The Gathering Flame Read Online Free PDF Page B

positioned to become the best-informed. And what I learned is that neither Metadi nor the young woman really wanted to make the bargain. I was mentally rehearsing my own presentation to the captain, setting forth our cause in terms based on my new knowledge, when … well, I’ve seen people be manipulated before …”
    “You’ve done your own share of manipulating.”
    “True, I confess,” said Aringher. He shrugged, grimacing a little as the motion tugged at the cuts along his shoulder blades. “At any rate, just as it appeared that no agreement could be reached between the two of them, another party decided to take a hand in the proceedings. Subsequently I was discovered. The rest you know.”
    “‘Another party’?” Mistress Vasari’s eyes gleamed with a businesslike curiosity. “Mages, do you think?”
    “I doubt it, my dear. The captain and the young lady are still alive, and the Double Moon is still standing. Considering the magnitude of the grudge the Mages must hold against Jos Metadi, any attempt at revenge would involve considerably more than a locked door and, from the sound of it, a few poorly aimed blaster bolts in a dark alley.”
    “Well, it wasn’t me, I assure you.”
    “I never thought for a minute that it might be.”
    “Go on.”
    Aringher put away the bottle of antiseptic and pulled on a fresh shirt. “Anyway, somebody else wanted the deal to go through—so they arranged an attack, in order to make the Domina and Captain Metadi allies by sharing a common danger. But not, mind you, too much danger. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe that the whole purpose of the exercise was to separate the Domina from her escort, and to throw her into the company of Jos Metadi.”
    “Tricky, tricky,” Vasari said, in approving tones. “Who was it?”
    “My question precisely.” He slipped on his jacket and began doing up the buttons. “And I believe that the answer can be found on Entibor.”
     
    The Armsmaster of House Rosselin was still sitting in the courier ship’s command chair when Nivome returned.
    “So there you are,” the Rolnian said. “Asleep.”
    Hafrey opened his eyes and turned them toward the Minister of Internal Security. “Not sleeping,” he said. “Thinking. A practice I would recommend to you.”
    “This isn’t the time for sarcasm,” said Nivome. “There was violence at the Double Moon—the Domina is missing, perhaps even dead.”
    Hafrey regarded the dark, heavyset Rolnian dispassionately. “I think I can ease your mind somewhat concerning Her Dignity’s whereabouts. If you would accompany me?”
    “Of course,” Nivome said. “Lead the way.”
    The two men left the ship, retracing Ser Hafrey’s course to the shadows outside the docking bay where Warhammer had rested not long before. The worklights along the top of the privacy walls were dark, and the blast doors were shut. The dockworkers and their skipsleds had gone on to another ship and another cargo, leaving silence behind.
    “It’s empty,” said Nivome. “They’ve already lifted and gone to orbit.”
    “True enough.” Hafrey let the implied complaint go unanswered. “If you would be patient a while longer—”
    He busied himself at the juncture of the wall and the blast door. After a few minutes he gave a brief nod of satisfaction, and stepped back. In one hand he held a small black cube, scarcely a thumbnail’s length on a side. He offered the cube to Nivome.
    “You may examine the record, if you like.”
    Nivome picked up the spy-eye, but didn’t bother to look at it. “You’re too sure of yourself. What have you arranged for me to see?”
    “I? Nothing. But if you watch, you will see Her Dignity enter the ship in company with Captain Metadi.”
    The Rolnian clenched his fist around the black cube. “You’re her guardian, and you approve of this?”
    “She is the Domina,” Hafrey pointed out. “And Entibor is most decidedly not Rolny. It is not for us to approve