“Novom, what in blazes have you done?” I demanded.

“I am Lord Dromo,” he insisted, “and all traitors to the great Lord Radon and his way must die.”

He sprang at me and we wrestled, falling down on the floor.

He was a madman with a madman's strength, nearly crushing my neck several times. A few times I had him on his feet again and tried to knock him out, but I might as well have been beating a stone!

The slaves ran from the room, screaming murder.

Novom threw a chair at me, but I ducked and threw myself at him.

We tumbled over and over on the enormous canopy bed, each getting caught up in silken sheets big enough to big circus tents. I gave him a good battering, yet he came again and again, trying to choke me with sheets or smother me with the pillows. He really wanted to kill me!

In a tangle, we both fell back off the bed and he made it to his feet first. Before I could do anything, Novom grabbed a small chair and broke it over me.

While I was trying to recover, the doors to the room burst open and a group of guards in red leather stormed in.

Novom vanished out a back way, leaving me alone.

“Somebody stop him!” I shouted.

“Stop who?” one asked.

“Novom. He just ran out, he murdered Count Hassium!”

The leader shook his head “The slaves said you were alone with him, you killed Count Hassium.”

I was locked up for the rest of the night in a kind of improvised cell off of the slave quarters, supposedly used for their punishment or their master's amusement. I had no idea what fate awaited a murderer here or if they even had such a thing as due process. I tried to ask such things through the bars of the door, but no one would speak to me.

Early in the morning, a soldier came to collect me from the house staff.

He marched me to a covered area where the cars were kept and into an official looking vehicle. I saw surprised when he sat me in the seat up front, beside the driver's seat, rather than in back. We began to cruise along a deserted road that was lined on either side with trees.

The driver removed his helmet.

“Novom!” I shouted.

“I'm Lord Dromo, Renford. And my Lord Bowen has ordered your death as well!”

“Then why don't you kill me and be done with it, you lunatic?”

“Oh no, it must appear that you died while trying to escape the forces of law, you...”

I lunged towards him, pinning his arm to his side with one hand and jolting the wheel with the other. At the speed we'd reached it was a deadly combination.

The car collided with the a rail and flipped completely only to land back on its wheels.

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Luckily all momentum stopped then and I found myself alive, but stunned.

Novom's neck was broken, as close as I could tell, and he was dead.

Thinking quickly, I stripped off my uniform all except for the falling suit and switched clothes with Novom. He'd stolen his uniform in the first place anyway.

All the cars were equipped with radio transmitters, so I sent a message to headquarters that the escaped prisoner was dead and in this car. I only hoped they didn't examine him too closely.

Other cars arrived, and in my new uniform, which totally obscured my face, I explained the prisoner's attempted hijacking of my vehicle. I helped the other soldiers to haul the body to an official building, a kind of courthouse I think, where we took it in an elevator to a workshop on the roof.

A supervisor said something about preparing the corpse and I merely nodded and said I'd return to my duties.

Instead, I found a kind of storage room and sat in one corner of it so I could observe what went on. The roof area was exposed, and had cage-like structures erected on it of some wood that looked like bamboo, as unlikely as that was in this part of the world. In the room beyond several black forms hung by ropes from the bamboo ceiling, and I realized after a moment that they were dead bodies painted over in a thick black wax or perhaps a tar.

I watched as a man in a silver gown that almost looked like a butcher’s outfit stripped Novom's corpse and began to coat him in the same black stuff.

I can only assume that his corpse was bound for some lab down below, or maybe something worse.

I eyed my uniform on the workbench and wanted to get to it, after all, I didn't plan on staying.

The man in silver only got Novom about half covered, then he sat back and took it easy, but didn't leave.

It was then that I noticed Novom's hand twitch and heard him begin to groan!

The man in silver noticed it too, but all he did was get up and return to covering the helpless man over in black tar.

That was about all I could stand. I found a stray poll in the storage room, ran out into the other space and knocked the man down with it.

I grabbed my uniform and made to grab Novom, after all if he was crazy he'd need some kind of help!

A raygun blast nearly missed my head. I turned around to see red-clad soldiers running towards me.

I ran out onto another part of the roof. The whole thing was divided into squared off sections, covered in cages or storage boxes, or just piled high with discarded junk. As far as I could manage I ran through these, the soldiers started to close, in, those that could find me.

I leapt over obstructions and darted through cages, and doubled back once or twice and when I thought no one could see.

Somehow they kept coming, although they didn't try to shoot so often.

I ran beside a sheer edge, and I could see that this building hung over the side of the plateau, the fall looked to be a mile if it was an inch.

Behind me three of them closed in, ahead of me more piled up to stop me.

I turned sharply and threw myself over the side!

At first I thought all was lost as I tumbled through the cold air, the ground far below would rise up and swat me like a fly.

Then I started to realize that the fall was taking a while and that I was not falling straight down, but diagonally.

I turned my head back and saw the city diminishing, although I could still make out a group of confused red forms up on the roof I'd just left.

My diagonal descent carried me a great distance, until finally I got near the rolling plain below. A series of tall aspen trees reached up into my path and I tried to grab ahold of them as I went by, but the upper branches were too flimsy and I was still going at a good speed.

A second group of aspens came and I got a good grip on the top branches, which slid out of my hands, leaving them leafy and sappy! I did manage to slow down some more like that, though.

I hit the ground running and tripped myself on a small bush, crashing into a grassy mound.

I shook myself off and pulled my uniform out from where I'd stuffed it in the red top and changed clothes again.

The city was miles away now and it looked like I'd got away.

A big satisfied smile crossed my face until I turned and saw a group of men in silver uniforms holding rayguns on me, led by a bluish long-haired man dressed entirely in tight velvet.

“Hello.” I said.

“You must be Renford,” the man in velvet said, “I am Lord Bowen. Would you come with me?”

I just couldn't win.