by Stefon Mears
Li Hua took breath to speak, but the Magister did not let her.
“I said save it. I don’t want to hear about your title or what rights you think it gives you. One of you called for the Comórtas Draíocht. That makes this a matter of magic, and on this ship that means I make the call. If you don’t like it...” Magister Machado slowly rubbed his hands together. “By all means, step on up and get put in your place.”
Donal immediately raised his hands in surrender. He hadn’t even had time to think first, to try to find a way to get the Magister to listen to him. He just knew he had no prayer of matching spells with this man, at least not now. And his arms acted before the brain could catch up.
Li Hua did not raise her hands. She merely looked down, then away, then nodded.
“I thought not,” said Machado. “So let’s make it formal, just in case either of you intends to try something sneaky.”
The Magister began speaking Gaelic, his words almost slurring under the weight of his Brazilian accent, but still infused with a touch of power.
“Let this matter lie dormant between you. Speak no word of it to any save your bound familiars. Take no actions upon it. I say this matter is dead until you set foot on Venus.”
Donal felt the words settle into his aura. A minor geas, hardly enough to call a spell, but so long as he remained where magic fell under Magister Machado’s jurisdiction, Donal knew he would not be able to go against the command. Donal knew that from experience. He had been under similar strictures when he took his Journeyman license examination.
“Cuthbert, go on ahead,” said Machado. “There’s something I need to discuss with Ms. Tai Shi here.”
Donal left the relief room, and closed the door behind him.
◊
Cuthbert walked out of the relief room looking like he’d lost his best friend. Poor kid, thought Machado. Must have been a bad breakup.
Machado turned to Tai Shi. “I can’t help but notice which of you had a familiar out and ready.”
“I issued the challenge,” she said, posture defiant, as though Machado had cheated her of her justice. “Would you believe he—”
“Didn’t ask,” he said, “and don’t want to know. I have more than enough on my plate without getting into your personal life.”
“Should have let us handle it then.” She arched an eyebrow as though this Journeyman intended to teach a Magister a lesson. “The matter would be resolved by now, and you wouldn’t have lost a second’s sleep.”
“You spend too much time with businessmen. Careful it doesn’t give you an inflated sense of your skills.”
“I know you could take me. Doesn’t mean I have to agree with all your decisions.”
“Look,” said Machado, fighting a yawn. “I care less about your opinion of my decisions than I do about your personal life. I just kept you here, nice and secluded, to make something completely clear to you.”
Tai Shi had both eyebrows raised now, and blinked a few times as though a vague curiosity lurked behind a façade of apathy.
“When you two get around to having your little duel you’re going to stomp on him. We both know it. Cuthbert’s talented, but you probably have more combat experience than a naïve kid like him can imagine. So I want you to remember this.”
Machado lowered his brow and brought his hands together in a gesture that a non-magician might mistake for prayer, but he knew that Tai Shi would recognize as the preparation of power.
“I like the kid. He has talent and he has heart, even if he’s sometimes short on sense.”
“You can say that again.”
“I wasn’t finished. If anything happens to him — and I will find out if it does — I’ll come looking for you. And I don’t just mean in the duel. If Cuthbert drops dead all of a sudden, whether from a ‘mugger’s’ knife or just a collapse, say, in a spaceport.”
Machado let those words ring for a moment, let Tai Shi realize what he implied. He waited until her eyes narrowed before he continued.
“That’s right. I know no one can prove you killed bin Zuka, but his death sure was convenient for you and your boss. Now maybe that guy had it coming. He’d been responsible for one murder and attempted another. But Cuthbert? There’s no way he’s guilty of anything except occasional bouts of abject stupidity for the common good.”
“Are you finished? Magister?”
“I believe so, Journeyman. So why don’t you run along to your suite. I’ll clean up these wards for you.”
Tai Shi’s eyes widened as though someone had given her an unexpected prostate exam. Machado spread his lips in an evil smile. That’s right. I get to take my time and analyze your wards as I pick them apart thread by thread. Handy information if you ever make me come after you.
Machado gestured toward the door.
Tai Shi closed her eyes through a deep breath, then left the room, her familiar following in her wake. Like Cuthbert, she closed the door behind her.
Machado turned to Saravá. “Wish you’d gotten here in time to find out what was up. Officially I can’t care because of their relationship. I have to assume it’s a domestic issue.”
Machado shook his head. “But I don’t buy it. Cuthbert and his fumbling idea of investigation must have turned something up.” He sighed. “But being Cuthbert, he probably doesn’t have any proof he could point to.”
“You could speak to Donal Cuthbert privately,” said the spirit panther, its voice a deep, purring rumble. “I believe you would call it ‘off the record?’”
“And get reamed out by Jacobs for violating protocol? No thank you.” Machado looked toward the door. “Follow her until she returns to her suite, then report back. I’ll want your thoughts about these wards before I dismantle them.”
The ghostly onça drifted through the closed door.
Machado smacked the voice-only comm pad beside the door. “Bridge, this is Machado. I just broke up a domestic disturbance on the Observation Deck. Magical in nature, almost a duel. Details in my next report. Machado out.”
Machado knew he should have waited for confirmation before cutting the line, but he didn’t feel like wasting the time. He’d followed procedure, whether they understood what he said or not. It would all be in his report either way. It wasn’t as though this were an emergency situation. And Machado now had a lot of work between himself and his oh-so-comfortable mattress.
Machado picked a spot at random and began an in-depth examination of Tai Shi’s wards.
◊
Donal closed the main door of his suite behind him, then pulled his tuning fork out and double checked that his wards remained intact and unmolested. But if anyone had touched them, they had left no trace.
Donal shook his head violently. This was not the time for paranoia. He had no reason to think anyone would have tampered with his wards. And based on Magister Machado’s edict, Donal was likely as safe as he had ever been in his life, at least until he reached Venus.
He wandered deeper into the suite, on into the bedroom, and collapsed face-first on the bed. He let out a sigh that must have started down in his toes and rolled through him like a wave. When it finished, he called his familiar out of his pendant. Fionn’s emerald light coalesced into the more familiar deerhound shape on the floor next to Donal.
The cú sidhe perked its ears as it regarded its master, then flattened them, then rested its head on the mattress beside Donal.
“You have ended things with Tai Shi Li Hua.”
Not even a hint of question to the fae hound’s tone. Donal felt there should have at least been a question. He lay there and pondered that.
“The end did not go well,” said Fionn. “But more troubles you than the simple loss of your relationship.”
“Mr. Mancuso’s not the problem. It’s her. It’s been her all along. She’s in his head. Slow, subtle stuff, built up over time.”
“And she knows you know?”
Donal managed to nod by shoving his face deeper into the sheets and
pulling it back up far enough that he could breathe again.
“That she did not act immediately means nothing. She will come for you. We must—”
“We can’t.” Donal caught Fionn up on the almost-duel, Magister Machado’s arrival, and finally his edict.
“Then we have time to prepare. Tai Shi Li Hua will be difficult, but she is not indefatigable. She has weak points. I have noted several.”
“You have?” Donal rolled over and looked at Fionn. The deerhound had raised its forepaws onto the bed.
“I knew you would end up dueling her, so I have taken every opportunity to study her magic and her blind spots. By the time we arrive on Venus tomorrow night, you will stand ready to defeat her.”
Donal sat up and offered a prayer to Lugh that his familiar was right. The fate of four worlds and billions of people were relying on him.
“Let’s get to work,” he said.
“Not now. Your heart grieves and your head needs rest. We will begin in the morning, when you are ready.”
“All right, but I’m not going to be able to sleep just yet. Come on.” Donal rose to a standing position, and stretched his arms and back as he did. “There’s a spell I want to cast and I need your help.”
Chapter Nineteen
At his station on the bridge, Jacobs took one look at the overnight reports and decided he had not had enough breakfast. Or enough sleep. Two near duels in one night? Good thing the voyage is only three days. A week with these people and they’d kill each other.
At least the status reports all came up clean. Some small issue in the Deception Drive, but it seemed that Jang had handled it without having to call Machado. All she had needed was some extra verbena from Fredrickson.
Verbena. Are they binding spirits or making tea?
At least the old mechanical engines looked and sounded like they were working as hard as the crews that maintained them. These sorcerous engines all seemed to rely on oils, scents and herbal remedies. They put Jacobs more in mind of the sorts of presents he used to buy for Rhonda than the types of materials that should keep a ship afloat, much less carry it through space.
Back to business, Old Man. You might not understand their methods, but you cannot question their results.
Jacobs stabbed the miniature gryphon image in the mid-section and twisted his finger to open a link to security. A moment later Goldberg’s head appeared above the gryphon.
“Chief, what the hell are you doing on shift? You filed a report around midnight last night. What is my rule?”
“Even officers need eight hours as often as manageable.” Goldberg breezed through the words to push on to what he wanted to say next. “But after last night there’s no way I’m going to be off-shift today. Don’t want to risk these idiots trying something before we land. Speaking of, we still on schedule for fifteen hundred hours E.S.T.?”
“Until you hear otherwise. And I’ll let it go this time because I have something to tell you: Tai Shi and Cuthbert damn near had a magic fist fight down on the Observation Deck.”
“Crap. I better have a couple of folks keep an eye on our courier.”
“My thoughts exactly. Bridge out.” Jacobs cut the connection and turned back to his bridge crew. “Mr. Burke, we are still on schedule?”
“Aye, Sir, steady as she goes right now. But I can’t say I like the look of this space.”
“Mr. Grabowski, what is Mr. Burke referring to?”
“The zuglodon hunting ground, Sir. It’s bigger than the charts indicated.”
Jacobs called up his charts and looked at the route as planned. Then he looked again at the scanners report and all the stars and landmarks looked to be in the right places. They were exactly where Jacobs course said they should be. Everything appeared to be in order.
“How do you know there’s a problem?”
“It’s the scanners, Sir. Ever since the Mars run when we got hit by zuglodons, the lacuna in the scanners gets shaky when it sees any sign of a zuglodon’s passing.”
“You didn’t mention any zuglodons in your report.”
“Haven’t seen any, Sir. But the lacuna’s acting like there are some out there.”
Jacobs thought about that, then opened a link to Engineering. He started talking before Jang’s head appeared. “Chief, how’s the Deception Drive’s lacuna?”
“Anxious, I’d say, Sir. Or maybe unhappy,” said Jang, irritation all through her face. “Hard to say for sure, but it definitely doesn’t like something.”
“Understood. We may need speed and maneuverability today, Chief, so have her ready. Bridge out.”
Jacobs cut the connection. They were still two hours from where he expected to start seeing signs of zuglodon activity. That meant that Burke and Grabowski were right: the zuglodons were near. And Jacobs had no intention of fighting more zuglodons if he could help it.
He might have considered re-plotting his course, adding a day for safety, but he had two problems with that. First, he needed to arrive on time or near to it. Otherwise official accounts could not confirm his route and his flight would get re-categorized from commercial to private. That would fail Starchase Spacelines, and ruin the whole point of the damned voyage. And second, the passengers had already started fighting among themselves. Adding thirty-three percent to their travel time would either exacerbate that tension, or focus it on the crew instead.
Neither of these were acceptable in Jacobs’ mind. He saw only one reasonable course of action. He would have to guide the Horizon Cusp into the military no-fly zone.
◊
Machado awoke with a headache. He should not have wasted so much time digging deep into Tai Shi’s wards. What were the chances that he would actually need that information? Surely the Journeyman was not stupid enough to challenge him.
But why was he awake? His personal alarm was not due to awaken him for a few hours yet. Probably just an odd bit of dream. Machado began to settle back into his pillows, but then the comm pad went off again, bright scarlet light flooding out of the pad itself and carrying with it a slight mental jounce to attract attention, a feature Machado had long considered disabling.
Sheer desire for sleep encouraged him to ignore the device anyway, to return to sleep where he would no doubt dream of smiting the damnable inventors of such an irritation...
The head of Captain Jacobs appeared above the comm pad. Machado had waited too long to answer. The link had formed a connection without his approval.
A priority feature that Machado felt the captain abused.
“Mr. Machado,” said the captain, “have I called you at a bad time?”
Jacobs had at least three different patient tones that Machado had picked up on: the first said “I’m dealing with an idiot;” the second said, “You have thirty seconds before you’ve worn through my patience;” and the third said, “You are five seconds away from more trouble than you can possibly imagine.” Machado heard that last tone in the captain’s voice now.
Which meant this was not the time to point out that Machado’s proper title was Magister, not mister.
“Sorry, Captain. I was up late working.” Machado emphasized the statement by rubbing his eyes and face, trying to banish the last of his sleep.
“That was not reflected in your final report of the day. Do you need to amend it?”
“No, Sir. Personal matter.”
“Then get your ass out of bed. Today we get to choose between zuglodons and pissed off Navy ships. Personally I don’t want to deal with either. So you better get us ready for both. And Jang may need help with the engines.”
Machado felt a momentary hope that the captain was joking, but knew better. Jacobs never joked about threats to the ship. Still...
“Need me to feed your cat while I’m at it?”
“If you do, stick to fish. None of that fatty pork or sausage of yours. Benny’s not getting any younger.” Jacobs raised one eyebrow. “Any real questions?”
“Time and priorities?”
&n
bsp; “Sooner is better. Wards and defenses come first, but if Jang has urgent need, draft Cuthbert and Tai Shi and assign resources where you have to.”
“Aye, Sir. Any chance I can draft them right now?”
“Not until there’s pressing need you can point to. Keep it by the book. If we piss off Earth, I don’t want them to start seeing conspiracies in our logs.”
Jacobs’ head turned as though he were listening to someone else report, but the sound did not carry through the link. When the captain turned back, he said, “Anything else?”
Machado shook his heavy cheeks.
“Then bridge out.” Jacobs cut the connection.
Machado called Saravá out of the tiny onyx stud earring he concealed behind this left ear. The ghostly onça swirled out of a plume of soft gray smoke. Machado said, “Tell Aaron to grab us breakfast and get down to the lab as fast as possible. Then get down there yourself and start pulling together the threads of my special tricks.”
Machado allowed himself a small, tight smile. “Time to see if they will work.”
◊
Jacobs looked up from his closer comparison of the official charts and the reports from his ship’s scanners. No doubt about it. Despite what he read in the charts, the Horizon Cusp was no more than five minutes away from an unknown number of zuglodons of all sizes.
Two of those dangerous space elementals had once come close to tearing this ship apart, and only one of those two had been fully grown.
If a pack of those things got past the illusions and deceptions that should be concealing the ship from their senses, the Horizon Cusp would have no chance. They would shred it fast enough that even Mash could not stop them.
