Working God's Mischief (52 page)

His glow revealed that the nails had been driven from the tunnel side. Heris's kicks had broken the plank end.

Dawn began on the other side.

The Ninth Unknown said, “Vali, go scare those people away. Lila, work your way up the tunnel and find the way the dwarves really used. We'll stay here and make sure nothing breaks through.”

There was enough light to reveal some of that world—in particular, that world's creatures approaching. They did not conform to Heris's preconception. The nearest pair resembled very large scorpions moving sluggishly in the cold and damp. Farther off, things like giant crabs moved more briskly, headed toward the gateway. The scorpions were a brownish yellow, the crabs pale red.

Hourlr told Heris, “Those are not the giants. Those are their watchdogs. But the giants are coming. We'll need this sealed completely before they get here. Stand back. Let me work.”

The giants, Heris recalled, were mortal enemies of those who hailed from the Realm of the Gods. She recalled the giant bones scattered down the cliffs below the Great Sky Fortress.

“Done!” Hourlr muttered. “And just in time. Have a look.” Heris squinted through a gap between planks.

A troop of huge beings loomed over a ridgeline half a mile away, barely visible through the drizzle. They advanced with vast, slow strides. The biggest had to be a hundred feet tall. The ground began to tremble.

Heris grumbled, “Why don't they collapse under their own weight?”

Hourlr said, “That's a glamour. They are not actually that big. And they are supernatural. The Night frees them from many constraints of the natural realm.”

“Whatever. I find myself moved by an overwhelming disinterest. Let's get out of here.”

“Not just another pretty face. She's smart, too.”

“Stuff that.” Heris headed uphill, toward sounds of agitation that must be Vali's fault.

This time she sensed a change as she neared Lila because she was feeling for it. Lila said, “There's another tunnel here, sealed the same as the entrance up top. We didn't notice because it's on the side and we were in a hurry. Triple Great. Get behind Aunt Heris.” She made a simple gesture after he moved.

This door opened as though on hinges, folding out from its downhill edge, to exactly block the tunnel. There was a
click!
when it reached a right angle. Solid stone seemed to close the way. Heris wondered if giants coming up would see a similar wall from the other side.

This side felt like rock to the touch. It was rough and cold and growing damp.

Hourlr entered the new tunnel, which ran level and curved to the right. The Instrumentality moved carefully, assessing his surroundings. Heris suspected that he was embarrassed about having a mere mortal girl find what a god had missed.

She hoped that made Lila less interesting.

After ninety degrees of curvature the side tunnel came to another barrier of planks. It was raining on the other side here, too. Heris snarled, “We're back where we were before.”

Lila disagreed. “There aren't any giants.”

Hourlr nodded, then slid aside for Cloven Februaren, avoiding contact as though the old man had sprouted cactus spines. He did contrive to brush against Heris, though. She jumped and squeaked. His touch was a sharp shock, not what she expected and not at all exciting.

Februaren peered between planks, grunted twice, once puzzled, once surprised. “This comes out the same place as the gateway in the barge in the Realm of the Gods.”

Heris grumbled, “How can that be?”

Hourlr's face collapsed into an expression that defined
frown.
“Aelen Kofer magic,” he muttered, withdrawing inward.

The Ninth Unknown kept thumping the planks. “What are you doing?” Heris demanded.

“Trying to break the latch. It's a gate. Latched over there because there isn't anybody on this side who needs to get back.”

A plank gave way. The old man shoved a hand through the gap. Heris demanded, “Do you
want
to get their attention?”

“Not a problem. They don't post a guard. You want them underfoot, you have to summon them.” He pulled on something. The plank construct swung away. Cool, damp air rushed into the tunnel. “Interesting, though, that different pathways go to the same place.”

Lila said, “You don't know that. You know that the two we've found go there.”

The old man grumbled but did not argue. She had a point. A scary point, Heris feared.

She had no trouble seeing Iron Eyes make it work that way. The dwarfs had to walk to wherever they wanted to open a gateway home but maybe once they did that they could connect to a central point so no more walking need ever be done.

She asked, “Double Great, can we walk the Construct in and out of there once we've been there?”

“Interesting question. Let's find out. It didn't work for the Realm of the Gods, though.” He glanced at Hourlr.

The Shining One had no opinion. He focused on the rainy world. Heris thought he was nervous, maybe even afraid.

Februaren said, “Don't anyone go through before I fix it so we can see the gate from the other side.”

Heris recalled him describing how he had done that before. The gateway would have disappeared if he had not left it plainly marked.

“First thing, then, let's jam it open.”

Hourlr told Heris, “We should not do this.”

“You don't want to get home?”

“They will be aware of us as soon as I step through.”

“Then don't do no stepping. Duh!”

The old man had the plank gate open. Heris saw the damp meadow clearly and could just make out standing stones in the distance. She saw drag marks in the grass. The Aelen Kofer had brought something heavy through here.

The Ninth Unknown said, “Lila, loan me your duster thing. It will stand out against the green.”

Lila's outerwear fit no category clearly. It was too long to be a shirt, too light to be a jacket, wide like a serape but not hooded like a poncho. She had created it herself, for travel. It was yellow and red. It was not comfortable in the heat of the middle world but it beat the chill down here.

“I don't think so. It'll get all wet.”

“I'm open to suggestions.”

“Have the devil make a magic beacon.”

“That would work,” Hourlr admitted. “And, again, it would alert the Aelen Kofer.”

Heris asked, “Is there any reason to go out at all?” She cringed as her companions glared.

In a flat, controlled voice Lila reminded, “This expedition was your idea, Auntie.”

Her initial reasoning seemed strained. She did want to reach Eucereme and the Instrumentalities there, but …

She was no longer sure what she hoped to accomplish. She talked about helping Piper but that would not withstand logical scrutiny. Piper had help.

Piper was at war with the Night only when the Night got in his way. She, though, was at war with the Night directly. She had become the Godslayer. She had exterminated the oldest and hardest generation. Now she would … what? End the Tyranny of the Night?

Hourlr shifted uncomfortably.

No. She was not at war with his generation. Not with his kin and kind. Absent Ordnan, Red Hammer, Zyr, and the Trickster, the Old Ones were, generally, rather decent.

Cloven Februaren gave up fingering Lila's cloak thing. “Guess I won't need this if you just stay standing in the doorway.” He stepped into the drizzle, which was more a falling mist, now. “They had a watch set after all.”

Heris saw squat, wide shapes between her and the standing stones. She recognized Korban Iron Eyes right away.

 

35. Hypraxium: Interlude

Lord Arnmigal's rush to overtake the Enterprise stuttered when his band reached the heart of the Eastern Empire.

The Emperor, Monestacheus Deleanu, saw in the Enterprise an opportunity to humble old enemies and restore the fortunes of his state. He hoped the westerners would reclaim provinces that al-Prama had nibbled away over the past two centuries. He believed the situation in the Holy Lands would correct itself once his Empire was restored.

Lord Arnmigal had instructions from his Empress. He was to remain polite, agreeable, and, on the surface, amenable. The Enterprise needed Monestacheus Deleanu to maintain its lines of communication.

Lord Arnmigal could not refuse an invitation to visit the Emperor and Hypraxium, nor did he want to miss the wonders of the grandest city in the world. Neither did he want to endure the political weather that such a visit would bring.

He and his senior people were assigned a villa overlooking the westernmost of the Antal Land Bridges. The Phesian Bridge lay on the left hand, facing south. The headwaters harbors of the Agean Reach lay to the right. There were a dozen harbors, large and small, natural and man-made, civilian, commercial, and military, each defended by its own fortifications. The villa was fit for an emperor. It did belong to the Deleanu clan. The comforts included running water, heated baths, and flushable garderobes.

Hecht grumbled, “They mean to seduce us with luxury.”

Titus reported, “I've received six more requests for ‘a moment' of your time and we're still unloading. How do I refuse without offending anyone?”

Pella suggested, “First, make them come to us. Second, Dad can hold audiences. No private meetings. A lot of them won't say what they really want if there are witnesses.”

“Listen to that, Titus. Who are these people, anyway?” Hecht was checking a list.

“Some generals. Some priests. Some nobles. A member of the Imperial family who thinks he should be the next Emperor. Monestacheus hasn't designated a successor. Kalakakian is a merchant from somewhere out east, richer than God Himself. Those two are the factors for the local colonies of Aparion and Dateon. They want to rehash the contracts they made last year. I imagine they think they can twist our arms now that we're here.”

“Why?”

“Both senates want a monopoly on access to Shartelle after we take it. Dateon wants to buy it.”

“Everybody wants something. Nobody donates anything.”

“That's people, Boss.”

“I know. It's depressing. Makes me wonder if we ought not to breed it out of them.”

That got him an odd, troubled look.

“I think I'll take a long nap, Titus. I'm getting cranky.” He had been working his way out of the need for so much sleep. He managed ten hours of work a day, now, and that should keep improving.

Consent nodded. “I'll put out an audience-only alert with a suggestion that you'll consider private visits for anyone who can convince me that their business is worth your time. Even the most self-absorbed understand that you have to go on south. Our lead elements are approaching the northern Crusader States now.”

The Shining Ones reported frequent skirmishing. The investment of Shartelle would begin soon. Indala would not be able to save the city because another force would threaten Shamramdi.

Pella was close by most of the time, sulking because he could not be at the tip of the spear with Rhuk or Prosek. “You
have
to be there to coordinate it, Dad. Nobody else can do it.” Meaning only Piper Hecht could manage the Shining Ones, whose existence was becoming ever less a secret.

No outsider suspected the whole truth but, clearly, the Commander of the Righteous had resources inside the Night. There could be no other explanation for how he knew so much so fast about events so far away.

The Shining Ones were his best reason for catching up. He needed to be several hundred miles farther along before the Old Ones could reach the nearest Well of Ihrian.

Hecht thought they might suck that dry—and become major Instrumentalities once more. Which would present him with a battery of fresh challenges.

He felt an odd eagerness himself when thinking about the Wells.

He seldom recalled having been Else Tage. Even Piper Hecht had slipped, some. Publicly, he was Lord Arnmigal. He thought of himself as Commander of the Righteous or, occasionally, Empress Helspeth's secret lover.

He did not think of his family often, except for Pella, who was underfoot all the time. The boy made himself almost as useful as Titus. Maybe Titus ought to go back to his field command so Pella could try the staff role.

That would not happen unless Titus asked it himself, though.

*   *   *

There were feasts. There were a thousand other distractions, including the countless marvels that made Hypraxium a wonder of the world. Lord Arnmigal let himself be shuffled hither and yon while staffers did the real work.

Wherever he went, usually with Pella and a disguised Shining One, he was subjected to introductions and incessant appeals. It felt like the Grail Empire's ambassador to the Golden Gate wanted to keep the Commander of the Righteous entangled.

Hecht mentioned the notion to Hourli.

Hourli was having fun being Lord Arnmigal's mysterious companion.

Hecht preferred the more demure and quietly radiant Eavijne. Pella, naturally, was enamored of Aldi, who was not seen much but who blinded her audiences when she was. She could not help herself.

Hourlr he never saw.

Hourli soon reported, “You were right about Ambassador fon Machen. He wants you kept from moving on. It's ideological.”

“How so?”

“He is Katrin's man, committed to Serenity. He has connections inside the Society but is not a member himself.”

Hecht grunted. All that was remarkable in these parts.

Hourli continued, “He has blood and marital connections with some of the most vehement, revanchist detractors of Lord Arnmigal and the Righteous.”

“Give him credit for his show of being helpful.”

“Which was why you became suspicious. Would you like me to do something?”

“Not really. We'll adapt as the situation unfolds.”

“His intimates include numerous local villains who hope to become parasitic on the Enterprise.”