Let the strangers take Jack away to see her dead mother. They all ignore Bert's pleas to tell Ariadne he wants to see her. As pissed at him as I am, I kinda pity him. Two weeks ago I woulda envied his life in the woods with a dragon. Now the thought of living without Jack makes me stabby.

A few folks stay behind to keep an eye on him and his dragon. None of them seem worried about me. Kinda refreshing. Sit down on a log. Look at Jack's dad. "Why don't your wife wanna see you?"

He sits down beside me with a sigh. "She was so . . . gungho to fight the Necromongers. Like Jack. I just cared about her and our friends."

That's not an answer, asshole. Keep my peace. He's like Jack used to be. Can't stand the silence. After an uncomfortably long time, he continues. "I'm not a soldier, but when my government asked me to volunteer as an engineer on Ariadne's flag ship, I said yes."

He goes quiet this time. Throw him a bone. "Why'd they ask that?"

"They were hedging their bets. We took the Colchis in because their science and military hardware were generations ahead of just about everyone. But a lot of people were afraid they'd turn on us. Or bring enemies to our doorstep."

One of our watchers makes a derisive sound. Look her over. Almost as tall as me with long dark hair and big muscles. She's glaring at Bert and fingering some kinda circular weapon. She's also got a big sword on her back. I kinda want it.

He don't react. Suspect the dead are hard to kill or he wouldn't be here, based on how mad folks are.

"Twelve years later, the Necros showed up. My government was desperate. The Necros had beat the Colchis twice. We had no real military of our own. They seemed like our best chance. Originally, I was asked to keep an eye on them. Pass information back."

"Traitor," the dark haired woman whispers.

He don't even flinch. "Turned out we weren't the only ones who wanted what the Colchis had. The Necromongers made us an offer. Turn over the Colchis, and the black fleet would pass us by." He stares into the middle distance.

"It was a good plan. We exchanged thirty thousand refugees for peace in our time. Everyone I cared about would have lived. All six billion people on Mercer. But it turned out Ariadne had this one last grand plan. To lace key equipment and personnel with nanites that would have turned any Necro equipment they came into contact with into grey goo."

He's lookin' at me like he wants my absolution. Not feelin' like giving this asshole my blessing. At long last, he keeps going. "I sabotaged the plan. I destroyed the nanites. I saved the peace. I saved my family."

Jack thought her family died heroes. They would have, but for this fuckin' collaborator. After a long time, I ask, as gentle as can be, "would it have worked?"

"Mostly. Would have knocked out tens of thousands of ships. But I ran the numbers again and again. Nothing ended up with a total kill; there would have been enough Necromongers left to kill hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of my people." He pulls out a new stick and a new knife. Starts carving.

Almost every muscle in my body has clenched. Want to kill this man more than almost anyone I have wanted to kill. Jack's dead mother could have fucking stopped the Necromongers. Killed the people who killed mine. Saved billions and billions. He stopped her. He deserves to die.

But I love his kid. Not sure she'd forgive me. And also, there's a fuckin' dragon. Manage to sit still.

After a long time, the asshole starts talkin' again. "Ariadne had so many plans. Her, and her kids, and their little fifth column." He sounds cherishing. "For years, long after conversion, they kept trying to stop the Necromongers. In the end, Ariadne figured out I was the one who sabotaged her great design. She . . . killed me. I ended up here. And because Zhylaw has a . . . sense of humor, he didn't give her the true death. She ended up here too." He shrugs, painfully.

Chew on what he said for a long time. "Any communication between this world and the real one?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, if you're sufficiently motivated. There are other places like that tree you climbed down where the living can come. The Lord Marshal comes here sometimes to consult with his predecessors. The Quasi-Dead keep a line open in Dylath-Leen. Why?"

"Wonderin' if you'd roll on us," I say. "Betray your daughter the way you betrayed your wife."

"Odin's scrotum, son," he says, appalled. "Everything I did, I did to save the people I love." Susan huffs. Smell sulfur. Look to the dragon. She's keyed into his feelings. Huh. Should get me one of those. Though she'd be displayin' some feelings right now.

"And billions and billions of other people died because of it. But for your fucking betrayal, your daughter is still living the good life on New Mecca. She dated a prince there." And I'm still living the life of the righteous man, resisting the temptation to take her into the dark with me.

Probably.

"No. She'd be dead," he says, flatly. "She was a little girl when we surrendered. If the Necromongers had attacked Mercer, she would have died. Even if the Necros didn't kill her, my people would have. My people barely tolerated half breeds in the best of times."

It's all I can do not to gut him, in the shadow of the dragon who loves him. "You think you saved her? You gave her to a monster. She saved herself."

He smiles at me sadly. "You love her, don't you? You two are really lucky you found each other."

Take two deep breaths. "Yeah, I love her. But I walked away from that kid thirteen years ago to keep the assholes on my tail off of hers. The plan was to never fucking see her again." He looks at me sharply. Think he's tryin' to do math. "But other assholes want me to be the delivery device for whatever weapon she brings back. To get my attention, they kidnapped and tortured her." He recoils back. Susan growls, low and threatening. Feel you, sister.

"They're gonna do terrible things to your daughter if I don't go on this fucking suicide mission." My voice cracks. Hate that. His fault. Deep breath. "Mercer's still standing because you all cut a deal with the fucking devil. But Furya, Coalsack, Aquilla, and a hundred other words are dead, eaten by the fucking Necromongers. Helios is next. If they don't already got it. There are people on Helios your daughter loves. People who did step up."

He swallows and looks away. I stare at the knife in his hands. "Jesus, fuck, man." My voice cracks again. "Zhylaw killed my mom. He's killed billions. He's comin' for Jack. How could you stand between him and his death?"

"Because I love my wife," he says. "I love my family. I love my world. And the Necromongers are inevitable. Who are you to judge me?"

Fair question. Killed more than a few people to avoid a bad inevitable. Will kill Jack to keep her from one.

Stare at the dragon. Susan's faceted eyes glint at me, knowingly. Like she knows the monsters I'm wrestling with. What would a good man do, knowing the woman he loves faces death by torture?

There's a long silence between us all. My turn to break it. "You said Dion was looking for Jack. What do you mean? And why is Jack scared of him?"

"Dion?" he says, seeming surprised. "He's her brother. He loves her. Personally checked every shipment of kids from Mercer to see if she was in it. After they slowed down, he sent retrieval missions out looking for her. I know he misses her terribly. He'd be so glad to know she's alive and well."

"Shipments of kids from Mercer?"

He nods like it's not seriously creepifying. "Yeah. Part of the deal. Mercer agreed to turn over anyone with any Aquillian, Colchis or Furyan blood. They did regular roundups. Mostly children and travellers."

Jack only escaped being sold to the Necros as a kid because Cousin Ernest liked to diddle her. I am incandescently angry. Try hard to keep it out of my voice. "Take it Dion's alive and in a position to send military retrieval missions after his little sister?"

"Well, yes. He and his sister both were highly placed officers when I died. I'm sure they're both still rising through the ranks. I don't think Zhylaw ever realized they were part of Ariadne's fifth column."

"She says he looks like me. Does he?"

He stands up and scrutinizes me. "A little. He was darker than you. He was a lot younger last time Jack would have seen him. You're a little shorter. He kept his hair cropped short. But yeah, in the dark, you two would look similar."

Grunt. "She says he hurt her."

"No! Well. They used to roughhouse."

I close my eyes. "Jack said he wasn't nice. Says she has bad dreams about him. Get the sense they're rapey, murdery dreams."

"No, no, no. Well, he broke her nose and cracked a few of her ribs once," he says. "But I'm sure it was an accident."

Stare at him. "Are you for fucking real?"

"What do you mean?" he says, sounding wounded.

"A teenage boy breaks your pre-pubescent daughter's ribs roughhousing and you call it an accident? Your daughter dreams that her brother rapes her and you blow it off as no big thing? Your step-son is sending military retrieval squads to kidnap your daughter and you seem charmed by it?" Susan stirs, turns her enormous head towards the woods. Exhales loudly. The sulfur smell makes my eyes water.

He looks away. "You really don't want to like me, do you son? I try to see the best in people."

Snort. "Yeah. Well. In that you're like your daughter." Glare at him. "Yeah, I love her. She's the closest thing to family I have. She's gonna throw herself at the Necros to save Helios, and I'm pretty sure she'll throw herself onto New Mecca's funeral pyre if she fails. So step up, asshole. What do I need to do to kill Zhylaw and keep your daughter alive?"

"Talk her out of it?"

"Tried that. Tried persuasion. Tried threats. She's not budging." One of our escort snorts. Get the feeling Jack might be like her mother in that.

A storm of birds and butterflies erupt out of the trees. Three deer run past us, panicked. Everyone but Bert pulls a weapon. "Oh shit, shoggoths," one of our escort hisses. Things that smell worse than sulfur are sliding through the trees. They're huge, gelatinous and hungry. All the soldiers move into formation, weapons out.

Susan stretches, stands, and stomps forward, between us and the jello monsters. As soon as they clear the trees she blows a mighty blast of flame and they're all gone but the stench. She preens.

"Good girl!" Bert says. Gives her a good scratch around the eyes. She wriggles like a cat.

"We gotta get some of those," dark haired lady grumbles, sheathing her enormous sword.

"Happy to help," Bert says. "Any time." They all ignore him.

Sonja's back. She takes in the dead shoggoths with a nod and smiles at me. "Mr. Riddick. The general would like to talk with you."

"Can I come?" Bert says, plaintively.

"No."

He sighs. Hands me the fancy dragon summoning whistle. "I gotta get Susan home - she'll need to feed after that. But blow the whistle if Jack needs me. Susan will hear it and come. And tell Jack I want to see her again before she leaves."

Take the whistle silently. Leave him behind.