"The Cabal is here." He was learning to control the physical changes his powers caused. If he concentrated, he could cancel the musical reverberation of his voice. He was less successful at controlling the appearance of his eyes. A young blonde girl came hesitantly in. She held an onyx scroll case. "The First and Ambassador Laquatus await your presence," she said. She never looked up at Chainer. He guessed his eyes were currently hollow. Had he been that timid at her age? That frightened? "Thank you, little sister," he said. She smiled to acknowledge his kindness, but she still seemed cowed, terrified. Perhaps she had only smiled to avoid antagonizing him. Chainer felt the urge to send a rattlesnake slithering across her sandaled feet, a glowing-eyed venom-spitting nightmare that would strike but never bite, that would follow her everywhere and burrow under her pillow while she slept, rattling all the while.
He put the temptation aside. He had business with the First, and besides, he was sure the messenger would crack in less than two days. Hardly worth the effort of creating the snake in the first place. "If you are ready, Master, I will take you to them." "I'm ready, little sister. Lead on." Chainer saw the shadow of a thick, scaled body moving across the messenger's foot, but she didn't react to its touch. He blinked hard, and the rattler was gone. "Are you all right, big brother?"
"I said lead on," Chainer snapped. He was suddenly irritable. Was it lack of sleep? He vowed that he would get some rest, as soon as he and the Mirari introduced Laquatus to his new familiar.
Chainer was taken to a small, comfortable room outside the vault that contained the Mirari. He was greeted warmly by the First and Laquatus, but the ambassador visibly fumed when he was ordered to stay behind while the Cabalists fetched the sphere. When Chainer reentered the room bearing the Mirari, Laquatus stared at it hungrily. "Ambassador," Chainer said. "On behalf of the First and the Cabal, let me apologize for the delay. Now, as agreed, I present you with Turg's replacement." Chainer used the Mirari as he had with Kamahl, held tight between his hands with his eyes closed. He had put a great deal of thought into the casting beforehand, with constant input and refinement from the First. Every detail had been meticulously planned. Unleashing the actual creature was almost an afterthought. Chainer saw the creature clearly in his mind. It was a medium-tall humanoid male with five fingers, no toes, and the well defined musculature of a competitive swimmer. Its body was hairless and featureless, an unbroken surface with no openings for eyes, nose, ears, or mouth. It was bruise-black in color, a dark and murky purple that was effective camouflage both in the shadows of the city and the sunless depths of the ocean. With an extremely bright light directly behind it, however, one could see that it was partially translucent with no recognizable bones or internal organs of any kind. In his mind's eye, Chainer saw a collar streak out and find the featureless man's neck. He noted with satisfaction that the figure did not struggle, or claw, or react in any way to the collar. It seemed as comfortable with it as it did without it.
Chainer gave the leash a gentle mental tug. The creature took a single step forward and disappeared. Chainer opened his eyes, and the purple figure stood in the center of the room, steaming like a lobster fresh from the pot.
"Ambassador Laquatus." Chainer presented the featureless man with a grand wave of his golem hand. "Meet your new familiar. I call him Burke." Laquatus inspected the new arrival and was clearly unimpressed.
"Quickly. Call him by name," Chainer said. Laquatus put his hands on his hips, obviously skeptical of the entire affair.
"Now. He needs to imprint on you as his master, or we'll have to start all over."
"Burke." Laquatus shot the First a long-suffering look as he spat the name out. "Attend your master."
Burke responded to the sound of his name by facing Laquatus then dropping to one knee with his head bowed and his fists on the floor.
"At least he knows his place," Laquatus said. "But what else can he do?"
Chainer had expected this reaction from Laquatus, and he smiled patiently. "Well," he said, "you specified obedient, powerful, and amphibious. Burke is all those things. You can see how quickly he responds to your voice. And he doesn't need to breathe, so both land and sea are accessible to him."
"But what does he do?" Laquatus keened. "Obedient and amphibious do me no good if there's no power to back them up. He has to be my new jack, my champion in the pits. How does he fight?"
Chainer smiled again. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order." He scanned the room. "If you'll follow me to a room with a bit more space, ambassador, I'm sure Burke will satisfy your concerns."
"If I may," the First interrupted, "I will take my leave of you now. Chainer, let us return the Mirari to the vault, so you and Laquatus can test his new jack." Laquatus sulked some more as Chainer and the First left him to become acquainted with Burke while they put their treasure away.
"Has it worked, Master Chainer? Have you created exactly what we discussed?"
"Exactly, Pater."
"Outstanding. Convince the ambassador to accept his gift and send them both on their way. Come to my chambers when you are done. I would discuss your strategy for defending the lesser pits between now and the games."
"I will be along directly, Pater." They replaced the Mirari, sealed the vault, and the First went away, trailing his attendants behind him. When Chainer returned to the conference room, Laquatus was peering into Burke's blank face.
"Can I touch him? Is he at least caustic?" "Follow me, please. And no, Ambassador, I'm afraid not. Burke's entire body is composed of nothing more than a dense, inert gel." He led Laquatus down the hall toward one of the private pits, smaller versions of the main arena for private matches and demonstrations. "Inert? Do you mean it does nothing?"
"I mean it interacts with nothing. A drop of his body material on your skin or in your bloodstream wouldn't harm you any more than a drop of oil. The gel is extremely durable, however. The sharpest sword or dagger might pierce his hide, but the blade will snap before it goes any deeper. "I think you're missing the advantages of his body, Ambassador. He has no bones to break, no organs to rupture. He doesn't breathe, so he cannot be strangled. He has no eyes, so he cannot be blinded. No pores means no way for his skin to absorb irritants. No circulatory system means no way for diseases or poisons to spread inside his body. Virtually every attack he faces in the pits is going to fail, simply because his doesn't function like a normal living body. Burke's body is just a vessel for his mind, and his mind is a vessel for your commands." "Doesn't function normally," Laquatus echoed. "It doesn't seem to function at all! All you've given me is a defensive creature, a bodyguard. And I will repeat myself. I need a jack, a fighting champion." They came upon the closed door that led to a private pit, and Burke sprang forward to hold the door for them as they passed. "Thank you," Chainer said, and Laquatus grumbled.
"I sincerely hope, Master Chainer, that you don't expect me to be polite to this servant every time he attends me."
"No, Ambassador. The Cabal teaches us to be polite to all our guests, including their servants. And Burke is now very much yours."
"A greater treasure I have yet to receive," Laquatus said nastily. "And you haven't answered my question. How does he fight? And more to the point, how does he win?"
"Now that we're here," Chainer said, "I can answer your question. And believe me, you're going to love this."
"We shall see."
"Order him into the center of the room, please." As Laquatus repeated the order and Burke moved, Chainer continued. "He will only respond to you from now on. After a few weeks, you won't even need to talk. It'll be as if he hears your thoughts." Chainer watched Laquatus carefully, but the merman kept his expression neutral. "Won't that be an interesting sensation? To speak without moving your lips?"