Spheres of Influence by Ryk E Spoor

Author:Ryk E Spoor [Spoor, Ryk E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781451639377
Google: qx7TmQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1451639376
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2013-11-05T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 28

“So, Captain Austin, how do you find the Arena, now that you have returned and had some time to accustom yourself?”

Ariane felt that she did quite well not to visibly jump at the deep, sonorous voice that she associated with the most severe beating she had ever taken. True, she’d emerged victorious, but despite that great and dramatic victory, what she remembered most about her battle with Amas-Garao was the feeling of being utterly outmatched; even the few times she’d managed to strike him, she’d felt like a child kicking an adult in the shin. I got ridiculously lucky—humanity got ridiculously lucky—but I’m not stupid enough to think I could beat him a second time.

Wu, she was pleased to see, had moved with startling speed and, despite Amas-Garao apparently having materialized from thin air nearby, had inserted himself between the Shadeweaver and Ariane.

“Well enough, Amas-Garao. Do you people have something against just walking like the rest of us, or is there a reason for you trying to make me jump out of my skin every time you show up?”

The low, rippling chuckle she remembered rolled out. “Jump out of your skin? A most . . . interesting expression, that. The mystique of the Shadeweavers is enhanced by our being seen only infrequently acting as the other inhabitants of the Arena will act. I am sure you understand.” The cowled face turned slightly towards Wu Kung. “I notice that you have found yourself a most formidable bodyguard. Wise. Am I right to suspect it was Doctor DuQuesne who convinced you to have one?”

“More like told me I was and said he’d chosen Wu for the job,” she said, continuing her walk along the Grand Arcade. One advantage of having a Shadeweaver with you on a walk is that no one gets in your way. The crowds parted before them like water in front of a battleship’s prow; where most people in the crowded parts of the Grand Arcade might be practically rubbing elbows (or the equivalent), Ariane, Wu, and Amas-Garao had between two and three meters clearance, all the way around. “You say ‘wise.’ Do you know something I don’t?”

“I undoubtedly know uncounted things you do not, Ariane Austin,” the Shadeweaver answered, ironic humor in his voice. “Yet in this case I have no concrete evidence of a specific threat. It is simply wise to assume there is such a threat, especially when you are so visible a presence in the Arena, and one who has scattered many boxes indeed during her entry.”

Ariane made a guess at what that expression meant. “I think you might exaggerate things a bit—dramatics being your stock in trade, of course.”

“A bit, yes. Yet it is perhaps not clear to you how widely you are known, and how far your influence has already reached.” The clawed, black-furred hand pointed at the soaring, straight-edged lines of the Faction House of the Blessed To Serve. “To give a single example of many; when you arrived, the Blessed had eradicated or turned most of the allies gathered by the Liberated.

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