Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four by Hideyuki Kikuchi Page B

whip cracked in the man’s right hand. It appeared to be only ten feet long, and Matthew found it hard to believe it’d stretched over a thousand yards in pursuit of them.
    “Oh, I was just kidding earlier,” Sue said, on her knees but moving in front of Matthew as if to shield him. “This guy’s just some traveler. Since he said he was in a hurry to leave the village, I brought him out here.”
    “For a traveler, you ain’t got a hell of a lot of baggage, boy,” the man said. Apparently his words were going through a speaker in his helm, because his voice was somewhat muffled. “Well, no problem. I came back here with the intent of killing everyone in the village. One or two more isn’t going to make any great difference.”
    “Don’t do this.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll take this boy’s head off with one shot. But it ain’t gonna be like that with you. I’ll take a hand, then cut off a foot, and kill you by inches. Now get out of the way.”
    “No, I won’t!”
    The air whistled around Matthew’s throat and the boy reeled back without saying a word. The man’s whip had maneuvered around Sue to coil about Matthew’s neck.
    On seeing Matthew’s face turn blue, Sue leaped at her husband like a maniac and slammed her right fist into his face. His helmet was a special metal alloy that could ward off million-degree flames for a few seconds. Rewarded only with a dull thud, Sue doubled over and nursed her fist. And with that, her fruitless battle was at an end.
    An impressive crash came from the ground, and on turning her pain-wracked face in its direction, Sue gasped.
    Her husband had fallen.
    “H—how?” she mumbled, while behind her Matthew coughed. He’d been freed from the whip’s constraints.
    Walking unsteadily over to her husband’s head, Sue opened the latch on his mask.
    “He’s dead.” She’d intended to shout the words, but her fear had crushed them down into a whisper.
    Her husband’s face had turned ash gray, and it was withered and covered with countless wrinkles.
    “He—he’s a damned mummy! How’d this happen?”
    Despite her shock, she was still a woman of the Frontier. The way she ran her fingers over the face of her husband, who looked like someone who had died a hundred years ago, was remarkable. She even opened his eyelids and checked his pupils.
    “I can’t believe it. It’s true—my husband died a long time ago.”
    “But..Matthew stammered, kneading his bruised throat while he slowly made his way over. “I mean, I saw him move, heard him speak—”
    “He was under a spell. He must have been dead for years. But to have his revenge . . . Hold on. Why’d he keel over right when he had us where he wanted us?”
    “I don’t know. At any rate, we’re safe now. You can go back to your village—I’ll go on alone.” “Just a minute—you think you’re leaving me here?” Sue said accusingly.
    “It’s for the best. I’m in your debt.”
    As Matthew started to back away, Sue hooked her arm around his and glared at him. “I’m not saying you have to spend the rest of your life with me. All I want is to get out of this village and go somewhere else. We’ll go together part of the way. You know, I didn’t want to bring this up, but I did save you.”
    Matthew gazed at Sue’s face. She didn’t know that the Sue he saw gradually became someone else.
    “That’s not right,” Matthew muttered, sounding terribly wounded.
    To that, Sue could only reply, “What?”
    “That’s not how it was, Sue. I kept you safe. From the day you were born right up till now. Yet you’re trying to get away from me.”
    Powerful fingers sank into the throat of the Sue -who -was-not-Sue.
    “Letting yourself be tempted by that Vampire Hunter from God knows where, of all people! What kind of position does that leave me in? I can’t let you do that, Sue. I absolutely cannot let that happen.”
    His voice trembled. Matthew’s shoulders and arms shook, too, and Sue’s body quaked.