Kham again wanted to smash the evasive elf in the face, but Neko's feather touch was back, calming him. Kham realized that the catboy was right. Violence wouldn't get a response from Dodger. The catboy knew what he was doing, Kham left him to it.
'So he is older, too. I had suspected as much. Is he older than Laverty?''
Dodger said confidently, 'You shall find no records of his birth.'
Neko leaned eagerly forward. 'How old is he, Dodger?'
'As I have said, he is no youth. You'll get no other answer from me, for I know not the truth of the matter. Were I to lie to you in this, you would take it ill. And were I to tell the truth as I understand it, you would think me a liar.''
'Very old, then,' Neko said, and the silence enveloped the three of them.
Kham didn't know who this Urdli was, but he had a suspicion. The catboy had said 'an elf of color,' and Kham had only encountered one of those recently- the Dark One. Like all the other elves, he looked like a kid, but here was Dodger saying that this Urdli was an old man. Kham could see now that he had been right; the elves did have a secret of youth, perhaps even of immortality. This was why Neko had set up the meeting, to prove to Kham that he had been right, to show him that they had to do something. 'He has it, doesn't he?'
'Has what?' Dodger asked innocently. Kham knew better than to believe that act. 'Our turn fer secrets,' he said.
'You do not know where you tread.' ' 'We know more dan ya tink, elf.'' 'Sir Tusk, knowledge will not save you if you blunder around in your usual fashion.' 'Ain't gonna blunder.' 'Pray it be so,' Dodger said solemnly. Neko smiled. 'Have no fear,' he told the elf. 'Like my namesake, I shall tread lightly.'
Dodger looked at him with sadness in his eyes. 'If you must walk this path, Sir Cat, you had best tread lightly and teach your friends to do so as well. Otherwise you had best hope that having cat for a namesake endows you with as many lives.'
'Where are we going?' the catboy shouted over the roar of the bikes' engines.
'Talk ta Laverty.'
'How are we going to do that?'
'Ya said we could talk ta Dodger 'cause he was coming inta town wit Laverty, right?'
'Hai, for a government conference. We can't get into that. Besides, Glasgian might be there. If he saw us, he'd know we're not dead.'
'Ain't gonna see Glasgian. Conference's a business deal wit da government, right? Well, da payroll boys don't do overtime, not da big boys anyway. So's it's gotta be over 'bout da time business is over. Which is 'bout now. We go wait and follow Laverty when he leaves.'
'And if he leaves by air?'
Kham hadn't thought about that. 'Ya got a better • idea?' he snarled angrily. 1
'I don't see any need to speak to Laverty. We got our confirmation from Dodger. Much better we retrieve the analysis on the splinter you got from the crystal's frame.'
'Go if-ya want. I want ta hear what Laverty's got ta say.''
Neko didn't reply, but he didn't leave either. They found spots behind a vendor's truck a half-block down from the Jarvis Building. They waited, buying some food from the vendor so they wouldn't look too suspicious. Kham wolfed down the first of his dogs, while Neko was more fastidious in eating the seaweed-wrapped whatever-it-was that he bought. Kham was halfway through his second dog when he spotted a crowd of media types gathering on the steps of the building. He elbowed the catboy and pointed with his head.
A few minutes later a knot of elves exited the building and were instantly rushed by the media. One pair of elves sidestepped the mob and walked down the steps unmolested, a trick which Kham knew required real magic. It was no surprise that one of the pair was Laverty. A sleek black Euro Westwind stretch limousine waited for them at the curb. Laverty got into the back of the limousine, and the aide, after assuring himself that his boss was safely inside, climbed into the front seat on the passenger side. The doors closed and the limo pulled out into traffic. Kham and Neko followed.
It took a couple of blocks to catch up, but once they had, Kham pulled his Scorpion out and edged up along the Westwind's port side. When he was even with the rear door, he reached out and tapped on the window. The darkened panel polarized transparent, then it slid down, putting Kham face to face with Laverty. The elf was alone in the back compartment and the screen to the front was up and still dark. The red-haired elf gazed calmly at Kham as though it were an everyday occurrence for his limousine to be accosted by an ork riding a Harley Scorpion. Somehow, Kham suspected that the elf had known he was coming.
'Ain't no way ta hold a conversation,' Kham hollered over the noise of his hog.
'I had not planned a conversation.' The elf didn't shout, but Kham heard him easily anyway.
'Make plans.' Kham slid a hand down to the firm-point on his bike, where he had reinstalled the Uzi after the meet with Dodger. Laverty's eyes flicked to the weapon, then back to Kham's. There was no worry in Laverty's eyes, and that was spooky. But Kham should have known better. This elf had stood up to worse, even without an armored limousine. Kham and his Uzi were no threat to the mage.
'Want ta talk about da Xavier Foundation?'
Laverty's eyes narrowed for the briefest of instants. 'A few moments only. Drop back a block and follow.'
Kham did as he was told. He didn't have much choice. Confronting Laverty this way had been a gamble, but perhaps it was now paying off. Certainly, he had been unable to think of any other way of contacting a Tir Tairngire council member without alerting Glasgian.
The sleek, dark vehicle was easy enough to follow in traffic, especially on bikes. When other cars got between them and the limo, Kham and the catboy just slid through the jam on the road lines. There were curses and the occasional threat, but Kham revved his engines when cutting off those who offered the first, and gave the finger to the rest.
After about half an hour, the limo pulled into an alley in the outskirts of the downtown business district. It was well past business hours and the area was quiet. It was too early for the after-hours delivery people and only the first scavengers were coming out, to scurry and hunt in the brief time they had before the cops began their evening patrols. The limo stopped halfway through a turn into a parking garage, the nose of the car disappearing into the structure's darkness.
Laverty's window was transparent, and Kham watched him watching them as they approached.
Kham brought his bike to a halt, but didn't bother to put down the kickstand. He draped his hands over the high-rise handlebars, fingers dangling. The sweat-warmed grips were a warm and comforting presence under his meat wrist, and the pressure sensors from his artificial arm gave him the same positional information. Either hand could reach a firing stud for the Uzi. Kham waited until the catboy's bike rolled up beside him.
'Dodger says you're older den he is.' 'And you believe him, don't you?' 'We know he was born before da Awakening.' 'Do you?' Laverty evaluated them as he spoke. He must have found them convincing, because he went on, 'I can see you believe it, too. All right, then, I will not deny it. Dodger must have told you about spike babies. What else would I be but just an older spike baby?'
'Many things,' Neko said. 'We got a good idea about what your kind can do,' Kham said.
'What about Urdli? Dodger says he's older still,' Neko said.
'He told you that?'
Kham answered the elf with silence, and he was glad that the catboy played along. Let the elf make what he would of their silence. Laverty was playing information control, using innuendo and misdirection as a shield. Let him have a taste of it himself.
'Very well then. No matter what Dodger told you, and however you react to what I have to say, I can see that you will draw your own conclusions, regardless of the facts.' Laverty sighed softly. 'I am not the oldest of my metatype, certainly. There are and always have been places that are foci of magical energy. Even when the mana is strong, it is stronger in such places. At these places, special magics can sometimes be worked. Urdli is Australian, and Australia has many of these focal points. There are only a few left in Europe, places like Stonehenge and an old crypt in Aachen, but the Pacific Northwest has many, which is why Tir Tairngire is situated where it is, as I am sure you have guessed.'
'Australia and the Northwest are wild places, or at least moderately so. They are places where man has not
