The rooms made a pleasant suite, facing east over the City, as luxuriously furnished as those of the other Terrans, and Tindal's personal effects were scarcely to be seen; typical, thought Haruko.
But the rooms, however devoid of their occupant's personality, were also obviously empty at the moment. Haruko was turning to go when the thought occurred to him that he might leave a message for his officer. He peered around the bedroom door; yes, as he had expected, there was the computer-pad, angled across the bedside table.
Haruko sat down on the edge of the bed, took the pad in his lap and activated it. Instantly the small screen was filled with complex calculations; Tindal had apparently forgotten to command the pad to clear and store his work in the big wall computer. Haruko was about to do this for him--nobody liked losing their work in one of the little pads--when something about the numbers caught his attention.
He tapped his fingers over the touchboard, frowning slightly. The screen blinked, then cleared to a sequence Haruko knew by heart: the combank codes of the Sword. Tindal, it seemed, had already hooked into the ship's computers.
Haruko stared down at the little screen, nonplussed and more than a bit puzzled. There was absolutely no reason for those codes to be here; why had Hugh bothered to work them out? Unless he had come into possession of the Second Sight, as the Kelts might say, and knew Haruko would be coming round to ask him to assist with the transmission to Earth--But that seemed, on the face of it, extremely unlikely.
So--what then? Haruko began to bite absently on the first knuckle of his left hand. This was all very strange. Judging by the calculations--he recalled the first display to the screen--Tindal was planning on making some very long-distance transmissions indeed. But where, and to whom?
"That is the question..." For once in his life Haruko felt utterly at a loss. He leaned back against the pillows and prepared to impose some sort of order on the ill-assorted facts.
Item: Tindal, knowing nothing of his captain's orders, had nevertheless gone to the considerable trouble of setting up a remote link between the Sword's combanks and some other computer. Item: In spite of the fact that he could contact anyone he pleased through the Kelts' own very excellent communications network, Tindal had chosen instead to fashion his own clandestine means of transmission.
Well, Haruko reluctantly concluded, there weren't too many licit reasons for such activity. Therefore, he must now begin to consider illicit ones... If the hookup was in fact not meant for Earth, then for where was it intended? Someplace outside the Curtain Wall, obviously. But what circumstances could possibly require such secrecy, save something utterly unlawful--Tindal was, certainly, an opportunist; but surely no more than that?
Haruko sat forward slowly, trying to deny the dawning of a possibility too dreadful to contemplate. But it would not be denied, small though it was, and it was also his sworn duty to consider every possibility, however unlikely and however unpleasant...
Very well. Assume for the sake of argument that Tindal, for whatever reasons, was planning contact with someone beyond the Curtain Wall. With that as the unpalatable given, then, who might it logically be? Aeron's enemies the Fomori? That was certainly logical, but how would Tindal know to get in touch with them, or, for that matter, they with him?
The answer to that, of course, was that they wouldn't; not unless-—
He carefully cleared the screen to its former blankness, decided against leaving any message, and came out again into the grianan, thinking hard.
--Not unless some other party had told them. Told them, and then set it up with Tindal. The logic was as terrible--though still totally speculative, Haruko carefully reminded himself--as it was inescapable: If Tindal was in truth planning to get in touch with outside powers for nefarious purposes, and had to sneak around using the ship's combanks to do it, then someone here in Keltia would have to be acting as intermediary. And that intermediary would have to be a Kelt.
Haruko was almost physically sick at the idea. A Kelt. Someone whose entire culture was geared to loyalty, to whom betrayal would be, or should be, the one unforgivable sin. Someone outwardly loyal to Aeron, perhaps someone she knew personally; someone highly placed in her councils or in her household; someone she trusted, maybe even someone she loved...
With a mighty effort, he turned his mind to fairness. Conjecture as he might, none of this was proved; all of it was possible, sure, but was it likely? Even now, could he not find some logical, innocent explanation-—
As he stood there rocked with intolerable alternatives, the outer door opened and Tindal came into the room. He was more gaily cheerful than Haruko could recall ever having seen him, and when he saw he had a visitor, far from flinching with guilt, he brightened still further and looked Haruko straight in the eye.
"Ah, Captain! Were you looking for me?"
*
"What are these Shining Ones?"
Slaine, who was with O'Reilly in the bardic archives at Seren Beirdd, where they were doing research to verify the Terran's pedigree, looked up with a quizzical frown.
"Why do you ask?"
"Oh, well, nothing really--but I was out riding the other day, over Miremoss with Eiluned and Kieran and a few other people, and we met a woman walking with her child. Naturally we all stopped to talk, and the oddest thing happened then. It was like--like walking light, or ribbons of air, all silvery and glowing with iridescent colors. It came down the face of a hill like a sailboat. You'll probably think I'm crazy"--here she glanced apologetically at Slaine--"but it seemed to bow to us."
"And then?"
"Well, the woman bowed back, and said something to it, I couldn't make out what. And then she told her child--and this I did hear, very clearly--to make a curtsy to the Shining One. Whatever a Shining One might be. Kieran and Eiluned just sort of nodded to it--but a very polite nod, if you know what I mean. It was very interesting," concluded O'Reilly lamely, "and I thought you might know. I mean, I know all of you know; I thought you would tell me, and I was afraid to ask Aeron or Gwydion, in case they told me too much."
"Truly, I--or they, for that matter--can tell you but little," began Slaine, "for little enough is known. Still, for what it is worth--"
*
"Yes, well, as a matter of fact, I was looking for you, Lieutenant." Haruko took a firmer grip on himself. Though much might be suspected, nothing was yet proved; and who was the Captain here, anyway?
"I will be sending a message to the Admiralty in the next local day or so," he continued, "and I want you to fix it so that it's transmitted by way of the ship's combanks. I've already spoken to O'Reilly and Mikhailova about it, and they say they'll need your help."
"Probably will," agreed Tindal easily. Not by an eyelash's flicker did he give any indication to Haruko, who was watching him as a cat watches a sparrow, of the shock he had felt at finding the Captain in his rooms. "But the Kelts will have to do something too, sir. It's a long way to Earth even for the subspace boosters, and we can't get through that Curtain Wall without some help."
"Since the Queen has given permission for us to transmit, I'm sure she'll also see to it that you get whatever assistance you need." Haruko hesitated, on the point of asking Tindal straight out what the hell was going on here. But his officer's cheerful frankness put him off: How could Hugh stand there and chat, and all the time be guilty of what Haruko thought he might be guilty of? Unless, of course, he wasn't... Really, he thought, when am I going to learn to give people the benefit of the doubt?
"Well, then, I'll--just let you know, then, shall I? Yes," said Haruko helplessly, "I'll just--do that."
When Haruko had gone, Tindal flew into the bedroom as if the Cwn Annwn themselves were on his track. He snatched up the computer-pad from the table, activated it, then sat down hard on the bed, weak-kneed with relief. No, his calculations were still there, and nothing else was there that should not have been, like a message from the Captain...
Even so--Haruko might not have left a message on the pad, b
ut perhaps he had been about to? And if so, might he not have seen what he should not have?
On the whole, Tindal thought not; the Captain was as a rule not good at dissembling. If he had indeed stumbled across the figures and the codes, no way he would not have at least guessed at Tindal's purposes. And if he had guessed, no way he could have stood there and been so casual.
Still, it had been unbelievably careless to have left the stuff so easily accessible. If Arianeira came to learn of it, she'd have his guts for garters...
Whistling tunelessly, Tindal triple-coded the information for belated security and stored it in the wall-computer, then lay back on the bed with his hands behind his head. If that message Haruko wanted to send to Earth tomorrow was as important as Tindal thought it might be, those figures wouldn't be staying in storage very long at all.
*
Profoundly confused and unsettled by the interview with Tindal--the thought that an officer of his was possibly up to no good was no easy one--Haruko went to his rooms to lie down. Upset and brooding, finally he fell into a fitful doze, and when he woke it was nearly time for the nightmeal. He felt an overwhelming desire to get out into the open air, and went out into the gardens to clear his mind and think what to do next.
It was just past sunset, and the afterglow was pale gold in the west. He could see for miles in the low light, everything around him brightened to an unnatural clarity by the strange brightness that seemed to hang in the cold air.
Away up on the hillside, a flicker of movement caught his eye, and he instinctively glanced after it. Aeron was walking on the edge of the little pine-wood. She was cloaked in black, and pacing not six feet from her side was the biggest animal Haruko had ever seen.
For an instant he thought it was her wolfhound Cabal--one or the other of her two giant hounds was never far from her--then his eye measured out the true proportion: This animal was more than half again Cabal's enormous size. It became aware of him in that moment, and Haruko's voice died away in his throat as he saw that the beast was a wolf.
He stood absolutely motionless under the animal's cool, almost amused regard; there seemed to be a human intelligence behind those jade-colored eyes. A magnificent male it was, with thick shaggy fur brindled in bars of gray and black, a milky silver star upon its chest, and Haruko estimated uneasily that it would stand over ten feet tall on its hind legs.
Then Aeron herself caught sight of him, and as she lifted her arm in greeting his blood froze within him, for the wolf was no longer there.
She came down the hill, her smile of welcome changing to a puzzled frown as she drew near.
"Theo? Is something amiss?"
He knew what his face must look like, knew also that only the truth would serve, with her.
"Just now--before you waved--there was a wolf with you. Then it was gone. It just--vanished." To his intense annoyance, he was shaking.
"Ah." She slipped her arm through his, turning him from the hill back to the palace. "I am not surprised that you of all your folk should see what you have seen," she began. "But you saw him, truly? Did you see my fetch?"
Haruko felt himself recovering from the shock, grateful for the warm, steady hand upon his arm.
"It was so huge--and it looked at me... But where did it go? It just wasn't--wasn't there anymore."
"It was never there, Theo, not in the same way that you and I are here."
"It was a vision? A--ghost?"
"In a way. You know that the House of Aoibhell has as its sign and token a wolf's head? That is no accident, nor herald's whim neither: The tutelary spirit of our kindred, when it comes to us in physical guise, takes the form of a wolf. What you saw was the fetch of the Aoibhells--a spirit-wolf, the protector of our fortunes and the guide of our souls, and only those very wise in such matters, or very favored of the gods, or very much in need of guidance and warning, are privileged to behold him. Even I do not often see him, though I frequently sense his presence, and I am Chief of the Name of Aoibhell."
"Do the other houses have such--friends?"
She laughed, relieved to see him restored to the point of sarcasm. "Oh aye. Gwydion's family's fetch is a white stag with golden antlers, and the Clann Drummond have a serpent that speaks to them in dreams. There are many dozens of others."
Oh great, a status symbol... "But this is pure magic, Lady."
Aeron shook her head. "Nay; the fetch cannot be invoked nor yet commanded. It comes of its own will, choosing its own time and place. There was a fetch once in form of a winter hare that stopped a battle, and another in shape of a master-otter that caused one... 'Her wolf,' you think; but you would be more nearly correct to call me his mortal. Sometimes have I been named the She-wolf of Keltia by my enemies, who think they insult me thereby. No insult to me, but a very great honor, to be called so."
"Well, why did I see him, then?" Haruko burst out passionately. "I'm no Aoibhell, certainly not a sorcerer, not even a Kelt!"
Aeron shook her head again, more gravely. "I know not, Theo," she said. "But the fetch often comes to give warning where warning is most needed. Is there aught you know of, that might merit such a cautioning?"
Haruko did not answer.
Chapter Fourteen
Whatever warning the fetch may have portended, the event seemed unthinkably distant. At Turusachan, the business of governing went imperturbably on, and only the most pessimistic, or the most prescient, could have had cause to predict calamity.
It had rained earlier that day, but now golden sunlight alternated with the last black wisps of rainclouds chased by a freshening breeze. Haruko walked with Aeron across the wet paving-stones of the Great Square, arm in arm and both of them giggling helplessly.
They were returning from a meeting of influential members of the Royal Senate and Assembly. Morwen had warned them to be on their best behavior for the audience, and they had gravely obeyed her, comporting themselves with immense dignity and diplomacy; so much so that now they felt well entitled to play the fool a little, and they had told jokes, jested, and roared with laughter all the way across the square, composing themselves only when they saw the grinning faces of the Fian guards at the palace gates.
As they walked down the corridor leading to Aeron's office, Haruko reflected on the audience they had just attended.
"Are they usually so--"
"So truculent?" Aeron grinned again. "Nay; usually they are much worse. They were so biddable today only because they desperately want you to think well of them."
"I!"
"Surely." She gave him a sidelong glance. "You may know the elected houses--Senate and Assembly--are as keen for an alliance with Earth as the House of Peers and the High Council are averse to it. That is why the Chief Assemblator, Rollow of Davillaun, who held forth so eloquently just now, has so featly changed his cloak. He was originally set as iron against your even coming to Caerdroia, until he heard to the contrary from those who elected him to his position."
"I hadn't realized."
"Nay, well, it matters little enough in the long run; only for that having the elected bodies with me rather than against makes my life that much easier... But look, what is this here?"
They had turned a corner in the corridor and come upon O'Reilly and Melangell.
"Do you like it, Lady?" O'Reilly rotated shyly, arms held out from her sides. She was experimenting for the first time with Keltic dress, and she was nervous--and acutely aware of Haruko's owlish disapproving eye fixed on her from over Aeron's shoulder.
"Very fine," said Aeron. "You wear our costume as if born to it."
"Melangell picked them out." O'Reilly blushed with pleasure and threw a smile over her shoulder at Melangell. And she did look far more natural and at ease in the Keltic style than in the Terran civilian garb she had brought down with her from the Sword. Melangell had chosen for the brown-haired O'Reilly a crimson tunic, black leather trews, a full-sleeved white shirt and sand-colored boots of sueded leather, with a furred cloak over all.
"Very fine," repeated Aeron. "Still, it needs something--" She unclasped the necklace she was wearing at her own throat--little linked gold shields enamelled with her sword-and-crown badge--and fastened it upon O'Reilly, who hardly dared even to breathe. "There, then. Keep it for welcome-gift, if it pleases you."
After Aeron, pursued by O'Reilly's stammering thanks, had gone on her way to yet another audience, taking Melangell with her, O'Reilly still stood unmoving, boggled with dazzlement. Haruko's voice cut harshly across her transport.
"Going native, Lieutenant?" Even he was appalled by the waspish snap of his tone.
"Sir?" O'Reilly seemed about to burst into tears, and he repented instantly.
"I'm sorry, Sally," he muttered. "I don't know what the hell I'm saying anymore. Here, let me see that. It's quite an honor, I should think."
O'Reilly lifted her chin as Haruko peered at the necklace, taking the moment to study the face so close to hers.
"What's the matter with you anyway?" she demanded, still hurt. "You've been acting extremely weird the past few days. Tell me."
Haruko pursed his lips. "I don't have anything really solid to go on just yet," he said at last. "And if I told you what I suspected, that might color your judgment just when I need it to be really objective."
"As you wish, Captain."
"Oh, don't do that, please... Anyway, when we go home--"
"Go home!" O'Reilly stared at him. "I--haven't thought about it."
"Apparently." Haruko had guessed right, then, as to how his communications officer really felt about Keltia... "You seem to have forgotten you're still a Terran serving officer. Would you desert your commission, never see Earth again? All just to stay here?"
"Yes!" she flung at him. "You bet I would, Theo, in a minute, and so would you! And don't try to tell me you wouldn't, because I know better! Anyway," she continued in a calmer voice, "Aeron could probably fix it so we could stay and not get into trouble for it. She could ask the Admiralty to have us seconded here on an advisory basis or something, they'd do that for a queen."
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