"This woman plotted to usurp the Imperium _as long as five years ago_! It may have been longer...." He turned to Ivane. "How long does it take to incubate an _android_, Ivane? A year? Two? And then to train him, school him so that every move he makes is intended to further your aims? How long does all that take?" Ivane uttered a scream of terror now. "Freka! Call Freka!" Kieron dropped his sword point and stepped away from Ivane as though she were contaminated. There was little danger from _her_ now--but there was still another. Freka appeared at the edge of the dais, his tall form towering above the courtiers. "You called for me, Imperial Ivane?" Ivane stared at Kieron with hate-filled eyes. "You have failed me! _Kill him now!_" * * * * * Kieron whirled and caught Freka's blade on his own. The courtiers drew back, giving them room to fight. No one made a move to interfere. It was known that Valkyrs had sacked the city of Neg, and according to the warrior code the two warlords must be allowed to fight to the death if they wished. Kieron made no attack. Instead he retreated before the expressionless Freka. "Did you know, Freka," asked Kieron softly, "that Geller of the Marshes is dead? He was your father in a way, wasn't he?" Freka made no reply, and for a moment the only sound in the hushed chamber was the ring of blades. Suddenly Kieron lunged. His sword pierced Freka from breast to back. The Valkyr stepped back and pulled his blade clear. The crowd gasped, for Freka the Unknown did not fall.... "Are you really unkillable?" breathed Kieron. "I wonder!" Again he lunged under the mechanical guard of the Kalgan. Again his blade sank deep. Freka backed away for a moment, still alert and unwounded. Kieron shouted derisively at the star-kings: "Great warriors! Do you see? You have followed the leadership of an android! A homunculus spawned by the warlock Geller!" A gasping roar went up in the chamber. A sound of superstitious horror and growing anger. Kieron parried a thrust and brought his blade down on Freka's sword arm. Hard. A sword clattered to the flagstones--still gripped by a slowly relaxing hand. There was no blood. The android still moved in, eyes expressionless, his one hand reaching for his enemy. Kieron struck again. A clean cut opened from shoulder to belly, slicing the artificial tendons and leaving the android helpless but still erect. Kieron raised and lowered his blade in glittering arcs. Freka ... or the thing that had been Freka ... collapsed in a grotesque heap. Still it moved. Kieron passed his point again and again through the quivering mass until at long last it was still. Somewhere a woman fainted. A thick silence fell over the assemblage. All eyes turned to Ivane. She stood staring at the remnants of the thing that had been ... almost ... a man. Her hand fluttered at her throat.