Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,99
needs to be reworked.”
Lisoun took off.
“These chairs are a marvel of function and durability,” the engineer growled. “The an-alloy is nearly indestructible.”
“I have…” Maud checked her harbinger. “Thirty-eight aliens, of which twenty-two are too small to sit in these chairs and the others have vestigial appendages which prevent them from sitting at all.”
“These chairs were never designed for aliens!”
“Well, now they have to accommodate some, so find a way to destruct the indestructible chairs. I will send over an updated seating chart. Every chair marked ‘tachi’ must have a hole. Every chair marked ‘lees’ must be adjusted for a being of three to four feet in height.”
The engineer bared her fangs. “On whose authority?”
“On my authority. I’m the Maven. Look at it as a challenge.”
The engineer opened her mouth.
Maud loaded steel into her voice. “When these aliens go off into the galaxy, they will praise House Krahr’s hospitality instead of telling the universe that the elite of vampire engineering couldn’t solve the trivial problem of appropriate seating. We won’t embarrass ourselves. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“I see you’re settling into your role,” a familiar voice said.
Maud raised her head from the screen. “Lord Erast?”
The Scribe nodded at her and passed her a tablet. “The Preceptor would like you to make the necessary edits. She wishes to deliver the document to the parties in question as soon as possible.”
Maud raised the tablet. The green spark of a scanner flashed at her. The contents were locked to her. The screen flared into life.
Mutual Cooperation Pact.
The following Articles are to outline the involvement and voluntary participation of Clan Nuan and the tachi Protectorate…
Oh no. “This won’t work.”
“What’s wrong with it?” the Scribe asked.
“It says involvement.”
“Involvement is a perfectly good word.”
“We’re dealing with the lees. It’s like making a deal with…” the devil. She grappled with her knowledge of ancient sagas, looking for a reference. “Yarlas the Cunning.”
Lord Erast raised his eyebrows.
“If we leave any gap, any hint at an alternative interpretation, they will drive a space cruiser through it. We have to make this super simple. Short, clear sentences. No ambiguity at all or we will end up explaining to Lady Ilemina why the lees now own the station and half of the planet. This will require an extensive edit.”
She stared at the gathering. Six vampires. If she could cull this to a reasonable number, she could devote all of her attention to editing the articles.
“Everyone with an immediate need step forward. Everyone whose issues can wait, see me this evening.”
The six vampires in front of her took a step forward in unison.
It was going to be a long day.
Maud stood in the middle of the Officer Hall and watched the entrance ceremony unfold on a large screen. The banquet room, a large space meant to accommodate five hundred diners, spread out before her, an expanse of smooth onyx-black floor punctuated by rosettes of tables and chairs made of the same glossy black. The crimson banners of House Krahr stretched along the walls, the gold catlike predator on them snarling to remind the gathering in whose house they were about to dine.
The blast shields of the massive battle station were down, and the far side of the hall was all window, the universe glittering beyond, with the turquoise and blue orb of the planet rising slowly to the right. A spray of radiant stars winked from beyond, the Krahr Home World Fleet displayed for the guests in a show of power and strength.
A dais had been raised in the center, with the windows as the backdrop, and in the middle of it a small vala tree spread its gnarled black branches, its red leaves glowing against the cosmos, at once fragile and indomitable, a testament to the power of life that flourished given the slightest chance.
Both the Kozor and Serak were already seated, taking up the center swath of tables. The lees and the tachi, in the newly butchered chairs, were also in their places, the tachi on the left, and the lees on the right, with the heads of both delegations nearest the dais. The one hundred and twenty knights of House Krahr would take the back rows of the tables. The addition of the thirty-eight aliens brought their numbers to one hundred and fifty-eight. If either Kozor or Serak recognized that they were being boxed in, they could do nothing about it.
She had spoken to both factions only a couple of hours ago about what to expect in greater