Текст книги "Conspirator"

Автор книги: C. J. Cherryh

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 20 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

Bren—just sat listening, until a movement in the doorway caught his eye.

Cajeiri had shown up, his two companions barely visible in the hallc Cajeiri in an oversized bathrobe, hugging it around him and drinking everything in with large eyes and two very good ears. He didn’t create a stir, didn’t say a thing.

And, silent, like two black ghosts, Banichi and Jago turned up behind Cajeiri, likewise listening.

Bren found he himself had dropped a couple of stitches in the moment of noticing that arrival: Baiji was handing the phone back to one of his servant-guards, who offered it back to Cenedi, who offered it to Ilisidi.

“Yes?” she saidc and looked fiercely satisfied. “Excellent. We shall see he does, Geigi-ji. We shall try to learn the whereabouts of staff. And we shall expect you.”

“Expect you.” So Lord Geigiwas coming down from the station, on—Bren found he had lost track of the launch schedule and had no idea of the date of the next shuttle flight; but it was weekly. It would not be long, likely, before Baiji found himself accounting to his uncle in meticulous detail.

Ilisidi handed the phone to Bren. “Lord Geigi has signed off, nand’ paidhi. But he wishes you well.”

“Indeed.” He set the handset back in its cradle. “And you, neighbor?” LordBaiji, he did notsay: Ilisidi had removed that title with that simple, deliberate nadi, and he didn’t argue.

Baiji clasped his hands between his knees and compressed his lips to a thin line as he bowed to the dowager and to him. “One apologizes,” he said. “One so profoundly apologizes, nandiin.”

Whack! went the cane.

“About time!” Ilisidi said. “Confess, wretch, or we shall lose all patience! What began your unfortunate association with these notorious troublemakers? Name their names, each one!”

Baiji stammered something. Bang! went the cane a second time.

“You have this single chance to redeem yourself,” Ilisidi snapped. “Your uncle will ask us what your subsequent behavior may have been, and we assure you we shallanswer him. As things stand, we cannot construe a use for you. As things may become, we mayconsider a quiet settlement that may let you recover some respectability. Choose, and choose now!”

“With greatest appreciation, aiji-ma, with greatest appreciation for your intercession—”

“You bore us. Talk! Give us your account!”

The dowager did nothing to steady Baiji’s nerves. His mouth opened and closed. He mopped his face with his sleeve, and he said: “Aiji-ma. My fault began with the Troubles, when the whole world was going toward Murini. The Marid supported him in everything. But the lords of the Marid—after supporting Murini in his—in his ill-considered enterprise—”

“Attacking my grandson and murdering his staff. Let us be specific.”

“Attacking—attacking the aiji, yes, aiji-ma. Once Murini had done that, once he had taken over the central clans, the Marid would, one is quite sure, have replaced him if they could. One saw them manuevering for power, in the old way.”

“A reasonable assessment,” Ilisidi said mildly.

“And in their maneuevers, aiji-ma, in the nature of their manuevers, one feared they wished to extend their power up from the South without challenging Murini up in Shejidan. It was no profit to them to go eastward. All the economic profit lay in their going westward and north, along the coast, which is a kind of enterprise—fishing, and all—that they understand. They were sending out emissaries and promising extravagant things in their own name, saying that they were Murini’s allies and that favor and economic union with them would gain great profit. The alternative—the alternative—was down in Pura, where they assassinated—assassinated Lord Kaien and his whole household.”

“A disgrace.”

“It was so tiny a house. It threatened no one, but it suggested independence and no one could protect it. That was the point, aiji-ma. From where we stood it was very clear. And houses capitulated, one after the other, the Udiri, the Wori, the Maisi and the others, right up the coast. Even Dalaigi wasc was growing quite chancy: Southerners openly walked the streets, and there were assassinations of small people, even shopowners, for refusing to deal with them. The Edi were not able to withstand these assaults. The little villages—these people could by no means pack up and go into the hills, and there was no safety in the inland, nor any aiji to hear their request for help. There was nothing for them to do, aiji-ma. I had no support—I could no longer contact my uncle! I could no longer protect Kajiminda!”

“Go on. Omit nothing.”

“Aiji-ma, a letter from the South was by no means unexpected. Murini was by then in Shejidan. Receiving this letter– one might have appealed to Shejidan and voiced one’s opinion that the Marid was only supporting Murini as a convenience, and that they meant to assassinate him once the center of the aishidi’tat was in any sense stable under his rule. One thought of this act. But from a coastal lord and a relative of Lord Geigi– one had no confidence that Murini-aiji would hear such an opinion with any understanding or gratitude. He would be just as likely to report all I said to the Lord of the Marid, and then where would I stand? I would be dead. I believed I would be dead in short order did I attempt to reason with Murini or divide him from his Southern allies.”

“Not badly reckoned,” Ilisidi said more mildly. “You begin to interest usc even to make some sense. Name names and recall that we have been out of the current of Southern politics for three years.”

A soft movement brought Cajeiri to the back of his great-grandmother’s chair, beside Cenedi. That space in the doorway having cleared, Banichi and Jago entered the room and stood against the wall, grimly listening.

“The Dojisigi district of the Marid,” Baiji said, “the lord of Amarja, Toric he sent to me, offering his granddaughter, Tiajo—promising support for this whole district if I made this alliance.”

“Tori,” Ilisidi said, “son of Badissuni.”

“The one, yes, aiji-ma. The proposal said—that the western coast—that I—had the choice of falling by force and assassination to the Kadigidi aiji and the North—or I could join with the Marid, by a close alliance that would respect the existing Associations of the coast. And one knows—one knows, aiji-ma, and knew then—”

“Out with it!”

“One suspected Lord Tori lied about respecting the coastal Associations. The Edi and the Marid are old enemies. But it has always been the position of the Maschi to protect the Edi of this coast—which we have always done, aiji-ma!”

“Then where are they?”

“Aiji-ma, one asks understanding! This was my thinking– that if one started to form new alliances, if you were lost, if the Marid and Murini of the Kadagidi were going to divide the world between them—at least one could save something. I could not contact my uncle. If one began to negotiate with the Marid at least with a starting agreement that the existing associations should persist, then one at least had a basis on which to negotiate for better things. One was no longer negotiating for things as they were—that was lost. One was trying to save what could be saved. The wars of the Edi with the Marid, the piracy, the raids—all these the Maschi had been able to calm. Could one not do this best in a new age by making an association withthe Marid, rather than fall to the Kadagidi and become a target when the Marid ultimately moved to assassinate Murini and seize the aijinate? If I had attempted to fight either of them, this whole coast would be under assault—and all the ancient agreements would be trampled down. All the old grudges would be paid off, Contracts would be issued on every handc the very living of the people would become impossible if the coast came under blockade, in a struggle between Murini and the Marid, and the humans would—” Baiji’s eyes shifted anxiously to Bren. “One has no idea what the humans might do if the Kadagidi and Marid started fighting in the strait, off their very shores. If humans invaded, and we had no association to protect us—we would become a battlefield.”

“Humans would not have invaded on their own behalf,” Bren said, hoping he believed it. “One strongly doubts your scenario for an invasion, nadi. Mospheira was aiding the Northern Isles to remain independent. Had you appealed to the Presidenta, you might have joined the Northern Isles and theymight have interdicted the Marid. Their navy might have saved you.”

“But it was an association we have never made, nandi,” Baiji protested.

“The Edi have close connections with the Isles,” Ilisidi said. “You might have asked themc if they had not already seen in you a policy and a future they would not tolerate.”

That panicked Baiji for a moment. His eyes shifted from one to the other of them, wildly. “So. But—with a successor, me being a young man, my honored mother having diedc”

“Another interesting point. Howdid she die?”

“You cannot think, aiji-ma! You cannot, you cannotthink—”

“She was in ill health, we understand. And whendid your flirtation with the Marid begin?”

“Aiji-ma, no! That had nothing to do with it! One never– neverwould have tolerated such a thing.”

“Back to the Edi. Whydid you not use their good offices to reach the north? Was it possibly too great an exertion for a young man? Or did the Edi already question your dealings?”

“They—they were upset by the death of my honored mother. One was in shock, aiji-ma—one hardly knew when—one day there were no servants. There were just no servants.”

“Indeed.”

“One was overwhelmed, nand’ dowager! One had no means to ask Uncle what to do. There was—there was this offer of marriage. This offer of alliance. If I refused it—it might be fatal. There might be no time for such maneuvers. So I thought, I thought—being new to my post, aiji-ma, and without your sage advice—”

Bang! “Do not annoy me, wretch! Your mother was dead, unfortunate dotingwoman, and you, still more unfortunate for the region, were alive. Go on!”

“I was stalling, aiji-ma. I was continually pretending to agree. One hoped—one hoped, aiji-ma, that your ship would any day reappear in the heavens with the true aiji’s heir, and that would solve everything. And if one could play for timec”

He had looked to Ilisidi a second time, and his voice faltered.

Bang! went the cane. “Go on. We are listening.”

“So I protested I had favored a lady of the district, and I lied, aiji-ma, that I had spoken to the daughter of the Hesi. But—” A tremor entered his voice. “This unfortunate girl—this entirely innocent girl, whom I had only met socially—she died within the month. At her own father’s table.” Baiji’s lips trembled. “And I knew—I knew surely it was my fault. It was because I used her name. They removed—removed her from consideration. And now—now I have the gravest doubt whether my mother’s death was from her illnessc I had not thought that. I never had thought that, aiji-ma.”

For the first time Bren felt a twinge of sympathy for the man who had harbored assassinsc not overmuch, since they had shot one of his people, killed two of Ilisidi’s, and attempted to kill him and Banichi and Jago. But the young man was a fool. Possibly he hadtried to match wits with the Marid.

“Go on,” Ilisidi said.

“Within two days I received a letter expressing condolence and renewing the offer. I have this letter. I have saved everything, aiji-ma—if you wish to have these things.”

“We shall expect it. Say on.”

“So—I could not call my uncle, I had the fate of the young lady of the Hesi on my conscience. One had the estate to protect—”

One noted he never said “my people.” And that he reverted to the remote formal when speaking of them.

“—so one hoped to temporize, never naming names: one pleaded grief for my mother, grief for the young lady. One asked questions, pretending not to understand clauses in the agreement. One conjured every remote provision of treaties and agreements which I wished specifically to be preserved—I have the list, aiji-ma. I have all those papers.”

“On, I say! You were grieving. And you saved the papers, as any reasonably careful accountant might do. What more?”

“Then—they wished me to visit the Marid, aiji-ma, but—but then you came back from the heavens, and Murini was about to fall, and I—one feared to travel in those days in the first place, and then my bodyguard left me, just like the servants. I thought they had gone to fight for you, aiji-ma, but I never saw them again.”

“Where did you acquire the ones you had?” Banichi asked from the side of the room.

“They came from the Guild. They gave me regards from my own guard and said they had taken their place.”

When the Guild itself had been suspect, in those last days of Murini’s administration.

“One fears you may never see your bodyguard again,” Bren murmured.

“The replacements,” Banichi said, unasked, “are dead.”

Baiji looked from one to the other of them, and his jaw trembled. “I was afraid of them, nandiin. I knew—I knew they reported elsewhere.”

“My grandson’s men,” Ilisidi said, “have taken the estate in hand until your uncle’s return. In himwe have confidence, and there will be questions and an accounting, a rendering of the books and records, a task in which he will have your assistance, if you wish to regain anything.”

“Aiji-ma.” A seated bow. “One longs to be of service.”

“We hold this notion for consideration,” Ilisidi said, “since we have not heard how you continued this dalliance with the Marid afterour return from space and aftermy grandson took Shejidan and drove Murini in retreat. Nowpresent us your excuse! Was there some unreported difficulty with the phones, that would prevent your calling Shejidan or sending a messenger covertly?”

“I was afraid, aiji-ma! My very guard was sending secret messages! I had no idea whether they were reporting to the aiji or—or to the Marid! How could I move in any regard without them knowing?”

“Ingenuity might have overcome this. A phone call, I say. A visit to your neighbors. A shopping expedition to Dalaigi. Shopkeepers would surely have acted for you at your request.”

“They would know.”

“They would know. A call to my grandson, man! A note, contained in a basket of produce, sent to your neighbor!”

“But—one thought—aiji-ma—the aiji himself was negotiating with the Marid. Things might yet change. Perhaps—perhaps I could do something favorable by marrying the girl. I could draw her house into association with the coastc”

“Marry a Dojisigi girl, part of a scheme the Tasaigi clan no longer had any motive to move forward? Draw the Dojisigi into conflict with the Tasaigi, perhaps? Bring the eastern peninsula of the Marid into conflict with the western, which has had their man’chi for seven hundred years? Gods above and below, what do you think your help is worth, man?”

“Aiji-ma– ”

“You had onevalue to them: as a foothold on the western coast, within its association, a foothold that would be shortlived, but one from which they could work to alienate the Edi from the aishidi’tat; one from which they could plan an assassination that would shake the entire world. Notmy great-grandson. Nota power for the future of the aishidi’tat. That was not their aim. The paidhi-aiji was their target, the power that connects my grandson with the Mospheirans and with the heavens and all its factions—and you agreed.”

“No, aiji-ma, by no means!”

“You ignoredthe chance my great-grandson would perish in your scheme. No, that was of no import to you and your advisors. You were set on the paidhi’s life, and have made two attempts on it!”

“Not I, aiji-ma! Not I!”

“Where is your aunt, man?”

“My—aunt.”

“Lord Geigi’s wife. Lord Geigi’s Samiusi clan wife. Did she maintain ties with your mother?”

“Not—not that I know, aiji-ma. She—”

“Once before, the Marid tried to achieve a foothold in Sarini province—attempting to impoverish your uncle, do you recall that event? They made every effort to bring him down, and Lord Geigi’s last-contracted wife, your aunt, was in frequent correspondence with her sister, who—ah! I remember—just happened to be married into the Marid! Whata grand coincidence! And Lord Geigi’s sister—”

“I cannot hear you speak ill of my mother, aiji-ma!”

“Your mother was a virtuous woman, certainly, in Lord Geigi’s confidence—ah, but how could I forget? She correspondedwith Geigi’s former wifec”

“Innocently, aiji-ma!”

“Well, well, she administered Kajiminda well enough in difficult times. I wonder where the change happened. A message from your aunt’s end of the continent, perhaps? Communication from your cousins in the Marid? One is certainyou have cousins in the Maridc”

“They are not in my man’chi, nor am I in theirs, aiji-ma. And my mother very rarely corresponded with that branch!”

“So you say. What would you have done if you had found my great-grandson at sea? Ridden him under? Or held him hostage, pending nand’ Bren’s walking into a trap?”

“I wished to rescue the boy, and to meet with the paidhi-aiji, on the boat—I would have told him—I would have asked him to rescue mefrom my predicament—I would ask to sail into Najida, and for the boy’s safety, I would be safe in his good opinion.” Baiji cast a frantic look at him, and Bren drew a deep breath. “I would have done it! I would have asked for your help, paidhi-aiji! I did so even under my own roof!”

Lost your nerve twice, Bren thought. Or did you only just think of that explanation?

One could want a bath.

“Or,” Ilisidi said, drawing Baiji’s attention back to her, “Or shall we tell you what we reallythink, Baiji-nadi? Let us favor you with our opinion! You became fearful of the new changes, yes, and you found comfortin your Marid bodyguard, who promised you their man’chi, who made you dangerous to your neighbors, who made you a threat to the whole coast—”

“Aiji-ma!”

“Can you deny you had become so?”

“One wished only peace, only to deal out the pieces as one had to, and keep the peace. My uncle was safe in space. He would not return. One would wait to see how the negotiations went between the aiji and the Marid.”

“And if well, you would be importantc and you have cousins in the Marid, part of their politics. Perhaps you would marry that girl after all.”

“One meant to straighten it all out, once the aiji in Shejidan had given some indication how all the dealings with the South might come out.”

“When it was all perfectly safe! Does it occur to you, Baiji, that it will never be perfectly safe, so long as you have any power at all? Did you have any notion where you would ever tell these people no?”

“One is uncertain what—”

“One is uncertain what atrocious thing you would stick at, if it crept up on you by degrees, Baiji son of Dumaei. Your failing came on you by degrees. Your involvement with the Marid came on you by degrees. Is there no time you have imagined when you would evercall a halt and take a stand?”

“I warned the paidhi-aiji!”

“Not in so many words,” Bren said. “No, nadi. Your behavior warned my guardc and killed your own.”

“Aiji-ma!”

“Fool,” Ilisidi said. “If you had acquired any power, if you had brought any independent power to the hands of the Dojisigi, the Tasaigi would have had you for appetitzers, and them after. It was their game, it was their game all along, and now one understands the occupation of the paidhi’s apartment in the Bujavid by the Faraic who doubtless pass along whatever tidbits of information they scavenge. The Marid, four clans of the mainland, is One, that is how the numbers of four districts work out: the One is centered at Tanaja in the hands of Machigi, who has inherited all the ambition of his predecessors Saigimi and Cosadi—Cosadi, who backed Murini in his adventure—and, ah! indeed, they have your aunt’s man’chi.”

“Not mine, aiji-ma!”

Machigi. The new aiji in Tanaja. Quiet, hitherto. Bren tried to put a face with the name, and failed.

“You surely,” Ilisidi was saying to Baiji, “have met the man.”

“We—we have never corresponded.”

“ Wehave been remote in space, and yet wecan comprehend the maneuverings around you. The numbers of them are not hard to parse. Why cannot you?”

“One—one begins to see, aiji-ma.”

“Oh, one begins to see! Blessed gods, man, need I say so? Machigi backed his cousin Murini of the Kadagidi so long as it profited him. We have wondered whether his latest moves were represented more strongly by the Farai’s approach to my grandson, their offering of man’chi—their repudiation of Murini—or exactly what they might be up to. In what more sinister direction it might manifest was notapparent, since youkept their secrets and conspired with them in actions that threatened the paidhi’s life andmy great-grandson’s.”

“No, aiji-ma, I never conspired!”

“Fool, I say! You are right in one thing: had Murini survived and my grandson perished, Murini would have lasted a scant year or two before the Tasaigi killed him—one imprudent marriage too many, one cup of tea in the wrong hands, and Murini would have been out of the question altogether, and I have no doubt Machigi of the Tasaigi would by then have positioned himself with the help of your alliance with that Dojisigi child. Machigi would kill you the moment you produced an heir, foolish boy. The Dojisigi relatives would move in with your heir. And they would have the coast, and Machigi would have them!”

“One never—never—” Baiji’s eyes were wide and astonished. “One never saw such an outcome. Aiji-ma, one begs forgiveness.”

“Of me you do not have it. I do not say beg it of the paidhi-aiji: he is too gentle! Obtain your uncle’s request for clemency, and I may, maybroker you a marriage with a nice Eastern woman of good sense and more mature perspective. Live to produce children! That will be your use to the Maschi clan, if Lord Geigi fails to strangle you with his own hands!”

Marry off this fool? Bren thought, somewhat set aback.

But part of the situation was that the Maschi clan had worn away to near nothing, diminished to a single clan in Sarini province, while its privileges and influence had grown immense, enough to tempt suitors. Geigi, the aishidi’tat’s old ally, was growing no younger, had never produced an heir, and thiswas what he had to leave in charge?

It was suddenly much clearer to him what the issues were, and exactly what the dowager was offering, in brief: there was one ability Baiji had left to make himself useful, and the dowager would personally make his choice for him, as a favor to Lord Geigi—thus providing the fading Maschi clan a sure link to a clan on herside of the continent, lacing up the aishidi’tat into a safe, tight unity.

“Aiji-ma.” It was a very quiet voice, a very shaken one.

“Oh, come now. You like your soft, safe life, do you not, boy? You enjoybeing called nandi, you enjoygood food, good wine, and a dearth of responsibilities. You scarcely have to appeal to the Marid for a marriage. We can arrange that—and a younger daughter of a middling-strong house of the East. You can have all of this and live a long life, so long as you stay out of politics and hire strong-minded tutors we approve for your offspring. This is your chance. Take it!”

“Aiji-ma.” Increasingly shaken, but with eyes utterly fixed on Ilisidi. “One would be grateful. One would be very grateful for your speaking to my uncle on this matter.”

“Have you any other thing to tell us? Be forward in helping us!”

“Only—only that there are papers in my office. Behind the desk, a panel in the wall, nand’ dowager. You would find these of interest. One has kept every incriminating thing.”

Covering all possible directions he might ever go, Bren thought with distaste, and whoever he might need to blackmail. He didn’t believe this reform. He didn’t in the least believe it. And in the way of atevi power marriages, it was very little likely Baiji would have charge of any offspring. An heir. Any heir—and his responsibility was accomplished.

“Then you may retire and have your breakfast,” Ilisidi said. “You may have saved your future.”

“Aiji-ma.” Baiji rose and bowed, and bowed to Bren as well, as the three servants came alert—so, before that, had Cenedi and Banichi and Jago.

“But you do know,” Ilisidi added casually, “that you will not survive long, resident in this district, so close to the South. You have no resources to take on Guild of sufficient level to save your life.”

“Aiji-ma!”

“We do, in the East. Perhaps that would be a safer haven for youc far, far from the lords you have betrayed. You would be a great fool to contemplate going to them. You understand this. Now that you have assured weshall not kill you, you have assured that they will. Within our shadow is the only safety for you, from henceforward.”

Baiji was certainly not the most intelligent soul on the continent, Bren thought. But the facts of the situation did apparently come through to Baiji at that point.

“You will stay to meet your uncle,” Ilisidi said, “and then fly east. Far east. Where you may havea future.”

Snow and ice was the reputation of the East. It was far, far from the sunny harbors of the western coast. But Baiji bowed profoundly, murmured his parting courtesies and left the room with his escort.

“He will turn any way convenient, aiji-ma,” Cenedi said.

“A hiltless knife,” Ilisidi agreed. “Great-grandson, I daresay you have not met as great a fool as Baiji.”

“No, mani. I am only one short of nine and Iknow better than he does.”

“And what are you doing here in your bathrobe?”

“Mani, protecting you from that man.”

Ilisidi laughed gently, and set her cane so she might use it. Cenedi quietly offered his hand, and she rose. So did Bren, with a bow.

“Aiji-ma.”

“We are improved,” Ilisidi said. “We are much improved, nand’ paidhi. We have a solution to that fool, and we shall have a solution to the South. Cenedi, communicate with my grandson’s forces and have these alleged papers at Lord Geigi’s estate found and brought. Nand’ paidhi, we shall keep our promise and retire for a few hours. Perhaps until dinner. Great-grandson?”

“Mani?”

“Do notdo anything that requires you to leave this roof.”

“Yes, mani.”

There was not even any resistance about it. Everyone looked exhausted, and the company departed its separate ways.

All but him. All but Banichi and Jago, who stood to the side.

“My brother and Barb-daja?” he asked of them.

“They have come up to the house, Bren-ji,” Banichi said, “for their breakfast. House staff is attending the repair of their boat—which has numerous bullet holes. It was a very narrow escape they had. If not for the pump, the boat would have gone down, so nand’ Toby says. It was still running when staff brought them up to the house.”

Bren let go a long sigh and came around the chair—he took each by an arm briefly, atevi custom be damned. “One has you back and safe, nadiin-ji,” he said. “Forgive me. Words cannot express—how glad, personally, how glad I am.” He let them go. “Now that a foolish human has said so, I shall stop being rude.”

Banichi made a sound in his throat, half a laugh, and Jago tilted her head and gave him a down-the-nose look that said she had things to say on that rudeness, but wouldn’t until later.

“Tano and Algini report,” Banichi said, “that they believe the enemy penetrated house defenses here while they were absent with you, nandi. Even past the dowager’s protections here—they got throughc to a grievous mistake on the part of the two who died.”

“Algini knew the intruders,” Jago said. “They were high in the Guild under Gegini.” That was to say, the Guild leadership during the overthrow. “Nochidi and Keigan, senior Guild, within the Guild itself. They survived the service of both Sarini and Cosadi.”

Previousbids to unseat Tabini: Sarini was dead. Cosadi, now deceased, had been another problem out of the Marid, and an elder cousin to the current one. Now they had a new problem. Machigi. Who had come damned close to doing what the others had failed to do.

That the two intruders Algini and Tano had done for had been senior Guild, good enough to get past Ilisidi’s guard—that sent a chill down the backbone. They’d gotten far enough, deep enough into house defenses to have taken any of them outc except Tano and Algini, except Cenedi and Nawari. Close call. Very. The Marid didn’t spend its elite teams lightly.

It was of a par with Ilisidi saying that the paidhi-aiji had become the primary target.

Leave the coast, go back to the Bujavid? That was a worsesituation, with the Farai right in their midst, with their secretaries, their guards, their staffc their access to install anything from listening devices to a bomb in his apartment—or against Tabini’s apartment wall.

“Not a comfortable thought,” he said. “One surmises this will not be the end of it, nadiin-ji. One assumesthe aiji will now move against the Marid.”

“One does assume the aiji will now dislodge the Farai from the paidhi’s apartment,” Jago said dryly, “for a start.”

It could be downright treasonous, that utterancec the implication that Tabini-aiji had been a fool.

Or perhaps Jago had meant something else. Along with the aiji’s power came the obligation to be both subtle and clever.

“He did notforce me out here to draw fire, surely.” One entertained that uncomfortable thought, momentarily. “He need only have suggested I visit my estate. One would gladly have gonec”

“The aiji at least permitted the Farai to be inconvenient to him,” Banichi said with a lift of the brow. “But one surmises he was concentrating on doings in the South when he made the decision to be patient with them, and perhaps he was testing the Farai’s intent. One by no means believes he would have allowed his son to remain here a single night, had he had the suspicion of hostile presence.”

That was true. The assassination attempt had been opportunistic, he believed that. But it led inevitably right back to the Marid and this new problem. Machigi. He had to study up on the man. Baiji’s value to the Marid had plummeted when Tabini-aiji took power back from Murini, but the value Baiji had retained was that of a staging area for a very important operationc namely removal of some of Tabini-aiji’s key assets. An heir? Grievous as that would be, rumors were that Damiri might produce another before the year was out. The dowager? A very hard target, and one that would notthoroughly or immediately disrupt the west coast—which was the arena of Marid ambitions. The East was irrelevant to them.