Hotbloods 6: Allies

“What else?” Bashrik pressed.

“He stole Princess Femma’s pleasure barge and handed it to a bunch of penniless crooks. He broke into the Museum of the Universe and stole several artifacts, including a very rare suit of armor, a pair of cuffs that were used to imprison the last Vysanthean god, several priceless pieces of jewelry, and crates upon crates of dangerous weapons, which he has passed on and sold to all manner of unsavory creatures, who have only gone on to use those things for murder and torment. And he… he told a mermaid she was the ugliest thing he’d ever seen, so he could steal her tears. As you know, mermaid tears are a potent substance.” I could tell he was scraping the barrel for crimes, but I could also see where he was coming from. A lot of that stuff was bad, not to mention the fact that he’d kidnapped our friend.

“Did you just say the last Vysanthean god?” Navan said, frowning.

“Well, the last Vysanthean who chose to charade as a god, though it was said he had supernatural powers to back up the claim. It was why they needed the cuffs, as he was stronger and more powerful than anyone living today,” Xiphio explained.

“Sounds like an old wives’ tale. I’ve never heard that story,” Ronad commented.

“Apparently your ancestors wanted to do away with him, so they locked him up and threw away the key. Some say he still lives, in the darkest corner of the universe,” Xiphio said. “Regardless, Stone sold those cuffs to some cretin on the darkstar market!”

“That’s all pretty bad stuff, but why are you so hellbent on snagging him?” I asked.

A flicker of sadness lit up Xiphio’s huge eyes. “Stone has perpetuated crime on my home planet for years, offering addictive substances in return for incredibly valuable serrantium.”

“The strongest alloy in the known universe,” I murmured, thinking out loud.

“Indeed, miss, and it is found beneath our waters. It is illegal to sell to outsiders, and so it fetches a premium price on all black markets. You must understand, since our planet is naturally covered in water, we require an alloy of great strength and durability that will not bend, will not rust, can withstand great impacts, and cannot be shaken. Serrantium is our divinely given gift, from which our cities are made.”

It was a good reason to want to track down Stone, if he was peddling drugs in exchange for this serrantium stuff. But from the wounded look in the merevin’s eyes, I wasn’t convinced Xiphio was telling us the whole story.

“I don’t buy it,” I declared. “What’s the real reason?”

“That is the reason,” Xiphio insisted, but his cheeks were flushed with purple, his gaze shifty.

Navan shook his head. “If you want our help, you’re going to have to be honest with us.”

Xiphio sighed heavily. “Fine. If you must know… Stone was the one who caused me to set the charges on the wrong meteor, making me the laughingstock of the Fed. He’d struck a deal with the Tiburonian leader, to get the Feds to mess up, so that they would have to provide a better planet for the Tiburonians to live on. Naturally, it backfired as much for them as it did for me, but Stone didn’t care. He had fulfilled his side of the bargain, and presumably received his payment for it.”

It was hard not to warm to Xiphio, despite everything I’d heard about his ineptitude. He seemed shy and sweet, if a bit meek, reminding me a lot of Killick. It appeared Mort was right about the merevin stereotype; they all wore their hearts on their sleeves.

“So, he made you look like a prize idiot and ran off into the sunset with his dough?” Angie said sympathetically.

“If you must put it so bluntly, yes,” he admitted. “I have never lived it down, though I hoped to have a wondrous career with the Fed. Stone dashed those hopes the moment he struck that deal.”

“Well, if Stone is the one meeting Ezra, he will be arriving on the Junkyard pretty soon in order to be here for the supply-drop,” Ronad said, kindly moving the subject away from Xiphio’s embarrassment. “He’s got our friend Lauren, and we’re going to rescue her from his clutches.”

Angie nodded. “Yeah, and we’ve got plenty of backup, thanks to Riley declaring a revenge bounty on Stone’s head. There should be a whole bunch of pirates there to strike, wanting to collect the money for themselves. I imagine, once they’ve got him, they’ll deliver Stone straight to Riley, to make the trade.”

Xiphio gazed at Angie in wonderment. “I could not have planned it better myself!” I could see that Bashrik was desperate to make a disparaging comment, but he held his tongue. “I shall assist you in your rescue mission, if you will agree to exchange that assistance for Stone.”

We looked at each other, a ripple of agreement running around the group. After all, as long as we got Lauren back, it didn’t really matter what happened to Stone. Given what he’d done to our friend, I was more than happy to let him rot in a Fed prison for the rest of his life, paying for the crimes he’d committed.

“I think that’s a yes, Agent Xiphio,” Navan said, offering his hand for the merevin to shake.

“You will not regret this!” Xiphio replied excitedly, shaking Navan’s hand with a touch too much enthusiasm. “In preparation for our rescue, I can give you all a small quantity of the blinding dust that I carry around with me. I keep it on hand, on the off chance I run into Stone again. All you do is throw it into his third eye, to prevent him from freezing people in place. Have you seen his blue bracelet?”

I recalled the glowing thing on his wrist that had somehow protected him from the gunshot Mort fired, when we were standing on the icy plateau outside Nessun. It was just before he’d taken Lauren away from us.

“I’ve seen it,” I confirmed.

“We must ensure we take him by surprise so we can prevent him from using that, too,” Xiphio said.

“Anything to take him down and get Lauren back,” Angie insisted.

A funny look passed across Xiphio’s face. “What is this Lauren lady like, anyway?” he wondered. “Would you be so kind as to tell me what she looks like, and what I ought to say to her, to show I’m on your side, in case I manage to get to her first? I would hate to pick up the wrong person in the midst of the fray!” He gave an amused snort.

“Well, her name is Lauren,” I began. “Her complexion is like ours. She’s tall and slim.”

“She’s got longish hair, which is kind of coffee colored,” Angie added.

“Though I guess you won’t know what coffee is,” I interjected. “It’s brown. She usually wears her hair in a ponytail, and she’s got these—”

“Purple glasses, which always slide to the end of her nose.” Angie smiled at the memory. “Her eyes are brown, too.”

“Yeah, and she was wearing a green-and-silver uniform when she was taken, though I’m guessing she won’t be wearing that anymore,” I continued sadly. “What could he say that only Lauren would know?” I glanced at Angie, tapping my chin in thought.

“Seamus Barton!” she shrieked.

“Seamus Barton and the kiss on prom night!” I grinned, remembering the conversation we’d had as we were getting ready for Queen Brisha’s garden party. She’d really liked him not so long ago, but with her intending to go to Stanford and him going to NYU, they hadn’t pursued anything. Now, he was on the other side of the universe, probably wondering what the hell had happened to her. I imagined most people we’d known were thinking that, especially our family members who had been taken into witness protection.

The merevin looked perplexed. “I’m not sure that is appropriate.”