by Guy Antibes
“I’d like my knives and splinters that I made from the scraps of Demron steel.”
“You’ll waste them in Tishiko,” Ako said.
Pol shook his head. “I won’t use them here, but I want them with my things.”
Val narrowed his eyes. “What is so precious about Demron steel, in fact, what is Demron steel?”
“The aliens made a certain kind of metal. The material in Pol’s amulet is Demron steel. It will penetrate the protection wards, but it isn’t quite as effective as magnetized weapons or lodestone. He has a sword and long knife that he made out of it,” Shira said.
“A sword?” Val said. “Can I see it?”
Pol nodded. “When we get back to our rooms, I’ll show them to you. The alien essence taught me the pattern. I tweaked the metal into the proper shape. I had to make the hilt. The sword looks like the one I brought back from Daera.”
Val nodded, but his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. “Sometimes you just scare me,” he said. “If I believed in religion or fate, I would say you are a favored one.”
Shira leaned over and whispered. “He is the Great Ancestor, after all.” She smiled at Val, who merely grunted in return.
~
While Pol showed Val his weapons, he heard three people entering their floor of the Pagoda.
“I was told to say that Lini sent us,” the oldest man of the three strangers said. He rubbed his bare head and straightened his robe.
“Welcome,” Shira said. “I know Lini. How is she doing?”
The man wore a worried look. “Every day puts her in more peril.”
Pol knew what kind of peril the personal secretary faced every day in Queen Anira’s study.
“This is Pol Cissert Pastelle,” Shira said. “He has returned safely from Daera.”
“We received that information from the Bureaucracy troops who just returned from the Empire.”
“They served well,” Pol said.
“Our troops look forward to serving again,” one of the men said and looked at Pol. “Do you know your plans yet?”
Pol shook his head. “We want to get familiar with Tishiko’s current state.”
The older Bureaucrat barked out a laugh. “Better or worse depending on your point of view.”
“And in your point of view?” Val asked.
“Worse. The Queen’s influence among the factions has increased with the rise of the Fox faction. The loyalist factions are forced into being less flexible.”
“Elder Furima,” Ako said.
Pol heard the derision in her voice. “They confronted us on our way to Tishiko,” Pol said.
“We heard,” one of the bureaucrats said. “You disturbed the hive. Some want to come out and sting, but others, the more rational Foxes, recognize that they need to be wary of the Fearless.”
“What about the armed forces?” Shira said.
According to Shira, the bureaucrats and the Fearless had insinuated an under-layer of leadership below the politically-appointed commanders.
“That is better.”
“We will walk the streets and may consult with the Scorpions,” Pol said. Karo had to have told his faction everything. Pol needed allies, and he expected the Scorpions to be that.
The three bureaucrats turned to Pol. “That is up to you. We have kept apart from them since they fell out of favor with the Queen. Our time is up. We need to be elsewhere. A box will be delivered with certain items left behind.”
“My hat?” Pol said. “I’ll have a use for that.”
Shira made a face and shivered. “I don’t like the hat.”
“You will,” Pol said.
Ako laughed. “She really doesn’t. I don’t think it suits you, but it is unique in Shinkya. I hope Paki and Fadden’s possessions are included. We didn’t have the opportunity to take them with us when we left Tishiko.”
“We will have the opportunity this time,” Pol vowed. He clenched his fist. If Pol had to do anything, he had to maintain control.
“What hat is this?” Val said.
“It is shaped like a long cone with a wide brim. I bought it in Volia to keep the rain off, and it did a great job. The priests in Fassin raised a statue in the large square in front of the cathedral with a Demron riding a horse. The citizens were a little spooked by someone wearing one just like it,” Pol said.
“I guess it is something to look forward to?”
“Maybe,” Pol said.
Shira growled and poked him in his ribs with her finger. “I don’t want you to wear it.”
Pol smiled. “It might suit our cause. We will know more after we meet with the Scorpions.” Pol looked out the glassless window at the sunset. “I’m going to help with the wards.”
“No, you won’t,” Ako said. “I was told today that the Queen has forbidden faction wards since we’ve been gone.”
“Doesn’t that make it dangerous?” Shira said.
“Factions post watches instead.”
Pol wondered. “Does this include the Royal compound?”
“It does.” Ako narrowed her eyes at Pol. “Is there a reason you ask?”
“I’d like to visit Lord Barian again. Think of it as a courtesy visit. The Queen should know by now that I defeated the Fox champions.”
“Are you going out undisguised?” Shira said.
Pol grinned. “Maybe, but not until I’m in the Imperial compound.”
“You’ll be going invisible?” Val said.
Pol nodded. “Can you do that?”
“I fool myself into thinking I can, but I really tweak camouflage.”
“Want to join me?” Pol said.
Val pursed his lips. “Why not? I’ve never been to Tishiko, and I’d like to see it on my own terms.” He looked at Pol. “Our terms.” He smirked at Pol.
“Can I come along?” Shira asked.
“Another time,” Pol said. He winked at Shira, out of Val’s sight.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Shira said, making a face.
“Please do.”
~
Pol could see why someone would think Namion and Val were the same. Both were brusque men who had little sense of humor, but Namion had an edge that Pol could not quite express in words or thoughts. Val backed his irascibility up with deeds where Namion employed bluster as much as his own Seeker attributes.
Although Pol would rather have gone by himself, he felt the need to learn more about Val in a different environment. Lord Barian did not represent a strategic threat, but his wife might. He had no doubt that Val could get out of as many situations as he could, should something go wrong.
The night was dry and hot, being late summer. To Pol that meant there might be more people awake, which increased the risk of exposure. He said as much to Val as they walked the streets.
“What else do I need to know?” Val said in Shinkyan.
“Horani, Barian’s wife, is a member of Lake faction. They are very much aligned with the Queen. She is anti-Imperial and browbeats her husband to siding with Tishiko over Yastan.”
“I already knew most of that, but not her specific faction. Perhaps Shira and Ako can help me with which faction is which.”
“It would be a good refresher for me,” Pol said, “when we get back.”
Val nodded.
“The gate to the palace grounds is often open, but we can climb over the wall easily enough,” Pol said.
“You’ve already done it?”
Pol nodded. “I did a little Seeking when I first came to Tishiko. Follow me. Do whatever tweaking you need to do so we aren’t discovered.”
Age had wore the mortar down over the years.
“That was easy,” Val said.
He looked a bit more winded than Pol. Age eventually crept up on everyone, Pol thought. They had to wait for a guard to pass by before they slipped across the wide walkway above the wall and climbed down the other side.
“Where is the Imperial compound?” Val said.
“In the northwes
t corner. There is a large house, a stable, and a few outbuildings surrounded by a fence that’s less than ten feet high.”
“Not much protection.”
“On purpose,” Pol said.
Val just nodded. Pol could barely make him out in the dark.
They kept to the darker recesses of the wall, away from the lamps that did little to light the vast grounds.
The Imperial Compound gates were open. Pol wondered if Barian ever closed them when there were not Imperial visitors. They slipped inside the gate and went to an open window.
“Voices,” Pol said.
Val put his finger to his lips.
Pol ground his teeth. Val could hear them, so it was not necessary to say anything as they sought out information. He enhanced his hearing.
“Furima is quite disturbed,” Barian said in Shinkyan. “I’ve never seen her so subdued for an angry woman.”
“Watch your tongue,” Horani said. “You have your orders. They aren’t much different from before.”
“He’s not being tested this time, my dear. If he is assassinated, the Emperor will demand retribution. The Queen surely understands this.”
“Don’t worry about Anira’s state of mind; worry about your head. The factions are unstable now that the boy has returned with the Princess. They are both old enough to wed. What will common Shinkyans think?”
“Pol won’t dare present himself as the Great Ancestor,” Barian said.
“You are the fool you’ve always been, my Barian,” Horani said.
Pol smiled at the tenderness in her voice.
Val slipped through the window. “I’ve enough of the pattern. Follow, but don’t show yourself. It’s time to put a little scare into these two,” he whispered.
Pol barely made out Val’s form as he followed the Seeker into the embassy. He tweaked invisibility and padded behind Val, wondering what he would do. Pol pulled out three splinters and held them tightly.
“Excuse me, is this the Imperial embassy? I might have gotten lost,” Val said, appearing in his own face.
“What?” the Ambassador said.
Pol watched from across the hallway. Barian’s mouth dropped open, and Horani’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, making Pol smile.
“You are Barian?” Val looked at Horani. “And you must be the Lake Sister who married him.”
“I am a Grand Master,” Horani said, pulling herself more erect. “A proud Grand Master, who can also be a Sister, right?” She peered at Val. “You aren’t wearing a disguise. I thought you might be Pol Cissert.”
“Pol Cissert Pastelle, an Imperial Prince,” Val said. He folded his arms and looked at both of them. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Valiso Gasibli.”
“Gasibli?” Barian said, putting his hand to his mouth.
“I am pleased you can pronounce my last name,” Val said. “You must know what I can do, in the service of the Imperial family.”
Pol nearly burst out laughing, knowing that Val included Pol, and that did have an effect on Barian.
“Did you come with the boy?” Horani said.
“I did,” Val said. “He is in Tishiko.”
“In the Fearless faction’s compound. We know that. We will pay you to kill Pol.”
Barian shook his head at his wife, and then he looked at Val. “She doesn’t know what she says. We have no intention to take Pol’s life.”
Val laughed, and it sent shivers down Pol’s spine.
“I heard you talking to your wife,” Val said in Shinkyan.
Hearing Val speak Shinkyan startled the Ambassador.
“Will I be recalled?” Barian said. “If so, I choose to remain in Shinkya.”
“You will remain in Shinkya alive or dead,” Val said.
The way Val talked, he heard the cold steel in the Seeker’s voice.
Pol changed his features and materialized as he walked into the room. “Alive or dead,” Pol said to the Imperial traitor. “Did you think my father doesn’t know where your loyalties really lie?”
“Ranno and I…”
“Ranno is retiring after this unpleasantness in the Empire is over. Malden Gastoria, one of my mentors, takes over as the Instrument. He is my man,” Pol said. “Val is another one of my mentors.” Pol purposely did not include Val as one of his men.
“Without me, how will the Empire know what happens in Shinkya? I am unique—”
“In your treachery,” Val said. “We have a new way to communicate that doesn’t require birds, and Prince Pol and Princess Shira have their own power base in Tishiko. Why do you think Elder Furima is so upset? Her soldiers idolize the Fearless champion, who just happens to be standing there.” He nodded towards Pol.
“You?” Horani looked at Pol in disbelief.
“I am more than a pretty face,” Pol said, forcing a grin. “If you value your lives, you will stand aside in the next few days. If you participate in forces aligned against me, against the Empire, you will both be dealt with appropriately. Am I right, Valiso Gasibli?”
Val nodded and produced another scary smile. “It has been awhile since I’ve been able to practice some of my arts.”
Pol held up a normal Shinkyan throwing knife and teleported it into the wall right behind Horani’s head. “Just be happy I missed intentionally,” Pol said.
“This time,” Val said. He faded from view, assuming his camouflage tweak.
Pol nodded to Barian and gave Horani a hard look before he disappeared. He slipped back in the corridor and noticed Val standing out of the Ambassador’s sight.
Barian huffed as he collapsed on a chair. “This, this changes things.”
Horani snorted. “Do you think this changes anything?”
“Look behind you, Horani. I couldn’t see Pol throw the knife, yet for it to get where he sunk it into the wall, it had to have gone through your head. Aren’t you intimidated? Gasibli is legendary, and Pol,” Barian paused, “Pol is beyond an Elder in the pattern. Even Elder Furima could do no such thing.”
“I refuse to accept it. Some kind of trick.”
Pol stepped into the room and tweaked visibility. “Accept it. If you want a more painful demonstration, I would be happy to show you that I do not do tricks.”
“Do it again,” Horani said.
Pol did not think the woman would ever believe. Val would have killed her on the spot, but that would only anger the loyalists.
“Hold out your hand.”
She glared at Pol. “I’ll do no such thing.”
Pol held out a splinter. “You will need a healer to take this out.” He teleported the metal into her left arm, making sure it didn’t obstruct any major blood vessels.
She grunted. The woman was very tough.
“See to her, she is in significant pain.”
~
“You should have killed her,” Val said when they stepped onto their floor in the Fearless pagoda.
“It crossed my mind that you would do such a thing.”
“Is that what stopped you? Me?”
Pol shook his head. “No. The time may come when she needs to be silenced, but she needed a physical warning tonight. Horani won’t be able to claim the splinter in her arm is a trick. She won’t be on our side, but my action wasn’t for her, but for others who the story will impress.”
Val nodded. “We don’t think quite the same way.”
Pol smiled. “Perhaps our thoughts are more aligned than you think. It’s just that I have imposed certain limits on my actions.”
“That’s dangerous for you and for Shira.”
“I’ve exceeded those limits before. You know I’ve been able to do what’s necessary when I have to.”
Val looked away from Pol. “You have. We would make a good team,” Val said.
“No. We can work together successfully from time to time,” Pol said. “A team requires a different dynamic than I think we can achieve.”
“You’ve changed. For the better, now that I’ve seen you at work. Your time
on Daera seasoned you. They weren’t stolen years by any means.”
The compliment surprised Pol. Did Val treat their foray as a final test? He must. Pol nodded. “They weren’t stolen. You are right.” He looked at Shira who looked on silently. “Losing my memories helped me keep going and learning.”
“It’s time to put that learning to work, and tonight your task just began,” Val said.
Shira slipped into Pol’s room not long after, when Val and Ako retired.
“I sensed a competition between the two of you. Did Val admit that he lost?”
“No,” Pol said. “Not by any means. We really weren’t a team tonight. A team makes each participant stronger. We played Barian and Horani, but even then we were two strong men. We did key off one another, but Val and I are too independent to work too closely.”
Shira lightly slapped Pol’s shoulder. “Val is the independent one. I’ve seen you lead before. He doesn’t like leading.”
“No, but he’s proven his worth tonight. I didn’t feel the urge to confront Barian, but Val forced me to. It was the right thing to do, now that I reflect on our encounter. I think what I thought was a competition was something else. Boundary-setting, perhaps, like cats marking their territory.”
“So, Horani didn’t even cry out?” Shira said.
“She grunted. The woman is tough, very tough.”
~~~
Chapter Eighteen
~
P ol woke up to a return of the bureaucrats. They had two bags at their feet. “My things?”
They nodded. “We retrieved these from the palace and now have returned them to their rightful owner.”
“Some belong to Paki and Fadden,” Shira said. “We will take them back with us when we return to Redearth. I thank you for this.”
“As do I,” Pol said. “Is it time to discuss our mutual issues?”
“It is,” one of the men said, looking at the others and nodding, “At sunset.” The man turned to Shira. “Do you remember the last place you met with us?”
“You were there,” Shira said with a bit of surprise in her voice. “I remember now. Who can we bring?”
“The four of you, but no more. We must go.”
