Dark Foundations (49 page)

Betafor's head swiveled toward Lloyd, and in the twist of the lips Merral sensed unmistakable hatred. “As you wish. I will help you.”

“Thank you. That's all for the moment.”

Five minutes later, in room six, Merral, in the presence of Vero and Perena, delivered another judgment.

Is this going to work?
Or have we made a mistake?

“Sarudar Azeras,” he said, “deciding on a verdict has been hard. We have no laws in such cases and I fear that even if we could bring you to the authorities in Isterrane it would be years before the suitable legislation could be formulated. However, there are many ancient precedents under military law for actions in time of war. So, as commander of the forces of Farholme, I pass judgment. I recognize that you and your colleagues fought against us and that your ship brought us great trouble. Yet you have pleaded for mercy and I choose to offer you mercy. If you promise, on solemn oath, not to harm us or the Assembly, I will set you free without any other conditions.”

“Free?” Azeras gave them a look of pure distrust.

“Yes. As free as we are. You may come to Isterrane and we will give you clothes, a diary, and everything else you need. Then you may go where you please. Your people style themselves the True Freeborn; we will grant you freedom.”

“Is this a genuine offer?” The tone was wary.

“Yes. The Assembly operates on the principle of grace. As the Most High has forgiven us, so we must forgive you.”

“So I would become a member of the Assembly?”

“Yes. There is no other way of existence here.”

“Would I have to follow your way of life?”

“Yes. To do otherwise would be to work against us.”

Azeras evidently puzzled, rubbed his pale face with his hand. “And would I have to believe in the same things?”

“We cannot force your beliefs. But our actions flow from what we believe. You would find it easiest to work for the good of the Assembly—and be a member of the Assembly—if you sought to follow the Assembly's King.”

“Yeah.” Azeras looked at the three of them with a tight-lipped expression. “You'll excuse me if I am cautious, even suspicious.”

“It is a genuine offer. If you accept the conditions we have stated, we will declare what you did a past matter.”

“So, I could just walk away and do what I want?”

“As long as you didn't seek to harm us.”

“Generous. Or foolish.”

“Grace can be seen as foolishness. But there is one thing.”

“Ah, the catch.”

Merral ignored his comment. “Farholme faces a war against an enemy. You know that enemy; we do not. We would prefer your assistance in our struggle. But we cannot demand it.”

Azeras slowly got to his feet, shuffled to the window, and stared out toward the sea. “So, on the one hand, I'm set free, but on the other, I'm given a request that I cannot easily refuse.”

He fell silent for several moments. Finally, he said, “You can't imagine—none of you can—what it is like to spend all your adult life fighting. To lose everything you have cared for. I lost a lover and two children. And, where it counts, I lost my own life. I might have been something: a poet, a teacher of languages . . . I don't know.” He leaned against the glass and then turned to them, his pale face defiant. “I do not want to assist you, to help you make weapons or teach you tactics. . . . No! I don't want to see a uniform or a weapon ever again. I would give almost everything to find peace.” He gestured over his shoulder. “I want my beach.”

How can I answer? If you substituted
forest
for
beach
, I could echo every word
.

Vero answered for him. “Sarudar, if peace were an option, we would take it ourselves. But it isn't. The Dominion is coming. And if Farholme is taken, you will be taken too.”

Azeras nodded heavily. “Yes. Nezhuala's forces wouldn't overlook me. Eventually they would find me.” Azeras turned to Merral. “If I joined with you, served as what—a military advisor?—what would I be rewarded with?”

“We would give you the wages of a representative.”

Azeras smiled briefly. “Which are, I gather, the same as those of a refuse collector.”

“You have learned something about us. What had you in mind?”

“A house by the sea, a supply of wine, a woman.”

Merral heard a sharp intake of breath from Perena.

“The first we might manage; the second would involve you growing your own vineyard. And as for the third? I think Captain Lewitz ought to speak.”

As Perena turned to Azeras, Merral sensed anger in her eyes. “In the Assembly, Sarudar, women are not commodities to be mentioned in the same breath as properties or drink.”

“My apologies, Lady Captain. I must retrain my tongue.”

“Sarudar—if I may be so bold—you must go deeper and retrain your mind too. I do not care to be stared at as if I were some delicacy on a table.”

Azeras nodded. “If you fight as you talk, Lady Captain—forgive me,
Captain
—then the Dominion may be in for a surprise. But I accept the rebuke. I apologize.”

“Thank you.” Perena hesitated. “The apology is accepted.”

“And our offer?” Merral asked.
This better work.

Azeras shook his head. “No. I can't accept it. Not in that form. I have made oaths to the cause of the True Freeborn Worlds.” He held up his arm so that they could see the bracelet. “This is more than jewelry. It is a symbol of my allegiance to them. I cannot fight for another cause. But there is an alternative to becoming a member of the Assembly.”

“Which is?” Merral asked.

“I remain a servant of the Freeborn Worlds, but enter into an alliance with you. I will serve you faithfully and offer my services for your standard rates of pay.”

“But the Freeborn worlds may, by now, no longer exist,” Vero said.

“Sadly true. If we knew that for sure, my loyalty would be ended and my response would be different. But though I fear it, I do not know for sure. And in the meantime I offer you an alliance.”

Merral looked at the others. “Excuse us for a moment.”

After a ten-minute discussion at end of the corridor, Merral and the others returned to the room to find Azeras leaning on the windowsill and staring out the window.

“So,” he said, as he turned to look at them, “do we have a deal?”

“Yes,” Merral replied, trying to withhold a sigh. “We will accept you on that basis. We will protect you and treat you fairly if you promise to serve us honestly and not betray us.”

“Sounds like a deal to me.”

“Good. Do you promise on oath? By all that you believe in?”
I wish I could get him to make a firmer oath.

“I'll promise to serve you honestly and not betray you. On my honor: on the solemn oath of an officer of the True Freeborn.” He touched his bracelet.

“Very well.”
What choice do we have but to accept this?

They shook hands.

“Now, Sarudar Azeras, I think there are things you need to tell us.”

“Indeed. There are things you need to know if you—we—have any hope of defense. I feel fit enough to walk a little. May we sit outside?”

They found Azeras some overalls and got together a tray of cold drinks. While Vero and Perena walked out with the sarudar to the chairs under the shelter, Merral caught up with Lloyd, who he had left to mind his diary on the veranda. There had been a call from Clemant and, anxious not to deepen any suspicions there, Merral returned it.

It was a long but routine matter and as he talked, Merral watched the group as they settled under the shade of the shelter after Vero lopped off a strangling palm frond with the bush knife to cover a hole in the roof. Soon, Azeras, Perena, and Vero were deep in conversation. Every so often glances would be thrown Merral's way.

Finally, the interminable call ended and Merral handed the diary back to Lloyd. “Sergeant, I don't want to be interrupted unless it's an emergency.”

As he walked over to the shade, the group stopped talking.

Aware of a strained and preoccupied silence, Merral helped himself to a drink and sat down.

“Sorry. The pressures of being a commander. Have I missed anything?”

He caught awkward, almost guilty looks from his friends, but Azeras spoke.

“First of all, Commander, this has intrigued me.” He picked up the bush knife Vero had used earlier and ran his fingers gently along the edge, puzzlement in his gray eyes. “It's sharp, but not that sharp. Yet Sentinel Enand here lopped off that frond without an effort. What's going on?”

Taking the blade back and closing it up before laying it by a tree, Merral said. “The edge is molecularly tuned for wood and parts the wood molecules as it strikes. We have blades for different substances. You don't have this sort of thing?”

“No. It is interesting. There are some areas where your technology exceeds ours.”

In a flash of insight, it occurred to Merral that the technology of the Freeborn emphasized power.
It's how we differ.
Where
we would seek a subtle blade, they would just make a more powerful one.

Merral turned to Azeras.

“This Nezhuala—the Dominion—is coming. What do they want?”

“Ah.” Azeras said. “That's what I've been explaining to your friends. There is a problem.”

Vero interrupted. “It's the baziliarch, Merral.”

Merral felt a shadow of fear fall on his mind.

“Tell me more, Sarudar. Betafor mentioned these creatures.”

Azeras sighed in a way that hinted at depths of pain. “We first met one at Tellzanur. We know little of them. They are powers from the Nether-Realms. They are potent on the battlefield; they destroy all morale. But the problem is this: they can rip information from minds.”

“So Betafor told us and it worried us.”

“Now, Commander, let me ask you a question. If the Dominion forces bring a baziliarch—and I'm sure they will—and they want to know everything about the defenses, who will they use it on?”

There was a long silence in which Merral heard, as if a long way away, the cries of the terns, the crash of the waves, and the creak of the palm trees.

“Me,” he said.

Vero and Perena nodded, looking uneasy.

Azeras gave a rough smile. “Exactly. They'll get the head of the Defense Force and pump his head dry.”

“My friend,” Vero said in a low voice, “we do have a problem. I guessed as much when this was first mentioned.”

“Sarudar, what do you suggest?”

Azeras smiled again, but Merral found no warmth in it. “The only answer, Commander, is for you to know as little as possible.”

“You mean . . . ?”

“You already know too much. That cannot be helped. But if I am to help your defense I cannot risk having any dealings with you. Betafor and I must disappear.”

Vero gestured to Azeras. “Sarudar, you'd best leave us for five minutes. We need to talk.”

Azeras grunted agreement. He slowly rose and walked down toward the sea's edge.

“This is impossible!” Merral said. “I'm head of the defense forces. I have to know what's going on!”

Vero and Perena looked at each other.

“My friend, we heard this from Betafor. I think there is a risk here that we must treat seriously.”

Perena leaned toward Merral. “There is a precedent. You already have the irregulars and you don't know what's happening with them in detail. Assign Azeras and Betafor to them and let Vero take charge of them.”

After further arguments, Merral was forced to reluctantly agree. He did however win a promise that both Vero and Perena would supervise matters.

Azeras was called back. “Good,” he said when told of the verdict. “That is a refreshing sign of wisdom. But, Commander, I have been thinking and I realize that there are some things I can tell you about what you will face. Indeed, there's a matter that we need you to make a decision on.”