JULIEN

II

Chapter 19

Silence is golden ...

“We've got to go back to rescue Master Tannder!” declared Karik. “Right now!”

“Calm down, boy,” said Dennkar, with no hint of impatience. “We have to wait for Wenn Hyaï to come back with some information.”

“We don't have time to waste hanging around waiting!”

“We must. The Health Masters are going to stabilise the condition of the Warrior you rescued, and then Wenn Hyaï can find out from him whatever he knows. Wenn Hyaï knows what he's doing, and he might be able to get a lot more information than you might expect.”

“But he might have been really close – in the next room, even!”

“No, he wasn't. Aïn says that he checked over the whole building before we left, and none of the others were there. Nor was there any trace of another jump being made from that place. So if they took the other prisoners somewhere else they did it by conventional means, and that means that the Guides can't track them.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“First you have to calm down. You did a good job back there. Now we...”

“That's not true – I nearly made a complete mess of it. And then I fainted.”

“Aïn told me what you did, and he says you did everything he could have asked of you. After that... well, it's normal to be a bit shaken – in fact it would have been quite worrying if you hadn't reacted like that. Violent death is never pleasant, and you never get used to it. If you do, it means that you're close to losing your soul. I'm just sorry you had to do something that should have been my responsibility.”

“No, I'm glad I was able to do something towards finding Master Tannder. But I wish we could go on looking for him.”

“That is what we are doing,” said a voice from behind them.

Karik jumped and spun around – he'd never actually heard Wenn Hyaï speaking before. The Guide had appeared silently on the klirk that was a couple of metres behind the boy's back. He moved closer and then Aïn appeared as well.

They had taken the Warrior to Bakhtar Tower and the Health Masters had immediately set to work on him, but the Warrior had wanted to deliver his report first and so had completely opened his mind to the Guide, allowing him to explore and record the memory of the past few hours.

He had not understood exactly how it happened, but as soon as they entered the house they found themselves transported to a platform in a kind of large hall full of buzzing machines. He had reacted with the speed developed during a lifetime dedicated to the Art of Combat, but even as he tried to take up a defensive posture he had lost all control over his body and had fallen to the ground, unable to do anything except breathe. He was immediately surrounded by men and then placed on a metal trolley and wheeled away. Although he couldn't even move his eyes he was still able to hear, and even though most of what was being said was in a language he couldn't understand he could also hear noises that suggested that his colleagues were being treated exactly as he was. And then, just before his trolley left the hall, he heard someone saying in Tünnkeh, 'Well, Master Tannder, that was simple, wasn't it? We caught you as easily as a complete novice. I really wasn't expecting that!'

After that everything was a total nightmare. He'd been trained to resist pain and did so quite well to start with, but then they started using drugs, and those worked so well that his resistance had broken and he had told them everything he possibly could. Not that that ended his ordeal: once they had all the information he could give them he was handed over to a second group of interrogators, younger men who practised barbarous methods on him without even pretending to ask for information. As far as they were concerned he was no more than a test subject, and their aim seemed to be to try to discover how much pain they could inflict before he lost consciousness. He'd been in the depths of despair when he had been rescued from their grasp.

The Health Masters still hadn't discovered the extent of the damage to his body, and they were even more concerned about the effects on his sanity. However, although this terrifying report made Karik even more anxious about what might be happening to Tannder, at least it had the secondary effect of dispelling the feelings of guilt he was still experiencing, because it was now clear that instead of murdering three soldiers who were merely obeying orders, he had instead rid the universe of three much more unpleasant creatures. That thought at least helped him to begin to rebuild his self-esteem, which had taken a considerable knock.

But the most interesting thing about this story was the fact that Wenn Hyaï, with his meticulously trained Guide's memory, had succeeded in identifying the voice that had been taunting the unfortunate Tannder.

oo0oo

Chapter 20

Ajmer

Wenn Hyaï, are you sure? asked Julien mentally.

Without any doubt, my Lord.

“We have to tell Aldegard,” said Julien.

“We can't be sure that he isn't involved himself,” Dennkar pointed out. “Don't forget that the Noble Lord Ajmer is his First Councillor as well as his cousin.”

“If Ajmer really is the one Wenn Hyaï identified...”

I'm positive, My Lord. Trust me, there is no mistake.

“Well, if he's really working with the enemy I don't want you referring to him as 'Noble Lord'. All right, it's a minor point, but I insist. Do any of you have any suggestions – apart from kicking the crap out of him as soon as we catch him, that is?”

“It might be wise to keep the information to ourselves in the hope that we can gain some advantage from it later,” said Dennkar. “On the other hand, maybe we shouldn't be listening to wisdom if we want to save Tannder and his men. Still, actually going to Aldegard and telling him what we know...”

“We could kidnap him,” suggested Niil. “Ajmer, I mean. After all, he has to return home sooner or later, doesn't he? And if he's at home I'm pretty sure our Guide friends can take him for a ride. We can ask where he's been lately, and he'll have to come up with some sort of fairytale about visiting some place or other, and then at least we'll know for sure that he's in on it. Of course if Aldegard is in on it too it might get a bit more complicated...”

“Aïn?” asked Julien.

The Guides have a clear moral code: the only time you can transport someone against their will is if they have been convicted of a crime in a court of law.

“Bloody hell, the people we're fighting don't let scruples like that get in their way!” exclaimed Niil indignantly.

“That's the difference between us and them,” said Master Subadar. “There are good reasons for the Code, believe me – and, anyway, any Guide who who tried to do that would immediately lose his Gift. That's why I don't think we can really ask the Guides to get involved in this business.”

“Are you saying,” asked Niil, “that any Guide who forcibly transports someone...”

“Not 'forcibly', but against his will and without a legal summons. After all, it's perfectly legal to transport a convict to Tandil, even if he doesn't want to go there.”

“All right, but you're saying that if a Guide went against the Code he would lose his Gift? How can that happen?”

“It's something that is planted in their mind when the Gift is Opened. It's part of the whole process, and if you don't do it, you can't Open the Gift at all. If Aïn tried to transport you against your will he'd first feel a bit queasy, and then extremely sick, and if he did manage to do it all the same something would break in his mind and he'd lose the Gift.”

“But Julien transported a ghorr, and I'm sure it didn't agree to that!”

“It was a ghorr. Creatures like that aren't natural and shouldn't exist at all – and indeed it cannot exist without those who create it, because – fortunately – ghorrs are sterile. But in those circumstances he could equally well have transported a human adversary, because once you attack a Guide the Code ceases to have any force. Some people in the past forgot about that and paid the price.”

“Well, perhaps the rule doesn't apply to the Emperor,” suggested Sandeark, who was sitting beside his favourite pupil, and in fact Julien had been starting to wonder about that himself, especially as Subadar didn't seem to have an immediate answer.

“It's possible,” said Subadar, eventually. “But I wouldn't want to bet on it.”

“We could try an experiment,” suggested Sandeark. “Lord Julien could try moving me against my will.”

“I don't think that would prove anything,” said Subadar. “I don't think that you, or anyone else here, could put up a lot of real resistance. You'd only be able to resist properly if you truly believed that Julien was going to transport you to some awful fate, such as abandoning you on Tandil. I don't think anyone here could even start to convince himself that was going to happen.”

“In other words,” said Julien, “we won't know unless I actually try doing it. As far as I'm concerned I think we're going to have to risk trusting Aldegard, but... Dennkar, you're the Warrior: what do you think we should do? We can't afford any mistakes.”

“Exactly, My Lord. Bear in mind that if Ajmer is the enemy's man his clothes will be stuffed with sensors and maybe even locating devices – even if we don't know yet whether locating devices actually exist. The only way to have a private chat with him would be to grab him while he's completely naked. I should think it's also likely that our enemy will have hidden sensors within Bakhtar Tower, and especially in rooms where Aldegard has council meetings or entertains guests. I wouldn't be too surprised if his clothes have been tampered with, too.”

“Don't you think you're overestimating the enemy's ability?”

Maybe I am, but it's a lot better to overestimate their ability than to underestimate it.”

“All right, then. How to do want us to proceed?”

oo0oo

“You want me to summon Lord Ajmer? At this time of night?”

“No, My Lord, I want you to go in person to his home and collect him from his bedroom.”

“But, My Lord, that would be in complete violation of...”

“Aldegard, we're fairly sure that Ajmer has already done a whole heap of things which are in violation of his allegiances,” said Julien. “I want you to understand that I'm offering him a tiny opportunity to save his House from complete obliteration. If you help us we might be able to give him a chance to rectify at least part of what he has done. Will you help us? I'll give you my personal apology if it turns out that we're wrong.”

“Of course I'll help you. If I hadn't wanted to help I wouldn't have followed Master Dennkar here wearing nothing but this laï he gave me, along with your personally signed message. Actually I have no idea where we are.”

“Neither have I. Only the Guides know, but I'm fairly sure we're somewhere where nobody is going to be able to find us in a hurry.”

“If I had to guess I'd say it's a shelter from the Zarline wars, in which case we must be on Yrcadia.”

“You could be right, but it doesn't matter because I'll be leaving as soon as you're on your way. We'll meet again somewhere else, and we're going to take the same precaution of moving around a lot until we find out more about what our enemy intends.

“So what you need to do is to pull your cousin out of bed without saying a word, and then give him this message. It warns him that saying even a single word which might reveal that something unusual is happening could be fatal. You must also make sure that he wears nothing except this laï. Then take him to Aïn, and he'll bring you both to me, wherever I am by then. The message also warns him not to resist the transportation. If he's sensible enough to remain silent and clever enough to work out that I'd prefer him to stay alive, and even that I might be magnanimous, provided he admits what he's done and offers us his help, I'll see to it that that his House does not suffer the consequences of his betrayal. As for him personally, his fate will depend on how fully he is prepared to cooperate with us. Is everything clear?”

“Yes, My Lord: I wake Ajmer up, I make sure he doesn't speak and I give him your message. I make sure that he wears nothing except this laï and I bring him back to you.”

“You've got it.”

“And, My Lord...”

“Yes?”

“I'd like you to promise me the opportunity to deal with him personally if he doesn't decide to cooperate.”

“Aldegard, if we fail to rescue Tannder alive because of him, I will be very much indebted to you if you'd kill him for me.”

Julien realised that he was shaking: it was the first time he'd realised just how furiously angry he was.

oo0oo

The prohibited weapons depot of Der Mang was certainly one of the most secure places in the whole of the R'hinz, and that is where Julien was waiting for Ajmer when he appeared together with Aldegard. He'd seen Ajmer a few times since they had together witnessed the ceremonial transfer of Niil's Marks to Ambar, but today the proud Bakhtar seemed to have lost most of his arrogance – in fact, dressed as he was in a simple white laï and looking rather ashamed he reminded Julien of a picture he'd seen in his history book at school depicting the Burghers of Calais surrendering to Edward III of England. Secure in the presence of not only Dennkar and Niil at his side, but also Master Subadar, he explained the position in a carefully planned way.

“Ajmer,” he said, “You've acted like a moron. Now you have a choice: you can either admit immediately what you have done and help me to rescue the situation as far as is still possible, or you can convince me that I'm completely mistaken despite the evidence I have which says that I'm not. If indeed I am mistaken I shall apologise and make it up to you, but if you waste everyone's time by trying to weasel your way out when you are in fact guilty you can expect no leniency at all, either toward you personally or your House. Oh, and I assure you that you can speak freely here without being heard by those you have been working for. Decide.”

Pulled from his bed in the middle of the night and confronted with accusers who were clearly sure of themselves, Ajmer was unable to gather the mental strength necessary to try to lie his way out. Instead he did the only thing left to him: he dropped to his knees.

“I have betrayed the Empire and Your Lordship,” he said. “May the penalty for that fall not on my House but on myself alone.”

“If you offer us your full cooperation,” Julien told him, “you have my word that your House will not suffer as a result of your betrayal. As for your life, it depends on what happens to Master Tannder. The best thing you can do is to allow Master Aïn and Master Subadar to probe your mind. Obviously it can be done without your permission, but the results will be better if you cooperate with them. Are you prepared to do that?”

He was, and so he was immediately led to an antechamber where the probing could take place.

oo0oo