Chapter 6

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The flight back to Trea was one nonstop meeting. They put Roth in the quarters Dynan used on the way over. They propped him up on the long couch, still covered in blankets – clean ones this time – and Dynan sat with him until he fell asleep. He said he felt better. He looked better, but the cure was equally tiring as the illness. Still, Dynan sat and watched him sleep, glancing at Boral who had joined them. Everyone else was out in the hold.

“The world has turned upside down,” he said, rubbing his face.

Boral grunted. “Maybe it’s turned right side up and you just don’t recognize it since it’s been so long.”

“I want to know how he got out. How he managed it that night. How he lived through it.”

“There are a number of escape holes from that place you don’t know about – other than the cliffs and the drainpipe.” Boral smiled when Dynan started. He and Dain always believed the drainpipe was a well-kept secret. “Even I don’t know about all of them. That night, in your father’s office, Roth must have gotten behind the desk and hit the emergency drop chute. It’s an unpleasant ride for a grown man of his size, I can tell you.” Boral chuckled. “We never did let Ambrose try it. Brendin broke his arm. We made him go first, right after the coronation. More than likely that’s how Roth got away. I wish I’d known,” Boral said, watching him sleep, and then he looked to the door. “You need to talk to Carryn about how you’re going to handle all this, with public knowledge of Garan. Just like we can’t keep it secret that you’re there, the moment you step into the Ilthain Palace with him, the speculation will start. It would be better if that talk doesn’t start or end with you suspected of being that boy’s father.”

Dynan opened his mouth in shock and then knew Boral was right. He wondered then if people wouldn’t say it anyway, no matter what sort of announcement they came out with. “Just another complication.”

“One you don’t need right now.”

“You don’t think I should bring them.”

“They could stay on base at that house you never use.”

“I can’t leave Garan that far away. Maralt.”

“Wouldn’t he be safer on base where Maralt won’t hear about him so quickly.”

“Do we know that for certain? I want to believe that Maralt doesn’t know where the base is, but what if he does? He would stop at nothing to reach Garan.”

“What’s to stop him from trying on Ilthain the same way he reached Shalis?”

“Me.”

Boral glanced at him, pausing to think over what that meant, raising an eyebrow in surprise or consternation. Dynan wasn’t sure which.

“I’m not going to let him hurt the people I care about anymore, Boral. I can’t do it. I’m not going to turn into the monster that Carryn is afraid of either. Maralt killed a lot of people on Cadal, innocent people, who had nothing to do with me except to be in the same room. He looked at them, got into their minds, and snuffed them out without any thought to—”

“Dynan—”

“Do you really think I’m—”

“No,” Boral said. “In fact, I know you aren’t capable of that kind of blatant disregard for life. I’ve no doubt of it. Carryn worries about everything. Her experience with her brother colors every aspect of how she looks at what you can do. She’s afraid for you. All the time. I don’t think she believes that you could end up like Maralt either. You aren’t like him. It scares me to death too, because of the danger you’re in, but considering that the rest of us don’t really stand much of a chance against him, I’m not going to argue that you shouldn’t try.”

“I can’t keep knowledge of Garan from reaching him. If Garan is on the base, I can’t protect him.”

Boral nodded to that. “Alexia and Creal will have something to say about it.”

“And I’ll deal with that when it happens. I can’t change the fact of his existence.”

“No. Not that you want to, either. It’s uncanny how much like Dain he is without ever knowing him. You still need to talk to Carryn. And then Xavier when we get back. He’ll be ecstatic.”

“Do you think Pop knew? Garan is old enough that all this happened when he was alive.”

“I don’t think so,” Boral said sadly, glancing at Roth. “He’ll be able to tell you for certain. Maybe Bronwyn will too, but if your father knew, I would have known. We all would have and I would have told you by now.” He nodded to Roth. “I’ll stay with him.”

There were other issues to contend with other than what he ought to say about Garan. Dynan wouldn’t have that discussion in front of him. Carryn joined him at a console at the back of the hold. He nodded Marc over too.

Carryn watched Garan as they settled. Sheed and Ralion were telling him about Dain, or anything else he wanted to know. “Quite a day.”

Dynan could only agree to that. “I’ll take more days like this, even with the added complications. Boral is concerned about misperceptions over who Garan’s parents are,” he said and looked after him again. He was trying to convince Ralion to show him his laser rifle.

“If I’m a Prince, can’t I order you to?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“You’re not of age yet. Once you’re eighteen, then you can order me to do anything you want. Or maybe.”

“But that’s ten years from now.”

“A long time yet,” Ralion agreed. “I’ll still be around. Well, hopefully anyway. In the meantime, once we get to Trea, we can run you through a couple of simulators if it’s all right with your mother.”

Dynan smiled at Garan’s widening eyes, noting that Ralion and Sheed both were instantly in love with him. He turned back to Carryn. “I don’t want to talk about that right now around him. He’s probably had to deal with that question for as long as he remembers.”

“Hopefully Marella will have a solution to the issue of how we contain and control this news.”

“Contain and control? You’ll have a hard time associating those two terms with Dain’s son,” Dynan said, but he smiled about it. “As far as the rumors that are going to get out about him, hopefully you’re right.”

“What about making Corwin official?” Marc said. “He seems capable enough. He’s had the job for eight years. He’s a little uncertain about what’s going to happen next.”

“Aren’t we all,” Dynan said, but nodded. “Have Ralion read him into the program. If he says no, that’s all right too.”

“He isn’t going to say no. He understands the significance of what he’s doing. Obviously, he’s trustworthy and Garan listens to him. Or mostly listens. It might help for you to have a conversation about the importance of staying with his guards.”

“It won’t do any good, but I’ll try. All right. Moving on. Carryn, were you aware of what Kamien has been doing? Taking families and locking them up in the Palace dungeons to keep his troops loyal?”

“I’d heard rumors, but that’s all,” Carryn said.

“And it didn’t occur to you to substantiate those rumors? I’d really rather hear about these things from my commanding officers instead of the privates I met with yesterday.”

“It did occur to me. Almost immediately after I started hearing the same rumors, I left Trea to try to get to you before Maralt did. Since then, there have been other issues that kept—”

“Right,” Dynan cut her off. “Visions of death and destruction. I guess you mean those ... distractions.”

She took the reprimand without expression except to blink at his tone. Dynan had to wonder why his level of aggravation with her was so much higher today. “Are you still in pain?” she asked, which annoyed him as well, but she held up her hand and decided to get on with the discussion. “I admit I haven’t given the problem with the Loyals much, if any, thought since we’ve been back. When you decided to go eat in the mess hall, I thought you might hear the same stories. I didn’t know the conditions of the refugee centers. I made the mistake of placing my trust in General Postern. My orders were not to let things continue as they were, and I thought the situation was being taken care of. I do understand, however, the cause of their inability to change anything. We lack the resources. Ordering the troops in to relieve the immediate food shortage will only work for a few days at best.”

“There isn’t a shortage of food on Trea. There’s actually a surplus. The only reason those supplies weren’t shipped over to the base is the Generals in charge didn’t want to deal with the work involved, and for some reason felt it wasn’t their responsibility,” Dynan said.

“And you’ve corrected that misconception.”

“The things you heard aren’t stories or rumors. I talked to a man whose mother and father were taken away because he made the mistake of registering a mild complaint with his commander. He left Cobalt anyway and in doing so, fears that he signed his parents’ order of execution. He knew of several others under the same circumstances, and so did everyone else I spoke to. I want to know what we can do about it.”

“I don’t know that there’s anything we can do,” Carryn answered slowly. “We can’t identify these people. We don’t know how many there are. We can’t do anything without crippling our own attack plans.”

“There has to be something,” Dynan said. “How can we expect our own men to fight against people who aren’t loyal to Kamien, who some of them may even know?”

“Did you get the impression that this would prevent any of them from doing their job?”

“No. But they aren’t the ones who will have to look those parents in the eye and say sorry I couldn’t think of anything to do to keep your son alive while you sat and rotted in the Palace dungeon.”

“We can have all those new Generals we talked to take a look at it,” Marc said. “Maybe they can come up with something. Even if they can’t, making them more aware of it may help lessen the number of deaths on the battlefield. Maybe some of them can make it over to our side if everyone knows the possibility exists. We win the day and we’ve done our best to keep their families alive.”

Dynan nodded, feeling the lack of sleep. “How long until we land?”

“Twenty-four minutes,” Marc said and covered a yawn.

“How do you think she is?” Dynan asked of Loren. He glanced over at Bronwyn, still confused about why he kept thinking about her instead.

“Tired, I would imagine,” Carryn said. “She left Trillian late last night and arrived on Capra in the morning. She’s probably only just getting to sleep, but she also went through the introduction the Brassil’s had planned. Marella thinks we’ll find out at dinner tonight how that went.”

“How?” Marc asked.

“You’d be surprised how fast that kind of information gets around,” Carryn said. “It isn’t unusual for Lords and Ladies to attend more than one dinner in any given day, coming from different planets and different times of day, especially if one of those invitations comes from the Palace. Just remember, if you hear someone talking about Loren tonight, don’t react.”

“Speaking of dinner and being in public...” Dynan said. “Part of me feels like we’re just asking for it.”

“Well, tonight’s dinner is small in comparison to nearly every other Palace function. The people in attendance are all well-known and regular Palace attendees, but they’ve been checked over by a security team devoted to just that. Ralion and Sheed are being thorough enough to anger some of Drake’s people, who you should know is taking the criticism for it and insisting on the continued necessity of this level of watch. We’re still working on the details to the ball.”

“I don’t want to go to the ball.”

Carryn hummed. “The Queen is certain that you should, and since she has approved every single security expansion we’ve requested, I’m not sure you’ll get anywhere with her. I’ve tried. There’s some calculation here that your appearance with Alexia and Creal will help move them closer to an agreement to assist you.”

“Or they’ll feel like I’m trying to force the issue since my appearing with them will make it look like they’ve already made an agreement. We should probably make sure they aren’t going to react that way.”

“It’s likely to be the first time Loren is seen in public,” Carryn said. “And since you are eligible, you may be able to see and talk to her.”

“That’s a very bad idea.”

“Well, I thought so too,” Carryn said, “but Her Majesty is the one pulling all the strings for this. You’ll have to manage the disinterested performance.”

“Or not,” Dynan said. “Why not? You said it. I’m eligible. She’s eligible. It makes perfect sense I’d look more than once or twice at her.”

“Can you do that? Look at her just once or even twice without it turning into long and lingering?”

“...No.”

“My point exactly.” Carryn reached over and patted his knee in commiseration. She stood to leave. “Trust Marella in this. I’m going to try and do the same thing. She must believe you’ll rise to the occasion.”

“Another bad idea,” Dynan muttered, looking to Marc, who looked on the verge of falling asleep where he sat. Dynan crossed his arms, stretched out his legs and decided that getting a few moments of rest was the only thing, in the face of the days ahead, that wasn’t a bad idea.