Usually Tylara was as resistant to male charm as a suit of armor, but she smiled warmly and thanked the starman. An act, Rick wondered? Or was she really impressed? Les was certainly handsome enough, and trying to be charming, but-still- "How long will you be with us?" Rick asked.
"That depends," Les said. "I've come for my wife.
Gwen must have told you I would come."
"She wasn't always sure she believed you," Rick said.
"Ah. Yeah, she had a right to her doubts," Les said. "That's over now. Where is she?"
"She didn't tell you?"
Les eyed Rick thoughtfully in the dim-light. "So she told you she has a transceiver," he said. "And you want me to believe she's alive and it's working."
"She's all right, and the transceiver works to the best I know," Rick said. "I take it Gwen didn't answer you, then."
"No. Now where is she?"
"That sounds very much like a demand."
Les shrugged. "Take it any way you-no. Eqeta Galloway; I would count it a very great favor if you would conduct me to my wife."
"A couple of questions, first," Rick said. "As for example-do your employers know you're here?"
Les looked startled, then laughed. "I take it you mean, did I jump ship? No. My landing is-authorized, and the time I Will stay on Tran is up to me."
And I can believe as much of that as I want to, Rick thought. But there's no point in standing here on a hilltop. "Welcome to Cheim. I trust you will do us the honor of being our guest."
"Thank you. But now that I've answered your question-where is my wife?"
Persistent chap, Rick thought. And maybe not quite as cool as he wants us to think- "The Lady Gwen is well," Tylara said. "And your son is safe and well and under our protection." The light was too dim for Rick to be certain, but he thought the pilot's face showed joy. His voice, though, remained unchanged. "My son. What did Gwen choose to name him?"
"Les," Tylara said.
Les turned to Tylara, but before he could say anything, she said, "The Lady Gwen is married to Lord Caradoc do Tamaerthon, a knight in my service. He is one of our most trusted captains, and my husband and I are very much in his debt."
"Married," Les said.
"Last autumn," Tylara said. "She believed that you were dead or had forsaken her."
"Well, I'm not, and I didn't," Les said. "And now I'd like to see her. If you please." His voice grew more stern. "Do you think I'd have come back to this-to Tran-for any other reason?"
Tylara shrugged. "I do not know the duties of those who serve the-Shalnuksis."
"So. You've told her everything," Les said.
"Shouldn't I?" Rick asked.
"I don't know." Les shrugged.
"It's walk, ride, or wait all night until I can send for a sedan chair," Rick said.
Les laughed. "I'll ride, if the horse is tame."
"It's a mule," Rick said. "More surefooted for this mountain trail. And it's certainly gentle enough. All right, Sergeant Major. Lead the way. Sergeant Frick will bring up the rear. And spread right out, gentlemen."
"Yes, sir," Elliot said. He rode on ahead, and Frick dropped back, so that Rick, Tylara, and Les rode alone.
"You have them well trained," Les said.
That didn't seem worth answering, and Rick said nothing. The trail was steep and frightening if you didn't trust the mules; the trick was to let the animals pick their own way and pace. Les seemed to be doing that.
They reached the bottom, and the trail widened. "All right," Les said. "Where is Gwen? And this- Caradoc."
"Lady Gwen is-in another part of the country," Rick said.
"And Lord Caradoc is a soldier," Tylara continued. "He is with the army in the west."
"Hah. Good battle, that," Les said.
"You watched?" Tylara asked. "But-" She fell silent.
"Saw some of it," Les said. "So. That's fortunate. Lord Caradoc is off to war, and Gwen is home alone. Good. If he stays out of my way, I won't go looking for him. No trouble at all, that way."
"He is her husband by Tran law," Rick said. And that sounds foolish.
"And I'm her husband by Earth law," Les said. "Does he have more right than me?"
You don't have any rights at all, Rick thought. You certainly didn't marry her. But it will be better to pretend.
"The case must be heard by the priests of Yatar," Tylara said. "Do you not understand? The Lord Caradoc is our captain. A knight sworn to our service-"
"And under our protection," Rick said reluctantly. Christ, this is going to be rough.
"I have no wish to shame the man," Les said. His words came slowly, as if forced. "Nor-nor do I bear him ill will."
The hell you don't, Rick thought.
"I do not wish to be disrespectful of your law," Les continued. "But I will see my wife."
"She is far from here," Tylara said. "The roads are poor, bandits are numerous, and our army has been sent against the Westmen. It will be no easy journey, and we would do the Lady Gwen an ill service to send you without proper escort-"
Les laughed, a short sharp sound. "An escort won't be needed," he said. "Tell me where to go, and I can call the ship."
35
There were only the three of them at Rick's conference table. Tylara sat at his right, and Sergeant Elliot on his left, leaving the long table nearly empty.
Like to have more, Rich thought. But who? Art. Larry Warner. Maybe one of them could think of something- "If you're going to let her know, you'd best get the message out now," Elliot said.
Rick nodded. The semaphore line to the University wasn't finished. Messages had to go part way on horseback, and even with relay stations spaced Pony Express style that took time. "I think we won't," he said. "What could I put in a message, even a coded one?"
Elliot gave him a significant look. So did Tylara.
Yeah, Rick thought: "Keep your pants on." I can just see me sending her that message. Hah.
"You learn anything from him?" Elliot asked.
"Not much we don't know," Rick said. "The council or whatever it is that governs the Confederation is still divided over what to do about Earth, and doesn't seem to know about Tran. Which means the Shalnuksis have a free hand, but we don't have -to worry about the council sending the galactic navy. Not just yet, anyway."
He took Tylara's hand for a moment. She gave an answering half smile. He'd spent three hours trying to explain what he knew about the millennia-old galactic confederation and its human Janissaries, but she still didn't understand. That's all right, Rick thought. I don't either. And what the hell, Tylara has more experience unravelling plots than I do. Maybe she can understand a confederacy of a dozen or more star-faring races. According to Les, they haven't changed in five thousand years, mostly because of human slave soldiers.
It sounds nutty. It would sound nuttier if I didn't know the Turks used slave soldiers and administrators to run their empire. They called them Janissaries, and their empire stayed together for centuries.
"What about that Agzaral guy?" Elliot asked. "Is he on our side?" -
"Don't know. Les won't say much about him. One thing's sure, he's playing a deep game," Rich said. "He knows about Tran, but his bosses don't. Yet he's a cop. Or something like a cop, anyway." Rick shrugged. "I don't even know how much Les knows. Maybe he'll tell us more."
"Yeah, if he lives long enough," Elliot said. "Christ, Cap'n, why'd it have to be Caradoc he's gonna put horns on? Nobody else is near that popular with the army. Even the mercs like him."