"Ardan...you..." Hanse murmured. "They took me..." he said with great effort. "Cleery was there...and some others...doctors maybe...Gave me something...an injection..."

"Not now, Hanse," Ardan said. "Later...you can tell me later."

But Hanse was never able to remember anything more than that The guards came back for him frequendy now, and when they returned him hours, even days later, Hanse was usually so drugged or his mind so numbed from exhaustion that he might as well have been. Whatever they did while Hanse was semiconscious, it would take him several days to break out of the mental fog and confusion. Then the guards would come for him once more, and the whole cycle would begin again.

Huddled like an animal in the cavelike damp of the cell, Ardan could never be sure whether Hanse would come back or not. Though Hanse could never remember anything afterward, Ardan was sure their captors were interrogating him, using mental taps and drugs. In spite of the nicks he etched into the wall, Ardan had no idea whether it was day or night or how much time had passed since they had been led down into this dungeon and the horror of their uncertain fate. It was small comfort, but he was beginning to understand what was going on, at least

When he and Hanse had confronted the false Prince, what baffled Ardan was how the imposter could have known so many details about the past...tilings no one but he or Hanse could have known. The betrothal to Melissa, for instance, or the long-ago day when Hanse had almost drowned or the gift he had given the child Ardan one birthday. Now it was starting to make sense. For one thing, the imposter had notknown about the starbird, which was a story that Melissa had told Ardan afterhe had been rescued from Liao hands. While he had lain delirious in that hospital on Stein's Folly, the Liao doctors must have been probing his brain with drugs and mental taps just as they were doing with Hanse now.

Ardan was sure that his captors were systematically probing Hanse Davion's mind for every last memory so that they could transfer it all to their puppet Hanse, and authenticate him beyond the shadow of a doubt. These men were as desperate as they were ambitious, and so Ardan was certain neither he nor Hanse would survive long once they had all they needed.

31

Sep found Jarlik alert but fuming at the delay in getting to the business at hand. "We have to know where Ardan is before we can spring him free or help him escape from Argyle," she said.

"If he's been captured, he's in the dungeon. And if he hasn't, hell be in our old hideaway in the woods. But I've already looked there, so it's the dungeons, Sep. And we can only get into those with 'Mechs. Ardan can sneak around the Summer Palace like a mouse, but I don't remember the architects' plans the way he does."

Ref, rejoining them, agreed with Jarlik's assessment. "There's no word of anyone being captured around the palace. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only person who was suspicious was Fani Lettik. Awhile back, she saw someone in the kitchen area who shouldn't have been there. The man told her he was a gardener investigating a defective grillwork behind the shrubbery. But when she asked the Maître if it had been reported to him, he denied it."

Ref looked at Sep, his eyebrow quirked. "And nobody else saw that man at all. When she described him, he sounded terribly fishy, too. Flat, greasy-looking hair. Very dark goggles that hid his eyes. A blue coverall, which was proper for a gardener. But she said he looked as if he had a swollen tooth. His face was lopsided."

"Ardan," said Sep. Jarlik nodded.

"Put something on his hair to change its look. Stuffed wadding in his jaws. Got hold of some goggles someplace to hide those amber eyes and those sharp cheekbones. No doubt about it. He got into the house. Then Hanse Davion changed his mind about staying his usual time on Argyle."

"I'll bet anything you name that Hanse and Ardan are down below the Palace, locked away in those barbaric dungeons old Lucien had built. Dammit!" Sep pounded her fist sofdy against her uniformed knee.

"Wait a minute, Sep. Think about it..." said Ref, who was sitting on a fallen tree trunk and gazing idly at the high canopy of leaves overhead. "Where's the problem? The Prince is gone, right? And he's taken most of the guard with him. All that's left around the Summer Palace in the off-season is a skeleton crew. I say we go in tonight and get them out"

Sep thought for a momenet, then grinned suddenly. "Good thinking, Ref. You're right...Tonight's the night. I've got the security codes to disarm the Palace defenses, for one thing, and the retinal scanners'll recognize me as head of the Guard. That'll get me and Jarlik past the automatic defenses easily enough. In the meantime, Ref, you'll go over to the old fuel depot. I bet there are still enough combustibles lying around there for you to set off quite a big bang. And while you're over there drawing off most of the Palace Guards by making as much noise as possible, Jarlik and I will spring Hanse and Ardan from the Palace."

Jarlik chuckled deep in his throat. "Any 'Mech who doesn't get diverted will wish he had."

Sep nodded. "But what about getting into the lower level, where the access corridor is?" she asked the big man. "I've never been on personal duty for the Prince. I usually pulled shifts at training the Guard, not at guarding the Royal residence."

"Well, I've learned a lot of the ins and outs from working with Ardan so long. Back in the service area, there is a cul-de-sac serving the doors to the laundry rooms, the kitchens, the catering services, and the butler's pantry. At night, it's deserted down there." After sweeping aside dead leaves to clear a space, Jarlik sketched a rough diagram in the dust.

"There's the service floor. Here's the corridor that gives access to the lower level where the dungeons are. There"— he sketched a rapid series of crossbars—"are the ventilators. Even prisoners have to breathe. We can batter through those easily. I see no problem, unless some hotshot 'Mech guard tries to liven things up."

It seemed to take a year for the sun to set. The forest rustled and whispered about them. From time to time, some small animal peered from branches above or from the snakelike roots of one of the big trees, but the trio sat so quietly that the creatures soon lost interest and went about their own business.

When the sky was black and the treetops lost against the starry expanse, the three mounted their 'Mechs. Ref headed for the fuel depot, while Sep and Jarlik moved across the vineyards and men the public gardens that stood just outside the Palace walls. As expected, the two passed through the automatic defenses with no problem.

"Well, getting in was easy," Sep said into her com, "but getting out could be another problem entirely. Denek gave me access to the emergency DropShip, but who knows how we'll get to it. Much less how we contact the pilot he suggested. This may be our last burst of glory, old friend. Let's make it count!"

They strode closer to the Palace, which was dark except for a few glimmers of light from windows in the servants' wing. That startled Sep until she realized that she had always seen the Summer Palace ablaze with the lights and activity that swirled around the Prince, with all the comings and goings that attended his affairs of state, visitors, and minions. Now those same tiers of rooms stood in darkness.

Just then, an explosion boomed to the east of them, and a huge fireball rose into the night sky.