‘Greeting, Clansmen and goodfolk,’ he said. ‘Peace and welfare be yours.’ Wind seized the formality and scattered it like the dead leaves that tumbled past.
‘Greeting,’ responded Hald. ‘May I ask your name and errand?’
Dumbfounded, Lorens could merely exclaim, ‘You know me!’
‘These witnesses require your name and errand, sir.’
Some point of Dordoynais law or custom? This is not gentle Bourgoyn, where Faylis and I played as children amidst the vineyards
. ‘I am … Ashcroft Lorens Mayn, colonel in the Terran Guard, lately made castlekeeper of Beynac and environs. I have come to assume my duties.’ Impulse: ‘You knew that! I called ahead, after you received written notification –’
‘We have received no notification of your appointment according to ancient usage. Therefore we have received no notification at all.’
Lorens struck fist on saddlebow, mastered himself, and said with a mildness that cost him much: ‘Hald, you know these are extraordinary times. This is an area vital to the security of the Domain,’
these wild and rugged hills, shelter for bandits or rebels
. ‘Its proper superintendence could not wait on conventional procedures’
when not a single qualified Talence will accept the post under Jovain
. ‘The Captain used his emergency power to appoint me. I am the brother of the missing castlekeeper’s wife. My intention
is
to care for the interests of his family, and especially of the people, your people, Hald. As soon as someone of the blood can be regularized, I’ll step down in his favor.’
‘When will that be, and how many garrisons will you first have set in our midst?’ Hald also must struggle for restraint. His followers stirred and glared. Guardsmen’s knuckles whitened above the grips of their weapons. The officer turned to Ans Debyron. ‘Read the declaration of refusal,’ he said thickly. ‘You drew it up.’
The secretary bowed, stepped forward, and unrolled his parchment. Red and white chased each other across his smooth cheeks. His voice sometimes wavered or cracked. But the words fell forth like stones:
‘Imploring the mercy of Deu, invoking the anims of the Ancestors, we, the men of Py Beynac, assembled on this date of –’
Lorens heard a mumbled curse or two behind him. He sat half listening, feeling less shock than might have been expected, and more tiredness.
‘– old rights confirmed by the Treaty of Périgueux, whereby
Dordoyn became a state of the Domain –’
But that was centuries ago. The time is long overpast for Franceterr to be once more a true nation, oneness within Oneness. How dare they set their will against it?
‘– call upon all sons of Py Beynac and their brothers throughout Dordoyn –’
They dare
.
‘– do not recognize the authority, under any circumstances whatsoever, to name a person as castlekeeper who is not legitimately a Ferlay –’
Faylis has cast Iern from her, now they cast her from them
.
‘– maintain loyalty to the Domain and its established institutions, which include Ileduciel and the Aerogens, while such loyalty be mutual; but violation of law, usage, and rights is treason. We call for a meeting of the Clan Seniors and the heads of the several states, to inquire –’
They aren’t actually rebelling, yet. Skyholm can blast into smoke any army they may field. But what of guerrillas? What of refusal to deal? Skyholm cannot scorch the land itself. That would be an offense against Gaea second only to unleashing the atom; and without supplies from the ground, Skyholm will soon fall from heaven
.
‘– wherefore, Ashcroft Lorens Mayn, we ask that you go from us peacefully, but we require that you go.’
He heard out the signatures and titles. Ans withdrew, breathing hard. Lorens formed a smile of sorts. ‘You make things very clear,’ he said through the wind. ‘You are sadly misled, but of course I don’t want trouble and I will return home. Are we offered hospitality for the night?’
‘No,’ said Talence Hald Tireur.
Lorens turned in the saddle to gesture caution at his indignant party and informed Iern’s Clansman, ‘We’ll find an inn. Don’t punish the landlord for receiving us. Let’s keep relations as smooth as may be.’
Hald responded with a brief nod. Lorens brought his horse around for the downward ride. It began to rain in earnest.
4
In the Captain’s lofty office, Jovain peered across his desk and said, ‘This is a grave matter. Perhaps a capital matter.’
The lean, white-haired woman sat unmoved. ‘Then please get to the point, sir,’ she replied. ‘I told you when you summoned me
back here, it was a damned inconvenient moment.’
‘You did not explain why, Colonel.’
‘Wasn’t it obvious?’ Vosmaer Tess Rayman asked. He must needs admire how skillfully she modulated her tones. The note of scorn was never quite identifiable as such. ‘My command is as restive as any. The boys know nothing except that your announced intention is to cut down on the military in general and storm control in particular. When, how much, in what ways? Uncertainty is worse than the ax itself. They bitch, they get into trouble off base, they start thinking more about home and kin – the old securities of the regions they came from – than about their service.’ He opened his mouth; she hushed him by lifting a finger. ‘I don’t so much mean pilots and staff recruited from the Aerogens. They’re more conspicuous and more articulate, but the Air Force is just a fraction of their lives. I’m thinking of career personnel, mostly groundling-born, few of them flyers – mechanics, traffic controllers, computermen, electronicians, quartermasters, cooks, the whole underpinning of our organization. Their morale is pretty badly shaken.’
‘Already? Nothing has happened yet.’ Jovain frowned. ‘Nor have I heard about this problem.’
‘You wouldn’t have … yet. Sir. A person has to be close to such things – in the beginning – to see. After they explode, anybody can tell, but then it’s too late. We of the officer’s corps have been trying to find ways we might head off trouble and recommendations we can make to the Captain.’
Distracted despite himself
(Do I encounter anything but distractions, I who meant to bring a benign revolution
?). Jovain tugged his beard and said, ‘Consider reminding them that the armed forces and auxiliaries exist to serve the Domain, not the other way around. If a reduction in size and role
is
called for, be assured that this will be a phase-out, not a chop-off, and nobody will lose what he or she has earned a right to.’
‘Apart from the meaning of their lives – a meaning they’ll have to seek elsewhere,’ Tess retorted. ‘Your Dignity’ – he realized that she reverted to the principal honorific as a method of emphasis – ‘please bear in mind that a large part of what’s held the peoples and states of the Domain together has been the things they
do
together.’
Jovain gathered resolution. ‘I am not unaware of that, Colonel. I
submit that it is time for us to abandon obsolete institutions and practices and seek new goals. But meanwhile, as for unity –’
He straightened till he felt his back muscles stretch. ‘Let me be frank,’ he said. ‘I believe you deserve no less. There can be honest differences of opinion as to what’s best for the Domain. I respect them. In fact, I’m eager to take them into account, and disappointed at the lack of response to my overtures. But what we must have is unity. Dissent, properly expressed,
is
one matter. Conspiracy, or outright insurrection, is another.’
‘Indeed it is,’ she said dryly.
That stung. ‘Colonel Tess,’ he snapped, ‘I am giving you the privilege of discussing with me, personally, a very serious question that has been raised about: your actions.’ He drew breath. ‘A warrant of inquiry is out for Talence Iern Ferlay. It has been widely publicized. If he is willfully failing to appear, that makes him a fugitive from the law. If he has not appeared because somehow he came to grief, then whoever withholds pertinent information commits a felony.’ He attempted a smile. ‘I myself wish him well. We’ve had our disagreements, true, but I’m genuinely anxious about him.’
‘Indeed you are, sir.’
Is she being impassive or is she being sarcastic? Ignore that. Attack
. ‘Colonel, either he parachuted from here or he fell to his death. There
is
no third possibility. Our teams ransacked Skyholm and every departing aircraft, as you well remember. Investigators ascertained that a man answering closely enough to his description bluffed his way past a sentry out onto an inspection platform, did not return, and had a parachute. It’s well known that you and he were rather close. Investigators found another guard who, earlier, noticed a certain person carrying off the equipment for such a dive. Depth-recall technique brought out a description which could belong to your son Dany.
‘The inference is obvious,’ Jovain finished. ‘Have you any comment?’
‘Yes, sir.’ Her manner remained cool. ‘This is nothing but hearsay, from a span of time when the whole aerostat was in turmoil and nobody could possibly be a reliable witness to anything – least of all those outsiders you imported.’
Then you deny complicity?’
‘Sir, by the code of the Aerogens,
you
have no right to ask such
questions.’ Tess reared her head more high than before, amidst the relics filling this room.
‘Where
is
Vosmaer Dany Rayman?’
Tess grinned. ‘How should I know? I gave him a well-earned furlough, and he’s a healthy young bachelor.’
‘You force me to issue a warrant for inquiry for him too.’
‘The Captain of Skyholm has that prerogative.’
‘I can bring charges against you, Colonel.’
‘The Captain of Skyholm may request my superior officers or the Seniors of my Clan to bring charges.’ Tess gave him a moment to consider her precise phrasing. ‘I suggest you refrain, sir. I’ve explained that those so-called statements are worthless. A court-martial, let alone a Clan court, would throw them out like garbage.’
The Clans and the officers stand by their brethren
. Acid washed up into Jovain’s gullet and burned. ‘I can arrest you on my own authority, remember.’
‘And hold me for a limited time before I must be tried. Sir, again I don’t recommend it. My associates and I are too busy already, trying to knit an unraveling fabric back together.’
Against what contingency?
Jovain swallowed the acid. ‘Very well, Colonel,’ he said. ‘Since you refuse cooperation’ – humor flickered – ‘or else deny that cooperation
is
possible, you may return to your … duties. You will inform the Terran Guard as soon as you have word of your son Dany. Please be advised, I do not regard the officer corps as an independent entity, and will take measures to make it more candid and responsible than hitherto. Good day, madame.’
She rose, saluted, and left.
Quietness succeeded her, the whisperings and quiverings of Skyholm amidst thin stratospheric winds, the eternal silence of the infinities beyond. A stench of his sweat insulted Jovain. Exhaustion rolled over him. He put elbows on desk, buried face in hands.
Faylis, Faylis!
But no, first he had work to do, always more work. Vosmaer Tess Rayman might be an extreme case, but she was also an early warning. Disaffection in the armed forces – no direct menace to Skyholm, which could smite any unit of theirs with lightning; but as an element of unrest throughout the land – He needed to confer with persons he could trust, those who supported him and his cause. He rang for his aide. This day was going to turn into a long night.
5
At sunset, the women left Carnac. It was a clear and frosty evening, wherein a streak of red above the western horizon soon smoldered out, leaving a greenish sky that rapidly darkened. Eastward the color was purple-black, and Ileduciel glimmered low above a line of forest whose silhouette was turning skeletal. When the town was behind them and they were out on the highway, the feet of the women rang on frozen dirt, crackled over thin ice patches, rustled through fallen leaves.
They numbered about a hundred, ordinary Breizheg housewives, maidens, grandmothers suddenly become strange in their cloaks and cowls. They carried no lanterns, for the road was familiar to them and the moon would have risen when they went home; but each bore a candle and a means of lighting it. They walked in no particular order, and had no ban on talk, but somehow they made a procession, and what muffled speech passed among them was like a dirge.
‘– blasphemy … bad luck … saint-forsaken … murderers … revenge, so the poor ghosts may have peace –’
Rosenn kept reminding herself that what had happened the day before was only a riot, and what was to happen this night would only be a gesture. The Gaeans wanted to establish a center in Carnac for the benefit of visitors who shared their beliefs –and, admittedly, in the hope of making converts. Captain Jovain was frank about his intentions; he would ‘encourage cultural exchange’ and ‘guarantee freedom of expression for all faiths and philosophies.’ No community might forbid construction of a Gaean center on real estate bought and paid for. The rumor flew that the Captain’s treasury was assisting such purchases, which was within his discretion but did not sit well with sailors and farmers who had also heard rumors that there was to be no more storm control. A deeper root of trouble, Rosenn thought, was the conservatism of these pysans. Jovain had not understood that. Carnac, why, Carnac was not far from cosmopolitan Kemper, and a seaport itself. … He claimed his world-view embraced eons, but he had no real conception of ancientness. He could not admit that a people may have a right to preserve their own nature, a right to be intolerant.
And thus, last week a group armed with knives, fish spears,
scythes, and clubs had told the imported workers who were breaking ground to cease and desist. The mayor of Carnac rejected protests directly from Ileduciel, and cited guarantees of autonomy in the treaty of union. The Terran Guard sent a detachment to protect the workers; a mob gathered; stones were thrown, shots fired; three young men of the town lay dead. Work stopped again, and careful, conciliatory phrases went between mayor, Mestromor, and the lords aloft.