Wolf's-own: Koan (28 page)

"You will have other matters to attend. And perhaps look for the Incendiary's sister while you're at it.” Best to make sure.

Imara looked up, gaze narrowed. “Did you foresee what would happen to Kamen?"

Dakimo almost growled. “How would I have seen it?” he snapped, irritated at the sudden turn, because he hadn't seen a bloody thing, and he should have. It was his job, after all. “He was veiled down so tight I could scarcely squeeze a conversation through his shields, and he has attached himself to the Incendiary. I can barely even see the ripples of change the Incendiary initiates a moment before he initiates them.” And that was with intense meditation and hours of concentration—hours Dakimo just didn't have right now.

"Xari saw it,” Imara said quietly.
Too
quietly.

Dakimo rubbed at his brow. “And she told you this when?"

"It....” Imara's gaze skittered away. “Yesterday morning."

"I... see.” Dakimo had to put his hands behind his back, because they'd fisted up tight and he didn't think he could uncurl them just now. “And you did nothing."

"I did nothing. And I insisted Xari do nothing.” Imara lifted her chin. “I didn't know you were going to send him out after the
banpair
, and I didn't know he'd actually let them ambush him. Kamen needed a lesson. He wasn't doing his job. And he was doing the Incendiary no good; in fact, perhaps doing further damage by allowing—"

"And you thought it wise to teach Kamen this
lesson
while he had an unstable Incendiary in his care, and Tambalon was under siege by
banpair
immune to the gods?"

"I thought I could help them both by not helping Kamen,” Imara defended. “I wanted to see Kamen... chastened, perhaps, not actually sent to spirit. How could I know he'd let
banpair
fell him? How could I know how unbalanced Fen Jacin was until—?"

"Until Kamen and all his magic was already gone!” Dakimo's teeth had clenched; he forcibly relaxed his jaw. “Centuries old, and
this
is how you interpret Wolf's command?"

Imara bridled. “Wolf's command was to see that Kamen facilitated the Incendiary in his choice, Dakimo. To prevent Kamen from disobeying his own orders. That was all. Your orders were the same as mine.” She tilted her head. “And they had nothing to do with trying to use the Incendiary to solve Tambalon's problems."

"Not the decisive parry I'm sure you intended,” Dakimo countered, sharp and pointed. “I merely hoped to take advantage of an opportunity. I did not interfere with Kamen's choices by not giving them to him, nor did I prevent another from doing so. You have erred, Wolf's-own. You have misjudged. And you have, once again, done so because of Kamen.” He watched as Imara's mouth tightened and she looked away. “What is it between the two of you?” Dakimo asked, and not for the first time. “Why is it that Kamen can take all your years of knowledge and skill and make you seem nothing more than a mortal girl of seventeen?” He paused with a wince he couldn't help as a possibility struck him. “Tell me you're not in love with him."

"
No
!” The grimace and abrupt anger was a relief, and more of a confirmation of the denial than the actual denial. “In love with
Kamen
,” Imara said with a roll of her eyes and a scowl. “All the gods spare me from a fate such as that.” She shook her head. “He is still new, Dakimo, and powerful.
Too
powerful. He was not ready for what was handed to him."

Dakimo's eyebrows went up. He couldn't argue with it, he thought the same himself, but it was rather beside the point right now. “It is not ours to question our god, Imara. Nor to hear our god's voice and interpret it as we see fit."

Imara was silent for several long moments, before she ventured quietly, “I owe him, Dakimo. I was trying to repay him."

By getting him sent to spirit and endangering the Incendiary he risked his soul to save?

Dakimo didn't say it. It would not be productive, and he wouldn't be telling Imara anything she didn't already know.

"You're going to have to explain that one to me,” Dakimo said when Imara didn't go on. “I fail to see how allowing Kamen to be—"

"He's never failed!” Imara cut in. “Never, not even in his mortal life. Skel was the closest he came, and that failure wasn't his. How can he know the danger of his power if he has never seen the consequences of it? How can he understand the risks he takes? Not just with the affairs of mortals and those he protects, but with
himself
. He risked his
soul
for the Incendiary, Dakimo, before he even knew what the Incendiary was. He would do it again, I saw it in his eyes, and yet he won't see that the kindest thing he could have done for Fen Jacin would have been to let him die when he begged for it."

Dakimo couldn't tell Imara how wrong she was, and he couldn't tell her why she was wrong, so he said nothing.

"And now,” Imara went on, “Fen Jacin would spurn the gods and what Fate has made him, and Kamen would help him do it. He won't even glance at the fact that he would fail Wolf in the doing. He risks his soul
again
, and I couldn't—"

"
Now
was not the time to make your point!” Dakimo snapped. “Your actions have turned the Incendiary from a potential asset into a potential threat. You have set him loose in the birthplace of the servants of the gods and all the world's magic, and with Kamen's ring in his fist.” Imara opened her mouth, but Dakimo cut her off with a sharp gesture of his hand. “No. The best interests of Kamen and your god notwithstanding, you have erred. You will now set yourself to fixing it. Where are the rest of those Kamen claimed? The brothers have been marked, as well. We cannot—"

"I
know
, Dakimo.” Imara glared, but kept her tone civil. “They are protected. I left them in the care of Naro-yi."

"Naro-yi.” One of Owl's. “He will do.” Dakimo hardened his gaze so there would be no misunderstandings or room for misinterpretation. “You will keep them safe. Swear them oath, don't swear them oath, I care not, but you
will
keep them safe. And you
will
find the Incendiary and do the same."

"And how do you propose I do
that
?” Imara asked. “He can't be found with magic, and I'm not—"

"I care not,” Dakimo said again then waved a hand. “Set Xari to the stone, since she seems better able to discern him through Fate's mists than I. Or find the damned
banpair
and follow after them, since they apparently seek him, as well,
and
managed to find him where all of the gods’ servants failed.” The admission stung and made Dakimo's teeth clench again. “How you do it matters little, but find him you must, before someone else does. If it becomes known that he is as unstable as you say, the rest of the gods will put him down, and we will all have failed Wolf."

Dakimo paused, took the few paces over to Imara, and crouched in front of her to lay a hand to her shoulder. He softened his tone. “You have erred, Wolf's-own, but I have every faith that you will fix your mistake. You have no choice. If you would do Wolf's work, you will find and help the Incendiary.” He patted Imara's cheek. “And I will do what I can to help you."

Right after he got done telling Governor Emika that they were right back where they'd started with the
banpair
problem, and that she had an unhinged Incendiary running around loose in Mitsu—an unhinged Incendiary who thought he was being haunted by the ghost of Asai,
and
had all the magic of Wolf's Null at his disposal. Dakimo wondered if telling her the Incendiary probably didn't know how to use it would be any consolation.

He thought probably not.

Goyo wasn't necessarily surprised to run into Imara on his way into the Statehouse. He
was
surprised that she'd been paying so little attention to where she was going that she nearly plowed him into a marble pillar on her way by. The pinch of the mouth didn't come until after she realized who'd just saved her from a very inelegant and public tumble down the steps.

"Goyo,” she said flatly as she extracted her arm from his grip.

Goyo grinned, as brightly as he could manage. Mostly because he knew it would annoy her. “You're so very welcome.” His bow was pure theatrical irony. “And what has you ramming through innocent pedestrians like Wolf himself has come to swallow you?"

Imara smiled in that way she had that always made Goyo wonder if she wasn't thinking about dragging him back to her web, lopping off his head, and laying her eggs down his neck. She opened her mouth like she meant to retort, then pinched it down tight again. “You know what, Goyo?” she finally said. “Fuck off."

Goyo stepped hastily out of her way before she could... well, he wasn't sure, but by the set of her jaw and the glitter in her eye, he thought perhaps she wouldn't be entirely opposed to an actual brawl. If the Statehouse and its perimeter hadn't been warded up so tightly, she might well have just set him on fire with her glance. Though, with the feral bit of a snarl she gave him as she stalked down the steps, Goyo rather thought biting would've been the way of it.

He smirked. He'd always figured her for a biter. Probably a screamer too.

He was still snorting quietly to himself when he stepped through into the echoing reception hall, pausing to assess the current state of affairs by gauging the urgency of the various counselors, judges and minions who milled through on their way toward whatever business they had here today. The wards felt newish, reinforced perhaps since the last time he'd been there, which was annoying, but not surprising. Dakimo was a little too conscientious about Emika's well-being, in Goyo's opinion. The protection spells were almost physical, a heaviness on Goyo's chest, oppressive.

Something to do with Kamen, no doubt. The Patrol wasn't exactly buzzing about what had happened last night, but there was definite unease with the knowledge that not only had Kamen been here in Tambalon and no one seemed to have known it, but he'd been taken out by the
banpair
they'd all been ineffectively hunting for years now. The disquiet was palpable, the irony decidedly unamusing, even for Goyo, who didn't necessarily actively dislike Kamen, but had thought more than once that he'd like to be there and watch as Wolf's Null was taken down a peg or two. But that it had been these
banpair
that had managed it with apparent ease....

Unsettling. Worrying.

There'd been no official identification yet, but Goyo had no doubt that the five corpses left in Kamen's wake would eventually be matched to the list of the missing. And once Goyo spoke to the Incendiary, he had no doubt more directions would open to him.

Goyo certainly wasn't the only immortal in the world who knew what a treasure-calamity Kamen had brought with him to Tambalon; it would take no time at all for the gods to direct their servants here to watch and assess. He was, however, one of the few who had a rather personal interest. And he intended to get there before the rest of them did. Now that Kamen wasn't blocking the way, there should be nothing to it. He'd sent a small contingent out this morning to collect the Incendiary, and all he had to do now was wait until they arrived. Perhaps the unexpected summons from Dakimo would turn out to be a blessing, rather than the mild annoyance Goyo had first thought it—at least it would pass the time until the Incendiary arrived, and perhaps smooth the sharp edge of anticipation.

He was waved through three secretaries and five guards before rounding the outermost loop of the great marble building and turning down the wide hallway that led to the governor's offices. A young patrolwoman—the same maijin of Bear who'd politely shooed Goyo along the other day; he really should pay more attention to these people's names—was still greeting him and asking him his business when Dakimo appeared and bustled Goyo through and into the small, near-empty office he used as a receiving room. He practically threw Goyo down onto one of the cushions and shoved a bowl of tea into his hands.

"What have you heard?” Dakimo snapped.

Goyo was too surprised to pretend that he wasn't. His eyebrows shot up. “Only what everyone else has.” He shrugged. “I doubt there is a single
Temshiel
or maijin—whether dwelling in the mortal world or the spirit plane—who didn't feel Kamen's surprise and rage as his soul fled.” Goyo refrained from snorting. It wouldn't be polite.

"That's all?” Dakimo's eyes narrowed, and he leaned in, head cocked to the side. “No ripples in the spirits? No... sudden turn of attention?"

"I haven't....” Goyo paused, tapping at his chin with his index finger. “Why are you fishing for information, and not relaying it?"

"No new orders from Snake?"

Goyo didn't answer right away. He leaned back and took a long, slow sip of his tea. Thought about it.

Right on the heels of the chaos in Ada, Kamen had been entrusted with the first Incendiary in decades, and had promptly vanished. Again. Goyo had to assume there were immortals who'd been waiting and watching for Kamen to show up here in Mitsu eventually, but Kamen had always brazenly done what he bloody well pleased, and in his own sweet time. No one had really expected him so soon. Goyo had heard nothing more on either Kamen or the Incendiary until Kamen had been sent to spirit. And he'd been listening.

Kamen was an arrogant, self-important ass who somehow always seemed to end up diving down into a steaming pile of shit only to emerge smelling of roses. Kamen thought no one could do a job as well as he could, and the fact that he was almost always right only made him more annoying. Kamen was said to have completely lost his senses over the Untouchable-turned-Incendiary, and would know very well that every god and his or her immortals would be watching for them.

Imara had been more imperious and bitchy than usual, when she'd quite literally run into Goyo. Goyo had been assuming he'd find the Incendiary at the inn where Kamen had been hiding, but it would be just like Kamen to leave false clues and twisty trails, and the company Goyo had sent out to retrieve the Incendiary was late. The fact that Dakimo was trying to not-so-politely interrogate Goyo like Dakimo himself wasn't supposed to have all the pertinent answers was merely one more tip-off.