Shield's Lady

working outward. The glow from the inside was fading.
    “It’s all right,” Gryph whispered, his voice tight with the strain. “It’s working. I’ve got it now.”
    She stared at the ship, concentrating harder as she tried to somehow free up more of her own mind energy for him to use. She didn’t know what she was doing or how she was doing it, but she sensed the new strength within herself. She felt Gryph reach for that strength with the eagerness of a lover and then he was adding it to his own and projecting it toward the ship.
    The crystal became more opaque, huge sections of it turning the familiar color of valuable prima.
    Slowly, methodically, Gryph worked the prisma through Sariana. She sensed the deliberate way he was projecting into the ship, finding the oval disks first and neutralizing them. Then he worked the structural material of the ship itself.
    Suddenly it was all over. The ship in front of them was solid, gem quality prisma. The interior glow was gone. Sariana felt the weary rush of relief that seeped into her awareness and knew it was Gryph’s reaction, not her own. She turned to look at him and found him staring at her, his features taut with the effort the task had taken. But he was grinning his familiar, slightly predatory grin. He pulled Sariana into his arms and hugged her as if he had just returned from a long trip.
    “We did it! My sweet, unpredictable Sariana, we did it. Who would have guessed that you and I could work together like that? What legend spinner could have invented a tale this good? A whole ship full of weapons and we neutralized all of it, every last centimeter without the aid of a lock. By the Lightstorm, wait until they hear about this out on the frontier.”
    Sariana gave a shaky laugh, clinging tightly to him. “What makes you think they’ll believe us?”
    “They’ll believe it. After all, they’ll have the word of a Shield on it,” Gryph stated with his familiar arrogance.
    “Yes, of course. I almost forgot.”
    “Are you laughing at me, woman?”
    She shook her head, her eyes full of euphoric relief. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
    “The hell you wouldn’t.” Gryph laughed, holding her as if he would never let go. “There is little you wouldn’t dare, Shieldmate. But we can discuss the matter later. I think it’s time we found that cutter and got out of here.”
    “What about Rakken and that third bandit?”
    “My guess is that the last bandit is long gone by now. He probably got a good look at the mess in the corridor outside and decided there were easier ways to make a living. As for Rakken.” Gryph shrugged. “Who cares? The man is a nuisance. If he has any sense he’ll stay out of my way.”
    They found the Avylyns’ precious cutter near the entrance of the chamber that housed the alien ship. It had been left rather carelessly on a low worktable.
    “It doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that could cause all this trouble, does it?” Sariana asked as she picked up the tool.
    The prisma cutter looked like nothing more than a thin, square box. One side of the square disappeared when a hidden spring was pushed. When that was done a smooth, rounded edge was exposed. The edge was not sharpened or serrated. A child could play with it and not cut himself. But when it was applied to prisma by a skilled craftsman using just the right pressure and angle, it cut through the crystal effortlessly. It was made of a metal that closely resembled the metal lining the surrounding corridors and chambers.
    “Lately I’ve learned that trouble can come from some very unexpected sources,” Gryph said as she handed the cutter to him. He also took Sariana’s hand and started quickly for the corridor.
    “What about your weapon kit?” Sariana thought to ask. “I’ll have to make another one. Targyn got rid of mine. No telling where it is.”
    “Can you make another one?” she asked in surprise. They were approaching the three bodies in the corridor.
    “Sure,” Gryph said as he paused beside Targyn’s body. “I’ll just take Targyn’s kit. He won’t be needing it any more and I’ve got better things to do than hunt down another snake cat. I’ll need a new piece of prisma, but that won’t be any problem, will it? There’s a whole roomful of it back in that chamber.”
    “That brings up a very interesting question,” Sariana said as the thought struck her. “Who owns the prisma?”
    “By law it belongs to the Shields. To tell you the