Wild Card

by Mark Henwick

  I was warming up to my rant. He felt the initiative slipping away and started to speak; I bulldozed ahead.

  “If you want to dispute that, I want to hear it from Skylur. As for the cost of the hunt for Matlal, its hardly my fault that there are so few Altau in Denver that you have to resort to buying in bounty hunters. And I haven’t botched anything. The hunters ignored my instructions.”

  “You committed the Altau. A commitment we can’t maintain. We’re over-extended.”

  “What would you have done? Storm the place and shoot everyone in the middle of the day? And why is this a commitment? The Confederation is sneaking around Denver and you’re not bothered, but I send them back with a threat and it’s like I’ve robbed your bank. Why can’t Altau make alliances with Were? Allies increase your strength, not diminish it.”

  He stood up and leaned over the table. “We don’t trust them.”

  “And so they don’t trust you. Where does that get us? Nowhere.” I tried to hold back, but it all slipped away from me. I was matching him, leaning over the table and shouting. “How can I cooperate with the pack here in Denver to everyone’s benefit and ignore that opportunity in the rest of the country? If you refuse to see anything but the worst outcomes, you might as well pack up now.”

  “There are no good outcomes from this,” he shouted back. “We can’t commit to alliances with Were. We can’t get involved in their struggles. We are over-extended as it is. One solid blow by Basilikos and we’ll lose allies. Even if they don’t, the proposal to ally with the Were will lose Panethus allies.”

  “Panethus is supposed to be about Emergence. Are you proposing we accidentally forget to mention Were when we talk to the government? If we go ahead, we’ve got to go ahead with all the groups.”

  “So House Farrell has developed its own agenda and the rest of us have to follow along.”

  He was so thick headed. Or not. I realized he might be goading me into making some kind of statement that would justify him taking the action he’d already decided on.

  Calm down.

  “No.” I sat back down, trying to slow my racing heart. I folded my arms. “Skylur leads, but he has to lead. On all fronts. We don’t have time for anything else.”

  “This is worse than rogue behavior. A rogue acts on instinct, but it’s as if you planned to create problems.” He shook his head. “I can’t possibly allow you to be out there creating more problems for us.”

  Shit. He’s going to put me in a cell.

  “You can appeal to Skylur if you want, but as of this moment—”

  The door burst open.

  “Ah! There you are Naryn! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  The man who came through the door was beyond unusual. His marque proclaimed him Athanate. It didn’t just precede him, it struck me forcefully, as noticeable as Skylur’s was subtle, and as powerful. Much more powerful than Naryn’s.

  Even more singular was his appearance. The rejuvenating effects of the Blood kept all of us looking no older than me. I’d seen no gray-haired Athanates, but this man’s hair was black flecked with gray, swept back on his head like raven’s wings. His eyes were black stones, his skin the pale tan of latte coffee and his features were refined, almost delicate.

  I wonder how many have been fooled by that?

  Bian slipped in behind him, quiet as a shadow.

  “House Tarez,” Naryn choked his anger down and gave a half bow.

  Tarez. The House that Skylur had exchanged his priceless Hidden Path statue for, the one with affiliations that underpinned the farthest ranges of Panethus.

  I started to introduce myself, but Tarez brushed it aside.

  “And this is, of course, the lady I have been hearing so much about. House Farrell! Thrice welcome!”

  His arms spread wide and swept me into an embrace.

  I kept my wits about me enough to kiss necks on both sides. Unlike some of the Athanate I’d met at the reception, his kisses felt as if he meant them. I couldn’t help but smile.

  In my nose, his marque was sharp and dry. It made me think of the dreams that the wind brings in the cold, high places.

  “Tarez…” Naryn seemed to have mislaid his eloquence.

  “What?”

  “This is not an appropriate time. I’m discussing problems that House Farrell has caused us.”

  “A fine? Ha! Charge it to me. I declare my firm affiliations with House Farrell.”

  “But—”

  “Could I do less? She was offered and accepted as a Blood price for my freedom.”

  “She was never offered,” Naryn said. “It was a ploy.” He’d known that, of course. Maybe even Bian had too. I’d been the only one on our side to come into that meeting blind.

  Tarez turned to me, his eyebrows raised. “Did you know it was a ploy, that you weren’t being offered?”

  “No,” I replied. “I had no idea what was going on.”

  “Did you complain and refuse?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because…” Why hadn’t I yelled and screamed and refused? “Because I am affiliated to Altau. I swore an oath.” My mouth felt dry. “It was within what was expected of me.”

  “An oath that is entirely reciprocal,” Tarez noted. “And did you remember this oath as you went about whatever business has caused the Diakon such discomfort?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  I did. I was arrogant enough to think I saw things that were for the benefit of Altau, even if someone like Naryn said they weren’t.

  “You truly believe whatever you have done is in the interests of Altau.”

  “I do.”

  I could feel the rake of his eukori across my mind and shivered.

  “On the matter of association,” Bian said, standing with her hands held behind her, “Skylur himself precipitated this. He said at the Assembly that he had an association with the Denver pack—”

  “His exact words, Bian?” Tarez asked.

  “He said the Denver pack was an ally.”

  “Did the Truth Sensors point out a lie?”

  “I believe the Assembly was distracted by Skylur’s announcement of Emergence as the major policy going forward.”

  Tarez laughed heartily. “He’s not lost his sense of timing, and it has fallen to House Farrell to make his words true, then.”

  He turned to me.

  “May I call you Amber?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Of course.”

  “Unfortunately, when I was born, names were rationed to one name per person, so you must sound formal and call me Tarez. Well, Amber, House Tarez is being sent to Los Angeles, for our sins—or maybe, for all the difficulties we have caused Altau. But there will always be a welcome there for you. Now, forgive me, I need Naryn to bring me up to date on all the strategy before I relieve Skylur there.” He gripped my shoulder lightly. “I will look for you in LA. Tread carefully.”

  He grabbed Naryn and almost dragged him out.

  I sank back down into my chair and blew air at the ceiling.

  “Thank you, Bian.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You created that accidental meeting.” I made quote signs in the air.

  “I couldn’t influence someone like Tarez. And whatever you think he came in for, that offer of affiliation is not to be treated lightly.”

  “Hmm. Understood.”

  “Don’t get comfortable, Round-eye. I’ve just had a very interesting conversation with Alice and now that you’re here, and you’re free, we need to act straight away.”

  I sat up. “I thought you wanted to chuck Alice overboard.”

  Bian’s mouth twisted.

  “Maybe I still do, but between the two of you, you’ve given me an opening that Skylur asked me to work toward.”

  “You’ve lost me.”

  “You wanted to know if Alice had any contacts with Adepts in the Empire of Heaven?”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly. Mary and Li
u wanted to connect with Adepts in China and ask them how to base a community around a dragon spirit guide. Kinda essential advice, if we didn’t want to learn by making mistakes. If we hadn’t already.

  “I’m supposed to open a dialogue with the Empire in preparation for discussions between Skylur and the Emperor.”

  “Okay, you’ve got the number, presumably. So, call them.”

  She snorted.

  “They’re prickly at the best of times, and talking to the Empire is like Kirithia, the Game of Dominion.” She waved her hands. “That’s the Athanate version of chess between multiple players. You never, ever open a discussion with what you want to talk about. Not the first play, not the second, maybe not even the third.”

  “Unless you bluff.”

  “Maybe. I’m not that good a player. So, I want to open with something else. Something like what you and Alice want—to talk to their Adepts—not what Skylur wants.”

  “I’m not sure about this.”

  The problem was that Mary and Liu would say that this was confidential Adept business. It was all right to go through the Athanate channels to get to the Chinese Adepts, but I had a suspicion Bian would want to know exactly what was behind it.

  “I’m not sure,” I said again.

  Bian slunk around the table and arranged herself over the back of my chair. I was getting pretty good at handling this. Breathe evenly. She couldn’t embarrass me into doing what she wanted. No way. Not even—

  “You said blank check, baby,” she whispered against my neck. “And this is such a little thing.”

  I had said that. I owed her.

  “Wait, didn’t you call on that?” I asked.

  “Not for the full amount. Come on,” Bian said. Grabbing my hand, she led me down the hallway toward the other end of the house.

  In the entrance hall, she picked up a house phone and dialed a number.

  “Alice? We’re on,” she said and put it back.

  I was looking up at the blank spot above the main house corridor. The spot where the huge eagle had spread its wings. The room looked unbalanced without it. I hoped that didn’t say anything about the state of Panethus.

  She saw where I was looking. “It’s gone. Time to move on.” She grabbed me again and pulled me onward.

  Bian and Alice. Things were moving too quickly for me. Everything seemed to be sliding out of my control. Should I stop this now? Call Mary, despite the late hour, and clear it with her?

  I was still debating when we turned a corner and I saw Alice already waiting for us at the end of the corridor.

  Bian entered a seven digit code into a keypad on the wall and then leaned into an iris scanner.

  A metal door slid aside, just as my cellphone buzzed in my pocket.

  “Turn it off,” Alice said. “No signal in this room anyway.”

  I looked at the name as I obeyed. Melissa. What on earth was she calling me for at this hour? It was nearly midnight. I’d call her back once we’d finished.

  The door closed behind us. We were in a dark, windowless room with a huge screen on one side and a conference table in front of it with chairs.

  Under instruction from Bian, we quickly moved the table and chairs and knelt in the empty space, Bian in the middle.

  The conference system came up and showed us as we would appear. Bian looked at the clocks on the wall. Exactly midnight. It was 3 p.m. in Beijing. She dialed a number.

  The screen cleared to show an empty white pavilion with fine gauze curtains screening out the background.

  “Come on,” muttered Bian. “Don’t brush us off.”

  A Chinese man walked to the middle of the pavilion, his eyes downcast, the model of humility. He was dressed in dark brown pants and a white, long-sleeved shirt with an open neck. His feet were in sandals. His hair was short and neatly parted.

  Bian straightened her back.

  This guy? This was the Diakon of the biggest independent Athanate group in the world?

  Then Bian bowed and held it. Right down, head-on-the-floor bow.

  Alice and I glanced nervously at each other and followed suit.

  “Garheem,” he said.

  Athanate for hello, for semi-formal meetings. Pia was teaching me some standby words.

  Bian sat up and Alice and I followed again. The guy was kneeling in the same position as us. I’d had my head on the floor, so I didn’t know if he’d bowed back. Somehow I doubted it.

  Bian spoke in Athanate and the man’s eyes turned first to Alice and then to me, with interest.

  I was starting to worry that I’d need to do everything through an interpreter, but after what I assumed were introductions and polite, formal questions, Bian said something short and stopped.

  “Yes, it is acceptable to speak in English,” he said. “Greetings, House Farrell, Adept Emerson. My name is Xun Huang, and I am Diakon of the Empire of Heaven.”

  “Greetings, Xun Huang,” I said, and tried a short bow with just my head.

  “I understand from Diakon Trang that you have a request to make of me.” He smiled. “I am most interested.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or just politeness.

  “We are honored, Diakon Huang,” Alice said.

  I guessed he’d said he would listen to us, and Alice had said thank you. This diplomatic language was tricky stuff.

  “We would ask a favor of you,” Alice went on. “That you allow us to communicate with Adept communities in the Empire.”

  “I am most sure they would enjoy such contact.” He rocked back a little on his heels. “You understand that, here in the Empire, the community is more unitary than elsewhere.”

  Well then, we could learn lots from you.

  Alice and Xun played verbal ping pong for a few minutes. Xun explained that Adept communities in the Empire were organized along the same lines as Houses, with the oaths and loyalties under the Athanate structure, but it was always accepted that Adepts had interests of their own.

  It looked as if this was going to be relatively easy. I sat back on my heels and kept my smile in place.

  “I understand the general academic interest of Adepts to communicate and compare their cultures,” Xun said, nodding to Alice, before looking at Bian. “I always welcome contact from Panethus, and I hope to continue discussions another time with you, Diakon Trang, especially on the matters of our southern Houses.”

  He meant Vietnam and the countries of the Indochina peninsula. I could feel Bian’s satisfaction. I could see that this might be the sort of contact that Skylur wanted her to develop with the Empire, as a first or second step, so that Skylur could then casually introduce what he really wanted to talk about.

  “And House Farrell, about whom we have heard so much.” He turned finally to me, and I tensed. “I am fascinated to meet you, even in this manner. I am even more fascinated to hear why you want to talk to Adepts in the Empire.”

  “It’s more that friends of mine, who are Adepts, want to talk.”

  It was as if I could see beneath his face; the surface remained polite and interested, but beneath that, he was starting to switch off. I concentrated on breathing evenly. I couldn’t let this slip away. Tullah, Mary and Liu were depending on me.

  Trust and Jump. Oh, boy.

  “The topic that most interests them are the Adept communities built around dragon spirit guides.”

  Bian didn’t move, but I sensed the shock ringing through her marque. Alice’s nose flared and her eyes widened.

  Xun remained motionless, courteously attentive. The screen showing him might have frozen, except for the idle flapping of one of the curtains behind him.

  Then his eyes flicked to one side.

  “Ah. Excuse me. I am called away. My most sincere apologies. I remain fascinated by this discussion and I look forward to meeting your friends and talking many more times with you all, and listening with such interest to your conversations with our Adepts.”

  Bian did the bowing thing, which was diplo
macy. I did it, and it was more to cover my face.

  Damn. Have I done the right thing? What the hell just happened?

  The screen had faded to gray when I came back up. Alice’s face wasn’t far off the same color.

  Bian got up, as slinky as a leopard, and led us out.

  Automatically, I turned my cell back on. Messages from Melissa.

  Neither Bian nor Alice said a word, but they were both staring at me.

  “What? What did we just do in there?” I said.

  It was Alice who answered. “We’ve woken the sleeping dragon.”

  Chapter 49

  SUNDAY

  It was freezing outside, and Bian’s team had taken my car to drop the couple back to their trailer. Bian had already disappeared with Alice, taking quietly and quickly in Athanate.

  I called Melissa.

  “Melissa? What’s up? Where are you?”

  “I’m at Clayton’s home. He called me to come see him. Amber, he’s dead. I mean, someone killed him.”

  “Shit! Get out of there. Where’s your car?”

  “Uhh. Right outside.”

  “Stay on the line. Get into your car now.”

  “But I should—”

  “Listen to me! This isn’t a police crime scene. You don’t have backup. Whoever killed Clayton could be watching. Probably is. Now get out.”

  I’d gotten through to her. I could hear her car door open and close and the sound of the locks engaging.

  “Okay. I’m in my car.” Her voice was much quieter, but she was in control.

  “Drive away. Use the hands-free and stay on the line. I’m coming.”

  I heard the car start in the background.

  “But shouldn’t I just get back?” she said.

  “I’m working on the assumption you’re going to be followed, so no.”

  Breathing came a little easier as I heard her pulling away.

  This could be a random murder. Clayton had made enemies—all the people he’d put in jail, for a start. But I didn’t believe in coincidences.