She gave a courteous nod to all concerned and stepped back to her usual position behind him.
Now Antonio found himself facing the other Chieftain again. Hitch’s face still presented a façade of stone, but he noted the man’s companion had started coming back down into his web from a branch above. Antonio hoped it counted as a good sign.
“Very well,” he began, “now that we are both agreed on the basics of the situation, I think it would be best if I avoid wasting everybody’s time and come straight to offering you our proposal.”
He braced himself, looked the other Chieftain squarely in the eye, and continued.
“I would like to ask your permission to take a team of my best hunters, armed with high powered weaponry and psi-blockers, into your territory so we may hunt down and terminate this threat. Obviously, you would want some men along to monitor this team, but we would need for them to take psi-blockers, too. We would also have a helicopter at the ready nearby so once we engage this entity we can keep track of her from the air and not lose her. What we would mainly need you to do is have people on standby, ready to deal with any evidence afterward. I believe, with this approach, we can flush the rogue out and kill it within twenty-four hours. But…”
And here he paused, to make sure the next part of his proposal made its full impact.
“But…this cannot be an isolated instance of cooperation. If we are to do this, then I want it to result in a full, permanent, peace treaty both of us can live with. I know we have all lost people, and there will be some who don’t want this, but it is time for this war to come to an end. It endangers us as much as any rogue. And as the world gets smaller and more advanced around us, there may be other accidental intrusions into your territory.
Think how much grief would have been saved if you would have had the option to simply call us and had us deal with this latest problem. We must not let another similar situation go this far again. We were all very lucky.
So, I request you put this to your Great Mother and get back to us with her answer as soon as possible. We will be staying at the Salt Pine Hotel through this weekend to await her decision. I thank you for your hospitality.”
With that, Antonio stopped and waited to see how this would go down.
At first, the three men gave no reaction at all. They simply looked at him, thumbs hooked in their belts, as if waiting to see if he had anything else to say. Antonio had actually expected them to stop and converse with each other over this latest proposal…and then suddenly realized that was exactly what they were doing.
Right! These are all second and third generation. They’re full-time telepaths. They’re talking this over right now which is why they’ve gone so still. If this works, these people are going to take some serious getting used to.
Finally, the leader of the Spider tribe responded.
“The Great Mother must have seen this one coming,” he stated. “You can get your boys together, and outfit them as you see fit. A couple of us will meet you at the store early Saturday morning. We’ll have a couple of other people go out and see to it the authorities have things to keep them busy on the other side of the county.
As for your treaty, this would have to go through the Great Mother. She does things her own way, and her ways are old ways. What it amounts to is this…if you present her with the fangs of her rival, you can ask for a gift that is within her power in return. Ask for the treaty while you hold the trophy in your hands, and it’ll most likely be granted.”
Antonio took this in and glanced back at Olivia and Cesar. This wasn’t exactly what he expected, and right now could use input from them. As much as they were at odds with each other, he knew they would both put their animus aside for the moment.
“That sounds like her in the legend of Little Creek,” Cesar mused. “It seems like we better look at all the old legends with a new eye.”
“I concur,” Olivia added softly. “This would be consistent with the model I’m arriving at as well. Sir, I think Chief Hitch just made his best offer. I recommend we take it.”
So that was it then.
Antonio nodded and turned back to the white-haired leader of the other tribe. He couldn’t really tell how the other man felt about this deal. How much of it was his idea, and how much imposed from above? Or was it mutual? He had to believe the Spider People mostly governed themselves, but it was obviously within parameters set from above. At what point did they defer to that higher authority? And under what circumstances?
I guess it doesn’t matter for now. For now, let’s settle for making history.
“Very well,” Antonio agreed. “Those terms are acceptable. Since we have settled things to this point, I will return to Houston tonight with Elder Cesar and brief our Council tomorrow. Then I shall spend the rest of the week preparing for the hunt. I shall leave my second here at the Salt Pine to hold rooms for the hunters, along with a few men. You may contact me through her if the need arises.”
Chief Hitch nodded, and if Olivia was surprised by her continued stay in Hallisboro, she gave no sign.
Might as well, Antonio grouched to himself. Now that they’ve gone and hitched themselves, it’s not like there’s anything left for those two to surprise me with.
###
Later that night, not long after crossing the Brazos, the small contingent of Elders from the Spider Tribe reached the edge of the Great Mother’s range. Swift visual and verbal summations were transmitted then immediately rebroadcast out over the rest of the clan. Within twenty seconds the entire tribe was aware of the meeting’s events and outcome.
The first reaction was alarm at the thought of the dreaded Dog People sending an entire squad of heavily armed killers into their lands. But this was a gut response, and it was swiftly tempered by the growing realization of what had actually been accomplished. This time the Dog People wouldn’t be coming as raiders. They would be allies.
And if they succeeded, there would be peace.
This evoked mixed reactions. Over the decades, loved ones had been lost in the raids of the Dog People. Of course, losses had been incurred by both sides, and previously the Spider Tribe had come within a hair’s breadth of completely exterminating their rivals, but this hardly factored in the initial response of many. Arguments and counter-arguments flashed across the shared consciousness making up much of the southwestern tip of Cole County. Here and there, passions flared as the memory of a lost loved one was invoked in opposition to this new development. They were like brief, hot, brilliant stars on the web of minds that were all anchored by the silent, powerful presence in its center.
But cooler heads started invoking faces of their own. Faces of children who now had a chance to grow up without the fear of rushing off to defend the edge of their territory against ruthless killers. A chance for a future without secret firefights, burials, and executions. A chance for something they had experienced only once, during a brief episode in their history when they thought their enemies were dead.
A chance for peace.
Besides, the Dog Woman at the meeting had shown their vulnerability. They were in constant danger of discovery in this new world, and they were not a technical people. Mechanical, yes…extraordinarily gifted in other ways, yes…but the new electronic devices, especially the wireless ones, caused them varying degrees of discomfort and so they had never incorporated them into their world except in what they viewed as vital circumstances. If the Dog People now wanted to ally, then their proficiency in this new digital world would be a great asset. Maybe even a lifesaving one.
The turmoil gradually settled, and now the tribe moved toward consensus. If the Dog People could indeed stop the rogue, then they were open to this new arrangement. Maybe only tentatively open, but some things took time. Besides, if the Great Mother did make one of her rare interventions and offer peace, then who were they to disagree?
The decision would be hers. Most of the really big ones were.
So everybody in the area returned to bed, if not with cautiou
s optimism then with a sense of resigned acceptance…
…with two notable exceptions.
Billy Clayton paused as he slipped out the back door of the house that used to belong to Arthur and Maggie Weston. He followed the conversation with interest, and then with a growing sense of horror as he understood the mechanics of the deal. Unbelievably, things had now gotten worse.
“Oh shit!” he groaned to his companion keeping watch on the roof above him, “Everything is more screwed up than before. Even if Maggie’s plan works she’s just trashed everything.”
But what could he do?
He couldn’t betray Maggie. He couldn’t go to the Elders. He couldn’t even admit he had been in touch with her. But he couldn’t let an opportunity this important to his people be destroyed either.
The boy set the bag full of ammunition he had been carrying down and slumped down on the steps with his head in his hands.
What the hell could he do?
Meanwhile, out past the normal range of the clan’s psionic network, another very powerful mind also noted the news and passed its implications along to her new acolyte.
“So they are sending the Dog People after me,” the image of Karen Sellars reported as she watched a filth-incrusted Sonni unearth a high-powered rifle in the attic. “But if they are waiting until this Saturday, then they will be too late. My brood is already starting to hatch. By the time the Dog People arrive, my rival and all her children will be dead.
But until then, we must be wary. I am stuck to this spot until my children are ready to travel.”
“Right,” Sonni replied with happy enthusiasm as she worked the bolt of the rifle then peered through its telescopic sight. “You and me. We’ll kill them all.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
RENEGADE DIPLOMACY
Adam woke to the soft tapping of fingers hitting a keyboard.
He rubbed his eyes and opened them to see he was back in his bed at the motel. The lights were out, but the dim glow from what had to be Olivia’s laptop monitor gave him enough illumination to see. Once again he was still dressed, although this time his braces and socks had been removed.
He rolled over to see her finish typing and rise from her chair.
“Adam, are you okay?”
“I suppose,” he sighed. “At least I know Tucker is still alive, and I imagine he’ll be okay. That has to count for something. I guess tonight didn’t go exactly according to plan.”
“I know.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “I feel like it’s my fault. I think Grandma Lilah would have found a different reason to break the deal anyway, but I can’t believe I gave her such a made-to-order pretext without even considering the possibility. I feel like I’ve let you down.”
“Hey…” He sat up and hugged her. “You haven’t let anybody down. This was originally my idea, remember? You were just awesome enough to think I was worthy of you. I will never, ever regret that, no matter what the cost. Now, tell me why you think she would have broken the deal anyway?”
“Wait here,” she instructed and got up to retrieve her computer.
She sat down on the bed beside him and called up an image of Tucker as he turned to pet Grandma Lilah’s spider in the doorway from Saturday night. She used a split screen to zoom in on his forearm and part of his shoulder visible due to the loose neck of his t-shirt.
“After the stunt Grandma Lilah pulled last night, I realized there was still something more I hadn’t figured out. Even if the Spider People had grown fond of the boy, she would have never risked botching such a critical negotiation merely to keep him…at least not without a powerful motive for doing so. See these?” She indicated two areas in the pictures.
The pictures were blurry due to the extreme magnification, but Adam thought he could make out two discolored areas where she pointed.
“I think so, what are they?”
“I believe those are spider bites,” she replied.
“Spider bites! But I thought he had adapted to them. I thought they were taking care of him as one of their own!”
“They are.” She eyed him gravely. “Adam, those bites were ‘self inflicted.’ Those are two of the areas the Spider People tend to order their spiders to bite when they want a boost of veneno. It seems that against all odds, Tucker Sellars is a talent.”
It took him a second to wrap his head around this latest revelation.
“You mean like Antonio, and most of the Spider People?”
“Yes, and since he is a talent from a brand new, outside bloodline…his value to the Spider People would be immense. You’re very fortunate, Adam… if they hadn’t been in the position created by the rogue Matriarch, they would have most likely ignored our overture to them and continued trying to kill you.”
“I suppose.” He shook his head at the picture. “Although at the moment I would say ‘lucky’ is the last thing I feel. But enough about me for the moment…how are you doing?”
Olivia favored him with a puzzled look.
“Me? I’m doing fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, I seem to remember our secret being blared to Antonio and the world. And right in front of his enemies, and one of his bosses as well. I’m sure he loved that. So let’s just say I was concerned you weren’t his favorite niece anymore.”
“Ah,” she nodded, “in that case you will be relieved to know he was in a good mood due to the outcome of the meeting. So good in fact, he has chosen to wait until returning from Houston this weekend before deciding which of us to shoot first.”
“Ha…ha…”
“Actually,” she recalled with a twinkle in her eye, “those were his very words. But since he will be spending the next two days assembling and outfitting a hunting party to go after this rogue, while at the same time basking in the glory of having successfully negotiated a cease fire and possible peace treaty with the Spider People, I imagine his mood will do nothing but improve further as the week goes on. By Saturday, I expect him to be positively insufferable with good humor.”
Adam considered that for a moment.
“So y’all actually pulled it off, huh? You made peace?”
“Pretty much. Or at least as soon as we kill the rogue.”
“Then I guess congratulations are in order,” he said with a wan smile. “I imagine it will be nice knowing there’s no longer a group of people out there who want you dead.”
“It will be nice,” she agreed. “But what I am truly looking forward to is a chance to talk to their Matriarch. That would be the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Adam’s smile changed to a look of outright astonishment. Then he shook his head and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“Only you would look forward to talking to a thirty-foot spider,” he laughed. “Why? Scientific curiosity?”
“She’s more of a forty-foot spider, and it’s a matter of ‘historical curiosity.’”
“Historical curiosity?”
Olivia looked at him in fond exasperation and took him by the hands. Then her face sobered and she leaned in close.
“She is a thousand years old, Adam,” she whispered in a solemn tone. “Think about it. Think about what she must know. She can fill in huge gaps of our history. She can give us back what we lost. Even if it’s from the Spider Tribe’s perspective, she must know so much!”
The breathless way she said it reminded him of her reaction to the spider sculpture in the park last Sunday. This mattered to her. Despite all the slights, indignities, and flat out bigotry her tribe had subjected her to, this was her passion. She wanted to give them back their history…their identity…and the existence of the Matriarch gave her hope of doing exactly that.
He just couldn’t help but wonder if it was the hope of a little girl with the wrong colored eyes still wanting their acceptance.
“Well then,” he squeezed her hand, “I guess I’ll simply have to pencil in a meeting with a forty foot spider in my appointment book. I’ll do my best not to embarrass you by curling u
p into a little ball and whimpering in terror.”
That made her laugh.
“Adam. I doubt you will have to do anything of the sort. If my theory about her is right then…”
At that moment the phone on the little cabinet next to the bed gave a loud buzz.
Both of them looked at the device in surprise, and then at each other.
“Were you expecting a call?” Adam queried.
“Not at four-thirty in the morning, and certainly not on this phone.” Olivia got up and walked over to the end table. “Antonio or one of the Elders would call me on my cell phone, and that’s the number I gave to Chief Hitch as well.”
The phone buzzed again.
“Well,” Adam shrugged, “if it’s nobody important…want me to get it? Since you’re the bigwig here, I can be like your personal secretary or something.”
Olivia grimaced at him and picked up the phone.
“Hello?” She listened for moment then frowned at the phone. “I see. Can you either put him on, or describe him to me?”
She cast Adam a glance that caused him to come alert.
What was going on here?
“Very well,” Olivia continued. “No, it’s alright. Tell him to wait, and I shall send somebody down to get him. Tell him it will be about five minutes. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone with an odd look on her face.
“Anybody we know?”
“That was the desk clerk. It seems our young benefactor from the theater Monday night is down in the lobby. It appears he has recovered from his injuries and is now insisting he needs to speak to us. He says it’s a matter of life and death.”
###
Five minutes later, Adam hustled into the downstairs lobby to see a disheveled Billy Clayton slouched on the couch.
The boy had the look of someone who hadn’t been sleeping well lately, but it didn’t stop him from coming immediately to his feet as Adam entered the room.
“I’m sorry for the wait.” Adam motioned him to follow. “We have a few other members of the…errr…Dog People here and Olivia had to call and notify them of your presence while getting dressed. They’ll all be waiting in her room. Is that okay with you?”
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