Watcher's Web (36 page)

She bristled.
“My parents call me Jessica.”

Then she felt
irritated that she defended a name she had never liked, not even as
a child. She did like her real name, it was just that she didn’t
like the way he was so definite about it, as if the previous
seventeen years of her life had been worth nothing.

For a moment,
their eyes met. She received no feelings or images from his mind,
as if he had walled himself off.

On the floor
before him lay a crudely-drawn map of the city, the stiff sheet
held down by the weight of a Mirani crossbow.

Daya rose
gracefully, picked up the weapon and dumped it in Jessica’s hands.
It was so heavy she almost dropped it.

She glared at
him. “What am I supposed to do with this bloody thing?” Wasn’t he
going to talk to her at all?

“A little
demonstration. Let’s go outside.”

He preceded
her through the corridor, out the back door into the yard.

Puddles
glistened on the pavement in the advancing night. Somewhere a few
streets down people yelled.

“Stand there.”
Daya gestured at the corner, where someone a long time ago had
dumped a pile of old wood. “Aim there.”

Jessica
glanced at the metal slide—empty. “This thing isn’t even
loaded.”

He rearranged
the weapon in her arms, her right hand fitting the handle. The soft
skin of the underside of his forearm lingered against her knuckles.
His eyes met hers and some of the warmth in them returned. His
alluring scent drifted on the wind.

Please,
do this for me. Only you can show this to them. It’s
important.

Her thumb
found the release. He continued in a business-like tone, “You hold
it like this and press there. Stand back.” This to the Pengali who
had swarmed into the yard.

They shuffled
against the wall of the house, surrounding the small group of
councillors, who had remained on the stairs and inside the
door.

Jessica’s arms
trembled from the strain of lifting the metal crossbow. “I can’t
aim.” Drops of rain ran down her forehead.

“
Doesn’t
matter. Just shoot.”
The secret is to aim with your mind.

Jessica
squinted at the wall on the other side of the courtyard and pressed
the release. In a metallic click, so fast it was impossible to see
how it happened, an arrow shot up from underneath the slide.
Jessica gasped. Yes, she now saw that the arrows consisted of two
pieces of metal at a ninety degree angle which could be folded flat
and stacked inside the handle.
Fold-up automatic reload arrows?

Daya
nodded.
Shoot.

Jessica took a
deep breath, lifted the crossbow in trembling arms and pressed the
release again.

A chill
tore at her senses, growing into a whirlwind of energy. Sparks flew
from her skin as with a long metallic
zhing,
the arrow shot loose. Jessica panicked and clamped her hand
tighter, sending another arrow flying, and another one and another
one in a metal stream that sucked a vortex of sparks in its
wake.

The arrows hit
a broken crate. Blue light sparked over its surface, down the pile
of rubbish, up the wall behind it. Lightning crackled. Splinters of
wood and sandy grit flew everywhere, mixed with steam and dust and
droplets of water.

Pengali
screamed and pushed back into the house in a tumble of bodies.

Jessica stood
there, staring at the gap where the wall had been. Holy shit—an
automatic fire-spewing crossbow.

It
uses avya.
Daya’s
face was white, but he sounded composed when he spoke. “I think we
can go back inside now.”

Jessica
couldn’t wait to get rid of that horrid weapon. Daya took it from
her and once back inside the hall, laid it on the floor. He knelt
next to it, undid the springs, removed the slide and took out a
small object, which he held up between thumb and index finger. A
simple glass bead the size of a marble. Dark eyes met Jessica’s
over the top of it. “Have you seen this before?”

Yes, Jessica
had. That first night in the city, in the apartment. She remembered
the blue glow of the beads in the crate, picking one up and having
her heat flow into it until it exploded.

Daya held it
out to her. “Here.”

She shook her
head. No way she would touch one of those again.

Instead, he
passed the bead to Ikay, who took in a sharp breath and dropped it.
It rolled over the floor and came to rest in a hollow where a tile
was missing, radiating soft blue.

Jessica licked
her lips. “What is it?”

Daya picked up
the bead. “This stone can be enriched to collect life energy, which
it releases into the arrow when the crossbow is fired. A normal
crossbow is a dangerous weapon, but limited and old-fashioned.
These, however . . .” He let the bead roll onto the
floor again; it sparked with energy. “You saw what happens. I
suppose you felt the cold chill, too?” A touch of his warmth laced
his eyes.

Jessica
nodded.

“Life energy
is the most powerful form of energy we know. There’s only a tiny
bit in these beads; imagine what a larger weapon could do.”

A hoarse voice
said, “A larger weapon? You mean a bigger one of these?” Councillor
Semisu stared at Daya with wide eyes.

“Like this, or
something else, but equally or more destructive. If you load a
projectile with enough of this energy, one throw of a stone brings
down an entire building. If the conditions are right, it attracts
more energy and starts a chain reaction.”

Jessica tried
to recall what Iztho had said about Miran, but remembered only
statements about clean air and honest values. She had been so
stupid and ignorant. “Is Miran at war?”

“Not at war as
such, but Miran’s relationships with several other entities are
always tense. Miran has been involved in plenty of wars.”

“Who were they
fighting?”

“Asto mostly,
or any of the other Coldi entities.”

Councillor
Semisu said, “Where do you stand in all of this? I thought you
hated the Coldi.”

Daya’s face
grew emotionless. “I grew up on Asto, and being zhadya-born, was a
second-rate citizen amongst the Coldi. I’ve since lived at Hedron,
which is mostly Coldi, too. My father . . .”
Councillors’ faces tightened; talk died down. “All right—I’ll say
it once and let everyone in this town know it, and keep their
silence hereafter. My biological father is Thania Lingui, who holds
the position of Chief Coordinator of Asto, but that doesn’t mean I
condone Asto’s position or actions, nor does it mean that I align
myself with those who call themselves Asto’s enemies. I represent
the displaced Aghyrians, and we have no position in this ongoing
conflict between Asto and Miran.”

No, Jessica
saw it now. The Coldi hated the zhadya-born Aghyrians, but the
Coldi also had a bad relationship with Miran. Now Miran wanted to
entice the Aghyrians to fight the Coldi as revenge.

Daya
continued, “The Mirani have found that only some of the zhadya-born
have our abilities, and they need more. Here in Barresh is a whole
population of people who have inherited from our forefathers the
ability to draw energy in their bodies. Miran is behind this
investigation into the crash. They’re pushing for the closure of
the Barresh Exchange to increase their control over Barresh. When
Barresh becomes an official part of Miran, people can be forcibly
relocated and there’s not a thing anyone can do.”

“But Iztho
just admitted to me that the translocation was his fault.”

Daya raised
his eyebrows at her, as if she shouldn’t refer to this man by his
first name.

“Miran will
deny it. They will destroy the evidence. They already have, since
the Barresh Exchange hasn’t been able to find a rogue translocation
in the Exchange records. If Iztho Andrahar speaks out, Miran will
shut him up.”

Jessica
felt sick. She remembered how Iztho had lied to the Mirani soldier
who had come to the door.
Shut him up.
No, she didn’t want that either. Iztho made a mistake, but
she refused to think that he was a bad man. “You mean this hearing
with the council was all for nothing?”

“No, not for
nothing. You have given Pengali hope.” This was a softly-spoken
voice, belonging to an older Pengali male who had been sitting
silently amongst the councillors.

Jessica
whirled to face him. “Hope? What sort of hope is this? We uncover
the truth, and in the end we achieve nothing?” She spread her
hands; her cheeks grew hot with anger.

Councillor
Semisu still looked at the crossbow. “If Miran has weapons like
those, do we have a chance at all? We, Barresh, are only this
big . . .” He held his thumb and index finger a hair
width apart, “. . . and they
are . . .” He spread his arms, nearly hitting the
councillor next to him in his face.

“All the
evidence in the case of the Exchange will be covered up. No one
could prove Mirani involvement. And now the Mirani soldiers are all
over the streets.”

Daya nodded.
“Our only hope is to get help from outside—we must bring this to
the attention of the Union Assembly.”

Councillor
Semisu snorted. “What can the Union do? Do you think they care
about an entity as small as Barresh?”

“The Union
cares about one thing: peace and stability. Barresh may be small,
but the issue is not. Think of it: what we have here is an invasion
of an independent entity. If the Union sends its peace guards and
Miran is caught outside its mandate before the eyes of all Union
members, or if it even obstructs a Union inquiry, the Union
Assembly could vote to suspend Miran from the Exchange
network.”

The councillor
harrumphed. “Another one who believes in the Union as the source of
all good.”

“I believe the
Union is fair, or at least attempting to be so, to those who obey
their laws. No acts of war, no inciting unrest in other entities.
Think of what happened to Indrahui—they suffered total isolation
for more than ten years. No Exchange, no travel, no export, no
import. I don’t think Miran wants to follow them into that abyss.
Yes, I think the Union is our best option. The only problem is
getting to Union headquarters without the Barresh node in
operation.”

“You can fly
to Miran and use their Exchange”

“Yes, I think
that would be a good idea.” Daya’s tone was wry but his face showed
no emotion. “Although it’s my experience they have an interesting
way to deal with foreign visitors—”

The Pengali
male interrupted, eyes wide. “But going to Miran would be most
unwise. You—” The rest of his speech was drowned in laughter.

Councillor
Semisu patted the man on the shoulder. “Sheida, you Pengali must
learn to recognise when someone is joking.” More laughter went up
at Sheida’s puzzled face.

Daya motioned
for silence. “How long would it take to get the Exchange going?
What do we need? Which parts are shut down?”

Councillor
Semisu shook his head. “Everything has shut down. I presume the
core could easily be reconnected, if the Exchange had pearls to run
the auxiliary equipment.” He cast a fierce look at Sheida.

The Pengali
straightened his back. “Us Pengali were not going to be mistreated
without a fight.”

“
We
keihu
weren’t mistreating you.”

“You keihu
introduced the law about Pengali working in the city having to cut
their tails.”

“You know why
it was introduced. City Pengali agreed with it.”

“It was three
hundred years ago. You should have revoked the law before someone
used it to cut the tail of an adult—”

“Enough about
that now.” Daya held up his hands. “Is there any chance we can get
an energy source going soon?”

Sheida turned
to him, avoiding the councillor’s glare. “We have stockpiled our
supply of pearls in Far Atok.”

Daya frowned.
“Far. . . ?”

“The other
island,” Councillor Semisu explained. “But with all the soldiers in
the street carrying crossbows, how are we going to get a great load
of pearls to the Exchange?”

Jessica broke
in, “What if we . . . could disable some of those
crossbows?”

Many raised
eyebrows.

Steeling
herself, she picked up the bead that still glowed faintly on the
tiles. Immediately, it sucked warmth from her fingers. She
concentrated, helped it along, feeding energy into its greedy core.
A cool breeze went through the hall. The glass became hot. She
resisted her body’s call to siphon off that energy, instead holding
onto the burning glass.

Lightning-like
arcs crackled from her hand.

The bead flew
from her fingers. Floated for a split second . . . and
exploded into a glittering cloud that rained on the Pengali
spectators, who hastily scrambled back.

Councillor
Semisu swallowed, his throat working. “Impressive.”

Even Daya’s
face showed awe.

Jessica went
on, “I don’t think we can destroy the weapons completely. But each
of the enhanced crossbows contains a marble like this. If we
destroy the glass balls and turn some enhanced crossbows into
ordinary crossbows, at least for a short while, would that be
enough for some people to get through to do what they need to do? I
can teach Ikay and the others how to do this—”

Sheida said,
his eyes shining, “We bring charged pearls from Far Atok. Then we
use the parade to take them to the Exchange. We tell the
fighting-men that Pengali have to complete the parade or the
harvest will fail.”

Councillor
Semisu frowned at him. “Really? I never knew that bit of Pengali
mythology.”

Sheida
laughed, a weird neighing sound.