Epilogue

Sitting in the navi's chair was a little disorienting. Not just because she had always flown the Warlock from the pilot's chair, but also because the man who now sat there had just changed the way she looked at everything. From how she could look up and see the elegant movement of the drift overhead through the console, to how she saw herself. It was all different. She'd heard the sincerity in his soft voice. It meant that for the first time in her life, there was someone she didn't have to fight against, to hide secrets from. She had an ally, and much more than that.

She smiled suddenly up through the canopy at the pale sky as it swooped and dove, a mirror image of the first significant tests that Bren put the Warlock through. She recognized the test series as a particularly daring one, and she turned her attention to the sensors that manipulated the Claudia mix, giving Bren the best power when and where he needed it.

The comms channel beeped softly while they played games with buoyancy and gravity, pitch and roll, power and finesse. Bren flew the Warlock with a deft touch, and the ship responded to him with the same eagerness that Sophia knew she did.

Though there had been a few minor problems with various systems, the days and days worth of repairs that she and Banks had feverishly completed on the ship had not been in vain. Infused Claudia ran clean from the engine to each of the ship's systems in turn, and the systems interacted according to their design, creating something that was both beautiful and powerful.

Then the confirmation blips stopped.

"Silvana. Open comms. Silvana. Miller. Report. Damn." Bren fell silent.

In a way, Sophia was relieved. The worst had finally happened.

"Now what?" She asked.

"Watch the sensors. I'll try and revive the comms." His voice was still soft but there was an edge beneath it. He wasn't worried yet, but Sophia could hear the note of tension.

"No other systems show any fluctuation in power drawn or output." She reported.

"Nothing for comms. It's like the speaker just turned off."

It couldn't be a power issue, since communications was wired before almost all the other systems on the ship. They would have lost the power of flight before losing the comms. "It could just be a malfunction." Sophia repeated, trying to stay objective.

"I doubt it." Bren was still trying any fix he could think of, to judge from the sound of his hands running over the controls, "Especially not after he was so careful to ask about the setup of the ship."

"You noticed that, too. Banks and I went over the ship when we repaired it, but we never found anything."

Bren muttered a curse under his breath, then flicked a few switches, "I'm changing our broadcast to all channels and looping an emergency message."

Sophia nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. Even if they couldn't connect to any comm channel, hopefully someone could hear them.

There was a long, tense silence where Sophia stared at her consoles and wondered if she really had condemned herself and her lover to death. She pressed her lips together hard, remembering the last few minutes. Bren had made her realize that they were closely entwined, and stronger for it. He thought that together they could survive anything. But now would come the crucible. "It little matters now, but I am sorry that you were pulled into this."

"I'm not ready to die yet." He said, as calm as if he were still on his own ship. "If the same thing happened to Carolina, she would have kept flying, so I'm going to bring us down fast. Maybe whatever is affecting the comms will be thwarted by distance."

Sophia agreed with his decision, "I have ballast shunts and propulsion prepared for whatever you need me to do."

"You realize that if we land, our best chance is to abandon the Warlock, send it back up, and run."

Her breath caught in her chest, but she nodded sharply after only a moment. "Yes."

"At least if we both die, no one can accuse me of masterminding the deaths of two Anatorayen princesses." He offered, his soft voice threaded with amusement.

"You underestimate newscreen programs." Sophia's quick counter made him chuckle. Though she was on edge, Bren kept her from panicking. She recognized what he was doing, and was grateful for it.

"Now there's a scary thought." Bren admitted, "Ground sighted. Are you ready?"

"For anything." Sophia said resolutely, and she meant it. "Ready for anything."

Sophia looked up into a sky so blue it was blinding, and watched the Warlock rise straight up. It was a metaphor made visible; her past retreating from her so fast that she didn't dare blink. Not only was the Warlock a symbol of all the things she had worked for, but the ship itself had been sanctuary and companion for three years. The only person she trusted as much as her ship was waiting silently behind her.

She didn't turn away from the sight of the Warlock. Not even when she could only track its flight path by extrapolation.

"We don't have much time." Bren said quietly.

"I know." She whispered, then the meaning of his words finally came to her and she shook her head sharply to break the trance. She tapped her fingers lightly on each pocket of the jumpsuit, mentally checking where everything was packed, then turned to face Bren. "Where to?"

He pointed south, toward the jagged edge of the cliff. "That way. If we get low enough, we'll hear anyone coming before they see us, and we won't be visible to ships or searchers on foot."

Sophia measured the distance with her eyes, and sighed softly. It was going to be a long walk, and though the ground was flat, she would be exhausted by the end, but she knew there was no other choice.

She picked up her cane and began walking. For now, she didn't need it, but she would soon enough. "How long before he finds us?" She asked Bren when he came up beside her.

He glanced up at the sky, then down at the chron on his wrist. "It depends. If either of us is harboring a tracking device or if he knows that we're grounded, he'll find us in minutes. If he takes the Warlock as bait, we have half an hour or more." He glanced down at her, "How far can you go? I can carry you, if you need me to."

Sophia gave him a look of her own, one that encompassed the four heavy tote bags he had arrayed over both shoulders. "No you can't. I am perfectly capable of walking." She added quickly as he made a motion toward her, "Provided we keep this pace, I should reach the edge of the canyon under my own power. After that, I am afraid it will be up to you."

Bren made a sound of acknowledgement and kept pace with her.

She reached into the top left pocket on her jumpsuit and pulled out the hand recorder that she'd kept in the Warlock since she had first taken off from Oriskany dock. Bren recognized the device and gave her a questioning look. "If we only have minutes, I want my suspicions recorded. Just in case." She explained, smiling reluctantly as Bren gave her an irritated look.

"If Esterhazy manages to kill us both, the recorder isn't going to make it to anyone else." He pointed out.

Sophia nodded, "I know. But this is one more weapon in our thin arsenal. If all goes wrong, all we will have to avenge ourselves is circumstantial evidence against Philip or my brother."

Bren made a short gesture of acquiescence with one hand, and Sophia moved the cane to her left hand and the recorder to her right before turning it on. "I am Sophia Elen Delgrada Forrester, Princess of Anatoray and all her provinces and peoples. I have reason to believe that myself and Captain John Bren of the neutral ship Silvana are in great danger. If this recording should be found and we are dead, let it be known that our deaths were under highly suspicious circumstances, and I believe that my brother, Sikandar II, may have orchestrated them."

She took a deep breath, not just because the walk was tiring her quickly, but because she was about to speak out loud words that she had never said before, "I became interested in the circumstances surrounding the death of my sister, Carolina Theresa Delgrada Forrester, when I heard a rumor that her ship, the Warlock, had been put up for auction."

For long minutes, she talked softly to the recorder, alternating her attention between the cliff-edge, the ground in front of her, and the sky above. Anything could trip her up, and she knew they had very little time for mistakes, though Bren still seemed calm.

Eventually, she reached the end of her narrative, which was mostly composed of suppositions and fears, "Once I gained the trust of Captain John Bren, we chose to travel to Lexington Dock in the Warlock, for two purposes. One, to lure Ambassador Esterhazy into making an attack, so we could prove that we have been targeted for murder by whomever he answers to, most likely my brother. Two, to inquire of Dock Administration if my brother or anyone directly associated with him had any connection to the contract that Carolina died attempting to fulfill."

She held the recorder away from her for a moment and tried to catch her breath. "Any sign?" She asked in an undertone.

"None." Bren's quick answer was certain. Sophia relaxed a little to hear it. "But that doesn't mean anything. He could be throwing off suspicion by changing his route, or he could just be playing with us. Don't slow down."

She sighed and raised the recorder once again, "The voice heard previous is that of Captain John Bren. We departed the Silvana in the Warlock some forty minutes ago with a destination of Lexington Dock, but our communications system went dead in the air. We have strong reason to believe it is being affected in some way by a device under the control of Ambassador Esterhazy, though we cannot find the mechanism. Since the communications system failed entirely, and no other system was affected, we can therefore assume outside forces caused the communications system to cease, though we do not yet have evidence of them."

Sophia felt Bren's hand on the small of her back, urging her to move faster. She took several shallow breaths and continued, "We chose to land the Warlock and send him back up ... on autopilot with no set course in the ... hopes that he would act as a decoy. We are now ... grounded at the coordinates entered at the beginning of this ... message."

"Give me that." Bren reached over and took the recorder from her hand.

Sophia started to take the recorder back, but realized almost immediately that he wasn't stopping the recording, he was merely forcing her to save her breath for walking. She gave him a grateful smile, and he nodded once.

"Captain John Bren speaking." He said quietly into the recorder, "We are now grounded and heading for shelter in a deep canyon in the Arras Range. Provided that Esterhazy doesn't actually know where we are right now, we're in good condition. We chose this canyon from the air, and it looks as though we can hide and defend ourselves. We've got several days of supplies and a few pieces of equipment that can be used as hand-to-hand weapons if need be. Our plan is to hide until morning, then I will find and bring back help. Once we're among other people, we should be safe. Esterhazy's been cautious in avoiding witnesses up to now, so I don't think he'll attack us once we're in public."