something?”
“Yeah,” he said excitedly. “It seems to me that I had just filed a decision with the Council on the death of a Supervisor.”
“Decision?” I echoed.
“When somebody dies suddenly, the Peace division gets notified. If it was a violent death, we try to find out what happened.”
“The dead Supervisor—did he occupy the place that Ferrathyn took on the Council?”
“No, Ferrathyn didn’t become a Supervisor until a couple of years later—” He stood up slowly. “After
another
sudden death. Boy, are you telling me that Ferrathyn killed those men, that I knew he had done one murder, and he made me forget it?”
“Hold on, one thing at a time,” I said. “First tell me how the first Supervisor died.”
“The man died with a dagger in his heart; he had left a note saying …”
“That he had chosen to die?” I prompted. Ligor nodded and swallowed hard.
“Yolim wouldn’t believe it. The man had been a close friend, and he felt he would have known if the man had been that … unbalanced.
“So he reported the death as a possible murder, presently unanswerable, but still open.” Suddenly Ligor slammed his fist on the table. “I remember!” he said. “Ferrathyn wanted me to change the record to show self-inflicted death.” His eyes narrowed. “That fleason Ferrathyn killed the Supervisor, didn’t he?”
“I think it’s very likely.”
“Then why didn’t he move right into that position? Why did he wait for another Supervisor to die?”
“I think that’s the answer you’re really looking for, Ligor—because you
didn’t
falsify that record. People respond differently to mindpower, and some people seem better able to resist it than others. Ferrathyn may never have run into someone with a will as strong as yours before. He had to realize that if you could resist his compulsion, you might break free of the forgetfulness command.
You
stopped him from becoming a Supervisor then because he was afraid you would expose him. He had to wait until another Supervisor died—how?”
“The healer ruled it was some illness he had never seen before,” Ligor said. “I saw the body; it looked like the man had been choked to death, but there wasn’t a mark on his body. Could Ferrathyn have done that?”
I remembered the fierceness on Tarani’s face, and the terror in Molik’s, in that moment when Tarani had almost killed the roguelord by immobilizing his lungs with her mindpower.
“He could have done it,” I said. “He must have figured enough time had passed that you wouldn’t connect him with the earlier death. But he couldn’t rest easy as long as you were in Raithskar. He couldn’t kill you outright, either—you had proved you had substantial resistance to his power. I suspect he wasn’t ready, yet, to use the Ra’ira overtly. So he used more ordinary tactics—political pressure and harassment—to drive you out.”
“And now he’s finally got what he wanted all along,” Ligor said.
I sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
Ligor’s jaw tightened. “His first motion to the Council, as a Supervisor, was to disband the Security force. He said that if vineh could be trained to clean streets, they could be trained to fight—and would be totally loyal and beyond corruption.” He laughed bitterly. “I thought it was a crazy idea—but I didn’t know about the Ra’ira. Fortunately, the Council turned him down, but he brought it up every now and then. Now—Council or no Council—he’s got his army of vineh.”
10
“You mean you had heard nothing about what’s going on in Raithskar?” I asked Ligor.
We had left Krasa behind us several minutes ago, and were making our way through the rocky brush of the hillside above the town. It had taken very little to convince Ligor to go back to Raithskar with me, even though neither one of us had a clear idea what help he might be. He had succeeded in resisting Ferrathyn’s power once—but a power unaided by the
“Yeah,” he said excitedly. “It seems to me that I had just filed a decision with the Council on the death of a Supervisor.”
“Decision?” I echoed.
“When somebody dies suddenly, the Peace division gets notified. If it was a violent death, we try to find out what happened.”
“The dead Supervisor—did he occupy the place that Ferrathyn took on the Council?”
“No, Ferrathyn didn’t become a Supervisor until a couple of years later—” He stood up slowly. “After
another
sudden death. Boy, are you telling me that Ferrathyn killed those men, that I knew he had done one murder, and he made me forget it?”
“Hold on, one thing at a time,” I said. “First tell me how the first Supervisor died.”
“The man died with a dagger in his heart; he had left a note saying …”
“That he had chosen to die?” I prompted. Ligor nodded and swallowed hard.
“Yolim wouldn’t believe it. The man had been a close friend, and he felt he would have known if the man had been that … unbalanced.
“So he reported the death as a possible murder, presently unanswerable, but still open.” Suddenly Ligor slammed his fist on the table. “I remember!” he said. “Ferrathyn wanted me to change the record to show self-inflicted death.” His eyes narrowed. “That fleason Ferrathyn killed the Supervisor, didn’t he?”
“I think it’s very likely.”
“Then why didn’t he move right into that position? Why did he wait for another Supervisor to die?”
“I think that’s the answer you’re really looking for, Ligor—because you
didn’t
falsify that record. People respond differently to mindpower, and some people seem better able to resist it than others. Ferrathyn may never have run into someone with a will as strong as yours before. He had to realize that if you could resist his compulsion, you might break free of the forgetfulness command.
You
stopped him from becoming a Supervisor then because he was afraid you would expose him. He had to wait until another Supervisor died—how?”
“The healer ruled it was some illness he had never seen before,” Ligor said. “I saw the body; it looked like the man had been choked to death, but there wasn’t a mark on his body. Could Ferrathyn have done that?”
I remembered the fierceness on Tarani’s face, and the terror in Molik’s, in that moment when Tarani had almost killed the roguelord by immobilizing his lungs with her mindpower.
“He could have done it,” I said. “He must have figured enough time had passed that you wouldn’t connect him with the earlier death. But he couldn’t rest easy as long as you were in Raithskar. He couldn’t kill you outright, either—you had proved you had substantial resistance to his power. I suspect he wasn’t ready, yet, to use the Ra’ira overtly. So he used more ordinary tactics—political pressure and harassment—to drive you out.”
“And now he’s finally got what he wanted all along,” Ligor said.
I sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
Ligor’s jaw tightened. “His first motion to the Council, as a Supervisor, was to disband the Security force. He said that if vineh could be trained to clean streets, they could be trained to fight—and would be totally loyal and beyond corruption.” He laughed bitterly. “I thought it was a crazy idea—but I didn’t know about the Ra’ira. Fortunately, the Council turned him down, but he brought it up every now and then. Now—Council or no Council—he’s got his army of vineh.”
10
“You mean you had heard nothing about what’s going on in Raithskar?” I asked Ligor.
We had left Krasa behind us several minutes ago, and were making our way through the rocky brush of the hillside above the town. It had taken very little to convince Ligor to go back to Raithskar with me, even though neither one of us had a clear idea what help he might be. He had succeeded in resisting Ferrathyn’s power once—but a power unaided by the
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