Thendara House (63 page)

Monty slammed his hand down on the desk, swearing. “Any way to reach her there?”

“I shouldn’t think so,” Jaelle said.
Now
, she thought with an obscure sense of having been assaulted,
I cannot even take refuge in the Guild House. Even there I find Terrans, Magda and now Cholayna have been welcomed there
.

“I’m being sent out into the field, and I need Intelligence briefing,” he explained quickly.

“Lord Alderan, way up in the Hellers near Caer Donn - that’s where the old spaceport used to be, before it was moved down here to Thendara - “

“I know where the Hellers are,” Bethany said waspishly. “Magda and Haldane both grew up there, didn’t they?”

“Haldane could help me with this - ” Monty began.

“I wouldn’t ask him,” Jaelle said wryly, “He’s up in our quarters, dead drunk and sleeping it off.”

Monty said, after a minute, “I heard that he and the Old Man had a flaming row last night and Peter stormed into the city. So he came in drunk, huh? Lucky bastard; I wish I could!”

“What’s your problem, Monty?”

“Going into the field,” he said. “I told you a little about it - or was it Magda I told? I need to be sure I will not antagonize them, and - ” he gave a deprecating smile, “I can’t afford to impress them as effeminate. I need to know precisely how to dress and what to do - and what
not
to do under any circumstances. Magda made a start, but - ” he shrugged.

For a moment a very clear picture of Magda and Monty in his quarters rushed over her…
why am I suddenly picking up all this? Why can I not push it away as I have always done before
… Magda, tying her Amazon knife to his waist, showing him how to move… she fought to barricade what she was picking up from Monty, including an overwhelmingly sexual awareness of Magda that filled her, for no reason at all, with bewildering rage.
Why should I suddenly hate Monty because he has taken Magda to bed? Magda/Margali is not my lover
… Fighting to be fair through the staggering wave of resentment that made her feel physically ill, she said, “Of course I can help you, Monty. Come on up to Intelligence and tell me all about your business at Aldaran, unless it’s really a secret mission.”

“Not a bit of it,” Monty responded. “On the contrary, when Aleki heard about it, he was all smiles; he told the old Man he’d deal with it personally as a Senatorial Representative, and you can imagine, the Old Man would have loved that!” His voice was ironic. “For once, Darkover is predictable - or that’s how he saw it. Some bigwig back in Caer Donn - I’ll have to look up the details, but his name is - Aldaran of Aldaran and Sea - ” his face wrinkled in a struggle. Jaelle, picked it up effortlessly from his mind. “Aldaran of Aldaran and Scathfell, the old Seventh Domain of the Comyn; they’re not Comyn any more.”

“At war with Comyn?”

“Oh, no. Too far away for wars to make any sense. But they were once the Seventh Domain, and broke away.”

“Geographically I can see that makes sense,” Monty said as they went into Ingelligence, looking at the map on the walls. This was something Cholayna had done, evidently. Jaelle had not seen it before. “But then, why didn’t Ardais break away from the Comyn too? It seems, geographically speaking, that the country would be divided between the Lowland Domains - ” he pointed, “the Aillards and Elhalyns in the lowlands, Ardais and Aldaran in the Hellers, and Altons, Hasturs in the Kilghard Hills, with the Ridenow ‘way over here almost in the Dry Towns - “

“You ask me for the answer to a riddle that no one has ever been able to understand,” said Jaelle stiffly, “yet the Aldaran are exiled from Comyn - perhaps for some old crime? No one truly knows; yet the Ardais have always been loyal to Comyn, though once, I am told, the Aldarans of Scathfell fought to make themselves Lords over Ardais too.”

“I don’t, of course, expect to understand a thousand years of the History of the Domains overnight,” said Monty. “Anyhow, the Aldarans have put through a formal request to the Empire for technological help and assistance; Medic personnel, and - this is where I come in - helicopters and men to fly them. It seems that conventional aircraft are useless over the Hellers - as you may remember from that episode in Comyn Castle when we were called there to talk about the Mapping and Exploring plane that went down, they’re not even really safe in the Kilghard Hills. Of course what you call hills on Darkover would be pretty formidable mountains on almost any other planet I can think of But helicopters, and some kinds of vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft, might be usable in spite of the thermal conditions in and around the Hellers, so I am being sent to do a feasibility study. Of course I’m only in charge of protocol and liaison; Zeb Scott’s going to handle the aircraft itself. And so I need a last-minute Intelligence briefing - damn Cholayna for taking this particular day off!”

“Cholayna has a right to a holiday, too,” Jaelle said, so fiercely that Monty flinched.

“Yes, of course, it’s damnably inconvenient for me, that’s all,” he said. “But perhaps you can help; find me an outfit, tell us how to arrange transport. They’ll ship in the aircraft by cargo freight, of course, but we will have to have transport through the hills; foot transport. Your business, Cholayna told me once, was travel escort.”

“Yes; my partner, an Amazon, and myself,” Jaelle said quietly. “Let me send a message to the Guild House and my partner Rafaella can be arranging the transport.” And suddenly she knew the answer to the whole complicated business. Peter could not prevent her from doing the work she had been hired to do in the Terran Zone. She would assign herself on this mission - she had enough authority for that - to guide them into the Hellers to Aldaran. And this would remove her from Peter’s presence, which had been so galling to her for so long, and when she came back - which would hardly be before the autumn - she could quietly file for divorce by Terran law.

She took paper and writing stylus and quickly scribbled a note to Rafaella, to be sent to Guild House at once. “Rafi may still be sleeping.” Last night was a holiday and probably Rafaella danced in the dawn. But as soon as she wakes, this will bring her, and she will start assembling people and horses, guides and pack animals. How many men will you have for escort?”

Monty gave her the details. She picked up, dimly, that he was astonished at her efficiency; he had not seen her before this in the special sphere of her competence. They talked about days on the trail, man-days of food, the best purveyor for travel clothing, which she insisted should be of natural leathers and furs rather than the Terran synthetics, and he managed to requisition purchase orders for the supplies they would need. Men had to be chosen too for the mission; Monty had access to Personnel records and knew which of the available men came from cold, inhospitable or mountainous planets and could therefore tolerate and even enjoy an excursion into the worst terrain and worst weather on Darkover.

This work was so familiar to her that by the time she had made out the preliminary listings, and arranged for Rafaella to meet with Monty at noon, she was over the worst of her ill-humor. She checked out his clothing carefully, and even went to her own quarters for the small packets of sachet that she had rubbed into the seams of her dress last night; then, hesitating, stopped to ask herself whether the scents and herbs she had used might not be unsuitable for a man’s clothing. She went and sniffed the seams of the holiday gear Peter had flung on the floor, when he came in drunk. No, these were different - or as nearly as she could make out through the overwhelming smell of whisky on them.

“Jaelle!” said Peter behind her, almost apologetic. “Love, you don’t have to deal with those things; you’re not my valet. Anyhow, in the shape they’re in, there’s nothing to do but chuck them into the disposal; they’re hardly worth cleaning.”

She smiled and shook her head. “I’ll have them cleaned in the Old Town,” she said. “They’ll look all the more authentic when you go into the field again. That’s why I’m here - Monty’s going into the field with a consignment - aircraft for Aldaran or something like that.”

“Damn! Of course, as the Old Man’s son he’d be in line for any favorable assignment,” Peter grumbled.

“If you think he really wants to take this away from you, you are very much mistaken,” she said slowly, “though there are other assignments in the field which will bring you more prestige than this. Monty would appreciate having your help in checking out his fitness for Intelligence - Cholayna seems to be taking the day off,” she added artfully, and immediately he was the Terran Peter again, eager to seize the slightest advantage.

“Right; I’ll go check out his kit,” he said. “He’ll probably have to requisition the right kind of boots.” He turned to go, saying, “Meet me for lunch, will you, Jaelle?” He came back to kiss her, and her heart almost melted then. He was so dear to her. Perhaps all they needed was time, time to adjust, to grow together…

“In the main cafeteria,” she specified. “I simply cannot eat the synthetics upstairs,” and he nodded, gently patting her tummy.

“Junior doesn’t like synthetics? All right; nothing but the best for my boy,” he said.

“Peter, Rohana told me it was a daughter - “

“Don’t be silly, darling. Even the Terran Medics could hardly be sure about it - you’re not even two months pregnant yet. We’ll wait for the scientific verification, all right? If you want to enjoy thinking about a daughter, all right, sweetheart - you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of being right, after all - but I’m still betting on Peter, Junior! Anyway, I’ll see you in the main cafeteria at lunchtime or a little after.” He kissed her quickly again with the habitual, reflex glance at the clock, and was gone.

Jaelle smothered her anger and went down to talk with the supply people about horses for the journey. They were eager to supply trucks to carry the heavy equipment across the plains, but she pointed out that there were no suitable roads, and the days in the saddle before going up into the mountains would be valuable in acclimatizing the men to the altitudes of the Hellers. “Have you no knowledge of mountain sickness, if they are transported too swiftly to higher altitudes?”

“We can deal with mountain sickness, we have drugs for it,” the Transport officer said, but Jaelle insisted quietly, “It would be better not to let them depend on drugs, since they will be in the far country and away from your - ” she groped for the word, to her surprise found it in the man’s mind without trying, “your - lifeline - of medical help.”

“You certainly have a point, Mrs. Haldane I understand from Monty that you’re coming into the mountains with us; you know the Hellers?”

“Lady Rohana Ardais is a kinswoman of mine and I have visited her in Ardais lands many times; also, my business partner and I have led expeditions into the Hellers before this,” she said. “Rafaella knows every trail in the Hellers.”

“We can certainly use someone who does.”

“It will not trouble you to work with a woman?”

“Look, Mrs. Haldane,” he said, so seriously that for once she did not protest the refused name, “When I have to work with somebody, I don’t give a cat’s whisker whether it’s a man, a woman or a sentient dolphin, providing it knows its job. I’ve worked on enough planets not to quibble with brains, whatever body they happen to come packaged in. Haven’t seen many women on this one, but I understand the head of Intelligence here is a woman, and I heard scuttlebutt around the Division that they sent a woman here, because there was a woman in the Coordinator’s office who had practically set up the whole Intelligence operation singlehanded by her fieldwork - you know who Magdalen Lorne was, don’t you? I mean, I figured Haldane would have told you, he was married to her once. Or have I spoken out of turn?”

“No,” she said. “I know Magda’s work,” and she wondered again if because of Peter’s personal limitations she had been drawn into wronging the Terrans. They had, after all, brought Cholayna here; and had been wise enough to see that the Renunciates would be the best beginning when the people of both planets must work together.

Maybe it is not the Terran in Peter I find objectionable; maybe it is his Darkovan side which insists I must be no more than his wife and mother of his children… other Terran men are not like that. And if Cholayna is right I must unconsciously be a child of the Dry Towns and unconsciously wish to belong to a man, claimed as his property…

The thought was so disquieting that she shoved it aside swiftly as the communication speaker interrupted them.

“For Mrs. Haldane; a personal message, a Darkovan woman at the gates.” And Jaelle went to hear Rafaella’s voice coming over the speaker.

“I understand I am to help you set up an expedition for these Terrans,” she said, and Jaelle turned to the Transport Officer with relief.