Dark Foundations (85 page)

Something in Luke's words disturbed Merral and set a train of thoughts in motion.
Am I running away? Don't I have a duty here? Hasn't the envoy told me to stay near Isterrane?
He considered that for some moments.
Perhaps I misunderstood the message. Perhaps the envoy didn't foresee this eventuality. Anyway, how can I refuse to help? Unless I lead some sort of intervention, they have no hope. Even with it, their chances are slim.

“I'll make a deal with you, Luke. I'll drop off these men, see them in place, and get back as soon as I can. Then, tomorrow, we can tackle Isterrane.”

A frown appeared on Luke's weary face. “If you think that's wise, yes. But can I come?”

“It's fighters I need, Luke.”

“You have had some hard decisions to make. You may have more. I'd like to be there to help. Something tells me I need to stick close to you!”

“Very well, I'll take you. Get your things.”

Merral walked to the strip, followed closely by Lloyd
. I need to talk to Anya,
he suddenly realized and was on the point of calling her when Colonel Lanier walked up to him.

“Colonel,” Merral said, “I need to talk to you.”

“Captain,” Lanier replied and the single word told Merral that the colonel had talked with Clemant.

“A moment.” The colonel dropped his voice. “I've been asked to arrest you and hold you until the police arrive.”

“Are you going to?”

The colonel chuckled softly. “Well, I said I would. But I'm going to have some breakfast first. I'm a leisurely man and I like an unrushed meal.
Then
I'm coming for you.”

“Thanks. Have a good breakfast.”

The colonel extended a hand. “I hope it works out at Ynysmant. And come back safe. We need you in Isterrane.”

As he walked through the darkness onto the strip where the fins of the vessels could be seen rising up against the lightening sky, Merral realized, with a surge of emotion, that his request had been heard. Dozens—no, scores—of soldiers with sleepy faces and armor and with guns slung over their shoulders had gathered.

Merral heard his name called and turned to see Anya.

She grabbed his arm. “Vero told me. I can't believe it. Clemant's gone mad.”

“So it seems. But my concern is Ynysmant.”

“What do you want me to do? I'll come.”

“I'm sure you would, but no. I'm worried about you. Anyone linked to me could be in trouble now.”

“Vero's suggesting that I take Azeras and head back by road to Isterrane and hide out in the foundations.”

“Yes. A good idea. All being well, I'll be back soon, and we can try and sort out this mess.”

“Let's hope so. There's a lot to sort out. But please keep safe.” A look of deep and apparently overwhelming emotion crossed her face and then as if to avoid saying anything more, she turned and ran away.

Lights were on in the cockpit of the
Emilia Kay
.

Trying to ignore the memories of Perena in the same vessel, Merral stuck his head through the hatch that led to the pilot's cabin. “Anyone here?”

“Hi, Commander,” a woman's voice sang brightly from the top of the ladder. “Be with you now.”

In a moment Merral was shaking hands with a diminutive and animated woman with short black hair. “Captain Istana Nelder. Got in last night with supplies. I'm volunteering.”

“You do know you could get in trouble for this?”

“Don't care. Mother's got relatives in Ynysmant.”

Merral noted that Istana didn't seem to care for full sentences. “Thanks. How many can you take?”

“Where do you want to land? Airport? At the top by Congregation Hall? Congregation Square means a vertical landing.”

“Give me the figures for both. Troops plus guns, armor, and ammo—no other gear.”

She closed her eyes. “Airport, I can do 170; the square, 150. But it will be tight.”

“We'll take the square.”

She bent to look out of the doorway and then grinned at him. “Better do some filtering then. You got too many there.”

Merral turned round to see that lights had come on around the strip and, with a lump in his throat, realized that there were at least 300 soldiers there.

It took less than ten minutes to reduce the numbers by half, mostly by eliminating those people who were either the only children in their family, parents, or newly married. The majority of the volunteers he chose were men with swords and guns but, somewhat against his better judgment, Merral was persuaded by an insistent Karita to take her and twenty of her snipers.

The selection made, Merral ordered the hull doors open and the soldiers to line up.

“Stop!” A tall man with blond hair pushed through the line and stood in front of Merral. Zak. Six men elbowed their way to stand behind him. Merral remembered having seen them with Zak before.

“Good morning, Colonel Larraine,” Merral said, hearing murmurs among the crowd and wishing desperately that he might have avoided this encounter.

“Captain D'Avanos, I order you to stop this.”

The murmuring among the soldiers grew. Merral saw Lloyd edge menacingly over to Zak and motioned him back.

“Sorry, Zak. I'm just not standing by when people are about to be massacred. Whether it's my town or any town, I don't care. That's not what the Assembly is about.”

“It's an order!” Zak snapped in such an unyielding tone that Merral realized why the soldiers feared him.

“Oh, quit it, Zak!” someone from the back shouted in a tone of weary disgust. There was a low rumble of agreement.

Zak's followers glanced around with uneasy looks.

“Step back from the ship,” Zak ordered.

“I won't,” Merral said. “I'm on an errand of mercy.”

“Mercy?” came a cry out of the shadows. “Better spell that out for our Zak!”

There was a chorus of “Yes!” “You tell him!” “Exactly!”

Zak's face flushed.

“Zak'd throw his mum to the goblins!” someone else shouted. There were hoots of laughter.

Merral raised a hand to stop the cries, but they continued.
I should intervene. But Zak needs to hear the verdict of the men.

“She
was
one!” yelled someone else. The laughter grew.

“Nah, he's Krallen on his dad's side!”

There were more guffaws and beneath them Merral heard hatred.

“D'Avanos, get away from that ship!” Zak said.

“Lost our temper, have we, Zak?” cried another voice. There was a new ripple of laughter.

Merral decided that it was now time to firmly end this confrontation. “Colonel, listen to me. I have a job to do. I'm getting on this ship now and the soldiers are following me. And if you stand there, you might get crushed.”

There was a moment charged with tension; then Zak looked around. Behind him his friends were sliding away into the darkness. He quivered, swung on his heels, and amid taunting cheers and laughter, stormed away.

Ten minutes later as the
Emilia Kay
prepared for takeoff, Vero turned to Merral with a wry look on his face. “My friend, at the rate you and I are making enemies, we soon won't need Krallen.”

They took off as the sun rose, the brilliant colors of the sunrise heightened by the dust and smoke still in the air. Fearful of any sort of missile or artillery attack from the Dominion forces east of Halmacent, Merral and Istana agreed on a high-altitude course that curved north almost to the edge of the Great Northern Forest and then east toward Ynysmant.

“What I'd like,” said Istana, as they flew north, “is a big bomb.”

“I know another woman who would like something similar,” Merral said and as he did, he wondered where Gerry Habbentz was now. The moment he raised the question, he realized with a start that the woman he had seen on the images from the captured
Dove
had to be her. It made sense. She was a top physicist and worked with Clemant's office and she had presumably been sent to look at the propulsion systems. Yet, in a way he couldn't pin down, the idea of Gerry being involved with Clemant and the
Dove
made him uneasy.

Half an hour into the flight, a message came in from Clemant with an order for Merral to turn back to Isterrane. Merral simply ignored the message and instead called Ynysmant and arranged for Congregation Square to be cleared for a landing.

“We're glad you're coming,” said a woman at air control. “We've heard what's on the way.”

As they flew on, gray stacked masses of clouds gathered below them reminding Merral of another fateful flight, just a few months earlier, when he had flown to the FDU training base at Tanaris Island just before the battle at Fallambet.
How much has changed
;
how distant that time now appears.
When he looked toward the pilot's seat, he found himself longing for the slim and thoughtful form of Perena instead of the diminutive, extroverted Istana.

He pushed the thought away.
Perena has played her part. I must play mine
.
I have to keep going. I must be like a machine.
How strange
.
I almost find myself envying the Krallen their lack of emotions.

In an hour, they began their descent and through gaps in the clouds Merral glimpsed Ynysmere Lake. Soon he saw, silhouetted against the liquid silver of the lake, the spires and towers of his home.

Much to Vero's dismay, Istana chose to descend in a series of tight spirals and as she did Merral was able to glimpse his town through the porthole, seeing the parks, the winding streets, the different levels of roofs, towers, and spires. But he now saw it in a new way.
It is now not just a home, but a fortress
.

Congregation Square was cluttered with vehicles and equipment and Istana had to make a careful landing.

As the dust and fumes dispersed, Merral looked out of the window to see that his town had changed. There had once been almost uninterrupted views from the square. Now a high wall, three to four meters high, had been erected all around its perimeter. It was only broken by a gateway at the northern end that led to Island Road.

The soldiers disembarked and Merral ordered them into the shadow of the vast bulk of Congregation Hall to await orders.

“I barely recognize my town,” he murmured, shocked by all the evidence of war.

It was not just the new walls, which were incomplete in places; it was the presence of all the paraphernalia of conflict: the boxes of ammunition, the fire tenders, the medical tents, and the shutters covering the windows of the hall. This new and dreadful transformation had affected the people too. Soldiers in the pale brown jerkins and berets of the irregs were everywhere, carrying boxes or weapons or giving orders. Even those out of uniform seemed to have a purpose to their actions that was remarkable for Ynysmant. And there were no children.

Merral turned to Vero. “I must find Enatus.”

“Yes and I need to find a Balancal Marrat.”

“Balancal? I think I've played Team-Ball against him. Why?”

“He heads the irregs here. And I need to arrange for Betafor to be set up somewhere.” Then with an urgent pace, Vero strode toward the gateway where a cluster of irregs stood.

A few moments later a man in a green armored jacket led Merral and Lloyd to a small new sandbagged structure near the hall. Inside, a ladder led down to a series of corridors that Merral recognized as forming the rear of the main Ynysmant administrative building.

At the end of one corridor, Merral was ushered through double doors while Lloyd took a seat outside. Beyond the second door was a large, well-lit room full of desks, screens, and people, many of whom wore armor. Merral instantly sensed the now-familiar atmosphere of agitation and controlled fear.

As he entered, everyone looked up and in the smiles of welcome, he sensed a hunger for reassurance.
They see me as their deliverer.
In that they hope for too much
.