A hint of pain flitted across her countenance. What is she remembering? A recent crisis? That question reminded Iern of too much. ‘You’re digressing again,’ he made haste to tease.
Her smile was wider this time. ‘Well, I warned you!’
She sighed. ‘I have little autobiography to give, my friend. A polk can always use another ucheny – teacher, ceremonialist, scholar. If perchance I developed into a proróchina as well – adept, seeress; you have no exact Angley word – that would bring honor which my polk would inscribe on its banners. Therefore it underwrote my education, which in the course of ten years took me as far as Chai Ka-Go in Yuan.’
She broke off, and was quiet for a time before she said low: ‘At last I returned to Krasnaya, but went into retreat for a year more – on the rim of the ancient iron-mining pit at I-ping, that unhealed wound in the earth. It helped me understand how and why the Life Force begets pain, destruction, grief: another unfolding and discovery of itself.… Eventually I came here, to Dulua, by request. As an ucheny, I made extensive use of the Library, and so succeeded the former Librarian when he went into his Last Seclusion. That is my main work, though I also teach and counsel and – am fortunate in having the love of small children.
‘But this approaches boastfulness, Iern. Enough.’
Her voice, which had dropped to a croon, fell silent, and she stared at the coral as if hypnotized. He thought she must be more open than modesty made her pretend. Not that he wished to pry or seduce – already he liked her too well – but he hoped to know her better, and perhaps even bridge the gap of belief that sundered them.
Therefore he ventured, ‘No. You haven’t told me the real things, have you?’
She stirred. An eddy tossed a lock of hair across her brow.
‘I’m an outsider, of course,’ he said. ‘If I intrude on your privacy, tell me and I’ll get out.’
‘No,’ she answered. ‘“Privacy” is a weaker concept among us than I gather it is among your people – and weaker in your turn than among the Northwesterners, who often seemed obsessed by it. Here we simply try to observe the common decencies.’
Again she sighed. ‘But what is to tell, Iern? I daresay you wonder why I have not married. I planned to, in Chai Ka-Go. But first I went to the House of Revelation, not as pilgrim or supplicant but as disciple, and … experienced that which has since made a proróchina of me. He was a disciple too, but, but the Insight and the Power come more strongly to certain women than they do to any man, and he could not face being married to such a one.… Don’t feel sorry for me. I told you before, my life is immeasurably rich, in Gaea and in the love of living creatures I know.’
The Power, he wondered. I’ve heard claims that the primary adepts can read minds, walk on air, foresee the future, raise the dead. Superstition only? I know a little something of what training and concentration can do. I’d never have been a Stormrider or been able to parachute from Skyholm if old Sergeant Galvain had not drilled us Cadets without pity.
How I hated him, then. But surely Vanna does not force her disciples like that. I think she must lead them, open doors for them.
‘Psychic power,’ he said aloud, scarcely noticing that he did. ‘If nothing else, total discipline and dedication. Yes, that must be awesome. It inspires fanatics, but I can see how it might frighten an ordinary man who’d have to live with it.’
Vanna turned her head to give him a hurt look. ‘What? Iern, I am no fanatic, am I? Have I denied you the right to your opinions and the expression of them – or anybody else?’
‘No, not you,’ he said quickly. ‘And I suppose few of your fellow seers would. You’re too busy seeking enlightenment. You’re saints of a kind.’ Unlike we of the Aerogens, who bear that name among some pysans. ‘But those you’ve taught, who haven’t gotten as far as you – well, maybe they feel less secure. Maybe they think they have to make belief in the Life Force compulsory, or it might die out.’
‘Iern,’ she said in the gentlest of tones, ‘that was your bitterness speaking, not you. I sympathize. You’ve suffered hurt and loss; you’re seeing your entire civilization begin to go under, and, yes, in its day it did serve humankind magnificently. I don’t say that what you’ve been through is justifiable in human terms. The Life Force is also the Heautontimoroumenos, the Self-Tortured. I can merely say the events happened, and hope you will come to accept.’
Resentment flared. ‘Accept the inevitable? But I don’t agree that it is.’
She kept her mildness, her air of explaining and consoling. ‘Gaeanity, which is another word for sanity, is spreading across the world. And why not? What’s so terrible about peace, love, reunion of the human body and mind and spirit within the Oneness of all life, all Being?’
He borrowed ideas from the commentators he had read at home: ‘Is this the universe in action, or is it because Mong governments give the movement fat subsidies? And ruling classes abroad often do favor it. Their people are getting restless, and Gaeanity encourages submission; never mind liberty or traditional rights, just retreat into your head. Or it can be useful in marshaling force against a rival … as I found out.’
She was quiet, while the clouds and their shadows flew, before she said, more kindly still, ‘Iern, you are a moth – no, a hawk, battering yourself bloody against a glass pane. If only you could slide it aside, you would know that what lies beyond is no image, but the veritable future, and your freedom.’ She took his hand. ‘Let’s change the subject. We’ve treasures to give each other.’
He swallowed. ‘Thank you. Let’s.’
Inwardly: The Mong nations are waning. They’ve lost the will to prevail. But the old warrior spirit lives on; it has become missionary. He regarded the woman beside him. Her gaze in return offered care, compassion, and not a millimeter of ground surrendered. She is a daughter of the Soldati.
4
By the fourth day, Terai was barely able to maintain control, and Wairoa was showing signs of strain.
It was not that their confinement was onerous. They shared a vacated sluga cottage, simply but adequately furnished. The food and drink brought them were good, the crisp vegetables and lightly fried meat not unlike Awaiian cuisine, the herb tea and beer full-bodied. The armed watchmen at the single door were alert but genial, eager to talk in Unglish. Daily, under doubled guard, the internees were allowed out for an hour or two of exercise, which could well happen to be a game of handball played with soldiers off duty. For their private amusement, they were lent cards, chess and go sets, and any available books they wanted. Meanwhile they had assurance that the Maurai legate would soon arrive and negotiate their release.
‘The trouble is that Mikli swine,’ Terai had growled early on.
Wairoa nodded his striped head. ‘He was tense in the office, but basically confident. I could smell it. Unfortunately, he does not subvocalize, and his body language is peculiar to himself. I got no clue to his thoughts.’
‘He has a plan.’ Terai rumbled a laugh. ‘He didn’t send Ronica away to spite her lover! She’d have torn his ear off for suggesting it. But what is her errand, then?’
‘To report to a Northwestern agent and get help?’
‘What sort of help? A message, possibly, via the Yuanese connections we think the Norrmen may have. But a raid – ridiculous.’
Wairoa leaned elbows on a windowsill and considered the rainy, windy night. ‘The objective could be to silence us,’ he proposed.
‘He’s already done that, for the time being,’ Terai pointed out. He rose from his chair and prowled the clay floor. It was cold beneath his bare feet.
Wairoa’s glance trailed him. ‘I don’t actually understand why, or how. I admit I tend to be naive about human affairs in general, and about the Mong in particular. But why don’t we reveal it’s the Norrmen who are gathering fissionables? We could tell where to go, to dredge the evidence from the lake.’
‘Didn’t you hear? He threatened retaliation. He’d compromise our intelligence in the Five Nat
ions by blabbing what he knows, and he may well know plenty. The Union’s been interacting with the Mong for centuries, they must have a network of agents who’d make it part of their jobs to keep track of ours, and Mikli personally must have operated here before, as familiar as he is with local situations. Stalemate.’ Terai smiled sourly. ‘As for Iern, he’s reliable. He won’t breathe a word that could get his dear Ronica in trouble. Plik will oblige his request.’
‘Are you certain Mikli isn’t bluffing?’
‘No, but I can’t take the risk while alternatives are open. Besides, in any case, I can’t predict how the Mong would react to the information – or the Domain, once word reached there, which it surely would – or our own Federation, for that matter. We could find a global, bloody mess on our hands. Most dangerous, I suspect, is the Union. What would it do, after its secret was out beyond any question? Those plotters must have contingency plans. And … Ronica vows they’ve built no nuclear weapons, and I think she’s honest and she may be correct, but can we be sure? At best, we could all stumble into a war we don’t want, and need not fight if this business is handled properly.’
Terai took pipe and tobacco off a table. The pipe was a corncob, given him because he had lost his in the crash. He missed that old briar and hoped he would soon get home to his collection. And Elena, the kids, the house, our friends, the land and the sea – how far away they feel tonight.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘that quandary keeps my mouth shut at least as much as does any threat to our corps mates. I’ve no doubt Mikli counts on my reasoning this way. But damnation, it is the right way! Far better to inform only our government, and let it study things and decide what to do.’
‘How will you convey the information?’
‘I’ll tell the legate when she arrives, if I can get a private conference for us in a secure place. If not, I’ll make her understand that she absolutely must get us released and brought to – Inspectorate headquarters in Vittohrya, I suppose. She can surely manage that. We’re not under such black suspicion that a local magistrate, or the Gospodin himself, will care to provoke the Maurai Federation on our account.’
‘Mikli must realize what your intentions are,’ Wairoa said.
Terai tamped the tobacco harder than was needful. ‘Aye, he must. And still the son of a teredo was cheerful.… If worst comes to worst, we will tell the Mong.’
– At midafternoon of the fourth day, the troopers from Yuan entered Dulua. At their head, beside the commander, rode Ronica Birken.
A drizzle chilled the air, blurred roofs and walls, slicked pavement. The crowed that had gathered to stare might have been dissolved by that weather, for chatter had died to a mumble while the horses and stocky, gray-green-clad, Asian-faced soldiers who encircled Terai and Wairoa blocked off view of any watchers, anybody known to them.
Save Mikli. Arms akimbo, feet braced wide, he looked up into their faces and grinned his triumph. ‘Those cords will come off your wrists and those gags off your mouths after we’re well out of town, if you’ve been well behaved,’ he told them in Maurai. ‘However,’ and he wagged a forefinger, ‘each of you will at every moment be in charge of four riflemen whose orders are to kill if you utter a single word. Or try to write one. Or look as though you might. They’re picked men, and they’ve been told you’re uranium smugglers such as they’ve been hunting for. You could have miniature radio transceivers planted in your bodies, and warn your complotters if you get a chance to speak. It’s general knowledge that the Maurai have that sort of gadget, but by and large, Mong don’t know their limitations.
‘So, not a word – to repeat what I warned when we called you out of your house – not a word, or you die. Which wouldn’t trouble me in the least. It’s Ronica you have to thank for your lives, once again. She insisted. And, I grant you, this is less gauche, it will cause less comment … and I look forward to talking with you later, under easier conditions.’
He threw back his head and cackled laughter. ‘Forgive me if I gloat. It was a dicey thing, far too many factors that could have made the bones roll wrong. Now cooperate and we’ll treat you reasonably well. In due course you can be repatriated. Relax and enjoy.’
He sauntered off. The Yuanese soldiers made way for him before closing their ring afresh about the two men on whom their looks dwelt in utter hatred.
Public displays of affection were bad manners here. Iern and Ronica held hands and looked into each other’s eyes. Her hair was damp, aglitter with droplets; her breasts rose and fell. Plik watched wistfully and glugged from a bottle he had had the foresight to snatch when summoned.
‘Zhesu, how wonderful!’ Iern breathed.
‘Just you wait till we’re by ourselves, lad,’ she muttered in reply. ‘I’ll show you what wonderful is.’
‘I was terrified for you.’
‘And I for you,’ answered the throaty voice. ‘How’ve you been?’
‘Fine, except for the worry. The local, m-m, adept took me in, and I learned Gaeans can be very decent people. We had fascinating conversations, and she showed me a little of her, her influence over animals, children – But what happened to you?’
‘I did my job, more or less as I’d told you Mikli had instructed me. Got across the border, found a Yuanese military base – or constabulary, or whatever you’d call it; no real distinction – Well, I made enough ruckus that finally they put me through on a radiophone to a high-level officer in Chai Ka-Go, and he found somebody who knew what my code phrase meant, and after that I got action. Hoo-hah, did I get action! All they asked was Mikli’s name, where he was, and did he want out. Messages started going back and forth, and meanwhile this troop was marshaled, and at dawn today, we rode. You’ve noticed how lathered the mounts and remounts are, haven’t you? Poor beasts, I hope they don’t catch cold, standing around untended like this. Anyhow, when we reached town, the noyon required the local colonel to take us to Mikli, and from then on, it was Mikli in charge – except that I talked him out of having Terai and Wairoa shot out of hand.’
‘How’d you do that? Plain to see, he wants them dead.’
‘I told him they’d become friends of mine; also, there is such a thing as the honor of the Lodge, and I’d complain to Wolf; also, in the near future I’d catch him alone and secure him and beat the living shit out of him. He saw my point.’
‘What’s next?’
‘I don’t know exactly, though I’m certain we’ll get home, to the Union. How I look forward to showing you around my country.’
And how I hope I will learn that you are not monsters there, went through him.
When Orluk Zhanovich Boktan was based in Dulua, commanding his bootless search for clues to the death-stuff runners, and during subsequent, shorter missions to this area, he and Vanna Uangovna had gotten on cordial terms. Their unlikeness made their encounters stimulating, while at the same time he respected her intellect and Power and she found him to be a kindly man at heart.
Thus she stood in the thin rain and listened while he told Bors Kharsov: ‘No, sir, I’m sorry, I can’t say more. Besides, I don’t know more. My orders were to get Karst’s release and bring the rest of them back to base, dead or alive, according to his directions and my judgment. The two men we have tied up seem to be first-chop suspects in the uranium smuggling, and that isn’t a business that can wait.’
‘Maurai – dealers in the horror – I can’t believe it,’ Vanna stammered.
‘Could be a ring of them, operating on their own,’ Orluk said. He had clearly been thinking hard as he rode hither. ‘The Federation’s as mixed a herd as the Five Nations, and spreads over all Oceania. Or could be an international criminal syndicate, members from everywhere. Or … could be the Maurai high command is sorry its forerunners junked what explosive they could find, these days when new factions are on the way up.’
‘Nevertheless –’ Vanna subsided, shivered, and stared at the armed strangers everywhere around.
‘The Norrmen seem to have a spoon in this
kettle,’ Bors said, his tone mistrustful.
Orluk nodded. ‘I know. But are they necessarily our enemies any longer? If they got a clue to something, and warned our upper echelons because we’re in a position to act fast – well – Truth is, in the last several years, off and on, I’ve noticed Norrmen going in and out of important Yuanese offices –’ He snapped his lips shut. His was not to say more than he must.
‘What shall I tell the Maurai legate when she arrives?’ Bors wondered.
‘Don’t ruffle her feathers unduly,’ Orluk counseled. ‘Explain that her countrymen, if they really are her countrymen, were extradited on criminal charges, you have no choice but to obey, and she can apply to diplomatic channels for information.’ In his hand he held a gauntlet. He slapped it against his thigh, a whipcrack noise. ‘Let’s be away!’
Bors rustled the papers he had received, to show that he had in fact had no choice. ‘You cannot stay for refreshment, honored sir?’ he asked as politeness required.
‘No, sir, my humble thanks, but I regret it is impossible.’ They exchanged bows, followed by salutes. Bors departed.
Orluk turned to go. Vanna plucked his sleeve. Fear knocked in her breast. ‘What do you really think?’ she asked him.
‘Wai?’ He blinked in surprise.
‘About this. What is behind it? I sense – utter wrongness – evil –’ She must force the last word out. It was not one which a true Gaean would use save in the cruelest extremity.
Orluk’s leathery countenance registered unease. ‘How, reverend lady?’
‘I don’t know. This is so sudden. And yet it isn’t, either. Dreadful forces loose, unnatural alliances, everywhere lies and secrets, lies and secrets.… Orluk, a wind blows from tomorrow and it smells of war. Not a few battles and a treaty, but a war, violence and worse than violence, to bring down the world. What can you tell me? What can we do?’
Were they drops of mist on his brow and in his beard, or sweat? She saw him force himself into starkness. ‘Reverend lady,’ he said, ‘I know scarcely a thing beyond what I’ve already told. Something very bad is going on, but it’s still hidden in the dark.’ He squared shoulders which had slumped a little. ‘Come what may, come the demons out of hell, I hope I’ll do my duty, whatever it turns out to be.
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