i 2d586356cf1586df by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page B

it clear that he understood his position, Director Derek Maynard got out of his limo and walked the rest of the distance to Wolf. Apparently Maynard had spent the morning dealing with humans, as he was in dressed in the dark solid suit that spoke of power among men. Wolf thought it might be the way they perceived color.
    "Wolf Who Rules ze Domou ." Over the years, Maynard had picked up much of the elfin body language. He projected politely constrained anger as he bowed elegantly.
    "Director." Wolf used his title without his name to mildly rebuke him.
    Maynard bowed his head slightly, acknowledging the censure. He paused for a minute, nostrils flared, before speaking. He looked worn and tired. Time wore Maynard down at an alarming rate; in twenty short years he had gone from a young man to middle-aged. Gazing at him, Wolf realized that in a few decades he'd lose his friend.
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    If I could have only made him an elf too . But no, that would have destroyed Maynard's value as a
    "human" representative.
    "Windwolf." Maynard chose to continue in English, probably because it placed him in the less subservient role. "I wish you would have warned me about declaring the treaty void."
    Wolf sighed, it was going to be one of those conversations. "You know the terms. Pittsburgh could exist as a separate entity only while it continued to return to Earth."
    "You've said nothing in the last two days about voiding the treaty."
    "And I haven't said anything about the sun setting, but it has and will."
    "The sun setting does not cut me off at the knees."
    Wolf glanced down at Maynard's legs, and confirmed that they were still intact. Ah, an English saying he hadn't heard before. "Derek, pretend I don't understand human politics."
    "The treaty is between the humans and the elves." Maynard followed the human tendency to talk slowly and in short sentences in the face of confusion. It made the time to enlightenment agonizingly long, even for an elf. "But the treaty is the basis for many agreements between the United States and the United Nations. It makes Pittsburgh neutral territory controlled by a UN peacekeeper force—the EIA—for the duration of the treaty."
    "Ah, with the treaty void, Pittsburgh reverts to control of the United States."
    "Yes!"
    "No."
    "No?" Maynard looked confused.
    "Pittsburgh now belongs to the Wind Clan, and I decide who will be my representative with the humans and I choose you."
    Maynard took a deep breath as he pressed his palms together, prayerlike, in front of his mouth. He breathed out, took another breath. Windwolf was starting to wonder if he was praying. "Wolf, I thank Page 33
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    you for your trust in me," Maynard said finally. "But for me to continue acting as director of the EIA, it would require me to disregard all human laws—and I cannot do that."
    "There are no human laws anymore. Humans must obey elfin laws now."
    "That's not acceptable. I know you're the viceroy, and as such Pittsburgh falls under your control, but the humans of Pittsburgh will not accept you unilaterally abolishing all human laws and rights."
    "These were conditions agreed to by your own people."
    "Well, shortsighted as it might have been, it was assumed that if something happened to the gate that Pittsburgh would return to Earth."
    "Yes, it was." Wolf did not point out that humans were typically shortsighted, rarely looking past the next hundred years. "But we knew that sooner or later we would have to deal with humans wanting to or needing to remain on Elfhome."
    "Yes, of course," Maynard said dryly. He gazed down at the blue paleness of the Ghostlands. "Is your domi sure that we're truly stranded? We're still a week before scheduled Shutdown."
    "Something fell from orbit. She believes it to be the gate."
    "But she could be wrong."
    "It's unlikely."
    "Let us say that we wait a