Taltos (Lives of the Mayfair Witches 3)

"His reports from America," said Gordon, moving closer to the cabinet. "The Council was convened. The information was of critical importance. A monstrous child had been born to the Mayfair witch, Rowan. It had happened on Christmas Eve. A child that had grown within hours perhaps to the size of a man. Members throughout the world were given the description of this being. It was a Taltos, I knew it! And only I knew."

"You evil man," whispered Michael. "You evil little man."

"You call me that! You, who destroyed Lasher! Who killed the mystery as if he were a pedestrian criminal to be dispatched by you to hell in a barroom brawl?"

"You and the others," said Rowan quickly. "You did this on your own."

"I've told you we did." He took another step towards the cabinet. "Look, I won't tell you who the others were, I told you."

"I mean the Elders weren't any part of it," said Rowan.

"The excommunications," said Gordon, "were bogus. We created an intercept. I didn't do it. I don't even understand. But it was created, and we let through only those letters to and from the Elders that did not pertain to this case. We substituted our own exchanges for those between Aaron or Yuri and the Elders, and those from the Elders to them. It wasn't difficult--the Elders, with their penchant for secrecv and simplicity, had left themselves wide open for such a trick."

"Thank you for telling us this," said Rowan gravely. "Perhaps Aaron suspected it."

Yuri could scarcely bear the kindness with which she was speaking to the villain, giving him comfort, when he should have been strangled then and there.

Then she said, "What else can we get out of him?" She looked at Ash. "I think we're finished with him."

Gordon understood what was happening. She was giving Ash permission to kill him. Yuri watched as, slowly, Ash set down the precious book again and turned to face Gordon, his hands free now to carry out the sentence which he himself had imposed.

"You know nothing," Gordon declared suddenly. "Tessa's words, her history, the tapes I made. Only I know where they are."

Ash merely stared at him. His eyes had grown narrow, and his eyebrows came together now in a scowl.

Gordon turned, looking to the left and the right.

"Here!" he cried. "I have another important thing which I shall voluntarily show you."

He dashed to the cabinet again, and when he spun around, he held a gun in both hands, pointing it at Ash, and then at Yuri, and then at Rowan and Michael.

"You can die by this," said Gordon. "Witches, Taltos, all of you! One bullet from this through your heart, and you are as dead as any man!"

"You can't shoot all of us," said Yuri, moving around the edge of the table.

"Don't you dare, or I will shoot!" Gordon screamed.

It was Ash who made the swift move to close the gap between himself and the man. But Gordon turned to face him again, and cocked the gun. Ash didn't stop, but the gun didn't go off, either.

With a grimace, Gordon brought the gun close to his own chest, his shoulders suddenly hunched, the other hand opening and closing. "God in heaven!" he gasped. The gun fell to the floor, clattering on the bare boards.

"You," he said, glaring at Rowan. "You, witch, Mayfair witch!" he cried. "I knew it would be you. I told them. I knew it--" Bent near double, he shut his eyes, and collapsed against the cabinet. It seemed he would fall forward, but then he slipped to the floor. With his right hand he pushed vainly at the floorboards, as if trying to lift himself. Then his body went entirely limp, and his eyelids slid down halfway over his eyes, giving them the dull look of the dead.

He lay there, with only the most haphazard and tawdry air of finality.

Rowan stood as before, without a single outward sign that she had caused it. But she had, Yuri knew, and he could see that Michael knew. He could see it in the way that Michael looked at her--without condemnation, but with a quiet awe. Then a sigh came out of Michael. He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his face with it.

He turned his back on the dead man, shaking his head, and he moved away, into the shadows, near to the window.

Rowan merely stood there, her arms folded now, her eyes fixed on Gordon's.

Perhaps, thought Yuri, she sees something that we don't see. She senses something we can't sense.

But it really didn't matter. The bastard was dead. And for the first time, Yuri could breathe. He could express a long sigh of relief, so different from the mournful whisper of sound that had just come from Michael.

He is dead, Aaron. He is dead. And the Elders were not part of it. And they will find out, they will surely find out, who his helpers were, if they were those proud young novices.

It seemed a foregone conclusion to Yuri that those young men--Marklin George and Tommy Monohan--were guilty. Indeed, the whole scheme seemed the work of the young, rash and ruthless and full of waste--and perhaps it had been truly beyond the old man's imagining.

No one moved. No one spoke. They all stood there, paying some sort of dark homage to the dead body, perhaps. Yuri wanted to feel relief, but he felt none.

Then Ash went to Rowan, very deliberately and formally, and touching her arms lightly with his long fingers, he bent to kiss her on both cheeks. She looked up, into his eyes, as if she'd been dreaming. Hers was the unhappiest expression Yuri had ever seen.

Ash withdrew and then turned to Yuri. He waited, without speaking. They were all waiting. What was there to say? What must happen now?

Yuri tried to plan, but it was quite impossible.

"Will you go home now, to the Order?" Ash finally asked.

"Yes," said Yuri with a quick nod. "I'll go home to the Order!" He whispered, "I've already alerted them to everything. I called them from the village."

"I saw you," said Ash.

"I spoke with Elvera and with Joan Cross. I have no doubt it was George and Monohan who helped him, but they'll find out."

"And Tessa," said Ash with a little sigh. "Can you take Tessa under your roof?"

"You would let me do it?" Yuri asked. "Of course we would take her. We would shelter her and care for her forever. But you would let this happen?"

"What other place is safe for her?" said Ash, rather frankly sad now, and weary. "She does not have long to live. Her skin is as thin as the vellum pages of my book. She will probably die very soon. But how soon, I have no idea. I don't know how long any of us have to live. We died so often by violence. In the very early days, we believed that was the only way that people died. Natural death, we didn't know what it--"

He broke off, scowling, dark eyebrows be

autifully curved beneath the scowl and along the ridge over the end of the large eyes.

"But you take her," he resumed. "You'll be kind to her."

"Ash," said Rowan softly. "You will give them incontrovertible evidence of the Taltos! Why would you do such a thing?"

"That's the best thing that could happen," said Michael. His vehemence caught Yuri off guard. "Do it, do it for Aaron's sake," said Michael. "Take her there, to the Elders. You've done your best to blow the lid off the whole conspiracy. Give them the precious information!"

"And if we're wrong," said Rowan, "if it was not a mere handful of men ..." She hesitated, looking down at the small, desolate dead body of Gordon. "Then what do they have?"

"Nothing," said Ash softly. "A creature who will die soon, and become once again legend, no matter how many scientific tests are taken with her gentle forbearance, no matter how many photographs or tapes are made. Take her there, Yuri, I ask you. Make her known to the Council. Make her known to everyone. Destroy the secrecy so cruelly used by Gordon and his friends."

"And Samuel?" asked Yuri. "Samuel saved my life. What will Samuel do when he discovers they have her in their very possession?"

Ash pondered, eyebrows rising very gracefully, face softened with thought, and very much the way it had been when Yuri first saw it, the countenance of a large, loving man, perhaps more human than humans, he would never know.

Such a lovely thought, suddenly, that he who lives forever becomes ever more compassionate. But it wasn't true. This being had taken life, and would have killed Gordon if Rowan hadn't somehow forced Gordon's heart to come to a fatal stop. This being might move heaven and earth to get to Mona, Mona the witch, who could make another Taltos.

How in God's name was he to protect Mona?

It was too confusing suddenly, too overwhelming. Of course he would take Tessa with him; he would call them now and beg them to come, and they would, and he would be home again, and he would talk to the Elders once more, and they would be his guardians and his friends. They would help him know what to do. They would take the decisions from his shoulders.

"And I will protect Mona," said Rowan quietly.

He was startled. The gifted witch had been reading his thoughts. How much could she read in all their hearts and souls? How much could the Taltos beguile her and fool her?

"I am no enemy to Mona Mayfair," said Ash, apparently catching on easily. "You have been wrong on this from the beginning. I would not endanger the life of a child. I would force myself upon no woman. You have worries enough. Leave Mona Mayfair to these two witches who love her and will take care of her. Leave the family to them. That is what the Elders will tell you, no doubt, when you do reach them. Let the family heal the family. Let the Order cleanse itself."