Part 29 (1/2)

”Never before,” Gun agreed, ”because the Tarkin always counted the cost of it, in time, in soldiers, and in lost revenues. But what if the cost was immaterial to him? What if it's the Shadow that comes? The Green Shadow cares only to destroy the Marked.”

”What is this Shadow?” Fanryn said. ”Is it the Sleeping G.o.d, awakening to destroy us?”

The Cloudman's bark of laughter brought every head up. ”Don't be misled by the lies of fools. We have nothing to fear from the Sleeping G.o.d, awake or asleep. This is some enemy.”

”Enough.” The Tarkin's soft baritone cut across and silenced all other noise. ”Dal-eDal, if you have nothing further to add, would you withdraw, and allow me to consult with my advisers?”

”I am entirely in your hands, Tek-aKet,” the Tenebro man said. ”But I urge you again, waste no time.”

Eighteen ”SO THE LORD DAL-EDAL is certain.” Cullen's Racha bird Disha had hopped up on the table in front of him, and was eating tiny pieces of hard cheese from the palm of his hand. ”I don't find his certainty altogether rea.s.suring, do you?” He and his Racha tilted their heads at each other, their movement a perfect mirror image. ”It's madness to believe him.” Cullen's quiet tone was at odds with his words. ”It is a trick. These men have been sent by the Tenebroso Lok-iKol to lure you into acting before you are prepared.”

”Mercenaries?” Tek-aKet looked up from the food lying untouched on his plate.

”What of Karlyn-Tan?” Dhulyn said. ”The oaths taken by the Stewards of a House are as binding as those taken by Mercenaries . . . or by Racha Clouds,” she added, inclining her head toward Cullen and Disha. ”Do you suggest that he has not been Cast Out? A Steward of Walls does not leave his post for a trick, not even so weighty a trick as this one.”

”But, Dhulyn.” Now it was Thionan who spoke up from her perch on the nearby table. ”Demons? Possession by green shadows? We can't make plans based on such ravings. Has any of us, any we can trust, seen this thing?”

”I have.”

In the silence you could hear the rustling of Disha's feathers as she turned her head to look.

”You, Lionsmane?” Alkoryn's harsh whisper held the surprise that was mirrored on every other face in the room. Dhulyn almost smiled. Parno was supposed to be the ordinary soul, she she was the strange one. was the strange one.

”In the eyes of a Jaldean priest in Navra. A priest who was standing at the back of a mob while that mob burned down a Finder's house, with his children still inside.”

”I also have seen it,” Dhulyn added.

”In Navra?”

”In a Vision.”

Cullen and Disha leaned forward, their heads at an identical tilt. Disha half opened her wings and took two rocking steps toward Dhulyn on her taloned feet. Dhulyn hesitated, aware that everyone in the room waited for her next words. Should she reveal what she'd seen of the Scholar, or should she keep it to herself until she'd had a chance to investigate it further? Did Gundaron of Valdomar know that the Green Shadow had also looked through his his eyes? It might be an idea to find out before exposing him. eyes? It might be an idea to find out before exposing him.

”I have Seen a green-eyed Lok-iKol on the Carnelian Throne, his shadow misshapen on the wall behind him.”

Cullen and Disha nodded, satisfied, but the Tarkin's two guardsmen showed by their thinned lips and narrowed eyes that belief was mixing with something closer to fear in their thoughts. Dhulyn sighed, and pressed her lips together. It was exactly to avoid that look that she'd always kept her Mark to herself.

The Tarkin had seen it also. ”Let me remind you,” he said to his men. ”If Dhulyn Wolfshead was not Marked, I would be dead. And you, who gave oaths to defend me to the death, would be either dead as well, or alive and forsworn. She has done us all a great service.” Both men had the grace to look shamefaced at their feet. Tek-aKet nodded, satisfied.

”May I have your counsel for action?”

Slowly Dhulyn realized that everyone in the room, Cloudman, Racha bird, Mercenary Brothers-Tarkin and his guardsmen-all were looking at her. She glanced first at Parno, then at Alkoryn. Both men nodded to her.

”The Green Shadow exists,” she said. ”Whatever its ultimate goal, it begins by destroying the Marked.” She glanced around at the faces intent on her words. ”That is where it begins begins. We cannot know how it will continue.”

”It begins where it fears the most, you think?” Parno had obviously been giving this some thought.

”Very likely,” Dhulyn agreed. ”If it fears the Marked, it means the Marked can harm it somehow. We need to find out how.”

”No.” They turned to the Tarkin. ”We must remove it from the Throne.”

Tek-aKet Tarkin raised his hands, palms toward her, and Dhulyn fell silent. ”With respect, Dhulyn Wolfshead, hear me out. Perhaps we can destroy it, but perhaps we cannot. Our first act must must be to remove it from the throne, to regain control of Imrion. At the moment, its power does not extend past Gotterang, and if we act quickly, it will not. Once we have the city, now that we know what we must fight, we will have a position of power from which to do it.” He placed his hands palm down on the table. ”We must act and act now.” be to remove it from the throne, to regain control of Imrion. At the moment, its power does not extend past Gotterang, and if we act quickly, it will not. Once we have the city, now that we know what we must fight, we will have a position of power from which to do it.” He placed his hands palm down on the table. ”We must act and act now.”

Alkoryn was nodding, his fingers tracing lines on an imaginary map. ”A frontal a.s.sault will not work. We have not the numbers needed, and unlike Lok-iKol, we've no trick to empty the Dome of its Carnelian Guards.” He looked up from his tracing to indicate the rock walls around them. ”Fortunately, we know a way into the Carnelian Dome that has nothing to do with front gates, or the number of guards. Dhulyn, my Brother, if you would.”

Dhulyn bowed and turned to the door. ”Rehnata,” she called, and waited for the girl to appear in the entrance before turning back to Alkoryn.

”Fetch my maps of Gotterang,” Alkoryn said now that the girl was within reach of his voice. ”The blue series, not the green, and the plans of the Dome. When you have done that, bring back our guests.”

”If you would stand here, Lady Disha,” Alkoryn the Senior Brother said in his scarred voice. Thus courteously addressed, Disha was happy to move. There weren't many who knew the Racha would understand them-as, of course, she could, so long as Cullen himself was in the room. If it were possible, his already healthy respect for the Mercenary Brotherhood increased.

”There are three layers of guards,” Tek-aKet Tarkin was saying. ”Those here, in the outer perimeter, allow access to the public rooms and galleries where any pet.i.tioner may enter; here the second, letting pa.s.s only those who have business with the Throne. And finally, here, the innermost circle,” he looked up. ”These posts are usually taken by my own Personal Guard, and they watch the family and private rooms.”

”So far as I can tell,” the Tenebro Lord Dal-eDal said, frowning down on the drawings, ”the guard postings have not changed-though the guards themselves are different.” His brows drew down even further. ”No, there is is one change. There are now guards here, in the Onyx Walk.” one change. There are now guards here, in the Onyx Walk.”

Cullen's eyes narrowed as Disha c.o.c.ked her head to look closely at the Tenebro man. He'd no trust of this one either, cousin to the usurper, a man who stood to gain no matter who died. Cullen s.h.i.+fted his gaze across the room to where Dhulyn Wolfshead stood, relaxed, her eyes on Dal-eDal, her wolf's smile on her lips. Except for that, and their intent stares, the Partnered Brothers could have been asleep on their feet, there was so little tension in their bodies. Disha transferred her golden eye to the Wolfshead in response to Cullen's thought.

+SEER+ was the thought that Cullen caught. +YES+ he answered. The balance of power in the room had changed utterly for him when he understood the direction of what had been said. Menders, Finders, even Healers were to be found among the Clouds-and if Lok-iKol was hunting the Marked, that was reason enough for him to help kill the man. But a Seer Seer. His mother had spoken of one that had been known in her her mother's day. Cullen had no more hoped to be in the same room as a Seer than he would have hoped to fly without Disha. mother's day. Cullen had no more hoped to be in the same room as a Seer than he would have hoped to fly without Disha.

We are here for you, Seer, he thought, knowing that Disha heard him and agreed. he thought, knowing that Disha heard him and agreed. My soul and I. Yours is the lead we follow. My soul and I. Yours is the lead we follow. He and his soul turned their attention back to the man speaking. He and his soul turned their attention back to the man speaking.

”That need not preclude our using that entrance, though we would lose the element of surprise,” Alkoryn Pantherclaw was saying, tapping his gnarled index finger on the plans in front of him. ”And there are other secret ways by which we can enter into the Dome, but,” and here the old one paused, looked at the Tarkin and at the Tenebro lord. ”But I will not take Dal-eDal through these ways.”

The Tenebro lord hissed air in through his teeth, plainly displeased, and Cullen smiled, Disha s.h.i.+fting from foot to foot.

”Surely-” The Tarkin broke off in the face of Alkoryn Pantherclaw's slowly shaking head.

”You objected, Tek-aKet, that the Mercenary Brotherhood knew of ways into your Dome, and now you ask that we tell others? I should not even have taken you you that way, but what's done is done. As Senior Brother, I must consider the future and not merely the needs of the moment. In any case, we could not take many through the tunnels and pa.s.sages. I advise sending only those who have already been. What say you, Brothers?” that way, but what's done is done. As Senior Brother, I must consider the future and not merely the needs of the moment. In any case, we could not take many through the tunnels and pa.s.sages. I advise sending only those who have already been. What say you, Brothers?”

Dhulyn Wolfshead grimaced, considering. ”It seems to me these pa.s.sages were never intended to be used by soldiers-to the contrary. In many places they are so narrow, that we could pa.s.s only one at a time, considering that we will be carrying weapons. That would likely also be true of whichever secret door we used.” She turned to Parno Lionsmane and added, ”Remember the engagement at Lashar? Where we used the caves beneath the escarpment? One company of men was caught and slaughtered because of just such a bottleneck in the pa.s.sages. Besides Tek-aKet, I would recommend no more than six Brothers.”

”We can't walk in the front door,” Tek-aKet said, rubbing his chin with the fingers of his right hand. ”But Dal-eDal can, and he can bring others with him.” can't walk in the front door,” Tek-aKet said, rubbing his chin with the fingers of his right hand. ”But Dal-eDal can, and he can bring others with him.”

”That I can't do. I was sent for Dhulyn Wolfshead, and I can't return without her.”

”Then Dhulyn Wolfshead you shall have,” she said.

Cullen clenched his teeth and remained silent. The Wolfshead waited patiently until the storm of protest died away before continuing as if she had not been interrupted. ”We'll be able to operate from two fronts, allowing us to flank if need be.” She looked up, not at her Senior, but at Lionsmane, her Partner. ”I'll be perfectly safe,” she said in her honey-rough voice, ”until I get to the Green Shadow, and by then you'll be there.”

”We are for you, Dhulyn Wolfshead,” Cullen said. ”Disha and I. We also should not be shown the secret ways,” he added.

”I can't bring back more than the eight I brought away with me,” the Tenebro lord said. ”In fact, it would be more convincing if I returned with fewer.”

”You would have needed a tracker to find a Mercenary Brother,” Cullen said. ”I am that man, come with you in the hope of greater rewards.”