Butler, Octavia - Patternmaster

As the Clayark, Teray bit and punched with heavily calloused hands—or forefeet. He seized and tore and gouged, all the while leaping about with speed and agility that his opponent could not match. All his opponent’s power was in his massive arms. Or forelegs. As long as the Clayark Teray could avoid those arms, he was safe.

Then the Clayark Teray stumbled, and almost fell over a loose rock as he dodged one of his

opponent’s clumsy swipes. His hand closed around the rock as he leaped away.

He wheeled and charged again. This time he reared back on hind legs, which were more catlike than human. As his opponent reared eagerly to meet him and finally lay hands on him, Teray smashed the rock against the side of the creature’s head. Then he stood back in triumph and watched while his opponent died.

Teray opened his eyes and stared at the small figurine in his hands. He could see its beauty, its perfection, even more clearly now. What was it the Clayarks called themselves? Sphinxes. Creatures out of ancient mythology, lion-bodied, human-headed. The description was not really accurate. The Clayarks were furless and tailless, and they did possess hands. But they were much more sphinxes— creatures who were at least partly human—than they were the animals Teray had always considered them.

And outsiders were not necessarily the inferior people Teray had considered them. The artist Laro had done something that Rayal himself could not have done. No Patternist could read the mind of a Clayark directly. The disease the Clayarks carried gave them at least that much protection from their Patternist enemies. And only the most sensitive artist could lift latent impressions of Clayarks from objects the Clayarks had touched. Laro not only lifted those impressions, he refined them, amplified them, and implanted them in his figurines and paintings. Teray caught the artist’s attention and sent him silent appreciation. Laro

smiled.

Jer and Iray had finished their experiences as Teray had. All three waited now as Joachim gazed silently at the painting. No sign of what he was experiencing appeared on his face, but they all could see that he was completely absorbed in the painting. Finally, Joachim’s show was over and he looked up.

He put down the painting and turned to Coransee, his eagerness barely veiled. “What do you want for him?”

Moments later, in Coransee’s office, Teray, Joachim, Laro, and Coransee himself were seated, waiting for Coransee to name his price. Joachim had tried to send Teray to entertain himself with more of Laro’s work, but Coransee had insisted on his sitting in on the bargaining.

“He’s an apprentice,” the Housemaster had said. “He might as well start learning right now.” Then, about the trade:

“Joachim, I had to trade with another sector to get Laro. He’s a rare find, and I had intended to keep him. He’s not close to me or many of my people in the Pattern, but that’s not as important to me as it is to you. I’ll trade him to you, though, if he agrees to the trade.”

At once, Laro spoke up. “I do agree, Lord. I’ve been content here. I mean no disrespect. But Lord Joachim and his people seem much closer to me in the Pattern.”

Coransee nodded. “That’s what I thought. We

trade then, Joachim.”

Joachim leaned back in his chair. “As I asked before, what do you want for him?”

“I trade for strength, as always,” Coransee said. “The success of the last Clayark raid makes it obvious that I don’t have enough.”

“If you were trading with anyone else, I’d advise you to trade for compatibility within the Pattern,” said Joachim. “With more compatibility, you wouldn’t have any of the Clayarks who attacked you still alive and dangerous. But you’re trading with me and I don’t have anyone even close to you in the Pattern.”

“Would you be willing to trade Jer, the outsider you brought with you?” Coransee asked. Teray frowned. It seemed to him that the Housemaster was less serious than. he should have been. Teray got the feeling that he had no interest at all in Jer.

“Jer’s young,” said Joachim, going along with him. “Only two years past transition. But he has the strength you’re looking for.”

“You would trade Jer?” asked Coransee softly.

“If you wanted him.”

“I don’t, of course.”

“No.”

“I just wondered. You’re sentimental about your people sometimes. But you want this artist. I can see that. You’d trade anyone short of your lead

wife for him.”

Joachim looked uncomfortable. Coransee was playing with him. Dangling the artist temptingly before him, but refusing to name a price. And doing it all in a mildly insulting way.

“Coransee, for the third time, will you tell me what you’re trading for?”

“Of course,” said Coransee. “Of course. I offer you Laro for Teray.”

The words were said so casually that it seemed to take Joachim a moment to digest them. More likely, though, Joachim used his moment of “surprised silence” to think of a negative answer that would not close the trading.

Teray looked from one man to the other. He had known what Coransee was going to say just an instant before he said it. Joachim had probably known too. Coransee had been a little too eager, had not concealed his thoughts as carefully as he might have. In his carelessness, he had permitted Teray to learn one other thing—a thing that was somehow part of the reason why the Housemaster wanted Teray badly enough to trade a talent like Laro’s. A talent that had surely cost him several of his people.

But perhaps it would not matter. Already Joachim was turning down the offer.

“Coransee, I’ve told you this man is an apprentice, not an outsider. He’s not my property. In fact, as an apprentice he’s still under the protection of the school. I can’t legally trade him.”

“And you wouldn’t if you could.” Coransee spoke lazily, as though he had gotten the answer he expected and was merely playing another game. “Let’s be realistic, Joachim. You want my artist, I need your apprentice. Laro is much closer to you in the Pattern than Teray is. And law or no law, Teray would have no power to object if you traded him.”

Surprisingly, Joachim seemed to reconsider for a moment. Teray, watching him, felt the beginnings of fear. He had waited so long to avoid being taken as an outsider. If now, on his first day out of the school, all his waiting was to prove in vain …

“You were talking about strength,” Joachim was saying. “Now that the Clayarks have found a way to get into the sector undetected, I’ll be needing Teray’s strength myself.”

“For what? That miniature Pattern of yours would wipe out any Clayarks who haven’t heard what a waste of time and lives it is to attack you.”

“Even a miniature Pattern can always use additional strength.”

“I protect the school,” said Coransee. “I need the strongest outsiders I can get for the good of the school.”

Joachim made a sound of disgust. “You don’t even expect me to believe that. What is it really, Coransee? Why do you want my apprentice so badly?”

“Perhaps because he’s another son of

Patternmaster Rayal?” Teray spoke for the first time. “One of my many brothers?” His questions were not really questions but he looked toward Coransee as though expecting him to answer.

Coransee stared at him blankly for a moment. Then he smiled without humor and spoke to Joachim. “You see? Already he proves his usefulness to me. I was careless about maintaining my shield, and immediately he reminded me.” And to Teray, “What else did you pick up… brother?”

By now Teray knew that he had made a mistake. He should have kept his findings—and the strength and stealth of his probe—to himself. But it was too late now. No lie would get past an alerted Coransee.