Caine Black Knife aoc-3

by Matthew Stover

  He half sat, half fell back into the injection-molded chair and let himself slump against the edge of the desk. “You haven’t changed at all, have you? Not one little bit. And why should you? Being exactly who you are has always gotten you exactly what you want.”

  What the hell was he playing at now? “I wouldn’t go that far-”

  “Probably work this time too.” He sounded like he was talking more to himself than to me. He kept his head down, like there was something on his face he didn’t want me to see. “Just tell me one thing, Michaelson. Caine. Whatever. Why is it only the bastards ever win?”

  I didn’t answer. I was pretty sure which bastard he was talking about. He just sat there with his head down and those once-nimble fingers laced together so he could twist them back and forth against each other, working them tight as his voice, and he went on.

  “Why is it the people who play by the rules-the people who just do their jobs and mind their manners and save their pay and really don’t want anything more out of life than one goddamned break end up working away their whole lives and every time it looks like one damned ray of sunshine might fall into their lives there’s some bastard with a shovel to tell you No, that’s just the mouth of your grave before he starts piling the dirt in on top of you.” His fingers twisted tight enough that his knuckles crackled like stiff cellophane.

  “That’s all I want to know, Michaelson. You explain it to me, then I’ll go tell the Board, and you can go ahead and cut my damned throat. Again.”

  “Cut your throat-did you play that fucking Adventure?”

  My voice came out thick, and so raw it surprised me. Twentyfive years later, and I here I was again, looking at his throat and wondering if he tasted like pork. “At least you lived through it, which is more than can be said for fucking near everybody else. What was the deal? You bird-dog us into there and get a free emergency transfer out when things get hairy? The Fireball fake-your-death bit was good, Rababal. Smart. That’s what stopped me from hunting your jiggling ass.” Good thing I was strapped to the bed. Otherwise I’d have made a try for him, dead legs and all. “They hung me from a fucking cross. And Marade-”

  “I know.”

  His voice was barely more than a whisper.

  “I-have the cubes. All of them. They. . didn’t tell me about the Black Knives. You have to believe that, Caine. I didn’t know, going in. I wouldn’t have done it, not even for-”

  “For what?” My breath had gone hot and harsh in my throat. “Not even for what?”

  “It was my shot, Caine. The only one I ever got. I’d been a location scout-a bird dog, yes; we know what Actors call us-for fifteen years. Because the Scheduling Board didn’t think I could be marketable as a leading man, and I, well, yes, I knew it; I didn’t have the sense of humor to be a funny sidekick. So I waited. And I worked. I put in my time. Paid my dues. And finally, at forty-when most Actors, the ones that live that long, are thinking of retirement. .”

  He lifted his head then but didn’t look at me; he just shrugged and turned his face away. “That Adventure was my big break. It was my shot. What I’d been working toward for fifteen years. And then-and then you. .”

  “Yeah,” I said. “And then me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re angry about-that Adventure made you. It gave you the career I should have had.”

  “Except you’re not me.”

  “True.” He sighed. “Too true. The funny part is, you’re not you either.”

  “Oh, that makes sense.”

  He finally turned back to me and he was trying for an ironic smile but his lips were twisted like his fingers and his eyes were too bright and too wet. “Did you never figure this out? It wasn’t you, Michaelson. It was never you. It was the demon. What do you Monastics call them? Outside Powers. The one that runs the dil T’llan-that is the dil T’llan. I mean, Retreat from the Boedecken was the foundation of more than your career. It’s the foundation of your self-image. It made Caine into Caine. You think I didn’t watch you? You think I didn’t secondhand your adventures? How many times were you up against it and pulled yourself through by thinking of Retreat-how you’d been through worse and didn’t buckle? Retreat let you fool yourself into believing you were the baddest of the bad. The toughest of the tough. The guy who could take anything. Who could suck it up and spit it back out. And it was all because the first time you were really tested, you had a demon eating your fear. That’s what made you brave. It was eating your despair. That’s what made you strong. It was an illusion. A con. You were never that strong. You were never that brave. You’re no tougher than anybody else. Caine was a fake from the start-but you fooled yourself along with everybody else. You were just make-believe. That’s all. Make-believe.”

  I nodded. “Funny how shit works out, huh?”

  He stared at me with those wet eyes.

  “You think this was a mystery? I was Monastic, Rababal. I knew it then.” I turned one of my strapped-down wrists so I could open a hand. “I take whatever edge I can find. That’s who I am.”

  Those wet eyes threatened to spill tears. “But-but then how. .”

  I guess some things you never really get over.

  I should know.

  “If it hadn’t been me, it would’ve been Marade,” I said. Softly. Gently. Because, y’know, I felt for him. I really did. It was too easy to imagine how I could have ended up him. “Or Stalton. Even Pretornio.”

  He shrugged helplessly.

  “It’s not complicated.” My open hand flexed and curled, once, like it belonged to somebody else. “Look, after you, uh, left, what happened? You went back to work, right?”

  He turned his face away from me, but he nodded.

  “So that’s what you’ve been doing for the last twentyfive years? Bird-dogging?”

  He shrugged. “Up till-well, you know. Assumption Day.”

  “Yeah.” Assumption Day changed things for a lot of people. “You married?”

  “Yes-thirty-three years-we’d celebrated our thirtieth anniversary just before-”

  “Children?”

  “Two. Five grandchildren. .”

  “And that’s it,” I said. “Right there.”

  He turned back to me then, and instead of tears on his face there was the start of a frown of comprehension, which was a relief. For both of us, I’m betting.

  “You probably know how my marriage went. My daughter. . well, our relationship is-complicated. The difference between you and me, Rababal, is that I wanted to be a star more than I wanted to live. For you it was the other way around. We both got our wish. So even in the middle of those nights when we wake up and think about all the shit we wish we’d done, we both ought to shut the fuck up and just be grateful for what we got.”

  He shook his head. “And. . that’s it? It’s that simple? If I’d wanted it more. .?”

  I shrugged. “Who knows? The difference between me and Marade, me and Stalton or Pretornio. . basically comes down to luck, as far as I’ve ever been able to see. They wanted it as much as me. They were as tough as I am, probably tougher-Marade sure as hell was-as smart or smarter. I was lucky. They weren’t. Imponderables. Shit falls one way, you’re a star. Shit falls another, you’re dinner.”

  “Luck? Just luck?”

  “That’s why you don’t see guys like me sitting around in our old age whining about what could have been. Because if we don’t get what we want, we’re not around to complain about it. We’re fucking well dead.”

  He looked thoughtful.

  “But you could say the same, y’know? You’re one of the lucky ones too. You’ve had a forty-year career in some of the most exotic and exciting places that exist, and you still got to have a real marriage, a family, a home. . how many men get all that?”

  He nodded. “My wife says the same. I spend too much time thinking about what I don’t have, and not enough being grateful for what I do. .”

  “Yeah, well,” I said, “a guy I met the other day was telling me that
happy men are only half alive.”

  “He sounds like another bastard.”

  “Yeah. I don’t think you’d like him.”

  Abruptly he laughed, and then he was shaking his head again, but now in some kind of half-astonished amusement. “I came in here to-and then we’re talking about my wife and my grandkids, and you’re cheering me up-”

  I shrugged. I could feel myself flush a little. Embarrassed, I guess, at being so easy. “As a tactic, being human works pretty well.”

  “That’s not-it wasn’t part of my-”

  “You walked in doing the hard-on with pockets thing. Come at me like that, what do you think I’m gonna do? Swallow?”

  He nodded. “I just-I didn’t mean to dump my troubles on you, Michaelson. It’s a funny thing, but after all these years, it’s like I know you-”

  I nodded back. “Don’t take this wrong, Rababal. Faller. I’m used to it.”

  He frowned at me.

  I sighed. “People who followed my Adventures all those years-lots of times when I’d do public appearances, people would start talking to me like we’re old friends. Kind of like you just did. Because Caine was part of their life. They’d known me so long, they just somehow figured-without ever really thinking about it-that I knew them too. It used to bug me. A lot. I hated it. Now I miss it.”

  He squinted at me. “Really?”

  “Really. Doesn’t happen on Home. Over there I’m, y’know, the Prophet of Ma’elKoth, or the hero of Ceraeno, or the Enemy or God or whateverthefuck.

  I’m a walking motherfucking Epic. People forget I’m a human being. I have to pretend to be somebody else just to have a normal goddamn conversation with a normal goddamn person.”

  “Be careful what you wish for, eh?”

  “Got that right.” I found myself chuckling. “Tan’elKoth-Ma’elKoth during his exile on Earth-he used to say, ‘When the gods would punish us, they answer our prayers.’ ”

  He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “This wasn’t what I wished for.”

  I rolled my eyes around the cream-colored walls. “Not exactly the top of my Christmas list either.”

  “Michaelson-Caine-” He sighed. “What should I call you?”

  “You can call me Jonathan Fist.”

  He frowned at me. “Jonathan Fist?”

  “He made a deal too.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “That’s because you’re thinking in English. The original name is German.” He shook his head. “And?”

  I just shook my head. “Nobody fucking reads anymore, you know that?

  “Fist, then. Please understand. I’m sixty-six years old. I was trapped on Overworld three years ago when you cut off Studio operations on Assumption Day. Along with all the Actors and scouts and Overworld Company personnel and everybody else. I thought I would die there, finally, after all. I mean, we didn’t know what you had done; all any of us knew was that we couldn’t get home. I was near retirement, looking forward to watching my grandchildren grow up. . and then-”

  “Yeah.”

  “I was in Kor when it happened. All I could think to do was get to Thorncleft, to the Railhead. . but when I got there, of course they were as trapped as I was-but they had a copy of, well, your recording. .”

  I knew which one. “Yeah.”

  “I am sorry-it was clear how much she meant to you-”

  “It seems like a long time ago.”

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway-finding out that the dillin were actually gates to Earth. . I remembered Hell, and the Tear of Panchasell, and there was one slim chance that we could see home again, if we could find a way to open the dil. .”

  “I get the picture.”

  “And that was all I wanted. To get home. That was all any of us wanted. But when we finally. .” His voice trailed off.

  “They made you an offer.”

  He nodded. “Do you have any idea what it’s worth to the Board to have Overworld access again? Plus we’re importing griffinstones-did you know that there are magickal effects possible here? Do you have any idea what can be done with the combination of magick and cybernetics?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Some of your recovery, in fact-” He stopped. “You knew?”

  “You’d be surprised what I know. Look, Rab-uh, I should call you Faller, huh?”

  He nodded. “Rababal died twentyfive years ago.”

  I shrugged. I shrug a lot these days. The more I know, the less I have to say.

  He said, “I have a very, very good thing going on the Battleground right now. I am very close to a retirement that is a great deal more comfortable than I could have ever hoped for-and then you show up, and I thought-I mean, think about it. Think about our history. Or my history, if you want to put it that way.”

  “I get it.”

  “And it’s not just that. Every Company man on Overworld has strict instructions to hand you over on contact, Caine.”

  “Fist.”

  “It would have meant my job at the very least. Possibly my life.”

  “I told you: I get it.”

  “It wasn’t personal.”

  I nodded. “You probably won’t believe this, but I didn’t come to Purthin’s Ford to pee in your soup.”

  He offered a tired-sounding chuckle. “Give me something I can take to the Board of Governors, Caine. That’s all I want, you know. That’s what I came here for. Just. . something. Something to make them think I’m not completely useless.”

  “Tell them I’ll play,” I offered. “Tell them you convinced me. We can negotiate.”

  He stared at me. “You mean it?”

  “Sure. We don’t have to butt heads, Faller. Unless you want to. I know what it’s like to have the Bog on my neck. I’m not gonna wreck you just for doing your job, man.”

  “You-” He blinked, closed his mouth, and tried again. “All I had to do was ask?”

  “You know how rare it is that anybody just asks?” I nestled my head back into the pillow and stared at the blank cream ceiling. “When anyone wants anything from me, they’re always trying to bully me or blackmail me or play on my guilt or shame or fucking beat me into submission. The best I get is a generous bribe. Nobody ever even suspects that I might so much as cross the fucking street just because I’m not one hundred percent pure shitbag.”

  “I can see how that must hurt. Poor misunderstood mass murderer.”

  He was laughing at me. I joined in. “They’re off by at least a percent or two.”

  So we had our little chuckle. It didn’t last.

  He said, “Do you-do you really think you can make a deal with the Board? After everything you’ve done?”

  “Depends. I need you to get some recording equipment in here. The Bog can do that for you, huh? All up-and-up.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “There’s things about the situation over there that I’m pretty sure they don’t know. There’s things I can do for them that I’m damned sure they don’t know.”

  He gives me a half up-and-down, half sideways seminod of noncommittal agreement. “I can. . I suppose I could come back, well, online. .”

  “You can?”

  He tapped his skull behind his left ear. “My thoughtmitter. . I suppose-since you-they’ve decided it pays them to keep an eye on what all of us are doing over there.”

  “Works for me. How bad are things on Home? I mean, I’m guessing-because you’re here and all-that Angvasse didn’t go berserk and kill everybody.”

  He nodded. “She-is not your biggest fan.”

  “She’s on board with your whole Smoke Hunt game?”

  “I-don’t know. After-well, I haven’t seen her. No one has.”

  That couldn’t be good news. “What about Markham?”

  “Lord Tarkanen is. . I suppose you’d call him Acting Justiciar. Pending confirmation by the Lords Legendary.”

  “Fuck me like a goat. Orbek?”

  “The Justice never happened. She
didn’t show up.”

  “So? They let him go or what?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve had-more pressing concerns.”

  “It’s that bad?”

  “I would never have dreamed everything could go so wrong so quickly.”

  “Good.”

  He frowned at me. “It is?”

  “The worse shit gets, the better I do.”

  “If that’s true”-he sighed and sagged forward until his chin rested on his hands-“you’ll probably end up king.”

  Which brings us to more or less now.

  Without my help, the best you can hope for is destruction of your BlackStone operation, and permanent loss of your access to Home-that is, Overworld. I repeat: that’s your best. Remember that Deliann truly believes that the fundamental purpose of the Ankhanan Empire is to defend Home against fuckers like you. Like us. Remember that it was his grandfather who forged the dil T’llan to keep us out. Remember that Deliann is also the head of House Mithondionne, which makes him king of the elves. Who are the greatest spellcasters of Home. Remember what happened to your invasion force three years ago. Remember that the entire Ankhanan Empire has spent these past three years preparing to make war on you.

  Try to imagine what that war will be like. They won’t be coming to conquer; we’ve got nothing they need. They’ll be coming to punish, get it? You won’t know what a scorched-earth policy really is until you see it executed by a conflagration of dragons. Think of Deliann as me with an army. Think of yourselves as the Black Knife Nation.

  Between them and you, all you’ve got is me.

  This is what I bring to the table:

  The Smoke Hunt still exists, so I’m still an Agent of Khryl. No matter how much Markham hates me, he can’t touch me publically. Pretty much every Khryllian I meet has to kiss my ass, and the Soldiers of Khryl are still the finest fighting force in the history of either world. I’ve got a Khryllian Knight in my pocket. I’ve got Kierendal believing I’m on her side. I’ve got an Esoteric strike team that’s probably in place already, which is commanded by a woman who worships me as a god. I’m the goddamn boogeyman of the ogrilloi, my brother is kwatcharr of the Black Knives-unless, y’know, I am-and no one alive can match my understanding of the dil T’llan.