by Ailx Nichols
“He counts on a quick and dirty campaign,” Raween said, “Then, once Teteum is conquered, the spoils would allow him to repay whichever outlaw warlord lent him the cyborgs.”
Colonel Yaggar shook his head. “Wars are never quick and dirty when you’re the aggressor. Of all people, Boggond should know that. When Teteum invaded Eia five years ago, that’s exactly what King Aviesto’s generals had promised him, a quick victory.”
“Four years later, Teteum went home with its tail between its legs,” Linni said.
“Caretaker Governor Boggond thinks he’s smarter than King Aviesto and his generals,” Elmor said. “Clearly, he believes that hive cyborgs will give him an easy victory. He might even expect Teteum to capitulate the instant they realize who’s attacking them.”
Raween exhaled a heavy breath. “I doubt he cares about the Ra-human cost on either side.”
“What about the rebels?” Linni asked.
“The movement is too small and divided on how to fight Boggond.” Colonel Yaggar turned to Raween. “Lord Cummills, speaking of governors, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Raween held his palm out. “Please, go ahead.”
“Are you sure you did the right thing resigning as Toholt’s governor, and a member of the Council of Seven? Her Grace”—he glanced at Linni—“Her Grace needs more allies at LOR.”
“Don’t I know that, Keiron?” Raween shifted his gaze to Linni.
“You had your reasons,” she said. “And I respect them.”
Raween turned to the colonel. “Governing a realm for too long, even if people want you to, is unhealthy. Besides, I felt that at this point in my life, I could do more for Xereill if I didn’t hold an office. That’s how the Circle of the Enlightened was born.”
“They’re Xereill’s keepers,” Linni said to Colonel Yaggar, pointing to Raween and Elmor.
Elmor shook his head. “No.”
“We’re Xereill’s… monitors, its radars, if you will,” Raween said. “We observe, analyze and warn of dangers. But you two”—he gestured to Linni and Colonel Yaggar—“and everyone who risks their lives for justice, you are the true keepers of Xereill.”
Sixteen
Finding his realm’s nameplate in the LORSS Assembly Hall wasn’t as straightforward as Lord Boggond had expected. The auditorium being vast and packed didn’t help, either. Not to mention that the two aides who accompanied him on this trip weren’t particularly smart.
He’d get rid of them upon his return.
Granted, they didn’t know the place as well as Eia’s ambassador to the League of Realms, Lord Omaine. But Lord Boggond had summoned him back to Hente. The annual Assembly of Realms was too important an occasion to be delegated to an ambassador.
Besides, Tastassi’s governor had insisted that Lord Boggond attend in person. For the time being, Governor Horbell’s wish was Lord Boggond’s command.
At last, one of Lord Boggond’s aides spotted the nameplate Eia. Lord Boggond lowered himself into the front chair. His assistants sat behind him in the support staff row.
“I was beginning to worry you’d give up and take a random seat,” a familiar voice sounded from his right.
Horbell.
Lord Boggond turned toward him. “Sir Governor. What a coincidence we’re seated side by side!”
“It’s no coincidence,” Horbell said. “I swapped your nameplate with Toholt’s.”
Lord Boggond chose not to comment on that.
Horbell leaned toward him. “You’re late. Yaggar has been talking for five minutes now.”
“The head of the Enforcer Corps?”
Horbell nodded. “Keep your ears open, and do exactly what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it. Understood?”
“Yes.”
On the podium, Yaggar broke off to take a drink of water, then pointed out a raised nameplate in the room. “You have a question, Your Grace?”
“Yes, I do.” An ambassador stood. “Ramoh would like to know who runs the modified cyborg facility you told us about.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t make that information public until we have more evidence,” Yaggar said.
The next question came from Oiru’s governor. “How do you intend to obtain more evidence if the exact location of the base is unknown, as you said yourself a few minutes ago?”
“We have a detailed description and some solid leads, Your Grace,” Yaggar said. “Besides, we know the location of the facility’s owner.”
Surprised gasps and whispers rippled through the room.
“If I have the Assembly’s green light to do what is necessary, the enforcers will find the illegal facility and shut it down,” Yaggar said.
Horbell scribbled something on a vellum sheet and pushed it in front of Lord Boggond, whispering. “Now.”
Lord Boggond glanced at the note then raised his nameplate.
“Yes, please”—Yaggar peered at him then at the plate—“Eia.”
Lord Boggond would’ve bet something like annoyance had flashed in the colonel’s eyes when he realized Eia was in Toholt’s seat.
He began by presenting himself. “Lord Governor Boggond.”
“Your Grace.” The colonel dipped his head.
That’s better.
“Who is the source of your information?” Lord Boggond read from his vellum. “What makes you trust them? Why should we, the sovereign Assembly of Realms, trust them?”
“I cannot reveal the identity of my source, for his safety,” Yaggar said. “But in my capacity as head of the Enforcer Corp, I can vouch for him.”
From the podium, a LOR staffer whose nameplate read Dodd Panrulyn cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that’s not good enough, Colonel Yaggar.”
“You’re forgetting yourself, my lord.” The Superintendent, Lady Olinnie Tann-Lo shot her subordinate a withering look. “Please refrain from commenting in the future, unless I give you the floor.”
Panrulyn pursed his lips. “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Is he on your payroll?” Lord Boggond asked Horbell.
“He’s a valuable asset,” Horbell said. “Panrulyn happens to hate the superintendent whose job he’d been vying for. He also happens to like my gifts. You should make friends with him while you’re at LORSS, and with Cemaluria Cronk, the head of ERIGAT.”
“I could take them to dinner tonight,” Lord Boggond offered.
“Yes, do that.”
“Will you come, too?” Lord Boggond asked.
“I’ll be playing host to a few important ambassadors.”
Lord Boggond’s stomach knotted at the way Horbell was ordering him around like a pawn on his board game.
Was he a pawn? Had it been a mistake to swap his autonomy for two hundred hive cyborgs?
No.
None of what Horbell was asking him to do went against his own interests, or against his own end game. This situation might be unpleasant, but ultimately it was a win-win for Lord Boggond. At present, he needed Horbell more than Horbell needed him.
I’ll give him what he wants until I’m strong enough to set my own terms.
With the Endorsement Vote as good as won and the war plans underway, he was close to that coveted state. Very close. Horbell and Voqras might think they had him eating out of their hands as a vassal ruler, but he was just buying himself time until he was ready to fulfill his destiny.
Give me a year, and I’ll show you who I really am.
“Have you tuned out?” Horbell’s shrill voice startled him. “No matter. You played your part. They’ve moved on to the next topic.”
“What did they decide about the cyborg facility?” He added near Horbell’s ear, “It was your facility, wasn’t it?”
“The Assembly won’t authorize any enforcer action until they can interview Yaggar’s source and ascertain his probity,” Horbell said. “I have no doubt that Colonel Yaggar, too honorable for his own good, will never allow it. Case closed.”
He flashed Lord Horbell a
smug smile and walked out of the room.
The first familiar face that Lord Boggond saw upon his return to the Governor’s Palace in Orogate was Ultek’s ugly mug.
The police chief had requested an audience a month ago. He was going to beg Lord Boggond, again, to authorize Achlins Ghaw’s assassination.
“He’s getting closer with every article, every issue of his damn Gazette,” Ultek argued, “It won’t be long before he announces he knows who the girl snatcher is.”
“Shouldn’t you be happy?” Lord Boggond sneered. “You’d be able to wrap up your own useless investigation and reallocate the substantial police resources you’ve been pouring into it to other matters.”
Ultek glared at him. “I don’t find that funny, my lord. If I go down, you go down.”
“Ah, enough with the threats already!”
“Threats? What threats? I just want to remind you that your hands are as dirty as mine, Your Grace.” Ultek’s mouth thinned under his mustache, its corners drooping. “Actually, they’re dirtier than mine because you’re the one who gave the orders. I only executed.”
Lord Boggond’s tone became more conciliating. “Nobody’s going down, Zorom. Let me think about it, all right? After all, my chances of being endorsed look great, so getting rid of Ghaw might be less of an issue now than it would’ve been a few months ago.”
Ultek nodded. “No one will miss him.”
“But you have to promise me you won’t abduct anyone for another year.”
“A year?” Ultek gave him a panicked look. “You said to wait until after the Endorsement Vote, and I committed to that. Now you want a whole year?”
Lord Boggond clucked his tongue irritably. “You have at least a dozen girls already. Can’t you make do with those?”
“It’s not like they last forever, Your Grace! With the kind of use they get, there’s a lot of attrition. I’ve lost a few, and the surviving ones… they’re less appealing now.”
“There’s always the whores.”
“They disgust me,” Ultek said with an ugly twist to his mouth.
“Do you want Achlins Ghaw’s head, Zorom?”
“I do.”
“I want a year with no abductions.” Lord Boggond pointed to the door. “You go think about it. This audience is over.”
After Ultek left, Lord Boggond took a long, relaxing bath before his next, and last, meeting of the day.
When he returned to his spacious office, Voqras, his head of security; Ydaranu, his new commander of the army; High Judge Mahabmet; and Yemella Taill, his master of propaganda, had been waiting for some time already. They were all busy people. But, unlike the ill-bred Ultek, none of them had dared to as much as hint at their frustration.
The discussion focused on the advancement of the war preparations first.
“Are you any closer to locating the dragon?” Lord Boggond asked Voqras.
“We’ve lost his trail,” Voqras admitted.
“He’s off-planet with the rest of the Gokks and the Atizes,” Judge Mahabmet said, “Why would he stay here, risking capture?”
“Why?” Lord Boggond arched an eyebrow. “To help the rebels, for example. Or to offer his services to Teteum’s King Aviesto.”
Judge Mahabmet waved dismissively. “It’s Geru Gokk we’re talking about, Your Grace. That family has a high sense of honor. They might hate you, but I’ll eat my robes if a Gokk betrays Eia.”
Lord Boggond tilted his head to the side. “You seem to admire them a little too much.”
“I just know them well, that’s all.” Judge Mahabmet swallowed nervously. “Haddu Gokk was an important man before he fell out of grace.”
Voqras puffed his wide chest out. “Even if Geru did show up and attack us, he can’t beat two hundred hive cyborgs, Your Grace.”
“He could slash their ranks,” Lord Boggond countered.
“Even so. Governor Horbel has another dragon, remember?” Voqras smiled his tight smile. “Risp is a force of nature, and under our complete control. He’ll destroy Geru if need be.”
Judge Mahabmet shifted from one foot to the other. “Can we talk about the Pox Bill for a second?”
“What about it?” Lord Boggond threw him a displeased look. “Is it relevant to Geru Gokk?”
“No, Your Grace, but it’s relevant to your endorsement.”
Lord Boggond released a sigh. “I’m listening.”
“There’s a growing discontent among noblemen and proficients, not to mention the menial class and, well, the harlots.”
“Harlots never bother to vote,” Lord Boggond said with a sneer.
“But the others do.”
“What’s their problem?”
“They’re too scared to visit a brothel now.”
“Why?” Lord Boggond shrugged. “They risk nothing under the Bill, as far as I understand.”
“That’s correct,” Commander Ydaranu said. “But the unpleasantness, the shame, if they happen to be in or near Vada’s brothel when the cops pull the harlots in…”
Lord Boggond chuckled. “Personal experience, Commander?”
“The Bill was a mistake.” Ydaranu held Lord Boggond’s gaze. “It’s extremely unpopular.”
“I’d warned you against pushing for it.” Judge Mahabmet glowered at Yemella. “It’s flawed from both the legal and the moral perspective.”
“And yet the Peers adopted it,” Yemella said. “A lot of people approve of it.”
“Not as many as you think, judging by the letters and petitions that circulate,” Mahabmet parried.
Yemella put her hands on her hips, or was it her waist? Lord Boggond could never tell. “We need scapegoats, a diversion, something people can channel their discontent into.”
“We have Teteum for that,” Ydaranu said.
“We do, but the war is over, for now, and the hatred has waned.” She spread her hands. “I can do my best to stoke it, but it won’t be enough. We need an enemy within.”
“What about the so-called Association?” Voqras asked. “Can you divert people’s frustrations at them? That would help Lord Boggond a lot.”
She pursed her lips. “I’m working on it, but Areg Sebi’s and Jancel Heidd’s reputations are particularly difficult to soil.”
“Try harder,” Lord Boggond said to her before turning to Mahabmet. “Help her. You know the rebel leaders well. They’re your old friends, after all.”
The judge paled.
“I count on you.” Lord Boggond enjoyed Mahabmet’s disarray. “Now leave me, all of you. I have some strategic thinking to do.”
Seventeen
After Iyatt had returned from Norbal with Haysi, he’d spent the rest of the week on edge.
His days had been unfocused, and his nights lonely. Lonelier than ever before. Lonelier than during all those years he’d been engaged to Unie, missing her and counting days until her next visit.
This loneliness was different.
The reverential, spiritual love he’d felt with Unie had been a joy to carry in his heart. Their extended periods apart had been easy to bear. She’d illuminated his life just the same, whether she was by his side in Eia or somewhere across the galaxy.
But now, this yearning, this craving he felt for Haysi, it pained him. It made his skin tingle, his muscles spasm, and his bones ache.
Every night.
The sex they’d had on Norbal had been too satisfying, too sweet. Years of pent-up need had been answered. Years of self-denial and temperance had come undone in two fiery nights.
Iyatt was lucid enough to know he’d seek Haysi out soon enough, driven by lust, by his unflagging—in fact, intensifying—desire for her. He’d sleep with her again. And again. And again. He’d disappoint Divine Aheya. And he’d betray Unie a little more.
Groaning with frustration, he turned onto his back, then his side, then his belly.
His mattress must’ve become too hard over the years. Maybe it was time to change it. He might also try moving his bed to the o
pposite wall.
Suddenly needing more air, Iyatt got up, threw on a coat and stepped out into the dark front yard. The chilly Mid-autumn night kissed his face. Pushing his shoulders back, he inhaled deeply.
It felt good, but not enough.
As he headed down the road toward the fields, his thoughts returned to the conversation he’d had with Jancel yesterday after the weekly Fulcrum meeting at the Refuge.
Iyatt had told his friend about Haysi, without revealing the details of the readings and of Unie’s request. She hadn’t forbidden him to share it with his friends, but Iyatt knew Unie was a very private person. She wouldn’t want him to discuss Derren, even with Jancel. So, he hadn’t.
What he had admitted to his friend was his weakness for Haysi. He’d confessed he wasn’t strong enough not to be tempted by her.
“First,” Jancel had said to him, “you have every right to be tempted. You’re single. As is Haysi. Unie’s gone. Nothing, not even your misplaced guilt, will bring her back.”
Ha! If Jancel had known about Iyatt’s first plan to persuade Unie to seize Haysi’s body, he wouldn’t call his guilt misplaced.
“Second,” Jancel said, “there’s a passage in the Book of Xereill about hubris and judging others. Mother often reads it out to me.” He winked. “I cannot fathom why.”
Iyatt couldn’t recall that passage.
“You’ve learned all the volumes by heart,” Jancel said. “I’m sure you know it.”
“I’m drawing a blank. Besides, no one, not even vestals and monks, know all the volumes by heart. It’s impossible.”
They kept silent for a while before Iyatt spoke again. “How do you handle the difference between Hawina and Nyssa? Doesn’t it glare at you like the midday sun?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your first wife was pure, like Unie.”
“And Nyssa is dirty, is that what you’re trying to say?”
“No! No.” Iyatt hesitated, looking for words. “Back when she was still a spoiled, wealthy brat, before her parents died and her brother got accused of treason, she was…”
“Wanton?”