Dirge Danorum

Chapter 19

We weren't moving fast, mostly due to exhaustion, but we still made it to Kevorich by nightfall. Velvet had been holding something back on the way, because as we approached, she stood up straighter, and her eyes brightened up. I don't know how she did it. At first I wasn't sure what she had in mind, but her plan became clear as she pulled out her beret, dusted it off, and put it on, then uncovered her Freedom patches. Grigor looked exhausted, but resigned.

At first I thought this was going to be a huge shame, because we were showing up so battered. It wouldn't be a very impressive entrance. Well, I was wrong. It was plenty impressive. The effect Velvet's appearance had on the stalkers at Kevorich can't really be described. One minute there was loud music, loud people, and loud everything. The next you could've heard a pin drop. I'd tell you about what happened, but I wasn't paying attention.

We were barely through the gate, and Russet had rushed out and thrown her arms around me, and I was a little distracted. She meant business; I wondered where she'd gotten this upper body strength. But there are worse things than being hugged by a pretty girl in a territory populated overwhelmingly by men. What the hell? I hugged her back. Russet knew Velvet was on her side, and she knew that the women at Kevorich would look out for her, but I was the only person in the Zone that she viewed as someone from her own world.

Tyrian had emerged as well. She was looking bored and surly, so I smiled at her, and she tried not to smile back. I think she was glad to see me too. I hadn't really been giving these two much thought. To be fair, I'd had a lot on my mind. Things had happened. You don't think about your far off friends when there are fish people after you. How long had we been gone? A few days? I'd lost track a long way back.

It seemed like Russet had been pretty worried. She'd buried her face in my chest, and she wasn't coming out. That was okay; she was nice and warm, and Velvet had been wearing my armor for quite a while now. When I wasn't running or fighting, it was actually very cold.

"Good trip?" she mumbled.

"Could've been worse," I said. She finally let go.

"Are you all right?"

That was a tricky question. I decided to give her a general answer. "More or less."

"What happened to your neck?"

I couldn't see the wound, but it wasn't serious. It had just bled a lot; I think it was shrapnel in the facility. "Just a scratch," I told her without a hint of irony. That was funny; I noticed my hands were on her waist. How had they gotten there? I folded them behind my back and tried to keep my smile natural. Well, natural for a guy who hadn't slept in days. Tyrian rolled her eyes.

"So what happened?"

I blinked. "Well, there was the – well, I'll skip that. There was the Valley, that was sort of neat. And then we got kidnapped by people whose parents shouldn't have let them watch Saw, but we got away. Then we ended up underground, and there were fish people."

She laughed. They both did. Yeah, the sisters seriously, honestly, genuinely thought I was kidding. And that was fine.

I turned to look at Velvet and Grigor. They were busy. I didn't care about what they were doing. Velvet was safe here, under the circumstances. I could relax, and I intended to. "Let me get a shower," I said. "Then we can catch up over something to eat, all right?"

"Who's that?" Tyrian asked, appearing at my side, her gaze fixed on Grigor.

"Our new best friend."

Amazingly, Velvet wasn't the only one drawing attention. People remembered me, too. After all, I was the champ. Nobody paid any attention to Venge.

You remember those fights I won? I do. And so did the big guy who watched me from the doorway once I'd gotten into the shower. I know. Weird.

"What do you want, man?" I asked without looking up. Sometimes I think Russians go out of their way to make things unpleasant. It wasn't even unscented soap in the shower – which was cold, by the way – it was scented, but the scent was something chemical that made you think that if you got it in your eyes you'd have to become a lawyer and fight crime in a red spandex. "If you want a conversation, I need a towel." Now I looked up. The big guy took a step into the shower room. "Ender's Game, anybody? Actually, can you even read?" He wasn't as big as the Merc, but he had the brutish thing down.

He smirked, then turned and left. Apparently just because I wasn't six feet tall and eight hundred pounds, I was some kind of joke. I seriously considered walking to the wall and going Deus Ex style right through the tiles to put him in a chokehold, but I decided I didn't care that much. I had a feeling I'd be beating him up later, though.

I didn't linger. There was a lot of commotion in the courtyard; Velvet and Grigor, no doubt. Russet caught me outside. She was really glowing. I don't think she'd expected to see us again. And I could see why that would be a big deal to her. She and her sister were for all intents and purposes alone in the most dangerous place in the world. Of course she'd have it rough if her only friends went off without a word and didn't come back for days. It was only natural.

The Biker was no longer in the hospital tent, but Sagaris was there, and he was looking a lot better. I thought he'd be happier to see me, but seemed very grim.

"Hail," he said.

I sat down by his bed and sighed. "This is going to sound weird, but you're lucky you were here and not with us."

He smiled, but he still didn't look happy. I wasn't sure what was eating him, but his situation was bad. The Zone is not a good place to be injured.

"What's going on out there?" he asked.

"Velvet and Grigor are recruiting."

"Openly?"

"Very openly."

He sighed. "This is going to get worse before it gets better."

"Not necessarily." But yes, probably. There was something I'd wanted to ask him. "What's going to happen when you're back on your feet? Going to get out?"

"Out of the Zone? Not yet. I still have things to do." Man, the way he said that was dark. I was guessing there was someone out there he didn't like very much, and today that person was on his mind. I decided to change the subject.

"Are you all paid up here?"

He nodded. "The Biker."

"He's feeling better?"

"You could say that."

That was good to hear. I'd have liked to stay a little longer, but Sagaris clearly wasn't feeling very talkative. I decided to let him off the hook and excused myself; we could chat tomorrow. I went off to find the girls.

It had been so long since I'd eaten that I actually had to be careful not to make myself ill. The food at Kevorich didn't help. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, just heavy. Stalkers aren't worried about their arteries.

Russet and Tyrian got me caught up on the things that had gone on while we were away. The Biker had made a miraculous recovery, then stepped into the ring and beat up a number of people. No surprise; he wasn't someone you wanted to tangle with. In fact, I was surprised there was anybody who'd agree to do it. But hey, these were people who mostly came to the Ukraine by choice rather than necessity – they couldn't all be the best and brightest.

It seemed like the sisters' stay with Kevorich's prostitutes had been eye opening for both of them, but they were both too embarrassed to talk about it much. It seemed like the lady who ran the place had spent a lot of time trying to recruit them, even Tyrian. Of course her attempts had failed, but Russet was disturbed because Tyrian was very much underage, and no one seemed to care. They'd explained to her that in the exclusion zone, there wasn't any national sovereignty, and thus no laws. But to Russet, it wasn't a legal matter, it was a… like universal legal matter or something.

I wasn't sure what to say; it was an amazingly complex subject. Overall, I determined that they hadn't really been miserable. In fact, I think Tyrian was sort of enjoying herself. She was the curious type, and even stuck at Kevorich, there was no way she was going to be bored in the Zone. She could sit and watch the stalkers come and go all day. I got the impression she'd been a bit sheltered before her family's life had gone to hell. And frankly, when you're dragged into the Ukraine in an ill-advised and ill-fated attempt to protect you, which fails miserably, it's great if you can enjoy anything.

She seemed like a pretty tough kid, even if she did wear one of those black Hot Topic hoodies with pink hearts on it. Both sisters were tough, but they hadn't even begun to see what the Zone really was. And if they were lucky, they'd never have to.