1 State of Grace

by John Phythyon

  “Shadowcat,” he said. “Svetlana, please be extremely careful. If something ...” His voice trailed off, and he had to look away for a moment. Then he looked deeply into her eyes. “If something were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself.”

  He held her gaze for a moment. He let his love for her show. Then he squeezed her hand tightly before releasing it and standing up.

  “I’ll see you in a week,” he said. “Dos vidanya.”

  He left without another word. Svetlana watched him go. She was stunned. His brief confession of his feelings was so extraordinary it completely melted her heart. She realized, impossible as it would be for them to be together, she was falling in love with Boris Davidov.

  For the first time in her adult life, she felt lonely. It was almost unbearable.

  Chapter 27: An Atheist and a Shadow

  (Ten Hours, One Minute before Revelation Day)

  May Honeyflower was following a hunch. Everyone was gathered for new negotiations except Silverleaf. That surprised her. She would have thought he would be very interested in what Wolf would do at the meeting. She could only surmise that meant he was otherwise occupied, and, given what Wolf told her last night, she thought that couldn’t be good.

  So she excused herself from the meeting and went to look for him. It would have been simple enough to send a member of the Elite Guard to do it for her, but she didn’t want to tell anyone else what was happening just yet. Wolf leveled serious allegations against Silverleaf. It wouldn’t do to make them known before she had more time to investigate.

  Moreover, she found herself not trusting Silverleaf. She was profoundly disturbed he’d not only had all of his former friends arrested and condemned, but he also manipulated her into doing a lot of the work. She’d personally made three of the arrests, and the Elite Guard she commanded was responsible for much of the investigation that put those elves on death row. She wanted to know why he would do this.

  She wasn’t sure where to look for him, so she started with his quarters. As she approached them, she saw the door was partially open. Slowing her pace, she closed the distance quietly. Her caution was immediately rewarded. Silverleaf and Ravager were inside conferring. She moved quickly to the side of the hall so she would not be in immediate sight and eavesdropped. They were speaking Phrygian, a language she didn’t know as well as Urlish, but she was able to follow the conversation.

  “He assured you everything is ready?” Silverleaf said.

  “Da,” Ravager replied. “He was practically drooling with anticipation. His people will play their part.”

  “Good.”

  “Are we ready to proceed?” Ravager said.

  “Yes,” Silverleaf replied. “The Feast of the Revelation begins at sundown. Everything is in readiness.”

  “The cabinet will do as planned?”

  “The cabinet and the president too,” Silverleaf said. “If anything, Mr. Dasher has helped us along. The president is even more desirous of a solution than before. This act of unity will seem necessary to her. Are your agents in place?”

  “They only await my orders.”

  “Then give them the final go ahead. Tell them Operation: Hammerfall is live tonight at sundown.”

  “Da,” Ravager said. He was about to say something else, but he stopped and stared in Honeyflower’s direction. Realizing she’d been made, she came forward as though she had been coming down the hall the whole time. She knocked on the half-open door.

  “Excuse me, Ambassador,” she said. “Ambassador Dasher has arrived and the negotiations have commenced.”

  “And why aren’t you present, Captain,” Silverleaf asked. He gazed at her suspiciously.

  “I presumed you would want to attend but hadn’t been informed we’d begun,” she answered. “They haven’t yet discussed matters of internal security, so my opinion wasn’t immediately required. I took the opportunity to come find you.”

  “How industrious of you, Captain,” he said. His tone was just short of threatening. “Please inform the president I will be along shortly.”

  “Very good, Ambassador,” she said. “I’ll see you there.”

  She turned and left before she could arouse any further suspicion. She walked quickly but casually.

  Wolf was right. Silverleaf was planning something, and it would target Revelation Day. Whatever it was, he was timing it for the most devastating effect possible. If something terrible were to happen on Revelation Day, it could break the spirit of Alfaris across the nation. She wouldn’t allow that.

  As soon as she thought it was safe to do so, she quickened her pace so that she was nearly running. She needed to speak to Wolf as soon as possible.

  ***

  Wolf couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Everyone was negotiating. The tone in the room was completely different than what he’d encountered last night.

  “I don’t think anyone disagrees,” Waterdown was saying, “with the need to continue the magic trade with Urland. The question is how can it be guaranteed against the collapse of this government?”

  “We could sign a commitment for a certain period of time to provide a certain level of support,” Goldenfawn suggested.

  “I think that’s an admirable gesture, Minister,” Wolf said, “but the problem is if this government falls, the one that replaces it might not honor the agreement. What I need is some sort of plan to secure the continuance of your government, so that promises will be kept.”

  “Do you have a suggestion, Ambassador?” Spellbinder said.

  Wolf thought about it. An idea hit him.

  “As I see it there are two basic things we need to consider,” he said. “First, Her Majesty’s worries aside, the fact is the amount of magic we actually buy from Alfar is not very high. We manufacture a lot of it ourselves, although, in general, elfin product is superior to our own, and Her Majesty no doubt will continue to want access to some of it.

  “But the fact is the physical magic trade isn’t big enough to fight over. What really matters to us, I think, is the magical education we get. Every year, our Magic Division sends wizards here to study with elfin masters. A few independent sorcerers also come here to study magic. That is what we really need to protect.”

  “And how do you suggest we accomplish that, Ambassador,” Spellbinder asked. “If the government were to collapse, a new regime could easily deny visas to your wizards and hold hostage any who were here.”

  “Right,” Wolf said. “But what if instead of Urlish wizards coming here, Alfari instructors went to Urland? That way, if a hostile regime took command of Alfar, elves would still be in a position to provide Urlanders with magical education.”

  “Outrageous!” Lumendrake said. “You are speaking of holding elves hostage.”

  “Not at all, Minister,” Wolf soothed. “You’re quite right that holding them in Urland and forcing them to teach us would be unethical. So to get around that, every elfin master agrees before coming to teach that he or she will remain in Urland for a period of – oh, I don’t know; let’s say two years. He or she also agrees not to return to Alfar until a replacement master arrives in Urland.

  “That way, service is voluntary and not forced, and Urland is protected against the potential loss of the trade, since no elf would consider breaking an oath like that.”

  Wolf smiled to himself. He might be getting better at this whole diplomatic thing. He put the last comment in deliberately to stroke Lumendrake’s sense of elfin righteousness.

  “I don’t like it,” Lumendrake said, although his tone was much less confrontational. “It still amounts to forcing elves to stay in service to humans.”

  “Minister,” Wolf said, “if you look at Frey’s directives a certain way, you see that is what he ordered all elves to do. Frey wanted elves to bring the light of God to all peoples. He wanted elves to share their perfection with the other races. No race understands magic the way elves do. By agreeing to share it with us, you’re walking in Frey’s footsteps – b
ringing the ways of elves to others.”

  Lumendrake stared at him incredulously. Wolf smiled.

  “How extraordinary,” Spellbinder said, “that it should take a human to remind an elf of Frey’s mission.”

  Wolf looked at her, fearing he’d caused some offense, but the president was smiling, and several people at the table were nodding. Lumendrake didn’t look like he agreed with her assessment. His scowl told Wolf he quite resented being reminded of Frey’s teachings by a non-elf.

  “That’s all very well, Ambassador,” Lumendrake said, his voice dripping with disdain. “But I note that you are offering to secure Her Majesty’s needs without giving us any consideration. What about the Urlish troops who are occupying Alfari soil?”

  “Forgive me, Minister,” Wolf said, “Without General Blackstone here, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage on military matters. What is the present size of our expeditionary force?”

  “Thirty thousand soldiers,” Honeyflower said as she entered. “That doesn’t include government liaisons or any of the personnel from your Shadow Service.

  “Ambassador Silverleaf will be along shortly,” she said, flashing Wolf a look as she seated herself. He wasn’t sure what it meant. It could have been a warning, but he couldn’t be certain. She might have been angry about something too.

  “Thank you, Captain,” he replied. “All right, thirty thousand. Suppose we reduced our troops by twenty percent upon signing of the agreement?”

  A gasp went through the room. It was a significant offer, and Wolf knew from his reading nothing of like size had yet been suggested.

  “That’s extremely generous,” Spellbinder said.

  “Yes, very generous, indeed,” Lumendrake spat. “Except that it still leaves twenty-four thousand soldiers from this so-called ‘expeditionary force’ in Alfar.”

  “I’m sure that’s just the beginning,” Goldenfawn said with a smug look on his face. “Surely the ambassador means that only to be the start of a phased withdrawal.”

  “Precisely,” Wolf said. “Tell me, Minister Goldenfawn, what impact will that have on your ability to maintain security?”

  Goldenfawn looked like a child who’d been caught stealing. He obviously hadn’t expected Wolf to deal in good faith.

  “Impact?” Goldenfawn said.

  “Yes,” Wolf replied. He smiled devilishly. “If there is a twenty percent cut in our security forces, how will that impact your ability to maintain law and order?”

  Goldenfawn looked flustered. Honeyflower smiled.

  “I believe, Ambassador,” she said, “the immediate impact will be negligible. Sadly, Urlish soldiers are not especially helpful in maintaining peace, at least not here in Al-Adan. The local people don’t trust them, and they are often targets for terrorists. Removing two in every ten of them will not hurt our ability to maintain control in the city.”

  “Right,” Goldenfawn agreed.

  “Well, let me ask you something, Captain,” Wolf said. “My understanding is, while the cities are largely under control, the Sons of Frey have a relatively free hand in the countryside. What if we transferred the majority of our soldiers to rural locations to assist local populaces? You mentioned the Sons of Frey are prone to elf-on-elf violence for the purpose of destabilizing faith in the coalition government. If we put a significant military force into the countryside, would it solve that problem?”

  “It might,” Honeyflower said after a pause. “But you would have to convince the rural elves you were there for their protection, not as conquerors. Some of your soldiers would need ... shall we say new training in the way they treat the natives?”

  “So we could then send cultural attachés with the soldiers, whose job it would be help the locals and soldiers work together. That could create a cultural exchange between the races that would benefit everyone.”

  There were murmurs of appreciation across the table. Lumendrake continued to scowl.

  “We’d have to be careful, though,” Honeyflower said. “The truth is we don’t have enough security forces to adequately deal with the terrorists alone. We do need Urlish support.”

  “If we are to wait until the Sons of Frey are completely smashed, we will never be rid of the Urlanders,” Lumendrake said. “They are funded by Jifani extremists, and it’s a problem that will never truly go away.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Wolf said, “but the principal problem here in Al-Adan from the Sons of Frey is not their militia activities, it’s the suicide wand-ers.”

  “Yes,” Honeyflower said.

  “To be frank, then,” Wolf said, “that’s not really a military problem.”

  “What do you mean, Ambassador?” Spellbinder said.

  “Yes, Ambassador, what do you mean?” Silverleaf said as he entered the chamber. “Please explain how the murder of innocent elves isn’t the business of your army if your purpose here is to maintain security.”

  Wolf glared at Silverleaf. He had things going smoothly until Silverleaf came along. Wolf could feel the mood in the room chilling.

  “What I meant,” he said, “was that trying to track down a lone, mad elf bent on destroying himself and everyone around him is not a good use of military resources. Militaries are good for fighting armies. They’re not good for stopping lone killers.

  “Now, according to my briefings, this ...” Wolf paused and pretended to consult the papers in front of him “... Mustique Starfellow is the ringleader/mastermind of the Sons of Frey here in Al-Adan. It seems to me the top priority is locating him and his accomplices. Again, that’s not a job a military can accomplish well.

  “But it’s a perfect job for the Shadow Service.”

  “What?” Lumendrake said.

  “Her Majesty’s Shadow Service exists to collect information, disinform our enemies, and to handle delicate operations in areas of foreign policy. If we reduce our military presence here in Al-Adan, the other major cities, and nationwide, we can do a lot to earn the respect of the Alfari people. If we simultaneously increase our Shadow Service presence here, we can improve the security situation by increasing the personnel dedicated and well suited to finding Starfellow and stopping him.”

  There was an uncomfortable pause as everyone considered the ramifications of what was said. Even Honeyflower seemed disturbed by the concept.

  “I don’t think that is a reasonable solution, Ambassador,” Lumendrake said. His tone had lost its angry edge. “Shadows are only a step away from demons. The power they gain from The Rift is unnatural. This land already suffers the effects of corruption. The presence of more Shadows may hasten it.”

  “I’m not so sure, Minister,” the president said. “The prevailing opinion among the priesthood is we are doing this to ourselves. A schism between elves is what murders Alfar and Jifan, not some external corruptive force.”

  “Be that as it may,” Lumendrake said, “and I would like to point out that your ‘prevailing opinion’ is not shared by every priest or even every elf, there is no tactical advantage to having more Shadows here, when the ones that are present are no more useful than the military at preventing these attacks.”

  “Actually,” Goldenfawn said, “Urlish Shadows have been very successful at preventing attacks by ferreting out unexecuted plots. I am not fully certain how they ascertain the information they do, but they are effective. If we had more Shadows, there would be more people to run down Starfellow.”

  “Which would in turn allow the Elite Guard to act as the police force it’s intended to be,” Honeyflower said. “Turning over most of the terrorist investigation to the Urlanders would give me more elfpower to handle daily security issues. Right now, with trying to stay on top of the terrorists, we’re stretched pretty thin.

  “Of course, the Shadow Service would have to be working for us, not the other way around, but I like this plan. I think there are a lot of things a Shadow could uncover.” She shot Wolf a glance. He did his best to ignore it.

  “Ambassador Dasher,” Spellbi
nder said, “I am impressed. Unlike your predecessors, you’ve come here with some concrete proposals for real solutions. I’d like to commend you on your willingness to negotiate.

  “Are there any objections to the Ambassador’s plan? He’s called for an immediate twenty percent reduction in Urlish troops on the ground, a deployment of most of the remaining personnel to the countryside to re-establish security there, and to increase the size of the Urlish Shadow presence to focus on rooting out terrorist activity in Al-Adan and elsewhere.”

  Nearly everyone nodded their assent to Wolf’s basic proposition. Lumendrake looked unhappy, but he didn’t speak up. Silverleaf, on the other hand, looked smug. It was the same look Wolf had seen before he played the “Gargantuan” card on Sir Leslie.

  “Actually,” Silverleaf said, “I don’t like it.”

  Everyone turned and stared at him. He put on a face of extreme doubt and worry. Wolf waited for him to unleash his masterstroke.

  “Why not?” Spellbinder said.

  “Several reasons,” Silverleaf said. He stood and began pacing around the table. “First, do we really need twenty-four thousand soldiers still in-country? It’s ‘very generous’ of Ambassador Dasher to offer a twenty percent reduction in troops, but what will be done to phase out the remainder? This sounds like not much of an offer.”

  “We’ll need to evaluate the efficacy of the program before we can determine how many troops it will take,” Honeyflower protested.

  “More importantly, this idea of bringing more Shadows to Alfar is disturbing at best,” Silverleaf went on. “Need I remind us that only humans can become Shadows? This is some natural malady of theirs that we do not need spread.”

  “Spread?” Spellbinder said.

  “The Rift’s energy is corruptive, Madam President,” Silverleaf said. “It corrupts certain humans. Do we really need more of them coming here to spread their poison?

  “But then I suppose I should have expected such a suggestion from an infidel.”

  “Ambassador!” Spellbinder shouted. “I made it very clear last night that I would not tolerate any of that sort of name-calling.”