Chiding himself for forgetting the immediate business, Jay pulled back the burgundy curtains. The window actually had a pane of glass that rattled only a little in the wind. Heart knew which room was Jay’s. If he was watching, he would see the opened curtains, and hopefully be able to make his excuses to his wife and get away. Jay didn’t want to have to wait until dark for the news. He needed to have plans before then.
“Jay?” called a voice through the door-curtain. “It’s Cor.”
“Come in, come in.” He held the curtain back for her.
Cor brushed by him and he caught a glimpse of the dark circles under her eyes. She slumped into one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. “How’d it go?”
Jay shook his head. “I could’ve asked for better.” He described the audience to her. Cor grunted.
“Jay,” she said to the ashes on the hearth, “remind me why we’re doing this.”
Oh, no.
“Because we need to accomplish the reunification of the Human Family,” he said, sitting across from her. “And because the Vitae really don’t want us to.”
“Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten about that last bit.”
“What’s the matter, Cor?”
“Nothing new,” she rubbed her forehead. “I’ve just gone native. It’s my job, after all. Someone has to completely understand the new membership so we can make them at ease when they join the Family.” She said the words like she was reading them off the flagstone floor.
Don’t do this to me, Cor. I can’t manage you on top of the King, and Lu, and Heart. “We are doing this because we have to.” Both of us are.
“Jay?” The door curtain moved and Heart stepped into the room.
Cor raised her hands to the Teacher so smoothly it might have been a reflex. Heart bowed toward her absentmindedly, with his hands held up so the golden suns tattooed on his palms flashed in the watery daylight.
“What’s the news, Heart?” asked Jay quickly as Heart moved to stand next to him. And please, please let it be something I can use.
Heart shrugged and leaned his elbow on the mantelpiece. “Our city is hard-pressed,” he said, running his knuckle along a crack in the stone. “The dissent among our neighbors is strong and we have little help. The Realm waits to see who wins this war, Narroways or First City, and then it shall decide what to do.”
Jay knotted his fist. “We need you to help make sure King Silver is victorious, Heart. What can you tell us of First City’s state of affairs?”
Heart hesitated, leaning heavily against his arm. Cor stood and offered the Teacher her chair. He took it with thanks.
“I do this because we were lied to in the Temple,” he said, raising his eyes as if he were pleading with them, “because we’re dying. The Nameless have withdrawn their favor from their people. Our children are born dead or deformed or of the wrong lines. And the Teachers say it is not so. They say we think there’s trouble because we do not see with the Servant’s eyes. They say that as long as we repeat the Words of the Nameless in the Temple, all will always be well.”
Cor gave Jay a sideways glance and then looked quickly out the window. What’re you really seeing out there? Jay wondered. Who have you been talking to?
Heart was shaking his head. “King Wall’s troops are going to be pulled from Tiered Side to defend the outer towns of First City. They’ll be there in three days. If King Silver meets them before they reach there, First City will lose valuable and timely help. But you should move quickly. There’s a delegation from First City in Terminus Height, and they may be wavering in their resolution to stand beside you.” His face grew uneasy. “You have worked too few miracles, Skyman. There are those who doubt you can bring us any good, as King Silver needs must fight so long and so hard to gain any ground with you at her side.”
Jay and Cor exchanged a long look.
What do we tell them? That the Board decided not to risk arming a telekinetic race whose world contains who-knows-what powers that they might still be able to use, even if all they have are superstitions to guide them? Somehow I think we’ll lose even Heart’s support if I come across with that.
“I shall tell the King.” Jay straightened up. “I shall also tell my masters, be assured.”
“Thank you.” Heart stood. “I need to get back to my chambers. My wife, you know.” He turned back to the threshold and Jay walked beside him.
“Heart,” he whispered as he lifted the door-curtain, “the King told me a garrison of one hundred troops has gone missing from the ranks of First City. Do you know where they may have been sent?”
Heart looked startled. “I have heard nothing of this. I will see what I can find out for you.”
“You have our thanks, Heart.” Jay let the curtain fall back into place and waited until he heard the Teacher’s footsteps fade down the hall.
“We’ve got to see them armed,” he said to Cor’s back. “Silver’s losing support, even though she’s winning. We’re losing support because we’re not stronger than the myths. The Vitae are going to show up soon. If we don’t have this place locked down before then, then all our time and effort, it’s for nothing and the Vitae will let these…people loose on the Human Family.”
“The Vitae might just kill them,” said Cor without turning around. “They don’t think much of genetic engineering on humans.”
No, thought Jay. I don’t think they’d kill this crowd. But he said nothing. Cor was trying to convince herself they were doing the best thing possible, and he needed to let her succeed.
“All right.” Cor faced him and folded her arms as if she were trying to keep out a chill. “Tomorrow we can go back to the shelter. Find out what luck Lu’s had with the Notouch. If there hasn’t been anything, then I’ll back you on the call for arms. I mean, there’s not that many power-gifted and it’s becoming very obvious that without Stone in the Wall and her family, no one knows what the story is with the arias.”
“Thank you,” said Jay seriously.
Cor gave him a watery smile. “Keep well ’til then, Jay.”
“Keep well.”
She left and Jay sagged onto the bed. There’s a chance we can still take this place. A good chance. He stared out toward the window and fingered his torque. If we can just get moving. The torque beeped. Jay’s heart leapt to his throat. The torque beeped again, and again, and once more for good measure.
Blood and bones. Jay pulled the translator disk out of his ear. It can’t be time already!
With his free hand, he undid the catch on his torque. The signal said this transmission couldn’t be handled with the usual setup. It would be coming from too far away, at too high a frequency. He slid the disk into a barely visible socket on the torque’s side and waited.
“Jahidh, this is Kelat. The First Company has landed in the Home Ground and I am with them. You have about two hundred hours left before Second Company comes down to reclaim the populated regions. What is the state of your operations?”
Jay stared incredulously at the torque. “Kelat, I don’t know,” he said. What do you think I’m doing? he added silently. Running a lab experiment? Controlling a team of Beholden? “The Unifier cause is a mess, I’ve managed that much, but I’m also standing in the middle of it. We may have finally found another artifact like Stone in the Wall, but I won’t know for sure until I’ve heard from Lu.”