True Son (13 page)

He stood, something he never thought he would do again. He flexed his legs. He felt like he could do a set of military three-a-day workouts without breaking a sweat.

Taemon was doing this? If Taemon was this powerful, why had he not shown it before?

If the miracle of his legs was not enough, Gevri could not believe the next thing he saw. The door to his cell swung open.

Taemon? Is it you? How? Why?

You freed Jix
, Taemon answered.
Your father asked me to free you
.

After that, Gevri felt Taemon’s presence withdraw.

Gevri hesitated, recalling what had happened the last time he tried to escape. Then he realized: now that he was fully healed, he could exercise dominion freely. He lifted his shoulders and strode out the door.

Immediately a line of Nau soldiers approached him head-on. He waved his hand and dismantled all their guns, then shoved the soldiers backward out the door. As he walked down the hall with confident strides, he lifted the hinges from each door he passed. Some of the cells were empty. Then he found Saunch. Then Mirtala. They were dazed and pale, but they could walk.

Another squadron of soldiers came at him from behind, but taking away their guns was all too easy. He broke down each gun, sent it into an empty cell, then replaced the locked door. He pushed the soldiers into another cell and locked them in.

The archons made their way down the length of the hall, easily dispatching any resistance they met. The last archon he found was Cindahad. He had to carry her.

They walked out of the building and met snipers on the rooftops, three fat pigs, and even a small tank. Gevri felt invincible. Nothing could touch him. Nothing would stop him. Taking long, deliberate steps, he exercised dominion as strongly as he ever had. He raised a force field, a bubble around his archons and himself. Bullets pinged and fell in the opposite direction. He tipped the fat pigs upside down and bent their snouts. He made the tank explode.

The archons didn’t say anything, didn’t whimper or flinch. They just followed him.

Gevri and every one of his archons walked out of the Nau stronghold. When they were far enough away, he let them rest. Pik was the only archon besides Gevri who was strong enough to summon dominion. Using remote viewing, he found the nearest cluster of Republikite army spies. When they were ready, Gevri and the archons walked another hour and joined them.

They were given food, water, medical attention, and, best of all, a place to sleep.

Then came the questions.

“You just walked out of the Nau’s Lake Simawah stronghold?”

“Impossible!”

“How did you do it?”

And Gevri gave them the only honest answer he could: “I don’t know.”

Two days had passed since Taemon had stretched his psi to its limits and reached across seven hundred miles to heal Gevri and help him escape. He’d had to use every ability he had to make it happen — remote viewing to see what was happening in the Nau stronghold near Lake Simawah, clairvoyance to see Gevri’s injuries, telekinesis to heal them and to open the cell door, and even telepathy to communicate with Gevri briefly.

He’d already told Hannova’s council about what he’d done, though he asked them to keep it confidential. The last thing he wanted was to spread false hope among the people of Deliverance. But he fully expected a message of some kind from the general in the next few days, saying that he would honor the agreement of peace.

Rescuing Gevri had wiped him out for an entire day. He wished he could have communicated more with Gevri at the time, but after healing both his legs and the infection in his body, then looking into the lock mechanism in his cell door and opening the lock, Taemon had been exhausted. He simply didn’t have any extra energy to put into a long telepathic chat.

Now that Taemon had fully recovered, maybe it was time to have that chat.

That evening, as Taemon lay in his bed, he reached out with remote viewing to try to find Gevri. If he was in Kanjai, he might be able to locate him. Taemon closed his eyes and called on psi to stretch his awareness. Farther, farther, over the mountain, through the tunnel, into Kanjai, inside the archon facility. His psionic perception drifted from room to room, never looking too closely, never lingering too long.

And there.

There was Gevri.

In a room with books.

A library perhaps? No, it looked more like a storeroom. Gevri was searching through boxes of books. He selected a volume, took it to a corner where a pile of packing blankets were stacked, and sat down to read it. Taemon tried to zero in on the book, curious to know what Gevri was reading, but he couldn’t get his awareness to travel close enough for him to read the title.

But a thought struck him. Were these books
Amma’s
books? Even if he could read the titles, he didn’t have a way of knowing if they were hers. And yet something told him that they were.

Gevri settled himself on the blankets and leafed through the book.

He looked up suddenly.

Taemon, is that you?

Yes. I am sorry to intrude, but I’m afraid it’s important. Have you told your father what happened? That I rescued you from the Nau prison as he asked?

I’m not ready to talk about it yet
.

He said if I rescued you, he wouldn’t attack Deliverance. He needs to know that I helped you so he’ll live up to that bargain
.

I’m grateful for what you did. But I don’t control my father. I think you know that
.

Gevri, I know that you respect and fear your father. But I also know that a part of you doubted him at one time — doubted that his plan was the right one. Listen to that part of you, Gevri. You have the ability to defy your father, to stop this war. Think about what is best for the Republik. Then do it! Don’t be afraid of the consequences
.

There was a long pause, and Taemon began to wonder if Gevri was even listening anymore. Did he have a way of shutting Taemon out?

When Gevri’s answer finally came, it came forcefully, the telepathic equivalent of yelling.
You know nothing! The boy that you speak of, the boy full of doubts, is no longer. I am wiser now, and stronger. And I see that what is best for the Republik is to eradicate the scourge known as the Nathanites!

Taemon felt the connection between him and Gevri break abruptly. It was almost painful, like a door being slammed in his face. He had to take a moment to gradually withdraw his perception and return all his faculties to his immediate surroundings. It took him a few more moments to process what he’d learned.

Gevri was not going to go against his father. If Taemon couldn’t resolve his conflict with Gevri, what hope did they ever have of getting through this? There was nothing else to do but evacuate all of Deliverance.

Taemon didn’t sleep very well at all. After his conversation with Gevri, Taemon knew he couldn’t depend upon General Sarin to show the people of Deliverance any mercy, even though Taemon had gone ahead and freed his son.

As soon as the sun was up, he hurried to Hannova’s house and banged on the door in spite of the early hour.

It was her husband, Sansom, who opened the door, looking bleary-eyed.

“Sorry,” Taemon said. “But I need to talk to Hannova.”

“She’s gone already,” Sansom said. “She’s visiting the fishing camp this morning, taking a look at their new setup. She won’t be back until this afternoon.”

Taemon frowned. “Could you tell her to come find me as soon as she gets back? It’s urgent.”

He hurried back to the workshop. Drigg would travel into the city today for the weekly delivery of supplies. Taemon would tag along; with luck, he’d run into Solovar there and see what the elder man thought of his idea.

Around the midday break, Taemon made his way to the temple, which was nothing more than a large pile of stones. Still, it served as a gathering place for the people — as much out of habit as anything else, he suspected. Before The Fall, the high priest would stand on the temple balcony to address the people who gathered in the courtyard below. The balcony was long gone, but about half of the large flat stones that formed the courtyard remained intact, and Yens had taken to preaching to the people from there. Despite whatever rumors were floating about Yens’s lack of psi, he still managed to draw a sizable crowd.

“The Heart of the Earth is with us,” Yens was saying as Taemon approached. “Once again the people of Nathan have been delivered!”

The crowd rustled with energy.

“Recently I led the peace delegation that met with the Republikite general. At first, there was much anger and hostility. The general was intent on attacking us.”

Murmurs of alarm came from the listeners.

“Then we learned that the general’s son was in danger. He had been captured by their enemies. I offered to save his son in return for an agreement of peace between the Republik and Deliverance.”

Frustration began to simmer inside of Taemon. Now that Yens was attending the weekly meetings, he had learned of Gevri’s rescue when Taemon had reported it to the council, and Yens was using that to his own advantage. This was exactly how Yens operated: most of what he said was true, but he twisted the truth to make himself come out the hero.

“Now the general’s son has been rescued, which has restored peace to Deliverance. I can assure you that there is no reason to fear the Repulikite army now. The Heart of the Earth has provided a way for us to live in harmony with the Republik! We shall continue to rebuild our lands and our homes! We shall prosper, as the people of Nathan have always prospered!”

The crowd cheered and gave voice to their gratitude. Yens was their savior! Yens was the True Son! Yens would safeguard the people of Deliverance!

Taemon hadn’t had a chance to tell the council that the rescue had softened neither Gevri nor his father. Taemon could not stand still and listen to his brother fill the people with a false sense of security. He skirted around the edge of the crowd and jumped atop one of the stones near Yens. “I beg you all to listen! I’m afraid that what Yens has told you isn’t the truth. Deliverance is still under threat of attack.”

Yens turned and threw him a look of rage. “We had a deal, Taemon,” he growled, too low for the crowd to hear.

“This is not about who gets the glory,” Taemon whispered to his brother. “The general could very well attack! We need to warn people!”

“So, then, what do you propose, dear brother?” Yens asked, his voice falsely sweet — and loud enough now for the crowd to hear.

“The only way we can survive this is if we leave Deliverance.”

The crowd gasped and murmured in alarm.

Yens was quick to respond. “This is our homeland — land carved out for us by our founder, Nathan. Land given to Nathan and his people by the Heart of the Earth. It is our sacred duty to protect this land!”

The crowd cheered their approval.

“We have no choice!” Taemon said. “The Republikite army
will
attack — and when they do, we will have no way to protect ourselves. Our only option is to leave.” He spoke directly to the crowd now. “Pack up only what you need to survive! We must move quickly!”

Confusion and fear spread among the crowd.

Yens turned to Taemon. “You
could
defeat them,” he muttered, “but you choose not to. That is why you are not the True Son.” He beat one fist against his chest. “I am the True Son!” he bellowed. “And I will stay! I will fight! I will die defending my country and my people, if that is what is asked of me!”

The crowd roared their agreement. With fists in the air, they began to chant, “We will stay! We will fight! We will stay! We will fight!”

Yens jumped off the temple stone, his tunic fluttering in the descent, and made his way through the crowd. They followed, repeating the chant as he marched them through the streets of the city. “We will stay! We will fight!”

And you will die
, Taemon added silently.

It was late afternoon before Hannova could assemble the council for an emergency meeting. Drigg had found Solovar, and he had ridden with them back to the colony for the meeting.

“My guess is that many people are going to follow Yens and stay in Deliverance,” Solovar said once the group was assembled.

“They don’t understand what they’ll be facing,” Amma said. “These people cannot even conceive of the destruction the Republikite army will bring.”

“As much as we’d like to, we can’t force them to evacuate,” Hannova said. “All we can do is our best. I will send runners to the fishing and lumber camps. Mr. Parvel, I need you to assemble your volunteer security force and get the word out to everyone in the colony. Tell them they can’t bring very much. Only absolute necessities. We need to be able to travel as quickly as possible.”

“There is one big question we haven’t discussed,” Da said. “Where are we going?”

“Yes,” Hannova said. “Where will we go?”

All eyes turned to Taemon. He gave them the only honest answer he could: “I don’t know.”

The silent despair in the room was unbearable. “But I will figure it out,” Taemon added. “By tomorrow morning, I will figure it out.”