The Last Hawk

by Catherine Asaro

  Kelric shook his head. Then he went to his cell and lay on the pallet. He slipped into a fitful doze, waking at every sound.

  Toward evening footsteps entered his cell. When his visitor crouched by the pallet, Kelric snapped open his eyes and grabbed the wrist of a hand coming down at his head. Above him, silhouetted against the skylight, he saw the angelic face of a teenage boy.

  The boy tugged at his wrist "Let go. I only came to see what you was."

  Kelric dropped hiswrist and sat up. "Now you know."

  The boy shrank away from him. "You're even bigger'n Zev."

  "Who is Zev?"

  "Zev Shazorla. He was here when the beaks brought you in." The boy made a face. "He's the one got everyone calling me Little Crooner. Kicks me off mad as a scowlbug for them to call me that, but seeing as they're big and I'm not, that's my name. But it used to be Ched. Ched Lasa Viasa."

  It was the first triple name Kelric had heard. The boy must have been born in Lasa and later moved to Viasa. "Lasa is a Secondary Estate, isn't it?"

  "Course it is." Ched squinted in the dim light. "You look like metal."

  Kelric shrugged, tired of the comments on his coloring.

  "You from Ahkah Estate?" Ched asked.

  "Why would I be from Ahkah?"

  "I heard they talk funny."

  "My accent is Skolian."

  "Sure." Ched laughed. "And I'm Manager of Haka." He settled by the pallet. "Where you from really?"

  Kelric saw no point in arguing. "l was at Dahl."

  "Haka's boss must be a happy Clawcat tonight."

  "Why should my sentence make Manager Haka happy?"

  "You slow in the upper level or what?"

  Kelric scowled. "Let's just say my upper level is empty. Fill it up."

  Ched leaned forward. "Haka is a happy clawcat because what brews Dahl brews Karn and what brews Karn strokes Haka pink."

  Dryly Kelric said, "That's clear." He wondered if anyone here spoke normal Teotecan.

  "How long you here for?" Ched asked.

  "Life."

  The boy's smile vanished. The question What did you do? hung in the air. Then Ched's mouth fell open. "Hey! Where's your dice pouch?"

  Crushed in a windrider crash, Kelric thought. He regretted losing Deha's gift. "I don't have one."

  "Everyone's got one." Ched seemed more disturbed by his lack of dice than his life sentence; "And you told Zev you was a Calani. A Calani with no Quis dice. What a croon." He reached for Kelric's arm. "I can prove you're no Calani."

  In reflex, Kelric knocked away the boy's hand. The motion pushed up his sleeve anyway, and his Calanya guard gleamed in the murky light.

  "You got guards!" Ched said. "You steal 'em?"

  "What would possess me to steal them?"

  The boy peered at the gold. "Them's old. Ancient. Must be worth half an Estate." He looked up. "Got 'em on your ankles too?"

  "Yes."

  "Real gold and old as Haka. You better sleep with your eyes open."

  "They're welded on. You can't get them off."

  Ched shrugged. "All the gold on Coba won't do me no good in this place. But there's crooners here crazy enough to cut off your hands and feet for those things."

  "Great," Kelric muttered. "Just great."

  It was obvious to Deha Dahl that the Haka Manager had spared no effort to ensure her visitor received the finest treatment. They sat at a gleaming table, drank wine from crystal goblets, and dined on cream pheasant. A handsome youth stood ready to refresh their drinks. Rashiva Haka's intended message was also obvious: Haka had more wealth, more power, and more prestige than Dahl.

  Despite the excellent meal, Deha only picked at the food. She felt too drained to eat, particularly when faced with the vibrant beauty of the woman across the table. Rashiva Haka was a desert goddess. She glowed with youth. Her hair glistened like black satin and her eyes slanted upward, black opals in a face as smooth and as dark as java-cream.

  "Is the meal to your liking, Manager Dahl?" Rashiva asked.

  "Excellent, Manager Haka," Deha said.

  "I'm glad we had this chance to relax." Rashiva smiled. "Even Estate Managers need a rest sometimes."

  "So they do." Deha remembered her first years as a Manager. "You will find though that the Managing becomes easier with time."

  Rashiva's smile took on an edge. "I wasn't aware I found it difficult."

  So much for polite conversation. Deha wished this ordeal were over.

  "Would you like to take our drinks in the Kejroom?" Rashiva asked. "The tapestries there may amuse you."

  Deha tried not to think about the doctors at Dahl and their adamant warnings to avoid liqueur. If she refused the customary jai rum, Rashiva would suspect the weakness of her health. She smiled pleasantly. "Yes, let us retire for our drinks."

  Rashiva Haka, Manager of Haka Estate, felt like a misplayed dice cube. The Dahl Manager's imposing presence made her acutely aware of her inexperience. As she ushered Deha into the Kejroom, she looked around at the tapestries on the walls, rich with scenes from the Old Age: warriors aloft on giant althawks, Calanya ceremonies, battle scenes. Rashiva wished she could soak up the ferocity of those ancient warriors to help her deal with Dahl's formidable queen.

  Deha walked about looking at the tapestries "These are beautiful."

  "They were a gift from Kej Estate," Rashiva said. "A Kej Manager gave them to Haka over a thousand years ago, when the two Estates joined forces during the Desert Wars."

  "Such detailed work." Deha studied a piece woven in gold, red, and blue thread. "It's a pity Kej didn't survive the Wars."

  Rashiva stiffened, wondering if Deha meant to belittle Haka's alliance with Kej. To hide her reaction, she turned to a com on the wall and flipped the switch. "Nida?"

  Her aide's voice floated into the air. "Here, ma'am."

  "Manager Dahl and I will take our jai in the Kejroom."

  "I'll send someone up right away," Nida said.

  Deha smiled as Rashiva clicked off the com. "Shall we sit down?" The impeccable courtesy of her voice made her host seem inestimably rude to leave her standing.

  "Most certainly," Rashiva said. "Let us be seated."

  So they sat facing off in armchairs until a youth arrived with the liqueur. He poured two glasses of jai rum, then set the decanter on the table between them and withdrew from the room.

  Deha picked up her glass. "Well." She glanced at the Quis pouch on Rashiva's belt. "Shall we roll a game of dice?"

  Game? Rashiva thought. When two Managers sat at dice it was no game. Deha Dahl's mastery over the Quis was infamous. She would wipe the floor with Haka's young Manager.

  "Perhaps another time," Rashiva said.

  Deha nodded. "Another time, then. When you are ready."

  When she was ready. The barb stung. Rashiva forced herself to relax. "How are the renovations going at Dahl?"

  "Very well." Deha settled in her chair. "If Minister Karn pardons Sevtar, I will reopen the Akasi suite."

  Rashiva nearly spluttered rum all over the table. Pardoned? Was Deha mad?

  When she regained her equilibrium, she spoke in a mild voice that hinted at skepticism. "Why would he be pardoned?"

  "He no more belongs in prison than I do."

  She wondered what Deha was up to. Jahlt Karn would never pardon Sevtar. Rashiva tried a discreet probe. "Prison does seem inappropriate for a Calani. A waste of his talent."

  "So it is." Deha sipped her jai. "After all, he mastered Outsider Quis in only a season."

  Rashiva almost snorted. Did Deha think her a fool? "One rarely hears of such talent."

  "True. But then, such talent rarely exists."

  If ever. Yet it was an odd boast to make. What advantage lay in it? If it were true, Sevtar was a genius who now belonged to Haka. Why would Deha want her to know that?

  Of course the "genius" was also a killer. Deha would be delighted if Haka rehabilitated Sevtar, taught him Haka Quis, and then sent him back to Dahl. No bet
ter way existed for one Manager to gain power over another than by obtaining a Calani versed in her Quis. The question was academic, though. Sevtar was as likely to get a pardon as the desert was to. get up and walk away.

  But . . . the documents specified only that he serve his sentence at Haka. They didn't dictate where at Haka. No stipulation said he couldn't go into the Calanya.

  Rashiva considered the thought. To acquire a Calani from another Estate, a Manager paid a stratospheric price for his contract. But suppose she agreed to take Sevtar into her Calanya and teach him Quis for as long as he was in prison? She would pay nothing for his Dahl contract. Of course, were he ever pardoned, he would return to Dahl without Deha having to pay for his Haka contract. Considering the nonexistent chance of a pardon, Haka could only benefit from such an agreement.

  She chose her words with care. "It is unfortunate Sevtar never had a chance to realize his potential."

  Deha regarded her. "So it is."

  "One could always hypothesize alternatives."

  "I'm not sure I follow you, Manager Haka."

  Rashiva sipped her rum. "Suppose a man is temporarily sworn to a Calanya. Say for the duration of his visit somewhere." She paused. "Perhaps a visit to prison. Assuming he can be rehabilitated."

  "Go on."

  "When his prison term ends he is released from his temporary Oath."

  Dryly Deha said, "Not much of a bargain, if his term is life. The original Manager is handing a genius to her adversary for nothing."

  "True," Rashiva said. "But were he ever pardoned the original Manager would get a Calani from her adversary for nothing. It would be a gamble for both parties."

  For a long moment the Dahl Manager was silent. Rashiva couldn't tell if Deha was studying her, thinking, or simply pausing for effect. When she finally spoke, her voice was unexpectedly soft. "A worthy gamble, I would say, if it will free him from prison."

  Rashiva stared at her. She hadn't seriously expected Deha to consider the proposal. It was too obviously weighted In Haka's favor. So. Dahl's formidable queen had a weakness. Sevtar. Deha must love him a great deal if, to get him out of prison, she would consider letting one of her greatest adversaries take him into her Calanya.

  Rashiva set down her rum. "Perhaps we can discuss this hypothesis in more specific terms."

  "Perhaps we can," Deha said.

  They penned and signed the documents that night, an agreement that in all respects favored Haka. Yet when it was done and finished, Rashiva had an odd feeling, as if she had been outmaneuvered.

  Kelric awoke into darkness as someone flipped him onto his stomach. Hands pinned down his limbs and a knife touched his throat. Fingers fumbled at his Calanya guards. "You jus' lie still, " Zev said. "Cooperate and you won't get hurt." He laughed. "At least not hurt as much as if you fight."

  Kelric's reflexes took control. Even without full support from his damaged enhancements, his combat techniques were far superior to the methods used by his attackers He knocked out two of the three immediately, then flipped Zev onto his back and knelt on his chest with his fist raised.

  "I didn't mean nothing," Zev gasped. "Nothing. I swear."

  "Ever touch me again," Kelric said, "and I'll smash your goddamned head open." Then he sent the Shazorla man into oblivion.

  An arm flickered in an archway. By the time Kelric realized it was only Ched, he had already caught the boy.

  "Lemme go," Ched warned. "Or I'll yell so loud everyone in Haka'll hear."

  Kelric released him. "I'm not going to hurt you."

  "Sure. I saw what you did to them." He peered right and left, then slipped into his cell and knelt by his pallet. A spark jumped in the air and then he held up a lit candle.

  Kelric stood in the cell's entrance. "Where did you get the candle?"

  "From Bonni." Chad retreated, going to sit against the back wall. "She's a guard. But she's all right. Not like Zev an' them."

  "They come after you, don't they?"

  "None of your business."

  "I'm making it my business."

  Ched hugged his knees to his chest. "What am I supposed to do? I'm no giant like you and I don't know nothing about fighting."

  "Can't you protest to the authorities? File a complaint?"

  "File a complaint," Ched mimicked. "Sure."

  "If you've never tried. how do you know it won't work?"

  "I did try. I won't do nothing that stupid again."

  "Why?"

  Ched scowled. "You ask too much."

  "Why are you afraid to answer?"

  "I'm not afraid of nothing." Ched curled his fist around the candle. "After my first night here, I told the guards I wanted to talk to our warden. They said 'He's busy' and left. Then one time the top warden came here for inspection. Zecha Haka. Keyclinker for the whole place. When I told her about Zev and them, you know what she said? That I must've asked for trouble and me being who I was I deserved it."

  Kelric stared at him. "You deserved it? That's sick."

  Ched shrugged. "Zev knew I talked. When they was done with me, I was two days in the Med House. They told the guards I fell in the quarry. So don't tell me to file a complaint."

  "If you were beaten that badly, it should have been obvious you didn't fall."

  "That's what the meds told Zecha. You think she cares? She hates me. And I got bad news for you, metal man. She hates Calani too."

  "Can't you talk to Manager Haka?" Kelric asked. "If she's anything like Deha Dahl, she would be outraged by what you just told me."

  Ched snorted. "Sure. We talk to the Manager all the time. Besides, the last Manager never came round at all. I don't know about the new one."

  Kelric didn't like the sound of it. The more he saw of Haka, the worse it looked.

  "You know," Chad said, "I never saw anyone put out a body fast as you put out Zev and them. Whoosh." He grinned. "Just like that, they was out flat."

  "I've been trained to defend myself in virtually any circumstance." .

  "Virchilly. Sir-stance." Ched laughed. "If your words was pictures you could sell 'em for a lot of money. Real Calani, heh? But you got trouble. One night here and already Zev don't like you."

  "I'll manage."

  "Listen," Ched said. "What you need is a friend. Someone to let you know how things are here."

  "That someone being you, I take it."

  "I could do it."

  "What is it you want in return?"

  "Keep them away from me. Be my protection."

  Deal or no deal, Kelric had no intention of standing by while the others took out their frustrations on the boy. "All right."

  Ched smiled. "You're not so bad. You get cooped for what somebody else pulled?"

  "No. I did it."

  Ched made a show of looking nonchalant. "Did what?"

  "Killed a guard on my Calanya escort."

  The light vanished as Ched dropped his candle. "Winds," he muttered. "Where did that flint go?"

  "You left it under your pallet."

  "That's right." His voice shook. "Pretty slow of me, heh?"

  "Ched, it was ruled accidental manslaughter."

  "You just remember I'm with you. All right?" The boy relit his candle. In its dusky glow he looked scared and vulnerable.

  "You're so young," Kelric said. "This is no place for a child."

  "Don't go calling me a child."

  "Why are you here?"

  "Why? Because I'm a crooner. That's why."

  Kelric crossed his arms. "I protect, you talk. So talk."

  "Heh. Don't get mad." Ched retreated to sit against the wall again. "I was a tavern kinsa in Viasa. That was after I left Lasa."

  "Kinsa? What's that?"

  "You really must be from outer space."

  "Ched."

  "I got paid for making the customers happy."

  "Happy how?"

  "l was real nice to the women. In private." Ched squinted at him. "You know."

  "You were sent here just for solicitat
ion?"

  "No. I'm here because of a scumrat." Ched leaned forward. "See, things was finally going better for me. Feni, she hired me out of the tavern. Took care of me." He scowled. "Then she went prowling after that scum. When he came to live with us, he treated me like mold in the pipes. Things got worse an' worse. So one night I put my hands around his scrawny neck and squeezed till he turned purple. If people hadn't heard him yelping I woulda squeezed off his head."

  It made no sense to Kelric. He was generally a good judge of people and Ched hardly struck him as a murderer. "Couldn't you just leave Feni? Ixpar told me most city Houses will give someone a meal and a bed in return for chores."

  "Well, it don't always work that way. How would this Ixpar Pixpar know anyway?"

  "Her name is Karn."

  Ched snorted. "Sure. Successor Karn herself. Winds. But you can croon."

  Sand scattered as Kelric walked across the cell. He crouched in front of the boy. "I don't like being called a liar. Understand?"

  Ched flattened himself against the wall. "Y-yes."

  "Good." Kelric stood up. "Come on."

  Ched scrambled to his feet. "Where are we going?"

  "There's some garbage in my cell. I'm going to put it where it belongs. You better stay with me,-in case they wake up."

  After they carried the unconscious men back to their rooms, Ched settled down on the other side of Kelric's cell. Within moments he was asleep.

  Kelric lay down on his pallet. Bolt? he thought.

  No response.

  He tried various resets, but none worked His enhanced reflexes had tried to kick in during the fight, so he knew Bolt still functioned. His bio-electrodes must have stopped working, preventing him from contacting the node. He hoped the system could manage at least a partial repair. He had developed a symbiosis with Bolt over the past fourteen years.

  To be without it was like losing pan of himself.

  11

  Rock's Well

  Zecha Haka, head warden at the Haka prison, sat tensed at her desk. The last person she had expected to show up in her office was the Haka Manager. Rashiva's doddering predecessor had never come to the compounds.

  "The prisoner from Dahl." Rashiva was sitting across the desk from her. "Sevtar."

  "I sent him out with a quarry crew this morning," Zecha said.