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with an alacrity that said that Gradwohl herself must have intervened. Before
they left, two workers very quietly told Marika where they could be reached in
Maksche if ever she needed them to repay the debt. Marika memorized that
information carefully. She had Grauel and Barlog commit it to memory too,
protecting it through redundance.
She meant to use those workers someday.
She had plans. During that summer she had begun to look forward in more than a
simpleminded, pup-obsessed-with-flying sort of way. But she was careful to
mask that from everyone. Even Grauel and Barlog remained outside.
"Will your holiness board her darkship now?" Dorteka demanded. "Is the order
of the world arranged to your satisfaction?"
"Indeed. Thank you, Dorteka. I wish you understood. Those meth may be of no
consequence to you. Nor are they to me, really. But a Community can only be as
good as its honor. If our own dependents cannot trust our word, who else
will?"
"Thank the All," Dorteka muttered as Marika began strapping herself to the
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cold darkship frame.
"Such indifference may well be the reason the cloister is having so much
trouble keeping order in Maksche. Paustch is determined not to do right and
Zertan is too lazy or too timid."
"You will seal your mouth, pup. You will not speak ill of your seniors again.
I still have a great deal of control over how happy or miserable your life can
be. Do I make myself understood?"
"Perfectly, mistress. Though your attitude does not alter the truth a bit."
Dorteka was furious with her again.
Chapter Eighteen
I
In most respects Marika had attained the knowledge levels expected of silth of
her age. In many she had exceeded those. As she surpassed levels expected, she
found herself with more and more free time. That she spent studying aircraft,
aerodynamics, astronomy, and space, when she could obtain any information. The
Reugge did not possess much. The brethren and dark-faring sisterhoods clung to
their knowledge jealously.
Marika had a thousand questions, and suspected the only way to get the answers
was to steal them.
How did the silth take their darkships across the void? The distances were
incredible. And space was cold and airless. Yet darkships went out there and
returned in a matter of weeks.
She ached because she would never know. Because she was stuck in a sisterhood
unable to reach the stars, a sisterhood that might not survive much longer.
To dream dreams that could not be attained, that was a horror. Almost as bad
as the dreams that came by night.
The nightmares resumed immediately upon her return to Maksche. They were more
explicit now. Often her littermate Kublin appeared in them, reaching, face
tormented, as if crying for help. She hurt. She and Kublin had been very
close, for all he was male.
Most Senior Gradwohl had shifted from TelleRai to Maksche in fact as well as
name while Marika was in the north. Four days after Marika's return, the wise
ones of Maksche, and many others from farflung cloisters of the Community,
gathered in the ritual hall. Marika was there at Gradwohl's command, though
she had not as yet seen the most senior.
After a few rituals had been completed, Gradwohl herself took the floor. Meth
who had accompanied her from TelleRai began setting up something electrical,
much to the distress of Zertan. They tried to argue that such should not be
permitted within the holy place of Maksche.
Gradwohl silenced them with a scowl. It was well-known that the most senior
was not pleased with them. Though she remained outside the mainstream of
cloister life, Marika had heard many rumors. Most made the futures of the
Maksche senior and her second sound bleak.
The device set up projected a map upon a white screen. Gradwohl said, "This is
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what the north looked like at its low ebb, last winter. The darker areas are
those that were completely overrun by savages.
"Our counterattack seems to have caught them unprepared. I would account the
summer's efforts a complete success. We have placed a line of small but stout
fortresses up the line of the Hainlin, running from here to Akard. A second
line was gone in crosswise, here, roughly a hundred miles north of Maksche. It
runs from our western boundary to the sea. Each fastness lies within easy
touch of its neighbors. Any southward movement can be detected from these, and
interdicted with support from here in Maksche.
"Akard is partially restored. It now forms the anchor for a network of
fastnesses in the Ponath. They will allow us to maintain our claim there
without dispute. A small fleet of darkships based there will thwart any effort
to reduce the fastnesses. Work on Akard should be completed next summer.
"Next summer also, I hope to begin squeezing the savage packs from the north,
south, and east, giving them no choice but to flee west into the territories
of our beloved friends the Serke. Where they may do more evil than they have
done. The Serke raised them up like demons. May they suffer as a witch whose
demon breaks the ties that bind."
Gradwohl scanned the assembly. Nearly a hundred of the most important members
of the Reugge Community were present. No one seemed inclined to comment,
though Marika sensed that many disapproved of Gradwohl and her plans.
"As strength goes," Marika murmured. Gradwohl was getting her way only because
she was the strongest of Reugge silth.
"Also next spring we will begin restoring several brethren strongholds that
will be of use to us. Especially the fortress Mahede. From Mahede it will be
possible to mount year-round darkship patrols and up the pressure on the
savages even more."
Gradwohl tapped the screen with a finger. Mahede lay halfway between Maksche
and Akard. She used a claw to draw a circle around Mahede. It was obvious that
circles of the same size centered upon Akard and Maksche would overlap,
covering the entire Hainlin rivercourse north of the city. The Hainlin was the
main artery of the northern provinces.
"Meantime, this winter we will continue hunting the savages the best we can,
with all the resources we can bring to bear. We must keep the pressure on. It
is the only way to beat the Serke at their own game."
Several senior silth disagreed. A murmur of discontent ran through the
audience. Marika scanned faces carefully, memorizing those of her mentor's
opponents. They would be her enemies, too.
In the course of the discussion that followed, it began to appear that those
who opposed Gradwohl's scheme did so principally because it interfered with
their comfort and their abilities to exploit their own particular demesnes.
Several seniors of cloisters complained because they had been stripped of
their best silth and, as a result, were having trouble maintaining order among
their workers. Especially among the males.
The pestilence of rebellion was spreading.
"I suspect our problems with workers are the shadows of the next Serke move
against us," Gradwohl said. "It is unlikely that they expected me to collapse [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]