Jade War

“Is everyone ready?” Haku asked. “You’re all clear on the plan? If anything goes wrong this week, we’ll all lose our heads, so there’s no room for error. We’re committed now.”

The men around the room nodded. One of them said, “We haven’t been able to reach either Sunto-jen or Uwan-jen. We don’t know whether they’ll stand with us or against us.”

“We have to go ahead, anyway,” Haku said. His father had made that abundantly clear in their recent conversations. They were running out of time. “No matter which way Sunto or Uwan or the other Fists go, once Ayt’s gone, the Kauls will support us.” That was what Ven Sando had told him, and Haku had not questioned it. He trusted his father, who was a seasoned corporate executive, to handle the matter of clan alliances and getting the Lantern Men to fall in line; Haku only had to worry about the actual logistics of the coup, which was no small feat in itself.

“Just remember to kill Ayt first,” Haku reminded them. “Doesn’t matter how good that woman is at dueling and whispering names, an ambush from six of—”

He would’ve said more, but one of the other Fists interrupted, with sudden alarm, “Do you Perceive that?”

The men quieted, jade senses alert. At first, Haku discerned nothing out of the ordinary—merely the background energy din of all the people enjoying themselves in the club. That was one reason he chose to meet here with his coconspirators: It was easy for even the auras of half a dozen Fists and Fingers together to go unnoticed in such a crowded and lively environment. The club was a tributary Mountain property and there were always other Green Bones among the general throng. Haku’s Perception was not especially strong, but after a minute, he realized that several jade auras were moving from their scattered positions in the building and congregating on the second floor—right outside of their room. Haku drew his talon knife and threw open the door.

“Ven Haku-jen,” said Nau Suen, walking into the room ahead of a group of eight other Green Bones, “I’m too old for the clubbing scene, but I’m told that you throw good parties here.”

“Nau-jen,” Haku said, sheathing his talon knife and dipping into a respectful salute. His eyes darted over Nau’s other men and his heart began to pound. “You startled me.” Haku was not sure how the Horn did it, but Nau Suen had a way of quieting his jade aura to such a low, even hum that he moved inconspicuously even to jade senses and seemed to appear out of nowhere. “My friends and I always have this room. If I knew you were interested in joining us, I’d have invited you.”

Nau glanced around at Ven Haku’s comrades. “Nau-jen,” they murmured in unison, touching their foreheads. Nau nodded at them, then rubbed his chin with a thumb and said, “Haku-jen, you’re one of the clan’s senior Fists, but I haven’t seen much of you in person for months now. I think we ought to talk about all the time you’ve been spending at the Sin 8 in these parties.”

Haku did his best to remain calm. The Horn did not know anything—could not possibly know anything about their schemes. The most he might have were suspicions. “I haven’t been neglecting any of my duties,” he said, with a note of defensiveness. “If I haven’t been checking in as often, it’s because I’ve been helping my father. He’s busy with K-Star Freight these days.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Nau said. “You’re an obedient son, Ven Haku, but unfortunately a terrible liar. Your heart rate and blood pressure are up, your eyes are twitching, you’re sweating. You wouldn’t even pass a simple lie detector test, much less fool my sense of Perception, which is no doubt why you’ve been making an effort to avoid me.”

Haku went for his talon knife. He lunged at Nau’s throat, but two of the Horn’s men were already moving. With combined Strength, they bore the young Fist to the ground and pinned him to the floor. Haku screamed and pleaded his innocence, he tried to Deflect and Channel; two other men came over and helped to hold him down. Waun Balu, who was Nau’s First Fist, said in a regretful, almost gentle voice, “Don’t make it worse for yourself, Haku.” The traitor did not take Waun’s advice; as his head was pulled back, he Steeled for all he was worth, and so it took a full grisly minute for Waun to saw across his throat with the talon knife.