"Kelric's difficulties . . . exploring the reaches of the interstellar Skolian Empire, are a whole lot of fun to read about. . . . Well-written, entertaining, classic science fiction fun." —Cleveland Plain Dealer "A smoothly absorbing space opera that mixes high-tech gimmickry with galactic politics and plenty of romance. . . . This one packs in lots of action along with its many romantic interludes and diversions into speculative genetics." —Publishers Weekly "This intriguing novel combines hard speculative science with romantic adventure." —Library Journal "Ms. Asaro reveals fascinating new aspects of her talent with each new book, and readers can always expect something fresh, different, and absolutely wonderful." —Romantic imes Tor Books by Catherine Asaro THE SAGA OF THE SKOLIAN EMPIRE Primary Inversion Cach the Lightning The Last Hawk The Radiant Seas The Last Hawk Catherine Asaro A torn DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book." This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. THE LAST HAWK Copyright © 1997 by Catherine Asaro All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. Edited by David . Hartwell Map by Ellisa Mitchell A Tor Book Published by torn Doherty Associates, Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 1000 Tor Books on the World Wide Web: http://www.tor.com a registered trademark of torn Doherty Associates, Inc. ISBN: 0-812-55110-9 Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 97-15568 Firs! edition: November 1997 First mass market edition: December 1998 Printed in the United States of America 0987654321 To my daughter, Cathy, with love Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge the readers who gave me input on thisbook: Dr. Lynne Deutsch, Dr. Steve Goldhaber Dr Margaret Graffe, Dr. Kate Kirby, Dr. Malcolm LeCompte and Mr. Tim Oey. I give special thanks to the above because they were the first ever to see my fiction and their insights helped me learn to write. My thanks also to Dr Joan Slonczewski, to Eleanor Wood of Spectrm Literary Agency to Scovil, Chichak, and Galen, and to the staff at Tor in ' particular Tad Dembinski and David G. Hartwell A lo'vins thanks to my husband, John Kendall Cannizzo, for his care and support. Contents Map Prologue BOOK ONE: YEARS 960-966 OF THE MODEN AGE I: Dahl II: Haka III: Bahvia BOOK TWO: YEARS 971-976 OF THE MODERN AGE IV: Miesa V:Varz VI: Kam Appendix I: The Estates Appendix II: Glossary Appendix III: The Ruby Dynasty Appendix IV: Timeline About the Author / <% c.n :. ' .•: S i - «4; ••V»/. •, • • ' z--'//A •a1.. • ~. j t us j :r " "" •- fc' "•••-• -•„.- ••• ..:: >t •~ • M •- •- -' ••• .-••-.. '" - $€ ..' < .:4 ••'" ' ,, Vlw » _ .s V- / / TOEC > .- /W :,.r., c " . : JiJ e ••" ..;,.. M «V< ..,• S .„.- _ £V»A '.- ... 4 ' v •.-• .,- -" ! .. ""•••"" . •"" ' .. ""t ;", win ,. _ . __ 1, .;:...'" OKhwH WHff; cVtZiQA:'., IJE »se'' .... ——. . ' ••• ..- "• ,"' -.•"<* •w*.' ' 1 - t : .." O ' '--. ...,.- •••cc.:-.- •:" -•••-• .....,.-. Prologue The ship's controls wobbled in and out of focus. Kelric tried to rub his eyes, but his arm refused to respond. The exoskeleton on his pilot's seat had jammed around his body. When he fumbled for the catches, his fingers just scraped over the mesh. On his fourth attempt, the exoskeleton opened and he fell forward, sprawling across the weapons grid in the cockpit. The only illumination came from the red warning lights that glowed al over the control panels, bathing the cockpit in a dim crimson radiance that didn't reach its shadowed recesses. One green light shone among the red. An engine. One of his inversion engines. It was the only fully functional system on his ship. It was also why he still lived. "I'm inverted," Kelric mumbled. The same hit that had crippled his Jag fighter had kicked it from the sublight universe into inversion, hurling him away from his attackers before they could blast him into slag. The medkit above him hadn't released. He reached for it, but his arm faltered in midair and dropped back onto the grid. Not that it mattered. He needed far more help than a kit could give, more help even than provided by his nanomeds, the tiny cell-repair machines in bis body. Pain throbbed in his arm, from a bone-deep gash. In the exoskeleton he had been numb, probably because it injected him with an anesthetic. Or perhaps the biomech web in his body had released a drug that blocked pain receptors in his brain. It would give him only so much of the drug, though, before its safety routines cut it off, to prevent an overdose or brain damage. Now his arm hurt too much to move. Even if it intended to stay put, though, his ship was going somewhere. At least it had 2Catherine . taken him away from the Traders. He had been out alone, »i reconnaissance, when the Trader squad caught him. He iM they all inverted into the gravity well of a star and tff!i their careers as kindling for the local furnace. , An alarm sputtered. Lifting his head, he saw that thejMit light had turned yellow. The last inversion engine was ffm Kelric swallowed. He had to find a place to land. Closing rtt eyes, he tried to clear his mind. i | Bolt, respond, he thought. • The computer node in his spine answered. Attending f! messages traveled along bio-optic threads to his brain, VJ|R tiny bioelectrodes in his brain cells convened the signals 'iiUri; neural firing patterns. It worked in reverse as well, letting iWi "talk" to the node. ; Status ofnanomeds, he thought. | Nanomed series G and H functional but depleted, thei answered. Series 0 nonfunctional. All other series exhibit •mMil function. ; Kelric grimaced. His nanomeds repaired his body. B!l med consisted of two parts, a molecule designed for a i«T lar task and a picochip, an atomic computer that operated )it quantum transitions. Altogether, the picochips formed i picoweb that told the meds what to do and how to replicate themselves. But it was Bolt, his spinal node, that ran the show. Like the conductor of a symphony it directed his entire bio-1 mech web, which consisted of the picoweb, the bio-optics threading his body, and the bio-electrodes in his brain. The system had been integrated into his body fourteen years ago, ' when he was twenty, the year he received his officer's co- 1 mission. Bolt, he thought. What happened to my biomech web? ' You were linked into the ship's Evolving Intelligence brain when we were hit, so your web took a lot of damage. I am making repairs, ? but the malfunctions are to extensive for me to fully correct. Proceed » immediately to an ISC medical facility. If he hadn't hurt so much, Kelric would have laughed. Wish I could do that. He swallowed. Can you give me a status report? Accessing optical nerve, Bolt answered. _————————————————————— The Last Hawk 3 A display formed in Kelric's mind, with different views of his interior systems. Then the display "jumped" out in front of him so it looked like a ghostly image hanging in the cockpit. Posterior tibial arter damaged. Bolt highlighted a diagram of his circulatory system, showing a torn artery leaking blood. Kelric exhaled. His best hope to repair himself came from the final component of his internal systems: his Kyle centers. Unlike the biomech web, which had been created for him, he had been born with Kyle mutations, courtesy of his unusual genetics. Micscopic organs in his brain made it possible for his brain waves to interact with those of people nearby, letting him pick up their moods and on rare occasions their thoughts. He could also enhance the output of his own brain and so exert increased biofeedback control over his body. Kelric concentrated, trying to augment his biofeedback training. He helped speed structural components to the damaged artery, control his blood flow, and bring in nutrients. When he finally surfaced from his trance, he felt steadier, enough so he could sit up, holding his arm against his chest. An alarm warned again of the dying engine. "Navak," he said. 'Take us out of inversion, into sublight space." No response came from the navigation-attack node in the ship's Evolving Intelligence brain. "Navak," he repeated. "Initiate navigation mode." Silence. Bolt, give me the ship's emergency menu, he thought. Bolt produced a display of emergency psicons, like computer icons but in his mind instead of on a screen. He concentrated on the emergency-shutoff psicon for the inversion engines, the symbol of a running cheetah turning into a crawling snail. Only one of each animal appeared in the display, a reminder that he had only one functional engine. The cheetah was blinking off and on, warning it would soon disappear as well. Toggle emergency shutdown, he thought. Nothing happened. Bolt, toggle it! A twisting sensation hit Kelric, as if he were being pulled 4Catherine through a Klein bottle, the three-dimensional equivalent of ;| Mobius strip. The effect intensified with a nauseating ilH?nl wrench and then stopped t Bolt? he thought. ? We have dropped into normal space, Bolt answered j Kelric sagged in his seat, hit with an urge to laugh. fflBffi!T! Safe. He was safe. r He was also lost. None of his holomaps worked and | many files in the ship's El were degraded. He couldn't j accurate data. He knew only that he was light-years away rfifft his previous position, drifting in space like interstellar MWt What he needed was a beach to wash up on. "Navak," he said. "Respond." \ Nothing i Kelric slid his hand around his waist, searching his W?. back. Sockets in his spine, wrists, and ankles let him *r»)iiiM»l| his biomech web to exterior systems, such as the El brain •)i his ship. When a connector prong clicked into a socket, it linked his bio-optics to the ship's fiberoptics. The sockets } could also act as infrared receivers and transmitters, a less reli-' able form of communication than a physical link, but better' than nothing. When he had fallen out of the exoskeleton, its prongs had pulled out of his body. He tried to push one back into his lower spine, but the prong wouldn't stay put. Activate infrared receptors, he thought. ' IR nonfunctional Bolt thought. • Kelric swore. He was running out of options. Taking a 1 breath, he marshaled his thoughts. With his Kyle enhance- ; ments, maybe he could couple the fields of his brain directly \ to those of the ship's El brain. It helped that he was inside the I ship, essentially on top of the El; the electrical forces that dominated his brain activity fell off rapidly with distance. Concentrating, he tried to kick the El awake with his mind. A ghostly green marble appeared in the air in front of him, casting eerie light over the cockpit. It took him a moment to recognize it as a holomap's crudest default display i Kelric exhaled. "Planet," he rasped. ' Navaks audio made a scraping noise. - The Last Hawk 5 He tried again. "Planet." Nothing. Navak, he thought. You have to respond. A sentence formed in the air, green words in Navak's default font. HAV#"%SPOND IS AN UNIDENTIFIABLE COMMAND. Relief washed over Kelric. PLANET, he thought, with more intensity. The word appeared under Navak's response. PLANET WHAT? Navak printed. FIND ME ONE. OR A BASE. SOMEPLACE HABITABLE WE CAN REACH BEFORE ENGINE FOUR DIES. SEARCHING, Navak printed. Kelric waited. And waited. Maybe no place was near enough. Or Navak was too damaged to answer. Or the engine couldn't— OBJECT 85B5D-E6-JHEO SATISFIES YOUR REQUIREMENTS, Navak printed. WHAT is IT? DOES 'IT' REFER TO OBJECT 85B5D-E6-JHEO? For pugging sake, Kelric thought. What else would I mean? NO DATA EXISTS ON 'PUGGING S %' AS AN OBJECT, Navak printed. HOWEVER, 'PUGGING' APPEARS IN LANGUAGE FILE 4 UNDER PROFANITY. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE? WHAT WANT, Kelric thought, IS EVERYTHNG YOU'VE GOT ON OBJECT 85B5D—he squinted at the screen—E6-JHEO. S A PLANET. NAME: COBA. INHABITANTS: HUMAN. STATUS: RESTRICTED. Kelric swallowed. Inhabitants. Help. He just might survive this mess after all. TAKE SHIP TO COBA, he thought. BOOK ONE Years 960-966 of the Modern Age > ? ' 1 I \ Dahl i ) 1 l! t. t 4 < - . . . . t' 1 I < 1 Firt Move: The Golden Ball Deha Dahl, the Manager ofDahl Estate, was playing dice. She placed a cube in the structure of balls, pyramids, and polyhedrons on the table. Her opponent, one of her more intrepid Estate aides, wiped sweat from her forehead as she studied the dice. While Deha waited for her aide to make her move, she glanced around. They were in the Coral Room, a round chamber twenty paces in diameter. Painted a deep rose near the •floor, the walls shaded into lighter coral hues and then into white at the top. Mosaics were inlaid in the domed ceiling hig above them. The room's three doorways each arched to a point and then curved out in a circle graced with a stained-gass window. The doors were solid amberwood. Deha insisted on only the best for these chambers where she played the dice game of Quis with her aides, her peers—and her adversaries. Their audience of Estate aides sat in carved chairs around the table. They watched the game in silence, some no doubt wishing they could take the perspiring aide's place and others grateful it wasn't them in this duel of minds. All knew she had called this session to see how her opponent, an aide due a promotion, handled the pressure of playing against a Dice Queen. A hand touched Deha's shoulder. She looked around, surprised to see an aide who wasn't among the group she had selected to view the session. The aide bowed. "I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am. But Captain Hacha thought you would want to know immediately. A craft crashed up in the mountains near Dahl Pass." She paused. "It doesn't appear to be from Coba." There was a time when Deha would have shipped the bearer of such news off to the setting-sun-asylum for the mentally 12 Catherine Asaro ——————————————————————1 diminished. No longer. She stood up. "Have Hacha meet me in | my office." She glanced at her dice opponent. "We will con-» tinue later i The aide nodded and started to speak. Then she stopped, her ? gaze shifting to a point beyond Deha. She stood up and bowed, ? not to Deha but to someone else. Following her gaze, the rest. of Deha's aides stood up, in a flurry of moving chairs, and| bowed. '' Deha turned to see who evoked such a reaction from her staff. A retinue had appeared in one of the doorways, soldiers I in the uniform of her CityGuard. A girl stood in the center of| the group, a gray-eyed child on the verge of womanhood, with fiery hair curling around her face and falling in a thick braid | down her back. Tall for her age, she looked like the reincarnation of an incipient warrior queen who had transcended the milennia and stepped from the Old Age into the modem' world. ; Deha crossed to the girl and bowed. "Ixpar. What brings you here?" Ixpar's face was lit with contained excitement. "I heard about the craft that crashed near Dahl Pass. I came to help the rescue party." Deha silently cursed. It would be foolishness to let Ixpar join them. This was no normal child. Ixpar Kam: it meant Ixpar from the Estate 'of Kam. Of the Twelve Estates, Kam was largest, bigger even than Dahl. It was also the oldest. Its Manager not only ruled Kam; as Minister she stood highest in the hierarchy of the Estates. And she had chosen this girl to be her successor. Someday Ixpar would role Coba. , But if she didn't let Ixpar come with them, she risked alienating Kam. The girl was already a force in the flow of power among the Estates. Rumor claimed the Minister had been known to place her young successor's opinions above those of her senior advisers i Political prudence won out. "Very well," Deha said. She raised her hand as Ixpar's face lit up. "But I want you stay with my personal escort at all times." She glanced toward the mountains. "We have no idea what crashed up there." —————————————————————The Last Hawk 13 In her guest suite, Ixpar changed into hiking clothes: a sweater, leather pants, and a leather jacket. When she left the suite, she found her escort in the entrance foyer, four tall guards armed with stunners. They accompanied her as she walked through Dahl. Always guards. At times she was tempted to hide or slip away. But she resisted the urge, knowing she was the only one who would find it entertaining. Guards or no guards, though, she enjoyed the walk. It was hard to believe the Estate had once been an armed fortress. Its harsh interior had long ago given way to its present beauty, its stone floors softened with carpets and its formerly barred windows replaced by faceted yellow glass. Some corridors formed the perimeter of large halls, set off from them only by widely spaced columns. Just as the ancient warrior queens of Dahl had ruled from the Estate, so Deha and her staff now used it as their residence. They left the Estate and walked through the city. Blue cobblestones paved the streets, which wound among buildings made from pale blue or lavender stone, with turreted roofs. Spires topped the turrets and chains hung from their tips, strung with metal Quis dice. When the wind blew, which was almost always, the chains swung and clinked, sparkling in the sun. They passed bright temples dedicated to the sungoddess Savina or the dawn god Sevtar, and saw ball courts filled with exuberant players, men and women laughing in the wind. The day was bright, gusty, and fresh. She wanted to jump. Shout. Get into trouble. Of course she couldn't. But it was still a glorious day. Ixpar knew the route to the airfield well; the Minister often brought her to visit Dahl, which had long been an ally of Kam Estate. This time Minister Kam had sent her alone. It was about time. Ixpar felt as if she were straining in a harness, struggling to fly in the currents of power among the Estates. Other feelings also srred within her, less comprehensible than politics. She felt painfully awkward, tall and gangly, with big feet. She grew so fast lately, like a spindlestalk plant. She thought of the youth Tev, with his lean muscles and curly hair. At night she tossed in bed, reminding herself that a woman's intentions toward men should always be honorable. It didn't 14Catherine Asaro- help. She couldn't stop herself from thinking up ways to c vince him that he should let her compromise his honor. The growl of an engine interrupted her thoughts. Beyond end of the street, the airfield waited. With her retinue, Ix crossed the last stretch of pavement and walked onto the i mac. Crews were wheeling out two windriders, aircraft pai like giant althawks, with wings of red plumage edged in bla gleaming gold heads, and landing gear as black as talons. T looked ready to leap into the sky. The rescue party was assembling near a hangar. In addit to Deha, the group included Rohka, who was the Estate Set Physician, and the young doctor Dabbiv, his gaze intense as spoke with a pilot. Deha's personal escort stood by the han door: Hacha, captain of the escort; Rev, a broad-shoulde man who towered over most everyone else; slender Llai with her night-black hair; and Balv, youngest of the four. Ixpar soon found herself in the same craft as the escort, v Balv as pilot. He went about his preflight checks as if wha were doing was perfectly normal. Well, this was Dahl. Thi] were different here. Modern. Hacha sat next to Ixpar. As tall as Rev, but leaner, the c tain looked like her name: tough and craggy. Following Ixp) gaze to Balv, she chuckled. "He's a pleasant one to look heh?" Ixpar reddened. "I was just watching his flight prep tions." Deha settled into the copilot's seat and leaned back to t to Hacha, saving Ixpar from more embarrassment. Discree so as not to be caught staring again, she watched the Mana A braid of black hair hung to Deha's waist and tendrils cur about her classic face. A dusting of silver showed in the at her temples. Her most compelling feature was her e huge and black, they drew attention. The rider soon lifted off, its wing slats spreading like gi feathers to catch the wind. The dome of the Observat passed below them, glistening in the sunlight. As the groi dropped away other towers became visible, spires reach into the sky. Seen from above, the Estate looked like a sci ture: bridges arched in frozen lace over courtyards, bat _——————•——————————————The Last Hawk 15 meits glowed an antique gold in the sunlight, and curving walls added scalloped edges to the design. Then the parks set aside for the Dahl Calanya came into view. Ixpar pressed her nose against the window, straining to see the forbidden Calanya. Surrounded by a massive windbreak, the parks made a tapestry of lawns and lakes dotted by a myriad of colorful flowers. She could just make out a fountain, a hazelle stag rearing on his hind legs. Arches of water curved up from his horns and fell sparkling into a basin. The view widened to include the city of Dahl nestled in its mountain valley, its streets accented by the specks of pedestrians. The rider soared higher and Dahl receded until it was no more than a pattern of colors in the panorama of the Teotec Mountains. Ahead, peaks climbed so far into the sky that she grew dizzy trying to sight their tips; behind, forested slopes plunged down until, out of sight beyond the horizon, they became cliffs that met a desert whipped by the wind. It was out there, a day's ride into the desert, that the strangers had built their starport. Starport. It had an eerie sound. People from above the sky. Ixpar had seen them years ago when their military commanders came to Ka, imposing warrior queens with hard edges to their personalities. Skolians they called themselves, even though they looked like Cobans. Their talk of building a port in the desert had troubled Minister Kara. Now Ixpar sensed unease in Deha as well, an apprehension that whatever had crashed in the mountains was not born of Coba. "There!" Deha had to shout to be heard over the engines. "I saw something below that crag. A glint, like metal." She glanced at Balv. "Can you take us down?" He squinted into the glare from the snow. There's room behind those rocks." The rider descended, its wing slats drawing together like huge feathers. The snowskis unfolded with a grind, sailing over the snow, jolting the cabin when they skimmed over patches of rock. As they shot past a huge drift, Balv snapped the wings in flush to the hull. After they were clear again he 16Catherine S opened the metal pinions and braked against the wind until, rider skidded to a stop. Captain Hacha disembarked first, followed by Balv, ! Deha and Ixpar. Llaach and Rev came last. Not only had ,° guards hung stunners from their belts Rev carried a honed il; cus in a sling over his shoulder and Llaach had a dagger on T boot. I The second rider landed, bringing more guards and the ' tors. With Hacha in the lead, they hiked to a hill of BnR that hid the downed craft. Ixpar clambered up the mound, f lodging rocks in her hurry. She reached the top—and R out at the wreckage of a starship steaming in the melted •fiT •Incredibly, it was hardly bigger than a windrider. Even wreck, hints of its former grace showed, making it look tl! alabaster sculpture broken against the mountain. Hacha reached it first. She vanished through a hole in i, hull, but reappeared almost instantly. "There's a pilot in iT5 she called. "I think he's alive." They sped in a sliding run down the hill, their boots Sffl up flurries from patches of snow. At the ship Rev Hgg«| twist of metal and shoved it upward, widening the rent in i hull so the others could enter. The interior was chaos: «ii>' pled bulkheads, sparks jumping from panels, broken .it everywhere. The pilot lay collapsed across his forward *r[ trols. J Rohka, the Estate Senior Physician, knelt by the man. "i( still breathing." ; "We better get him out of here," Llaach said. "If this il like a windrider, these sparks could start a fire. The whole lit could blow." "I doubt starships run on petrol," the doctor Dabbiv said. ) Rohka glanced at Rev and Hacha, the two tallest people the group. "Can you carry him?" . Working together, Hacha and Rev eased the man out of T seat. They took him out of the ship and carried him to a w, of rock Ixpar thought surely must be thick enough to ft against even the explosion of a starship. After they set gently down on the ground, the doctors went to work on wounds. ___——————————————————— The Last Hawk 17 Ixpar knelt to look at the pilot. He was metal. His skin and hair shimmered like gold. His face could have been a mask of the wind god Khozaar; it had that same flawless beauty. But where myth claimed Khozaar was as supple as the wind, this man was huge, bigger than Rev even, with a massive physique to match. She laid her palm on the pilot's cheek, checking for fever. Despite its metallic cast, his skin felt warm. Human. She wanted to touch him more, to stroke his hair and face, but she held back. Instead she helped the doctors untangle him from his torn jacket. She uncovered his arms—and dropped his sleeve, gaping at him. Llaach made an incredulous noise. "That's impossible." "I don't believe it," Balv said. "He's a Calani." Ixpar didn't believe it either. But the evidence was inescapable. The man wore three gold armbands on each of his upper arms. "Three bands." Rev's voice rumbled. "He's a Third Level Calani." "For wind's sake," Dabbiv said. "He can't be a Calani. He's not even from this planet." The doctor pulled scraps of cloth away from the man's waist. They don't have—hey!" He dropped the scraps. "Look at that." A weapon, huge and black, glittered on the pilot's hip. "That's some stunner," Llaach said. "What is a Calani doing with a gun?" Captain Hacha frowned. Then she headed back to where Deha and the other guards were examining the ship. Apparently the Manager didn't believe it might explode; they were all walking in and out of the wreckage. Ixpar turned back to the pilot. She wasn't sure which she found more unsettling: an offwrld Calani or a Calani with a gun. She ran her fingers over the engravings on his armbands. "These hieroglyphics are Skolian." Dabbiv glanced up from the splint he was setting on the man's leg. "You can read Skolian?" "Minister Kam had me learn it." "Can you make out the name of his Estate?" Balv asked. "Something about an office," Ixpar said. "It's a title—Third 18 Catherine B8R? Ofice, I think. It must mean his Calanya Level." She -»iiMg out the inscription. "Jagged Imperial Third Office. No, T|. Officer, not Office. Tertiary Officer?" She studied the SSS "Jagemaut. That's what it says. Jagemaut Tertiary, S( ISC here?" ] "You use loaded words." She spoke carefully. "Others i words such as military dictatorship for your Imperialate." He tensed. "The Imperator is not a dictator." | She considered him. "Tell me something. What are prince of? An ancient dynasty, yes?" 1; "The Ruby Dynasty. But the Rhon has no power ;uB "The Rhon?" "My family. That's what the Skolian people call us." 5 "And what do the Skolian people call the Imperator?" | He regarded her warily. "The Imperator." s "You play games with me. He is your brother, yes?" , Kelric inwardly swore. It would have been better for itif, had these people been less adept at digging information out \ his ship's wreckage. "Half brother. Kurj and I have the M mother. But he came to his position through work. Not iT 1 "Kurj?" | "The Imperator." » "So," she said. "You call the Imperialate's dictator by i, personal name." ? "He's not a dictator, damn it." ,? "No?" f "No." The nature of his brother's violent rise to power \'f territory he had no wish to trod with this stranger. She already too unsettling. Heart rate and blood pressure anomay Bolt thought. accessed his optical nerve and a translucent dispay .mm superimposed on Deha, with diagrams of Kelric's vital a| -The Last Hawk 27 Terminate display, Kelric thought. You can give a synopsis. Had Bolt been working right, he wouldn't have needed to ask for brief mode; he had long ago set that as the node's default. The display vanished. Your hypothalamus is producing certain hormones, which in conjunction— Skip the tech-talk, Kelric thought. Just tell me what's wrong. Nothing is "wrong." Unless you consider sexual arousal a problem He flushed. Just what he needed, a voyeuristic computer in his spine. "Kelric?" Deha asked. "Are you all right?" He scowled. "I'm fine." "You look tired." She reached out to brush a curl out of his eyes. In pure reflex, Kelric grabbed her wrist. As she froze, his mind caught up with his reflexes and he stopped. Bolt's combal libraries could direct refexes far more complex than grabbin a wrist and the hydraulics that controlled his skeeton could af much as triple his response time. Any more would have required greater than the few kilowatts of power produced b his internal microfusion reactor, generating too much heat foi his body to dump even with the reflective adaptations of hi; skin, Deha sat utterly still, watching him. Disconcerted, he loos ened his grip. "1 didn't mean to startle you," she said. He rubbed his thumb over her palm. "My reflexes overdo v sometimes." Her face gentled. Then she withdrew her hand and clearec his unch tray, setting the remains of his meal on the night stand. She took a pouch out of her robe and set it on the tray "I bring you gift." A gift? He picked up the pouch, making its contents rattif and cick. Deha had the same type of pouch hanging from her belt. Sh( took t off and emptied a profusion of small shapes onto th( tray: balls, cubes, polyhedrons, pyramids, disks, squares, rods and more, in every color of the rainbow. Intrigued, he poured a similar set out of his pouch. "Wha are they?" 28 Catherine Asam- "Dice." "What do we do with them?" "Play Quis." "Is that a gambling game?" "Sometimes." She pushed the pieces to the edges of the tra then set a blue cube in the center the tray. "Your move." "If they're dice, don't we have to roll them?" Deha shook her head. "We say .'dice' because many een turies ago the pieces, they have numbers on them, and thea numbers, they tell you what moves you can make. You pick i piece, roll it out, and the number that comes up tells you—' She paused. "What is this word I want? Elections? No . . Options! Yes. This is the word." 'The number gives you options for doing something?" j 'This is right. Options for placing your piece in a Qui structure." Deha lowered her voice, as if revealing a confi dence. "Back then, Quis takes less skill. Now we build struc tures using strategies based only on rules. It takes much mon work by the brain." She grinned. "But still we gamble on wh( wins. So. Make your move." He laughed. "I've no idea how to play." "Try anything. We see what happens." Enjoying himself now, he set a bar on her cube. She pushe< a purple cube up against her blue one. He placed a purple ba and she responded with a magenta cube. "You know," he said, setting a square in the structure. have no idea what we're doing." "I explain when we finish." Deha snapped her fingers. "Bu I forget. We must make a wager." She considered. "Two tekals Is reasonable for beginner." "What's a tekal?" "A coin. One tekal buys you a sausage at market." "I don't have any tekals." Deha smiled. "You owe me then." "I might win, you know." She placed a red cube against her magenta cube. "We see.' He put a disk on top of her cube. "Your move." "Not my move." She set an orange cube by her red cub< "My game." -The Last Hawk 29 "It is?" "Very definitely." He counted the dice. "You made more moves than I did. Don't I get to finish the round?" She regarded him with approval. "Is true, you can finish. But is no way for you to beat me now." "How did you win?" "I made a small spectrum." She tapped her cubes. "Blue, purple, magenta red, orange." This was certainly a better diversion than arguing with her about his infamous brother. "What does it mean?" "A spectrum is like a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Then starts over with red again. Also you can put—what is the word? Interm?" She paused. "Intermediate. You can use intermediate colors if you want, like magenta between purple and red. For small spectrum, the line of dice must be more than four pieces. A grand spectrum is ten or more dice." "Suppose I had blocked your line of cubes?" "Ah." She nodded. "You learn fast. A block would stop me. Then I must go in another direction." "Can you use different shapes?" "Not in a spectrum. You can in a builder. Color stays the same in a builder and shape changes." She tapped a cube. "The number of sides is the order. Cube has six sides, so it is sixth order." She made a line of dice on the tray: pyramid, pentahedron, cube, heptahedron, octahedron. 'This run follows order so it is a builder. If it follows both color and order, it is a ueen's spectrum." He grinned. "If I make a queen's spectrum, will I win back y tekals?" Deha chuckled. "Maybe." She made a sweeping motion of er hand. "Many more structures and patterns exist. Spectrums nd builders are only a start." "I'd like to learn." He picked up a handful of dice; "If you aye time to teach me." i we } teacl1 you Everyone's Quis has a different personwy." She lowered her voice again. "Really, it is more than 'ambling. The beer one plays Quis, the greater her influence. We ... I keep losing the words. Talk? We talk with CTfl' like a net that spreads to everyone. The better a person the net, the better her position in life." j. "Is that why you manage Dahl? Because you p well?" Deha shrugged. "I have some ability. It is one B| With so many people, ripples bounce back and forth, h»F cancel, make new ripples." She paused. "Perhaps that 't ultimate wager. Power. Control the Quis and you »r)iW1 Twelve Estates." ———————————————————— The Last Hawk 31 Kelric wanted to ask more, but he was tiring. He leaned back in the pillows to gather his strength for new questions. "Ai," Deha murmured. "I should let you rest." "It's all right." He regarded her. "I meant to ask you_what news is there about the starport?" Her inscrutable look came back. "I wrote the Ministry as you ask. They verify what I tell you. After your people made the Restriction, they took away their ships. I am sorry. We have no port here." 'There must be some outpost." "None." "They would have left a base," he said. "I can find it with equipment on my ship." "The crash destroyed your ship." That wasn't what he wanted to hear. ISC had started to experiment with combining the El brain of a Jag starfighter and the bomech web of its Jagernaut pilot. So the Jag's routnes could run on Bolt and Bolt's could run on the Jag When he disconnected from the ship, it usually felt like the mental equivalent of logging off a computer. What he felt now was dierent, a void, as if part of him had vanished. Bolt he thught. Have you had any luck reaching the Jae No. However, at this distance from the crash site, it is unlikely I will pick up any significant signal. Surely you can get at least a residual interaction is s a logical assumption. However, I detect nothing Keinc considered Deha. "If the crash destroyed my ship that noroughly, how am I still alive?" You don't remember? You ejected." aolt, did the Jag eject me? o ripS option My records of the crash are too rbled o etermine what actually happened. a11 a" P grief at the Jag's destruction. It o kn ought to Iepot The P designers needed nemaTL T modiflcations w creating a complex naclr101 the P' brain and its Pt Bt ha claimed no ISC personnel were on planet for him to con- io starport, no base, no outpost, no nothing. "e didn't believe it. 32 Catherine Asaro————————————————————• Prepare Kyle probe, he thought. Your Kyle centers are injured Bolt thought. Kelric tensed. Why didn 't you say anything before? I was too damaged. As I effect repairs to myself, I can better i itor you. If his Kyle centers were injured it meant he had sufii brain damage. Kelric had always known that linking a mech web to his brain had its risks, but realizing that in th and facing the reality were two different things. His Kyle centers were microscopic organs, the Kyle Ai ent Body and Kyle Efferent Body. KAB and KEB. The t acted as a receiver, its molecular sites activated by fields duced in other people's brains. The KEB acted as a "tt mier," strengthening and modulating the fields his brain produced Everyone had a KAB and KEB, but in I people the organs were atrophied. In rare cases like his, genes that controlled KAB and KEB growth were mut unable to carry out their duties. So the Kyle organs conti to grow. Having an enhanced KAB and KEB, however, wi enough to make a Kyle. The brain also had to interpret the nals those organs received and sent. That function was cai out by specialized neural structures called paras, aided b neurotransmitter psiamine. Most Kyle operators could decode the moods of other people, but a strong operator c pick up intense thoughts if they came from nearby, particui if the sender was also a Kyle operator. Focusing inward, Kelric sensitized his KAB to Deha. It like brushing the outer seawall of a hidden grotto. Bubbles faced in her thoughts: sexual arousal, thoughts of her Esta Pain seared his head, vaporizing the link. Blotches da in his vision. "So quiet," Deha said. "Is something wrong?" "I'm just tired." Given his uncertain situation here, he no intention of revealing his diminished capabilities. She set aside his tray and helped him ease under the c Sliding in to him, she tucked the covers about his body. ing her so close unsettled him. His last tour of duty had t nightmare of skirmishes separated by extended periods of __—————————————— The Last Hawk 33 lation while he ran reconnaissance. He hadn't touched a woman in a long time and Deha was no ordinary woman. When Deha leaned over him, Kelric laid his hand on the small of her back. She stiffened as if a pulse of electricity shot up her spine. She didn't pull away, though. Instead she looked down at his face, her expression gentling. Then she kissed him. At first he was too startled to respond. When he recovered, he slid his arms around her waist and returned the kiss. Warning, Bolt thought. Amorous interaction with a potential enemy is unwise. Bolt, go away. I am inside our body. I cannot leave. Busy with the kiss, Kelric didn't respond. After a while Deha raised her head, holding herself up with her hands. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't place who. He caught a wisp of her mood, a sense of affection. Something else was there too. Regret? When he tried to concentrae, a headache lanced his temples. He dropped his arms, his forehead knotting with pain. "Ai," Deha murured. "I am sorry. I must let you rest." She stood up by the bed, watching him with her gentle expression, one he had never seen her use with her staff. She touched his hair, her hand brushing his curls. Then she withdrew. As he closed his eyes, he heard the door whisper closed. . Bolt, he thought. / need an analysis of this situation. The analsis is simple. You shouldn't be kissing someone you don't •rust. Ai, but, what a kiss. Kelric smiled. / still need an analysis what she told me about there bein no !SC base. ou need to sleep. I will run calculations while you are down. He had given up telling Bolt that humans didn't "go down" ike computers when they slept Bolt had decided its coinage •vas appropriate and resisted changing it. So Kelric simply •losed his eyes and let sleep settle over him. his ought to be interesting Captain Hacha thought They ouldn't move Kelric to the dice table, so they moved the ble to him, a blue lacquered stand with legs a handspan in 34 Catherine Asaro————————————————y ••I length. It was easier for Kelric now that the doctors removed his bodycast and put him in lighter casts hat i went to midthigh. He sat up in bed and they set the table, his lap. They were six players: Hacha and Rev pulled up chairs :': the bed, Balv and Llaach sat on the bed, and Ixpar sat ci| legged between Balv and Llaach. Kelic blinked at t( seeming unsure what to do with so many people. : At least he had shown some modesty and put on a s During the heat wave that descended on Dahl, he had t* sleeping bare-chested, wearing only pajama trousers spli the sides to accommodate his casts. Athough watching [ that way had its pleasures, Hacha otherwise failed to see ',' Deha found him so attractive He was too big, for one th Men shouldn't be taller than women. The idea of a male :' rior repeed her. | Llaach adjusted the pillow behind his back and sp slowly, so he could understand their language. "Are you o fortable?" | He answered in his heavy accent. "Yes. My thanks." | They each picked a die from Hacha's pouch, and Rev erf up with the highest-ranking piece, an orange heptagon. opened the session and the game took off. j Hacha built her defense fm polyhedrons, a wall bloc the other players. Her offense thrust forward in a phalan, wedges. Rev attacked with bar-builders, battling her backj forth across the board. Balv tried to make a spectrum, but it running afoul of Ixpar's defensive walls. Llaach floundered a ony a few moves and Kelric paced his dice randomly i Then Hacha saw it; xpar was taking advantage of her tie with Rev to sneak in an attack. Hacha diverted her phal toward a weak spot in the girl's defense. Ixpar deflected attack, but Hacha had slowed her down. Turning her atten back to Rev, she finally trapped him with one of her fav moves: hawk's claw—a ring of dice closing like a claw aro his highest-ranking structure. ••; "Hen." Rev exhaled. "The win goes to you, Hacha." Balv smiled. "For a while there I thought Ixpar woud you both." _————————————————————The Last Hawk 35 Hacha nodded to Ixpar. "You payed wel." It felt strange to omit the title Successor Karn when she spoke to the girl. But she agreed with Deha's decision; it was best not to reveal Ixpar's position to Kelric. The less he knew, the better. Ba)v studied the board. "It looks like Rev is second and Ixpar third." He grinned. "But I beat you, Llaach." Llaach peered at the pieces. "Pah," she grumbled. "You did." Kelric was obviously trying to follow the conversation. He spoke with halting words. "I am last?" "Yhee," Balv said. "I'm afraid so." "I understand not yhee," Kelric said. When Ixpar started to answer him in Skolian, he shook his head. "Coban. So I learn." Hacha frowned, "Coba is the name of the world. We don't speak 'cabon.' We call our language Teotecan. Yhee is a formal form of the word yes." 'The informal form is yip," Balv added. "But you only hear it in slang." Keric tried the word. "Yhees." "Yhee," Rev said. "Yheez," Kelric said. Llaach laughed. "It's all right. Say it however you like. Your accent is beautifu." "And don't be discouraged about losing the game." Balv motioned toward Hacha and Rev. "You're playing with Dahl's best." "Keric didn't lose," Ixpar said. "He made a flat-stack. That ranks over Llaach's toppled builder." What was this? Hacha looked where Ixpar pointed and saw a neat stack of blue disks nestled behind one of Rev's towers. A perfect flat-stack and she had missed it. That irked her. She 'adn't expected Kelric even to start a structue. "I can't believe I never saw that," Balv said. Kelric tapped the table. "Is—" He hesitated, then asked par something in Skolian. "Biue," Ixpar said. : "Table is blue." Kelric tapped his stack. "Also blue. So it nde.s." . ev's laugh rumbled. "A camouflage. You'll do well, Kel- 36Catherine. "I don't believe it," Ltaach said. "I got caught by a f.ii fage." ___. Ixpar smiled. "Maybe you had other thoughts nawwif you." As the others laughed, Llaach reddened. "Blow off, oafs." | When Kelric gave Ixpar a questioning look, she ? "Llaach recently took a kasi." , "Kasi?" he asked. | "Husband," Hacha said. "Llaach wed the youth Jevi." It ffi? surprise her that Llaach was distracted, married to a man as i some and charming as Jevi. He reminded Hacha of her •! band. The similarities between the two men ran deeper appearance; both were dice players in the Dahl Calanya. 3 Llaach had served on the Calanya honor guard for a time, w1 them the rare opportunity to court a Calani. It was true that in? ting her wed a Calani, Deha had bestowed her with great iW But what good was honor when Hacha could only visit her i band instead of living with him? It made her crazy. On Ri that, she was stuck with this disagreeable assignment, mij Kelric. "Ask Balv or Rev," Ixpar was telling Kelric. "They can a!T you." Balv pushed up his sleeve, revealing a gold band •i«l>lill wrist. "It symbolizes the vow that joins the woman and man. A man who wears the bands is called a kasi." Kelric glanced at the bands on Rev's wrists. "All of .f have someone?" Llaach laughed. "We've all been caught." She waSRt Ixpar. "Most of us, anyway." The girl smiled. "I'm keeping my options open." "You sound like Deha," Balv said. «> Kelric's reaction was so subtle that Hacha suspected »; she caught it. But she had no doubt; the moment he T Manager's name he stiffened. "Manager Dahl is alone?" he asked f Hacha spoke brusquely. "By her choice. Deha has X only Jaym." ? "What happen to him?" Kelric asked. '—————————The Last Hawk 37 "He died of a fever several years ago," Balv said. "Since then Deha has been—well, different. More distant" "She doesn't want another Akasi," Hacha said "Akasi?" Kelric asked. "It's the title of a Manager's husband," Ixpar said • ? Pj saw the flicker of jealousy on the g,rl s ace. She had been around long enough to recognize t oaTD Mmlstry successor was as taken As far as Hacha could see, that meant nothing but trouble. 3 Double Circle : craz Kelric was too diffe. Too young. And toold s 3 onh kissed him' he had mitiated a re advanc y e rules were clear: women the ownSs IwhT T now Young peo had th an oworl ade sese to her Besides Iric was an ottworlder half brother to the Imperator, for wind's sak 0 gre1 to see Hacha in the d arch. "Captain. My Hacha bowed. "Do you have a momen" l was going to see Kelric. Walk with me." m sone an with high Ma re eT' this wing of the th Successor Kam," Hacha said. "I don't • wise she spend so much time with Kelric." 38Catherine Aaro- "I didn't realize she was there that often," Deha said. \ "She translates for him. But he knows enough now to mar age on his own." "Has he done anything to threaten her?" | "No. Nothing. But we shoud take no chances where he| safety is concerned." t Deha thought for a moment. Tel Kelric she's been neglec( ing he schoolwork and won't be able to see him as much." I "As much? t Although Deha knew she could stop Ixpar from seeing Ke e, she had no desire to antagonize the girl. "Brief visits a' all right, if guards accompany her into the room." i "I'll take care of it" | They walked in silence for a while. Eventually Hacha saii "How are you feeling?" Deha glanced at her. "Pine. Why?" f. "Senior Physician Rohka asked me to talk to you." t Deha scowled. Not this again. Ever since that minor hea attack of hers last year, her staff had been acting as if she wer. a blown-glass Quis die. Dont work so hard, dont stay up late, don't push yourself. To listen to them talk, a person wou think she was a doddering od woman instead of a vigoro Manager in her prime. | "I'm fine," Deha said. "Just don't go playing Quis with ghosts." Deha smiled. "I won't." She considered the captain. "Ho; are your Quis sessions with Kelric?" | Hacha spoke grudgingly. "He does have talent." ? "That was my impression aso." It wasn't ony his obvio knack for the game. Deha had never met anyone who learn rules and strategies so fast. At times she had an odd sense, i if he kept a record in his mind of what he learned and page through it when he had a question. At the skyroom, she left Hacha outside with the oth guards Inside, she found Keiric asleep, lying on his back the sweltering heat with the covers thrown off his upper bod leaving his chest bare. She quickly closed the door, giving hi privacy. For a while she just sat on the bed, watching him slee __————————————————————The Last Hawk 39 Eventually the temptation became too great and she slid her hand across his chest. His gold nipples glittered and felt more metallic than normal skin. The hair curling on his chest wasn't as stiff as true metal, but it had a smooth, cool texture to it. Kelric opened his eyes. With a drowsy smie, he sid his arms around her waist and spoke in Teotecan. "My greetings Manager Dahl." Deha leaned over and kissed him. When he puled her down next to him on the bed, she stiffened, knowing it was wrong to take advantage of his being laid up this way. But he was so wiling. As they kissed, she slid her hand along his side, down to his eg. He was wearing sleep trousers, well-washed linen that felt downy under her palm. She stroked his muscles through the thin material. Such a pleasure, touching him this way. As his kiss grew more passionate, Kelric rolled her onto her back and stretched out on top of her. Put off by his aggressive response, Deha pulled away her head. She eased out from under him and sat up. Kelric blinked. Then he drew himself into a sitting position, his plaster-sheathed legs sliding under the quit. He spoke in halting Teotecan. "Something is wrong?" She paused. "No, it's nothing." He looked puzzled, but his face gentled as she closed her hand around his. He said, "Jag, news you?" "I don't understand." He tried again. "My Jag. My ship. News have you?" So. He ventured into even more difficult territory now. "We went through every bit of debris we found," she said. "I'm sorry, Kelric. But it's al slag. Any communications equipment was destroyed." "I need look myself." Not a chance, she thought. Although they had blown up his •ip, she had no intention of letting him near the remains. Who knew what he might salvage? He watched her with an odd look, as if he were concentratig on a monologue he could barely hear. Then he gasped and doubled over, his palms pressed against his temples. "Kelric!" Deha leaned over him. "What's wrong?" 40 Catherine Asaro——————————————————————• His face knotted. "Head . .. hurts." "I'll get the doctor." "No." He lowered his arms. "Nothing she can do." The door swung open and Captain Hacha strode into t room. As soon as she saw them on the bed, she stopped. ' apologies." She left quickly, closing the door behind her. "Kelric, I'm sorry." Deha slid off the bed. "I shouldn't ha put you in such a compromising position." She touched 1 shoulder. "I'll have Senior Physician Rohka bring you a poti for your headache." "What about ship?" "Theres nothing we can do." He watched her closely. "Your words, they make tricks light." "What do you mean?" "Are they pan lies? I don't know." You know more than you realize, she thought. "You shou get some rest." She kissed him again and took her leave befo he could ask more questions. Deha found Hacha waiting outside the skyroom. S' motioned for the captain to walk with her. When they reach the privacy of the vaulted corridors, Deha said, "You wanted see me?" "Kelric's guards gave me a strange report about Ix Kam," Hacha said. 'This morning they saw her come out his room. But they never saw her go in." "Probably she was in there before they came on duty." , "They looked at the start of their shift. He was alone. Tnl closed the door and a while later Ixpar walked out." ; "Check into it." Deha thought of Ixpar's political clout. "B be discreet." They continued walking through the halls. Finally De said, "What is it?" Hacha glanced at her. "Ma'am?" "I know you. You're worried about something." | "As captain of your escort, I have no business conceraij myself with your private life." "Then tell me as my friend." —————————————————————The Last Hawk 41 Hacha exhaled. "To use a man for your pleasure, especially a man in so vulnerable a position as Kelric—it is unlike you." "What makes you think my intentions toward him are dishonorable?" "You certainly can't make him yourAkasi." "Why not?" Hacha laid her hand on Delia's arm, drawing the Manager to a stop. "He isn't worthy of you." Dryy, Deha said, "I suspect the Rhon would disagree with you as to who isn't worthy of whom." "'m sorry to be blunt. But how many other women's beds do you think he's been in?" Deha shrugged. "I wil learn to deal with his past." "What about the rest of it? He's a Jagemaut. Up until now, he's been in no condition to do much more than sleep. But he's getting stronger. When he reaies we never intend to let him go, his reaction won't be mild." "Everything you say is true." Deha paused. "But he will be my Akasi, Hacha. Whether he consents to it or not." Scroll in hand, Ixpar knelt in front of the stone wall. The Estate dungeons were a few paces to her right, damp and unused for centuries. She unrolled the scroll, a copy of the ancient Estate plans she had filched from the Dahl museum. Yes there it was; the distance between this wall and the nearest cell as shown on the diagram was less than the actual distance she had just measured on the wall. Ixpar grinned. She had begun this game years ago when she discovered the museum at Kam housed copies of the plans used to build the Estate. Comparing them with the real Kam, she found hundreds of inconsistencies. Most were changes made over the centuries, but a few were inexplicabe. She finally uncovered their secret: hidden passages honeycombed the Estate. Now the Dahl plans were giving up their secrets. Running "er hands over the stone, she found a crumbling niche where he wall met the ground. She dug her finger into it and jarred oose the cracked remains of a switch, clicking it to one side. Holding her breath, she waited. Sometimes the ancient m??1 anisms were broken or jammed— The clink of stone hitting stone sounded inside the Bracing her feet against the ground, she leaned her weight 'ii the wall. With a grating protest, as if wakened from a R? sleep, a massive block slid inward and ponderously MWri one side. Beyond it, a passage stretched into darkness. gathered up the scroll and squeezed into the tunnel, il!T pushed the door back into place. Lifting her oil lamp, she 11? veyed the latest addition to her collection of hidden »m An unassuming tunnel made of rough stone extended ; front of her for a few paces and then turned to the left. She ff lowed it around several turns, until the passage terminated '\ dead end. An examination of the wall uncovered three i'ii! near the ceiling. It took her a while to figure out the .MHIMJF' for flipping the switches, but her efforts were finally awad with the clink of releasing pins. She pushed in the wall, ing a circular hole big enough for her to crawl through. Ixpar recognized the passage beyond. She had explored T| few days ago. The light from her lamp made huge Ixpar i ows on the walls, giving the tunnel a barbaric aspect, as if ;" ancient warrior queen might step out of the shadows n| moment and challenge the intruder in her domain. Ixpar .'' ined the queen; fierce and vital, gleaming in her bronze ;* leather armor. With a flourish, she whipped out an iu sword and dueled her opponent up and down the mi thrusting at the air until she vanquished her invisible foe. she dropped to the ground, laughing and gasping for inTI! I should bring a real sword, she thought. It would make i game even better. Then again, how would she explain why was walking around Dahl with a sword? Better to bring Wn thing she could hide under her shirt, perhaps a blunt-edged !.' cus in a sling. You couldn't fight a duel with it, but ((Mil were always good for knocking down enemies while you , skulking around in the shadows. She wondered why the ancient queens made these ijaaa Secret escape routes, in case an enemy took the Estate? B warriors prowled around down here engaging in w, intrigues. Or perhaps a queen made this passage so she , __————————————————————The Last Hawk 43 sneak into the bedroom of her concubine. Ixpar smiled. No wonder her imaginary opponent had fought so hard. She was protecting her lover. But won, Ixpar thought. I get to claim the prize. The tunnel took her to a dead end that she already knew was a secret door. Easing it open, she peered into the room beyond. Her prize lay fast asleep, unsuspecting of the warrior queen sneaking into his boudoir, his gold chest rising and falling in deep breaths. Ixpar smirked, remembering how Kelric's guards had gaped when she walked out of his room yesterday. She had enjoyed it immensely. Still, it was best not to do it again. Hacha was probably trying to figure out how she managed it. She doubted the captain would solve the puzzle, but she intended to take no chances. Leaving the door ajar, Ixpar slipped into the skyroom. She went over and sat on the edge of the bed, contemplating Kelric's sleeping form. Faced with the reaity of him, she had no idea how to proceed with her courtship. In fact, she was so discreet about courting him, she suspected only she knew she was doing it. But how could she make her intentions known with guards hulking around her all the time? She couldn't pay suit to him with an audience. Voices outside the door brought her jumping to her feet. She ran into the tunnel, barely managing to close it up before the skyroom door scraped open. With her ear pressed against the wall, she could just hear Dha's voice as she talked to Kelric's guards. Pah, Ixpar thought. If she didn't make her intentions known to Kelric soon, it would be too late. Deha was also courting him—and doing a much better job of it. 4 Orb Starburst Moing sun filled the skyroom as Kelric's nurse pushed ; the curtains. An autumn breeze fluttered the boy's shirt u° rippled through the pants he wore tucked into his a' boots. The gentle picture he made only added more jolt to words. "Exploded?" Kelric pushed up on his elbow. "What do ' mean, exploded?" | The fires after the crash," the boy said. "Like when W tanks on a windrider catch fire." "Starships don't run on petrol. And if the antimatter on if ship hadn't properly deactivated, it would have taken half i' mountain range when it blew." | "The mountain is still there," the boy said. "But your ?.. did blow up. Captain Hacha said so herself." I The hell it did. What his nurse described was 'mgjI unless someone set the blast after the crash. What was ? to? He pulled away the quilt and swung his cast-covered off the bed. His nurse tensed. "What are you doing?" ; "Getting up" t "You can't get up." Kelric leaned on a chair and stood up on his l'gTgT feet. Then he grinned. "Care to bet on that?" ; "You have to stay in bed" "Why? Every time I get up you people tell me to lie R Every time I talk about my ship the subject gets changed one will tell me a thing. So I'm going to find out for u "You can't," the boy said. "Not with plaster on your R| "Good point." Kelric sat down and banged his legs :M _———————————————————The Last Hawk 45 the metal rim that bordered the bottom of the bed. Plaster sprayed out over the floor." "Stop it!" The nurse grabbed his leg in midswing. "You'l break the bones again." "Not bones." He tugged away his leg and unpeeled strips of plaster in powdery chunks. "Just casts." A grating noise came from the wall. Kelric stopped. "What was that?" His nurse turned to the wall. "I don't know." The noise came again. Then a panel in the wall opened and Ixpar stepped into the room. "Hey," the boy said. Ixpar pushed the panel closed, leaving a smooth blank wall. She spoke to the nurse. "Get the guards. Now." As the youth strode to the door, Kelric went back to work, peeling the last chunk of plaster off his legs. "Kelric, stop," Ixpar said. "Not a chance." He stood up and tried an exploratory step. His legs held up, so he limped across the room to a long mirror with Quis designs etched around its edges. A man in blue leep clothes looked back at him, a thinner man than he emembered. When the increased flow of blood tingled in his legs, at first -t puzzled him. Then he almost laughed in relief. His janomeds weren't dead; they were responding to his weakned condition, trying to help him. "What are you doing?" a voice said. Kelric turned to see Captain Hacha in the door arch. "Standig," he said, She used what was apparently meant as a placating voice. We don't want you to hurt yourself. Why don't you get back tobed? I'll send for the doctor" eiric limped toward the door. "I don't need a doctor." 1 rn sorry." She blocked his way. "You can't leave." Why not?" He looked around as Rev, Llaach, and Balv epped into the room. "Why are you keeping me locked up?" you need to recuperate," Hacha said. No I don't" The last semblance ofplacation disappeared from SS "Get back into bed." Combat mode toggled, Bolt thought. .| Kelric caught sight of Ixpar inching toward the door. R' ing with enhanced speed, he grabbed her arm. When all ffl guards whipped out their guns, he didn't have time to if* at the vehemence of their response. Bolt's reflex libraries RT over and bypassed his brain, sending commands straight to ! hydraulics that controlled his body. As the guards fired, he dove to one side, swinging Ixpar 'i?< the nurse so both she and the boy stumbled back into the rii Although he avoided most of the shots, one caught him in p shoulder. When the tiny needles punctured his skin, sffl thought: Alert: injection of chemicals into bloodstream. iin* sizing possible antidotes , As Kelric staggered Rev wrenched his arms behind f back while Llaach leveled a stunner at his chest. The mR!?,' was one Kelric had learned to break in basic training. S, twisted free, went for Llaach— | —and his legs collapsed. Kelric fell, taking Llaach with him. She shoved her Wf_ right up against his chest and fired. Then she went limp in T arms, passing out as he choked her. Numbness spread iTCTT Kelric's torso i' Switching to ful hydraulics Bolt thought. | Kelric's legs jerked as the hydraulics took control of , body. They kept him moving, like a machine, despite li} drugs coursing through his veins. Even as he jumped to ft' feet, Balv was lunging at him. He grappled with the ttiiin man, rolling him over his shoulder and slamming him to ground. At full strength, the throw would have killed STn As it was Bolt calculated only the force necessary for ' knockout and sent that data to Kelric's hydraulics, all \' a fraction of a second. : Then he was wrestling with Rev and Hacha, crashing and forth across the doorway. He twisted the stunner ••v.'y from Rev and emptied the last of its charge into the yS guard. As Hacha knocked the gun out of his hand, he «w ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 47 up his leg and caught her in the stomach, hurling her into the wall. Again Bolt calculated for a knockout rather than kill. Gasping as his hydraulics faltered, Kelric sank to his knees among the unconscious guards. The nurse also lay in a heap, caught in the cross fire of a stunner. Motion flickered in his side vision. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Ixpar just before she darted out of the room. Shoving her back inside, he closed the door. "You'll never make it out of Dahl," she said. "There are guards all over the Estate." "They won't shoot." Kelric sagged against the door, taking a labored breath. "Not if it means hitting you." Keeping his attention on Ixpar, he picked up Balv's stunner and took Llaach's knife out of her boot. "The charge needed to knock out someone my size could do you a lot of damage. And I have a hunch." He straightened up. "I think your safety is a lot more important around here than anyone lets on." "That's ridiculous." "I've spent my entire life among people with power, Ixpar. I know it when I see it." He tilted his head toward the wall. "Where does your secret door lead to?" "1 don't know how to open it from this side." Kelric pulled her over to the panel. "Open it." "No." He didn't bother to argue, he just heaved his bulk into the wall. After being rammed a few times, it buckled in to reveal a stone passage. He pulled Ixpar inside and limped down the tunnel, bringing her with him. As they walked, he brooded. He had finally figured out who Deha reminded him of. His first wife. An Imperialate admiral over twenty years his senior, Corey had died ten years ago, assassinated by Trader terrorists. One day she was a passionate, powerful woman; the next she was gone. Now he had the damn-fool idiocy to see her in Deha. The tunnel exited into a tower. A staircase spiraled up on the ight and a door stood on the left. He motioned at the stairs. "What's up there?" "One of the storage wings," Ixpar said. 48Catherine /f With his gun poised, he stood to one side and opened i* door revealing an empty garden. Leaving the door open, as they had gone out of it, he pushed Ixpar toward the stairs. "R| You first." Doors appeared at each landing. The first three were RBI!?g| but the fourth opened into a room filled with graceful ums ; tail as his waist. Dusty light filtered in a window midway n5 the opposite wall. I- "This is crazy," Ixpar said as he pushed her inside. "It's H backing yourself into a box. Why didn't you go through garden?" ' "It's the first place they'll look." He shut the door. "I i, some answers. You can start by telling me why Coba t Restricted. What is it you're all trying to hide?" ? "Nothing. What Manager Dahl told you is true." "That you don't like ISC? You'll have to do better than STf She clenched her fists. "Did it ever occur to you that till freedom means more to us than your Imperialate? Or nv conquerors prefer to forget that about the conquered." -' "You people never intended to let me go, did you?" % "You were dying. We had to make a decision. We gave SJI. your life" She met his gaze. "But we won't trade our nSiffl?1 for yours." Kelric knew ISC wouldn't Restrict Coba and then leave g untended. That his Jag's El brain directed his ship to iWS region of the planet suggested ISC had made contact with i Twelve Estates. That meant the base or port would be >l)i«al where nearby. Given the local mountainous terrain, it w.kS| probably in the desert. What he needed was transportation. I "Where is the airfield?" he asked. | "Across Dahl. On the other side of the Calanya." "What's a Calanya?" | "Some parks and buildings. Dice players live there." ? Dice again. He shook his head, then stiffened as pain aiTT through his muscles. The stun shots were wearing off. 1; She watched him. "You ought to be out as flat as a Quis tB3| right now. Four hits you took and that one time Llaach had i gun shoved right into your chest." _—————————————————————The Last Hawk 49 Kelric made no response. Instead he pulled her to a bench under the window and made her step up onto it. Looking out, he saw mountains towering over the city. He moved to one side, out of view, and motioned at the latch on the pane. "Open it." When she pushed the latch, the window banged open and wind rushed into the room. As Kelric slid off his shirt, she flushed. "What are you doing, taking off your clothes?" "Making a holster." He fastened the stunner and Llaach's knife into the shirt, then tied it around his waist. "We're going to climb down the tower." She stared at him. "Those little cracks in its wall won't support me, let alone you." "I've climbed down worse in training drills." He grasped her around the waist and lifted her onto the sill. "Turn around so you're sitting with your legs hanging outside." Sweat beaded on her forehead. But she did as he said, with more composure than many adults he had seen in similar situations. Leaning out, he saw a courtyard four stories below them. Beyond it, the city spread out on all sides. "Where is this Calanya?" he asked. Ixpar indicated a distant wall across the city. "On the other side of that windbreak." Kelric climbed over the sill and lowered himself into the wind, facing the tower. He probed the wall with his toes until he found a foothold. Then he tugged Ixpar off the sill, holding her as she maneuvered around to face the wall. They descended slowly, Ixpar about half a meter above him. Suddenly an avalanche of pebbles cascaded over him, accompanied by a frantic scraping. Looking up, he saw a toehold under Ixpar's foot disintegrate. He worked his toes deeper into a crack and clenched the wall with a vise grip that, courtesy of his biomech, would take a powered wrench to release. Even so, when Ixpar slid into him, he had to strain to keep from being knocked off the wall. She eased her weight away from him. "I'm all right." Releasing his breath, Kelric resumed the climb. When he fet packed dirt under his feet, he let go of he wall, then swayed, 50Catherine .1 spots dancing in his vision. As Ixpar slid down next to him, sagged against the tower. She tried to bolt, but he caught W around the waist. | "Kelric, listen to me," she said. "You'll never make it to 1!T airfield. Give it up before you rebreak your legs." More iii? she said, "We won't hurt you." I' You have no idea, he thought. His fight with the guards T.i unmasked a portion of his hidden enhancements, but Deha iii' her people didn't know the extent of his abilities. It left iff* room to bluff. But he had to get help. The longer he went ff., out repair, the more it aggravated the damage to his 'mrTiiT'; systems. Holding Ixpar's arm, he drew her to the gate. A plaza W outside the courtyard, bordered by pale blue houses. In center of the plaza, opening to the sky like a flower, a vifff fountain glazed with accents of color brought to mind H forests, and sun. Water arched up from it, whipped by the mp into a mist of rainbows He set off in a limping jog across the plaza pulling n with him. On the other side they entered a maze of ii cobbled lanes that wound among stone houses three and Bfgb stories high, with windows full of plants. As they ran, the i, mountain air cleared his head. Once the sound of TO|| reached their ears, and an instant later a flock of tiWiR dashed into the lane, too intent on their game of chase to inii| two people hiding in the shadows of a recessed doorway. __» A lawn separated the city outskirts from the wall Hgl called the Calanya windbreak. The barrier stood as high three adults and was thick enough for two people to wil abreast on its top edge. It curved off in both directions for 1R| meters. Holes sculpted in the stone provided glimpses of RTffSB scaped parks beyond. ; "It should be easy to climb this," Kelric said. "We can tin through the parks." | "No!" Ixpar said. 1 He blinked. That was the strongest emotion he had ever aMi her show. "Why not?" ;' "It is a violation of the Calanya," she said. "You will *!titB minate the Quis." i ____——————————————————— The Last Hawk 51 Contaminate a dice game? He drew her over to the windbreak. "Climb." Ixpar scowled. "May a giant hawk pluck you off the mountain and feed you to her babies." He couldn't help but smile. "I hope not." The wind grew stronger as they scaled the wall, tearing at their clothes and hair when they reached the top. It died away as they descended the inner side. At the bottom, a lush carpet of grass sloped down from the windbreak. Groves of trees heavy with gold fruit were scattered at the foot of the hill and far across the parks the windows in a cluster of buildings sparkled like liquid diamonds. They set off across the lawn. He was limping more now, his still healing legs growing more fatigued. He glanced at Ixpar. "You said dice payers live here?" "The men in a Calanya are all expert Quis players," she said. "You could call them advisers. To Deha. Quis advisers." "And Quis is power." When Ixpar nodded, Kelric smiled. "This park isn't a bad setup just for being good at dice." They were crossing a carved wooden bridge that arched over a stream when they saw the man. He was sitting on a stone bench on the other side of the stream, relaxing in the sun. Kelric halted with Ixpar on the bridge and drew his gun. "Who is that?" "A Calani," she said. "A dice player who lives in a Calanya." The man stood up, watching them. He was slender, having gray hair and the look of a scholar. His clothes were simple, with an appearance of wealth about them: suede trousers and knee boots, a darker suede belt tooled with Quis designs, and a white shirt with embroidered cuffs. Guards made from what looked like solid gold circled his wrists and two gold armbands showed on each of his upper arms. 'Those bands make him look like a Jagemaut," Kelric said. "You insult him," Ixpar said. "Since when is that an insult?" With Ixpar at his side, Kelric walked down to the Calani and spoke in Teotecan. "You are the only one out here?" The Calani watched him in silence. Kelric glanced at Ixpar. "Why won't he talk?" 52Catherine. . •. "Calani never speak to Outsiders." She crossed her ni "In the Old Age, the penalty for breaking into a Calanya m| . death" ' Kelric frowned. He neither needed nor wanted iniiT hostage, but he coudn't leave the man free to sound an .n'ilt: So he fired the stunner. Surprise flashed across the *PTff|| face as he collapsed. |1 "No!" Ixpar dropped on her knees and felt for the »iin| pulse. _|| \ "I'm sorry." Kelric rubbed his temples. "But I can't '. chances." | -j\ The look she gave him could have chilled ice. "We niirf' leave him like this." - "He'll be all right." Kelric drew her to her feet. "He'llji; 3 sleep for a few hours." He headed for a single-story 'iil(lj||j| : made from amberwood and blue stone. Potted plants iTO from its eaves and the shutters were open, revealing n«(fflC!| . of gold glass bordered by copper Inside, they walked down a hall painted in green t>i[i| } shadow-gray, dappled like a forest glade with sun rtim through the foliage. It ended at a sunroom; the walls aFfjl from amber at the floor into white-gold at the top. The MtfflTI was blue, with clouds half covering a sun. In one comer, youth sat at a table playing Quis solitaire. ; "Get up" Kelric said. j The youth looked up as if surfacing from a dive. When he : saw Kelric, he blinked and stood up. | Kelric glanced at the meter on the stunner. He couldn't keep knocking out people; the gun's charge was almost exhausted So he motioned at a papery screen painted with trees and birds that blocked a doorway across the room. "Open it." | | With Kelric and Ixpar following, the youth backed RST7| J the screen. He pushed it aside to reveal a larger sunroom with 1 two huge doors in the opposite wall. In one comer of the room a boy sat listening to the talk of a man with a halo of vjW hair. In the center, seven men sat at a table playing Quis. J Kelric silently swore. The odds were now eleven to one ;iiH , some of the dice players looked formidable. When they saw'; ; -The Last Hawk 53 him, they rose to their feet. None spoke—except Ixpar, who let out a shout loud enough to wake the next planet. The doors across the room slammed open and four guards strode into the room. As Kelric fired, the stunner sputtered. He managed to knock out the guards, but as soon as the dice players realized his gun was empty they started toward him. Kelric grabbed the youth from the sunroom and jerked back his head. "If anybody twitches, I'll snap his neck." The Quis players froze. Still holding the boy, Kelric took Ixpar's arm and pulled his hostages across the room to the double doors. As soon as they were outside, he shoved the youth back into the Calanya and closed the doors, then locked everyone inside. Ixpar twisted in his grip. "You can't do this." "Watch me." He headed down the hall, drawing her with him. He opened the door at its end onto gardens and lawns. Several hundred meters away he saw a line of trees, and beyond them an airfield tower rose into the sky. They were halfway to the trees when shouts broke out behind them. Spinning around, Keric saw guards pouring out of the Calanya. He broke into a run, pulling Ixpar, and she huffed for breath as she struggled to keep up. His hunch about her proved correct; no one fired at them. They ran through the line of trees and onto the airfield. Sprinting across the tarmac, he headed for the first hangar. When he saw it was empty, he ran toward the next. An octet of guards burst out of the control tower ahead of them. Kelric stopped so fast it would have jolted Ixpar off her feet if he hadn't caught her. A glance back showed the guards from the Calanya closing in on them from behind. So he backed up toward the hangar they had just passed, coming to a stop against its rough wall. The guards surrounded them, forming a semicircle three rows thick, with the closest guards about ten meters away. Holding Ixpar with her back against his front, Kelric laid his knife across her neck. "Come any closer," he said, "and I'll open her throat." Ixpar went rigid, her dismay reaching even his injured Kyle 54 Catherine Asaro ———————————————————————• centers. He had no intention of carrying out his threat; he would go into combat mode if he had to fight, relying on his enhancements to avoid capture. But he had a hunch the bluff was his strongest weapon right now. The guards parted and Deha appeared, coming forward. "Let her go. An Estate Manager will make a better hostage." "No," he said. "Call off your guards." "I don't believe you would hurt her." "Are you willing to bet her life on that?" Deha turned to a guard captain. "Clear the field." i "You stay" Kelric said. The area cleared with remarkable speed. Whe.n he and Ixpar were alone with Deha, Kelric tilted his head toward the next' hangar. "Over there." They walked to the structure, he and Deha watching each other, his knife against Ixpar's neck. When they reached the hapgar, he saw a windrider inside. He pulled Ixpar over to the aircraft and pushed her at the hatch. "Get inside." | "Kelric, no." Deha swallowed. "She's just a child. Leave her | here and take me." Not a chance, he thought. He had no doubt that Deha unarmed was as dangerous as her guards were armed; her intellect was more potent than a stunner. Ixpar made a safer hostage. He waited while Ixpar scrambled into the rider. Then he stepped up into the hatchway, keeping close watch on Deha. Strain showed in the Manager's face. "Kelric, don't do this." Warning: Bolt thought. Posture and voice inflections of agent below suggest a threat behind you. Kelric spun around—in time to see Ixpar hurl a blunt-edged ; discus at him. He dodged, but at such close quarters he j couldn't evade it even with enhanced speed. The discus hit his temple and he plunged into blackness. '! 5 ueen' Spectral Tower Jahit Kam stood before the wall of one-way glass. To avoid a glare, lights on both sides of it had been lowered. In the dimness, her gray eyes darkened to jet. Gray streaked the braid of ebony hair that hung down her back. Dressed in black trousers, black tunic, and gray boots, she blended with the shadows. She stood tall and gaunt, spoke in a quiet voice, and as Minister she ruled the Twelve Estates. Deha stood next to her. Below them, in the room beyond the glass, Kelric lay unconscious on a bed. "Imperialate law is clear." Jahit turned to Deha. "The Restriction forbids us contact with Skolians. You should have taken him to the port." "He would have died before we reached it," Deha said. "All Coba will suffer the consequences of your decision." Jahit shook her head. "As long as he lives, the chance exists he might escape. Then what? Neither he nor his notorious family will appreciate our attempts to hold him prisoner." She regarded Deha. "We have no choice. He must not live." Deha tensed. "We've had no executions in decades." "Nevertheless. It is either execution or life in prison, and I see no reason to take chances." Deha spoke carefully. "There are many forms of prison." "Meaning?" "Consider the one institution our ancestors guarded more closely than any prison." "Put him in a Calanya?" Jahit snorted. "You might as well roll a firebomb with your Quis dice." Deha had her rebuttal ready. "He would be kept separate from the others. Until he adapts." 56Catherine Asaro- Jahit studied her. "I begin to wonder if other factors affect your decisions about this offworlder." "Such as?" | "He is a remarkably striking young man." "I don't appreciate your implication." "Then tell me something," Jahit said. "If you swear this man ! to your Calanya, will he be Calani? Or Akasi Calani?" Deha crossed her arms. "Whether or not I make him my ' Akasi is my business." j "It becomes my business when I think your hormones are.i impairing your judgment." | "My judgment is fine." lgfatTft.g.rMnTiimiir«TOlTfcfM.V»'..T.T.a play Quis." ; "He can play Quis. He had nothing else to do while he '•'iri|| recovering." ' Jahit shrugged. 'To know the rudiments of dice and have the | talent for Calanya Quis are two different things." : 'True," Deha said. "But consider this: he had no money iTi1 when he was learning, so he wagered planets instead." smiled. "After a few days my escort owned half the Imperialate." ', Dryly Jahit said, "I'm sure ISC will gladly pay the debt I. when Captain Hacha shows up to collect." "There is no debt. Kelric won back his planets." Jahit moved her hand in dismissal. "It wouldn't be the first time a handsome face swayed Hacha into letting a lesser player win." ' "Hacha doesn't like him. Besides, he's never won a game against her. But he's beaten both Llaach and Balv and they're y no beginners. He even beat Rev once." Deha paused. "I've played him myself, Jahit. He has a true gift." , The Minister put her hands behind her back and paced . across the room. "Have you considered the effect he will have on the Quis?" I "What effect do you mean?" Jahit turned. "I don't know. That's the problem." She came back to Deha. "And if he escapes? No talent is worth that ? risk." J "He won't escape." \ -The Last Hawk 57 "The last time you told me that, he kidnapped my successor." "It won't happen again." Jahlt's voice hardened. "It certainly won't." "If we send Keric to prison," Deha said, "it will be an abominable waste of his life and his genius. Resurrect the death penalty and we put Coba back centuries." The Minister considered her. Then she went to the window and looked down at Kelric. After a moment she said, "I will trust your judgment, Deha. But think well before you make your final decision." Jaht turned back to her. "If you swear him to the Calanya, he will be there for life, with all that will mean for you, for Dahl, and for Coba." Chankah Dahl, Successor to the Dahl Manager, was a young woman, though not so young that the years hadn't honed her skills in Estate politics. With a position at Dahl second only to Deha, a kasi and two young daughters to her name, and the respect of her peers, Chankah was well satisfied with her life. Today she walked along the Ivory Hall with the doctor Dabbiv. "You should tell all of this to Deha," Chankah said. "I have told her," he said. "She says that under no condition am I to stop sedating Kelric. She's afraid if he wakes up he'll try to escape again." "Are you sure the drugs are poisoning him? Maybe the dosage is just too high." "That's what Deha said. But the dosage is only half that needed for a man his size." Dabbiv came to a halt. "It's all wrong. I have trouble bringing him out of sedation so he can eat. When I do get food into him he can't keep it down, not even what he could eat before. And his blood has a violet tinge to it. Maybe that's normal. Maybe it means he's dying. I just don't know." Chankah laid a calming hand on his arm. "Did you ask him why his blood is purple?" "He said something about a chemical reaction of 'nanomeds' with nitrogen in the air. It makes no sense." "Perhaps you should talk to Deha again about your concerns." 58 Catherine Asam——————————————————. "It won't do any good. She doesn't take anything I say seriously." "Of course she does. Why else would she appoint you to the Estate staff?" He snorted. "I have no idea. If she had her way, we'd be back in the Old Age and I'd be locked up in a Calanya." Chankah raised her eyebrows. "That's absurd. She practically dotes on you." "I don't want to be doted on. I'm not a pet." "It can't be that bad." He scowled. "How would you know? You've never experi-' enced it. If I said 'Deha, the wind is blowing,' she'd say hat's nice, Dabbiv.' If you said 'Deha, the wind is blowing,' she'd say 'A profound observation, Chankah. One worthy of my successor.' " "Dabbiv." "It's true." He took a breath. "That's why I need your sup port. She listens to you." Despite Dabbiv's reputation for being excitable, Chankah considered him one of the most promising physicians in Dahl. It had been her own recommendation that Deha appoint him to her staff. If he was this worried, she ought to speak to Deha. "All right. I'll need to see his medical records first, though." "You'll have them. And Chankah—there's something else." "Yes?" "Are you familiar with the work being done at Varz Estate?" "Some experiments with blood composition, isn't it?" Dabbiv started to walk again. "They've isolated several blood types. At least three." She walked with him. "I wouldn't take this claim too seriously. Not when it originates from Varz." "Just because there's hostility between Varz and Kam, it doesn't make the Varz biochemists incompetent." "It's the uses Manager Varz intends for the research that I question." Dabbiv cleared his throat. It sounded like preparation for battle. "I want to send a sample of Kelric's blood to their labs for analysis." -The Last Hawk 59 "Impossible." "Why?" She frowned. "Which reason do you want first? That Minister Kam forbids us to let it be known we have a Skolian here? That Deha would object to correspondence with Varz? Or simply that it would be a waste of time?" "If Kelric dies," he said, "none of those reasons will stand up against the wind." "Heh." She felt like an airsack going empty. "You think it's that important?" "Yes." "I'll see what I can do. But I make no promises." "There's one more thing." "Any more and Deha will send me to dig rock on a quarry crew." Dabbiv made a frustrated noise. "It's her health. She won't listen to anyone. If she has another heart attack like the one last year, it could kill her." i "She's sensitive about it. She will think I imply she's too weak to manage Dahl." "If she doesn't slow down," Dabbiv said, "she won't be too weak. She'll be too dead." Chankah exhaled. "All right. I'll talk to her." Usually the Quis patterns engraved on the walls of an Estate hall fascinated Ixpar. Not today. The carvings sped past in a blur as she strode through the Lower Halls of Dahl. Nothing could erase the memory of Kelric's words: Come any closer and I'll open her throat. How did she reconcile the Jagemaut who had dragged her across Dahl with the man she had watched learning Quis? It seemed ludicrous now, the way she had courted him. Tomorrow Jahit was taking her back to Kam, and in a few more days Kelric would be sworn to the Dahl Calanya, forever forbidden to her. So for the first time, she was going to disobey a direct order from the Minister. Ixpar walked to the AmberTower and climbed its spiral stairs, around and around the cramped turns. At the top she followed the curve of the wall until she came to a window of one- 60 Catherine Asam—————————————————————— way glass. On its other side, the AmberRoom glowed, with gold walls and a goldstone floor. Plants in baskets hung about the windows and sunlight sifted through the foliage, making patterns on the walls. Kelric was sleeping in a bed with yellow sheets and a green velvet cover. Ixpar went on, walking around the tower until she found the door with its octet of guards. Captain Hacha bowed to her. "My greetings, Successor Kam." Ixpar nodded. "I've come to visit Kelric." "He's asleep." Ixpar knew he wasn't asleep. He was drugged senseless. "I still wish to see him." Hacha shifted her weight. Ixpar had given her a no-win choice; antagonize the Ministry Successor or disobey the Datu Manager. After considering for a moment, Hacha pressed panels on the door handle in a complicated combination. A bolt thumped and she swung the door open. But as Ixpar walked forward, Hacha motioned at the guards and they fell into formation around her. "You may all wait Outside," Ixpar said. Hacha shook her head. "I'm sorry Successor Kam. We can't leave you alone with him." Ixpar knew Hacha well enough to realize she had pushed the captain as far as she would go. "Very well. Wait by the door." Hacha nodded, satisfied with the compromise. Ixpar sat in a chair next to Kelric's bed and spoke in a voice too soft for the guards to overhear. "I came to tell you goodbye, Kelric. I'm sorry about what we've done to you. But we had to. I wish I could make it better for you." She swallowed. "I wish I knew how to stop caring about you." "Ixpar?" His lashes lifted and he looked at her with eyes like liquid gold. She leaned closer. "How are you awake? The doctors gave you a sleep potion." "Sleep?" His eyes closed. "I thought.. . poison." "Poison? Kelric, no. It must be a mistake." "Ixpar.. ." "Yes?" -The Last Hawk 61 "Was bluff." The drugs slurred his speech, heightening his accent. "I wouldn't have killed you." She wondered if he had any idea how much that meant to her. As he sank back into sleep, she touched his cheek. "Goodbye, Kelric." Senior Physician Rohka paced in front of Deia's desk. "I wish you would put him somewhere with fewer stairs." "The exercise is good for you." With Kelric asleep in the tower and guards posted on every landing, Deha's mind was more at ease. They had come too close to disaster. Who would have guessed Ixpar could search out secret tunnels unknown even to the Estate archivists? Had the girl not been carrying the discus as part of her "quest" game, Kelric might now be on his way back to ISC headquarters. She regarded the doctor. "Why does he have that limp?" "One leg healed with a slight twist," Rohka said. "His bones had so many breaks, it's a miracle they set properly at all." A buzz came from the desk's audiocom. Deha switched it on. "Manager Dahl." Chankah's voice floated into the air. "Can you come up here?" "Is there a problem?" "He woke up," Chankah said. Deha glanced at Rohka. "I thought you gave him a sedative." "I did. He should have been out until tonight." They found Chankah outside the one-way glass in the tower. Inside the AmberRoom, Kelric was sitting up in bed rubbing his eyes. Deha activated the audiocom by the window. "Kelric?" He looked around. "Where are you?" "Outside. How are you feeling?" He scowled. "Like I've been poisoned." She glanced at Rohka. "Can there be something in what Dabbiv says?" "Dabbiv overreacts. Kelric obviously isn't being poisoned to death." "But?" __ Grudgingly, Rohka said "The medicine does seem to 'iBTliT him." She thought for a moment. "There is another •l5fy|1 potion. It doesn't usually work as well, but I can try it." if "All right." Thinking of how Kelric would react to 'K& another potion, Deha added, "But put it in his tea." After the doctor left, Chankah spoke to Deha. "I wish ' would reconsider swearing him to the Calanya. Send him to if: prison." | "or what? He hasn't done anything wrong," : "For Coba's safety. For your safety. Winds, Deha, he *nnifS(| snap you in two as easily as if you were a stalk of grain." S "He won't." j; "You don't know that. At least take precautions." | "Such as?" I "I'll show you" •s| Chankah took her down to the Old Library. As always, the • room soothed, with its shelves crammed full of books, old and » new, gilt edged, bound in leather. A display case by the wall J held a set of exquisitely tooled Calanya guards as ancient as j the Estate. Chankah opened the case and lifted out the guards. "Iffjl these to him." 4! Deha blinked at her. "First you want me to send him to prison. Then you say I should honor him above all other S Calani." f "I don't suggest this for his honor. These are the only guards |, we have that are made in the old way." | "Meaning they can be locked together?" Deha scowled. "That's barbaric." "We're talking about your life" Chankah clenched the H guards. "What if he turns violent again?" For a long moment Deha considered her successor. Then she t;' exhaled. "Let me think on it." ? The room was a smear of gold dotted by bits of emerald. Kel- *? ric tried t focus, but blurred vision apparently came as a side I effect of the battle going on inside his body. One species of his ? nanomeds eliminated chemicals—like unwanted drugs—that his biomech web hadn't authorized. The biochemistry sounded , —————————————————————The Last Hawk 63 simple: a med locked onto an invading molecule, deactivated it if possible, usually by changing its molecular structure or taking it apart, and flushed the debris out of his body. It rarely worked that smoothly. The meds first had to find the invaders, then get rid of them without producing hazardous byproducts. It also took energy, and fighting an invasion this severe drained him. Nor could the meds immediately capture every drug invader. According to Bolt, the sedative moecules that had so far escaped were destroying enzymes he needed to metabolize certain foods. The Coban diet made it worse; the unboiled water contained bacteria that attacked his digestive system, and some of the spices and sauces would have required intervention by his meds even if he had been in perfect condition. His condition was far from perfect. Bolt's memory was corrupted, some bio-optic threads in his body were experiencing attenuated transmission, his hydraulics had sustained structural damage, and his meds were replicating too slowly. Worse, some meds were replicating improperly, forcing others to treat them like invaders. The sound of an opening door broke Kelric's concentration. Two blurs were approaching him. "Hacha?" he asked. "Rev?" "We brought you lunch," Rev said. As he came nearer, a blur in his hands resolved into a tray. He set it on the nightstand. Kelric regarded the food without interest. At least the Tanghi tea was made with boiled water. After the guards left, he drank the Tanghi and then lay down again, exhausted from his battle with the drugs. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he realized he had fallen asleep. Morning sunshine was pouring through the window when a moment ago the shadows of late afternoon had filled the room. "How do you feel?" Deha asked. Disoriented, he rolled over and saw her standing by the bed. As he sat up, his wrist caught on a blanket. When he pushed away the cloth, his hand slid over metal. Puzzled, he looked down at his wrists. Guards. Calanya guards. The gold was welded together so cleanly around each of his wrists that its joining blended into 64Catherine .1 the engraved designs on the metal. Yanking away the vi he saw his ankles similarly guarded by gold. He swore, nii around to Deha—and hands shoved him down on his back. S looked up into the bores of Rev and Llaach's guns. ' "Try anything," Llaach said, "and we'll put you out like iitf' avalanche on an airbug." '| "Let him go," Deha said. j; Rev released him, but Llaach looked as if she wanted rail dump him out the window. When she finally let go, Kelric iljj up and regarded them implacably, then gave Deha the .nii; look. ' ||' The Manager sat on the bed. "I know you don't want to l a Calani, Kelric. But winds, it's better than the alternatives. % Most of my advisers think you should be sent to prison n Kam almost ordered your execution." || He stared at her. "The Minister wants me killed?" |1 "Yes." , , | "For whatT He felt as if a cage were closing around him. "Don't you realize what will happen if the Imperial Assembly learns what you people are doing?" "That," Llaach said, "is why the Minister wants you dead." H She touched her gun to his temple. "Dead like that Calani whose neck you threatened to break." Deha glanced at her. "Perhaps you and Rev should wait Out- 4' side." When they started to protest, Deha shook her head. With j obvious reluctance, the guards withdrew. Llaach paused at the | door, looking back at Deha, but when the Manager frowned, Llaach went out and closed the door. 41 Deha turned back to him. "I'm sorry. They don't trust you." "And you do?" he asked. J "It would do you no good to take me hostage. My guards ( have orders to stop any escape you attempt even if they have to shoot me" "This is crazy. You can't lock me up." "Your Oath ceremony is tonight." | "I'm not taking any damn oath." ! "Another man will speak for you." Deha paused. "In the Old ] Age the Oath was always given through a surrogate, suppos- ; ediy because Calani were too exalted to speak in public." S -The Last Hawk 65 she added, "I suspect the real reason was to avoid questions about whether or not the Calani was there of his own free will." He snorted. 'That figures." "Kelric, I truly am sorry." She stood up. "I wish it was your choice to stay." He couldn't give the answer she wanted, so he said nothing. After she left, Kelric lay back, trying to subdue his vertigo. He wished they would stop with their potions. His head felt strange, like an earthquake fault under pressure. He needed to think, but he was too tired to sit up and every time he lay down he drifted into a fitful sleep. That evening, while he lay in a drugged daze, the door opened. Rev and Balv came in, followed by a boy carrying a pile of clothes. The boy approached shyly and showed him the garments. "For the ceremony, sir." Rubbing his eyes, Kelric made himself sit up. Both Rev and Balv had their guns out, but they needn't have bothered. His battle with the drugs left him too drained to fight anyone. With the boy helping like a valet, he dressed. The shirt was made from burgundy velvet. Its sleeves fit tight around his Calanya guards, then widened out from wrist to shoulder. The collar opened halfway down his chest, but crisscrossing laces held it closed. Almost closed. A gray suede vest went over the shirt, its snug fit accenting his physique. The trousers, made from a rich gray suede, were odd. The outer seam of each leg was unsewn but kept closed by small flaps that buttoned across it. Suede knee boots finished off the picture. Kelric was no expert on the messages given by clothes, but even he recognized the ones in these: sexually provocative, in a subtle manner designed to suggest high social class. He almost refused to wear them. But he already had a pounding headache, and he didn't want to make it worse by getting into a contest of wills. When Kelric finished dressing,Balv ushered the valet out of the room. But Rev remained. "I wanted to tell you," the guard said. "Yes?" Kelric asked. "About tonight," Rev said. "For a normal ceremony you would have chosen an Oath Brother." 66 Catherine 5| Oath Brother?" "Your closest friend." Rev hesitated. "I know you have ihll reason to call me a friend. But you shouldn't have to Til alone." "You would stand as my brother?" -a "Yes" The offer caught Kelric by surprise. It was true he felt a kin- • ship with Rev; not only were they alike physically, they aSl shared a similar awkwardness with words. But he had iliTBTBfflfe. his escape attempt blotted out any friendships he had with w. guards. He felt it most with Llaach, whose hostility was ik, intense he could almost touch it. ; He spoke quietly. "I would be honored to have you stand as |, my brother." Rev bowed to him. "The honor is mine." j' After Rev left, Kelric fell into a half sleep. At Night's Midhour the escort and four more guards came for him. Not only -| did they carry stunners now, they also wore ceremonial curved swords with glistening nacre inlaid in the hilts No one spoke as he stood up. Captain Hacha stepped behind him, drawing his arms behind his back. Metal pins *iffi1SRH and his wrist guards locked together, binding his arms behind | him. 1 "What the—?" He tried to pull apart his wrists. "What are you doing?" s No one answered. Instead they escorted him from the room. They descended the stairs that spiraled around the tower, a J guard on each side keeping a steadying hand on his arm. At ; the bottom they walked through halls lit only by torches that | sent shadows flickering on the walls. When they reached a t recessed archway Rev pulled back the bolt in an ancient door i there and leaned his weight into the heavy portal until it |f creaked open. & A great hall stretched out before them, lit by no more than f the starlight pouring through its crystal walls. Radiance shim- | mered in the air, reflected off the marble floor, glimmered in the shadows of a ceiling so high above their heads Kelric could ? barely make out its vaulted spaces. P A retinue of robed figures drifted toward them from the far -The Last Hawk 67 end of the hall. Deha walked at its front with a younger woman at her side. "Chankah," Rev said, following Kelric's gaze to the unfamiliar woman. "The Dahl Successor." The shimmering air, the starlight, and the shadowy retinue all combined with his drugged haze to make him feel as if he were floating in a surreal netherworld. When Balv prodded him with his gun Kelric walked forward. The retinue parted so he was passing down an aisle of people. Deha led them back the way they had come, to a large dais at the far end of the hall. Made from black marble and veined with crystal, the disk scintillated in the starlight. The rows of finely carved chairs that circled it held an aura of age, as if they had guarded the dais for centuries. The retinue withdrew to the chairs, and Deha climbed the dais with Chankah. When Balv prodded him up the steps, Kelric stumbled and with his wrists bound behind his back he couldn't catch his balance. As he fell to one knee, his guards drew their swords. He froze, acutely aware of the honed steel only fingerspans away from his body. Deha spoke. "Help him up." Hacha slid her hand under his arm, supporting him as he rose to his feet. With their swords still drawn, the guards escorted him up the stairs. They followed Deha and Chankah to a depression in the center of the dais, a circular area about a meter in diameter and a handspan deep. A rail at waist height circled it, with an opening just wide enough to let a person step through. In the shadows on the far edge of the dais, the vague outline of a table curved in a semicircle. Glitters came from the blades of the guards' drawn swords. Deha spoke to the retinue. "Ekaf Dahl, approach the Circle." A man came forward and climbed the dais. When he reached Deha, she indicated a place to the right of the circle. "You will Speak from here." Then she and Chankah walked toward the table, becoming blurs as they receded into the dark. A moment later, her voice floated through the air. "Sevtar Dahl, you may enter the Circle." As far as Kelric knew, no one named Sevtar stood on the dais. But Rev nudged him forward. With the guard at his side, and the drawn swords all around him, Kelric (!i|. through the gap in the rail, down into the sunken area. * A pipe began playing, caressing the night with notes as ' icate as a lover's touch. Its melody flowed through the W!j; sweet and haunting. Then it receded, growing fainter, until | vanished. Deha spoke out of the shadows. "Does one here stand | Oath Brother to Sevtar?" "1 "I stand for him," Rev said. "What are your words?" Jf Kelric realized then just how much Rev's offer meant. I taciturn giant made no secret of his discomfort with iiiiafl speaking. __ Rev's voice rumbled. "I speak thus: Sevtar may differ us, but the quality of his character transcends differences. { inner strength is as great as his outer He will honor nl Calanya." Chankah spoke softly. "Your words are heard and *w| Rev of Dahl." ]| The guard bowed. Then he stepped out of the Circle sii vanished into the darkness. A bell chimed, two notes, high and clear, vibrating in thertH|| very air. Chankah began speaking, what sounded like a iT in a language other than Teotecan, verses with an >iM'[i sound, a hypnotic rhythm. When she finished, the bell uninw' again, a musical echo of the radiance filling the hall. | Deha spoke. "Hear my words, Sevtar but before you give | them back to me as Oath know that your life is bound by | them." | Even if Kelric had intended to answer, he was too dazed to . think of a response. It didn't matter. Ekaf spoke. "I hear and understand." A glow appeared on the table, a flame in a bow of oil. j Ruddy light flickered across Dha's face. "For Dahl and for ij Coba, do you, Sevtar, enter the Circle to give your Oath?" '$ "I do" Ekaf said. | "Do you swear that you will hold my Estate above all else, j as you hold the future of Dahl in your hands and your mind?" "I swear" -The Last Hawk 69 "Do you swear to keep forever the discipline of the Calanya? To never read or write? To never speak in the presence of those who are not of the Calanya?" Saints almighty, Kelric thought. What is this? "I swear," Ekaf said. "Do you swear, on penalty of your life, that your loyalty is to Dahl, only to Dahl, and completely to Dahl?" "I swear," Ekaf said. "With my life." A chime rippled like a waterfall. Deha passed her hand over the oil, and the flame flickered and vanished. Kelric felt as if he were floating in the shimmering air. Deha and her successor seemed to materialize out of nowhere, walking toward the Circle. Chankah carried a box of carved wood. When they reached the rail, she opened it to reveal two armbands lying on velvet. They looked like solid gold. Deha regarded him. "In return for your Oath, I vow that for the rest of your life you will be provided for as befits a Calani." Then she nodded to Hacha. When the captain moved behind him and lifted his manacled wrists, Kelric stiffened. But all she did was release him. Bringing his arms in front of his body, he rubbed his sore muscles. "Kelric." Deha spoke softly. "You need to put your hands on the rail." He set his palms on the wood. It felt cool and smooth under his palms. "The bands I give you are those of an Akasi Calani." Her face gentled. "May you someday wear them of your own free will." She took an armband from the box. Picking up his hand, she slid on the band and pushed it up his arm until it stopped on his biceps. She slid the second band onto his other arm. "Sevtar Dahl," Deha said. "You are now a First Level Calani of Dahl." 6 Night's Move The escort retued Kelric to the AmberRoom the same way they had taken him from it; in complete silence, his wrists locked behind his back, without Deha or her retinue. The journey up the tower seemed endless. He couldn't even use his hands to lean on the rail as he climbed. Inside the AmberRoom, Hacha freed his wrists. Brusquely she said, "Don't try to leave. An armed octet will be posted Outside at all times." She turned and walked toward the door, motioning for the others to follow. Rev spoke. "I'll stay a while." Hacha glanced back and shrugged. "Suit yourself." Then she left with the others, closing the door behind her. Kelric sat on the edge of the bed. "Is she always that abrupt? Or is it just me?" Rev said nothing. "Ekaf took the vow of silence," Kelric said. "Not me." "I have no right to speak with you." "Hacha just did." "Only because she is now captain of your Calanya escort and Deha has allowed it. But she can't talk with you. Only to you." Kelric exhaled. "I don't understand any of this." "You can speak with other Dahl Calani," Rev said. "And with Deha. But not to anyone Outside." "You do it too." "It?" "Say Outside as if it were a title." "It is," Rev said. "Those within the Calanya are Inside. The rest of the universe is Outside." Dryly, Kelric said/That leaves a lot of people Outside." -The Last Hawk 71 "Yes. You are one of a very few." "Great," Kelric muttered. Rev sat in a chair. "Kelric, it is considered a great honor among our people." He stopped. "I should call you Sevtar now." "Why Sevtar?" "He is the dawn god, a giant with skin made from sunlight. He strides across the sky, pushing back the night so the sungoddess Savina can sail out from behind the mountains on her giant hawk." Rev smiled. "Deha thought it appropriate." "What's wrong with the name Kelric?" "Kelric isn't Coban." "You're right, he isn't. But my name is Kelric." "You have a new name now." Kelric shook his head. This was getting him nowhere. He ran his fingers over his right armband. Akasi? Deha reminded him too much of Corey, his first wife, stirring ghosts better left buried. Corey had been a well-known figure, a hero of the people. During the long days after her death, at the ceremonies and state funeral, all broadcast to a grieving public, he had stood silent in his black dress uniform, a widower when he was barely twenty-four. On display before everyone, he had kept it all inside, how it tore him apart to lose her. In the ten years since, he had gradually regained his equilibrium. Now Deha came along, throwing everything off balance. It was safer to think of other things. He regarded Rev. "I thank you for your speech." "It was my honor." "I'm glad someone feels that way. I think Llaach wants to heave me off a cliff." "There is the matter of Jevi," Rev said. "Jevi? He's her husband, isn't he?" "Yes." Rev paused. "He is also the youth whose neck you threatened to break in the Calanya." Kelric winced. No wonder Llaach was angry. Across the room the door swung open, leaving Balv framed in its arch, with torchlight flickering behind him. He stepped aside and Deha walked in, her silken robe from the Oath Ceremony rippling in the dusky light. 72 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————— I t Surprise flashed across Rev's face. "Well. Ah." He stood up. s, "I will go now." I' As Rev crossed the room, Hacha and Llaach joined Balv in the | archway. When Rev reached them, the four guards stood looking $ at Deha, who had stopped halfway between Kelric and the door. | The Manager smiled. "Do you four plan to stay there all j| night?" Hacha regarded her. "Ma'am—" | "Yes?" | Hacha started to speak, stopped, then said "If you need us, 4 we're right outside." "Thank you Captain," Deha said. "Good night." The guards shifted their feet, glancing at Kelric. Finally they | closed the door. j Deha turned to him. "It seems they still don't trust you." |: "Maybe you shouldn't either," he said, though in truth he wanted her to stay. f She walked over to the bed. "I don't." "Then why are you here?" ' | She dimmed the lamp on the nightstand until only stars lit the room. Then she knelt next to him on the bed. "I don't trust .1 that you would do what is best for Coba if you left here. I do | trust the quality of your judgment. You won't hurt me." ' "How do you know that?" j She brushed the back of her hand over his cheek in a gesture fe of intimacy he had come to know well. "I've played Quis with | you" .1, Kelric took hold of her wrist. He had started with a half- ; formed thought of pushing her away, but instead he drew her into his arms, as he had done so many other times recently. In the starlight her eyes made large pools of black Deha eased off his vest, then undid the laces on his shirt and g let it fall open. Laying her hand against his chest, she murmured, "Your skin is so much like metal. How can that be?" Ji He brushed his hand over her hair. "My grandfather's ancestors fiddled with their genes to make themselves reflective. To help dump heat. They lived on a hot, bright planet." j "I don't know what genes are." Smiling, she nudged him •; down on the bed. "But the fiddling sounds good." When Kel- i _——————————————————————The Last Hawk 73 ric gave a soft laugh, she stretched out against his side and kissed him, her tongue tickling his mouth until he let her come inside. Eventually, when they paused, Deha spoke near his ear. "You truly are a beautiful man. Your eyes are like liquid sunshine. They grace a face that would shame Khozaar, most handsome of all gods." Kelric blinked. He wished he were more adept at the sort of words lovers spoke to each other. She didn't seem to expect a response, though. She tugged down his shirt until it tangled around his elbows and then she traced her finger through the hair on his chest. "So beautiful. But so tall. Are all Skolian men as large as you?" "Not most." At six feet seven, he was large anywhere, even on Coba where most everyone was tall. He extricated himself from his shirt, pulling out his arms, but when she started to stroke him again, he caught her hand. "Deha." "Hmmm?" She slid down his body until her head was level with his chest. Then she took his nipple into her mouth. "Ah . . ." He stared at the shadowed ceiling while she played with his nipple, kissing and gently biting it. After a moment he remembered what he was going to say. "We can't keep pretending this is a normal wedding night." Closing his eyes, he added, "Do the other one too." She moved across his chest. Eventually he said, "You can't force me to stay on Coba. ISC will look for me." Deha stopped kissing him. "Not if they think you're dead." She slid back up to look at his face. "You are a prince among your people, yes? I have made you one among mine. Is that really so terrible?" "I have my own life." He undid her braid, letting her glossy hair pour over their bodies. "I want it back." "I can offer you a better one. No more being alone." Kelric brushed her cheek with his thumb. Although he had no intention of staying on Coba, at this moment "no more being alone" felt just fine. He opened her robe, revealing a satin shift underneath. Her breasts were firm, the nipples erect under the satin. As he rubbed them, her eyes closed. Pulling 74 Catherine Asaro——————————————————————:| her forward, he took her breast into his mouth and suckled it| through the satin. She made a satisfied noise deep in her throat, | somewhere between a sigh and a moan. -f When he paused for a breath, Deha started to play with the.i flaps on the seams of his trousers. "You are discreet in hows you wear these," she said. "Old-fashioned. I like that." | He could guess how those less "old-fashioned" wore the' style: fasten the flaps looser and the pants revealed a strip of; skin from the man's waist to foot. He wondered if she saw the contradiction in giving him clothes that were deliberately provocative and then expecting him to wear them in a way that hid what they were designed to show. He suspected not; all he ; picked up from her was desire, mixed with relief that perhaps he wasn't as "modem" as she had believed. It was soon obvious, however, that his clothes were also ' designed so that a woman who knew what she was doing could ; make removing them as erotic as she wanted. Deha took her time unfastening the flaps, her hands caressing his thighs and legs until he was so aroused that Bolt started up with warnings about elevated physiological responses. Kelric told the node to shut up. : When he tugged at her clothes, Deha sat up on her heels and slid of the robe, then pulled the satin shift over her head. She had well-toned curves, slender and lean, with long, muscular legs. Kelric trailed his fingertips across her flat stomach. The hint of stretch marks showed at her hips, indicating she had given birth. "Your body is lovely," he said. "How do you stay so fit?" "Morning walk. Evening walk." Wryly she added, "Arguing with my doctors." "Your doctors?" "They worry too much." She smiled. "It gives them something to do." Deha finished taking off his clothes, then lay next to him and slid her hand up his inner thigh. While she caressed him, he rubbed his hands over her backside and his cheek against the top of her head. Then she slid on top of his body, straddling his hips, and eased onto him. They made love slowly, building together. Her touch was ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 75 skilled, first gentle, then urgent. When he used his Kyle senses to match his response to her emotions, she murmured in Teotecan, her words too blurred to distinguish, simply noises of affection. One time he caught a memory that came into her mind, the image of himself laughing, with sunlight in his hair. At that moment she paused, pensive as she raised her head to look at him. Then she lay down again and kissed him. Kelric hugged her, stroking her hair. As they built to their crest, Kelric tried to open his mind to her, to share his pleasure. Then the orgasm broke over him and he lost his senses in her embrace and the silver night. Later when they were drowsing in each other's arms, he tried again to reach her mind, with no more success than before. Deha simply wasn't a Kyle. It didn't mean he couldn't feel affection for her, but it did leave him with a sense of incompletion. Still, he almost felt content. Only a dull throb in his temples kept him awake. It intensified every time he used his Kyle senses on it. Whatever brain damage he had taken was growing worse Kelric watched Deha sleep, wondering how much he should tell her. He had no illusions about why these people feared him. They kept their autonomy because Coba was inconsequential enough that some overworked ISC bureaucrat had let the Restriction through. But the Twelve Estates didn't merit a status meant for places so uninhabitable or hostile they required quarantine. As soon as ISC took closer notice, Coba's evanescent independence would evaporate. Absorption by the Imperialate would bring the Cobans advanced technology, but it would also mean military occupation and obedience to Imperial law, as well as opening their world to Imperial use. He wasn't sure why the guards had hesitated to shoot Ixpar. But he felt Dha's resolve; if he took her hostage and forced his guards to choose between letting him go or risking their Manager's life, they would follow her orders to stop him— ven if it meant killing her. ,ii 76 Catherine Asaro ——————————————————————— ;> "No" he said. j Deha opened her eyes. "You are still awake?" She stretchedl against his side. "You seemed so tired at the ceremony." ; He smiled, savoring the feel of her skin sliding against his.' "I guess you revived me." Her face gentled, that expression she showed only him.j "You look pensive." ' He chose his words carefully. "I have a system inside my body. It's called hiomech." ; Deha pushed up on her elbow. "We wondered, after your; fight with the guards. You seemed beyond a normal human." She watched his face. "But why does that make you pensive?; "The system needs maintenance." That wasn't really the problem, but it came close enough without revealing his weakened condition "What will happen if it doesn't get it?" she asked. , "It could injure me" She tensed. "Kelric, anything I can do to help, I will." He wondered if she realized she was calling him Kelric rather than the Teotecan name they had given him. "You can't provide what it needs. I have to leave Coba." Softly she said, "We can't let you go. You know that." "Even if refusing causes me harm?" Her voice caught. "I'm sorry." Looking at her, he almost wished he hadn't said anything. He felt her anguish. Again he caught one of her memories, a glimpse of her former Akasi, this time lying stilt and lifeless on a funeral bower. "Ai, Deha." He touched her cheek. "I'm not going to die." "Anything I can do here on Coba, I will. I mean that." He pulled her into his arms. "Just lie with me. Like this." Eventually they slept. Sometime later he was awakened by her moving about. Opening his eyes, he saw her sit up and reach for her shift. "Are you cold?" he asked. "No." She drew the shift over her head. "I have to finish some paperwork in my office." "On your wedding night?" Deha gave him a rueful smile. "Dahl won't stop even for —————————————————————The Last Hawk 77 that." She pulled on her robe, then leaned over and kissed him. "Sleep well, my Akasi." After she left, Kelric lay staring at the ceiling. The throb in his head kept shifting and resettling, as if adjusting to an inner pressure. Finally he got up and paced around the suite. In an adjoining chamber he found a bathtub the size of a swimming pool, tiled in green and gold, with statues of three-legged animals at its comers. He started toward it— —and pain rocked through his head like an earthquake. Kelric gasped and fell to his knees by the pool. In the water he saw the reflection of his face contort in agony. Shocks hit him again and again, built and subsided, like blows from a hammer. It went on and on unl he wanted to cry out. But he made no sound, no motion, barely even breathed. Gradually the tremors came farther apart. Their force eased, lessened, died away. For a long time afterward he remained still, afraid to move lest it start again. A ray of light touched his face. Looking up, he saw the dawn through a window across the room. Kelric closed his eyes. Bolt. No answer. Bolt, what just happened? I'm not sure. I am d%&— What? I am damaged. The bio-electrodes in your brain are also malfunctioning. The seizure you just experienced was due to their making your neurons misfire. I can't You can't what? I can't fix it: You must go to a biomech repair facility. If you don't, ou may lose all function. Kelric knew that without his biomech, he had even less chance of escaping. He had to make his move now, despite his unhealed injuries, before it was too late. He returned to the bedroom and dressed, not in the sexually suggestive outfit from his Oath ceremony, but in some old clothes he found in the bureau. He braced himself against the door and sensitized his Kyle organs to the guards outside, using his biomech to amplify the signals from his KEB. When his link with the guards faltered, he clenched his teeth against . . 78Catherine /B the pain, overrode the safety toggles in his web, and let a ; of power surge out of his brain A cry came through the door; Bolt had miscalculated ii' applied too much force. With his injuries Kelric couldn't rier himself against the shock of the attack as it reflected 'V: to him. It hammered at his mind until he groaned and .f? clouded his vision. Half blinded by pain, he threw his bulk htI the door again and again, until it flew open with a bang. | Outside, his guards lay unconscious on the floor. He 'Iiill around their bodies and headed for the stairs. |: 7 Hawks Flight f Deha sat behind her desk, bathed in the morning sunshine RT8| ing through the window at her back. Piles of folders waited iii, a full day faced her: city meetings Estate conferences, Quis sions. She reached for the audiocom— Another hand came from behind her and bent back the w, switch until the wood snapped off with a crack. h Deha spun her chair around—to see Kelric a few jm_)| away, aiming a stunner at her head. Behind him, curtainsSl lowed out from an open window that should have been iRlilH She stared at him, remembering how he had felt in her nn He looked far different now, his expression closed to her. " "I came for my Jumbler," he said. "Jumbler?" It sounded like a description of himself, or least what he did to her emotional state. How had he wnij the tower? ' "„, "My gun," he said. "I must have been wearing it when 'ilt found me." • She thought of the monster weapon they had found on him.4 "We left it on your ship. The explosion destroyed it." In truth, \ she had stowed the gun in her safe. Her experts said it didn't —————————————————————The Last Hawk 79 work. But then, they were only experts when it came to stunners. Kelric looked as if he were straining to hear a muttered conversation. Softly he said, "That's what I needed," followed by, "Forgive me, Deha." Then he fired. The guards who had formerly watched the AmberRoom now stood clumped before Deha's desk. Dabbiv stood with them, his hands in the pockets of his white sweater where Deha knew he always put them when he was tense. "Escaped." Deha was standing behind her desk, her head pounding in the aftermath of the stun shots. Kelric had pumped her with enough charge to put her out for the entire morning. "Where were all of you while he was escaping?" "Kelric knocked them out," Hacha said. Deha scowled. "How could he knock out every guard in the tower, sneak into my office, knock me out, rob my safe, and disappear? My entire CityGuard can't find one man?" "We have every available unit out searching," Hacha said. "I also doubled the detail at the airfield. We'll catch him." "You'd better." Deha turned to Dabbiv. "And you. Insisting we stop his medication. No wonder he escaped." 'The drugs were poisoning him," Dabbiv said. "If he was in such terrible shape, how did he manage this phenomenal escape? I want him back on sedation the instant he's found." "Deha, no." Dabbiv pulled his hands out of his pockets. "There's no telling what cumulative effect the drugs will have on him." She forced out the words. "That may be. But we have no choice." "My calling is to heal. Not harm." He took a breath. "I'd rather you put me on a city crew than ask me to go against that." Deha pushed her hand through the tendrils that had escaped her braid. "Fine. You're no longer on his case. You're reassigned to the city." She glanced at Hacha. "I want reports from the search teams every hour." • . "You'll have them" Hacha said. | "Very well. You may all go." As they left, Deha took a breath, trying to calm the wij of her heart and ease the pain behind her breastbone thafif|| ated into her neck, jaw, and arms. She watched the iB guards bow to a woman who stood just inside the doorway. S' "Chankah;' Deha said. | Her successor closed the door. "Dabbiv told me you it him to the city." She came over to the desk. "Deha, why? { does a good job here." s| "We—disagreed." | "Do you really intend to dismiss him from the Estate?" || "No. No, I don't." She exhaled. "Everything is a mess. S Kelric makes it to the port we're finished." 1| "There's no way out of Dahl except by air. We'll catch W when he goes for a rider." Chankah paused. "When we do, .' must put an end to all this." I "Lady Death already stole Jaym from me. I won't give ff. Kelric too." H "Whether Kelric dies or goes to prison, he will be .miii More gently Chankah said, "From what I've seen, he's a m»i? man. But that doesn't change the danger he poses us." J "So." Deha crossed her arms. "You would lock him up in i Haka prison." "That's right." . | "And which Estates are strongest, Chankah?" "I don't see how that—" "Answer the question." "Kam and Varz are strongest." "Kam and Varz. The two Estates whose relations define i!T| word antagonism. And after them?" i "Haka and Dahl." _J "Haka. Haka." Deha scowled. "You want me to hand a W| genius to the most powerful ally of Varz? What other iifeMiil would you give Manager Haka?" a "He'll be in her prison," Chankah said. "Not her Calanya" 1 Deha lowered her arms. "A dice player as gifted as R belongs in a Calanya." , -The Last Hawk 81 "I hope you're right," Chankah said. So do I, Deha thought. Hidden by a moonless night, Kelric leaned against a clump of boulders. Rocks littered a trail that wound down the mountain until it leveled out into cultivated fields far below Beyond the fields, Dahl gleamed like a sculpture of spires. Lights on the aircontrol tower blinked in the night, beckoning—and unattainable. Too many guards were out searching: in the city, on the Estate, everywhere. Hunger gnawed at him. Although crops flourished below, eating them made him sick, as did drinking water from fountains in Dahl. His resources were almost gone. He still had the Jumbler that hung heavy at his hip, but to activate it required that he key his brain to a neural chip in the gun. Designed with his own DNA, the chip picked up waves sent by his KEB and filtered by his biomech web, making them more distinctive than fingerprints. It ensured that only he could fire the gun. But that vaunted safety feature had put him in a nowin situation; using his Kyle senses and biomech would further aggravate his injuries, but if he didn't do it now he might never have another chance. He sent a probe to the gun. Contact—no, he lost it. On the second try, his probe clicked into synch with the weapon. A menu flashed in his mind: Fuel: abiton rest energy: 1.9 eV charge: 5.95X1025 C magnet: 0.0001 T max radius: 0.05 M The menu wavered, came into focus—and melted. Gritting his teeth against what felt like a mental version of ripping his tendons, he yanked his link to the gun back in place. Then he set out for Dahl. ha eaned against a rail on the airfield, brooding in the orning sunlight. Hacha stood at her side, watching her 82 Catherine Asaro————————————————————— guards patrol the hangars. Then she looked up into the mout tains. "He can't stay out there forever," the captain said. has to come back in sometime." ' And then? Deha wondered. Kelric was a windstorm th( had trapped in a bottle. Cracks kept fracturing the glass, ai every time she tried to repair one, two more appeared. | Balv came out of the tower and walked over to the "Llaach just reported in. She and Rev are still at the Calaig Everythin is quiet." ; Deha nodded, struck by the irony of having Rev guard I Calanya. In past ages, a dice player with his brilliance wou have been in it. His Quis expertise was why she had chos him for her escort. A Manager could learn much from what h bodyguards picked up in the Quis. ; Shouts came from across the field, as guards converged 1 a hangar, forming a semicirce. "That's it," Deha said. She t(x off anked by Hacha and Balv. 1 At the semicircle, they made their way to the front. T( paces away, Kelric stood backed up against the hangar with h weapon drawn. ; Hacha stepped forward. "Be reasonable, Kelric. We kno your gun doesn't work." j "It works," he said. "It shoots abitoris. Antimatter particle 0 the biton. And guess what Captain. Every electron in yottj body contains hundreds of thousands of bitons. I shoot, yo get annihilated." '} Deha glanced at Balv. "Do you know what he's talkin|] about?" s "I've no idea" Balv said. Hacha took another step—and Kelric raised his gun. The Dahl guards fired in unison, and though Kelric lunge to the side, many of the shots hit him. Yet it had no discernib efect. Holding his gun in both hands, with his feet plante wide, he fired across the ground separating him from d octets. Orange sparkles lit the air in a narrow beam—al where the beam hit tarmac, the ground exploded in a flash ffl orange light. Rocks and dust flew into the air. In a second, a chasm stretched the length of the fied, with debris crumbling from its edges in miniature avalanches. _—————————————————————The Last Hawk 83 "Winds above," Balv muttered. Deha swallowed. Apparently his gun worked much better than they had thought. Kelric ooked at her. "Order the guards inside the hangar to come out." "There aren't any," Deha said. He aimed into the building. "You have two seconds. Then I shoot." "Wait." Deha raised her voice. "Unit three, come out of the hangar." Three guards walked out. "All of them," Kelric said. "That is all of them." "There are five more." "No one else is in there," Deha said. Kelric brought his thumb down on the firing stud. "No!" Deha raised her voice again. "Unit five out." Five more guards appeared. After the octet backed away from the hangar, Kelric motioned at Balv. "Send him over here." "There's no way you can leave Dahl," Deha said. "Send him here," Kelric said. "No." Kelric didn't argue, he just fired at a nearby hangar. His target exploded in a blast of orange light. Deha swore under her breath. Watching her, Balv said, "I better do what he wants, before he starts shooting at people." "We have to stop him, Balv. No matter what it takes. If you're in the rider when we catch it—" Deha left the rest unsaid. "1 understand." "All right. Go." Softly she added, "Wind's luck to you." He touched her arm. Then he headed for the edge of the fied, where the chasm narrowed enough for him to cross. Deha turned to Hacha. "Have the guards block their takeoff. And get the other riders ready to go." "1 have crews standing by." "And Captain. If you can't recapture him—" Deha forced out the words, hearing them as if another person spoke. "Force is rider into a crash." 84Catherine /5R Kelric loomed above Balv in the hatch. "Put your stunner •' the tarmac." Balv set down the weapon. • "Now climb in here," Kelric said. Balv climbed, acutely aware of the gun Kelric kept trained ) him. Inside, the cabin seemed cramped, dwarfed by Kelric's .wl| Kelric motioned him toward the pilot and copilot's i)T| the front. "You fly." k. As Balv sat in the pilot's chair, he looked through the •.'ii'i| shield and saw guards running along the fissure. By the rtW he finished his preflight checks, several octets were iifcMI outside the hangar. When he started the engines a line of »Ma| pie solidified in front of the rider. | Kelric was standing by the seat, his gun poised near t?ltBt head. "Go." "I can't. I'll run over the guards." | In response, Kelric yanked on the throttle. The rider hiMll into motion. | "No!" As Balv grabbed the wheel, people scattered in In directions. Mercifully, he regained control of the craft before | hit anyone. As the area cleared, he taxied out of the hangar aii;<|; accelerated alongside the chasm. Kelric sat down in the fliU lot's chair, still with his gun trained on Balv. Within iWi'lMil they had lifted off the tarmac and were sailing into the gales i|l, the Teotec Mountains. Static burst from the radio. "This is the Dahl RCt Come in, Skytreader." "Don't answer," Kelric said. T Below them, the mountains unrolled in a jagged »B>ininm«l In his side mirror, Balv saw a flock of craft rising from the air-1 field. They looked like specks against the cliffs towering Vi Dahl. * "Skytreader." Hacha's voice crackled on the co. "Land now or we'll force you out of the air." f "Outrun them," Kelric said. "I can't," Balv said. A fist of wind grabbed Skytreader and i tossed it upward like a child playing with a dice cube. "This is crazy. We have to land." _————————————————————The Last Hawk 85 Kelric touched his gun to Balv's temple. "We're going to the starport you all claim doesn't exist." "You can't shoot that thing in here. You'll destroy the rider." "No. Just you." "I won't fly." Balv swallowed, wondering if he were about to die. For a moment there was silence. Then Kelric said, "Get up" Balv stared at him. "What? Kelric flipped over his gun and held it like a club. "Get up." "You'll kill us both." "You have five seconds. Then you go to sleep." It only took Balv an instant to imagine lying unconscious in a craft flown by someone who had never handled a rider, let alone battled the winds of the Teotecs. Then he slid out of the pilot's seat. As Kelric took his place, the rider lurched ike a drunk gambler. "Let me take us down." Balv motioned to a cluster of cloudwreathed crags below. "I know places we can land." "The only place I'm going is home." "We can't make it." As Balv slid into the copilot's seat he looked back through a window. Painted eyes and wings showed on the pursuing riders. "You know they'll catch us." Kelric made a fast scan of the controls. Then, with no warning, he pulled Skytreader into a nearly vertical climb. Pressure built in Balv's ears and he had to yell to be heard over the straining engines. "You're going too high!" Kelric ignored him, taking the rider up in a dizzying half loop, the horizon careening past the windshield as the craft turned upside down. Just when Balv began to fear altitude would finish them as surely as a crash in the Teotecs, Kelric rolled the rider right side up and angled into a descent, headed the opposite way from their previous direction. Skytreader streaked into the upper ranges of the Teotecs, leaving their pursuers far behind. They landed high in the mountains, in a pocket of rock fenced by crags and icy patches of snow. Balv stared through the windshield at a finger of basalt thrusting into a cobalt sky. "I thought we were going to the port." 86 Catherine Asam————————————————— ,j| Kelric cut the engines. "So did Hacha. Once she gets turned |t : around, she won't have any idea where to find us." . t. It almost made sense; locating a craft up here was virtually | impossible unless the pilot wanted to be found. But Kelric had | missed one "minor" fact—the starport was in the desert. . "You're going to fly me there," Kelric said. "When it gets f dark." J "Fly you where?" 1. "To the starport." % A chill ran down Balv's back. How did Kelric always know | what he was thinking? "And if I refuse?" '•9. "You won't." t'l "Why not?" '!jl "Because you want to live." Balv had no answer for that. | Kelric loosened the collar of his shirt. "Does this craft carry oxygen?" "Oxygen?" 3 'Air" | Balv knew a weapon might be stored in the cabin locker He stood up. "I'll check in back." j • Kelric raised his gun. "Sit down." | Balv sat. | "No pilot stores emergency air out of reach." Kelric's voice | rasped. The air. Now." Balv heard the edge of desperation in his voice, recognized the danger in it. "The panel is above your head." Kelric ran his fingers along the hull until he found the catch. When he clicked the panel open, a mask dropped out, hanging by a hose. He clamped it over his face and drew n huge lungfuls of air. When Kelric finally lowered the mask, his tension had visibly eased. He spoke in a calmer voice. 'The air is so thin up here." Thin?" Balv had never heard of thin or fat air. "The concentration of oxygen is low for me." "Air is an element. Its composition can't vary." "It's a mixture of elements, Balv. Oxygen and nitrogen, with traces of other gases." ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 87 Balv had no intention of arguing. "All right." "I don't get it." Kelric's voice was growing hoarser. "Your science is only in the rudimentary stages, yet you people can build machines as sophisticated as these riders." "You sound terrible. You need a doctor." "What I need is the starport." Balv had no response to that. So they sat silent, Kelric periodically breathing from the mask. After a while Balv said, "Can I ask you something?" "What?" "You are a soldier, yes?" "That's right." "Who do you fight?" "Eubian Traders." "Why?" "We have something they want." "Why not trade?" Balv wondered what ISC considered worth more than the lives lost to keep it Wealth? Power? What pushed them, that they ruled so much and still wanted more? "You think it's greed?" Kelric said. "If the Traders had found Coba before we did, your life would be a lot different now. I'll tell you what we have that they want. People." "People?" "They sell them. You want to be a slave? I'd rather die." That made Balv pause. It had never occurred to him that the Imperialate lived with its own nightmares. He chose his words carefully. "During our Old Age, the Estates were always at war. Managers made their captives into slaves. Calani were bought and sold like prized goods." He grimaced. "I am glad I live now and not then." "I had the impression there wasn't much warfare here." "Now, yes. But in the Old Age, Managers were warriors. They nearly fought one another into extinction. Now we fight with Quis." Unexpectedly, Kelric smiled. "Political hostilities submerged into a dice game. That's quite an accomplishment." He glanced at Balv's wrist. "Is that your kasi band?" Bav looked down. He had pulled the gold out from under 88Catherine Asaro - his cuff and was twisting it around his wrist. "Yes." He won-1 dered if he would ever see his wife again. | Kelric touched his own shirt where the outline of an arm-1 band showed under the cloth. "Why are yours on your wrists? | "It's not the same thing. The armbands mean you are a; Calani." Balv stopped twisting his band. "Of course, nowadays some kasi refuse to wear these." Why?" "In the Old Age a kasi was his wife's property. He wore. wrist guards with her name engraved on them. Some men feel the bands are a remnant of those days." Kelric pushed back his cuff, uncovering his wrist guard with its engraving of the Dahl suntree hieroglyph. "Like this?" Balv shifted in his seat. "Well—yes." "I take it that means I'm Dha's property." "Yes." Balv felt the need to add more. "Many of us consider the Akasi Laws barbaric." "I won't argue with that," Kelric muttered. Sweat trickled down his neck. Balv wondered why Kelric was so hot. The cabin was cold and all Kelric wore were flimsy old clothes. He ought to be freezing. Balv peered at the skin above Kelric's wrist guard. "Can you roll up your sleeves?" "Why? "I want to check something." Watching him warily, Kelric pushed up his sleeve—and revealed an inflamed rash of red dots all over his arm. "What the hell?" He looked at Balv. "What is that?" "Kevtar's disease, I think. Most of us get it as children." "I'm sick?" "It's not serious. You'll be fine by tonight." Balv winced. I should apologize. You must have caught it from me." "You don't look sick." "I'm not. But Rev and I were at the Med House this morning visiting his children. All three of them have Kevtar's." Kelric grimaced. "Thirty-four is a little old for me to catch a child's illness." "Thirty-four?" Balv stared at him. "You can't be that old." "Why not?" -The Last Hawk 89 "The way you look—we all assumed you were younger." Kelric shrugged. "It's just biotech. And good genes." "Oh. Of course." That made no sense to Balv. "Little Kelric," he muttered. His voice sounded like sand scraping glass. "Baby of the Rhon. Youngest and biggest." He wiped sweat off his forehead. "Gods, I'm burning up." By evening Kelric's rash had spread until it covered his chest and neck. He paced across the cabin, shivering now, his voice even hoarser than before. "I thought you said I would feel fine by now." "You should," Balv said. "I've never seen Kevtar's affect anyone this way. We have to get you to a Med House." "Not a chance." Kelric shifted his Jumbler from hand to hand. "We're leaving for the port." "We don't have enough fuel to reach it from here." "Maybe not. But we have enough to get damn close." He motioned with the gun. "Get in the pilot's seat." Balv knew this might be his last chance to make a move. He stood up, stepped away from the copilot's seat—and lunged for the Jumbler. Kelric jerked away the gun, his movements mechanical, as if he were a puppet acting on reflex. It happened so fast that despite the accuracy and speed of Balv's lunge, his hand closed on air. Kelric leveled the Jumbler at Balv. "Sit." Balv froze. "You don't want to shoot me." "That doesn't mean I won't." Balv sat in the pilot's seat, his mind racing to find a solution. What if Kelric reached the port? Were the tales true, that entire worlds had been punished for an offense against the Rhon? If Kelric was their youngest, the one they felt most protective toward, their wrath would be even greater. He looked up at his abductor. "I won't fly you to the port." "Fly or I shoot." Balv took a deep breath. "Then you'll have to shoot." "You're willing to die to keep me here?" "Yes." Kelric stared jt him as if he were trying to extract the truth of Balv's words from his brain. Then he jerked his gun toward the hatch. "Take what you need to survive and get out." 90 Catherine Asaro———————————————————————| Balv jumped out of his seat and strode toward the back o| the cabin, moving fast, before Kelric changed his mind. Kelric' had already taken the stunner from the locker, so Balv grabbed, a jacket and a box of flares to signal the search panis. : When Balv heaved open the hatch, chill wind blasted! through the cabin, throwing back his hair. He jumped out onto the ice-encrusted rocks around the rider where the snow tha melted during their landing had refrozen. ; Within seconds the rider was airborne, leaving Balv alone in the freezing wind. A burst of static from the co jolted Kelric awake. One glance| at the controls told him the craft was losing altitude. As he; brought up the nose, the radio crackled again, with a voice buried in the static. 3 A Skolian voice. "... identify yourself. You are approach ... Restricted zone off limits . . . identify .. ." "I'm a Skolian citizen," Kelric rasped. His fever was worse now and his voice had grown so hoarse he could barely talk. | "Do you read? I'm an Imperialate citizen." ". .. off limits to all Coban . . . identify yourself." '• "Is anyone there?" he asked. "Anyone?" | The message continued to repeat. | The rider faltered, coughing and spluttering. A fast check | showed what he had feared would result from his'erratic fly- I ing: the fuel tanks were empty. As he opened the wings and | rode the wind like a hawk, the desert sped upward in a blur 5; of red. | Kelric did his best to control the dive, trying to glide on the I wind. At the last moment, he hunched over and covered his head with his arms. With a shriek of splintering metal, the rider '': hit ground and plowed through the sand. The impact nearly tore him out of his seat despite the harness. The craft rolled over, wrenching him from side to side, and the crack of break- ; ing glass added its cry to the chaos. With a final shudder, the rider rocked to a stop. Slow and cautious, Kelric raised his head. The windshield was broken and the cabin looked like a storm had hit Jt. Equipment lay -The Last Hawk 91 thrown all over the deck. Two passenger seats had ripped loose and his Jumbler lay smashed under a crumpled section of the hull. His Quis dice were scattered everywhere, most of them crushed. Kelric untangled himself from his seat, moving stiffly, both from the damage he had sustained during the crash and from the fever raging in his body. He limped across the cabin, piking his way over the debris. The rider rocked, then listed to one side, leaving the deck at a slant that sent him sliding into the hatch. The buckled dor came loose under his shove and fell out onto the desert. Scorching wind poured into the cabin, accompanied by a rain of sand that insinuated itself everywhere. Raising his arm to protect his eyes, he climbed out into the heat. Red desert stretched everywhere. Nothing but sand, sand, sand, and the towers that reached into a pale blue sky like fingers from a giant buried hand— Towers? Kelric squinted in the heat shimmer of the air. Then he grinned. It was the starport. - Lift one foot. Put it down. Again and again and again .... The impact of his body against sand jarred Kelric out of his daze. He rolled onto his back and stared at the twilit sky. The stars dazzled. It didn't matter that Coba had no moon. She had enough stars to light a hundred nights. "Port," he mumbled. He climbed back to his feet and resumed his trudge. Deceptive sands. He had forgotten how a desert could lie. The towers had taunted him all day with their distance, coming closer with maddening slowness. But he was almost there now. He could make out the ISC insignia on the tallest structure. Even in a fully automated port, regulations required at least one shuttle be available for transport. Fevered thoughts darted through his mind. When he reached HQ, he had to report on Coba. ISC would take a long look at the Twelve Estates. It was obvious Coba claimed rich 92 Catherine Asaro ——————————————————| ' resources, both in material terms and the harder-toquantify value of human mind and culture. Had the Cobans been more i accommodating in their first contacts with ISC, Coba might | have earned Imperial citizenship, but now he had no idea what would happen. ISC would see their unpredictable behavior as| a potential threat. | And Deha? Imperial law recognized marriages on anyi planet under ISC jurisdiction, including Restricted worlds., Dissolving his union with Deha would require legal action, and if he revealed the circumstances of its formation she would. | come up on criminal charges. Given his titled position within the Imperialate, she was in serious trouble. He didn't want her| destroyed that way. Hell, he wasn't even sure he wanted the ;i marriage dissolved. | He would have to make his report with caution, when his | mind was clear. Stress how these people saved his life. If he | wasn't careful, he could destroy the Cobans because he was , too clumsy with words to choose ones that would ward off the wrath of ISC and his family. When this fever-cooled he could i think better ; What would happen if he got into space and the fever grew worse? Any shuttle in an automated backwaters port like this ".: would be bottom-of-the-line, with minimal medical facilities. The fever was devastating his system, raging faster than his crippled nanomeds could fight it. If he didn't cool it off, the shuttle would deliver a corpse to ISC. Then what would hap pen to Coba? The growl of an automated crane lifting freight interrupted his thoughts. He was close enough now to see it moving within the port. But there was still another rumble. An engine? Kelric spun around and stared at the sky. Stark against a crimson sunset, the black silhouette of a rider was growing in size. "No!" he shouted. "Not now." Combat mode toggled Bolt thought. Whirling around, Kelric ran for the starport, using enhanced speed. Warning. Bolt created a display of statistics. Femur, tibia, and —————————————————————The Last Hawk 93 fibula hydraulics malfunctioning. Sciatic fiberoptic thread: 48 percent loss of efficiency. Auriculotemporal thread misfiring. Estimat&*-3## The growl behind him swelled into a roar. Then a shadow passed over his head. He shouted a protest, his voice lost in a thunder of engines as the rider skimmed along the ground in front of him. Even before it rolled to a full stop, its hatch burst open and his escort was jumping out Balv included. Kelric tried to veer away. Bolt should have analyzed the terrain, his reflex libraries should have guided his feet, and his hydraulics should have supported the abrupt direction change. Somewhere the system failed. He tripped and fell forward, slamming into the sand. As he struggled to his knees in the evening's fading light, he saw the guards running toward him. Kyle magnification activated, Bolt thought. Deactivate.' Kelric thought. Preparing attack. No! He shouted the thought. You can't use my brain for that! STOP! But he had pushed his injured systems too far one too many times. The safety protocols failed and an attack exploded out from his Kyle centers, amplified so far beyond what his brain could tolerate that Bolt quit trying to calculate the resulting damage and just flashed red warnings all over the disintegrating display of stats. Uncontrolled, the attack slammed into the escort with a force only a member of the Rhon could summon. Kelric tried to stop the onslaught, cut it of, swamp it out, anything to end the nightmare. But his damaged systems refused to respond. The signal held true, unrelenting, dragging him further and further into his link with the escort, until their dentities merged. He was Hacha. level after level of personality, each peeling back like a skin: strength, traditionalism, pride in her work, love for her husband and child. Rev's mind was a complex of dice patterns, shifting, unceasing. He lived Quis, thought Quis, dreamt Quis . . . Balv thought of flying, of his family, of his job. Impressions of Llaach lanced though the barrage; newest member of the escort, least confident. Deeper down he found her love of her husband: Jevi, Calani. 94 Catherine Asam— Like a runaway web vims, Kelric's amplified signals a away at their minds. Llaach buckled first, her neurotransmi ters going wild, attacking her own brain cells. As she die Kelric screamed, dying with her, experiencing every instant < it, unable to break the link that bound the five of them togethe And when the other three guards began to die, Kelric final in desperation, broke the link by breaking his own mind. 8 The Square "The Tribunal of Dahl," Chankah said, "is now convened." She stood in the Hall of Voices, a large room paneled in wood, filled with a sense of antiquity. The table in front of herj reflected light from amberglass lamps overhead. At her back,| a rail set of a gallery filled with benches. An empty gallery. This Tribunal was closed to the public i The Estate aide Corb stood at her side, adjusting his spectacles. About five paces in front of them, the judges sat at: their high bench, looking down from its gleaming expanse of darkwood. Their robes rustled as they moved. For this ase there were six judges instead of the usual three: two on defense, two on prosecution, and two neutral, including the Elder Judge. The Elder regarded Chankah. "Successor Dahl, do you agree to act as Estate Manager until Deha Dahl can once more assume her duties?" "Yes," Chankah said. No, she thought. Not this way. But no choice existed. Deha—her lifelong mentor—lay near death in the aftermath of a massive heart attack brought on by whatever had happened three days ago, out in the desert. One fact remained clear: Llaach was dead. Although the Tribunal would focus primarily on her death, the ramifications of —————————————————————The Last Hawk 95 any decisions made here would go much further than Llaach. The future of the Twelve Estates was at stake. "We shall begin," the Elder said. She waited until Chankah and Corb sat down, then said, "Bring in the Tribunal party." An Estate aide pulled back the bolts in a door to the left of the bench and leaned her weight into it. With the creak of old wood, the portal slowly swung open. The Voice entered first, a tall man in a violet robe, his silvered hair swept back from his face. The witnesses came next: guards from the city, airfield personnel, doctors Rohka and Dabbiv, and Captain Hacha. The captain looked pale, but her walk was steady. They brought Kelric in last. Dressed in a black prison uniform, he walked surrounded by an octet of guards. A chain four handspans long joined the iron manacles fastened around his wrists above the gold gleam of his Calanya guards. Watching him, Chankah felt a sense of grief. So much was lost, both for Dahl and for Kelric, all because he had the misfortune to crash on a world where he was both coveted and feared. The Voice crossed to a table on Chankah's right and the aide directed the witnesses to the gallery. The Square of Decision stood to the left, a chair surrounded by a wooden rail. The guards seated Kelric in the chair and took up posts around the rail. The Elder spoke. "Before we begin, do any here have petitions that concern this Tribunal?" The large number of people who approached the gallery rail worried Chankah. How could there be so many petitioners when so few citizens knew what had happened? She had kept the incident quiet, backed in her decision by the Ministry. If knowledge spread about Kelric's identity, it could start a panic. News of Llaach's death had leaked into the Quis, but most people believed she died apprehending a Dahl citizen who had stolen a windrider. Chankah had revealed the full story only to a select few: city elders, top oficials, and Deha's kin. Four people stood in the first group: two women and two men. "Please identify yourselves," the Elder said. 96 Catherine Asaro————————————————————— "I am Yeva," the first woman an swered. "Two decades ag< before Deha Dahl became Manager, she worked in the Chi dren's Cooperative. During that time she was my primal guardian." "I am Tabbol," the first man said. "Manager Dahl was m guardian in the Cooperative." "I am Sabhia," the second woman said. "Manager Dahl w also my guardian." The younger man spoke last. He watched the judges wit familiar eyes, huge and black, like dark pools. "I am Jaymsol Deha Dahl is my mother." Chankah stared at him. It had been longer than she realize since she had seen Jaymi. He wasn't "Jaymi" anymore. Deha' son, her only biological child, had grown into a man. "What is your petition?" the Elder asked. Yeva read from a document in her hand. "If Manager Dat dies as a result of her heart seizure, Sevtar Dah should be trie for her murder as well as that of Llaach Dahl." Chankah almost swore. Did they realize what they were asl ing? Whether they acknowledged it or not, Kelric was the stepfather. All they saw in hi was the conqueror incarnate, nightmare come to life. Watching Jaymson, she felt a dee loss. She suspected he would have liked Kelric once he had th chance to know him, but that would never happen now. "Your charge is severe," the Elder said. "On what ground do you bring it?" "On the grounds," Yeva said, "that Manager Dahl's cond tion is a direct result of the accused's actions." The Elder considered her. "This is not a murder trial. We ai met to determine what transpired in the desert why Llaach Da died, and what our response should be." She paused. "Given th far-reaching ramifications of any decisions we make here, yoi petition will require a private conference by the Bench." "I understand," Yeva said. "We await your decision." Sh gave her document to the Tribunal aide and withdrew with h group. Chankah recognized the second petitioner: Avahna Dan Speaker for the Calanya. The painful duty of telling Llaach husband that his wife had died had fallen to Chankah. Whe ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 97 he requested to see the Speaker, she thought he wanted to send a message to Llaach's kin. Avahna's presence here was an unwelcome surprise. The aide Corb spoke to her in a low voice. "Are you going to allow this? What if Jevi demands Sevtar's life for Llaach's?" Chankah pushed her hand through her hair. "It's Jevi's right to petition. Just pray we don't have to intervene." Avahna said, "I speak for the Calani Jevi." "What is his request?" the Elder asked. "He asks," Avahna said, "that if the Bench acquits the accused, then Sevtar never be allowed to live in the Dahl Calanya. Should this be unacceptable, Jevi asks to leave Dahl for the Calanya of another Estate." Sympathy gentled the Elder's face. When she glanced toward the table, Chankah nodded, relieved. The Elder turned to Avahna. "You may tell Jevi his petition is granted." Avahna bowed. "Thank you, your Honor." The final petitioner was a woman with coppery curls spilling down her back. She wore the blue jumpsuit of a guardian from the Children's Cooperative and looked ill at ease in the severity of the court. The woman took a breath. "I am Chala Dahl. I represent the Elders of the Dahl residences: the Women's House, Men's House, Couples' House, Parents' House, and Children's Cooperative." She shuffled her papers self-consciously, then read from one. "Although we abhor the nature of the events that led to this Tribunal, we feel compelled to make this statement: there have been no executions for centuries. If Sevtar Dahl is given such a sentence, it will set us back to an age when violence was our way of life. For this reason we exhort you to refrain from any such ruling." Yeva jumped to her feet. "I object to this girl's claim—" "You are out of order," the Elder judge said. "Your Honor, I apologize," Yeva said. "But this girl claims to represent all Houses of the city when in fact she speaks only the naive opinions of a few people." Chankah stood and the petitioners fell silent. She considered Yeva. "Do you claim to represent the Houses of Dahl?" 98 Catherine Asaro——————————————————————| "Successor Dahl." Yeva bowed. "All I state is this: the sev ity of the crimes brought before this Bench require measue of equal severity when dealing with the perpetrator." ; Perpetrator. Chankah frowned. Yeva spoke as if Kelric' guilt were already decided. The hearing hadn't even begun an already they had convicted him. It undermined the very foun dation of a Tribunal, which was that the person who sat in i Square of Decision should receive a fair hearing. They neede to cool off the courtroom, give the tension time to eas Chankah turned to the Eder and the judge nodded, undei standing her unspoken message. The Elder regarded Yeva. "If you wish to present a state ment, you may do so prior to the morning session tomorrow. She turned to Chala. "We will take your petition into consic eration." Chala and Yeva nodded. After everyone had taken thei seats, the Elder picked up a mallet and knocked it against small gong on the bench. "This Tribunal is ow in session, She turned to the Voice. "Evid Dahl, step forward." The Voice went to stand before the Bench. "Do you swear to remain impartial when you question th witnesses?" the Elder asked. "I swear," Evid said. "Please call your first witness." Testimony of officers from the CityGuard filled the morr ing, and after Midday recess the airfield personnel were ques tioned. The witnesses laid out a list of Kelric's actions; fight! threats, assaults, abductions—it all formed a violent pictur incongruous with the quiet man who sat in the Square c Decision. "And so the matter before this Tribunal," Yeva finished, "is on with no precedent in modern history. As such, it require unprecedented justice. Yesterday it was claimed we regress t barbarism if we deal with the accused as he has dealt with u I answer with this: if his crimes go unpunished what messa will that send out? That a person may murder without cer sure 7 Mutters rumbled among' the witnesses. The Elder waite —————————————————————The Last Hawk 99 until the noise died down and then spoke. "No one would deny we must avoid such a message. However, we remind you that Sevtar Dahl has been convicted of nothing." "I understand, your Honor," Yeva said. But as she returned to her seat, others nodded their support to her. The Elder turned to Evid. "Summon your next witness." "I call Dabbiv Dahl," Evid said. Dabbiv went to stand before the Bench. The Elder said, "The Tribunal oath requires you tell the facts with truth. Do you swear to do so? "Yes," Dabbiv said. "Be seated then." The Square of Witness, to the left of the Bench, looked much like the chair where Kelric sat. However, no guards stood around its rail. After Dabbiv was seated, Evid said, "Doctor, in what capacity do you know Sevtar Dahl?" "I was his physician," Dabbiv said. "Was? You no longer are?" "Manager Dahl took me off his case." "Why?" Dabbiv hesitated. "We disagreed about his treatment." "Disagreed how?" "She wanted me to give him drugs that made him sick." Evid raised his eyebrows. "Manager Dahl wished to poison her Akasi?" Dabbiv flushed. "Of course not. The drug was a sedative, a powerful one, but safe under proper superviston. Safe for a Coban, that is. Kelric, I mean Sevtar, isn't a Coban." A prosecution judge beckoned to Evid. He talked with her, then turned back to Dabbiv. "When was the last time you gave Sevtar the drug in question?" "The day of his Oath ceremony," Dabbiv said. "After which he escaped from a locked room at the top of a tower, knocked out all of his guards, shot Manager Dahl, wrecked the airfield, kidnapped a pilot, and flew to the starport?" Dabbiv reddened. "Yes." "Since these events, do you believe the drug had any effect on him at all?" 100 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————~~B "I don't know how he managed to nullify it, but it was poi| soning him." IBI A neutral judge bent to Evid. He listened, then spoke tl Dabbiv. "Could a side effect of this drug be to induce psyH "It made him physically ill," Dabbiv said. "Not mentally." U "But is it possible?" if "I don't know." B "Could his adverse reactions, both to food and medicine, b psychological in origin?" /llL "I doubt it." Evid leaned forward. "Then tell me this. Can a change in eye or skin pigmentation dramatically alter the way a persoB reacts to sedation?" "|| "I don't know. It doesn't seem likely." ;| "Yet," Evid pounced, the only difference between Sevtar| and you or me is coloring. Why then should a substance that is? harmless to us poison him?" '> "He only looks like us." Dabbiv thumped his fist on the;; chair. "What do I have to do to make you people see? This man;| isn't from another Estate. He's from another world." \ "Young man," the Elder said. "Please control yourself." 3 Dabbiv scowled at her A prosecution judge beckoned Evid. He listened, theni turned to Dabbiv. "Are you still a member of the Estate staff?" "• The doctor stiffened. "No." "What is your position?" ; "Medic for the city maintenance crew." "Manager Dahl dismissed you from the Estate?" ' Tightly, Dabbiv said, "Yes." s "I see." Evid glanced at the judges for confirmation, then ' said, "We have no further questions Doctor." " Chankah frowned. The more she heard, the less impartial Evid sounded. She rose to her feet. When the Elder nodded, Chankah said, "It should be made clear in transcript that Man- \ ager Dahl fully intends to recall Dabbiv in his position as one of her physicians." i "Very well." The Elder glanced at the Scribe. He sat to the right of the Bench at a Quis table recognizable by its distinc- .——————————————————————The Last Hawk 101 tive structure, a round top on a fluted pedestaL The Scribe dipped his quill in ink and turned Chankah's words into hieroglyphs on his parchment. The next witness was Senior Physician Rohka. "His reaction was severe," Rohka said when questioned about Kelric's bout of Kevtar's disease. "The night they brought him back here his fever was so high we had to pack him in ice. Without treatment, he would have died." "Do you know what caused it?" Evid asked. "He probably lacks immunities we're born with." "Can't emotional stress make some people sick?" Rohka considered the thought. "It's possible." "Could that have led him to attack the escort?" "It would take more than stress to explain how he killed Llaach Dahl." The doctor blanched. "Every blood vessel in her brain was ruptured." A murmur rumbled through the petitioners and witnesses. Evid waited until it quieted, then said, "We have no more questions, Doctor." After Rohka left the chair, Evid bowed to Chankah. "I now call the acting Estate Manager of Dahl." So, Chankah thought. It was a rare occurrence for a Manager or her successor to be called in a Tribunal. But then, this was no normal Tribunal. When Chankah was seated, Evid said, "Successor Dahl, please describe the events that led to your discovery of the escort." "I was with the two riders that found Balv," Chankah said. "After he took over as pilot for the other craft, it outdistanced the one in which Manager Dahl and I rode. We found it that night near the starport." "And the escort?" Evid asked. "Their bodies were on the ground nearby." "What was Sevtar doing?" "Kneeling in the sand." "That's all?" "There wasn't much else he could do. He was catatonic." Evid frowned. "Then what caused Manager Dahl's heart seizure?" 102 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————— "It happened when she realized Llaach was dead. She knelt ;| next to the body." Chankah steadied herself against the memory. 'Then she said, 'No/I'm not ready,' and collapsed." | "Ready? For what?" ••} "I think she realized she was having a heart attack." Quietly Chankah said, "She meant she wasn't ready to die." "How did Sevtar react?" Evid asked. 1 "Her voice roused him. He tried to go to her. But he could; H hardly move." 'a Evid considered her. "Successor Dahl, your statement indi- | cates that besides Manager Dahl and the escort, only Ixpar 1 Kam knew Sevtar well. Since Minister Karn refuses to let her ''• successor testi—" | "Her wha!" Kelric's interruption vibrated in the air. Silence followed the words. The Elder looked down at | Chankah, her face flushed. "Perhaps you should . . . ?" The request startled Chankah as much as Kelric's outburst. \ By law, no witness could intervene with any person in the Square of Decision. Then she understood; as acting Estate ; Manager only she could speak to a Calani. ' '• Chankah hurried over to Kelric. "Please. You mustn't dis- • nipt the testimony." He clenched the rail in front of him. "Ixpar is the Minister's heir "Not heir. Her successor to the Ministry." "Why isn't she here to testify? Her word could make a lot of difference." "Sevtar, please. Now isn't—" "My name is Kelric." "Outbursts like this only hurt your case." He regarded her with the look of a man who expected to die. "What case? They've already convicted me." Chankah regarded him. Then she returned to the Bench and spoke to the Elder. "We need a recess." The aide Corb sat on the bench that circled the alcove, watching Chankah pace across the small room. Sunlight slanted through the arched window and reflected off his spectacles. -The Last Hawk 103 "Kelric is right," Chankah said. "They've already decided his guilt. Evid is hardly any more objective than the petitioners who want an execution." "They're afraid," Corb said. "That doesn't excuse the charade going on in there." Chankah stopped. "Ixpar Karri should be here. Her testimony is important" "I don't see how the Minister can refuse our summons." Chankah grimaced. "She's the Minister, that's how." "You should talk with Elder Dahl." "Good idea. Check with her aides. See if we can meet before the Tribunal reconvenes." She went to the window, watching the hawks drift in lazy circles above the city. "Tell me, have you ever seen an althawk?" He adjusted his spectacles. "Well, yes. Of course. A lot of them nest in the peaks above Dahl Pass." "Not the common hawks. I mean the giants. The beasts our ancestors rode through the skies." "How could I? They're extinct." She turned to him. "Legends say a hawk chose one warrior and one warrior only whose touch he would tolerate. He killed anyone else who tried to catch him." Corb studied her face. "Why do you bring this up now?" "Because the giant hawks aren't extinct, my friend. One came down from the stars." She rubbed her hands along her arms. "We caged him with an oath and pinioned him in gold. Now we're so terrified of what we've done, we're afraid to let him live." The Elder lifted her robe off the chair in her chambers where she had draped it during the recess. "To say your suggestion is unusual, Chankah, is an understatement." "Who else is there to speak in Sevtar's defense?" Chankah asked. "Only Successor Kam, and the Minister forbids it." "Dabbiv spoke for him." "And Evid did his best to make Dabbiv look like a fool. We have only prosecutors in this hearing. No defense." The Elder settled the robe on her shouders. "Perhaps because there is no defense." 104 Caherine Asaro—————————————————————1 Chankah wondered what had happened to the Elder's; vaunted neutrality. "Or because we wish to see none." "To let Sevtar take the Witness Chair would violate his Oath." "As acting Estate Manager I can allow it." A tap sounded on the chamber door. "Elder Dahl?" a girl called. "The other judges are ready to enter court." "All right." The Elder regarded Chankah. "I must think more on your suggestion." When the Tribunal reconvened, Evid summoned Hacha. Watching the captain take her seat, Chankah fet as if a weight descended on her. Hacha's word carried authority in Dahl. And from the beginning she had despised Kelric. Her testimony would destroy him. Evid spoke. "Captain, you were the only witness to Llaach Dahl's death. Can you describe what happened?" "Sevtar afected our minds," Hacha said. "He had a weapon that worked on your brain?" "No. He did it himself." "He attacked you physically?" "No. He didn't move." "Then how did he kill Officer Dahl?" "I'm not sure," Hacha said. "It was an accident." Evid frowned. "You mean the deceased 'accidentally' burst every blood vessel in her brain?" "No," Hacha said. "I mean Sevtar never intended for it to happen." "Then why is Officer Llaach dead?" Evid demanded. "He only meant to knock us out," Hacha said. "But he couldn't break his ink with our minds. So he broke what created it. He burnt out his brain." "Ah." Evid relaxed. "I see." He almost smiled. "You believe he used—what is the word? Telepathy?" "I don't know what it was." "Llaach Dahl suffered massive brain hemorrhages," Evid said. "Isn't it possible the accused's weapon affected your brain as well, making you think this mental force existed?" "He wasn't carrying any weapons." "Wouldn't it be more accurae to say he had no weapons you recognized?" —————————————————————The Last Hawk 105 Hacha snorted. "Is that any less absurd? An invisible gun that explodes blood vessels in the brain?" Evid leaned forward. "No more absurd than a gun that does nothing until fired by the accused, at which time it tears holes in airfields and disintegrates hangars." "He didn't shoot us." Evid studied her. "The fact that he let you live must make you grateful." "I defend him," Hacha said, "because he didn't commit murder." "No?" Evid demanded. "A member of our CityGuard—an officer in your command—is dead." Hacha leaned forward. "All four of us would be dead if he hadn't sacrificed himself to save our lives." Evid's voice grew louder. "Murder is no sacrifice." "Llaach's death was an accident." "How can you defend a murderer?" someone yelled. Looking out at the gallery, Hacha raised her voice. "I'll mourn Llaach for the rest of my life. But killing Sevtar won't make her live again." She turned to the Bench. "If you execute him, it's you who are the murderers." One of the judges flushed. "You dare make such an accusation?" "Winds above," Chankah muttered. The rumbles in the gallery were growing loud and harsh. Several of the witnesses stood up, staring at Kelric with hostility bred by fear. Watching him pull at his manacles, Chankah's mind formed the ugly image of a mob attacking a man trapped in chains. She strode to the Bench. "Stop the Tribunal. Now." Rising to her full height, the Elder banged her mallet on the gong. A sonorous note pealed out above the din. "This is Tribunal," the Elder boomed. "Not a contest of lung power." When the room quieted, she said, "We are in recess until tomorrow morning. If an outbreak like this occurs again we will close these proceedings completely." "And so it is our decision," the Elder fnished, "that Sevtar be allowed to make any statement he wishes. Anyone who interrupts him will be expelled from this courtroom." 106 Catherine Asam————————————————_ Chankah looked out over the gallery. The watchers sat ii silence, as if subdued by the capacity for violence they had di covered in themselves the previous day. As Kelric sat in the Witness Chair, he pushed a curl of ha hair away from his eyes. His sleeve slipped, revealing both hi Calanya guards and manacles, cold iron paired with gold Murmurs of dismay came from the witnesses. Is this how Dahl will become known? Chankah brooded. A the Estate that put a Calani in chains? Kelric took a breath. "I come before you with—with grea regret." His voice was deep and husky, with a lilting accent. From normal man such a voice would have captivated. From a Cala it devastated. Hearing him, Chankah could believe the legend o the warrior who, after coaxing only one word from her queen' Akasi, became so enamored of him that she committed suicid because he was unattainable. But after his first words, Kelric froze. The Elder waite then motioned for Dahl's acting Estate Manager. Chankah went to the Chair. "Kelric? What's wrong?" He swallowed. "I'm not sure I can do this." "But why?" "Speaking in public—I could never do it well. I'm a sodie: not an orator. And now I'm—I've a neurological problem. Th electrodes in my brain. They're damaged. They're making m neurons misfire." "I know what an electrode is," she said. "But how could yo fit something so big in your brain?" "They're small. You can't even see them with the unaide eye." Chankah wondered at the marvels his people had achieve But at what price? "You're talking to me." He twisted the chain that joined his manacles. "Publi speaking—it makes my tension jump. I can't—it's triggerin something in my brain that affects the electrodes. They mak my neurons misfire. Then I stutter. Or lose my thoughts." Although Chankah knew his reaction had no connection t his oath of silence, the instincts it evoked in her went deep( than logic. Every time he stumbled with his speech, it was a _————————————————————The Last Hawk 107 if he struggled against breaking his Calanya Oath. It made her want to protect him, care for him, assure him everything would be all right. It was, in fact, an effective defense on his part. "Going ahead with this could help you," she said. He rubbed his palms on his knees. "I'll try." After she returned to her table, Kelric said, "Manager Dahl and her guards—they saved my life. I have the greatest of gratitude for that. I never wanted—I never meant for Llaach's death to happen. If I could change it—undo it—if only ..." If only, Chankah thought. So many ifonlys. Kelric glanced at the petitioners who wanted his death. "Deha is my wife. I would never—how could you believe I would try to kill her?" Spots of red touched Jaymson's cheeks and even Yeva looked subdued. Kelric took a breath, then continued. "My mind has injuries. I've described it—to your doctors. It is real. I needed—need even more now—I have to get treatment. And I—the food. The water. I can barely even eat here." He pushed back his curls, looking like a Calani out of an Old Age legend. "In the desert—the link Captain Hacha described—it was real. I—I malfunctioned. I became the escort." He swallowed, his face pale. "When Llaach died—I died with her. I couldn't make it stop" His voice cracked. "For the rest of my life I'll live with the memory of her dying." Then the only sound was the scratch of the Scribe's quill. Chankah wondered if the others realized the full impact of his words. His own mind had imposed a sentence on him worse than any a court could issue. He would live with Llaach's memories until the day he died. When it was clear Kelric had no more to say, the Eler spoke in a subdued voice. 'This Tribunal is now in recess until the Bench reaches its decision." The clang of metal woke Kelric. He lifted his head from the cot and peered into the darkness. A glow lit the end of the hall outside his cell. It came closer, resolving into a guard who carried a lamp. Captain Hacha walked with her. 108 Catherine Asam- When they reached the cell, the guard peered through th|a bars. "I think he's asleep, Capt'n." Kelric sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the cot. Thel guard bunked at him, then turned to Hacha. "If anyone finds odi| I let you in here I'll be in more trouble than a fly in a vat of hof wax." I won't stay long;' Hacha said. The guard muttered under her breath. But she opened tl door and withdrew down the hall, leaving Hacha alone witf" Kelric. f The captain came into the cell. "Rev and Balv ask that I give you a message." : "Yes?" Kelric asked. lj "They thank you for their lives." Quietly she added, "As I do for mine" |( He wasn't sure what he had expected from the captain, but this wasn't it. "Are they all right?" t "Yes. They're both out of the Med House now." She sat on t the other end of the cot. "Kelric, I don't understand you.| I doubt I ever will. But I know what happened out there. The only thing preventing you from reaching the starportt was the four of us. To escape Coba, all you had to do was let i us die." | He spoke quietly. "In the past, I've wondered what I would do if I ever faced such a choice. I always assumed I would save , myself." With an edge of bitterness, he added, "I was wrong. 1 Now I'm going to die for it." | She regarded him. "There is a phrase. Chabiat k 'in. It comes t from an ancient language, older even than Old Script. The lit- ? eral translation is 'the day is guarded, watched over.' But it is ? more than that. It is a spiritual thing, a guarding of life. My I ancestors used it to mean the life a warrior gives by offering t her own to save others." Lamplight flickered on her face. H "There is that between us now." The guard appeared in the doorway. "We've done with | changing shifts, Capt'n. You got to leave or I'm in trouble." J Hacha stood and spoke in a low voice. "I won't forget Kel- s ric." Then she was gone and the door clanged shut. « -The Last Hawk 109 * * * Fatigue creased the Elder's face as she stood, looking out at the courtroom. "We are met today to issue a decision in the case of Sevtar Dahl." Chankah sat with Corb, her hands clenched in her lap. A tense sience filled the hall. The Elder continued. "It is true that Sevtar's actions led to Manager Dahl's injuries. However, he is responsible for neither her heart condition nor her decisions. We thus bring no charges against him for any calamity that results from that illness." "No!" Yeva Dahl stood up. Two guards moved away from the wall and started toward her. She looked from one to the other, her face flushed. Then she sat down. The Elder waited until the murmurs among the witnesses quieted. Then she said, "We may never fully understand Sevtar's abilities. We lack the background to determine whether or not he misused them. For our decision in the matter of Llaach's death, we must rely on the testimony we have heard about Sevtar's character and our judgment of the statement he made to this Bench." When the Elder paused, Chankah could almost feel every person in the room leaning forward to hear her words. "It is our conclusion," the Elder said, "that the accused did not intend to kill Llaach Dahl. We therefore rule her death as accidental manslaughter." So, Chankah thought. The penalty for manslaughter varied, but the maximum sentence was a lengthy prison term. She was surprised how much it relieved her to know that Kelric would live. "In deciding sentence for this case," the Elder continued, "we are faced with an unprecedented situation. If Sevtar ever escapes—no, if Kelricson Garlin Valdoria, third heir to the military rule of Imperial Skolia ever escapes, all Coba will suffer the consequences." She spoke in a strained voice. "We have no wish to pass sentence on a Calani. Nor do we desire to revive punitive measures unused for centuries. And it is clear the accused is a man of good character." She sounded as if she were struggling under a weight. "But 110 Catherine Asaro———————————————————— against our desire for leniency we must weigh the safety d our world." ; Her final words fell into the air. "The Dahl Bench therefo sentences Sevtar Dahl to execution by honed discus, to be ca ried out on Halften, at Night's First Hour." 9 Quee' Arch Ixpar walked along the sunhall, soaking in the sunlight tha poured through its many windows. An arched door swun, open farther down the hall, making a pleasing shape. Then i closed, leaving Jahit Kam behind in the hall. "Ixpar." The Minister waited for her. "I was looking fo you." She came alongside Jahlt. "I just finished my physics tutorial. The Minister walked with her. "Avtac Varz is coming t visit." Ixpar thought of the Varz Manager; a steel-gray woman wh knew her power well and pitted it against Kam often. "Why? "A good question. If you ask Avtac, she will say she come to discuss mining rights on the Miesa Plateau." Jahlt snortec "The real reason she comes is to make trouble. As usual." Ixpar almost smiled, wondering if the Varz Manager said th same thing to her staff when Jahlt visited Varz. "Is she bring ing her successor?" "Yes, Stahna comes. Manager Varz has suggested you an Stahna exchange Quis." "They know I've never played Council Quis before." "They also know Stahna has twice your age and experience. Jahlt paused. "There will be no loss of honor if you decline." And back down to Varz? "I'll play." Jahlt gave her a look of approval. "Avtac has no idea of you gift with the Quis. You will dice spirals around Stahna." —————————————————————The Last Hawk 111 Ixpar didn't know about that, but she intended to spend all her free time in preparation. "Tev will be impressed." "Tev?" "He's in my mathematics tutorial." "Ah. He." Jahit smiled. 'Tell me about him." Ixpar warmed to the subject of Tev. "He's beautiful. His eyes are brown. Like hazelle eyes. They almost look gold when the light hits them right." Jahlt's smile vanished. "I thought you left that behind." "Left what behind?" "The Skolian." Ixpar stiffened, and silence accompanied them for the rest of their walk. An Estate aide was waiting in the antechamber at the end of the sunhall. She bowed to the Minister. "A construction forewoman is here to see you, ma'am. Something about a contract for her crew." "All right." Jahit turned to Ixpar. "The file on the Miesa mining treaties is in my desk. You should read it before Avtac arrives." Ixpar went on alone to Jahlt's office, a comer room filled with sunshine. Armchairs upholstered in fine old leather stood on the rugs and bookshelves lined the walls. The top drawer of the desk contained a clutter of quills, two ink bottles, and a pendulum watch. The Miesa file lay tucked into a comer. As Ixpar took the file, the door opened. She tued to see an aide enter the room. The woman bowed. "Successor Kam." She gave Ixpar a letter. "A rider delivered this at dawn. The pilot said it was urgent, to be opened by you only." Curious, Ixpar turned the envelope over. The gilt stamp of the Dahl suntree emblem gleamed in one comer. Who in Dahl would send her a secret communication? Kelric? The instant the aide left, Ixpar tore open the letter. The message was from Captain Hacha. Jaht opened the door of her ofice and found Ixpar staring at her from the center of the room. The girl held a crumpled paper clenched in her fist. 112 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————| "It's a lie," Ixpar said. | Jahit frowned. "What?" ] "A lie." Ixpar's usually vibrant voice was flat with fury. "What are you talking about?" "Have they killed him yet? Murdered him for the good Coba?" So. Ixpar knew. Whoever caused this trouble would so regret it. "Who were you talking to?" "No one. The Miesa file wasn't in your desk so I looked it. I found this." Ixpar raised her fist with the paper. "W didn't you tel me about the Tribunal? I should have testifio Jahit closed the door. "You must accept that Kelric gone." "No! You can't let them execute him tonight. It's wrong." Jahit went over and pried the paper out of her fist. It was t letter Chankah had sent after the Tribunal. "Let those with t necessary experience decide his guilt or innocence." "I know him. Better than any of you." Jahit laid a hand on her shoulder: "You see only what y want to see. The handsome prince in need of a protector. isn't reality. It doesn't even come close." Ixpar shrugged off her hand. "What happened to your wot about justice? How can I believe you when you don't folk them yourself?" Jahit motioned to a dice table by the window. "Sit dowi She would engage Ixpar in a Quis session. The evolving str tures would tell the story of the Imperialate, revealing far bi ter than words what it would mean for Coba to become occupied world. After they were seated, they rolled out their dice. Jahit set orb in the center of the table. A gold orb, for Kelric. S watched Ixpar, waiting to see how the girl responded. Jaht knew Ixpar would try to convince her, through t dice, that they should let Kelric live. But Ixpar had ne\ faced the full power of her mentor's Quis. It was no coin dence Jahit ruled Kam: none could hold their own against t unmitigated force of her dice, especially not a child. She h hoped to spare the girl the blistering pressure of such a se sion. But Ixpar was coming of age and it was time s __———————————————————The Last Hawk 113 learned the ways of power. She had lived her entire life in freedom and was too young to comprehend from her history lessons what it meant to be subjugated by conquerors. Caught in her infatuation, she refused to see the danger Kelric posed. It was time the girl faced reality. Then she would understand why Kelric had to die. Still breathless from running, the aide leaned on the table in Chankah's suite. "The message came over the air tower co. The rider must have broken every known speed record." Chankah forgot the dinner she hadn't been able to eat anyway and left with the aide. They strode through the city, tall figures passing through the falling dusk, and reached the airfield in time to see a windrider descending in a glare of lights, buffeted by angry winds. The craft bore the Kam symbol: a giant althawk with its wings spread in soaring flight. As soon as the rider landed, the hatch swung open—and the Minister of Coba stepped out into the night. Leaning against the wind, Chankah crossed the tarmac. She bowed to Jahlt. "You honor my Estate." Shadows hooded Jahlt's face. "The execution. Is it done?" "No. In an hour." The Minister said, "I want to see him first." Kelric heard the prison door clang open. Boots sounded on stone in the hall outside his cell. He stood up and gazed out the high window of his cell, at the stars that gleamed between the bars. Good-bye, he thought. Then he turned to face his executioners. Chankah was coming down the hall with an octet of guards. An unfamiliar woman accompanied them, a tall and gaunt figure in black trousers and jacket. After a guard unlocked the cell door, the gaunt woman turned to the others. "Leave us." Chankah started to speak. "It's not safe—" "Leave us," the woman repeated. Under the force of her stare they all retreated down the hall and out the door at its end, leaving the gaunt woman alone with Kelric. 114 Catherine Aro——————i ; i0' into his celL "You are PTin Kelrics I It unsettled Keinc to hear his title in Coban "Yes " & : I am Minister Karn." ' ' i? s you' Had they a11 come to see him d? "Is Ixpar vf | "Ixpar is not your concern" ;;Ifshecame-I don't want her to see the execution" I You have contaminated her mind enough. I have no in lion of letting you do so further." f "You came alone to witness it?" |[ "No." Jahit regarded him with night-back eyes "I can I alone to meet the man who so affected my succr t t convinced me to grant him a stay of execution 'c At hrst the words made no sense. He heard them but th wereoy sounds. Slowly they filted into h lodged there with a spark of hope. A stay" I stopped the execution," Jahit said. "Your sentence i n 1a life term in the Haka prison." sentence is n 10 Ruby Wedges Set in motion by the wind, the desert rolled in from the horizon like an ocean of sand and broke in red waves against the Teotec Mountains. As the rider descended, Haka materialized out of the sandstorm, spread out on the desert floor and climbing into the Teotecs. Towers the hues of a pale sunset were carved out of the cliffs, with windows like square eyes. When the rider glided past them, Kelric could see people staring out at it. He turned away and looked around the cabin. His guards filled eight of the seats, but they weren't who his gaze sought. Deha sat behind the pilot, with Chankah at her side. She was staring out the window, her face pensive. The rider skimmed into the whirling sand and landed at the airfield. Deha disembarked first, followed by Chankah, both of them pulling their jacket hoods tight in protection against the blowing sand. Then the Dahl guards brought out Kelric. An octet of Haka guards waited on the tarmac, eight giants in yellow uniforms and dusty boots, dark skinned and dark eyed, each with a tasseled scarf wrapped around her head as protection from the blowing sand. In addition to the usual stunners, they also carried daggers with blades as long as a forearm. As the Haka guards closed around Kelric, Deha came over to him. Although it was impossible to hear her in the keening wind, he understood the words her lips formed: Good-bye, my husband. Softly, Kelric said, "Good-bye, my wife." Then the guards took him away, into the sandstorm. Mountains rose from the desert in huge steps, dominating land and sky. At their feet, lesser peaks alternated with stretches of 118 Catherine Asaro—————————•——————————i desert like rocks on a treacherous shoreline. Wind whipped the' sand into plumes that sprayed against the crags. | Surrounded by guards, Kelric walked numbly, uncaring of the sand that scratched under his clothes, his hair, his armbands and manacles; A lifetime sentence, with no chance of parole. At leasti one ray of light eased his gloom: Deha was recovering. It meant more to him than he knew how to express, and it also gave him;' the illogical hope that he might find a way to escape this mess. They took him to a small peak jutting up from the desert. A metal door in it opened into a tunnel with iron-gray wals,; They followed the passage to a huge cavern partitioned mW cubicles, with a ceiling so high it hid in shadow. ; The guards took him to a cubicle where a clerk waited at a podium. "Sevtar Dahl?" she asked. "That's right," the captain said. She pulled down the tasseled scarf that had protected her face in the sandstorm. "He's to go to Compound Four." "Any valuables?" the clerk asked. "Armbands," the captain said. "Ankle and wrist guards, too, but they're welded on." "He's a CalaniT The clerk stared at Kelric, then remembered herself and looked at the captain. "He better leave the armbands here." Kelric held up his wrists. After a guard removed his manacles, he gave his armbands to the clerk. She gently set them on her podium, then pulled out a gray uniform. The captain took the uniform and turned to Kelric. "Take off your clothes." He stood, looking at the guards. They just looked back. So. No privacy. Gritting his teeth, he undressed. The clerk and several guards averted their gaze, but the rest of the group watched. When he was done, he waited, sweat evaporating off his bare skin in the dry air. The captain motioned to him. "Turn around and put your hands against the wall." Kelric stared at her. Why a search? When he paused, balking, the guards dropped their hands to their dagger-swords. So he turned to the wall and put his palms against it. He didn't -The Last Hawk 119 like what it said about the prison administration, that a guard could take such actions, apparently with no fear of reprisal. The captain, a woman about his height, stood behind him and laid her hands on his shoulders. As she rubbed his skin with her fingertips, she murmured, "The gold really doesn't come off." She slid her hands down his back to his hips, speaking next to his ear in a low voice only he could overhear. "So this is how a Calani feels." Stroking his hips, she added, "What a waste, to put you in prison." Clenching his teeth, Kelric said nothing, just stared at the wall, trying to imagine himself elsewhere. Anywhere else. The captain spent a long time with her search, as if she could actually find something on bare skin. But finally she gave him the uniform and let him dress. They led him back through the cavern to a new tunnel. After various turns and twists, it exited into the sandstorm. A clearing surrounded by crags stretched before them. Several buildings stood in its center, partially obscured by blowing sand; beyond them, mountains rose into the sky. The guards took him to the fourth building. Inside, they followed a hall that ended at a massive portal. Opening it revealed a second portal. Only after they ushered him into the room between the doors and locked the first did they open the second. It was like going through a huge airlock. The second door opened onto a hall lined with wide archways, with drifts of sand piled against the walls. The captain led him to the third cell. "This is it. Home." Home? For the rest of his life? After the guards left, Kelric walked into the cell, a sandstone room about ten paces wide. A blanket lay on a pallet and sunlight slanted past the bars of a skylight in the ceiling. He went back into the hall. The rooms near the airlock showed signs of occupation: a shirt on a pallet, a dice pouch in the sand, a clay pot in a corner. A large man with shoulder-length black curls and a thick beard appeared in the archway of a cell. "Got a bone for slithering snakes, heh, crooner?" "What?" Kelric said. "This one's slow in the upper level, heh? And the hum says 120Catherine Asaro- he's Calani." The man laughed. "Croon away, boy. Cre away." He came forward until his nose was a handspan fro Kelric's face. "Your skin offends me." "That's your problem," Kelric said. "Think you're bigger than the wind, heh, boy?" The ma snorted, deliberately turned his back, and walked away. Kelric shook his head. Then he went to his cell and lay o the pallet. He slipped into a fitful doze, waking at ever sound. Toward evening footsteps entered his cell. When his visitc crouched by the pallet, Kelric snapped open his eyes an grabbed the wrist of a hand coming down at his head. Abov / him, silhouetted against the skylight, he saw the angelic fao of a teenage boy. The boy tugged at his wrist. "Let go. I ony came to se what you was." Kelric dropped his wrist and sat up. "Now you know." , The boy shrank away from him. "You're even bigger'n Zev.' "Who is Zev?" "Zev Shazorla. He was here when the beaks brought yo in." The boy made a face. "He's the one got everyone callinj me Little Crooner. Kicks me off mad as a scowlbug for then to call me that, but seeing as they're big and I'm not, that's m name. But it used to be Ched. Ched Lasa Viasa." It was the first triple name Kelric had heard. The boy mus : have been born in Lasa and later moved to Viasa. "Lasa is Secondary Estate, isn't it?" : " 'Course it is." Ched squinted in the dim light. "You loot , like metal." Kelric shrugged, tired of the comments on his coloring. i "You from Ahkah Estate?" Ched asked. • "Why would I be from Ahkah?" "I heard they talk funny." "My accent is Skolian." "Sure." Ched laughed. "And I'm Manager of Haka." He set: tied by the pallet. "Where you from really?" ; Kelric saw no point in arguing. "I was at Dahl." "Haka's boss must be a happy clawcat tonight." "Why should my sentence make Manager Haka happy?" —————————————————————The Last Hawk 121 "You slow in the upper level or what?" Kelric scowled. "Let's just say my upper level is empty. Fill it up." Ched leaned forward. "Haka is a happy clawcat because what brews Dahl brews Kam and what brews Kam strokes Haka pink." Dryly Kelric said, "That's clear." He wondered if anyone here spoke normal Teotecan. "How long you here for?" Ched asked. "Life." The boy's smile vanished. The question What did you do? hung in the air. Then Ched's mouth fell open. "Hey! Where's your dice pouch?" Crushed in a windrider crash, Kelric thought. He regretted losing Deia's gift. "I don't have one." "Everyone's got one." Ched seemed more disturbed by his lack of dice than his life sentence. "And you told Zev you was a Calani. A Calani with no Quis dice. What a croon." He reached for Kelric's arm. "I can prove you're no Calani." In reflex, Kelric knocked away the boy's hand. The motion pushed up his sleeve anyway, and his Calanya guard gleamed in the murky ligh. "You got guards!" Ched said. "You steal 'em?" "What would possess me to steal them?" The boy peered at the gold. "Them's old. Ancient. Must be worth half an Estate." He looked up. "Got 'em on your ankles too?" "Yes." "Real gold and old as Haka. You better sleep with your eyes open." "They're welded on. You can't get them off." Ched shrugged. "All the gold on Coba won't do me no good in this place. But there's crooners here razy enough to cut of your hands and feet for those things." "Great," Kelric muttered. "Just great." It was obvious to Deha Dahl that the Haka Manager had spared no effort to ensure her visitor received the finest treatment. They sat at a gleaming table, drank wine from crystal 122 Catherine Asaro———————————————| ' .•1! goblets, and dined on cream pheasant. A handsome youtH stood ready to refresh their drinks. Rashiva Haka's intended message was also obvious: Haka had more wealth, morel power, and more prestige than Dahl. ; Despite the excellent mea, Deha only picked at the food She felt too drained to eat, particularly when faced with the; vibrant beauty of the woman across the table. Rashiva Haka was a desert goddess. She glowed with youth. Her hair glis' tened like black satin and her eyes slanted upward, black opal&j in a face as smooth and as dark as java-cream. j "Is the meal to your liking Manager Dahl? Rashiva asked1 "Excellent, Manager Haka," Deha said. ' "I'm glad we had this chance to relax." Rashiva smiled j "Even Estate Managers need a rest sometimes." | "So they do." Deha remembered her first years as a Man-, ager. "You will find, though, that the Managing becomes eas-'? ier with time." Rashiva's smile took on an edge. "I wasn't aware I found it i difficult." ] So much for polite conversation. Deha wished this ordeal were over. "Would you like to take our drinks in the Kejroom?";; Rashiva asked. "The tapestries there may amuse you." -1 Deha tried not to think about the doctors at Dahl and their adamant warnings to avoid liqueur. If she refused the customary jai rum, Rashiva would suspect the weakness of her health. She smiled pleasantly. "Yes, let us retire for our drinks." ' Rashiva Haka, Manager of Haka Estate, felt like a misplayed dice cube. The Dahl Manager's imposing presence made her' acutely aware of her inexperience. As she ushered Deha into the Kejroom, she looked around at the tapestries on the walls, rich with scenes from the Old Age: warriors aloft on giant , althawks, Calanya ceremonies, battle scenes. Rashiva wished she could soak up the ferocity of those ancient warriors to help her deal with Dahl's formidable queen. ' Deha walked about looking at the tapestries. "These are beautiful." "They were a gift from Kej Estate," Rashiva said. "A Kej -The Last Hawk 123 Manager gave them to Haka over a thousand years ago, when the two Estates joined forces during the Desert Wars." "Such detailed work." Deha studied a piece woven in gold, red, and blue thread. "It's a pity Kej didn't survive the Wars" Rashiva stiffened, wondering if Deha meant to belittle Haka's alliance with Kej. To hide her reaction, she turned to a co on the wall and flipped the switch. "Nida?" Her aide's voice floated into the air. "Here, ma'am." "Manager Dahl and I will take our jai in the Kejroom." "'ll send someone up right away," Nida said. Deha smiled as Rashiva clicked off the co. "Shall we sit down?" The impeccable courtesy of her voice made her host seem inestimably rude to leave her standing. "Most certainly," Rashiva said. "Let us be seated." So they sat facing off in armchairs until a youth arrived with the liqueur. He poured two glasses of jai rum, then set the decanter on (he table between them and withdrew from the room. Deha picked up her glass. "Well." She glanced at the Quis pouch on Rashiva's belt. "Shall we roll a game of dice?" Game? Rashiva thought. When two Managers sat at dice it was no game. Deha Dahl's mastery over the Quis was infamous. She would wipe the floor with Haka's young Manager. "Perhaps another time," Rashiva said. Deha nodded. "Another time, then. When you are ready." When she was ready. The barb stung. Rashiva forced herself to relax. "How are the renovations going at Dahl?" "Very well." Deha settled in her chair. "If Minister Karn pardons Sevtar, I will reopen the Akasi suite." Rashiva nearly spluttered rum all over the table. Pardoned? Was Deha mad? When she regained her equilibrium, she spoke in a mild voice that hinted at skepticism. "Why would he be pardoned?" "He no more belongs in prison than I do." She wondered what Deha was up to. Jahit Kam would never pardon Sevtar. Rashiva tried a discreet probe. "Prison does seem inappropriate for a Calani. A waste of his talent." "So it is." Deha sipped her jai. "After all, he mastered Outsider Quis in ony a season." 124 Catherine Asaro————————————————————— | Rashiva almost snorted. Did Deha think her a fool? "One | rarely hears of such talent." ' | 'True. But then, such talent rarely exists." | If ever. Yet it was an odd boast to make. What advantage lay | in it? If it were true, Sevtar was a genius who now belonged to ; Haka. Why would Deha want her to know that? Of course the "genius" was also a killer. Deha would be delighted if Haka rehabilitated Sevtar, taught him Haka Quis, and then sent him back to Dahl. No better way existed for one Manager to gain power over another than by obtaining a Calani versed in her Quis. The question was academic, though. | Sevtar was as likely to get a pardon as the desert was to get up | / and walk away. . But... the documents specified only that he serve his sentence at Haka. They didn't dictate where at Haka. No stipula: tion said he couldn 't go into the Calanya. : Rashiva considered the thought. To acquire a Calani from i another Estate, a Manager paid a stratospheric price for his $ contract. But suppose she agreed to take Sevtar into her Calanya and teach him Quis for as long as he was in prison? She would pay nothing for his Dahl contract. Of course, were he ever pardoned, he would return to Dahl without Deha having to pay for his Haka contract. Considering the nonexistent chance of a pardon, Haka could only benefit from such an agreement. She chose her words with care. "It is unfortunate Sevtar i never had a chance to realize his potential." Deha regarded her. "So it is." "One could always hypothesize alternatives." "I'm not sure I follow you Manager Haka." Rashiva sipped her rum. "Suppose a man is temporarily I sworn to a Calanya. Say for the duration of his visit somewhere." She paused. "Perhaps a visit to prison. Assuming he . can be rehabilitated." l "Go on." ' "When his prison term ends he is released from his temporary Oath." Dryly Deha said, "Not much of a bargain, if his term is life. -The Last Hawk 125 The original Manager is handing a genius to her adversary for nothing." "True," Rashiva said. "But were he ever pardoned, the original Manager would get a Calani from her adversary for nothing. It would be a gamble for both parties." For a long moment the Dahl Manager was silent. Rashiva couldn't tell if Deha was studying her, thinking, or simply pausing for effect. When she finally spoke, her voice was unexpectedly soft. "A worthy gamble, I would say, if it will free him from prison." Rashiva stared at her. She hadn't seriously expected Deha to consider the proposal. It was too obviously weighted in Haka's favor. So. Dahl's formidable queen had a weakness. Sevtar. Deha must love him a great deal if, to get him out of prison, she would consider letting one of her greatest adversaries take him into her Calanya. Rashiva set down her rum, "Perhaps we can discuss this hypothesis in more specific terms." "Perhaps we can," Deha said. They penned and signed the documents that night, an agreement that in all respects favored Haka. Yet when it was done and finished, Rashiva had an odd feeling, as if she had been outmaneuvered. Kelric awoke into darkness as someone flipped him onto his stomach. Hands pinned down his limbs and a knife touched his throat. Fingers fumbled at his Calanya guards. "You jus' lie still," Zev said. "Cooperate and you won't get hurt." He laughed. "At least not hurt as much as if you fight." Kelric's reflexes took control. Even without full support from his damaged enhancements, his combat techniques were far superior to the methods used by his attackers. He knocked out two of the three immediately, then flipped Zev onto his back and knelt on his chest with his fist raised. "I didn't mean nothing," Zev gasped. "Nothing. 1 swear." "Ever touch me again," Kelric said, "and I'll smash your goddamned head open." Then he sent the Shazoria man into oblivion. 126 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————— An arm flickered in an archway. By the time Kelric realized; it was only Ched, he had already caught the boy. "Lemme go," Ched warned. "Or I'll yell so loud everyone in Haka'll hear." Kelric released him. "I'm not going to hurt you." ; "Sure. I saw what you did to them." He peered right and left' then slipped into his cell and knelt by his pallet. A spar jumped in the air and then he held up a lit candle. Kelric stood in the cell's entrance. "Where did you get the: candle?" '] "From Bonni." Chad retreated, going to sit against the backj wall. "She's a guard. But she's all right. Not like Zev an' them." "They come after you, don't they?" "None of your business." "I'm making it my business." Ched hugged his knees to his chest. "What am I supposed to do? I'm no giant like you and I don't know nothing about fighting." "Can't you protest to the authorities? File a complaint?" "File a complaint," Ched mimicked. "Sure." "If you've never tried, how do you know it won't work?" "I did try. I won't do nothing that stupid again." "Why?" Ched scowled: "You ask too much." "Why are you afraid to answer?" "I'm not afraid of nothing." Ched curled his fist around the candle. "After my first night here, I told the guards I wanted to talk to our warden. They said 'He's busy' and left. Then one time the top warden came here for inspection. Zecha Haka. Keyclinker for the whole place. When I told her about Zev and them, you know what she said? That I must've asked for trouble and me being who I was I deserved it." Kelric stared at him. "You deserved it? That's sick." Ched shrugged. "Zev knew I talked. When they was done with me, I was two days in the Med House. They told the guards I fell in the quarry. So don't tell me to file a complaint." "If you were beaten that badly, it should have been obvious you didn't fall." —————————————————————The Last Hawk 127 "That's what the meds told Zecha. You think she cares? She hates me. And I got bad news for you, metal man. She hates Calani too." "Can't you talk to Manager Haka?" Kelric asked. "If she's anything like Deha Dahl, she would be outraged by what you just told me." Ched snorted. "Sure. We talk to the Manager all the time. Besides, the last Manager never came round at all. I don't know about the new one." Kelric didn't like the sound of it. The more he saw of Haka, the worse it looked. "You know," Chad said, "I never saw anyone put out a body fast as you put out Zev and them. Whoosh." He grinned. "Just like that, they was out flat." "I've been trained to defend myself in virtually any circumstance." "Virchilly. Sir-stance." Ched laughed. "If your words was pictures you could sell 'em for a lot of money. Real Calani, heh? But you got trouble. One night here and already Zev don't like you." "I'll manage." "Listen," Ched said. "What you need is a friend. Someone to let you know how things are here." 'That someone being you, 1 take it." "I could do it." "What is it you want in return?" "Keep them away from me. Be my protection." Deal or no deal, Kelric had no intention of standing by while the others took out their frustrations on the boy. "All right." Ched smiled. "You're not so bad. You get cooped for what somebody else pulled?" "No. I did it." Ched made a show of looking nonchalant. "Did what?" "Killed a guard on my Calanya escort." The light vanished as Ched dropped his candle. "Winds," he muttered. "Where did that flint go?" "You left it under your pallet." "That's right." His voice shook. "Pretty slow of me, heh?" "Ched, it was ruled accidental manslaughter." 128Catherine Asaro- "You just remember I'm with you. All right?" The boy relit his candle. In its dusky glow he looked scared and vulnera- •'?' ble. , "You're so young," Kelric said. "This is no place for a y child" • i "Don't go calling me a child." 1 "Why are you here?" "Why? Because I'm a crooner. That's why." : Kelric crossed his arms. "I protect, you talk. So talk." | "Heh. Don't get mad." Ched retreated to sit against the wall I :; again. "I was a tavern kinsa in Viasa. That was after I left | Lasa" I | "Kinsa? What's that?" | $ "You really must be from outer space." 1 " "Ched." ; ', "I got paid for making the customers happy.", : "Happy how?" ; "I was real nice to the women. In private." Ched squinted at | him. "You know." | "You were sent here just for solicitation?" | "No. I'm here because of a scumrat." Ched leaned forward. ; "See, things was finally going better for me. Feni, she hired me out of the tavern. Took care of me." He scowled. "Then she ' went prowling after that scum. When he came to live with us, | he treated me ike mold in the pipes. Things got worse an' | worse. So one night I put my hands around his scrawny neck | and squeezed till he turned purple. If people hadn't heard him ' yelping I woulda squeezed off his head." It made no sense to Kelric. He was generally a good judge of people and Ched hardly struck him as a murderer. "Couldn't you just leave Feni? Ixpar told me most city Houses will give someone a meal and a bed in return for chores." "Well, it don't always work that way. How would this Ixpar Pixpar know anyway?" "Her name is Kam." Ched snorted. "Sure. Successor Kara herself. Winds, but you can croon." Sand scattered as Kelric walked across the cell. He crouched -The Last Hawk 129 in front of the boy. "I don't like being called a liar. Understand?" Ched flattened himself against the wall. "Y-yes." "Good." Kelric stood up. Come on." Ched scrambled to his feet. "Where are we going?" "There's some garbage in my cell. I'm going to put it where it belongs. You better stay with me, in case they wake up." After they carried the unconscious men back to their rooms, Ched settled down on the other side of Kelric's cell. Within moments he was asleep. Kelric lay down on his pallet. Bolt? he thought. No response. He tried various resets, but none worked. His enhanced reflexes had tried to kick in during the fight, so he knew Bolt still functioned. His bioelectrodes must have stopped working, preventing him from contacting the node. He hoped the system could manage at least a partial repair. He had developed a symbiosis with Bolt over the past fourteen years. To be without it was ike losing part of himself. 11 Rock Wel Zecha Haka, head warden at the Haka prison, sat tensed at her desk. The last person she had expected to show up in her office was the Haka Manager. Rashiva's doddering predecessor had never come to the compounds. "The prisoner from Dahl." Rashiva was sitting across the desk from her. "Sevtar." "I sent him out with a quarry crew this morning," Zecha said. "You put a Calani on a quarry crew?" "He's a convict now, ma'am." 130Catherine Asaro- Rashiva leaned forward. "I want him made into more. Rehabilitate him. And give him Quis instruction." Bones and bugs, Zecha thought. "In cases like his, rehabilitation rarely works." Rashiva stood. " have faith in your abilities Warden." After Rashiva left, Zecha swore. Calani, heh? Lazy dice players who lived in luxury with everything given to them for nothing. She, Zecha, had worked for her position, starting as a ' nobody. Her mother was a disgrace, a losing dice player who gambled away everything she owned. Her father had been a Lasa kinsa like that boy in Compound Four. But none of that stopped Zecha. She had worked at her Quis until she became a power to be reckoned with. Why should she give favors to a Calani? "Think the wind only blows for them, don't they?" she muttered. "We'll see about that." The line of prisoners and guards wound into the cliffs, sweltering in the heat of a sun barely risen above the mountains. Kelric trudged up the path with Ched, holding the hood of his jacket tight against the blowing sand. Ched grinned. "Like our weather?" When Kelric glowered at him, the boy smirked. "You see Zev this morning? Got him an ugly eye. Black as tar." His smile vanished. "You better watch yourself today." He hesitated. "Both ourselves. That's the deal, isn't it?" "Yes." "Yiss. Yish." Ched grinned as he imitated Kelric's accent. "I'm ready to keep my side of our deal. So. What you want me to tel you?" Kelric considered. To make escape plans, he had to know what he faced. "About Haka. Is it like Dah?" "No way. Haka is home of the Scowl Laws." "Scowl Laws? What are those?" "They're old as the mountains. They say a man can't smile at a woman unless she's his wife. Smile at a Haka woman and she thinks you're a whore." "That's crazy." "That's Haka, metal man. Haka men can't go outside without an escort neither, and if they do go out they have to wear robes —————————————————————The Last Hawk 131 that cover them from head to foot, and these woven scarves that hide their faces, except their eyes." Ched snorted. "It's them Haka women. They spend half their time figuring ways to protect their men's honor and the other half trying to compromise it." "But I've seen male guards here." "They aren't from Haka." Ched nodded at a guard on the trail above them. "Like him. He has yellow hair. Hakabom have black hair and black eyes." "What about the prisoners in the other compounds?" "They're from all over." Ched flipped his hand in dismissal. "They're in for little stuff. Four is where they put real troublemakers. There's eleven crooners in the Compound Four women's coop." He grimaced. 'Those are some big clawcats. Men's coop has Zev, Gossi, Ikav, and us. Zev killed a Scribe in Shazoria and Gossi blew up a Cooperative at Ahkah." "Gods," Kelric muttered. "I don't like them neither," Ched said. "They're in for life." "What about Ikav?" "He stole some dice. Got ten years." "For stealing diceT "Calanya dice. He's lucky that's all he got." Kelric fell silent, turning the information over in his mind. At the top of the trail, they came out onto a plateau. The line of prisoners stretched across it, almost lost in the whirling sandstorm. When they reached the far edge, Kelric saw it formed the top of a staircase that descended into a quarry. Sand cliffs loomed on all sides, jutting into the sky like red fingers. Eons of wind had eroded the cliffs until they were riddled with holes that bore an eerie resemblance to windows. Gales moaned through the cliffs like a chorus of ghosts. As they descended the steps, Ched muttered, "This place gives me nightmares." "I'm not surprised," Kelric said. At the bottom, a massive man about Kelric's height stood checking off prisoners. A rough scarf with black tassels hung around his neck. He glanced at Kelric. "Sevtar Dahl?" "Yes?" Kelric asked. "What was that?" the man asked. "Say sir," Ched whispered. "Yhee, sir." 132 Catherine Asam————————————————————— "Yhee, sir," Kelric said. The man made a check on his clipboard. "You'll work on the rim crew." As Kelric and Ched hiked across the quarry with their guards, the boy said, 'That was Torv Haka. Compound Four men's warden. You call all them keyclinkers 'ma'am' and 'sir.' " Ched raised his hand as if to strike Kelric. "If you forget they remind you." "I thought Haka men had to wear robes." "Can't have our warden running around in robes. How would he keep control over scum like us?" Kelric grimaced. But the warden was his least worry. He felt an all-too-familiar nausea. "Ched—if a prisoner needed a special diet, would he get it?" "You got to be joking. This isn't a Calanya, you know." Kelric blew out a gust of air. "No, it certainly isn't." Zecha stood with Rashiva at the rim viewing station. She indicated a distant ine of prisoners winding across the quarry floor. "Down there. The big one with the odd coloring." Rashiva looked. Sevtar Dahl stood out like gold among pewter. But what caught her attention more was the quarry. She saw no windbreaks to protect crews from the sandstorms, and the water system looked defunct. "What's wrong with the aqueducts?" "The sand erodes them," Zecha said. "The system kept breaking down, so I quit using it. A team of carriers brings water up from the compounds instead." Rashiva frowned."Why hasn't this been reported?" "I wasn't aware a report was required." Rashiva considered her. The arrangement that gave full authority over the prison to the head warden made sense; a Manager didn't have time to run the prison as well as the Estate and city. And Zecha had an impressive record. Rashiva doubted the grizzled warden appreciated being questioned on it. Still, she had no intention of ignoring the prison as her predecessor had done. "I want to see a report each quarter," Rashiva said. She nod- ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 133 ded at the quarry. "Have the water ducts repaired and more windbreaks installed." Zecha kept her voice neutral. "Yhee, ma'am." "And Warden." "Yes." "Keep me posted on your progress with Sevtar." Zecha regarded her with an inscrutable expression. "Of course, ma'am." A guard issued Kelric a pickaxe, a sentry directed him to a workstation, and a captain warned him about the consequences of trying to use his pick on people instead of rock. Another guard assigned him a trundle in a train of cars that ran through the quarry. His job was simple: cut rock and fill his trundle. Normally Kelric wouldn't have minded the work. It was hard but reasonable, at least for someone with his strength. But not today. The first spasm hit him while he was carrying a block of stone. As his stomach lurched, his grip on the block slipped and it crashed to the ground. He fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Hey!" Ched ran over to him. "You don't got to lift such big—winds, what's wrong Leaning over, Kelric vomited behind the block. When the spasm eased he spoke in a rasp. "Can you get me water?" "They don't give us hardly none," Ched said. "The pipes broke." Footsteps sounded behind them. Ched spun around, then relaxed. "He's sick, Bonni. Can he have some water?" A guard knelt next to Kelric, a tall woman with the dark coloring of the Hakabom. She brushed her hand across his forehead. "You're burning up." "Today's his first day," Ched said. "He used to be a Calani." She smiled. "A Calani? I heard rumors, but I thought that was just a story." "It's true." Ched pushed back Kelric's sleeve, uncovering the gold. "Cuaz above." Bonni looked at Kelric. "What are you doing here?" 134Catherine Asaro- A shadow fell across him. "Trouble, Bonni?" Torv Haka | stood over them, a truncheon in his hand. Bonni stood up. "This man is sick" "He's from Compound Four," Torv said. "They'll give you | any story." ' | Kelric stood slowly, watching the warden. Torv regarded him like a fumigator who had found a bug. "If you think you'll get high-level treatment because of that gold on your wrists, you're wrong." Kelric gritted his teeth. "Yes. Sir." Torv's voice hardened. "I don't like your tone, Calani." "So choke on it," Kelric said. "Cuaz me," Ched muttered. Torv smiled. Then he whipped his club through the air. Kelric caught the pole, stopping it with enough force to knock .Torv off his feet. As the warden fell, other guards in the area ran over. They grabbed Kelric while Torv climbed to his feet. With his face contorted in fury, the warden fired his stunner until Kelric collapsed, blackness closing around him. Kelric came to in a pocket hidden from the quarry by crags of rock. He was kneeling in front of a boulder with his arms pulled around it and his wrists bound to a ring embedded in the stone. "So," a voice said. "You woke up." He looked around to see Torv Haka holding a thick belt. "Thought you'd knock me around, heh, crooner?" Torv grabbed Kelric's shirt and ripped it off his back. "You'll think differently soon." 12 Reopen Kelric lay on his stomach on the pallet in his cell. In the starlight, he could just make out the jug of water Ched was setting next to him. The boy tore a rag from the remains of Kelric's shin and dunked it in the pot. Then he went to work cleaning the welts and cuts on Kelric's back. " 'Choke on "it.' " Ched shook his head. "What gets into you, talking to the warden that way?" "I'm not accustomed to being spoken to like that," Kelric said. "I think maybe you got too much pride for your own good." Ched's frown shifted into a grin."You got guts, though. It flew round the quarry faster than wind, about you knocking him down. One day here and already you're famous." With a smirk, he added, "And guess what? Torv put Zev and them on third shift at the quarry. Seems they didn't feel so good today. All they was doing was complaining." His smile faded. "Starting tomorrow you're on three shifts a day, too, for a tenday. You gonna be all right? You was pretty sick today." "I need to boil my water," Kelric said. "There's nothing here to make a fire." Halfheartedly, Kelric thought Bolt? &$unct** degrad He tensed, elated by the response. Boh, what's with my nanomeds? Can't they help make the water drinkable? Series J has suffered severe depleti Bolt? No response. Kelric exhaled. Series J included the nanomeds best equipped to deal with the bacteria in the Coban water, so its depletion explained his increased problems. However, as far as 136 Catherine Asam————————————————————— he could tell, the meds that repaired his cells, retarding his aging process, still worked. So if he survived, he faced the unpalatable prospect of several centuries at Haka. "You don't look so happy," Ched said. "Has anyone ever escaped from here? "It's a dumb idea, meal man. Even if you got out, which is almost impossible, the only place to go is the city. They'd catch you in no time. The next closest place is the starport and that's way out in the desert." Ched finished cleaning a cut on Kelric's shoulder. "When I first heard about Skolians I thought it was a big croon. Then Minister Kam said it was real. People from above the sky. Thing is, they won't even let us into their port." He went to work on Kelric's arm. "Maybe it really is a croon. I never seen no Skolian." "Yes you have." "I have?" "Me." Kelric smiled. "If I tell you who I am, you'll really think I'm crazy." Ched's interest perked up. "This sounds like a good croon." "My brother commands Imperial Space Command. I'm one of his heirs. Just think, Ched. You're talking to the future Imperator of the Skolian empire." The boy chuckled. "If you plan to take over the universe, you better get some rest. You're a mess." Kelric laughed. "All right." He closed his eyes. Sometime later a sound scraped by the pallet. He looked to see Ched kneeling down with a clay flask. "I boiled some water," the boy said. "With my candles." Sitting up, Kelric took the jug the boy offered and gulped the water, slowing down only when the last welcome runnels of warm liquid ran down his throat. Then he lowered the jug. "Thanks. I know what those candles mean to you." "Heh. Well." Ched shrugged. "It's not like I'm scared of the dark or nothing." "I know." It hadn't taken Kelric long to realize the night terrified Ched. "But I thank you anyway." Night lamps threw a glare over the quarry, cutting the dark with shears of light. Kelric's pick caught glitters of light as it -The Last Hawk 137 arced through the air. Where the tip hit stone, sparks jumped and chips swirled in the wid. Swing. Impact. Swing. Impact; His fatigue blended with the monotony, numbing his mind. "Sevtar." Kelric jumped. The guard Bonni stood nearby. As he stared at her, trying to focus his thoughts, her hand went to the javelin slung across her back. That was when he realized he still had his axe raised in the air. When he lowered it, Bonni considered him, then came over and handed him a foil package. Opening the foil, he uncovered slices of meat and spicebread. Dumbfounded, he looked at her. "Why?" "Ched told me the food in Four makes you sick. He said you could eat this." Her voice softened. "You're a miracle for that boy. Without protection, he'd be dead within a year. It's wrong. He shouldn't be here." The same thought had occurred to Kelric. "It's hard to believe he tried to commit murder." "He talks tough. But he's no killer. Get under his armor and you'll see." "All right." He lifted the package. "And thanks." Bonni nodded. After she left, Kelric ate some of the food, then slipped the package into his waistband under his shirt. He hefted up a block and headed to his trundle car, hiking past sandblasted water pipes. As he reached the trundle, a woman called out, "Hey, Goldy. You that color all over?" He squinted into the wind. On a ledge a few hundred paces away, the Compound Four women's crew stood watching him. Clumped in a pack, they stood as tall or even taller than him, their hair hanging in greasy tangles around their massive shoulders. Kelric grimaced. Then he headed back to his workstation. On his next trip, one of the biggest women was hoisting a block into his car. "Well, looky that," she said. "Goldy." He dumped his blocks in the trundle. "Where's the Little Crooner?" she asked. "His name is Ched." "Not on third shift, heh?" She scratched the huge expanse of her stomach. "Too bad. He's near as good to look at as you." 138 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————— v "So look somewhere else." She laughed, showing a row of gaps and rotted teeth. "I just watch the scenery. I don't much care whether or not it takes to |» being watched." ' . Kelric shook his head and headed back to his workstation, ;|| his shoulders twitching under her stare. It felt like her eyes I were burning holes in his clothes. | Bonni was waiting for him. "If that bunch gives you trouble, let me know." ; "It's no problem." He smiled. "But thanks." : She flushed and averted her eyes. It wasn't until after she 1 left that he figured out why. She was Hakabom. She probably never saw any man smile except her husband. ' The night wore on interminably. When the shout for shift's end came, Kelric was moving in a haze. Three shifts were • more than his recently healed legs could handle. He limped 1 after the other prisoners, thinking of sleep. The climb out of | the quarry dragged on forever, each flight seeming steeper | than the last. | At the top, an unfamiliar octet of guards stopped their crew. | The captain came over to Kelric. "Sevtar Dahl?" | It took a moment for the name to register through his daze. | "Yes?" "Come with us." | Gods, he thought. Now what? They took him down the '| mountain and past the compounds. By the time they reached | the gatehouse, dawn was tinging the sky. Inside the gatehouse it was dark, but. an office glowed with light at the back. A woman there was pouring herself a steaming mug of Tanghi tea. She was tall, with a lean build and dark red hair wound in — a braid on her head. Sun and wind had weathered her face until she looked like a rusted pole. As the guards brought Kelric into the office, the unfamiliar woman turned to the captain. "He make trouble today?" "None," the captain said. "Filled his quota and then some." The rusted woman nodded at a pouch on the desk next to •; Kelric. "Quis dice. For you. Take it." ; As he picked up the pouch, the woman spoke to his guards. | "You can take him back to the quarry." ' _—————————————————————The Last Hawk 139 The captain stared at her. "But he's done three shifts today." "And you just have time to get him back for a fourth." "No," Kelric said. The rusted woman turned to him. "I hear a lot about you being a troublemaker, Calani." She took a swallow of her Tanghi. "I don't like troublemakers." Kelric knew there had to be regulations against working prisoners until they dropped. "I want to talk to the head warden. Zecha Haka." "You are." Zecha turned to the captain. "That will be all." Kelric gritted his teeth, knowing further protests would get him nothing more than retaliation, probably in the form of more extra shifts. Clenching his fist on the pouch, he went with his guards. Outside the building, he fumbled with the pouch, trying to tie it onto his belt. It slipped from his fingers and thudded into the sand. The captain knelt down and scooped up the pouch. "Sevtar, I'm sorry." Standing, she tied it on his belt. "About the shifts." He swallowed. "So am I." As they climbed back into the cliffs, he wondered what he was supposed to do with a pouch of dice. 13 Contiuity the voice said. Everywhere Kelric turned, monoliths blocked his escape. No light, no food. no water, water, water, water. . . "Winds above, wake up." Ched shook him. "Come on. I got you water." Kelric sat bolt upright in the darkness, knocking down the boy. "What?" "You don't got to push me over." Ched sat back up. "You 140 Catherine Asaro————————————————————— were thrashing around, moaning for water. So I boiled some." Kelric practically yanked the flask out of Ched's hand. He swallowed its contents in huge gulps, nearly choking as the water quenched his parched thirst. "You feel better?" Ched asked. Kelric lowered the now empty flask, feeling a bit sheepish. "Yes. Much better." The boy leaned back on his hands. "Had me a big surprise today. I met my quota." "That quota is absurd." Kelric lay down again, his surge of nightmare-produced adrenaline subsiding. "I don't see how you ever meet it." "I never do." "You just said you did." "I should maybe put it different. My trundles was filled when the captain came round to check. But it wasn't me who cut half them blocks." "You probably just lost track." Ched leaned forward. "So how come you didn't meet your quota? You cut more than you needed." "You must have misjudged the amount." "You been filling my cars. Winds know, I appreciate it, metal man. But I want you to stop." "Stop what?" "Cuaz me." Ched threw up his hands. "You're impossible." Kelric smiled. "Well," Ched said. "I'll just thank you for filling my cars you didn't fill and let you sleep." Kelric thought of his nightmare. "Don't go." "Bad dream, heh?" Ched nodded. "I get 'em too." He frowned. "We could play Quis, 'cept you left your dice pouch lying around and Ikav pixed it. You got to be more careful." "He can have it." Kelric closed his eyes. "I'd rather sleep." "Now, maybe. But we'll be off late shift in a few days. You'll see how boring it gets." Kelric opened his eyes. "We?" "I asked for a third shift." Ched laughed. "Now the'guards really think I'm crazy." —————————————————————The Last Hawk 141 "So do I. Why did you do it?" 'To get ahead on my quota so you'll quit killing yourself to fill my cars. Besides, Zev and them are off late shift tomorrow. I don't want to be here when they are and you aren't." The same thought had occurred to Kelric. What would hap pen to Ched if he escaped? He could try to break out the boy, too, but he doubted Ched would last long on his own. And when faced with Ched's vulnerability it was too easy to forget he was in prison for a reason. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Ched said. "I was wondering about the man you tried to kill", Ched tensed. "What about him?" "Why did you try to strangle him?" "What do you mean, why? He was sewer scum. He deserved to have his head popped off." Kelric could imagine the efect Ched's language made at his Tribunal. "What did he do?" "He didn't do nothing. Never. Except put drink inside himself." The boy flinched. "That's when he decided I needed lessons." Ched made a fist. "That." "He hit you?" "He said I made him do it. That last time he was trying to kill me." Ched swallowed. "Seems I fight real good when I'm scared outta my head." Kelric stared at him. "Couldn't you get help anwhere?" "Right. A kinsa. They would've laughed in my face." "You have as much right to civil protection as anyone else." "The right to get cooped in a city jail." "What about the Children's Cooperative?" "What about it?" "Couldn't you go there? "No." "Why not?" "None of your business why not." Kelric considered him. "Is there any way you can serve your sentence in a less severe compound?" "You mean transfer?" Ched laughed. "If I kept ahead of my quotas, if Torv put in a word for me, if Zecha was in a good mood—not a chance." 142 Catherine Asaro———————————————————————j "Bonni would put in a word for you." f Ched blinked. "You know, she might." i A clang rang through the hall, the sound of the securit 1 doors opening. Ched jumped to his feet and ran to the archwayl j of Kelric's cell. "It's guards. Bundles of 'em." t,. "| Kelric joined him. Four guards were striding down the hall,| the blades of their swords glinting in the starlight. More guards stood at the doors, keeping watch as Zev and the others 1 appeared in the archways of their cells. ' The captain halted in front of Kelric. "Turn around." | Disconcerted, Kelric turned. Someone locked his wrist | guards behind his back—and then tied a blindfold over is eyes. „ "Leave him alone Ched protested. "He hasn't done noth- ing." "Heh," Zev called. "Torv planning to work him over again?" 1 Gossi laughed. "Glad it's you, Calani, and not me." Kelric tensed, disoriented by the blindfold. A guard slipped ; a hand under his elbow and guided him forward in the darkness. They took him out of the corridor and through the building, leading him y touch. Then they were outside, in the . stinging sandstorm where the wind blasted unseen grit at him. "; He forced himself to put one foot in front of the other, having to trust their guidance. ; Eventually they entered a protected space, walking down an incline. After a short time they stopped and a door clanged shut. Someone freed his hands and removed his blindfold. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a room paneled ' with glossy amberwood and carpeted by a lush gold rug. In the center of the room, Zecha sat at a Quis table. She motioned to an armchair across the table. "Sit down." Kelric stared at her, then settled into the chair. Zecha glanced at the captain. "Where are his Quis dice?" ; "Ikav had them." The captain pulled the pouch out of her jacket and set it on the table. Kelric blinked at the warden. "You brought me here to play dice?" , "We'll wager work shifts." She took out her own pouch. ' "For each game you lose, you work one extra shift." .——————————————————————The Last Hawk 143 I don't believe this, Kelric thought. "What if I win?" "Then you don't have to work the shift." "That's not much of a bet." He pushed at the thick curls spilling down his neck. "How about a haircut for a win? A shave for a second win." Zecha shrugged. "Whatever." She set a blue cube on the table. "Your move." It was hard to change mental gears to Quis. He felt too tired. But the prospect of more shifts or being beaten again by Torv was worse. So he poured out his dice and set blue cube on top of Zecha's die. She added a red ube to the stack. "You can't do that," he said. "Why not?" "Red can't go on blue." She snorted. "I thought you knew how to play Quis." Bolt, he thought. SDFJ$( Bolt, come on. Can you access my files on Quis rules? FD5A87lll Kelric gave up and fell back on intuition, placing a rod on the table to pull Zecha's play away from the cube stack. She set a sphere near the rod, and he added a rosewood arch between the sphere and stack. Zecha laughed. "My game." "Your game?" He looked at her. "It's not your game." "You made a bridge. Both ends touch my pieces. A baby knows better than that." Damn. He hadn't even noticed his arch touched her sphere. By bridging it to the stack, he had formed a structure. The combined rank of Zecha's pieces in it easily surpassed his, so she could claim it for the win if she wanted. The warden cleared the playing area and set down a dodecahedron. Kelric put a blue triangle on top of it. Zecha smirked. "Extra shift number two." "I lost?" "Miserably." "Why?" "My dodecahedron has black edges." "So what?" f i 144 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————— "So you can only pla black on it." Zecha flipped his trian-1 gle back to him and left her dodecahedron. "New game. Your! move." f Kelric rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake. He set a heptat | hedron on the table. , Zecha laughed. "Shift three for you." I For pugging sake, he thought i ; "I thought he was a Calani," a guard muttered. | "If you can't give me the reason why you lost Zecha | j added, "you get a fourth shift." i Kelric wondered what possessed the head warden of the i ; entire prison to drag him blindfolded across Haka in the mid- | ; die of the night for a Quis lesson. "It's a continuity law he 1 said. But which one? Color? Shape? Dimension. That was it. I Dimension. "I lost on the first move of the last game he said. "You ' opened this new game with the dodecahedron you played before. So continuity holds. I had to fix my losing move from the previous game by properly placing a piece with the same dimension as the one I misplayed before. Which means a flat piece. Two dimensions. But I instead played a threedimension piece." 2 "Fourth shift Zecha said smugly. 1 He gritted his teeth. "What for?" | "Your piece also had to supersede my dodecahedron." | "Nothing supersedes a dodecahedron." ] "That's right." She took away his die and left the dodecahedron. "Your move." ; Kelric scowled. The more sides on a polyhedron, the higher its rank. In Quis, no polyhedron had more than a dodecahedron's twelve sides and in the current structure no other shape would outrank a polyhedron. She had him trapped in an infinite loop of losses. "Looks like another shift," Zecha commented. Behind Kelric, the door opened. A girl came over and spoke to the warden in a low voice. Zecha frowned and nodded. \ After the girl left, Kelric balanced an ebony ball on the dodecahedron. "I'm sorry," Zecha said. "But that move is illegal." —————————————————————The Last Hawk 145 His mouth almost fell open. It was the first civil phrase she had ever uttered to him. When he recovered from the shock he said, "It's legal. I misplayed a three-dimension piece the last game and a ball is a three-dimensional piece." True," she agreed. "But it doesn't supersede a dodecahedron." "Yes it does." Her polite veneer cracked. "Don't contradict me. You need a piece with more than twelve sides. You don't have one." He grinned. "A ball has an infinite number of sides. It's the limit of letting the number of sides on a polyhedron go to infinity." With a scowl, Zecha knocked his ball off her die. Then she took her dodecahedron out of the playing area. "Well? You won. So open." Kelric resisted the urge to laugh. He put down a pyramid and the game took off, rapidly evolving into a complicated series of structures. After a while something began" to tug at him. What... ? Yes, there. Zecha had built a convoluted snake of green dice and was trying to close the coil. She drummed her fingers on the table. "Are you going to take forever?" "No." He played a blue pyramid. She shoved a green pyramid into a structure. "Your move." He smiled. "My game." "It's not your game. Make your move." Kelric tapped his finger along a line of pyramids winding through the structures. "Black, brown, red, orange, gold, yellow, green, blue, purple, violet, black. All mine except for the red and green." He laughed. "Grand augmented spectrum, my advantage. You owe me a shave and a haircut Warden." Zecha glared at him. Then she turned to the octet. "You can take him back now." When he stood up, they locked his wrists, then blindfolded him and led him away. Zecha leaned against the table in the Interstice room that connected the Estate to the underground tunnels of Haka. It irked her that Rashiva insisted she hold her Quis sessions with 146 Catherine Asam——————————————————————. Sevtar here, where a window of one-way glass allowed the Manager to watch unobserved. Spying, that's what Rashiva was doing. Smart idea to put that girl on lookout, to warn her if the Manager showed up. Across the room, the door opened and Rashiva Haka entered. Zecha bowed. "Manager Haka." "Morning, Warden." Rashiva chuckled. "He caught you S with the infinite-sided polyhedron, heh, Zecha? And that spec: trum was a beauty." "You missed his first games. He played like a child." Rashiva stretched her arms. "Why did you schedule the session before dawn? If my aide hadn't seen you come in, I would have slept right through it." Zecha had intended to be done with the "lesson" before the early-rising Manager awoke. "I didn't want to bother you, ma'am." "It's no bother." Rashiva leaned against the table. "Do you need to blindfold and restrain him that way? It must be unpleasant for him." "If we don't blindfold him, he'll learn the route here from the prison. Without restraints, he could break into the Estate." Maybe she ought to let him loose. If Sevtar knocked around Rashiva's staff, it might cure the Manager of this rehabilitation nonsense. "He doesn't act dangerous," Rashiva said. "He seems a pleasant fellow." "That 'pleasant fellow' killed Llaach Dahl." Rashiva exhaled. "Yes. He did." She thought for a moment. "Let him off quarry crew today. He's obviously exhausted. And give him that shave he wanted. Just trim his hair, though. It's too gorgeous to cut off." Bones and bugs. Rashiva expected her to manicure crooners? "It could be dangerous to let him near a razor. He might go for the blade." "Take whatever precautions you think necessary." "Yhee, ma'am." After Rashiva left, Zecha brooded. So she was supposed to : coddle Sevtar, heh? No chance. Maybe he expected his beauty -The Last Hawk 147 to get him special treatment. She'd seen his smiles. His seductive behavior might blind Managers but it wouldn't work on Haka's warden. But Sevtar got to her in another way. Somehow he crept into her brain. It had been years since she suffered nightmares of people talking in her head. Back then, she had feared she was going insane, until finally she stopped it by putting up an emotional wall that shut everyone out. It made her lonelier than a kinsa lost in the desert, but it kept her from hearing other people's thoughts. Now Sevtar came, eating away at her fortifications. Zecha gritted her teeth. This Sevtar business had gone too far. She had to get rid of him. • When Ched entered the cell, Kelric was holding himself up by the skylight, peering out at the blue sky. "Cuaz and Khozaar me," Ched said. Kelric looked down. "What does that mean anyway?" "It's just something people say. Cuaz and Khozaar are wind gods, Akasi to the sungoddess Savina." Ched frowned at him. "You can't break the skylight bars, metal man. We've all tried." Kelric dropped to the floor. "Want to play Quis?" "No. You always beat me." Ched flopped down on the pallet. "Know what I'd like? A big feast, with lots of wine. Afterward, two beautiful warrior women carry us off and have their way with us." Kelric smiled. "Sounds interesting." "You ever been in love?" "Twice." Kelric sat by the wall. "The first time I was younger than you. Fourteen. Shaliece used to sneak up and watch me swim in the river. One day I saw her. I was so mortified that after I got my pants back on, I chased her all over the woods." "What happened when you caught her?" Kelric laughed. "That, young man, is private." Ched grinned. "She got you in trouble, heh? Happened to me too." His smile faded. "I was thrown out of the Children's Cooperative in Lasa 'cause of it." 'Thrown out? Why?" 148Catherine Asaro- "I let this girl talk me into stuff." Ched sat up. "Next moming she wouldn't have nothing to do with me. But she talked. |? ? Pretty soon all them girls was telling stories about me. It was f »' all lies. I wouldn't touch those clawcats. I only liked that one but she wanted someone else. And you know what? She got • 1 him in trouble. To protect him she said I was the father. With | . all those stories about me everyone believed her" He swept his I hand across the floor and sent sand flying. "So the Cooperative 1 guardians kicked me out." • ; Kelric frowned. "They had no business turning you out." , "That's why I went to Viasa. No Lasa House would take me. i People called me trash." He shrugged. "Guess they was right." "They weren't, Ched. Never believe that about yourself." The boy hesitated. "You think maybe different?" , "Absolutely. You've a lot of potential. You just need a chance to develop it." ' "Heh. Well." Ched gave him an embarrassed smile. "You know, you're all right." Rashiva paced across Zecha's office. "He looks so vulnerable." Zecha sat back in her chair. "Don't let Ched's innocent face fool you." : "Bonni says he's a model prisoner." Rashiva stopped pac- . ing. "She suggested transferring him out of Four." ; Model prisoner? Zecha almost snorted. She knew his kind, how they manipulated women. Her father had been Ched's age ! when he propositioned her mother. Maybe her mother had been happy with the unexpected result of that night's pleasure, but Zecha still burned from the childhood taunts: kinsabom. Whore-baby. "Ched's always been a problem," she said. "He's kept ahead of his quotas lately, but I doubt it will last." Rashiva frowned. "What quotas?" Bones and bugs. Didn't Rashiva ever miss anything? "It's a reward system. If prisoners meet certain quotas they get privi- ; leges." As soon as Zecha had realized Rashiva didn't intend to : doze her way through her reign like her doddering predecessor, she had cleaned out her files. Certain records could have been —————————————————————The Last Hawk 149 misinterpreted, particularly those detailing how she routed profits from the extra quarry shirts to her own accounts. So she got rid of them. Her files were pristine now. "I can show you the records." "All right," Rashiva said. "And go ahead with Ched's transfer. Put him on another crew. Maintenance maybe. He doesn't look strong enough to work in a quarry." Zecha stiffened. Who was warden here? Still, better to win Rashiva's confidence on a trivial matter like this. It would give her a stronger bargaining position on critical issues. "I can send him to Compound Two," Zecha said. "They do maintenance." "Good." Rashiva resumed pacing. "How is Sevtar coming along? "He isn't. You've seen his record. He started a fight his first night here and attacked Torv Haka his first day in the quarry." "Perhaps you should separate him from the others." Rashiva considered. "Let him concentrate more on Quis. Working in a quarry is a waste of his talent anyway." A plan was forming in Zecha's mind. "I think that's a good idea." Yes, an excellent idea. She might never have to worry about the Sevtar problem again. Sand stung Kelric's face as his guards led him through the sandstorm. They stopped at an isolated storehouse far from the compounds. When he saw Zecha waiting at the building's metal door, his unease grew. She heaved open the heavy portal, revealing both it and the storehouse walls to be over six handspans thick. His guards prodded him forward with their swords, honed points nicking his skin as they pierced the cloth of his uniform. Inside the storehouse, he found a single large room with a pallet and a blanket. A row of barred windows stretched the length of one wall, set so high he doubted he could see out of them even if he jumped. Puzzled, he turned to Zecha. "You're being separated from the other prisoners," she said. "For how long?" he asked. 150Catherine Asaro- Her eyes glinted. "Forever Kelric lunged for the door, but the guards were already $ heaving it into place. As the portal slammed shut, he smashed , into the metal. "No!" He pounded his fists on the door. "NO!" No sound came from beyond the storehouse i .•I 1 t Rock's Chute In the beginning Kelric raged, smashing his bulk against the walls that confined him. Each time his fury spent itself, he collapsed to the floor, his shoulders heaving as he gasped in air. His jailors had converted one of the storeroom closets into a bathroom. The other closet held a blanket, a jug of liquid soap, and cleaning rags. Each morning his food appeared in a narrow tunnel cut through the bottom of the storehouse door. After he finished his meals, he shoved the empty bowls and plates back into the tunnel. When he heard someone removing them, he tried to grab their arm, but he couldn't reach far enough into the tunnel. He refused to eat, hoping a hunger strike would force them to release him. After several days, when his jailers showed no reaction to his untouched meals in the tunnel, he wondered if Zecha wanted him to die by self-induced starvation. He quit the strike that night. Eventually he developed a routine. In the morning he exercised, and for the rest of the day he played Quis solitaire. When the light faded into night he escaped into sleep and when dawn trickled in the. windows he awoke, every morning of every day, until the days became seasons. Autumn cooled into winter, with rains that trickled in the windows, saturating his world with dampness. Once he caught a fever, becoming so sick he could barely move. In his lucid moments he wondered how anyone would know if he died. ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 151 After he recovered, he made a cloak out of his blanket, using a shard of rock to cut armholes and fashion a hood. He pushed the remaining scraps of cloth into the tunnel, and the next morning a new blanket came with his food. Winter warmed into spring. His hair grew into a shaggy mane and his beard curled in a red-gold mat on his chest. In summer, he lay sweltering in the heat. Sand blew in on the hot wind and settled over his body. At night, dreams from his home world of Lyshriol haunted his sleep. He saw its plains of silvery grass and the ancient dappled forests where he had played as a child. In other dreams he held a lover, often Deha, sometimes his first wife, more rarely other women he had known. It felt so real that when he awoke he wanted to beat the walls in protest of the empty spaces that greeted him. He had always been an introvert, recharged by time alone, but this was beyond all reason. When he became depressed, Bolt released chemicals in his brain, powering up an endorphin high. It helped his mood but didn't counteract the loneliness, and it strained the already damaged computer, until finally, after several seasons, he lost contact with it. Bolt's silence saddened him; he no longer had even the voice in his head to converse with. So he talked to the sand, the floor, the food. He named the insects that hummed in the windows. When he found himself giving a funeral to a dead airbug, he knew he had to find a distraction from the loneliness. Quis became his existence. He covered the floor with structures and made extra dice with cement he chipped off the walls. When the rules grew constraining he added new ones. The Quis he played was his and his alone, with no influence, n history, no cultural memories, no input from any other player. The simple patterns he had learned at Dahl seemed laughable now. He wove his perceptions of Haka, of Coba, of the Imperialate, of the universe, into his Quis. The patterns evolved, illuminating the past, predicting the future, revealing hidden mazes in the subconscious corridors of his mind. His dice took on personalities. Ched was the silver cube. 152 Catherine Asaro——————————————————y I Every pattern he built of the boy's life in Compound Four i evolved into death. He tried to find patterns of hope, but the 5 dice refused to lie. He often found somber dice of mourning around the silver cube. The obsidian decahedron was Zecha. Sometimes he trapped | it in torturously convoluted structures, destroying its rank. Other times he built pattern after pattern, trying to understand why she | loathed him. She remained an enigma. For some reason, even thinking about her here, alone in his cell, drove him to barrier | his mind. She crept into his brain, negating him like an an- I empath. | Gradually his dice took on more complex aspects. Equations evolved in his patterns: complex variables, differential 1 equations, topology, catastrophe theory, Selenian mystimatics. He created new theorems, becoming so absorbed in his life- | long passion for abstract math that at times he even forgot the | weight of his solitude. In his sleep he dreamt Quis equations. Then the dice turned introspective, forcing him to relive the ••: scorn of his half brother, Kurj, the Imperator: Mathematics, { Kelric? Why frustrate yourself in a pursuit beyond your abil- \ ity? The Quis showed what he had never understood: his | brother's contempt masked fear. 3 It would have made no difference what dreams Kelric pur- j sued, his brother would have crushed his confidence, tearing | Kelric down to protect against what he, the Imperator, per- | ceived as a threat to his power. Kurj saw only himself when he I looked at Kelric, and having gained his title through violence | and death he would never trust his own heir. ; That was when Kelric smashed his hand through the dice, throwing them across his cell. After that he sought fonder memories. He wove patterns of his father, a farmer bemused by the glittering technology of his wife's universe, a loving man who doted on his family, never ] dreaming he would someday become an interstellar potentate. The patterns of his mother were warmth and a shimmering ; gold beauty so great a galaxy bowed before it. She was the sun I of home, the warmth of the hearth—and a political pundit who | walked the halls of Imperial power. | Through his dice Kelric grieved for the loss of his home, his I -The Last Hawk 153 family, his hopes, his future. He lived among the structures, balanced on the edge of madness, unable to remember how it felt to touch another human being, until he wondered if his memories were no more than the dreams of an insane man. 15 Deert Tower The Topazwalk spanned the top level of Haka Estate like a tawny corridor of light. Made from tinted glass, it looked out over a sea of sand. Two figures walked together along the corridor, bathed in its ruddy light. "I'm sorry to be blunt," Zecha said. "But bring Sevtar onto the Estate and you will regret it." "Your reports make his progress sound excellent," Rashiva said. Zecha knew she had trouble. It had taken time and work to win Rashiva's confidence, and part of that success came from her encouraging reports about Sevtar. In truth, she had paid little attention to what he was doing this past year. Who could have known the Manager meant to take him into her Calanya] It was insane. "It's true, he's made progress in a controlled environment," Zecha said. He had, after all, done nothing but play Quis. If he hadn't learned anything by now, he never would. "But I have grave doubts about his mental stability. There's no telling what might make him snap." Rashiva nodded. "He will be kept separate from the others until we know if he's stable." So. The Manager had her doubts. Zecha took stock of the situation. If he told tales of solitary, would anyone believe him? That Rashiva paid much closer attention to the prison than her predecessor would help here. The Manager knew about the delusions suffered by the prisoners in Four, and 154 Catherine Asaro—————————————————————— whatever marginal sanity Sevtar had possessed prior to his solitude was certainly gone now. Given his weak mind, he was probably raving mad. She could have her prison doctors certify him as insane, a madness that subsided only under their expert care. Sevtar would soon be back in prison. The grate of metal scraping on stone woke Kelric. He raised his head and peered into the predawn darkness. The door of his cell moved. The portal slowly swung open, revealing an octet of guards. They entered the cell like wraiths, shadowy and gray in the dim light. Kelric rose to his feet, unable to speak, surrounded by the Quis structures he had built. Seven of the guards took up a shadowed formation around him and the eighth gathered up his dice. Stop, he thought. They were destroying patterns he had worked on for days. But he stood frozen, afraid if he moved the dream figures would vanish. They gave him his pouch, the small sack bulging with dice. Then the captain raised her arm toward the door in a ghostly invitation. He looked from her to the other guards, still unable to absorb their presence. Then he walked out of the storehouse. They made their way through a daze of swirling, whirling sand, until they reached one of the lesser peaks with a door embedded in it. They entered the crag and followed a maze of tunnels that sloped down under the desert. Kelric's sense of direction soon failed him in the sameness of the passages and their turns. He didn't bother asking Bolt where they were; the node had long ago stopped responding. At the junction of two corridors, his guards took him into an office. The captain removed some clothes from the desk: suede pants with sewn seams, a laced white shirt with Quis designs embroidered on its cuffs, knee boots the color of sand, and a robe made from lightweight russet cloth. She gave him a woven scarf as long as he was tall, made from white yam with black tassels all around its borders. Quis designs adorned it, ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 155 sewn in metallic yams that glittered even in the room's cold light. After the guards withdrew, locking the door behind them, Kelric stood holding the clothes. He couldn't comprehend them. For a year he had worn the same gray uniform, washed and rewashed by himself until it drooped with holes. Eventually he changed into the new clothes. The robe covered him from neck to foot, with loose sleeves that came to his wrists. He had no idea what to do with the scarf, so he draped it around his neck and let it hang down his chest. Then he waited. A knock sounded on the door, followed by a pause. The captain came inside and walked over to him, then bowed from the waist. She lifted the scarf and wound it loosely around his head, covering his neck and face, except for his eyes. She finished by raising the hood of his robe, hiding all of him but his eyes. The octet took him back into the tunnels and escorted him deeper into the maze. At a rotunda that looked down onto a lower floor, they rendezvoused with another octet, one whose bearing and manner he recognized. Calanya guards. Finally Kelric understood. Hallucination. Loneliness had driven him to create these bizarre scenes. The Calanya escort led him farther into the maze, climbing upward now, until he was sure they were above the desert again. The stone under his feet changed into glazed tiles and the tunnels expanded into halls with arabesques sculpted on the walls. Mosaics graced the corridors in geometric designs, with intricate borders around arches, niches, and column capitals. He devised Quis rules to describe the patterns. They came out into a painfully bright corridor where sunshine poured through floor-to-ceiling windows. It nearly blinded him. By squinting, he could make out the desert far below, sweeping to the horizon. The doorway at the end of the hall looked like the keyhole for a giant skeleton key, with a stained-glass window in the 156 Catherine Asaro——————————————————:——— upper circular portion. It had Quis designs carved around its edges and the Haka symbol of a rising sun at its apex. Beyond the door was a suite. Spice rooms. Colors. Kelric could barely absorb it; his last year had been spent in shades of gray. These walls blended from cinnamon near the floor into gold and then cream at the top. Plants with saffron blossoms stood in vases and spheres of glass painted with flowers hung from the ceiling on gold chains. They showed him through room after room of luxury, until finally it became too much. Kelric balked at an arbitrary archway when the captain pulled aside its curtain of reeds. She smiled at him. "Go on in. It's yours, after all." His? He walked into the room beyond the reeds. Larger than the entire Compound Four men's wing, it was only a bath chamber. A pool fed by fountains filled over half of it. "Manager Haka had purifiers installed in the wells that serve the pool," the captain said. "So you won't get sick if you swallow any water." A fountain in the shape of a flower stood at one edge of the • pool. Kelric sat on the ledge of its basin and looked into the water-filled bowl inlaid by green and blue tiles. He trac.ed his hand through the water and it swirled in Quis patterns. The captain spoke again. "I am Khaaj. My octet will be Outside your suite. If you need anything, open the Outside door and we will summon the Calanya Speaker." Speaker? He only knew how to speak to himself. "A barber is waiting to give you a shave and a haircut," Khaaj added. "The metalworker will be here later this afternoon to change your Calanya guards." Kelric stared into the pool, devising Quis equations to describe its ripples. He didn't turn around as his escort left, he just continued to watch his hallucination of a fountain. It had finally happened. He had gone insane. Fresh from his bath, dressed in his new clothes, with his hair cut and his face shaved, Kelric sat on cushions in his suite and stared at his wrist guards. The only symbol he recognized was the Haka rising sun. Why Haka guards? If his deranged mind —————————————————————The Last Hawk 157 needed to create an illusion, why not Dahl guards? His only good memories of Coba came from Dahl. "Sevtar?" Captain Khaaj pulled aside the reeds in an archway across the room and bowed to him. "You have a visitor, with Speaker's Privilege." She withdrew and a new hallucination appeared. Kelric stared at it. When the silence became strained, the hallucination spoke. "I know I'm under your level now, metal man. But couldn't you talk to me just this once? Manager Haka gave permission." For the first time in a year Kelric spoke to another human being. "Ched Viasa is dead." Ched grinned at him. "I guess nobody let me know." He walked across the room. "I've never seen a place this nice. Manager Haka takes good care of you, heh?" Kelric tried to absorb his presence. "Compound Pour—?" "Bonni helped me get transferred, just like you said. I went to Compound Two." Ched laughed. "You know what I've been doing? Laundry. I haven't seen that hole in the cliffs for a year." "Laundry." Kelric's voice shook. Ched came over to him. "You all right?" "No." He fought the tears but they came anyway, running down his face. He wasn't sure why he cried, whether it was Ched, the suite, the sound of a human voice, or his insane hope it was all real. As Ched sat next to him on the plush rug, Kelric wiped his cheeks. "Not much of a metal man after all, am I?" Ched smiled. "Well, you know what they say. 'Never iron cold is the touch of gold.' It's a saying more about people than metal." Kelric smiled. "I'm glad to see you." "They let me come because of your being sworn tonight." Ched hesitated. "Manager Haka talked to the warden—not Zecha, thank Cuaz, but the one over in Two. The warden knew Bonni knew you, so she talked to Bonni and Bonni talked to me and I said, yhee, if it was all right with you, so Bonni told the warden—" "I 158Catherine Asaro- "Ched, wait." Kelric almost laughed. "I lost track aboUt| when the warden talked to Bonni." | "I just don't want you to think I'm pushing where I have no! right to push." | "Why would I think that?" 'I "Because you're supposed to ask." Ask what?" \ Ched averted his eyes. "Me to be your Oath Brother." Oath? As in Calanya Oath? That made no sense. But he vaued Ched's offer of friendship more than he knew how to say. "Will you?" "Sure." Ched relaxed and grinned at him. "I've sure missed you." "Do they treat you well in Two?" "It's all right. I get to take lessons from a Scribe, reading writing, stuff like that. To make me smart, for when I get out." He glanced at Kelric's robe. "Can I look at your Talha? I've never seen one up close before." Kelric offered him the robe, but Ched took only the scarf on top of it. "It's rolled right sharp, metal man." "It's what?" "ou don't recognize it, do you?" When Kelric shook his head, Ched said, "Haka men have to wear Talha scarves in public. It's part of the Propriety Laws." "Propriety Laws?" "Scowl Laws." Ched brushed his fingers over the scarf. "Don't you remember? Warden Torv wore a Talha up at the quarry." Kelric dredged up his memory of the Compound Four men's warden. "I thought it was to protect him from the sandstorms." "That too. A lot of women wear them for the same reason." Ched gave him back the Talha. "Theirs are just plain, though. The ones like yours are for high-level men." He nodded. "Manager Haka means you great honor." Kelric regarded the scarf, with its gleaming designs and ornate tassels. If Manager Haka meant him so much honor, why had he just spent a year in hell? The Sunset Hall glowed beneath the colors of a true sunset. Stained-glass windows surrounded the hall, their lower edges ————————————————————The Last Hawk 159 flush with the floor and the tips of their onion-shaped crowns touching the high ceiling. Dark red curtains hung on the walls between windows and glazed bowls sat on tiled pedestals. Tendrils of smoke curled up from the bowls, scenting the air with incense. No furniture intruded; the highborn of Haka sat on the floor, among embroidered cushions with tassels at each comer, the women in jackets and trousers of brocaded silk, and the men in robes and Talha scarves. Bathed in fiery light, and dressed in robes and Talhas, Kelric stood with Ched in the sunken hollow of a circle. A rail made from gold wood encircled them. Cymbals chimed in soft rhythm, followed by the compelling beat of a drum and a pipe's haunting melody. Then a man's voice soared into the music. He sang in an unfamiliar language, one with an ancient sound, evoking images of Estates burnished like gold in the desert. The music swirled in the sunset, then faded into silence like a sun vanishing behind the horizon. A woman's dusky voice coalesced out of the air. "Ched Lasa Viasa, do you stand as Oath Brother to Sevtar?" "I do," Ched said. "What do you speak for him?" Ched took a breath. "Sevtar was a better friend to me than anyone else I ever knew. He stood by me no matter what. And he believed in me." He glanced at Kelric. "Knowing him made me a better person. I can't think of anyone more worthy for your Calanya." Kelric touched Ched's arm in thanks, and the youth's face gentled. A young girl spoke. "Your words are heard and recorded, Chedofiasa." Ched bowed, then stepped out of the Circle and withdrew to sit with his guards. Cymbals chimed again. Then the woman with the dusky voice spoke. "For Haka and for Coba do you, Sevtar, come to the Circle to give your Oath?" Was this the price of freedom? His betrayal of Deha? Kelric stood mute, his silence stretching out in the gilded topaz light. As murmurs came from the watchers, the curtains at the end of the hall rustled. 160Catherine Asaro- Then a woman appeared. Vo. Kelric clenched the rail, trying to anchor himself in itsl reality. Only in a hallucination would he see, on Coba, the fer-| tility goddess Viana from the mythology of his home world Lyshriol. She wore a long white robe that clung to her voiup1 tuous body like fluid rippling in a stream. Graced with creamy j dark skin, her face had a mesmerizing beauty. Black lashes j fringed her large eyes, and a braid of glossy black hair as thick as a fist fell over her shoulder to her hip. Rubies in her necklace glittered against her skin. She came to stand before him. "Do you refuse Haka your Oath?" Kelric pulled down his Talha, uncovering his face. "Are you the Haka Manager?" "Yes. I am Rashiva Haka." "Dahl already has my Oath." "Manager Dahl has relinquished your vow." "I don't believe you." "Why would I lie? Why indeed. What possessed his fevered mind to create this mocking hallucination? He liked Deha. Why imagine she rejected him? or that matter, he couldn't see why he would imagine an Estate where a man had so little choice in the matter of his Oath that its Manager didn't bother to explain the situation before the ceremony. Rashiva acted as if it had never occurred to her that he might not obey. Why would he hallucinate this? Hell, he didn't know. He was insane anyway. Rashiva spoke quietly. "I can offer you a better life than you will ever have in prison. But I won't force you to deny Dahl. If it is your wish to return to the compounds rather than enter my Calanya, I won't make you stay here." A vision of his isolation rose in his mind like a nightmare. "How did you force Manager Dahl to allow this?" "I forced no one. It was her idea." He refused to believe Deha had thrown him away the moment he became a liability. This was a delusion created by a man driven mad with loneliness. But a delusion of solitude would be as crushing as the reality. In a flat voice he said, "Then take my Oath." ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 161 Rashiva's voice took on the quality of a ritual. "Hear my words, Sevtar. But before you give them back to me as Oath know that your life is bound by them." After a moment he realized she was waiting for a response. "All right," he said. Softly she said, "You answer 'I hear and understand.' " "I hear and understand." "For Haka and for Coba," she said, "do you enter the Circle to give your Oath?" "Yes." "Do you swear you will hold my Estate above all else, as you hold in your hands and your mind the future of Haka?" "Yes." She watched him with night-dark eyes. "Do you swear to keep forever the discipline of the Calanya? To never again read or write? To never again speak in the presence of those who are not of the Calanya?" "Yes." It made no sense to him, but he would have agreed to stand on his head if it kept him out of the storehouse. "Do you swear—on penalty of your life—that your loyalty is to Haka, only to Haka, and completely to Haka?" "If you want," he said. " 'I swear,' " she murmured. " 'With my life.' " She waited, watching him with her unsettling gaze. So he said, "I swear. With my life." Rashiva raised her hand and the sound of a gong vibrated in the air. The colors in the hall were deepening into crimson shadows. "In return for your Oath," she said, "I vow that for the rest of your life you will be provided for as befits a Calani." What did that mean? Deha had tod him the same thing. Rashiva reached into the folds of her robe and withdrew four armbands. She first slid on his Dahl bands, white gold engraved with the suntree symbol and other hieroglyphics, including just about the only written Teotecan he understood, his Coban name, Sevtar Dahl, the first word depicted by the glyph of a man striding across the sky, the second by the suntree glyph. The next pair of armbands she slid on him were a darker gold. He saw his Dahl name followed by a third symbol, the Haka rising sun. Sevtar Dahl Haka. 162Catherine Asaro- One other symbol on the Haka bands was familiar, a man with a mane of shoulder-length curs, his head turned to the right and his arm raised, bent at the elbow, with the palm at shoulder height and turned to face the ceiling. Kelric knew its meaning. The turned head symbolized fertility, the long hair denoted desirability, the raised palm acceptance. Husband. These were Akasi bands. His anger stirred. For a year he had lived in a hell of solitude. Now this siren appeared out of nowhere and lured him with an alien vow of love. Triumph flickered in her eyes. "Sevtar Dahl Haka, you are now a Second Level Calani of Haka." 16 Hawk's Fire The audiocom refused to stop its insistent buzz. Chankah Dahl, the Dahi Successor, rolled over in bed and fumbled for the switch. "Who is this?" she grumbled. Senior Physician Rohka's voice snapped out of the co. "You have to come to Deha's suite. Hurry. She's had another heart attack." Chankah ran barefoot through the halls, her robe flying out behind her. Inside Deha's suite, she found the doctor Dabbv pacing in the living room. Grief etched lines in his face. "Why is she so rock-headed?" he demanded. "Why does she insist on working all night? We warned her, Chankah. Over and over. We warned her." Chankah stared at him. Before she could respond, Deha's son appeared in an inner archway and beckoned to her. She found the Manager lying in bed, her face pale. Chankah leaned over her. "Deha?" The answering voice was faint. "I can't see you." -The Last Hawk 163 Chankah turned up the lamp on the nightstand. "Is that better?" "A little." Deha watched her with faded eyes. "Remember all 1 have taught you. You carry much responsibility now. You are a power among the Estates second only to Kam." Chankah swallowed. "Don't talk that way. You'll be up sooner than you can whistle." "Not this time. Ah—Chani." "I'm here. Right here." "You must take care of him." "Him?" "Kelric. Get him a pardon. Promise." Chankah would have sworn to deliver the wind if it eased her mentor's dying. "I promise. I swear it." Deha's voice faded. "Don't mourn . . . My life has been rich . . . Good-bye . ;." "No, Come back!" Chankah clenched the bedpost. "Deha? Deha" No life showed in the eyes of Dahl's queen. Rashiva stood at the end of the Topazwalk, watching an octet come down the tunnel of light. The elderly Calani they escorted was distinguished, with silver hair and gray eyes. His escort towered around him like refugees from a world less serene than the one he inhabited. Saje Viasa Varz Haka was the elite of an elite, a Third Level Calani, one of the few among the Twelve Estates. When Saje reached her, Rashiva smiled. "You look well today." He nodded his greeting. She turned to the escort. "You may wait Outside the Hyella Chamber." After the guards withdrew, Rashiva moved aside to let Saje enter the tinted sphere of glass that ended the Topazwalk. Named for the translucent orbs that floated on the tips of hyella reeds, the chamber sat poised at the top of a tower, overlooking the desert. A glass bench ran around its interior wall and a glass Quis table stood in its center. i 164 Catherine Asaro—————————————————— As they sat at the table, Saje studied her face. "The man .|" from the prison troubles you." "I played Quis with him this morning," Rashiva said. . ₯ 'And?" "Deha Dahl was wrong. Sevtar isn't talented." Regret showed in Saje's eyes. "You are certain?" She took a breath. "Talent comes nowhere near to describ < ing his gift with the dice. It's like defining the desert as a grain ; of sand. Sevtar isn't a grain. He's an ocean." "Such a gift should please you." "Every pattern he makes is sorrow, Saje. He weeps with his dice." The Third Level sighed. "Well, Manager Dahl is dead." | "He doesn't know. I don't know how to tell him." She paused. "He is her Akasi, after all." "Was. He is yours now." i| In name only, Rashiva thought. Sevtar was a stranger she | saw only during their Quis sessions. "I'm concerned about | how he will react. Warden Haka thinks he is dangerous. Her | doctors say he is insane." j "What do you think?" | "I don't know. He's like the blank face of a cliff. I need your | advice." | "To give you counsel," Saje said, "I must know him. To | know him, I must sit at Quis with him." 1 Rashiva stiffened. "No." | Saje waited. "It isn't safe," she said. He continued to wait. "I can't risk your life," she said. "If you believed him to be that dangerous," Saje said, "he wouldn't be here on the Estate." Rashiva looked out at the desert where sand swirled in patterns impossible to fathom. Like Sevtar. Saje was right. It was time Sevtar sat at Quis with a true Calani. When Captain Khaaj and the escort came for him, Kelric balked. He had been alone in his suite for the past ten days, since his Oath ceremony. The only person he had seen besides ——————————————————————The Last Hawk 165 his guards was Rashiva, three times, when she came to play Quis. They never spoke during the games. Apparently she hadn't found whatever she sought in his dice and now had sent his guards to take him back to prison and isolation. He refused to leave the suite. No one forced him; the octet simply waited. After an hour, Kelric began to wonder if he were wrong. He walked over to the octet. Khaaj bowed, then lifted her hand, offering to escort him out of the suite. He considered her. Then he finally went with them. They followed graceful halls, climbed the spiral stairs of a tower, and came out in a corridor of glass. The walkway ended at a spherical chamber where an elderly man sat playing Quis solitaire. He wore three bands on each arm, over his sleeves rather than under them, as Kelric wore his. Kelric's guards took up positions with the Calanya escort already waiting outside the chamber, standing beyond the range of conversation but close eough to reach it in seconds. Kelric suspected their concern was for the elderly gentleman rather than him. As Kelric entered, the man looked up. "Ah. Sevtar. My greetings." He indicated a chair across the table. "Please. Be comfortable." Kelric sat down, watching him. "I am Saje." He set a velvet pouch on the table. "Manager Haka wishes to give you this." Kelric made no move to take the pouch. "I have Quis dice." Saje slid the pouch over to him. "These are Calanya dice." Kelric turned the bag over several times. Then he nudged out the dice. Not only did the pouch contain a full dice set, it also included unusual shapes such as stars, eggs, and boxes with hinged lids. And they were real. The gold ball was just that—solid gold. White pieces were diamond, blue sapphire, red ruby. Some of the gems, like the opals, gave mixtures of colors that sparked ideas in his mind for manipulating color rank within dice structures. Saje rolled out his own dice gems. "Shall we begin? "I can't." These new dice were strangers. Saje didn't look surprised. "Use your other set today. In time you will feel comfortable with the new one." 166Catherine Asaro- Kelric refilled the new pouch. He tied it onto his belt, then took off his ragged bag and rolled out his dice. "Stop hovering over me, Rashiva." Saje eased down among the | cushions on the lush carpet in the sitting room behind Rashiva's office. "I'm not a blown-glass Quis die." She sat next to him, as tense as a mountain climber's rope. "How did your session go?" "Your Sevtar is a remarkable young man." Saje paused. "But strange. He has no sense of his own genius. He never analyzes. He does it by instinct. We give him dice so he plays Quis." Rashiva nodded. "Yes, I thought so too. And his dice have almost no patterns of the prison. Just loneliness and solitude. If I hadn't known he's been down in the compounds, I would never have guessed it from his Quis. He plays as if he taught himself, with no input from anyone else." Saje nodded. "I detected a faint reference to the prison. But it was very old." He spread his hands. "Perhaps it is the conditions under which he has played dice. He needs to sit at Quis with other Calani. He should live in the Calanya." "It's too dangerous. Warden Haka thinks he's mentally ill." Saje spoke quiety. "His only illness is loneliness. He needs company." Rashiva had no answer for that. How could she risk her '• Calanya with him when she wouldn't risk herself? i The days blended together, each a repetition of the last. Kelric [ played Quis with gems now instead of rocks, and his guards ; brought his meals on silver trays instead of shoving them -. through the door, but the rhythm of his life was otherwise unchanged from his time in solitude. He lived in a trance. : One break existed in the pattern; each day either Rashiva or Saje sat at dice with him, in sessions so intense that conversation was an intrusion. As he learned Saje's Quis he came to know the man, his wisdom and gentle humor, better than had they exchanged words instead of dice. His sessions with the Third Level were an oasis in his loneliness. Rashiva remained an enigma, craved but denied. He -The Last Hawk 167 watched her from the fortress of his mind, hungering to touch her, hating her for tormenting him. His dreams jumbled in confused images. Sometimes he was a Jagemaut, fighting endless battles with no reprieve. Other times he saw Deha lying in death, her heart stopped. He relived Llaach's death again and again. In some nightmares he forced Rashiva to give him what he craved, with a brutality that left him stunned when he awoke. Or else ghosts entered his dreams, soldiers he had killed in battle. Each time he bolted awake, his mouth working to release a scream that never came. Gradually an obsession took hold, a desire to go out into the desert, as if its endless space could release him from this agony of solitude, parch him dry until he no longer hurt. A thought worried at his mind like a dog with a bone: he would shatter a window and jump out. He tried with his fists, pounding the glass, but he nearly fractured his hand and still the thick glass remained solid. Another night he used a chair. It broke into pieces long before the window weakened, and the noise brought his guards running into the room. After that, Saje no longer came to visit. He changed his approach, using his Quis to deceive Rashiva. Like everyone else he had met on Coba, including Saje and Deha, she had no idea how to play dice. He hadn't realized it at Dahl. They were all children with Quis, blind to its intricacies. Rashiva never knew how his dice lied. He wanted her to suffer for what she let Haka do to him; his Quis told her that he was content, adjusting well to his new life. On a night when clouds massed around the cliffs and lightning clawed the desert, an unfamiliar octet came for him. They took him through corridors emptied by the late hour, their boots echoing on the floors. With a numbness born from too long dreading this journey, he waited for the halls to become tunnels that ended at a barren gray cell. They stopped in an alcove lit only by a torch in a claw on the wall. An ancient door faced them. The captain pushed it open, revealing a tower with spiral stairs. They climbed up and around, up and around, up and around ... A door at the top opened into a suite that made his own quarters look meager. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, -- " 'I 168 Catherine Asaro——————————————————•————| sparkling with colored crystals. Then he realized the "crystals" | 1 were gems: diamonds, rubies, topazes. The furniture was made from a lustrous black wood with red overtones, and uphol- | I stered in dark brocades. Urns as tall as his shoulder stood in ; coers, glaed with intricate Quis designs, and tapestries on :< the walls showed desert scenes. No windows softened the ; : suite, only heavy drapes and walls paneled in rosewood. , After the escort left, shoving bolts into place and locking the door, Kelric wandered through the rooms. In one he found a bed covered in gold brocade, with darkwood posters at its cor- | ners and a canopy of red velvet. He took a blown-glass vase off j the nightstand and turned it over in his hand. Why this new 1 prison, this cage within a cage? At least his old suite had windows that let him see the world. Had hey moved him here so j he couldn't try breaking the glass? The walls pressed in, confining, suffocating— The vase snapped in his clenched hand. Its body fell to the . floor and shattered on the darkwood parquetry, leaving him holding a shard of glass. He stared at it. Then, slowly, he pressed its jagged edge against his wrist. Soon he would be free. In another room, a clock chimed. Sometime later it chimed again. Kelric dropped the shard. Then he gathered up the pieces of glass and arranged them on the nightstand, taking care to place each shard in its proper place. Finally he lay on the bed. "Sevtar?" ' Kelric hid in the gray world between sleep and waking. ; "Sevtar?" He doesn't exist, Kelric thought. Fingers brushed his cheek. Opening his eyes, he saw , Rashiva kneeling on the bed next to him. She was wearing a red lace robe that came to her thighs and she had freed her hair, letting it pour in lustrous waves over her body, She watched him with her dark gaze. "The vase— Why?" "It fell." Her voice caught. "Into Quis patterns of death?" ———————;———————————The Last Hawk 169 Instead of answering, he put his arm around her waist and puled her down on the bed. When she resisted, he held her down and rolled on top of her. Taking huge handfuls of her hair, he clenched his fists in the hollows where her shoulders met her neck. "Sevtar, stop." She pushed against his shoulders. "It hurts." He moved one hand to her breast and dug in his fingers. "Isn't this whatyou came for?" "Not like this. Not in anger." Fear made her voice dusky. "This wasn't in your Quis." "It was easy to fool you. You play Quis like a child." He watched her face. "You never asked if I wanted a wife. I don' I already have one." As soon as she tensed, he knew something was wrong. "What is it?" he demanded. When she didn't answer, he gripped her shoulders. "Answer me!" She stared at him, still silent, but it didn't matter. Her reac tion was so strong that even his injured Kyle centers picked it up. Dead. Deha was dead. He suddenly heard a rushing noise, one in his head rather than his ears. His voice came through the tumult. "How did she die?" "Why makes you think—" "Don't lie to me." Softly she said, "Deha died of the heart sickness. Last season." Last season? When was she going to tell him? Next year? Next century? A red haze blurred his vision. Had Rashiva gloated over Deha's death? Had she sat smug in her power over him while he rotted in solitude? He wanted to hurt her so much it burned in his mind. Burned. He lay poised on the edge of brutality, a heartbeat away from violence. Except he couldn't do it. He couldn't inflict that harm on another person. Kelric let out a long breath. Then he rolled off her, onto his back. Hearing the covers rustle, he looked to see her kneeling at the edge of the bed, her hand resting on the nightstand's co 170Catherine Asaro- switch. But she didn't call for help. Instead she spoke quietly. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. I didn't know how." "I don't want you," he lied. If he lay with her now, he knew : he would hurt her. "Then what do you want?" What indeed? He rolled onto his side and pushed up on his elbow.To play Quis. Put me in your Calanya." She gave him an incredulous look. "After what happened here tonight?" His fist clenched in the velvet covers. "If you expect me to ; use sexual favors to get what I want, you can wait until the end of time." "Why do you say such a thing?" "It's what you expect, isn't it?" Softly she said, "I would like you to behave more like a Haka man. Is that so outrageous? I am a Haka woman." "I'm not a Haka man." He reached out and puled her sash, loosening it until her robe slid off her shoulders, revealing her body underneath, her skin creamy dark against the rich red silk. "You better leave, Rashiva. If you don't, you'll get what you came for. But you won't like how it comes." Watching him, she swallowed. She slid off the bed and put on a long robe she had draped over a chair. Then she left the room, her bare feet padding on the floor. 17 Multiple Buiders "A child," Rashiva stood in the Hyella Chamber looking out at the desert. "He thinks I play Quis like a child." "He only understands Quis solitaire," Saje said. "He is right about the Calanya. He should be in it." She turned to face the Third Level, who was standing by the Quis table. "I can't." -The Last Hawk 171 "You keep saying this. 7 can 'l. Why not? What has he done to warrant this distrust? Tried to break a window? Is this truly so dire?" If only you knew, Rashiva thought. But her night with Sevtar would always remain private. What would she have done if he had raped her? Sent him back to prison, an admission of her weakness? No. Never would she let such humiliation become public. She would find other ways to dea with this. And she would deal with it. The intensity of her reaction gave her pause. Despite how he had obviously wanted to hurt her, he had held back. So why did she want to punish him? Because he had deceived her with Quis. He rejected her. If she did nothing, it would always be there between them, this imbalance that undermined her authority. It would eat away at her selfconfidence, make her less of a woman, less in command at Haka. No. Rashiva took a breath. She couldn't let this ruin her confidence. Nor could she let it interfere with her ability to run Haka. She had to make her decisions based on what was best for her Estate, not her pride. Comfortable on cushions, four men were sitting on the carpeted floor around a low Quis table, too intent on their game to notice Kelric and Rashiva, who stood watching from across the room. The room was large, octagonal in shape, with walls painted in desert hues. Rashiva spoke in a low voice. "This is the main common room." She indicated an arch in another wall. "Smaller common rooms are through there, and an exit to the parks." He tried to absorb it. People. "How many Calani live here?" "Seventeen." She raised her voice slightly. "Adaar?" A Calani lifted his head, blinking like a diver coming to the surface of a lake. As the others looked up, Adaar rose to his feet and walked over to Rashiva. She smiled. "Adaar, this is Sevtar." Adaar bowed to him. "Welcome to Haka." Kelric nodded. "Do you know where the others are?" Rashiva asked Adaar. 172 Catherine Asaro- "In the gardens, I think. I can get them." t "Yes. Thank you." | As Adaar left, Rashiva drew Kelric over to the table, where? the other players were getting to their feet. She introduced him| to all three, including Raaj, a First Level with the handsome i features of a desert prince. His dark stare grazed Kelric like I sandpaper. ; A ripple of conversation spilled into the room, followed by | more Calani. As they gathered around, talking at him, Kelric f felt as if he were suffocating. He had thought he wanted this, ? I but being plunged among humans so suddenly was too much. i. I Finally Rashiva said, "You can talk to him more later I'm 'i i going to show him his suite." - More nods, more words, and then he and Rashiva escaped into a private suite. Except for its entrance into the main co- |> mon room, it was otherwise much like his spice suite. ) i "This is where you will live" Rashiva spoke with awkwad t I formality. The common rooms are open to all, but no one can i come in here unless you invite them." f ; "Does that include you? he asked. M She stiffened. "No." | Kelric hadn't meant it to sound so hostile. He fet as if he | ' had been suffering a fever, not in his body but in his mind, one T he hadn't realized was burning until it began to ease. Like a distant voice nearly lost in a cave where no light had shone for years, thoughts were stirring, awakening from their slumber, trying to bring him coolness and health. Rashiva pushed her fingers through her hair tousling her ! normally perfect braid. "I will leave you to rest now." Her brocade trousers rustled as she exited the room. He wandered through the suite for a while and eventually ' stopped in the bedroom. For a long time he stood at a window gazing at the desert. He tried to think about Dahl, but he I couldn't imagine it without Deha. Tears ran down his face. He didn't move or make a sound, he just kept watching the desert t while he cried. For Deha. ;" It wasn 't until later that afternoon that he returned to the arch- \ way that opened into the common room. When he pushed aside the screen, he saw Saje in a nearby alcove talking to Adaar. I \- ————————————————————The Last Hawk 173 "Ah. Sevtar." The Third Level nodded to him. "Will you join us at Quis?" Kelric retued the nod, trying to relax. Quis he could do. With Adaar's assistance, Saje walked stiffly to a table where several Calani had been analyzing a Quis game. The players all rose, standing until Saje had settled into his cushions. After everyone was seated, Saje nodded to Raaj, the Hakabom prince. "Will you begin? We will work on the Miesa Plateau." Kelric rolled out his dice, wondering what a plateau in Miesa had to do with Quis. Raaj set a gold dodecahedron on the table and the session took off. At first Kelric had trouble following a game with so many players, but gradually the patterns became clear. The structures described an Estate. Miesa? Its Manager was young. Gold. Sun. It came up again and again. "Savina," Kelric suddenly said. The sungoddess." Heads jerked up. Raaj scowled and Adaar dropped a cone, knocking over a structure. "Yes," Saje said. "Savina is the name of the Miesa Manager. Please do not disrupt the session again." Kelric winced. But as soon as the game resumed, he became absorbed in the patterns. It was as if he circled over Miesa, dropping nearer. It nestled in a valley where the mountains met a plateau that boasted a wealth of mineral deposits The Manager who controlled the Miesa Plateau controlled the mineral markets of the Twelve Estates and so wielded great power. But Varz Estate rather than Miesa dominated the patterns. The once-wealthy Miesa had declined; unti now it depended heavily on Varz. After the picture was complete, the players projected various futures for Miesa into the structures. If a pattern formed with the Kam Ministry dominant, they destroyed it the same way an Outsider playing dice for money sought to destroy an opponent's advantage. New patterns developed with Varz ascendent. As they played, Kelric finally began to understand what the Calani did cloistered in their Calanya. They were shaping the future of their world. 174Catherine Asaro- * * * Saje ushered Kelric into a private alcove in the Third Level's I suite. They sat among cushions on a carpet so thick that Kel-| ric's toes sank into the pile. "Tomorrow," Saje continued, "I will sit at Quis with Rashiva and build her patterns of the work we did today." | Kelric was beginning to understand what Ixpar had meant,; that Calani advised the Manager. "What happens then?" i "She plays Quis with selected aides. They play with others. Her input soon creates powerful ripples in the Quis net that. spreads across the Twelve Estates." He slid a cushion under his legs. "It works both ways. She interacts with many high-level players, including other Managers, and then inputs her knowledge into our Quis by playing dice with us. We use the information to find advantage for Haka." "But everyone plays Quis." "Yes. Every woman, man, and child in the Twelve Estates." Saje paused. "It is one game. We have been playing it for a thousand years." A new pattern was unveiling itself in Kelric's mind. Quis was the Coban equivalent of the star-spanning computer networks that tied together the Imperialate, the reguar electro- . optical webs and aso the psiberspace webs only Kyle operators could access. Quis was a third type of web, one the Cobans "accessed" every time they played dice. This was a subjective net, depending on fluxes of personality "and dice expertise rather than electricity or quantum physics. Its "memory" was the social, cultural, and racial memory of a people. "Consider the situation at Miesa," Saje said. "We must help , Varz stop the Ministry from taking control of the Plateau." S "Why?" -. Saje snorted. "I should think this is obvious. If the Ministry controls the Plateau, it will give Jahit Karn more power. She already has too much." "She's the Minister," Kelric said. "; "Varz challenges that claim." Saje setted his legs more ? comfortaby on the pillow. "During the Od Age Var and Kara S often went to war. Now they battle with Quis." "I take it Haka is an ally of Varz." i —————————————————————The Last Hawk 175 "Of course." Saje tilted his head toward the common room. "At the center of the ripples are the Calani, The more powerful a Calanya, the stronger its waves. But without a strong Manager, a Calanya is powerless." "Why not just send Calani out into the network?" Saje gave him a look that Kelric suspected he reserved for the dullest of the dull-witted. "We never speak with, read about, write to, or receive input from Outsiders. They are in no way allowed to contaminate the Calanya. If Outsiders can get to our Quis, they can manipulate it to their advantage. This would weaken Haka at its core." The idea of protected nodes in a web intrigued Kelric. "Doesn't Third Level mean you lived on two other Estates before you came here?" Saje nodded. "I was hardly more than a boy when I did my First Level at Viasa. I went to Varz soon after and stayed many years. Then I came here." "Won't your knowledge of Varz and Viasa affect Haka?" "Ah." Saje smiled as if he and Kelric were conspirators. "What better way to learn the inner working of another Estate than to obtain one of its Calani?" Quietly he added, "This is why we swear, on penalty of our lives, that our loyalty is to the Estate where we are Calani. It is also why the higher Levels are so rare. And so sought after. To bring me here, Rashiva's predecessor put Haka into debt for years." "They buy us?" Saje shrugged. "It is a matter of negotiation. I wished to come to Haka, Haka wished to have me. So. A trade was arranged," He shifted the pillow under his legs. "The desert climate eases my joints. I doubt I would leave Haka even if I were offered a Fourth Level." "I had the impression Fourth Levels were nonexistent." "Almost. Only one has existed in the last century." Saje leaned forward. "Mentar. He is at Kam. Akasi to the Minister. Mentar doesn't make ripples with his Quis. He makes tidal waves." Keiric's mind created a Quis pattern of waves. "Has there ever been a Fifth Level?" Saje thought for a moment. "In this millennium I believe records exist of two. Legends from the Old Age claim another. 176 Catherine Asaro——————————————————————; But the cost of a Fifth Level settlement is prohibitive to th point of impossibility." ' i "What about a Sixth?" | Saje laughed. "A Sixth Level could never exist." His smil faded. "It is fortunate. The power of his dice would be beyondl comprehension." J 18 Toppled Chute "Ixpar." Jahit Kam, the Minister of Coba, looked up as the young woman strode into her office. "I didn't expect you back from Bahvia Estate until tonight." "We left early. The pilot was worried about the weather." Ixpar dropped into an armchair and stretched her legs out to their full length, seeming to cover half the room. Strands of hair had escaped her braid and were curling in fiery tendrils around her face. "Manager Bahvia sends her greetings." "And how is Henta?" With a grimace, Ixpar said, "Nosier than ever." Jahit smiled. Henta Bahvla's penchant for gossip was well known. "Did your visit go well?" Ixpar leaned forward. "Henta supports a Ministry Wardship of the Miesa mines. I didn't even need to ask. She told me herself she thinks Varz holds too much control over the Plateau." "Good. I'm also fairly certain of Shazoria Estate." Her successor got up and paced to the bookshelf. "Henta has heard rumors that Ahkah will side with Varz." "That would be unfortunate." Ixpar paced to the window. "There's still Viasa." "I wouldn't roll dice on it." The feud between Bahvia and Viasa was so old, Jahit doubted anyone even knew its cause anymore. "Viasa almost always votes against Bahvia. So if Bahvia goes with us, Viasa will go with Varz." -The Last Hawk 177 "There's the new Manager at Viasa, though." Ixpar sat on the windowsill. "Even Henta doesn't know much about her." She got up and started pacing again. Jahit watched her successor, hiding her smile. Ixpar was as restless as a caged ctawcat. "Perhaps it's time I sent an ambassador to Viasa, to give my regards to its new Manager." Ixpar stopped pacing and squinted at her. 'This ambassador wouldn't happen to have red hair, would she?" "Manager Viasa is only a few years older than you. The two of you should have a lot in common." "What about my visit to Dahl?" "Dahl." Jahit exhaled. "A difficult situation. It is best we postpone your trip there." "I thought Chankah's support was solid." "It is. This is another matter." Jahit disliked bringing up the subject. It remained Ixpar's one weakness. "An offworld matter" "Kelric." "Chankah wants me to pardon him. It was Deha's dying request. I must tell her no." "Why?" Jahit injected a coldness into her voice she rarely used with her successor. "I am surprised you need ask." "You know," Ixpar said. "When one spends time with Henta one hears many rumors." "Such as?" "Such as, Dahl and Haka made an arrangement years ago." Jahit frowned. "I was not aware of any agreements between Dahl and Haka." Ixpar walked over to her desk. "It was about Kelric. He's a Haka Calani now." "Deha would never have consented to such an arrangement." "Henta seemed sure of her sources." Jahit didn't like the sound of it. Not at all. After the formalities were done, the Estate dinner eaten and the speeches given, Jahit and Chankah withdrew to Chankah's private study. The new Dahl Manager poured out two gasses {178Catherine Asaro- ofjai rum and gave one to the Minister. "Deha would appreci-] ate your visit." | "She was a fine friend and ally." Jahit lifted her rum. "Td| Deha." | Chankah raised her glass. "To Deha." S "Well. Now. we must decide what to do with this problems she left us." Jahit settled back in her armchair. "What exactly is this contract she and Rashiva thought up?" "Basically this." Chankah swirled her rum. "If a time ever came when Rashiva deemed it safe, she could take Sevtar into her Calanya. If he's ever pardoned, his Oath to Haka becomes void and he returns to Dahl." Jahit scowled. "Deha actually signed that?" "I have an original of the document." It made no sense to Jahit. Deha knew the Ministry would deny such a pardon. Yet even so she gave her own Akasi to Haka. Why? . Since Kelric's entry into the Calanya, Haka's power in the Quis had surged more than could be accounted for by the usual fluctuations among Estates. Even more serious, an unpredictable factor had entered the Haka Quis, an influence like none Jahit had seen before, as if it evolved independent of known constraints—which made it all the more dangerous. Kelric? He had been in the Haka Calanya only a short time. If he had already made such a marked difference, who knew what heights his dice might reach? It was unacceptable, totally unacceptable that Haka should gain such an advantage. Jahit silently swore. Oh yes, Deha had known exactly what she was doing. The late Dahl Manager had outplayed them all. "So." The Minister set down her rum. "It is time, Chankah, that we consider how to solve this problem Deha left us." Columns pressed in on him. Gray columns. He would never escape, never find his way out, never be free, never touch another human being . . . Kelric opened his eyes to see the exotic furnishings of an unfamiliar room. As his nightmare-driven surge of adrenaline calmed, he realized he was on a sofa with a plush blanket laid —————————————————————The Last Hawk 179 over his body. Across the room, Rashiva stood looking out a window, her body silhouetted against the dawn. She was wearing day clothes, trousers and a jacket, both made with soft brocade in amber hues. Confused, Kelric rubbed his eyes. The last he remembered, his escort had brought him to Rashiva's personal suite the previous night. They hadn't told him why. He must have fallen asleep while waiting for her. As he sat up, rustling the blanket, Rashiva turned. "Sevtar." She spoke awkwardly. "My greetings." Kelric pushed his hand through his tousled curls. "My greetings." After an uncomfortable silence, he said, "Did I sleep here all night?" "Yes. You seemed so tired last night. I didn't want to disturb you." "Why did you want to see me?" "I had thought we might dine together." She came over and sat stiffly on the other end of the sofa. "So that we might start over. A Manager and a Calani should not—have antagonism. It doesn't do well for the Estate." This didn't fit his negative picture of her. He wasn't sure about any of his impressions anymore, though. Since he had come to the Calanya, living a normal life, interacting with others, eating well and getting fresh air, he had begun to feel as if he were recovering from a long illness. And she was right; their stilted relationship was affecting their Quis. He spoke carefully. "Perhaps we could start over." A shy smile dawned on her face. "Well. Good." She stood up. "When I get back, shall we try with dinner again?" "All right." He paused. "Where are you going?" She fastened her jacket, winding the silk ties around hooks. "To see Zecha Haka. Then to Viasa for a few days." Zecha. The name hit like ice water. Kelric stood up, rolling his stiff shoulders. "Would you call my escort?" She stopped tying her jacket. "Is something wrong?" "No." He went to the door. "I would like to return to the Calanya." "Is it the prison? Zecha told me it would bother you to be reminded of it." 180 Catherine Asaro———————————————— Kelric wondered how he could have conceived, even for | moment, that he might want to become closer to this womai "How can you live with yourself?" | "Live with myself? I don't understand." 2 He just looked at her. If she felt what they had done witft him was justified, he had nothing to say. I But something was wrong. He had an odd sense abou Rashiva, like the shifting of an optical illusion. Suddenly sh| wasn't the hardened seductress playing with him after subject3 ing him to a year of painful solitude. Instead, she just seemed young and puzzled, a good Manager but inexperienced compared to someone like Deha Dahl. "Sevtar?" She was still watching him. "Your face changes so fast sometimes, it's hard to follow." He spoke quietly. "You don't have any idea what Zecha doe down there, do you?" "It is natural you resent her. Hate her even. She was your jailor, after all." "You see only what she wants you to see." Rashiva stiffened. "Do you suggest that you, my Akasi. know more about what goes on in Haka than I?" Kelric wanted to block out his memories of the prison. Nor did he think it likely Rashiva would listen to a convicted killer with a supposed history of mental instability over a highranking figure like Zecha particularly if believing him meant Rashiva had to admit she had been duped. But he had opened a dam and it refused to close. Although he spoke calmly, the words flooded out. "We worked double, even triple shifts in the quarry. No breaks, no helmets, no goggles, no scarves, no nothing. We weren't even allowed a drink of water. Guards had free rein to beat prisoners. Big convicts abused smaller ones, physically and sexually. Anyone who complained was punished." "I've been to the compounds. I know what you describe doesn't happen." He wondered if he would ever be able to speak of his time in solitary. "You live in a world where Quis dice are made from diamonds. It blinds you to Zecha's world." -The Last Hawk 181 She just looked at him. As the moment stretched out, he began to regret even mentioning the prison. When she finally spoke, all she said was, "I'll use the smelter's door." Kelric walked alone through the Calanya parks. The lateafternoon sky made a wash of blue and shadows dappled under the trees, but the day's tranquility was lost on him. In the three days since his tak with Rashiva, memories of the prison had plagued his thoughts and dreams. Sand rustled behind him and he turned to see Captain Khaaj. Her presence jarred. Technically he was still an inmate, which meant he had guards assigned to him at all times. But usually they were so discreet he barely noticed them. "I'm sorry to disturb you," Khaaj said. "But it's important." Kelric waited. His year in solitary had reinforced his tendency toward reticence, and his Calanya Oath made his silences acceptable and expected. "Have you seen Manager Haka since you dined at her suite?" Khaaj asked. He shook his head no. "1 brought the Speaker with me," Khaaj said. "Will you talk to her?" He considered, then nodded yes. Ekoe Haka, Speaker for the Haka Calanya, was waiting in the main common room. Khaaj escorted Ekoe and Kelric to the Alcove of Words, a small room set apart from the common rooms. She stopped outside, leaving them in privacy as they sat opposite each other at the alcove's Quis table. Ekoe spoke the formal words. "Manager Haka permits me to be your voice in times of crisis, when it is vital your words be known to Outsiders. Will you Speak to me?" "Yes," Kelric said. "You were the last person to see Manager Haka," Ekoe said. "Do you know where she is?" Last person? "She said she was going to Viasa." Ekoe shook her head. "A windrider came in from Viasa today. They wanted to know what happened. She never fl showed up. She also had a meeting with Warden Haka and never showed up for that. No one has seen her for three days.;, Kelric thought back to his conversation with Rashiva. "ffHl| before she left for her meeting, she said something about i| smelter's door." 1 "Smelter? What do you mean?" j "The back door," Khaaj blurted out. Ekoe turned to the captain, who was supposed to be out )i| earshot, and raised her eyebrows. ____ Khaaj reddened. "Forgive my interruption. But TTI Haka says she's going in the smelter's door when she plans wl. use a back entrance. It's because smelters deliver their inl to the back of an ore shop." | Suddenly it became clear for Kelric. He didn't want believe it, but the pattern refused denial. ' "The back entrance of what?" Ekoe asked. | "Compound Four," Kelric said. i Ekoe stared at him. "The prison . | "Yes." He swallowed. "She's sent herself to prison." The only sound in the common room came from the click »)j| dice. Kelric paced past the table where Saje and the others m| playing Quis. He wished someone would laugh. Or yell. -2| thing to break the evening's tension. The fourth time he crossed the room, Saje came over to him. ; "Why don't you sit with us for a while?" "No." J "Rashiva will be fine" ' Kelric scowled. "I'm not worried about Rashiva" "Of course not" Saje drew him over to the table. "Play Quis.t It will calm you." [ "I am calm." ? "Of course." Saje nudged him down into the cushions Kelric tried to concentrate on the session. Somber dice predominated: ebony octagons, purple balls, cobalt blocks. It j looked like a study of relations between Varz and Kam. his turn came, he pushed his Ixpar die against a dome Raaj 'f used to denote the Varz Successor. Raaj glanced at him with an expression close to hatred. ': -The Last Hawk 183 Then he played a black onyx die on top of Kelric's piece. As the game progressed the patterns became more and more muddled, disintegrating into a morass of hostility. Had it been an actual battle, deaths would have littered the field. Finally Saje rose stiffly to his feet. "I'm afraid I tire more easily than you young people." He turned to Kelric. "Will you assist me?" Kelric stood up, relieved to escape the session, and put out his arm. Saje leaned on him, limping as they crossed the common room. The moment they were within Saje's suite, he herded Kelric to an alcove. "Please be seated," he said, easing himself down among several cushions. Kelric dropped down to sit against the wall, with his legs stretched in front of him. "I thought you were tired." Saje scowled at him. "You must learn better control over your dice. Jumbled schemes, conflict between you and Raaj, patterns of Rashiva everywhere—it was a mess." "My mind wasn't in it." "You should never have Spoken to Ekoe this afternoon. It disrupted the Quis." "I had to talk to her. As for Raaj—" Kelric shrugged. "The conflict is always there. He just plain doesn't like me." Sage sighed. "I must admit, it is hard to believe you and he are so close in age. You seem much more mature." At thirty-six, Kelric knew he had sixteen years on Raaj. But rather than trying to explain molecular cell repair, all he said was, "I am older. My people age more slowly than yours." "You are fortunate." Saje rubbed his legs. "I age more every day. I should take myself to bed." After helping Saje to his room, Kelric returned to his own suite. But he couldn't sleep. At Night's Midhour, he went back into the common room and sat at a table playing solitaire. When he heard footsteps, he turned, looking for Khaaj—but it was only Raaj, coming through an archway across the room. The youth saw him and stopped, standing like the statue of an ancient prince, tall and unsmiling. Then he left. The doors of the common room suddenly swung open and Khaaj strode into the room. "She's here," the captain said. Kelric jumped to his feet. As soon as he stepped outside, his 184Catherine Asam- guards closed around him and they headed for Rashiva's suite He found her seated on a sofa in her living room, wincingi while a doctor treated a bruise on her face. She wore a ripped; gray uniform with the Compound Four label stitched into th arm. I Kelric crossed to her started to speak, then remembered th| Others in the room and scowled. : "Doctor," Rashiva said. The doctor straightened up. "I'll check on you later, ma'am." Then she and the others eft. When she and Kelric were alone, Rashiva drew him down on the sofa. "Don't frown so." He wanted to shake her. "Are you insane? What were you doing down there?" "You sound like my CityGuard chief." Rashiva rubbed her temple. "She almost had heart failure when I told her to give me a fake name and send me to prison." "She should have told someone where you were." "I ordered her not to. I didn't want to risk warning the prison authorities." He looked at the bruise on her face. "Who hit you?" Rashiva' winced. "That one is from the Compound Four women's warden." "Didn't she recognize you?" "Only a few of the prison staf know me in person." Dryly she added, "One guard did tell me I looked ike Rashiva Haka." She pushed back her disarrayed hair, which was unbraided and tangled. Torv Haka knows me by sight. I had intended to find him when I left the quarry in the evening, so I could get out." "Why didn't you?" "He was gone. A prisoner knifed him and he's in the Med House." So someone had finally gotten Torv. Kelric felt little sympathy for the brutal warden. "Couldn't you tell anyone else?" "I did." She spread her hands, "Apparently I'm not the first prisoner to claim she's me. So after my two shifts in the quarry I got to see Compound Four firsthand." He remembered the women's crew, could imagine all too _ —————————————————The Last Hawk 185 well how they responded to Rashiva. Beautiful and vulnerable, with no street knowledge at all, she would have been in an even worse position than Ched in the men's compound. He discovered that the thought dismayed him. Kelric lifted a tangle of her hair, wondering who had undone her braid. He saw more bruises on her neck and the part of her shoulder visible through the tear in her uniform. "Are you all right?" he asked She stared down at her hands. "I am—fine." He felt her emotions roiling: anger, shame, pain. He also felt the lock she put on them and knew she would never speak of the experience. Rashiva looked up at him. "It didn't take me long to find out no one had seen you for a long time. After my people got me out of the compound, I demanded to see where you had been. Khaaj finally found a guard who knew." Her voice caught. "Sevtar—so long—in that tomb—" Don't ask me to remember, he thought. Don't ask. She reached forward and switched on a co in the table. A sleepy voice floated into the air. "Nida here." "Nida, this is Manager Haka. I want you to begin preparations for an Estate Tribunal." The voice snapped into alertness. "A Tribunal, ma'am?" "Yes. Notify Warden Haka." In a quiet voice, Rashiva said, "She stands accused." Although it was almost dawn when Kelric returned to the Calanya, he found Raaj waiting. The First Level looked as if he hadn't slept the entire night. He strode over to Kelric. "Captain Khaaj said Rashiva is back." As Kelric nodded a few pieces of a puzzle fell into place. No wonder Raaj resented him. The Hakabom prince loved Rashiva. "Is she hurt?" Raaj asked. "Some bruises." As fast as it had coalesced the puzzle fragmented. Hadn't Saje told him Raaj was someone's kasi? That wouldn't necessarily stop him from loving the Manager, particularly considering how much attention she paid to him, but it was odd he would be this blatant about it. 186Catherine Asaro- His sister. Of course. Rashiva was his sister. He should have> seen it before. They looked so natural together. , But then, why did Raaj's wife never visit him? « The puzzle suddenly snapped together. Kelric looked at Raaj's armbands and saw the symbols which, had he ever let himself notice before, he would have recognized as identical to \ his own. Not a kasi. Akasi. "Sevtar," Raaj said. "Why do you stare at me this way?" Kelric just kept looking at him. Then he walked past the Haka born prince and kept going, out into the parks and the predawn i darkness. When a gazebo appeared in front of him, he went in I and sat on a bench. Sometime later Saje came to sit with him. "Raaj is in my ; suite. He thinks you only realized this morning that he is also I Rashiva's husband." "He's right." Kelric stared out at the darkness. So much '- made sense now. 'This shouldn't have happened." i Saje sighed. "So goes the problem of all ages." Kelric glanced at him. "What problem?" ; "Man has always yielded to woman's nature." Saje nodded. \ "Woman is strength and man is passion. He sees with his heart and she with her mind. Woman leads, protects, innovates, builds, creates life. Man fathers children. So a powerful \ woman will gather her mates around her. And so the men she , chooses must learn to deal with it." '\ Kelric snorted. "You actually believe all that? ; "Yes." ; "Why?" j "It is what I have seen all my life." Saje paused. 'The young now, they talk of a new way for woman and man. Perhaps they ; will find it. But I think they try to change a fundamental nature '{ of that which cannot be altered." He watched Kelric's face. "In .)' time you will come to terms with your life here." That isn't the problem, Saje. I can accept the Calanya. Hell, I like it, living like a king and playing Quis all day." f But sharing Rashiva was a different story. Each time he began to think he might want to know her better, something happened that made it impossible. -The Last Hawk 187 All he said was, "Raaj loves her. Having me here is killing him." Saje exhaled. "Yes. It is." Kelric looked out at the line of dawn on the horizon. The barriers between him and Rashiva were wider than he knew how to cross. In the Haka Tribunal Hall, the Elder Judge stood behind the high bench. 'The accused shall rise." Zecha stood up within the Square of Decision. Tall and unflinching, she faced her accusers. She would show no weakness, never, no matter how many betrayals they committed against her. And the betrayals had been many. Witnesses from her staff had come forward, their words halting at first, full of fear, then condemning with more force. But more damning than a thousand traitors had been the Calanya Speaker as she gave Sevtar's statement first of the compound, then of his time in solitude. Zecha could still see the horror on the judges' faces, still see Rashiva sitting with her head in her hands. Her rage flared. Did they expect a prison to be pretty? OT years she had faced what the rest of Coba wanted to forget. For years she had dealt with the ugliness the world dredged up from its sewers. The constant influx of thoughts from the basest element of the Twelve Estates had forced her to barrier her mind, condemning her to loneliness. Why? So the rest of them could live in blissful ignorance. This was her reward. The Elder spoke. "The Haka Bench finds the accused guilty." Betrayal, Zecha thought. "Prom this day forward," the Elder said, "the convicted no longer bears the Haka name. All will forbid her work. All Houses will turn her from their door. All citizens will refuse her haven. She is Shunned." Shunned. It was even worse than Zecha had expected. She had no home. No place. No kin. She was no one. This was Sevtar's doing. She would remember this evil he had caused her. She would remember. 19 My Fire i "3 Summer blossoms scented the Calanya parks, clusters of -'. gold flowers blooming on the jahalla trees. Iridescent ' hummed through their branches, giving the desert a iillffi voice. Kelric walked with Rashiva along a gravel path, tiled pools filled with water that, in the desert, was worth much as the gold around his wrists. __ | "We changed almost a third of the prison {tnWtlSTO Rashiva said. "It's one reason the Tribunal lasted two full -f sons." She shook her head. "Zecha baffles me. She imR believes she did what was right." t : She's gone, Kelric thought. That was all that mattered. *| ing the Calanya Speaker his testimony had torn apart the ri nimity he managed to regain after coming to Sili Calanya. But it had been worth it to see justie done. % He knew Rashiva better now after two seasons, had come T| i see her as a dedicated and soft-spoken Manager Although {T3 remained formal with each other, their marriage wiiMH mated, the tension in their conversations had eased. Hate ? longer drove the desire she provoked in him. % When she took his hand with unexpected shyness, MSjft smiled down at her. She squeezed his hand. "You've a B3ITTBI ful smile, my husband. I've wondered how it looked." * That caught him by surprise. Had he never smiled at ff before? It wasn't the Propriety Laws; unlike most Haka uMiH they weren't habit for him. Within the Calanya he had no ai son to think about them, except around his guards, whom iT never felt much inclined to smile at anyway. ; Holding his hand, Rashiva led him through the trees along hidden path that took them far from the Calanya buildings. I : Irrigation kept the parks blooming all year, including these 1 i \ _————————————————————The Last Hawk 189 forests of gnarled jahallas with leaves and limbs plumped full of water. In a private clearing deep within ajahalla grove, they sat together on the soft decade-grass, which took its name from its ability to lie dormant for decades in the desert and come back to life when given water. Golden flies with gauzy black wings flitted around them. With a touch of blush reddening her cheeks, Rashiva cupped his face with her hands and drew him into a kiss. Her mouth was full. Soft. The fragrance of spice-soap scented her hair. He wrapped his arms around her and savored the sense of discovery he always felt the first time he kissed a woman. When they paused, she brushed her hand across his trousers. "You will get grass stains on these handsome clothes." He slid his hand up her leg. "You also." "Perhaps we should find a way to avoid this problem." Kelric smiled, this time using it with full knowledge of the effect it would produce. "Perhaps we should." So they undressed each other, each exploring the other's body as they shed their layers of clothes. His mind responded to their intimacy like ajahalla to water, swelling to fullness. He felt swirls and eddies of her emotions, more than he had picked up in a long time. Lying next to him, bare skin against bare skin, she touched the hair at his pelvis, rubbing a curl between her fingers. "It looks even more like metal than the hair on your head. It even feels like soft metal." Kelric tightened his embrace around her. "All my hair is an organometallic alloy." "Hmmm." She moved her hand, distracting their thoughts from metallurgy to biology. At first Kelric kept his caresses reserved, assuming that in love she would be even more traditional than Deha. But eventually he rolled on top of her. She felt fine, her body firm beneath him, breasts plump and hips curved out from a small waist. nstead of cooling off when he became more aggressive, she pulled him into another kiss, hungry for his mouth. Her thoughts brushed his mind; she expected him to be passionate, out of control. She took it as a sign of virility. It was one 190Catherine Asaro—— reason Haka women had created the Propriety Laws; Haf culture claimed men were impassioned vessels of love with n restraint over their desires. Without restrictions, they woui drive women to distraction with their unbridled sexuality. IH Kelric lifted his head and laughed softly. "Rashiva, you a____| such a sexist." I She blinked at him, her face flushed with arousal. "WhatqH Without waiting for an answer, she pulled him back down an|U sought out his mouth, kissing him deeply. "H Secluded among thejahallas, they came to their lovemakingg with an intensity made all the more urgent by the long waiH both choosing to forget, for one afternoon, the reasons for theU prolonged restraint. Kelric stroked her hips and breasts, tasteH the honey between her thighs. For all her arousal, her caresseH were shy. He suspected she had never lain with any other maH but Raaj, though he doubted she would admit to such inexpe|H rience. The longer they played with each other, the more hB guileless curiosity aroused him. Finally, as they lay side by side on the soft grass, he entereU her. They rolled over, Rashiva on top, then he, then Rashiva| then he. He thrust deeply and she held on to him as theB moved together. So they went, until she cried out and stiff ened in his arms. He relaxed his control then, losing himsel in the consuming release of an intense climax. J Afterward Kelric floated in a pleasant daze. It wasn't untill Rashiva pushed his shoulder that he realized he had let his weight sink onto her. He rolled onto his back and she rolled; with him, coming to rest against his side, her leg thrown ove| his, her head on his shoulder. As the sun descended below the trees, veiling the clearing in shadow, they lay in each other's' arms, sated and content. After a while Rashiva said, "Perhaps we will make a child." He opened his eyes. Child? "I know I can," she added sleepily. "My daughter is almost six." Unwelcome thoughts of Raaj invaded Kelric's good mood. The Haka prince was twenty years old, ten years Rashiva's junior. If he and Rashiva had a six-year-old daughter, Raaj must have been a child groom, probably not V _____—————————————————The Last Hawk 191 even a Calani yet. Given the seclusion boys training for the Calanya lived in, Rashiva was probably one of the only women he had ever seen, et alone spoken to. Kelric needed no telepathy to realize what it would do to Raaj if she bore another man's child. "You and I come from different worlds," he said. "We can't have children." "Your parents did." "How did you know that?" "You are a Ruby Dynasty prince, yes? Isn't it true your mother comes from one world, your father from another? I have heard this." Although he knew the ISC Public Affairs people might have included information about his family in their discussions with Minister Kam, it surprised him that Rashiva knew. Then again, Quis was the ultimate gossip mill. "My parents have the same ancestry," he said. "My mother's lineage goes back to Raylicon, the home world of the people who colonized my father's planet." "Ralkon is no world" Rashiva murmured. "She is a spirit of wisdom." Kelric knew the similarity was more than coincidence. Six thousand years ago, an unknown race had moved a population of humans from Earth to the planet Raylicon and then vanished with no explanation. All they left behind were their spacecraft. As time passed, the stranded humans reproduced the technology and went searching for their lost home. They never found Earth, but they established a number of colonies, what historians now called the Ruby Empire. It collapsed after a few centuries, isolating the Raylicans on their world and cutting the colonies off from their mother planet. So the Raylicans began a long slide into extinction. After four millennia, desperate for an influx of fresh genes to replenish their shrinking pool, they redeveloped space travel and went out to reclaim the lost colonies. Two factions formed: the Traders, who took the slave trade that had always tainted Raylican culture and turned it into an economy of mindnumbing brutality; and the Imperialate, an attempt by the free worlds to stay that way, or as free as possible in a civilization 192 Catherine Asam—————————————————————• y founded on the need for an indefatigable military machine thatS , grew ever more powerful. I Less than two hundred years ago, in Earth's twenty-firs ? century, her people had finally made their way to the stars— | and found their siblings already there. Research soon showed > j that the Raylicans' ancestors came from Earth circa 4000 B.C. | Yet no civilization from that period matched any remnant of| ancient Raylican culture. | Some anthropologists postulated Egypt as their birthplace. I But though ancient Raylicans built pyramids, they didn't look Egyptian. A few scholars believed they came from Meso | america, or perhaps both Mesoamerica and the Middle East or North Africa. Rare hints of Christianity and Greek mythology seemed to show up, yet all evidence indicated humans had been stranded on Raylicon four thousand years before the birth of Christ. One school of thought held that the abducted humans had been moved in time as well as space. ; Genetic drift, both natural and self-induced added the final complication. It all added up to make the Raylicans' ancestry a mystery. : Kelric was certain the Twelve Estates descended from a lost Ruby colony. He saw many similarities between the Twelve i Estates and the primary culture of ancient Raylicon, especially ; the hieroglyphic language and the Cobans' love of ball courts j But the lesser known side of Raylican culture also showed up, ; most notably in the architecture and names of Haka. He suspected scholars would find Haka a gold mine, a living remnant of a subculture that had vanished on Raylicon after the fall of the Ruby Empire. '\ He rubbed a strand of Rashiva's hair between his fingers. "My ancestors had black hair and eyes, and dark skin." ' She opened her eyes. "Hakabom." "Like Hakabom." "But you need only find a mirror to see that you are no Haka .; born man." "I look like my grandfather." He paused, at a loss to explain , the genetic engineering that altered his grandfather's people. Then he thought of Shaliece, his childhood love. "Even if you did conceive, the baby might not survive. The mother of the —————————————————————The Last Hawk 193 only child I've ever fathered had so much difficulty with her pregnancy that she miscarried." Rashiva curled her fingers around his. "I'm sorry. I never knew you shared bands with another woman besides Deha Dahl." "Once. But not with the girl who miscarried." He still remembered Shaliece's stunned look when he had offered to marry her. They were only fifteen. He pressed too hard and she fled, frightened by his Ruby Dynasty titles. Perhaps eventually he would have won her over, had she not miscarried. After a suitable amount of time, to let he and Shaliece mourn, Kelric's parents sent him offworld to the Deishan Military Academy. A few years later Shaliece wed another youth. Rashiva was watching him with an inscrutable expression. "This woman named you as the father of her child but offered you no kasi bands?" He brought his thoughts back to the present. "That wasn't our custom. I offered to her." You offered?" "Yes." She looked as if he had hit her in the stomach. "Was this the only time you offered to—to be free with—" He stiffened. "With what?" "Yourself." How could she, who had two husbands, condemn him for past lovers? "No." Rashiva drew away from him. "We should get back. I have matters to attend to on the Estate." They dressed in silence. Although they headed into the forest together, Kelric soon stopped. He didn't want a day of such contentment to end in this stiff and silent walk. Better to let Rashiva go on alone. She stopped and glanced back. For a moment he thought she would finally speak. Then she turned and went on, disappearing into the trees. The screen in the archway of Kelric's suite rustled. "Sevtar?" Kelric put down his dice. "Come." Saje came in and eased himself down on the other side of 194 Catherine Asam- the Quis table where Kelric had been playing solitaire. "Whe you didn't show for dinner I worried you weren't feeling well. "I'm fine" Kelric said. Saje glanced at the structures on the table. "Red blocks. R: balls. Red bars" | "I wasn't paying attention to the colors." | "Red is often used in patterns of anger." Kelric collected the dice and put them in his pouch, t "You came back from the parks alone," Saje said. | "Rashiva had business on the Estate." Kelric considered th<£ Third Level. "Saje, do you have children?" " ? He smiled. "Two, born at Varz. They're adults now. They visit me whenever they come to Haka." Softly he adde "Their mother passed away a few years before I came here." ? "I'm sorry." "We had many good years." | "What would she have done if you had fathered a child whc wasn't hers?" Saje's gentle expression vanished. "I forgive such a ques tion, Sevtar, because I know you have no idea of the insult yolt give" I Kelric winced. "I meant no offense. I just—" Just what;: Need Rashiva? No. "I guess I'm tired. I should go to bed." | With a nod, Saje tried to rise, giving Kelric an apologetic look. "Could you assist me back to my suite? My bones grow less cooperative each day." "Of course." Kelric stood and offered his arm. He walked slowly with Saje out into the common room. He suspected the Third Level suffered from advanced arthritis with spinal camri plications. | "Can your doctors help your joint stiffness at all?" he asked.4 "Nothing much seems to work," Saje said. "But I don't tell them that. One'doctor massages my spine and I don't want her? to stop." He gave Kelric a conspiratorial grin. "She is very;? beautiful." Kelric laughed, his tension easing. 'Ah. I see" S They had just reached the screened archway of Saje's suite when the Outside doors across the room swung open and Cap- .) tain Khaaj strode Inside. •' ————————————————————The Last Hawk 195 Saje chuckled. "My thanks for your aid, Sevtar. I can make it from here." Kelric nodded, his attention on the captain. Instead of going to his suite, she went to another and tapped on the screen. After a moment Raaj appeared, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Khaaj spoke—and Raaj smiled, his perfect teeth flashing white. Then the smile vanished, doused as the Propriety Laws reasserted their hold. He nodded to the captain and withdrew into his suite. "Sevtar, you're breaking my door," Saje said. "What—?" Kelric turned. Saje was trying to pry his fingers off the screen of his suite. "You should come in." Saje lowered his voice. "I have some contraband. You can help me dispose of it." "Contraband?" Kelric turned back in time to see Raaj reappear. The youth had changed into a black velvet shirt with its laces left loose enough to reveal his muscular chest. His Calanya guards gleamed under his cuffs and his hair glistened the way Rashiva's did after she brushed it. A Talha scarf hung around his neck. As Khaaj escorted him to the Outside doors, he put on the robe he was carrying and hid his face with the Talha. "Contraband," Saje repeated. He pulled Kelric into his suite. "Come. I will show you." Kelric forced his attention back to him. "What?" Saje pushed him into the usual alcove. "Be comfortable." Before Kelric could object, the Third Level disappeared into an inner room. Kelric scowled, but he did sit down. Saje reappeared with a decanter of gold liquid and two crystal goblets. He settled onto his customary cushion, then poured two drinks and gave one to Kelric. "What is it?" Kelric tilted the glass, watching the glimmering liquid slosh around. "We call it baiz." He took a swallow. The baiz glided past his lips, eased down his throat, and detonated when it hit bottom. "Gods," he muttered. He finished the rest in one swallow. "You mustn't tell anyone I have it," Saje said. "If my ' '" doctors knew they would take it away." He efilled S