The Last Hawk

by Catherine Asaro

  Kelric halted with Ixpar on the bridge and drew his gun. "Who is that?"

  "A Calani," she said. "A dice player who lives in a Calanya."

  The man stood up, watching them. He was slender, having gray hair and the look of a scholar. His clothes were simple, with an appearance of wealth about them: suede trousers and knee boots, a darker suede belt tooled with Quis designs, and a white shirt with embroidered cuffs. Guards made from what looked like solid gold circled his wrists and two gold arm-bands showed on each of his upper arms.

  "Those bands make him look like a Jagernaut," Kelric said.

  "You insult him," Ixpar said.

  "Since when is that an insult?" With Ixpar at his side, Kelric walked down to the Calani and spoke in Teotecan. "You are the only one out here?"

  The Calani watched him in silence.

  Kelric glanced at Ixpar. "Why won't he talk?"

  "Calani never speak to Outsiders." She crossed her arms. "In the Old Age,the penalty for breaking into a Calanya was death."

  Kelric frowned. He neither needed nor wanted another hostage, but he couldn't leave the man free to sound an alarm. So he fired the stunner. Surprise flashed across the Calani's face as he collapsed.

  "No!" Ixpar dropped on her knees and felt for the man's pulse.

  "I'm sorry." Kelric rubbed his temples. "But I can't take chances."

  The look she gave him could have chilled ice. "We can't leave him like this."

  "He'll be all right." Kelric drew her to her feet. "He'll just sleep for a few hours." He headed for a single—story building made from amberwood and blue stone. Potted plants hung from its eaves and the shutters were open. revealing windows of gold glass bordered by copper.

  Inside, they walked down a hall painted in green and shadow—gray, dappled like a forest glade with sun filtering through the foliage. It ended at a sunroom; the walls shaded from amber at the floor into white—gold at the top. The ceiling was blue, with clouds half covering a sun. In one corner, a youth sat at a table playing Quis solitaire.

  "Get up," Kelric said. .

  The youth looked up as if surfacing from a dive. When he saw Kelric, he blinked and stood up.

  Kelric glanced at the meter on the stunner. He couldn't keep knocking out people; the gun's charge was almost exhausted. So he motioned at a papery screen painted with trees and birds that blocked a doorway across the room. "Open it."

  With Kelric and Ixpar following, the youth backed toward the screen. He pushed it aside to reveal a larger sunroom with two huge doors in the opposite wall. In one corner of the room a boy sat listening to the talk of a man with a halo of white hair. In the center, seven men sat at a table playing Quis.

  Kelric silently swore. The odds were now eleven to one and some of the dice players looked formidable. When they saw him, they rose to their feet. None spoke—except Ixpar who let out a shout loud enough to wake the next planet.

  The doors across the room slammed open and four guards strode into the room. As Kelric fired, the stunner sputtered. He managed to knock out the guards but as soon as the dice players realized his gun was empty they started toward him.

  Kelric grabbed the youth from the sunroom and jerked back his head. "If anybody twitches, I'll snap his neck."

  The Quis players froze. Still holding the boy, Kelric took Ixpar's arm and pulled his hostages across the room to the double doors. As soon as they were outside, he shoved the youth back into the Calanya and closed the doors, then locked everyone inside.

  Ixpar twisted in his grip. "You can't do this."

  "Watch me." He headed down the hall, drawing her with him. He opened the door at its end onto gardens and lawns. Several hundred meters away he saw a line of trees, and beyond them an airfield tower rose into the sky.

  They were halfway to the trees when shouts broke out behind them. Spinning around, Kelric saw guards pouring out of the Calanya. He broke into a run, pulling Ixpar and she huffed for breath as she struggled to keep up. His hunch about her proved correct; no one tired at them.

  They ran through the line of trees and onto the airfield. Sprinting across the tarmac, he headed for the first hangar. When he saw it was empty, he ran toward the next.

  An octet of guards burst out of the control tower ahead of them. Kelric stopped so fast it would have jolted Ixpar off her feet if he hadn't caught her A glance back showed the guards from the Calanya closing in on them from behind. So he backed up toward the hangar they had just passed, coming to a stop against its rough wall. The guards surrounded them, forming a semicircle three rows thick, with the closest guards about ten meters away.

  Holding Ixpar with her back against his front, Kelric laid his knife across her neck. "Come any closer," he said. "and I'll open her throat."

  Ixpar went rigid, her dismay reaching even his injured Kyle centers. He had no intention of carrying out his threat; he would go into combat mode if he had to fight, relying on his enhancements to avoid capture. But he had a hunch the bluff was his strongest weapon right now.

  The guards parted and Deha appeared, coming forward. "Let her go. An Estate Manager will make a better hostage."

  "No," he said. "Call off your guards."

  "I don't believe you would hurt her."

  "Are you willing to bet her life on that?"

  Deha turned to a guard captain. "Clear the field."

  "You stay," Kelric said.

  The area cleared with remarkable speed When he and Ixpar were alone with Deha Kelric tilted his head toward the next hangar. "Over there."

  They walked to the structure he and Deha watching each other, his knife against Ixpar's neck.

  When they reached the hangar, he saw a windrider inside. He pulled Ixpar over to the aircraft and pushed her at the hatch. "Get inside."

  "Kelric, no." Deha swallowed. "She's just a child. Leave her here and take me."

  Not a chance, he thought. He had no doubt that Deha unarmed was as dangerous as her guards were armed; her intellect was more potent than a stunner Ixpar made a safer hostage.

  He waited while Ixpar scrambled into the rider. Then he stepped up into the hatchway, keeping close watch on Deha.

  Strain showed in the Manager's face. "Kelric, don't do this."

  Warning: Bolt thought. Posture and voice inflections of agent below suggest a threat behind you.

  Kelric spun around—in time to see Ixpar hurl a blunt—edged discus at him. He dodged, but at such close quarters he couldn't evade it even with enhanced speed. The discus hit his temple and he plunged into blackness.

  5

  Queen's Spectral Tower

  Jahlt Karn stood before the wall of one-way glass. To avoid a glare, lights on both sides of it had been lowered. In the dimness, her gray eyes darkened to jet. Gray streaked the braid of ebony hair that hung down her back. Dressed in black trousers, black tunic, and gray boots. she blended with the shadows. She stood tall and gaunt spoke In a quiet voice, and as Minister she ruled the Twelve Estates.

  Deha stood next to her. Below them, In the room beyond the glass, Kelric lay unconscious on a bed.

  "Imperialate law is clear." Jahlt turned to Deha. "The Restriction forbids us contact with Skolians. You should have taken him to the port."

  "He would have died before we reached it," Deha said.

  "All Coba will suffer the consequences of your decision." Jahlt shook her head. "As long as he lives, the chance exists he might escape. Then what? Neither he nor his notorious family will appreciate our attempts to hold him prisoner." She regarded Deha. "We have no choice. He must not live."

  Deha tensed. "We've had no executions in decades."

  "Nevertheless. It is either execution or life in prison, and I see no reason to take chances"

  Deha spoke carefully "There are many forms of prison."

  "Meaning?"

  "Consider the one institution our ancestors guarded more closely than any prison."

  "Put him in a Calanya?" Jahlt snorted. "You might as well roll a firebomb with your
Quis dice."

  Deha had her rebuttal ready. "He would be kept separate from the others. Until he adapts."

  Jahlt studied her. "I begin to wonder if other factors affect your decisions about this offworlder."

  "Such as?"

  "He is a remarkably striking young man."

  "I don't appreciate your implication."

  "Then tell me something," Jahlt said. "If you swear this man to your Calanya, will he be Calani? Or Akasi Calani?"

  Deha crossed her arms, "Whether or not I make him my Akasi is my business."

  "It becomes my business when I think your hormones are impairing your judgment."

  "My judgment is fine."

  "Yet you want to swear a man into your Calanya who can't play Quis."

  "He can play Quis. He had nothing else to do while he was recovering."

  Jahlt shrugged. "To know the rudiments of dice and have the talent for Calanya Quis are two different things."

  "True," Deha said. "But consider this: he had no money to bet when he was learning, so he wagered planets instead." She smiled. "After a few days my escort owned half the Imperialate."

  Dryly Jahlt said, "I'm sure ISC will gladly pay the debt when Captain Hacha shows up to collect."

  "There is no debt. Kelric won back his planets."

  Jahlt moved her hand in dismissal. "It wouldn't be the first time a handsome face swayed Hacha into letting a lesser player win."

  "Hacha doesn't like him. Besides, he's never won a game against her. But he's beaten both Llaach and Balv and they're no beginners. He even beat Rev once." Deha paused. "I've played him myself, Jahlt. He has a true gift."

  The Minister put her hands behind her back and paced across the room. "Have you considered the effect he will have on the Quis?"

  "What effect do you mean?"

  Jahlt turned. "I don't know. That's the problem." She came back to Deha. "And if he escapes? No talent is worth that risk."

  "He won't escape."

  "The last time you told me that, he kidnapped my successor."

  "It won't happen again."

  Jahlt's voice hardened. "It certainly won't."

  "If we send Kelric to prison," Deha said, "it will be an abominable waste of his life and his genius. Resurrect the death penalty and we put Coba back centuries."

  The Minister considered her. Then she went to the window and looked down at Kelric. After a moment she said, "I will trust your judgment, Deha. But think well before you make your final decision." Jahlt turned back to her. "If you swear him to the Calanya, he will be there for life, with all that will mean for you, for Dahl, and for Coba."

  Chankah Dahl, Successor to the Dahl Manager, was a young woman, though not so young that the years hadn't honed her skills in Estate politics. With a position at Dahl second only to Deha, a kasi and two young daughters to her name, and the respect of her peers, Chankah was well satisfied with her life.

  Today she walked along the Ivory Hall with the doctor Dabbiv. "You should tell all of this to Deha," Chankah said.

  "I have told her," he said. "She says that under no condition am I to stop sedating Kelric. She's afraid if he wakes up he'll try to escape again."

  "Are you sure the drugs are poisoning him? Maybe the dosage is just too high."

  "That's what Deha said. But the dosage is only half that needed for a man his size." Dabbiv came to a halt. "It's all wrong. I have trouble bringing him out of sedation so he can eat. When I do get food into him he can't keep it down, not even what he could eat before. And his blood has a violet tinge to it. Maybe that's normal. Maybe it means he's dying. I just don't know."

  Chankah laid a calming hand on his arm. "Did you ask him why his blood is purple?"

  "He said something about a chemical reaction of 'nanomeds' with nitrogen in the air. It makes no sense."

  "Perhaps you should talk to Deha again about your concerns."

  "It won't do any good. She doesn't take anything I say seriously."

  "Of course she does. Why else would she appoint you to the Estate staff?"

  He snorted. "I have no idea. If she had her way, we'd be back in the Old Age and I'd be locked up in a Calanya."

  Chankah raised her eyebrows. "That's absurd. She practically dotes on you."

  "I don't want to be dated on. I'm not a pet."

  "It can't be that bad."

  He scowled. "How would you know? You've never experienced it. If I said 'Deha, the wind is blowing,' she'd say 'That's nice, Dabbiv.' If you said 'Deha, the wind is blowing', she'd say 'A profound observation, Chankah. One worthy of my successor.' "

  "Dabbiv."

  "It's true." He took a breath. "That's why I need your support. She listens to you."

  Despite Dabbiv's reputation for being excitable. Chankah considered him one of the most promising physicians in Dahl. It had been her own recommendation that Deha appoint him to her staff. If he was this worried, she ought to speak to Deha. "All right. I'll need to see his medical records first, though."

  "You'll have them. And Chankah—there's something else."

  "Yes?"

  "Are you familiar with the work being done at Varz Estate?"

  "Some experiments with blood composition, isn't it?"

  Dabbiv started to walk again. "They've isolated several blood types. At least three."

  She walked with him. "I wouldn't take this claim too seriously. Not when it originates from Varz."

  "Just because there's hostility between Varz and Kara, it doesn't make the Varz biochemists incompetent."

  "It's the uses Manager Varz intends for the research that I question."

  Dabbiv cleared his throat. It sounded like preparation for battle. "I want to send a sample of Kelric's blood to their labs for analysis."

  "Impossible."

  "Why?"

  She frowned. "Which reason do you want first? That Minister Karn forbids us to let it be known we have a Skolian here? That Deha would object to correspondence with Varz? Or simply that it would be a waste of time?"

  "If Kelric dies," he said "none of those reasons will stand up against the wind."

  "Heh " She felt like an airsack going empty. "You think it's that important?"

  "Yes."

  "I'll see what I can do. But I make no promises."

  "There's one more thing."

  "Any more and Deha will send me to dig rock on a quarry crew."

  Dabbiv made a frustrated noise. "It's her health. She won't listen to anyone. If she has another heart attack like the one last year. it could kill her."

  "She's sensitive about it. She will think I imply she's too weak to manage Dahl."

  "If she doesn't slow down" Dabbiv said "she won't be too weak She'll be too dead"

  Chankah exhaled. "All right. I'll talk to her."

  Usually the Quis patterns engraved on the walls of an Estate hall fascinated Ixpar. Not today. The carvings sped past in a blur as she strode through the Lower Halls of Dahl. Nothing could erase the memory of Kelric's words: Come any closer and I'll open her throat. How did she reconcile the Jagernaut who had dragged her across Dahl with the man she had watched learning Quis? It seemed ludicrous now, the way she had courted him.

  Tomorrow Jahlt was taking her back to Karn, and in a few more days Kelric would be sworn to the Dahl Calanya forever forbidden to her. So for the first time she was going to disobey a direct order from the Minister.

  Ixpar walked to the Amber Tower and climbed its spiral stairs, around and around the cramped turns. At the top she followed the curve of the wall until she came to a window of oneway glass. On its other side, the Amber Room glowed, with gold walls and a goldstone floor. Plants in baskets hung about the. windows and sunlight sifted through the foliage, making patterns on the walls. Kelric was sleeping in a bed with yellow sheets and a green velvet cover.

  Ixpar went on walking around the tower until she found the door with its octet of guards. Captain Hacha bowed to her "My greetings Successor Karn."

  Ixpar nodded "I've come
to visit Kelric."

  "He's asleep"

  Ixpar knew he wasn't asleep. He was drugged senseless. "I still wish to see him."

  Hacha shifted her weight. Ixpar had given her a no-win choice; antagonize the Ministry Successor or disobey the Dahl Manager. After considering for a moment, Hacha pressed panels on the door handle in a complicated combination. A bolt thumped and she swung the door open. But as Ixpar walked forward, Hacha motioned at the guards and they fell into formation around her.

  "You may all wait Outside," Ixpar said.

  Hacha shook her head. "I'm sorry,- Successor Karn. We can't leave you alone with him."

  Ixpar knew Hacha well enough to realize she had pushed the captain as far as she would go. "Very well Wait by the door."

  Hacha nodded, satisfied with the compromise.

  Ixpar sat in a Chair next to Kelric's bed and spoke in a voice too soft for the guards to overhear. "I came to tell you goodbye, Kelric. I'm sorry about what we've done to you. But we had to. I wish I could make it better for you." She swallowed. "I wish I knew how to stop caring about you."

  "Ixpar?" His lashes lifted and he looked at her with eyes like liquid gold.

  She leaned closer. "How are you awake? The doctors gave you a sleep potion."

  "Sleep?" His eyes closed. "I thought . . . poison."

  "Poison? Kelric, no. It must be a_ mistake."

  "Ixpar . . ."

  "Yes?"

  "Was bluff." The drugs slurred his speech, heightening his accent "I wouldn't have killed you"

  She wondered if he had any idea how much that meant to her. As he sank back into sleep, she touched his cheek. "Goodbye, Kelric."

  Senior Physician Rohka paced in front of Deha's desk. "I wish you would put him somewhere with fewer stairs."

  "The exercise is good for you." With Kelric asleep in the tower and guards posted on every landing, Deha's mind was more at ease. They had come too close to disaster. Who would have guessed Ixpar could search out secret tunnels unknown even to the Estate archivists? Had the girl not been carrying the discus as part of her "quest" game, Kelric might now be On his way back to ISC headquarters.