I do not know why Avo cries. It is, after all, just a pile of rubble. I wrap my arms around my parent and urge it to stop crying. Avo places an arm around me and continues to look at the ruin. It still looks as I close my eyes. The dog is silent and I sleep.
SEVENTEEN
I awaken with an acrid smell of smoke in my nostrils. At the moment I realize the smell is no dream I sit up and open my eyes. Davidge is sitting in a chair in front of the window wall, looking at the view. The smoky smell comes from his clothes. I stand and walk toward him. As I do I see the sight that holds the human’s attention. Great streams of black smoke come from the point, blown back toward the mountains by the winds.
"Davidge?"
He turns his head and faces me. His skin is smudged with soot, soot rings his nostrils, and his eyes are very red. "You’re awake,"
"Obviously." I point toward the smoke. "What happened?"
The human looks back toward the point, his eyes on the past. "Someone came into the cave last night and set fire to the place. I was in the back getting something to eat." He seems to nibble at the insides of his lips as tension makes his jaw muscles pulse. "When I came back to the main chamber, I saw him. A fire was already started in the woodpile and he was tinkering at some sort of device. I picked up a piece of wood and came up on him from behind. He turned just before I struck and I caught his head and an arm. Whatever kind of bomb he set fully ignited then and filled the cave with smoke and intense heat. The man got away from me and all I could think of was making sure that Haesni was safe."
"Is Haesni safe?"
"Yes. A sore throat from the smoke, scared, but other than that, okay." Davidge stands and faces me. "Haesni was in the back chamber. We had to cover our eyes and feel our way through the main chamber, the smoke was so thick. Once we made it out of the mouth of the cave we came to the house." He looks around at the room and says more to himself than to me, "After all these years, they’re finally going to get me to sleep in the house."
"Was there any sign of the intruder?"
Davidge nodded. "Ty had the retainers arm themselves and search for the fire bug. They were at it for the rest of the night. At first light Alri Gan found the bastard at the bottom of the cliff below the cave entrance. Looks like he didn’t quite make that first turn."
Davidge narrows his eyes and studies me. "Ty, Zammis, and I climbed down to the base of the cliff to look. Jeriba Zammis knows the dead man. Before he splashed on the rocks, he called himself Michael Hill."
I feel my eyes widening at the name. "The man I met on the ship? The IMPEX representative?"
"Yes. Ty told me about your experience; also about Hill’s interest in your line probe. You have any idea why he might want to kill me or Haesni?"
I remember the stars, that face, the compassion in his voice. That strange joke: If you want to hear God laugh, make a plan. I think back and remember the cliff, the height of it, the broken boulders at its foot. Michael Hill had a long opportunity of understanding before he reached those water-washed boulders.
I have seen my enemies come at me many ways, everything from shooting to begging. Compassion is an unexpected stratagem.
"Davidge, on the ship from the Amadeen orbiter it was not a closely held secret that I was smuggled off Amadeen. On Draco, almost the entire Jetai Diea knew I was Mavedah, as well as an unknown number of clerks, masters, and others." I look down as I think about the man in the wheelchair. Matope. Something mean and bitter crawls into my heart. "Perhaps still others."
Davidge nods. "So he learns you’re coming here."
"He might be someone with a hatred. Perhaps an ancestor or loved one might have died on Amadeen,"
"That explains why he might want to kill you. Why me or Haesni?"
I look to see if he is joking. "To such a person, Davidge, a Drac is a Drac," I nod toward the human. "And a Dragger suck is a Dragger suck."
The human’s eyes grow wide and he laughs. "Ro, Dragger suck is old-fashioned, obsolete. According to Falna, the modern term is symp."
"Symp?"
"Short for sympathizer, I think. Maybe it’s short for simpleton." He shakes his head and turns back to the window. "It just doesn’t wash, Ro. Zammis has known Hill for years; worked with him, introduced him to others. Michael Hill has been working with Dracs for an awfully long time. Is it possible that you’re the first Drac Amadeen veteran he’s ever run across?"
I think of Aureah Vak, pilot of the Tora Soam. As well there is Koboc, the Tsien Denvedah veteran who lives with Matope. There are millions of Dracs who fought on Amadeen, old but still alive. "No, Davidge, it is not likely that I am Michael Hill’s first."
I reach out my hand and place it on the human’s shoulder as a theme from the Koda Nusinda teases the back of my head. "Davidge, the Ovjetah considers you and me to be pieces to a very important puzzle. Perhaps the puzzle cannot be solved if either of us is removed."
The human’s face wrinkles in confusion. "What does IMPEX have to gain in keeping the war going? Do you have any idea of the investment―" As Davidge curs himself off, his confusion fades. "The Koda Nusinda. The Eyes of Joanne Nicole."
"Yes. The Timans. Do you think the Timan species is still attempting to manipulate events?"
"If it’s true, they’re taking the possibility for peace on Amadeen whole lot more seriously than we do."
I rub my eyes and look at the smoke from the cave hanging in the air as the winds shift. "I thought Timan tampering in USE-Dracon relations ended with the death of the war’s secret architect, Hissied 'do Timan."
"So did the author of the Koda Nusinda. I don’t know why it would, though. If I read that manuscript right, manipulating other species toward self destruction wasn’t just Hissied 'do Timan’s hobby. It’s a survival mechanism―instinct with the Timans―the entire species." The human scratches his beard.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Yazi Ro, maybe the key to stopping the war on Amadeen is in somebody’s ammonia-soaked hand on Planet Timan." His eyebrows rise. "You don’t suppose that’s where the Ovjetah’s talma is supposed to go?"
"As I understand this most recent book of The Talman, Davidge, if the Timans are involved, they are operating their own talma. I do not know which talma we would be serving by going to Timan. Perhaps the Timan path encloses the Ovjetah’s."
Davidge folds his arms and frowns at the thinning smoke. "I need to get on the link and talk to Shiggy about this. If we go to Timan and it’s a wrong turn, it’ll be a helluva big one."
"Why?"
"If I remember right, it’s going to take us around half a year just to get there. Once there, I don’t have a clue who to see, where to go, or anything. On top of everything else, the atmosphere on Timan is not exactly kind to oxygen breathers. Environmental suits, perhaps protected shelters, food, water―we’re talking about a major expedition." The frown grows deeper. "Which means major money." He suddenly turns his head and fixes me with his gaze. "Did the Ovjetah give you a blank check to go with that manuscript?"
"Blank check?"
"Unlimited funds."
I shake my head. "No. My account has a few thousand credits. Enough to get me back to Draco."