Empire of the One (Wine of the Gods Book 14)

by Pam Uphoff

  Orde grimaced. "Indeed. One damn it. I’m going to have to tap-dance through this mess, and I’m going to start by thinking about it over night. Good night, ladies and gentlemen."

  Urfa leaned back and eyed the group. "Well. That may, or may not change the war bill vote. The matter of Earth, and these new gates is Exterior's territory, and Orde and I will handle that. Your jobs are more specifically politics and security. After the dust settles, we’ll have to see if anything has changed with that compass of eight, and the leadership of the two other major parties. So relax a bit, enjoy the party tomorrow. Rael, you might, politely, ask Endi what the One hell his name is, but it doesn’t really matter. He’ll be leaving, the day after tomorrow. Izzo, well, we never did get around to your latest attempt to identify him."

  The man shrugged. "I’m waiting for a few more answers to enquiries, but it sounds like you’re dealing with a medically retired soldier with a lot of emotional trauma he hasn’t worked through."

  "Yeah. And hopefully he will work through it without killing anyone."

  "His methods, so far, have been calculated to avoid bloodshed. He’s using the game, even though he's playing it by his own rules." Izzo’s smile twisted. "What do you want to bet he’s still playing us?"

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Paris, European Region

  25 Qadah 1396 yp

  His bed was empty. Rael cursed, and checked with the guard post. Endi had not returned. Rael growled and summoned a car to take her back to the Presidential Palace. She had the driver wait, while she checked with the guard, then talked to the actual men who’d been closest to the street.

  One of the mounted guards shifted a bit uncomfortably. "I’m not sure, but the way he came blasting out the doors and looking around, I think he might have been looking for Director Agni. He spotted the car, and watched it out of sight, then he trotted off the same direction." He jerked his chin down the block. "It turned down Prophets' Journey, as if going to the Council Hall back entrance. That’s the way most of the insiders go."

  "Thanks." Rael scrambled back to the car. "Back door of the Council Hall, Inxo." Damn Agni. He headed straight for his old cronies. And damn Endi, he’s still in the game. And I'm well over an hour late to the Council Hall. Whatever is happening, I expect it's all over, including the cleanup.

  Inxo turned up Prophets' Journey and a few moments later slowed as if to turn into the dropoff at the back of the Council office building. A large man was silhouetted against the lights of the entrance, leaving.

  "Don’t turn, keep going. Park on the right." Rael turned to look back, yes that was Agni, leaving the building, getting into a black car not unlike the one she was in. He must have been in there a solid hour.

  She jumped at a tap on her window.

  Endi.

  She opened the door and scooted over.

  "So, you’re following Agni, too?" His teeth flashed.

  She glared. "You didn’t follow him inside, did you? I refuse to believe you could get through security."

  He chuckled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. Not much like the intense chilly man at the meeting. "Director Agni’s bloodstains, cursing, and bellowed demands to speak to the Prime Councilor right now made slipping past security dead easy."

  Rael pinched the bridge of her nose. She could easily picture the bombastic ass completely overwhelming an off-hours security detail.

  Rael leaned and spoke to the driver. "Follow him. Let’s see who else he’s going to talk to this evening."

  "He spoke with the Prime Councilor. Let him know that Orde Knows All. The tenor of the conversation didn’t lead me to believe that the Prime Councilor knew about the War Party and their compass. Just the widespread agreement to treat the President as a temporary inconvenience. Or perhaps it is Agni who is outside the War Party plot."

  Apparently Agni was done here. The car dropped him at the airport, and Rael slipped in to see him stalking toward a late flight to Gate City. Security personnel were gawping at the now bandaged, but still bloodstained, man, and scrambling to obey him.

  On the way back to the barracks, Rael studied Endi. "You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?"

  "I got a lot done today. Give me another week and I might even save the world." His teeth flashed briefly. "Or at least a bunch of soldiers’ lives."

  "Just . . . don’t do anything at the Party tomorrow." She frowned. "Do you have something planned?"

  "I thought I might elope with General Akja’s wife."

  "One!" Rael put her hands over her face. "You’d better be joking."

  He widened his eyes and managed to look almost innocent.

  I’d better talk to Urfa.

  Or maybe . . . the highest power. She made for her room, keeping an eye on Endi as he headed for his own. She paused in the hallway, then turned back to the mansion.

  The small ornate chapel at Versalle was poorly attended. These days the Church of the One was almost a historical relic. Few people actually worshiped the One Mind as a God. Rael’s father had been baffled and upset when she accepted the invitation to attend the Princess School. He’d reluctantly accepted that this daughter probably wasn’t going to be giving him any grandchildren. She didn't have a perfect count, so even though two hundred-thirteen was within the School's requirements, he hadn't expected the invitation to the School. Between the reputation of Princesses, and being pretty much an atheist . . . "The One is just . . . a useful thing to swear by. It’s just a pointless knot of magical ability, existing for itself and nothing more. We all know now that the Prophets took over Islam to further their own goals, not because they had any religious convictions. And what will that school train you to do!"

  Another misconception, but she’d just sneered, "As opposed to my just joining the revolving husbands club, like Raod?" Her older sister had already been on her second husband . . . fifth now. And still no grandkids for Mom and Dad. I should introduce her to Endi.

  She quieted her mind as she entered the empty chapel. Settled down and lowered her barriers. Ohme padded quietly in, and lowered his as well. He was a remote priest, sent out to be a relay in a line of magical awareness that extended back to the One.

  :: Endi. Was he sent by the One? ::

  She could feel his mental smile. :: He first came at the start of the year. Angry and wary, worse than most Colonials. The One saw him, but barely touched him. We see and hear everyone on the One World, but we cannot reach through the gates to the colonies. He was powerful, strange. But small and hard to touch, coming and going. We paid little attention until he was regularly around the Highest Withiones. Then we could see how strong he was, but shielding both thoughts and emotions. We shall have to send out Dancers, to find the High Withione who is teaching advanced magic on one of the colonies. :: The priest’s voice died away, but she was swept along as his mental perception, which her brain interpreted a bit more like sight than sound, spread. There were glowing spots scattered through the palace, and a glowing, humming, coalbed of them out in the barracks. Mostly shielded; only a Priest could see them. One area was dark. Darker.

  No emotion leaking, not a scrap of thought. Like a black hole in the center of a galaxy, Endi influenced the whole array of minds around him. The subconscious power usage of several hundred trained soldiers was pulled toward him, then spun around him, leaving him untouched, undetected. How much sheer raw power did the man have?

  :: And perhaps the One needs to find out more about Endi. He is something we have not seen . . . for a very long time. ::

  Rael got up quietly and walked across to the barracks. Up the stairs and down the Agent’s hallway to Endi’s door. The lock was no barrier to her training. The physical shield . . . she matched its frequencies with her own shield, and eased through it. His mental shield was internal, not standing away from his body. She dropped her own shields and let her mind ooze closer, to feel and start to match the vibrational frequency of the magic. If she could sneak a tiny peek without alerting him . . .
/>   He sat on the floor, stripped to his skivvies, in a full lotus position. Eyes closed. This close, she could feel his power. Could almost match his shield. Could feel Power. Glowing, burning, searing. He was manipulating something tiny, no, a spell to manipulate something microscopic and do it over and over. He tossed it on himself, with a blinding flash of power. She slammed her shields shut. The sudden flood of power had been aimed inward, but even the backwash had been staggering. She lowered her shields cautiously, and found the infuriating man had switched from contained brilliance to a soft, open glow. Something missing . . . Everything else was missing. He's extended a mental shield out beyond me. I am inside his darkness. She blinked and walked around him; a dim light on the desk illuminated his face, and she saw the corner of his mouth twitch up as she circled.

  "I’m almost afraid to ask what that was!"

  "Just getting rid of a layer of subterfuge, sorry, I didn't realize that anyone was inside my shields. Careless of me. I'm impressed that you could do it at all, let alone without my noticing. But now the next time someone swipes a sample, they’ll get honest DNA results."

  "Oh good. I like a man who can genetically engineer himself." She had to work to get a dose of sarcasm in there, with no uncertainty showing. Surely he couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

  His dimples deepened.

  "And if you could, I suspect you’d make it something to mislead us further."

  The smile widened.

  "I was spying on you, not Agni."

  A quick flash of teeth. "Damn, and here I was hoping for another back rub."

  "Ha! You owe me one. And I’d best collect on that tonight, if you’re going to be eloping tomorrow."

  The smile broadened, and he started untangling his legs. "Can’t argue with the logic."

  But you sure are trying to shut down any exploration as to just what you were doing at the Council Hall, and for whom, Mystery Man. Rael kicked off her shoes and reached for the seam of her uniform jacket. Tonight you can damn well distract me; tomorrow and thereafter, you are in trouble. I am going to find out all about you.

  ***

  Izzo paced circles around his desk.

  All he's ever said was sympathetic toward the natives, not any particular political party.

  Natives.

  There wasn't anything about his mother indicating a colonial background. But she probably isn't his mother. Vista, Tall Trees, Granite Peak and Homestead all have native populations, all had Halfer populations.

  Look in the mirror, Izzo. They all have Oners who grew up with native friends and never thought of them as inferiors. His mother could easily have been a Halfer, a high Oner's bastard. Except he doesn’t match any Natives . . . of the Colonies.

  But there are a lot of other worlds out there, and who’s to say no one ever brought back a wife, or a child.

  A Halfer who missed his home.

  Or a Halfer who might try to stop us if we were about to attack the world he still considers his home.

  Izzo sat and consulted a directory on his computer. He needed the number for the Exterior Directorate. Their DNA lab.

  He got shuffled from a secretary to a junior tech.

  "They tested negative as coming from one of the colonies. Now, I need to know if these people's non-Oner allele combinations are typical of the Natives of anyplace else we’ve explored. If they're indicative of the world of origin of a putative Halfer parent." He tapped buttons and sent the five scans. Bit his lip. "Start with the natives of Target Forty-two."

  The tech sniffed. "I'll call back." The link died.

  Stupid power plays between government organizations.

  ***

  "He's still playing us."

  Urfa sighed. "That man's going to drive me to drink. How so? He was pretty raw last night."

  Rael crossed her arms. "Horse pucky. When he left here, he followed Agni. I realized what was going on and tracked them down to the back entrance of the Council Hall as Agni was leaving."

  "Tsk! Directors report to the President, not the Prime Councilor."

  "Yes, and a perfectly cheerful Endi claimed to have snuck in and listened in. He said that either or both Agni and the Prime Councilor didn't seem to be in on whatever that compass of eight is plotting." Rael scowled.

  "You talked to Endi?"

  "Yes. Gave him a ride. We followed Agni to the airport then drove back to the Versalle barracks. The miserable little . . . Endi says he's going to elope with General Akja's wife at the party tonight. Can I kill him, if he does?"

  Urfa snickered. "Do you know, I'd love to see the expression on Akja's face."

  "And then I got together with Ohme. The One was unaware of Endi until a year ago, as if he was a colonial. So . . . how does a soldier manage to not set foot on the home world, eh? Urfa, that man frightens me." I will not think about how he made me feel last night . . .

  "Oh Princess, you've got plenty of company there. But he doesn't seem to be any sort of a threat to the President."

  Rael frowned. "No. If his purpose is to stop a war, Orde is the best possible president. I've been looking at all the various possibilities. And wondering. Could he be a Oner from Granite Peak? A child captured by Earth, raised and trained to be a spy?"

  Urfa nodded. "Or cloned from a dead body if the colonists took themselves to the One. Or engineered from several bodies. Except he's a bit old for that. But would Earth want to derail our attacking Forty-two? And . . . those advanced dimensional gates. We need to find out how the Earth made them, and why there, on that medieval level world."

  "Because the locals couldn't possibly have reverse engineered them?" Rael bit her lip. "Is it time to contemplate a third dimensionally-able civilization? It was a bad enough coincidence that the Earth discovered Target Forty-two so soon after we did. A third world also finding it? Or are worlds that are regularly visited changed so they attract gates?"

  "Umm, that's a nasty thought . . . It would explain how they also found Granite Peak, and our other colonies. But still . . . why did they make all those gates right there? I have a creepy feeling I'm not going to like the answer."

  Rael flashed a quick smile. "You just don't read enough fiction. Obviously the gates are the work of the Dimensional Overlords."

  "Oh thanks, now I can have nightmares about Dimension travelers worse than Earth."

  "Well, it was just a thought. Forty-two is medieval level, right? No possibility that they made the gates. If Earth didn't . . . then we have to face the possibility of yet another world that can cross dimensions. And last night Agni didn't dispute Endi's claim that the Natives of Forty-two have magic. But somehow I doubt it could be so close to ours. Convergent evolution or some such is generally a functional resemblance, not identical genetic engineering." Rael bit her lip. "We need to find out who made those gates."

  Urfa shook his head. "Endi's power genes are odd, but he's got the six well known standard insertion packages on six chromosome pairs. He's got to be a Oner. With rather spotty mutations."

  Rael relaxed a bit. "That does seem to rule out his being one of the Overlords. I wondered if the One had sent him, but what Ohmi said seems to rule that out as well."

  "Yeah. Let's get through tonight, and pack Endi off to his sister's shop tomorrow. Then we can dissect him at our leisure. And I'll see if Agni's going to remember who the directorates report to, and maybe we can get this war bill rejected. I suspect Endi will be a lot more forthcoming after that." He couldn't help but smile a little at her dissatisfied expression. "Unless he's honeymooning with Noac."

  ***

  The first time, Crimson was careful. She locked herself in with him and then warped the key.

  The third time she barely distorted it, and fell asleep.

  Inre silently cursed his aching fingers and unbent the key. How do they manipulate such large masses, so easily? He slid the key into the lock. It wouldn't turn. Jiggled it carefully. The lock gave suddenly, and he slipped out. He kept himself to a casual stroll, not that anyone was
watching, but . . .

  He heard the growl and bolted. The glowing circle of an alley in a well lit city was clear and obvious, the soldier keeping an eye on it bored, but awake. Looking toward the gate, for invaders, not back, for an escapee. Inre knocked him off balance and jumped.

  Staggered on the rough alley pavement, and ran.

  They'd taken his comm, his money, his ID . . . it was the middle of the night. But he was free, with a ton of information. Surely Ydro would be at the cheap college apartment they'd been sharing. He'd better be! He was panting inside of three blocks. In pain before he was halfway to the campus. He was down to a staggering walk when the policeman arrested him for public drunkenness.

  With no ID he had trouble persuading them that he was a government employee. Ydro didn’t answer his comm. He got the afterhours recording from the office. He left a message. Couldn’t remember Izzo’s personal number. As he hovered, the cynical policeman suggested he save his third try for working hours tomorrow.

  Inre sighed, and put the comm down. After all, what was the rush? It had been two hours since his escape. The Knickknack people would have been warned and cleared out immediately. He might as well sleep in the drunk tank. What else could possibly happen tonight?

  ***

  Idlo spotted Endi adjusting his collar and frowning at the long mirror in the hall.

  Ahba drifted by behind him. "So, a soldier boy from the Draken Clan. Onki Clostuone. Or are you leading us around by the nose again?"

  Endi grinned. Ahba growled and moved off.

  Idlo snickered. "To hear him you'd think Clostuone was worse than Halfer."

  "Actually, I think its the Draken Clan part he doesn't like. Or possibly, since you lot seem to have dissected me, the number of Prophets' genes I’ve got. You don’t suppose I beat his number, do you? And why do men allow themselves to be forced to wear these ties?"