XXIX: Triad

XXIX
Triad

Kelric felt Barthol die. It exploded in his mind, that shattering moment that ended in abrupt darkness. Kelric’s mind reeled and for an instant he could see nothing, only blackness.

The amphitheatre reappeared and Kelric gulped in a ragged breath.

“Gods almighty,” Roca whispered next to him.

“Imperator Skolia, are you all right?”

Kelric turned to see the captain of their bodyguards coming toward him. All four Jagernauts were pale. They would have also felt the general die, not with the force it would hit a Ruby psion, but still strong. If Barthol had been a psion, it would have hit them even harder, but any death was a shock, including that of an Aristo, even when it came with a release from the pressure of Barthol’s Highton mind. They had all felt it. Looking at the Jagernauts—all telepaths—Kelric knew what he had to do. He couldn’t operate with them here.

“I’m all right,” Kelric said. He brushed a panel on his gauntlet that deactivated his links to his security teams. “I need for you to go down to the lobby. The people below us can’t get out of the cyberlock field, either. They need your help.”

The captain spoke. “With respect, sir, we’re needed here, with your family.”

“You have my orders,” Kelric said. “Go.”

Kelric, for flaming sake, what are you doing? Roca thought.

Dehya’s voice came into their link. Roca, trust him.

Roca glanced at Dehya, her forehead furrowed, but she said nothing more. The Jagernauts saluted Kelric, stiff with their misgivings, and took off, jogging toward the broken portion of the floor. As they disappeared over its edge, climbing down to the lobby, their minds receded.

Now, Kelric thought to Dehya.

Taking a breath, he headed across the amphitheatre. Dehya joined him, and he slowed his pace, moderating his speed, though his instincts urged him to run, for he knew they had only moments before the cyberlocks released. Right now, no one could reach them. They were isolated. The holocams weren’t working. They would probably never have a chance like this again.

Kelric kept walking.

Jaibriol watched them approach, his face impossible to read, his mind saturated with shock. The bitter, astringent smell of broken composite permeated the air. Sounds were muted except for the tread of Kelric’s boots on the floor. He and Dehya kept walking, and he was aware of Roca, Aliana, and the boy following, their thoughts uncertain, puzzled.

Jaibriol headed toward him.

The four Razers immediately fell into step with the emperor, their hands dropping to the guns holstered on their hips. Tarquine frowned at her husband, but she walked at his side, and Corbal Xir accompanied them as well.

Kelirc. Roca’s thought came into his mind. They outnumber us. Why did you send away our guards?

Mother, I want you to wait on the other side of the amphitheatre. Take Aliana and the boy with you.

No. She continued on with him.

Go. Take them.

No.

Dehya glanced at Kelric. When he gave her a questioning look, asking what she wanted to do, she nodded.

So they continued their walk.

They met Jaibriol in the center of the amphitheatre. Their two groups stood there, no one making any move, however slight, that might be interpreted as threatening. Kelric set his mental shields to cut out Roca and the two children. Whether or not he could block a psion as experienced as his mother when she was so close, he didn’t know, but he doubted anyone else could pick them up.

It was time. This was the moment.

Kelric thought, Jaibriol.

Dehya’s thought came like clear water. Jaibriol.

The emperor didn’t move. He showed no response.

This may be our only chance ever, Kelric thought to him.

Jaibriol stared at them, his face perfectly composed, no trace of acknowledgement in his manner, and Kelric feared the emperor could never break free of his mental prison.

Then a thought came to Kelric, one like nothing he had ever before felt, vibrant and alive, luminous and deep and full of resonant power. Jaibriol Qox thought, The Carnelian Throne acknowledges the Mind and the Fist of the Web.

Dehya exhaled as if she had just heard a singer hit an exquisitely high note. The Ruby Throne acknowledges the Heart of the Web.

No. Roca’s stunned protest whispered in their minds. No, it cannot be.

Roca, you must not react, Dehya said. Aliana and Red, if you can hear this, the same is true for you. Even with the holocams off, systems may record us. You must show NO sign that anything is going on beyond what people see. You cannot reveal what you hear, not now, not ever.

Tarquine and Corbal were watching them, Corbal’s white hair glittering. The Razers towered in their severe uniforms. One of them, the man who looked exactly like Hidaka, glanced beyond Kelric as if searching for someone. Kelric felt an oddly metallic sense from the Razer. Something he saw in their group moved him greatly. Something—or someone.

Tarquine’s gaze flicked from Dehya to Jaibriol. Then she discreetly cleared her throat.

Jaibriol took a breath. “Pharaoh Dyhianna, our summit appears to have a glitch.”

Dehya spoke wryly. “It would seem so, Your Highness.” Quietly she added, “Our sympathies for your loss.”

Jaibriol’s voice was so perfect, it sounded ready to break. “Thank you.”

Jaibriol, Kelric thought. We need to ask you a question.

The emperor regarded him. Go ahead.

Did something happen to you on this date? Kelric projected an image of the date when he and Dehya had suffered the attack in Kyle space.

Jaibriol’s posture tightened. Yes.

Can you tell us what? Dehya asked.

Jaibriol spoke aloud. “We extend our regrets for the deaths of your people in this crisis.”

Dehya inclined her head. “We thank you, Your Highness.” She thought, Please, Jaibriol. We need to know.

What do you believe happened on that date? he asked.

Kelric’s thought rumbled. Someone tried to assassinate you.

Jaibriol showed no outward response—and that composure was an immense tribute to his control, for inside of his mind, his pain swept through their link. They failed to kill myself or my wife. Bitterly he added, My son was less fortunate.

Tarquine’s black diamond tunic rustled as she shifted her weight. Kelric was too focused on Jaibriol to pick up the minds of anyone outside their loop, but he suspected Corbal and Tarquine had a good idea what was happening. The Razers were impossible to read, other than their readiness to defend the emperor.

Aloud, Dehya said, “Emperor Jaibriol, we hope you have suffered no ill effects as a result of this attack.” In her mind, she thought, My sorrow for your son. We mourn the passing of our kin.

Jaibriol gave her a formal nod. “We are fine, Your Highness. We hope that you have not suffered from this violence.” His thought came as well: I deeply regret if the attack against my life led to similar against yours.

The Triad is linked, Kelric thought. What happens to one, happens to all.

I cannot do it. Jaibriol’s mind ached with his struggle. To operate as a member of the Triad—I have no way to do this, no understanding, nothing. It’s killing me.

Then he dropped his barriers.

His mind opened like rays of light slanting through a storm, and the parting of those clouds revealed a vulnerability as deep as an ocean. Kelric felt it all, Jaibriol’s fight to hide the truth every second, every hour, every day, for years on end, until it left him ravaged with mental scar tissue. Yet through it all shone a mind beyond any other Kelric knew. Jaibriol had inherited the best from all of them: his mother’s strength of character, his father’s purity, Dehya’s brilliance, Kelric’s strength, Roca’s luminosity, Del’s creativity, all that made each of them unique. Within his tortured mind, he was a miracle beyond imagining.

Ah gods, Roca thought. She was no longer the Assembly Councilor meeting her enemy; she had become the mother Kelric had known all his life, the nurturer who loved her children with nothing held back. Jaibriol’s face showed no hint of his emotions; outwardly, in every detail, he was the ideal remote Highton. But in his mind, he reached for her golden warmth like a man freezing to death.

In real time, barely seconds had passed. Dehya was speaking quietly. “Let us not allow these acts of violence to stop the summit.”

“We are agreed,” Jaibriol said, his voice so distant and cool, he barely seemed human.

Come with us, Roca thought to Jaibriol. This is Delos, the world of sanctuary, the place where Skolians, Eubians, and Allieds may walk together. Step across the line. Ask us for asylum. We will take you in.

I cannot, Jaibriol answered. I have sworn to find the peace my parents dreamed of. If I stop now, all will have been in vain. They would have died for nothing.

Your parents? Roca asked. She showed him an image of Soz, her daughter, a woman in a Jagernaut’s uniform, standing with her booted feet planted, a laser carbine in her hands, her chin lifted, the wind blowing her hair around her head, black hair that shaded into wine-red and then into metallic gold at the tips.

Yes. My mother. Jaibriol showed them a man, the living image of previous Qox emperors, except that instead of a chilly Aristo in black diamond, this man wore patched trousers and a faded shirt with frayed hems. He was standing on a boulder in an alien forest, laughing, his eyes filled with kindness and love.

My father, Jaibriol thought.

A song swirled in their minds, a Lyshrioli tune Roca had often sung to her children. An image of Soz crooning to her babies formed in Jaibriol’s mind. She sang slightly off tune in an untrained voice, yet somehow that only made it more beautiful.

The gauntlets worn by Jaibriol’s bodyguards began to flash. At the same time, the pager on Kelric’s gauntlet hummed with a high-priority signal. As Kelric lifted his arm, Jaibriol glanced at the Razer to his right, the twin of Hidaka.

“What is it?” Jaibriol asked the Razer.

A message scrolled across the comm in Kelric’s gauntlet: We fixed the cyberlock keys. We’re turning off the locks.

At the same time, the Razer said, “Sire, they’ve released the cyberlocks. We’re free to go.”

Jaibriol, listen! Kelric had no more time and so much more to say. He accelerated his thoughts. That dice game Quis is more than you know. On the world where I learned it, everyone plays it all their lives. They tell stories, mold lives, change their culture. The best players rule the planet. It’s more than a predictive device, more than a means to protect your mind. It may be the most powerful social means of change ever invented.

Kelric, no, Dehya said. Stop.

We have to give it to him, Kelric thought.

For what? she asked. The downfall of humanity under Aristo dominance?

No. The peace we all seek. The end of Aristo inhumanity.

Every Aristo will learn the game, Dehya said. Scholars, advisors, commanders, everyone. They will see its potential.

And we will outplay them, Kelric answered.

Tell me, Jaibriol thought. We have only an instant left.

Everyone seemed to move in slow motion. As Kelric’s finger descended to reactivate his gauntlet, he thought, We must teach Quis to everyone. Let it spread across Skolia, Eube, the Allied Worlds. We will put our dream of peace into the dice on an interstellar scale. Use it, Jaibriol! Use it wisely and we can change empires.

I will try, Jaibriol said. If you make me a promise.

Kelric’s finger hovered over his comm. What do you ask?

The empress carries my son. The Highton Heir. If ever in his life he needs sanctuary, swear that you will take him in, as I have given you the girl, Aliana.

We swear, Dehya said.

And if ever it is of use, there is this, Jaibriol said. The Razer you recognize—he is from the same clone group as Hidaka, my bodyguard whose loyalty went beyond all conditioning. With difficulty, he added, Hidaka died for that loyalty.

I remember. Kelric also understood; Hidaka had known the emperor was a member of the Ruby Dynasty and yet remained loyal.

This version of Hidaka is also my bodyguard, Jaibriol said. But he did not pattern on me. He is in love with Aliana. It is for her that he would give that boundless, unlimited loyalty. Without pause, he thought. I must go now. More softly, he added, Thank you. For one moment, I have known family.

The link dissolved.

So it was that the first summit of the new Skolian Triad—perhaps the only one that would ever occur—was completed.