Prophet: Bridge & Sword

by JC Andrijeski

  He gave Revik a distinctly oily smile.

  Revik didn’t return it.

  Seeing something in Revik’s stare, Dulgar’s smile grew more collegial, right before he leaned back on the leather couch, throwing an arm casually over its back. I noticed he pulled his light off me with an effort, along with his eyes.

  I had zero doubt Revik noticed that, too.

  “All teasing aside,” Dulgar smiled. “Perhaps she really will prove too much of a distraction for me, my brother? We should release her from our care. The two of us can then talk unhindered and undistracted through the more boring details of business. I am loathe to part with her company, of course… as you are, no doubt, yourself… but I feel quite certain we will bore her, my brother, if we do not allow for her more feminine needs.”

  Dulgar looked at me, his lips quirking in a coy smile.

  “…That, or we will simply accomplish nothing, in our mutual and competing attempts to impress her. While a time-honored tradition among males, I suspect it will not help us learn those things about one another which might be more to our mutual benefit.”

  Dulgar gave Revik another of those oily smiles.

  Revik didn’t blink, or take his eyes off the gold-eyed seer.

  Even so, I felt a harder pulse of I told you so in his light.

  I managed to keep my reaction off my face, but only just.

  As if feeling some element of conflict there, flickering between Revik’s and my lights, the gold-eyed Dulgar smiled, looking shrewdly between us.

  “…Is that part of our arrangement still agreeable to you, brother?” He quirked an eyebrow as he spoke, his voice unctuously polite. “You must realize, there is a very real security precaution for me, in doing business with seers like yourselves. We cannot risk doing business with any seer who is not willing to bond with us, at least at a rudimentary level.” That oily smile returned. “I would offer to share my light with you, good brother, but I’m afraid my tastes run exclusively to those of the feminine persuasion.”

  Revik made a dismissive motion with one hand, lips firming.

  “We are not there yet, brother,” he said.

  I don’t know if Dulgar heard the bite in his voice, but I definitely did.

  “…I find myself a little put off by your eagerness,” Revik added, a touch harder. “Do you really find our agreement such a foregone conclusion? Or are the details simply so trivial to you, you would assume them settled before they’ve even been discussed?” Letting his words hang briefly, he added, “What if there is no agreement at all on this day, brother Dulgar? Am I still to feel assured of my wife’s safety, if I were to leave her alone in your care?”

  Leaning into the leather, Revik arranged his back on the white sofa, draping an arm around the back of the bench, copying Dulgar’s pose.

  The difference was, Revik’s arm hung directly over where I sat.

  He didn’t touch me, but the implication was difficult to miss. Of course, I found the fact that the posture opened his jacket and the neck of his shirt a lot more distracting––but I couldn’t exactly go there, either.

  Revik cleared his throat, motioning at Dulgar with his fingers.

  “Do not get too anxious for the payoff,” he warned, his voice formally polite, but still holding that edge. “We are only here to discuss terms at this point. I think your personal interests in this might be clouding your judgment, my friend.”

  “Can you blame me for that?” The seer turned, smiling at me.

  “Yes,” Revik growled.

  Pausing, he deliberately hammered his words.

  “She is not a bargaining chip, brother Dulgar. She is our highest intermediary, chosen leader of a significant chunk of those belonging to our race. She is also my wife. That element of our negotiation should be a sign of good faith, nothing more. Certainly not a commodity existing for your personal pleasure… or as anything that gives you license to treat her like a whore while directly in my presence.”

  There was a silence after he spoke.

  Dulgar smiled at Revik then, clicking softly. Shaking his head, he plucked one of the long-stemmed glasses off the table, raising it to his lips.

  “They warned me not to anger you,” he smiled, after he’d taken a drink of the blue liquid. “Nor to underestimate your ability to change demeanor on a dime. Still, to hear classical Prexci from your lips… it is a treat, my brother. Truly. Who is it that you trained under, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Revik frowned, glancing at me.

  He moved his body closer to mine incrementally.

  “Is that strictly relevant?” Revik said.

  “Simply being friendly, brother.”

  “I studied under Menlim of Purestred,” Revik said. “He was very… exacting. Particularly when it came to me.”

  The seer nodded, no expression on his face.

  Even so, I caught his glance at Revik’s upper body, specifically at the pale white scar that showed around his neck through the open collar.

  Watching Dulgar’s face that time, I found myself wondering if maybe he was baiting Revik more than I’d realized. Clearly, he wasn’t above asking questions he already knew the answers to. I wondered what else he knew about the history of the Sword and how he’d been brought into existence. Studying those gold eyes, I found myself thinking he knew a lot.

  When Revik didn’t offer any additional information, Dulgar waved away his own question.

  “I do not mean to pry into old memories for you, brother,” he said, his voice back to sweetness and light. “Nor did I mean offense by how I spoke of your wife. We deal often in flesh trade here. I confess, it’s perhaps altered my ability to speak on such matters as tactfully as I should––particularly where bonded mates are concerned.”

  His eyes flickered back to me, holding another pulse of heat.

  “And yes, I confess there is a personal interest. One you very correctly chastise me for, my brother, although I’m afraid your rebuke does not alter the sentiment.” He gave Revik a look, his gold eyes expressionless. “I do not think I mentioned this detail in our initial discussion, but I had been slotted once, to meet your wife. While she was still a resident of our fair City in Beijing.”

  Feeling Revik stiffen, I laid a cautioning hand on his thigh, exuding warmth with my fingers and light.

  He didn’t relax, but I felt him acquiesce.

  Dulgar’s eyes dropped to my hand on Revik’s thigh, even as he smiled.

  “…I felt somewhat cheated, as you can imagine,” he added, lifting his eyes back to Revik’s. “When you went to retrieve your wife in person, you did so before she and I were scheduled to meet. It was quite a disappointment for me. By then, word of her talents had reached far beyond our humble city of Macau.”

  Dulgar smiled, his gold eyes shifting back to my face. I felt another whisper of his light around mine, but not nearly as strongly as I felt Revik’s anger.

  “I am assured she would have been well worth the price I paid,” Dulgar added. “Which, it must be said, was no small sum. In fact, I was told she was significantly undervalued by the Lao Hu during her time there.”

  I felt Revik about to speak and tightened my fingers on his leg.

  He’s baiting you, I reminded him softly.

  Revik’s jaw hardened, and I found myself making a strategic decision, if only to pull us off this line of talk. Clearing my throat, I leaned forward, shifting my voice to a lower tenor.

  “My husband is correct,” I said, smiling, using the same version of Prexci that Revik just used. I kept my voice slightly husky, and smiled as I spoke, addressing Dulgar alone. “We are not at that point in our discussions yet, brother Dulgar. Further, this type of vulgar, psychological sparring is a waste of both of our time. My husband is far too intelligent to fall prey to such a heavy-handed means of throwing him off-balance.”

  I massaged his thigh deliberately, using my light.

  I felt Revik’s own light react involuntarily, even as he fought to
pull it back. With my other hand, I made a more diplomatic gesture towards Dulgar, one that held enough light that I felt even more male seers staring in my direction.

  “You must understand we are quite anxious to determine if this is an alliance from which both of our peoples might benefit,” I added, my voice low and measured. “If it is not, then we would rather spend our time in more fruitful negotiation… with friends who are likely to be our friends for longer than a night. While it may not seem so, from inside your very beautiful city, brother Dulgar, there is a war waging outside these walls. One we cannot side-step, and would not, even if we wished it.”

  I hardened my voice as his eyes flickered down my body, focusing on my breasts.

  “…Even if I am gauging your negotiation tactics unfairly, and you are speaking true sentiment, I would think that the actual terms of our agreement would matter more than such a shallow status marker, respected brother?”

  Still massaging Revik’s thigh, I let the thinly-veiled insult hang there.

  You just got me really fucking hard, Revik sent softly.

  It’s for a good cause, I told him.

  Is it? Because I really might have to punish you for this later. I mean it, Allie. You’ve already got me imagining––

  Don’t go there, I warned him, my light a touch more serious. Not right now. I’m having enough trouble with you as it is.

  Pot, Kettle, he sent, softer still. His light exuded a pulse of pain, even as he held it back. Gaos, wife. You’re supposed to be distracting them, not me.

  I was still looking at Dulgar. Now, frowning slightly, I leaned back with a low series of clicks. Dulgar’s eyes focused intently on my hand still massaging Revik’s thigh.

  “We seek alliance towards the betterment of our race, brother,” I said, taking my hand off Revik’s leg and resting it on the leather sofa. “Is this something that interests you? Or would you rather just offer my husband a flat monetary price, to have more access to my light for an evening? I doubt he’ll say yes, but it might save us all some time, if that’s the only business arrangement that interests you.”

  There was a more loaded silence.

  Then Dulgar chuckled, smiling indulgently. He glanced at Revik before he gestured an assent, looking directly at me.

  “Of course, my lovely sister,” he said, bowing his head. “…And my apologies. I did not wish to imply that our other areas of discussion did not hold import for the Legion of Fire.”

  His voice grew condescending enough that I had to fight to hold my expression.

  “You said your interest right now is seers, is it not?” he queried, smiling. “Infiltrators, or potential infiltrators, in particular, is that not correct? I seem to recall your husband mentioning a desire to look at the most recent shipment we posted. Those we liberated following the purges in nearby lands once controlled by our human oppressors?”

  Pausing, Dulgar looked between us, that condescending smile still on his face.

  “Should I address you, Illustrious Sword?” he said sweetly. “Or your wife? It would help me to know who is leading this talk from your end…?”

  I heard the implied insult, and fought back a smile.

  Revik shifted on the leather next to me, giving me a glance that held a faint thread of anger. I could see him behind the look, but only just, and only because we’d already talked about using me as a distraction in this way, too.

  Damn, he was good at this.

  A little too good.

  I found myself reacting to him again, and quickly hid it from my light.

  Lowering my head in acknowledgement of Revik’s supposed anger at me for speaking out of turn, I leaned back on the white leather sofa, conceding the floor to the men.

  Sometimes these old-school weirdos, human or seer, made it too easy.

  The thing is, from a seer perspective, Revik was still really young. It took me a long time to understand this fully, but older seers had a tendency to underestimate him for that reason alone. They saw him as powerful, sure, but because of his age, they also saw him as lacking judgment, potentially hot-headed, oversexed, inexperienced.

  But we wanted this jackass to see Revik that way.

  Young. Easy to manipulate. Maybe a little whipped by his high-status mate.

  I found the idea funny, but Balidor, Wreg, Tarsi and Chinja discussed it pretty seriously around the strategy table before we left.

  “Very good, brother,” Dulgar said, bowing to him subtly. “I surely did not mean to cause offense, by implying otherwise. Or to cause any tension between you and your obviously sharp-witted mate. We are unaccustomed to dealing with intermediaries here.” Smiling that oily smile, he added, “…I merely wish things to be clear, so there are no misunderstandings in terms of any agreements discussed.”

  I gave Revik a faintly worried look, as if I was afraid I’d angered him.

  Revik returned my look with a faint scowl.

  Flushing slightly, where the flicker of embarrassment was only just visible in his light, he nodded, looking back at Dulgar and making a dismissive gesture with one hand. His expression grew indifferent, and if I hadn’t been looking for it, I wouldn’t have seen his eyes flicker towards the bar, a subtle tell that he was looking for witnesses to the exchange.

  I knew he’d done that on purpose, too.

  Essentially he was feigning embarrassment even as he feigned trying to hide that embarrassment, in addition to looking for witnesses to his supposed humiliation by wife.

  Did I mention he’s really good at this?

  Revik made an accommodating gesture with one hand.

  It contained the tiniest bit of bluster––again, barely noticeable. I fought another smile, knowing he was giving a subtle impression of a younger person trying to assert his equality in a negotiation where he feared he was out of his depth.

  “I would like to hear from you what you think this alliance can do for the Legion of Fire, brother Dulgar.” His voice was gruff, a faint irritation still visible in his light. “Beyond simply the opportunity to spend some time with my mate.”

  Dulgar smiled, making an equally polite gesture in return.

  “Of course, brother,” he said, bowing.

  For the first time, a more serious expression touched his round-cheeked face.

  “I have no reason to be anything but transparent with you in this regard, so I will be blunt,” Dulgar said, leaning forward and folding his hands. “We have concerns about this being, Shadow. I know you know who I mean, so I will not beleaguer the point, but to be certain there are no more misunderstandings between us, I will be unambiguous. I refer to the aged seer who appears to be running many of the human refugee cities that were set up prior to the dispersal of C2-77, and who has built quite elaborate alliances with the remaining humans in power. This same seer claims some religious status of his own… in addition to claiming to be the teacher of the famed Syrimne d’ Gaos, our leader during the first holy war.”

  Revik nodded. “Go on. There is no ambiguity there.”

  Dulgar sat up straighter.

  “If you are wondering, yes, we have surmised it was likely him behind this human-killing disease.” Dulgar’s lips firmed as he clasped his hands. “We have seen indications that it was so, in addition to the ‘convenience’ of his rise to power in the aftermath of the attack… and despite his attempts to lay the blame on you and your mate.”

  Dulgar continued to study Revik’s face with those metallic eyes.

  “We have been made… uncomfortable, shall we say, by his seeming willingness to provoke dangerous wars between the human and seer races, as well as his apparent interest in stoking factional wars between the remaining human powers. We feel his agenda is incompatible with the longer-term goals of the Legion of Fire. Even more so now, given the significant restrictions under which our businesses must currently operate.”

  Making a more diplomatic gesture, not dissimilar to the one I made earlier, Dulgar leaned back on his leather seat. He picked up
his drink, resting the long-stemmed glass on one knee.

  “We find this situation… untenable, my brother,” Dulgar continued. “It has come to my ears of late, there is even some talk of nuclear retaliation for the C2-77 strikes. I have heard different parts of Asia mentioned as targets for this. The loss of some of these population centers would damage our business to an unacceptable level, even beyond the harm it would do to our more long-term interests in the region. Whatever this seer’s motives, and whatever element of the race for which he claims to speak, we simply cannot allow him to continue this dangerous course. A sentiment with which you can likely sympathize.”

  Revik adjusted his back in the couch, acknowledging the other’s words with a fluid gesture of his own.

  “Go on, brother,” he said politely. “And how do you think we can help you with this problem of yours?”

  “It is quite simple.” Dulgar set his glass firmly on the table. “We have no interest whatsoever in whatever political or ideological wars this being wishes to conduct. As long as these wars do not endanger us, or curtail our business in a measurable way, he is free to follow whatever religious quest he so desires. If I can be entirely candid, Illustrious Sword… we also have no interest in whatever wars might be waged between the two of you… meaning you and this being, Shadow. Whatever the origin of those complaints, or the wider ideological and religious issues underlying your disagreement, we of the Legion of Fire consider it none of our concern. We have long adopted a policy of neutrality in such matters.”

  Revik gave a single nod.

  “Understandable, brother,” he said diplomatically.

  “And yet…” Dulgar made another expansive gesture with a manicured hand. “This being, Shadow. He does not strike me as a reasonable or measured man. He is unwilling to allow us to conduct our mutual businesses in peace. Further, he will not honor our desire to remain outside of these ideological struggles. To be blunt, we have found spies here, my brother, on more than one occasion. We have traced these spies back to Hong Kong, and back to this same seer, Shadow, as well as those who do his bidding. We have also found Rebels here, brother Syrimne… from the same group that once swore fealty to you. We are told they are now part of Menlim’s network of allies, led by his blood cousin, Salinse.”