THE BLUE BOY
by Lynn K. Hollander
Chapter 18 - Blue Genes
SUNNYDALE
Spike arrived standing and immediately sat down on the stairs.
Xiuling ripped the cut leg of his jeans away from his wound. Huixin and Binwen, each carrying a tray, came in from the kitchen.
"Let me see that, Spike," Huixin said. She looked his wound over, then opened a small bottle, containing a pink fluid. "This may sting."
"Uh. It does."
"And it works. Xiuling, give him a glass of wine. You there," Huixin addressed the man Spike had kicked. "Who are you?"
"I think I'll leave."
"No," Gang Long said. "Even if you could, we won't let you leave. Consider yourself a prisoner of war. Do you want us to fix your ribs or just throw you in a cell the way you are?"
"He tried to kill Xiuling," Spike said. "Lock him up now."
"I was not trying to hurt the girl, I was just trying to disarm her."
"Break my mirror?" Xiuling asked. All the yunü looked appalled. "That's a bad idea."
"Really bad," Liangde said.
"Damn dumb," Jiding said.
"That would have had serious consequences," Binwen said. "At the very least, you would have died."
"Oh," the man said. "Call me Baudier."
"Drink this," Huixin said, handing him a glass of Ann's wine.
"Spike," Gang Long said, helping the vampire to his feet and speaking softly, "go talk to Darcy, would you? He was a little upset."
"Sure."
"And Jingwu asks that without scaring him," the dragon added, "you find you what you can from him."
"Well, yeah," Spike grinned. "Don't worry."
***
"So you know Traggy?" Spike asked Darcy.
"Traggy got mad at me when I fell in the river."
"Why?" Spike asked.
"Something about my good clothes," the boy said.
"Well, that's understandable," Xiuling said. "Does she take care of you?"
"She's like one of my yunü in the other place," the boy said. "She says I have to go back. Do I?"
"Well, are you supposed to be there?"
"Is it dinner yet?"
Spike eyed the boy. He could tell a stall when he heard one; on the other hand, he wasn't ready to force the topic. Ann could do that. "Dinner sounds fine. Let's see what we can find in the butler's pantry. I think cooking is a little confused today."
"OK."
"Has Traggy got another name?" Xiuling asked.
"Antrag, is what the governess calls her."
"Do you know Baudier? The man we put in the red room?"
"He gives orders to the other guards. I saw him every day, but he's never talked to me. For desert, can I have cake?"
"Vegetables first," Xiuling said. "Cake later."
"But not fish," Darcy said.
***
"The shouyu say Jingwu is coming back," Darcy said, poking at a green bean.
"I hear them," Spike agreed. "She had to drive the Mercedes home, after we left it at Willy's and ported back here."
Soon Ann joined the trio in the small north room. "Hi." She sat down, relaxed and comfortable. She smiled at them all.
"Hi. How is Willy's?"
"Back to normal. Dawn's at home."
"Traggy, Antrag, looked after Darcy before he joined us here," Spike told Ann. "What I wanted to mention, now that we're alone, is the hostage part."
"Really," Ann said, calmly.
"Yes, the woman from the hill used the word, at least twice. I haven't asked about it yet and I didn't want to mention it earlier, with Baudier--the guy whose ribs I broke--around."
Ann nodded. "One of the best things about you, Spike, is that you have a mind and are willing to use it. I was wondering if it was something like that. How long do you have to be a hostage, Darcy?"
"Until the treaty is done," the boy said, "but it's taking a really long time."
"Sometimes they do," Ann said. "We can call you by your real name, now. What is it?"
"Ingelram, but I like Darcy better."
"Then we'll still call you Darcy. What is your mother's name?"
"Naeva, and Lache is my father. Do I have to go be a hostage again? I don't like the food there."
"What did your mother say?" Ann asked.
"That it wouldn't be for long, but it was."
"We talked about this. I think you probably have to go back," Ann said quietly. "But you already know that. We'll see about everything else. We can probably do something about the food."
"Can I have cake?"
"Xiuling?"
"Yes."
***
"If it weren't for the Grayman," Ann said, "this would be simple."
"Oh, him," Spike said. "Right. Have you seen the local news?"
"No."
"Five surfers were found shot today. The police got enough of a description out of the only witness that a sketch artist could produce a drawing."
"No," Ann said, in a totally different tone.
"Take a look."
Ann said, "Off."
"I think it's him," Spike said, as the TV went dark.
"Oh, I'm sure it's him," Ann said.
"I was thinking of Frank Paterson," the vampire said. "We could build up the favor account."
"We'll see. I have to do something with him, something a little more permanent than simple stoning. First, we'll have a talk with Baudier."
"Baudier? Why him?"
***
Baudier, having been ruthlessly stripped by Jiding and Liangde, was wearing clothes supplied by the closet in the red room. He looked up as Ann, Xiuling and Spike came in. He was seated at a small table, with the remains of a light dinner in front of him. Spike blinked a little. The red room faced south, and had two windows, or had had two windows. Now the south wall was blank. Very cell-like, the vampire thought
"Well," Baudier said, in Alvish, "the clothes are nice, but if you want to talk to me, you have to give me back my translator amulet." He smiled at them and held his hands up.
"We'll manage," Ann said, also in Alvish.
"How are your ribs?" Spike asked, in the same language.
"Some Alvish speakers call me Meliora, others Alvereda."
God, Spike thought. Another name. When did she get this one?
"My current use name is Ann. You should know Spike and Xiuling. You're Baudier, and you give orders to the other guards. What are you? Duty officer? Captain?"
Baudier was silent.
"You've come to retrieve your hostage, Ingelram, who escaped you."
Silence.
"I will not return him to you," Ann said
"You cannot interfere!"
"I already have. There is at least one complication you do not seem to have considered: The eighth combatant at Willy's, the Grayman with the gun. He is an assassin, and his target is the boy. What happens to your hopes of a treaty if Ingelram dies in your care?"
"They're gone," Baudier said.
"Grayman isn't human, he's not from Earth. Look at this, please," Ann nodded to Xiuling, who took up her mirror.
Baudier didn't flinch, but he did brace himself. When the strange maker's mark appeared on the face of the mirror, he eyed it carefully, then nodded. "Hove."
"Never heard of it," Xiuling said.
"It's quite close to us," Baudier said.
"This is on an air gun Grayman had. It would have delivered a fatal dose of a flesh-eating bacteria. Ingelram would have ended as a puddle of dissolved flesh, and you could not have produced his corpse to demonstrate that he died of semi-natural causes."
"It occurs to me that if you have the Grayman, Ingelram is no longer in danger from him," Baudier said.
"It should further occur to you that whoever hires one assassin can hire a second or even a third," Spike said.
"There are a lot of assassins for hire in Hove," Baudier muttered.
"There's always a place to hire an assassin, and sometimes you can get a package deal," Spike said, thinking of the time he had hired the Order of Taraka to go after the Slayer.
Ann grinned at the vampire, then turned to Baudier. "We have a suggestion and a condition. First, the condition: Ingelram stays here, until I speak with his parents."
"That's difficult," Baudier said slowly.
"Handle it," Ann ordered coolly.
"And the suggestion?"
"Cover your ass," Spike said.
"Oh, sure."
"Return home for instructions," Xiuling said.
"Point out to your superior that keeping a possible assassin's target safe is more complicated than keeping a young boy from running away or falling in the river," Spike said.
"And not what either of you signed on for," Ann said. "Think about that. I'm going to be sending you all home. I think you will be able to get more out of Grayman than I will, since you know the situation that led up to his being hired to kill Ingelram and at the moment I do not. I would say, considering Ingelram's youth, that the motives for his murder must be financial or political, rather than love or safety. If Lache and Naeva are rich or powerful, as they probably are if their son is a hostage for a treaty of some kind, that may be where to look; in addition, of course, at any trouble-making idiots on either side."
Ann shrugged. "Decide if you need to take Grayman with you, or if I can turn him over to the local authorities for a different crime. Oh, and if you want to be sure I send you home and not somewhere else, let me consult with your gate navigator. I'll be back for your answer shortly." Ann went out.
Spike started to follow her, but turned back as Xiuling stayed.
"Is there anything you need?" the yunü asked.
"No, thank you, I'm fine," Baudier seemed a little dazed. "She doesn't know the situation?"
"She will," Spike said. "She always finds out whatever she wants to know."
"So those suggestions were just random?"
Spike and Xiuling glanced at each other. She spoke: "That's experience. She's done things like this before."
***
There was a chime from the north terrace.
Spike, at the computer in the library, looked out. He recognized Ricard. Binwen and Jiding appeared by the door.
"It's Claire's grandfather, Ricard, He's one of Berengar's aides. I hope Berengar's all right. I don't know the other Alv."
"Oh, she wrote to Berengar, she said, for some help identifying Darcy and his family and caretakers," Binwen said.
"Hi," Spike called, opening the French door.
"Greetings. Is Meliora available?"
"She's sending some Mindoans home," Spike said.
"Oh, you know," Ricar seemed disappointed.
"Hey," Spike said. "It's Ann."
***
Spike looked up as Ann walked into the library. "You have guests," he told her.
"Who?"
"Ricard and Ambroys arrived first. They brought you Hove on 5 Thalers a Day, and Bargain Hunting in Hove, and a paperweight, a rock with Souvenir of Hove, painted on it. They heard a lot of rumors, bribed a lot of people and say the Grayman is probably a notorious assassin from Omapool and if you turn him in to the right authorities, you get a huge reward. A little while after they arrived, Gahariet, another of Berengar's aides showed up with these," the vampire waved one white hand at a couple of wooden chests, stacked on the long table where the big crystal phone stood, "which contain a very complete background briefing, including the menu from the wedding feast of Darcy's parents. They're all having breakfast, or dinner, in the formal dining room."
"I'll join them." Ann smiled. "I never have trouble finding out whatever I want to know, eventually. It's the timing and coordination that occasionally need work."
***