The Ruby Dice (48 page)

Then he reached out a luminous tendril of thought.

Their minds touched, and Kelric scraped Jaibriol's mental scar tissue. He had never wished for Dehya's finesse more than now, for he feared his raw power would injure the emperor even more. But the scars gradually melted, like gnarled ice under the warmth of a sun. Slowly, he and Jaibriol blended, first the outer layers of their minds and then those that went deeper. Kelric offered his knowledge to the young emperor, the files from Bolt, then his own memories, both the vibrant images and those time had dimmed and bleached.

And he absorbed memories from the emperor.

Kelric saw Jaibriol's father, the previous emperor, and knew that those who had called the man a monster had erred on a mammoth scale. The father in Jaibriol's memories was kind, gentle, vulnerable. That same decency defined Jaibriol beneath the hard exterior he had developed to survive. The son had inherited his father's purity of soul. Kelric also saw what Jaibriol didn't realize, that his father hadn't been strong enough to survive the Aristos. The tenderness that had made him such a beloved father would have destroyed him as emperor.

And it was true: Soz was his mother.

Jaibriol had her incredible strength. Kelric saw his sister through her son, and it broke his heart. Soz laughed more with her husband and children. She could be tender with her babies and fierce when protecting them. Jaibriol's sole model for an adult woman during the first fourteen years of his life had been one of the most complicated, strong-willed warriors of modern times, but what he remembered most about her was the depth of her love.

When Kelric opened his eyes, Jaibriol was kneeling on the ground, his head bowed, his shoulders shaking as tears flowed down his face. Kelric lowered himself next to the emperor, then put his hand on Jaibriol's shoulder and bent his head. He didn't know what Jaibriol had taken from his mind, but if the memories were as intense, as treasured, and as painful as those he had gained from the emperor, it was no wonder Jaibriol cried.

They knelt together in the forgiving beauty of a summer day and wept for the people they had lost.

On a summer day in the Appalachian Mountains, Kelric and Jaibriol reached the outskirts of a small town. Jaibriol sought help in a church, and they entered during Sunday services. Kelric could no longer walk on his own, even with the staff; Jaibriol supported him with Kelric's arm draped over his shoulders. Both of them were half- starved and dehydrated, and neither had slept much for two days. Jaibriol staggered inside the door, just enough to see they had found people. Then he sagged to his knees, no longer able to support Kelric's massive weight.

Kelric collapsed to the ground and rolled onto his back, his eyes closing. Jaibriol stayed with him, kneeling, while people rose from the pews, staring in bewildered shock. They approached with care, the reverend from the pulpit and parishioners from the pews. As they gathered around Jaibriol and Kelric, they spoke in English. Jaibriol peered at them, exhausted, unable to interpret the language he hadn't heard for ten years, and that he had never spoken as well as the Eubian or Skolian tongues he learned from his parents.

Jaibriol chose a church because he hoped they were less likely to turn away two people in need. After he had converted to Seth's religion, he had been baptized and received First Communion. He didn't think this was a Catholic church, but it had the same serenity he remembered from St. John's. He stared over the heads of the people to a high, round window aglow with sunrise colors and light.

Like Quis dice.

Patterns filled his mind, swirls of color and shapes.

The reverend knelt in front of Jaibriol and spoke in Eubian. "Can you understand me?"

Jaibriol tried to concentrate. "My friend is ill," he said. "He needs a doctor."

"We've sent for one." The man hesitated. "Can you tell me who you are?"

"You don't know?"

"No. I'm sorry."

It relieved Jaibriol that no one seemed to realize who had stumbled into their morning services. The idea that the Emperor of Eube and Imperator of Skolia would come into their church was probably too absurd for them to recognize either him or Kelric even if anyone had seen them on a news broadcast.

The other adults clustered around them. They were calm, but Jaibriol felt their confusion. Someone had taken the children away, or at least kept them back.

"Can you translate for him?" one of the women asked the reverend. She wore a blue dress with no shape.

"I speak English," Jaibriol said slowly.

Relief washed over their faces. "Can you tell us what happened?" the reverend asked.

"Someone tried to kill us." Jaibriol didn't know how much to say. "We need to contact your authorities."

"We've sent for the sheriff," the reverend said.

"What is sheriff?" Jaibriol asked.

"A law officer," the woman told him.

Kelric stirred and opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling of the church and spoke in Iotic. "What is this place?"

"A church," Jaibriol said, his voice ragged. "They've sent for help." His head swam with dice patterns. He didn't know what they meant, but they soothed him.

Kelric laboriously sat up, huge muscles bulging under his sleeves. With difficulty, he grasped a pew and climbed to his feet. At nearly seven feet tall, with a massive physique, he had a build heavier than occurred in the gravity of Earth. He loomed over everyone like a titan. The parishioners backed away.

Jaibriol stood up next to Kelric. "Maybe you should sit," he said in a low voice. His Iotic sounded odd in this place.

Kelric nodded, his face clenched from pain, and eased into a pew. He crossed his arms on the pew in front of him, laid his forehead on his arms, and closed his eyes.

The reverend was one of the only people who had stayed with Jaibriol. He was watching Kelric with concern. "The doctor should be here soon. Will he be all right until then?"

"I don't know." Jaibriol had no doubt Kelric could recover from a broken leg. What would happen when he returned home was another story.

A boy of about ten years old had inched over to them. He looked up at Jaibriol. "Are you a Trader?"

"Sean!" A woman pulled him back. "Leave the man alone."

"He looks like those pictures on the holovid," the boy protested as she hurried him away.

Glancing around, Jaibriol realized no other children remained in the church. The adults stayed back, watching him. They seemed bewildered. He didn't know what to tell them. The past two days had drained him: the attack, signing the treaty, the miraculous and terrifying mental blend, and two days of stumbling through the forest. He had hoped the destruction of the cabin would activate some monitor, but if it had, no one had responded. He and Kelric had hidden their visit too well.

The door of the church creaked open and sunlight slanted across the worn pine floor. A burly doctor with a balding head strode inside carrying a med box. He headed toward Jaibriol, did a double take, and then stopped and gaped.

"Good God," he said loudly. "You're an Aristo."

"Yes," Jaibriol said. "I am."

The doctor looked around at everyone. "You want me to treat a goddamned slave owner?"

"Grant, don't," the reverend said. "They need our help."

"Well, hell's hinges," the doctor muttered. Either he didn't know his words would result in his arrest on a Eubian world or else he didn't care. He came over to the pew and peered at Kelric, who had lifted his head.

"You the patient?" Grant asked in English.

Kelric glanced at Jaibriol, a question in his gaze.

"He asked if you're hurt," Jaibriol said. He turned to the doctor. "He has a broken leg."

Kelric slid along the pew, making room for the doctor, though he watched Grant warily. The doctor sat with no fanfare and bent over Kelric's leg. He poked and prodded, and checked it with a med tape. Glimmering holos rotated in the air above the tape like jeweled Quis dice.

Watching the doctor, Jaibriol realized it could help Kelric that everyone knew he had come in with an Aristo. It increased his chances of avoiding recognition, because no one in their right mind would expect the Imperator to be running around Earth with a Eubian nobleman. Kelric was wearing marriage guards, but if someone didn't know much about Eube, they could mistake them for the ID restraints of a taskmaker.

Whether or not Kelric could return home without anyone realizing he had been here was a different matter. If any news service picked up the story that an Aristo had walked into a church, that was it. One picture of him or Kelric on the meshes and their secrecy would evaporate. Even if they avoided that exposure, they had to get offworld without raising questions. They had also left thirteen dead people in the mountains along with a blasted cabin and burned out swath of land. Someone wanted to kill Kelric, and Jaibriol didn't believe for a moment that whoever masterminded the attempt had died with those commandos.

One powerful thought stayed with him; his wife and future heir were safe. He hadn't wanted an Aristo child, but it no longer mattered, for he already loved his unborn son.

"How'd you get this break?" Grant asked Kelric as he removed the splint. "You look as if you've been a-sortin' wildcats." He squinted at the Imperator. "Guess that would be tough for them, eh?" He chuckled and went back to work.

Kelric blinked at him, then looked up at Jaibriol. "Do you know what he is saying?"

Jaibriol smiled. "He thinks you look tougher than a wild animal."

The doctor glanced from Kelric to Jaibriol, then went back to work. He spoke tightly to Jaibriol. "He your slave?"

"No," Jaibriol said. For people to make that assumption was one thing, but it could backfire spectacularly on him and their attempts to establish a treaty if Kelric's people learned he had made such an offensive claim.

"What language were you talking?" Grant asked.

"It's Iotic," Jaibriol said. In the same moment Kelric shot him a warning glance, someone inhaled sharply. Glancing around, Jaibriol saw the reverend staring at him in disbelief.

Jaibriol pushed his hand through his dusty hair. He had to be more careful. Only Skolian nobles and royalty spoke Iotic as a first language. That didn't mean Kelric was either, but it was a good explanation of why an Aristo would speak to him in that tongue. The chances of someone here knowing that were small but apparently not zero.

"Iotic, idiotic." the doctor muttered. "Never heard of it." He considered Kelric. "Who set your leg? He did a good job."

"I did it," Jaibriol said. He swayed, then caught himself. It occurred to him that he wouldn't stay on his feet much longer.

The doctor paused to study him. "When did you last have water or a meal?"

"We've found a lot of streams," Jaibriol said. "A few berries." He had to think about the food. "About two and a half days since an actual meal."

Grant scowled at the reverend, and then at the woman in the blue dress, who had come to stand with him. Seeing the reverend and the woman together, Jaibriol thought perhaps they were father and daughter.

"If we're going to help them," Grant told them gruffly, "I reckon we should get them some food. And a place to rest."

"Don't chew them out while I'm gone," the woman said. Then she bustled off.

"We can take them to the hospital," the reverend said.

"It couldn't hurt." The doctor stood up next to Jaibriol. "Does your friend speak English?"

"I don't think so." Jaibriol glanced at Kelric. "Can you understand any of what they're saying?"

Kelric shook his head. "My node can interpret Spanish, but not this language."

Jaibriol nodded and spoke to the doctor. "He doesn't, but I can translate for him."

"I need a release form to treat him," Grant said. "He has to sign it. We'll need your passports as well."

"Our what?" Jaibriol asked.

"Your documents. Your permission to be in our country, on our world, in our
free
space." Anger snapped in his voice. "No matter who you are, you need some authorization."

"No passport." Jaibriol decided he had better keep his answers short.

"How did you land?" Grant demanded. "They just let you traipse in here?"

"I don't know this word,
traipse
," Jaibriol said. "But if you mean, did I have permission to land, the answer is yes."

"Without a passport."

"Yes." He had no intention of describing the discreet and disguised manner he had used to enter Allied space.

The doctor jerked his thumb at Kelric. "He got documents?"

Jaibriol spoke to Kelric. "He wants to know if you have any papers allowing you entry into Allied space." Dice patterns swirled in his mind. He felt light-headed, as if he could float.

Kelric leaned back in the pew. "They were in the cabin." He lifted his gauntleted arm. "This comm has my military ID."

Jaibriol suspected Kelric wanted to give his identification as the Imperator about as much as he wanted another broken leg. He turned back to the doctor. "He doesn't have anything he can show you, either."

Grant shook his head. "This has got to be the strangest case I've ever had."

The woman who had left earlier returned, walking into the sunshine that streamed past the open door of the church. She came to Jaibriol and spoke shyly. "We have rooms where you and your friend can stay. We've also a lunch for the two of you."

Jaibriol inclined his head. "I thank you." He barely stopped himself from using the royal "we." He felt her mood. She thought he was attractive, so much so, it intimidated her as much as his being a Highton. It was an odd reaction, but it took him a moment to figure out why. Hightons coveted beauty. They never had a simple appreciation for it; their possessive cruelty swamped out any softness. If a taskmaker noticed him that way, her reaction was lost in awe or fear. Providers were supposed to love him; they were bred, conditioned, and drugged for it. This woman's simple response so rattled him that it made him question whether, after ten years among the Hightons, he could ever again react like a normal human being.