He drew out his own matrix and said, “Can you show me how to use it?”
“Yes, no great skill is needed for that. But not as safely as they can at Neskaya, and you are not yet wholly well. I would rather not.”
“I must know now, at once, what has come to Danilo. The honor of our house is engaged, sister.” He explained why. She sat with her plate pushed aside, twirling a fork. At last she said “Wait” and turned away from him, fumbling at the throat of her gown. When she turned back there was something silk-wrapped in her hands. She spoke slowly, the troubled frown still on her features- “I have never seen Danilo. But when I was a little maiden, and old Dom Felix was the hawk-master, I knew Dom Rafael well; he was Father’s bodyguard and they went everywhere together. He used to call me pet names and take me up on his saddle and give me rides…. I was in love with him, as a little girl can be with any handsome man who is kind and gentle to her. Oh, I was not yet ten years old, but when word came that he had been killed, I think I wept more for him than I did for Father. I remember once I asked him why he had no wife and he kissed my cheek and said he was waiting for me to grow up to be a woman.” Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes far away. At last she sighed and said, “Have you any token of Danilo, Regis?”
Regis took the dagger with the Hastur crest. He said, “We both swore on this, and it was cut from his belt when he was taken.”
“Then it should resonate to him,” she said, taking it in her hands and laying it lightly against her cheekbone. Then, the dagger resting in her palm, she uncovered the matrix. Regis averted his eyes, but not before he got a glimpse of a blinding blue flash that wrenched at his gut. Javanne was silent for a moment, then said in a faraway voice, “Yes, on the hillside path, four men—strange cloaks—an emblem, two eagles—cut away his dagger, sheath and all—Regis! He was taken away in a Terran helicopter!” She raised her eyes from the matrix and looked at him in amazement.
Regis’ heart felt as if a fist were squeezing it. He said, “Not to Thendara; the Terrans there would have no use for him. Aldaran!”
Her voice was shaking. “Yes. The ensign of Aldaran is an eagle, doubled . . . and they would find it easy to beg or borrow Terran aircraft—Grandfather has done it here in urgency. But why?”
The answer was clear enough. Daniio was a catalyst tele-path. There had been a time when Kermiac of Aldaran trained Keepers in his mountains, and no doubt there were ways he could still use a catalyst.
Regis said in a low voice, “He has already borne more than any untrained telepath was meant to bear. If further strain or coercion is put on him his mind may snap. I should have brought him back with me to Thendara instead of leaving him there unguarded. This is my fault.”
Bleakly, struggling against a horrible fear, he raised his head. “I must rescue him. I am sworn. Javanne, you must help me key into the matrix. I have no time to go to Neskaya.”
“Regis, is there no other way?”
“None. Grandfather, Kennard, the council—Dani is nothing to them. If it had been Dyan they might have exerted themselves. If Aldaran’s men had kidnapped me, they’d have an army on the road! But Danilo? What do you think?”
Javanne said, “That nedestro heir of Kennard’s. He was sent to Aldaran and he’s kin to them. I wonder if he had a hand in this.”
“Lew? He wouldn’t.”
Javanne looked skeptical. “In your eyes he can do no wrong. As a little boy you were in love with him as I with Dom Rafael; I have no child’s passion for him, to blind me to what he is. Kennard forced him on Council with ugly tricks.”
“You have no right to say so, Javanne. He is sealed to Comyn and tower-trained!”