Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule, #2)(112)

Perhaps he does, Frell was thinking. Perhaps he sees Baluka as a riv—His thoughts belatedly shifted to the question as Tyen looked at him.

“What do you think, Frell?” Tyen asked.

“That’s a communication problem: Hapre’s specialty,” the man answered, looking at his counterpart.

She nodded. “We send out messengers, who travel the worlds delivering our instructions. Each informs potential recruits of a different signal and meeting place, so if any messengers are found by the allies only one area of recruitment is compromised. When the messengers return to us, we’ll know where all the recruits are so we can get the right signal to them. If two messengers’ paths cross and deliver different instructions it shouldn’t matter, because the recruits only need to wait for one of the two signals.”

Frell nodded. “We’ll have to hope the allies don’t read the messengers’ minds without them knowing.” Does Baluka have a solution for that problem? He should be here, discussing this with us.

Volk, the stronger sorcerer of the two, nodded without realising he was responding to Frell’s thought. Strange how Tyen always refers to Baluka as “the Traveller” as if he’s reluctant to encourage familiarity. If he does see Baluka as a challenger to his authority, surely he’d welcome it. He didn’t want to be leader. But then, maybe he has come to like it.

Now him, too. Tyen closed his eyes and shook his head. Some of the other options he and Vella had discussed came to mind. One was to keep the generals busy and apart to prevent, or at least delay, them from colluding against him.

“You should start straight away, Hapre,” he said. She paused, then nodded. “You’ll need more than just our four assistants for this. Since you wish to keep Baluka with you, the two of you should track down more rebels and employ them as messengers.” He turned to Frell. “Frell, the recruitment challenge is yours. Find volunteers willing to travel the worlds recruiting rebels and telling all about the signal and what to do when it comes. Volk, now that you don’t need to attend to the security of hundreds of rebels, I want you to gather information for us. We have no idea of the Raen’s strength, or how many allies there are now, and it is time we did.”

The man blinked in surprise, then, as he considered what this would entail, his expression became serious. This is more dangerous than recruiting rebels. It means going to places the Raen and allies are well known and asking dangerous questions. Is he sending me away because he could hear me thinking about Baluka being a potential rival?

“We ought to find out where the Raen’s home world is, too,” Hapre added, oblivious to her counterpart’s rising panic.

“You don’t have to go yourself,” Tyen reassured Volk. “Recruit spies. It is time we knew more about the enemy.”

To Tyen’s relief, Volk began to calm down. He nodded slowly. “I know a few people who would suit the role.”

“Let’s all think about the nature and delivery of the signal we will send,” Tyen suggested. “Then meet back here tonight. I’m going to check on Reke.”

The three generals nodded, then moved to the door. He followed them into a narrow corridor. Their paths soon diverged, and he walked alone out of the dorms and along a road towards the building where Reke was being treated. Since they’d arrived he’d visited the woman twice a day, at first out of guilt that they had used her as an excuse to come here, even if it was for her benefit, and then to escape the others. The generals had been relieved to see Tyen take up the role of being Reke’s concerned friend, leaving them free to worry about him and the rebellion’s future.

To his surprise, tending to Reke was mostly calming, even comforting. Aside from escaping the generals for a while, here someone only required him to be present. He never had to give orders, make decisions, manipulate and direct. Reke was the focus of attention, not him, Baluka or the Raen and the rebels.

Reke was deeply asleep when he arrived, lying on a clean bed in a tiny room. Her breathing was loud and rough, but treatment the healers had given her had dulled the pain enough that she could sleep. Their assessment had been grim: the disease was so advanced that no cure was possible. He settled on the stool beside her, drew a little magic to still the door closed so that nobody could interrupt, and drew Vella out.

Well, that meeting didn’t go as we hoped it would.

No.

Separating the generals and sending them out into the worlds will at least remove Baluka’s influence on Volk and Frell.

It will, yet it may also give them the chance to meet without you there to discuss the leadership.

If they do, they’ll know I will learn about it as soon as they return.

Yes, so if they decide they want to make Baluka leader, they will act straight away. If not, they know you’ll have no choice but to accept that they considered it. They believe you need them, though not for the reasons you do. You’re better off with them in place, not a new set of generals who will demand more progress from their leader.

She was right. A chill ran through his blood.

What can I do to stop them if they decide to support Baluka?

You can’t hold on to leadership with force–unless you secretly kill or threaten Baluka–and you don’t want to do that. You must change their minds. Convince them that Baluka is unsuitable.

Or that I am more suitable.