“I’ve run the numbers based on last year’s information, so these are only estimates. I can provide everyone with an updated proposal within the week,” Luto assured them. “With the Weather Man’s permission,” he added hastily and with embarrassment. Shae had not technically given her chief of staff license to speak, but she forgave his enthusiasm. The young man was nearly vibrating. This was the sort of dramatic event Luto must’ve hoped he would witness when he became the Weather Man’s Shadow. The alliance would not be official until the details had been agreed upon by both sides and Jio came up to Janloon to swear oaths to Kaul Hilo in person, but the clans had declared their intentions. It was a huge victory for No Peak. Things would have to be set into motion immediately.
Jio accepted the envelope and began to speak again, but before the words left his mouth, Shae’s Perception caught a shift of energy outside of the building. Green Bone jade auras approaching, fast. Half a dozen of them at least. She jerked upright in her chair and shot a look at Jio Wasu. “Are those your people?” she demanded.
Luto, who was not green, and Tyne, who wore little jade and apparently had a poor sense of Perception, looked between the two Pillars in confusion. Jio stood up, alarm coursing through his aura and across his face. “No,” he said. “Impossible. No one knows we’re meeting here. Where’s—”
The door to the room flung open. Jio Somu, the Horn of Six Hands Unity, stood in the entryway. Next to him was a tall, older man that Shae recognized at once as Nau Suenzen, Horn of the Mountain.
Shae’s hand went for the talon knife strapped to the small of her back under her blazer, but Jio Wasu stood frozen, staring at his nephew in uncomprehending shock. The young man was sweating, but his face was resolved and his jade aura blazed with dark determination. “I’m sorry, Uncle,” he said. “You left me no choice.”
Nau Suen took a step into the room and four additional Mountain Green Bones came in after him, fanning out to either side. Shae could Perceive three others in the building, at the front and rear entrances. She edged away and pulled Luto with her by the arm, putting their backs against the wall. Her aide was wide-eyed and silent, his fear a sour tang in the periphery of her Perception. Shae’s hand on the talon knife was steady but blood was roaring in her ears and her mind was racing. She cast about for some means of escape and found none. The walls were made of thick wooden timbers and the windows were small—she wouldn’t be able to crash through them with any amount of Strength and Steel.
Jio Wasu’s eyes were still on his nephew. “You betrayed us,” he whispered in disbelief.
“That’s an ironic accusation coming from a clan Pillar who has just been caught breaking his tribute oaths and turning to No Peak,” said Nau Suen, his cool, unblinking gaze scanning the room, settling on each occupant in turn. Shae’s skin crawled as he nodded at her, almost cordially, before turning back to Jio Wasu. “You ought to know, Jio-jen, that your nephew told me of your treachery and provided the date and location of this meeting on the condition that you be spared from execution.”
“The Mountain would’ve found out soon enough,” Jio Somu said to his uncle, as if imploring him to understand. “And then we would’ve had to fight for our lives. What makes you think we’d be better off with No Peak? It’s better for everyone this way. We don’t want Lukang to turn into Janloon.”
“What do you get out of this, Somu?” Jio Wasu asked numbly.
Nau answered for the young Horn. “Naturally, after you’ve been exiled, Jio Somu will become the Pillar of Six Hands Unity, which will continue to run the city of Lukang as a loyal tributary of the Mountain clan.”
Tyne Retu made a noise of incoherent rage. “Somu, you worthless dog—” He launched himself at the younger Jio with a heedless shout, hands reaching for the traitor’s throat. Two of Nau Suen’s Green Bones seized the Weather Man of Six Hands Unity in an instant. A third put a moon blade through his chest. Shae saw the tip of white metal emerge from the left side of Tyne’s back at the same instant that she Perceived the spasm of his punctured heart like a shriek in her mind.
Jio Wasu let out a roar of denial and tore a small handgun from a concealed shoulder holster under his jacket. Before he could even aim it, Nau Suen’s men unloaded their weapons in unison. The room erupted in gunfire. Jio threw up a violent blast of Deflection and Steel that could not possibly save him in these tight quarters against so much flying ammunition; bullets swerved in every direction. Bottles of hoji shattered and crashed off the shelves, spraying glass across the room.