“Kaul-jens,” Ato said, speaking formally to all of them, “as Pillar of the Mountain, I pledge to you my friendship, the honor of my family, and the strength of my clan. I give my blade to you in service.”
Niko, Hilo, and Shae stood as well. The sheathed thirty-four-inch Da Tanori moon blade that Niko set on the table in front of Ayt Ato was made of twenty-two inches of tempered white carbon steel, with five jade stones in the hilt. It had once belonged to his father.
Lan, are you watching? Hilo wondered, with a tight feeling in his chest. This was what his brother had wanted, so many years ago. No Peak strong enough to stand against any foe. True peace between the clans, as equals.
Bullshit. Something was wrong. Hilo could sense it like a ghostly flickering in the periphery of his Perception, or perhaps it was simply the terrible knowledge of being outmaneuvered by Ayt Mada yet again, even after everything he’d done, every sacrifice his family had made, every last drop of his clan’s strength, cunning, and resolve given over the years. Shae was glancing at him frequently now. Despite his efforts to appear unperturbed, the other Green Bones in the room could not fail to Perceive the disquiet in Hilo’s jade aura. Niko looked over at him. “Uncle?”
Hilo forced a smile. “This is a difficult and emotional moment for me. I hope you all understand. I’ve fought the Mountain clan all my life, so it’s hard for me to accept this is happening, even if I agree. I’m glad I made the decision to have Niko speak.”
His sincere explanation satisfied everyone, except for Shae, whose gaze lingered on him another moment before turning back to the matter at hand. Hilo stretched his Perception out through the building and onto the street. Both clans had Green Bones standing guard outside, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Hilo brought his focus back, rested his Perception carefully on every person in the room in turn.
Niko echoed Ato’s words. “As the Pillar’s son, I pledge to you my friendship, the honor of my family, and the strength of my clan. I give my blade to you in service.”
A pledge of friendship, sealed with a personal exchange of moon blades, was not made lightly between Green Bones. It meant they could not go to war with each other, at least not before failing at other means of resolution and formally breaking the friendship by symbolically returning the other’s blade, since it was unthinkable to take a warrior’s weapon and use his own jade to strike him down—tantamount to theft. From now on, anyone who attacked the Kobens would be an enemy of the Kauls, and vice versa. Each would come to the aid of the other if asked.
The practical implication of this promise in the short term was that No Peak would help the Kobens to put down any mutinous challenge, by Ayt Mada loyalists or anyone else, and to support them as the rightful ruling family of the Mountain clan. It was what Ato needed more than anything at the moment, even if it meant appearing to lower himself to the Kauls.
Ato smiled a movie-star bright smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “I’m not like my aunt,” he said. “I’m not ashamed to admit that. I don’t believe that one clan has to prevail over the other, and I promise I’ll do everything I can to put the long grudges behind us. Under Heaven and on jade.”
Niko inclined his head. “When I was a boy, I felt a lot of pressure to one day match you, Ato-jen,” he said. “Now I welcome you giving me a good reason to feel that way. I’m still a Pillar-in-training, so I can speak for my clan only with the final blessing of my uncle.” He turned to Hilo.
Hilo’s eyes focused on Ato and he nodded. “Under Heaven and on jade,” he declared, then drew his pistol and fired twice.
_______
The shots went over Ayt Ato’s shoulder and hit the penitent behind him. Shae saw the man’s brains spray out across the wall. The Fullerton carbine he’d begun to raise to waist height beneath his voluminous green robes fell from his hands and clattered to the floor. As everyone else in the room spun in alarm, Shae glimpsed the baleful, fiery vindication in her brother’s eyes, his expression twisted with savage understanding.
The other penitents opened fire.
Sando Kin threw himself onto his cousin, pushing Ato under the table. The bullets meant for the young Pillar tore through Sando’s back. Hilo fired again and hit another penitent in the chest, then began to raise a Deflection as the remaining two guns turned on him. A split-second realization as his jade energy swelled: In the tight quarters of the meeting room, the Deflected bullets would swerve into Niko and Shae.
Hilo twisted and sent the Deflection straight into his nephew’s chest. The force of it knocked Niko to the ground. Bullets chopped through the air above him and stitched into Hilo’s side.