“You bind them to you.”
“How?”
“By sending your own eldest. Your heir. To come and visit them in their homes. Despite themselves, this will help bind them to you.” Her expression became even more focused. “That’s why you went to Asellus Australis. To bind them.”
“But why me? Why not leave that to Janos also?” She waited for her daughter to fall prey to the easy answer of “a convenience of travel,” and further satisfaction bloomed when she did not.
“Because Asellus Australis is too important to leave to Janos.”
Jessica sipped at her drink again, then placed it carefully back on the table. She could almost see the holoprojection of a map of the Protectorate border flickering before Nikol’s wide eyes.
“Asellus Australis. Asellus Borealis. Sophie’s World. Lungdo. Australis is the key. All those world leaders were on Australis when we arrived. Together, they probably form some level of power bloc.” Nikol’s eyes refocused and snapped onto Jessica. “But how could you possibly know they would be there when you made the trip? How could you have orchestrated that?”
Jessica smiled. “I orchestrated nothing, my dear. Not even I have that faculty. No, SAFE informed me at the last minute that a meeting of those world leaders was occurring. I was able to take advantage of that. This is a lesson you should learn well, Nikol. The key to success is not making everything happen around you, but putting yourself into a position from which you are prepared to take full advantage of circumstances when they arise. I’ve long prepared for this moment, as you well know by now. While I’d planned on stopping on Australis and laying appropriate groundwork toward those other planets, that they were there together was simply a fortuitous event. A sign, if you will, that I move in the right direction. And an event, as you recall, of which I took full advantage.”
“Then if you can win over Australis, the other three worlds will likely come.”
“More, Nikol. That entire region centers on the leadership of Australis. If we can gain Australis, there is a good chance that Sorunda, Ling and even Gomeisa will follow their lead.”
“Seven worlds,” Nikol breathed softly.
“Exactly.”
Nikol canted her head, as though trying to peer at something from a different angle, before a smile of understanding lit her beautiful features. “Yet the very importance of that world meant you could not appear to be too eager. A casual visit is an honor. A purposeful visit suspicious.”
The warmth of Jessica’s smile this time matched that created by the drink. “Exactly, my dear. Exactly. But will all the worlds come to my call? Will all those seven? Will all the independent border worlds that Janos visits?”
“No. But many. When you call, many will answer and support you.”
Jessica nodded, well pleased. “Anson and Lester seem to have forgotten that the League is a coalition of states, founded by diplomacy and mutual respect. Whether it is my fake Marik blood talking, or simply the years of living with Father in exile during the horrors of the Jihad, I’ve never forgotten that fact. Other realms may forge ties with blood and tears, but ours . . . ours is different. And Janos’ ‘fool’s errand’ is one more building block in the wall of that simple truth.” That Janos departs on this important mission without once asking why, is a whole other issue. . . .
Nikol colored slightly as she recognized the reprimand; but she didn’t need her mother to add that not all would answer the call of friendship and, just as with the League of old, some might need to be brought to an understanding through . . . other measures.
“Again, Mother. What is my task while Danai is here?”
“I have nothing specific in mind for you.”
She looked confused, then simply asked, “May I spend time with her when I’m not needed elsewhere?”
“Of course, dear. You’ve obviously become more than mere acquaintances. Feel free to spend with her what time you can find.” Jessica managed to hide her disappointment at her daughter’s failure to perceive the underlying thread of the conversation. She must walk before she can run, Jessica reminded herself sternly . . . and she is walking very well indeed.
“Thank you, Mother.”
“Of course.”
With that, Nikol excused herself and left, walking slowly away from the chateau and out into the garden proper. After waiting several minutes to ensure that Nikol was out of earshot, Jessica answered the question she knew her husband was straining to not ask— she could practically feel it quivering on the surface of his muscles under her fingertips. “We all use each other, my dear,” she said, a bittersweet smile twisting her lips as she gazed at the love of her life. “You of all people should know that. She must find her own way if she is ever to be worthy of ruling.”
Phillip’s eyes were troubled. He served as Jessica’s conscience in so many of her decisions; this decision he could understand, if not completely accept.
Janos’ footsteps tapped a regular rhythm as he made his way back to his room. The cooler interior of the house began to bleed off the warmth of the veranda and dry the sweat around the high neck of his jacket.
You play favorites again, Mother. You always have. Janos passed a pair of guards making their rounds, acknowledging them with a quick look and a nod. He reached a branching corridor and continued on to the right.
You keep Nikol at your side while you send the rest of us off to do your bidding. You have five children, Mother. Five. When will you realize that we are all
worthy of such attention? Janos used the rhythm of his steps to diminish his frustration, keeping it always, always in check. But if you wish me to bind those worlds to you, then that is what I shall do, Mother. He
inhaled a breath so deep that his lungs strained and his eyes watered.
I am ever the dutiful son.
Stewart DropPort, New Edinburgh
Lothian, Stewart
Former Prefecture VII
“How many months have passed, Star Colonel? How many months! And yet here we sit in a parking lot full of DropShips that come and go, and we cannot seem to find the will to leave!” Janis Nova Cat’s words savaged the air; a nova cat hissing rage and warning of an imminent attack.
Even here, Janis? I guess moving my desk temporarily to the main cargo hold does not inhibit you from your endless tirades.
Rikkard Nova Cat ignored her as he continued to work on the force assessment for the coming invasion. No matter how he tweaked the assets at his disposal, the outcome always ended the same. Despite the fierceness he knew his troops would deliver, he simply did not have enough resources. If he invaded with his current troop strengths, defeat was the only outcome.
“You promised prey, Star Colonel. You promised prey and there has been none. How long will you laze around the watering hole? When will you show us that Kev Rosse was not misguided when he gave you command?” The hate missing from her voice for a few weeks after their departure from Irian had slowly returned in the last month, until the strength of it violated the air with each breath.
Finished, he cycled the program closed, shut off the computer terminal and managed to stifle a sigh as he stood. You should be involved in this assessment, Janis. It is why I keep you. Why I’ve never gone for the kill during a Trial of Grievance, though it would make my life easier. You have such skill. Such passion. If only I could tame it—as a team, we would be unstoppable. But I cannot trust you. No matter how often I give you the chance, you always show your colors in the end. Too impatient, even for a Clansman. Too rigid. For a moment he wondered if perhaps her codex included Bloodheritage from Clan Jade Falcon.
He refused to meet her blazing eyes for the moment, and instead looked around him. The handful of people working in the cavernous bay—mostly technicians, but a few warriors—seemed to be ignoring her display. Not good. They have become used to her demands, Rikkard. Not even the technicians on the ’Mech gantrys pay attention anymore. Have you waited too long? But I had to wait. We do not have the required forces
. Yet we cannot tip our hand too early. The prize is too grand. The cost of failure too high.
He finally faced Janis, the fury on her face overshadowing her diminutive size and skeletal features. “What do you want, Janis?” It was a rhetorical question, but he knew the time had come to deal with her challenge. They would wait a while longer on Irian for others to answer his summons, and he could not afford to allow his command to slip from him while he focused on the big picture. If only you would learn to think outside yourself, Janis.
“A Trial of Grievance,” she responded instantly.
“So be it.”
She looked momentarily shocked by his acceptance— the first time in months—then her expression changed to avarice. “Here and now.”
“Of course.”
As he walked around the end of the small portable table, the other occupants of the cargo bay were already moving to form a large, loose Circle of Equals. So they were listening. He nodded, his decision to accept her challenge confirmed.
As he crossed the invisible threshold of the Circle, he paused to size up Janis as she stood, loose-limbed, at the rough center of the ring. Though he held no doubts about who would emerge victorious, he also knew to never underestimate a warrior driven by hatred. The emotion made them inherently weak, but also gave them a physical strength that could carry them beyond the bounds of acknowledged defeat. And considering how often I have defeated you, your passion will overwhelm any intellectual understanding of your defeat. He nodded slowly, stretching his arm and back muscles to relieve the strain of too many hours in his desk chair that morning. I have no wish to permanently damage you, Janis. You could be a blade of unequaled quality if I can find the means to temper you. But I will not allow you to destroy my vision, or to endanger the safety of all Spirit Cats.
He planted his foot firmly on the deck plating to get a feel for the surface; surprisingly, the newly laid nonskid covering softened the impact more than he expected. Falling will hurt, but even a heavy fall may not incapacitate.
They moved toward one another, each flowing quickly through several standard martial art forms, from karate to aikido to tae kwon do, taught to every warrior from the moment he or she was old enough to begin testing. They circled twice before Janis hopped forward on her back foot, her forward foot lashing out toward his legs as her arms slashed down to distract him—and parry a counterattack. He easily avoided the move and slid back a step toward the edge of the Circle. Such patience from you, Janis? Are you actually learning?
They circled twice more and then twice again, following an explosion of a quick kick feint and attempted chest strike, before Rikkard realized he was waiting for her endless boasting, the raging words that distracted her more than they ever bothered Rikkard. He was so surprised by their lack that he lowered his guard momentarily, a lapse that Janis exploited ruthlessly with a low sweeping kick that he dodged badly. He was off balance; Janis turned a blindingly fast pirouette, finishing with a high kick that caught him just above his ear as he attempted to duck. The blow snapped his head to the left and made his ears roar from a wall of sound that engulfed his senses. He struck the deck hard, despite throwing out his left arm to soften the impact. The blow left him breathless, but he immediately rolled twice and curled as he spun through a low crouch back up into a standard defensive stance, facing Janis as she finished a flying kick that placed her in the exact spot he’d just vacated.
Deck still plenty hard. He winced, rolling his shoulders and shaking his head to clear the effects of the strike.
“You have become weak, Star Colonel. And we have outgrown you.”
He smiled at her remark. There is the Janis I know too well. She actually flushed; her jaws snapped shut and her lips thinned until they almost disappeared as she maneuvered back and forth to force him to the edge of the Circle.
You are learning. He canted his head, as though trying to physically shift his perception. Have I finallyfound your forge? The waiting? The interminable waiting and my endless refusals to accept your trial? He found it hard to credit, but the evidence seemed clear.
She rushed forward two steps, planted her back foot and slid-skipped forward to lash out. Inspired by his sudden insight and convinced of his need to test it, he crouched lower as he abruptly surged forward on a counterattack. Taking the kick in the chest to ensure that he would be able to grab the full length of her leg, he grunted against the pain of the heavy impact, then clamped both hands onto her leg. In that instant, so close to the edge of the Circle, he could easily have flung her outside of it, ending the trial immediately with a victory. Instead, he swung in a full circle, using his bulk to pivot her into the air in an upward arc. Then, as he swung back around to his original facing, he hammered her into the deck with a blow like the strike of an ax into a tree trunk.
Janis awkwardly flung her arms up to break her fall, but a sharp snap announced the breaking of a bone. Her head bounced heavily off the deck, yet she still managed to roll with the impact, bleeding off the worst effects. In three turns she was in a low crouch, her broken arm tucked tight against her side, her other in a defensive posture as she panted, glaring at her opponent.
Have you learned, Janis? Are you truly changing? The Janis of only a month ago would have launched an immediate retaliatory attack, regardless of the fact that she’d already lost; now she held her position. The long pause ended as understanding slowly suffused her features, warring with her anger.
She shifted completely out of her fighting stance and nodded once, comprehension of his strategy burning in her face. Keeping her eyes on his, she walked to the edge of the Circle and stepped out. The silence was deafening.
Rikkard was able to hide his own stunned disbelief at her un-Clanlike action, but the shock was offset by his pride that she was learning. He might yet forge her into a tool with which to achieve his vision of sanctuary for the Spirit Cats.
He watched her walk away as the Circle broke up, a smattering of conversations discussing this unusual turn of events. If Janis could learn. If Janis could overcome her own distaste of facing necessity, then it was past time he did the same thing.
Time to contract with Clan Sea Fox . . . and perhaps time to let Janis know the prize they would all too soon be hunting.
12
Jojoken
Altay, Andurien
Duchy of Andurien
28 March 3136
Julietta eased into the office like she was entering a bear’s den. She stopped just two steps into the surprisingly dim room, and waited.
Janos would not be so nervous. Elis certainly would not be so nervous. But when she’d received the summons to an audience with Duke Ari Humphreys, she’d expected to appear before him in an audience chamber of some sort, not in a ubiquitous office building located on the outskirts of the botanical gardens.
At least I don’t have to be around Cunin anymore. She managed to stifle the immediate revulsion that made her gorge rise whenever she remembered the beastly man’s affront to her dignity in that hovel of a hunting lodge he kept on the Zahle continent for his safari business. Trying to summon her anger in order to push that memory further away, she whipped her parasol from the crook of her right arm and banged the point on the floor. The resulting muted thump gave her no satisfaction. That memory would never be shared—never.
She took a moment to straighten her dress, pulling the sleeves until they covered her wrists completely and smoothing away imaginary wrinkles, at the same time attempting to identify objects in the shadowy depths of the room. She could just make out a desk at one end of the room, with what appeared to be a mammoth chair behind it. Though she’d yet to meet the man in person, from holofootage she knew the duke’s diminutive stature would be dwarfed by that chair. Making up for your inadequacies, Duke? She looked at the window, wondering why so little light entered at full noon, before her skin bloomed a pleasant shade of rose as she realized her inadvertent innuendo. Julietta fanned her face with her hand as she desperately searched the
room for something, anything, to distract her from her own thoughts. She even considered announcing her arrival, but then thought, If you are going to show such discourtesy, Duke Humphreys, then I will return it in kind.
“My lady.” A voice spoke from behind her. She yelped and jumped slightly as she twisted around. “My lady, I did not mean to startle you. Are you okay?”
She instantly recognized the squat figure with his avaricious eyes and small nose and immediately straightened, ignoring the heat of her face, which was almost making her sweat despite the air-conditioning. “I am fine, Duke Humphreys. I was simply startled.” She summoned her courage and raised her chin, looking down her nose at the little man as she’d seen her mother do to others on countless occasions. “I am not accustomed to being kept waiting, much less being sent to an empty, darkened room.”
The other man’s nose twitched; then he swept her a grandiose bow. “I apologize most deeply, my lady. I was held up unavoidably at the last moment.”
“You could not even find the time to order your servants to inform your guest?” While she was mildly shocked at the tone in her own voice, it managed to smother the flames under her skin, bringing her breathing back to normal. I know you play at a game here, but I will not be caught. She shivered as the memory of whiskey-laden breath and a rough hand nearly eclipsed her senses, but she managed to regain control. I will not be caught . . . again.
The duke swept another bow, this one more perfunctory, and then slapped the wall, flooding the room with brightness from a bank of overhead lights, and the window, which obviously had some sort of electronically controlled opacity. The sudden illumination almost brought tears to her eyes.
“My lady, again, I ask for your forgiveness. There is no excuse and I give none. This is fully my fault.” As he finished speaking, he moved across the room toward his desk.
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