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Axel adjusted the tunic top on her uniform.
“Is this right?” she said to Tera, General Tannace’s former corps medic.
“It looks fine to me,” Tera said, then walked forward from her position in the back of the room and helped Axel pull it tight in just the right places.
“I’m not used to the dress uniform,” said Axel absently. The two women stood in front of the mirrored armoire in Axel’s quarters on the second floor of the manor house, three doors down the hall from Dane. The room was appointed in a classic style, as were all the rooms in the house, with bed, sitting chair, working desk, and private bath. Artwork and fabric both rare and beautiful hung from the walls
Tera had accepted the Colonel’s offer to become her attaché, along with a promotion to Corporal and a commensurate reduction in her medical duties. They both continued to work with the dress uniform seams.
“Have you decided what to wear to the ball tonight?” asked Tera.
“Dane hinted that I wear the auburn gown from the Starliner, but it was damaged in all the fighting.”
“I can have my old company seamstress look at it ma’am. She‘s done wonders for me in the past.”
Axel stopped her fidgeting and looked back over her shoulder at Tera.
“That would be wonderful. And what are you planning on wearing? Something to catch the eye of the young Lieutenant Layton? Hmm?”
The two women laughed.
“I would like that, ma’am. But I assume you’ll need me nearby.”
“Nearby yes. But not so close as to ruin the romance of the evening. There will be time enough for strategy and planning, like today. Tonight will be a celebration. As for today,” she said, turning back to the mirror and giving the uniform one last tug, “this will have to do.” She gathered her files and left the room, followed close behind by Tera. They went down the hall, Axel noticing Dane’s room was open and empty. The hallway, the foyer, and all the rooms visible from the balcony were a bustle of activity. Loyal Quantar officers mixed with men in Sanctuary white, all preparing for the arrival of the Quantar regiment commanders. Junior officers shuffled by her, going to and fro about the house, shuttling messages. The excitement, the electricity in the air, was palpable.
Axel and Tera made their way down the staircase and into the main foyer, trying to make for the library where the meeting would take place, and where Axel expected Dane to be. Before she could make it past the sentries posted outside the library the aforementioned Lieutenant Layton stepped in her path.
“Sorry to interrupt ma’am,” he said, all business, then broke into a small smile when he saw Tera.
“What’s your business, Lieutenant?” Axel said sternly. Her words shot Layton back into focus, the red tinge of embarrassment flushing his cheeks.
“Sire Cochrane wants you to meet with Major Kobin, ma’am. He’s just arrived from the Cathedral and is waiting in an anteroom,” Layton pointed down the hall.
“What does Dane - I mean the Sire Cochrane, want me to discuss with Kobin?” asked Axel.
“Major Kobin says he has a message from General Tannace. Sire Cochrane would like you to meet with him first and determine, if you can, it’s content, validity, and sincerity.”
“Is that all?” she said sarcastically. “Very well, take me to him. But I want two guards in the room with me. Tera, you stay here and wait for me. I shouldn’t be long.”
Then the two departed, with Layton sneaking a glance back over his shoulder at Tera, who smiled back.
***
THEY WENT DOWN A SHORT hall and entered the anteroom. Kobin was in uniform, seated at a large desk in one of two chairs set facing each other. Axel entered and sat down. Two armed guards stood watch over them, while Layton departed.
“What do you want, Kobin?” said Axel, without the slightest hint of respect in her voice. Kobin shifted uneasily in his chair, then handed her a brief across the table without speaking. Axel broke the Quantar military seal and opened the brief. After reading for a few seconds, she said:
“What is this?”
“An agreement to surrender all command of Quantar forces to Cochrane. An oath of allegiance to Cochrane and the Quantar flag from General Tannace and all unit, brigade and regiment commanders still loyal to him. Orders for those units to stand down and remain in barracks.”
Axel dropped the folder on the desk without reading further.
“Capitulation?” she said, more in a tone of accusation than inquiry.
“Realism. Cochrane has won.”
“So you both just give in?”
“We do not have the numbers to fight you, nor the belly for it. Cochrane has won the people’s hearts.”
“I don’t believe you or Devin would give up your hate so easily.”
Kobin leaned forward to stare closely into her face.
“Very observant,” he said in the sandpaper voice, “However, you fail to consider-”
“Fail to consider what? Some new treachery? No one wants Devin on our side more than I do. But I don’t trust you.”
“Then trust this, lady. Tannace has lost the popularity battle. We are outnumbered ten to one, so military action is out of the question. You know the General well. This agreement will keep us close to Cochrane. To keep an eye on him. If disloyalty to our cause surfaces, we will be close enough to act. And we will honor our end of the bargain as long as he stays loyal. Will you present the brief to him?”
“You are not a man of honor, Kobin.”
“Perhaps not, in your eyes. But General Devin Tannace is. I’ll not ask again, will you present the brief to Cochrane?”
Axel sat back in her chair and looked at the brief on the table top. She sighed.
“I will,” she said.
“Good,” said Kobin, then stood to leave.
“The guards will show you out.”
“I know the way, lady.”
“I insist.”
“Very well. See you at the ceremony tonight,” he said sarcastically, then departed with the guards. Axel stared at the brief, debating on whether to throw it into the nearest fireplace.
“Layton!” she called. Layton came into the room.
“Yes, ma’am.” She handed him the brief.
“Come with me. We have work to do.”
***
AXEL HELD THE BRIEF in her hands as she stood waiting outside the library. Tera and Layton stood behind her, having spent the last three-quarters of an hour going over the brief in detail.
“Am I to understand I’m to be kept out here?” she asked the guard.
“Yes ma’am. He asked specifically for you to wait outside.”
“While the regiment commanders determine the future of Quantar? He wants me to wait outside? His top Lieutenant?”
“Those were his orders ma’am. No one is to be admitted until the doors are opened from the inside.”
Axel turned from the guard and sat down on a hallway settee, the brief still in her hands. Layton and Tera followed and stood over her.
“Why won’t they let us in?” asked Tera quietly.
“I don’t know. It’s as if... as if I’m being intentionally cut out. I don’t understand.”
Eventually Layton and Tera joined her in sitting, and the three of them waited for over an hour in silence. Finally the doors were opened and a young Quantar guard stepped out.
“They’re ready for you now ma’am,” he said. Axel stood and gathered her composure as best she could. Tera and Layton stood with her.
“Only you are allowed in, ma’am.”
Axel nodded to Tera and Layton, then brushed past the guard and into the library.
The regiment commanders of Quantar sat in chairs on either side of the room, facing each other. Dane and Rijkard sat at the head of the circle, furthest from the door, and Axel. She waited.
“Come in, Commander,” said Dane, motioning to an empty chair to his left.
Axel walked deliberately between the circle of officers, men she knew. Men she had bested on the fields of conflict. Men she was more than an equal to. With each step her humiliation, her embarrassment at being excluded, grew. None of the officers present had the fortitude to meet her gaze as she walked past, but it did not matter. She would not take her eyes from Dane. He looked away from her, eyes downward and unfocused. She walked past him and sat in the chair silently, waiting. Dane spoke to the group.
“It has become known to this body that an offer has been extended from General Tannace and from those commanders still loyal to him to reconcile with the Quantar Provisional Command. It was brought here this morning by Major Kobin. Could you review the contents of the brief he left for us? This is the last order of business for this body to discuss.”
He said the words without looking at her. Each of them was like the sting of a summer wasp to her; painful, lingering and bitter. They showed her that the essentials of the meeting were already over. Every word was calculated to send her only one message. You are excluded.
She fought the desire to know why, gathered herself again, and began speaking in as even a voice as she could.
“The brief offers for all men loyal to General Tannace to stand down and pledge loyalty to the Quantar flag, and to Sire Dane Cochrane. In return General Tannace insists on being allowed to form his men into their own regiment under his command. As regiment commander he will take orders only from you or from your chief of staff, and he reserves the right to disassociate himself and his regiment from your command if he feels you are being disloyal to the cause of freeing Quantar. He wants assurances from Dr. Rijkard that he can remain in the Sanctuary if he does so.”
Dane looked to Rijkard, seated at his right, who nodded.
“Do any of you find these terms unacceptable?” said Dane to the regiment commanders. There was silence around the room.
“Very well. Colonel Gweneth will convey our agreement to General Tannace, as well as our offer to him to assume regiment duties on my staff. If we are all in agreement, I move the first meeting of the Quantar Provisional Command be called to an end. Any objections?”
There were none. Axel sat silent and completely still.
“I thank you all for your pledge of loyalty. Tomorrow we begin our plans to retake our world from my brother, but tonight we celebrate. I will see you all at the ceremony and the ball. Please invite all your commanders, down to squad level. If there is nothing else, I declare this meeting adjourned.”
Then the officers all stood, and applauded Dane. He sat for a few moments as they cheered him, then he stood, smiling, and raised both hands. They stopped applauding.
“Thank you,” he said, and nodded once. Then the meeting was over.
The officers began milling around, talking with one another as the library doors were opened. Some began filing out, others came up to shake Dane’s hand and congratulate him.
Axel stood to leave. Dane turned from his polite conversation with Colonel Gweneth.
“Colonel Noiman, please stay,” he said quietly, looking directly at her for the first time today. She studied his face; blank mask, unwavering eyes, then glanced to the Quantar military uniform he wore, the Cochrane family crest at his breast, the signet ring on his left hand. She began to walk away. He grabbed her arm firmly.
“That was not a request,” he said to her, softly enough for only the two of them to hear. Then he returned to his conversation with Colonel Gweneth. Axel sat back down, oblivious to the events around her, staring straight ahead.
Soon the room was clear, and only Dane, Axel and Rijkard remained. Dane shut the doors to the library himself.
“I suppose now you want an explanation,” he said, again not looking directly at her. He moved to the window, looking out as he spoke. “But I have none. What has been done is for the good of Quantar. And for your good as well.”
“Are you trying to protect me?” she said, not moving from her chair or looking at him. Rijkard sat silently beside her.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“By humiliating me?”
“Axel, you don’t understand. There are powers at work here, powers that go beyond us, beyond what we want, what we can see. I’m doing this for your own good,” he repeated.
“No you’re not,” she said angrily, rising from her chair. “You do it for your own good. So that you feel safe. I don’t know what I thought we had between us, but obviously I was wrong.”
“You weren’t wrong,” said Dane, a hint of shame in his voice.
“Yes, I was. As for powers beyond us,” she turned her anger on Rijkard now, “You have been trying to keep us apart the whole time. I can see this is your doing as much as Dane’s, though I confess I don’t understand it, or his sudden weakness in standing up to you.”
“Axel,” said Dane, turning to her. “You’re hurt, I know. But you must understand. I chose this. Rijkard had nothing to do with it. This is what I believe is best to protect you.”
“I have never needed protection from you, or any man before. And I don’t need it now. Why couldn’t you have just told me the truth before today? Why not tell me you had no intention of giving me a command? Was it so you could use me to enhance your position? So you could sleep with me? Is that all I am to you?”
“Axel, damn it! No!” said Dane, angry. “Listen to me. The road ahead is treacherous, and filled with blood. It’s because of the way I feel about you that I want to protect you.”
“And that is why my place is with you!” she threw down the brief and stormed across the room to him. “I don’t want to be away from you not knowing if you are alive or dead. I want to be where you are.”
Dane hesitated. In the flush of her anger he could see every emotion was in play now.
“I don’t want you hurt,” he finally said.
“You cannot avoid that. And even if you could I wouldn’t want you to. My place is at your side.”
Dane considered this. “It won’t be easy,” he said.
“What in life is,” she replied, crossing her arms and shaking her head. Dane looked to Rijkard.
“I have said my peace,” said the older man to Dane. “From this point forward what you do is your affair, and God’s. I offer myself no longer as your commander, only as counselor, and holy man.”
Dane hesitated only a second. “Then she will stay by my side,” he said, turning back to her. “But our relationship must remain... professional, for the moment. For reasons even Rijkard does not yet fully understand. It is the most I can give you right now.”
She looked at him, seeing nothing in his face but the mask, hiding some new pain, some new revelation.
“What is it? What has happened to you in the last two days? What is it that you must keep secret from me?” she said, but his face remained blank. Then he turned his face away. She stood to leave, and walked to the door. Before she could open it Dane’s voice stopped her.
“Will I see you at the ball tonight?” he said softly.
“In auburn, I suppose? Sometimes you forget that the soldier is also a woman. Good day to you both.” Then she stepped through the door and closed it firmly behind her.