The Chronicles of Riddick - Alan Dean Foster [54]
“. . . while you sit on the throne,” she finished. In a frenzy of bacchanalian expectation, she clutched his arm and pulled him toward the door. He did not resist, his startled expression showing that he had hardly heard her—and didn’t care. Whatever she wanted right now, it didn’t matter. While his thoughts were confused, hers clearly were not. Might as well then, he reasoned, let her forge ahead.
On their way down to the center of Necropolis, they were greeted by soldiers and technicians, support personnel and life support staff alike. As they drew nearer and nearer to the traditional inner sanctuary of Necromonger belief, however, they encountered fewer and fewer citizens. This was a place for ceremony and contemplation, not for those with daily tasks to perform.
To ensure privacy, she detoured to the sweeping balcony that overlooked the central sanctum. Unexpectedly, the floor below was occupied. Only three people there, conversing in low voices. When she saw who they were, her initial intent in coming was quickly forgotten. Her abrupt change of attitude did not appear to make any difference to Vaako, especially after he also recognized the reason for it.
On the main floor, the Lord Marshal and the Purifier were interrogating a third figure. A stranger in more than one sense of the word. Or was it more of an interview than an interrogation? At a distance, it was difficult to tell. Certainly the visitor was not visibly restrained. Wishing for better powers of hearing, she strained to catch a phrase, a word. Next to her, Vaako crouched low against the balustrade, staring and listening.
“An Elemental,” she murmured. “Here. But why?”
Vaako essayed a guess. “Helion Prime is something of a junction system. Those who prepared the way for us reported the presence of many visitors, some who came from a considerable distance. They as well as locals were taken captive.” He nodded toward the distant Elemental. “She might be one of them.”
Or not, Dame Vaako reflected as she observed. There was something between the Elemental and the Lord Marshal that was difficult to discern at a distance. Tension, certainly. That was to be expected. But she thought she could detect indications of something else, something more. A familiarity, perhaps. Or something even deeper. Possibly—a history?
“How unexpected,” the Lord Marshal was saying out of earshot of the two observers. So focused was he on the female standing before him that even his half-dead self did not notice the pair crouched behind the balustrade. Though they did not know it, they were just far enough away to be outside the range of his casual detection. “That on this particular planet, of all the inhabited planets in the known galaxy, we turn up an Elemental on the very same day we find, of all things, a male Furyan.” He leaned toward the subject of his mock surprise.
“Just why is that? And why, of all Elementals, would it be you?”
Outwardly unperturbed, Aereon stood before him, making no move to flee. For that matter Vaako wondered, being as he was somewhat familiar with the singular abilities of the Elementals, how had she been brought aboard in the first place? Or had she been brought? Was it possible she had come of her own free will? If so, to what purpose? A complicated and confusing day was only becoming more so.
“Helion Prime is a crossroads world, a center for trade and exchange. Given the speed with which your kind has been moving through this part of the galaxy lately, the odds are not so against it.”
The Lord Marshal was less than convinced by this argument. “Try again. And this time, make me believe you.”
If Aereon was intimidated, she did not show it. “It’s no secret that Elementals are interested in the balance of things. When that balance is disturbed, we have been known to travel far to observe cause and effect.”
“As you’ve been known to know more than you usually tell,” the Lord Marshal riposted. “You’ll have to do better than that. I’m not one to be manipulated by clever evasions and reluctant half-truths.”
Dame Vaako