Chapter 60
Evan carried Lillian out of the Processing Unit’s room, past the guards still incapacitated by the door, and out to the floor’s main passageway. It was then that he began to realize that building was no longer empty of activity. There was the sound of a low beehive in the atrium below. Evan risked a look over the mezzanine railing to the floors below, and all he saw were figures in gold and white armor swarming the lobby, the stairs, and all other access points. If he didn’t change course, he would lose any hope of escape if that hope hadn’t already been lost.
Retracing his steps, Evan desperately searched the signs and doors for anything that suggested another way out. He made it back to the Unit’s room and saw the guards begin to stir. It didn’t matter which way he turned he would be trapped. Realizing there was no way for him to carry Lillian and a weapon, he left the gueards to wake up on their own and breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized an exit door just to the side of the fallen guards. Evan slammed his back against the door and it opened easily. It was a very traditional stairwell with flights up and down. Evan waited at the landing to hear if the hive of soldiers were coming up. Nothing. Evan leaned over to confirm what his ears told him and, seeing no one, began to descend the stairs with rat-a-tat rhythm.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his arms were on fire, his lungs heaving, and his legs felt like rubber, still he knew he was far from safe. It would only be a matter of time before this stairwell would be – His thoughts were cut off as he heard a door slam open above him. Evan looked up and saw the white armored arm of a Merlain soldier. He bit his lip and eased his weight against the nearest door, hoping it would not set off any alarms.
The doorway opened to the outside, and Evan found himself not far from where he and Keetha and hid themselves before heading into the Central Processing Unit Building. He noticed a short wall that might shield him from the view of any soldier exiting the building and carried Lillian behind it. He set her down to rest. Evan checked on Lillian’s status. She was still alive and breathing steadily. That was as good as Evan could hope for at this point. He looked at her sleeping face and reminded Lillian not to die. Then he peeked over the short wall to get his bearings. What he saw in the plaza fixed his attention.
Dol’s tower looked to be minutes away from collapse, soldiers and citizens scurried like mad ants and giant screens were mixed with a series of painted banners that he’d never noticed before. Evan wasn’t certain where the banners had come from as they hadn’t been there earlier, but the screens which normally showed some version of the news now showed a loop of some woman getting gunned down and captured. Then a picture of the fallen woman’s face became clear to Evan and tears immediately stung his eyes. Keetha. She was gone, and it was his fault. He should have stayed back with her or forced her to enter the building with him. Of all the people he thought he would lose in this effort, she was the last on his list. This thought forced his thoughts immediately to Katherien and Amnon. If Keetha didn’t make it, how were they doing?
Evan’s thoughts were interrupted as a very familiar and menacing voice filled the plaza and stopped everyone in their activities. He looked up and saw his inky and silver eye patched foe staring down everything from the giant ring of plaza screens.
“People of Merlain,” Saw Yatha began. It was so wrong, that he was still alive and Keetha dead, Evan thought. He probably killed her and if not by his hands, then by his orders. Evan gritted his teeth, seething as his body regain its strength.
“Today is an unusual and monumental day for Merlain. A dark day for sure, but a monumental one in any case. As you know, Lillian, the princess of Coellum, a woman who has been found guilty of crimes against our people, a woman who has twice been captured by me and sent to our prisons, has once again escaped. Previously, she escaped by using her dark arts of manipulation and cunning. This time, accomplices have come to her aid. It was these accomplices that have spawned the chaos of mayhem that has broken out in our beloved capitol city’s center.
I wish I could tell you that the accomplices were from her home realm, for that would be understandable, but, and it shatters my heart to inform you of this, these accomplices have come from within our realm. Earlier today, a woman who had served as my assistant for many ears and who served as the assistant to our Director of Prisons, Keetha Cata, was discovered attempting to enter the Central Processing Unit Building. Our valiant soldiers immobilized her and rendered justice on her. It was this same woman who had for a long time now, in secret and in lawlessness, tarnished the beauty of Merlain with her grotesque art displays of propaganda in an attempt to undermine the glorious wisdom of our great Chieftan Dol Zungher. She went my the name Nova, which allowed her to hide in plain sight. But Nova will not rise again. Let her sift, and just punishment be a loud proclamation to any who would dare attempt to thwart the good and honorable reign of our Chieftan. Long live Chieftain Dol!” Saw paused, and everyone in the plaza replied to him in one voice, “Long live Chieftain Dol!”
Saw continued. “Additionally, Cata’s leader, the Director of Prisons himself, Amnon Saxe is suspected of, not only knowing of his assistant’s treason, but participating in it himself. They both employed mercenaries to aid them in a failing attempt to overthrow our government. They are the ones who set fire to the Chieftain’s tower. They are the ones who broke into the Termination Center. They are the ones who are our military’s highest priority to capture and eliminate.” Then Saw’s face went away, replaced by a still image of Amnon and Katherine. While we have not yet been able to locate the person or persons responsible for breaking Princess Lilian from the Termination Center, we have captured former director Saxe and this foreign woman.”
Evan’s heart jumped to his throat as he saw Katherine. Her face looked scared and exhausted. Where was this picture taken? Even if Saw Yatha said that she was still alive, could that be believed? The tears now streamed down his face. All of his foolish effort to spring Lillian from jail, his blind focus on fulfilling his promise to her instead of to his wife had caused the death of Keetha and probably the death of Katherine and Amnon. Evan looked down at the Princess. He’d played the white knight, but had the effort won anything?
“There is believed to be at least one more mercenary of high interest to Chieftain Dol,” Saw continued, and Katherine’s face was replaced with his own. It was taken from the interrogation room he and Katherine shared when they first arrived in Merlain. “This man’s name is Evan Gold. He is not from here, and, should you run into him, it is believed that he is very dangerous.” Saw Yatha brought his face back to the screens. “Due to the sudden and unusual widespread criminal activity in our realm, our great Chieftan, Zungher Dol, has commissioned me, Saw Yatha, to take whatever actions I deem appropriate to eradicate this scourge from our midst. These terrorists seek to undermine our way of life, they seek to weaken us in the sight of the other realms, and they seek to establish themselves as dictators above and instead of our majestic leader. So, with every ounce of authority I possess, I now commission you, the valiant citizens of Merlain, to keep an eye out for this Evan Gold. If you see him, capture him and bring him to me. If you cannot capture him, you have the authority to kill him. We are, at this moment, at war, and we must do everything in our power to ensure our way of life and that the forces that would seek to erase our way of life are stopped in their tracks.
“So, to arms, my fellow Merlain. This is not a time for weak spines. This is a time for our hearts to shine. Fight on! Long live Chieftan Dol!” The image returned to the loop of Keetha’s fall as the crowd chanted again, “Long live Chieftan Dol!”
Evan ducked his head back behind the short wall. His goose was cooked if he didn’t get back to the safe house on the double. He hoped Drex would still be there and the two of them, three of them if Lillian ever came out of her stupor, might be able to develop a way to free Katherine and Amnon, but that could never happen if he was captured by a ravenous mob.
Garnering all the strength his tired arms had left, he scooped up Lillian and began to slink and inch his way away from the plaza and toward, hopefully, safety.
