Nine Gates (16 page)

“She gaped at me, and said, ‘I didn’t think you’d be so slow, Gaheris Morris. It’s the rules I want, not the board game. My understanding is that if you have the rules, you can play with any old set—or none at all. I like that, and I think that with the trouble you people have brought on yourselves, you’d be eager to have some friends.’

“And I said, ‘Friends understand the meaning of “no,”
and my friends and teachers Pearl Bright and Shen Kung tell me you folks from the Rock Dove Society have already been told “no.” What makes you think I’d be any different?’

“She said, sneered, really, ‘Because you’re a man who knows the value of making a profit, Mr. Morris, and since I’ve set my mind on getting these rules, I figure you’d see the value in making something rather than nothing from my determination.’”

Gaheris blew out a theatrical sigh. “I’ll spare you the rest of it. She coaxed and she threatened, and she offered me various things in trade—including some tempting samples of various bits of lore she’d picked up over time—but I held the party line, and didn’t give an inch.”

Albert Yu said dryly, “I am sure. Now, you’re not the first to get asked to sell our secrets, and I’m certain that—if we survive to the next generation—you will not be the last. What makes this encounter so special that you flew all the way here—spending considerable money to do so, I am certain—to report this incident?”

Gaheris grinned, and Pearl knew that grin for the one that hid when Gaheris was actually really pissed. She wished Gaheris would give up his childhood rivalry with Albert.

“I had frequent-flyer miles,” Gaheris said, “and a favor or two I could call in to get on a direct flight, but I would have come even if I had to take a red-eye and pay full price, because when I refused her a final time, Tracy Frye got nasty.

“She made very clear that she was the mouthpiece for a consortium that, as she put it, ‘thinks far too much time has passed without the Thirteen Orphans showing appropriate gratitude for the hospitality extended to them.’ She added that the impending crisis has brought others over to her point of view, and was pretty convincing in her claim that even if everyone in the Rock Dove Society wouldn’t join her, there were a good number who would look the other way, and a very few who would defend us.”

Albert looked appropriately serious at this. “Did she provide proof that this was more than an idle threat?”

“She named some names,” Gaheris said, and recited them. Pearl recognized a few. No major players, but then Tracy Frye would be careful not to mention any major players, too much on the line there.

Des said, “So we’re pressured on both sides: enemies in the Lands, adversaries here. If we effectively deal with the threat of invasion from the Lands, then Tracy’s faction would lose a lot of support. People tend to lose their ethics when they’re scared. I think all but the most ambitious of those who are part of that ‘consortium’ would remove their support if they decided we could deal with our own problems.”

Riprap shook his head.

“But until we do that,” Riprap said, “I see a lot of potential for trouble. What if the Lands get someone through into this world—make a bridge like Righteous Drum and his crew used and we don’t notice—and Tracy’s faction gets to them first? We could find even those with ethics pretty eager to turn us over to our enemies as a means of forestalling invasion. That’s how Hitler took a lot of his early conquests, remember… Give Germany back what should be hers anyhow, and we’ll rest content.”

“You’d think they’d remember that lesson,” Pearl said acidly. “Many of the current Rock Dove Society rules and regulations grew out of the aftermath of arcane involvement in Hitler’s war. They should remember how appeasement only feeds the hunger of the invaders.”

“Ah,” Riprap said, “but this wouldn’t be appeasement in the British sense—more like the deals the Soviets cut for themselves with both the Germans and, later, the Allies. I’m betting that the Tracy faction would insist on a cut for themselves. From what you and Shen told us, it seems that almost from the start, the Thirteen Orphans have faced envy and covetousness regarding the unique nature of their magical abilities.”

“The link to the Lands,” Shen agreed, “a connection to a universe that—although not entirely unconnected to our own—is unique and filled with its own power. Yes. Some
have envied us that for as long as they have known of its existence. Only our relative peacefulness barred them from being more active in their coveting. And yet, I assure you, the coveting has always been there. Quiescent but present.”

“So what do we do?” Brenda asked, a high, tense note of fear in her voice. “Is it true that we’ll need all Thirteen Orphans to get back? Because, if it is the truth, then we might as well roll over and quit.”

“I am not very good at quitting,” Pearl said softly. “And neither are you, Ms. Morris. Neither, I think, are any of us here gathered. If that was the case, we would not be here. Therefore, let us put by any talk of rolling over and examine what we can do.”

Pearl saw Brenda straighten in response to her challenge and smiled, but she could not let her pleasure in the younger woman’s bravery show. Waking Lizard had made clear that he, at least, was not completely certain that Honey Dream had not been snooping. However, he had noted that certainly Pearl must agree that Brenda was a bit of an anomaly, one to whom attention should be paid.

Pearl had said she disagreed—although in her heart she did not—but she had thought it wisest that she not draw attention to Brenda.

Righteous Drum spoke. “Why is it that you believe that all Thirteen Orphans would be needed to effect the return? I understand that this is what your ancestors believed. Although it is right and proper to revere the wisdom of those who came before, still, sometimes it is even more right and proper to understand why they decreed what they viewed as the right and just course of action.”

Although the question had been addressed to them generally, all attention shifted to Pearl.

“We,” Pearl gestured to Shen as she spoke, “agree that although there were varying reasons for the insistence that all thirteen must be involved, the dominant one was this. Twelve had been exiled, but not as twelve individual people—as a unit, a wheel of the years, a cycle of the Earthly Branches.
Therefore, that single unit would be needed to form the key that would once more unlock the way into the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice.”

“A wise precaution,” Righteous Drum said, “on the part of those who negotiated the exile. Otherwise, were there a difference of opinion between the Exiles, a smaller unit might attempt to renege on their contract—to make the return on their own.”

“One or two,” Des said, “might not have proven to be much of a threat to the Lands, but if three or four or more decided that they were now strong enough to challenge those who had once conquered them…”

“And were willing to risk the families they’d left behind?” Riprap’s question was almost a statement. “Remember, you said that the reason the Twelve agreed to be exiled was that not only did it save their hides, it saved their families and property.”

“True,” Des agreed, “but people change, priorities shift, even ideals lose their shine. Some of the Twelve had more reason than others to want to return. The Ram, for example. She didn’t know she was pregnant when she’d left the Lands. Now she had a baby she fiercely wished to be able to reunite with its father.”

“In any case,” Honey Dream said, hissing a little on the s’s in a fashion Pearl found infinitely annoying, “we stray from the central points. A unit was exiled, and so the Twelve believed that unit must return. Did their research uphold this belief?”

“Yes,” Shen said, and Pearl realized with a hot spark of delight that he was struggling not to hiss in imitation.

Shen wouldn’t have been being either mocking or cruel—the elongated sibilants were nearly irresistible—but he was wise enough to know that a sensitive, arrogant young lady like Honey Dream would take any teasing as mockery.

Shen went on, “My grandfather told me how a few—Ram, Dog, Rabbit—investigated the possibility of making a return
on their own. They could get as far as the guardian domains, but no further.”

Nissa tilted her head to one side, as if listening to something far away. It was a very rabbitlike gesture, so much so that Pearl almost expected to see that Nissa had grown long ears.

“I have a question,” Nissa said. “I understand about the Twelve having been exiled as a unit. I understand why everyone thinks that the Twelve—or in our case, the Thirteen—need to return as a unit. Still, how would having that unit reassembled make a difference? Wouldn’t the exile still hold?”

Waking Lizard grinned and stretched his long arms so that knobby elbows cracked. “Drummy and I think we have a way around that little problem. It’s a technicality, but one that should at least let us slip you all back into the Lands long enough for us to establish a foothold. The four of us who are here will formally rescind your exile.”

“Rescind?” Albert asked, the momentary astonishment that lit his face shifting almost immediately to calculation.

“Rescind,” Waking Lizard repeated. “After all, our bridge may have been broken, and our way back home barred, but we didn’t agree to it. We didn’t take any vows to support the new government. As far as we’re concerned, we are still the duly constituted officials of the Emperor’s court. In that capacity, we can pardon the Twelve.”

“We are even willing,” Righteous Drum said with a sidelong glance at Albert, “to view the descendant of a certain unjustly deposed emperor as the due heir to the Jade Petal Throne, should we return and find that throne no longer in the possession of the emperor to whom we have sworn our service.”

To Albert’s credit, he looked shocked and appalled rather than pleased.

“I don’t know if that is necessary,” he said. “I have hardly trained to be an emperor.”

“Think about it,” Righteous Drum replied, his smile showing that he thought Albert was merely demonstrating due modesty. “That is not a matter that needs to be resolved all at once.”

“But,” Brenda said, and Pearl noted that the fear that had made her voice shake was gone, replaced by purpose, “for any of that stuff about emperors and the rest to matter, we’d still need to reassemble the Thirteen Orphans. The Ox, Horse, Ram, and Monkey are so alienated from their heritage that I don’t see how we can hope to train them and educate them. I mean, I know how hard it was for me to accept all of this, and my own dad was there to explain it to me.”

Riprap leaned forward and scooped up a massive handful of chips. “Like Brenda said. Even with my father’s stories and the letter he left me, I might have had more trouble accepting everything that Brenda and Gaheris had to tell me if Flying Claw hadn’t chosen that same night to come after Gaheris.”

He gave Flying Claw an apologetic grin. “Sorry, buddy, but you did us a favor there.”

“Unintentionally, I assure you,” Flying Claw replied with an answering grin.

“Anyhow,” Riprap went on, “does anyone have any idea how we might work around the fact that we only have eight of the original twelve? Could Albert stand in?”

“No,” Albert said. “The Cat is indeed a wild card, but not a Joker in the deck. The Cat will provide added strength, all the more so because he—I—may not be expected. However, I cannot be anyone but the Cat.”

Pearl cleared her throat. “Shen and I may have worked out a possible solution—but making it work will not be easy. Teaching the lost four might be easier. However, this could be faster, and speed may be important. Shen, you’re better at explaining arcane matters than I am. Would you take over?”

Shen inclined his head in agreement. “First, I must note that what we are about to suggest is quite likely to seem at the
very least distasteful to some of you. To others it may seem completely revolting. I want you to know, we would not suggest it if we thought we had another good option.”

To this point, everyone had been listening politely. There had not been even the background ripple of whispered conversations that would usually accompany such a large gathering. Now, however, the listening silence became absolute.

“The answer,” Shen said slowly, “may be found in the family mah-jong sets—or rather in what they are made from.”

“Bone and bamboo,” Riprap said promptly, “or ivory and bamboo.”

“Bone and bamboo,” Pearl said, placing the slightest emphasis on the first word. “Bone and bamboo. To be precise, human bone. To be more precise, bone from the original Exile who represented that Branch.”

“That’s disgusting!” Nissa exclaimed.

Brenda’s hands flew up—one to cover her mouth, one to hover over her gut, as if she were fighting down a sudden surge of nausea. Riprap’s expression went suddenly blank.

Des, Gaheris, Shen, and Albert already knew this little fact, of course. It was usually related to each Orphan as he or she took possession of the family set. In the case of Riprap and Nissa, Pearl and Des had thought this information unnecessary. There were too many skills the new Dog and Rabbit had needed to learn without making them squeamish about what would, eventually, become a specialized tool of their craft.

Pearl glanced over to where the four from the Lands sat, seeking to gauge their reactions. Righteous Drum looked interested, as if he were already seeking the ramifications of her announcement. Honey Dream’s expression was torn between fascination and revulsion. Most interesting of all, both Flying Claw and Waking Lizard seemed more interested in how the others were reacting, as if the information meant nothing to them personally.

And yet it does
, Pearl thought,
for this may be their only way home.

“Human bone?” Brenda repeated, as if hoping she might be wrong.

“That is correct,” Pearl said. “As you may recall, the thirteen original exiles did not survive very long as a group. Within five years, First Horse had been slain. This raised some serious questions about whether there was any chance that the group would return to the Lands. They all had hopes that their continued affiliation with the Twelve Earthly Branches would be enough, but what if it wasn’t?