by Mark Henwick
I bit my lip as Elizabetta translated.
“But the topic of the day,” Huang said. “Misunderstandings and rumors from New Mexico. Surely all questions raised would be most simply dealt with if Diana Ionache were to speak?”
Eyes turned to Skylur.
“She’s not available,” he said.
“Oh.”
From being amused by his easy handling of Prowser, I now felt a prickle of concern. If he’d been listening to the broadcasts, Huang had to know Diana wasn’t here at the conference center. Raising her name was just a lead-in.
I was right.
Huang switched to English.
“In that case, I understand you must want to clear the obstacles in today’s discussion. A request has been made for an independent assessment of the state of a member of your extended House. I offer myself as assessor. I speak with all humility, but surely I must qualify as the most independent expert currently available to examine Amber Farrell.” Huang smiled blandly at Ibarre and Correia. “I can handle the exposition of what happened in New Mexico from House Farrell’s point of view at the same time.”
Oh, God, I did not want Huang inside my head.
But can Skylur refuse it?
“Without doubt, you would be,” Skylur said. “Should the case for requiring that ever be made to my satisfaction. In the meantime, your arrival is far too important for us to continue with today’s agenda. As convener, I will reschedule.”
Correia and Ibarre were furious, pressing forward and arguing. But they’d lost their initiative. The Athanate around us agreed with Skylur. The Empire of Heaven potentially joining the Assembly? That was the issue today.
“Come.” Skylur stepped forward and neatly separated Correia and Huang from the group around Ibarre. “Let’s adjourn to a meeting room and talk about the implications of your welcome presence at the conference.” He gestured to one other to go with them. “Diakon, allow me to introduce you to House Stanbrigge of the Midnight Empire.”
Moving off, Huang paused and looked back toward me.
My imagination or paranoia told me some of his group were casually drifting toward me.
Then I was surrounded by Altau guards. Tarez gripped my arm and hissed in my ear. “Go with security. Now.”
Chapter 12
Yelena and I were stuck in a windowless office at the back of the conference center for an hour before Tarez managed to get away.
He slipped in, looking stressed.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“A lot of talk.” He waved us to seats around a table. “And lots more to come. Talk is good. It’s very difficult to fight and talk at the same time.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” I said, and got a tired smile in return.
“Skylur will be here shortly,” he said. “With Huang.”
I swallowed.
Skylur was bringing Huang here?
Yelena reached over the table and grabbed his wrist, making him look directly at her. “Tell me Skylur is not considering allowing him to make an assessment of Amber.”
“Of course not.” He retrieved his arm. “Huang is insisting that any conversation about the dragon is conducted with the smallest possible group and has to include Amber. We have no basis to refuse that. When he gets here, we say we don’t know where the dragon is. He’s capable enough as a sensor to know we’ll be telling the truth. I have to leave the running of that to Skylur. What I need to talk to you about is the threat from Ibarre, which has not gone away.”
Yelena looked skeptical.
Tarez said, “He was gaining support right up until Correia jumped in and seconded his demands. You saw his reaction when she did? He knows it’s damaged his position, and as soon as he can separate himself from her without damaging his case, he will.”
“So that wasn’t something they planned together?” I asked.
“Not unless he was stupid, and I urge you not to think of him that way. Look, in their own ways, certainly in their own minds, Ibarre and Prowser are loyal Panethus supporters, with conflicting opinions on Skylur’s policies. Ibarre wants to change those policies, and remain in Maine, by taking over the leadership of Panethus, or getting someone more to his liking in that position.”
“Yeah, I got all that. He’s trying to do it by discrediting Skylur and offering a compromise on Emergence to the conservative and progressive sides of the party.”
I frowned as I said it, realizing how wrong it was.
A compromise on Emergence? That was like being a little bit dead.
Tarez agreed. “Yes, and Prowser just wants to retain Agiagraphos law and thinks that winning a decisive argument will achieve that. Neither of them want the Hidden Path party to take over.”
“So Correia ruined both their plans?” Yelena asked.
“Correia ruined Ibarre’s tactic,” he said. “By coming in like that, she almost healed Panethus’ divisions.” He laughed and held up a warning finger. “Fickle changes. Not something to rely on, and in the way of these things, never enough.”
“But that’s not all,” I prompted him.
“No. It’s not.” He leaned his elbows on the table. “Skylur cannot back down on the Eastern Seaboard and so Ibarre will return to the argument. He will try and call attention to anything that gains him support. Altau are already at the very edge of what would be acceptable to the Panethus party, with the whole idea of Emergence and overriding the primary law of the Agiagraphos. Add to that you two.” He gestured at both of us in turn. “Hybrid. Carpathian. Which we’ll deal with. What we can’t afford to deal with is any further indications of epitrepai, of ‘unorthodoxy’.”
He used the Athanate word, epitrepai, so we understood. It was a word that came up in the Agiagraphos a lot. As an Athanate, you did not want to be considered epitre. Rogues were epitre.
“Your kin, Amber,” he said. “Honorary is not epitre.”
I’d expected this to come up again at some time. I knew there was no such category as ‘honorary’ kin. Kin provided Blood, and they were bound to the House. The ‘honorary’ tag had been a work-around when Colonel Laine and Vera had come to Denver. He hadn’t been ready to be sucked into the Athanate world.
“Vera is kin already,” Yelena said. “The Colonel? I think we will persuade him.”
“You mean Vera’s your kin?” Tarez said, surprised.
I smiled. I’d suspected it was heading that way.
Yelena nodded. “I’m sorry we’ve not discussed it with you, Mistress.” Her accent came back a little with her embarrassment. Strictly speaking, as Athanate House, my permission was needed, but it wasn’t as if I was going to go against their wishes.
I touched her hand. If Vera was happy with it, so was I.
“The Colonel is still at the ranch in Wyoming,” Tarez said. “So, you have some leeway on that. However, there are other honorary kin that Diana learned about during your therapy sessions. For example, this woman, Dominé, who runs the sex clubs. She is in LA.”
“But…” I started to say she wasn’t kin, honorary or otherwise, until my mind caught up. As far as the Athanate were concerned, she was in the same position as kin. She knew too much about the Athanate, and as the Athanate who knew her, it was automatically my responsibility to handle it. Not fair on Dominé or me, but simply the way the Athanate worked. I had known it was a problem; I just hadn’t dealt with it. Now I was being told I had to.
“I understand,” I said.
Damn! How do I do this?
He didn’t mean just Dominé either. He meant Julie. And Keith.
Oh, God.
I had Yelena. And maybe I could get Pia to come in from Denver. I needed help.
Tarez didn’t give me time to ponder. “You also have to assume the role of syndesmon. You have to be seen to take it.”
Agiagraphos again. According to the Hidden Path, if you didn’t exercise rights, you lost them.
Tarez pressed one hand to his earbud.
“They’re on
their way,” he said. “Listen, Amber, we have to play this out. Say as little as possible in this meeting. Huang will not attempt to read your memories here, where Skylur and I could stop him. He also realizes that attempting it without your permission would seriously compromise his neutral position here. But…” he raised his hands, “if he’s desperate enough for information about the dragon, he could try anyway. Who knows what he’d find if he went looking hard enough, or what damage he might do. We’re going to keep him very busy here at the conference, but you must avoid being caught by him or his Adepts outside. We’ll be able to do some basic tracking of his group, but you’ll need to stay on our grid, so we can help keep you out of his way.”
“As much as I can, given my role as syndesmon.”
That got a smile from Yelena anyway, just as the door opened and Huang was ushered in by Skylur.
They sat without ceremony as Skylur introduced us.
I saw Huang’s eyes narrow as he heard the accent in Yelena’s voice, but Skylur immediately went on. “You can speak freely now,” he said in English.
Huang didn’t like being given permission to speak freely any more than he liked it that Skylur knew he hadn’t been so far.
“Very well.” He replied in the same language, settling back and lacing his fingers together on the tabletop. “Of course we are here because the agreement on a new Assembly is vitally important to all our futures, and to the whole world. We saw the broadcasts from the last Assembly with some dismay. The US army developing devices that can detect Athanate blood. We would never allow that kind of thing in the Empire.”
That got the beginning of a response from Skylur and Tarez, and Huang immediately held up his hands as if surrendering the argument. Then he continued: “However, there is a matter that is as urgent, if not more.”
He drew a long breath through his nose and his dark eyes fixed on me. “Your dragon you so subtly revealed, hidden behind a conversation with Diakon Trang about our southernmost territories.”
I blinked and flashed back to what Bian had said about talking to the Empire being like the Athanate board game called Dominion—you never, ever open a discussion with what you want to talk about.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
Skylur frowned and I gave that little head bow that seemed such a part of Athanate formal politeness.
“I apologize, Diakon Huang,” I said, kicking myself.
Stupid! Fix this.
“I’m laughing at myself and my complete misunderstanding of the complexity of discussions between Panethus and the Empire. May I speak plainly? For real?”
From the corner of my vision, I could see a tiny nod from Skylur.
“Please do,” Huang said. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“I believe Bian—Diakon Trang—wanted to use my request to talk to the Adept community in the Empire as a sort of screen for the main conversation she wanted to have, which was about your southern territories. It wasn’t the other way around.”
Now Huang frowned.
“Bian didn’t know why I wanted to make the request,” I went on. “It wasn’t an Altau topic. Skylur didn’t even know about it. As for me, I had no idea it was such a vital interest to Athanate.”
I didn’t know if I’d done the right thing, or if this was the right approach, but Huang’s manner changed. It’d have been too much to say he snorted, he wasn’t that sort of man, but there was a hint of a relaxation.
“So with our diplomatic games, we tie ourselves in knots we can’t see,” he said.
“Yes,” Skylur said. “I had no idea there was a dragon spirit guide in America at the time of your conversation. I should also make it very clear that there is no formal association between Altau and the greater community of Adepts in this country. This is not our spirit guide.”
“I see.” Huang closed his eyes for a moment and then leaned forward. “Let me be completely clear. A dragon is not like other spirit guides. It is far more powerful, far more difficult to host. It needs an entire community to host a dragon, and there are none outside of the Empire capable of that task.”
“That’s why I asked to communicate with them. So we could learn,” I said. Tullah’s parents, Mary and Liu, had explained the problem with power to me already. It’d been their idea that I talk to Adepts in the Empire.
“Unfortunately, it is not something that can be learned in the time available.” Huang waved away the idea. “The level of power unleashed in New Mexico was extraordinary, and unsafe for an immature dragon. Both the host and her dragon are in danger right now, if they’re not already suffering. You must take us to them.”
“What would you do when you reached them?”
Huang sat back in his chair. “We would invite them to come to the Empire, where a community is waiting and where they would be safe while they study and train.”
Invite. Train. Must take us to them.
I didn’t like the sound of that.
Neither did Skylur. “I can understand why you’d want the dragon. A tremendous benefit for you—”
“The benefit would be for all of us: Athanate, Adept, Were and humanity.”
There was a moment’s silence before Skylur spoke again. “Interesting. Exactly how many dragons do you already have?”
“None,” Huang said, astonishing me.
None? Kaothos is alone?
“No one has,” he went on. “That’s why this one is so important. With a dragon, Emergence is possible. Without it, the Emperor has his doubts. You see, House Altau, like you, we believe Emergence is inevitable and must be controlled.”
Even Skylur looked shocked at that.
We were silent for a minute while the implications started to sink in. Huang was delicately suggesting that Panethus was at least partly to blame for Emergence by not having enough control of what humans did in their domains, for ‘allowing’ the army to start to discover the Athanate.
He’d then suggested a dragon would allow the Empire to control Emergence.
Meaning the Empire would basically control everything.
“You mean control by force?” Skylur said.
“Not necessarily,” Huang replied, “though we would never forget that we have that option.”
“So you’re saying a dragon not only has the power to force humanity to accept us,” Tarez said, “but also the ability to help somehow persuade humanity of the benefits of welcoming us?”
Huang taped his fingers on the table, one, two, three: “A mature dragon, working within a suitable community, in today’s world. Yes, certainly. However, an immature dragon, without guidance, is simply a danger to the whole world.”
I couldn’t shut up any more. “Well, we don’t know where they are. And, from my experience, they’re no danger to anyone who isn’t attacking them.”
Or maybe hunting them, I wanted to add.
“I gather whatever the lack of association between Altau and Adepts, you must have some kind of association with the host,” Huang said. “Tullah Autplumes, I believe her name is?”
“Autplumes-Leung,” I said. Nothing they couldn’t find out. “There’s nothing formal. I have no way of contacting them.”
And if I did, I wouldn’t say.
I’d decided that I didn’t trust the Empire of Heaven.
But what if there really was a danger to Tullah and Kaothos? An injury? I had to talk to Diana. She had to know of some way to contact them.
“Yet you may hold the answer,” Huang said. “As you seem to know them well enough to have an opinion on their state of mind, then maybe, in your subconscious, there is a clue to where they would be now. I offer my services again. You could defuse the Ibarre situation and we might find a hint to where the dragon could be.”
“You mean read my memories of New Mexico?”
“Yes. Nothing else, and I must emphasize again, Tullah and her dragon may be suffering, even dying, from the effects of destroying that lock on the Kumemnon.”
Skylur was about
to speak, but I’d had enough and interrupted.
“Thank you, but I’m sorry, you and House Ibarre will not have my agreement to go digging in my head. Quite apart from the fact that it’s just political maneuvering, I have been appointed syndesmon to the Were. There were things that happened in New Mexico that the Were regard as confidential, and I’m not about to let Athanate see them, any more than I would allow it the other way around.”
Huang blinked. He hadn’t expected that. Good.
“Your Adepts are welcome to continue searching in North America,” Skylur said smoothly. “However, I must insist they be accompanied by Altau security, not just for their own safety, but also, as they are acting for an Athanate organization, to prevent any claim of precedence in my domain by other Athanate groups.”
Without really planning it, we had Huang caught like a fish.
The question was, what effect would that have? Was he going to cause a problem in the new Assembly? Would he simply return home? Or would he ignore Skylur’s demands?
Chapter 13
Skylur and Tarez took Huang off, leaving Yelena and me to fume until we got the all clear.
Bian came in with bacon burgers as a peace offering.
“We’re still loading Huang’s guys up with our security,” she said. “Skylur says to hold on until that’s done, ’cos Huang really has the hots for you. Your excuse about syndesmon wouldn’t mean shit to him.”
“Not an excuse,” I said, “it’s a reason. And I’ve gotta get doing something again or I really will go crazy.”
“Huh,” she grimaced. “Thing is, I’m not sure you’re done with therapy, Round-eye.”
“What does Diana say? I’ve got to talk to her anyway.”
“Not available.” Bian’s face closed.
Worrying. Bian doesn’t know what’s going on?
She huffed. “Well, if you have to be doing things then I think it’s time to start Tarez’s tasks—get your House in order, Round-eye.”
“Dominé?” I asked, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Got to do it sometime.” She looked at her cell. “And already, Tarez is messaging about requests for you to contact the local Were. We could do with help from them tracking Basilikos while we’re so short-handed.” She slid the phone back in her pocket. “Once you get going again, the pace is going to go crazy. Binding Dominé is an easy start.”