say didn't make out very well,' chan Skrithik replied coldly, and this time Toralk's eyes seemed to flinch ever so slightly.
'Regiment-Captain,' he said after a moment, 'I'm an officer in the Union Air Force. Policy decisions are made at a higher level than mine. I say that not in any effort to suggest that the anger you obviously feel is unreasonable, but because there's nothing I can do-or could have done-about the cause of that anger. I was sent here with a proposal based upon the situation in which we currently find ourselves. So, again, I ask you, are you willing to listen to my superior officer's messages?'
Chan Skrithik felt an unwilling flicker of sympathy for this Toralk even through the cold, bitter fury of Janaki's death. He wouldn't have cared to be sent on a mission like this one.
'Very well,' he said finally, flatly. 'Speak your piece.'
'Five Hundred Vaynair,' Toralk said quietly, looking at the other officer, and Vaynair cleared his throat again.
'Regiment-Captain chan Skrithik,' he said, 'I am Two Thousand Harshu's senior magistron-his senior medical officer. We realize that some Sharonians have what you refer to as the Healing Talent. What we've been able to discover about it so far, however, suggests that its primary functions are pain management and the enhancement of the natural healing process. A magistron like myself, however, has the healing Gift, which differs from your people's Talent. With proper training, that Gift can repair damages your own people's Talent can't. For example, a sufficiently powerful magistron can actually regenerate damaged nervous tissue.'
Chan Skrithik managed to keep his eyes from widening and simply cocked his head, waiting, when Vaynair paused.
'The reason I, specifically, am here, Regiment-Captain,' the commander of five hundred continued after a brief silence, 'is to propose that my medical staff and I make our healing Gifts available to the wounded from both sides.'
'Why?' chan Skrithik demanded.
'For several reasons, Sir. One of them, frankly, is to ensure the best possible treatment for the Arcanan prisoners currently in your hands, many of whom must have been wounded.' Vaynair made the admission unflinchingly. 'A second, which you may find more difficult to believe, is that magistrons swear an oath very similar to the one your Healers swear. The use of our Gift is supposed to be determined by our patients' needs, not by who those patients might happen to be or theuniform they might happen to wear. And a third is because we couldn't reasonably expect you to allow us access to our own wounded if we were to refuse to treat your wounded, as well.'
'I see,' chan Skrithik said for a third time. Somewhat to his own surprise, he was inclined to believe Vaynair was sincere about this magistron's oath. And whether the Arcanan was sincere about that or not, the other points he'd made were certainly reasonable enough.
And the least these whoresons can do is save a few godsdamned lives for a change, he thought bitterly.
It was hard, but he managed to keep his voice level. Straining the hate and fury out left it curiously flattened, but there wasn't much he could do about that.
'I'll certainly take your proposal under advisement,' he said after several seconds. 'Of course, before I could accept it, I would have to ask you to repeat it in the presence of a Sifter.'
'That would be someone with your people's Talent for recognizing when someone is lying?'
'It would. Why?' chan Skrithik's eyes narrowed 'Would you have some objection to that?'
'We would have no objection at all, Regiment-Captain,' Toralk replied for the commander of five hundred, 'so long as the questions we were required to answer were limited to the discussion of the proposals before us.'
Chan Skrithik considered that, then shrugged.
'I suppose that wouldn't be unreasonable … assuming I feel inclined to consider those proposals in the first place. However, you said you have two messages.'
'Yes,' Toralk agreed. 'At the moment, you have in your possession several hundred Arcanan prisoners.
Two Thousand Harshu would like to propose an exchange-the prisoners you currently hold, for the free passage of your work crews in Karys back to Fort Salby.'
'Our work crews?' chan Skrithik said. 'Are you saying you've captured them? Or have you simply rounded up the survivors after massacring most of them?'
'We haven't 'massacred' any of them, Regiment-Captain. We bypassed them on our way to Fort Salby.
However, they'are now behind our lines, and it's necessary for us to do something about them.' Toralk looked straight into chan Skrithik's eyes. 'We can either go back and demand their surrender-and use force to compel them to surrender, if they refuse-or we can attempt to arrive at some other arrangement.'
'Are you suggesting that you might hold them hostage for the return of your personnel?' chan Skrithik asked in a considerably icier voice.
'I suppose it might sound that way,' Toralk conceded. 'However, the point I'm trying to make is that at the moment there's been no contact between our forces and the civilian workers on your 'railroad.' What Two Thousand Harshu is offering you is an opportunity to protect them, in exchange for the return of his own personnel.'
'What if I suggested that if he wants his people back he should return all of our people? Everyone you've captured from the moment you attacked us during the middle of the 'peace negotiations' you people proposed?'
Chan Skrithik watched the other man's expression narrowly and found himself wishing he'd had at least some experience in reading Arcanan body language. Not that he was certain it would have helped a great deal. Watching Toralk, he suspected that the Arcanan would have been a formidable opponent across the gaming table.
'Two Thousand Harshu thought you might make such a counter offer,' Toralk said. 'He instructed me to tell you that he doesn't have the authority to agree to such a broad exchange. He instructs me to point out to you that, as he's sure you'll appreciate, having transported at least some of the prisoners your people took when you attacked us beyond our reach, the prisoners in his hands represent an invaluable intelligence asset. He lacks the authority to surrender that asset until and unless both sides are in a position to discuss the return of all prisoners.'
'Does he?'
There was something about Toralk's reply that bothered chan Skrithik. Something about the careful word selection. He couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was, yet it sent a chill through him, and he found himself hoping it was only because his bone-deep anger at Janaki's death had made him hypersuspicious of anything an Arcanan said or did.
'Very well,' he said, hoping his flicker of apprehension hadn't been obvious to Toralk and Vaynair,
'suppose I make a different counter proposal. If he wants his soldiers back, I want not simply my civilians, but their construction equipment.'
Toralk blinked. Clearly, chan Skrithik had managed to surprise him at least a little for the first time. The Arcanan frowned, cocking his head slightly while he considered what chan Skrithik had said, then shrugged.
'I can't say how Two Thousand Harshu would react to that suggestion,' he admitted. 'I would have to return and discuss it with him. Would that be acceptable?'
'Possibly.' Chan Skrithik smiled thinly. 'Your 'Two Thousand Harshu' is the fellow who first proposed the exchange. I hadn't even considered it. Obviously, I'll have to think about it, as well, won't I?
However, at the moment, I'm … disinclined to settle for anything less. And I suppose I should point out to you that what we're talking about is a couple of thousand 'civilians' equipped with the same weapons which blew your first batch of butchers into dog shit at Fallen Timbers. You might find an effort to
'compel them' to surrender rather more expensive than you'd like.'
Toralk's face tightened slightly at the words 'first batch of butchers,' but he had himself well under control. Instead of some angry response, he simply nodded.
'You might be right, Regiment-Captain. That doesn't mean either side would be happy about the expense involved, however.'
'True enough,' chan Skrithik agreed with a thin smile.
'I would like to add one more thing, Regiment-Captain,' Vaynair said, and chan Skrithik swung his gaze back to the magistron.
'What?'
