Read By Honor Betray'd: Mageworlds #3 Online

Authors: Debra Doyle,James D. Macdonald

By Honor Betray'd: Mageworlds #3 (11 page)

BOOK: By Honor Betray'd: Mageworlds #3
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“I’m glad there’s something around that can insult it,” she said. “So—what else?”
“We can’t just pass over the matter of your presumed death on Artat without an adequate investigation. Under the present circumstances, the civilized galaxy doesn’t need a pretender to the throne of Entibor.”
“Gene scan,” she countered. “Dahl&Dahl keeps the family records; you can do a check, no problem. Besides—if I’m not me, then I didn’t shoot that guy ten years ago, either.”
“A quibble. These things do require sorting out, you know. But the most immediate and urgent matter is the possibility of treason—”
“
What?”
She was on her feet and halfway across the cell before she remembered the force field and brought herself up short, fists clenched and body trembling with rage. “How
dare
you—”
“Treason,” he said again. “And deliberate endangerment of the Suivan settlements.”
Oh, damn
. She fought to keep her face from showing her dismay.
That last one is bad.
Because it’s true
.
She swallowed hard and made her voice stay as before, calm and slightly insolent. “Purely out of idle curiosity—what are you calling treason these days?”
“According to your ship’s official log as transmitted to Suivan officials, your last recorded port of call was Ninglin in the Mageworlds, scant days before the current outbreak of hostilities. This requires investigation.”
“I was picking up some money hauling intersystem freight,” she said. “All clean and legal.”
“But the suspicion remains—particularly in light of your subsequent actions.”
“Now we come to it.” She crossed her arms over her chest and faced him squarely. “Which of my subsequent actions do you want to talk about?”
“We can begin,” Tarveet said, “with that singularly ill-advised hyperspace transmission of yours—tantamount to issuing an open invitation to the Mageworlds Warfleet.”
She bit her lip.
Damn. I wish he’d let well enough alone.
“I had my reasons. And I
am
the Domina of Entibor. It’s none of Pleyver’s business how I conduct my world’s affairs.”
“Perhaps not. But unless something can be done, your current legal difficulties will make it hard for you to conduct those affairs at all.”
“Aha,” she said. “Now we’re back at that ‘proposition’ of yours, aren’t we? What’s the deal?”
Tarveet smiled primly. “I can take care of all the outstanding fines and assessments, and see to it that all contracts for your arrest and detention are withdrawn. In return, my lady, you can make me your consort and General of the Armies of Entibor.”
She stared at him, her gorge rising. “Consort?
You
? I wouldn’t let you in the same bed with me if I was dead and laid out for burning!”
His pale face colored. “The arrangement need not be formalized in the old style, my lady. The title position alone will be sufficient.”
“Sorry.” She was clenching and unclenching her fists.
If it wasn’t for the force field I’d kill the bastard with my bare hands
. “The position is already filled.”
“Oh, yes. That charming gentleman at the office. Such things can change, you know.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you, Tarveet. He’s one of the Khesatan Jessans. Think of this as a friendly reminder.”
“I didn’t have in mind trying anything that clumsy, my lady. You can release him yourself any time you choose.”
“I don’t choose,” she said, tight-lipped. “Understand this, Tarveet: Nyls Jessan is satisfactory on all counts as General and consort.”
Tarveet smiled. “Then given your continued obduracy, and the threat your plans present to the Suivan settlements, I have no choice but to remove myself from the discussion before the Steering Committee of Suivi Point concerning your summary termination.” He paused. “Do you wish to reconsider?”
Beka closed her eyes.
Oh, Nyls. I hope you’re alive to get me out of this
.
“No,” she said. “I don’t. Now get the hell out of here before you make me sick.”
 
 
The Gyfferan Foreign Ministry’s hovercar moved with ease through the crowded streets outside the spaceport. Telabryk Field on Gyffer wasn’t as big as the port complex of Galcen Prime, but as far as Llannat Hyfid was concerned, once the industrialization and urban sprawl reached a certain point she couldn’t tell the difference. She liked her cities small—Namport was about her upper limit, or the Galcenian village of Treslin in the shadow of the Adepts’ Retreat. Nothing on her homeworld of Maraghai was bigger than either of those.
Country girl
, she thought.
At least
that
hasn’t changed.
She found the idea comforting. This morning’s sessions at the Ministry—a debriefing, really, with voice-stress analyzers and other verification equipment set up and running—had made it clear that a number of other things about her had altered beyond recovery. The very young Llannat Hyfid who’d left Maraghai to join the Space Force would never have noticed the equipment in the first place; and the older Llannat who’d come back to the Space Force from the Adepts’ Retreat would never have evaded its detection.
I had to do it. If I told the Ministry about everything that happened on board
Night’s-Beautiful-Daughter,
they’d lock me up and wipe out the keycode.
At least they still consider me Space Force. If I had to stay at the local Guildhouse, I’d wind up spilling my secrets to somebody before long. The Prof’s staff raised enough eyebrows around there the last time I was on Gyffer, with Ari and the rest of the
‘Hammer’
s crew
.
The hovercar paused at the main gate to the Field proper. A heavy-duty force field made the air in front of the entrance waver and ripple like a mirage on a hot day. A guard in the uniform of the Gyfferan local defense forces stepped out of the field’s generating kiosk; when the Ministry driver flashed an ID at him, he waved at his partner inside the kiosk and the field went down long enough for the hovercar to pass through.
In spite of the inconvenience—not to mention the outright distrust with which she and Lieutenant Vinhalyn had at first been received—she was glad to see that Gyffer was taking its resistance to the Mageworlders seriously. The
Daughter
and RSF
Naversey
had been met in force by in-system ships almost as soon as they crossed the planet’s nearspace threshold; if it hadn’t been for the presence of the Space Force courier, Llannat suspected, the Gyfferans might well have destroyed the Magebuilt raider without bothering to ask questions.
So the war isn’t lost yet. If Gyffer holds firm, the rest of the Republic still has a chance.
Of course, if a medic from the backwoods can figure that much out, then so can the experts. Which means that the whole enemy fleet is going to show up on our doorstep any day now.
“Welcome to the war,” she muttered under her breath.
Next to her in the back seat of the hovercar, Vinhalyn nodded. “Just so.”
The hovercar glided on across the vast plain of the landing field. Compared with the first time she’d been in Telabryk, the place was almost empty. After what she’d learned during the conference at the Defense Ministry, Llannat wasn’t surprised. Most of Gyffer’s usual merchant traffic would have cleared out as soon as word hit the planet about the fall of Galcen Prime. The ships that had stayed behind—either voluntarily, or caught by the Citizen-Assembly’s closing of the port—would be up in the orbital yards, getting fitted out with shields and weaponry.
The dark wing-shape of
Night’s-Beautiful-Daughter
loomed up over the tarmac ahead, and beside it the thin bright needle that was RSF
Naversey
. The low, blocky buildings of the Space Force installation stood nearby, their abandoned state made more obvious by the presence of the two vessels. Llannat grimaced. The Gyfferans at the Ministry had not been happy about the way the Space Force had left Telabryk, even though they’d conceded the possibility of standing orders that had to be obeyed.
“
Somewhere out there
,” she’d said, with as much persuasion behind the words as she dared to use, “
the Republic’s fleet is regrouping. All we have to do is hold out until they come back.”
That had brought a skeptical look to the face of the Ministry rep who’d been asking most of the questions, but his manner had softened a little afterward. Whatever the Gyfferan’s feelings about the local Space Force contingent, at least Llannat and Vinhalyn—surprised themselves by the outbreak of war—weren’t being held personally responsible.
The hovercar came to a halt outside the main building of the Space Force installation. Llannat and Vinhalyn got out, the lieutenant thanked the driver, and the hovercar sped back toward the gate.
Llannat let out her breath in an explosive sigh. “Well. At least
that’s
over.”
“Temporarily, at least,” said Vinhalyn. He glanced over at the sleek black hull of the Magebuilt ship. “Some of our hosts are certain to find the
Daughter
as fascinating as I do—there are one or two academics on Gyffer with an interest in Old Eraasian artifacts. But the preparations for war will keep them occupied for a while, I hope.”
“Until you’ve got enough notes to publish something first?”
The lieutenant smiled, a bit grimly. “I may be fated to end my scholarly career the way I began it—as a lieutenant in the Republic’s service—but the full report on
Night’s- Beautiful-Daughter
will keep my name alive in the archives all the same.”
“Worse things could happen,” said Llannat. “And we may see a few of them, if we’re not careful. Let’s go on in and tell the others what the Ministry’s going to do with us.”
Vinhalyn nodded, and led the way into the main building, where they’d left the rest of the crew. The courier ship’s original complement had been augmented by the four crew members of a
Pari
-class scout that had been docked with the Deathwing raider when the Mageworlds warfleet broke through the Net. That brought the crew up to twelve people, counting Llannat and Vinhalyn; not much of a Space Force presence on a planet facing imminent attack.
The interior of the building was dim after the sun glare over the landing field. Llannat stood for a moment just inside the tinted armor-glass of the door, letting her eyes—and her other, nonphysical senses—adjust to the change.
The Space Force installation hadn’t yet lost all traces of its previous inhabitants. She could sense the residual shock and tension of their hurried departure, overlaid by the auras of the building’s new occupants. After their time aboard the Deathwing, all of them were known to her. She relaxed a bit in their familiarity. With relaxation came a sudden awareness of another presence, one whose strength and steadiness had almost lulled her into accepting it as a part of the pattern.
She caught her breath in surprise.
That’s not one of the
Daughter’s
crew! That’s
—
“Ari?” she said, and heard her voice quaver on the edge of a shaky laugh. “What in the name of everything in the civilized galaxy are you doing
here
?”
He stood up. As usual, he’d found the lowest chair in the most inconspicuous corner of the room, and had occupied it with a stillness that even some Adepts never managed to learn. It was a hunter’s stillness, that he’d learned from the Selvaurs who controlled Llannat’s homeworld. Ari had been fostered among the big saurians—he and they were built to the same scale—and the nonhuman training showed in the way he held himself. Most big men were awkward and clumsy, or at least to Llannat they seemed to be, but Ari moved with the easy grace of the Forest Lords.
The bow of respect he gave Llannat had never been learned on Maraghai, however, and his Galcenian had the pure native accent.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said. “I thought about going to the Defense Ministry, but decided that coming here would be easier.”
She took a step closer, putting out a hand to touch the fabric of his sleeve and feel the muscular solidity of the arm beneath it.
“No, no,” she said, struggling against laughter. “I mean, what are you doing on Gyffer? The last I heard, you were headed for RSF
Fezrisond
—we had a bet, remember, that she wouldn’t get out of the Infabede sector while you were on her?”
“I remember,” he said, smiling down at her. “You lose, I’m afraid. The
Fezzy
hasn’t left Infabede yet that I’ve heard of.” His smile faded. “She’s Admiral Vallant’s flagship, you know. When Vallant declared his mutiny, I decided it was time for me to leave.”
BOOK: By Honor Betray'd: Mageworlds #3
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