The Crucible of Empire (47 page)

Finally they reached the edge of the depressing
dochaya
, as Jihan called it, and entered a neighborhood of ornate, much more attractive multistory wooden buildings with peaked roofs and carvings, adorned with flags. At least half, though, seemed to be unoccupied and were sadly dilapidated with gaping roofs, tumbled down fences, and peeling walls. Why didn't those in the
dochaya
move out here, Caitlin wondered, and occupy themselves with the repairs since they craved work and there was obviously room?

She didn't ask Jihan though, saving that question, and a number of others, for later. A few of the so-called "unassigned" had slipped out and were doggedly following them again, but at a discreet distance. Tully and his jinau walked in a tight formation, keeping her at the center. All the humans' lungs labored to breathe the cold, thin air as the party attempted to match Jihan and Pyr's stiff, apparently effortless pace.

Most of the sunlight had faded now. A thin rind of a moon was rising, adding its illumination to that of the light-posts lining the pathway. The houses they passed grew larger and more magnificent, all decorated with carved faces who looked nothing like the Lleix, surrounded by lavish gardens, though this was obviously the cold season and most of the vegetation lay dormant. The streets were narrow and winding, crossing a number of ornate bridges. The streams below were studded with stone weirs so that the water frothed, rushing musically.

"Is it much farther?" Caitlin asked finally, grown weary of the sights. She'd thought she was in pretty good shape, but this trek had thoroughly winded her and it was so achingly cold! Even her nose was numb. She felt a bit dizzy and very much did not want to disgrace herself.

"Jaolore
elian
-house there." Jihan pointed at a one-story building.

As they neared, Caitlin could see that it had an especially large garden and huge floor-to-ceiling windows. Dim lights glowed within. Pyr opened a door carved with scowling faces and disappeared inside. Jihan followed and Tully turned to Caitlin, putting a hand out to stop her.

His face was grim in the faint moonlight. "Let us check for trouble," he said. "You wait out here."

She nodded, too chilled to answer without her teeth chattering. This had been a boneheaded idea. Ed would certainly have chided her for being impulsive. She should have waited until tomorrow, only she had wanted so badly to see something of the Lleix city and get started with her assignment. They didn't have much time before the Ekhat would return.

Tully ducked inside with two of the five jinau, weapons ready, leaving her by the door with the remaining three. He needn't have bothered, she thought, tucking her poor frozen hands under her arms. The unassigned had dropped off several bridges ago. The humans were alone outside in the silent starless darkness. Nobody cared that they were here.

She huddled into her coat, trying to stay warm. The air felt cold enough to snow, if there had been any clouds. Her ears were freezing too, despite the scarf she tied over her head, and the thought beat through her that the Lleix went quite barefoot and bare-headed in this weather.

Jao tolerated a much greater temperature range than humans, comfortable at both higher and lower readings, but she thought if they'd brought any along tonight, even they would have been glad of their boots.

Tully reappeared. "It's all right," he said in English. "One of their elders is inside, so I think it's good that we came after all."

Grijo was waiting for Jihan in the Jaolore Application Chamber to discuss the current situation when a trio of the most astonishing creatures burst into the room. They had patches of fur on their small heads and were quick, darting here, poking into there with a most unseemly haste as though they simply could not be still.

These must be the umans. Grijo eyed them critically. They certainly were not much to look at, positively slight. He could have broken their necks with very little trouble. One of them faced him and said something unintelligible in a high little voice. The tone sounded rather demanding. Grijo's aureole quivered. He was Eldest of the Han and due respect, even from such as these.

Jihan entered and cast herself to his feet. "Forgive them, Eldest! They are of another kind and know nothing of our courtesies!"

"Obviously," he said with the dry narrowing of a single eye. "Rise, little Eldest of Jaolore. Eldests never greet one another so, no matter how grievously they last parted, and we two have much to discuss."

The three humans disappeared and Grijo could hear their rigid footwear clattering across the wooden floors. He winced at the unharmonious noise. "What do they seek?"

"Danger, I believe," young Jihan said with a rueful flutter of her aureole. "My command of Jao is far from perfect and though I have told them there is nothing to fear here among us, they wish to see for themselves."

"They value their Eldest then," Grijo said. "Quite proper. One cannot fault them for that." He settled his great bulk upon a padded bench and gestured toward Kajin who was lurking in the far doorway that led to the Duty Chamber. "While waiting for your return, I have been familiarizing myself with their growly tongue through the records. It is not as difficult as I feared."

"They all speak Jao, as well another language they call 'English,' " Jihan said. "I have been acquiring some of those words as well."

The three humans reappeared with three more, including one swaddled in layers of clothing as though it were quite young. Shortest of all of them, it advanced, head down, arms wrapped around itself as if frightfully chilled, though Grijo had found the night rather moderate for the season.

"Caitlin," Jihan said, hurrying across the room.

The creature answered the Jaolore, hanging back.

"The Queen of the Universe is cold," Jihan said to Kajin, rendering the alien's title in its own language. "Bring a brazier."

The youth disappeared, his demeanor communicating unease. Grijo did not blame him. He too found it disquieting to be in the company of these aliens. They might not be Ekhat, but Lleix experience with other species had not been positive down through the long years of flight. Many of their former trading partners had also been exterminated by the Ekhat. Those who were left feared aiding the Lleix would attract Ekhat attention and had refused them sanctuary. In the end, the Lleix had been able to depend only upon their own resources, losing colony after colony, most of their numbers dying, until the remnants fled here.

A second bench was brought and placed across from Grijo with a blazing brazier between them. Caitlin splayed her fingers—ten rather than eight—before the fire and then slowly pulled off her cumbersome outer garment. For an Eldest, she was indeed unpreposessing, with small hands and small round blue eyes. Although they could not be seen due to the clumsy-looking outerwear, her feet had to be tiny. It was hard to imagine how she managed to stay erect.

Different species would have differing protocols for rank, though, Grijo reminded himself. These humans, however strange, had defeated five Ekhat ships and they were at least willing to confer with the Lleix. Their council should be received, however this turned out.

"You had a good landing, I hope," he said, signaling to Jihan that she should translate. He had as yet too few Jao words to communicate adequately himself. That would take several more days, at least. "Why have you come in our time of great troubles?"

Caitlin straightened, conveying dignity in spite of her unimpressive bulk. "To save the Lleix," she said through Jihan.

"We have never encountered humans before, so you do not know the Lleix," he said. "Why then would you come for us?"

"We knew of the Lleix," she said, "through our association with the Jao."

His aureole stiffened. "The Jao drove us from our homeworlds," he said. "At the behest of the Ekhat, they destroyed our trade, slaughtered our children, laid waste to our cities. No more than a splinter of our former number survives hidden here. Why should you believe we would trust the Jao or anyone associated with them?"

After Jihan translated, Caitlin hesitated, seeming to consider. "What you say is true," she said finally, "of the Jao long ago. They were as you describe, but they are different now."

"Because they are human slaves," Jihan said.

Caitlin's pallid face went curiously red. "Because of themselves," she said. "They understand the great wrong they once inflicted upon the Lleix, who sought only to improve their lives. They wish to make amends."

Grijo glanced sharply at Jihan after she translated that last bit. "Are you certain you really understand these words?"

Jihan bowed her head. "Most of them."

"How can we possibly put our faith in such creatures?" Grijo said.

"I do not know, Eldest," Jihan said, "but if we do not, most of us will surely face Last-of-Days, for it is a certainty that the Ekhat will come back."

Grijo levered his bulk up, rising with all the dignity to which his many years and height entitled him. "I will go now back to the Dwellingconstructors to ponder." He glanced at the tiny human Eldest. "Escort this Caitlin to the Han tomorrow and we shall see what the assembled wisdom of the colony can make of this matter."

"Yes, Eldest," Jihan said, her voice a respectful whisper.

The humans scuttled aside to make room as Grijo strode briskly toward the door. His thoughts likewise scuttled, trying without success to make sense of this encounter. There should be a pattern, a rightness, a proper way to conduct themselves, but he could find no hint of order in the situation.

These creatures, who had somehow wrested control of the unholy Jao from the great devils themselves, wished to help the Lleix? Such a proposal with its corresponding monumental commitment of resources would not occur without a reason, one that would benefit them in some way. The Han could not possibly accept the offer without understanding what motivated it.

But, he told himself, they were aliens. Perhaps the Lleix would never be able to understand them, or at least not in time, and the Ekhat were indeed coming.

He exited the Jaolore-house and walked in perplexed silence back to his own
elian
. Above, the empty sky kept watch. What would it be like, he wondered, pausing in the middle of an especially lovely bridge, to live under stars again?

"He was huge," Caitlin said staring at the door after the elder lumbered out of the house. "I thought Jihan and the others were tall, but . . ."

"Yes, yes," Jihan said in English. "Grijo very tall of us all."

English? When the blazes had
that
happened? Every human in the room turned to her as though she should be able to explain. Caitlin's heart skipped a beat. There was just too much going on here to take in all at once. "Jihan," she said in Jao, trying to control her shock, "where did you learn English?"

"On ship," Jihan said still in English. "Listen very much."

Caitlin had assumed that Jihan had been studying Jao for years, learning it painstakingly in fits and starts from ancient recordings as a human would. "And how long have you been learning Jao?"

"Not keeping count," Jihan said, settling on the vacant bench and arranging the folds of her elaborate robes so that they hung just so, making herself a half-sized replica of Grijo. She switched to Jao. "You would saying twenty days maybe."

Twenty days! There were humans who had been trying to learn Jao for twenty years who did not possess as much useful vocabulary as Jihan had already picked up. Very young children might acquire language at something approaching this rate, but not adults. Very young
human
children. Obviously, she told herself, Lleix brains retained the facility after maturity much better than humans or Jao.

Caitlin and Tully glanced at one another. She could see the realization dawn in his green eyes. They would have to watch what they said—in any language—around the Lleix all the time. If they could pick up vocabulary and syntax that easily, they would all speak both Jao and English very quickly.

She sighed, suddenly unutterably weary. They should go back to the ship. She stood. The room they were in was quite striking, the wood floor polished to a high sheen, the roof supported by huge exposed rafters, a bare minimum of furniture. A woven mat lay in one corner, but no pictures hung on the walls, she noted. In fact, no decorative knickknacks of any sort. The sense of order was almost—restful.

"We will go back now," she said.

"No, no, must staying!" Jihan said in badly accented English. "Caitlin go to Han very early tomorrow. Not being late or great badness!"

Tully stepped in front of Caitlin, weapon ready, as though he thought the Lleix would try to detain her physically. "Come to the ship when it is time," he said, squaring his shoulders. "Then we will go to this—Han."

Whatever that was, Caitlin thought. How strange these people were. If Earth had been under imminent threat from the Ekhat, humans would have been working through the night to ready ships and load supplies. No one would have stayed home and dusted the furniture. And if aliens had come offering help, everyone would either have thronged to see them and hear what they had to say, or run away in stark raving terror. But only one member of the Lleix government seemed the least bit concerned about all of this, and even
he
had just gone home to bed!