certainly are. And I’d probably be a combat leader crawling through the sand to raid some Summerkingdom oasis, if I hadn’t been destined for the Guild. But I don’t remember my family. I was less than a year old when the Guild took me. It was a lucky thing, too: occasionally the Guild will miss a child, which can be horrible for the village he’s born into. There are cases of super-Talented kids just taking over isolated villages, killing anyone who opposes their whims. Children like that should be raised by equally Talented adults—Guildsmen—who can plant consciences in them.”
Prou slouched down in his chair and hooked one bare foot over the edge of the map table. He had none of the severe formality Ajão had seen in other Azhiri. Prou seemed to be one of those people who does his particular job very well, and has a lot of fun with that job and the rest of the universe. In fact, his casual nonchalance reminded Bjault of some of his wackier grad students, years ago on Homeworld.
Ajão tried to suppress the natural liking he felt for the man. Was there any objective reason to trust him? The archaeologist sipped at the sour alcoholic drink and tried to disguise his indecision. What could explain Prou’s appearing just in time to rescue him from the kidnappers?
“You must have been watching me for some time,” Ajão said finally.
The Guildsman hesitated a second, then nodded. “I was at Bodgaru when you were captured. I tried to get to you before the Summerking’s troops, but it was just too risky. The local prefect was watching me pretty closely.”
Ajão raised his eyebrows. “I was told the Guild was beyond laws and governments.”
Prou laughed. “It may seem that way to some people. Certainly we have physical power. We can seng everything on Giri and even on the moons, so we can teleport objects anywhere in the world without first making a pilgrimage to both the departure and destination points as a normal person must do. We dug the transit lakes simply by renging down rock from the moons. And if it ever comes to a fight, a single Guildsman can destroy whole cities the same way.”
There was no boasting in Prou’s tone—and Ajão realized he was telling the literal truth. If a hundred-ton moon rock were exchanged for an equivalent volume of—say—air at Giri’s surface, the net potential energy released would be equivalent to a small fission bomb. Perhaps that explained the glassy plain Draere had photographed in the southern hemisphere.
“But,” continued Thengets del Prou, “do you know how many Guildsmen there are—in the whole world?”
Ajão shook his head.
“Less than six hundred—and a quarter of those are children. Six hundred out of four hundred million normal Azhiri. Yes, we do have power, but at the same time we abide by the Covenant. If ever the commoners and the kings’ armies united against us, they could destroy the Guild, though the price would be millions of lives.”
A three-way balance, thought Ajão; the Guildsmen with their terrible powers, the national aristocracies with their well-trained armies, and the commoners with their numbers. Any two could successfully gang up on the third. So every kingdom—no matter how feudal its structure—must treat its subjects with some justice. And between kingdoms, open war was to be avoided, since it would weaken the aristocracies relative to the Guild and the commoners.
“And that’s really why you and your lady are so important, Adgao. You are witlings, yet the powers you were playing with up in Bodgaru were as great as any Guildsman’s—I saw the flying monster Ngatheru’s troops shot down. One way or the other, your existence will change all the world. I want that change to be for the better … or perhaps it would be more objective to say that I want to have some control over how things change. In any case, I couldn’t let the Summerkingdom’s intelligence arm have you to themselves: I sent Prince Pelio an
Prou slouched down in his chair and hooked one bare foot over the edge of the map table. He had none of the severe formality Ajão had seen in other Azhiri. Prou seemed to be one of those people who does his particular job very well, and has a lot of fun with that job and the rest of the universe. In fact, his casual nonchalance reminded Bjault of some of his wackier grad students, years ago on Homeworld.
Ajão tried to suppress the natural liking he felt for the man. Was there any objective reason to trust him? The archaeologist sipped at the sour alcoholic drink and tried to disguise his indecision. What could explain Prou’s appearing just in time to rescue him from the kidnappers?
“You must have been watching me for some time,” Ajão said finally.
The Guildsman hesitated a second, then nodded. “I was at Bodgaru when you were captured. I tried to get to you before the Summerking’s troops, but it was just too risky. The local prefect was watching me pretty closely.”
Ajão raised his eyebrows. “I was told the Guild was beyond laws and governments.”
Prou laughed. “It may seem that way to some people. Certainly we have physical power. We can seng everything on Giri and even on the moons, so we can teleport objects anywhere in the world without first making a pilgrimage to both the departure and destination points as a normal person must do. We dug the transit lakes simply by renging down rock from the moons. And if it ever comes to a fight, a single Guildsman can destroy whole cities the same way.”
There was no boasting in Prou’s tone—and Ajão realized he was telling the literal truth. If a hundred-ton moon rock were exchanged for an equivalent volume of—say—air at Giri’s surface, the net potential energy released would be equivalent to a small fission bomb. Perhaps that explained the glassy plain Draere had photographed in the southern hemisphere.
“But,” continued Thengets del Prou, “do you know how many Guildsmen there are—in the whole world?”
Ajão shook his head.
“Less than six hundred—and a quarter of those are children. Six hundred out of four hundred million normal Azhiri. Yes, we do have power, but at the same time we abide by the Covenant. If ever the commoners and the kings’ armies united against us, they could destroy the Guild, though the price would be millions of lives.”
A three-way balance, thought Ajão; the Guildsmen with their terrible powers, the national aristocracies with their well-trained armies, and the commoners with their numbers. Any two could successfully gang up on the third. So every kingdom—no matter how feudal its structure—must treat its subjects with some justice. And between kingdoms, open war was to be avoided, since it would weaken the aristocracies relative to the Guild and the commoners.
“And that’s really why you and your lady are so important, Adgao. You are witlings, yet the powers you were playing with up in Bodgaru were as great as any Guildsman’s—I saw the flying monster Ngatheru’s troops shot down. One way or the other, your existence will change all the world. I want that change to be for the better … or perhaps it would be more objective to say that I want to have some control over how things change. In any case, I couldn’t let the Summerkingdom’s intelligence arm have you to themselves: I sent Prince Pelio an
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