Lokant (28 page)

‘Orlind?’ Eva repeated
the word sharply. Limbane shot her a dark look.

‘Interruptions are, as
I said, unwelcome.’

‘My apologies.’

He nodded. ‘You are all
aware of the properties of draykon bone. Humankind, ever ingenious,
discovered its properties once before, a long time ago. They
learned that by wearing or imbibing the bones, hide, claws or teeth
of draykoni they were able to access some diluted form of the
special abilities that came easily to draykoni but never to
humankind. You may imagine the result of that discovery.’

Llandry shuddered.
Covetousness over the draykon bone had led to thefts and murders in
recent times, and Ana had even tried to turn a live draykon to her
will. If that knowledge spread across the Seven, she could indeed
imagine the scale of the conflict.

‘You may think that
draykoni had some insuperable advantages over humankind,
particularly in those days. They were the superior in size and
strength by many times, and they had their magics. But now humans
were learning to harness some of those abilities, and the more
draykoni they killed and dissected, the more they learned. Soon
they were able to follow the draykoni even to Iskyr and Ayrien.

‘Furthermore, draykoni
have never been quick to breed. It is the major flaw in their
design. Birthing is difficult for them and young draykoni often die
before they reach adulthood. When I said they were “relatively
numerous” I meant that their numbers were still far below those of
their enemy. And humans had their own advantages: they had the
ingenious brains to imagine better, cleverer ways to win and they
had the bodies - in particular, the hands - to bring them about. In
time, they won the conflict - in spite of the efforts of a draykon
known as Eterna, after whom that war was eventually named.

‘Eventually the
draykoni were almost entirely destroyed. Barely twenty remained,
and they seemed intent on throwing themselves at their foes until
none were left. A certain stubborn pride and a fondness for revenge
might be considered psychological flaws with that species.’ He
glanced at Pensould as he said it, whose face indeed displayed a
fierce anger at Limbane’s tale. Llandry stroked his arm, trying to
soothe him, though her own heart was sorely oppressed by what she
heard.

‘We did not wish to see
the draykoni driven to extinction,’ Limbane continued. ‘So we
intervened. We persuaded most of the survivors to abandon their
plans for revenge - and no, that was not easily done - in favour of
the race’s survival. For you see, draykoni can be hard to kill;
their consciousness is almost impossible to entirely extinguish and
they may, if they choose, restore their bodies to health when they
wish to wake. But it requires the assistance of another draykon. If
the species was not to die out, some had to survive,
somewhere.’

‘You taught them to
shape shift,’ Llandry said, awed.

Limbane nodded his
approval. ‘Very quick, Miss Sanfaer. Yes, that is what we did.
Taking human shape, they were thoroughly camouflaged. They
identified suitable communities of humans, generally choosing those
who had not participated in the war against the draykoni. They
blended in easily enough, and some of them even married in time. To
our satisfaction, they also had young. We had never been able to
determine how far the camouflage stretched; we learned then that
the shape taken was not merely a shell but that the whole biology
of the creature was changed.

‘It wasn’t long before
the effects of those unions began to be seen. In Arvale - Glinnery
- where the Iskyr draykoni had settled, some children were born
with wings. Of course they were cast out as mutants at first, but
as it became more common it became also more accepted. In time it
was the wingless who were considered “different”, and they began to
leave the realm, leaving it to the winged. The people of Glinnery
also began to show some talent at beast empathetics, a talent that
had once belonged to draykonkind alone. They had found their way
back to Iskyr by then, and they used these new abilities to
befriend animals from the Off-Worlds and bring them home. Thus they
termed the skill “summoning”.

‘As for the Ayrien
tribes, they settled mostly in Glour, and one or two in Orstwych.
There were some winged children born, though for various reasons it
did not take in that realm as it had in Glinnery. These peoples
inherited a different set of draykoni magic, specifically
manipulation of light and shadow and the outward appearance of
things. Sorcery, as it is now called.

‘It remains something
of a mystery as to why the draykoni magics divided in this way. We
wondered whether, in time, some individuals might combine the two
again, though that has not usually happened. We have taken great
pains since then to engineer virtually pure draykoni bloodlines, to
ensure that someday there would be the chance of revival. Should we
wish to encourage that.’

Silence followed
Limbane’s long speech when he finally stopped talking. He sipped at
his drink, oblivious, apparently reminiscing. Andraly, on the other
hand, watched the group closely. Llandry felt the woman’s eyes on
her, though she refused to meet her gaze.

So the other gold names
on the chart - the ones without family names - were those first
draykoni shape shifters. And she herself was the eventual product.
The word
engineered
stayed with her, chafing at her. She
disliked the implication that the relationships chosen by her
ancestors had been, in some way, chosen for them.

For a moment she
thought of asking Limbane what exactly he meant by
engineered,
but she decided against it. At the moment, she
just didn’t want to know.

‘But,’ she said. ‘You
said that Krays didn’t intend to bring back the draykoni. And you
certainly didn’t plan it. Why not? And why did it happen
anyway?’

‘We’ve discussed the
possibility many times,’ Limbane replied. ‘I suppose for one, we
weren’t sure that we could. Additionally, we feared that we would
merely begin another human-draykoni war. And that fear seems to
have been well-founded. So we bided our time.’

‘That’s why you took
our books,’ Tren said suddenly. ‘That
was
you, wasn’t it?
And you’ve probably been at it for a while. No wonder I couldn’t
find anything in the libraries.’

‘Mhm,’ Limbane said. ‘A
boring and repetitive task. It’s amazing how some bright-eyed idiot
is always stumbling over sensitive information. It was safer for
humankind in general to forget about all of this.’ He shifted in
his chair. ‘As for Krays, he has no scientific interest in these
questions and no reason to love draykonkind, nor to wish for their
return. But at one time he did take a great deal of
scientific
interest in the draykon bones. If he has involved
himself, and it is clear that he has, then it is the bones and the
hide and the teeth he is after. But I do not know why.

‘We learned recently
that his organisation has been making use of the inhabitants of
this Cluster to further their aims. A sensible enough plan, as his
organisation has always been small. And it was inspired to seek out
the Lokant descendants, though training them may have been less
intelligent. It appears one or two of them have taken his training
and turned it to entirely different purposes. How the one known as
Ana learned about the draykoni, I don’t know, nor how she conceived
of the idea - and the means - to restore one of them. But the
damage is done there.’

Pensould bristled at
that. ‘
Damage?
I must thank you, I suppose, for your
interference or there would have been no Minchu to assist my own
return and that of my kind. But do not speak of it in that negative
way.’

Limbane regarded him
without expression. ‘For you, Pensould, it is a good thing. That I
understand. For Miss Sanfaer also, I believe. But you must see that
other draykoni are not as tolerant as you. You have already
returned one who was killed, I believe, in the conflict and who was
neither resurrected nor her body discovered and plundered. To her,
humankind will always be the enemy and she has already begun her
ill-considered but nonetheless fervent revenge mission. For this
Cluster, that is indeed a negative occurrence.’

‘Cluster?’ Tren’s query
was diffidently spoken; most of his attention was on Eva, who as
yet had only stared stonily at Limbane and said nothing.

‘Cluster of worlds,’
Limbane explained. ‘Very few worlds exist in isolation. This
cluster consists of Iskyr, Ayrien and Irtand; what you fancifully
and erroneously think of as the Upper, the Lower and the Middle. In
fact there is no physical hierarchy of that kind. Clustered worlds
inhabit essentially the same space, existing more as one central
world - in this case Irtand - and one or more echoes of it. This
Cluster is particularly nicely balanced, I must say. Two mirror
images of Irtand, one reflecting the lights and the other the
darks. Beautiful stuff.’ A note of enthusiasm crept into his tone
and his eyes lit up at the concept.

‘Er, right,’ said Tren,
staring at him with bemused amazement written across his
features.

‘Never mind,’ Limbane
sighed.

‘You’ve glossed over
the Lokants in all of this,’ Eva said, breaking her silence at
last. ‘I could ask you where you come from, but your last comments
suggest that the answer would mean nothing to me. So, instead: what
am I, and what is our part in this?’

‘You, my dear, may be
thought of as something of a throwback to your ancestors. Some of
the Lokant children have the white hair and little else; others
inherit a great deal of the unusual make-up of their forebears. Ana
is one such, I suspect, if she does indeed “vanish” as you say. I
suspect you will also prove a strong partial. Tell me, are you that
type of person who enjoys unshakeable popularity? Never have any
trouble persuading people to your cause? Very, very good at
summoning?’

‘All of those things,’
Tren put in, when Eva merely glared at him.

‘Naturally. Draykoni
magics spring from their very close bond with this Cluster of
worlds; they manipulate it and its native inhabitants with ease
because they are essentially woven of the same fabric. Lokants, on
the other hand, are entirely other, and cerebral beings at that.
Our talents lie in areas such as relocation of ourselves, other
beings, or objects, and - er - shall we call it charisma? If you
are a strong Lokant then you possess a strong will, and it is the
easiest thing in the world to impose it on others. You have tapped
into that without realising, I do believe, and profited
considerably by it.’

Lady Glostrum stared at
him in growing horror. ‘I met a little girl recently - white-haired
- who was chillingly good at domination over beast kind. She wasn’t
using Summoning; it was something else. Are you saying that I also
employ such skill? And - and over
people
as well?’

‘Exactly,’ Limbane
enthused. ‘Though in your case you are also a summoner derived from
draykoni, so the methods you use in your profession are mixed. But
as far as people are concerned, yes. If you want somebody to like
you, then they are pretty sure to like you because you will it.
Your mind is a great deal stronger than almost everyone you
meet.’

Eva looked sick, and
Llandry had no trouble understanding why. She knew what Limbane
meant, too. Whenever she met Lady Glostrum, she received an
impression of awe-inspiring grandeur that inclined her to worship
the woman. Thinking about it now, she could think of no direct,
rational reason for that reaction, the woman’s beauty and
stateliness notwithstanding. Her ladyship presumably wished to have
that effect on people, and so she did.

She also didn’t envy
Limbane his current position. Everybody was angry with him except
her. Pensould was still livid; Eva looked ready to kill him; even
Tren’s habitually cheerful demeanour had vanished and he looked
like he wanted to hit something.

‘That isn’t fair,’ Tren
burst out. ‘If you’re suggesting that Eva’s popularity isn’t real,
that is not true. She is loved because she’s good-hearted and
intelligent, dedicated and beautiful; not because - not because
-’

‘Peace, Mr Warvel. I’m
sure that in some cases that is quite true. Nonetheless, I have
spoken the truth also.’

He stopped talking,
perhaps expecting more questions, complaints or objections. There
was only shocked silence.

‘Am I correct in
thinking that you all require a little time alone to absorb my
tales?’

Llandry glanced Eva
again. Her ladyship had stopped looking angry and horrified; now
she looked stricken, which was much worse.

And Pensould was still
raging, though thankfully he was doing it silently.

‘Yes, sir, thank you,’
she said quickly. She needed some time to get Pensould’s violent
emotions back under control. And her own, come to think of it.

‘Wait,’ said Eva,
straightening in her chair. Llandry watched, amazed, as she visibly
composed herself, all signs of distress disappearing under her
usual air of calm. ‘You’ve spoken more than once about our
assisting you. Tell us what you wish.’

‘Excellent. You will
make a terrific partial, Lady Glostrum. You mentioned that you had
found a lead of some kind in the matter of the draykon bone, is
that correct?’

Eva nodded. ‘Some of it
is being leaked to a business in Orstwych. It may be coming from
another group entirely - I don’t suppose Krays can guarantee
control over all draykon bone in the realms - but it is worth
investigating. I have a name in Ullarn.’

Limbane beamed.
‘Excellent. Then you must follow that lead, your ladyship, and Mr
Warvel will assist you. Miss Sanfaer and Pensould will do as they
have wished all along: that is to return to Glinnery and see about
preparing the realm for a draykon attack, should one occur. They
will also endeavour to avert said attack, if they find the
means.’