Traitor's Sun (31 page)

“No, he is quite free, sitting by a fire pit and keeping warm, the last I knew. No, the bad news is that Nico stumbled into a conspiracy.”

“What!” The partial calm that had quieted Mikhail vanished. “Conspiracy? All the more reason to make him . . .”

“Mikhail, he is a man, albeit a young one. And if he had not been there, we might never have suspected that the Terrans were considering an assault on the funeral procession and an attempt on your life!” The words came out in a rush, more abruptly than Lew had intended, and they had the effect of halting any further questions. Instead, everyone just stared at Lew as if he had lost his mind. “That is why Nico did not run back here—he decided it was best if he remained in place and kept an eye on things. He knows the face of one of the conspirators, and he can describe the others. And I promised him that someone would join him at the North Gate. The only question is who.”

“Kill me. . . .” Mikhail was stunned. “But, why?”

“How better to gain control of Darkover?”

“But I thought the Federation was going to leave.”

“That is our current information, yes. But it appears that Federation Intelligence may have been using the Travelers as spies, and I have to wonder how long that has been going on. It would explain a few incidents which have troubled me during recent years.”

At this, Danilo nodded in agreement, his exhausted face actually brightening, as if the news distracted him momentarily from his grief. “That does answer some questions, doesn’t it? The Travelers! What fools we were not to have thought of them before.”

“Well, why should we suspect a troup of entertainers of being anything but what they appeared? In truth, most of them likely are just that—players and jongleurs.”

“What happened, exactly?” Mikhail cut in angrily. “Start at the beginning, before I completely lose my mind!”

“Yes, of course.” Lew ordered his thoughts carefully. “It seems that this morning, while he was on duty, Nico saw a Travelers’ wagon pass by the castle—yes, yes, I know they had no business in Thendara at this season. There was a girl, and . . .”

“Oh, a girl,” Donal exclaimed, grinning. “About time.”

“Perhaps.” Lew gave the young paxman a swift glance, pleased that the interruption dissipated some of the tension in the room. “Anyhow, she seems to have told him there was a performance at the North Gate this evening, and, on a lark, Nico decided to go see it—to avoid Javanne as much as anything, I believe. He saw two men in Terran garb, and that aroused his interest. When they left off watching the Travelers, he got curious and snuck over and tried to discover what they were up to—rather brave of him. The spy, who is a driver of one of the wagons, and the two men had a conversation in which the driver told them that Regis was no more.” Lew paused, trying to organize his words carefully.

“That news was enough for Miles Granfell . . .” he began.

“Granfell—I am not surprised!” Danilo looked grim as he spoke. “My contacts with him have not been as many as yours, Lew, but I have always thought him driven and ambitious.”

“Yes, all of that, and opportunistic as well, it seems. He knows that we take our dead leaders to the
rhu fead,
and he seems to have realized that it would be a fine opportunity to attempt a massacre of the Domains families, since most of us will accompany the funeral train.” Lew paused, waiting to see if anyone reacted, but everyone seemed too stunned to speak. “It seems to have been an impulsive idea, and he does not yet have the approval of Lyle Belfontaine. But knowing our Station Chief as I do, I find it hard to imagine him passing up what may be his last chance to try to get Darkover into the Federation instead of leaving in defeat in a month’s time. At the moment, it is only a plan, not yet an actual plot, but Domenic felt that Granfell was sincere in his intentions.”

“Nico knows nothing of spies and intrigues! He must come back at once!”

“Just a moment, Mikhail,” Danilo began quietly. “By the time you were Nico’s age, you had fought on the fire lines in the Kilghards, joined at least one catamount hunt that I can remember, and done any number of other dangerous things. I believe that it is good for Domenic to continue in this venture, for I, like Lew, have never really approved of Regis’ insistence on keeping all of us shut up in the Castle, getting on one another’s nerves, and looking over our shoulders for assassins. Certainly he must not be left alone, but I can see no useful purpose in dragging him back here and acting as if he were incapable of looking after himself for a night. The only question is who is the best person to go after him. I don’t believe that letting the news of his absence become common knowledge would be helpful, but I think he . . .”

Donal, looking quite self-conscious, interrupted. “
Dom
Danilo is right. Nico needs the experience, and he really is very clever.”

Mikhail turned and looked over his shoulder at his paxman, his expression troubled. Then he looked back, stared at Lew, and his face changed. “Perhaps, but I do not like it.”
There is something more, isn’t there, Lew? Something you are holding back.

Dom
Damon?

“I’ll go,” Herm shifted in his chair and spoke very quietly, an unreadable expression on his face.

“You?” Danilo gave him a questioning look.

“Yes. My face is not well-known, and it would not be the first time I engaged in a bit of skullduggery, Danilo. And besides, if I am not in Comyn Castle, then you can’t turn me over to Belfontaine for arrest.” He gave a cockeyed grin, looking gleeful and a little uncomfortable at the same time. “Not that you would, I know, but you can now tell the fellow that I am not here, and to go to hell. You do want to do that, don’t you, Mikhail?”

“More than you can imagine.”

“But, Herm,” Danilo began, “you have been away from Darkover for so long. Don’t you think that I, or someone . . .”

“Forgive me, but you are much too well known, Danilo. Someone would almost certainly recognize you, or Lew, or just about anyone else you could trust with this. But me—I have kept my ugly face out of the mediafaxes, so the number of people who might know me is very small even in the Federation, and on Darkover, I am a nobody. Good Lord—Gisela barely recognized me! And besides, there is no one on Darkover more in touch with Federation schemes.”

“Well, there is a certain wisdom in that, I guess,” Danilo admitted grudgingly. “Yes, if you go out and find out what is going on . . .” He trailed off, his vivid eyes more lively than they had been a few minutes before.

“Zandru blast the Terranan and their filthy, vile plans!” Mikhail’s face was white with anger. “What would have become of us if Nico hadn’t been there to uncover this plot?” He lowered his head into his hands and shook all over. Then he straightened up slowly. His face was pale, the anger was gone; only despair and resignation remained. “My impulse is to find these men and arrest them—which is precisely what I must not do. Damn Regis for dying anyhow!”

“My sentiments exactly, Mikhail,” Lew said dryly. The worst was over, he knew, although he did not look forward to telling his daughter what was going on. “Herm is a good man for the job. Between his knowledge of the Federation, his native cunning, and Nico’s intelligence, we should be able to avoid any disasters. And perhaps it will all come to nothing, it is still possible that Belfontaine will not want to risk a Board of Inquiry, or that there will not be time to arrange an ambush along the road. But I don’t intend to assume that, and neither should you.”

“Very well. You go out there, Herm, and get Nico to tell you everything, and then . . .”

Danilo cleared his throat softly, and everyone looked at him. “It strikes me that it is perhaps best if Domenic remains with Hermes—a man with a boy is less likely to draw attention than a man alone. Plus let’s not forget that Nico has the Alton Gift. That is very useful under these circumstances.”

“But the danger—”

“Is minimal, Mikhail,” Danilo said very calmly, as if he had already evaluated the possibilities and found them to his liking. “He has already shown that he is clever enough to get out of Comyn Castle unnoticed, and smart enough to inform Lew when he encountered a situation he could not manage on his own. He will be safe enough with Hermes, and between the two of them, they can discover whether this plot is anything to worry about. I am sure that Herm will not allow Nico to get into harm’s way.”

“I don’t like it! But you are probably right.” Mikhail grimaced. “Which leaves me the delightful task of telling Marguerida. Go, now, before I change my mind!” He groaned dramatically, then let something like a ghostly chuckle rise in his throat. He shook his head. “The ironic part is that, under any other circumstances, I would be tickled pink by Nico’s mischief.”

“We all would, son,” Lew answered.

Herm did not move for a moment, his head lowered as if he was thinking deeply. Then he rose from his chair and nodded. “I’ll take care of the lad as if he were my own.”

W
hen Herm reached his suite, he found Katherine on a couch in the sitting room, with a tablet of paper on her lap, sketching. She had removed the white gown she had worn at dinner, and replaced it with a shapeless and much-worn garment in a brown that did not become her. Her long hair was braided into a queue down her back, and there were smears of charcoal on her cheeks, like the marks of some tribeswoman preparing for a rite. She looked up at the sound of his footfalls and smiled in greeting. “Where did you get off to? You just vanished after dinner, leaving me to the mercies of Lady Javanne, who pretended she wished to know all about me. Fortunately, Gisela came to my rescue by distracting her. It must be very hard having that woman for a mother-in-law, and I pity both Marguerida and Giz.” She sounded amused by the whole incident, and more relaxed than she had been in days.

“Lew needed to discuss something with me,” he replied, falling back into the long habit of never revealing anything to anyone, even his beloved wife. Then he braced himself, realizing that his sudden decision in the study had been reached without much consideration for her needs. What had he been thinking? “And now I have to go away for a few days, dearest.”

“Away? Why? Where?” She gave him a sharp look.

“Something has come up, and I have to deal with it.” Katherine set her tablet aside and rose, frowning now. “I do not like the sound of this.”

“I’m sorry, Kate.”

“You aren’t going to tell me what is going on, are you?”

“No, I am not.”

“Why?”

“Because the less you know, the less chance there is that you will be tricked or induced to say something to the wrong person.”

“And who might that be?” she replied dangerously, the anger welling up slowly.

“I cannot say.” He did not want to remind her that there were telepaths all around them, and that she might disclose something without ever intending to. She was far too uncomfortable with that situation as it was. Nor did he choose to reveal that he found his sister’s sudden interest in Kate very suspicious. It seemed out of character, somehow, for Gisela. The little he had seen of her since his arrival had puzzled him. She was almost frantically gay one moment, then silent and removed the next. Certainly she was nothing like the young woman he remembered, and he wanted to warn his wife against trusting her overmuch. At the same time he knew it was important for Katherine to fit into this new life, and for her to make friends, so he held his tongue. He would have to depend on the good sense that Kate had always demonstrated in the past in dealing with people. Unfortunately, this was not easy for him, since he trusted very few people beyond his wife and children, and this did not include his father or his sister.

Herm did not want to believe his sister was capable of real treachery, but she had been reared with all of
Dom
Damon’s thwarted fury at his lack of real power. And marrying Rafael, which he knew had not been her first choice, must have been a blow to her pride and ambition. Gisela had never in the past settled for second best, and he suspected she was quite unhappy. He sighed softly.