The Rainmaker
Page 52
Raoul, who didn’t intend to waste any time on petty stuff, directed a quelling look at Franciszka readying to deliver another snub to the Wizards. “This hall is large enough for us, First Wizard. I’ve no objections to having the discussion out here.”
The First Wizard, perhaps realizing that the Guardians would be intractable on this, gave in. Much bigger battles awaited her this day and she chose to not fight one that was unimportant to the matter at hand.
“What do you need, Alpha?” she asked instead.
“A table and some chairs should do it.”
The Alpha turned to Sebastian Thorne. “Have any Guardians you want present themselves here. We start in ten minutes.”
Thorne spoke a few words to the Wizards with him, and a few hurried away.
At a silent signal from the First Wizard, a table and four chairs were brought out and set up with two on either side. More Wizards piled into the hall, soon thronging the grand staircase at the end of the foyer that led to the second floor.
Herabudh walked over to greet the First Wizard warmly, and some of the Guardians politely.
“I’m merely here as an observer, First Wizard” he explained. “DiZeyla, my counterpart in San Francisco, suggested I sit in on this discussion.”
“You’re welcome here at Headquarters, as always, Herabudh.” The First Wizard was gracious.
Herabudh seated himself beside Faoladh on the leather couch that faced the table.
Alpha Ramirez was next to greet the First Wizard. He then strode forward to stand beside Raoul, without further explanation.
The Alpha turned to Lady Esmeralda. “First Wizard, I believe you know some of my Were-Alphas.” Raoul introduced her to the rest. “San Francisco has a local Chosen Alliance, a forum to discuss Chosen issues and co-operate on matters of mutual concern.”
The Alpha’s remarks, ostensibly directed at the First Wizard, were meant for the Wizards in the hall. Lady Esmeralda already knew of the Chosen Alliance from her time at the Lair, when Caroline had been kidnapped by Rafaelo Bianchi.
“Mistress Franciszka, David Hamilton and DiZeyla lead their respective brethren in San Francisco” Raoul continued.
The First Wizard greeted them all politely and hugged Sienna. David Hamilton made his way to join the Mistress, while Hawk, Sienna and Tasia occupied the couch next to them. This placed them as spectators to the ensuing confrontation, a little to the side and away from the table, where the Alpha stood with the First Wizard. Roman Durovic and Jason LaRue stepped forward to flank the two Alphas.
Lines were being drawn for the battle about to commence, Tasia mused silently. Even the seating chart represented the boundaries clearly. The table had been placed under a magnificent chandelier that hung over the large circular dome-shaped foyer. On one side of the table were arraigned the Shifters and their supporters, most standing, except the five who occupied two plush couches set to one side. To the other side of the table were a hallway and a grand staircase that led to the second floor. Wizards crowded the hallway and the stairs to gaze down curiously, with an air of grim watchfulness, almost as if girding themselves for the battle that lay ahead. A group of fifteen Wizards stood arraigned a little behind the two chairs set against the table. One was to be the First Wizard’s seat, Tasia knew. Facing both sides of the table was another couch, pushed up against the wall at the edge of the circular foyer. On this sat Faoladh and Herabudh, seemingly neutral to the brewing confrontation. Faoladh, she observed, wore an air of calm observation and academic interest as he watched the gathering hordes of Wizards.
“Guardian LaRue” one of the Wizards interjected, as Jason strode up to stand with the Alpha. “Your place is on this side of the hall.”
“Not today, Guardian McKinley. I helped gather the evidence to be presented here this afternoon. I believe that means I’m on the right side of the hall.”
“Evidence” muttered one of the Wizards from the stairs, as murmurs swept the room.
A glare from Sebastian Thorne silenced them.
Durovic exchanged a glance with the Alpha, before stepping forward. “I’m Roman Durovic, a TorElnor First One. DiZeyla and I will present the evidence on behalf of the Wyrs today.”
The First Wizard looked surprised, while the other Wizards seemed confused. Lady Esmeralda had been astonished to see Roman Durovic at Wizard Headquarters as part of Raoul Merceau’s entourage. His presence spoke of a close relationship with the Pack and its Alpha, and that puzzled her. But she hoped that the Guardians would interpret his presence as having been blessed by TorElnor. That might make them less intractable when evidence against Anderson was presented by Roman.
“I don’t understand” Sebastian Thorne, seemingly nominated to represent the GCW this evening, inquired of Roman. “What is the involvement of First Ones with the Pack?”
Sebastian Thorne knew who Roman was — the name had been a dead giveaway; TorElnor’s successor, a First One who chose to not use a Magick Facade yet. DiZeyla, the GCW could ignore. She was a local leader and unlikely to carry much influence over the larger Ancient community. TorElnor’s successor, on the other hand, was a different kettle of fish altogether.
“I’m helping the Alpha’s team investigate Lady Bethesda” Durovic said bluntly, his candid response causing gasps and murmurs amongst the Wizards. “An unspeakable and cruel attack was attempted in San Francisco. I’m here to make sure that the perpetrator is punished.”
“Your sentiments do you credit” Thorne countered suavely. “But I must remind you that there’s no evidence of a crime, let alone a perpetrator.”
“We will prove it, Guardian” Roman stated confidently. “We don’t expect the GCW to simply take us at our word.”
He pulled out a chair for DiZeyla, courteously waiting for her to seat herself, before doing the same for the First Wizard across the table from DiZeyla. Only after both ladies were seated did he take the chair beside DiZeyla.
“On Friday night, Raoul Merceau was on his way to the Pack Lair in San Francisco, with Tasia Armstrong, when he was ambushed. A hail of silver bullets was used to incapacitate him. When he regained consciousness, twenty-four hours later, he was a prisoner, his small cage reinforced with silver. That in itself is an act the Wyrs might forgive. It’s hard to pin down a Wyr without silver. Thus, the metal has been used to incapacitate Wyrs since Chosen can remember. But this time, his attackers had a much more callous and heartless fate in mind. The Alpha had been dosed with massive amounts of silver over the twenty-four hour period. We’re all Chosen here. You can guess that he wasn’t completely in control when he came to. You might also guess how horrified he was to find himself not the only prisoner in the cage. Tasia, a Wizard under the protection of his Pack, had been drugged and confined with him, with no means to escape the confused Wyr suffering the effects of silver poisoning. It was touch and go in the cage, until the Alpha was able to break them out and escape.”
From the sidelines, Tasia watched the Wizards react to Roman Durovic’s clinical recounting of the events. While the Guardians around Sebastian Thorne didn’t react much, some of the other Wizards in the hall were clearly shocked by the Ancient’s account. She guessed that the junior Guardians and Wizard staff in the employ of the GCW had been kept in the dark about the details of what Anderson had attempted. The First Wizard looked grim, her face pale as she listened silently to the Ancient. After the initial shock, some of the Wizards muttered between themselves, clearly uneasy about what they were being told.
“After the escape, the Pack located the house where they’d been held” DiZeyla took up the tale. “It led them to the man who’d rented the house — Willard Trent, a Wizard in the employ of Guardian Ted Anderson. Trent had help from a local Wizard — the Registrar of the San Francisco Wizard Registry. When the Registrar was confronted, he insisted that he’d assisted Trent with the logistics of what he believed was a GCW sanctioned operation. He was horrified to discover what he had been an unwitting party to. Under interrogation, Will
ard Trent confessed to everything — the ambush, the deliberate silver poisoning of the Alpha, and the penning of the Wizard with the poisoned Wyr. He also confessed to doing so under orders from Guardian Anderson.”
There was a short silence. The Wizards looked to Thorne and his band of Guardians. Thorne had blinked at the mention of Guardian Anderson, but had otherwise stayed silent.
“If what you allege did happen, the GCW agrees that a crime has been committed” he acknowledged guardedly.
“Against both the Wizard and the Alpha” DiZeyla insisted in a firm voice.
“If a crime was committed against a Wizard, the GCW will ensure that she gets justice.”
“No” the Alpha, hitherto silent, spoke up. “She’s Pack. We take care of our own.”
“Some would argue that the company she keeps is what places her in danger, Alpha” countered another Guardian beside Thorne.
His words fell sharply into the silence, echoing in the dome-shaped hall. For a moment, no one spoke. Battle was being commenced, Tasia realized. There would be many such skirmishes fought tonight. The Guardians would not give up one of their own easily, and the Shifters would not walk away without the Guardian. It left them at an impasse.
The Were-Alphas looked furious at the Guardian’s comment, especially Elisabetta and Stefan Simeonov. It was also clear that Hawk, seated beside her, was riled up. Unexpectedly, it was Sienna who jumped into the fray to counter the Guardian.
“Some would also argue that if a Guardian had not locked her in with a powerful Alpha he’d poisoned, Tasia would be in no danger” Sienna interjected, her expression calm, but her eyes flashing at the Guardian. “I’ve lived at the Lair in San Francisco for a month now. I can attest to the Pack’s hospitality. And, to them, Tasia is more than a guest. The Pack has taken better care of Tasia than the Guardians have. I would say that she keeps excellent company.”
The Guardians looked flummoxed by Sienna’s spirited defense of the Pack. They seemed uncertain about how to react. The First Wizard looked startled by Sienna’s outburst, but not particularly surprised, Tasia noted.
The Vampire Mistress chose the moment to slip the knife in, in her own inimitable way. “When you have your own rank and file clearly state a preference for the Wyrs over the GCW, that’s when you know the Guardians are in serious trouble” she announced with a tinkling laugh, clearly enjoying herself. She turned to the Alpha. “I’m so glad I came, Raoul. Wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”
Sebastian Thorne remained calm, but some of his companions looked ready to burst at the Mistress’ remark.
Atsá, as ever the consummate diplomat, waded in to deftly turn the conversation to where they wanted it to lead. The older and more experienced Were-Alpha implicitly understood that there would be plenty of barbs exchanged this evening and many battles fought. But the Shifters had come here with a goal, and it was imperative to ensure that the skirmishes they engaged in were the right ones.
“You should know that the Pack considers this an assault on all Wyrs, not just the Alpha and Tasia” Atsá directed at the Guardians, successfully diverting the attention to him.
“The Were-Alpha is correct. Shifters all over the world will view this as an assault on their very being — the core of what makes a Wyr Chosen” Alpha Ramirez interjected, in an unequivocal warning that was hard to ignore. “If the punishment is not swift or public, the GCW will have a Shifter problem on its hands.”
A few Guardians in the foyer enjoyed a nodding acquaintance with Alpha Ramirez. The Alpha controlled Southern California, and with Wizard Headquarters located within his territory, the occasional diplomatic overtures had been made. Ramirez was no hothead, the Guardians knew. His symbolic stand with another Alpha had not astonished the Guardians at all. Shifters tended to stick with their own kind over other Chosen. That was to be expected. But his unambiguous warning could be ignored only at the GCW’s peril. His timely reminder had just upped the stakes for them.
The First Wizard, who’d allowed the Guardians to have their say so far, spoke up for the first time since Durovic and DiZeyla had laid out the charges against Anderson. “I hear what Atsá and Alpha Ramirez are saying. The assault was particularly heinous in the way it targeted a Shifter. Our Chosen brethren must know that we Wizards take this as seriously as the Wyrs do.”
“It’s not just Wyrs who find this particularly abhorrent” Durovic chimed in. “DiZeyla and I are here today because we believe that ensuring justice for this crime is not merely a Wyr cause. I can assure you that when other First Ones are told about this despicable attempt to exploit and compel a Chosen, they’ll stand with the Wyrs to demand that the perpetrators be punished. Any Chosen who tries to sweep this under the carpet or defend the perpetrators will find himself isolated when this goes public. And it will. You can be sure of that.”
“You’re accusing a well-respected Guardian of a heinous crime” Guardian Thorne countered. “The GCW has always stood for justice throughout our long, illustrious history. But we impart justice only when all the facts of a crime are clear. As of now, all we have are some serious allegations.”
Jason LaRue stepped forward to place a file on the table before DiZeyla.
Durovic glanced at the Guardians, clearly indicating that they had the evidence to back up the allegations he and DiZeyla had made.
“You allege that this Trent character confessed to giving the Alpha silver and locking the Wizard in with him” one of the Guardians interjected. “What makes you believe that he expected the Alpha to attack the Wizard? If the Alpha had been dosed with silver over a twenty-four hour period, isn’t it more likely that his captors simply assumed that he’d be unconscious, and hence no danger to anyone confined with him?”
“There was a camera in the room with them, trained on the two in the cage.” This time it was Duncan who spoke up, his expression forbidding. “Now, what do you suppose the captors were after, if not to snare footage of a Shifter out of his mind with silver, savaging an unfortunate Chosen locked in with him?” The words were dry and caustic, unlike Duncan’s usual laidback manner.
The images Duncan’s grim words conjured up for the Wizards seemed to agitate them. They shifted nervously, jittery at the plain-speaking.
“When we located the house they’d been held in, we recovered video from the camera” Duncan continued, his voice more even. “We have it in our possession.”
“The Guardians would like to see it” one of the them stated.
“That footage is not for public consumption” Duncan said firmly. “It’ll be produced at the trial, if necessary, but not before.”
“The GCW cannot simply take the word of a group of Chosen, no matter how illustrious they be” Guardian Thorne said authoritatively.
“We’re not asking you to, Guardian Thorne” DiZeyla countered. “We can prove that Ted Anderson ordered the assault. It is all in here.” She pointed to the file Jason had placed before her. “Please have your Guardians go over it with us.”
“The GCW will run its own investigation” Thorne began, only to be stopped by DiZeyla.
“This evidence was gathered by the First Wizard’s team, assisted in the endeavor by David Hamilton’s Wizards in San Francisco.”
“The First Wizard’s team is very competent, I’m sure. But they’re not used to running investigations of this nature. The Guardians are.”
“My team was led by two Guardians, Sebastian” the First Wizard countered pointedly. “Also, at my request, Guardian LaRue kept an eye on the overall investigation.”
“LaRue has been compromised ever since he accepted the hospitality of a Pack” countered the same Guardian Sienna had shot down before.
Sebastian Thorne stayed silent, clearly indicating that he did not disagree with his colleague.
The First Wizard turned in her chair to face the Guardians. “I sent Jason LaRue to San Francisco. I’m still First Wizard and it is under my authority that he works with Raoul Merceau’s Pack.”
“This evidence has been gathered by my team” the First Wizard stated, making her stance clear to everyone in the room. “I stand by it. If this proves that a Guardian ordered the assault, then he must be punished.”
There was deafening silence as the First Wizard faced off with the Guardians. The tension in the hall could be cut with a knife. The relationship between the First Wizard and GCW was in tatters, Tasia realized, to the point where salvaging it would be an impossible endeavor. Tasia, already aware of the fractures, was nevertheless alarmed when confronted by it this openly. Wizards all over the world depended on the Guardians to protect their interests. A weakened GCW would only hurt the most vulnerable Wizards in their midst.
An expression of shock flashed across the poker-faced Herabudh, astounded by the open divisions between the two competing Wizard power centers. Strain was to be expected between the GCW and the First Wizard, but that the Wizards couldn’t even paper over the cracks before an audience that included Faoladh and a host of influential Chosen left most of the audience flabbergasted.
A dismayed Tasia took note of the varying reactions of the audience. The Shifters, as suspected, seemed disinterested in the infighting, while Faoladh looked unsurprised. Tasia also noted that David Hamilton merely looked grimly resigned, as if his worst fears had been realized. But Mistress Franciszka was gleeful, with a smile on her face and a dawning realization in her eyes.
The Wizards were in incredible disarray, Franciszka realized, much to her glee. She’d heard the whispers, of course, but there were always rumors in their world. And the GCW had been an institution in the Chosen world for a long time. Now, it finally dawned on her that there had been some truth to the whispers. This was no mere squabble or a simple difference of opinion between two blocs. Instead, it was a complete breakdown in the relationship, to the extent where they couldn’t even put up a façade before others. Her Master would be very interested in this information, Franciszka mused excitedly. So would others in the Clan. The Guardians had been a force to reckon with for much of Chosen history. If weakened, it would present other Chosen an opportunity to step into the power vacuum.