Eden's Jester (6 page)

It was a very peaceful place.
 

Strangely, I always felt at home in the old house. It came from a time when men strove to create something new out of the old, something better. Iron men on wooden ships came here to extend the British Empire, to make more Europe. What they discovered was a land incompatible with the Old World. The frontier was a crucible upon which the natives and winters hardened and sharpened and shaped the settlers. They were no longer British or French or Spaniards. Europe, great and glorious as it was, could not constrain the spirit of these people, though it had tried. Engineers were all about evolution. This house reminded me of revolution.

We entered the great hall and continued without announcement or pause into a large office in the center of the main floor. It was the business office. I guess Melanthios meant business.
 

The room probably hadn’t changed since the days of George Washington. It was all hardwood floors and trim covered by centuries of lacquer and polish. A huge desk stood in the center, surrounded by a few chairs.
 

Seated behind the desk was Melanthios. An ordinary-looking guy, it was hard to believe that his simple frame contained such might and age. He reported directly to Glial, one of the Preceptors, a Lord of Law. Melanthios wore jeans and a thin cashmere sweater. His brown hair was long and flawlessly styled.
 

Next to him stood a tall, attractive, Asian-looking woman. She wore a perfectly cut and pressed navy business suit.
 

Her fists clenched as I entered the room.
 

Melanthios looked. “Ah, Elson. I’m honestly surprised you came. But glad, nonetheless.” He spied my coffee. “And you brought hot coffee from that shop of yours, great. They have the best coffee.”
 

I plodded over to the desk and distributed the stuff. I gave the cup intended for me to the woman.
 

“What have you been up to recently, Elson?” Melanthios asked as he sat back and sipped.

“Oh, the usual small projects. Trying to make the world a better place, you know.”
 

The first rule in speaking with any prince is to provide no information. They’ll always use it against you.

He smiled. “I mean really, what on this earth have you been doing?” His gaze pierced me like a javelin.

“I don’t follow,” I said.

He nodded to the woman standing at his side. She still didn’t look happy. Nor was she enjoying my cup of coffee. She should give it back, then.
 

“This is Aello. She is of Thought and a faithful servant of Law.” He gave her a sideways glance. “And I don’t believe I’d be out of line to say she’d like to see great harm come to you.”
 

Denial seemed to be the only course of action--even though I didn’t know what I was denying.
 

“I don’t have any issues with Thought. You can ask Diomedes. He’ll vouch for me.” Aello looked like she was about to come out of her skin. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. So I shut up.
 

Melanthios studied me for a long time.
 

“Aello, please tell Elson what you witnessed yesterday.”

She took a step toward me and tried to stare a hole into my face. I resisted the urge to rub my forehead.
 

“I was guarding the Thoth, a repository of extensive archives and other Thought assets. I sensed Elson approaching in great haste, but knew him to be a friend of Diomedes, who owned the Thoth and all her precious cargo.”
 

My world became more complicated, confusing, and a little irritating. She continued.

“So instead of prohibiting his approach, I went to meet him onboard. As I arrived, I witnessed Elson destroying the ship and her cargo, murdering her crew without hesitation. It was a premeditated attack of astronomical effect and cruelty.”
 

Aello glared at me, but stood straight and still. She was burning inside. Thoughts of violence against yours truly rose from her like steam. I could see it. But she stood motionless.
 

Melanthios spoke quietly. “Elson, you are unique in my experience as one who denies both Law and Chaos. But in all the time I’ve watched you, you’ve never been involved in such a direct attack.” He obviously hadn’t been watching very closely. “Would you care to explain why you did it?” There was no threat in his voice. It was all business.

“Uh, a friend asked me to?” I said. There was no point in lying now. But my gut told me that there was more than just a boat in play here.

“A friend? Who?”

“Mmmm . . . I’d rather not say.” I thought Aello was inching closer to me. I inched the other way.

“Elson,” Melanthios leaned forward and spoke more slowly. “If you had declared yourself for Chaos, I would have had you in a cell in the Abyss long ago. The only reason I let you run free is that, generally, you don’t harm the cause. You don’t do anything of significance, as far as I can tell. Now it’s time to cooperate.”

I didn’t know if Melanthios knew about Death. I’d never seen Death with another Engineer and I’d never heard Engineers talk about him as if he were real. Engineers tend to think they know the “real” truth about the universe. Anything outside of their understanding is fiction. I detested their tidy view of the world, but I leveraged it whenever I could. I wasn’t going to cough up Death to a pencil-neck like Melanthios.
 

“I can only say, Melanthios, that in all the time I’ve known him, he has worked only for the good guys,” I said with a straight face. It was true, but perhaps slightly misleading.

“Okay. Did your friend say why one lawful Engineer would attack another?”
 

“Uh . . . he said it was a trade secret.” I wasn’t getting ahead in the score. I could tell. But Melanthios seemed to believe I was speaking the truth.

“So a ‘friend’ asks you to murder a crew dedicated to Law and to destroy treasures of Thought along with it, gives you no reason at all, and you do it.”

It sounded so irresponsible, the way he said it.

“These ‘treasures,’ they aren’t replaceable, are they?” I asked.

“No,” Aello said.

Melanthios stood up and began to pace. “Tell me about Aeson’s operatives.”

Now there was a good opportunity for a half-truth if I’ve ever seen one, and I have.
 

“I didn’t touch them. Why?”

“Because they’re all dead, all of them in North America, anyway. Because seventy-five prominent and some not-so-prominent citizens of my domain had their heads explode, all in public, with no evidence of the cause. We’re calling it an act of terrorism, but it’s more than that, and I think you know something about it.”
 

I made a mental note to kill Death the next time I saw him.

“Did you say
all
of Aeson’s operatives were exploded?” I asked. I thought about it. I’m pretty sure I had used the word “key” when mentioning the operatives to Death. Yep, I had said “key,” not “all.” I was sure.

“Every one. And this has set off a chain reaction that, normally, I would think was beyond your means. However, let me narrate for you the events of the last day or so, and you tell me what to think.

“All in a single moment, seventy-five people with no obvious connection but one have their heads explode in a gratuitous fashion all over my domain. At that very same moment you are witnessed destroying, also in my domain, all the assets belonging to Diomedes; the same Diomedes who had publicly opposed Aeson only a day before--cursed him, I believe.
 

“Aeson believes Diomedes had his operatives killed to oppose his development and demands restitution in the form of Diomedes’ assets so he can keep his timetable. But to everyone’s surprise, Diomedes now has no assets. To top off the madness, Diomedes, perhaps the smartest Engineer in existence and one of the few who, I’m told, actually trusts you, manages to get himself captured and imprisoned by Aeson, who believes Diomedes is lying about his assets and claims to hold him outside my domain until he makes restitution.
 

“Thought, in my domain, with its leader and assets gone, is crippled. I can’t have that.” He stepped right up to me. Our noses almost touched. He frowned.
 

“Elson, I can’t prove you were behind all this. I can scarcely believe you are even capable of planning such a scheme, let alone executing it. So, Elson, what should I think?”
 

He was within arm’s reach of me, and Rolic and Apolik were suddenly at my elbows. I could feel the power building within him. He wasn’t going to attack. He was just making sure I didn’t try to make a run for it. Probably.
 

“I didn’t set up Diomedes. He’s my friend. I have many hobbies and vices that you don’t approve of, but I don’t screw with my friends.” I said. Even though I was on the hot seat with Melanthios, I was worried about Diomedes. How could he have been captured by a rat like Aeson?

“Are you sure Aeson isn’t right, that Diomedes didn’t try to scuttle his plans?” I said.

“I don’t believe in coincidences, and Diomedes’ assets being destroyed at the same time means there’s more to it than simply Diomedes opposing Aeson in a concrete way.”

Aello spoke up. “Diomedes would never destroy Thought assets, nor would he willingly harm humans. He’s a decent person.
Decent
. Shall I spell that for you, Elson?” I was beginning to like her. “Besides, simply killing Aeson’s operatives is an imbecilic way to oppose him. Diomedes would never be so crass in his plans. When Diomedes acts to oppose someone, he is careful and subtle. He wouldn’t have done anything to implicate himself.”

“Really?” I said. “So what were his motives for publicly opposing Aeson in the first place? If he was so sneaky, as you suggest, why not just withhold his blessing and work behind the scenes? It seems odd, don’t you think?”

“Diomedes is honorable, Elson,” Melanthios said. “He tries to avoid intrigue as a waste of energy, if he can. He really cares about this world, Elson. He’s not like so many of us who have forgotten what it’s all about. He’d do anything to protect it. But hypocrisy isn’t in his makeup.”

“Which is why it is so strange that he would befriend the likes of you,” Aello said.
 

I tried to look insulted.

“So, right now, as we sit here together enjoying a nice cup of coffee, our friend and ally, Diomedes, is in the hands of a Chaos power, who is certainly attempting to persuade him, without gentleness, to contribute to Chaos Thought assets. Fortunately, Diomedes is very powerful and will be difficult to influence—at least for a time,” Melanthios said. This was going to end badly, I could see. “We cannot act overtly, even if we knew what to do, as things are escalating to an uncomfortable level. The last time things were this tense between Law and Chaos we had the Dark Ages.” He paused and looked at Aello. “If we act covertly, and agents of Law are discovered, things will escalate further.”

Aello said, “We can’t leave Diomedes all alone. It would be wrong and dishonorable, not to mention strategically unwise. Diomedes is our friend. We have to help him.”
 

“True.” Melanthios put his hand on my shoulder. “Elson, I’m going to regret this. But I have to send you.” I felt a slight tingling in the core of my being. Melanthios was doing something to me. But before I could react, it was gone, done.
 

I looked down and saw that my clothes had changed. Gone were my jeans and tee shirt. In their place was a black suit similar to Rolic’s, white shirt and all. I noticed the pants were about two inches too short.
Dang it!
 

I looked up. “You’re forgetting something, I don’t work for you, nor do I work like you,” I said.

“Now you do, Elson, at least temporarily.” Melanthios dropped his hand from my shoulder and returned to sit in his chair behind the desk. “I’ve put a glamour on you. Do you know what that means?”

Unfortunately, I did. It meant there was an invisible link between us, which only he could see and exploit. He could now reach out and touch me wherever I was. I would be compelled to obey him, in a very general sort of way. I couldn’t outright oppose him any longer, but I still had some wiggle room in how I did things. The problem with such an enchantment is that nothing could be done about it once it was in place. Only the most powerful Engineers could create a glamour. Few know the secret of their crafting. I couldn’t detect it, so I couldn’t unravel it. No one could detect it. Which meant that Melanthios was compelling me in a manner that would provide him the best chance at plausible deniability. Everyone knows I am a free agent. No one would suspect he was pulling my strings.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Things were approaching maximum weirdness anyway. Me working for Law was just another brick in the wall.
 

I said, “Yeah, I know. But you’re wasting your time, Melanthios. I have nothing to work with here. I’ll need help, which you can’t really give me, since you want to keep this on the down-low.”

“Aello will be your contact and will provide whatever help she deems prudent—as long as there is little risk of discovery.” He smiled a mirthless smile. “Like I said, Elson. I don’t know what to think, but I do know you had a hand in this and, by the Designers, you’re going to fix it. Diomedes will be safe for at least a few days. No high level Chaos operative will even think of dueling with someone like Diomedes. They’d fear becoming more like him than the other way around. But if you do not resolved this issue to my satisfaction, I will put you in a cell in the deepest part of the Abyss I can find.”