Protector: Foreigner #14 (40 page)

“We were fired upon,” Bren said with careful patience.

“That is
your
word, paidhi, after you have killed all the witnesses! One side’s word is no proof before the law!”

“Is he saying we fired first?” Jase asked.

“That’s what he’s saying. He’s saying we can’t prove it legally, because we have no witness from his side surviving.”

Jase shook his head. “He’s wrong. The armor’s been recording everything. Audio. Video. Three-sixty-degrees and overhead, ever since they put the systems live, which was the moment we drove through that gate.
Our
regs say when we have weapons go live—we record it until they shut down.”

Bren drew in a deep breath. Smiled deliberately at Aseida. “Jase-aiji notes that we have it recorded who fired first. Video, nandi. Video and audio. Just like television. You can slow it down and know
exactly
what happened first.”

Aseida’s face changed.

“And since we’re citing the
law,
nandi, let me remind you that when you attack, a person’s response may be at
his
level.
I
am the lord of Najida and Lord of the Heavens. Jase is a ship-aiji. Your bodyguards fired on this bus.
Twice.
If Jase-aiji had responded with
everything
he has, the damage, I assure you, would have been far more than a corner of your building and its front steps. As for my other office, as paidhi-aiji, let me remind you I do not merely represent the offended parties in last night’s events: I represent
Tabini-aiji,
who would observe, were he here, that you have placed yourself at considerable disadvantage in any dealings with your neighbors and indeed, with
him
. You have attacked the aiji-dowager. You have attacked the aiji’s son, a minor child. You have attacked his guests, minor children, and citizens under Jase-aiji’s protection. You have attacked your neighbor Lord Tatiseigi.”

“Not I! I had nothing to do with it! It was Haikuti! Haikuti did as he pleased! There was no way I could have prevented him!”

“You claim you were under duress?”

“Constantly.”

“Yet,” he said, “yet, lacking a corroborating witness, nandi, it is impossible to prove that you ever desired to go against these persons. Certainly at some point you made a very bad bargain with them, perhaps, indeed, to keep yourself alive and comfortable—”

“To keep my staff alive, nandi, and to preserve our house!”

“Yet do we know your staff themselves
are pure, and will not turn on you? My aishid found them trying to destroy records in the security office, which, whatever the crisis, is rarely the job of
domestic
staff.”

A silence ensued.

“Tell me,” Bren said softly, “nandi. How confident would you be at this point, in committing yourself and your house to your current staff, after their certain suspicion that you have unburdened yourself to us aboard this bus? One would suspect, by the behavior of those servants, that they are not altogether innocent, either. I would rather expect that,
if
this matter is argued in court, there will certainly be some among them to testify—as your surviving witnesses—but who knows what they may say? That
you
compelled
them?”

Aseida was not at the moment master of his expressions. His eyes twitched when he considered his possible answers.

“Suppose that we installed you back in your house this hour and left the servants to resume their duties. Would you have any personal apprehension?”

Far from master of his expressions.

Bren asked: “Are you more afraid of those within Haikuti’s instruction—or of reprisals from those who were
not
under his influence?”

“There
are
none outside his influence, paidhi.”

“Not a one, nandi?”

“No. No. There is not.”

“Then you have rather an unhappy situation, nandi, were I to send you back to your house at this hour—because I would certainly discourage your traveling south, say, to the Marid at this point. Startling things have happened there, early this morning. And one does not suppose you would care to lodge in one of your own townships—lacking your bodyguards. In fact yours is a sad case, Lord Aseida. Have
all
Kadagidi been happy with Haikuti’s direction?”

Aseida started to answer, and faltered, perhaps becoming aware how he was being led.

“Are there none you would trust,” Bren asked, “on
either
side of Haikuti’s influence?”

“The ones who would support me would have no chance against Haikuti’s people.”

“That is probably true,” Bren said. He and Jase were no longer interviewing Aseida alone. Tano and Algini had come aboard, Algini seated and Tano standing, on the other side of the aisle. “So yours is an unfortunate situation, nandi. What would you wish to do now?”

“I appeal to Lord Tatiseigi,” Aseida said, as if the words were stuck in his throat. “He is honest. He is my neighbor. The Padi Valley is not like other places.”

“Without staff, without bodyguard, and without alliances, nandi, you are in a very desperate situation. But you do recognize that.”

The chin stiffened, brows drew down. Aseida finally located his backbone. “The Padi Valley is different, I say, paidhi-aiji. We have traditions. We are the old blood. We stick together.”

“I shall certainly convey your request to him, nandi. You wish, then, to apply to Lord Tatiseigi’s hospitality.”

“I so wish,” Aseida said, jaw clenching hard.
“He
will understand.”

“Undoubtedly,” Bren said, very tempted to cast a look at Algini to see how
he
had read the man; but he refrained.

They had given first aid to the injured while he conducted his interview with Aseida, both their own, from the two parties, and also to a Kadagidi servant who had suffered a broken arm in the upstairs hall. They had given two servants permission to take that man on to the hospital in the township, by Lord Aseida’s van. They had packed boxes of interesting documents into the baggage compartment, and they were putting the estate under Guild seal, meaning it and its historic treasures would be strictly guarded until there was some judgment about the clan leadership—a temporary duty for Nawari and the party that had come in overland—they would, Algini said, have relief coming in from the Taibeni on Lord Tatiseigi’s estate truck. “Time to get underway,” he said to Jase. “Get this situation back to safer ground . . . get in contact with Tabini and get
his
seal on the house as well, under the circumstances, where we
don’t
have a video record.” He changed to Ragi. “Kindly take charge, Gini-ji.”

He wanted to be back in Atageini territory, with the documents they had recovered. He wanted to get the Kadagidi lord off his hands and under the dowager’s authority.

He wanted to know the dowager and Cajeiri were as safe as they could make them.

And most of all he wanted to know how Banichi was faring. Banichi had gone back to the bus’s galley, he had said, for a cold drink, a painkiller, and a rest in the rearmost seats. The aisle, given most of the dowager’s men were staying to assist Nawari, was all but vacant between them. He walked back toward Banichi and Jago, and was reassured to see that Banichi finally had the ruined jacket off and a proper bandage on the arm. “Lord Aseida is appealing to Lord Tatiseigi for protection. He says he can trust no one of his people. How are you faring, Nichi-ji?”

“Bruises,” Banichi said grimly. “Nothing broken, no deep wound. Nothing to worry about.”

He shot a look at Jago, who sent one back, confirming Bren’s instincts—that it was something more than the physical injury that had put such a grim expression on Banichi’s face.

“You cannot possibly doubt,” he said quietly, “that you are in the right, Nichi-ji.”

Banichi gave him a surprised, wide-open look. “One in no wise doubts that, Bren-ji.”

“One wishes you to be sure of it,” he said.

More than acquaintances, that man and Banichi. Every instinct he had said so.

A man whose skill Banichi had rated very highly.

With a team probably of the same caliber, and a second team that had been first out of the house.

No one had survived what Jase’s bodyguard had thrown at that porch. But he knew Banichi’s return fire had been a killing shot. He had seen it hit. It was branded in his memory—before the world had exploded.

Before two renegade Guild units whose opinion it was that humans were not a good influence . . . had been blown to hell by human weapons.

Confirm for Banichi that his shot
had
in fact taken Haikuti out before the world blew up?

Not without knowing exactly what that relationship had been.

•   •   •

The bus, with a damaged windshield and a bullet marring its door, pulled up to the front of Lord Tatiseigi’s house, stopped, and opened the door with a soft pneumatic sigh.

Bren gathered himself up as Jase and Aseida did. Banichi and Jago came forward to escort Lord Aseida off the bus. They all got down, followed by Tano and Algini, preceded by Kaplan and Polano.

Servants opened both doors atop the tall steps. Lord Tatiseigi came out onto the porch, forewarned at the very last moment and frowning like thunder . . . not an entirely comfortable welcome for the Kadagidi lord as he stepped onto the cobbled driveway.

“I request lodging,” Aseida said, “nandi, if you will be so gracious.”

“Gracious, is it?” Tatiseigi shot back, looking down from the top step. “After the events of last night?”

“Asien’dalun has suffered utter calamity in the conflict of one faction of the Guild against another.
We
have in no wise—”

“We are not a faction,” Banichi’s low voice cut in. “Make no such claims against the legitimate Guild, Kadagidi lord. You have supported renegades against the Assassins’ Guild, you have supported outlaws, those protecting you fired first, and any damage done is the result of your own choices.”

Aseida stood there stammering slightly, confused and angry and, if he was sane, deeply afraid at this point. He made a small gesture toward Lord Tatiseigi. “We appeal to the Atageini. These Guild renegades forced themselves on us. They threatened our lives. They
forced
their way in even before Murini’s time, they stayed on against our will, and we have no doubt they will attempt to kill us to prevent us telling what we saw. If these are indeed legitimate Guild—and I believe they are, nadi!” He shot a nervous glance aside at Banichi, and back to Tatiseigi. “Have consideration, nandi! Extend your protection to a neighbor of the Padi Valley!”

“I have guests,” Tatiseigi said coldly, “guests who have nothing to do with your bad choices and the problems of Kadagidi clan, nandi. Foreign
children
as well as a ship-aiji who are guests under my roof have been threatened and alarmed by acts of outright lawlessness, the paidhi-aiji, another guest, is inconvenienced, and, we see, even
injured
while protesting the situation on your estate! The heir to the aishidi’tat, my relative, is affronted by your actions and embarrassed by the threat to his personal guests! And the aiji-dowager, my guest, who I assure you has no patience with this situation, is irate beyond measure!”

“If Kadagidi goes down, you will lose the most ancient member of your own association, nandi! We strengthen each other! We are the first of associations, powerful in council—”

“One begs to remind you, your previous treason has disgraced the association and barred you from court! All you can contribute is the stain of your fingers on any action the Padi Valley Association might take!”

“Unfair, nandi!”

“Unfair? Your situation is consequent of a chain of decisions stretching back to your predecessors and culminating in your kinsman Murini the traitor—whose murderous administration of the aishidi’tat alienated all your neighbors and offended the peace of the heavens and the earth alike! You have the effrontery to seek shelter in my house . . . when I would be within my rights to lock you in the deepest cellar Tirnamardi affords and feed you on grain and bitter herbs until I have you before the association itself!” Tatiseigi drew a deep breath. “But unlike your allies, who fire on civilians and attack children and servants,
I
regard the laws of the aishidi’tat. I shall appeal my grievances against you directly to the aiji in Shejidan, if his grandmother does not File on you first. And should trouble come to my doorstep on your account, I shall hold you further responsible! Give him over to my bodyguard, nandiin. If he wants protection,
we
shall take charge of him!”

Tatiseigi’s temper was well-known, and this time directed at the truly deserving. Tatiseigi snapped his fingers, and his two senior bodyguards took charge of the man and bundled him right back onto the bus.

“Well!” Tatiseigi said in satisfaction, and to the servants standing by. “The bus will need immediate cleaning, nadiin. The dowager has need of it. But, Jase-aiji, nand’ Bren, we are dismayed. Are these
all
that have survived with you?”

“One rejoices to report no losses on our side at all, nandi,” Bren said. “The renegades were not so favored.
None
survived in that house, except the servants.” It was as politely as he could put the terrible business on the front porch, and at the back of the building as well, by what he had since heard. “The dowager’s men and some of your own guard and allies will secure the place until more reinforcements can arrive, and I understand we shall send for them.”

“You shall have whatever you need, as quickly as we can provide it. Come in, come in.” Tatiseigi started up the steps, and they walked with him, bodyguards and all. “Is Asien’dalun truly missing a section of its walls?”

“A large window and part of a corner, nandi.”

Ilisidi wanted the bus, he was thinking. For what did she want it? Where in hell was she going?

“They deserve it for my lilies,” Tatiseigi said. “An extraordinary day, nand’ paidhi! I shall support the Kadagidi and speak for the clan in court when it comes to that. But this scoundrel has gotten everything his predecessors have deserved, heaped up in his bed and set alight.” The old man looked back from the top step and waved at the servants, who had opened the baggage compartment. “Do not offload anything from the bus, nadiin-ji. Leave it all aboard!” To Bren he said, as they passed the doors and entered the lower foyer. “The dowager has called a train. Her men at Asien’dalun are to be relieved soon, you say.”