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had not seen in a long while but knew well.
Then with a start he did realize what it was, and his hand went to his sword.
Guns might do only super-ficial damage to the damned things, but they could be
sliced the same as anybody else.
"Put the sword away, Colonel. I'm here to talk, not to fight," said the Dahbi
as it oozed the last few centi-meters out of the floor and solidified in front
of him, not three meters away.
His hand didn't leave the sword hilt, but while he tensed he did not yet pull
it out.
"What the hell do you want?" he croaked.
"What I said. Talk. Nothing more. I have already harmed you far more than
putting a knife in your heart, as you must be aware. You will never know how
much satisfaction that gave me, nor how it pains me to have to offer to give
her back to you."
He relaxed, but just slightly, a cold chill coming over him. "Sangh. Gunit
Sangh himself!" he breathed.
"You got guts, I'll give you that."
"There's very little threat, really," the Dahbi re-plied. "I can swim through
the very rock, you know.
Besides, I wanted you to know that I personally su-pervised the little
operation earlier this evening. It lends force and a little justice to it all,
don't you think?"
"You got your bloody nerve," he spat. "Justice!"
"Temper, Colonel, temper!" Gunit Sangh said mockingly. "I have something you
want. You have something I want. Obviously what I have can not be far
away there hasn't been time, and you people are, ah, rather bulky, shall we
say? But you'll never find her. You might, if you had a few weeks to look, but
we're currently marching on you and you are shortly going to be far too busy
to do so. Besides, discovery would only mean her death."
"You bastard," Asam seethed. "How do I know you haven't killed her already?"
The Dahbi acted stricken. "My word isn't good enough? Well, perhaps it isn't.
But I need her alive.
Dead she's of no use to anyone. Alive, she's a hostage to Brazil and to you."
Asam chuckled sourly. "She's no hostage to Brazil," he told the creature.
"That bastard stopped caring for other folks a million years ago. He's as cold
as you are, Sangh."
"Sorry to hear that," the Dahbi responded, sound-ing sincere. "But that just
makes things easier in a different way. If he's unpleasant even to you, then
what I ask should be all the simpler."
The Dillian eyed the other suspiciously. "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"A trade. Brazil trusts you. I can only assume that he intends to leave your
forces before the battle, using your deaths as a diversion perhaps leaving
another simulacrum in his place to fool us. But it won't work. We're going to
be looking for that. The odds are he'll never make it to the Avenue, let alone
the
Well."
"Then what do you need with me?" Asam growled.
"We might miss him. The odds are very much against it, but it's possible. He
tricky." He paused a is moment. "Ah, you are sure which is the right Brazil,
aren't you?"
"I know who's who," the Colonel told him.
"So, you see, I cover the last possibility. The trade is simple Mavra Chang
for Brazil. Within the next day. Let's say, by this time tomorrow night, at
the latest. That will not only accomplish the main objec-tive but also prevent
the coming battles. There will be no need to ask people to fight and die, you
see?"
Asam frowned. "I don't trust you one bit, Sangh. Since when do you care who
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lives and who dies ex-cept for yourself? I have no guarantees."
"You have several," Gunit Sangh responded. "You get Brazil to a Zone Gate and
bring him through.
Diplomatic immunity, remember? Even though the council is against you, they
will not violate Zone. Take him to your own embassy. We will make the swap
right there. Even better, you have couriers from here.
Take Brazil, but don't put him through until a courier comes with word that a
living Mavra Chang is in my embassy at Zone."
Asam fully relaxed now, thinking about it. Finally he said, "Why are you doing
this, Sangh? Why agree to be the commander at all? What the hell are you
getting out of this?"
"Consider," the Dahbi replied, "what honors will come to the one who captures
Nathan Brazil. The honors, the power, and the influence. Consider the perfect
prison, under hundreds of meters of solid granite, the tunnel used to take him
down collapsed about him save for a small mechanism to provide food and water.
The council will not have Brazil. The Dahbi I will have Brazil. An unspoken
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