Part 28 (1/2)
”Why is Sparrow in blue then?”
Pony clicked his tongue in an elfin shrug. ”Sparrow has issues of her own making.”
They reached Aum Renau just before sunset, and the palace sprawled glorious in the shafts of deep gold sunlight. It crowned the steep hills along the river-white limestone with mullioned gla.s.s windows, partially obscured by towering trees and a riot of flowers.
”Aum Renau,” Pony murmured beside Tinker as the gossamer closed on the palace.
”As viceroy, Windwolf usually stays here? Does the palace come with the appointment?”
Pony nodded to the first question, and then shook his head. ”It is his, not the crown's.”
Your boyfriend is rich, Tinker thought, and then winced as she remembered that-as far as the elves were concerned-Windwolf was her husband. We're going to have a long talk about that. We're going to have a long talk about that.
Typical of elfin design, the palace seemed to be a linked series of buildings incorporating the natural landscape. Beyond the structures that crowned the hill, more buildings stepped down the eastern exposure, tucked onto ledges and around a steep waterfall. In one wide flat area, jarring against the green and white, sat a courtyard filled with tall stark black stones.
”What are the stones?” Tinker asked, pointing them out.
”Nothing for you.” Sparrow focused on storm clouds moving toward them. She made a slight hurt noise and headed toward the control cabin.
”They are the Wind Clan's spell stones,” Pony told Tinker, glancing after Sparrow, and then he too focused on the storm clouds.
The dark forms converged in a manner not natural to clouds, although far too large and dark to be other gossamers.
”What are those?”
”Dreadnoughts,” Pony said.
As the airs.h.i.+ps drew closer together, she saw that they were a product of elves' contact with man. Instead of a living s.h.i.+p like the gossamer, the dreadnoughts were fully mechanical, obviously a blend of airs.h.i.+p and armored helicopter. The barrels of heavy guns bristled from the black hull, reminding Tinker of the spiked hide of a river shark. The two dreadnoughts blocked the airs.p.a.ce over the palace and flashed out a warning on a signal lamp. A few minutes later, having apparently received some communication back from the gossamer, the dreadnoughts pivoted and moved off.
”How odd,” Pony murmured, his eyes narrowed in speculation. ”I've never heard of the flags.h.i.+p being challenged before. Sparrow is right; something has happened.”
The gossamer tethered at an airfield in a wide hilltop meadow, some distance from the palace. Horses and a coach waited. The Wyverns, still bruised and sulking, mounted the horses. The ground crew unrolled a carpet from the elevator to the carriage in order to save Tinker's hated slippers from harm. Pony had to help her mount the tall step up into the coach without entangling her long skirt. Inside one could hold a party; facing leather-upholstered bench seats allowed eight adults to sit comfortably.
”Slide over to the other side,” Pony murmured as he made sure Tinker's gown didn't catch in the doorway.
Annoyance flickered over Sparrow's face as she stepped into the coach. She sat on the right side of the bench instead of making room for Pony. The bodyguard climbed in, latched the door, and settled on the bench opposite the females.
Minutes later, the reason for Pony's suggestion and Sparrow's annoyance became clear. They traveled along a wide avenue designed with views in mind. Around each curve was a new beautiful vista of the valley. The river ran wide as a lake, reflecting the sun. Stone walled enclaves sectioned up the west bank into orderly squares and rectangles. Virgin forest blanketed the far eastern bank. A s.h.i.+p was sailing upriver, the wind filling its sail colored Wind Clan blue, leaving a V-shaped wake behind it. A great white bird drifted over the water, giving desolate cries.
”What kind of bird is that?” Tinker asked.
Pony leaned forward to peer out the window. ”A chiipeshyosa chiipeshyosa.” He then directed her attention to the wooden docks lining the river. ”Those smaller boats were built in Pitsubaug Pitsubaug,” he used the Elvish word for Pittsburgh, ”and taken down river to the ocean, then around to here. They are steel-hulled, and use fuel-cell engines.”
But then the palace came into sight, and Tinker lost all joy of the experience. The last few hours of Sparrow's and Pony's frantic tutoring had done nothing but reveal her ignorance of formal elfin culture, making her feel like a junkyard dog about to go on parade.
The front entrance had a portico of stone arches heavy with climbing roses. From there, they walked through a series of hallways-wide, airy, filled with sunlight, polished marble. Elves stood talking in small groups, all dressed in elegant splendor. Recognizing Sparrow, they would fall silent and bow, but their eyes fixed with curiosity on Tinker.
”Am I that odd looking?” Tinker whispered to Pony.
”They are merely curious to see who has captured Windwolf's heart.”
”Me?”
”Yes, you.”
And that gave her the courage to walk into the great gathering room full of beautiful females and males.
The room had been designed on a large scale, meant to be impressive. A grove of ironwood had been cultured into a straight row. The thick tree trunks vaulted hundreds of feet straight up before branching into a canopy of green. Polished granite formed the floor, and whatever made up the ceiling was lost somewhere overhead. Elf s.h.i.+nes drifted in the shadows, gleaming motes of living light.
Large as it was, the room hadn't been designed to hold the number crowded into it now. Thankfully they were focused on the other side of the room, where a heated debate ranged. As Sparrow murmured something to a male in the queen's colors waiting at the door, Tinker recognized Windwolf's voice, and she edged sideways to see through the crowd to spot him.
He stood near the front of the hall, his hair unbound in a s.h.i.+mmering black cascade down his back. He wore a bronze that matched her underdress and a duster of the leaf pattern of her overdress. The sheath of his long ceremonial sword cut a slash of deep blue across his back.
”Earth Son, your proposals are like setting a forest fire to bring down one black willow,” he was saying in High Elvish, in carefully chosen words. Between his clear, deep enunciation and slow pacing, Tinker easily followed what he said.
Earth Son was a male in a rich green, taller than Windwolf, but more slender. He was flanked by sekasha sekasha tattooed in Stone Clan colors. ”You deny the Seer's Sight?” tattooed in Stone Clan colors. ”You deny the Seer's Sight?”
”I am not saying that.” Windwolf's voice filled the s.p.a.ce with a deep grandeur that was unmatched by his opposition. ”Certainly I have seen shadows of the oni against the wall. Even the humans are dreaming of tengu.” At least that's what Tinker thought he said, although she didn't understand it fully. ”Obviously their spies have reached Elfhome.”
”We must take steps to protect ourselves.”
”Slas.h.i.+ng about madly will only take out our allies.”
The press of bodies s.h.i.+fted and Tinker lost sight of the two speakers.
”Allies?” Earth Son's voice filled with scorn. ”The humans? All evidence points that they are in league with the oni!”
”What evidence? Do you have proof that you are keeping hidden from me? If so, I demand that you bring it forward now. I represent the Wind Clan here; I will not be kept ignorant.”
”The human Pathway is punching a hole through our defenses, leaving us open to attack! They are acting in conjunction with the oni.”
Tinker s.h.i.+fted sideways just as Windwolf paced into view, in profile to her now. My husband. My husband. G.o.ds, that sounded so weird. G.o.ds, that sounded so weird.
”You are conjecturing that creating a tool is the same as gifting it?” Windwolf rolled his hand lazily, indicating one unsound statement following another. ”Do you blame a smith for the crimes of a thief?”
”Ah!” Earth Son cried as if he won some great victory. ”So you at least admit that the oni are using the human's Pathway?”
Windwolf sighed visibly and shook his head. ”I do not deny that is possible, but I will also remind the court that the oni are as mythical to the humans as we were.” He paced back out of sight. ”It's undeniable that individuals or even groups of oni have reached Earth, why else the legends, but where are the screaming hordes? They are not on Earth.”
”Do you think you've been told the truth? Do not be naive in thinking humans understand honor.”
Tinker s.h.i.+fted and caught sight of the two males again. They stood now only an arm reach apart, intent as duelists upon each other.
”I have found,” Windwolf said with a dangerous rumble, ”the percentage of honorable humans is the same as elves.”
As Earth Son stood still, apparently considering whether he'd been insulted or not, Pony whispered to Tinker, ”The Stone Clan have lost power since the Pathway to Pittsburgh opened. They have always advocated that the humans be forced to close the Pathway.”
That helped clarify the situation! Now, why was she here?