But as they went inside, Kren locked the battered but still functional door behind them. You never can be sure, after all.
Bronki was reloading her pistol clips. She started to hide what she was doing, and then decided to hell with it. The damage was already done.
The brander said, “Bronki, your friend here won’t believe me, but there are a half dozen KUL killers after me! They’re on their way here now!”
“I heard you talking to Kren in the hall. Don’t worry. They are all dead now.”
“But these can’t be the same bunch! For one thing, I only had six of them after me, and you have two or three times that number piled out there. For another, they were three or four gross yards behind me two miles from here. I think that I was gaining on them, but . . .”
There was a loud crash at the door.
“Company is coming!” Dol shouted. She picked up her recocked spring spear and took up her old position by the door.
“Places, everyone!” Bronki said.
“Give me that,” the brander said, taking the spring spear from Dol. “It’s mine!”
Kren tossed Dol his military spear. “Take this. It works just the same way, only it’s the manual model, without the button.”
“Open the door, Dol,” Bronki said.
There were four greenies there with a very familiar-looking battering ram. They had apparently found it in the hallway and had decided that a fast attack is a good attack.
Bronki’s timing wasn’t as good, this time. On the last round, the door had been opened immediately after the ram had struck it. The Greenies were taken when they were on the back swing. This time, it was opened just as they were about to strike the door again, and four of them piled into the room.
Bronki took out the front two, but as the next two fell on top of them, she opted for killing the two who were behind them, and were armed. Again, all four were head shots, the surest way to put a Mitchegai out of action, at least temporarily.
The two Greenies who had fallen came up on the bounce. Kren took out the one closest to him with a chop straight down on his head. Dol and the brander got the last one, putting two spears into her simultaneously.
When this last Greenie started to raise her sword, Kren took her head off.
“All part of the service, ladies,” he said, with a smile to the others.
“Okay, everyone,” Bronki said. “You know the drill. Kren decapitates and stacks, Dol, search them and put everything you find in Kren’s room. And you, young lady, get to chop and flush the brains down the toilet. It would be nice if we could get this job done before the new guards get here. Fewer explanations would be needed.”
“Yes, madam. And thank you for this help. Where’s the toilet?” the brander asked.
“That way,” Bronki gestured over her shoulder as she went about picking up her empty magazines and ejected cartridge casings.
Dol was carrying a double armful of strange weapons into Kren’s room, when she found the brander staring at the head on the table.
“This isn’t the toilet, is it?”
“No, this is Kren’s room.”
“And that was Kodo, wasn’t it?” the brander asked. The head was staring at her, and scowling again.
“He still is. I think he’s still alive. At least I hope he is,” Dol said. The eyes on the disembodied head turned to Dol and blinked, so Dol continued, “Yes, I see that he is indeed alive and as healthy as possible, given the circumstances. Well, sir, you will be interested to know that we were recently attacked by two separate groups of KUL fighters, and I am delighted to inform you that we killed them all, losing absolutely none of the good guys, except of course for our six guards. Now you just sit tight, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”
“I’m glad that Kodo is dead, or soon will be. He was a horrible person. But his brain has all of these lines drawn on it, like I saw once in a medical book, and some of those parts have all of your names on them. Does that mean what I think it means?”
“I’m afraid so. We’d best go talk to Bronki,” Dol said.
On hearing what had happened, Kren drew his sword and said, “I suppose that I’m sorry, but we really weren’t friends anyway.”
Bronki said, “Now, none of that, Kren. Good artists are too rare to waste. But you see our problem, young lady. The rest of this killing tonight is simple self-defense, and we won’t be punished for it. It’s not even likely to land us in court. But the law views vampires a bit differently. Now, my suggestion to you is, would you like to join us? Kodo had a doctorate in fine arts. Would you like to have such an education? You could stay here until you recover, and in a week or two, you could be a very well-educated person.”
“Given the alternatives before me, I would be delighted to join you in this endeavor,” the brander said.
“Good. Now, let’s all try to get everything done before our new guards get here.”
“What I don’t understand is why this second group just came charging in here, after seeing all those bodies in the hallway. You’d expect that such a sight would at least give one pause to think,” Kren said.
“Quite possibly they thought that we must have been all dead or badly wounded after a fight like that one. Who would have thought that we could come through it with barely a scratch? But it’s more likely that they actually couldn’t think,” Bronki said. “These KUL teams take a lot of heavy and illegal drugs before they go out on a hit. It makes them more aggressive.”
“How stupid can you get?” Kren said as he went back to chopping, stripping, and stacking.
“One good thing is that I never got around to ordering another party snack,” Dol said, as she went about her work. “I want to eat that first one I killed. I’ve never killed anybody before, not an adult anyway, and it was kind of fun! Do you want the other one that we killed together, uh, what is your name, anyway?”
The brander opened up her robe, showing them the collection of deep brands running down the front of her body, and said, “I think that from now on, you can call me Brandee.”
“Well, I think that they are lovely,” Bronki said, “and so are you. Now, hurry up everyone, because right after we have it all done, we get to eat!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
FROM CAPTURED HISTORY TAPES,
FILE 1846583A ca. 1832 a.d.
BUT CONCERNING EVENTS OF UP TO
2000 YEARS EARLIER
How Much Is that Duchy in the Window?
Kren awoke after over a week of strange dreams, relieved himself, and took a long drink of water. He sat down in the early morning light at the large table in his sitting room, where Dol was carefully cleaning, polishing, and sorting a big collection of strange weapons.
“It’s good to see you awake, sir. I was beginning to worry. The midterm break is almost over, and tomorrow is a school day.”
“I see. Is everyone else up and around?”
“Oh, yes, we have been for days. But you ate three times as much of Kodo as any of the rest of us, and I suppose that it just took you much longer to integrate all of that.”
“I suppose that it serves me right for being greedy,” Kren said.
“I’m beginning to wish that I’d taken two bites out of him myself, but at the time, I was too frightened to be that adventurous.”
“So, are you now a doctor of engineering?”
“Not officially, but I’ve been through Bronki’s extensive engineering library here, and everything in it seems childishly simple to me now. You know, it is possible to pay a fee and take a test, which, if you pass, gives you credit for a certain required course. I expect to have my doctorate in a year or two,” Dol said. “My grade point average is excellent, and if I play it properly, I think that I can pull it all off without anyone suspecting that I have become a vampire.”
“Perhaps I should do that, too.”
“I’d advise against it, sir. You have to be an undergraduate to participate in the athletic program. If you graduate, you will lose a lucrative source of income.”
“I suppose that’s true. Is Bronki around?”
“Yes, and she’s very anxious to talk to you. Shall I get her?”
“I’ll go to her. You keep on doing whatever you’re doing. What are you doing, anyway?” Kren asked.
“I’m getting your collection ready for mounting. I’ve ordered some display cases built to my design, in a style matching the other furniture here. They should be delivered in a few weeks. There will be one for your athletic medals, and two for your weapons.”