Malicious intent Read online

  Vlad nodded slowly. "Yes, you thought I sought a Bloodright untouched, untainted by the departure of disloyal Wolves. I can see how this would be of concern for you and the Jade Falcons, for you cling to your honor most tightly. Where you would avoid even the hint of taint, I have chosen to wallow in it. It is my intention to fully redeem a soiled Bloodright."

  The Wolf slowly lowered his right hand and thrust his dagger home into his boot. He straightened up, then looked out at the audience before him. "It was my intention to fight for and win the Bloodright I was denied before. I claim the Bloodright of Cyrilla Ward, the Bloodright owned by Khan Phelan before he betrayed us all."

  Gasps and nervous laughter dissolved into applause. Color flooded Crichell's cheeks and Marthe's face became an unreadable mask. Vlad smiled and opened his arms, which increased the volume of the cheers.

  The elder Falcon Khan snarled at him. "You have won a bloodname, Vlad. You should not act as if it has made you a Khan."

  "It has not. Yet. It has merely opened the door for me." Vlad raised an eyebrow at Crichell. "Fulfilling your half of our bargain is what will make me a Khan."

  Marthe's eyes narrowed. "The Jade Falcons already have two Khans."

  "So they do, Khan Marthe." Vlad looked back at Crichell. "I fought to refuse the Absorption. To become a Khan I need a Clan of my own."

  Crichell nodded. "The second half of your price."

  "Exactly."

  "What!"

  "Not now, Pryde, not now!" Crichell snapped, then to Vlad, "As you wish it, you shall have it. Actually, you shall have it better than you wish. I will see to that."

  Vlad raised his hands, then lowered them, bringing the din to silence. He looked to Crichell. "The floor is yours."

  The Jade Falcon bowed his head almost respectfully in Vlad's direction. "Thank you, Vladimir Ward. As you all know, Vlad slew Khan Vandervahn Chistu during a Trial of Refusal over the absorption of the Wolves into the Jade Falcons. This absorption, which was unchallenged for days, was accomplished without protest until Vlad was discovered alive in the rubble of Government Hill. His action on behalf of a Clan that had ceased to exist is worthy of celebration and demands a reward."

  Crichell pressed his right hand against his own chest. "I am but one Khan among thirty-two, and limited in my power. What I give Vlad now, what I give all of you in his name, is the most I can offer, and offer it I do, freely and willingly."

  "Trothkin, near and far, seen and unseen, dead, alive and only dreamed of, hear me and be bound by what I say." Elias Crichell seemed to smile, but Vlad read deceit in his eyes. "I renounce the Absorption. You who were once the Wolves and so recently became Jade Falcons, rejoice. I proclaim you all the founders of Clan Jade Wolf. All will abide by the rede given here—so shall it be until we all shall fall."

  8

  Borealtown

  Wotan

  Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

  15 December 3057

  The fury blazing in Marthe Pryde's eyes reminded Elias Crichell of a PPC beam. She stalked along beside him, breath jetting steamy streams from her nose, as they headed away from the hall where the Jade Wolves were calling a Clan Council to order. The old man smiled and kept his voice low so that the Elementals pacing them front, back, and to either side would not overhear.

  "I cannot tell, Khan Marthe, who was more angered by my announcement: you or Vlad."

  She looked down at him sharply. "You gave Vlad but one thing to be angry about. My reasons for anger are legion. I should challenge you to a Trial of Refusal over the creation of that new Clan."

  "But you will not."

  "No?"

  "No." Elias smiled despite the edge in Marthe's voice. He knew she was very close to making good her threat, but he also knew if she had the strength of her conviction she would have challenged him, not warned him. "You know you would win, and I would die. A new Khan would have to be elected in my place and the Wolves—who would be Falcons because of your victory—would promote Vlad into that position. Though you hate politics, even you can see how perilous that would be. By destroying me you would risk destroying the Jade Falcons."

  "Ha!" Marthe stared at him, disbelief replacing anger in her eyes. "You are a warrior in name only! You enter an alliance with an unblooded whelp to eliminate a Clan Khan— and you do this because Vahn Chistu had made himself a likelier choice to win the vote for ilKhan. That is not the way of the Jade Falcons."

  "Perhaps not, Marthe, but it is the way to preserve the Jade Falcons."

  "And stripping away the Wolves, cutting our strength in half, will preserve us?"

  Crichell allowed himself to chuckle, then coughed into his hand as the cold air tickled his throat. "You and Vandervahn Chistu looked only at the military outcome of the war the Wolves waged against us. Yes, they hurt us gravely. We lost many warriors and much equipment. We have yet to pacify some of the worlds the Wolves liberated. Perhaps it would have been convenient to make up our losses with the troops and equipment left behind by Phelan Ward, but it would have destroyed us."

  Marthe's brow furrowed. "How would that have come to pass?"

  Elias stopped and pointed back toward the hall. "Were you not just with me, quiaff? Did you not see how much those Wolves rejoiced in what Vlad had done? Any of those five warriors who stood between Vlad and his Bloodname would have willingly given his life. Each one represented more than just the many foes in a Trial of Bloodright—they represented the shame of the Wolves who failed to step forward and protest the Absorption. With their leaders slain, their best warriors running off to Morges, they believed themselves abandoned and accepted our leadership because they wanted to belong to something instead of nothing."

  Marthe folded her arms across her chest. "And so their something was becoming part of our Clan."

  "No, they would never have accepted that. For all intents and purposes Vlad conducted his own ceremony in there. He took over as Oathmaster and the questions he asked the surrogates were questions he asked all those present. Even now they are electing him Khan of the Jade Wolves. Those people, his people, would never have been content among us. We view them as scornful of traditions that for us are the way of the Clan. They think us too hidebound and rigid to survive. The Wolves could never return to our way."

  Marthe hunched forward against a slight breeze and started walking again. "Your words make the Falcons sound inferior to the Wolves."

  "Not at all. We did win the Trial of Refusal. We beat Ulric. We proved we were superior to the Wolves." Elias nodded at one of the Elementals who held open the door to the building where the Falcons had their headquarters. "By holding to the traditions set down by Nicholas Kerensky we build on a strong foundation. As evolution has shown, most changes result in death. The Wolves might adapt themselves to fight well in rarefied situations, but that means they fight less well in others. Our strength is in our training and our insistence on honoring the fundamentals because when all goes awry—and there is no time in warfare where it does not—basic skills are what prevail."

  "You would do well, Khan Elias, to think more on our fundamentals."

  "How do you mean?" Elias preceded her into his office and pointed her to one of the chairs near his desk. "What have I done that you find foolish?"

  Marthe stopped and looked utterly amazed at the question. "Vlad Ward is a dangerous individual, and you have allowed him to gain power, but not the power he wanted. In doing so you angered him. I believe doing that was not wholly wise."

  Elias nodded as he poured himself some brandy to banish the chill of their walk. "You mean by creating Clan Jade Wolf on the spot."

  "Indeed. He wanted you to bring back the Wolves and give them to him."

  "I know." Crichell moved from the sideboard to his desk and sat. He breathed deeply of the liquor, then held a mouthful on his tongue a second or two before swallowing. "May I offer you some, quiaff?"

  "Neg." Marthe remained standing with her hands touching the back of a chair. "He will have satisfac
tion from you over that."

  Crichell shook his head. "I believe you are wrong, Marthe. The moment I realized he wanted the Wolves, I also saw the reason he could not have them. He will see it, too—he is not stupid."

  "I never thought he was, just lethal."

  "Lethal, yes." Elias smiled and sipped a bit more of the brandy. The warmth pooling in his belly slowly spread out to his skin. "Vlad is ambitious and he will realize that working with me, with us, is the best way to further his own ambitions. He will not like it, but there is little he can do about it. He will come to that conclusion soon enough."

  Marthe's shoulders rose in a shrug. "I hope, for your sake, that you have neither over- nor underestimated his intelligence."

  "I think not. I had not expected him to demand his own Clan—I thought he would ask me to appoint him to Vahn's place at the head of the Turkina Keshik."

  "You never seriously considered that, quiaff?"

  "Be calm, Marthe, don't let your Pryde blood run hot over what never happened." Crichell shook his head. Valiant though you Prydes are, this preoccupation with the appearances of honor is limiting in the extreme. "The reaction of the ex-Wolves at the ceremony tonight convinces me that the clan creation was the right thing to do."

  Marthe's blue eyes narrowed. "And what convinced you that conspiring to kill Vahn Chistu was the right thing to do?"

  Crichell's head came up. "Do not ask questions to which you do not want to know the answers, my Khan. You saw enough of Vahn to know he was positioning himself to supplant me. I assume this has you mildly disgusted. Allow matters to remain there and progress no further."

  Her mouth opened, then snapped shut. He saw a shudder ripple across her shoulders, then she looked down at him. "Your agenda, from this point, is ... ?"

  "Simple." Crichell finished the last of the brandy and set the empty snifter on his blotter. "As the victor in the war against the Wolves, I have to report to the Grand Council. I have called a meeting for the second of January. At that time I expect we will elect a new ilKhan, and I shall be pleased to take my rightful place as Khan of Khans, at the head of the final campaign in our return to Terra."

  * * *

  It had taken all the restraint he could muster for Vlad to refrain from reaching out and snapping Elias Crichell's neck. A red curtain had settled over his vision and blood thundered in his ears with each heartbeat. At the pinnacle of his triumph, at the moment the Wolves should have been liberated and given to him, Crichell had spoiled the victory. Crichell had denied him his due.

  He will pay for this temerity! Vlad would have struck right then and there, for the cheering and celebration of the Wolves urged him on and made him invincible. He knew he could have killed Crichell with his bare hands and not one of the Wolves present would bear witness against him. They would say that Crichell had attacked first, or that Crichell had been slain by person or persons unknown—whatever Vlad would have asked them.

  Only the outrage flashing in Marthe Pryde's eyes gave Vlad pause and let him rein himself in. Her anger, burning so brightly in those blue eyes, was not directed at him but at Crichell himself. She hates him, despises him. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

  In control again, Vlad bowed graciously to the Jade Falcon Khan. "You are a most honorable man, Khan Elias Crichell. I bid you leave us now so we may conduct ourselves in a manner befitting a Clan reborn."

  "As you wish." Crichell had inclined his head toward Vlad, then he and Marthe Pryde retreated from the hall.

  Vlad drifted away from the dais as Marialle Radick assumed a position at center stage and sought to convene a Clan Council. Those Jade Wolf warriors who were pale—unblooded, as Vlad had been before the ceremony—were asked to leave. Others were sent to fetch the few blood-named warriors not already in attendance. Because of the Abjuration and casualties of the recent war, the Clan Council's membership had atrophied from 750 to barely more than 200, but with so many Bloodrights being vacant, the presence of just over one hundred individuals would constitute a quorum.

  They can and will elect me Khan of this new Clan. His hands convulsed into fists. I cannot believe Crichell was so stupid as to deny me the restoration of the Wolves.

  But as Vlad thought on that for a moment, he realized he had drawn a conclusion from insufficient evidence. Though he had no respect for Elias Crichell, the old man's long span as a Jade Falcon Khan suggested he was far from stupid. This, in turn, suggested that he had a reason for doing what he did. Vlad was almost certain Crichell had not anticipated what the other half of his price would be, so the creation of the Clan Jade Wolf would not have been premeditated.

  The simple thing would have been to recreate the Wolves. The fact that he did not means there is something else here, something I am overlooking.

  Vlad's victory in the Trial of Refusal over the Absorption should have cleared the way for the return of Clan Wolf. In fact, it called into question the legality of the whole Absorption, which the Grand Council had not sanctioned in any event. They are probably awaiting the outcome of the fighting on Morges before reviewing this situation. With Chistu's death and the creation of the Jade Wolves, Crichell neatly sidesteps any hint of wrongdoing.

  Just as Clan law allowed for Clans to be absorbed, so it allowed for Clans to subdivide. It had never happened before because it would have encouraged the same divisiveness that had torn the Inner Sphere apart. Still, the fact that Nicholas Kerensky had envisioned a time when a Clan might want to undergo fission spoke to his wisdom. Crichell's use of this obscure provision in the regulations that governed all the Clans proved another measure of his understanding of the political side of Clan life.

  Yet subdividing does not repudiate the Absorption, it only makes amends for it. Why? Vlad rubbed his forehead with his right hand, then he smiled slowly. Of course, I should have seen it sooner!

  Khan Crichell could and would argue that the Trial of Refusal Ulric had waged against the Jade Falcons had been lost along with his life here on Wotan. Because Phelan and the other Wolves were fleeing Clan space, the outcome of the fighting on Morges was immaterial to the outcome of the fight on Wotan. The Wolves had been defeated.

  Vlad, like so many other Wolves, had seen the Trial of Refusal as Ulric's way of preventing the repudiation of the ComStar truce. Everyone knew that was what the war had truly been about—just as they knew that when Crichell was elected ilKhan he would press for renewal of the invasion. War or peace had been decided by the battling between the Falcons and Wolves, and the Wolves had lost in their bid to protect the truce.

  But the Trial of Refusal that had sparked it all was not one based on a decision to repudiate the truce. It was, instead, Ulric's refusal to accept the Grand Council's verdict that he was guilty of the charge of genocide. With the loss of the Trial of Refusal, the whole of Clan Wolf assumed Ulric's guilt. As the Grand Council had done once previously with another Clan, they had the right to order the extermination of Clan Wolf, ending, after so brief a time, Vlad's reign over the Clan he had saved.

  So, in thwarting me, he has saved me. Vlad's lips pressed together in a grim smile. I can learn from this—I have learned from this.

  Applause filled the hall and Vlad looked up. Marialle Radick beckoned him forward. "I present to you Vladimir Ward, the first Khan of the Jade Wolves. He created this Clan, and in doing so restored to us our honor. Long may he lead us."

  "Seyla," chanted the Wolves solemnly, and as one. To achieve this I became more than a warrior. Vladimir Ward smiled. Now I will become more than a Khan.

  9

  Borealtown

  Wotan

  Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

  2 January 3058

  Khan Elias Crichell smiled broadly, determined that Marthe Pryde's foul mood would not ruin his day. The darkness of her thoughts shall make this day brighter by contrast. "Khan Marthe, I can and do intend to see this course all the way through."

  Marthe Pryde stared at him, her slender frame almost vibrating with restrained fu
ry. "Elias, never before has an ilKhan been elected away from Strana Mechty. You are acting utterly outside precedent."

  His blue eyes, only slightly darker than hers, flared angrily. "Precedent is what lesser men use to sanctify questionable activities. I would prefer to set precedent than follow it. We are Jade Falcons. We are meant to lead, and lead we will."

  "An illegitimate leader is no leader at all."

  "The legitimacy of my leadership is for the Grand Council to decide." Crichell thrust a finger at the door. "In that chamber our fellow Khans are assembling to decide whether or not I shall become the next ilKhan. That decision will be made here, today, and it is best for me, for you, and for our Clan that the decision places me in the fore."

  Marthe turned away sharply, her shoulders hunched beneath a tunic of green leather. "Do not attempt to sway me with promises of personal glory, Elias Crichell."

  "That was not my intent, Marthe, though personal glory will be yours if I am elected." Crichell refrained from smiling as she peeked back over her shoulder at him. "You know I am not suited to leading the Clans in battle—that I leave for fine warriors like you. When I am ilKhan and resume our crusade ..."

  "Two events that will happen at the same time."

  "Hardly."

  "What?" Marthe turned back to face him. The malachite and gold pectoral swung slightly out of line, but she shifted it back again with her left hand. "You would delay the start of the Crusade?"

  "I would."

  "But if you want to become ilKhan to lead it, why not take the time to return to Strana Mechty to make the election a proper thing?"

  "Because time is not on our side." Crichell lowered his voice, and Marthe drew closer to hear him. "You are aware of how severely Ulric and Natasha Kerensky hurt us in the recent war."

  "I am."

  "And now the Wolves have devastated the force we sent to Morges. Star Colonel Mattlov disgraced herself and let her force be destroyed. Even more significant is that the exiled Wolves suffered far less crippling damage. They have retreated to the world of Arc-Royal—once the homeworld of Phelan Ward—and are prepared to defend the Lyran Alliance border against our predations."