Treecat Wars (27 page)

Besides
, Karl reminded himself,
he might be hopeless in the bush
, but
you’re not that much better in a
city,
now are you?

“That might be a very good idea,” he said after a moment. “No way she’d use the same questions over again, but I really would feel better if I could talk it over with someone who’s already survived her course once!”

* * *

With Knot Binder providing direction, the Landless Clan set about building a net in which they could catch and hold another Person. This was not an easy task, for a Person’s claws were very sharp and could slash through just about anything, if given time. Nor was it a fast one. However, because they were small compared to enemies such as death fangs and snow hunters, People were also very patient, and Knot Binder’s assistants knew careful preparation could mean the difference between living and dying.

Knot Binder supplied an exceptionally tough cord that combined the fibers of several different plants with the shed fur of People. This type of cord required so much time to make that, even with fire raging closer and closer, Knot Binder had insisted on bearing a coil of it away with her. Now she showed the others how to work it into a net with a noose closure, so that it could be pulled into a sort of bag.

As a final refinement, Wonder Touch—who was one of the clan’s healers and wise about plants and their properties—supplied a bitter-tasting paste with which the strands of the net could be coated.

<
It burns a little
,> she cautioned, apply it with a brush. However, it should keep our captive from either biting through the net or tearing it apart as quickly
.>

Keen Eyes thanked her. do not wish to keep him imprisoned very long, but anything that will gain us a little time is very welcome
.>

The next stage of Keen Eyes’ plan was more complicated. After conferring with the Landless Clan’s scouts and hunters, he had confirmed his own impressions. He was the scout who had gone most deeply into the territory held by Trees Enfolding Clan and the
only
member of the clan who had actually encountered a member of Trees Enfolding.

Well, other than poor Red Cliff, and he cannot help us now
.

This likely meant the Trees Enfolding Clan was actively avoiding the area. It was not as if there was much incentive to go into the sun-rising parts of their range, given the poor pickings. In any case, with winter coming on, every spare adult would be involved in preparing whatever food the hunters and plant gatherers brought in.

<
I have encountered only Swimmer’s Scourge and Nimble Fingers,
> Keen Eyes explained. <
My guess is that Swimmer’s Scourge is in charge of watching our edge of their territory and that he has taken a few family members as assistants. We all know that it is easier to speak to a Person once he is known to you. Since I am at least somewhat known to these two, they will hear me before anyone else will. I will go into the general area where I found Red Cliff’s body and set the net. Then I will think angry thoughts. My hope is that one or both will come to confront me
.>

<
Why would they do that?
> asked Sour Belly, who was not in the least happy with the prominence young Keen Eyes had recently acquired. <
Why would they not just ignore you?
>

am counting on basic curiosity
,> Keen Eyes replied. <
But if that is not enough, I have other tactics in mind
.>

Sour Belly sniffed as if he did not believe this was the case, but he did not ask for details. Keen Eyes did not volunteer them, either. He was committed to this course of action and though he thought he had some good ideas, he did not want Sour Belly’s nasty comments to undermine his confidence.

<
What help do you need from the clan?
> Bowl Shaper asked. In the absence of a fully-trained memory singer, she seemed to be taking on some of the leadership role that would have belonged to Wide Ears.

<
I could use a couple of strong hunters to come with me to help carry my captive if he will not come
willingly,> Keen Eyes responded promptly. <
I had thought about asking Hard Claw and Firm Biter if they can be spared from the hunt
.>

<
There is nothing to hunt
,> Hard Claw replied promptly. <
Red Cliff was life-partner to my own littermate. I would be happy to capture the one who killed him
.>

Anger flooded Hard Claw’s mind-glow, showing how dangerous his “happy” cooperation could be. Keen Eyes had suggested Hard Claw and Firm Biter because, like him, they were among the Landless Clan’s unbonded males. Now he wondered if he had been unwise.

<
We are not seeking revenge
,> Bowl Shaper cautioned. <
We are seeking a place where we have a hope of surviving the winter. All hope will be lost if you use your much-storied claws out of turn. You do realize that?
>

<
I do
,> Hard Claw replied. His mind-glow brightened, although not all the anger left it. <
Perhaps making this killer see what he has done will be a better revenge than death’s quiet. You can count on me. I will follow Keen Eyes’ commands and do my best to make sure his plan succeeds
.>

<
Thank you
,> Keen Eyes said, flooding his mind-glow with the tremendous gratitude he felt. He was relieved to feel honest pleasure balancing Hard Claw’s anger. <
I will ask you and Firm Biter to stay to sun-rising of me, out of the range where your mind-glows could be easily detected. I will also ask you to concentrate on muting your mind-glows as much as possible.

<
Our plan will work best if the one we seek to trap believes me alone. I will bait the trap. When I call to you that we have our captive, you will race forward and help me bear him away as quickly as possible
.>

<
But this captive is sure to call for help
,> Sour Belly sneered.

This time Keen Eyes was not even tempted to offer any further explanation. <
I think I have a way to keep him from calling
.>

Knot Binder fluffed her tail in a nervous fashion. <
Keen Eyes, you keep speaking of “he,” as if you are certain you will face a single opponent. How can you be so sure?
>

<
I am not sure
,> Keen Eyes admitted, <
but I plan to do what I can to make matters go the way I wish. First, I will direct my mind-voice to one and one alone. I had thought to try to call Nimble Fingers, because he seemed more sympathetic than his uncle. Nimble Fingers also seemed quite junior to me. I will go out at a time when it is likely his senior will be taking his ease…I was thinking of the hours when night is giving way to dawn and neither the day-prey or night-prey are active. That is when a senior hunter would rest
.>

<
And if your cleverness does not work?
> Needless to say, this came from Sour Belly.

<
Then I must rely upon courage
,> Keen Eyes returned levelly. <
As Bowl Shaper said, winter will remove all our choices. We must act while choice remains
.>

* * *

“We’re running out of time, Gwen,” Oswald Morrow pointed out a bit diffidently across the table. The two of them were dining in an expensive restaurant whose clientele were prepared to pay inflated prices in return for guaranteed privacy as they dined. “They’ve only got another week or so before they head back to Sphinx.”

“Really?” Gwendolyn Adair’s response dripped irony. “Do you know, Ozzie, I do believe I read something about that somewhere already!”

“I’m not the one joggling your elbow,” Morrow pointed out. “It’s Frampton. She’s getting impatient.”

Gwendolyn started to snap at him, then stopped. Angelique Frampton, Countess Frampton, was the granddaughter of a first shareholder whose son had improved upon his father’s originally fairly modest position through a lifetime of aggressive (some would have said unscrupulous) financial maneuvers. Over the course of his and Angelique’s lifetimes, the Framptons had moved into the uppermost ranks of the Star Kingdom’s wealthy, and as part of that climb, they’d acquired a huge portfolio of Sphinxian land options and leveraged it for all it was worth worth. At the moment, those land options were valued at “only” four or five hundred million dollars. Over the course of the next thirty to forty T-years, that value would at least triple, and the bankable value they already represented had been used as security for loans totaling just over a billion dollars. Those loans were critical to the Earldom of Frampton’s solvency, and their terms required full payment or refinancing within the next ten T-years. Repayment would be difficult or even impossible; refinancing would be a routine transaction…as long as the options’ value was maintained

That would have been cause enough for Angelique to seek proactive means of protecting their worth, yet that was hardly her only motivation. Nor was the sizable stash of options in Gwendolyn’s portfolio
her
only motivation. True, both she and the countess stood to lose heavily in purely financial terms if they were invalidated or even simply declined in market value, although Framption stood to lose far more. But the countess also possessed a vindictive streak at least a kilometer wide. Those were
her
land options. No stinking clutch of misbegotten, rat-like little aliens was going to take what was hers! She would probably survive financially if she lost the options, but her fortune would be brutally reduced…and she was just the sort of person to use what was left of it taking vengeance on whoever had allowed—or caused—that to happen.

On someone like Gwendolyn Adair, for example.

“I imagine she’s not the only one who’s feeling impatient,” Gwendolyn said after a moment, instead of biting Morrow’s head off, and he snorted.

“
All
of them are getting antsy, if that’s what you mean.” He shook his head. “For someone who’s only gotten off campus twice—aside from her visits to the Adair Foundation, anyway—Harrington and that little monster have attracted an awful lot of favorable press. Every time I think about that puff piece the
Landing Observer
did on her I want to throw up. Even
Harvey
’s in her corner now! He says she’s one of the best students he’s ever had, and the last time I talked to him, he went on
forever
about how smart her treecat is, too.”

“I know.” It was Gwendolyn’s turn to shake her head. “She’s more personable than I’d hoped, and she’s got those idiot friends of George’s eating out of her hand at the Foundation.”

Stephanie and Karl had visited the Adair Foundation five times now—three times to meet with the Foundation’s directors, who also happened to be its most generous donors. There wasn’t much doubt what sort of impression she’d made on
them
, unfortunately. Not that it had come as much of a surprise to Gwnedolyn.

“It was your idea to invite her,” Morrow pointed out.

“Yes, it was. And if
I
hadn’t thought of it, someone else would have—probably George himself.”

Gwendolyn’s tone was acid. Her cousin George Lebedyenko took his position as Earl of Adair Hollow—and CEO of the Adair Foundation—seriously. Usually, she found that more useful than not, but there were times (and this looked like one of them) when his personal interest could become more of a hindrance than a help.

“The treecats are exactly what the Foundation was set up to protect,” she continued. “That’s one reason Angelique sent you to me in the first place on this one, Ozzie. At least by issuing the invitation I was in a position to control how much contact young Stephanie actually had with them.”

“Granted.” Morrow shrugged. “But Frampton would be a lot happier if we could’ve at least managed to give the ‘oh-aren’t-treecats-cute’ lobby a bit of a black eye while we had them here on Manticore.”

“Oh, I haven’t given up on that,” Gwendolyn assured him. “In fact, I have good news for Stephanie and Karl. The management at the Charleston Arms has finally agreed to allow Lionheart not just on the premises, but into the private dining room.”

“What?!” Morrow stared at her across the table. “I thought we’d agreed that the last thing we wanted—”

“—was the Foundation’s membership getting a chance to meet the little monster personally and fall under his spell,” Gwendolyn finished for him, and waved one hand impatiently. “Of course we did. But I was in two minds about that from the beginning. And since George has decided
he
wants Lionheart admitted to the next Foundation meeting, I decided it would probably be less than desirable for him to find out
I’ve
been the one discreetly dragging my heels on that from the beginning. Especially when he’s actually going to be able to be present for the next meeting instead of delegating to his faithful proxy cousin.”

“Well, that’s the game,” Morrow said gloomily. Unlike Gwendolyn, he hadn’t personally met Lionheart, but he’d watched quite a bit of covertly obtained long-range imagery of the treecat, and he
had
met Stephanie. “Once they see the two of them together, they’re going to jump right on the treecat bandwagon.”

“Oh, grow up, Ozzie!” Gwendolyn looked at him irritably. “
That
was going to happen no matter what we did! What? You expected the
Foundation
to come down in favor of exterminating all treecats? And that doesn’t even count George! It’s been a given that they’d feel compelled to come to the little beasties’ rescue.”

“So you decided to get behind and push them in that direction? Is that it?”

“Exactly.” Gwendolyn smiled at Morrow’s expression. “The best we’re going to be able to do with them is get them to sign on for the reservation option, Ozzie. George will be inclined in the direction of ‘protecting them from human contact’ no matter what—it’s going to be an automatic reflex on his part—and the Foundation’s Board almost always follows his lead. You know that as well as I do. What we need to do is to steer George in the direction he’d take anyway…and do it in a way which will push the Board even more strongly into supporting him.”

“And giving them an opportunity to actually meet Lionheart is going to do that?” Morrow looked skeptical. “You’ve read Dr. Radzinsky’s reports, and we’ve both watched the vids of Lionheart scampering around the campus with her. They’re sentient, Gwen, and you know it. In fact, they’re probably even smarter than we were afraid they were! If the Board gets a chance to spend any time in Lionheart and Harrington’s presence, a lot of them—I’m thinking of Turner and Fitzpatrick, especially—are going to see this as some kind of healthy symbiotic relationship between two highly intelligent species. And it’ll be the first time humans have ever managed anything of the sort, too. If they decide that’s what’s going on on Sphinx, they’re almost certain to vote in favor of some act granting the treecats the legal status of full sentients!”