Host

Chapter 13

I picked up the phone to call Miz Essie's boardinghouse. When there was no dial tone, I remembered the phone lines had been cut. Because avalanche or attack of Darkness could leave any town isolated, every mountain town had multiple means of reaching the outside world. There were underground telephone lines and a satellite dish that worked off one of the remaining geosynchronous satellites over the North American continent. And ham radios. Darkness had never before cut phone lines and damaged a town's dish. No way was it a lucky mistake.
I put down the useless phone and went out on the porch at the front of the loft. Looking over the street, I saw Jacey's eldest stepson, Zeddy, and waved to him. When he waved back, I cupped my mouth and shouted, "You know where the new mage is?"
"Watching the kirk bury the dead," he shouted back, "taking photographs." His tone added, like a tourist with a camera, but he didn't have to say the words.
"Tell him I need him. Now."
"Will do, Miss Thorn."
When I shut the door, Rupert asked, "What are you doing?"
"Making sure the dream stays only a nightmare. No. You stay right here," I said when he pushed away from the sink. "I want you to see this."
Without the real Apache Tear around my neck, I knew when Cheran headed my way and curled my lips into a snarl as I heard/ felt his reaction. It was loathing. I'm not at the beck and call of anyone, and certainly not a brainless rock-head mage without her first heat. And then...She'll be gone soon, and good riddance. From Cheran, I had a vision of my body stripped and flayed in the snow, brown robes gathered around. I didn't know what he had been planning, but I had a good idea who he had been planning it with.
Then I had a single image of Cheran himself, in a consulate of his own. Grasping his intent, I let my smile widen. Rupert took a fast step back. I'm pretty sure I looked vicious.
"Go ahead and make any plans you want," I said softly, aloud. "I'll outlive you if it's with my dying breath." At Rupert's uncertain alarm, I shook my head and let the expression dwindle away. "I've changed my mind. You know those clothes you and Audric wore when you were my champards in the town meeting? You get to wear them again. Go change." When he stood there, indecisive, I said, "Hurry," and made it a command.
Rupert left, shouting to Audric as the door closed. Back on the porch, I propped a hip on the railing and crossed my arms against the cold, putting together the elements of a plan based on the number of cases in Cheran's room. A bluff. If I was wrong, I'd feel like an idiot. The mage strode up the hill, his velvet cloak swinging, the stupid hat in place, feather bobbing. Zeddy and a small group of teenaged boys followed him, a good ten yards back. In the distance the blasted lynx growled, the sound like a cough and a roar combined, peculiar to its species. Thanks for the warning, I thought, but I don't need it. For once I know I'm in danger.
When Cheran was close enough to lock eyes, I called out to him, letting my voice carry through the visa. "I spoke to the priestess of the New Orleans Enclave." He slowed, mouth parted, a startled curse in his thoughts. Good. I wanted him stunned. "She sent you. She included appropriate gifts to support my consulate." This was the bluff part.
Cheran stopped in the street, a speculative look on his face. In his mind was the question, What does she know?
It wasn't so much what I knew as what I could read from him and what I could guess. "I believe you have them in your possession," I said.
"I do." He cocked a hip, which opened the cloak, revealing a black suit with green satin lapels and matching cummerbund. I had seen the suit hanging in his closet, and the visa at my neck offered the information, Court dress, appropriate for official sessions or functions.
Yeah. He'd been plotting against me behind my back. If there was a need for formal display it should have been only in my presence. In an instant I drew on the visa and searched through possible proper actions on the part of a visiting mage. I quickly concluded that Cheran Jones thought I was stupid. He was about to be disabused of that quaint notion.
"And?" I asked, drawing the word out lazily.
"No moment has been appropriate to present you with the bequest."
I stared at him long enough for him to know I had caught him in a lie, letting my reaction fill my face. Long enough for the kids behind him to snicker, the sound bright on the frigid air. Long enough for passersby to slow and watch, and for Jasper to stop in the doorway of the furniture store, his black robe of office swaying in the cold wind. I realized the kirk elder had come from the mass funeral and knew I should have been there too. My shame at missing the funeral made my expression harder and Cheran's cheeks reddened with more than the cold. I should have been there; it was too late now. But it wasn't too late to deal with my visiting mage.
"Well," I said at last, mocking, at which Cheran tensed, his smile stiffening in place, "gifts from the priestess of the Enclave of my birth, for the Appalachian consulate. I reckon that means me," I drawled. When he didn't react except to raise his brows, I hardened my tone, stood, and looked down my nose at him. "Cheran Jones, you have my leave to approach me with everything that is mine or that is the property of this consulate."
His mouth opened and closed so fast it was like a camera shutter working. I smiled, all teeth and anger, using the expression that had made Rupert backstep fast. "I allow you ten minutes' leave to be in my court, downstairs, in Thorn's Gems. Ten minutes."
It was a public humiliation, and Cheran's eyes blazed hot in the instant before he bent and bowed. "At the consulate's command."
"Then you better boogie," Zeddy called from the protection of the bakery's display window. "'Cause she looks pissed." The other boys hooted with delight as Cheran stood straight and strode for the boardinghouse, moving with mage-speed, a blur that left the humans gawking.
I cocked my head at Zeddy and smiled my thanks. To Jasper, I said, "The first official meeting of the Mineral City consulate will convene in nine minutes. Do you think some of the town fathers would be interested in attending?"
"Oh, yes," he said fervently, "I do indeed." Moving quickly, he took off and rounded the building into an alley, cutting through, making the most of his limited time.
From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Romona Benson standing at the intersection, camera on her shoulder. She was grinning fiercely, and I knew she had me framed in a close-up. I wanted to curse, but I raised my brows instead, as if permitting her to speak. She lowered the camera to point it at the street. "Is the press welcome?" she called.
"Film only, no direct uplink with that sat phone you've been using, and give me the opportunity to edit out what I want, and you're welcome to attend." When her face fell, I said, "I know it's not the way things are done with the press, but take it or leave it. And we'll schedule a televised personal interview for later this week." If I live that long, I thought.
"They'll fry me for this, but we have a deal," she said, and the reporter took off too, moving pretty fast for a human.
I had nearly nine minutes. An eternity for a mage at full speed. I pulled my mage finery from the armoire and set it aside. The silk and lace were not enough. Or were too much. This was to be the first meeting of a consulate I didn't want, but knew I had to protect if I wanted to survive, wanted to keep my friends alive. I pulled out my dobok. It hadn't been cleaned since the battle. It was bloody, aromatic, torn and sliced, and very well used. It looked deadly.
Moving fast, I pulled off my clothes and dressed, adding every weapon I owned. When they were in place, I braided my hair into a battle queue and pulled on battle boots. The mage-leather boots were still uncomfortable on my puffy and tender soles, but I had washed out the old blood, and I didn't intend to be standing much.
Grabbing my battle cloak, a silk scarf in a vibrant bloodred color, and the weapons I liked best - the Flame-blessed tanto and the walking-stick sword - I went downstairs to set the stage for what I hoped would be a very public affirmation of my intent to remain the town mage of Mineral City as long as I had a visa or as long as I drew breath. And the onset of a plan to protect the ones I loved. I set my amulet necklace over my head and drew on the visa and my primes for strength. For a mage, it was tantamount to a prayer for wisdom and strength. I'd need both if I was going to succeed at this. And a mountain of luck bigger than the Trine.
One minute to go, I considered the stage I had set in the center of Thorn's Gems, my favorite wingback chair in the center of the room, my battle cloak open over it, the silk lining exposed to the world, ripped and stained with my blood, a small footstool nearby so my short legs wouldn't dangle like a child's. My silver scrying bowl filled with salt water was tucked behind my chair in case Cheran came prepared to attack me with an article of Darkness. Once he was disabled, I could cleanse the taint. It would be very flashy; Romona Benson would love it; it made me sick to think about the media attention. But to protect the ones I loved, I'd do a lot more than play to the camera. Of course, if he used poison, I was a lot more likely to die.
A table to the side near the stove was heaped with jewelry I had made, including one piece with a fragment of amethyst from the cherub's wheels, a gift for the priestess that I hoped would leave her reeling. The other things were for the Enclave's mage council, and one bracelet was for Cheran, the visiting dignitary who, I was pretty sure, wanted my consulate seat, the little snark. Others were for the town fathers, sundry gifts I might be expected to bestow. I would be paying back Thorn's Gems for months, but it would be worth it if it kept the backstabbing - maybe literally - mage from usurping my place.
I added water to the kettle, placing teacups, loose tea, and silver out just in case I needed it, though the visa assured me it wouldn't be proper to serve tea.
Breathing fast, Audric and Rupert clattered down the stairs and stopped, standing beneath the prophecy of my birth. A Rose by any Other Name will still draw Blood. A foretelling by the woman who had set my life in motion. I didn't know what had happened to Lolo and answers to my questions weren't going to come easy. I was flying by the seat of my pants, my life motto.
I grinned at my champards in their warlike finery. Audric, his dark-skinned head reflecting back the lights, was dressed in black dobok with his scarlet master's belt knotted beside a battle sword I probably couldn't even lift. He wore a weapon harness strapped to his chest and looked like a walking death machine, bristling with sharp-edged steel. Rupert again wore his best navy tunic and pants. His newly named battle sword hung at his side.
"Nice getups, boys. Audric, this is now the formal consulate of Mineral City. The consular residence is above. We'll need guest residences asap. Think we can rent the store next door and turn it into apartments?"
"It'll take money," he said. "And you'll need more than two champards. I made some calls. But you're wearing the wrong clothes. You need - "
"I'll get the money. And this is a battle station, not a trade consulate. I won't be dancing." Audric looked uncertain, but the visa that held a repository of diplomatic information wasn't offering anything to the contrary so I was going with the idea that I had been putting together since leaning against Rupert. Then I heard his words. He made some calls?
The bells over the door jingled, announcing Romona Benson, who rushed in with a swirl of icy air, her blond flyaway hair whipping in the outside wind. "Am I late?" she asked, and stopped cold. She surveyed me, then my champards, and back to me before swinging up the camera and clicking on a button. A red light glowed on the front, and suddenly the reality of what I was doing hit home.
My smile and the adrenaline high drained away. If I messed this up, I might end up dead. And so might my champards. So might Jacey, Ciana...Spawn balls, what am I doing?
As if echoing my thoughts in a different key, Romona muttered, "I'm gonna win a bloody Pulitzer with all this.
"Consulate General St. Croix," she continued in a newsy tone, "you have eschewed the usual mode of dress for formal events in favor of a bloody and war-torn battle uniform. Can you tell us why?"
Consulate general? What the heck was that? Formulating an answer to her question, I walked to the wingback chair and sat, motioning Audric and Rupert into place behind me. Before I could figure out how to answer the reporter's question, the door opened again and Eli Walker strode in, dressed in his usual cowboy finery: jeans, a great-looking pair of embossed and tooled boots, a fringed jacket, and a buff-colored cowboy hat that shaded his amber eyes.
He flashed me a glance but strode to Audric. "I ain't done embassy stuff before," he said, turning on a lackadaisical charm. "Where does the most junior champard stand, anyway?"
I froze in the act of settling myself, knowing my expression was caught in the camera, and when this aired, it would be clear to the world that I was...nonplussed was close. Looking like I had been hit over the head with an ax was closer. Calls, Audric had said. How many? And to whom? I slowly sank into the seat while Audric directed Eli to my left and behind Rupert. All I could think, was, Good. Three is an auspicious number. On its heels was the thought, Another one I may get killed.
The door opened again, the bells over it ringing like a paean of joy. Cheran Jones, his face impassive, walked in, carrying three cases. Into the opening behind him walked three city fathers, Jasper and Shamus in brown robes and Ebenezer in work clothes, smelling of smoke, dirty, and fire-scorched. He had either been burning the last of Darkness from the battle or he had been cleaning up a burned building. Yet even with the filth that covered him he stood tall, his back unbowed, face serene. This man had sat in judgment over me not long ago. He hadn't been in my favor at the start of my trial, but he had listened, and he had suspended final judgment until after all the evidence was presented, unlike several other town fathers and elders.
Farther along the street, Elder Culpepper and his son, Derek, raced to get in on the action. I was pretty sure they wouldn't make it, and schooled my face against the satisfaction I was feeling. It didn't last long. Lucas and Ciana pushed through the crowd gathering outside and entered the shop, faces pale but similarly determined.
"Uncle Rupert?" Ciana said, pulling herself up to her full height and squaring her shoulders. She was in play clothes, jeans and scuffed boots, the seraph pin blazing on her chest. "I wanna support my stepmama. Where you want us to stand?"
Lucas focused on Eli, as if reading something in my newest champard's face. His eyes hardened before finding mine. He said, "Ciana was there when the call came in. She insisted. And I agree. Where do we go?"
Home, I wanted to say. But I didn't. I let Audric direct them into place at my left, near Eli, but to the side, out of the way of guns and steel. I was pretty sure Lucas and Ciana were standing in the place protocol dictated for my consort and child, marking them under protection, part of my household, and under the protection of the Enclave that licensed me. It was something I should have thought of, a way to protect Ciana from those who might someday want to take away her seraph pin. Only problem? The small technicality that the seraphs had licensed me, not the Enclave.
The visa hadn't offered anything useful about the difference that tiny detail made in diplomatic dealings. I didn't know if that meant the visa had nothing to offer because my situation was unique, or if it meant that when I offered my protection to my three champards and my consort - heaven help me, my consort - and his child, I was legally offering the protection of the High Host of the Seraphim. Could I bind the Host with my word? I had an awful lot of questions, not a single answer.
Blood of the saints. I had no idea what I was doing; neither did the visa. If we didn't know what I was doing, it was likely no one else did either. The thought made a titter rise in my throat and I swallowed it down hard, afraid that if it got out, I'd cackle like a madwoman.
The small crowd shuffled in, the town fathers to the front. The door closed behind them. Romona Benson eased around to the side behind a display cabinet, a position giving her camera maximum scope of the events I was probably about to botch.
Knowing I had reached the point of no return, I arranged the amulets on my chest so the visa and my circular prime were unobstructed, and set the prime amulet that was the handle of the walking-stick sword to the front, across my abdomen. I allowed my neomage attributes to blaze out, my skin glowing the pearly roseate hue of my kind, a glow of energy that even humans could see, and a badge of office of its own.
I looked back at Audric. "Secure the door," I said softly. I heard Cheran gasp, but ignored it, waiting for my champard to seal us in. As the lock clicked, someone tried to open the door, the latch rattling. I didn't look up, and because I paid it no attention, no one else looked either. A polite knock followed, then one less polite.
Ignoring it, I stood, waiting for Audric to return to my right side, the proper place for my senior champard, the visa chimed in. Seraph stones. This stuff was complicated.
When Audric was in place, I drew on the visa and paged through the instructions, ignoring the dance steps. No way was I attempting a formal diplomatic gavotte on camera. Neomage attributes blazing with all the force I possessed, I said, "Cheran Jones of the New Orleans Enclave, visiting cultural attache, gold and steel mage...assassin," I said pointedly, "welcome."
Cheran blanched.
Gotcha. I tilted my head a fraction to let him know I saw the reaction. "You have my leave to approach." And I sprawled in my chair as if I were a monarch and this, my throne.
Cheran approached, following my lead and walking like a human instead of dancing like a mage, and swept off his hat. The bow was deep, as protocol dictated, but something about the set of his shoulders was mocking when he rose, swishing the silly cape back. "The Louisiana Enclave wishes to establish relations with the Appalachian consulate," he said.
Audric replied, emphasizing the first four words I had given him, "The Battle Station Consulate welcomes you and is pleased to establish relations."
Cheran blinked at the title. I liked it. The name fit the description of the town and it gave me all sorts of leeway to handle this any way I wanted. This might work. Maybe.
"As this is a new seat," Cheran said, "it is appropriate for the Enclave of Thorn St. Croix's birth to present her with gifts." He knelt and laid out the three cases, snapping open each and laying back the lid of the first. I felt Audric tense beside me, but the cases held nothing dangerous. Well, not in the usual sense. The weapons I had found in Cheran's room were dangerous, but not while lying in the case.
The weapons that had lain in one side were missing, the indentations empty, leaving only the silvered battle blades. Still, there were a lot of sharp, shiny objects, and I schooled my face to mild surprise at the sight of them. Taking a chance that Cheran wouldn't notice a blended scan, I quickly blinked on mage-sight and then opened a skim, seeing what I had expected. Not the taint of Darkness, but something else. I felt the world surge beneath me and dropped the skim before I tossed my cookies on TV.
Rising to his full height, Cheran met my gaze and said with poorly concealed satisfaction, "The Enclave presents the weapons that would have belonged to Thorn St. Croix had she not left the Enclave...illegally."
Well, well, well. He wanted to play dirty in all sorts of ways. The best defense was a good offense, but the unexpected ploy had its points. I threw a leg over the chair arm, assuming the position of the warrior barbarian, in truth. I narrowed my eyes and stroked the prime amulet that was the hilt of my longsword. And I sighed.
Beside me, Audric laughed and spread his stance, cocky and negligent and rude. "My mistrend did not exit illegally. She was drugged and removed. You are misinformed and ill prepared, mage." Around me, the other champards took on aggressive postures.
Cheran's face tightened in surprise. I knew from the haze in his mind that he was truly surprised, meaning that he hadn't been in communication with elan.
"We suggest you do a little research with Lolo, former priestess of the Enclave," Audric said, his voice silky. "Though it is possible my mistrend was banished illegally, she has since been given license by the High Council of the Seraphim to protect her from pillaging humans, as is the right of the High Host." He waved a hand, the gesture bored. "You may present the gifts."
Cheran bowed again, this time as much to hide his thoughts as for protocol. From the large flat case, he lifted the longsword, holding it with a velvet cloth, tilting it to show off the sword's beauty. The blade was tipped on the hilt with a large pink quartz nugget. Beside me, Rupert inhaled noisily. I glanced at him, his eyes riveted on the sword. The sword from his dream. The sword I killed him with.
"The longsword of Damocles," Cheran said, holding the sword to me, one hand beneath the hilt, one beneath the blade, balancing the deadly weapon, yet his skin safe from contact, protected by the velvet. "Damocles, named after a Pre-Ap hero, was from the litter six in the second generation, the child of two battle mages who destroyed the attacking human army. This blade was made with wild magic by his parents, and he became a battle mage of great renown."
I stood in a single fluid motion and extended my arms. Cheran met my eyes, holding them while he transferred the blade to me, sliding the velvet away in a fluid motion. As the weapon came down, I pressed my arms forward slightly, taking the gift on my wrists, on the heavy cloth of my dobok sleeves, rather than my bare palms. Some unnamed emotion skittered through his eyes, and deeper, in his thoughts. "The Sword of Damocles," he said. If I hadn't been deep in his thoughts, I'd have laughed at the whole hokey concept.
The mage glanced down as he stepped back, seeing the Apache Tear on my necklace. He didn't know how much I knew, or if I had done the motion by accident, and he was uncertain, off balance, out of step with the dance that I now led. I wanted to keep him that way.
Something warm and powerful heated my arms through the dobok from the weapon I held, and I recognized the tingle of wild magic, the unpredictable power of my forebears, snared in the steel. It would be a joy to fight with such a weapon, I thought. But I never would. I couldn't risk it.
Seeing my stance, Audric stepped forward and accepted the gift from me, holding the blade as I did, on the arms of his dobok. The cloth was protected by the conjures of mage masters, impervious to acid, resistant to fire. I nodded to the gift table, the table holding my offerings and, puzzled, Audric placed it there.
One at a time, Cheran Jones gifted me with the weapons that would have been mine long years ago, had I not been cursed with my talent. There were a lot of weapons. Audric accepted them for me, setting them on an empty display cabinet, within view of the camera. When the weapons had all been given, each with its history, provenance, and name, Cheran produced a small, flat box tied with string. Inside was a new leather dobok, black, but with a teal sheen like the iridescence of peacock feathers, and with a teal leather belt that held all the tools of the trade of war. A belt like Audric's, full of throwing stars, small knives, vials for salt water and salt and other, more esoteric things.
I sighed with delight and lifted the dobok out, holding it up against me. It would fit, I was pretty sure. Beneath the uniform lay a pair of gloves and battle boots turned on their sides, the leather a dark teal glowing with recently applied energies of the masters who specialized in defensive warfare conjures. The gloves and boots looked of a size to fit me too.
"I'm more than honored," I said. "The gift of weapons and battle clothes are needed and very welcome." Handing the dobok and its box to Audric, I sat back down and Audric stepped forward, accepting a large satchel of proper clothing, diaphanous and silky - come-hither clothes - all sewn with stones and gold thread. He also accepted a gift of money, a nice heavy sack of clinking gold coin to establish my consulate. Cash money would have worked just as well, but the ceremony of gold was proper, according to the visa's whisperings. Too bad the gold was official, and not mine personally.
Letters of state were presented in a coil tied with scarlet ribbon; others were sealed in envelopes, reminding me that I would need a lawyer with experience in international law and in the relatively new field of mage law. People I would have to contract with and pay. Therefore I needed experienced banking and investment advice. Seraph stones. The teeth of a licensed mage were beginning to eat away at me - I was losing my identity and my life one bite at a time. I sank back, making myself smaller, the reflex of a rabbit caught in a trap.
But no one seemed to notice, not even the blasted camera, which was thankfully focused on the next gift, a fur cloak from the skin of a single buffalo, which, Cheran assured me, had been caught in an ice floe and died. It was a statement for the camera to prove that mages were not violent beings who would slaughter a beast for its fur.
I forced a smile onto my face, as if I were not aware that my life now belonged to others, that it had been stolen from me and there was nothing I could do about it. I accepted the fur and Audric slipped it about my shoulders. I felt the tingle of wild magic and wanted to toss it aside until I could inspect it with mage-senses. That might be construed as an insult to the New Orleans Enclave so I simply folded it from me as if the room were too hot, and handed it to Eli.
His young face was intent and careful and he accepted the gift with something like reverence, clearly wanting to do the job properly. I warmed at the sight and wanted to stroke his hair, which was plastered to his head in the shape of his hat, the cowboy hat resting on the counter behind him. Eased for reasons I didn't understand, I turned back to Cheran Jones.
There were more gifts, additional money to furnish a consulate and guest quarters, offers of trade for the town, which had the town fathers grinning happily, the gift of a snow-el-mobile and the private train car Cheran had arrived in, for when I needed to travel. The loan of two legal and banking representatives, which I accepted immediately. The offer of additional attaches, which Cheran did not want me to accept. Out of spite, I welcomed all the help I could get, though I knew it was a moot point as no one could get in or out of the town until the snow was cleared or melted. I just felt like yanking his chain.
When Cheran was done, he said a pretty speech, which I gathered was written by a lawyer he detested. His thoughts were coming clearer the longer he was close, and I wished heartily for the real Apache Tear to block them. He was a petty man, full of self-indulgent opinions, prejudices, and judgments. And occasional sharp, focused images of the deaths of those around him, especially Audric, Rupert, and me. A homophobe who also wanted his own power base. Warped by the talent that made him an assassin? I had spoken rightly when I named his gifts. Cheran Jones was a walking death machine.
When he was done giving me gifts, I presented the gifts he would take back to the new priestess of the New Orleans Enclave, the necklace with the bit of Amethyst's wheels, several fine, faceted stones that could be set into rings or necklace pendants, a small statue, and twelve necklaces, one for each dignitary at the Enclave of my birth. Cheran received an arm cuff made of Rupert's Mokume Gane, beaten layers of different colors of gold. Cheran's eyes widened at the magnificent gift. Rupert said nothing, though I hadn't asked him for the piece. I could pay the shop back for the gifts with the sack of gold coins. Goody. I was marginally less broke. And the necessities of a public welcome to the visiting mage were out of the way.
The visa, after offering a dozen different ways I might approach the town fathers, fell curiously silent when I stood and knelt to them. I should have danced to the men before kneeling, but there was no way I was going to risk falling flat on my face on TV. I should have offered a lengthy flowery speech. I should have been dressed in see-through chiffon and gauze and looked like a sex machine. No way.
Face near the floor, I said, "Delegation from Mineral City, welcome to the sovereign territory of the Battle Station Consulate. This poor emissary warrior comes in peace to fight in your war against the Dark. Will you accept gifts and offers of trade from this consulate and this neomage, Thorn St. Croix?"
"We will," Shamus said, his tone portentous. "We are honored by your presence."
I stood, reached into a pocket of the battle cloak, and pulled out the bloodred silk scarf. I also palmed a fire-starting amulet, the one that I used to light my stove. Turning to Audric, I held out the scarf and jutted my chin at the longsword with the pink quartz nugget in the hilt. Perplexed but agreeable, Audric took the scarf and covered his palms before lifting the sword and offering it to me. Our skin was protected from the hilt and blade.
Cheran's cheek quivered at the careful handling of the weapon, and I smiled at him, all teeth. Turning my back to him, I looked pointedly at Rupert and then turned to the town fathers. As if I were polishing a prized possession, I wiped the entire longsword with the scarf, and thumbed on the fire-starter incantation. The silk darkened and smoked. It burst into flame.
Everything seemed to happen at once. Moving with the speed of our kind, Cheran stepped back, his head down, his hands moving to his waist. Audric muttered a single syllable that sounded like, "Bird." Rupert stuck out a foot, neatly tripping Cheran, the simple ploy using the mage's own speed against him. Eli caught the small mage and settled him to the floor, a semiautomatic gun under his chin. Rupert, moving with the fluid speed that training with a half-breed had provided him, rested a dagger just below Cheran's breastbone, angled to pierce the mage's heart, effectively stopping any attempt the mage might have made at escape. Audric slapped a gag in Cheran's mouth. I dropped the sword and burning scarf onto the stove. Lucas dumped the contents of the teakettle over the small fire. Ciana picked up the mage's hat and set it on a counter. I pocketed the amulet. All that in an instant. It looked practiced, choreographed, as if Cheran's treachery had been expected.
"Place your hands on the floor," Rupert said, his voice conversational, "over your head." With another nudge, he said, "Hands, one on top of the other, palms down." It was an uncomfortable pose and Rupert repositioned his blade, pressing the point on the back of Cheran's upper hand, depressing it enough to draw blood.
His face pale, Cheran took a shaky breath through his nose, knowing he was well and truly caught. But not knowing why the scarf on the sword had erupted in fire. His thoughts said quite clearly that the poison he had used wasn't supposed to do that.
"If you try to move," Rupert continued, "I'll push down on this knife. Hard. If I think you might want to move, or if you start a conjure when my mistrend pulls the gag out, I'll push down. I'll stake you to the floor. Nod if you understand." Cheran nodded once. "Even if you get away, you'll sever tendons. It'll be nasty. You won't use your hands again for a while, maybe a long while if the town fathers arrest you. Understand?"
When the mage didn't respond, Eli shoved his boot tip into the mage's side. "Answer my buddy champard here, or I'll think you need to be taught some manners, bucko."
"I unnerstan'," Cheran said through the gag.
His voice was a bit too calm for my comfort level so I bent over him and took off the fake Apache Tear, letting him see me drop it on the counter. It landed with a soft tink and the mage's eyes widened. Clearly he had been counting on my wearing the Tear constantly, even when it would be smarter not to. Which made me wonder if the charm in the real one was addictive. It would be a clever move if so. Then I wouldn't want to take it off. Ever.
"Surprise," I said softly as I placed my hand over his forehead to better feel his thoughts. "What poison is on the sword?" I said, louder.
All I got from his thoughts were words from a mage nursery rhyme learned in the cradle. "Blood and kin prevail. Blood and kin prevail." The words hid his thoughts.
"Well, that's just ducky," I said. "Pull up his shirt."
While my champards exposed Cheran's belly, I pulled down the cuffs of my dobok and lifted the poisoned weapon in protected hands. Reaching between my two protectors, I placed the booby-trapped sword tip against his skin. I applied pressure, deliberately breaking his skin. Cheran turned white and gasped.
"Take out the gag," I said. The gag was pulled from his mouth, and I said, "What poison and what antidote?" When he didn't answer fast enough, I pressed harder, slicing a quarter of an inch below the skin, delivering a greater dose. His flesh quivered with shock. "What poison and what antidote?" I asked again.
I could read his desire not to answer, and his fear. In mage-sight, his attributes changed from the roseate hue of well-cooked shrimp to a paler shade, beer yellow. Sickly. He licked his lips. The camera zoomed close. I waited patiently, knowing he would break. Dropping the sight and opening a mind-skim, I breathed in his scent, both the scent that humans and animals can smell and the underlying scent of mages.
A strange odor came from Cheran, sweat and fear and imminent death. I bent over the mage and smiled wider, placing my foot on his abdomen. Making up his mind, his thoughts cleared. "It's called spider blue," he said, his voice vibrating beneath my boot sole, his throat working. "In my breast pocket. White vial."
Audric joined us on the floor, going through the mage's clothes. I spotted the TV camera maneuvering for a better angle as sweat broke out on Cheran's face and soaked his shirt. Audric laid six vials on the floor, ones I remembered from the case of liquids in Cheran's room. Poisons. Assassin.
"Please," he said. "The antidote. The blue bottle. Two cc's, delivered IV push."
I hadn't a clue what that meant, but Audric did, and found a small syringe with a needle in the killer's cummerbund. Cheran was a traveling pharmacy. Audric drew up a small amount in the needle and shoved the mage's sleeve up.
"Not yet," I said. Cheran's eyes slipped to me, desperation lurking within. I said, "What other nasty tricks are on the blades? On the other gifts?"
"None," he said, quickly. "Nothing. I swear." When I cocked my head to the side and waited, he shouted, "I swear before the High Host." His thoughts were clear and certain. There was nothing else. Not today.
"How do I clean the sword of the contaminant?" I asked.
"Salt water."
I stepped away and nodded to my champards. Rupert stuck the gag back in. Audric didn't bother to clean the mage's skin, simply inserted the needle and pressed the plunger. Cheran hissed, but his thoughts were unambiguous. We were in time. He'd live. I wasn't sure I wanted him alive, but I figured that killing a visiting dignitary on TV, even if he had tried to poison me, wasn't such a good idea.
I stepped back and sat in my chair, still holding the sword, the tip coated with mage-blood, the scent familiar and crisp. The town fathers backed away fast, the sounds of their feet echoing in the tall-ceilinged room. "I hope you'll forgive me," I said to Shamus Waldroup. "An internal matter."
"So we see," Ebenezer said, eyes wide. "Is it safe to allow him the freedom of the streets?"
"I think so. Or it will be after my champards remove his weapons and poisons and leave him with only those things he's purchased in town."
"It'll be my pleasure," Audric said.
"Good," I said, without looking around. "For now, tie him up. Rope, not chain." I lay the sword across the stove, careful not to touch any cloth that would - or should - burst into flame.
I stepped behind my chair and lifted the silver bowl of salt water I had placed there, just in case I needed it against a Darkness. It had another use now. I placed the bowl on the floor in front of the camera and the town fathers. Gingerly, I dipped in the sword's sharp point. Nothing happened. No burst of dark smoke, no spit of electricity, but then this wasn't a conjure. It was a poison. Audric handed me the singed scarf to complete the cleansing and I wet it, squeezing the salt water out to rinse across the sword.
When I was finished with the symbolic act, I lifted my battle cloak and used it to raise the silvered blade. Facing the town fathers, I angled my head for the camera, playing to it, using it to send a message to the New Orleans Enclave. They had sent an assassin. They wanted to play dirty.
"A battle warrior has few gifts to offer, except the might of her arm and a token of peace. This gift comes from the Enclave of my birth. It was meant to destroy me, and through my death, would have harmed this town. Therefore, it symbolizes a link between us."
"The weapon is cleansed and no longer a danger. Let it be hung in a place of the town fathers' choosing." I transferred the sword, still in the cloak, just in case there were traces of the nasty poison on the sword, to Shamus Waldroup's arms. "A symbol of the pact between us," I said. And proof to Rupert that his dream was not, could not be, fact. Rupert's face softened and he rolled Cheran facedown, placing his foot on the mage's back.
I bowed deeply to the delegation, indicating that I was finished with my part of the official business. Audric surreptitiously moved the silver bowl. Probably afraid I'd trip on it.
Shamus, the senior father, set the sword to the side, stepped forward, and bowed as low as his creaky bones allowed. Like me, he turned slightly so the camera could see his face. I didn't know if he was playing to the audience, making political hay while he could, nurturing the image of the town for the rest of the world, or a mixture of motivations.
He stood upright, his bald, dark-skinned head catching the light just as Audric's did. "The town fathers of Mineral City welcome the neomage representative. We accept the gift of the sword and its symbol of harmony between consulate and town. We come bearing gifts and offers of peaceful trade, as well as asking the neomage assistance against this present Darkness."
"Trade will be considered, of course," I said, "but the defense of the town does indeed come first. Both passes to the town are blocked by avalanche, tons of snow and ice obstruct the Toe River, the train tracks, and all egress and entrance." As if he didn't know all this, but it had to be said for the camera, for the rest of the world.
"Darkness attacked night before last, fighting with new strategy, unlike methods devil spawn have historically used. They fought as if directed, as if led by a master of warfare. Dragonets came, and wreaked havoc. And at the end, a Dark tornado came out of the night and swept much away."
I remembered the feel of the Dark wind, the terror, and the way my heart beat in triple time, fueled by adrenaline and exhaustion. I let the memory show on my face. And I settled back in my chair for a long, boring rehashing. But Shamus surprised me. Cutting through all the layers of protocol suggested by the visa, he said, "The Mineral City emissaries know the consulate general will offer her protection as she is able. We depend on her generosity of spirit and the gifts of protection and warfare provided by God the Victorious when he sent her to us."
Okay. That was a shocker.
He stepped forward, holding out an old wooden box, the top upholstered in maroon velvet and centered with a finial that looked like pure gold. "Mineral City offers this token of our favor and appreciation to our town mage."
The words and title warmed me and I stood with a lighter heart, accepting the box. I raised my eyebrows at him, and Shamus nodded, smiling and showing coffee brown teeth. Carefully, I lifted the lid. Inside, lying on a red velvet bed shaped to hold it secure, was a cross made of gold. In its center was set a faceted emerald the size of a hen's egg, the gem glowing with green light.
"It's said that Benaiah Stanhope, the Mole Man, carried this cross into battle against the Darkness," Jasper said softly. "That he carried it aloft when he gave his life to bind the Dragon. It's said that his blood still lines the crevices in the setting of the stone. We offer it to you, knowing it should be carried into battle again, in the grasp of the one who will rebind the evil."
I knew what an honor this was, to be offered the use of any of Mole Man's possessions, and understood that, like the sword I had given away, this wasn't a personal present, but more in the nature of a loan, to be returned when the need was over, or to be kept in perpetuity in the consulate. Opening my senses, I breathed in, catching the scent of old blood, human and something else. In mage-sight, the artifact glowed with blue light, but specks of Darkness were there too, and that was something I would have to consider later, when no camera was present.
I looked up at Shamus. "Mineral City honors me." I closed the box and handed it to Audric, who placed it on a display cabinet. Bending over the table, I lifted the wrapped bundle containing my formal gift to the town. It too was more like a tribute, a gift of state. And while it wasn't worth as much in monetary terms as the cross or the sword, it was valuable to me.
"I offer this small token to the town fathers." I set it in Shamus' hands, supporting them when he was surprised at the weight. "I carved it from the quartz crystal of the nearby hills," I said as I peeled back the layers of soft cloth to reveal a small statue. It was a seraph with wings held high over his head, tips touching. He wore battle armor and carried a sword braced across his body. The figure was only inches high, but it had taken me weeks of recuperation time after the last major battle beneath the Trine to carve it. It was hand polished, but only in sections. The face and feet were clear as lead crystal, the stone bending light. The wings were unpolished, giving them a ruffled texture. The body was partially smoothed, still fruzy, the matte finish of the shaped but unpolished, natural rock.
Shamus stared at the statuette in shock, snapping his mouth closed and swallowing before he could speak. "The consulate general of the Battle Station Consulate is far too generous. We are honored to accept this gift on behalf of the town."
The camera focused full screen on the carving for half a minute before Romona backed slowly away, taking in the fathers, the tied mage, me, and settling on Jasper as the man moved close to Shamus.
Jasper touched the seraph with a finger as if expecting it to be cold, carved from ice. When it was warm to his touch, he sucked in a breath and lifted his head. Closing his eyes, he said, "The gift is fitting. Battle Station Consulate was created by the High Host, licensed by the seraphim, and blessed by the visits of seraphs at a time when they so seldom leave their Realms of Light." His voice was low, deeper than his usual tone, meditative and resonant, and a frozen wind seemed to blow across my flesh, raising it into tight goose bumps at the tone.
"This place has been sanctified by the presence of two sigils, one in the consulate itself" - he opened his eyes and gestured to the sigil burned into the display case glass, his brown robe of office undulating with the movement as if a wind blew through the room - "and one in the street, that glowed when our mage received help from Minor Flames in the battle two nights ago." He lifted his other arm and pointed out the window to the street, leaving him with arms outstretched to either side.
My throat went dry, aching with tightness. A shiver raced over me at his expression. My entire body tightened as if to ward off a blow, and I had to fight to keep from drawing my weapons. Audric and Rupert stepped back. I wanted to sink into the chair, or run away and hide from the look in his black eyes, fervent glory illuminating them with the light of prophecy.
The ordinary, down-to-earth Jasper was no longer in the room. In this moment, he was truly an elder of the kirk, dedicated to the service of God the Victorious. I had never seen the presence of true prophecy before, had never seen holy ardor fall on a spokesman of the Almighty, but I knew that had happened to my old friend Jasper. As if uplifted by the hand of his God, his eyes glowed with divine zeal, with the presence of the Most High.
Beside him, Shamus and Elder Ebenezer dropped to their knees, moving with awe, their creaky bones grinding in the silence. Eli fell to his knees as well, and then bowed his face to the floor in obeisance. I slid to my knees, and my champards all followed. Romona knelt as well, filming, still filming, and I wanted to laugh, a witless titter aching in my throat. I heard her mutter into the mike, almost below the sound of human hearing, "And every knee shall bow."
"Battle Station Consulate is a new thing," Jasper said, no longer sounding quite human, but with the richness of otherworldly passions, his voice a low rumble of sound. He raised his hands high, his sleeves falling away to reveal a work shirt of faded brown cotton, but he might as well have been wearing cloth of gold, because his flesh was glowing through it, full of power.
He raised his face as if he could see through the second story and into the sky beyond. Closing his eyes in ecstasy, Jasper whispered, "The children of men are gathered." His voice rose and deepened, the resonance vibrating into my bones. "The Dragon breaks free. All the old things have passed away."
Jasper dropped his arms slowly to his sides. His head came down, bowing, eyes closed as if he slept. And he slid to the floor in a boneless heap.