Bite Back 05 - Angel Stakes

by Mark Henwick

  Meanwhile, Stanbrigge nodded and sat back down, his task complete.

  “Diakon Huang.” Skylur’s gesture invited him to have his turn to speak.

  Here it comes.

  Chapter 46

  Huang walked to the center of the floor and stood still, waiting until the silence spread.

  When he did speak, his voice was so quiet everyone had to lean forward to hear.

  I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t what came.

  “I am old, even as we Athanate count it,” he said.

  His words were slow and formal, with a rhythm that seemed to carry me along.

  “Many, many years ago, I buried my father in an unmarked grave, beneath a solitary linden tree on a south-facing hillside, near a quiet river. In the heat of summer, the linden’s leaves are thick and dark and green. They take the shape of hearts, and beneath their shade, the ground is always cool; the air always holds the scent of limes. As winter nears, those leaves turn and fall like a harvest of the richest gold, and make a crown to rest upon my father’s head. Between the wars that tore our land, I would return there, and lie on that hillside. It eased my soul, and restored my strength in a time of great turmoil.

  “Then, beside my father, I buried my sons and my daughters, their youthful faces as yet half-formed, unblemished by age.”

  Huang paused and looked up and down the ranks of Athanate. We were silent. The whole auditorium had unconsciously synced their heartbeats with their neighbors’, until we were a creature with a single pulse—waiting, listening.

  “No man should bear that sorrow,” Huang continued. “No woman either, and my wife joined them before the leaves had fallen again. I planted the trees that were their only markers.

  “From that moment, I slept only when exhaustion took me, because on waking, for a moment it was as if I could turn and see my wife again, only for that dream to fade, and the nightmare of life to begin all over again.

  “When the Emperor found me, I sought death every day in the face of the enemy. What prize could he offer me, in my despair, that would make me want to become immortal? What reward to become Athanate, and know that sorrow for eternity?

  “He spoke to me; simple words, words he told me he first heard from the lips of the Kumemnon herself, her own words, from the Lamentation of Arunne: This is the gift and the sorrow of the Athanate; to see your loves pass before you like the days of summer, while your heart still beats. To keep your vigil in the shadows, and rise again with every sun.

  “That part you all know. Many carve it above doors to their hidden sanctuaries, to remind them that as there is light, there must be darkness, and the world turns regardless.

  “But the Lamentation goes on: To be bound upon the wheel of heaven; to toil and toil and never be done. To love without reserve forever, and rise again with every sun.”

  He paused, and in the depths of the auditorium the Athanate shivered as the words touched us.

  Huang went on.

  “That is what he said to me, and I bared my neck to him.

  “On that hillside now, beside the quiet river, there grows a forest, such that I may not find my family’s trees among those that mark my kin. I return there sometimes for a night. To sleep, to dream, and rise again with the sun.

  “The war took away my family, and my Emperor replaced it with duty. He offered me no soft consolation, no comforting lies. As one who passes from childhood must put away the easy refuges of youth, to become Athanate is to shoulder a greater destiny. And to achieve that, one may not live as a human may live, under the strictures of their society.

  “The Athanate people must retain their own laws and customs.”

  As one body, breath sighed into a hundred throats.

  Diakon Huang bowed his head and returned to his seat.

  Shit! The ground just moved under our butts.

  Huang’s first contribution to the meeting, and he’d sided with the Hidden Path. If that was a sign that he favored the party, it’d mean they would run the new Assembly.

  Disaster.

  He can’t be serious.

  Skylur’s face was unreadable.

  It was Stanbrigge who seemed to recover first.

  “House Singh,” he said. “Are you satisfied you’ve heard a sufficient summary?”

  “No,” Arvinder said. “But we have to proceed regardless, or be here forever.”

  In a dazed auditorium, with everyone trying to assess what had just happened, Skylur and Correia alternated calling Houses to speak.

  After the first two or three, it was clear. I could feel it. We could all feel it; everyone sensed the weight of Huang’s speech had tipped the balance in the meeting against Panethus.

  This was a discussion, but if we voted now, it would go against Skylur.

  Correia looked more and more satisfied with every speaker.

  I wanted to scream at Skylur, ‘Do something!’ If the Hidden Path was in control when humanity found out about the paranormal, it was the worst of all possible combinations, and that time might not be far off. Naryn was starting the Emergence process with Agent Ingram, and I couldn’t yet tell Skylur about it.

  Bizarrely, thinking of a situation where the world tore itself apart, all I could visualize was Mom saying to me and you’re one of them, and crying.

  Then Diakon Huang indicated he wanted to speak again.

  Utter silence. Had he realized the way his speech had been taken? Was he going to modify his position?

  “I am a newcomer here, and I have a great respect for this institution. I have no desire to upset an existing balance.”

  Which meant what?

  “We have reached a point where the positions of Panethus and Hidden Path are well known.” He opened his hands, inviting any other opinion. No one said anything. “Maybe it is time to expand the conversation to include the Were and Adepts. As an unaligned entity and one with some experience of cooperation between these groups, I suggest that the initial discussions take place between me and the available liaisons for those bodies.”

  I felt a pit had opened in front of me. I wasn’t a politician, but I was sure that Huang had just made a deliberate link between his vote potentially changing the balance of power in the Assembly, and him getting to talk to me as syndesmon.

  And though there wasn’t an equivalent syndesmon for the Adepts, what if he got hold of an Adept community leader and recruited them into helping him look for Tullah and Kaothos? How long could they hide if everyone was looking for them?

  As for me meeting with Huang, the man was scary. If he thought there was some clue to where they were in my memories from when Kaothos broke the lock on Diana, what else would he see? Me going rogue?

  But Skylur and I couldn’t ignore Huang’s request—not without raising suspicions about my fitness as syndesmon.

  Huang was looking at me. I was looking at Skylur.

  The door opened and a familiar voice spoke.

  “Not going to happen.”

  Heads swiveled to see who it was. I knew the voice, of course.

  Alex came down the steps, eyes wolf-gold. I saw him for a second as other Athanate saw him: tall, untamed, the hint of wolf around him like a cloak.

  Behind him were Billie and Haz, both menacing in their badass biker gear.

  “You need to explain your comment and your interruption of this Athanate meeting, Alexander kin-Farrell,” Skylur said.

  It was Altau security that had let them in, of course, and Skylur was making sure everyone knew that Alex was part of the Athanate community as my kin.

  “He has no right to speak here,” someone shouted.

  “This meeting has already agreed the new Assembly will include Were and Adept.” Alex matched the volume. “I have a right, and that’s the reason we’re here.”

  Alex had reached the front.

  I couldn’t sit. Yelena and I joined him.

  “Diakon Huang talks of his respect for this meeting,” Alex said. “I have
no respect for it.”

  There was a hiss of shock that rippled through the ranks of Athanate. And me too.

  “The arrogance of the Assembly and the Athanate goes on exactly as before,” he went on, before anyone challenged him. “You think you’ll talk to us when you’ve decided what part we’ll be allowed to play in your grand plans.

  “If you can’t see the problem with that, then the new Assembly won’t work. No Assembly will have a right to decide matters for the paranormal community without the active participation of that entire community from the beginning. And no Assembly will have our active participation unless we are included in the formation of it as full and equal partners, elected by the same methods you use to claim representation.

  “Discussions about adopting or adapting our laws and traditions will have to wait until there is a body with enough representation to make those decisions on behalf of the paranormal world.”

  It was as if he’d set off a bomb. In the stunned silence that followed, Athanate wondered if their hearing had been damaged. We’d been shaken from our preoccupation with Athanate politics to realize there weren’t Athanate politics any more, there were only paranormal politics.

  Even I had been keeping things in their own compartments. But Alex was right; those compartments couldn’t exist now.

  And another ripple passed through the Athanate—the same realization that had just passed through my head. Even Hidden Path Houses were nodding reluctantly.

  Correia’s voice eventually broke through the quiet murmuring.

  “Whose authority do you have for these statements?” she said.

  “I’m speaking for the Denver pack and their associates,” Alex replied. “And on an informal basis, their allies. That covers most packs from the heart of the country, from Nevada to Missouri. We’ve opened communications with east coast packs, and I guarantee you they will agree.”

  “And I’m here representing the League of Southern Packs, stretching from Arizona to Texas,” Haz said.

  “And a league being formed right now of west coast packs,” Billie finished, and looked sideways at her companions. “We’ll likely be all one league or association soon, if what I’m hearing from New Mexico is confirmed.”

  “We’re a long way from representing all Were,” Alex said, “but I assure you, even those we don’t represent will not agree to Athanate handing down decisions to them.”

  “You are undermining your own Athanate House’s position as syndesmon between us and the Were,” Huang said.

  “No,” I said. The sound of my own voice startled me. “My tasks as syndesmon have included agreements with the Denver pack, the Southern League and the LA Were. Those are in hand, and I have further tasks with which I would be progressing, if I hadn’t been called back here. At no point has it been suggested that I was the representative for the Were in an Assembly.”

  From the corner of my eye, I could see I’d earned one of Skylur’s frosty smiles.

  I still had no real idea where all this had come from, but I was starting to suspect Alex’s appearance had been planned with Skylur.

  In any event, I’d supported Alex and I’d defended myself. Skylur could hardly fault me on either of those.

  Alex wasn’t finished. “We’re also against cross-representation. The Empire’s Were and Adepts should be present in the Assembly, representing themselves.”

  I sensed that might not have been in Skylur’s approved script.

  Don’t overplay your hand.

  Huang was nothing if not a smooth politician. “In return, we would expect to see the Adepts of the United States present.”

  Skylur stood. A simple move that brought attention back to him.

  “Today’s discussion is concluded,” he said. “Each of you here represent many Houses and we have the beginning of a conclusion to the debate about our legal plans. That is an achievement in itself, but the Were have called into question the validity of any progress on decisions regarding the new Assembly without the cooperation of others: Were and Adepts. You need to spend the next day assessing the reactions of those Houses that you represent, as well as planning communications with other paranormals in your territories. We can reconvene to share that experience. What we cannot do is call everyone back to Los Angeles. Neither can we extend the time we spend here.”

  Alex nudged me toward an exit and we left as the delegates streamed out, already setting up conference calls. The balance of power was not exactly forgotten, but put aside by the urgency of rethinking the new Assembly with their allies.

  Chapter 47

  “Excellent. Thank you, Alexander.”

  Skylur’s first words confirmed my suspicions that this had been stage-managed.

  “Haseya. Billie.” Skylur did an old-fashioned bow over their hands, one after the other. It worked better with Billie.

  “Sorry,” Alex murmured to me while Billie was eyeing Skylur. “No time to brief you.”

  I snorted. He’d have to work harder than that to get my forgiveness, and he knew it.

  We were in Tarez’s office.

  The door opened and Altau security ushered House Prowser in.

  I was surprised at her joining us, but I took it as one more sign that Skylur was working on alliances behind the scenes.

  “Tell me Huang didn’t just make a play for control of the Assembly,” I said as the introductions ended.

  “If control of the Assembly had been his main aim,” Tarez said, “Diakon Huang would not have delayed his appearance so long. And no, before you ask it, he didn’t decide to do this because you refused to answer his questions, whatever he might have implied to you.”

  “It was a clever speech he made,” Skylur said. “The closest thing to a compulsion without using telergy. He spoke to their hearts and not their heads. A speech full of emotion, but empty of detail.”

  “Why did he make that speech, then?” I asked.

  Skylur didn’t answer directly. “Did you notice his choice of words? He spoke of his kin, but the Empire has no creed like Panethus. There is no rule on how each House treats their human companions. He chose the word kin to engage more deeply with Panethus Houses.”

  “He’s attacking your position as leader of Panethus,” Prowser said.

  Skylur shook his head. “I don’t believe that’s his aim. I agree he’s weakened my support and he’s attacked my role as president. He’s sending us a message, but we’ve yet to understand it.”

  Give me Kaothos or I’ll bring you down?

  No. It couldn’t be that blunt. And however important Kaothos was, how could one dragon be weighed against the stability of the Athanate community?

  If she was that important, how far would Huang go to find her?

  I didn’t want to talk about Kaothos with Prowser present. I had no idea how much Skylur trusted her.

  Instead, I said: “He can’t want Basilikos to become the ruling party.”

  “Correia’s Hidden Path is, of course, not Basilikos.” Prowser’s mouth twisted. “As she has told us, so many times.”

  Alex tapped his watch. “Meeting with the rest of the LA alphas and the first delegations from San Francisco and San Diego. We have to go.”

  “Go, friends. My House is in debt to all of you.” Skylur used one of the old Athanate phrases I recognized.

  “Association,” Haz said quietly, raking across us with her eyes. “There are no debts.”

  Wow.

  They left.

  “Don’t get carried away by that,” I said to Skylur. “It’s not all plain sailing with the Were now. They don’t like the idea of Emergence any more than the Athanate.”

  “I know. This association with them may actually weaken my position in the Assembly, but like Emergence, it simply has to be done.”

  Once again, I realized what a knife edge he was walking. And again, I wondered how many centuries he’d been doing this. To toil and toil, and never be done.

  “Playing for angel stakes,” I said.
r />   Skylur raised an eyebrow.

  “In Ops 4-10, we played card games. Low stakes to high stakes, everything between. That was fine, you knew the stakes, you knew the people at the table, you knew your chances. If you were sensible, you could afford what you were betting. But every now and then you went crazy; you found yourself at a table where you didn’t know the game, you didn’t know the players, you couldn’t calculate the risk and you couldn’t afford it.” I snorted. “You could only win if there was an angel on your side, watching from above. Angel stakes.”

  Prowser laughed.

  They didn’t know the stakes, whatever they thought, not even Skylur. Emergence was moving forward with Ingram and I couldn’t tell him. I really needed to talk to Diana. If not her, then I’d have to talk to Naryn, and see what we should do.

  The ‘game’ had gotten away from everyone. The addition of the Empire of Heaven, Were and Adepts to the new Assembly meant no one knew what would happen.

  “The Emperor is no fool,” Skylur said, half to himself. “Neither is his Diakon.”

  Of course, there was still one sizeable group of Athanate who were not directly involved in the Assembly.

  “And what about the Carpathians?” Prowser turned suddenly on Yelena.

  “A long time since I was there, House Prowser. And way above my pay grade.”

  “You’re a chameleon, aren’t you, Carpathian?” Prowser walked over and stood in front of Yelena. “You begin to echo even the speech pattern of your adopted House. Is this part of the way you were taught? To become invisible in the fabric, until everyone forgets the time you weren’t there?”

  I raised my hand to stop Yelena from answering.

  “Yelena is my House. I am responsible for her. If you want to know more, you come through me.”

  “How…Hidden Path,” Prowser said, in Athanate.

  I wasn’t sure if she was making a joke about the Hidden Path party. The Hidden Path rules were clear. I, as leader of the House, was responsible for everything my House did. I bore that responsibility to whatever group I was part of, and the Athanate community as a whole. In return, as far as the Athanate were concerned, I had absolute power over the members of my House.