Betrayer

by C. J. Cherryh

  That was all Machigi’s to do.

  The paidhi was, in effect, down to a role more as hostage than as mediator, since their exterior protection was in Machigi’s hands, and in the hands of his bodyguard—and in the fact that the Guild would exact a heavy price from whatever agency was proved to have assassinated the paidhi-aiji. It was not great comfort, that thought.

  As for Guild policy in Shejidan, it had either gone a hundred eighty degrees about face, and Machigi’s survival was the new policy, at Tabini’s urging—or the Guild was taking its own course, and even Tabini might not know what would happen until it happened.

  Lord Tori was not likely to see the sundown today.

  Possibly he had given similar orders regarding Machigi.

  The remaining worry regarded collateral damage. The Guild tried not to have that many. The renegades didn’t give a damn, by the available evidence.

  The next number of hours could determine not only who would rule the Marid but which direction the whole aishidi’tat might go. One hoped the central Guild stuck fast by its regulations and took care about its targets, and did not overly destabilize the Marid.

  Not even mentioning the often forgotten fact that there were aliens in the heavens whose perception of the stability and therefore worth of negotiations with the atevi might also hang in the balance. Ineffably frustrating—to know that was the case and not to be able to make ground-bound atevi understand how very serious the situation was.

  He did not want to die. He had a lot of things he had to do. He had people who depended on him, not least of them the four who shared the table with him.

  So. Well.

  It was a delicate process—convincing Machigi that there was getting to be a level of trust on his side, so maybe Machigi’s level of trust of him could increase a shade.

  And if not—the whole house of cards could collapse, and not just in the Marid.

  12

  Mani and Lord Geigi were not discussing nand’ Bren or the Marid, when Cajeiri brimmed over with the need to know what was happening. They sat discussing what had happened with the Parithi, two of whom had come on the bus, intending, Lord Geigi said, to stay current with what was going on here at Najida and over at Kajiminda because they were taking over Targai, with all its traditions and its antique treasures, just everything, all at once.

  That was a new enough idea to catch at least the edge of Cajeiri’s attention and to make him think about it. Clans were as old as the rocks and the trees, and clans just went on and on, and figured out some way to stay alive and in authority. Cajeiri had memorized lists and lists of clans by districts, and he could not remember any clan that had actually totally died out, well, except in the War of the Landing. If they went down, they were usually absorbed by a larger clan, like the Maladesi, who had used to have Najida before Lord Bren got it.

  But Maschi clan, as ruled by its own house, had come that close to extinction. And Lord Geigi was not interested in staying on the planet and getting an heir. “Just ship my fool nephew to Malguri,” was the way Lord Geigi put it, with shocking bluntness, “and let him do the only thing he can do for the bloodline, and be damned to him. Forgive me, aiji-ma, but the whole of Maschi clan is down to an old man, a fool, and a collection of ambitious hangers-on who were too damned close to my cousin to be trusted.”

  That was even more shocking. Cajeiri had never heard such language. Mani, however, just nodded and agreed to that idea, which shocked him even more. He was still thinking it over when Nawari brought in an old man of the Parithi, whose grandmother, Geigi explained, had been married once to a Maschi lord, so he could be Maschi in a side descent—nobody had ever been sure, and it was nearly a hundred fifty years ago anyway.

  His name was Haidi, just Haidi, which was not a lordly kind of name, but he would be Haidiri if mani approved the idea.

  “Haidiri,” mani said, then, to the old man. “On our old associate’s recommendation, and his recommendation is enough, you should find no difficulty with my grandson.”

  “Aiji-ma!” the old man said, bowing profoundly. And it was odd: a year ago it had been hard to tell when strangers were lying, but one came to be smarter about it, and this old man seemed to feel what he was saying.

  Mani lost no time taking advantage of it, either. “At this moment, Maschi territory is the underbelly of the aishidi’tat, through which the association can uphold itself in strength or suffer a grievous wound. You will be in danger, nand’ Haidiri, you and your house. You will be in great danger, and you will immediately require strong Guild protection. The Senji and the Taisigin Marid have viewed your district as theirs. You must disabuse them of that notion, and you will have associations from the North, the East, and the West willing to link with you, if you exhibit strong resolve.”

  “Aiji-ma, we have had the strongest representations of the danger. We understand our position, and we will appreciate any Guild protection that arrives.”

  “It is on its way, nandi,” Nawari said. “And should, in fact, have arrived at about this hour.”

  The Guild could move in minutes, Cajeiri knew that. The legislature might take months to make up its mind, but the Guild was faster.

  A lot faster. Things were definitely going on. Not just there, but coming up from Separti, from the port there. And maybe from the train station—or the airport. It was scary.

  And what about nand’ Bren? he desperately wanted to ask, having run out of patience. Is Guild going to go to Tanaja and help him, too?

  Then Nawari said something else, quietly, that totally changed the direction of the talk. “Aiji-ma, word from Cenedi. The Edi are coming up the hill. They are armed and in some great disturbance.”

  Tano went into the hall and came back again more than once, and there was again recourse to the written paper and the fireplace. Tano wrote:

  We are maintaining an encouraging flow of information from the lord’s staff. We have been advised of a delegation of merchants arriving in the building, who are a security concern both for us and for Lord Machigi. The household is under alert, but Machigi has agreed to meet personally with them.

  We are also informed that members of Farai clan have been forcibly detained within the city, and that Senji and Dojisigi districts have both gone on alert, with personnel relocating to positions of greater security.

  We are, thirdly, informed of the approach of sixteen outlawed Guild members from the southern Marid bringing information and asking sanctuary in Taisigi territory. They are communicating with low-ranking members of Lord Machigi’s staff and state they are breaking man’chi with their leadership. They ask registered Guild here to mediate an approach to the Guild, aiming at reinstatement. This question will be passed on to Guild headquarters in Shejidan.

  Large numbers of Guild this morning arrived by plane and train in various places throughout the West, including Sarini province, which has alarmed the Marid in general, but particularly the northern clans.

  Lord Geigi has left Targai and gone toward Najida. The rumor is that Lord Geigi is separating the lordship of Targai from Maschi clan and handing it to the Parithi subclan. Lord Machigi’s staff asks for interpretation and clarification of this move.

  Lord Machigi’s staff wishes assurance that the action will not come here.

  Bren wrote: Regarding Lord Geigi, as before stated, Lord Geigi is anxious to return to space and, in agreement with Tabini-aiji, seeks to disentangle himself from terrestrial responsibilities. This move at Targai, while news, is consistent with that aim. Regarding Guild intentions and the sixteen who have surrendered, we have no knowledge of that matter.

  The first note went the rounds of everyone in the room and then went into the fire.

  Tano went out into the hall again, this time with Algini, taking the second note.

  And stayed gone a lengthy time.

  It was not just the young men of the Edi who came up the hill, and they were not walking. They had come in the village truck, bristling with weapons. Cenedi report
ed it, and in that truck, the Grandmother of Najida had opted to come up the hill in person, intending to discuss serious business with mani and with Lord Geigi. Now.

  Cajeiri wanted to go out to see, but if he went out of mani’s sitting room, he might not get back in, and he knew nobody would let him outside.

  So Cenedi went back out into the hall, and Cajeiri sat very quietly and waited. And jumped when there were several gunshots outside. Lord Geigi shifted in his seat as if he might get up.

  Nawari headed for the door. But mani stamped her cane on the floor and said, sharply, “Do not let this escalate, Wari-ji! I shall see the Grandmother of the Edi!”

  “Aiji-ma,” Nawari protested. “These are not Guild. They have no discipline. One advises—”

  Another stamp of the cane. “We shall see them.”

  Nawari was not happy about that. Cajeiri was not happy either and thought that where he was sitting was not safe if trouble broke out. He picked out a stout wooden table with drop leaves and thought that was maybe protection he could get to if he had to scramble for it. But if mani was going to meet with armed people, then he was certainly going to be here and help if he could. He had his slingshot. He had three good stones in his pocket, well, metal nuts he had gotten down in the basement hardware storage, and they were good. If anybody threatened mani, somebody else was going to get hurt.

  Veijico, who had a gun, was still outside, on the duty he had set her. There was just Antaro and Jegari with him, besides two of mani’s young men and two of Lord Geigi’s bodyguard. “The table over there, nadiin-ji,” Cajeiri said to his own bodyguard in a very low voice, “if there is shooting.”

  “Yes,” Antaro said.

  So they had their plan. And Nawari had gone out. The shouting had come into the hall, indecorous behavior in nand’ Bren’s house, and very rude of outsiders. He heard Nawari shout at someone to be quiet, and that was just unheard of.

  There was a moment of quiet, then, and Nawari opened the door to admit the Grandmother of the Edi, who came grim-faced and bundled in her colored shawls. She was almost as wide as tall and walked wide-legged, arms folded, a scary old woman when she was mad. And she looked mad. Her escort came in, two of them, carrying hunting rifles, wild-haired from the ride in the open truck and dressed in hunter’s jackets. The whole lot of them looked scary.

  Well, so could Great-grandmother if she wanted to. But mani just leaned both hands on her cane in front of her, smiled, and nodded politely to the Grandmother of the Edi.

  Servants came from their station at the back wall and brought a stout chair for the Grandmother, and she settled in, still with her scowl. What with her size and her fringed, flowered shawls and thick skirts, she fairly well filled the chair in one angry lump, with her two armed young men standing beside her.

  Cenedi came in. And if things blew up, those young men had better think twice, facing mani’s and Lord Geigi’s Guild bodyguards at once. Even with rifles, those two had no chance, and neither did the Grandmother. Trust Cenedi to cover mani and Geigi’s bodyguard to protect him—and if he had to dive for safety, there would be about six shots, none of them from the Grandmother’s men.

  “So what is your distress, Grandmother of the Edi?” mani asked pleasantly. “Be clear, even blunt, and we shall hear you.”

  “Why is the paidhi-aiji in Tanaja, Grandmother of the East? And where is our agreement?”

  “If you have news other than the news we have consistently relayed to you, nandi, one would be interested to hear it.”

  “He is there, is he not? Negotiating with the lord who attacked your own great-grandson at Kajiminda and who assassinated your sister, Maschi lord!” This with a jut of her chin toward Lord Geigi. “You cannot forgive that!”

  “One does not forget it, honored neighbor,” Lord Geigi said.

  “One will never forget it. But rather than see more of your people die, rather than see the Dojisigi in the ascendant over the Marid tomorrow morning, I have shut the door on some reckonings and count them a private grievance.”

  “Your own sister, Maschi lord! Shame!”

  Geigi frowned. Cajeiri had never seen Geigi frown that darkly, never imagined that pleasant, happy face could take on so dark an expression.

  “At our request,” mani said sharply, and thump! went the cane on the carpeted floor. “And for the good of the people, Maschi, Parithi, and Edi, we have asked the paidhi-aiji, though injured, to use all available leverage with a lord who, yes! has been troublesome to this district, and troublesome to my grandson—but not as troublesome as his northern neighbors.” Up went the forefinger. “On which matter we have recent news, Grandmother of the Edi, which contradicts some of the things we have taken as fact, and the news is not good!”

  The Edi lady looked as if she had met a strong wind; she drew in a breath and folded her shawls closer about herself. “If you have news more than ours, Ragi Grandmother, we will be interested to hear.”

  “Senji, not Machigi, has been behind the corruption of the Maschi lord in Targai, over a number of years. Lord Machigi of the Taisigi moved to do the same with the other Maschi lord, Baiji in Kajiminda. The Maschi lord Pairuti, in the hire of the Senjin Marid, attempted to move his own allies into Kajiminda. But there they all ran onto the rocks, Grandmother of the Edi, because a clanless agency has moved in on the Senjin Marid and the Dojisigin Marid alike and poses a threat to all the aishidi’tat and to the displaced peoples.”

  Mani paused there, to let the Grandmother of the Edi take that in; and Cajeiri found himself confused, having no idea what mani was talking about.

  “The Assassins’ Guild has fragmented,” mani said next. “The Guild who supported Murini, the force behind the Troubles in Murini’s years, fled south when my grandson retook the aijinate. And they have infiltrated the northern clans of the Marid! We suspected it. The Guild has tracked these individuals as to location, but only recently, as late as today, it has communicated its findings to us, and they present a very disturbing picture. We can now state with some assurance that the two northern clans of the Marid were heavily infiltrated by these lawless elements. Taisigi clan, though not infiltrated to the same extent, found its operations in Kajiminda taken over by these persons. Its allies of the Southern Association, the Sungeni and the Dausigi, have been troubled, but to a lesser degree.”

  “What has this to do with us?”

  “We are stating, Grandmother of the Edi, that the enemy is not who we assumed it to be. In fact, this enemy has attempted to bring down an attack on the Taisigi lord because he is their major obstacle. We do not maintain that he is innocent of offenses. But this renegade group, a splinter of the Guild, is bent on creating chaos in the south of the continent, and we cannot afford to pursue any grievance that takes out the Taisigin lord. He is the focus of their attacks. He is the stone in their path. So for the moment, he is not our objective.”

  “So we abandon our grievances? We do not!”

  Thump! went the cane. “Grandmother of the Edi, we are your allies. We have gone to the aishidi’tat to right wrongs done you. We have called on the aishidi’tat to defend you. We have sent the paidhi-aiji into a hostile district as a personal favor to negotiate an end to Marid adventures in your district.”

  “Without consultation!”

  Nobody talked to mani like that. Mani could snap her fingers and that would be the end of it. Cajeiri paid strict attention, in case he and his had to dive for that table.

  “The information was classified,” mani said, “and the opportunity to get the paidhi-aiji there without raising a general alarm throughout the Marid required decision within half an hour, Grandmother of the Edi. While one appreciates your willingness to consult, one could not consult without disseminating sensitive information across a broad area. Lord Geigi will inform you that we did not consult with him, either, though the message went to Lord Bren within his district.”

  “That is so, Grandmother of the Edi,” Lord Geigi said. “All these things were done i
n support, not to the detriment, of the agreement between the Edi and the aishidi’tat. When one exists within the framework of the aishidi’tat, one has to accept that one’s neighbors will move in their own defense, and likewise one has a right to expect they will move as energetically in one’s own defense in return. It was, initially, your time to be defended. And now it is your time to defend.”

  The Grandmother of the Edi hitched her shawls tight about her and glowered, but she said, “We are here. Explain why we should abide this situation.”

  “Indeed you are here,” mani said. “You are in this room, with arms and attendance. No outsider to our councils would have access here. You are part of this undertaking, Grandmother of the Edi. We confidently left to you the defense of Lord Geigi’s estate at Kajiminda, while, reciprocally, Guild from my district and directly from my grandson have defended this peninsula and Najida village as well as this estate. We have at no time operated in indifference to the Edi people. You continue within our counsel, and we look to you to go on defending Kajiminda and the deeper peninsula as part of this operation—which is far from over!”

  A second resettling of the shawls. “Then tell us, Grandmother of the East, what the paidhi-aiji is doing. What is he trading to the Taisigi?”

  “He is seeking abandonment of any Marid ambitions in the West.”

  “That will never happen!” Another nervous rearrangement of the shawls. The Grandmother was not as furiously angry, but she was still agitated. “Machigi is our enemy, Grandmother of the Ragi. And he would destroy us without hesitation!”

  “And we have made him an unexpected proposal. We are prepared to see him and his ships visit our coast, Grandmother of the Edi, far, far to the east, to give you peace. We have offered him trade—deep-sea trade—if he leaves you in peace.”