Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  The pang of fear trickling through his guts surprised him. The pain of betrayal is the fear of losing the one who has been betrayed. He could intellectualize the emotion, dissect it, and analyze it, but somehow that did not drain it of its power. He was afraid of losing Katrina over an incident that, among the Clans, would pass without comment. Yet she would see it as betrayal, hence I fear I have betrayed her. Very interesting.

  Vlad glanced over toward the entrance to the bathroom. The sound of water running in the shower cut off, then the shower stall door clicked open. He heard the gentle rasp of a towel being drawn from the rack, then the lights in the bathroom went out.

  The woman who emerged into the room's half-light used the towel to dry her hair. Droplets of water still glistened on the flesh of her long legs and pert breasts. Vlad could see the shadowed tracery of her ribs and watched muscles move with fluid power as she approached the bed. His body recalled moving with and against her, prompting a smile to creep across his lips.

  Marthe Pryde tossed the towel back over her shoulder, swept black hair out of her face with her right hand, then stretched herself out on the bed beside him. She sighed contentedly, then rested her chin on her arms and looked up at him. "When you invited me to meet with you and discuss our situations, this was not what you expected to happen, quineg?"

  "Neg. I find no cause to complain, but this was unexpected."

  Marthe smiled slyly. "Good. I think it is best if you remember you can be taken by surprise."

  "You may have sprung the ambush, Marthe Pryde, but I was under the impression I gave as good as I got." Vlad rolled over onto his right flank and rested his head on his right hand. "Were all surprise attacks resolved to this level of satisfaction, I might willingly seek them out."

  "Ah, but the resolution is always part of the surprise." She closed her eyes for a moment. "And this was a very pleasant one. You Wolves can be quite inventive."

  "And you Falcons can be quite artful in the use of traditional methods." Vlad allowed himself to laugh lightly. "Of course, news of this alliance would shock our followers."

  "Less them, I think, than our colleagues in the Grand Council." Marthe frowned slightly. "I cannot believe none of them had the good grace to die as they tested out to be considered warriors again."

  "Agreed. I was particularly impressed at the performance of the two Nova Cat Khans. They are both ancient, yet both won stunning victories over their opponents."

  "It was almost as if they knew what the others were going to do before they did it. The Nova Cats have long spouted nonsense about their visions of the future. I have never believed any of it, but prescience would explain how well they did."

  "Prescience or orchestration." Vlad's brow wrinkled in a frown. "I suspect that is how the Ice Hellions' Taney won his contest. Either he choreographed the fight or is one of the luckiest men alive."

  "I would favor luck over planning because Taney has never displayed much in the way of forethought." Marthe levered herself up on her elbows. "He is trusting in his luck as he campaigns for ilKhan. He does not realize that your comments about needing a leader who was tested on Tukayyid killed his chances of becoming ilKhan. You will easily defeat him when it comes to a vote."

  "You think I mean to become ilKhan?"

  "I believe your election would be premature." Marthe bobbed her head once. "You do not have the seasoning needed to be an effective ilKhan."

  "I concur."

  "You do?"

  "Completely. I am not afraid of shouldering the responsibility that would be thrust upon me, but I do fear failure."

  Marthe hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "And you feel you would fail in the conquest of the Inner Sphere?"

  "No, there is no spectre of failure there." Vlad smiled easily. "What I fear is a failure when it comes to leading the Clans. Think about how the Clans are aligned right now: We have four divisions: Crusaders and Wardens, then Invading Clans and the Home Clans. Weakest of all are the Home Wardens, followed by the Invading Wardens. The true power struggle is between the Crusader factions, with the Home Crusaders determined to step to the fore. While your assessment of my comments in the Grand Council was pleasant, I think it was less than wholly accurate."

  "Perhaps" Marthe shrugged. "I do not see Taney and the Home Crusaders being able to gather much power to oppose any other ilKhan candidate."

  "Taney and the Home Crusaders are not wholly stupid. They are agitating among the young warriors in the Home Clans to get them to put pressure on their leadership."

  Marthe nodded solemnly. "Ah, this is why there has been so much delay and insistence upon all the testing and Blood-name contests. They want to be able to pack the Clan Councils with young warriors who are looking forward to winning glory in a renewed invasion."

  Vlad smiled. "Yes. It is the same technique that Marialle Radick and I used to precipitate the leadership crisis in the Wolf Clan. We used the spectre of the truce to make people afraid they would never have a chance to prove themselves. The Home Crusaders are using the spectre of being frozen out of the renewed invasion to do much the same thing."

  Her eyes narrowed. "This explains a great deal. Like you, I have spent much time here on Strana Mechty overseeing Bloodname contests. From the newly Bloodnamed warriors I have been hearing anti-Smoke Jaguar sentiment by the bucketful. Taney and the others see the Smoke Jaguars as likely leading the new invasion."

  "Appropriate, quiaff, since Leo Showers of the Smoke Jaguars was the invasion's first ilKhan."

  "Aff, especially since your comments in the Grand Council seemed to anoint Lincoln Osis as the next likely ilKhan."

  "Noticed that, did you?"

  "You could not have been more obvious."

  "Thank you." Vlad traced a finger across the sheets, making nonsense symbols out of the wrinkles. "The divisions in the Clans mean that whoever becomes ilKhan—Osis or Taney or anyone else—will be leading a force that is fragmented. The Home Crusaders hate the rest of us for our successes, and they fear us because of them. The Wardens don't like Crusaders and will be very hesitant to do anything that will contribute to our continuing success. The Smoke Jaguars, seeing themselves as the strongest of the Invading Crusaders, will push hard to finish off the Draconis Combine and push on to Terra. Even if another Clan takes Terra, having the Combine as a vassal state will make the Smoke Jaguars a force to be reckoned with."

  "Your analysis seems flawless." Marthe extended her hands, touching his chest as she stretched. Drawing one arm under her chin again, she asked, "So what do you see as a viable course of action in all this?"

  "Several things need to happen." Vlad raised a finger. "First the Smoke Jaguars must be humbled. We accomplish this by engineering Lincoln Osis' election as ilKhan. In that position he will try to push the Jaguars ahead, but he is in a very poor position to do so. The Ghost Bears are Wardens, so they will offer him no quarter if the Inner Sphere fights back. If the Jade Falcons and Wolves do little or nothing on our front, we allow the Inner Sphere to shift troops around to deal with the Jaguars."

  "What about the Nova Cats?"

  "We have no way of knowing what they will do, but there has been fighting between them and the Smoke Jaguars, so I do not imagine they will support Osis' war. The Inner Sphere must react to renewed hostilities, and the Smoke Jaguars are tactically primitive enough that they can be defeated."

  Marthe smiled. "If Osis' offensive results in a loss of worlds, he proves he is no leader."

  "True. More important, losses will mean that the Home Clans will feel threatened. That should help unify the Clans— a unity that Osis won't have since the Home Clans will be frozen out of his renewed invasion."

  "How do you figure that?"

  "Where will they come in? You and I will not surrender any of our worlds to them. The Ghost Bears will not allow them in, so the only choice is for Osis to provide them an attacking vector through his occupation zone. He will not do that, nor will he allow them to attack beyond the scope of the or
iginal attack vectors because that would allow them to go against areas that have not been built up to repel an attack."

  "Though that would be the wisest plan."

  "Agreed, but he is viewing the invasion as a contest with a prize at the end, not as a military action with the goal of destroying the Inner Sphere. His lack of foresight means that instead of drawing upon the strength of the Clans united, he looks to win a contest that will give him a unity and loyalty he would be better off earning."

  Marthe nodded. "So, by giving Osis what he wants, we allow him to destroy himself and his Clan."

  "Correct. And when it comes time to replace him and choose a new leader for the Clans, only two candidates will fulfill the job description."

  "You and me."

  Vlad nodded. "You and me. I know which of us I would choose, but, ultimately that choice will not matter."

  "No?"

  "No." Vlad smiled coldly. "When the true conquest of the Inner Sphere is resumed, there will be more than enough glory for both of us and enough power to be won to sate even the most avaricious dreams either of us had ever had."

  16

  Capellan Cultural Center, The Triad

  Tharkad City, Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  5 November 3058

  Katrina Steiner found the office Sun-Tzu had appropriated at the Capellan Cultural Center far too dark for her tastes. Dim lighting deepened the hues of the teak and mahogany furnishings. Though pinpoint spots did brightly illuminate many of the wonderful rice-paper paintings hung on the walls or the delightfully delicate jade carvings sitting atop pedestals, their light did not extend much beyond the treasures they showed off.

  Katrina knew exactly what sort of emotion the display was designed to inspire. People feel humbled when surrounded by such antiquity and beauty. The treasures are links back to Terra, the womb of all humanity, and I am meant to be impressed. The link to Terra also suggests a legitimacy of Liao claims concerning leadership and supremacy in what was once the Star League. She allowed herself to smile. However, I can render planets uninhabitable with the stroke of a pen. I am not easily impressed.

  Sun-Tzu uncoiled himself from the chair he'd been using. The snarling tigers worked into his gold silk jacket matched the carved tigers forming either edge of the chair's back. The chair next to his, which clearly was meant for her, showed similar fine craftsmanship, though the creatures used to decorate it were peacocks. Katrina wondered if that was some sort of slight or meant to honor her.

  Sun-Tzu towered above her and offered her his hand. "I am most honored by your acceptance of my invitation to visit me."

  Katrina shook his hand briefly, then clasped her hands at the small of her back. "Is there a reason, Chancellor, that you thought I would not accept?"

  He smiled and waved her to the peacock chair. "As I last recall, you were somewhat put out by my conquest of Northwind."

  "Conquest?" She forced a smile to cover her quick flash of anger. Sun-Tzu had moved to take worlds that she had declared as part of her Lyran Alliance. That proclamation had been more to annoy her brother than anything else, though Northwind was a prize she wished she had kept. The famed mercenaries, the Northwind Highlanders, made their home there and being able to add them to one's army was far from a bad thing.

  "As I recall, Chancellor, you gave the world to the Highlanders—a world they would have taken and could have held apart from your Confederation. Your control over them is nominal."

  "Ah, yes, much like your control over Colonel Kell and his Kell Hounds."

  Katrina seated herself and crossed her legs. Her pale gray skirt rose enough to permit a view of the gray leather boots encasing her legs to the knee. "Were there no disappointments in life, we would all be bored. Your claim on Northwind was not to my liking, but I hardly see it as justifying enmity between us. In fact, I believe I am in your debt."

  Sun-Tzu's jade eyes widened. "In my debt? How did I manage that?"

  "Your attack on Morgan Kell in the opening session pleased me. Morgan's presence will, in the long term, prove useful, but at the time it was an insult to me, propagated by my brother."

  The Chancellor nodded. "Victor is akin to a fish bone in the throat: small but difficult to ignore, and potentially fatal."

  "I can see how you formed that opinion of him." Katrina sighed. "He has his uses, however. The trick is making certain that the throat he sticks in is not your own. In this case, I think the Clans will choke on him, and they're welcome to him."

  Sun-Tzu frowned. "You really think Victor would consent to lead the taskforce?"

  "Consent? He sees it as his destiny. Why else does he have Yvonne here? She's getting on-the-job training so she can take his place running the Federated Commonwealth while he's gone." She laughed lightly. "The difficult job would be in keeping Victor here. And, face it, no one else is better suited to leading the taskforce."

  "No?"

  "Who would do it? You?" Her laughter came a bit more quickly. "The Precentor Martial is too old, Hohiro Kurita is valiant, but his record against the Clans is not very good. Kai doesn't have the political standing either, while the rest of the leaders are too old or not suited to waging warfare. No, Victor will be the leader. Nothing you or I could do would change that."

  "Good." Sun-Tzu nodded solemnly. "I will find it easier to rest if your brother is off fighting the Clans and Kai is with him."

  Katrina sat back and watched Sun-Tzu through half-closed eyes. The Sun-Tzu she had met or communicated with previously had always seemed a bit more off balance than the man seated across from her. His hatred for Kai and Victor was legendary and had prompted occasional tirades that could carry on for tens of minutes in the middle of an otherwise mundane message. Irrationality was his shield. Why is he letting it slip now, with me?

  "Chancellor, you surprise me. Usually the mention of my brother or Kai seems to inspire you to apoplexy."

  "A tiger's stripes, Archon. Protective coloration. My realm is tiny, and many dismiss it because they believe I have inherited my family's madness." Sun-Tzu shrugged. "If I am underestimated because of this, then I have an advantage over others."

  "Why let me know you've been playing us all for fools?"

  "It is a calculated risk. Many take you to be a social butterfly who is ruling by force of personality alone, but I do not believe that."

  "No?"

  "No. If that were true, my uncle never would have deigned to come and work for you. And, since you have not launched a major effort to destabilize my realm, I know that he does not have undue influence over you, suggesting there is more steel to your spine than I have previously imagined." Sun-Tzu opened his hands. "The both of us wear masks and that makes us allies of sorts."

  "Allies? Why would I consider you an ally?"

  "We share enemies, Archon. Your brother, for one, would love to wipe out both of our realms. Thomas Marik is also an enemy to each of us, and he uses us against each other. You have to worry about his realm falling to Isis and me. I have to worry that he will wed you and produce an heir to both of your realms."

  "Thomas marry me?" Katrina barked out a laugh. "Never happen, I am afraid. Your worry is not for my child, but for the child of his consort. Sooner or later you know he will have one by her."

  "Yes, that will be a problem." Sun-Tzu looked over at her. "Of course, I could marry you and Thomas would find himself trapped between us."

  Sun-Tzu's comment caught Katrina by surprise. Part of her rebelled instantly, but she smothered the cutting snicker with which she wanted to answer that suggestion. She knew Sun-Tzu's lack of appeal to her came because of years of conditioning. Since childhood, the spawn of Maximilian Liao—with the exception of Candace—were usually demented monsters. Maximilian had tried to take the Federated Suns away from her father and that was justification enough to hate him and all of his progeny. There had even been hints that Candace might have been born of Maximilian's wife, but that any connection to Max himself e
nded there—all in an attempt to justify why she was suitable to maintain as an ally.

  An alliance between Katrina and Sun-Tzu would create a significant power block within the Inner Sphere. It would allow for the immediate pacification of the Chaos March and strengthen the Lyran Alliance by bringing back into it more worlds than were lost to the Clans. Thomas Marik would be put in a difficult position by the marriage, but unable to conquer his enemies, he would reach an accommodation with them. Three realms would become, in effect, one, allowing battle lines between her and her brother to be cleanly drawn.

  "You and I marrying, Sun-Tzu, would produce some advantages, but I am unconvinced that now is the time to consider such a thing." Katrina smiled. "You are, after all, engaged to Isis Marik."

  "Indeed, I am, and have been for over six years." Sun-Tzu hissed out the time span as if it were a bitter poison. "Thomas has reneged on his word for setting a date, so the engagement is a sham. He holds his realm out like a carrot, but keeps hitting me with the stick. Granted, his support of my strike into the Sarna March was a taste of the carrot, but the fact of the matter is that he never intends me to have it."

  "Ah, and what does the carrot think about this?"

  "Isis?" Sun-Tzu's eyes narrowed. "I suspect she is another who hides behind a mask. I know she has ambitions, but I don't know what they are. I don't think she is working fist in glove with her father to engineer the absorption of my realm. If that were true we'd already be married and I'd have suffered an accident by now."

  Katrina made no effort to hide her surprise. "You think she would have you murdered?"

  "Remember, Thomas ascended to the throne of the Free Worlds League because of the assassination of his father. Victor came into his birthright the same way. Even you owe that assassin a debt of gratitude for your position. With Isis in place, my days could be numbered. Fortunately I have insurance: Kali."