True Son (19 page)

“Sir, if it’s the war machines you’re waiting for, my remote viewers tell me they should be here within the hour,” Gevri said.

The general took a moment to respond, and Gevri thought he saw a hint of surprise in his father’s eyes. Gevri felt certain he hadn’t expected the remote viewers to sense the war machines.

“Perfect,” said the general, returning Gevri’s gaze with a chilling smile.

Gevri couldn’t remain silent. “Sir, what is the point of a bloodbath? These people are unarmed. They have no power. Taemon is the only one we should be fighting.”

The general stepped closer, within an inch of Gevri’s face. “Control your emotions, soldier.” He spoke each word with a quiet fierceness.

Gevri steeled himself. He stood his ground, stared straight ahead, but without focusing on his father’s face. He imagined he was looking through his father and focused instead on the wall of the tent.

“There will be no bloodbath. All of this has been calculated from the beginning. A vast invading army, the killings at the temple, the war machines bursting from the mountain. Only a great fool would continue to resist. The Nathanites will capitulate. They will join us.”

Gevri lifted his chin. “And if Taemon calls your bluff? What then?”

“I never bluff.” The general tugged at the hem of his jacket, relaxed his shoulders, and headed toward the door of the tent.

“What do you want me to do, sir?” Gevri asked as he followed.

“I want you with me. You and your unit.”

“Yes, sir.” As they left the tent, Jix fell into place beside Gevri, and the other archons formed up behind.

They followed the general to the front lines, where the soldiers had set up barricades. Gevri’s father strode confidently, right up behind the soldiers who were kneeling behind the barricade. “At ease, men. Our enemy doesn’t have one bullet between the lot of them.”

The soldiers laughed and relaxed their stance.

The general even went so far as to pat one of them on the shoulder. “I’m just going to have a chat with them. You men keep your eyes sharp and tell me if you see anything unusual. Lieutenant Sarin?” The general looked over his shoulder. “I want you right next to me. Position your archons nearby.”

“Yes, sir,” Gevri answered, and motioned for his archons to take on the formations they’d practiced. When he saw that they were in position, he rested one hand on Jix’s back, then turned to face the Nathanites, searching for Taemon in the crowd.

The Nathanites had tried to set up their own barrier, made up of wagons and carts that looked about a hundred years old. They’d even propped up sacks of grain and bags of fruit to fill in some of the gaps. The barricade didn’t even reach all the way to the beach. The army would have no trouble getting through. It was like fighting a bunch of peasants.

“Lieutenant Sarin, you will amplify my voice as I speak. Ready?”

“Ready, sir.”

The general took a deep breath, which was Gevri’s signal to amplify his voice.

“Taemon Houser! Yens Houser! Come forward.”

Gevri exercised dominion to make the general’s voice boom and echo from the cliffs. It was quite impressive, even for dominion.

Then Gevri saw him. With his brother behind him, Taemon stepped out in front of the wagons, holding his arms out at his sides, palms forward. The sign of peace.

“I ask you to leave us in peace,” Taemon said, amplifying his own voice. Apparently the general hadn’t yet turned on the psi blocker. “We’ve done nothing to threaten you.”

“You have refused to form an alliance with us,” the general said. “That is threat enough.”

“We will not take part in this war. To do so would dishonor Nathan and all his teachings. He refused to use his powers for destruction, and we will follow him.” Taemon stood tall as he spoke.

He has guts
, Gevri said to Jix.
I have to give him that
.

The jaguar chuffed in agreement.

Taemon continued. “We will not ally with you, nor will we ally with the Nau nations. I promise you that.”

A promise from a Nathanite was no promise at all — Gevri knew that better than anyone.

“The risk is too great,” the general said. “If you will not be our ally, we must destroy you. So I am asking you one more time, Taemon Houser: Will you align yourself with the Republik and pledge yourself and your people to fight with us to defeat the Nau?” The general knew how to make his voice dramatic, and Gevri added just the right volume and tones to make it sound really impressive. The Republik soldiers let out a cheer.

The cheer died down, but Taemon had not yet responded. He seemed to be listening to the air itself.

“The choice is yours, Taemon. Join with us, fight with us, share in our victory, or be destroyed.”

Taemon was staring right at the general, but he wasn’t saying anything. What was he doing? Gevri’s father seemed content to let the silence linger, and every second made Gevri more nervous.

“General,” whispered Gevri, “should we activate the psi blocker?”

“Not yet.” He signaled for Gevri to amplify his voice again. “What say you, Taemon? Do you wish to live? Or do you wish to die?”

After another moment of silence, Taemon finally found his voice. “If you would choose to slaughter an innocent people rather than trust in our ability to be true to our word, then so be it.”

A murmur rippled through the Republikite army. Taemon was
daring
the general to kill them all. Gevri felt sick; how could Taemon underestimate his father so drastically?

Taemon’s response seemed to catch the general off guard as well, though he struggled to hide his surprise.

“So be it!” the general boomed. “We will do you the courtesy of giving you one last night together. Say your good-byes; make whatever preparations you must. But at first light, know that your fates will all be sealed.”

A still moment passed, heavy with tension.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and it seemed to bother Jix. She paced in a tight circle, then sat down again.

“Maintain your positions!” the general called to his soldiers. With that, he turned and strode toward his tent.

Gevri followed the general and motioned for his unit to do the same. He addressed his father in a quiet voice. “Sir —”

The general held up his hand for silence. “Do not doubt me. Their resolve will crumble by morning. We must be strong.”

Another commander of an archon unit approached. “Sir, should I have the archon units dismantle the barricade?”

“No, Commander. The barricade will make no difference.”

“Sir, what about the psi blocker? Should we activate it now?”

“Not yet,” the general said without breaking his stride. “Taemon won’t use psi to attack soldiers. We don’t need the psi blocker until the heavy equipment gets here.”

As though he’d planned it, a rumbling sound shook the earth just then.

Jix growled.

Mumbled sounds of confusion came from the soldiers.

Gevri stopped and turned toward the mountains. The rumbling grew louder, and the cliffs themselves seemed to tremble. “Is that what I think it is?” he said to Berliott.

She nodded.

The rumble became a mighty crescendo, ending with an explosion. Part of the mountain had crumbled at its base. Boulders and rocks that had broken free from the mountain rolled to the sides, and a Republik war machine surged through the hole in the mountain. The soldiers greeted it with a hearty cheer, and Jix released a fitting roar.

Through the new hole in the mountain rolled war machine after war machine, tanks, and supply trucks, all taking positions behind the troops.

The general had stopped to watch as well. He beamed and turned to the archon commander. “Now we will activate the psi blocker.”

Gevri searched out Taemon across the field and watched his face. Taemon wore a look of horror as he watched the military vehicles pouring out of the belly of the mountain. When Taemon gripped the sides of his head, Gevri knew the psi blocker was on full blast.

Accept it, Taemon. You are defeated
.

Taemon doubled over, bracing his hands on his knees. A blast of pain stabbed like a knife between his eyes. General Sarin must have planted a psi blocker somewhere. It was close, very close. And it was turned up full blast.

Yens had a grip on his shoulders. “We have to do something. They’re going to kill everyone!”

“I . . . can’t . . .” Taemon mumbled.

“Amma!” Yens yelled. “What’s going on?”

She came. Taemon felt a gentle hand on his back and caught the familiar honey scent of her hair. “What is it?”

“Psi blocker,” Taemon managed to say through clenched teeth. “Really close.”

“Can you tell where it is?” Amma said.

Taemon tried to think, but his brain wasn’t cooperating. Where? Where was that horrid signal coming from? He forced himself to stand up straight, his eyes still shut tight. “Let me think for a minute.”

“Give him some space, Yens,” Amma said. “The attack isn’t till the morning.”

“But we have to do something!” Yens said. “We have to —”

“Give him some space, Yens.” Amma was more forceful this time.

Yens hesitated. “All right, but I’ll be close by. Don’t take too long.”

The pain began to subside a bit, and Taemon opened his eyes. Yens was gone.

“Can you use psi?” Amma asked.

Taemon started to shake his head, but thought better of it. The pain had settled into an ache inside his skull. “No.”

“What would you like to do now?”

“I’d like to take apart those war machines,” Taemon said, “but that’s not an option.”

“Just stay here,” Amma said. “I’ll find Hannova and Solovar and all the others. There has to be something we can do besides sit here and wait for the attack.”

“Okay.” Taemon sat down to wait, rubbing his temples.

One by one, the leaders of Deliverance arrived. Solovar first, then Mam and Da, Challis, Drigg, and Hannova.

“It can’t end like this,” Solovar said.

“The Heart of the Earth won’t desert us,” Da said.

“Taemon,” said Challis, “you’re going to have to use psi.”

“He won’t do it, even if he could.” Yens was back. “I think we should do what the general wants. Anything is better than everyone dying.”

“There has to be another way,” Hannova said.

Taemon sat on the ground, cradling his head in his hands. The pain had worsened. “We need to find that psi blocker.”

“What does that matter if you won’t use psi anyway?” Yens said.

“I will use it,” Taemon said. “I just won’t kill with it.”

Yens huffed. “And you expect to defeat an army?”

“What does the device look like?” Da asked. “How big is it?”

Taemon’s head throbbed. It was a struggle just to follow the conversation. “It’s just a small device. I don’t understand how the general got the device close enough to work on me. He can’t possibly have a spy among our people, not anymore. And he couldn’t have known that we were headed to these cliffs. Amma, do you have any ideas?”

When she didn’t answer, Taemon looked up. The sunlight was fading. Was it that late already?

He scanned the faces clustered around him, but Amma wasn’t there. “Where’s Amma?”

“She borrowed my horse to gather everyone for the meeting,” Rhody said. “There’s probably someone she couldn’t find.”

“Who?” Taemon said. “Everyone in the council is here.” Everyone but Amma.

Behind the ridge that the Republikite army occupied, Gevri knelt beside Jix. He and half his unit had been assigned to the front line to keep watch. The other half were resting and would take the next rotation. It was nearly sunset, and a patchy mist had begun to form over the wild grass. Gevri stared at the wagons and carts that the Nathanites had lined up as a barricade. What was going on over there? Were they preparing to fight? Or preparing to die?

A dark shape appeared in the mist.

“Sir? It’s a horse.”

“I see it, soldier,” Gevri answered. “Hold your fire.”

The horse was making its way slowly, and its rider held a white cloth over her head. It was Amma.

“I repeat, hold your fire.” Gevri rose and climbed over the ridge, Jix at his side.

“I’m unarmed,” Amma called out.