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.‘And get me any Scorpion-kinden we’ve still got with us.I want to talk to them.’After two hours in further conference he felt no wiser.Major Maan had simply emphasized that all travellers’ reports confirmed that the Spiderlands were very extensive, that they were varied in geography and peoples, and that the chief interest of their rulers seemed to be in conspiring against one another.The Lowlands had never presented a threat to the Spiders, as the Lowlanders were also notably self-involved and divided.There was a brisk trade along the Seldis road to Tark, Merro and Helleron, but beyond that it was remarkable how little reliable information could be found.‘They’re subtle, sir,’ Maan had warned, as if that explained everything.And so here he was now, General Alder of the Barbs, with his own retinue of two hundred Wasp soldiers and, nearby, another five hundred of the light airborne ready to move in on his signal if things got as ugly as he feared.He had Maan with him, for all the good it would do, while behind him the main army was setting up temporary camp under Carvoc’s command.And ahead were the Spiders.The ground here was hilly, and patchily wooded, and the Spider commander or lord or whatever he might call himself had chosen a little dell to pitch his tent in.It was barely a tent, by Alder’s standards, just a peaked roof of silk held up on poles, tugged lightly in the wind.A small knot of people were gathered beneath its shade, and the rest of the retinue were at military attention, waiting for him in immaculate parade-ground fashion.It was, he admitted, a clever piece of theatre.At least half of them were bronze-skinned Kessen Ants in gleaming chainmail and helms of like colour.Their shields bore a device of abstract flourishes that Maan loudly informed him was the crest of Seldis.Some of the others were Flies, and most of those seemed to be nobles or wealthy citizens, as richly clad in felt and silks as many a magnate of the Consortium of the Honest.Others there were Beetle-kinden soldiers with heavy crossbows.An honour guard of a dozen hulking Scorpions, stripped to the waist, leant on swords almost as high as they were.Then there were the Spiders themselves.There were almost a score of them, and they seemed all elegance and poise, each one regarding the approaching Wasps with a slight and individual smile.If the Flies had been dressed well, these were magnificent, and yet they trod a thin line between the ornate and the excessive.They were, Alder had to admit, the very soul of taste, wearing their fine silks and gold, their embroidered brocades and their jewels, as though the garments were simply casually thrown on for no special occasion.Himself an old soldier who had never cared for gaud and glitter, Alder found himself momentarily dowdy, travel-stained and awkward, but he thrust the thought away angrily.It was clear to see who the leader was, and to Alder’s surprise it was a male: a further victory for Major Maan’s intelligence because Alder had been assured that they were always led by their womenfolk.This particular Spider-kinden lord reclined languidly in a solid-looking gilt chair, high-backed and fantastically carved.A couple of young women of his own race sat at his feet, and the others stood around him, not as a formal court, but in little groups and cliques.They were all beautiful, men and women alike.Even the oldest amongst them possessed an austere handsomeness, while the youngest glowed with the fruits of youth.Some were pale, others tanned, and their hair was fair or red or dark, more varied than most other kinden ever were, but all with the same ineffably delicate sophistication about them.The soldiers arrayed behind the Spiders tensed slightly, waiting to see if the armed men coming towards them meant mischief.Alder turned to his troops and signalled for them to take their ease.‘Major,’ he said.Maan glanced from one Spider-kinden to the next, swallowing awkwardly.‘Remarkable, General.One does hear—’‘Just listen, Major.Only speak when I consult you.’ Alder went forward, with Maan dogging his heels, followed by two sentinels for bodyguards and a scribe to make records.The Spider leader stood up as they approached.He looked younger than thirty years, and he wore a crimson shirt with ballooning sleeves beneath a green jerkin filigreed in gold thread, and loose-fitting dark breeches above knee-high boots that sported silver spurs.He made a flourishing gesture of welcome that was part wave and part bow, rings glittering on his fingers.His neat, dark beard made his smile flash all the more.‘Do I have the honour of conversing with a general of the Wasps?’ he asked.‘That is the title, is it not?’‘General Alder of the Imperial Fourth Army, known as the Barbs,’ Alder replied, restraining an urge to salute.‘The Barbs? Charming.I am the Lord-Martial Teornis of the Aldanrael and I am delighted to make your acquaintance, General Alder.’The second name meant, Alder recalled from his briefing, that this man was of the Aristoi – from one of their ever-feuding noble families.The name itself meant nothing to him though, and he had no clue as to how the Aldanrael might rank in the grander scheme of things.A couple of the well-dressed Flies came forward at this point, and Alder turned to them to greet them formally, before seeing that they were bearing a flask of wine and a large platter of honeyed meat, shredded and laid out like unreadable script.Servants? he wondered, noting their finery, and then, slaves? Major Maan had stressed how the Spiders had a thriving slave trade, but these little attendants were more richly dressed than most Wasps of good family at the imperial court.He allowed a goblet to be pressed into his hand, with that, his thumb feeling idly at the small gems that encircled its stem.‘You are here as an embassy from the Spiderlands?’ Alder enquired, determined to regain the initiative.‘From Everis, Siennis and Seldis, certainly,’ Teornis said, ‘but it would be somewhat presumptuous of me to speak for the Spiderlands entire.Yes, General.We have been watching your Empire with some approbation recently.Our agents have reported on your conquest of Tark, and it seems you have done the impossible with embarrassing ease.’Alder allowed himself to nod.‘The Emperor commands and the Empire obeys, Lord.Martial,’ he said, stumbling a little over the unfamiliar title.Teornis permitted himself a wry smile.‘You are a military man, General.A direct man.’‘I try to be.So I will ask again, what is the purpose of your embassy?’‘We are concerned, General.’ Teornis signalled for a chair to be brought forwards for Alder and, with that politeness accomplished, slouched back into his own.Alder decided that standing would give him the advantage, but then changed his mind when he saw how Teornis took his ease, and found to his embarrassment that it was inexplicably too late to sit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]