Lupi 04 - Night Season

She took it.”
    â€œYou know who took the medallion?” Ruben Brooks asked.
    â€œOh, yes.” The Eldest looked at one of the other councilors. He got up and went to the main door, the one sized for humans and other biggers. He opened it and said something to those on the other side.
    First Councilor spoke again. “Since the medallion was stolen, there has been a flood in Rhanjan and earth tremors in the Northern Mountains. A tributary of the Ka has changed its course.”
    Ruben Brooks asked, “You believe these things were caused by the loss of the medallion?”
    â€œI do not believe. I know.” She looked toward the door. “Here is the medallion’s first thief.”
    The half-half the guards escorted through the door was one of those with bits from lots of species. She was taller than a gnome, smaller than a human, colored like the Ekiba, but furry on her neck and shoulders and arms. She was thin and naked, with the large eyes of a Makeen and the heavy jaw of an Ahk.
    She was drooling.
    Her body was empty, or as good as, according to Gan’s üther sense. It was as if someone had eaten her without eating her flesh. Gan almost forgot and asked what had been done to her.
    The humans hadn’t been told to be quiet. “What did you do to her?” Cynna Weaver demanded.
    â€œWe did not destroy her. She did that herself when she laid hands on the medallion.”
    After a moment Cynna Weaver said, “I guess the chancellor isn’t really ill.”
    â€œHe died within hours of the theft. His mind was unable to recall how his body functioned. The medallion is reshvak. ”
    Oh, that was bad. That was really bad.
    Ruben Brooks shifted slightly. He reminded Gan a little of cautious old Mevroax, part of whom she’d eaten back when she was a really young demon. Ruben Brooks always put his words together carefully. Only she thought Ruben Brooks had more sense than old Mevroax, who after all had been stupid enough to get himself eaten by a really young demon.
    â€œMy charm was unable to translate that word,” Ruben Brooks said in English. “Reshvak.”
    Cullen Seabourne answered before the Eldest could speak, which was rude and not smart. “She means it’s alive, more or less. And a parasite. Madam.” He did have the wit to speak with respect when he addressed the Eldest directly. “This medallion is one of the Great Artifacts, isn’t it?”
    The Eldest leveled a look at the young lupus. “You think you know what that means, sorcerer?”
    â€œNot precisely, no. But they are said to be hungry.”
    Her mouth quirked up as if he’d said something funny. “Hungry. Yes. The medallion hungers for order. It is supremely able to create order because of that hunger, but it cannot order itself. For that, it requires the mind of its holder. Unless the fit is very good, however, it cannot form a permanent bond. Without that bond, it eats the minds of any who hold it.”
    â€œMadam,” Ruben Brooks said slowly, “you are telling us that the medallion possesses a degree of sentience, but is an essentially disordered sentience.”
    â€œPrecisely. From the moment its bond with the chancellor was broken, the medallion has been insane.”

EIGHTEEN
    I T was late by the time they left the meeting. Inside the Chancellery all the lights had gone soft, as if they were on a dimmer switch. Outside, bells tolled. One of their escorts—three gnomes, none of them councilors—explained that the bells marked the “hours,” which weren’t terrestrial hours, of course. Each bell-period was one-tenth of the sleep-wake cycle that made up a day in Edge.
    The sound, muffled by the walls near the meeting room, grew fainter as they proceeded through labyrinthine halls. It had vanished entirely by the time they reached the wing that held the guest quarters. Their escorts left them with polite wishes for a good meal and a good sleep.
    Gan hadn’t come with them. First Councilor had wanted to speak with her, and the little not-yet-gnome had gone off with her, all atremble, like a devout Catholic granted a personal audience with the pope. Cullen was ahead of Cynna and McClosky, pushing Ruben’s chair. He had a preoccupied look on his face, as if he barely knew the rest of them were there.
    Cynna was pretty preoccupied herself. “Did we hear the truth this time?”
    â€œMostly, I