Dying of the Light

Dirk never got the chance to respond; Janacek beat him to it. 'You cannot do that. Who is he, this t'Larien? How can you think him worthy, bring him into Ironjade? He will be false, Jaan. He will not keep the bonds, will not defend the holdfast, will not return with us to the Gathering. I protest this.'

'If he accepts, I think he will keep the bonds for a time,' Vikary said.

'For a time? Kethi are linked forever!'

'Then this will be a new thing, a new sort of keth, a friend for a time.'

'It is more than new,' said Janacek. 'I will not allow it.'

'Garse,' said Jaan Vikary, 'Dirk t'Larien is now your friend. Or have you forgotten so soon? You do wrong to try to block my offer. You break the bonds that you have just taken. You would not act such to a keth.'

'You would not be inviting a keth to be a keth,' Janacek grumbled. 'He would be already, so the whole thing has no sense to it. He is an outbonder. The high-bond council would rebuke you, Jaan. This is wrong, clearly.'

'The highbond council is seated on High Kavalaan, and this is Worlorn,' Vikary said. 'Only you are here to speak for Ironjade. Will you hurt your friend?'

Janacek did not reply.

Vikary turned again to Dirk. 'Well, t'Larien?'

'I don't know,' Dirk said. 'I think I know what it would mean, to be a holdfast-brother, and I suppose that I appreciate the honor, or whatever. But we have a lot of things between us, Jaan.'

'You are speaking of Gwen,' Vikary said. 'She is indeed between us. But Dirk, I am asking you to be a new and special sort of holdfast-brother. Only for so long as you are on Worlorn, and only to Garse, not to myself or any other Ironjade. Do you understand?'

'Yes. That makes it easier.' He glanced at Janacek. 'Even with Garse, though, I've got problems. He was the one who tried to make property of me, and just now he wasn't exactly trying to get me out of that duel.'

'I spoke only truth,' Janacek said, but Vikary waved him quiet.

'Those things I could forgive, I guess,' Dirk said. 'But not the business with Gwen.'

'That matter will be resolved by myself and you and Gwen Delvano,' Vikary said calmly. 'Garse has no voice in it, though he may tell you that he has.'

'She is my cro-betheyn,' Garse complained. 'I have a right to speak and act. I have an obligation.'

'I'm talking about last night,' Dirk said. 'I was at the door. I heard. Janacek hit her, and since then the two of you have had her locked up away from me.'

Vikary smiled. 'He hit her?'

Dirk nodded. 'I heard it.'

'You heard an argument and a blow, of that I have no doubt,' Vikary said. He touched his swollen jaw. 'How do you think this transpired?'

Dirk stared, and suddenly felt incredibly dense. 'I… I thought… I don't know. The jelly children…'

'Garse hit me, not Gwen,' Vikary said.

'I would do it again,' Janacek added in a surly voice.

'But,' said Dirk, 'but then, what was going on? Last night? This morning?'

Janacek rose and walked to Dirk's end of the couch to loom over him. 'Friend Dirk,' he said in slightly venomous tones, 'this morning I told you the truth. Gwen went out with Arkin Ruark, to work. The Kimdissi had been calling for her all throughout yesterday. He was most frantic. The tale he told to me was that a column of armor-bugs had begun to migrate, undoubtedly in response to the growing cold. This is said to be very rare even on Eshellin. On Worlorn, of course, such an event is unique and cannot be recreated, and Ruark felt that it had to be studied at once. Now do you comprehend, my friend Dirk t'Larien, now?'

'Uh,' said Dirk. 'She would have said something.'

Janacek returned to his seat with his gaunt hatchet face screwed up in a scowl. 'My friend calls me a liar,' he said.

'Garse speaks the truth,' Vikary said. 'Gwen said she would leave word for you, a note or a tape. Perhaps in the excitement of her preparation she forgot. Such things happen. She is very involved in her work, Dirk. She is a good ecologist.'

Dirk looked at Garse Janacek. 'Hold on,' he said. 'This morning you said you were keeping her from me. You admitted it.'

Vikary looked puzzled also. 'Garse?'

'Truth,' Janacek said grudgingly. 'He came up and pressed and pressed, forced his way inside with a transparent lie. More, he clearly wanted to believe that Gwen was being held captive by the foul Ironjades. I doubt that he would have believed anything else.' He sipped carefully at his wine.

'That,' Jaan Vikary said, 'was not wise, Garse.'

'Untruth given, untruth returned,' Janacek said, looking smug.

'You are not being a good friend.'

'I will henceforth be better,' said Janacek.

'That pleases me,' Vikary said. 'Now, t'Larien, will you be keth to Garse?'

Dirk considered it for a long moment. 'I guess,' he finally said.

'Drink then,' Vikary said. The three men raised their glasses simultaneously-Janacek's was already half drained-and the wine flowed hot and a little bitter over Dirk's tongue. It was not the best wine he had ever tasted. But it was good enough.

Janacek finished his glass and stood. 'We must talk of the duels.'

'Yes,' Vikary said. 'This has been a bitter day. Neither of you has been wise.'

Janacek leaned up against the mantel below one of the leering gargoyles. 'The greatest lack of wisdom was yours, Jaan. Understand me, I have no fear of duel with Bretan Braith and Chell Empty-Arms, but it was not needed. You deliberately provoked it. The Braith had to issue challenge after your words, lest even his own teyn spit upon him.'

'It did not go as I had hoped,' Vikary said. 'I thought perhaps Bretan feared us, that he might let pass his duel with t'Larien in order to avoid us. He did not.'

'No,' said Janacek, 'he did not. I could have told you, had you asked. You pushed him too far and came perilously close to duel-breaking.'

'It is within the code.'

'Perhaps. Yet Bretan was correct; there would have been great shame for him if he had ignored t'Larien's trespass in fear of you.'

'No,' said Vikary. 'That is where you and all our people are wrong. There should be no shame in avoiding a duel. If we are ever to achieve our destiny, we must learn that. Yet, in a sense, you are right-in consideration of who and what he was, he could give no other answer. I misjudged him.'

'A serious misjudgement,' Janacek said. A grin split his red beard. 'It would have been better to let t'Larien duel. I saw to it that they will fight with blades, did I not? The Braith would not have slain him for such a trifling offense. A man like Dirk, ah, there would have been no honor in it. One blow only, I would have said. A cut would do t'Larien good. A lesson for him, a lesson about mistakes. It would add character to his face, a small cut.' He looked at Dirk. 'Now, of course, Bretan Braith will kill you.'

He was still grinning and he made his final comment with casual elan. Dirk tried not to choke on his wine. 'What?'

Janacek shrugged. 'As first-challenged, you must duel first, so you cannot hope that Jaan and I will slay them before they get to you. Bretan Braith Lantry is as widely known for his skill in duel as he is for his striking good looks. In truth, he is notorious. I suppose he is here hunting mockmen with Chell, but he is not really much a hunter. He is more comfortable in the death-square than in the wild, from all that I have heard of him. Even his own kethi find him difficult. In addition to being ugly, he took Chell fre-Braith to teyn. Chell was once a highbond of great power and honor. He outlived his