Spindrift
Chapter 7: Round and Round Underground

When the sound of gunfire from above broke the silence inthe tunnel, Lady Ariadne turned as pale as death.

“I fear we must move again milady,” said Windridge.

She turned to him as though to object, but stopped herselfand nodded weakly.

Quickly and quietly the party moved forward. The water deepened again and soon, withhardly a ripple, Ari slipped over the side of the boat and swam to the nearestwell. She stared at the circle of hard,blue sky above her head. The light madeher hair seem to glow. The sergeantfollowed. There was something in herappearance that reminded him of the daughter he had not seen in nearly fiveyears. He gently placed his gauntletedhand on her shoulder. She turned to him,eyes streaming.

“I never got to sing to him, or tell him that I loved him.”

Windridge raised his visor. “Milady, he’s hard to kill. I’msure he’ll replace his way back to us.”

She nodded and tried to smile. “Of course Sergeant. Let’s go.”

I followed the man through the warehouse, between stacked bundles of some kind of plant material. Ihad no idea what they were for, which reminded me of how little I knew about thisworld. At the far end, he stopped andpulled aside one of the stacks. Therewas a waist-high hole in the wall there. He motioned me through, stepped inside and pulled the stack back inplace. We paused long enough for him tolight a taper then continued along a long narrow corridor and down a ricketystair. I then followed him through aseries of confusing twists and turns. Atone point, I recognized a section of hallway we had just passed.

He’s leading me incircles, trying to get me lost. Thismade me wary, but did not overly concern me. It was reasonable for him not to trust a complete stranger. Finally, he used a key to unlock a woodendoor. Inside was a room that containedsome bunks, a table and a few chairs. Henext placed the taper in a wall sconce and elbowed me in the stomach. He then over-bore me back onto the table andstuck a rather ornate knife under my chin.

“Alright, off-worlder, who are you and what are you doinghere!”

Martial arts are not neglected in an Imperial officer’straining. In fact, when not facingpregnant adolescents or being assaulted from behind while dining, I’mreasonably good at unarmed combat. Also,as I mentioned earlier, I was weary of being pushed around and was ready toshow it. I put a knee into his crotchand flipped him over. Soon I had apistol muzzle in his ear and my knee over his hyper-extended knife-arm.

“Drop it or I break it!”

The blade clattered to the floor.

“Now, let’s continue with our introductions. You first. I insist.”

“Reden Drogar, merchant and loyal servant of theKeeper. And you?”

“Rhodri Morgan, naval officer and escort to His Majesty’sRepresentative.”

He stopped struggling. “You still live?” He lookedgenuinely astonished.

“Disappointed?”

“No! Not if you speakthe truth!”

“I gain no advantage lying about it.”

“Then we should not be enemies.” Reden brightened considerably.

“Tell that to the Keeper and his Cup-bearer.” I carefully released him, however, pulled achair to the center of the room and sat down. I kept my hand on the pistol, just in case.

The merchant sat up and rubbed his arm. He looked warily at the pistol and didn’tventure to retrieve his knife. “TheKeeper may have changed his opinion. Doyou not know what happened overnight?”

“We’ve been…busy.”

Drogar raised an eyebrow and then continued. “After midnight, Free World ships camebearing armored warriors. They attackedand captured Chang’s place; killing the Imperials that were there.”

I shook my head.

“Was that not true?”

“Let’s say it was greatly exaggerated.”

He nodded. “Well,shortly after, there was a great explosion. Many of Edgar’s armored men were killed.”

Really! I know a certain sergeant who would be veryhappy to hear that.

“The Free Worlds commander was very angry. He seemed, somehow, to hold our peopleresponsible.”

“He just needed a scapegoat for his stupidity to save hisown hide.”

“He tried to disarm the militia and executed the Captain ofthe Keeper’s Guard, the Keeper’s nephew! Without so much as his highness’ leave!”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Sounds like a major diplomatic fauxpas.”

“A What?”

“A bad thing for Edgar.”

“I understand. Ithink.”

“You see, a lack of discipline in the upper ranks has alwaysbeen a weakness in the Pirate Kings’ forces. Too many field commanders are aware that each of them carries both anoose and a crown in his knapsack.”

“You’ve confused me again.”

I relaxed and tried to explain it to him. “They know that a turn of fortune might leadto the gallows or it could make one of them the next king, president, sultan orwhatever title suits his fancy. Whathappened next?”

“The Guard rose to a man and killed him and much of hisstaff!” The older man had a satisfiedsmile.

This just keepsgetting better! How does St. Sunza’s prayer go? ‘Dear God, if Thou willst not to make me wise, please make mine enemiesstupid.’ The Lord moved before we evenasked!

“More ships landed, with more armored men. They quickly subdued the Guard and, bydaylight, had spread throughout the city. They announced that anyone found on the streets would be summarilyshot! Finally, about an hour ago, Iheard some firing from the direction of the palace.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door followed by avoice. “Reden?”

I gripped my pistol and frowned at the merchant.

He held up a hand and spoke, “Hold for a moment, Taif.” He whispered to me, “I called a secretmeeting of the shop-keepers’ Guild Council to decide what we must do about thecrisis. There should be about a dozen,like me, if they weren’t caught away from the city by the curfew.”

I nodded and withdrew my hand. Thiscould prove both interesting and useful.

After wandering for nearly an hour, the party stopped atanother shallow area nearer to the center of the city. It was still eerily quiet above. Lady Ariadne sat in the boat withJustin. Windridge set a guard thengathered the remaining marines.

“What do we do now?” asked Justin.

“We go to the palace,” said Ari. “We’re going to rescue Jen. If she doesn’t need rescuing yet, we’ll haveto kidnap her.”

“I’m sorry I asked!”

“Whatever is happening above us, I can’t help but feel thatthings are going awry for the Rii alliance with the Pirates. I care little for what happens to the Keeper.” Ari frowned. “He’s a fool and a traitor to the Empire. I have a personal commitment, however, to hiswife and child. I also believe it’s goodImperial policy to preserve the Rii dynasty.” She turned to Windridge. “Drisaid something about having a ghost of a plan; did he say anything to you aboutit?”

“’Fraid not, ma’am.”

“We’ll have to come up with one of our own then.”

The Rii Merchant’s guild proved to be a rather quarrelsomelot. There was consensus when it came tothe outrageous behavior of Edgar’s troops. What to do about it, however, was another matter. Only two out of the eleven who showed up werefor giving Edgar another chance, and they were half-hearted about it. Just one wanted to expel alloff-worlders. He commanded littleenthusiasm. Most favored going back tothe old, lighter yoke of Imperial rule.

Sadly, that was probably no longer possible, though I wasn’tabout to tell them that. Shots had beenfired in rebellion. It would be highlyunlikely that the Emperor would be able to ignore calls from the Senate totighten the leash on Rii, even if he wanted to. When you add Rii’s freshly noticed strategic importance, a garrison isthe very least change to be expected. More than likely this world will be incorporated into a province andlose much of its autonomy.

But, would that be so bad? They would gain the rights of citizenship. The women, at least, would benefit fromthat. They all would receive thefranchise as well, though Rii is too small for its own senator. They would also no longer be a technologicaland cultural backwater.

What would they lose? Their freedom, obviously. Theyhaven’t used it to their best advantage, but it’s still theirs. Also their culture, in short everything thatmakes them uniquely Rii; both the good with the bad. There must be some good aspects to their wayof life, though Ari and I certainly didn’t get to see any of them.

My reverie was interrupted by Reden. “What does the Imperial Representativethink?”

“I’ll ask her when next I see her.”

They looked at me blankly. Is that really so difficult forthem? Is it impossible for them to evenconceive that the real ambassador is that ‘silly chimaera woman who can’t evenwalk’? Hmm, maybe a bit of homogenizinginto the Imperium would do them more good than harm after all.

I knew I had to say something to them. Things were coming to a head. I couldn’t just push it all onto Ari’s absentshoulders. What would she say? Iasked myself and then stood and stepped to the middle of the room.

“However, I’m sure that I know what she would tell you ifshe were here. I’m not going to fill youwith fluff about Imperial patriotism. You need to resist for your own best interests. Edgar and his minions have been here a scanttwelve hours and you can see what they’ve done. Let me assure you, they do not improve with age!” I was beginning to warm to the task and pacedthe floor.

“If they’re willing to murder the Keeper’s nephew withoutcause, without trial, what could they not do to you or your loved ones? You’ve seen how they’ve shut down the cityand kept the people from their water. Doany of you want to see your innocent children or grandchildren thirst? Has theEmpire ever done such a thing to the Rii? No! It is up to you and not us tosave this world from those who would do such things. Rise up! Not for the Emperor, he has enoughworlds, but for yourselves, the people of Rii!”

I didn’t think it was a very good speech or well delivered. I could never be a politician, or one ofthose commanders who can inspire devotion and sacrifice with mere words. I felt a little silly to be honest, so I wasa bit surprised to hear those old merchants shouting “Save the Keeper!”, “Tothe palace!” and “Down with Edgar!”

Well, that’s a start. What doI do next?

Ari, Justin and the Marines halted again. This time, they were under one of themaintenance wells beneath the palace. Justin’sknowledge of the city brought them to the area where the artificial lightingbegan. Once there, a bit of wanderingeventually brought them to one of the covered openings.

“Finally!” saidJustin.

“Is this the one you and the lieutenant used to make yourescape?” asked Windridge as he carefullyexamined the opening and the ladder leading to it.

“No,” said Ari. “Thewater here is much too shallow. Nevertheless, we should still be able to orient ourselves fairly quicklyonce we’re up there. Remember, we headfor the women’s quarters first. If Jenisn’t there, we go to the Keeper’s chambers. In quickly, out quickly and keep the carnage to a minimum.”

“Yes Ma’am,” said the sergeant.

“With any luck, we’ll take them by surprise!” Ari turned to Chang. “You’ll have to carry me of course,Justin. I hope you don’t mind.”

The merchant opened his mouth as though to say something,but thought better of it. Instead, itwas the sergeant who spoke up.

“Madame Ambassador, you are in charge here and we will obeyyour orders. I must, however, formallyexpress my concern about taking unarmored civilians into combat, especiallywhen one of them can’t walk.”

Ari winced at his words as though physically struck. She had grown up in an environment wherehaving a tail was an advantage, not a handicap. In her way of thinking, climbing into a hoverchair and venturing ontodry land was an adventure, much like how a land-dweller might feel about climbinginto a small canoe or kayak to travel over water. Far from feeling helpless, she knew that evenwhile crawling and dragging herself, she could still move just as fast as anyof these men could swim. The idea thatanybody could think that she would be a liability or a burden was shocking toher.

“I understand your concern Sergeant,” she said, with,perhaps, only the slightest waver of doubt in her voice. “But, you will need someone with someknowledge of the interior of the palace…”

“That would be me,” interrupted Justin. “I’ve been in and out and through this pileof stone many times. As for unarmored, sergeant,you know as well as I that in the confines of the palace, and with such weaponsat short range, armor won’t matter a whit.”

Ari knew she could force them to take her, but she also knewshe wouldn’t. With all the risks and allthat was at stake, she would not allow herself to compromise the mission, evento save her pride.

“You are right of course, sergeant. I will stay here.” She let none of her inner hurt show.

Lady Ariadne shook hands with each of them before he mountedthe ladder. She wanted to see theirfaces and hear their names. If shecouldn’t be with them, she was determined to remember them, in case some or allnever came back. When the cover clankedshut after the last of them, she allowed herself to cry.

After a few minutes, Ari regained her composure. She began to be concerned about thepossibility of a hostile patrol, especially so close to the palace. She could hide easily enough, but what of theboat? She slid off and dragged herself todeeper water pulling the dinghy after; then towed it past a bend and tied it upin a small alcove. She began to feelbetter. Would she want even thestrongest marine tagging along tailless with her and a group of Syrenka out tohunt some ferocious sea-beast? While swimmingback to renew her watch at the well, she even caught one of the pale fish andstuck it in her teeth for a snack later. When almost there, she heard splashing ahead. They’reback! She thought and emerged fromthe water.

It wasn’t her friends. Instead, ahead were a group of Rii wearing yellow sashes and carryingbattle rifles. They froze, at least assurprised to see a mermaid with a fish wiggling in her mouth as that mermaidwas to see them. She recovered aninstant faster than they did and dove. How could I be so foolish! She berated herself. A few shots rang out. The water was shallow, but still deep enoughto protect her. She circled unsure whatto do next. She could escape easily, butif they stayed, they could ambush the returning marines. If she allowed them to chase her back the wayshe had just come, they would replace the boat and probably guess what it wasthere for. The channel beyond them wastoo shallow, however, for her to slip past and lead them the other way. While she was considering all this, somethingsplashed into the water near her. What’s that? Then she recognized it and fled as fast asher fins could take her.

There was a flash then a pressure wave slammed into her likea brick wall. She knew nothing moreafter that.