Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (45 page)

“They’ll do,” he said. “I wish you all a successful journey of colour.”

Six nodded, and clapped him on the back. “You too!”

“I will keep my own canth quiet until you return,” he was told. “And I will make sure that the Independence stays in orbit. You needn’t worry.”

Six made his way up into the small control bridge of the large shuttle.

“Needn’t worry!” He repeated to himself, with a shake of his head. “Xenon and Atheron had a higher chance of survival when they went around Lightning Corner with the cage door open! I have no idea how to get out of orbit again, even if we do survive the journey down bare planet.”

But he looked out of the porthole, to where the stars orbiting the black hole were glistening against the pitch darkness of the singularity itself, and felt the familiar rush of adrenaline which sparked through his veins and made him feel prepared to face anything. “All the same, we are going to be the first people to set foot on a hypervelocity planet, and see a black hole close up!”

A buzz of anticipation ran through the canths too. The silvery light seemed to be calling them. As the heavy engine started up, they tossed their heads and began to quiver.

BACK ON VALHAI, Grace had been called into Mandalon 50’s office in the Valhai Voting Dome. She was curious to see why he wanted to talk to her; she was still theoretically a repudiated Sellite, and it was hard to see what he thought she might add to his already extremely complicated life.

Even stranger, he had not asked Arcan to accompany her. She found herself flushing slightly as she waited to be shown into his presence. The Second Valhai Votation was less than a month away now, and he had doubled his security contingent; several burly Sellite guards were staring down at her with impassive faces. Grace unwittingly touched her catana, and there was a spine-chilling metallic unsheathing sound as the guards all drew their own weapons. She shivered, and moved her hand cautiously away again. It seemed that Mandalon 50 was taking his own safety very seriously indeed. She wondered that she had not been required to hand in her own weapon at the entry.

Then the head of Sell was standing in front of her, and she found herself obliged to hold up her mangled hands in the standard Sellite salute.

“May the perfect triangle remain stable!” he intoned.

“And may the flares on Almagest remain quiescent.” she replied, exactly as Sell custom required.

Mandalon seemed to relax, and smiled at her. “It is good to see you. How was your journey of colour?”

“Very pleasant, thank you. It ... err ... cleared up some things.”

“Then the man who speaks to canths was correct in his estimate?” The young leader had raised his eyebrows in some surprise. “I think I should visit Xiantha one of these days.”

Grace nodded. “I am sure that you should. Xiantha is not only a beautiful planet; its people have a unique vision of the world. You should visit the Emerald Lake; it is one of the wonders of Xiantha.” Then she thought for a moment. “And the Xianthes, of course,” she added.

Mandalon’s eyes tracked down to her hands. “You saw rather more of them than you anticipated, I believe.”

Grace gave an involuntary shudder. “I did. I think I saw more than I need for the rest of my lifetime. But they are still worth seeing, and any visitor should travel up the dark Xianthe if they can.”

Mandalon looked wistful. “One day, perhaps.” Then his eyes flickered around the stolid guards and he made a small moue with his mouth. “Perhaps you would be interested in seeing the gold-weave robe which has been prepared for the Second Valhai Votation?”

Grace blinked. “Oh ... err ... of course.”

The head of Sell led her out of the reception chamber, through two enormous cupboard doors, and into a large room leading off the small sleeping chamber. The room was chilled to an appropriate temperature, and there were several mannequins dotted around the impressive closet. As the guards made to follow, Mandalon raised his hand.

“No more than two people in here at a time,” he told them. “You know the rules. Otherwise the thread could suffer deterioration.”

The guards made an obeisance, and stationed themselves with their backs to Mandalon and Grace, just outside the double doors. Mandalon took hold of Grace’s elbow, and moved her well to the back of the huge wardrobe, where nobody could overhear him.

“I want you to help me,” he whispered.

“Me?” For the life of her, Grace couldn’t think what this boy who was still twelve could need of her.

“I need another guard.”

“But ... I can’t ... I don’t know how ...”

Mandalon grinned. “Not you, Grace. I hardly think the rest of Sell would let me have a renegade as a bodyguard. No, I was thinking of those two Namuri you know.”

“Petra and Tallen?”

The leader of Sell nodded. “I met them when Amanita tried to kill your mother, remember? I want the boy to come over here to Valhai.”

Grace did remember, all too well. “Tallen is not ... available, right now,” she said slowly, “but I think Petra would be. She is on Kwaide, guarding my mother, although I am sure Magestra would be happy to second her to you. But surely—” she indicated the large numbers of guards he already had around him, “—surely you have enough guards already?”

The boy made a face. “I know. I
should
have, but I have the horrid feeling that something is about to happen, that I would be stupid to put my trust only in Sellite guards.” He shook his head. “Of course, I
may
be imagining it”—he seemed to be almost cross with himself—“but after what happened with Gorgamon ...”

Grace remembered that one of his own chamber guards had tried to assassinate Mandalon the previous year, and that the boy had only survived because he had taken precautions with Arcan, who had been able to act quickly enough to save his life.

“Wouldn’t Arcan rescue you if you are in any danger? Don’t you have a way to contact him?”

“Yes. I still have a way to contact him, but the problem is, I think it is now common knowledge. I am scared that I might be attacked when I am asleep, and have no time to press the orthogel that Arcan left me.”

“I see.” Grace got the sudden impression of night after night of sleeplessness, and felt sorry for Mandalon. “You don’t trust the Sellite guards anymore.” She was noticing the deep black circles under his eyes now.

Mandalon tried to look proud and haughty, but failed rather spectacularly. Grace got an overwhelming impression of a young man at the end of his tether, and she felt sorry for him. He had been so brave to stand up at the meeting to decide the future of Valhai when he was only ten, yet she suddenly realized how very barren and lonely his life must have been since then. He didn’t deserve such isolation.

“And you think Petra can help? You know that she is only a year older than you are?”

To her surprise, Mandalon 50 stared rather uncomfortably at his own feet. “I know. But there was something special about them. The Namuri seemed ... seemed whole-hearted about their mission. I got the feeling that they wouldn’t let an emptor down. Not if they had taken their ... their blood oath, I think they called it.”

“They take their duties very seriously,”

“I know. I trust them.”

Grace smiled. “From what I know of them, you are right to. They are obsessed by their oaths, and would die before breaking them.”

The boy looked up. “That is what I thought. And I thought that was admirable, although they were a bit ... belligerent.”

Grace gave a wry smile. That they certainly were.

Mandalon was still speaking, “They were different from anybody I have ever met before. But I wanted the boy to come here. I’m not sure the girl ... it would be much more difficult logistically. Are you sure that you can’t get hold of Tallen?”

A shadow passed over Grace’s face. “I’m sure. He is ... in a place where there is no communication possible. Even Arcan wouldn’t be able to contact him. Still, I think I could persuade Petra to come.” Grace remembered the fierce Namuri girl as being intransigent, and having a distinctly set mind of her own, and rectified hastily. “At least, I can ask her.”

Mandalon considered the possibility of having the girl Namuri as his private bodyguard. He was clearly disappointed, but finally accepted that if he wanted a Namuri, Petra was his only option.

“Will you?” His face lightened slightly. “I feel for some reason that I can put my trust in their clan, even if she is only a girl.” He didn’t seem to notice the look Grace gave him. “Tell her it is just until after the Second Valhai Votation. Until the new laws have been passed. There are too many old-timers who want to stop that happening. Afterwards, then I think I will be safe. It will be too late for them to be able to change anything.”

Grace nodded her understanding, and was turning to leave, when Mandalon grabbed again at her arm.

“But when she comes here, no-one else must know I have asked for her.”

“Then why has she come? What do you want me to tell people?”

They both considered that for a long time.

“She could be here to teach you Coriolan,” suggested Grace.

Mandalon shook his head. “Spoken it since I was five. And anyway, my guards would recognize her, and know who she is.”

“She could teach you combat?”

Again he shook his head. “Nobody would believe that. I have three high masters to teach me combat training.”

“Then I don’t see ... except ...”

“What?”

“Perhaps we could say that she has been seconded to you by the New Kwaide government as a security advisor?”

Mandalon snapped his fingers. “Got it!” He gave a broad smile. “We will say it is part of an interplanetary exchange program. I will send one of my guards to Kwaide, and she can come here in his place!”

Grace thought of Cimma’s face when she heard that she was about to gain a Sellite guard for the next few weeks. She found the corners of her mouth twitching.

“That sounds right. In fact, it might be a very good idea to implement something like that. I will tell Cimma to put your guard into the intense combat training program. Now, how can we ...” she paused to think about it, and then nodded. “Of course! I will ask Aracely to send you a proposal backed by the Orthogel Foundation, as part of an interplanetary goodwill program. That would sound quite feasible, I think.”

“We would have to do it quickly?” He seemed anxious, and was looking around to check that they were not being overheard.

Grace nodded. “I will travel to Kwaide immediately. Arcan can’t transport me onto the surface, but I will ask Cimma and Petra to shuttle up to the orbital station straight away. You should have your answer tonight. You sent out an invitation to the orthogel entity and his foundation for the evening meal, didn’t you? Aracely will be attending, and I can ask her to suggest it at that. Perhaps you could arrange for her to make a speech? Providing Petra agrees, of course.”

The head of Sell nodded, and they spent a few moments genuinely admiring the handiwork on the gold weave robe he was going to wear for the Votation, then Grace curtsied before the young man and slipped away, lowering her gaze to escape the curiosity of the surrounding guards.

AS SOON AS Grace set foot on the Kwaide Orbital Space Station, she could see that something was not quite right. Personnel were scurrying through the corridors in a clearly preoccupied way, and barely lifted their heads to smile a welcome at her. She frowned, and made her own way as quickly as she could to the bridge area.

Ledin looked up with a harassed expression, which disappeared completely when he saw her. He bounded over to her and gave her a fierce hug.

“What are you doing here?”

She explained, and Ledin gave an order over his shoulder for Magestra Cimma and Petra to be escorted up to the space station as quickly as possible.

Grace tilted her head to one side. “What is the matter?”

Ledin looked around him at the bustle ruefully. “You noticed?” Then he gave a sigh. “The Elders have contacted the Coriolans directly. They seem to think they have some allies there. Some new group led by—”

“—Let me guess. Tartalus?”

He grinned. “Who else? Anyway, the Elders have demanded their constitutional rights to set up diplomatic relations with our neighbour planet, and there doesn’t seem to be any legal way to stop them, although we are trying.”

Grace looked worried. “
What?
We don’t want Tartalus let loose on Kwaide, surely? You know what he is like. You were there when he tried to kill Six.”

Ledin lifted his shoulders. “There is nothing I can do, Grace. I like it even less than you do. He is about the worst representative of Coriolis that I could imagine.”

“The Elders will love him.”

He blew a sigh. “Yes. They might have been made for each other.”

“He’s not coming
here
, is he?” Grace looked around her at the space station, disturbed.

“Afraid so. Due to trader in at any moment. That is why ...” he pointed to all the fuss behind him, “... you find us rather disorganized. He is arriving with a party of ten, and the president of New Kwaide is coming up here to greet them. Plus, we have had to agree to a party of Elders shuttling up too, which means that all delicate material must be shielded.”