In this Night We Own (The Commander Book 6) (18 page)

“A Crow with bodyguards?  Different, and appealing in its symmetry.”  She smiled, and Sellers felt her charisma for the first time.  He shivered at its strength.  He hoped this Focus turned out to be friendly, for if not, they were in big trouble.  “Would you like to hear about my proposed quest?”

“Certainly, Focus Annie,” Hoskins said.

Focus Annie sat on a picnic bench and told her tale, slowly and carefully, as the morning sun rose above the trees.  A park worker did his morning trash and clean-up run, ignoring them as if they didn’t exist, or have anyone as odd-looking as Page Dowling with them.  Focus Annie was frightfully intelligent, sprinkling her story with unfamiliar words.  Long words, such as ‘disaggregation’ and ‘provenance’.  Sellers wasn’t sure what to make of her tale, especially about the Predecessors, a Transform society that supposedly existed centuries ago in the Canadian arctic.  The story of the Predecessors didn’t sound real to him, too strange to believe.  On the other hand, the trap their rescue target, the Sport Nancy Racshke, had fallen into sounded dangerous, as would anything capable of luring a Major Transform to it from half way across the continent.  If he understood the Focus’s convoluted tale, an unnamed Arm, along with a Focus Larson and her household, had searched out and found the trap, but had failed the rescue, unable to approach within grabbing distance of the Sport because of some Major Transform trickery.  The worst bit of nonsense was the so-called artifact of the past, which Focus Annie showed them after she took it out of an ornate strong-box she called a ‘Faraday cage’.  The so-called artifact was a baby walrus skull, with metal lines carved into it as, he figured, a form of perverse decoration.  Out of its box, the so-called artifact buzzed and snarled at his metasense, like one of Crow Gilgamesh’s funky tennis balls, but, well, far larger and more glowy.  Larger in a ‘more stabilized dross’ fashion, perhaps a hundred times larger, and showing an almost conscious dislike of the Nobles.  He doubted the Focus understood the danger of her device, as in the juice metasense bands, the so-called artifact of the Predecessors barely glowed at all.  He certainly didn’t believe the story she told about the skull summoning the aurora after the unnamed Arm dripped her blood into its golden eye-sockets.

“This sounds like a good quest, and quite appropriate,” Duke Hoskins said.  “We are looking for ways to prove ourselves to the Cause, to Focus Rizzari and her Arm allies, and if we can succeed where an Arm and a Focus have failed, then our worth will be self-evident.”  As the Nobles had discussed privately before they left Boston, Hoskins didn’t mention the real target of their proving quest, the Commander, recently revealed to be Arm Hancock.  She girded for war against the Hunters, and their foul leader, Wandering Shade, and the Nobles ever so wanted to be involved in that fight.  On her side.

Focus Annie nodded.  “I have the necessary maps.  You’ll be going into the northern forests, into the near arctic north of Labrador City, and you’ll have to go on foot from Lab City.  It’s a wild area, and it’s become Monster territory, like all the wild areas in North America.  The trap involves Transform tricks we do not understand and cannot duplicate, so be cautious.”

The last she emphasized with her charisma, and Sellers sighed.  From his limited experience with Focuses, they couldn’t resist using their charisma in an unfair manner.  He guessed, for them, they didn’t think of such uses as unfair.  They probably looked at their charisma use the way the rest of them thought of exclamation points and question marks.

Focus Annie took a moment to huddle up with Suzie and Pam, peppering them with questions and examining them.  She radiated pleasure as she spoke with their two most advanced Commoners, especially after Suzie told her about their training sessions in the Inferno household.

“Now, let’s take a look at your problem child,” Focus Annie said, after she finished conversing with Pam and Suzie.  She slid over to the right, and after a moment of near panic, Occum hesitantly stepped forward, Page Dowling at his side.  “You said this one is stuck in his beast form?”

“That is correct, ma’am,” Occum said.  His normal cranky ebullience remained subdued, and his nervousness remained high.

“Well, I can tell Dowling is what I term a self-stabilizing Chimera,” Focus Annie said, meeting Dowling’s gaze.  “Can you speak?”

“Yes,” Page Dowling said.  “And think, and act in a human fashion instead of as the instinctive Beast.  I just can’t change my shape back to human.”  Dowling paused.  “Is that what’s meant by self-stabilizing?”

Focus Annie knelt down to Dowling’s eye level, showing no fear, despite the obvious.  She was no Arm, and no athlete-Focus as Queen Rizzari, but still she showed no fear.  If Page Dowling lost control of his beast, which had happened several times, which happened to all of the Nobles on occasion while in their beastly combat forms, he could rip her to shreds before any of them could grab Dowling and stop him.

“No, a self-stabilizing Chimera is one who retains his human mind when he changes his shape.  Self-stabilizers also find it easy to retain their shapes during élan draws.”

“Ma’am, I was the same, before Master Occum found me,” Sellers said.  “But I didn’t have the problem Page Dowling has.”

“That’s because being self-stabilizing isn’t a problem,” Focus Annie said.  “I sense something more here in Page Dowling.  Something I’ve encountered among some of the Focuses, but never among the other Major Transforms I’ve met.”  She turned to Occum.  “Tell me, did Page Dowling exhibit any other strange behaviors when you picked him up?”

“Yes,” Occum said.  “Dowling here had a harem – that is, a self-gathered household of women Transforms he used as an élan source – and he knew the basics of repeatable élan gathering.”

“Good evidence,” she said.  The confidence she radiated was infectious.  “Some Focuses are like this as well, able to pick up on techniques other Focuses have learned, without being taught.  I term them instinctive Focuses.  Among the Focuses, they tend to cluster in the second quartile, not especially smart or especially talented otherwise.”

“Hey,” Page Dowling said, his voice growing higher and reedier.  “I wouldn’t characterize myself as without talents or brainpower.  For raw smarts, I’m probably at the top of our little heap, here.”

The three mature Nobles nodded as one.  If anything, Page Dowling was too smart, in Viscount Sellers’ opinion.  Too many brains and you might end up not being able to fight as a Beast should.

“No offense, Page Dowling, and I’m not surprised that an instinctive Chimera would be different than an instinctive Focus.”  She closed her eyes and put her right hand on Page Dowling’s furry blond head, without fear or even the need to ask permission.  Dowling let out a low whine, but otherwise didn’t react.  “His deep juice structure is different than you other Nobles.  Occum, is there something you’re doing differently with him than the others?”

“No, not at all,” Master Occum said.  “He’s getting the same stuff the others got at his rank and state of development.”

“Rank?  Your rank system is real at the juice level?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What rank is above Page, how is this earned, and what changes do you make in how you support these Nobles?”

“The rank of Knight, with the honorific of ‘Sir’,” Occum said.  “The Page needs to be able to maintain a facsimile of a human form to become a Knight; in return, he is formally brought into the household.”

Focus Annie squinched her face and turned to the left in thought.  “Okay, I see it.  The deep juice structure change I’m noticing is the difference.  It’s a recognition link, the same as Crow Sky and Focus Rizzari use to share their metasenses.  Only, because you experience this at the group level, at what might best be termed the household level, your Pages need permission to make the recognition change.  He’s outside your household, and thus outside of your ability to control the depths of his mind.”

“Ma’am, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Master Occum said.  Neither did Sellers.  He took a moment to look around the park, in the brightening daylight.  Only a few of the trees showed even the early signs of fall, and although the air was crisp, it wasn’t wintery.  Great maples and pines and oaks lined the open areas of the park, shading the many picnic tables.  The beauty of the place made him vow, yet again, to arrange somehow to spend more time out of doors, away from pavement and buildings.

“Oh,” Dowling said.  “What Focus Annie is saying, Master, is that to get around my overly strong self-stabilization instincts, I need to be made a part of your household
first
.”

Focus Annie nodded.

“But that would mess up our household rank structure, ma’am,” Duke Hoskins said, worried.  “If we mess up the household’s glow, we might all go
Beast
.”

“A Page must earn his knighthood, then?” Focus Annie said.

They all nodded.

“Well, is there anything Page Dowling can do that would normally take a Knight to do, other than his self-stabilization?”

Dowling snorted, a half growl of pride.  Sellers had always wondered if Dowling’s problems were an issue of pride, because Dowling thought he was better than the rest of them when, instead, they thought him flawed.  If he lost his bushy oversized blond squirrel tail, it might help all their attitudes on the subject.  “I am better at élan draws than any of my titled Noble peers.  Only Duke Hoskins is better at preserving the life and sanity of our Commoners, but even he can’t gain as much élan from them as I do.”

“This is something you learned from Occum?” Focus Annie said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dowling said.  Though Sellers thought Dowling cheated, having come to them already knowing the basics.

Focus Annie turned to Occum.  “Then what is needed is an alternate way to become a Knight and part of this household you are building.  I believe being able to do élan draws with the skill of a higher rank Noble should count as much as being able to shift into a man-shape.  Could you make such a change in a way that wouldn’t destabilize your household links?”

“Perhaps,” Occum said.  “I think I see the symbology needed.  You think this would unblock Page Dowling’s shape changing abilities?”

“I’m positive it will, though in practice you may well find that he will now pick up these shape changing skills on his own, without needing to be taught, once he is linked to your household.  His instincts are strong, both a benefit and a detriment.”

“This sounds frustrating, but I can cope,” Master Occum said.

“In that case, I think we are finished here,” Focus Annie said.  She turned back to the three of them, the real Nobles.  Count Knox, who had been finding the nut-hunting adventurers of a nearby chipmunk more interesting than the conversation about Page Dowling, drew his attention back with a visible start.  “Be careful, be paranoid.  As I’ve learned through hard experience, there is far more out in the wider world of a Transform nature that is strange, unexpected and impossible.”

“Crow Sky says the same,” Duke Hoskins said, noncommittal.  Sellers could practically read the Duke’s mind, patiently waiting until the Focus was off, to do something appropriate to Dowling to remind the squirrel of his real place among them.  He caught the Duke’s eye, and then moved his eyes over to an appropriate object of punishment.

“Heed his words,” the Focus said.  “None of us knows what’s really going on with us Transforms.”

Focus Annie led Occum off, alone, and talked to him for ten minutes, outside of prying bodyguard ears.  While they talked, small family groups started dribbling into the park.  None of them noticed the Noble household yet, but it was only a matter of time.  Although the Nobles’ very presence made them difficult to notice, unless they wanted notice, the same was not true for their Commoners.  Unless they sought cover, soon, the normals would soon be screaming about Monsters in French.

Occum came back to the group shaken, and inwardly agitated.  “We don’t have as much time as I thought we had,” Occum said, whispering.  “If the Focus is right, the fight with Wandering Shade and his Hunters will happen within six to nine months.”  He paused, and then glared at Sellers, who was standing shoulder to shoulder with the Duke.  “Shit.  Get Dowling out from the damned oversized trashcan you stuck him in.  We have work to do, dammit.”

After Focus Annie and her entourage left, they decamped into a small pine forest.  Out of the sight of prying eyes, Occum started the drumming ceremony that would recognize Page Dowling as a Knight.  They had to hide, because such a ceremony would attract notice.

“My dear Duke,” Sellers said, quiet under the steady thunder of the drums.  “I fear I missed far too much of the meaning of that conversation with the scary Focus.  Especially at the end.  Is there anything you might be able to tell me about what really happened, here?”

Both Duke Hoskins and Count Knox gave Sellers a funny look.  “Scary Focus?” Hoskins said.  “She was sort of nice, in a weak Focus fashion.  I think she’s even more of an academic than our Queen Rizzari.”

Sellers winced, and waved away a bee buzzing around his face.  “She had the both of you buffaloed with her juice tricks and her charisma.  She wore, what, about fifty juice patterns, and used her charisma constantly.  She could have flattened us in an instant, if she wanted.”

“No way,” Count Knox said.  “She was
harmless
.”

Duke Hoskins’ eyebrows narrowed, and then he nodded at Sellers.  Unlike Knox, he realized Focus Annie had fooled him, at least once Sellers pointed it out.  “At the end, my dear Viscount, what you saw was
a deal
.  The Focus handed off the responsibility for rescuing Focus Racshke to us – as a formal responsibility – and in return, diagnosed Occum’s problems with Page Dowling.”  The Duke paused and listened to Occum beating on his well-worn drum, pounding the household into Page – now Sir – Dowling’s mind.  They had all gone through the procedure, Sellers several times, as he had been Master Occum’s experimental subject.  The drumming summoned nostalgia, longing and belonging.