Chapter Ten
Astra shifted lazily under the covers, sliding her leg deeper into the cool sheets. Today, she decided, was going to be a good day, a better day than it had threatened to be last night. She turned her head on the pillow and opened her eyes, blinking a few times until they focused on her bedside table. Or to be more precise, the contact strip that lay on her bedside table.
Leda’s contact strip.
She snuggled deeper into the warm cocoon of her duvet. She would doze here a little longer before dressing and going downstairs for breakfast. She sighed again. Thank goodness she had managed to retrieve that contact strip, if she hadn’t...
Astra frowned and shook her head trying to get rid of the thought.
It was too late.
The reminder of just how close they had come to disaster robbed her of the comfortable feeling of drowsiness she had been experiencing. She felt Councillor Ladron’s dark shadow engulf her again.
Throwing back the covers, Astra stretched her legs down the side of her bed until she felt the rug. Here at least, in this house, she was safe. More than that, she felt safe.
She was humming to herself as she brushed her teeth, and washed her face. As she came downstairs, she was smiling.
“Good morning, my dear.” Uri Va Dic Toban looked up from his compu-pad, and smiled at his step- daughter as she stood behind his chair.
“Morning, Father.”
She kissed his cheek, sliding her arms over his shoulders and linking them in front of him. Uri’s hand patted her soft skin absently as she addressed the young girl sitting beside him up to the table, typing furiously on to her compu-pad.
“Petta, not again? Why do you always leave your homework until it’s too late?”
The girl didn’t look up, but her fingers continued to move furiously over the keypad.
“I'm not sure; I guess I must like living on the edge.”
“I see you’re over it?”
Astra blinked at her youngest stepbrother.
“Over what, Penn?”
Penn exchanged a glance with Petta.
“Over whatever it was that had you so riled last night.”
Astra blushed, embarrassed that her heated argument with Leda had been overheard.
“That’s enough, Penn.”
Penn was obediently silent at his father’s command.
“Where is Leda?”
“In the kitchen,” answered Petta, grinning slyly. “And she’s got some rip company with her.”
Astra was surprised. While it was no secret that Leda had admirers, most refused to enter the house.
She registered the sound of voices as she pushed open the kitchen door.
She knew it was him, even before he turned, but some vague hope remained that she must be mistaken.
-----
“Hi, Astra, did you sleep well?” asked Ben.
He’d been imagining this moment since he’d realised that she had been the one to break into his room the night before. He could tell she hadn’t even considered the possibility that he had called Leda last night to arranged this little visit. Maybe it was childish of him, but he had wanted to surprise her, to shock her, to force some kind of reaction out of her.
Well, she was shocked.
She was white with astonishment. So white that Ben thought she might faint, and suddenly he wasn’t amused any more. Because coupled with the dazed look in her eyes was fear.
“I asked him to come.”
It was Leda who spoke, her voice gentle but not repentant. Astra didn’t seem to have heard. She stood motionless, her hand clenching the door jamb until her knuckles stood out white. Ben was distracted momentarily: it was a proper door jamb, not the slide of a port.
The silence stretched on. Astra remained horribly pale, and Leda half defiant and half anxious. Her hands clutched at the tea towel she held as tightly as Astra clutched at the door frame.
Why was this so important; what was he missing?
“Dad, have you seen the man Leda has brought home?” Astra's voice was hollow, strangely detached, her eyes still wide and unseeing.
Uri Va Dic Toban’s disembodied voice floated through the door behind her, an inflection of distraction in its timber.
“The young man? Yes, he’s helping her with breakfast.”
Astra’s eyes closed.
“You didn’t even tell him?”
Leda twisted the cloth between her hands, flexing her fingers slowly.
“I wanted it to be too late.”
“Too late?” Astra sagged against the door frame. “You’re right: it is too late, much too late.” She fixed her eyes on Ben, and he watched her stiffen her shoulders as she raised her chin.
“The young man helping Leda to make breakfast is called Ben. He’s Senator Burton’s son.” Her voice was clear and firm, but the dark emotions swirling in her eyes made Ben’s heart thud uncomfortably.
He turned to Leda, confused by the sudden silence that fell over the house. What was going on?
Strange, but he’d thought when he arrived this morning that Leda would immediately answer all his questions. However, she’d been unwilling to say anything, telling him that when the story was told, it would not be her alone that related it.
She had taken him out into the garden to collect eggs for breakfast. He’d been unwilling to go at first, remembering Astra’s description of a Calvin’s Wonder, but Leda had told him they only kept old breeds ‘as pets’. Something in the way she had phrased the statement had made him feel he was missing an undertone to her words.
Noticing his skittish reluctance she had made him explain, and then laughed straight to his face.
Apparently a Calvin’s Wonder did not differ anatomically from any other chicken. Astra had been feeding his paranoia.
Ben’s thoughts were brought back to the present by the scrape of chairs being pushed back from the table.
A moment later Penn and Petta entered the room. Ben thought he could detect a raw edge of fear along with the excitement in Penn’s eyes. Petta looked numb, white, and horribly scared.
Uri Va Dic Toban’s entrance into the room was accompanied by unnerving stillness. Ben felt as though he had trespassed on something sacred, that he’d sunk deep into some unseen wickedness, and dragged these people down with him.
Uri Va Dic Toban was a large man, solid but not fat, with eyebrows tending toward bushy. At that moment a heavy frown darken his brow.
“Leda?”
Leda shook at his voice, her eyes downcast, unwilling to meet her father’s gaze.
“They had to know.”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Uri Va Dic Toban demanded roughly.
Leda stood her ground, but she was almost as white as Astra.
“Someone needs to tell them, someone has to have the courage to go against him!”
“And you thought that person should be you?” asked her father.
“It had to be someone,” responded Leda dully.
“You know... you know what he will do.” Uri lifted one hand to his head. “You may have started this fire but you are not the only one who’ll burn.”
For the first time Ben saw her flinch, saw anguish enter her face.
“And so we do nothing; is that better?” Leda's voice was hoarse, bitter. “We sacrifice her for us? How are we better than them if we use her like that?”
Leda turned, and braced her hands on either side of the sink.
“I couldn’t do it anymore, it made me sick.”
Uri Va Dic Toban seemed to lose some of his anger at these words, and moved forward. Placing a hand on his daughters shoulder, he forced her to face him.
“Leda?”
“Don’t you hate it?” she demanded. “Don’t you hate how they treat her, what they force her to do?” She swallowed desperately a husky note entering her voice. “Don’t you hate being the reason why she has to endure it?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
/> It was Astra who spoke, her low voice loud in the quiet room. She was embracing Petta, her arms wrapped around the girl’s shoulders, pressing her back against her. It seemed to give the trembling girl some much needed comfort.
“It’s too late.” Her eyes met Ben’s. “You called Leda last night, didn’t you?”
Ben shifted uncomfortably as everyone’s eyes turned upon him, and nodded.
“Then he already knows.”
Silence greeted her words. Ben could feel the crawl of anticipation on his skin: just who was ‘he’ exactly?
“What will he do to us?” Petta’s voice was anxious.
Astra squeezed her younger sister tighter.
“I’m not sure.”
“Will he take you away from us?” Petta continued insistently.
Astra closed her eyes leaning her head back against the door jamb.
“What will we do?” It was Petta’s question again.
Uri Va Dic Toban ran a hand over his face wearily.
“We finish what I started sixteen years ago,” he answered. “Leda, put the kettle on; we’re going to need a drink.”
Ben suddenly found himself inspected carefully. Uri shook his head.
“You’d better not be the lightweight you look.”
Uri turned, and walked out of the door. Astra gazed at Ben, her eyes sad, and then followed her father.
“After you.”
Penn was standing to one side, gesturing that Ben should follow.
“Go on, Ben: it’s time to tell you the truth.”
Leda’s voice was calm, but Ben could tell she was on edge.
After a moment he followed Astra out of the kitchen, and into the lounge area, before sitting awkwardly on one of the large overstuffed sofas. Ben had been taken aback when he’d entered the Va Dic Toban house. After the black and white of Government Building, the library and restaurants, the colourful decor of Astra’s house had surprised him. It had overloaded his starved senses with brightness and warmth. It looked like a home; inviting, lived in, relaxing.
Now, as he perched nervously on the edge of his seat, waiting for he knew not what, it seemed different. The colours were duller, the cosy effect less friendly.
They waited in silence for Leda to arrive with a tray loaded with cups, and watched her kneel before the small coffee table as she poured out the tea. The liquid was golden, and Ben could smell the tang of lemon and spices.
It was a few moments before Uri Va Dic Toban cleared his throat and addressed Astra.
“The story is yours, Astra; you should be the one to tell it.”
Astra nodded slowly, gazing down into the depths of her cup. Ben noticed that her hands were trembling.
“You once asked me why my name was different to everyone else’s: Uel Ne Toban rather than Va Dic Toban. The truth is that neither is correct.”
Astra paused, setting her untouched drink on the coffee table, and lifted her eyes so that they met Ben's unflinchingly.
“My name is Aya Uel Ne Singh, third daughter to Jaym Uel Ne Singh. My father was Headman to the people of New Athens.”
She paused, looking for some sign of understanding to enter Ben’s face. When he continued to look blank she sighed.
“What I’m telling you is that I am of the Una people.”
An audible gasp broke from Ben’s lips.
“Then Uel Ne...”
Astra nodded.
“It is the national name of the Una people.” She paused, slowly turning the thick gold bracelet on her wrist nervously. “My family lived on the Una side of the borderlands. When I was nine the Tula attacked Hope Valley, and the city in which my family lived was destroyed.”
Astra paused again, and Ben saw her swallow jerkily before she continued.
“Both of my parents died along with two of my three brothers. I was badly injured in one of the blasts, and that was when one of the Tula medics found me. He treated my wounds, and took me back to the Tula camps to recover. That medic was Uri Va Dic Toban, my stepfather.”
There was silence as Ben tried to digest this new information.
Astra was Una?
It explained a lot.
It also confused the issue more.
Ladron hated the Una; what the heck was he doing with a Una subsidiary?
“Why was it so important that we didn’t find out about this?” he asked at last.
“It’s not so much that they didn’t want you to know Astra was Una,” Leda answered softly. “It was that they didn’t want you to know that she was treated... differently... because she is Una.”
Ben gestured, encouraging her to continue.
“When Dad brought her back, and applied for adoption, there was a great deal of unrest.”
“Because she was Una?”
“Yes. The Tula hate the Una, that’s the rule. Even though she was just a child nobody wanted her living as one of us. Fortunately our family has always been politically strong, and Dad was able to persuade the Council to allow her to stay. However the agreement specified that at all times she was to wear symbols of her inferiority.” Leda spat the last word.
“The bracelets?”
Leda looked surprised.
“Yes, how did you...?”
Ben shrugged before clearing his throat.
“She always wore them, and they were gold. Everyone else wears silver, but I didn’t realise they were a brand mark.”
Ben swallowed against an irritating tickle that had materialised in his throat.
“You aren't allowed to eat with the Tula are you?”
Astra shook her head.
“And the colour on your clothes, the way you do your hair, they’re all to show you’re Una as well?”
“Yes.”
Ben frowned.
“Then there’s one thing I don’t understand. If you’re so inferior why does Councillor Ladron have you as his subsidiary? Surely the Tula view that position as one of honour? And why would Ladron dangle you in front of our noses if he didn’t want us to realise what was going on? Did he really think we wouldn’t notice?”
Astra shook her head.
“You have not thought it through, Mr. Burton. Councillor Ladron has only one reason for giving me the position of his subsidiary. The news channels that follow his every move are picked up by Una intelligence stations on the borderlands. I am a tool used to infuriate the Una, one of their own who fights for her enemies. As for ‘dangling me in front of your nose’, this is all a game to Ladron. He doesn’t want to hide me as if he were ashamed. He isn’t ashamed, and he doesn’t believe that he should be forced into doing anything he doesn’t want to do. He sees everyone else as pawns; they are beneath him, his to command.”
Ben shook his head.
“Sounds like a right charmer. This all seems like a lot of trouble to go to for a slight. Ladron hates the Una, why would he put up with having one around him all the time just to flip two fingers at the Una?” he returned sceptically.
“Did I forget to explain to you that my family is a Head Family? That makes me a member of the Una ruling class. The family of Singh has controlled New Athens since the Head Families were established over two centuries ago.”
Ben choked, the involuntary action turning into a bout of coughing.
“So he’s attacking the Una’s national pride, I guess that works. It still seems a lot of trouble to go to for very little pay-back.”
“Ladron can be surprisingly childish when it comes to getting his own way.”
“Childish and powerful; my least favourite combination in an ally.”
Ben choked again.
“Are you alright?” asked Leda.
“Fine, fine,” returned Ben, swallowing with difficulty. “Why did you change your name? Were you trying to hide who you were?”
Astra stiffened.
“I didn’t change it. Aya is an Una name; the Tula High Council did not wish to sully their lips with it.”
“That didn’t sound in the leas
t bit bitter,” observed Ben, sliding a finger into his collar.
“Ben, are you sure you’re alright, you don’t look so good.” Leda anxiously reached out a hand to his forehead.
Ben swatted her away irritably.
“So this is what Councillor Ladron didn’t what me to know?”
“Yes.”
“And the ‘He’ that you keep talking about is Councillor Ladron?”
“Yes.”
Ben paused, wiping his hand over his brow. He was sweating, and the tickle in his throat had become a raw ache.
“And he knows I'm here, and that you’ll have told me everything?”
“He knew the second you contacted Leda last night, and once he was aware of that, he knew that I had lied to him last night when he asked me what you two had talked about.”
“He knew last night?” It was Ben’s turn to be surprised.
“Yes.”
Ben thought back to the scene in his apartment after he had called the security forces.
“He knew it was you,” he mused aloud.
Astra looked confused.
“Last night,” clarified Ben. “You can bend like a pretzel.”
Astra clouted Penn as he snickered suggestively.
“So you realise that I paid you a little visit,” she asked.
“I would be angry, but as my record for never hitting a woman is still intact, I’ll let it pass.” Ben coughed again. “What will he do now?”
“Councillor Ladron?” Astra smoothed the hair back from Petta’s face. “I’m not sure; it depends on whether he thinks he can fix this.”
She paused, her eyes narrowing.
“He will kill Leda for certain, for her rebellion and as a warning to the rest of us. It is possible that he will also attempt to kill you before you tell your father what you have discovered. Whatever he chooses to do, any deaths will appear ‘accidental’.”
Ben paused in the act of rubbing his streaming eyes.
Accidents?
Another cough shook him, and he looked down at the cup on the table in front of him.
“Ben? Ben!” Leda touched a hand to his forehead. “Ben what’s wrong with you? You’re burning up!”
Ben didn’t seem to hear her, but blinked a few times, his eyes still fixed on the cup.
“I can’t breathe.”
He felt Leda catch him as he slumped against her, breaking his fall, and pushing him to lie down on the seat.
Uri Va Dic Toban leaned over his limp form.
“Has he shown any signs of illness before this?”
Astra shook her head.
“No, but he has an allergy to nuts and shellfish.”
“Leda has he eaten or drank anything containing those things since he got here?”
Leda shook her head.
“Apart from the spiced tea he hasn’t had anything.”
Uri Va Dic Toban leaned forward bringing his face into Ben’s line of vision.
“Ben, did you eat or drink anything before coming here today?”
Ben stared up at him groggily, his breathing coming in painful gasps.
“Biscuits,” he managed at last. “With my coffee.”
“There must have been nuts in them,” Astra muttered.
“Leda, go and prepare a shot.”
Leda nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with a cylindrical device.
Uri lifted Ben’s sleeve, swabbed the skin and gave the injection.
“How long before it takes effect?” asked Astra, looking down at Ben’s flushed face, noticing how laboured his breathing had become.
“His breathing should come easier within a few minutes, but he’ll feel the side effects of the drug all though the day.”
“Side effects?”
Leda answered as she plumped up a pillow, and placed it gently between Ben’s shoulder blades.
“The drug has sedative properties.”
Uri looked at his daughters in silence for a moment.
“Will Councillor Ladron kill Leda?” he asked after a moment.
Astra nodded decisively.
“Yes.”
“Then we have to send her somewhere she’ll be safe.” Uri's voice was purposeful.
“She’s not the only one that needs to run.”
-----
The assembled company turned sharply as the new voice entered the conversation. A soldier stood in the doorway, his helmet discarded, but still wearing the black armour of a securitor. Over one shoulder he carried a heavy duffle bag.
He strode further into the room he glanced down at Ben’s inert form with interest, as though calculating his height, weight, and the extent of his incapacitation.
“What’s going on, why are you here?” Uri asked quickly.
“We have to go. They’re sending a death squad here to take care of you all.” Ceadron Va Dic Toban looked across at his father, and raised an eyebrow. “We have to leave right now, so what do you want me to do with Sleeping Beauty?” He indicated Ben with a sweep of his hand.
“He needs medical attention,” answered Uri.
“Then we can call a medic when we leave,” Ceadron decided.
“No.”
It was Astra who spoke. Her tone was calm and collected, but her hands twisted together restlessly.
“It isn’t safe; we have to take him with us.”
Ceadron gave Ben the once over again.
“He’ll slow us down; it would be better to leave him here.”
“If we leave him here, he will be killed. He knows too much.” Astra paused, her brow wrinkling as she thought. “Ladron will probably blame his death on us, and use it to force the Free Nation into signing the treaty.”
“We can’t take him with us either; Ladron will say we took him as a hostage,” returned Uri Va Dic Toban. “We could drop him off at the hospital?” offered Ceadron.
Astra shook her head.
“You don’t understand. His eating nuts this morning wasn’t an accident: I made sure everyone in the kitchens knew about his allergies.” She looked from her stepfather to her eldest stepbrother. “Ladron planned this: he wants Ben dead.”
For a moment the room was silent, and then Ceadron leaned forward, grabbing Ben’s arm, and lifting him over his shoulder.
“There’s no time for this; we have to go.” He turned, shifting Ben’s weight. “Balak has the truck waiting for us out back.”
The urgency of his actions communicated itself to the others, and they followed him out through the kitchen and into the garden. They stopped at the shoulder-high wall that cut off the garden from the street the other side, and Ceadron let out a low whistle. A few moments later, Balak’s head appeared over the top of the wall.
“Here.” Ceadron heaved Ben upward, and flung him so he lay half over the wall. Leda winced as Balak dragged him over the other side, and the dull thud of flesh hitting concrete broke the silence.
A moment later Ceadron was on the wall, seated astride, so he could help Petta to scramble over. Astra, Leda, and Penn made it over unassisted and, reaching the other side, clambered into the Mark 5L Pathmaker that stood waiting.
Ben had been laid out over the back seat, and Leda lifted his head and shoulders before sliding into the seat next to him. She cradled his head in her lap as Ceadron climbed into the passenger seat and told Balak to drive.
“Where are we going?”
It was Penn’s question. He was sitting forward in his seat, straining against his seat belt.
“The borderlands,” answered Balak.
“And then?”
Ceadron and Balak exchanged a look.
“Then we go to the only place Councillor Ladron can’t reach.”
“You plan to enter the Una strongholds.” Astra’s voice was low, a statement not a question. “You will not be welcomed.”
“We aren’t exactly welcome here, Astra,” returned Balak dryly.
Astra held Petta closer, smoothing the heavy fall of hair
from the girls face, and rested her cheek against her hair.
“How did you know, Ceadron?” asked Leda.
“Know what?”
“That we were in danger.”
“Councillor Sendel found out that Councillor Ladron had ordered the death squad, and he told Narim.”
“And Narim told you?”
“Of course he did, he’s been our friend for years; we started in the corps. at the same time,” Ceadron turned a little in his seat. “Narim has always been good to Astra. Do you really think he'd do nothing when he knew we were all in trouble?”
Leda smiled gently, raising her hand in a gesture of appeal.
“Siding with us in private is one thing, Cead. I just never thought that he would endanger his position. He is very much like his father in that respect; principles are all very well so long as they don’t block the path to power.”
For a moment there was silence.
“You underestimate him, Leda, it’s a habit of yours. You’re too quick to judge people for their actions, without knowing the reasons they have chosen to take a certain path. You prefer to see them as lacking.”
“Most of the time they are,” answered Leda smoothly.
“For someone so clever, how do you always miss the point?” muttered Ceadron irritably.
Leda didn’t answer, but looked down at the still unconscious Ben. Most of his face was ashen, but an angry red rash had materialised on his neck. It stood out raw against his pale face. His breathing was still a little laboured, and his skin was hot and clammy where it touched hers. She reached out, smoothing the hair back from his face.
“They’ll say we’re traitors, won’t they?” she asked quietly. “They’ll tell everyone that we’re holding him hostage.”
No one answered her. They all knew that it was true, but somehow putting it into words made it seem more real, more frightening.
Leda stroked Ben’s cheek. She had pulled him into this, a stranger, a man she hardly knew. She had dragged him into this mess, endangering his life. She wondered briefly at the stubbornness that had pushed her to do such thing. If they didn’t make it to the borderlands they would all die, Ben too. Councillor Ladron would never let him live, he knew too much.
For a moment she felt the panic of regret that she had started them all on this course, but she stamped it out. It was too late to change what she had done, and regret was of no use. Besides they were unworthy thoughts, selfish even.
If she had done nothing she would have lived her life out in peace, but Astra would have paid for that peace with her freedom.
Leda shuddered. Astra had never spoken of her duties at Government Building, but Leda knew Corbani Va Dic Ladron well enough to be certain that she was made as miserable as possible. One thing that she did know was that he had never lifted a hand to her sister. Astra had told her so once, with a wondering kind of fear, as though the fact that he hadn’t scared her more than if he had.
Leda looked to where Astra sat, curved slightly to one side so that she could still hold Petta in her arms. Her face was calm, the hand that rhythmically stroked Petta’s hair was steady, but she was still as white as when she had walked into the kitchen and found Ben there.
She looked ill, worse than Leda had ever seen her before. Leda couldn’t understand it. They were heading to freedom, Astra was leaving the chains she had spent most of her life in behind.
So what was she afraid?