The Last Hawk

by Catherine Asaro

  But tonight she saw no answers in its history, only the record of a people plagued by their own violent nature.

  Rev Miesa Haka walked next to the Calanya windbreak, using its shadows as a shield against the sun. After three years, he still loathed Haka. No lush mountains here. Just heat. And sand. It drifted through sculpted holes in the wall, blown by the keening gales Outside, the forever keening wind, until he almost believed he heard voices in its eerie song.

  Rev stopped. That was a voice. It had called his name.

  He looked through an opening in the windbreak. At first all he made out were clouds of swirling sand, like ruby-topaz powder veiling the land. Then he saw the woman; dressed in rough trousers and jacket, with her hood pulled up against the storm, she looked like a freight hauler from the docks.

  He drew away from the wall, insulted. But when the hauler called him again, he paused. How did she know his name? He looked out the hole again.

  The woman came closer. "Revi?"

  He regarded her.

  "Don't you recognize me?" she asked.

  He shook his head.

  She pulled back her hood—and she was a he.

  "Hayl?" he asked. "Is that really you?"

  "I've come every day for half a season, hoping to see you."

  "Winds, Hayl! I can hardly believe it." Revi grinned. "Climb on over! Get yourself in here."

  "Someone might see."

  "No one's around. Come on!"

  Hayl clambered up the wall and half slid, half climbed down the inner side. The instant he jumped to the ground, Revi threw his arms around him.

  "Winds above." Hayl's voice came out muffled against his shoulder. "You sure got big."

  They sat on the grass under a grove of jahalla trees and Rev listened while Hayl told him all that had happened since Avtac separated them. "So I got a ride to Viasa by playing lyderharp for the crew on a merchant rider," Hayl finished. "In Viasa I gambled at the market. It was easy. Outsiders can't play Quis worth spit. I used the money I made to buy passage here."

  "Is that what you do now? Gamble?"

  Hayl shook his head. "Men aren't allowed to gamble at the Haka market. Even if they were, I couldn't risk it. Someone will figure out I'm a Calani. I shouldn't have done it at Viasa."

  At sixteen, Hayl looked almost as vulnerable to Revi as the first time Rev had seen him, when he was five and Hayl an infant curled in his crib. "How do you live?"

  "One of the Men's Houses took me in," Hayl said. "They give me meals and a room in return for chores."

  "What if someone sees your Calanya guards?"

  Hayl pushed up his sleeve, revealing a bandage that hid his guard. "I say l burned myself. I know I have to find a way to take off the guards. But once they're gone—it's final." He dropped his hands in his lap as if it hurt to remember what circled his wrists. ."I hate it Outside, especially here. People act like I'm pole-dung because I have yellow hair. A kinsa-boss wants me to work for her and she won't stop bothering me. I used to be a Second Level Calani and now I'm nothing."

  "Ask Rashiva for asylum."

  "Manager Haka?" Hayl laughed harshly. "She'd pack me off to Avtac faster than you can roll your dice."

  "Not if you tell her what you've told me."

  "Not a chance."

  "Hayl, I'm serious."

  "You trust her that much?" When Rev nodded, Hayl exhaled. "You better be right."

  The rider soared above the Teotec Mountains, piloted by Aka Karn, a merchant taking her cargo of spices to Bahvla. To starboard, she sighted an octet of riders flying in formation. Feeling gregarious, she switched on channel two of her com. "This is Karn Greenbird, calling octet north by east. Beautiful day, heh?"

  The com crackled "Varz Nightrider here You're violating our airspace, Greenbird."

  Violating their airspace? What did that mean? "I'm headed for Bahvla."

  "The Bahvla lanes are closed," Nightrider said. "Pull off, Greenbird."

  "Cuaz and Khozaar," Aka muttered. She flew in a large are that took her away from the octet. Maybe .she had better approach Bahvla along a different route.

  The com spat static. "Pull off, Greenbird/ This is your final warning."

  "Pull off? I am pulling off. Pull off where?"

  With growing apprehension, Aka realized the riders were Closing in on her. Somehow Nightrider released a metal hawk from under its belly. When it became obvious the bird was going to commit suicide and fly into her rider, Aka tried to veer off. The hawk managed to graze Greenbird's wing anyway—and an explosion rocked the craft.

  "Nightrider, are you crazy?" she shouted into the com, struggling to keep Greenbird under control.

  In response, Nightrider launched another false hawk and Akajust barely brought up her craft in time to avoid it.

  Then she set course and ran back to Karn.

  Rashiva Haka paced across her den. "It gets worse and worse. Abductions, accusations, and now this."

  Her Senior Aide stood by the fireplace. "I would advise against giving Hayl asylum. He broke his Oath. Winds, he pulverized it. Avtac is the one who should deal with him."

  Rashiva stopped in front of her. "I can't send him back to Varz. Not after what he's been through."

  "If you keep him here you will antagonize the Minister."

  "If I send him to Varz I will antagonize my conscience." Rashiva leaned one hand against the mantel and stared at the flames crackling in the fireplace. "There are times when I wish it was Ixpar who ruled in Varz and Avtac who Managed Karn. It would make this matter of alliances more palatable."

  The Senior spoke in a low voice. "Take care, Rashiva. You never know who might hear."

  The Manager looked at her. "Avtac has my loyalty, not my soul." She straightened up. "Hayl stays here."

  Ixpar walked out of the hangar with Captain Borj. "Who was the pilot?"

  "A merchant named Aka Karn." Borj unhooked her flight jacket. "She had already left Karn when we found out about the blockade. Greenbird barely made it back here in one piece."

  Ixpar scowled. "I want armed riders on patrol along the perimeter of Karn airspace."

  "I'll see to it."

  As Ixpar headed to the Estate, she brooded. So. Varz was blocking every route into Bahvla. It cut Karn off from a crucial ally. Worse, Avtac's noise about Hayl's supposed reabduction had finally convinced Shazorla, normally a Karn ally, to speak in support of the Varz Ministry That meant Ahkah, Lasa, Shazorla, and Eviza all stood behind Varz. And whatever Rashiva's personal feelings toward Avtac, Ixpar knew the Haka Manager put a high value on loyalty. In a confrontation, Haka would support Varz.

  Viasa and its secondary Tehnsa still claimed neutrality. But the centuries of feuding between Bahvla and Viasa didn't bode well for Karn. If Manager Viasa broke neutrality it was unlikely she would side with a Bahvla ally.

  It all added up to a gambler's roll of dice with odds Ixpar didn't like one bit.

  Captain Tazza Varz piloted her craft with pride, soaring through the sky. They were two parts of a whole, she and Nightrider, and no craft. could best them.

  A buzz came from channel six on com, a line open only to the riders in her unit. "VarzSun here. Cap'n Tazza. We've got two riders coming up on port side. Looks like Bahvla."

  "I have them on scan," Tazza said.

  Com crackled on channel two this time, the line open to all riders within com range. "This is Bahvla Clouddancer You're blocking our travel lane, Nightrider."

  "These lanes are under Varz authority," Tazza said. "Go back to Bahvla."

  Clouddancer's pilot swore. "You people have no right to hold an entire Estate prisoner."

  Just try to get past us, Tazza thought. But the Bahvla riders headed back to their Estate like furpups cuffed by their dam.

  That evening, while sunset blazed across the sky, Tazza spotted a Karn octet on the. Bahvla—Karn perimeter.

  A man's voice came over channel two. "This is Jevrin Karn, flying Silverhawk. Acknowledge, Nightrider."

  Taz
za laughed. Ixpar Karn must be desperate, sending boys to do a woman's job. "You're playing in Varz airspace, Silver-hawk. Pull off."

  "We're headed to Bahvla," Jevrin said. "Suggest you pull off yourself, Captain."

  Tazza scowled, annoyed by his tone.

  A woman spoke on channel two. "Captain Borj here, Nightrider. We don't recognize your authority to block this lane."

  Tazza's com buzzed on six, a secured message from one of her riders. "Cap'n, this is VarzSun. Shall we take them out?"

  "Only on my order." Tazza switched to line two. "Borj, this is your last warning. Pull off."

  In response, the Karn riders dipped together and crossed into Varz space.

  "That's it!" Tazza said on six. "Let's go."

  Her riders sheared toward the Karn Octet. She sighted on Silverhawk—hold steady—there! He tried to dodge, but her gunfire ripped his wing. Just one more shot and—

  A blast reverberated through Nightrider. These Karn birds had weapons! The rider pitched and went into a dive, losing altitude at an alarming rate. Tazza fought with the wings, playing the slats in and out; until finally they caught the wind with a jolt, slowing her plunge. She lowered the landing gear and aimed for a clear hill in the forest below.

  Nightrider hit with a force that crushed Tazza against her safety harness. The screech of buckling metal pierced the air as the craft tore along the ground, until it flipped over and jerked to a stop, leaving her hanging from her seat She unbuckled her harness and dropped to the overhead bulkhead, which had become the "deck." As the rider teetered back and forth, she made her way to the upside-down hatch.

  Tazza shoved open the hatch—and saw flames racing along the fuselage. Throwing caution to the wind, she vaulted to the ground and broke into a run. Just when she reached the top of the hill, an explosion roared behind her. A second later the shock wave flung her into the air like a leaf on the wind. She hit the ground and tumbled down the other side of the hill until she thudded into a mound of dirt.

  Tazza lay trying to focus her thoughts. She tried to move, but her body didn't respond. All she could do was listen to the flames consuming Nightrider Another small explosion came from the wreckage and a drone filled her head. It wasn't until VarzSun flew overhead that she connected the hum to an engine.

  After VarzSun bumped into a landing farther down the slope, its pilot jumped out and sprinted up the hill. She knelt next to Tazza. "Cap'n? Thank the winds!"

  "Did you get the Karn riders?" Tazza asked.

  "Six, maybe seven." The pilot slid an arm under her shoulders. "One dodged by us, but it took several hits Another went back to Karn."

  Tazza struggled to her feet. "And ours?"

  In a subdued voice the pilot said, "We lost four." She helped Tazza limp to the VarzSun. "Starbird went back for crews to douse the forest fire."

  Before now, keeping riders out of Bahvla had been almost a game to Tazza. No longer. Suddenly it was all-too tangible, a grim reality brought home by the deaths today.

  When VarzSun was aloft, Tazza looked down at the blaze of Nightrider's demise. She would fly again. The deaths of her pilots wouldn't be in vain.

  "No!" Henta Bahvla faced Jevrin from behind her desk like a fighter squaring off with an opponent. "Don't we have trouble enough? I can't get a single rider out of Bahvla and you're the only one who has made it in since the blockade started. Do you have any idea what that means? We don't have farms up here. Just trees, trees, and trees. I've got a fortune in lumber rotting out there on the docks while my city starves."

  "Then you must give me the riders," Jevrin said. "I can show your guilds how to build guns and missiles. We can break the blockade."

  "At what cost of lives? You limped in here with one rider and you left Karn with eight."

  A shadow descended on his face. "They died for your Estate, Manager Bahvla."

  Her voice gentled "And Bahvla honors their memory. But how many more will die if I give you what you want? You may not define it as such, but what you're asking for is an air force. Bahvla hasn't flown into war in a thousand years."

  "You may have no choice. Not unless you renounce Karn and give in to Varz."

  Henta blew out a gust of air. "I will give you an answer tomorrow."

  After Jevrin left, Henta sank into her chair, weighing her thoughts:

  I will not be a party to war.

  I will not let Bahvla starve.

  I will not submit to Varz.

  Then just what would she do?

  What?

  Long after the sun had set. she sat brooding. She thought of Sevtar as she had once seen him, an isolated figure standing on the Calanya windbreak, staring out at the Teotecs with the wind blowing his hair. Now an entire world balanced on the verge of battle over this legend who wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

  41

  The Rising Tower: Souls Ascendant

  When Borj's rider limped into Karn, the sole survivor of her octet, Ixpar mourned, both for the lost pilots and for the dying of a peace that had lasted a millennium. In the year since Kastora's death, Ixpar had come to recognize the violence that surged within her, a beast kept in control by a thin veneer of civilization. She saw that rage in Borj now as well, who had seen six, maybe seven, of her riders go down in flames.

  After that day, the captain drove herself relentlessly, working with the ArmsGuild. Today, a season later, she stood with Ixpar in a warehouse and slid a gunbelt over Ixpar's shoulders. Then she handed the Manager a gun, one larger and heavier than a rifle. "As long as you keep the lever depressed, the cartridges continue to feed in."

  Ixpar nodded. At the far end of the warehouse, Anthoni was arranging a line of empty fuel canisters, and closer by Tal stood holding a clipboard.

  "Ready, here," Anthoni called. Ixpar waited until he moved out of range, then lifted her gun. Sighting along its barrel, she pressed the lever—and a roar of shots erupted, its echoes vibrating in the cavernous warehouse like thunder. Canisters flew into the air, riddled by bullets. Despite the teeth-jarring recoil of the gun, Ixpar continued to fire until not one container remained intact.

  The silence that followed was broken only by the clink of one canister rolling into another. .

  "Cuaz above," Tal said.

  Ixpar looked at Borj. "It works."

  Borj watched her with a bleak, hard gaze. "So it does."

  After they finished the tests, Ixpar walked back to the Estate with Tal and Anthoni, Carrying the gun slung over her shoulder by its strap. At times like this she deeply missed Kastora's counsel. Although Solan had done well serving as both Senior Aide and Elder, the arrangement was temporary. It was time she trained a new Senior Aide.

  As they crossed a courtyard at the Estate, Ixpar glanced at the aides with her. Tal perhaps? She had considered Tal as a possible successor, but concluded she lacked the necessary leadership qualities. As a Senior Aide, though, she might do well.

  Anthoni is better qualified, she thought.

  Ixpar halted, envisioning the backlash that would happen if she chose a man as her top aide. She had traded the Ministry for an Akasi and bards wrote embarrassing songs praising her supposedly passionate soul, but if she made a decision as sensible as choosing Anthoni for her Senior Aide, it would outrage all Coba.

  "So what," Ixpar said.

  "Manager Karn?" Tal asked. She and Anthoni had been waiting while she stood absorbed in her thoughts.

  Ixpar handed Tal the gun and its belt. "Lock these in my safe and notify the ArmsGuild to set up their production as we discussed." She glanced at Anthoni. "I'd like to see you in my office tomorrow morning at Second Hour."

  "Yhee, ma'am," he said.

  The aides went to the Estate and Ixpar headed for the Karn Institute in the city. When she reached Ekina's lab it was dark, and at first she thought the physicist had left. Then she saw a dim red glow emanating from a table. As her eyes adjusted, she made out Ekina standing at the table, surrounded by a cluster of her students.

  Whe
n Ixpar tapped on the door, the physicist looked around. "Manager Karn." She beckoned her over. "I hoped you would come today."

  Ixpar went to the table. "Anthoni gave me your note."

  "Just wait until you see," Ekina said.

  The students drew back, revealing a glass tube stretched between two mirrors, one of which was only partially silvered. Light from the tube slipped through the partial mirror and made a faint red beam that was visible where it hit dust particles in the air. The beam ended in a small red dot on a screen a short distance away.

  "Ah—what is it?" Ixpar asked.

  Ekina looked as pleased as a chub cub after a feast. "That, Manager Karn is a helium--neon-gas laser."

  "Laser?"

  "What Quis Wizard Bahr calls a light-sailor. We thought laser made more sense."

  "Well, I'll be windblown," Ixpar said, evoking-a ripple of gratified laughter from the students. "How did you get it to work?"

  "It's the helium." Ekina tapped the tube. "With only neon gas we couldn't get enough atoms into high energy levels. Helium is easy to excite. So we pump up the helium and it pumps up the neon."

  "Bahr will want to see this. I'll have the escort bring her."

  "I'm curious to meet her," Ekina said. "You wouldn't believe some of the ideas she sends the Speaker over with."

  "Try me," Ixpar said.

  "Have you ever heard of metal changers?"

  "They were popular back in the Old Age, weren't they?"

  "That's right. Claimed they could change iron into gold."

  Ixpar laughed. "Winds, Ekina, I hope Bahr hasn't got you started on that."

  "She thinks she can do it. She calls it atom cracking."

  Atom cracking? That sounded like Bahr. "How does it work?"

  "You, change the number of neutron and proton dice in an atom by splitting its nucleus. Crack it apart, so to speak. Bahr claims if a nucleus has more than two hundred nine nucleon dice, it splits spontaneously This morning she sent me a Quis pattern for cracking uranium two hundred thirty-eight."