Chapter 6

It had been three cycles that Amnon and Keetha had been seeing each other over lamp light and a quiet meal.  Three cycles of swapping stories and dreaming together.  If one is observant, three cycles are plenty of time to notice if someone is distracted or on edge.

Amnon rested his utensil on his plate with a slightly louder-than-normal clink and wiped his mouth.  “Something wrong?” Keetha asked.  Amnon, after a moment’s hesitation, placed his napkin back on his lap, looked her in the eye, and shook his head.

Keetha mirrored his actions, resting her utensil and wiping her mouth. “You’ll forgive me if I say I don’t believe you,” She said. Amnon’s shoulders slumped, and he sank back in his chair.  His gaze wandered before he admitted, “I don’t know.”

Keetha rested her hands on her lap.  “Your meeting with the Chieftan and Saw, how was that?  I mean, you got to be in the presence of greatness today.  Have you heard how people around town can say almost nothing else about how our great hero Saw Yatha has preserved Merlain against Coellum?”  At this, Amnon rubbed his face with his hand, then leaned both elbows on the table and spoke to Keetha in hushed tones.

“I thought he was dead.  I thought he was dead, and frankly, I wasn’t upset about it.  I mean, I had to follow after him for cycles cleaning up after him.  He’s not right in the head, Keetha.  He’s, something, I don’t know the word.  I don’t want to say evil, but…” he trailed off.  “Did you know that before he left, I saw some of the blueprints for the expanded prison he designed?  There was a weird place in the plans, a void where no drawings existed.  I asked around as carefully as I could.  The story, I believe, is closest to what is likely there, is a special torture room set aside for Lillian herself.  He likes hurting people.  He’s studied how long it takes to first drive a person insane before they end their own life.  I don’t know how I can be in the same space with him day after day.”

Keetha leaned forward on her elbows and grabbed his hand.  Amnon continued, “I mean, you can see how much he wants Dol, how much he wants everyone to fawn over him.  I get that he did the impossible in getting the Princess back, but you know as well as I do that he’s a dangerous man, and the closer he is to this situation, the harder it will be to keep it on schedule.  He’s after more than a dominant Merlain.  I don’t know what, but I fear it.”  He reduced his voice just over a whisper, “I’m certain Dol senses it too.  If I were him, I’d have said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and tossed him on the next transport to Venomar.  I mean, he’s just so -” Amnon cut himself off and twisted up his face before returning to his far-off gaze.

“Well, let’s talk about something else,” Keetha said, “I don’t want you to get upset.”  She picked up her utensil again.  “Did I ever tell you what happened to my father?”

“Just that you loved him and that he taught you a bunch before he died.”

“But I haven’t told you how he died?”

“Why would you tell me that?” Amnon said, making deep wrinkles in his brow.

“So, you know we lived out where the groundlings are?  Do you remember how lush that land was before Dol came?”  Amnon could see on her face that her mind had traveled back there.  His mind traveled with her.  He hadn’t known Keetha growing up, and they had very different childhoods.  She had grown up the only daughter of a farmer on a distant plot far away from what would become modern Valdrin.  He had grown up in the heart of the village, the son of a tradesman.  But his parents loved to get out of town and he knew the fields and pastures of the surrounding land of Merlain quite well.  Before Chieftan Dol had forced his rule on the Merlain people, the land was rich and the people quiet.  Now, the land was hard and angular, and the people hustled to and fro, always with something very important to do.

“I can still smell the soil,” Keetha said, taking in a breath.  “So real, you know?  One day, my father is out in the fields.  I was, I don’t remember what I was doing, but I could see him from my window.  He was plowing, getting the dirt ready for planting.  Already, we could see the creeping growth of the grandeur of what Valrin has become.  To me, that was exciting.  To my father, it was like seeing the dark clouds gathering on the horizon.  So, a government vehicle flew into the middle of the field, stopping my father’s progress.  A moment later, he was escorted into the vehicle, and I never saw him again.”  Keetha calmly took a bite of her food.

“What?” said Amnon.

Keetha shrugged as she chewed and swallowed.  “A really nice man from the government – very official looking with all of the buttons and high collars, you know, like the people we work with every day – this nice man informed my mother that my father had been found guilty of speaking out against the Chieftan, and so he was taken away.  He was kind enough to inform us that there was no indication that my mother was aware of her husband’s disloyalty, which is why she was left to tend to the farm.  And trust me,” Keetha said with a laugh, “my mother was a fantastic farmer’s wife but not physically able to be a farmer.  And, the nice man said, if she maintained her loyalty to the Chieftain and there was no sign of rebellion from the household, there would be a worthy job waiting for her daughter when she came of age.”

Amnon stared at her.

“Something I’ve never forgotten about that man, he really was very nice, very concerned with the plight of my family; I’ve never forgotten how he looked.  Very sharp.  Very, what’s the word, galant almost.  One thing that is seared in my memory was that over his right eye, he wore a very polished silver patch.”  She took another bite of her food.

“Keetha…” Amnon started but didn’t know what else to say.

“So, that’s how I started working in the prison system and how I got to be trained by Saw Yatha himself.  You can see how privileged I feel to be in my position and why I was so heartbroken,” she said with subtle emphasis, “when he left so suddenly in pursuit of Lillian.  You can also appreciate how proud I am that you get to be near him, with him at every interrogation, to know his plans and to learn what he’s thinking.”

The two of them sat in relative silence.  Only the occasional clinks and scrapes of Keetha’s utensil broke the stillness.

“And what good with that do?” Amnon mouthed.

Keetha shrugged and took a sip of her drink.  “It does seem a great opportunity, though, and I’m not one to see such an opportunity and let it go by.”

Amnon’s eyes bulged, “And what would you have me do?  I don’t have power.  I have no one’s ear.  I mean, the best voice right now for what you’re saying is the Nova character, whom Communications is having the time keeping that under wraps.  But even then, whoever that is has to keep his identity hidden.

“Did Nova strike again?”

“Yes.  I’m not supposed to say it, but it was quite clever.” Amnon smiled.  Keetha returned the look.

Suddenly, Keetha rested her napkin on the table and pushed her plate away.  “Are you going somewhere?” Amnon asked.

“Well, it has become apparent to me that this date is over,” Keetha said, gathering her things.

Amnon sat baffled.  “Did I say something?  Did I not say something?”

“No, you’re fine.  I love you very much, but you have a big and important day tomorrow, and you should get all the rest you can.  I’m told the Princess is slippery, and you’ll need all your faculties if you want to get the truth out of her.  I’m certain Saw will be on his game; you should be, too.

Keetha leaned over and kissed Amnon on the lips.  “You’re still my favorite.  I want you to win tomorrow.”  Amnon watched her leave, bewildered by what had just happened.

He signaled the waiter and paid for the meal before stepping out into the cool Merlain evening.  Keetha was right, it was going to be a big day and he did need to be at his best.  But he couldn’t get it out of his head that she had, not so subtly, suggested that he try to undermine Saw Yatha.  While nothing would make him happier, doing something like that would get him killed.  Amnon started his way home.  Try as he could, he couldn’t help but play out fantasies of Saw Yatha being exiled for real.  He didn’t like living in Dol’s Merlain, but it would be ever so much slightly better if Saw Yatha was out of the picture.