans, Deirdre would never have mistaken him for just any Londoner. He moved his long, lean body with a predatory grace.

"Forgive my asking," Anders said as Beltan sat back down. "But do you really need our help? You've got the transport device, and from what I read in the report you're both pretty good at taking out Duratek agents. Why didn't you just go to Denver to find Mr. Wilder yourself?"

"We tried." Vani looked at Deirdre. "When we activated the gate artifact, we sought to open a doorway to Denver. However, something . . . happened."

"What happened?"

The T'gol T'gol coiled a hand beneath her chin. "I am still not certain. It was as if there was some kind of . . . resistance. We were nearly lost in the Void. At the last moment, I envisioned a new destination-this city, London. I journeyed here once during my three years on Earth. The gate responded to my new command, and we found ourselves here." coiled a hand beneath her chin. "I am still not certain. It was as if there was some kind of . . . resistance. We were nearly lost in the Void. At the last moment, I envisioned a new destination-this city, London. I journeyed here once during my three years on Earth. The gate responded to my new command, and we found ourselves here."

"So this gate thing can take you anywhere you can picture?" Anders said. "b.l.o.o.d.y amazing. But why did you pick London?"

Deirdre gazed at Vani. "You knew the Seekers were here, didn't you?"

Vani nodded. "I learned something of the Seekers in my time on Earth. You have tools at your disposal that could aid us in our search for Travis Wilder. It was my hope you would help us, Deirdre Falling Hawk, so I searched the city for you. It took me some days, but I found the location of the Seeker base. After that, it was a simple matter to follow you here."

Anders raised up a hand. "All right, I'll buy for a moment that wicked G.o.ds are helping Duratek to take over Eldh, and that Travis Wilder is the only one who can stop them. But how do you know Wilder is in Denver in the first place?"

"This is how." Beltan reached for his coat-which he had thrown on the couch-pulled something out, and tossed it on the table. "We purchased this in a shop down the street."

It was a copy of yesterday's Denver Post Denver Post. Deirdre picked it up in shaking hands. The headline was something about how the use of the illegal drug Electria had reached epidemic proportions, especially among young people, but Deirdre didn't read the article. Instead her eyes moved to the small photograph of a man at the bottom of the front page. New evidence suggests fugitive still at large in Denver New evidence suggests fugitive still at large in Denver, read the caption.

The man in the photo was Travis Wilder.

Deirdre looked up. "We'll catch the first flight we can tomorrow."

Six hours later, Deirdre rose with the smeary gray light of dawn, let the hot water of the shower pound her back to life, and took a taxi to the Seeker Charterhouse, arriving just before eight o'clock. Nakamura usually got in early, and after signing in with Madeleine, she found him already at work in his office.

As she sat down across from the a.s.sistant director, Deirdre hoped everything was all right back at the flat. She had left Anders to keep watch over Beltan and Vani.

"You're here early, Miss Falling Hawk," Nakamura said before Deirdre could speak. He took a sip of tea. "Were you aware then?"

"Aware of what?"

"That new orders arrived for you this morning. You've been rea.s.signed. Temporarily, I hope."

Her foggy brain couldn't quite grasp the meaning of these words. "Rea.s.signed? To where?"

"I have absolutely no idea." He picked up a large manila envelope; the flap was sealed with wax. "This just arrived for you. It came directly from the Philosophers. I a.s.sume it contains all of the relevant details."

Deirdre took the envelope in shaking hands. Maybe she did understand. Hadn't she decided that he had to be one of the Philosophers? The one who had been helping her.

"It must be about-"

Nakamura held up a hand. "No, Miss Falling Hawk, please don't tell me. If I was supposed to know what your mission was, then I would have been informed."

Lines furrowed the a.s.sistant director's usually smooth forehead, and his voice was tight. Was he angry at being kept out of the loop?

"I imagine you'll be leaving immediately. However, do be a.s.sured that we'll want you back as soon as we can have you, Miss Falling Hawk."

Not angry. Worried. Nakamura reached across the desk and touched her hand. "Take care of yourself, Deirdre."

"I'll try."

Then, before she broke down, she rose and hurried from his office. Madeleine had a car waiting for her. Deirdre climbed into the back, and as the driver navigated the rain-slicked London streets, she broke the seal on the envelope and emptied the contents onto the seat next to her.

Plane tickets to Denver. Pa.s.sports. Colorado state driver's licenses. Everything she had planned on asking Nakamura for that morning. There was a set for each of them, including Anders. So whoever the one helping her was, he knew what she had done, and he approved. That was something, she supposed.

The false pa.s.sports and IDs were of superior quality, each one issued under a new ident.i.ty. She recognized the pictures of Anders and herself as staff photos on file at the Seekers. By the clothes they wore, the photos of Beltan and Vani had been taken last night with a telephoto lens through the windows of Deirdre's flat. So he had been watching them.

"Who are you?" she whispered, holding up one of the fake pa.s.sports. "What do you really want?"

It didn't matter. Right now what he wanted was exactly what she wanted. To find Travis Wilder. Deirdre scooped all of the papers back into the envelope as the car eased to a stop.

"Wait for us," Deirdre said to the driver. "We'll be down in five minutes."

"And where will you be going, Miss Falling Hawk?"

"Heathrow," she said.

Their flight left at noon. They made it to the airport with time to spare, and everything on their trip to Denver went without incident.

Mostly, at any rate. There was a moment of panic when Vani was pulled aside at the departure gate for a random security scan. Deirdre feared the a.s.sa.s.sin was going to break the security guard's neck as he ran the magnetometer wand up and down each of her legs. However, Deirdre locked eyes with her, and Vani stood stiffly until the examination was over.

Vani muttered in outrage as they boarded the plane. "If a man of my people touched an unmarried woman in such a way without her consent, a va'ksha va'ksha would be placed on him, a curse that would make his would be placed on him, a curse that would make his thaloks thaloks shrivel like raisins." shrivel like raisins."

Anders winced. "Does thaloks thaloks mean what I think it means?" mean what I think it means?"

"It does," Beltan said. "So be on your best behavior."

The flight was long, tedious, and frustrating. At least for Deirdre. Vani appeared content to meditate most of the time, and Beltan stayed glued to the miniature television that popped out of the arm of his seat. Occasionally he let out a loud guffaw that caused heads to turn, and once he shouted, "Look out behind you!" at the top of his lungs. Deirdre glanced at his screen in time to see Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff.

"That is a cruel bird," Beltan said, jabbing a finger at the television.

Once the other pa.s.sengers stopped staring, Deirdre patiently explained the concept of cartoons, and her words-in combination with the beers the flight attendant brought-seemed to calm the blond man down.

Deirdre readjusted herself in her seat. Across the aisle, Anders was drinking club soda and plowing through a battered paperback copy of Jane Eyre Jane Eyre. Deirdre's head hurt too much to read, so she spent the rest of the flight shredding c.o.c.ktail napkins and wondering what awaited them in Colorado.

When they reached Denver International Airport, they found the place crawling with Duratek agents. However, to Deirdre's relief, they breezed through Customs and were approved for entry into Denver. Her fear Vani or Beltan would be recognized was groundless. Whoever her secret helper was, he knew what he was doing; their fake IDs received less scrutiny than the genuine versions carried by actual citizens of Denver.

They showed their approval papers to a security guard-a patch with the crescent moon of the Duratek logo was sewn to his uniform-and he allowed them to get in line for a taxi. Minutes later they sped along the highway as the skysc.r.a.pers of downtown Denver grew larger, rising up against the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains.

Beltan started to speak in the cab, but Deirdre shook her head, eyeing the driver's radio. There was no telling who might be listening. They rode the remaining half hour to downtown in silence, then got out when the cab stopped in front of the Brown Palace Hotel. Her mysterious benefactor may have been reluctant to reveal his ident.i.ty, but at least he had the decency to arrange for first-cla.s.s accommodations.

Whether it was chance, design, or merely irony, they ended up in the same suite she had shared with Hadrian Farr last fall. There was a central living area with a fireplace and bar, and two separate bedrooms.

"Well, we're here," Anders said, tossing down his bag on the sofa. "Now what?"

Deirdre eyed the door of one of the bedrooms. Her back ached from all those hours on the plane. She longed to take a hot bath, then lie down and sleep.

She sighed. "Now we get to work."

They began the search that afternoon. A rental car was waiting for them at the hotel. Anders and Vani took the car to do some reconnaissance of the city, while Deirdre and Beltan headed out to cover downtown on foot. While Deirdre didn't like the idea of splitting up, this way they could cover more ground. Besides, two people asking questions were less likely to draw notice than a group of four.

"So how are we going to find him?" Beltan said as he and Deirdre walked down Sixteenth Street. His expression was hopeful, expectant.

She shoved her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. She should have brought a warmer coat; despite the blue sky and sun, it was cold.

"I have no b.l.o.o.d.y idea."

Beltan stopped and stared at her. "That's supposed to be funny, right? Like when the anvil fell on the dog's head?"

"Coyote," Deirdre said. "Wile E. is a coyote. And no, it's not supposed to be funny. I honestly don't know how we're going to find Travis. The Seekers are good for lots of things. We can whip up false IDs and arrange for planes and cars, but it's not like we have an otherworldly traveler homing device."

He let out a groan. "Great. So we're just going to wander around and hope we happen to run into him?"

Deirdre shrugged and gave him a weak smile. "Well, at least it's a plan."

Beltan let out a snort. "And people think I'm I'm stupid." stupid."

"Do they really?"

"Not anymore, I suppose. And I can't say I'm all that happy about it. Now people expect me to come up with good ideas all the time."

Deirdre hunched inside her jacket. "I know. It's a b.l.o.o.d.y pain, isn't it? But contrary to what people think, the Seekers don't have all the answers. Not even close."

It was five o'clock, and the sidewalk was filled with people leaving work, getting into cars, catching buses and trains, going home. But Deirdre knew their own work had just begun.

"It's so big," Beltan said, gazing around, awe on his face. "This city is even bigger than Tarras, and that's the biggest city in the world. In my world, anyway. I don't know how we'll ever find Travis."

Neither did Deirdre. All the same, a sudden confidence filled her. "We will, Beltan. We'll find him for you."

He looked away. "Not just for me. For Vani, too."

What did that mean? Before Deirdre could ask, he started down the street, and she had to hurry to keep up with his long strides.

Two hours later, her legs were aching, and she couldn't stop shivering. Night had fallen over the city, and the lights dazzled her eyes, making her jet-lagged head throb. She drank the last swig of the hazelnut latte she had bought a while back at Starbucks. It was ice-cold. She gagged, swallowed the viscous liquid down, then tossed the cup in a trash can.

Beltan threw his own cup into the trash, then held a hand to his head. "I feel like there are bees in my skull and wolves in my stomach."

She allowed herself a smirk. "I told you two was too many."

At Starbucks, the blond man had gotten the largest size mocha they offered, and he had sucked it down so quickly that, when they pa.s.sed another Starbucks a few blocks later, he had hijacked her and made her buy him a second.

"I guess I have a lot to learn about this world."

Deirdre sighed, regretting her joke. "No, Beltan. You're doing great. Really. No one would ever know you weren't from Earth. You blend in perfectly."

Almost too perfectly, it occurred to her. She knew Vani had spent several years on Earth; the a.s.sa.s.sin had had time to learn the language and customs. But what about Beltan? He had spent most of his one, brief visit to Earth locked in a laboratory.

"The fairy blood," he said. He must have guessed what she was thinking. "It helps me to know things I shouldn't. Like how to speak the language of this land."

Deirdre felt a tingling in her chest. "What other sorts of things do you know?"

"I'm not sure. The feelings are weaker here than they are on Eldh. m.u.f.fled."

"Try."

He shut his eyes. "I know the moon is up," he said after a minute, "but you can't see it. It's behind the buildings. I know there is a storm coming over the mountains, and that it brings snow with it. I know there's a river nearby, even though we have yet to come upon it. It's shallow, and in no hurry to reach the ocean. And I know . . ." His forehead wrinkled in a frown.

She touched his arm. "What?"

"I know there's something wrong in this city. Something terrible and hungry, like a shadow. And it's growing. I know it, just as I know he's here somewhere, not far away. Just as I know he's in danger."

He opened his eyes. They were haunted in the cast-off light of a neon sign.

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

She shook her head.

He sighed. "Neither do I."

"Come on." Deirdre hooked her arm around his. "We've done enough for our first scouting mission. Let's get back to the hotel and get warm."