One Land, One Duke

by Emerson, Ru

  "Do you think it made anything better, running from him?"

  "Yes!” Lialla shouted. She glanced over her shoulder toward the common room door and lowered her voice. “Aletto, by every god there is, are you forgetting Carolan?"

  "Hey, Lialla,” Chris said disgustedly. “Chill out, all right? Let him yap, maybe he'll just run down after a while if you don't keep feeding him lines. The dude's on a guilt trip, he's forgetting everything including his brains. If he still has any.” Aletto slewed around, his eyes narrowed. Chris jumped to his feet and came around the table, sent Aletto's empty plate flying, and leaned back against the table. Robyn swore in a low voice, grabbed the heavy dish before it hit the floor and called her son a rude name. He ignored her, and so did Aletto. “Jeez,” Chris said even more disgustedly. “No, don't start on me, I'm not your sister or your girlfriend, all right? I've put up with enough of this Hamlet act the past couple-three days, it's totally boring.” He folded his arms, glared Robyn into silence when she would have spoken, waited until he was certain Aletto wasn't going to say anything. “You know,” he said finally, and in a much milder tone, “for a guy who's got great potential, you can be so damned dumb."

  "Chris,” Robyn protested.

  "Chill out, ma, all right?"

  "I don't think I have to take this from you,” Aletto said evenly.

  "Just bet you don't,” Chris replied. “Look. There are some things that you start and you don't—not finish them. Like walking a rope across a canyon, you can't get halfway across, say, ‘Oops, not what I wanted to do after all,’ and just step off the damned thing! Not only is that what you're trying to do, you're trying to tell the rest of us to jump, too. Li's right; if your uncle had those goons hired to take us on here, then he's way beyond reason. He's not only lost face, he's past quitting anywhere short of taking you out. That's killing you, dead, in case you don't understand plain language."

  "That doesn't follow,” Lialla began.

  "Oh, hell. It sure does. Those guards weren't too pleased about the whole mess here, were they? I could tell that; they don't expect this kind of stuff, they have laws against it, and people can't get away with mayhem. Your Emperor obviously draws the line at murder—I'm glad, you know? After everything we've gone through, I was frankly beginning to wonder if there was a line. But the thing is, Jadek has absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking us all out—before we decide it's getting too rough and we should rat on him. Or before the guard decides to pull us in and get information out of us, and I'd be willing to bet they don't take it easy on witnesses or victims they think are holding out on them. You really think if you just go home and say, ‘Whoa, guy, bad joke, I quit, okay?’ that he'd pat you on the head and—"

  "Of course not!” Aletto said angrily. Both his hands were wrapped around the edge of the table and the knuckles were white.

  "Or that he'd let the rest of us be? When every last one of us has bumped heads with his guys at least once? When any one of us could drop a dime on him—inform on him? Dumb, guy, really dumb!” Chris said. Aletto glared at him. “Look. You want to take a poll? Fine. I for one am thoroughly pissed, this dude Jadek has tugged on my chain once too often. Personally I intend to be there when someone pulls his card, and I wouldn't mind right now if it was me. In fact, way I feel at this moment, I'd prefer it."

  "Chris,” Robyn said faintly. He ignored her, and after a moment she turned from him to reach for Aletto's hands. “I'm not leaving you,” she said flatly. “Or letting you go on without me. I'm afraid, I'll admit that. I'd be afraid anyway, wherever I was. I'd be more afraid without you, for you and for me, and you know I wouldn't be safer anywhere else, away from you.” She looked up at Lialla, who shrugged.

  "I knew it wouldn't be pleasant or easy when we left Duke's Fort. Aletto—don't ever suggest that to me again. Ever."

  "I agree,” Edrith said. “I didn't have to leave Sikkre. I did, I'm here, and I'm not going back with things half settled. I'm not backing out on you, either."

  Dahven laughed. “Aletto, you're not trying to back out on our agreement, are you? I can't deal with my brothers on my own, you know. Keep in mind, though, it might have been my kin who hired those men, not yours.” He shook his head and the laughter faded out of his eyes. “We have a bargain, we shook on it just outside Bez, and I believe my advocate witnessed that, didn't you?” he added lightly as he touched Jennifer's arm.

  Jennifer was silent. Dahven looked at her for a long moment; the smile left his face and his hand dropped away from her. “You know, Aletto,” she said finally, “I am so angry right now, I don't know if I can speak straight. I don't know which I resent more: that you don't seem to have paid the least attention to anything I said this afternoon, or that you seem to think we're all a pack of feeble, witless—where do you get off?” she demanded furiously. “There isn't one of us here, Birdy included, who can't take care of him or herself! Who can't make a decision, and hasn't already done so! You think we're so brain-dead we'd have to wait for you to tell us it's dangerous and we should go away?” She paused. Aletto stared at her, jaw sagging. She leveled a finger at him. “One—more—word! Like that crap you just laid on us! Ever! And I'll personally flatten you!” She paused again; Aletto was clearly stunned past words. “Chris is right, so is your sister. You made a decision, the kind that you can't back out of without lethal repercussions. Not just for you, for everyone connected with you. I think we do need to talk. But that's talk, work out what we're going to do next. How we're going to get into Podhru, what happens there, where we go from there. How we get into Duke's Fort, for that matter, without mayhem and murder along the way. I think we've had enough breast-beating.” She shook her head. “Damnit, I was the one who took the spear and lost the blood—because I was outnumbered and stupid both, by the way, not because I can't take care of myself. I can take care of myself, and damnit, I'm not ready to quit! I agree with Chris, I want to be there when your uncle gets taken down, however you eventually deal with him. I want to be part of it, whatever happens. Don't you dare think you're taking that from me, after all this time.” Silence. “And just as one final matter,” she added in an only slightly milder tone, “don't you dare try anything like that on your sister again, either. She's too nice a woman to tell you so, but I'm not. She's risked her life for you, just smuggling you out of Duke's Fort. You've got some nerve trying to just cancel all of that out by quitting."

  "I—” Aletto got that much out, fell silent. He toyed with the wine cup, finally pushed it away. “I'm sorry—"

  "Don't do that,” Chris said in exasperation.

  "Sorry for bringing it up at all. I won't again, if that's how you all feel.” He glanced around the room, managed a faint, rueful smile. “Thank you."

  * * * *

  The outburst put a damper on the rest of the early evening. Aletto finally took Robyn when it got dark and went for a long walk. When they returned, the tension had eased, and Aletto himself looked less embarrassed. Chris helped; he'd been trying to teach Lialla checkers with Caro's handmade board and after a silent, stiff beginning to the first game, he reduced her to giggles half a dozen times with his running commentary and outrageous attempts at cheating. Jennifer finally took up a position behind the sin-Duchess's shoulder and started coaching her; Chris deliberately upended the board when he had only one piece left. “Earthquake! Game called on account of earthquake!” Lialla scooped up a handful of checkers and tossed them at him; when Aletto came over to see what was going on, she dropped one down the back of his shirt.

  "It's one of their games,” she told him after Robyn retrieved the wooden piece. “Don't let them talk you into it, it's maddening."

  "Yeah,” Chris retorted. “Wait'll I put together a Monopoly board. It's not only maddening, it takes hours."

  Jennifer laughed. “If I catch you making Monopoly, Chris, it'll be game called on account of mangled kid."

  "Hey, just because I always creamed you at it,” he replied cheerfully. “I
thought all you lawyers were money-grubbing capitalists, you know? So, anyway,” he added generally, pivoting on one heel to take in the entire room. “When is Gyrdan expecting us in Podhru—like, how much longer before he starts figuring we aren't going to show?"

  Aletto shrugged and considered this. “I don't know. There wasn't any fixed day for us to meet; he intended to search out Father's men who would go back to Zelharri with me. We're to meet at Lord Evany's, remember?” Chris nodded. “I should think that Gyr keeps touch with Evany."

  "Logical,” Chris agreed. Robyn smiled at him, visibly relieved that he wasn't picking up the quarrel once more, and dropped back into her chair. Not, Jennifer thought, that he was likely to, so long as Aletto didn't pick up his earlier plaint again: Chris usually blew once, hard, and that was it. “Now. As far as getting all of us into the City. Jen, you kept my Samson locks, right?"

  "The cut bit of hair? I intend to frame it,” she replied seriously. Chris tossed her a startled glance, then laughed.

  "Bit? Felt like half the stuff off my neck, I can feel the breeze back there, you know?"

  "Poor Chris. It's really obvious."

  "Yeah, why don't you write a poem: Ode to a Sacrificed?"

  "Poetry's your line, kid. Yeah, I kept the fake bangs. Figured the city guard might just be keeping an eye out for us, after all the excitement out here. And I told them we still wanted to come into Podhru. They might get suspicious if we didn't, especially after they left behind money to cover our unexpected expenses. They looked like the kind of guys that might keep track of things like that, too."

  "That's three of you—four of you, then,” Chris said. “You and Dahven, Ernie and Eddie, right? Because they think Ernie's with you, right? And the wagon. Rest of us—mom and I and Li should be able to manage, my hair's long enough right now it doesn't spike too well, and I bet I can plaster it down with your hand lotion or something and tie a band around it, wear local clothes—yeah, I know, and keep my big mouth shut.” He looked over at Robyn. “Mom, there's enough blondes around you don't stand out that much, especially when you wear that long black thing."

  "I have the new dress from Bez."

  "Better yet. Let Li do something with your hair."

  "Which just leaves us two,” Lialla said with a sidelong look in Aletto's direction.

  "Leaves Aletto,” Chris said. “In that thing you're wearing, with your hair back like that, I swear you could pass for my kid sister, you know?"

  "Thanks,” Lialla said and she gave him a genuinely pleased smile. “I should stick with Aletto, though. How do we get him past the guard? They aren't supposed to keep a tight check on the gates—I doubt we constitute a large enough emergency, the attack here or just me and Aletto—that there would be a gate guard. But they'll be all over the city. And Aletto's—pretty visible."

  "Not as much as he was back in Sikkre, though. I don't know, Li. You could stay with Aletto,” Chris said. “I'm thinking, though, that if Mom had on that thing she got in Bez, and she stayed with him—I mean, think about it. Anyone who has his description has yours; the two of you together, both about the same size and all—someone might put it together and realize who you are. They might not expect him to be half of a pair that one of looks like a prosperous Bezanti merchant."

  "I didn't think of that,” Lialla said slowly. “But—"

  "I—um,” Enardi put in diffidently. “I have an idea. If I went in first? I could find my sister, some of the others who came here by ship. Bring them back out with me? A real wagonful of people, going out for a picnic. You see, if there were enough of us going out, who would ever notice there were one or two more coming back in?” He looked anxiously from Aletto to Chris, to Edrith and back again. “You have Bez-cut clothing, haven't you? So, who would even wonder?"

  "That's good, that's very good,” Chris applauded silently. Enardi flushed, turned his attention back to Aletto, who frowned in concentration. The nera-Duke finally nodded.

  "It's a good thought, and it could work. If you were caught, though—"

  "Oh, well,” Enardi said rather casually. Jennifer bent down to hide a smile. He sounded very much like Chris at the moment. “The city guard will be everywhere, particularly with the Emperor's Festival so near and so many people in the streets. I've often been in Podhru before, though, so I know what the guards and the streets are like. But the city guard doesn't ordinarily bother people who are minding their own business and behaving themselves. In normal circumstances they'd never search a wagonload of Bezanti merchants."

  "If they saw someone or something suspicious, if they caught me in your company,” Aletto said tentatively. Enardi shook his head.

  "They would probably take you, if they somehow found out who you were. They would do that anyway, wouldn't they?"

  Aletto waved that aside. “But you—"

  "Oh.” Enardi considered this, finally shook his head again. “No, I don't think they would do more than caution me, and really, against what? Carrying other Bezanti around Podhru? If told them that was what I thought you were, you see—and if you were clad as a Bezanti and had said you were ... After all, I couldn't know better, could I? Even my father doesn't know everyone in Bez. If I said you'd told me you were so-and-so's son or cousin from another part of Bez, they wouldn't find it odd. I'd believe it.” Aletto continued to look at him unhappily, and Enardi shook his head once more. “I see your point. But the guard doesn't—not everyone—Chris, you tell him, I don't think it's making sense."

  "It's all that stuff the old man put on your leg, got into your brains,” Chris said equably. He turned to Aletto. “I think what he's trying to say is that most people haven't been living the good life like we have—hiding from everyone in the world, and for good reason because they really are out to kill us. People ordinarily aren't suspicious of everything, the way we have to be. That about it, Ernie?” The Bezanti nodded. “Even these city cops—okay, if we slunk in looking dicey, they'd probably grab us just because they're paid to do that, and to be suspicious. But unless they're really fascist about it, they aren't likely to harass ordinary-looking kids like Ernie who are doing ordinary things, not causing trouble or anything. Offhand, I'd be willing to bet that in a well-behaved town like Colin says Podhru is, the guard don't ordinarily suspect everyone of furtive and nasty motives, because they never see that kind of thing."

  "Fascist?” Enardi asked.

  "Tell you later. Anyway, that's what you meant, right?"

  "That was it. People like me don't ordinarily expect that a companion isn't what he says. So why would we doubt you, and why would the guard doubt us? Normally, I mean? Besides, no one ever bothers people like me in Podhru,” Enardi went on. “My father's wealthy."

  Robyn laughed. “He's right, Aletto; unless people are really different here, no one's going to risk offending old money. You'd probably be safer with them than with anyone else."

  "You, though,” he said rather anxiously.

  Robyn shrugged. “Chris may be right, about how we should pair up. But we'll sort it out, maybe once we get close, it'll be easier to figure what to do. Does anyone know where we find this Evany?"

  "I have the street name,” Aletto said doubtfully. “And Gyr said he's in the old section, north of the civil buildings."

  Robyn pulled out a chair and dropped into it. She picked up the wine cup Aletto had left earlier, frowned at it, set it aside, got back to her feet and touched Aletto's cheek. “Look, I gotta crash, it's been a long day and that walk did me in.” He nodded, brought her fingers to his lips and let them go. Robyn slowed as she passed Jennifer, bent down to mutter, “Actually, I just think I'd better get away from that wine. You wouldn't happen to have a stick of gum, would you? Anything to put a different taste in my mouth?"

  Jennifer shook her head. “Sorry, Birdy. Wait, though—Caro has some mint in a pot. Just outside the door, I think, I smelled it when I came downstairs."

  Robyn wrinkled her nose, finally nodded. “Yeah, anything. Just outside, huh? I'
ll look for it. God.” She glanced wistfully at the wine cup, turned away from it. “God, right now, I'd—This is getting ugly."

  "I—oh, Robyn. I won't say I know."

  "No, I don't think you do. Don't say sorry, either, all right?"

  "What was all that about?” Dahven asked as Robyn left.

  "Mmm? Oh.” Jennifer caught hold of his hand and leaned into it. “Frustration, mostly.” She smiled up at him. “You know anything about that?"

  "A little,” he admitted cheerfully. “Not as much as I would if things weren't quite so active around us, though."

  She tugged at his arm and murmured against his ear, “Wait until I feel better.” He laughed, very quietly.

  "Wait until I do."

  Lialla was already gone and so was Edrith; Colin had gone back into the common room. Jennifer yawned and let Dahven pull her to her feet as Chris closed the short distance between them and shook his head. “Hey, lady,” he said very quietly. “You two mind sticking around for a few minutes? I think Ernie's gonna need a little support, you know?"

  "I don't—oh.” Jennifer nodded. Enardi had set his jaw and was studying Aletto, who was tracing patterns on the edge of the table and clearly considering the problem of getting them safely into—and through—the Emperor's city.

  The Bezanti shook himself, nodded and cleared his throat. “Um—sir? Aletto? I need to speak to you—if you don't mind."

  * * * *

  It was probably one thing more than Aletto needed on such a night. But he handled the matter with understanding and tact, reminding Jennifer of the morning they'd found Chris on the road south to Bez, and a tired, nervous and worried Aletto still managed to create a very positive impression on the merchants who'd rescued her nephew from his kidnappers. Poor Aletto, Jennifer thought. I wonder if it'll ever come naturally to him, or if he's always going to have that nagging suspicion that he's faking everyone?

  Enardi was nervously plaiting his fingers. “It's—sir, I can't go any farther with you. I thought—when we left Bez, I never thought—” He shook his head, somehow forced his hands to be still, though he still looked very strained. “I'm not any use, sir. I see you all, doing what you've done against men and shades and—and I can't do any of that. I'm just—I'm simply terrified, it makes me ill. I'm very sorry,” he finished in a low voice.