Before he could say another thing, a third individual entered the throne room through the same door. Dressed in a black uniform, belted at the waist, with red piping running down the legs, the man stepped around Morgan and stood with his fists planted on his hips. His black eyes flashed with an unholy glee and blue highlights played through his long black hair. Both shoulders of his jacket had been embroidered with a wolf's-head design, including actual fur, and the rubies glinting from the wolf's eyes matched the fire in the man's eyes.
"Victor Davion and Kai Allard-Liao. How convenient to find you together."
The man's sarcastic tone made Victor angry. "I am Victor. Whom do I have the honorof addressing?"
The man threw back his head and barked a laugh that echoed throughout the cavernous room. "Spectacular!" He turned and nodded to Melissa. "The Steiner and Davion blood has mixed well in this one. Fire and steel. A little tempering and he'll be invincible."
The man looked beyond Victor toward Kai. "And this one, this quiet one, he's one to watch." He winked at Morgan. "You know, back in the days of ancient Rome, they used to put a dwarf in the chariot with victorious generals. During the public parades, as the crowds lavished adulation on the general, the dwarf would whisper reminders that earthly glory was fleeting. An officer that carries his own dwarf with him, one that constantly checks to make sure he isright instead of just believing that he's right, that is a valuable man."
Victor turned to watch how Kai took the compliment and was a bit surprised when Kai did not, as he expected, blush. Instead, Kai bowed slightly, then brought his head up and gave the man a wry smile. "Thank you, Major Ngov. That is high praise, indeed."
Victor frowned, looking toward Morgan. "What's going on here? I recognize the uniform—he's from Wolf's Dragoons. Enlighten me, please."
Morgan nodded to Sveng Ngov, and the mercenary smiled broadly at Victor. "It's simple, Highness. Colonel Jaime Wolf sent me to escort your mother, Morgan, Kai, and you to a strategy meeting on Outreach."
"Strategy meeting?" The furrows in Victor's brow deepened. "Why? Last I knew it, Wolf's Dragoons had opted to stay out of this war. Besides, the invaders have left."
The mercenary's smile dimmed. "Times change, Prince Victor, and this meeting is to ensure that we,not they,control the speed, time, and direction of the change. If we don't, to butcher the old child's rhyme—All the Kings 'Mechs and all the King's men couldn't put the Successor States back together again ..."
43
Palace of Obsidian and Jade, Imperial City, Luthien
Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine
15 November 3050
Shin knelt carefully within the shadows of the garden wall. His black silk kimono rendered him all but invisible, but the garment's fine cloth did little to ward off the cold of the clear Luthien night. Shin welcomed the cold, though, for its numbing effect on the burning of his right side.
He forced himself to control his breathing and drink in the garden's peace. Letting his eyes half-close, he shut out what little light bled into the garden from the rest of the Imperial City, not at all worried that he might doze off. Between the pain and the emotions running riot through him, sleep was the last of his problems.
He lifted his head slightly to study the purple-black outline of the palace that was home to Kanrei Theodore Kurita and his family. Like the Old Man's demesne on Edo, this one was also molded on ancient Japanese architecture. The central tower rose only three stories, but each was double normal height and the tower had an incredible girth. Shin had traveled in DropShips with less area and mass than this building. He was honored that the Kanrei had granted him a room in this place. A long way from the slums on Marfik!
In thinking of his life, everything before the invasion seemed faded and unreal like early holodramas and ancient newsreels. The invaders were, in many ways, the most honorable of foes. Again and again, they tried to match their forces to ours so that we would not lose too much face, even in defeat. Sometimes they seem downright naive in dealing with us, and since their defeat on Wolcott, we've had no more attacks against our worlds. Could it be, in their way of looking at the universe, that one defeat calls for an end to their assault?
As quickly as the question formed itself in his mind, he rejected it. No, that makes even less sense than some of the theories concerning who they really are. What little I've seen of the machines and suits we "earned" from the battle on Wolcott leads me to believe they're human, despite the size of those infantry. That they have BattleMechs says that they ran into humans with 'Mechs at some point, but no one knows how far out Periphery pirates may have ranged. Are they from some lost colony, or maybe the descendants of some charismatic leader who led people off unnoticed to build a martial society?
Our captives claim to be closemouthed about their past I because they say they are now members of the Kurita Clan, yet they won't tell us what significance that has. It's a mystery wrapped within countless mysteries. Now that they've gone, will we ever be able to dig through these mysteries, layer by layer?
The barest hint of boot leather scraping against stone brought Shin's head up sharply. Eclipsing glittering stars, a slender figure vaulted up over the crenelated top of the wall and dropped to a crouch within the garden. As the intruder uncoiled and started to move toward the palace, Shin identified her as female. No weapons visible ... An assassin?
Noiselessly, Shin picked up a pebble, then stood and moved forward. He whipped the pebble against the garden's far wall. As the intruder turned to identify the sound, he came in at her back, but did not strike her from behind. "Stop!"
Instead of obeying his command, she whirled and executed a roundhouse kick meant to take his head off. Shin ducked beneath most of it, though her heel clipped him and knocked him slightly off balance. Recovering as she came around to face him, he dropped into a fighting stance. Again, moving more quickly than he expected, she grabbed at his right wrist and pain immediately shot up to his shoulder. Though agony numbed the limb, Shin slipped his arm from the kimono's sleeve, ducked, and spun away. As the intruder pulled on the garment, the yakuza let it be stripped from his torso. His movement took him into the center of the garden and left his foe holding the empty kimono.
Doors at both the garden and the balcony levels opened, spilling pale light out into the night. One rectangle trapped Shin and splashed his long-legged shadow against the garden wall. The intruder cast the kimono aside in preparation for another attack, then stopped short and bowed respectfully to him.
Shin's mouth dropped open in surprise. Fighting one moment, then bowing the next? What's going on here?As the intruder came up, Shin bowed to her, then tried to recall where he had seen that red wolf's-head insignia decorating the left breast of her tunic. Wolf's Dragoons? Was it possible? After all this time, the only thing they could want here is the Coordinator's death. If so, why attack the Kanrei's palace?