Someone started clapping. Whispers of amazement turned to exultant longtalk and shouts of approval. More people were joining the applause.
'It's the Waterwalker.
'They've rescued the girl!
'Mirnatha is alive.
'Dear Lady, look at the blood.
'It's his whole squad.
'They did it, they saved her.
Three gondolas were secured to the platform, each of them garlanded with hundreds of snow-white flowers. Edeard stepped on to the first boat as the gondolier took his hat off and held it to his chest, staring at Mirnatha. 'Get us to her mansion, Edeard told him.
'But the festival…
'The Pythia's ceremony isn't over yet. And I think Mirnatha deserves to go home, don't you?
'Yes, sir. Of course. He picked up his punt.
By now everyone was packed right up to the edge of the canal. The applause and cheering put Edeard right back to that day in Birmingham Pool. 'Let's see how quick you are, he told tin-gondolier said as they pushed off.
It wasn't far. Down to Forest Pool then they went up the Grand Major Canal to the Culverit mansion's private mooring platform at the edge of High Pool. Mirnatha sat up on the prow, looking from side to side in utter bliss as waves of applause and cheering followed her progress home.
'Do you think they'll even bother with the vote tomorrow? Macsen said quietly as he waved at the enthusiastic onlookers crammed along the canal. Flower boats were being held aloft and waved in heartfelt greeting for the little girl. The whole canal rippled with dramatic colours.
'Not a lot of point, Boyd replied.
'Can you boys just enjoy the moment, Kanseen said. 'I mean, come on, we're getting some adulation this time, too.
'I'm going to be sick, Dinlay said, dabbing at the congealing blood on his uniform.
'Don't you dare, she told him crossly.
Mirnatha gripped Edeard's arm. Her other hand pointed ahead to the mansion's mooring platform. 'I see Daddy, she squealed. 'And Krissy. They're both there. She started to wave frantically, longtalking for all she was worth.
'And Mistress Florrel isn't, Boyd muttered contentedly.
The gondolier steered them smoothly into the side of the platform. Julan snatched his daughter out of the craft, hugging her and weeping uncontrollably. Kristabel joined in. Mirnatha began to chatter at an incredible speed, telling them what had befallen her. One last final hurrah broke out among the crowds, running the whole length of Grand Major Canal.
Edeard and the squad stepped on to the platform. Homelt stood in front of him, and bowed his head. 'Thank you, he said. 'Though the Lady knows how you pulled off that stunt. There is no way out of that cellar.
Edeard gave him a knowing grin. Then Julan grabbed him roughly by both shoulders and pulled him close. 'I thank you, Waterwalker, I thank you from the very bottom of my heart! My baby, my baby is saved.
'I'm sorry we didn't take you with us, sir, Edeard said. 'But my squad is a good team, we work best by ourselves.
Julan couldn't stop crying. He clutched Mirnatha tighter. 'I understand. Thank you all. You were right. I was wrong. Please, I was crazed with worry
'Nobody was wrong, sir. Mirnatha is back home. That's all that matters.
'Yes yes. He lifted his daughter up again. She giggled and kissed him. 'Whatever you desire in this world, it is yours, and still it will never be enough to express my gratitude to you all. Say it, and I will see it is done.
Macsen put on a wholly reasonable expression and opened his mouth. Kanseen's third hand poked him in the ribs. He looked pained, but didn't say anything.
'We really are just doing our duty, sir, Edeard claimed.
'What nonsense. I will start my payment by welcoming you to our family's celebration feast tonight.
'That's very kind of you, sir, Boyd said hurriedly, before Edeard could say no. 'We'd be honoured.
'Thank you, Waterwalker, Mirnatha giggled. She leaned forward in her father's embrace and gave Edeard a messy kiss.
'Yes, Kristabel said, appearing directly in front of Edeard as her father made his way up the steps at the back of the platform. 'Thank you indeed.
He didn't quite know what to say, so settled for a modest shrug. She was still in her flimsy white cotton nightdress, though a grey-green woollen shawl was wrapped round her shoulders. Her hair wasn't quite so wild now. The squad edged closer.
'You kept your word, she said.
'Er yes. Actually, it was a pretty stupid thing to—
Her finger touched his lips. 'No. It was the greatest thing you could possibly do. No wonder the gangs and Masters are so frightened of you. I have faith in you, Waterwalker.
'Mistress. He made a real hash of a formal bow, producing something more like a nervous twitch. Kristabel all serene like this was quite impressive. Imposing, actually.
'Ah yes, Mistress, she said teasingly. 'Well, as future Mistress of Haxpen, I shall require the first dance with you at our family party tonight. And the last. And, I think, every one between.
'Oh. Edeard paled. He was a rotten dancer. 'My pleasure.
Kristabel's smile widened to include all the squad. 'Please today my house is yours. And every day to come. The view from the upper hortus is the best in the city from which to watch the flower boats on their way to the sea. And you must bathe and freshen up. I'll see that the staff find some clothes that fit, ready for the party.
Edeard watched her start up the wooden stairs to the fabulous ziggurat mansion towering above them. The hem of her nightdress flapped around her knees. I must not look at her legs. I must not.
Kanseen's head slipped sinuously over his left shoulder. 'You do know, don't you, she said quietly, 'that you can't actually sleep with every girl in this city?
Edeard looked at Kristabel's legs. Slim, yes; but rather shapely, too. 'I know, he said wistfully.
Kanseen kissed his ear playfully. 'But you could do a lot worse than Kristabel.
THREE
The night was as black as only Hanko's thick curtains of stormcloud could make it. Wind howled around the ice boulders, creating strange antagonistic harmonics. While overhead occasional forks of lightning turned the tragic landscape into a monochrome silhouette.
Right at the edge of the Asiatic glacier a flare of tangerine light burst into existence, creating an eerie aural blaze around the top of the titanic cliff. It vanished in an instant. The ice trembled in reaction. After a while, the spray of tangerine light gushed up again. Brighter this time. Larger ice fragments jumped and juddered at the vibrations hammering through the surface.
A pause filled by the eternal yowl of the blizzard.
The light appeared once more. This time splinters of ice erupted from the top of the cliff, swirling away into the mile high abyss. A hand wearing a thick grey gauntlet crept up and patted the surface, scrabbling for a firm purchase.
Aaron heaved himself up, and rolled on to the top of tin-glacier. After a moment he clambered to his feet. He swept tin-surrounding area with his biononic field scan function, seeking traces of the ground crawler. The trail it had taken was plain enough, retracing its original route through the boulder field.
He started to run after it.
He was very VERY angry.
* * * * *
The Clippsby cafe on Daryad Avenue served exactly the kind of breakfast Oscar loved. Industrial strength coffee, bacon baguettes, and almond croissants with a dip pot of agal syrup. Despite the three of them wearing the Ellezelin police uniform the owner served them readily enough. The only other customers were also Ellezelin troopers grabbing a late breakfast between alerts. This morning should have been so different. Everyone in the city had stayed up, accessing Justine's heroic dash for the Void. Unisphere and gaiafield alike were enraptured by the appearance of the Second Dreamer, rumour and speculation were currently the foremost indulgence of billions. Yet here in Colwyn the atmosphere of wonder had been ripped to pieces by the welcome team's raid. There had been a lot of people in
the park outside the apartment block. They'd reacted predictably enough to such a brash act, taunting the paramilitary troops on the cordon. It was touch and go if a full riot would erupt. As a result, the city seemed even more paralysed than yesterday. Very few citizens were going in to work. They were either too fearful of getting caught up in disturbances; or they were heading out to join the crowd in Bodant and other hot spots where they might get lucky and give some hapless foreign trooper a good kicking. Either way, not much was open in the centre of town.
Oscar accepted another refill from the waitress, smiling in gratitude. The cafe owner might have cajoled her to serve him, but she certainly didn't have to smile back as she was pouring. 'So what now? he asked Tomansio as the woman stomped off and the privacy shield shimmered on around their table.
'Information is the key, as always, Tomansio replied, trying not to frown at the food piled up in front of Oscar. For himself he'd ordered a smoked gruslet and cream cheese sandwich to go with his green tea. 'We know without any doubt that the Second Dreamer was in that apartment block. Which means either the welcome team have him, and major Honilar will find that out for sure in the next six hours, or he escaped before we got there.
'We were there fast, Beckia said. 'I don't think I could have got out, not without a lot of fuss.
'This man is smart, Tomansio said. 'Using Danal's apartment was a superb misdirection.
'But how could he have got out? Oscar asked. 'They would have seen any capsule lifting from the apartments.
'Stealth? Beckia suggested. She wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction. 'But if he's got a stealth capsule why would he actually commune with the gaiafield from Danal's apartment? That doesn't make any sense.
'The only practical escape route would be some kind of tunnel not on the city plans, Tomansio said. 'And the apartments are being refurbished by a whole load of different developers. That would give him plenty of scope for such an activity.
'That presupposes he knew he'd need an escape tunnel, Oscar said. 'How would he know Ethan was going to annex the whole planet and flood the city with paramilitaries?
'Connections in Living Dream, Beckia said with a baffled tone. She shook her head. 'That doesn't make any sense either. If you have those kind of connections, why go on the lam like this?
'You don't suppose this is Inigo, do you? Oscar suggested.
Tomansio pulled a breath through clenched teeth. 'I'd hate to rule it out, but this simply isn't Inigo's way of doing things. Hi' doesn't need to sneak around. For a start, his word alone is the only thing which could stop Ethan's insane Pilgrimage.
'Not so insane, Beckia muttered. 'And not so easily stopped. Not any more. The whole of the Greater Commonwealth just watched Justine's ship go through the barrier. The Second Dreamer can get the Pilgrimage inside. That's a phenomenal boost to Living Dream's credibility.
'It also secures Ethan's leadership, Tomansio said. 'Even if Inigo did turn up now, he might not have the authority to pull it off.
'Wouldn't be the first time a religion outgrows its messiah, Oscar said.
'No indeed. So… we're left with the same problem everyone else has: finding this extremely slippery Second Dreamer.
'I don't believe in secret tunnels, Oscar said. He drank some of his coffee, enjoying the bitter liquid burning its way down his throat. It had been a long time since he'd got some sleep. 'There's something about this which isn't right.
'Care to elaborate?
'I can't, unfortunately. I'm just not convinced that the Second Dreamer is some kind of supersmart covert operative. Living Dream had to out him in the first place, now he's communing with a Skylord, which is something Inigo never managed. That doesn't come over as someone who's thought out the consequences of their actions.
'He managed to elude us, Tomansio said reasonably. 'That takes a lot of talent and thought.
'Does it? No offence, but we were rushed, as was the welcome team.
'The welcome team has spent months training for this.
Oscar gave the bottom of his coffee mug a miserable glance. 'I don't know. I just don't get what his long plan is. Everything he's done says to me that he's reacting to events, not controlling them. What we have is a normal bloke caught up in monstrous events and doing his best to keep afloat.
'He could be getting help from some Faction, Beckia said.
'From what my source tells me, he hasn't, Oscar said. 'But we can't rule it out.
'Okay, enough, Tomansio said. 'It's pointless to argue this. Once we find him, we can ask him. In the meantime, we have ourselves the mother of all shadow operations here. He opened a secure link to Liatris. 'Have you located Araminta for me yet?
'No. Sorry, boss. She's disconnected her u-shadow from the Unisphere. Hardly surprising after the apartment raid. I've got monitor programs loaded into every node in the city ready for when she comes back on line. Interestingly, so do a number of other people. And I'm also watching her credit account, but until she comes back out of the Stone Age she's invisible to me.
'All right, what about her history? Anything there to clue us in? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Someone she'll turn to?
'She's an interesting girl. Recently divorced.
'Husband's location?
'On Oaktier, and migrating inwards.
'Ozzie! Okay, give me something in the city, even if it's just which salon she uses.
'She doesn't have a regular salon.
'Liatris!
'Don't panic, I've got some nuggets for you. And trust me, this took some serious reference matching on her data patterns.
'Go.
'Her cousin, who handled the divorce, is Cressida, a very senior partner in the best law firm in town—extremely well connected locally. And, incidentally, she and a whole group of friends are just about to mug Ethan. Get this, they've hired a passenger ship from Dunbavand lines, one with full diplomatic status to evacuate themselves.
'Really? Tomansio's mind popped a burst of mischievous delight into the gaiafield.
'Relevant? Oscar asked.
'The Dunbavand family is a major Far Away political force. God help Living Dream if they try and interfere with their ship's flight schedule. Forget diplomats squabbling in the Senate; the original Dunbavand patriarch was a Starflyer War hero, which gives his descendants a certain kind of very stubborn mindset. They really would consider dispatching a warship into Viotia orbit to enforce their right of passage. Smart lady, this Cressida.
'One of the tickets she booked is for Araminta, Liatris told them. 'She's also trying to find an offworld investment consortium to buy Araminta's apartment development project.
'Then we watch Cressida.
'Already set up. I've got more scrutineers and monitors surrounding her than Living Dream have followers.
'Excellent. Until Araminta makes contact with Cressida we concentrate on our original objective, riding the welcome team's data wave. Anything from Cheriton?
'No. He's gone down to the docks with Mareble to try and get Danal out of major Honilar's clutches. Once he's done that, we'll have us a very strong ally among the confluence nest technicians.
It might have been the lack of sleep this morning, or the really very strong coffee numbing his synapses, but Oscar was slow mulling over their discussion. Why is she hiding? The welcome team raid was scary, sure, but that wouldn't make her do this, unless she was in the apartment block. And if she was there…
'Araminta also spent a weekend with Likan, Liatris said.
'No shit? Tomansio said.
'I'm not sure it's significant. Likan normally works his way through two or three women a week in addition to his harem, and Araminta seems to have been playing the field since her divorce.
'I used to work for Nigel Sheldon, Oscar said. 'I even met him a couple of times when Wilson and I were building up the Navy. He'd be horrified about this modern ideology that's hijacked his name.
'And the relevance is? an exasperated Tomansio asked.
Oscar gave him a
n apologetic shrug. 'Sorry. Just thinking.
'Is she seeing anyone special? Tomansio asked Liatris.
'Not that I've found yet. I'm running traffic analysis on her capsule, but it's got to be slow and discreet, there are another three similar investigations that I spotted, and that's in addition to Living Dream, which is now officially interested in her. But the local police have found her trike. It was parked at the Tala mall yesterday afternoon. Her last confirmed sighting. Major Honilar has ordered the records from every city sensor to be shoved through visual recognition filters to work out where she went. That should keep them busy for the rest of the day.
'Thanks, Liatris.
'She has to be able to tell us something, Beckia said. 'She had to be badly frightened to vanish like this. I guess that's what Major Honilar does to people.
'Agreed.
Oscar grinned at the two of them. Beckia had said it without even realising, but then it would take someone with his background to make that particular connection. If anyone in the Commonwealth knew all about vanishing, and staying vanished, it was Oscar Monroe. Which just left motivation…
Tomansio caught the grin and frowned. 'What?
'Don't you get it? Oscar was delighted with himself. Well, how about that, the old relic has still got it.
'Get what? Beckia asked.
'I spent decades living a lie, hiding my actual self from everyone I knew and loved and worked with. It's actually a lot easier than you'd think. So I guess it takes one to know one.
Tomansio's square jaw dropped. 'Oh great Ozzie… you think?
'I think it's highly likely.
Beckia hunched forwards, giving Oscar an astonished look. She's the Second Dreamer?
'Give me a better candidate.
'Bloody hell.
'It won't take Honilar long to work it out.
'And when he does, she'll be in deep shit, Tomansio said urgently. 'No local girl will able to stay ahead of the welcome team.
'She's done pretty well so far, Oscar protested.
'You can only get so far on luck, and she's used up her quota. We need to supply some help. Liatris, start laying a false data trail for the good major.
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