Saigi and his unit listened soberly and stone-faced to that, and Bregani said:
“That is the situation, Saigi-ji. We will have some anxious days ahead, but we will be dissociating from the Dojisigin in all respects. The details are yet to work out, but the Taisigin will trade, and the East will ship, and so will the southern Marid, so we shall not be any the worse off in commerce, since the Taisigin will supply the Cobo route; not to mention we shall no longer be paying into the Dojisigi defense fund. I can promise that will no longer be a deduction from your salary. Gather the staff, advise them, and let us put things to rights.”
No longer a deduction drew sharp attention. Faces betrayed it.
“Nandi-ma.” Saigi drew a deep breath and gave a sober, short bow. “What you will.”
Banichi asked: “Saigi-nadi. There has been a problem with kidnapping. Relatives of key personnel held hostage. Are there any such cases current?”
“None that I know,” Saigi said.
“They exist,” Banichi said. “Do not trust where you can avoid it.”
“Nandi,” Saigi said, with an apprehensive glance at Bregani.
“Say,” Bregani said, and Saigi:
“There was a case. The man is dead.”
“We have to be alert to the possibility of hostages,” Banichi said, “in any Taisigin property we enter. We need to find them, where they exist. That will be a priority. If you have information, we will put it high on the list. Meanwhile we have to secure this building. Is there anyone to your knowledge that might have relatives at issue?”
“No,” Saigi said uncertainly, and cast a look around at his own. “Everyone here is trusted. We have inspected and locked all the city offices—” This with a nod to the righthand corridor. “Those are shut. Your residence, nandi-ma—” This with a second look at Bregani and his family. “The assembly room, the great hall, the family residence, all those areas we have sealed off and guarded. The archive, the exhibit hall, all of it—we have held. The northern Guild has moved into the utilities, the broadcast center, the banks, and closed the port road. We have undertaken a control on the residency, the museums, the schools, the library, and our own precinct stations.”
“We are very content,” Banichi said, “to be a backstop to an efficient local force. If you need reinforcement we will make adjustments, but our first concern now is to see your lord to safety in his own premises. One assumes, nandi, there is a place where we can set up a perimeter, and where you can receive reports and make decisions at leisure.”
“Upstairs,” Bregani said. “Upstairs and to the left. Our people, our household.”
* * *
• • •
“This is secret,” Father said, and laid out a gray oval thing that Cajeiri somewhat recognized, at least that it was somewhat like the communicators on the station, the sort of thing Lord Geigi used.
Cajeiri did not venture to touch it. “This is from Lord Geigi,” he said. “Is it about my associates?”
“It is from Lord Geigi,” Father said, “but it regards your great-grandmother.”
One thing had seemed evident, which he cared about, but now the other was in question, which immediately worried him.
“How?” he asked.
“Lord Geigi has dropped one of his relay stations,” Father said. “Sit down, son of mine.”
They were in Father’s upstairs office, across from his own suite, where meetings happened and things were discussed that were not discussed elsewhere. It was both a familiar place, and a scary place, when Father took that tone. It was rare, nowadays, that he was called in here. But he had been.
Cajeiri sat down. “Is she all right?”
“She is in Koperna. Thus far she is still aboard the train, surrounded by numerous Guild units, possessed of several mortars and various equipment the Guild does not talk about, but say that nothing will approach that train. She is safe enough so long as she stays where she is.”
“What are they doing? What is the Guild doing?”
“Protecting her, as ever. That foremost. But that is not all of it. I have promised to keep you informed. Grandmother has brought Lord Bregani back to his capital, and they have entered with a fair amount of noise and notice. Lord Geigi is now advising us moment to moment what is going on in the region. He claims to be able to see a man walking to market while carrying a basket. This may be exaggeration. It may not.”
“One does not think, honored Father, that Geigi would exaggerate that. He can do so many unexpected things.”
“And does not need to shock us with his brilliance,” Father said. “Fortunately he is on your great-grandmother’s side.”
“And on ours,” Cajeiri said. “Are you able to speak to him directly with this? What does he say?”
“He says that the relay has activated and is performing well, and that no one has approached it, hardly surprising, since there is a train sitting in the vicinity that would discourage all but the most determined. He says that an amphibious unit from Amarja has ventured into the salt marsh that the Dojisigin shares with Senjin, and has attempted to reach a causeway that leads to a hunting lodge. I have asked the Guild to have a look at that.”
“And mani,” Cajeiri said. “Is there shooting near her? Is she safe?”
“As yet Koperna is quiet as the tombs in winter. We have had to divert a number of passenger trains and strand a handful of passengers in Shejidan, but we are sending sufficient supply by both routes to Koperna, in the case Grandmother might have need of it. And we have stolen back a navy ship that she borrowed. We think one is sufficent to deal with the harbor at Koperna, and we anticipate no difficulty of any sort for Lord Machigi’s port at Tanaja, though we will be watching. One can, with this, speak directly with Lord Machigi without the Messengers’ Guild listening in. Or anyone else. I will be speaking directly to your great-grandmother, relayed from the heavens, without a need for the great dish at Mogari-nai, or its keepers. I shall be speaking to her, if she is speaking to me at the moment. Things are fairly much in transition there. And your great-grandmother, will you believe, has put the paidhi-aiji in charge of Koperna, while she does whatever she is minded to do.”
“But—” That was astonishing. “Nand’ Bren never even manages Najida. Ramaso does that for him.”
It was out before he thought, but Father seemed, if anything, amused. “Ah. But he has Banichi, who can talk to Cenedi, who can talk to your great-grandmother, so I am certain they will manage.”
That was something, truthfully.
And they could talk, apparently, as directly as they did on the space station, when Lord Geigi would just call somebody and tell them to do something, or one of the techs could report directly, and show Lord Geigi a picture of what was happening.
It was just different.
But it was wrong for Shejidan, nand’ Bren said.
And now there was a lander in the Marid. One of Lord Geigi’s creatures. It was very, very different than anything that ought to exist on earth. Lord Geigi had made it to help the Guild drive out the Shadow Guild, by relaying messages just like this. They were scary things. And they would change the world.
Except Father was in charge of it, giving orders with a thing like those phones, but Geigi had never wanted that to happen.
Once things got loose, Bren had said more than once, once technology was loose, it just kept on growing.
It was a big change.
As scary as the lander itself.
And the Shadow Guild. Wait, he wanted to say. Wait until I am aiji, and I can say what I want done.
But that day was, he hoped, far, far in the future, and meanwhile it was all on Father.
“What are we going to do about them?” he asked, meaning the Shadow Guild, and Father answered, “The phones? We have restricted them to the Assassins’ Guild.”
Not the Messengers, he t
hought. The Messengers would not be happy with that idea. They would have a fit. But the Assassins’ Guild had their own system, and if it was in their hands it was not going to go proliferating—that was a word he had learned from nand’ Bren—proliferating through everybody’s lives.
Meanwhile Lord Geigi was watching over the Marid. Nand’ Bren was in charge of Koperna. And mani was safe, with Cenedi, he was sure, surrounded by Guild. It was not as bad as it could be. But—
“Where are you sending the ship?” he asked.
Father gave him a strangely approving look, as if he had solved some strange sort of puzzle.
“You are not sending it back to the straits,” Cajeiri said. “Are you?”
“We are sending it to Amarja’s harbor,” Father said. “And the Dojisigin will just have to consider whether they want to meet it or talk to us.”
14
People were waiting in the upstairs of the residency, clan folk and relatives and a few staff, all relieved to see Bregani and his family come up the stairs, a little too forward a crowd for security’s liking, and Guild fended off well-wishers who pressed too close. Guild could do nothing about the stares, the misgiving countenances—but Guild predominated here. These folk, in the southern version of court dress, included gray-haired people and younger, a mix of ages, about twenty or so of them, with a scattering of brown-uniformed servants, staring wide-eyed at what arrived, and nobody posing an immediate threat. Saigi’s second-in-command had come up with them. Banichi and Algini had stayed downstairs, with the whole city as their immediate concern.
“Nandiin,” Saigi called out, lifting his hands for attention. “Your questions in a moment. Lord Bregani is here. Listen to him!”
People had made a little space, jostling one another and trying to see as Bregani lifted his hand high to be seen. “A little quiet!” Bregani said. “We are in good case, here. I trust my cousin Biathi has kept you informed.”
“Are the Dojisigi here, nandi?” someone shouted from the back. “Are they coming in?”
“They are not, nandi! If you have heard Biathi’s broadcasts, outside of the fact I have not been in the city these last hours—you have heard that I have met with the aiji-dowager. That is true. You have heard that I have authorized the northern Guild to assist in keeping order. That is true. You will have heard that we have concluded a peace with the Taisigin, and that is true!”
There were no cheers about it—more a gradual descent to stunned silence.
“Cousins and allies, we shall talk about the details very soon, but the situation is actually quite simple, and this is my word on it. No more Dojisigin fees. No more charges. We shall never again pay the Dojisigin for the mere privilege of doing business with them, and from this day forward—actually since last night—we are in a mutually beneficial trade partnership with the East, and with the three lordships of the southern Marid, as well as Hasjuran atop the escarpment, and, potentially, with the entire aishidi’tat without fees—in short, with the whole world except the Dojisigin.”
That produced a little undertone of voices, which Bregani did not allow to continue.
“We stand to be freer, safer, and better off economically with the new arrangement. I have signed documents we shall discuss in detail, which lay out the barest framework of a continuation of rail to the south, excluding the Dojisigin, which will not make them happy. Not that they will feel excluded: they have historically rejected a rail link—but because I intend to keep northern Guild forces in the city for the interim and tell the lord of the Dojisigin to go look for other markets. This is not a decision I have made lightly, but Tiajo’s demands have made it clear there is no satisfying her until she has picked Senjin bare, and we have no ships but her ships and no trade but her trade. Dojisigin rejected a railroad years ago, now we have it, and Tiajo sees our use of it as a trade she would like to stop, or to tax, or to own. We have had to accept her agents operating openly in the port and here in the capital, her trade offices are beds of spies, and the number of her citizens who go where they like among us is an intimidation we no longer have to bear. As of the hour I authorized the northern Guild to move into the city, those elements have been made to feel unwelcome. We are permitting them the port, for now. But we cannot say this will continue. There is another large Guild presence between us and the Dojisigin, a living wall to prevent her expressing her displeasure.”
That caused a stir, and a general open stare at Bregani’s northern Guild bodyguard.
“If Lord Tiajo wants to talk,” Bregani said loudly, “she has a telephone. And there is little at this point that she can say that we need regard, nandiin. She no longer has power over us. We are safe. For the first time in two generations, we are our own people. We have a far better bargain with our new allies than with the perpetual state of terror the Dojisigin have inflicted on us. With me, guarantee of the dowager’s good will, and the firmness of our agreement . . . are the lord of Najida, Bren, paidhi-aiji, negotiator for the aiji-dowager. And Machigi, lord of the Taisigin, head of the Association of the Southern Marid. Also with us is another esteemed guest, the candidate for Ajuri, Nomari-nadi, of the Padi Valley Association of the aishidi’tat.”
There was a scattering of verbal applause, a thin one at first, and then a little more enthusiastic, as Bregani seemed to have said all he had to say. But then Bregani claimed the floor again and said, “We are to go into the audience chamber, where we are requested to stay while security makes a general sweep of the building and premises, which may take some time. Security discourages us from moving about the building or going anywhere alone until we can be sure. There are tables, there are chairs. I note that, at the side of the hall, we have a number of staff to help us, and I think we can manage tea and brandy, if no scoundrel has made off with it.”
That levity produced both motion from the servants and a little lightness in mood. “Come,” Bregani said, and led a general movement from the huge, carpeted assembly area into an adjacent, still very large chamber, with blown-glass chandeliers, all of which had electric light, and frescoed walls, medallions showing sea, and ships, and painted processions of people doubtless important in the history of the house and of Senjin. There was a scatter of white chairs and a couple of tables at the far side of the assembly area, and those began to be brought in and made available to whoever claimed them.
“Two corridors,” Jago noted under her breath, using the new communicator, “left and right of a low speaker’s platform.” She paused, and said. “Lord Bregani’s family apartment is the end of the righthand corridor. Several others, family, have residences to the left. —Rani-ji,” she said to Narani, who was close at hand, “I shall stand here. Can we arrange chairs and one table for nand’ Bren?”
Mild confusion was the state of affairs, with servants rolling in two large circular tables and setting them up at apparent random. Bregani and his family claimed one, with several of the older officials. Chairs proliferated, more than enough.
“We have three significant exposures in this area,” Jago said to the communicator, “the doors we can close and the two hallways we cannot. We are putting the hallways off-limits, and stationing a man in each.”
Tano said, at Bren’s elbow, “Word is on the other channel that there are six residencies, all cleared, the servants’ passages all locked from this side.” Guild had been moving through those two halls fairly actively, while the tables were being brought in. “We have two public accommodations off this room, over there—” Tano indicated twin doors disguised in the mural of a hedge on the far side. “Which should be sufficient. There is a foyer to each, a water source which we will test and clear. The righthand hall has two doors, both opening into Bregani’s official residence, and we will clear that. Lords of the subclans hold the lefthand hall, and they have been in continuous occupancy, but it is a situation which we do not trust without searching those rooms, and we will include Lord Bregani’s rooms unle
ss you have other orders.”
“I do not.”
“We have two units with equipment to do a proper clearance, and they are both working downstairs and in the basements in an order Banichi has set. He says the lower levels are extensive and the lords’ comfort is secondary to safety. They have no security of their own. Building security is not established.” Tano paused. Then; “The local guard, with some argument, has agreed to stand down and bed down for a rest in the Office of Public Works, a watch on each other, if nothing else. Their commander has confided to Banichi several names he himself questions. Only Guild is providing security in the rest of the building, as we set up electronic perimeters. We are relying on our own food and water in this room. We have enough.”
“Good,” Bren said.
“They argue,” Jago said, with a motion of the eyes toward the cluster of minor lords around Bregani. “But these people are scared. Justifiably. There are those who do business with the Dojisigi, but as Lord Bregani indicated, the Dojisigi have done fairly well as they please, freer here than in their own capital. They thrive on illegal fees and charges. Lord Bregani’s power has been very little where it comes to shoring up security. Shadow Guild agents have not been frequent or public visitors, but when they have come, they have fairly well gotten access where they want, taken whom they want, and answered no questions. Murder has silenced complaint. All this, from the general briefing, on our way in.”
Compliance, while the threat was present, or possible. And they themselves were the threatening strangers now.
“One understands.” One also had a troubling insight into Bregani’s compliance with the dowager’s proposal, and yes, it was in pattern, though Bregani had made his own conditions and negotiated fairly well, caught as he had been between two demanding forces and the dowager’s own plan. And now Bregani was at one table with Murai and his daughter and the people who made the decisions—and the trade-offs—in his district, and had to explain to them how the northern Guild was going to change their lives, and what moves they had to make next to stay alive.
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