by Karen Myers
With a subdued snort she began picking her way between them with her plate in one hand and a mug of juice in the other.
*Got you!*
The mind-speech heralded a blow that pierced her personal shield and dropped her to her knees. Her eyes darkened and the noise of the diners and her broken crockery faded from her awareness, until all she was left with was a perception of three other minds attacking from all sides against her own crumbling defenses.
She reached out for more power, pulling in all the wizards in her path as she searched for Rin Tsugo and Kit Hachi. She was careful not to drain them completely—they weren’t her enemies—but it wasn’t enough. If she could integrate the other two chained wizards, though, maybe…
The attack was far from subtle, a matter of overpowering her until they could reach inside and stop her heart. She needed to make that impossible and then to counter-attack.
If she could.
Where were they? Ah! That was Kit Hachi. She felt the woman’s alarm as she barreled in and pulled at her chain’s power, and then she turned her mind to Rin Tsugo and did the same to him. With that, she began to reconstruct her own shield and push the attackers out, but it was rough work.
She noticed when Najud joined in voluntarily and bespoke the other wizards she’d seized to tell them what was happening, and how they could help. Things smoothed out on her side after that, and she began to gain ground against the uncoordinated attack of the three chained wizards up in Juhim Tep.
*What are your names?* Penrys smiled grimly at the surprise she encountered. No doubt they weren’t used to having their enemies talk back to them while they were trying to kill them.
The attack was renewed, but now Penrys was past the tipping point of building her defenses and it was just a matter of time before they were repulsed. *No, I don’t think so. No win for you this morning. Might want to reconsider what you’re doing. Come join the new guild instead—better for your health in the long run, whatever your employers may have told you.*
Just before they broke off, she felt bewilderment, dismay, and fury on their end.
Good. Let them do the worrying for a change.
Meticulously she sought out each wizard she’d tapped and restored the balance of his power from her chain before releasing him, taking care not to overfill anyone. She worked her way through them all, a couple of dozen or so, until she reached Rin Tsugo and Kit Hachi. *Here’s what left.*
Penrys had never tapped a chained wizard before, but the procedure seemed to be the same. Most of what she’d borrowed she returned to them.
Finally, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the remains of her breakfast, scattered on the floor with the broken plates and never tasted. Then the noise of the room assaulted her ears as everyone tried to speak at once.
She was sitting on her heels, having collapsed from her knees, and she pushed herself clumsily to her feet and leaned on the nearest chair once she was upright. When she spied Najud making his way to her, she waved him off, and pulled the chair around so she could sit in it.
It struck her as humorous how she could see so clearly the line of wizards she’d tapped, leading in a straight line to the table of her colleagues, and she started to laugh, until she saw the uneasy glances sent her way and choked it off.
Najud had ignored her signal, and walked up to her in the chaos. “Well,” she greeted him, a smile still on her face, “I’ve learned something.”
“Yes?” he prompted.
“They’ve never met someone like you. They’re not organized.” She sobered then. “It was all three of the chained wizards, two women and a man. I asked them their names—they were so surprised a victim would talk to them while being attacked that they had nothing to say.”
“Organized?”
“They came at me at the same time, but separately. And it was just brute strength, no finesse. If they’d been operating as a single unit, or if they’d pulled power from the wizards they’re working with, it might have been a very different story.”
“They’ll learn.” The certainty in Najud’s voice brought Penrys down from the euphoria of having survived. “And then what?”
“They know we’re here now. We can’t stay.”
Penrys had just finished filling in everyone who had missed the excitement at breakfast. They were gathered again, as planned, in the same hall as the night before. The consensus of the previous evening had partially evaporated—the goal was the same, but the means were in dispute, and the attack changed the timetable.
Wok Tori had questioned her closely about her ability to borrow power from other wizards and was chewing on the ramifications.
“You fought them off successfully,” he said.
“Yes, samkatju, but they’ll know better next time. If they learn how to work together and steal power the same way—and they saw me do it—then I won’t be able to stop them.”
“We have more lupjuwen here than most of the other families combined,” Wok Tori said, indignantly.
She sighed. “You have no way to combine their strengths and, without that, they have no defense from chained wizards. And if they learn to drain your wizards, they can kill them. I could hold your wizards in a shield together, as long as the attackers don’t gang up, but I’ll be needed elsewhere.”
Tun Jeju looked at her speculatively. “But if you’re here, you can’t be up on Juhim Tep, causing trouble.”
“That’s what I just said,” she snapped.
“You’re not looking at it right. It’s an opportunity.” He pursed his lips. “Bait. One thing that’s been worrying me is how to keep them from being prepared for our resistance. If you’re here, then you are obviously not planning to be there, so they might relax their guard.”
Penrys rolled her eyes. “Oh. Of course. I can always arrive at the last minute, can’t I?” It would only take her a few minutes to fly to a rendezvous point. “This would still be in broad daylight, you know. No way to hide it.”
Tun Jeju shrugged. “That’s the least of our problems. Remember, you’re still being sought in all quarters for your heinous crimes. I don’t see how this makes it any worse.”
She snorted. “I suppose not.”
They worked together on the necessary details. The foreigners were given materials for notes to their embassies, requesting formal clothing for the messenger to deliver, and insisting upon secrecy from the embassy servants. The wizards, except for Penrys, would meanwhile evacuate to the gewengep compound to prepare and wait, until Tun Jeju himself would return to convey them up to Juhim Tep with an escort from Imperial Security and from the Armorers’ Guild.
The emperor would hold the ceremony in the Court of the Flowering Trees, an external courtyard on the edge of the palace, one wall of which was pierced with narrow columns that left the interior visible to anyone standing on the other side. For public occasions, a large and decorous crowd would gather outside the wall to view the imperial ceremony.
Tun Jeju had an access point in mind where he would be permitted to enter the imperial palace. He didn’t say, but Penrys envisioned palace guards with mixed loyalties. A rendezvous point was set in a warehouse a few blocks away, where Penrys would join them at a set time beforehand.
“I’ll send you maps,” he said, “so you can see exactly what you’ll be looking for, from the air. And the words you must use in issuing the protest and the challenge.”
Penrys nodded absently, her mind on waiting here alone for the next few hours. To her surprise, Rin Tsugo raised an objection. “The two of us should stay with Penrys,” he said, gesturing at Kit Hachi. “If they attack, all three, before the ceremony, it would be best for three tekenwen to meet it. And up in the palace, we can be a sort of honor guard.”
“But you can’t stay with me until the last minute,” Penrys said.
“Well, no, but most of the day, anyway. We can join Tun Jeju and the rest as they leave the gewengep compound. That should distract them just as well without leavin
g this defense weak.”
He turned to Wok Tori. “In fact, samkatju, I have been considering some of the services the tekenwen in the guild could be offering. Guarding against hostile tekenwen seems one obvious choice. We would be pleased to do this for the Armorers’ Guild today, if you wish.”
“And we accept,” Wok Tori said. “Perhaps Penrys could spend some of your time together helping you practice your skills so that the next attack will be easier to handle.”
Rin Tsugo let the pointed suggestion slide off him as he bowed politely to acknowledge the informal contract.
The balance of the morning passed quickly. Penrys worked with Rin Tsugo and Kit Hachi after the foreign wizards left for the gewengep compound. Najud had been unwilling to go, until Penrys suggested he use the time to teach them all more about working together as a unit—that won his reluctant agreement.
By mid-day, a messenger from Imperial Security brought both her second best clothing from the embassy—all that had survived—and several documents describing the ceremony they planned to disrupt and the challenge she would have to make.
The two tekenwen were taken elsewhere in the compound to be fitted for formal attire of their own by tailors provided by the Armorers’ Guild, and Penrys was left alone for a while in the empty reception room, buried in her reading.
All this time she had kept a shield up over this part of the compound, and now she felt a quiet probe, a subtle “still there?” touch.
*Where else would I be? Ready to tell me your names, introduce yourselves? You already know mine.* She could feel the echo of all three of them, though only one took the lead.
*Did you enjoy the death of that decent man, the one you murdered on the stage? Did you know I was there, and watched?*
Consternation came back over the connection, and she pushed harder. *You, the woman who is too cowardly to name herself—you know it’s too late for you? When we meet, I will erase the dishonor of my name in your blood.*
The reply that came was tinged with a man’s flavor. *Against the three of us? We are well-learned, well-practiced. As good as you.*
Penrys felt her temper rise. *You’re not ‘good’ at all. And I’ve killed stronger chained wizards than you. Death comes to all.*
Deliberately, she severed the contact and tapped her chain to increase the strength and reach of the shield.
Kit Hachi apparently felt the change. *What’s happened?*
Penrys received a brief image of fabrics and mirrors. *Our friends from above, all three of them. Wanted to see if the bait was still in place. Hopefully they’re so busy staring at me they’ll forget to look everywhere else.*
She returned to the legal documents, trying to memorize the correct form for the challenge. Tun Jeju could help her get it right when she needed it, she hoped. The street map showing the rendezvous and the outdoor courtyard with its viewing area for the public was critical—she’d be flying in daylight. The less time she was visible in the air, the less time there would be for setting off some sort of riot.
CHAPTER 29
It was nerve-wracking waiting around, all dressed up.
Penrys had dismissed Rin Tsugo and Kit Hachi to join Tun Jeju’s party as they passed the Armorers’ Guild after picking up the other wizards at the gewengep compound. She had to allow them almost an hour to reach the base of Tegong Him, ascend via the hoisted cages and get to the warehouse where she would meet them.
She monitored Najud as they went, but she was leery of initiating any mind-speech—she wasn’t sure what could be overheard by their enemies up in Juhim Tep, and she didn’t want them wondering where everyone else was.
Wok Tori had joined Tun Jeju’s group, so it was Wok Tomai who accompanied her out to the nearest courtyard in this compound when it was time for her to leave. No one else was visible, but a cursory mind-glance revealed an audience at every window, trying not to obtrude. Oh, well. Let ’em look. She pulled her shield tightly around her mind.
“Thank you again for your hospitality, minochi,” she said, and she bowed to Wok Tomai.
“Come back safely, with your task accomplished.” Wok Tomai bowed in return and stepped back.
Penrys invoked her wings and pushed the spectators out of her thoughts. She took several running steps and pulled herself into the air.
As soon as she cleared the compound’s walls, she aimed for the eastern side of Tegong Him, skimming it as closely as she dared and keeping below the level of the upper city on its top. Nothing but industrial areas passed beneath her.
When she judged she’d come far enough she flared up and over the top of the steep slope. As she’d hoped, she was north of the city walls, over the military barracks and training grounds. Most of the army was headquartered here, serving the additional duty of guarding Juhim Tep and the emperor from any land approach on the north.
She’d calculated a route, based on Tun Jeju’s street map, that took her low over broad buildings, designed to mask her from people at street level. That was the path she followed now, until she found the compound with the warehouse that was to serve as the rendezvous point. No one was visible, and she landed in the courtyard, stumbling a bit as her formal clothing hampered her usual movements.
The warehouse—indeed, the whole compound—was empty, as she verified with a mind-scan. I must be early. It was a tradeoff between alerting our enemies with Tun Jeju’s large group or my flight. Let’s hope the alarm isn’t spreading from my part of it.
She dusted off a spot on the steps of the courtyard at the warehouse entrance, and settled in to wait.
After a quarter of an hour had passed, she was unable to suppress her nerves. Where are they? What’s taking them so long?
They weren’t going to risk any direct mind-speech, but she did a simple monitor in that direction and couldn’t locate them. Too many people, too far away. If there were a problem, wouldn’t they have tried to tell me anyway?
And then a horrifying thought struck her. How far can they reach? What if they’re more than a mile away? That was Najud’s range. She didn’t know Rin Tsugo’s limits.
After half an hour, she knew she was on her own. Maybe they’d been ambushed somehow, below. Meanwhile their opportunity was vanishing. Once Tsek Uchang was legitimized, the emperor’s days were surely numbered.
She didn’t know how Tun Jeju had planned to enter the palace—she couldn’t use his methods. Without him, there was no one to oppose the emperor’s guards, no one to deflect the Imperial Security guards that had been added under his corrupt master. And the challenge… that wouldn’t work without backup to ensure no interference from the Tsek wizards—it was hopeless.
And if she didn’t try, she might as well kill the emperor herself.
She didn’t know the man—he meant little to her as a person, no matter how well Tun Jeju and others spoke of him. But she cared about the wizards she’d met, both the Kigaliwen and the foreigners. She wanted the chained wizards to find a place for themselves. All that would be derailed by the faction up here if it succeeded in putting an emperor of its own in place.
These were all good reasons, but she paced restlessly in the open compound, unable to make herself act alone. Not her country, not her wizards.
And then the rivulet of blood from the slaughtered Ijumo flowed across her inner sight and accused her. Yrmur! They are my wizards. That was my name that was filthied. They can’t just take my name from me, make me complicit. I am complicit if I don’t seek justice.
Her blood boiled freshly, as if the murder had just been done again.
Even if I fail, I will go down fighting. Before her better judgment could kick in, she ran a few steps and launched herself into the air again.
This time she made no attempt this time to hide herself. She swooped low over several of the markets on the east side of the palace, her ultimate destination. People pointed up at her and cried out. She flared up directly above the outer courtyard, so that her target would be obvious to the people watching.
Ignoring the noise behind her, the sound of the panicked guards drawing weapons, she fell to both knees and bowed low enough that her forehead touched the ground before raising it so that her voice would carry. “Justice!” she cried, loudly enough for the disturbed public crowd, watching from the other side of the pierced wall, to hear. “I accuse the Tsek family of crimes against the emperor’s peace. I beseech the emperor to hear my claim.”
She held her bent pose unmoving while the hairs on the back of her neck prickled in alarm. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the spearpoint that touched her side, just short of driving through her ribs.
The noise stopped suddenly, and the spear withdrew. She lifted her head just enough to see that the emperor had raised his hand and motioned the guards back. He waited until order in the courtyard had been restored, and the silence there radiated out through the viewing wall into the watching audience.
When he was satisfied, he said, “Rise, tekenga lupju. I will hear your claim.”
“I am Penrys of Zannib, and of Ellech, summoned by Imperial Security as one of several foreign lupjuwen to advise in the new guild of all the lupjuwen in Kigali.”
“I did not summon her.” The man who denied her wore the brown robes of Imperial Security.
“Peace, my friend,” the emperor murmured. His face was impassive under the gray hair and the complex raised head covering, all stiffened flaps and ritual form.
Penrys knew the other man had to be Noi Shibu. Other courtiers sat in his area of the viewing platform, but her eye was drawn to several men and women, even children, in yellow robes—the heirs. She spared a glance for the one man on the platform in the darker amber robes of a recognized bastard. At all costs, she must keep him from concluding this ceremony. A much older woman in amber sat behind him—his mother?