Hearts & Minds

by Gwynn White

  “You see it?” he yelled at Kai Lin.

  “I do. Please let it be drinkable.”

  Visions of three hundred people peering longingly at water they could not reach made him add, “And the source close-by so we can carry it into the Hive.”

  Kai Lin vanished around the corner. “There’s a pipe.” Her half-laugh, half-yell echoed down to him. “And it’s leaking.” He heard her slurp. “Prince Meka! It’s fresh.”

  Too scared to believe it could be so easy, he skidded around the corner.

  Kai Lin stood with her arms open and her face upturned beneath a shower of water coming from a joint in a metal pipe. The pipe jutted through the wall, ran the length of the tunnel, and then vanished into the opposite wall.

  Hair dripping, Kai Lin laughed. “Our salvation. Come and drink.” She jumped aside to make space for him.

  He hitched his rifle on his back and shoved his informa into his pocket. Plunged into darkness, splashing water led him to the pipe. A moan of relief oozed from him as the icy water hit his head and shoulders, and gushed down his back. Only when he was soaked to the skin, did he step back to scoop up a few handfuls to drink.

  His mind started working.

  Father had said that Lukan had cut off the water to the Hive. So where did this come from? He pulled out his informa and flicked on a light. He studied the pipe. There was no rust or slime on it, yet the joint had cracked. That meant only one thing. He swore. “Kai Lin, this pipe could burst at any moment. If it does, it will flood the Hive.”

  She turned huge dark eyes on him. “But—”

  “Lukan turned off the water to flush everyone out.” He flashed his light at the pipe. “This is pressure build-up.”

  “And how would you know that?” a familiar voice demanded.

  Meka cursed inwardly that he hadn’t remained alert. He swung the light around. It caught Shale in its beam. He leaned against the wall about ten paces away with his rifle dangling loosely in his hand.

  Meka wasn’t fooled by Shale’s casual stance. The tell-tale tendons in Shale’s neck were at breaking point. “It’s not what it seems,” he replied lamely. “Honestly, I don’t support Lukan. I just… know stuff.”

  “And that is exactly what worries me. All these things you know.” Shale eyed the water hungrily. “How do we know this isn’t poisoned?”

  “Because he also drank it,” Kai Lin said as if that were obvious.

  “Shut up,” Shale hissed at her. “I don’t listen to traitors like you.”

  Meka flashed his light directly into Shale’s eyes. “Don’t speak to her like that.”

  “Or what?” Rifle still hanging at his side, Shale shielded his eyes with his other hand. “You’ll shoot my leg off, too?”

  Hmm… So Shale had seen all that?

  A silent witness, he must have taken Meka’s place in the shadows when he’d moved into the fray to confront Rowan and Claire. Somehow, Shale had also survived the glitch. The three of them must have shared something in common.

  “Even when goaded by Rowan and Claire, Shale didn’t actually try to harm you, Meka. He wanted to reason with you.”

  Meka rolled his eyes at his slowness to recognize that truth. Exhaustion and the lack of food and water had certainly taken its toll. He shrugged off his rifle strap and eased the weapon onto the ground. Hands held up in surrender, he said, “Shale, my mother is Norin. And my father dumped about four hundred years’ worth of Norin blood into me.” He punched his chest for a second time that day. “I make you an oath that I support Nicholas. I want nothing more than to be at his side when he chops Lukan’s head off. And if I ever get my hands on that bastard, Felix, I will rip his balls off. Slowly and painfully.”

  Shale paled. “An oath. That’s binding. On both of us, if I accept it.”

  Meka slapped his chest again. “Kill me if I betray you. Until then, support me.” He tossed his arm around Kai Lin’s shoulder. “Us.”

  Shale hesitated. “How do you know about the water?”

  “Dragon’s tits. You really are going to make me do this, aren’t you?”

  “Do what?” Shale pulled away from the wall. Even now, his rifle dangled.

  “Admit that Tao, my dead father—who is also more Norin than Chenayan—told me. Just like he said that Felix is locked in Axel’s prison in Treven. The same dead father also had a hand in busting our ice crystals.”

  Kai Lin pulled away from him and shifted toward Shale. Despite his earlier objections, Shale’s hand shot out to grab her. He pulled her to his side. They both stared at Meka as if he had turned into a ghost.

  Meka threw his hands up. “Really? I say nothing, and everyone wants to kill me. I tell you the truth, and you think I’m crazy.” He jerked a thumb at the pipe. “Meanwhile this thing could burst at any second and drown everyone in the Hive.”

  Still no reaction.

  Meka spun a full circle. “Father, you’re right. It’s time I stopped denying you. How about you pop in here and say a few words?”

  Soft laughter echoed through the tunnel. It was chased by an even softer glow. Dressed in familiar leather clothing, and with dreadlocks in his long blond hair, Father stepped out of the light.

  Kai Lin and Shale cowered against the wall.

  Father bowed to them. “Tao Avanov at your service. Kai Lin, forgive the intrusion, but I was looking over your shoulder while you sifted through the blueprints. Felix has a private apartment in the Hive protected by an air-locked door. The old rascal labeled it with an innocuous name: Broom Cupboard. Did you see it?”

  Kai Lin nodded. “But there was nothing else on the blueprint behind that cupboard.”

  Father gave her an encouraging smile. “Don’t be fooled. There is another door hidden behind the brooms. The apartment behind it is lavish—if you like olive-green floral prints, and heavy, dark wood, of course. But I imagine that’s just down to taste. It will be cramped, but I suggest you move everyone in there.”

  Kai Lin blinked. “So… so the pipe? It really is going to break?”

  Father’s eyes twinkled. “Who can tell? But the Broom Cupboard would be an ideal place to store superfluous programmers, guardsmen, and staff, don’t you think?”

  A prison within a prison.

  Kai Lin’s mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

  Father continued, “And, as you can expect with Felix, the Broom Cupboard is well stocked with food and water. They won’t go hungry. Just as well. From tomorrow, you will have another ten people to cater for.”

  Meka, Shale, and Kai Lin exchanged puzzled looks.

  “Who?” Meka asked for all of them.

  Father beamed at them. “Axel’s people. Soldiers and programmers.”

  Meka whooped above Kai Lin and Shale’s startled cries.

  “It’s an advance party Axel sent to rescue all of you.” Father waved at Meka. “Especially him. A young Trevenite princess named Farith was adamant that her beau be returned to her. I believe she’s planning a date with a tattoo artist.”

  Tears pricked. Farith had not forgotten or abandoned him. Despite everything, she still wanted him as much as he longed for her.

  It also made sense of Father’s “suggestion” to imprison the rest of the occupants in the Broom Cupboard. Programmed by Felix to defend the Hive against his enemies, they would have attacked Axel’s rescue party. This way, they wouldn’t even know the alliance soldiers had arrived.

  Father grinned at him. “I thought I told you to head to the palace?” He gestured to Shale. “Take him with you.”

  “But you said there’s food in the Hive,” Shale replied. “Not that I’m complaining about helping Prince Meka.” His head dipped. “It would be an honor, actually.”

  “Did I say the food was for you?” Father asked blandly.

  Meka grinned at Shale. “I know my father. This isn’t about food.” Almost shivering with anticipation, he breathed, “Grigor—”

  “Go! Now.” Father pointed down the tunnel. “Ta
ke the first left. It will lead you to unlikely help.”

  Grin as wide as a new moon, Meka slapped Shale on the back. “Let’s grab a drink and then move.”

  Shale high-fived him.

  Moments later, following the beam of his informa, Meka led Shale deeper into the tunnel.

  The echo of their feet seemed unnaturally loud. The air was cold and dank. Since he was wet from his shower, it chilled him to the core. After ten minutes of trudging, they reached the turning Father had mentioned.

  Meka paused, halted by a shimmer of light ahead, and the stomach-gnawing aroma of cooking meat.

  Had they reached Father’s ‘unlikely help’?

  Twelve

  Clean At Last

  Hardly able to contain his grin, Nicholas stepped into a curtain of water tumbling over a rock ledge in Mom and Axel’s shower.

  It was deliciously warm.

  He threw his head back and let it roll down his face, his chest, to his feet. Back in the forest Mom always had to fight him to take baths. Why he’d resisted, he couldn’t fathom.

  It was only when his skin wrinkled did he turn and douse his back and shoulders.

  Bliss. Pure bliss.

  He fumbled for the soap and then lathered himself until he couldn’t see his skin for the bubbles. His ropes of hair were next. Mom and Farith had teased him about his rats’ tails. What they didn’t know was that they reminded him of Uncle Tao’s dreadlocks. Uncle Tao had sacrificed his life to protect him from Lukan and Felix.

  He would never cut them.

  The more he scrubbed, the blacker the white suds grew. For once he was grateful for his poor eyesight and color-blindness. He would have hated to see just how much dirt had he’d gathered over the last year. That anyone had come close to him, let alone touched or hugged him, was a miracle. His family and friends really loved him. He owed it to them to smell sweet and to look sparkly when he got out of here. His skin was raw when he finally stepped back into the spray and watched the black water disappear down a cleft in the rock.

  It was strangely liberating.

  It also steeled his resolve.

  Never again would anyone demean him the way Lukan, Felix, and Xipal had.

  Head high, he stepped out the shower and grabbed a towel off a shelf carved into the rock. He wrapped it around himself and followed a softly gleaming light into a small cave jutting off Mom and Axel’s larger cavern.

  His new home.

  A narrow mattress on the floor, covered with a warm quilt, was its only furnishing. Although his cave was warm, the quilt would be comforting. He was glad to have it.

  Crisp black alliance fatigues lay across a puffed-up pillow.

  New clothes for a new life and a new set of responsibilities.

  Even though Farith and Anna would be calling for him, he didn’t pick them up. Once they touched his skin, he could never again call himself the forest boy with a strange name.

  The light in the room brightened. “You learned a lot in the forest.”

  He turned and smiled. “Come to watch me dress? I’ve got to say that’s a bit creepy.”

  Dmitri laughed. “You clean up nicely.” A hand wave at the uniform. “It will suit you well.” He sat on the bed.

  Towel clamped around his waist, Nicholas sat next to him. He waited expectantly for Dmitri to reveal the purpose of this visit.

  Dmitri watched him. Disconcertingly, his eyeballs didn’t even flicker.

  Nicholas resisted the urge to get up, grab his new clothing, and head to the shower room to dress.

  Still, the silence hung.

  He opened his mouth to speak—

  “You say that no one will ever again demean you,” Dmitri interrupted.

  He shook his head vehemently. “Not while I draw breath.”

  No reaction from Dmitri beyond a stare so penetrating it made Nicholas smile.

  “So that’s what it’s like to be skewered by a look. I’ll keep it in mind next time I drill someone.”

  Dmitri’s stern expression didn’t waver.

  Time to try another tack.

  “Farith and Anna will be here soon. I’m not even dressed.”

  “Aye.”

  “Aye? That’s it?”

  “Aye,” Dmitri repeated, this time in his head.

  His shoulders slumped. If he was ever to get out of here, he had to figure out what Dmitri wanted. The logical solution was his condition to Axel about not harming the mind-controlled. “You have a problem with that?” he asked, knowing Dmitri could read his thoughts. Pity that didn’t work both ways.

  Dmitri didn’t blink.

  Not that then. He squeezed the water out of his hair and watched it drip onto the towel. It spread like blood. He sighed. “Some help would be good.”

  Dmitri pursed his lips as if considering whether or not to answer. He snorted softly. “Have you given any thought to the woman in your last prison cell? The conservatory in the asylum.”

  He blinked. Twice.

  “Um…”

  Dmitri’s expression darkened.

  Nicholas’s mind shot back to what had to be the lowest point in his life. Lukan and Felix had sent him to that asylum to die. Thanks to one desperate woman, they’d almost gotten their way. Unable to endure her agonizing screams, he’d almost given up the will to live.

  Heat flushed through him at the memory. But it wasn’t his own pain that angered him.

  He was free.

  That poor wretch was probably still in her cell.

  His family and friends loved him enough to hug and kiss him even though he hadn’t bathed properly in over a year.

  That poor woman had been abandoned by everyone who should have loved and taken care of her.

  Worse, Lukan and Felix had not only allowed it to happen, they had exploited her misery. Such cruelty had no place in a civilized world.

  Certain that was what Dmitri referred to, he said almost triumphantly, “I get it. Back then, you told me that I would see many things that would make me angry. You also said that when that happened, you’d talk to me about the problems in Chenaya. What do you want to say?”

  “It’s about the forest that I wish to speak.”

  Nicholas’s head rocked to the side. “Huh?”

  “Who rules the forest?” Dmitri sounded as if he were humoring him.

  His hackles rose. Then he smiled, refusing to be goaded. “The strongest.”

  “How different is that to the world of men?”

  “Not much. The person with the most power rules.”

  “And where does that power come from?”

  He knew nothing about world politics beyond his direct experience with Lukan and Xipal, and more indirectly, with the three kings who had started the Pathfinder Alliance with Axel. Some of those experiences were good, and some bad, very, very bad. But that wasn’t the answer Dmitri was looking for, so he hedged. “In the forest, the alpha works for the benefit of the lowliest member of the pack. Men don’t always do that.”

  “Yet they remain in power. Where does that power come from?”

  There was no escaping this. “They get it because they’re born to it.”

  “That’s one answer. What is the other one I seek?”

  He grinned. “You do know that I can’t read your mind.”

  Dmitri’s lip quirked. “If you wish to spend the evening with Anna, I suggest you apply your mind to the problem.”

  His stomach knotted. If that wasn’t bad enough, he also blushed. He didn’t bother hiding it with his hair. Dmitri, who knew everything about him, would also know that he fancied Anna. Still, he murmured, “That probably explains why Farith and Anna haven’t called for me.”

  “Too right. Don’t make me have to ban you from them forever.” A smile. “Your mother will not thank me.”

  Mom had shown an unhealthy interest in his feelings toward Anna.

  Mortifying.

  He blocked out all thought of Mom and Anna by gazing at the stone above him. A thought str
uck. He rolled his eyes.

  Idiot!

  The answer was so obvious it was little wonder Dmitri that looked at him as if he were brain dead.

  “They steal power by invading other countries.”

  A nod accompanied by a small smile. “And what of you?”

  “Some would say I was born to it because I’m Lukan’s son.” He snorted a laugh. “That sounds like a really stupid reason to give me power. I’ve never even seen the inside of the Avanov palace, let alone learned anything about governing an empire.”

  Yet none of his allies had questioned his suitability for the task. Axel, Mom, King Chad, his grandfather Thorn, and King Jerawin—all of them knew he was the crown prince. That meant they knew he would rule Chenaya after Lukan’s death. None of them had stopped to question how he would rule. Just as none of them had asked if he planned to free the conquered nations now under Lukan’s fist. Yet, they all wanted to give him the crown of the most powerful throne on the planet.

  “Is birth your only mandate?”

  “You know the answer to that as well as I do.” He poked Dmitri with his big toe. “It’s thanks to you that I’m here.”

  Dmitri squeezed his foot gently. “I may have given you the mandate, but you’re here because its where you choose to be. Think on these things as you go forward to fulfill my curse.” He gestured to the alliance uniform. “You might want to get dressed.”

  A flash and Dmitri vanished. At the same moment, he heard Anna and Farith’s footsteps. Winds! They were already in Mom’s cave. He grabbed the uniform and yelled, “Don’t come in. I’m not decent.”

  “Then why’s the door open?” Farith groused. “And why are you taking so long? You’re worse than a girl.”

  Not bothering to answer, he darted into the shower room, dropped the towel and scrambled into the uniform. It must have been made for a very scrawny alliance soldier because it fit him perfectly. He grabbed his scuffed, dirty boots and shoved his feet into them. Hands shaking, he tied the laces. Almost shyly, he straightened up and looked at himself in the mirror.

  He didn’t need to see color to know that Mom’s intelligent Norin eyes stared back at him. They were set in a copy of Lukan’s distinctive Avanov face—a face he’d always hated, but which was instantly recognizable to anyone who knew Lukan. There could be no doubt about whose son he was.