The Daemon in the Machine
Page 56
“After the trial,” Yamaxi repeated, and swallowed, his pain visible. “Minami has friends. The Creddezi would never interfere on his behalf, far less avenge him; but there are others, right here in Redeuiina, men and women both, whose love he has won. Bought is probably more accurate, but in any case. They have not the power of the Slux government; they are not the sort of people, in fact, who have any real power at all; but they do have their hands, and their own friends, and quite a few of them have guns...and unfortunately, when it comes down to it, that is the sort of ‘power,’ if you want to call it such, which we are least able to negate. Against which I am least able to protect you.”
“Get to the point,” Crispin snapped.
Yamaxi clasped Crispin’s hand passionately, his eyes overflowing. For your own good, my dear, dear boy, I think it will be best for you to go away for a while.”
Folk burnt out need a vacation,
Kind court alleviates people’s vexation;
Throw out the flattering fakes,
scare blighters and crushers,
Don’t ruin folk pretending it’s government,
tho’ you’re mere babes in this business
and the job bigger than you can guess.
— Confucius, tr. Ezra Pound
END OF EXCERPT
So it goes, eh? They set you up and then they knock you down. But Crispin’s got a habit of getting up again. Find out what happens next in A Trickster in the Ashes: http://felicitysavage.com/books/a-trickster-in-the-ashes/