Part 18 (1/2)
Eldri's face lit in a smile. ”None taken.” Then he added, ”The Memory doesn't actually know English, but she can replicate what she hears perfectly. Sometimes when she hears new combinations of sounds, she needs to check their p.r.o.nunciation.”
Garlin leaned toward Roca. ”What does light speed mean?”
”It means,” she said dourly, ”that it will take years for Brad's message to reach anyone.” It sounded even more depressing out loud.
”I don't see what good that will do,” Eldri said.
”Neither do we,” Brad admitted. ”But we must try.”
Eldri inclined his head in acknowledgment. As he and the others resumed their discussion in Trillian, Roca spoke to Brad in a low voice. ”Did you bring any weapons to this planet?”
”An EM pulse-gun.”
She sat up straighter. ”Do you have it with you here?” He could fight off a good number of warriors with such a weapon, as long as its ammunition and charge lasted.
He shook his head. ”Garlin, Eldri, all these people-they've been my friends for years. I would no more draw that gun on them than on my own family.”
”So you left it at the port.”
”Yes.” He rubbed his eyes. ”I thought of bringing it, but I knew I didn't need a pulse-gun to make Eldri behave.” He tapped the pocket of his jacket. ”I did bring my smart-knife. But it won't help much against an entire army.”
Although his response didn't surprise her, she wished he had thought to bring the gun. It was true, a pulse-gun was far more than he would need under most circ.u.mstances here, but someone in his position had to look at every possible danger. She glanced over the hall, so full of people who hoped Eldri and Garlin had a solution. ”What do you know about this Avaril fellow?”
”Eldri's people don't like him. They don't believe he has any right to a t.i.tle his father lost.” Brad paused.
”He is a personable man if you can get past his hatred of Eldri's family. But the Dalvador people love Eldri. The thought that Avaril would kill their Bard horrifies them.”
It horrified her, too. ”I wish we had your gun.”
Brad spoke quietly. ”Lady Roca, I would do my utmost to defend you and the people here. But attacking Avaril's men is another story. It violates so many interstellar contact laws, I can't even count them.”
Roca gave him a sour look. ”You Allieds have too many rules. Those warriors want to kill us. I would shoot them now and worry about interstellar contact laws later.”
”Yes, you could kill a good number of them before they caught you or the gun ran out of power. Then what?” He spoke in a low, intent voice. ”One pulse-gun can't destroy an entire army, even one armed with only swords and bows. You would be lucky to escape with your life, and it would be like stirring a hornet's nest out there.”
Roca winced at the image. She indicated Eldri and his advisers. ”What are they saying?”
”That we must prepare for a siege.”
She made an incredulous noise. ”This is surreal.”
”No kidding.”
Roca wasn't sure what he meant, but his tone mirrored what she felt. ”Why is Garlin frowning?”
”He and Shannar are talking about blocking the bridge.”
”Shannar?”
He indicated the older man. ”Shannar Ervoria. He knows military procedures better than anyone else here.”
”Have they considered destroying the bridge?”
Brad leaned forward to catch their notice. When Eldri inclined his head, Brad spoke in Trillian. Shannar answered, with Brad translating. ”The bridge is too solid to break.”
Roca considered what she had seen. Eldri's people knew how to smith metal swords and tools. She knew too little about forges to guess if the one here would have anything useful, but it was worth checking. As much as she hated the thought of destroying that extraordinary bridge, they had to consider it. ”Can they make explosives?”
After Brad translated, much discussion took place. Finally he said, ”It doesn't sound like it.”
”Perhaps you can help them make some.” Roca said. ”Gunpowder, maybe?”
”What is 'gunpowder'?” Eldri asked in English.
”For a bomb, sort of,” Roca said.
Garlin frowned. ”And what is 'bomb'?”
”You know,” Brad said. ”Boom. Rocks and people go flying.”
Garlin arched an eyebrow at him. ” 'Boom'?”
”We could pour burning oil,” Eldri said. ”Or drop boulders.”
With Brad translating, Shannar said, ”Oil might have uses. But we have no boulders here large enough to affect that bridge.”
”I cannot see my people starve!” Eldri pressed his palm against his breastbone. Then his eyes glazed and he stared into s.p.a.ce, his face blank.
The gray-haired woman leaned forward, her forehead creasing as she addressed Eldri in Trillian. He showed no sign of hearing. Shannar started to speak, but Garlin held up his hand, motioning for silence.
They all waited.
Brad spoke under his breath in a voice only Roca could hear. ”What the h.e.l.l just happened?”
”He had a seizure,” she murmured.
Eldri blinked several times and looked around. Garlin and the others resumed their discussion, making an obvious effort to act as if nothing had happened.
”He has seizures?” Brad asked.
Roca nodded. ”How well do you know Eldri and Garlin?”
”Garlin, well. We often play chess.” He paused, rubbing his chin. ”Eldrinson comes by much less often.
He lives in seclusion, except when he sits as a judge or sings at festivals. His people say he is-” He spoke a Trillian word. It sounded flat, without the chiming of Lyshrioli vocal cords. ”It means something like 'touched by the G.o.ds.' ”
She sighed. ”That seems to be what they call it here.”