Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "I understand what you want, Archon, and I will deliver." Tormano bowed his head to her. "I think, however, you will find your brother rather stiff competition."

  "Indeed. That is why I have you doing what you are doing, and Nondi what she is doing." Katrina laid the paper knife down carefully. "I've handled Victor all my life. I will see to his downfall myself."

  8

  Hall of the Khans, Warrior Quarter

  Strana Mechty

  Kerensky Cluster, Clan Space

  3 October 3058

  Vlad was surprised at the sense of awe inspired in him by actually being inside the Grand Council Chamber in the Hall of the Khans. He and fellow Khan Marialle Radick had been given seats in the rear of the semicircular room, in the highest of the rows. Beside them and before them the seats were empty—signifying the place once held by Clans that had since been absorbed or destroyed.

  My remade Wolves are the newest Clan, hence our having been put in our place. Vlad would have taken this as an evil omen, but the Jade Falcon Khans Marthe Pryde and Samantha Clees had likewise been given seats in the back row, just across the staired aisle that led at one end to the chamber's double doors and, at the other, to the speaker's dais where Kael Pershaw was installing himself as Loremaster. Seated next to the Jade Falcons were the two octogenarian Khans of Clan Nova Cat. The seating arrangements, Vlad realized, were the result of maneuvering by Clan Khans who wanted to be in the thick of things during the discussions.

  He didn't let his location worry him. The Clan Wolf banner still hung above his position, as did the various other Clan banners above the seats their Khans occupied. The seats he had been given were carved of granite like all the others in the room, padded with red velvet cushions and fronted by black marble tables streaked with white. Each of the forty seats for Khans are identical, and so we are all equal here.

  That he felt equal with his fellow Khans, and not superior, surprised Vlad. He knew, deep down, that he was more than their equal. He fervently believed what he had told Marthe Pryde—leaders tempered in the battling with the Inner Sphere were the only leaders capable of completing the Crusade. He knew this to be the truth, but, at the moment, that all seemed rather tangential.

  The sense of ceremony carried him beyond his sense of self. Each Clan Khan had come to the chamber clad in a formal uniform. The Ghost Bear Khans wore cloaks made of the pelts of their namesake animal, and other Khans wore and carried similar totems of their Clans. The gray leathers he himself wore were reminiscent of a wolf's coloration. The riot of textures, styles, and hues made the assembly of Khans a brilliant spectacle. The fact that he had never witnessed such a gathering prior to his elevation to the rank of Khan meant that he looked at everything through a child's eyes, and was impressed accordingly.

  Each Khan also wore an enameled helm fashioned after the Clan's symbolic animal. Vlad's own helmet bore a snarling wolf face and erect ears. Marthe Pryde's sharp-beaked, big-eyed helm made her the avatar of her Clan's fierce falcon. The dorsal fin crest on the Diamond Shark helmets made their Khans almost as tall as Lincoln Osis of the Smoke Jaguars.

  Kael Pershaw—a twisted creature who appeared to be more metal than flesh, more machine than man—hammered a gavel against the Loremaster's desktop at the head of the room. "I am Kael Pershaw and have been chosen as Loremaster for this gathering of the Grand Council. I hereby convene this conclave under the provisions of the Martial Code as laid down by Nicholas Kerensky. Because we exist in a state of war, all matters shall be conducted according to its provisions."

  "Seyla," Vlad breathed reverently. He seated himself and fought the urge to pull his helmet off. The symbol of the Wolf will frighten more of my fellow Khans than my face will. He felt the tightness of his flesh where, the scar puckered the left side of his face. There is no reason to remind them that I have been weak before.

  Pershaw looked up at the assembly. "There is, this day, a matter most serious for your consideration. Khan Asa Taney of the Ice Hellions has proposed a Ritual of Absorption."

  The Ice Hellion Khan rose from his position in the middle of the assembly, two rows down from Vlad, and laid his helmet on the table in front of him. The white helmet had been fashioned into the visage of the vicious pack predator of the planet Hector's tundra. The image looked ferocious, though Vlad and other Wolves had always denigrated it by calling it a rime-stoat. And just like a weasel clan to suggest the Absorption.

  The large-headed Ice Hellion pilot smoothed his red hair into place. "It is with deep regret that I suggest Absorption, but there is no question that some of our Clans have suffered too much damage to continue to be viable. As we have always done, by absorbing one Clan into another, we preserved the genetic potential for our breeding program. I call for a Ritual of Absorption to prevent losses from which we cannot recover."

  Ian Hawker, the fair-eyed and -haired Khan of the Diamond Sharks, unmasked himself and stood across from Taney. "I find myself concurring with this call for Absorption. Continuing the Crusade is of vital importance. We cannot afford to allow a dull edge on the blade we employ against the Inner Sphere. The time for Absorption has come."

  Marthe Pryde doffed her helmet as she stood, but kept it under her right arm instead of setting it on the table. "Loremaster, in the previous two Absorptions, was the Ritual called for prior to the designation of a target Clan?"

  Pershaw punched a request into the datapad at his desk, then shook his head. "The procedure Khan Taney is following is the tradition. There is nothing in the record to reflect, in a formal sense, that the choice of Clans to be absorbed was made before the vote was taken. However, Clans Widowmaker and Mongoose had suffered a number of reversals in the decade prior to the Ritual being enacted."

  "Ah, a decade's worth of reversals. The failure of two breeding cycles." Marthe's tone was casual, but no one missed the implication.

  Two cycles of failure mean serious problems with their breeding program. That is not the sort of problem the Wolves have had, and our reversals are merely a year old. Vlad stood but kept his helmet on. "Perhaps Khan Asa Taney could be persuaded to define what it is that makes a Clan viable in his eyes."

  The Ice Hellion smiled indulgently. "I would think viability is obvious. A Clan must be able to supply, train, and deploy troops of sufficient number and quality that they can defeat their enemies and win great victories. This is the purpose for which the Clans were crafted."

  "I see." Vlad removed his helmet carefully and set it down on the table, with its snarling muzzle pointed toward the Ice Hellion. "Please, then, answer this question for me—would a Clan capable of mounting a two-hundred-light year penetration of the Inner Sphere, meeting and savaging the best troops the Inner Sphere has to offer be considered viable or non-viable to your mind?"

  Taney frowned. "We are not discussing the Wolves' past victories, Khan Ward. You yourself severed your Clan's history from those Wolves, in any event. That is all ancient history— we are interested in current events and their ramifications."

  "As am I, Khan Taney." Vlad looked over to his right. "The events I have described are those accomplished by the Jade Falcons since last a Grand Council met. The Falcons organized, trained, and armed troops that scythed through the Inner Sphere with incredible ease. They ripped apart some of the most seasoned troops the Inner Sphere has to offer."

  Hawker snarled. "And then they fled from a force that was sufficient to give them a good battle."

  Marthe started to reply to that point, but Vlad held up a hand to forestall her. "And do you know why she accepted hegira from the troops on Coventry?" He let the question hang in the air for a moment, allowing the word cowardice to surface in the minds of the other Khans, then he answered it. "She chose to accept their offer because she had discovered that I was massing troops to take some invasion-corridor worlds away from her. Why would she waste her troops against Inner Sphere forces that clearly had no belly for a fight when she could pit them against my warriors? She did what every one of you wo
uld have done, and in your hearts you know it."

  Lincoln Osis got to his feet and rested a massive ebon hand on top of the helmet he'd set on his desk. "Khan Ward's point is well taken. The Jade Falcons are obviously viable and even virile. The Wolves who fled to the Inner Sphere so fear them that they have allied themselves with mercenaries for protection. It seems clear that anyone suggesting an Absorption did not have the Jade Falcons in mind as a target."

  Ian Hawker's expression sharpened. "Indeed, it would seem that there is but one Clan that is a likely candidate for Absorption."

  Marthe Pryde looked out over the other Khans. "Do you meant to suggest that the Wolves are ripe?"

  Taney nodded. "Your predecessors in the Jade Falcons thought so, though their attempt at doing that was misguided and bungled."

  "Which is why my predecessors are dead."

  "Granted. The fact remains that the Wolves have suffered significant reversals." Taney shook his head. "Not only did the war with the Jade Falcons tax them, but the Warden element of the Wolves removed itself, further weakening the Clan. We have a history of weakness there."

  Marthe arched an eyebrow. "Do we?"

  Taney blinked. "It is obvious, quiaff?"

  "Neg, Khan Taney." Marthe showed teeth amid a shallow grin. "Did you not just tell Khan Ward that his Wolves were divorced from the victorious history of the other Wolves? How can his Clan have suffered reversals when it did not exist at the time those reversals occurred? Would you have the sons suffer for the sins of the fathers?"

  Hawker waved her protest away. "It does not matter, Marthe, for the Wolves are a weak whelp."

  "Weak, are they?" Marthe looked over at Lincoln Osis. "Which Clan is weaker, the Clan that wins a fight or the Clan that loses it? Seven months ago the Wolves successfully raided Kiamba. They took breeding stock from you, did they not, Lincoln? If defeating you did not prove their strength, certainly the seeding of Osis blood in their sibkos should make them strong, quiaff?"

  Osis snarled and Vlad wanted to applaud. You have eloquently returned the favor I have done you, Marthe.

  The Smoke Jaguar nodded slowly. "It is true that the Wolves mounted an extended raid through the Ghost Bear occupation zone and hit our world of Kiamba. They soundly defeated the troops we had there. Khan Ward did win bondsmen and breeding stock, but this does not mean the Wolves could not be a target for Absorption."

  Vlad opened his arms. "I agree with the Smoke Jaguar Khan's analysis, and even that of Khan Taney, though I think neither of them has carried their analysis far enough. Asa Taney said that for a Clan to be viable it must be able to produce enough well-trained and well-armed troops to be able to stage operations and win victories. I would suggest that there is another level for the test of viability." He let his voice drop to a harsh growl. "That is this: for a Clan to be viable, it must also have the willingness, the heart, to actually find an enemy and attack."

  Vlad pointed toward the Ice Hellion Khan. "For the last eight years the Jade Falcons and Wolves and other Clans have been fighting against the Inner Sphere. How many battles have you fought in that time, Asa Taney? Have you raided our homeworlds? You claim you are strong, but you do nothing to prove it."

  Taney puffed his chest out. "I would be more than willing to provide Khan Ward with an analysis of the Ice Hellions' strength so he can read for himself how tough we are."

  "Your datafile strength is worth exactly the energy needed to destroy the disk." Vlad leaned forward and leered down at the man. "If the Ice Hellions had any heart, you'd find a fight in which to prove yourselves."

  "And I will fight your Clan if you are the target of the Absorption, Vlad Ward."

  "Ha!" Vlad shook his head. "If the Wolves were made the object of the Absorption, the Ice Hellions would never win the bidding to take us over. The Ghost Bears or Smoke Jaguars or even the Jade Falcons would outbid you for us. The fact is that you and the other Clans not included in the invasion of the Inner Sphere have been left so far behind the rest of us that you could never absorb an invading clan. What we have learned fighting against the Inner Sphere has made us inherently stronger than you will ever be. If there is to be Absorption, it will not be an invading Clan that is gobbled up."

  Straightening up, Vlad pointed to first the Falcon and then the Jaguar Khan. "Ask Marthe Pryde. Ask Lincoln Osis. They know that your secret dreams of absorbing an invading clan and thereby taking its place are folly. The only leaders capable of completing the Crusade against the Inner Sphere are those who have been tested in the crucible of combat. Surviving Tukayyid is a test any true leader must have passed. We have known victories and we have known defeats. It is only through these things that we have learned what must be done to defeat the Inner Sphere."

  Lincoln Osis folded his bulging black arms across his chest. "Though I may find this Wolf's audacity and arrogance an annoyance, he has battle-won wisdom, for which there is no substitute. If there is to be an Absorption, I do not look forward to bidding against him for the right to absorb any of you."

  Marthe laughed. "You betray your own arrogance, Lincoln, by assuming you would be competing with Vlad for the right to absorb another clan."

  Vlad smiled and gave Marthe a quick nod. Lincoln Osis came around quickly to the idea that only an invading Clan Khan could possibly lead us to victory in the Inner Sphere. He knows the Wolves, the Jade Falcons, and the Ghost Bears will not provide candidates against him, and likely the Nova Cats will also refrain from nominating one of their own. That leaves the Steel Vipers or the Diamond Sharks to oppose him, but neither of them were part of the original four invading Clans and their defeats on Tukayyid were positively embarrassing. By backing me, he positions himself to be elected ilKhan.

  Vlad smiled at Kael Pershaw. "Perhaps, Loremaster, it is time to call for a vote concerning Absorption."

  Taney raised a hand. "In light of the cogent arguments against Absorption, I will withdraw my proposal."

  Ian Hawker turned on him. "Have you no spine?"

  Marthe laughed. "I believe Khan Taney has no appreciation for irony, for it would have been ironic had his proposal resulted in the Absorption of his Clan."

  Khan Taney blushed purple. "I invite any of you to step into a Circle of Equals if you doubt my courage."

  Vlad interlaced his fingers and bridged his hands, cracking his knuckles audibly. "Had I not recently slain an ilKhan, I would take you up on that invitation."

  "Enough, Khan Ward." Lincoln Osis held a hand up. "There are matters of importance to be decided here, and killing off Khans will not hasten the decisions."

  Vlad bowed his head. "You are right, of course, Khan Osis. My apologies."

  The consternation on Lincoln Osis' dark face almost made Vlad smile. When last we spoke, such an order from him would have provoked a sharp response from me, but here I acquiesce. He cannot believe his fortune at my deferring to him here. This is good. A confused enemy is a defeated enemy.

  Vlad looked over and caught Marthe Pryde watching him. She, too, seems surprised at me. She hates politics, but I think she is mesmerized by it as well. A curious combination. One that bears watching in a foe ... and in an ally.

  Kael Pershaw crashed his gavel against the table. "The matter of Absorption has been withdrawn. The next, most pressing item to deal with is the election of an ilKhan, but some procedural matters must be taken care of first. Some of you have not seen combat recently enough or have not tested out as a warrior recently enough to be recognized as warriors for the purpose of casting a ballot for the ilKhan. Once that problem is remedied, we can proceed."

  Vlad folded his arms over his chest and looked down at the other Khans. So, many of you are warriors in your dreams alone. It does not surprise me. What does surprise me is how you did not take warning from Elias Crichell's death for the same lack of standing. Have the Clans we left behind sunk so far or am I just risen so high?

  After a moment's thought, he answered his own question, and donned his helmet again to hide his smile.r />
  9

  Royal Court, The Triad

  Tharkad City, Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  4 October 3058

  Victor Davion sat back in his chair and looked up at the holographically projected agenda for the conference's first strategy planning session. The items on it seemed to him to be positively benign and hardly befitting a council of war. He had already made up his mind about the approach necessary to take on the Clans, but the Precentor Martial had correctly pointed out that the coalition leadership would have to be brought around to his way of thinking before they would agree to it.

  And agree to commit troops to it. Holding the coalition force together was vital for two reasons. The first was that only by presenting the Clans with a united front would the Clans realize that piecemeal conquest of the Inner Sphere was not going to be possible. If everyone were not involved in the fighting, the recreation of the Star League would be shown to be a sham. Victor could easily imagine the Clans interpreting the new Star League as a trick meant to shame them, and it would be used as yet further proof that the Inner Sphere definitely needed to be conquered.

  The second and more important reason everyone had to fight together was because none of them could afford to throw troops into the offensive if they also risked losing worlds in attacks by other states while their backs were turned. Victor was sure that both Theodore Kurita and his sister Katherine understood the true threat of the Clans, but he wasn't convinced Sun-Tzu might not view renewed war against the Clans as a means to expanding his own Capellan Confederation. Moreover, the military resources that would be needed to defeat the Clans were more than any two or three realms could provide.