She cocked her head to one side. Fear washed through Aleksi, and he took a step toward her. If she went, by the gods, he would go with her. But Tess only grinned. 'No, I couldn't. You know that as well as I do.'
Soerensen sighed and rested a hand on her shoulder- the gesture looked both awkward and intimate. 'Tess,' he said slowly, 'I do regret how little time I've ever had just for you. I'm sorry.'
Her eyes widened. 'So you really are leaving Rhui for good.'
'Yes! I don't have any choice. Listen!' He bent toward her and repeated to her the words that the woman Suzanne had told him. Aleksi realized that they had raised their voices to talk over the rising roar of the wind. How had the wind come up so suddenly? A few clouds lay torn across the sky, building in the west and concealing patches of stars, but there was no sign of imminent storm. The horses flung up their heads and pulled at their reins, nervous, and Maggie stayed with them, calming them.
Tess listened to her brother's recital in silence, and when he was done, she simply nodded her head. 'Yes,' she agreed. 'You have to go.'
As with one thought, the four khaja looked up into the heavens. It wasn't wind at all. Aleksi tilted his head back and stared.
It was a creature, a bird-not a bird-some monster- not a monster. The prince had said a ship was coming. And Dr. Hierakis had told him about ships that sailed the ocean of night, as it was night now, fallen all around them. A huge shadow blotted out the stars, and the air sang in a bellowing howl around Aleksi as the ship sank like a bird sailing in on the wings of Father Wind and settled onto the ground.
Dust sprayed out. Maggie's mare bolted and crashed down, constrained by the hobble, and struggled back up to its feet. Marco and Aleksi ran over to help Maggie, and the three of them led the animals back to Tess and the prince, fighting them, soothing them until they calmed, ears back, and resigned themselves to the presence of the beast. It roared; that was its voice, then. The swirling air was its breath, hot like summer, hammering at him, tearing at his clothes.
They showed no fear at all.
'What happened to Karkand?' Charles shouted, straining against the screaming voice of the ship.
'I don't know. Last I heard the jaran broke into the city. That's all I know. You really can't come back now, can you?' She sagged, just slightly, and Aleksi left the horses to Marco and Maggie and went to her. She cast him a glance, relieved and grateful, and let him hold her up. She shook, she was so exhausted.
'No.' The wind pounded at Soerensen's back where he stood facing Tess, his back to the ship. It hulked there; small lights caught and winked on it, like eyes opening and closing. 'There must be no link between me and Rhui until we're ready to launch the next rebellion, not anything else for dukes like Naroshi to grab hold of. I have to work as far into the Chapalii court as I can. In a way, I'll be providing the distraction. Because once the rebellion is launched, we'll need Rhui.'
'You have Rhui,' she yelled back. She squinted into the tearing gale, blinking back grit, and lifted an arm to protect her face.
'More than that.' His pale hair whipped and danced in the breath of the ship. 'You have to unite Rhui, as far as you can, you and Bakhtiian, his descendants, if it takes that long. So when the interdiction lifts, as it must, when we need its resources for the rebellion, we'll have some kind of central authority. But one that's grown slowly, without alerting the Chapalii. Without that central authority to coordinate our efforts on planet, it will be far too inefficient to exploit her resources with the speed and initial secrecy we'll need to make the rebellion work.'
'We're such damned hypocrites!' The ship screamed behind her, and the wind battered them in waves. 'By what right do we meddle on Rhui like this? By what right do you? You leave, but in turn you make Rhui the heart of your plans. And yet you made the interdiction in the first place. Now you're breaking it worse than anyone else. By what right?'
A single bright white light speared out from the ship.
It illuminated the prince and Tess as if the sun had risen on them alone, leaving the rest of the world in darkness.
'By the promise I made to free humanity,' the prince said. His face was shadowed though light spilled around him, but hers was ail lit, white and angry, and then she rolled her eyes and laughed.
'I'll never be free of you, Charles.'
'Never,' he agreed. 'We never are free from ourselves and our heritage.' Abruptly, he wrung his hands together, a gesture that showed how deeply this parting hurt him. Only he wasn't wringing his hands; he was pulling the signet ring off of his right middle finger. 'This is yours, the sigil of the Prince of Jeds. I left the gold chain of office in my tent, and Baron Santer in Jeds holds the scepter in trust, until you return.'
She pushed herself away from Aleksi and took the ring from Charles and stared at it as if she had never seen it before. 'How am I supposed to prove all this? When am I supposed to ride to Jeds? Is there any guarantee that Baron Santer will remember me, or be willing to give up his regency? And how in hell are Ilya and I supposed to unite Rhui, anyway?'
He lifted his hands, palms up, and smiled. 'Tess, I never said it would be easy.'
She laughed. 'Damn you!'
'The prince is dead,' said Marco, his voice almost obliterated by the ship's voice. 'God save the prince.'
'Marco,' said Maggie. 'Go to hell.'
'No doubt I will.'
The ship coughed. Only it didn't cough. Its mouth opened and a golden glow penetrated the night, washing into the hard white glare that illuminated Tess and her brother. A ramp pushed out from the maw of the beast, a bridge linking the heavens and the earth. A figure appeared in the glow and hurried down the ramp. An angel? One of Father Wind's attendants?
It resolved into a man like any man, except for the strange cut of his clothes and the blithe way he strode out of the ship and ignored its screaming howl and the battering wind. Marco hailed him, and the two men shook hands-that strange Erthe greeting-and he came over to Soerensen.
'Ah, Javier, how are you?' said Soerensen. 'This is Tess. I don't believe you've ever met. Javier Lu Shen.' Formal greetings were exchanged.
'Hold on,' said Tess, turning first to look at the horses and then back to the new man. 'Javier, can you ride?'
'Ride?' Soerensen turned to his sister. 'What are you thinking about, Tess?'
'Charles, I have to tell Ilya something. He'll never believe you're dead unless he has more witnesses and a credible story of how you-God, it's impossible. But what if I tell him the truth, in terms he'd understand? You already laid down half the smokescreen, you know, by pretending to ride into the battle. So if I tell Ilya that you're dying here, as Prince of Jeds, in order to go back to Earth-to Erthe-to fight the khepelli, and if Ilya tells the army that you're dead, who will question him?'
'Yes. I had thought that far. But what has this to do with whether Javier can ride?'
'A horse?' Javier demanded. 'Do you mean a horse? One of those things? I've never ridden one.'
'You'll learn,' said Tess with a brief smile. 'I did.' She turned back to her brother. 'Charles, you have to go on the shuttle. But if Marco and Javier ride north and swing back to Abala Port, where you came in last spring, and sail to Jeds, then they can go out on the shuttle through Jeds.'
'Which means that Marco can deliver the news of my death to Baron Santer.'
'Yes! And meanwhile, Ilya will get the report that two khaja men, you and Marco, rode through jaran territory and left by ship. For Erthe.'
'This is all very convoluted, Tess,' protested Charles.
Poor Javier looked appalled.
'How else can I explain it to Ilya? I've got the messenger bells and messenger seal-they'll provide Marco and Javier with safe passage, new mounts, and supplies. They can ride as quickly as-well, as Javier learns. Speed and secrecy. Isn't that what we need? To prepare Rhui for the rebellion? You leave, Ilya knows enough to satisfy him, knows that he's part of the conspiracy, and he can say you died in the battle today. Cara can confirm it. We can burn some poor nameless soul as your body, and it's done.'
'But what about Marco?' asked Charles. 'Does Marco want to ride all that way?'
'What about me?' wailed Javier.
'I don't mind,' said Marco in a low voice, barely audible above the roar of the ship. 'Pm leaving camp anyway. What do I care? It has to be done. I think it's a good idea.'
