Trident's Forge (21 page)

He signed off.

They reached the council chamber. Feng stepped ahead to hold the door for her. Inside, all the usual suspects were seated around the table, with Merick in the large chair so recently occupied by the late Valmassoi.

“Ah, chief constable,” Merick stood to greet them. “And Mr Feng. Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please be seated.”

Theresa and Feng took two open chairs as far apart as they could, with Feng sitting in his usual spot just outside the circle.

“I'm here,” Theresa said a little impatiently. “What's the problem?”

“Chief constable, I hardly need to tell you the gravity of today's shocking events…” Merick said, transitioning smoothly into the cadence of a politician giving a campaign speech. Which, she figured, he very well could be. The special election would either confirm his interim appointment or choose a new administrator altogether. He had a mighty narrow window to solidify his position with the public. A desperate politician was an unpredictable one.

“…and after careful deliberations, this council has decided that it's in the best interests of Shambhala's citizens to expand our defensive capabilities. Pursuant to that goal, you have been tasked with recruiting and training a reserve force of no fewer than one hundred new deputy constables to supplement your existing officers, should they become necessary.”

“A hundred?” Theresa said, not even trying to mask her surprise.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“It's unnecessary,” she replied. “That's twice as many officers as I have now. Equipping them alone would wreck my budget, to say nothing of the man hours we'd eat up training them.”

“Funding will not be an issue,” Merick said. “Just send us an updated budget reflecting your expected requirements and–”

“I'm sorry,” Theresa interrupted, “But did the crime rate suddenly triple without my noticing?”

“Not at all,” Merick said. “Your officers have upheld law and order admirably. This reserve is intended more for, external threats.”

Theresa crossed her arms. “You mean the Atlantians.”

Merick didn't bother with an evasion. “That would be the immediate threat, yes.”

“They're on the other side of an ocean and don't know how to build boats. Not exactly what I'd call an
immediate
threat.”

“Oh, climb down from your high horse, constable,” Gregory Alexander said, joining the conversation.

“I'm sitting down, Mr Alexander.”

“They attacked our peace delegation and killed half a dozen of our people.”

“They did no such thing,” Theresa reminded him sternly. “The Atlantians lost people too, quite a few more than we did from what I hear. They were victims just as much as we were.”

“Of other Atlantians,” Merick pointed out calmly.

“Yeah, well, we haven't been great about that ourselves recently.”

“Kimura's attack was the work of a madman and a handful of brainwashed disciples. This was larger than that,” Alexander broke in.

“We don't know what
this
is,” Theresa countered. “My husband is busy figuring it out as we speak.”

Merick raised his hand. “And he will be given every opportunity and assistance in doing so. And once he does know who is responsible, this reserve force will be ready to round the perpetrators up and bring them to justice.”

“You want me to ready an invasion.” Theresa said, dumbfounded.

“Well it's not like we have an extradition treaty with them,” Alexander said to a round of laughter.

“My constables are keepers of the peace, acting administrator,” Theresa said, placing just the tiniest emphasis on “acting.” “What you're talking about is the beginnings of an army.”

“It's just a precaution, chief,” Merick said reassuringly. “With any luck, they won't be necessary.”

“Where am I supposed to find the people? We're not exactly dealing with high unemployment around here.”

“Look outside,” Alexander said, motioning to the demonstrators still milling about on the street. “I'm sure you'll find some patriots willing to donate their time.”

Theresa could scarcely think of people less qualified, yet more enthusiastic to sign up to fight the savage natives than the idiots she'd just spent the entire day babysitting. The thought of it turned her stomach. She had half a mind to explain the fact.

“We'll manage,” she said instead.

“Excellent,” Merick announced. “Mr Feng, will you coordinate with Captain Mahama and the Ark's manufacturing department to make sure Chief Benson has everything she needs?”

“Of course, administrator. She has my full support,” Feng said. Theresa hoped no one was wise to his double meaning.

“Then this session is adjourned.” Merick stamped a handleless hammer on the table and rose to leave. “Chief constable, a word in private?”

Projecting calm annoyance, Theresa stood and followed Merick into the hallway. They walked a short way deeper into the atrium, away from prying ears.

“Chief,” Merick said just above a whisper. “I just wanted to tell you personally that I didn't bring this motion to the table, nor did I vote for it. But support was… quite strong among the rest of the members.”

“They're panicking,” Theresa said accusingly.

“They're responding to public pressure,” Merick corrected. “That's their job in a democracy, remember?”

“They're supposed to lead the people, not succumb to their ugliest impulses.”

“Just go along with this for now. It will let the council tell people we're taking steps to protect them. Things will calm down in a few days.”

Not if whoever's whipping up the crazies keeps stirring the pot
, Theresa thought.

“Anyway,” Merick continued, “I can see you're uncomfortable with this assignment, I can't say I blame you. But with Sergeant Atwood's death, you're the most logical choice for it. Just think of it as doing what you can from here to help Bryan.”

“Oh, Bryan doesn't need any help finding trouble. I shudder to think what he'd do with a hundred-person army backing him up.”

Merick snorted. “Me too.” Then he put a hand on her shoulder. Theresa managed not to flinch. “Let's just hope we don't have to find out. Goodnight, constable.”

Theresa nodded. “Administrator.”

She ran into Feng again near the front door. “What was that about?” he asked quietly.

“Pandering.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Right now? I'm deputizing you.”

Feng paused, shocked. “Me?”

“You. Welcome to the Tactical Reserve, Constable Feng.”

“Are you mad?”

“Livid.” They were outside now. Korolev was finally coming down from his watch. Theresa grabbed him by an elbow and whispered. “Pavel, I have some new training for your football buddies to do. Set it up.”

“Okaaay,” he said, confused. “For how many?”

“All of them.”

K
exx pawed
at the broken pieces of the crashed drone, running zer fingers over their glassy-smooth surfaces, trying to pick up tastes and smells as well as the texture of the object. It was, strange. Most of the pieces had no taste at all. Even rocks had distinct tastes. The obsidian of spear points was the only other material Kexx knew that had no taste at all. But these parts were light and flexible where obsidian was hard and brittle.

Other parts had a bitter taste reminiscent of certain types of river stones, and were impossibly strong and stiff for their weight. Benson called them “metal,” another human concept to add to zer growing list. The strange little spinning wings on the corners seemed much too small to keep such a large bird in the air, but Benson said they made up for their small size by spinning very fast. One of them had snapped off at the root. Here, there was a faint trace of blood, probably from striking an animal in midair, but the blood had dried, making it almost impossible to tell what it had come from.

Kexx raised zer head. “This isn't helpful. I need to see a body.”

“I'm sure I saw one of them go down in the crops,” Benson said. “I'll look around.”

Kexx waved zer off. “Just shout if you find something. And watch for uliks.”

With zer partner trampling through rows of yulka stalks like a lost dux'ah calf, Kexx pushed the racket aside and held zer hands outstretched, fingers splayed into crosses to catch the most wind, and tasted the air. Slowly, deliberately, ze swept through each row, carefully sampling the mix of flavors caught on the breeze. The winds ran parallel with the rows, making them natural wind channels. If ze was lucky, the crop rows would isolate any scent of decay and drastically narrow the search.

Of course, the trick would only work so long as the carrion was downwind from zer. And with the smoke of the funeral pyres of the previous evening's returned in the air, the task wouldn't be a simple one.

Kexx marched down the rows with purpose, confident in what ze was looking for, but afraid of it all the same. A childhood memory grabbed hold of zer, an image of zerself near the beach with zer parents. The tide had pulled out. Kexx and zer older sibling, Zuke, ran down the warm sand, chasing after jubins left behind in the shallow pools. In their exuberance, Zuke missed the signs of the sucking sands and both of zer feet caught in the pull. Ze struggled and struggled, but to Zuke and Kexx's horror, ze just sank deeper with each pull of zer legs.

Zuke was eventually pulled free, but it took a fullhand strong backs to do it. Kexx remembered the look on zer sibling's face as ze sunk deeper into the sand, the panicked chaos playing across zer skin.

Kexx felt that way now. Sinking deeper into something terrible, with only a half-crazy, naïve human to depend on to pull zer out again. It was not an encouraging thought.

On the tip of one finger, Kexx caught the faintest whiff of death among the aroma of ripening grain. Ze stopped and turned both of zer arms in the direction of the telltale scent. It was weak, but present. Ze moved over a row, then another as the smell strengthened, waiting for it to weaken again.

Kexx zeroed in on the row where the sickly-sweet aroma reached its apex, then ran down the row, ignoring the yulka stalks lashing at zer arms and legs. The smell of decay grew, accumulating on zer fingers until it drowned out the scent of dirt and pollen and beans.

Ze skidded to a stop in front of a yulka stalk kinked over near its base. Something had knocked it down. Carefully, Kexx lifted the plant and gently set it aside.

What ze found crumpled underneath sent a shimmer through zer skin.

“Benson, come here!” ze shouted, then sat and tried to calm zerself.

Benson came charging up, huffing like an ocean gale.

“You found it?” the human said between labored breaths. Kexx nodded. “What is it?”

“Trouble,” ze said simply. “It's an injri.”

“An injury?” Benson asked.

“
Injri
,” Kexx corrected. “They are trained as hunting birds.”

“Trained by whom?”

“The Dwellers.”

“Ah, naturally. That settles it, then…” Benson paused. “Who the fuck are the Dwellers?”

“You don't know?”

Benson crossed zer arms, a gesture Kexx had come to recognize as annoyance or defiance when Mei did it.

“Indulge the ignorant human. How do you know this animal was trained and not wild?”

Kexx gave zerself a little shake. “They dwell in Xis's womb, deep below ground in caves. The injri live in the mouths of these caves, normally only coming out at night to hunt. But trained birds will come out in the light. These attacked your drone in daylight, yes?” Benson nodded. “That is how I know.”

Benson absorbed the explanation. “And the Dwellers? What's their deal?”

“Later,” Kexx said tersely as ze gathered up the injri corpse and slung it over zer shoulder. “Now, we must return to the village.”

T
he chill
throughout the temple had nothing to do with the temperature. The Emissary's Sanctuary still lay on its roof like the largest bowl ever made, but everyone's eyes were firmly fixed on the dead injri Kexx had slapped down onto the ceremonial table only a moment before, its stink of decay slowly filling the temple like a fog. You could hear a seed hit the floor.

Kexx glanced around at the hastily called assembly. Their faces and skin were muted, listless, as if they still hadn't brought themselves to accept that the events of the last day were real. On the far side of the room, Benson leaned against the wall, arms crossed and eyes set. Mei paced near him. Whether out of anxiety or anger, Kexx couldn't say.

Kuul was the first to find zer words again. “Our vengeance must be swift as the wind and merciless as a starving ulik pack.”

“Against the Dwellers?” Chak spat. “With what? The smattering of warriors who they haven't already maimed or killed?”

“This threatens the entire village,” Kuul snapped. “We
all
go.”

The silence in the temple returned as Chak was stunned pale and speechless. “Send field tenders, mud stoners, children, and bearers into the Dwellers' caves? Is your head cold?” Chak demanded.

“Well, obviously not the bearers…” Kuul added.

Chak's skin flared blue. “If Tuko was here, ze would never–”

“Tuko isn't here, elder Chak,” Kuul interrupted.
So, it had started
. Kexx thought. Kuul was making zer move to take control of the village. That couldn't be allowed.

“Tuko sleeps, it is true,” Kexx said evenly. “But our chief has not yet returned to Xis, and it would be inappropriate to speak in zer stead.”

“Someone must act,” Kuul said. “We go, unless you prefer to cower here and wait for them to finish us off? Have you forgotten what happened to our roadbuilders?”

“That is years past, Kuul,” Kexx said. “We've had many seasons of good trade with them since.”

“Many seasons of extortion, you mean. Our traders are harassed and intimidated into accepting far less than what is fair. Those who don't bow to their unreasonable demands never make it back over the Black Bridge.”

Chak was having none of the younger warrior's bluster. “So we march into their dens? Their mazes?”

“They would not expect an answer on their own lands so quickly.”

“Because only a chief with a brain of ice would give that command! I should hold a torch to your head until you start thinking straight again.”

Kuul's muscles tensed and bulged threateningly. “You are welcome to try, elder Chak.”

Chak stuck a finger out at the young warrior's face. “Was that a threat?! I've served this village since before you were born. I sorted your brood, child, and I'm starting to wonder if my head was cold when I spared you the knife.”

Kuul shrugged zer off arrogantly. “Maybe. We all have to live with our mistakes. But if the burden is too much to bear, just say the word and I will return you to Xis, because that was the only chance you ever had to kill me.”

Kexx forced a calm pattern onto zer skin and slid between the two of them. Anyone who looked closely would know it was forced, patronizing even, but ze didn't care. They were wasting time.

“Elders, please. Our adversaries lie beyond our fields, not inside these walls.”

“You're so sure of that, truth-digger?” Kuul pointed at the humans on the far side of the room. “Nothing but death has followed their arrival.”

“Standing right here,” Benson called out.

“I wasn't talking to you, deadskin,” Kuul said, zer voice drenched in scorn. “But since you interrupted, you should know I have half a mind to throw you all back into the sea.”

Benson rested a hand provocatively on the top of zer gun. “You are welcome to try, Kuul,” ze said, throwing Kuul's own words back in zer face. “Unless you're only fit to fight an elder twice your age.”

Kuul stared in blank-faced shock as if Benson had reached out and physically slapped zer. Chak's face, meanwhile, seemed torn between amusement and humiliation, with neither winning full control.

“Not helping, Benson,” Kexx chided as ze put zer hands on Kuul's shoulders in case ze needed to be held back once zer senses returned. It proved necessary.

“Did you hear what that dux'ah shit said to me?” Kuul exploded, suddenly pressing against Kexx's chest with all of zer considerable strength.

“Yes, I did. And I also heard what you said to Chak, and what Chak said to you, and it's time all of you started acting like elders instead of bickering children!”

Miraculously, Kuul calmed, and all three of them had the good sense to look embarrassed. At least that's what Kexx assumed Benson's face looked like. Ze suspected it was an unfamiliar state for the human to be in.

“That's better. Now, we're not emptying the village to march three days on the road and three days off just to die on Dweller spears.”

“We're not?” Kuul said, zer eyes narrowing and zer skin jagged.

“No,” Kexx held zer ground, “We're not. Not without knowing who ordered the attack and why.”

Kuul pointed at the injri corpse on the low table. “We know they did it.
You
brought us the proof, truth-digger. Your job is done.”

“With respect, it is not. We do not know which of the Dwellers ordered it, if it was their deep chief, one of the smaller lords, or some other faction.”

Kuul spat on the floor, a most disrespectful act inside the temple. “What does it matter? Dwellers are all the same.”

“Which is exactly what they say of us. Isn't that remarkable?” Kexx let zer words sink down through the thick mud of Kuul's mind before continuing. Kuul had many admirable traits. Ze was fearless in the face of danger and fanatical about protecting those ze counted among zer own. But no one would accuse zer of being a deep thinker. Kexx had learned how to use that lack of imagination to zer advantage. “Your warriors fought so bravely yesterday, Kuul, and sacrificed much. They deserve to unleash their vengeance on the
right
people. Let me do my job, then we will know for certain you are doing yours.”

“How long are we to wait?” Kuul demanded.

Kexx thought carefully about the question. Too short a time and ze wouldn't have enough time for travel and to complete zer work. Too long and Kuul's impatience for violence would boil over.

There was a third way, ze realized.

“You won't have to wait at all, because you're coming with us.”

“I'm what?”

“We'll be treading deeply into the Dwellers' territory. We'll need an escort.”

“Yes,” Chak spoke up. “I think that's a wonderful idea.”

“What, by myself?”

“No, of course not,” Kexx reassured the warrior. “Bring two of your strongest with you. Our travels will give the rest time to heal.” Kuul blanched at this, a fresh objection trying to bubble its way to the surface. “Is that a problem? You were willing only a moment ago to lead the whole village into open conflict. Is this any more dangerous?”

And with that, Kexx knew ze'd won the round. Kuul's mind was a straightforward affair. It picked a single trail and sprinted headlong down the path with impressive speed. Ze never saw Kexx's trap coming until it had already sprung. Still, ze would be a dangerous and unstable ally. Kuul would bear close observation during the journey.

“Three isn't a big escort,” Benson observed quietly. “We could use a few more.”

“I agree,” Kexx said. “We'll go to the envoys from the other villages and ask for volunteers.”

Benson smiled. “I like it. They have as much reason to find the truth as we do.”

“OK,” Mei said suddenly. “Then I volunteer.”

“What?” Benson said, switching to human and leaning over Mei. “No. Absolutely not.”

Mei put zer hands on zer hips. “Why not? I lost people too. They don't count?”

Benson stumbled a response, and Kexx knew Mei had won the argument.

“Fine,” Benson said, “But you're staying glued to my side, understand?”

“I protected you last time, remember?” Mei said.

Their little side conference over, Benson switched back to G'tel so everyone could understand. “I apologize for interrupting. Please continue.”

“I think we're about finished,” Kexx said. “I will talk to the other villages and assemble the party. We leave in the morning. Agreed?”

Looking around at the constellation of shifting skin patterns, Kexx knew many held objections, but they remained unspoken.