Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule, #2)(137)
“Why did you let him go?” Hapre asked.
Tyen sighed. “I couldn’t bring myself to kill him,” he confessed. “And he did decide, at the time, that he would do what I ordered.”
“Which was?”
“To not harm anyone. To leave the allies.”
“What would prevent him changing his mind later?”
All Tyen could do was shrug in reply.
“I am not bothered by a reluctance to kill,” Baluka said, “so long as that is what it is. I think it is time we knew that for sure, Tyen.”
A chill ran through Tyen. What Baluka was hinting at was clear in his thoughts. He wanted to finally see into Tyen’s mind.
Tyen doubted he’d live long if he let them. Their combined strength was considerable. Probably enough to defeat him. Unless he took all the available magic first… “More often than not, he who moves fastest wins,” Tarren had once quoted.
But sometimes he who spoke most convincingly won.
“Not yet.” Tyen had rehearsed this reply many, many times, knowing he would face a moment like this eventually. “You know I hold secrets that would endanger others if the allies read them from your minds. Wait until the last moment, when there will be no risk that what I know will be used against us.” He paused, reading resistance in their minds. “And I think I can risk showing you one thing…”
Concentrating, he brought up a memory of the rebels Resca had slaughtered, then opened his mind enough that they saw it. Like opening the pages of Vella briefly, before snapping the covers closed.
All four rebels flinched.
“I can only ask you to trust me as much as you trust him,” Tyen told them, with as much dignity as he could gather. Then he walked out of the house.
He had almost reached the place where they’d stepped off the canoes when he heard his name called. Glancing back, he saw Baluka hurrying towards him as quickly as anyone could who didn’t have the local knack of walking on the soft ground. The others weren’t following.
“Wait,” the rebel leader called.
Tyen stopped. To his relief, Baluka no longer wanted Tyen to open his mind. He’d convinced the others to do as Tyen had asked: to wait until the last possible moment. Baluka smiled as he reached Tyen, then stepped past to the water’s edge and beckoned to one of the many young men and women paddling around the islands hoping to earn some money transporting people from village to village.
“Join me,” Baluka said as he stepped on board. Tyen obeyed, settling on the woven seat. The rebel leader directed the young man to paddle towards the distant shore, speaking haltingly in the local language as it was the only one the man understood. Then he turned back to Tyen. “So. You made your point. I won’t demand you open your mind to us. Not until just before the battle.”
Tyen nodded. “Thank you.”
“Can you tell me anything of the book you thought of?” he asked, turning to Tyen.
A curse slipped off Tyen’s tongue. The rower glanced at him, not understanding the words but recognising the sound of someone swearing when he heard it.
“Is it so dangerous to know of it?” Baluka asked. He was curious, but also wary.
“Yes, but more to some than others.”
The rebel leader nodded. “I don’t need to read your mind to know you are not a violent man. And more important than the memory was the feeling behind it. Not just your horror at what he had done but your fear that letting him live will cause us more harm.” Baluka’s eyes narrowed. “Does the book belong to this woman named Vella?”
Tyen looked away, not trusting himself to speak.
“Well, my guess is the book is a memento. Something to remind you of her. I carry something similar.” Baluka drew back the sleeve of his coat to reveal a colourful plaited cord tied around his wrist. I doubt the memory will match the reality now. I have changed so much she wouldn’t recognise me, he added silently. And she? Will she be the same? He felt a stab of impatience. It doesn’t matter. What matters is getting her away from him.
“Well, we know the location of the Raen’s world now,” Baluka continued. “How long should we wait until we give the signal? How long until all the worlds know to watch for it?”
“If the number of worlds is infinite, a very long time,” Tyen could not resist pointing out.
Baluka chuckled. “We need only reach as far as the hatred of the Raen has spread. I guess we could be waiting a long time for that, too.” He ran a finger under his sleeve, probably tracing the braid. “Then we wait until we have enough fighters to defeat him, plus a few more to be sure.”
Tyen frowned. “How do we know how many is enough? And what if Resca changes his mind and tells the Raen we know the location of his world?”
“It will make no difference.” Baluka shook his head. “It is his world. If he does not defend it he will look weak and we will destroy an asset. That is the beauty of the plan: it doesn’t matter if he knows all of it. There are so many of us now that he and his allies won’t be able to stop the signal spreading, and we outnumber them so they can’t stop all of us gathering together. Once we are gathered and we face the enemy, numbers matter less than strength. We can’t know how strong we are, or he and the allies. We can only hope we are stronger. Still, we know his strength is not limitless, or he would not have been trapped in Rielle’s world for so long.” He smiled. “And we have a lot of support. I think we will win this battle, Tyen.”