Ah. Valkkinians were exceptionally difficult.
“Light or dark?”
“Dark.”
That man had the best luck. “They refuse to see you?”
“Yes.”
“You offered fire?”
“Yes.”
“And rubies?”
“Yes.”
“Record what I’m about to say so you will remember.”
He obediently waved his fingers at the display.
“You’re going to take a shower. You must be clean. Don’t use anything with perfume in it. Don’t tie your hair, don’t shave. Then you are going to land near Oharak Mountain, by a stone stele. It’s 900 feet tall, you can’t miss it. You are going to take your shoes off and walk barefoot up the mountain path. Every 67 steps you will stop and kneel. Do this five times, then wait. An elderly Valkkinian will come to see you. Tell him you are my friend. He will help you.”
George struggled with it for a few seconds. “How do you know him?”
“He stayed at the inn.”
“Valkkinians have never stayed at Gertrude Hunt. I checked.”
“Not my inn. My parents’ inn.”
George frowned. “That can’t be right.”
“Why not?”
“Because I asked your brother, and he said your parents never hosted them.”
My heart made a valiant effort to leap out of my chest. Klaus was alive.
I kept my expression calm. “Klaus didn’t encounter them. It was right after he and Michael turned twenty-one. They went on a month-long trip to Japan. Michael was a Toyotomi Hideyoshi fan, and he really wanted to see Osaka Castle.”
George stared at me.
“George! Shower. Stone stele. Lots of walking. Call me when you’re done. I need your help with Karron.”
I would tell him to sleep first but it would be pointless.
George scrambled to his feet and stumbled away, pulling his shirt off his back. I aborted the connection.
Sean tilted his head at me. “Your brother is alive.”
“And he is an Arbitrator.”
That explained everything. Whatever George was working on had to be vital and secret. Arbitrators were extremely close-mouthed. They wouldn’t go to just anyone for information, but George and I had a prior professional relationship. I was trustworthy.
There was no reason George would seek Klaus out when he knew where to find me. There was only one reason he would prefer Klaus over me: Klaus was in. He was an Arbitrator and therefore cleared for all classified information. And it also meant that Klaus was either on equal footing with George or his senior.
That’s why Klaus went off the grid. I was afraid he’d died.
I leaned back in my chair. When I got a hold of my brother, I would pitch a fit. He had no idea what was coming to him.
No idea.
“Do you think George will get back to us?” Sean asked.
“He will. As soon as he can.”
George had many flaws, but he always paid his debts.
6
Things are never simple when George gets involved. When we last left the inn, Dina had a surprising reveal about her brother Klaus and a plan to save Wilmos was beginning to take shape.
Let’s see what our favorite Arbitrator has down his elegant shirtsleeves.
Twenty-six hours later, Sean and I sat in front of the communication screen again. The elven prince was back. He was still a bit too pale, and there were lingering traces of fatigue in the lines of his face, but he was alert, clean, and well dressed. George’s fashion sense fell somewhere between a musketeer and a gentleman privateer. He was fond of shirts with wide sleeves, beautifully tailored vests, and tall leather boots. The embroidery on his dark blue vest was swoon worthy.
Sean would look great in that vest. Well, not that vest exactly, Sean would need a larger size. Maybe for Halloween…
I stopped myself. I had spent the entire day checking on Gorvar, worrying about Wilmos, and trying to research some way to Karron. I was so worn out, my brain had resorted to nonsense in self-defense.
“Thank you for your assistance,” George said. “It was most helpful.”
“I take it, your issue with the Valkkinians is resolved?” I asked.
“Yes.”
If one of us didn’t step into the breach, we would be dancing around the Klaus issue all night.
I raised my head. “How is my brother?”
“He is well,” George replied. “A rather unfortunate slip up on my part. I would appreciate it if you would attribute it to fatigue rather than indiscretion. Apparently, one-hundred and fifty hours without sleep significantly impaired my cognitive functions.”
Sean whistled quietly. “Six days is pushing it.”
George grimaced. “So it would seem. Lesson learned. Klaus has his reasons for his current course of action. You and your sister are very dear to him.”
“You don’t have to cover for him,” I told him. “He can explain himself when we meet.”
“You mentioned Karron,” George said. “I understand there was an incident at Baha-char?”
And he knew every detail of it. There was a whole flock of koo-ko present at the scene. By now the furthest reaches of known space were aware that Wilmos had been taken from his shop and only the shocking heroism and tremendous wisdom of the First Scholar had uncovered the kidnapper’s destination. I didn’t envy the juvenile sphinx. He was likely gone from Baha-char and back with his own people, where he would have to explain how exactly he managed to spectacularly embarrass his entire species in front of the known galaxy.
“A being resembling a corrupted ad-hal took Wilmos to Karron,” Sean said. “I need to get to that planet.”
“Quite impossible, I’m afraid,” George said. “Even our office doesn’t possess a craft able to survive a landing on and take off from that world.”
All of the hope went out of me at once.
“Not impossible,” Sean said. “Wilmos was taken there. Someone has the means to take him there and keep him alive, otherwise why not just kill him?”
“Clearly, they would like you to die in the attempt to rescue him.” George tilted his head to the side. “There is, however, a galactic power that maintains a portal gate to Karron.”
I sat up straighter.
“Why would they have a gate on Karron?” Sean asked.
“They have an outpost there.”
“What a coincidence,” Sean said.
George arched his brows. “Not at all. It’s not a coincidence, it is by design. Civilizations bring me their problems, and I find solutions. He has a problem, you are the solution to it, if you choose to be, and vice versa. That’s how the galaxy works.”
“And then both parties owe you a favor,” I said.
“Naturally.”
“Who is it and what does he want?” I asked.
He told us.
Wow.
“If you do this and it goes well, you could ask him for almost anything. He will be publicly indebted to you. I have raised the possibility of access to Karron with his chancellor. If you honor their request, they are happy to let you use their portal as many times as necessary. Their facility has been mothballed for a decade, but all the life support systems within it are still operational.”