“And right now he’s letting Chansa control his proxy?” Sheida mused. “Why?”
“Council members cannot have a membership on the board,” Ishtar said with a wry grin. “But they can ‘advise’ as to power use. Chansa, or whoever controls him, cannot have the direct ‘ownership’ of it. He has to use a proxy.”
“As would we,” Sheida said. “Why isn’t he using the power directly?”
“That I don’t know,” Ishtar admitted. “The only thing I can imagine is that he’s not aware he can. And why, if he has all this power, is he setting himself up as a bandit lord? He could own this war!”
“Not knowing would be like McCanoc,” Sheida said. “He thinks he’s brilliant but what he is is cunning, and he tends to only look at superficials. He knew he could distribute the power but not that he can draw upon it now. There’s probably a very specific command he has to give to get it for his own use. And as to why he’s set himself up as a bandit chief, that’s what he wants to be. He’s the sort of personality that revels in direct control over people, in forcing the people around him to live in fear and intimidation. It’s his whole reason for being, to have people that he can see be afraid of him. He loves to destroy, not build. Having power that’s beyond that level isn’t the same for him. So probably the deal is that Chansa is letting him run around and be the evil conquering bastard he wants to be and ‘oh, by the way, why don’t you let me be your proxy for the terraforming system, otherwise Mother will be bothering you with updates all the time’ or something.”
“Yeah,” Ishtar whispered. “But what do we do about it?”
“I’m not sure,” Sheida admitted. “I need to find out where he is. The last I heard he was headed for… Oh, Shit!”
“What?”
“He was headed for Raven’s Mill!” Sheida gasped. “Oh Fisk!”
“What’s so bad? I mean, he may conquer it but, Sheida, I know you have friends there but…”
“Blow that,” Sheida said, her mind racing. “He hasn’t got a chance. He’s up against Edmund. Edmund is going to put his head on a pike. After Daneh cuts off his balls!”
“I’m sure that Chansa gave him protection…”
“I don’t care what Chansa did! He won’t defeat Edmund, I guarantee it! I have to go.” With that she vanished.
Daneh was tending to the last details of the preparations for the battle when Sheida appeared. Rachel and a few of the nurses had set up a forward aid station closer to the defenses but it had been decided to send the worst cases back to the town via horse carts and Daneh was determined to give them the best care possible. She was lifting her surgical tools from the vat of boiling water when Sheida appeared in the air over the cauldron.
“Daneh, where’s Edmund?” her sister said abruptly. For once she didn’t appear to have even a projection of her lizard with her.
“Out fighting McCanoc,” Daneh said acerbically. “Without any help from you, I might add.”
“He can’t kill him!” Sheida said. “That’s very important!”
“What do you mean he can’t kill him?” Daneh asked angrily. “Do you know what he’s been doing? What he did to me?” she said, gesturing at her stomach.
“Yes, I do,” she replied, tautly. “I don’t care. I’ll explain later. Where is Edmund?”
“Up the road,” Daneh said. “At the Bellevue grade.”
“Get up there as soon as you can,” Sheida said.
“Sheida, I’m busy here!”
“I don’t care!” Sheida yelled, coming to a decision. She reached out and touched her sister and both of them suddenly appeared in the camp behind the defenses. The one part of her mind that she always kept attuned to power levels saw the slight drop and how it affected all the defenses that were arrayed against the continuous power of the enemy side. One of the shields on a fusion plant flickered at the abrupt power drain, slight as it was, but it held.
“Hello, Sheida,” Edmund said, looking up from a schematic of the defenses. “Nice to see you, Daneh,” he added with a nod.
“You can’t kill McCanoc,” Sheida said.
“Thank you for your input,” Edmund said calmly. “But you’ll forgive me if I pointedly ignore you.”
“Listen to me!” the projection snarled. “It’s very important. We’ve figured out where Paul is getting all this extra power and it’s McCanoc.” She then explained the problem and shook her head. “If we can capture him, we can get him to change his proxy. That gives us the power. We’re holding them despite the power. They’re not fighting smart. If we get it we can probably end this damned war!”
At that Edmund set down the sketch and rubbed his chin. “That, I’ll admit, is a telling argument. But how are you going to get him to change his proxy? Or, for that matter, how are you going to do anything with him? At the first bit of danger Chansa will yank him out. I wonder that he lets him run around at all if he’s that important.”
“It’s probably what Chansa offered him,” Sheida said. “I can prevent him from calling on Chansa; Paul’s side won’t even know what’s happening to him. I can wrap him in a teleport block and communications block.”
“And what will that do to get him to change his proxy?” Daneh asked.
“Well, I’ll offer him his life,” Sheida said with a feral smile. “But that’s all.”
“Hmmm,” Edmund muttered. “And you’re asking that I not kill him. The man that raped my wife? Your sister?”
“Do you think I like it?” Sheida replied. “But it’s necessary. Even if we can’t win the war, this will give us spare power.” She turned to Daneh. “Daneh, what would you give for enough power to summon nannites for healing?”
“Oh,” Daneh said, struck by the thought. “I’d give much for just some damned medical texts and medicines. Nannites?!” She thought about it for a moment then sighed. “God I want him dead, though!”
“We all do,” Sheida said. “Edmund, powered armor? Enhancements?”
“Don’t really need them,” he answered. “We’ve got a technique and a nice professional army that we’re going to make larger. But, frankly, it’s not up to me. I’m not the one who was directly affected.” He turned to Daneh and nodded at her. “Milady, I know that this is a great burden to put on your shoulders, but as the one most affected, I leave it to you. Life? Or death?”
Daneh’s jaw worked furiously and she shook her head. “Damn you, Sheida!”
“I’m sorry, Daneh,” Sheida said, honestly. “But think, best case, we can destroy Paul’s defenses and bring an end to this war. Worst case, we can have the power to aid all of us. Medical technology will be at the top of the list. I promise you.”
Daneh rubbed her face and snarled. “Damn you, Sheida,” she said again, then: “Life,” she ground out through gritted teeth. “But it had better not be a life of ease!”
“I promise you, we’ll find an interesting way for him to spend the rest of his miserable life. Although we might have to negotiate not to torture him, so chaining him to a rock to have his liver eaten out every day by a vulture might be out.”