The Evolutionary Void (38 page)

His second possibility was the other missing people. Golbon and Jaralee
had been bemused at first. It was an odd request, seeing if they could tie in
anyone who had gone missing during the last few years to the nest’s business
deals, but they soon set to cross-referencing files. It was what they excelled
at, and they had begun to enjoy the scent of the chase again. They even talked
about bringing back other members of the old committee.

That left just the last two leads. They were the ones he needed to follow
personally. And without a great deal of surprise, his first one took only three
hours to confirm. After all, a station captain led a busy life. Especially
Dinlay, who structured his days with meetings and inspections and appointments
with civic notables and even made sure he went out on patrol with his officers
three times a week. That left his wife with a lot of time to fill during the
day.

Edeard floated in the middle of a transport tube, eyes closed, drifting
along slowly as he kept pace with Gealee. She moved through Lillylight’s
central streets, wandering in and out of shops. Midmorning was taken up with
meeting her girlfriends in a coffeehouse for gossip and admiring one another’s
morning purchases. Edeard didn’t use farsight; rather, he pulled the images
directly from the city’s substance, feeling the weight of her high heels
walking along, receiving the splash of color her bright orange and black coat
made amid the throng, hearing her voice growing sharp with shopgirls, the scent
of her perfume wafting through the air. Then, just before midday, she walked
over Steen Canal into Abad, where she went into one of the little cylindrical
cottages behind the Jarcon family’s mansion. It was the home of the family’s
second farrier, a hulking twenty-three-year-old with thick ebony hair that
tumbled down over his shoulders. Gealee particularly liked twining her fingers
through that hair while her lusty beau pounded away on top of her on the bed,
on the lounge floor, on the awkward stairs …

“Missing your honeymoon already?” Edeard asked.

Gealee didn’t start or feign surprise when he emerged from the shadows of
a deep alcove on Spinwell Lane, a dark narrow passage barely a couple of yards
wide in some places. She was using it as a quiet shortcut back to Steen Canal.

Instead, she took the moment to adjust her wide-brimmed hat. “Did you
enjoy watching?” she retorted.

“Not really. Dinlay is one of my oldest friends.”

“And I’m his wife. I am quite devoted in that respect. He wants for
nothing, I assure you.”

“Did Tathal tell you to make sure of that? Did you even have a choice?”

Her lips pushed together into a pout as she gave him a shrewd glance.
“Clever,” she said with a reluctant sigh. “But then, I never did think you got
to be Waterwalker by brute strength alone. How did you know?”

“Tathal knew I was going to put myself forward for Mayor. I trust the
people Dinlay has spoken to about making up my team, just as I trust Dinlay and
the master and mistress of Sampalok. That leaves you.”

“Well done. But it doesn’t really help you, does it?”

“I’m not sure. How do you think Dinlay will react when I tell him you
used domination on him?”

Gealee laughed. “Oh, but we didn’t; that’s the beauty of it. I’m his
type. You know that well enough; you’ve seen all his wives and the girlfriends
between. All we needed to do was put me in the same room as him and wait. It
was inevitable. Actually, he’s quite endearing—for someone his age. So
dedicated to the rule of law, to you.”

“You leave Dinlay alone. Do you understand?”

“You want me to leave him? To break his heart? Once more?”

“I want you to wait a decent interval until he realizes he’s made another
mistake.”

“Why don’t you just tell him? A true friend would.” She tilted her head
to one side, regarding him thoughtfully. “You don’t know what to do about us,
do you? Which means you know you can’t defeat us.”

“You’re the ones who think in those terms.”

“We’re the same as you. The only difference is that we’re family, not
loners. Why don’t you join us? You know we’re the future. Why else are so many
of us appearing? It is our time. You can’t argue against that. But you can play
such a large part in birthing a new world, a new way of life. That’s what you
were sent here to do; that’s why you’re the first: to lead the way.”

“We cannot split society between those who have and those who don’t.
People the Lady has blessed with an exceptional talent have a duty to use it
for the greater benefit. I’ve seen what happens when the ruling group begins to
think only of itself. You weren’t even born, but that’s what Makkathran was
like when I arrived. Your way of thinking isn’t the future; it’s the dead past.
You have despoiled your gift; that is what I will end.”

Her smile became cold.
“Join us.”

The command was so strong that Edeard’s eyes actually watered; it was
like having a needle of ice penetrate his brain. “Ladyfuck.” He staggered
backward struggling to shield his mind.

Gealee made no move, no attempt to follow up her demand. “You see,
Waterwalker? That was just me, and I’m not even the strongest of us. Do you
really think
anyone
can resist the entire nest?”

He shook the stupor from his head, staring at her with a mixture of anger
and fright.

“Now that you’ve found out what I am, I can hardly spy on you anymore,”
she said in a chillingly level tone. “I’m going to return to the nest now.
You’re Dinlay’s friend: You tell him why he doesn’t have a wife anymore.” She
adjusted her orange and black coat and walked off down the alley, her heels
making loud clicks on the pavement.

Edeard watched her go, still shaken. His trembling palm wiped cold sweat
from his brow.
So much for using her to expose a weakness
.
But it did illustrate the lengths the nest would go to in order to find out
what he was doing, what he was capable of. And he had one ability left of which
they had no clue. The ultimate sanction.
If I have to use
it, I won’t be so brutal as before. I’ll go back and try to reason with Tathal,
to persuade him to share his talent before he becomes a selfish power seeker
.
Somehow the notion didn’t leave him feeling as confident as it should have,
mainly because there was only one person left to ask about the origin of the
nest’s leader. He really didn’t want to do that, but there weren’t a whole lot
of choices left.

With three days left until the Skylords arrived, the throng around the
towers of Eyrie was so tightly packed that any movement within the district was
becoming difficult. Some families resolutely refused to move on, setting up
camp with enough food to see themselves through the duration. Constables
struggled to keep pathways open. Mothers and their Novices suffered abuse for
not allowing the eager aspirants up into the towers. The Mayor’s appeals for
calm and tolerance went completely unheeded. After all, none of the visitors
had voted for him or even against him. He wasn’t their authority figure.

Edeard sat under a canvas awning and wove a seclusion haze around himself
as his gondolier sailed past the edge of the district. It was early evening,
and the smell of food cooking on open fires trickled across the canal. Open
fires were of course banned in Makkathran. He gritted his teeth and ignored the
violations.
Something
was going to have to be done
about the stopover visitors before the next Skylords arrived. But right now he
had something a lot more important, not to mention personal.

The gondola traveled the length of Great Major Canal to Forest Pool.
Edeard alighted at a mooring platform. He could just see the ships berthed at
the docks, their sails furled amid a forest of rigging. Natran had confided to
him that the number of passengers his ships were bringing in for guidance had
risen sevenfold over the last eighteen months. Some fleet captains were talking
about commissioning a whole new class of ship, one without any cargo holds, just
to bring people in from the farthest coastal cities.

There were times when Edeard believed half of Querencia’s population was
on the move to Makkathran so they might ascend from the towers. He watched the
ships for a while before admitting to himself he was just finding excuses. He
turned his back on the docks and walked into Myco.

The House of Blue Petals was open, but this early in the evening there
were hardly any customers. As always, there were two burly men at the big front
door. They gave him a very surprised look when he walked past them but said
nothing. He sensed their urgent direct longtalk up to the office above.

His third hand pushed the door open. He wondered just how many times he’d
come to this place over the years. How many confrontations had there been by
now? Weariness and malice mingled to produce a rogue thought:
I should just demolish this place, get the city to make a park
.
But the nest probably would reverse the action.

Ranalee was waiting, hair perfectly styled in narrow curves, long
pale-gray dress of fine-knit wool. The soft fabric clung to her, revealing a
belly heavy from the fifth month of pregnancy.

It was a sight that brought Edeard up short. All the words he’d
rehearsed, ready to snap at her, withered away.

She caught his surprise and smiled complacently. “Dear Edeard, is
something the matter?”

“I … didn’t know.” He waved a hand toward her, embarrassed, mainly at
himself.

“And why should you? You have a city to run.” She poured some wine and
held the glass out to him. “It’s a lovely Sousax; try it. I can’t have any
myself, not in this delicate condition.”

“No thank you.”

“Afraid I’m trying to poison you?”

He sighed. “No.”

Her smile turned mocking, and she let out a theatrical moan as she sank
down into a long settee. “Then why are you here? Kristabel not interested in
you anymore? I have several truly lovely girls at the moment, and they’re all
very discreet.”

“Don’t push me, Ranalee.”

“I’m trying to be helpful.”

“Then tell me about Tathal.”

Her glance slipped down to her full belly. “What about him?”

“Did you ever …” Then he realized why she was looking at her unborn and
groaned. “Oh, Lady, it’s not?”

“Of course it’s his.” Her hand touched the bulge fondly. “He is stronger
than you in so many ways. My own deceits were nothing before him; he saw
through me so easily, swifter than you ever did. But he forgave me: He allowed
me to join the nest, and in return I taught him my art.”

Edeard examined what he could of her thoughts shimmering beneath a thick
shield. The gaps were the tops of chasms opening into darkness. It was as if
her head were filled with ebony shadow. That wasn’t Ranalee. “He used
domination on you.”

Her smile was one of sensual recollection. The shadows began to take
shape, revealing themselves as the nest members. They engulfed her,
obliterating sight, sound. She couldn’t move, couldn’t cry out. Then she was
suddenly no longer alone in the darkness.
He
was
there with her. Fear was surpassed by consummate pleasure. She welcomed it,
turning to the source, weeping her gratitude. “It was so exciting to see all
I’d hoped for finally come to pass. His strength is intoxicating, Edeard. He is
raw, like you used to be, but not the shackled fool that you were. He is free
and unafraid. My child will be as glorious as his father.”

“That’s not you talking.”

“Wrong as always, Edeard. I didn’t need the encouragement the others of
the nest received. My thoughts already ran along these paths. He held my hand
and took me
exactly
where I wanted to go. That was a
kindness you never showed.”

“So you taught him domination.”

“He already knew. I simply showed him subtlety where all he had before
was crude strength.”

“Lady! Do you have any idea what you’ve helped create? What you’ve let
loose on the rest of us?”

Her hands tightened on the bulge. “Yes,” she hissed. “I’m not blinded by
him, Edeard. I’m not like the rest of the nest. I admire him. I belong with
him, and he knows that; why else would he take me as consort? My child will be
a part of Querencia’s future, a big part.” She laughed. “Perhaps he will even
be stronger than his father.”

“Your dream,” he said brokenly. “But he’s taken it for his own.”

“Join us, Edeard,” she said, leaning forward eagerly. “This could be your
moment, your real triumph.”

He turned and walked for the door. “You know the answer to that.”

“Yes.” She paused. “Thankfully, not all of your family is as stupid and
reactionary as you.”

He stopped, knowing he was doing exactly what she wanted. A puppet to her
manipulations again. “What do you mean?”

Her answer was a triumphant smile. “I told you once we would have your
blood.”