Wintermoon Ice (2010) (17 page)

Chapter Twelve

Suvi

Birdling children are fiercely competitive with their betters. As the lowest of the Light clans, Birds often feel they have the most to prove. They should receive protection from bullying, especially from Spears. These children will do well to learn sewing and craftwork.

Know Your Students -- a Junior Educator's Handbook to the Soli
, Severnessan Ministry of Stations

* * * *

Suvi climbed from her bed after a sleepless night spent with only her jumbled thoughts for company. She pulled on her robe, and sneaked to the kitchen to draw some hot water off the cast iron stove. Feeling slightly guilty, she took the last of the powdered kaffa, and made herself a cup. As she passed back alongside the long line of slumbering tents, Suvi considered whether Carina was worth the sacrifices she had made.

In the dark and cold, she couldn't decide that it had been.

Chelah bumped her head against Suvi's calf, and growled for breakfast. She found the last of Ludde's dried pikken and crumbled it in the degum's bowl, then sat at the desk and waited for the dawn.

When the weak winter sun peeped through the boarded-up windows that he had so painstakingly repaired for her, she wondered if Tom had been telling the truth.

"Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe I am just as bad as he was."

She stared again at the windows -- but it was his eyes she saw, his voice she heard.

Because you mean the world to me. More than my career and this idiotic war. I'd do anything for you, Suvi.

The uncertainty tore a ragged hole in her chest, leaving her suddenly cold. Suvi huddled into her robe, but it did not help. The elusive warmth of the gateway called, but she understood now that it hadn't really been a sanctuary. Not for her, anyway.

But his arms had been warm too, and they were real.

Suvi scribbled a hasty note and left it on her desk. Then she threw on her thickest clothes, and went out to her pede. Hers was the only vehicle on the road to Ebbetsfeld.

* * * *

The chairs in the anteroom were covered in shiny dark green material that squeaked as Suvi shifted. The secretary looked up, and pursed her lips disapprovingly.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back later, Miss? I don't know how much longer the staff meeting will last, but it may be a while yet."

"I'll go on waiting, if you don't mind." The secretary's expression said quite clearly that she did mind, but she went back to her typing. Suvi tried to make herself as small as possible. To pass the time, her eyes strayed to the pictures hanging on the wall. Most seemed to be stiff portraits of soldiers, with medal bedecked uniforms.

But there was one rather more unusual -- of two men standing side by side in a sunny field of short-mown grass. The men wore uniforms too, of a sort, with pinstriped shirts and odd-looking short pants. Suvi stood and crossed the office so she could study the picture. Though he looked younger, she easily recognized Tom by the lazy half-grin on his face. The gapped front teeth meant the other man could only be Jack, without the bristling moustache he sported now.

He and I played on the same baseball team, for years and years.

Jack held a big brown glove and a ball, and Tom wore some kind of padded wire mask pushed back on his head. Both looked happy and carefree.

Suvi sat again and folded her hands neatly in her lap. Jack's secretary cleared her throat and peered at the clock on the wall. Suvi paid no attention to her. She was thinking about Tom -- and his boss, Major Bennett, and whether or not they were still on the same team.

The door to the inner office opened, and four men filed out. Suvi stood, nervously, as the secretary picked up the phone. "A Miss Markku to see you, sir. Shall I send her in?"

Suvi couldn't hear what Jack said in return, but the secretary said, "Yes, sir. Right away," very crisply. She looked at Suvi with sudden interest. "You may go in now." Suvi felt her eyes drilling holes in her back all the way through the door.

Major Bennett sat behind a very large desk, overflowing with paper, maps, brown-ringed kaffa cups, and three different telephones.

He gestured distractedly, without raising his head. "Please take a seat. I will be with you in a moment."

Four chairs had been pulled haphazardly to the front of the desk. Suvi chose one at random, settled in and crossed her ankles, prepared to wait as long as it took. A Prince and Poet board peeped from beneath a loose pile of papers. Someone had left the heavy stone pieces set for a game in progress. She nudged the papers so she could study the placements on the ten by ten grid of squares.

Jack scribbled his name several times, and then pushed the pile over to one side. He raised his head, and his grey eyes regarded her gravely. "Tricky game. You play?"

"A little. Is this your man here?" She touched the white Poet piece, almost surrounded by the bi-colored cubical tali.

"My wife had Poet. I played Prince. We didn't have time to finish the game before..." He sighed and shook his head. "What can I do for you, Miss Markku?"

She boldly met his eyes. "I want to know if you plan to shut Carina."

He took a sip of the drink at his side, and then made a face. "Stone cold. Would you like a cup?" She nodded, so he rang the secretary.

The silence grew uncomfortable as they waited for the kaffa. Jack cleared his throat. "What would your next move be?" When Suvi's head came up sharply he added, "In the game, I mean."

"Poet or Prince?"

"Either. You choose."

She studied the board again. "Poet is in a difficult position, but I think the game may still be won." Suvi took a talus and placed it white side up on the board, next to a black piece. "Swap," she said softly, and then flipped the Prince's man over, so that it became white. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"Perhaps. If you tell me how you came by the information." Another black talus joined the white one she had positioned. "Safe." Jack turned the piece on its side, so that both colors showed.

Suvi frowned, not liking this parry. "All right. I heard a rumor, from a very good friend, that you planned to separate everyone by Soli, and send them to camps in the south." She moved her Poet back one square, and put a white talus close to his Prince. "Safe."

He raised an eyebrow. "I certainly will have to find out your source. Would you be willing to tell me?" Another black talus joined the blockade. "Swap."

Noting that he still hadn't answered the question, Suvi remained silent. The secretary came in with the kaffa and poured two cups. Suvi took hers sweet and milky. Major Bennett drank his black. After she had placed another white talus, she said, "Safe."

They sipped their kaffa for a moment, and then Jack asked, "What if I was going to shut Carina? Would you try and change my mind?" He tried to fence off her newly-positioned Poet from its defenders by adding a black talus between two whites. "Kill."

She removed the left hand defender to a shallow depression on the side of the board and then answered his question. "Of course I would. Carina is home to many unfortunates. Where would they go otherwise?" Another white piece strayed north into the Prince's territory. "Safe."

He shrugged. "They could be given other homes. I don't think that is much of an argument." Though his Prince had begun to look slightly beleaguered, he left it in place. Jack chose to attack to the south.

She tried again. "You don't understand! Carina is unique. People of all the Solis live and work together in peace." White to the north. "Safe."

"Indeed. I have heard much about your organizational skills." The Prince remained fixed in place. Another black talus manned the blockade. "Swap."

Suvi moved her Poet one square to the right and casually placed another white piece close to the Prince. "From Tom Finn? He acted as your agent, did he not?"

Jack did not speak for a moment, while he studied the board. He reached for one of the Prince's defenders and placed it on Suvi's side. Black. Kill. "Tom was... one of them, yes. There were others. Max Jalo. Willkie Biri. We have had our eye on you for quite some time, Miss Markku."

She would not let him rattle her, though those last two names came as quite a shock. White. Her first kill. "Oh? I suppose I should be flattered that the commander of the Harriers should take such an interest in me. Would you mind telling me why?"

He spoke briskly as he finally moved his Prince a square to the right. "Yes, I would. Mind, that is."

Suvi added a white Talus and changed tack. "Swap. Why did you send Tom away?"

Jack frowned as he saw the line that now menaced his Prince. He moved it again, and killed one of her attacking pieces. "He is a doctor. I assigned him to the field hospital at Fareniis."

Now it was Suvi's turn to pause. Her fingers hovered over the board for a full minute before she chose her rejoinder. White. Swap. "I didn't think you wanted me to know that."

Black. Kill. "Captain Finn's involvement in your surveillance has been terminated, so it hardly matters now."

She smiled thinly. "Challenge, Major. Your Prince is imperiled. Is that because Tom fell in love with me?"

She saw that this question, at least, had startled him. He peered at the board intently, and made a defensive move. "I am not at liberty to..."

Suvi pushed him as she added another talus, this one in a weak defending position. "I have some information -- something that the Harriers would find very useful. In return, I would like your word that Carina may be relocated, intact, and I want Tom back here."

Jack's expression didn't change. "What is the nature of this information? I can assure you that if it concerns Project Pincer, I am not interested. We planted those papers merely to implicate you. But they would still get you shot, if the right people found out." He moved a piece onto the board. "Challenge to your Poet."

A new threat. The game between them turned deadly serious. "Are you one of those people, Major?"

He didn't answer her question.

Suvi moved the Poet to the safe place she had already prepared, then attacked strongly to the North. White. Kill. Challenge to the Prince. "It is not Project Pincer. Rather it involves the location of a certain window, which has a very interesting view."

His strategy had failed him, that much seemed clear. Jack scrambled into defensive mode. Black. Safe. "Where is this window?"

Another white talus joined the swarm on his side of the board. "Swap. I won't say anything else without some assurances on your part, Major Bennett."

He moved the Prince again, and tried to restart his campaign to the south. Black. Swap. "Very well. It looks like you have me on the run here. I agree to your terms."

She couldn't decide if he was just talking about the game. Suvi put her last piece in place. "Final challenge to your Prince. I believe I have the victory, Major." She sat back in the chair and stared at him. "Do you concede?"

Jack nodded as he removed his Prince from the board. "Good game. You came back from quite a disadvantage. May I have that information now?"

"Let me see you write out our agreement and sign it first."

He scribbled a few terse sentences and pushed the paper across to her. "All right?"

She nodded. "The window lies within Carina. Until very recently I alone knew of it. Last night I believe an agent from the Grond may also have discovered its whereabouts."

Jack got a bit ahead of himself. "Who is this agent? Did you see him?"

Suvi stared at him in sudden disgust. "I never told you the agent was a man. That means you already knew. You've been toying with me."

Major Bennett casually picked up his phone. "Send them in, Stella." He frowned at Suvi. "You are a very good Prince and Poet player, but war isn't a game, young lady."

The door opened behind her, and Suvi turned. Four Harrier policemen strode in, armed with pistols and truncheons. She felt suddenly sick.

Jack briskly gave the order. "Place this woman under arrest, and escort her to the brig. Put her in solitary confinement -- no visitors. I will send the charges along later, when I have them written up."

They had played a little game that she foolishly believed she had won. But the final triumph belonged to him. Suvi felt the handcuffs close around her wrists and then the men took her arms. She didn't struggle, or even raise her voice. "Just answer one question for me, please."

He had been busy with the papers on his desk, but he raised his head when she spoke. "What?"

"Did Tom tell you?"

His eyes seemed very far away. Finally he sighed and said, "Captain Finn left early this morning, on the transport. I had other... commitments, so I did not speak with him."

Her voice cracked then, a little. "Who then? Who am I to thank for my betrayal?"

He looked over her shoulder to the provost marshal. "That is all, sergeant. Please report back to me when the prisoner has been processed." They pulled her backwards and away, into the waiting room. And there, amongst the portraits and potted palms and stiffly uncomfortable chairs, stood the answer to her last question.

Ludde Armstrong -- who wouldn't meet her eyes.

Her fragile composure broke. "You! How could you? I thought you were my friend." He offered no explanation, only turned away from her grief-stricken tears. Then Ludde went into Major Bennett's office, and softly closed the door.

* * * *

They put her in a cell, both cleaner and warmer than the office at Carina. Suvi sat on the bed, then stared at her heavy wool skirt and patched tights. The Sergeant had said he would procure some prison-issue clothes, but they had never had a woman inmate before. She might have to wait a day or so.

Suvi did not care. Nothing mattered now that Tom had gone and Ludde had betrayed her. This prison made as good a home as any for a friendless traitor.

But they would still get you shot, if the right people found out.

Well, fine. Let them shoot her. What difference did it make?

A tray came, with lunch and kaffa. The food smelled better too, but Suvi hardly touched it. She worried about her degum. Who would see to her feeding? What would happen to Chelah when they shut Carina?