Authors: Anna Caltabiano
“Well, to the people you are.” Nalin looked at me pointedly. So the commander did tell him everything.
“Why did she tell you?” The boy’s question was blunt.
“She saw a sketch of mine,” Nalin replied, all the while looking at me. “I can’t imagine how it got into her hands, but she commissioned me to start on a map for the
battle.”
“That would be helpful,” the boy said, no doubt thinking of the unreadable map the commander had shown us earlier. “Have you done this sort of work before?”
“Before he passed on, my grandfather was the cause’s cartographer. He taught me some of the skills.”
“He was killed by the White as well?” I found myself asking.
“Nope. He died of natural causes,” Nalin said simply and he didn’t seem the least bit sorry about it. In a world where everyone was being killed, I guessed dying of natural
causes was actually a happy thing.
“I’m sorry to hear it,” the boy said, not sounding the least bit sorry. “When can you discuss the details of the map?”
“Whenever,” he shrugged. “It’s not like I have a life beyond these things,” he added, tapping his crutches.
“Tomorrow, first thing then?”
“That would be perfect,” Nalin replied. “I’m guessing you want this finished as fast as possible.”
“You’re right. But first, we need to straighten out the mess we’re in right now. It’s just ...”
“A messy situation?” Nalin offered with a smile on his face even through these darker times. “You don’t have to explain the situation to me. I’m living through
it.”
The boy walked Nalin to the door. When he turned back, he was grinning slightly. “I like that boy,” he said, before turning back to the work at hand.
We worked until morning discussing the exact medical procedures that we thought should be standardized and we left agreeing to have the generals look at our list for mandatory combat
training.
The commander’s funeral service was that morning and we had agreed to have both a public and a private segment to it. I stepped outside to see the crowds lining up. All the people of the
Red cause had publicly seen the commander, but few of them actually knew her. They were mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends, but not to her. Each person in that crowd loved and cared about
someone, but that someone wasn’t her. They all came not obligingly, but out of a strange obligatory sense of respect that they bore for a woman whom they didn’t know or try to know.
Where they saw a hard leading figure, all I saw was a woman who had loved her cause dearly, and she paid the ultimate price for it.
A hushed silence fell over the crowd, as they watched the wooden casket start its final journey. Babies were silent and toddlers were hushed with their thumbs in their mouths. A young couple
beside me, barely in their twenties, held each other while an older couple in their seventies did the same. No one cried, yet the tone was the very essence of respect. For once, everyone was still
and the air itself seemed to hold its breath.
Even in her death, the commander had a way of bringing the Red cause together. At this moment in time, no one cared who was a Trigon or who was a human. We were all one and the same, united
under one sorrow.
As the casket floated by, watched by dry eyes, the people threw flowers along the now empty path. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gerrard motion to me and I followed him up a group of stairs
that wound around one of the giant Ever Trees.
At the top was a sparse platform. Wooden and simple, it creaked as I set foot on it. The casket was already there, and so was General Devonport, the boy, and the commander’s secretary. It
took me a moment to realize that the commander had no family. It was no secret that she had devoted her all to the cause, but I hadn’t realized just how much that was.
A howling wind suddenly came out of a cloud and tousled the flowers that lay on the casket. It seemed that it too was saying goodbye. Among us, the wind was the only one who cried.
Gerrard and Devonport opened the wooden casket, revealing the body for the first time since that fateful night when I found the commander dead. She looked the same, still sleeping peacefully,
her skin still blanched. Even in death, she bore the mark of the White.
The generals pushed the casket to the edge of the platform and in one swoop dropped only the body into the tranquil pool below. The surface of the pool seemed miles from the platform and, as the
body of the commander dropped, I watched her limbs flail.
Her arms were outreached toward us, as her body twisted and turned in inhuman ways. Her head finally dropped down and she dove into the water headfirst. We could barely see the splash from where
we stood and we didn’t hear it in the least. Then all signs that the commander had ever existed disappeared from view.
After the funeral, all thoughts shifted to preparing for the unavoidable battle. The boy, the two generals, and I all met at least twice a day to discuss the details of the cause.
“When are we going to announce you to the people?” Devonport asked again.
“We can’t yet,” the boy replied.
“I agree,” Gerrard said. “The commander’s death had to be an inside job and whoever did it is probably still lurking around here somewhere. We can’t announce the
new leader without putting his life in danger.”
“You mean to say that we have spies here?” Devonport asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed softly.
It was a hard thought that one or more people among us had pledged their allegiance to the White. They gave up the one thing that made them mortal for a life, if you could even call it that, of
an antiseptic nature. They walked among us and were just like us, yet they would do whatever they could to destroy us.
“But wouldn’t they look like an unfeeling?” I couldn’t help asking, despite Devonport’s sneering.
“Unless they’re not,” Gerrard said.
“What do you mean?”
“They could be of the White, but not be a full unfeeling yet. The Pure One could be testing their loyalty and sent them out to spy for the White first.”
“And how do you know?” Marring whatever looks she had, Devonport scowled.
Gerrard’s jaw tightened. “Because I do,” he said. “My brother ... He was an unfeeling.”
Devonport’s eyebrows shot up at that admission.
“I killed him with my own hands,” Gerrard muttered and then looked away.
General Devonport didn’t dare speak after that. I knew she hadn’t expected an answer such as the one she had just received. I also knew that everyone at the table blamed her for
bringing the subject up.
“I don’t regret what I did,” Gerrard continued quietly, “but I do miss my brother sometimes ... so, I don’t want any needless deaths. Understand?”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“What do you propose we do about the spies?” I asked.
“We don’t do anything,” Gerrard said. “We have to pretend and keep moving on our known course so as to not let on that we suspect a thing.”
“But we have to reassure the people somehow.” This time Devonport spoke. “They think we’re without government right now!”
“And, in some ways, we are,” I heard the boy mumble next to me. “What do you propose we do?” he asked her, raising his voice.
“Well ... I ... I don’t know where to begin ...”
“Why don’t we tell the people that the commander left the cause to me, because she believed that I’m the human in the prophecy?” the boy said.
“What?” Everyone else at the table was astounded by the mere thought of that suggested.
“You’ll become a prime target,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter, because I’m not the real leader. It’s the only way you won’t be in any danger.”
“I can’t have that. I can’t have someone die for me.” The room fell silent.
“This isn’t just for you,” Devonport said looking at me. “This is for the Red cause.”
“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened.”
Gerrard sighed, but slowly nodded. “I understand,” he said. “But what will we do on this matter? If we quench the fears of the people and announce you as the leader, the people
would be happy, but the spies would be, too. We risk losing you and revealing our true leader. If we do nothing and keep quiet, the people will become frantic, but the spies will find nothing to
report back on.”
“We have to find the spies,” the boy said. “But how?”
General Devonport laughed and looked shocked when everyone looked confused. “That can’t be a serious question,” she said in her excuse. “It’s a horribly simple
matter,” she went on to say when we still looked lost. “All you have to do is send spies after those spies.”
“That might work ...” Gerrard said. “They would be well concealed amongst the people, as they would be the people.”
“Amateurs,” I heard General Devonport grumble. “And what of the White? When shall we make our attack? They already know we’re planning one, so the sooner the better. That
way, we can take them by surprise.”
Devonport seemed to know, more or less, what The Pure One had said in my dreams, which made me think that the boy had briefed everyone at the table on The Pure One expecting us.
“Well ...” the boy stalled. “I had a different idea.”
Devonport automatically frowned and she wasn’t particularly keen on trying to hide it.
“What if we tried talking to the White?” he asked, looking to me for support.
The generals beside me balked and I found myself doing the same. Hadn’t he seen Lilith’s mother lying dead on the floor and the pain of the Red, our people? How could someone ever
sympathize with a figure who can cause that much sorrow and suffering to someone as innocent as a little girl?
“It could be like a conference of sorts,” the boy said, trying to explain his idea to already closed ears. “We could pick two delegates to represent us and meet with two
delegates from their side. They could meet in an area between the forest and The Pure One’s city.”
“Sir,” Gerrard addressed the boy.
It was the first time anyone had addressed the boy in such a formal way as this and the boy couldn’t conceal his double take.
“Please don’t.” The boy’s voice was small.
“It is befitting your rank in the cause. If we do have spies among us, it would be wise to act as though you are our leader in private as well.”
We all nodded our consent, though it was me the boy looked to.
“I don’t think a meeting with the White is a good idea,” the general continued.
“Of course, it’s not!” Devonport roared. “For one, the people will never agree to such a thing and two, who do you think will volunteer for such a thing?”
“It’s only a promise to talk to them,” the boy said. “And the people needn’t know.”
“This is taking a big risk,” Gerrard warned him.
“If the people found out ....” Devonport was quick to counter.
“And if they don’t?” Those words silenced the conversation. Then the boy picked me out of the group. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”
“I trust you,” I said. It was clear to all which side I took and the conversation ended.
“I shall draft a letter tomorrow,” Gerrard promised.
The boy thanked him and looked to me to say something.
“The boy will review the letter on my behalf.” I told him.
“I will have nothing to do with this.” Obviously not satisfied with the result of the conversation, Devonport held fast to her stance.
“As you wish,” the boy replied simply.
I could tell that Devonport was biting her tongue to refrain from saying anything more.
“Is this really the best decision?” I asked him after everyone had left.
“I have no idea,” he told me truthfully. “But we’ve got to at least try.”
I knew what he meant and I knew that he was trying to do the right thing. I just hoped that the right thing wouldn’t end up costing us more than justice. “Do you have any ideas as to
who to send to talk to the White?” I asked him.
“I’m thinking, if she agrees, Lynette would make a great delegate,” he said. When I told him that I wasn’t familiar with the girl, he explained that Lynette was one of
the people who worked for the commander and that I probably had seen her in passing at least once.
“And for the second delegate?”
“I’m not sure. Do you have anyone in mind?”
I replied that I didn’t, but I would think about it and keep an eye out for someone good. As I was leaving, he stopped me.
“Can you visit Nalin and see how he’s doing?” the boy asked. “Both in health and in drawing up the map,” he added smiling.
“That’s not really a favor, because I love visiting him,” I replied. It was true that I enjoyed visiting Nalin. He was so full of life that he almost made up for my being
devoid of it. “I’ll see to that right away.”
As I was leaving, I ran into someone who was backing out of the boy’s quarters. “Oh! Pardon me,” I said, helping gather up the papers that I caused the girl to dropped. When I
handed them back to her, I realized
she looked vaguely familiar. I had probably just seen her around before. She was a regular human girl after all. Maybe I had seen her helping the commander.
“Thank you,” she smiled. For an instant, I thought I saw something in her eye; a glint of sorts. But before I could look closer, she had already walked away, leaving me dumbfounded
in her tracks.
I shook it off and went on my way. I had managed to forget about it by the time I found Nalin. He had been moved back to his own rooms and was quite happy when I found him propped up in his
bed.
“You found me,” he greeted me with a grin.
“It took some tracking down, but I did find you.”
“They finally deemed that I was well enough to be moved back to my own rooms,” Nalin said. He seemed beyond happy about it.
“And how well is that?” I asked.
“Most of the cuts are closed. Only these two aren’t,” he said, pointing to one on his chest and another on the side of his head. “My fractured ribs are healing and,
thankfully, I only broke one of them, so that rib is healing too. My leg’s better, but I’m still on crutches for a while longer. I’ve seen better days, but now I at least look
like I got into a beer brawl instead of being almost killed by unfeelings.” He seemed so cheerful about it all; it was hard to believe he might have actually been killed out there.