Cadmians Choice (12 page)

After using the Table
from Norda to reach the one in the Hall of Justice in Elcien, Dainyl made his
way from the Table chamber up and out of the hall. He stepped out into an afternoon
far warmer than it had been in Norda. He was still bemused by the fact that
when he traveled by Table, he crossed Coras faster than did the sun. He had
left Norda after sunset and arrived in Elcien by mid-afternoon.

After hailing a
hacker on the boulevard, he took the coach to Myrmidon headquarters. There he
dropped his gear in his study and knocked on the marshal’s door before stepping
inside, since his Talent-sense revealed that no one was with Shastylt.

The marshal looked
up, a momentary expression of annoyance crossing his face. “You’ve returned
early, far sooner than might be wise.”

Dainyl looked tiredly
at Shastylt. “I’m far from done, but I’d like it reported ... or let it be
known ... that I’m here.”

“You do look a bit
worn. I hope that the duties of your position don’t prove overtaxing, the way
they did with Tyanylt.”

Dainyl smiled
politely. “Normally, it wouldn’t be any problem at all, but my arm and leg are
not quite fully healed. I have run into a wild translation on one Table and an
inadvertent assassination attempt in Norda, because the assistant to the
recorder feared I might be a wild translation. In addition to that, I had to
deal with ... I have no idea what to call it when a Recorder of Deeds gets
possessed by something through the Table. There wasn’t much I could do except
let events take their course.”

“Yes ... I did
receive a report from the High Alector of Justice ... something about the
Recorder of Deeds in Alustre having apparently died around the time of your
departure. Most unfortunate, I fear.”

“From my point of
view, it could have been even more unfortunate...”

“You look like you’ve
survived well enough.” Shastylt’s smile was perfunctory. “What have you
learned?”

“That you have every
right to be concerned, and that there’s no proof at all of anything.”

The marshal frowned. “That
seems to be contradictory.”

“Brekylt made an
interesting comment. We were standing over his gardens the other night, and
they are magnificent. He observed that one must often work with what is, rather
than base actions on a plan developed centuries before. He concluded by noting
that we had to be gardeners as well as administrators. After that, he would
only talk pleasantries.”

“Ah ... I understand.
Everything is so precisely as it should be.”

“And Brekylt has put
out the word, if quietly, that younger and more able alectors without contacts
who do not wish to be Myrmidons will be rewarded for their ability if they
chose to serve in the east.”

For the briefest
moment, Dainyl could sense surprise from Shastylt, although the marshal’s
facial expression changed not in the slightest. “That is not surprising.”

“Not in itself,”
Dainyl agreed pleasantly. “Also, Alcyna has been transferring Myrmidons from
company to company, and not just subsequent to promotions.”

“To reduce loyalty to
the company and increase loyalty to her, no doubt.”

“I thought that might
well be the reason.” Dainyl was far from sure it was the only reason, but he
saw no point in saying that because he didn’t know what else the other
submarshal had in mind.

“You had said you
were not finished. What do you plan?”

“After catching up on
various reports, a good night’s sleep, another day here, and then, at the
beginning of next week, some more unannounced inspections and tours in the east.
While everything is controlled from Alustre, nothing will be discovered there.”

“You intend to travel
by Table from Elcien on a regular basis, instead of going from Table to Table
in the east?”

“I intend to
alternate. For the moment, that would seem far more effective.” Dainyl laughed.
“I need to check some matters here for a day or so. When I return to the east,
I will be rising very early.”

“So you will. How
long will you pursue such a course?”

“Until I learn what
you need to know, sir.” Dainyl paused. “Submarshal Alcyna issued standing
orders to Majer Noryan on how to deal with the ancients several months before
there were encounters with any ancients.”

Shastylt did not
bother to conceal his surprise. “You’re sure of that?”

“She indicated she
had issued orders, and Noryan confirmed the timing. Oh ... you might know this,
but she also has been sending reports on the ancients directly to Lyterna.”

“Do you know to whom?”

“She did not say, and
there was no record of those reports in any of the files. I did not press.”

“That was wise. I
should have you visit more places. Do keep me posted, Submarshal.”

Dainyl understood the
dismissal. “That I will, sir.” He inclined his head, stepped out of the study,
closing the door behind himself.

As he walked back to
his own study, he reflected on Shastylt’s reaction. The marshal clearly had
known that Alcyna was sending reports to someone in Lyterna, yet he had not
known that she had been aware of the danger posed by the ancients before any of
the attacks on Myrmidons and pteridons. He also had not known about Brekylt’s
efforts to recruit alectors personally loyal to him and not necessarily to the
Duarches. More important, Shastylt continued to conceal his own agenda—and that
of High Alector Zelyert.

Dainyl did not bother
to close the door to his own study. Even after only five days, reports were
stacked on Dainyl’s table desk. For a long moment, he just looked at them. Then
he turned and walked to the archives, where he began to search through the
older reports, searching for the Fourth Company reports filed about the loss of
pteridons in Scien. In less than a quarter glass he had found them—and they
read exactly as had those he had read in Alustre.

Was his memory
failing him? He distinctly remembered that there had been two separate reports
of losses.

He continued to
search, but found nothing that supported his recollections. Then he checked the
writing of the report, but it was the same as all the others in the Fourth
Company file, and it matched what Majer Noryan had said. That suggested the
first reports had been wrong in some fashion—and had been replaced with the
correct ones after the fact. Was that because someone knew Dainyl would be
inspecting in the east? Had Alcyna originally wanted to conceal her strategies
for dealing with the ancients?

Dainyl shook his
head. How could he prove that Alcyna—or Brekylt—had managed to replace false
reports with accurate ones? And since the reports had been his direct
responsibility at the time, even mentioning a substitution that he could not
prove would do him little good and much harm. No one was about to listen to the
fact that he’d been sent to Dramur during that time.

Finally, he turned
and walked back to his study, still convinced the original reports had been
replaced. But by whom?

Back in his study,
his eyes fell on the stack of reports. It looked taller than when he had left.
Slowly, he sat down and began to read. The majority of the reports, he just
glanced through and set aside. He was looking for any information dealing with
either past areas of difficulty, areas where signs indicated emerging troubles,
or anything dealing with the ancient soarers. The report on Dramur was
favorable. Majer Dohark of the Cadmians appeared to have matters well in hand
there. The Fourth Cadmian Battalion, Mounted Rifles, was on its way to Iron
Stem, suggesting that problem was still not fully under control. No more
skylances had vanished from Dereka.

While Dainyl looked
for any information on Hyalt, the only reference was in the report from the
Cadmian headquarters. Third Battalion, under the command of a Majer Mykel, was
being dispatched to complete the pacification of the area and the training and
rebuilding of a local garrison.

Dainyl smiled
uneasily. Based on what Mykel had accomplished in Dramur, the majer was
doubtless the most qualified for the assignment, but the majer was far from
conventional in his tactics and approach. Given the fact that the Hyalt
situation had been created by a wild lander Talent, and that Mykel possessed
latent Talent, Dainyl reminded himself to follow the Cadmian effort in Hyalt
closely as it developed... assuming he could, with Shastylt’s preoccupation
with what was happening in Alustre.

Even though he forced
himself to read through the reports, what Dainyl really wanted to do was to go
home to Lystrana. He needed to discuss what he had discovered with her. He also
looked forward to having an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

Almost immediately
after dinner, one where Dainyl and Lystrana discussed the weather and other
pleasantries, they made their way up to their bedchamber, leaving the two
serving girls to clean up. Dainyl made certain that the door was closed before
he removed his boots, tunic, and trousers, and stretched out on the long bed. “It
feels so good to take the weight off that leg.”

“You have more on
your mind than that.” With a smile, she added, “And more than me, and that’s
unusual when you’ve been gone.”

“I’m worried.”

“You’re always
worried these days.”

“Let me tell you what
happened, first....” Dainyl recounted his visit, event by event, including the
matter of the altered reports—and the wild translation that had not
disintegrated.

“The translation—that
happens sometimes,” said Lystrana. “I’ve heard of that. Despite their
appearance, it’s as if the translation changes them from alectors into landers
... or something else related to them.”

“I wonder how that
happens.”

“I don’t know. Asulet
might.”

Dainyl nodded. If he
ever saw the senior alector again in person, he could ask—if he remembered.

“What do you think
about the reports?” she asked.

“The Third Company
reports had to have been changed recently,” he pointed out, “when someone let
Alcyna know I’d be coming east.” He stopped. He was so tired, but he should
have seen the obvious. “Dhenyr. He’s the only one in headquarters who knew what
I’d be doing. He either did it, or told someone who did.”

“Someone had to use a
Table, if the reports are written in the same hand.”

Dainyl liked that not
at all. “Then... that means a high alector or someone like you, a chief
assistant.”

Lystrana nodded.

There was little
enough he could do about that, except watch. He had held back one matter until
the last.”... Oh, I also met with Kaparyk in Alustre. He had nothing but
compliments about you. He did say to tell you that Chief Engineer Rensyl in
Fordall has adopted the same accounting systems as Azerdyl once used, in
dealing with transport and road maintenance accounts of the eastern region.”

Lystrana stiffened. “Did
he say it that way?”

“Exactly. He also did
not answer when I asked him if this might be of interest to the marshal. He
said, instead, that it was complex and that you could explain it far better
than he could. That suggested to me that some sort of military equipment is
being fabricated under the rubric of road construction.”

“Azerdyl led the
abortive eastern rebellion two centuries back. He was the head alector of
finance in the east, and the High Alector of the East was under his personal
shadowmatch.”

“But Kaparyk used the
words ‘accounting systems.’“

“That suggests that
Rensyl is using them under Brekylt’s direction.” She frowned. “You’re right to
be worried.”

“Some aspects are
clear enough, but others ... I can’t see where they’re coming from.” Dainyl
stifled a yawn.

“You’re tired. It’s
been a long day, and you’ve traveled the Tables as well.”

“I am tired,” he
admitted, “but too worried to sleep yet. Not well, anyway. Then there’s
Shastylt. He knows Alcyna and Brekylt are plotting something, and yet he’s not
doing anything.”

“Oh ... but he is.”

Dainyl laughed
softly. “What am I doing? Upsetting matters enough to provoke them into
premature action or forcing them to postpone their plans? Or worse yet, setting
myself up as a target, thereby providing Zelyert and Shastylt—-through my
death—with a rationale and a means to guide both Duarches?”

“What do you think?”

“The third. Shastylt’s
reactions don’t make sense otherwise.”

“Unless that’s what
he wants you to think,” Lystrana offered, settling herself onto the corner of
the overlarge bed.

“Why would he make it
so obvious? What deeper motive could he have?”

“What about setting
up Elyertv then he can advise the Duarches—and he still would have direct
control over the Myrmidons, especially with Alcyna gone.”

“So ... that’s his
way of warning me without actually saying so, because he doesn’t want to take
anyone into his confidences? He figures that I’ll be loyal out of necessity, if
I survive. If I don’t, I can’t reveal anything along the way.”

“He also knows you’ll
be honest and loyal out of personal integrity.”

“Isn’t that what the
Views of the Highest says? That we won’t survive without integrity or some
such?”

Lystrana laughed
ironically. “Shastylt should reread it.”

Dainyl shook his
head. The higher he rose in the Myrmidons, the more complex—and the more deadly—the
plots and intrigues became. “You didn’t seem to think it was military equipment
that Rensyl was hiding in the transport accounts. What else could it be?”

“Road-building
equipment. That’s under the Myrmidon control and guarded by Alcyna.”

Dainyl only had to
think briefly about the road-building equipment he had viewed in Alustre before
nodding. “Will it bring down a pteridon?”

“It might. It also
might be sufficiently powerful to destroy an ancient.”