Cobra Bargain by Timothy Zahn
Jin recognized instinctively, who commanded the respect of those around her and would demand nothing less from a stranger in her household. The second woman was in sharp contrast: young and plainly dressed, with the air of one whose role was to go unnoticed about her duties. A servant, Jin thought to herself. Or a slave.
And the man-
His eyes were captivating. Literally; it took Jin a long second to free her gaze from those dark traps and give the rest of him a quick once-over. He was young-her age, perhaps a year or two younger-but with the same regal air as the older woman. And some of the same features, as well. Related? she wondered. Very possibly.
The older woman stopped a meter away from Jin and ducked her head a few degrees in an abbreviated bow. "In the name of the Sammon family," she said in a cool, controlled voice, "I bid you greeting and welcome."
Something expectant in her face... on impulse, Jin repeated the fingertips-to-forehead gesture Gissella had already shown her. It seemed to work. "Thank you," she told the older woman. "I am honored by your hospitality."
The verbal response wasn't the prescribed one-that much was quickly apparent from the others' faces. But they seemed surprised, rather than outraged, and Jin crossed her mental fingers that the story she'd concocted would cover these slips well enough. "I am Jasmine, daughter of Justin Alventin."
"I am Ivria Sammon," the older woman identified herself. "Wife of Kruin Sammon and mother of his heirs." She gestured to the youth, now standing beside her.
"Daulo, first son and heir of Kruin Sammon."
"I am honored by your hospitality," Jin repeated, again touching fingers to forehead.
Daulo nodded in return. "Your customs and manners mark you as a stranger to this part of Qasama," Ivria continued, eyes holding unblinkingly on her. "Where is your home, Jasmine Alventin?"
"I have spent time in many different places," Jin said, working hard at controlling her face and voice. This was the stickiest part; no matter what she said now, the lie could be eventually run to ground if they were persistent enough. Given that, her best chance lay with one of the half-dozen cities dotting the western curve of the Crescent, where the higher population density should make any investigation at least a little harder. "My current home is in the city of Sollas."
For a single, awful moment she thought she'd made a mistake, that perhaps something unknown had happened to Sollas in the years following her father's first visit to Qasama. The hard look that flicked across Ivria's face-
"A city dweller," Daulo said sourly.
"City dweller or not, she is our guest now," Ivria replied, and Jin started breathing again. Whatever they had against cities, at least it wasn't something that immediately branded her as an offworlder. "Tell me, Jasmine Alventin, what has brought you to Milika?"
"Is that where I am, then?" Jin asked. "Milika? I didn't know where it was I was brought-the accident that wrecked our car..." She shivered involuntarily as images from the shuttle wreck rose unbidden before her eyes.
"Where did this accident happen?" Ivria asked. "On the road from Shaga?"
Jin waved her hands helplessly. "I don't really know where we were. My companions-my brother Mander and two others-were searching the forest for insects to take back to their laboratory."
"You were in the forest on foot?" Daulo put in.
"No," Jin told him. "Mander studies insects, trying to learn their secrets and put them to use. He has-or had; I suppose it's ruined now-a specially built car that can maneuver between trees and through a forest's undergrowth. I was just along for the trip-I wanted to see how he worked." She let a note of puzzlement creep into voice and face. "But I'm sure he knows much more about where the accident happened. Can't you just ask him about it when he awakens?"
Ivria and Daulo exchanged glances. "Your companions are not here, Jasmine
Alventin," Daulo said. "You were alone when my brother found you on the road."
Jin stared at him a long moment, letting her mouth sag in what she hoped was a reasonable semblance of shock. "Not... but they were there. With me. We-we all walked to the road together-Mander killed a krisjaw that attacked me-no, they have to be here."
"I'm sorry," Ivria said gently. "Do you remember if they were still with you when you reached the road?"
"Of course they were," Jin said, letting her voice drift toward the frantic.
"They were still with me when I was carried into the truck. Surely they saw-it was your brother, Daulo, who found us? Didn't he see them?"
Daulo's cheek twitched. "Jasmine Alventin... you were suffering the effects of several monote bites when Perto found you. Hallucinations are sometimes among these effects. My brother wouldn't have left your companions if they'd been anywhere nearby-you must believe that. And after you were safe here he took several men and went back to do an even more thorough search, covering both the road and the forest areas flanking them, all the way back to Shaga."
Thorough enough to find the packs I hid? Jin's stomach tightened; and immediately relaxed. No, of course the packs were still hidden. If anyone had found them she'd have awakened in a maximum-security prison... if she'd been allowed to awaken at all. "Oh, Mander," she whispered. "But then... where is he?"
"He may still be alive," Daulo said, his voice steady with forced optimism. "We can send more people to look for him."
Slowly, Jin shook her head, gazing past Daulo into space. "No, Five days... If he's not out by now... he's not coming out, is he?"
Daulo took a deep breath. "I'll send more searchers, anyway," he said quietly.
"Look... you've had a bad time, and I doubt that you're fully recovered. Why don't you have a warm bath and something to eat and then rest for a few more hours."
Jin closed her eyes briefly. "Yes. Thank you. I'm... sorry. Sorry for everything."
"It's our honor and our pleasure to offer you our hospitality," Ivria said. "Is there someone elsewhere on Qasama to whom a message should be sent?"
Jin shook her head. "No. My family is... gone. My brother was all I had left."
"We grieve with you," Ivria said softly. For a moment she was silent; then, she made a gesture and the young Qasaman woman behind her stepped forward. "This is
Asya; she will be your servant for as long as you are under our roof. Command her as you will."
"Thank you," Jin nodded. The thought of having a private servant grated against her sensibilities-especially a servant whose manner seemed more fitting to a slave-but it would undoubtedly be out of character to refuse.
"When you feel up to joining us, let Asya know, and she'll find me," Daulo added. "It will be my privilege to be your guide and escort while you are in
Milika."
"I will be most honored," Jin said, trying to ignore the warning bells clanging in the back of her mind. First a live-in servant, then the owner's son to walk her around the place. Common hospitality... or the first indications of suspicion?
But for the next couple of days, at least, it hardly mattered. Until her elbow and knee were fully functional again, she had little choice but to stay in
Milika and recuperate; and if the Sammons wanted to keep her under a microscope, she could handle that. "I look forward to seeing your house and village," she added.
And for a second the compassion seemed to leave Daulo's eyes. "Yes," he said, almost stiffly. "I'm sure you do."
Chapter 16
It turned out to be surprisingly easy for Jin to get used to having a servant around.
The exception was the bath. Jin hadn't had company in the bathroom during baths since she was ten, and to have someone standing quietly ready with cloth, soap, and towel was both strange and not a little discomfiting. The hot water itself felt wonderfully good-and the bathroom more luxurious than any she'd ever seen, let alone been in-but she nevertheless cut the operation as short as she reasonably could.
Once past that, though, things improved considerably. Asya ordered her a large dinner, setting it out at a small window seat table
The food itself wasn't as strange-tasting as she'd feared it would be, and she astonished herself by eating everything Asya had had sent up. The trauma of the crash and trek through the forest, combined with five days of fasting, had given her more appetite than she'd realized.
And apparently more fatigue, too. She'd barely finished the meal when she began to feel sleep tugging again at her eyelids. Leaving Asya to clean up, she made her way back to her bed and got undressed. I wonder, the thought occurred to her as she slid under the furry blanket, if the food might have been drugged.
But if it had there was nothing she could do about it. As long as she was in
Milika and the Sammon household, she was in their power. Best to look as innocent and guileless as possible... and concentrate on getting her strength back.
When she awoke again, the room was dark, with only a bare hint of light coming in around heavy curtains covering the room's window. "Asya?" she whispered, keying her optical enhancers to light-amplification. There was no response, and a quick visual survey of the room showed she was alone. Activating her auditory enhancers, she picked up the sounds of slow breathing from the doorway leading to the bathroom/dressing area, and Jin remembered now noticing that one of the couches there had seemed to be of a daybed design. Sliding out of bed, she padded to the doorway and looked in.
Asya was there, all right, snuggled under a blanket on the daybed, oblivious to the world. For a long moment Jin stood watching her, pondering what she should do... and as she stood there, it suddenly occurred to her that of the four members of the Sammon household she'd seen so far, none of them had been accompanied by a mojo. Or had worn clothing adapted to carrying one.
She frowned into the darkness. Had the plan, then, worked? Had they truly succeeded in splitting the Qasamans away from their bodyguard birds? If so, that might explain their reaction to my telling them I was from Sollas, she realized.
General hostility between villages and cities may have begun.
Unfortunately, it could just as easily be that Ivria and Daulo had left their mojos behind when they came to see her, for whatever reason. She needed to find out for sure... and the sooner the better.
Gnawing thoughtfully at her lip, she looked back at the door where her visitors had entered that afternoon. Somehow, she doubted that Daulo's offer of hospitality had included midnight tours; but on the other hand, no one had suggested that she was a prisoner here, either. Stepping back over to the wardrobe, she located the clothing she'd worn earlier and quietly put it on.
Then, senses fully alert, she opened the door and stepped out.
She was in the approximate center of a long hallway, its dim indirect lighting bright enough for her to see without the aid of her enhancers. Halfway to the end in either direction were archways that led off opposite to the courtyard, perhaps to larger suites than hers. The decor was elaborate, with delicate tracings and filigrees of gold and purple everywhere.
All this she noted only peripherally. Her primary attention was on the end of the hallway, and the pair of uniformed men standing there.
Each with the silver-blue plumage of a mojo glinting on his shoulder.
For a second Jin hesitated; but it was too late to back out now. The guards had seen her, and while she didn't yet seem to have provoked anything but mild interest in them, ducking back into her room could hardly fail to pique their interest. The other direction...? But a glance behind her showed another pair of men standing at that end of the hall, too. Gritting her teeth, she turned back and started down the corridor, walking as casually as she could manage.
The guards watched her approach, one of them taking a step away from the far wall as she neared them. "Greetings to you, Jasmine Alventin," he said, touching his fingers to his forehead. "We stand at your service. Where do you go at this time of the evening?"
"I woke up a short while ago," Jin told him, "and as I couldn't fall back asleep
I thought a walk would help."
If that sounded odd to the guard it didn't show in his expression. "Few in the household are still awake," he said, glancing down the hall and making a quick series of hand signals. Jin looked around the corner, saw that the hallway bent around to that direction, probably following the perimeter of the courtyard she could see from her window. At the far end of that hallway were another pair of guards, one of them signaling to someone around the corner from him. These guards, too, came equipped with mojos. "I'll see if there is any of the Sammon family who can receive you," Jin's guard explained.
"That's really not necessary-" Jin started to say.
But it was too late. The guard in the distance was already gesturing back their way. "There is a light on in Kruin Sammon's private office," Jin's guard informed her. "The guard down there will escort you."
"That's really not necessary," Jin protested, heart loud in her ears. If this was the same Kruin Sammon who'd already been identified as patriarch of this family- "I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble."
"Kruin Sammon will wish to be informed that you need entertainment," the guard admonished gently; and Jin swallowed any further argument. The guards clearly had orders concerning her... and again, a sudden backing out at this stage would attract the wrong kind of attention.
"Thank you," she told him through stiff lips. Forcing herself to walk steadily, she started down the long hallway ahead toward the men and mojos waiting there...
Kruin Sammon leaned back into his cushions, a mixture of irritation and deep thought on his face. "How far did you go?"
"All the way down the road to Shaga, and then out to Tabris," Daulo told him.
"We found absolutely nothing. No car, no bodies, no marks where a car might have bololined its way into the forest."
Kruin sighed and nodded. "So. Your conclusion?"
Daulo hesitated a second. "She's lying," he said reluctantly. "She faked the accident, perhaps deliberately inflicting her injuries on herself, in order to gain entrance to our house."
"I find no grounds to argue with you," Kruin agreed. "But it still seems so much effort for so little gain. Surely there are many simpler paths that would have gained her the same end."
Daulo pursed his lips. That was the same knot that had steadfastly refused to come apart for him, as well. "I know, my father. But who knows what convoluted scheme our enemies may have come up with? Perhaps they wish us to spend so much time trying to unravel her secrets that we fail to anticipate their main thrust."
"True. I take it, then, that you would counsel against my sending word to Azras and asking Mayor Capparis to contact the authorities in Sollas?"
"Since it seems clear enough already that she's a plant," Daulo said, "I don't see that it would gain us very much. It would merely confirm that she lied about her home, and in the meantime might alert her friends that we suspect her."
"Yes." For a moment Kruin was silent. Then, with a sigh, he shook his head. "I feel my age tugging at me, my son. In days gone by I would have relished the challenge of such a battle of wits as this. Now, all I can see before me is the danger this woman represents to my family and house."
Daulo licked his lips. Seldom in his life had he been given this kind of unobstructed view into his father's soul, and it was both embarrassing and a little unnerving. "It's the duty of a family leader to consider the well-being of his household," he said, a little stiffly.
Kruin smiled. "And as such you see your own future. Does the thought of so much responsibility frighten you?"
Daulo was saved from the need to answer such an awkward question by a soft ping from Kruin's low desk. "Enter," the elder Sammon said into the inlaid speaker.
Daulo turned to look as the door behind him opened. Two of the guards from the women's wing enter
"Jasmine Alventin," Kruin said calmly, as if her presence was no surprise at all. "You are awake late."
"Forgive me if I've overstepped the bounds of your hospitality," the woman said, matching Kruin's tone as she made the sign of respect in that odd way of hers.
"I awoke and thought I would walk about until I felt ready to sleep again."
"There are few entertainments available in Milika at night, I'm afraid," Kruin told her. "Unlike, I presume, the larger cities you're accustomed to. Shall I call for food or drink for you?"
"No, thank you," she shook her head. If the reference to her claimed home city startled her, Daulo couldn't see any sign of it in her face. "I'm embarrassed enough already for disrupting your work-please don't let me be any further trouble."