“Do we have your permission to reap these souls?”
“Give me one to question,” she answered. “Take the rest.”
Tam and Jael appeared beside her, but the spymaster didn’t interfere, as she pulled a soldier to his feet. He was bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds, and she didn’t think he had long. That was fine; she only needed to know two things.
“How many men does Grigor have left in the engineering bay?”
The prisoner spat at her. “I’m not telling you shit.”
“Pity. Then I guess I’ll have to tend your wounds.” Her expression was flat and cold, her eyes full of murder, as she jammed her fingers into the slice that had opened his belly.
He screamed, startling the Queenslanders nearby. A few pushed closer to see how far their queen would go. Good. Watch this and mark it well. By the time she curled her fingers, the captive was pleading for mercy. It only took a few seconds to break him. Her hand was wet with blood when she pulled it free.
If not for Tam and Jael holding him, the inmate would’ve collapsed. “No more than fifty inside, my queen.”
“And are there automated defenses?”
“They’re broken. Or out of ammo. I’m not sure. Grigor was trying to fix them, but I don’t think he got it done before the water dried up, and the power went out.”
“What about Peacemakers?” If Priest had one, the Great Bear might, too.
“We never had one. And Grigor thinks it’s a coward’s solution anyway. He prefers to kill his enemies personally.” The last word devolved into a moan as they let him fall.
“That’s all I needed to know.” She stepped back and gave Jael permission with a nod.
He cut the man’s throat neatly, but with none of the distressing pleasure or intimacy she’d witnessed from Silence. The other woman took so much pleasure in death that it was practically sexual. Grim and nauseated, Dred wiped her palm on her trousers, then beckoned to the rest of the Queenslanders. Tam was quiet, letting her do all the talking, all the planning. She suspected his confidence had been shaken by how badly he’d miscalculated earlier.
“One more push, lads. Do you have it in you?”
“All the way, my queen, until the Korolévstvo is yours!”
“Ours,” she corrected with a look at Silence.
Death stared back from the woman’s impenetrable eyes. In the faint light, she could almost see the smoky arm curled around Silence’s shoulders, a bony hand cupping her shoulder. Dred shivered and shook herself. You’re just tired. Been too long since you slept. And you’re letting imagination get the best of you.
Then she went on, “For every cut they delivered to our man, Einar, let’s give them ten. For every wound we’ve taken, every insult offered, we strike them down a hundred times over. Are you with me, men?”
“Yes, my queen!” they answered as one.
“There’s nowhere he can hide,” Jael growled. “I promise you that. That bastard will pay for what happened to Einar.”
She swept her arm forward in a commanding motion. “Well said. Let’s end this.”
42
The Great Bear
It was like stepping back into the Dark Ages. With the power still out, the Great Bear had resorted to torches; oily rags wrapped metal shards and sent a wreath of smelly smoke into the air ducts. Jael had fought as a merc on a few planets nearly this primitive; those weren’t fond memories. Wonder if the antifire system’s still working. Apparently not, as the ship took no measures to extinguish the flames burning in the room. He listened, counting heartbeats.
“There are forty-seven men just past these doors,” Jael warned Dred.
She slapped a palm against her thigh. “Grigor better be among them.”
Dred broke away from the pack and strode toward the entry to the engineering bay. She was two meters away when it blew off the hinges, showering her in shrapnel. His world shrunk to the sight of her body on the floor, and before anyone else could even take a step, he was there beside her, checking her over.
“How bad’s the damage?”
“My ribs hurt,” she managed. “Son of a bitch. I didn’t ask that ass**le about traps.”
“Can you stand?”
“I have to.” The set to her jaw told him she didn’t care if getting up killed her or crippled her for life. He’d never known a woman so impressively stubborn. He braced and pulled her up, moving so the others couldn’t see her flinch as she found her footing. Jael didn’t let go until she gave a quick nod.
Without looking back, she stormed through the gaping doors, a small army at her back. Jael sprinted after her, grateful his speed let him catch up, then pass. He could probably see better in the flickering torchlight, too, despite the smoky miasma and the mechanical smells, like spilled oil and more acrid scents. This was where all the work on the ship used to take place, but now it was just an empty shell, full of metal scrap and piles of broken machinery.
“Show yourself!” Dred shouted. “Or is the Great Bear afraid of a woman?”
“I fear no one!” a deep voice thundered in reply—the sound came from above, echoing in the rafters.
Jael spun, trying to figure out where the forty-seven men were hiding. There might be others, but they had already broken and fled, not a factor in the final confrontation. There. They stood to the back of the chamber, along the far wall. He imagined Grigor had some spectacle in mind, where his men rushed in an unbreakable wall, overwhelming the enemy, but tactics like that only worked in vids, especially with such an undisciplined fighting force.
A man scaled down from the upper level on a set of pulleys and chains. At last Jael got his first glimpse of the Great Bear. He stood two and a quarter meters tall, with arms and shoulders that made Einar look small. His leather armor looked as if it might be human skin and was stained with grease, food, and darker smears, likely blood. Wild brown hair stood upright on his head, defying gravity in a bush so wild that small mammals could live in it. His beard grew nearly up to his eyes and far down his neck, so he seemed more animal than man.
“Finally you face me,” he roared, “after all your coward’s tricks. You knew you couldn’t defeat me in open combat.”
Dred leveled her coldest look on him, one that impressed even Jael. “You must’ve felt the same way, weakling, or you wouldn’t have allied with Priest against me. The Great Bear, brought low by two females?” She gestured at Silence, who flashed her yellow teeth in a terrifying smile while she created terrible patterns with her garrote, wrapping it around and around her fingers until they showed purple.