Clarion

CLARION

175

Karyn ignored him. "Then we'll keep an eye on him. Let's get inside."

Jacque was picking himself up off the floor.

"Look what I found!" He held up a long-barreled carbine in one hand. "More goodies down here, too. Let's get 'em out, Selmer."

By the time Paul and Erich Frakes had helped Sabastian out of the car, Selmer and Jacque each had armfuls of weapons they'd found in the car's rear storage compartment.

"So there really is a city," Frakes said with a trace of awe.

"Let's get inside," Paul said. He waited for Frakes to go first, then ducked through the arched entrance. The scene in the inner chamber was exactly as they had left it: Dorland sat on the pedestal, and Elli stood above the chauka.

Sabastian and Karyn had stopped just beyond the door.

Dorland heard them and looked around.

"What the hell?" said Erich Frakes. He was staring at Elli.

"Tal Tahir," Paul supplied. While Karyn filled Dorland in on what had-happened at the temple, Paul pulled Frakes back through the archway. Now that he knew Dorland was safe, he wanted to get some answers from Frakes. "How did you find us?"

"I followed him here." Frakes couldn't take his eyes off the figure of Elli swaying above the chauka. If she noticed that others had come into the room, she gave no sign of it.

"Followed who here?" Paul prompted.

"One of Maiar's agents."

Paul felt a chill along his spine. Was the Fringe Alliance that close to finding Clarion? "Come on, Frakes, tell me what happened."

Frakes looked at him, then cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I guess I should. I got word about that Fringe agent." Paul recalled their discussion on the hotel's rooftop parking pad on Fynnland—

something about a courier's message. "We finally got the message decoded. It wasn't as useful as we'd hoped, but it gave us the name of one of Maiar's agents who I knew had to be involved. I've been following him the last couple of days. When he took his streamer out and skipped, I had to track him. I couldn't risk calling for help—that would've given me away."

"He led you here?"

Frakes nodded. "He had the coordinates, no doubt of that. He must have spotted me on his scope when I broke out of the stream behind him. We took potshots at each other all the way down. It was clear he was following a beacon. It brought him straight to this place."

"Sabre doesn't know where you are?" Frakes shook his head. "Like I said, I didn't get a chance to call back."

"Damn!" That meant they couldn't expect help from UNSA. And if Hans Maiar had the coordinates, it wouldn't be long before he sent someone else to Clarion.

Through the archway Paul could see that

Dorland had returned to the chauka and was again talking to Elli. He stepped past Frakes and picked his way through the pedestals. As he neared Dorland, he felt the buzz in his mind and heard Elli speaking:

*Kra'ith (group/touch) Dorland can see——best youth kra'ith*

"We have to get out of here," Paul said to Dorland. "The deacons and Sons will be here in a few minutes."

Dorland's eyes left Elli with a visible effort and focused on Paul. "We can't leave the chauka. If High Elder Brill finds it, he'll destroy it."

"We don't have any choice," Paul said. "We're running out of time—"

William Greenleaf

176

"We already have," said Karyn, behind him. Paul turned around. Karyn and Jacque stood in the doorway. "They're coming. Jacque saw them about halfway from the temple. They'd spot us before we ever reached the tubes."

*Tem kra'ith (unpleasant)——(?)*

Dorland turned back to Elli. "Yes, unpleasant. What do you know about the Tern kra'ithT'

*Tem kra'ith (group/touch) nevermore——dark

edge*

"Let's move back," Paul said. He couldn't think with the constant intrusion of Elli's thoughts.

"Was that—?" Frakes rubbed his head. "It seemed like . . ."

"She's telepathic," Paul said. "Or close to it." He turned to Karyn. "If we can't reach the tubes, we'll have to find another way out of here."

"There isn't another way out," Karyn said.

"Anyway, we have a bigger problem."

"They're bringing another floater," Jacque said.

"It'll get here first. With that big gun, it'll pound this old building to pieces."

"And knives and a single burp gun won't stop it," Karyn pointed out.

"What's a floater?" Frakes wanted to know.

"Combat car," Paul answered.

"Like the one we commandeered?"

Paul nodded.

"I was afraid of that." Frakes chewed his lower lip. Then: "Maybe another combat car can stop it." Paul knew immediately what he was suggesting.

"Can you do it?"

"I can give it a try," Frakes said. "But there's no way I'll be able to drive and shoot at the same time."

It took Frakes a few minutes to get the combat car's engines started, then a few more to maneuver it a hundred meters down the narrow road to the