The Shadow Dragons - James A. Owen [133]
“Even to the point of aligning himself against the Caretakers?” Charles said. “That’s a long stretch.”
“Jakob has paid his price,” said Bert. “And it was more than just the physical damage he suffered. He knows he chose poorly, and he will have to overcome that. And regaining his self-worth will not come easily.”
“I’m still unclear what Kipling’s role was,” said Jack. “Did he switch sides, as Burton tried to do? Or was he your man all along?”
“When we realized that there were traitors among the Caretakers, we seeded Kipling among them so that we would have a means of keeping track of them. The Shadow King found the means to quite seriously tempt him and make it appear he had betrayed us—but we discovered that someone else was already feeding pages from the Last Book to the Shadow King.”
“The True Names of the Dragons,” said Jack.
“Precisely,” Bert replied. “Kipling realized that once Poe revealed the details of the Prophecy and our plan of action to the Caretakers, the traitor would probably try to steal the book itself and get it to his master.”
“So Kipling went first, to draw attention to himself?” asked John.
“Again, precisely,” said Bert. “If Kipling went, then all the Caretakers’ attention would be on him, and any other defection would be much more difficult. It also gave him the opportunity to give Burton the nudge he needed when it was evident that the Shadow King cared more about conquest than anything else. And Burton was still more Caretaker than traitor.”
“But Defoe stole the book anyway,” said Charles. “That was the one action that devastated the Dragons and nearly lost the entire conflict.”
“Yes,” said Bert, “and he covered his betrayal well. Kipling never suspected him, nor did any of the rest of us. But Kipling was still in a position where he could continue to report to us, and then, when the time was right, betray the Shadow King. If he’d uncovered Defoe’s true allegiance sooner, before he’d taken the book itself, then it would have been too difficult for Kipling to follow after without arousing the suspicions of all the Caretakers.”
“So you knew where Abaton was all along,” said John.
“We didn’t know, but we suspected,” said Bert. “Defoe provided Hallward with the image for the painting, and Poe told him to go ahead and paint it. We didn’t know where it was, just that it went somewhere. We weren’t sure how to follow up Kipling’s actions, until Charles made his suggestion to duplicate Defoe’s painting as a Trump. That proved to be the perfect solution in more ways than one.”
“All of this started when Kipling tried to capture us here,” said Charles. “What would have happened if he had succeeded then?”
Bert grinned. “He wouldn’t have. He just needed you to believe he might, so you’d go along with Alvin. His only real problem was making sure the effort looked good so the Shadow King would never suspect he had a cuckoo in his nest.”
“Who planned this bit of espionage?” asked Charles. “It seems to have been a very deep game.”
“Who else?” said Bert. “Jules is called the Prime Caretaker for a reason. And Poe has perceptive abilities that are far and away the best I’ve ever witnessed, in any era. Outside of we three, only Chaucer and Hallward knew.”
“I knew,” said Grimalkin, who was gradually appearing on John’s shoulder, “but then again, cats always do.”
“I think you’ve been adopted,” Bert said, winking at the cat.
“He’s quite unusual,” John said, reaching up to scratch the cat’s ears. “I wouldn’t mind keeping him.”
Bert chuckled. “I was talking to you, not the cat.”
“I’ll trade you,” said Charles. “I’ll give you the Magwich plant for the cat.”
“Don’t do it, John.” Ransom laughed. “You end up with Magwich in 1945 anyway.”
“Why is that?” Charles asked. “Do I finally get tired of him?”
Bert scowled at Ransom, as all the blood drained out of the philologist’s face.
“Not exactly,” Ransom finally managed to stammer. “John gets him because Jack wins the coin toss at your funeral.