But now I must. I owed Callina a debt I could never pay. At the awful end, when I had fled with Marjorie — both of us wounded, and Marjorie dying — it had been Callina who opened the Hidden City to us. That night, when the swords of Darkover and the blasters of the Terrans had hounded us, alike, Callina had dared exposure to the radioactive site of the ancient starships, and risked a terrible death herself, to give Marjorie a bare chance of life. It had been too late for Marjorie; but I could never forget.
Just the same — to drag it all out before the Council again — I felt the sweat break out on my forehead.
Regis said quietly, “You’re the only chance we have, Lew. They might listen to you.”
I swallowed. At last I said, “I’ll — try.”
“Try to do what? Stay sober long enough to welcome us all?” Derik Elhalyn thrust his way gaily between Regis and Callina, and gripped my shoulders. “Lew, old fellow, I didn’t know you were on Darkover at all, until you popped up like one of those toys your father used to make for us! Dyan said it, but I’ll say it again — welcome home!” He stood back, waiting for me to return the clasp, then his eyes fell on my empty sleeve. He said quickly, trying to cover up the awkward moment, “I’m glad you’re back. We had some good times once.”
I nodded, upset by his confusion but glad of a pleasanter memory. “And well have more, I hope. Are the Elhalyn hawks still the finest in the mountains? Do you still climb the cliffs to take your own nestlings?”
“Yes, though Tve not so much time now,” Derik laughed. “Do you remember the day we climbed the north face of Neversin, hanging on by our eyebrows?” Once again he cut himself short, all too obviously remembering that L at least, would never climb again. For my part, I was wondering what would happen to the Comyn when this scatterbrained lad assumed the place rightfully his. Old Hastur was a statesman and a diplomat. But Derik? For once I was glad of the telepathic dampers which kept them from following my thoughts.
Derik moved me toward the high seat, a hand on my shoulder. He said, “It was all arranged before your father died, you remember. But Linnell’s refused even to talk about setting a day for the marriage, until you were home again! So I have two reasons for welcoming you back!”
I returned his affectionate grin. I wasn’t wholly alone, after all. I had kinsmen, friends. That marriage had been in the air since Linnell put away her-’dolls, yet it waited for my consent. “I haven’t even seen Linnell yet,” I said. “Though I thought I had.”
I wondered if Linnell knew she had a double in the Terran Zone. I’d have to tell her that; it would amuse her. But Hastur was calling us all to order again, and I took a seat between Regis and Derik. I was shocked at the small number of those who could claim blood-right in the Comyn; counting men and women alike, there were not three dozen. Yet they looked like a hostile army when, at Hastur’s signal, I rose to face them.
I began slowly, knowing I must plead my cause without heat.
“If I understand this, you want to ally with Aldaran, to restore the old Seventh Domain to the Comyn. You’re counting on this alliance to make peace with his mountain lords, and choke off all the outbreaks of rioting and war on the border. To get the co-operation of the Aldarans, in keeping the outlaws and renegades and trailmen where they belong-on the other side of the Kadarin river. Maybe, even, to get us some Terran trade, and permits for machinery and planes, without making too many concessions to the Terrans themselves.”
Lerrys Ridenow rose. “So far, you have been correctly informed,” he drawled. “Can you tell us something new?”
“No.” I turned,, studying him. He was the only one of Dio’s brothers worth the name of man, even when the term was used loosely. I’d known them, all three, on the pleasure moon off Vainwal. They were all delicate, effeminate, cat-graceful — and dangerous as so many tigers. They all tried to take the best of both worlds, a privilege which their great wealth, and the Comyn immunity from ordinary Dark-ovan laws, gave them. But Lerrys seemed to have the stuff of a man behind the languid, almost feminine mask, and he deserved an answer.
“No, but I can tell you something old. It won’t work,” I said. “Beltran of Aldaran, himself, is a decent sort of fellow.
But he’s tied himself up so tight with renegades and rebels and Trailmen and half-breed spies, he couldn’t make peace with us if he wanted to. And you want to bring him into the Comyn?” I spread my hands. “Certainly. Bring in Beltran of Aldaran. Bring in the man they call Kadarin, and Lawton from Thendara, and the Terran Co-ordinator from Port Chicago, while you’re about it!”
Hastur frowned. “Who is this Kadarin?” he asked.
“Hell, I don’t know. Supposed to be kin to Aldaran.”
“Like you,” Dyan murmured.
“Yes. Half Terran, maybe. Rabble-rouser on any world that will hold him. They deported him from at least two other planets before he came back here. And that man Beltran of Aldaran, that man you want to marry to a Keeper, made Castle Aldaran into a hidey-hole for all of Kadarin’s damned ridge runners and renegades!”
“Kadarin isn’t a man’s name,” Lerrys said.
“And I’m not so sure he’s a man,” I retorted. The hills around Aldaran — you know what used to live back in those hills — all sorts of things you couldn’t really call human. He looks human enough until you see his eyes.” I stopped, turned inward on horror. Abruptly, remembering where I was, the wheels of my mind began to go round again.
“The name Kadarin is just defiance,” I said. “In the hills across the river Kadarin, any bastard is called a son of the Kadarin. They say he never knew who or what his father was. When the Terrans hauled him in for questioning, he gave his name as Kadarin. That’s all.”
“Then he’s working against the Terrans, too,” Lerrys said.
“Maybe, maybe not. But he’s tied up with Sharra—”
“And so were you,” Dyan Ardais said softly. “But here you are.”
My chair crashed over backwards. “Yes, damn you! Why else would I put myself through all this, if I didn’t know what hell it is? You think the danger’s all over? If I can show you where Sharra is still out of control — not ten miles from here-then will you call off this crazy alliance?”
Hastur looked troubled, motioning Dyan and Lerrys to silence. “Can you do that, Lew? You’re an Alton, and a telepath. Put you couldn’t do anything like that alone. You’d need a mental focus—”
“He’s counting on that,” Dyan sneered. “It’s a good safe bluff! He’s the last living adult Alton!”
From the shadows a voice said, “Oh, no he isn’t.” Marius got slowly to his feet, and I stared at my brother in amazement. I thought he had left with the others. Could he — or would he — dare that most fearful of the Comyn powers?
Dyan laughed aloud. “You? You — Terranl” The word was an insult as he spoke it.
I was not yet ready to crawl away beaten. “Shall we turn, off the dampers — and prove it on you, Lord-Ardais?”
That was a bluff. I hadn’t the faintest idea whether Marius had the Alton Gift, or whether he would go down in a screaming frenzy when my mind ripped into his. But Dyan did not know either, and his face was white before he lowered his eyes.
“It’s still a bluff,” said Lerrys. “We all know that Sharra’s matrix was destroyed. What bugbear is this you drag out to frighten us, Lew? We are not children, to shiver at shadows! Sharra? That for Sharra!” He snapped his fingers.
I flung caution to the winds. “Destroyed hell!” I raged, “It’s in my rooms this minute!”
I heard the gasps that ran round the circle. “You have it?” I nodded, slowly. They wouldn’t call me a liar again. But then I caught a glimpse of Dyan’s mocking eyes. And suddenly I realized I had not been clever at all.