The Cause of Death (27 page)

"Oh no, that is quite a different matter," said the Thelek. "In effect, the Thelm's Hand places you inside a bubble of Thelm's Land that travels about with you. You are under his direct rule wherever you go, and under his protection."

"Then what of those who fired at our vehicle
after
we landed, after the spaceport security personnel had been told we and our ship were under the Thelm's Hand?" Mendez asked.

"Ah, that was a flaw in procedure," said the Thelek. "Zahida Halztec was empowered to place the two of you under the Thelm's Hand. She was in no way empowered to place your vehicle, or any other inanimate object, under his Hand."

"No doubt the assault car drivers consulted with the best legal authorities before firing on our ship," said Hannah.

"Unlikely, I grant--but my people are well schooled, and well trained--and the power to extend the Thelm's Hand to an object, rather than a person is not valid unless properly published. They
could
have looked it up from the scout cars' data systems. But, as there were no survivors, it is impossible for us to know."

"Your well-trained assault car teams fired on me, directly, when I was well away from the ship," said Mendez. "And I can tell you they made no effort whatsoever to check if anyone was still aboard the craft before they fired at that inanimate object. If we had still been inside, our bubbles of Thelm's Land would not have been much protection."

There was a sudden hint of steel behind the geniality as the Thelek answered. "There are often unanswered questions. You are alive, and now under the Thelm's Hand and Law, both because of where you are and because of the pendants you wear. I would gently suggest that you leave it at that."

"Noble Thelek, I will," said Agent Mendez. "But I am grateful to hear you confirm that we are now and shall remain under the Thelm's Hand, which, needless to say, you honor in all respects."

"Yes, yes, of course," the Thelek said hurriedly, obviously not seeing the trap that had been set.

But Mendez's partner saw it plain, and she snapped it shut on him. "Does not the protection of the Thelm's Hand extend to surveillance and privacy?" she asked. "Has there been some oversight on the part of the attendants here at Hotel Number Two? We are trained to watch for watchers, as it were--but I can tell you the watchers here have not required much skill to detect."

A moment's silence grew longer, and longer still, before the Thelek could reply. "Yes, of course," he said again, quite meaninglessly. He gestured toward the silent crowd that stood observing them all. "As you can see, my popularity is strong. Some subordinates are overzealous, too eager to please me. They seek to anticipate my wishes--and they do not always guess my wishes correctly. I will see to it that surveillance of the two of you on the part of employees of Hotel Number Two will stop."

One would think the human Mendez had spent his whole life comparing the Thelek's promises against his actions, judging by the way he pounced on the glaring loopholes in Saffeer's words. He spoke carefully, shifting to Spoken Greater Trade Writing Language for the purpose. "Forgive me, noble Thelek, for use of the more formal version of speech, but my skill in Lesser Trade Speech sometimes is not complete. I might have missed part of that. Are you promising that, effective immediately, there will be no more listening, watching, datalifting, or other covert information retrieval directed against us, by any person in your employ or under your direct or indirect command? And that there will be no literalist or tortured interpretations of that commitment?"

"I did not say--but, well, yes, of course. All that goes without saying it."

"But now it has been said," Mendez replied. "And all is made clear, to all present."

His command of Lesser Trade Speech might or might not have been limited, but his use of Spoken Greater Trade Writing was highly skilled. Even the High Thelek would have a hard time finding a hole in that promise, given in front of a herd of witnesses he had invited himself.

Brox looked over the BSI agents. The Thelek--and Brox himself--had underestimated these two. But if these humans thought that scoring a point or two would win them the game, then
they
would be underestimating the High Thelek--to a most dangerous degree.

And the Thelek undertook to demonstrate that immediately. "But these are things of the past," said the Thelek, making a dismissive gesture. "I have come here now to do you a service--to provide you with vital information that no one, not even your great friend Zahida Halztec, has seen fit to give you. Indeed, so vital is this information to your work, I was not even aware you did not have it until just today: I assumed it had been provided to you. It shows that you were not wise to trust in a person of such poor pedigree. She is the grandniece of the traitor Bindulan Halztec--an exile of such degraded reputation that it is forbidden to so much as utter his name in the Thelm's presence."

"We'll bear that in mind if we ever meet the Thelm," Mendez said. "Please go on."

"You should know that I have an intelligence service that rivals your own fine organization. And as I am sure you do know, much of the work in intelligence concerns itself not with what is secret, but rather with what is freely available and yet unexamined. Thanks to my private service, I have seen, as you have not, the original version of the message sent to the human government, as well as the mangled version finally delivered to your superiors."

Private service indeed!
Brox restrained the temptation to growl. Brox and his secret informants were the only intelligence service that had brought Saffeer any useful information on the subject. And yet he was forced to sit here and listen to this nonsense. Was that why he had been brought here, or at least one of the reasons? To force him into a situation where he dared not deny the Thelek's near lies, so that he would be forced to stick to the story in the future?

"Can we take it that there was some significant difference between the two?" Wolfson asked.

"Oh, yes," said the Thelek, "a very great deal of difference indeed. But it was the
absence
of information that told me the most, and is the greatest of reasons that, as I have said, circumstances have changed."

In other words, why he no longer feels as if he needs to kill you
, thought Brox.

"So," asked Mendez, "it is the change in circumstance, and
not
the awesome respect all hold for the Thelm's Hand over us, that keeps us alive?"

Anger flashed in the Thelek's face, and his ears darkened in color as they folded back hard against the back of his head. Brox marveled at the risks the humans were taking--but then thought to wonder if they
were
risks. The Thelek, after all, had acknowledged publicly that he was not going to harm them, and that he now considered them inviolate.

"Do you question my honor, young human?"

"Noble Thelek," Mendez replied, "I do not believe there is the slightest question concerning your honor."

It was not at all clear to Brox if High Thelek Saffeer saw the double meaning in that answer. But what was starting to become clear was that, in some way, the Thelek
needed
the humans. Even so, Brox had no doubt that the Thelek was already imagining tragic accidents that might befall them the moment their usefulness was at an end.

But of what use to the Thelek
were
the humans? Brox looked to Thelek Saffeer, and it was if he could read the answer in his face, as sharp and legible as words on a datapad: The Thelek planned to use the humans as a tool to further humiliate and isolate the Thelm. The Thelm, Brox had learned, was pinning his hopes on the humans. Let them raise those hopes. Let the hopes distract the Thelm from pursuing other options, on the off chance there was some way out for the Thelm and Hertzmann that the Thelek had not blocked. And then let the humans fail, as fail they must, and dash those hopes altogether.

And, once they had failed--
then
would come the unfortunate accident.

But the Thelek, of course, said nothing of such matters. "I am glad to know my honor is beyond question," said the Thelek, in the aggrieved tones of one accused unjustly.

That was the amazing thing to Brox. The Thelek truly
did
believe his honor was unstained. In his mind, dealing in half-truths, deceptive implications, and misleading assumptions was quite proper so long as he did not tell out-and-out lies.

"But I return to my point," the Thelek continued. "Circumstances have changed--for we now know more about your mission here."

"I see," said Agent Wolfson, in a carefully neutral voice. "What is it that you now know?"

The Thelek laughed in triumph. "That you yourselves do not know what it is!"

Neither Mendez nor Wolfson spoke, or moved in any way. The absolute failure of the two humans to respond was, in itself, a most eloquent response. Perhaps
this
was why the Thelek had told Brox to attend, because he knew that Brox had trained to read and interpret human expressions, and could report his findings later. If so, then he would have much to tell the Thelek. The Thelek had scored a hit, and no doubt.

"You could not
possibly
know," the Thelek went on, "based on the message that you received. And it is time, past time, for you to learn the truth--for it is far, far past the point at which you could do anything to change the situation. And, for no other reason than because it pleases me, I will tell you that I know what will happen to you next.

"You will be met in your room by Grand-Niece-To-Traitor Zahida Halztec. She is there now and quite unaware that I am in Hotel Number Two. She will take you to a meeting she has been working with such diligence to arrange with the Stannlar Allabex and Cinnabex, and the humans Georg and Marta Hertzmann. Niece-Traitor Zahida believes she has kept the meeting very secret, but now you see the success of that."

And so much for all of the covert monitoring I arranged
, thought Brox.
Now they will know to be even more careful, to check for Kendari-style listening devices and the like
. But it was too late to stop the Thelek.

"Once you have arrived at this secret meeting, they will very sadly explain that Georg Hertzmann is not guilty of murder. They will tell that you are
not
here to arrange his transport home to serve out his sentence in a human prison." The Thelek paused, and smiled, and his ears fanned out wide, and blushed pink with pleasure. "They will tell you that he is, in fact, the adopted son of the Thelm, and heir to the Thelmship--something else the Niece-Traitor has failed to mention. The problem is that he is also guilty of a crime--of treason, in fact. He is guilty of failing in his duty. And his duty, my dear humans, was to follow the strict and unyielding law that requires him, absolutely
requires
him--to kill his father."

The two humans did not respond--at least not in words. But their stunned silence told Brox all he needed to know.

Even the Thelek could read humans at least well enough to know that he had scored again, and scored greatly. "Furthermore," he went on, "there is a time limit involved, and time is growing short. He
must
be the cause of death for Lantrall, Thelm of all Reqwar, before sunset at the Thelm's Keep four days from now--or else he must die in the Thelm's place. You were sent for in order to witness his execution."

And Brox knew the rest, and felt sure the humans could guess it.
And when Hertzmann dies
, thought Brox, staring at the triumphant High Thelek Saffeer,
there will be none left who can stop Saffeer's ascent to the Thelmship
.

It was the goal that, he, Brox, had been working for all this time. It would be the moment when he won, when the humans were denied a triumph, when history would mark the first step toward the Kendari claiming this world.

But in that moment, Brox looked upon the Thelek triumphant, all masks pulled aside to reveal the vortex of scheming ambition that was all there
was
of Caldon Saffeer.

Brox found himself wondering if making Saffeer into the Thelm of all Reqwar would be such a good idea after all. Saffeer was the sort of being who could never be truly satisfied. And that begged the question: When all his schemes were complete, when his ambitions were achieved--then what would he want next? And from whom would he take it?

SEVENTEEN
THELM

Cinnabex drew her forward end to its full height and swiveled her forward sense cluster to face each being around the table in turn. "I thank you all for coming," she said. "Affairs are coming rapidly to a head. There is a great deal our newly arrived visitors must learn quickly."

That much was certain. Jamie felt starved for information--and also a little bit betrayed. How had the High Thelek known what was going on? Jamie and Hannah moved forward through all the events he had predicted, like characters in a dream knowing what came next but unable to do anything about it.

Zahida had indeed been waiting for them in their room. She had summoned them to a meeting she had arranged with precisely the attendees that the Thelek had predicted. Jamie could almost imagine that the High Thelek could have told them what the seating arrangements were going to be.