Part 18 (1/2)
If they break a pact, we're free to start the battle again.”
But Lessandra wasn't buying. She folded her arms 183 across her chest, her chin and whiskers jutting out pugnaciously. ”Stross has led us halfway to h.e.l.l, and the rest of the route's a downhill slide.
He and the protectorate have to be swept from Thiopa. That's the only hope for our future, any future. I will do anything, even trade with the Nuarans, to rid Thiopa of Ruer Stross. We shall build an army strong enough to ride out of the Sa'drit and overwhelm Bareesh. We've sat out here in the sand long enough. It's time to take Thiopa back and restore the old ways before Stross destroys what's left of Mother World. Either we win or we weep.”
The chill of the night made Riker's nose tingle, and the condensation of his breath collected on his mustache. A crescent moon rode high in the sky as he walked along the Stone City's front ledge with Mori. A few flickering torches moved along the canyon rim as sentries marched between the lookout posts on the outer ridges.
”Lessandra really hates Stross,” he said.
”That is certain,” Mori replied. She wrapped her collar scarf around her neck and chin and slipped her hands up under her arms.
”It sounds more than political. It sounds personal.” ”It is.”
”Tell me about it.”
”Her leg-that's how she lost it.”
”What do you mean?”
”Back twenty years ago, she was Evain's deputy. At that time the Sojourners were picking up more and more followers. Stross wanted us controlled, and he wanted Evain stopped. That's when my father went into hiding.”
”Your father?”
”Evain was-disis-my father.” She saw Riker's eyebrows arch in surprise. ”Stross told Lessandra the government was willing to negotiate.
They agreed on a neutral place. I think Stross was hoping my father would show up.”
”Did he?”
She shook her head and raked a hand through her spikey hair. ”He wanted to go, but Lessandra wouldn't let him. She was right, too.
They arrested her and took her to Kahdeen, the most notorious prison island on the planet.”
”What did they do to her?”
”Tortured her ... beat her,” Mori whispered, a s.h.i.+ver in her voice. ”For two weeks. Without medical treatment.”
”What did they want to know-where your father was?”
Mori nodded. ”But she wouldn't tell them anything. They executed friends of hers right in front of her. But she still wouldn't talk. They broke both her legs, and when they finally let her go, they dumped her in the desert. By the time the Sojourners found her, one leg was so badly infected that it had to be amputated.”
”What happened to your father?”
”He sent me to live with his friends, and he stayed on the run for a few more months. But Stross's men eventually found him. They tried him for treason, and of course they convicted him.”
Riker's eyes were gentle, his voice soft.
”Did they ...”
”Execute him?” She shook her head. ”They didn't want to create a Sojourner martyour.”
She told Riker the 185 rest of the story-how the government sentenced Evain to life in Kahdeen Prison, how they said he had died of natural causes two years later, and how many prisoners insisted that Evain was still alive, being shunted from island to island in the penal system so that his survival could never be confirmed. ”I know he's alive,” Mori said. ”I know it.”
”So you don't believe anything the government said after they imprisoned him.”
”Why should I? Would you?”
”No, I guess not.” He took a deep breath of the brisk night air. ”And I can understand why Lessandra hates Stross and his government.”
”The strangest part is that Stross blamed my father for starting the attacks on the Endrayan mining operations. But they didn't start until after he went into hiding. Evain hated violence. Anybody who reads what he wrote about the Testaments would know that.
Lessandra's the one who ordered the attacks. But they blamed Evain anyway.”
”Does anybody else think your father's still alive?”
Mori's shoulders flexed in a resigned shrug.
”Very few believe it, and n.o.body will come out and say it. They're afraid it will encourage me, get my hopes up, make me do something crazy to try to get him freed. I think Lessandra believes he died sometime during the last twenty years, even if it wasn't when the government says he died. Maybe Durren thinks he might be alive.”
”It sounds pretty tenuous.”
”I really want to know the truth.” She shook her head slowly. ”And I thought we could use you to find out, but n.o.body thinks it's important enough to include as part of any deal with your s.h.i.+p.”
”Remember, there won't be any deal. You people either let me go or you're going to have a houseguest for a long time.”
Mori shoved her hands deep into her pockets.
”It's time to go to sleep. I've been a.s.signed to guard you.”
Riker nodded toward the moonlit badlands stretching infinitely around Sanctuary Canyon.
”Where could I possibly escape to?”
”Nowhere,” Mori said grimly. ”Don't forget it. You'd die out there before you got anywhere.”
”Fine-you've convinced me.”
”I'm still going to have to tie you up. Let's go.”
She led him toward the lodge where her rooms were.
”Tell mewhere did the name ”Sojourners' come from?”
”Our people believe we're just pa.s.sing through this place. Mother World lets us use her treasures, but we're just borrowing, not taking. The land doesn't belong to us; we belong to the land.”
”Like caretakers?”
”Right. Mother World lets us use what she has while we're here. It's our responsibility to leave the land in as good or better condition than we found it.”
”A little different from the government's att.i.tude, eh?”