A hint of a wince crossed the other's face. Small, brief, but unmistakable... and in that flicker of emotion the Prime knew he'd won. Even Speaker Cvv-panav, ostensibly the most powerful member of the Dhaa'rr clan, could not escape the pressure and influence of his own Elders. Elders who were in many cases as anchored to their own long-past eras and customs as they were to their family shrines. "You drive a hard bargain, Overclan Prime," the Speaker said. "I'll agree to this much: I'll suspend my efforts to have competent warrior commanders replaced by Dhaa'rr subordinates, and I'll furthermore stop demanding full briefings on restricted war information. Will that be sufficient?"
"I think so, yes," the Prime said. "Let me know when you'll be ready to move."
"I can let you know right now," Cvv-panav said. "It'll be in two fullarcs."
"Really," the Prime said, somewhat taken aback. "So soon?"
"You're the one who said this should be done as quickly as possible," Cvv-panav reminded him. "I have people on hand right here who can handle my part of the operation and then disappear for a while." He smiled slyly. "Unless, of course, you're going to have trouble setting up your open Elder debate so quickly."
The Prime smiled back. "Hardly. I'll have the announcement made within the tentharc."
"Good," Cvv-panav said, nodding politely as he stood up. "Two fullarcs from now, then."
"I'll look forward to hearing how it went."
"I'll be sure to give you a proper briefing," Cvv-panav said dryly as he stepped to the door. "Good latearc, Overclan Prime."
"Good latearc, Speaker Cvv-panav."
The Speaker left, closing the door behind him, and for a few beats the room was silent. "An interesting character," the Eighteenth's voice commented into the darkness.
"Interestingis hardly the word I'd use," the Prime growled, glaring at the closed door.
"Arrogant, perhaps?" the Twenty-fifth suggested. "Or slippery?"
"Much closer," the Prime agreed. "You notice how he appeared to accept both of my conditions without actually giving in on either of them?"
"Certainly," the Eighteenth said. "Only competent warrior commanders are henceforth immune from his politics. With their competence being defined by him, of course."
"And no more demands for full briefings means he can still clamor for private briefings," the Eleventh put in.
"Or simply ignore the Overclan briefing process entirely and concentrate his investigations at Warrior Command," the Seventh added.
"That won't gain him anything," the Twenty-eighth rumbled. "Warrior Command knows as well as we do what releasing knowledge about the CIRCE weapon could do to Zhirrzh society."
"Yet they also know we can't keep it under cover forever," the Fourth said quietly. "Eventually, the truth will leak out."
"But not until we've fought the Human-Conquerors to an impasse," the Prime said firmly, cutting off the impending debate. "We need only control access to any one of the CIRCE elements to make the weapon useless to them."
"The trick being to know when we've done that," the Twenty-second muttered. "Otherwise, we risk spreading our resources so thin that they're all but useless."
"We can do only what we can," the Eighteenth said philosophically. "At any rate, this should at least eliminate the added distraction posed by Speaker Cvv-panav and his inconvenient curiosity. You can be ready in two fullarcs, Overclan Prime?"
"Easily," the Prime assured him. "The debate is already planned. All I need to do is announce the time and place. And I've already spoken to my warriors about the other part of it."
"Good," the Eighteenth said. "Then we have nothing to do except wait."
"Yes," the Twenty-second said darkly. "And hope that the Human-Conquerors will be as easy to deal with as Speaker Cvv-panav."
14
The cliff face loomed above them, stark and blank and dirty-gray in the blazing sunlight. And a good thirty strides straight up. "I don't know, Commander," Warrior First Vstii-suuv said, shading his eyes as he looked up at the cliff. "Looks a bit tricky."
"Not to mention pretty exposed," Warrior Third Qlaa-nuur added.
"It is both of those," Thrr-mezaz agreed, gazing up at the cliff. "All in all, I'd prefer a more reasonable route myself. The question is, is one available?"
"One that doesn't expose us to direct view from the Human-Conqueror sentry positions?" Vstii-suuv asked. "Yes."
Vstii-suuv looked up at the cliff again, measuring it with his eyes. Thrr-mezaz watched him, wondering if he should just give up on this and get the three of them back to the village. He'd persuaded Supreme Ship Commander Dkll-kumvit to authorize this little trip up the mountain by calling it a dry run; but unless and until he could get anotherfsss cutting from either Warrior Command or the Prr family, this wasn't much more than a refresher course in rock climbing.
Still, right now none of them had much else to do. Between their own village encampment and the Human-Conqueror mountain stronghold, the war on Dorcas had settled into a basic halkling-nornin standoff. The Zhirrzh might as well try being the halkling half of the game for a change.
"Well, if it's a choice between climbing here or being shot at by Human-Conqueror sentries, I guess I'd go for the climb," Vstii-suuv decided, shrugging the coil of rope off his shoulder.
"Of course, once we're above the tree line, we can have both at once," Qlaa-nuur muttered.
"If the Human-Conquerors spot us, these trees aren't going to provide a lot of cover anyway," Thrr-mezaz pointed out. "Let's get to it."
"Right," Vstii-suuv said, handing Thrr-mezaz the coil of rope and checking to make sure it was secured to his climbing harness. "I'll take lead; Qlaa-nuur, you're on anchor. Let's go."
He stepped to the cliff face, dug fingers and toe-boots into small crevices, and started nimbly up. Thrr-mezaz played the rope out behind him, waiting for his own turn to start climbing and wondering for the thousandth time what in the eighteen worlds he was doing out here. Yes, he was one of exactly three Zhirrzh in the Dorcas expeditionary force who had done any rock climbing at all; and yes, the first rule of mountaineering was that three climbers was the absolute minimum for any halfway safe climb. But his limited recreational climbing hardly put him in the same class with these two members of the Aree'rr clan, who'd practically grown up scaling mountains. Inevitably, he was going to slow them down... and here, in the shadow of Human-Conqueror weapons, that kind of handicap could easily wind up raising all three of them to Eldership.
And he didn't want to become an Elder. Not yet. There were still too many things he wanted to do, places he wanted to see, experiences that would require his physical self to fully and properly appreciate. Sometime in the vague and distant future, certainly, he would be ready for that stage of life. But not now. Not yet. If he had any sense, he would abort this and head back to the relative safety of the village.
"All right," Qlaa-nuur said. "Go ahead, Commander."
"Right." Snapping Vstii-suuv's rope into the friction grab rings on his harness, Thrr-mezaz took a deep breath and started up the cliff face.
It wasn't as slow going as he had feared. Vstii-suuv had been liberal with his expansion pitons, scattering them around within easy climbing distance of each other. Three strides up, Thrr-mezaz came on one in crumbling rock that was already loosening; pulling a replacement from his harness, he slid its slender tip into a nearby crack and sliced through the protective cover with the edge of his tongue. There was a gentle hiss as the foamed-ceramic interior of the tip, exposed to air, began to swell up inside the crack, filling the empty space as it hardened. A few beats later, with the piton now a virtual extension of the rock, he locked in the rope and continued on.
"Certainly a change from the encampment, anyway," Qlaa-nuur commented from just beneath him.
Thrr-mezaz looked down. Predictably, the more experienced Aree'rr had caught up with him. "Almost like a vacation," he agreed, turning back around and concentrating on his climbing, reminding himself not to be pressured into rushing this.
Q
laa-nuur was obviously of the same opinion. "Careful and steady, Commander," he warned. "We're not in any particular hurry here."
"Right," Thrr-mezaz said. "You two are very good at this."
"Lots and lots of practice," Qlaa-nuur said. "In my case, much of it against my parents' wishes."
Thrr-mezaz stopped to set another expansion piton, wondering what sorts of things like this he and Thrr-gilag might have done as children to drive their parents crazy. Offhand, he couldn't think of any. "Well, according to the orbital terrain maps, this cliff is the last real challenge between here and the top," he reminded Qlaa-nuur. "And once we get to the other side of this ridge, we should be within four thoustrides of the edge of the Human-Conquerors' stronghold. A good place to put a ten-thoustride cutting, assuming we can get Warrior Command to send us one."
"Or maybe a little something from Prr't-zevisti'sfsss," Vstii-suuv muttered.
"What was that?" Thrr-mezaz asked, looking up at him.
"Nothing, Commander. Watch out-the rock right here is a little crumbly."
"Understood," Thrr-mezaz murmured, stifling a sigh. Two and a half fullarcs now after presenting his request to the Prr family recorder, the story had gotten out to the entire Dorcas ground force. Most of them, like the Elder who'd carried the initial message, were thoroughly scandalized at the very idea of his asking for a cutting from an Elder presumed dead, especially an Elder from a different clan. Some, like Vstii-suuv, were offended enough to hint at it to his face.
It was just as well, he reflected, that Klnn-vavgi had kept the second part of that latearc idea to himself. If his warriors knew that he'd suggested putting afsss cutting out in the wilds without a shrine or pyramid around it, he'd probably wind up with an open mutiny.
"Commander?" Qlaa-nuur's voice was very quiet.
"Yes?" Thrr-mezaz said, looking down at him again.
Qlaa-nuur was gazing to the side, away from the cliff. "We've got company."
A sinking feeling in his throat, Thrr-mezaz turned to look. Knowing all too well what he would see.
And he was right. Hovering there on its jet stream, its beak and weapons turned pointedly to face them, was a Human-Conqueror aircraft.
"Hold it up, Vstii-suuv," Thrr-mezaz called softly to the lead, his eyes on the aircraft, the sinking feeling turning into a dark and hopeless certainty. Halfway up a cliff face, pinned there by ropes and pitons and a twenty-stride sheer drop to the ground below, their position was about as devoid of options as it could be. A single salvo with those lethal projectile weapons, and all three Zhirrzh would be back at their respective family shrines.
A soft curse floated down from above: Vstii-suuv, becoming suddenly aware of the situation. "What now, Commander?" he asked. "Should we try to get in the first shot?"
"Not much chance of that," Thrr-mezaz said, keeping his own voice quiet. Though what good silence and stealth were going to do them right then he couldn't imagine. "We're right in his sights-he could cut us to worm food before we could even begin to get our weapons unslung."
"What do you suppose he's waiting for?" Qlaa-nuur muttered from beneath him.
"Checking to see if there are more of us around, maybe," Thrr-mezaz said. "Or trying to locate our transport. Or just keeping us pinned here until the ground warriors arrive."
Vstii-suuv swore again. "I'm not going to be a Human-Conqueror prisoner, Commander. I'd rather go to my shrine right now."
"Let's not do anything drastic just yet," Thrr-mezaz advised him, leaning his head back and trying to gauge the distance remaining to the top of the cliff face. If he and Qlaa-nuur could somehow distract the Human-Conquerors long enough for Vstii-suuv to make a quick surge for the top...
But no. Not a chance. There were still ten strides yet to cover, all of it too steep for anything but a cautious advance. A single misstep along the way-
He frowned. For a pair of beats he thought he'd seen something up there. A flicker of movement, up among the shadows of the trees atop the cliff. Something that might have been a trick of the light, or a glimpse of Human-Conqueror ground warriors.
Or a Zhirrzh Elder.
"Commander?" Qlaa-nuur asked. "What are we going to do?"
For another few beats Thrr-mezaz continued to gaze at the top of the cliff. But whatever he'd seen up there didn't return. If it had been real in the first place. "We're going to start down," he told the others. "Slow and easy, not reaching for any weapons, nothing that looks like a threat. Vstii-suuv, you'll pop the rope free from the upper pitons as you pass them. We'll go about ten strides down; and then, about ten strides up from the bottom, we're all going to let go and do a flat-out drop. With good luck that may take them by surprise. Any questions?"
The question was obvious, too obvious for either of the other two to bring it up. The friction grabs built into expansion piton rings were designed precisely for the purpose of protecting climbers by slowing down dangerous falls of that sort. But it was fairly certain that the pitons' designers hadn't assumed that three climbers would all be falling at the same time. If they overstressed the grabs too far, there was a fair chance the Human-Conquerors would be able to just leisurely stroll up and cart them off on stretchers.
But under the circumstances it was the best chance they had. And all of them knew it. "All right, then," Thrr-mezaz said, taking a careful breath. "Nothing to be gained by waiting. Let's get to it."
The door to the metal room swung open, clanging dully against its stop. Hovering in his corner, Prr't-zevisti eased up to the edge of the lightworld to see what was happening.
The Human female Doctor-Cavan-a had returned. Back to do more experiments on hisfsss cutting.
"Terrific," he muttered to himself. Doctor-Cavan-a had spent a good two tentharcs in here last fullarc, taking samples here and digging with metal probes there; never really hurting him but never very far from that threshold, either. And always with those low-level Elderdeath emissions in the background, just to keep him distracted and annoyed.
And now she was back. To do more cutting and digging and probing? Or had they finally decided to go all-out with the Elderdeath weapons? It occurred to him that they might have deliberately let him run loose in here, allowing him to learn their language in preparation for a proper and almost certainly painful interrogation....
He frowned, his apprehensions coming to a puzzled stop. Doctor-Cavan-a wasn't moving over to her laboratory worktable. Nor was she going to any of the shelves for equipment or supplies, nor was she looking outside as if waiting for someone else to come in behind her. She was just standing there in the doorway, looking around the room.
Cautiously, dropping back to the darkness of the grayworld, Prr't-zevisti left his corner and eased to the door beside her, coming back to the edge of the lightworld to take a look. A handful of other Humans were in sight outside, but none of them seemed to be heading toward the metal room.
He looked back at Doctor-Cavan-a, wondering if she had simply paused for thought or meditation before beginning her work. But she was still standing in the doorway looking around the room. Steadily, methodically, as if searching for something.
Or for someone.
Prr't-zevisti felt a chill run through him. He'd been right. They did indeed know he was in here.
But then why was she searching for him with the door open? Daring him to leave, with perhaps some sort of trap waiting for him?
Prr't-zevisti grimaced. Fine; he was game. He was getting tired of the metal room, anyway. Carefully, trying to look every direction at once, he headed out along his anchorline. Some of the equipment piles in the cave area outside had disappeared since his last time out there, but aside from that he couldn't see much change. Bright sunlight poured in from outside the rock overhang, throwing brilliant glints from some of the metal devices near the edge.
So far, no traps. Looking back once to assure himself that Doctor-Cavan-a wasn't in the process of closing the door, he headed out into the light. Across the deep cut directly below the cave
he went, through the tops of the trees growing on the opposite side, across another gap to the top of another ridge-this the one with a sheer cliff face on the other side of it-a few strides farther on to the end of his anchorline, back again toward the cliff-
And jolted to an abrupt stop, a rush of shock rippling through him. There, working their way up the cliff face, were three Zhirrzh warriors. Among them, Commander Thrr-mezaz himself.
And approaching stealthily from around the far side of one of the hills, still out of the warriors' sight, was a Human aircraft.
"Look out!" Prr't-zevisti shouted as loudly as he could. "Commander Thrr-mezaz, Zhirrzh warriors-look out!"
It was no use. The warriors were a good twelve strides down from him, much too far away to hear an Elder's faint voice over the restless mountain winds. Prr't-zevisti dropped toward them, knowing that the effort would be futile. He was right: he got barely a stride before bumping up sharply against the shadow created by the underside of the distant metal room. "Look out!" he shouted again, all but screaming now. But still they continued on, making their laborious way up the cliff-