Free The Web and the Stars by Brian Herbert Page B

vile thought. He knew little of violence, and could not imagine committing it against anyone, especially not against a man whom he had come to admire so much. But what if he had been wrong about Noah? What if the concerns of the Council proved well-founded?
    I am a caretaker of the web, Eshaz reminded himself. I must do whatever is necessary.
    * * * * *
    Having been summoned to return, Woldn and his followers flew back into the chamber like an angry swarm of bees. They were in high fever, flitting around, buzzing in the faces of the much larger Tulyans, but eliciting no physical or verbal response.
    “Our timeseer is ready to serve you,” the First Elder announced.
    “You’ve cleared the cobwebs out of his head?” Woldn asked.
    Eshaz glared at him.
    “I have ordered a rendezvous of my people,” Woldn said, “and I cannot waste more time here.” He flew in front of the Council members. “You have failed in your obligation.”
    “Then the timeseer will go with you,” Kre’n said. “Summon a podship and transport him to your rendezvous point.”
    “That is out of the question. No outsider is permitted to know where we meet. Now let me out of here!”
    “You refuse the services of a timeseer when he is prepared to fulfill his duty?” Kre’n said. “That sounds like a treaty violation to me. Now you must remain here to work through the problem. It has very serious diplomatic consequences, which this Council cannot ignore.”
    “You’re wasting my time!” Woldn shouted.
    “You waste your own time by being obstinate,” Kre’n insisted. “Can’t you conceal the location of your meeting place from Eshaz, blindfolding him, preventing him from seeing?”
    “You are all mind readers when you touch us, but we do have ways of concealing something so essential, something so vital to the survival of our race. Very well! The recalcitrant timeseer will come with us.”
    Woldn summoned a podship. It arrived in a matter of moments, with a distant green flash and a rumble as it entered the atmosphere of the starcloud. The craft made its way to the outside of the Council Chamber, and landed on a flat portion of the top, opposite the inverted dome.
    Deep in thought and troubled, Eshaz boarded the vessel. He had left word for Acey and Dux that he expected to return in a matter of days, but in the chaos around him he knew that might not be possible.

Chapter Fourteen
    Those infernal podships are holding all of us prisoner, leaving our worlds only connected by a thread … the nehrcom communication system.
    —Doge Lorenzo del Velli
    Following the destruction of Timian One and the Palazzo Magnifico, the Doge had relocated to quarters that were suitable to his position. His courtesan wife, Princess Meghina, had her own royal apartments on Canopa—in Rainbow City—and when the podships stopped she found herself stranded there, unable to return to her beloved planet of Siriki. Lorenzo liked having her nearby, and enjoyed the company of Francella as well. But the two women barely tolerated one another, and had always competed for his affections.
    His relationship with them was different in so many ways. The Doge maintained Meghina as his favorite courtesan, taking care of all of her expenses and siring children by her, seven daughters so far. The girls were all on Siriki now, but remained in touch with their mother by nehrcom. Lorenzo hardly ever spoke with them himself, or cared to. Though they were financial heirs to him, they could never step into his shoes to rule the Merchant Prince Alliance. The noblemen would never stand for a female doge.
    In contrast, while Francella was his lover as well, she was financially independent from Lorenzo, and loathed the very concept of a courtesan, considering such women to be no more than well-dressed harlots who lived off men. No paragon of virtue herself, Francella had borne him a male child out of wedlock, who, while a bastard, might still be accepted by the princes as their