Righteous Anger (Okal Rel Saga #2)

5.5: DragonSword

Security was tight on Gelion. The new Ava, Ev'rel, installed by Di Mon, had palace errants and throne gorarelpul out in force. That was partly due to feelings running high over Amel, in all directions; but it was also due to Hangst's proposal of a war alliance to subdue the Reetions.

Ava Ev'rel had declared the question of Unification a Nersallian affair, and wished it settled as expediently as possible so that the Demish could get on with the duel over custody of her son. She had, however, made a point of disagreeing with Zer-sis Ackal's proclamation that Amel was a zer-pol. The Inner Circle of the Golden Demish reserved judgment on Amel being a Soul of Light, as well. One way or the other, the talk in highborn receptions was of little else but Amel, while in less privileged quarters of UnderGelion, people united in a show of righteous passion in support of Okal Rel.

From the meanest commoner on the Palace Plain — where terrible memories of Lorel plagues still harvested lives in children's nightmares — to nobleborn Demish families whose plans for increasing their riches were threatened by the thought of fouled space lanes, the population of Gelion stood firm in opposition to the willful disregard that great people could inflict on less important ones by waging war.

People greeted each other with "Okal Rel," like a prayer. Gangs raided freeholds run by people rumored to be nonbelievers. Self-declared clear dreamers, able to remember past lives, got up in public places to proclaim cautionary tales in which those who violated Okal Rel were denied rebirth into the world they had seen fit to damage to gain their ends.

Settle by Sword Law! the people of Gelion demanded of their betters. Or be damned. They wanted no space wars within the empires.

What happened at the edge of the empire, with Reetions, they found harder to understand. Many thought contact should be cut off again, as it had been 200 years before, while others liked the idea of quick extermination before something catastrophic went wrong, and questions were asked about why the Monatese appeared to like the Reetions.

One day on Gelion was enough for Horth. He chose to wait in orbit, instead, on his new battlewheel. Kale was assigned as a cadet on its sister ship, the DragonDaughter, and visited Horth a few times. He was glad to see her doing well as a Nersallian woman, even if she remained stubbornly Nesak about sex. Her appreciation of his new status as captain was more gratifying. She wanted to know everything he could tell her about it.

DragonSword was the flagship of the trio. When the Swearing was done, Hangst would take command of it himself.

The day before the Swearing, Horth found Bryllit in his quarters.

"I guess I should have offered you a battlewheel sooner," she remarked on his good fortune. "But it's just as well. You and I are much too fortunate a combination for the Waiting Dead."

"The child?" he asked.

"A fine girl," she told the sire. "Dorn is very pleased with her."

Horth grinned back. It was likely to be the most direct chance he would have to bask in paternal feelings towards this second child by Bryllit, so he made the most of it. But he was less happy about the suggestion that their sexual relationship was going to end.

Bryllit sat down at his eating table and pulled over a disk of snacks. "You are still my vassal until tomorrow's Swearing, however," she told him. "So tell me: what is Hangst playing at with this Unification idea?"

Her uncharitable tone gave Horth a chill. He did not like to think that she and Hangst might disagree. He knew all too well what that would mean.

Reluctantly, Horth sat down opposite her. "I do not explain well," he said.

Bryllit wagged a protein stick in his direction. "Exactly why I want to know what you think. Tell me straight. What's the worst we're looking at here?"

"Deaths," Horth said. "Many of them."

"Reetions?" Bryllit remarked, around a mouthful she was chewing.

"Reetions," he confirmed, "and the stations that they live on. But it is not necessary," he added, surprising himself.

"Oh?" she encouraged him.

Horth began to get excited, and felt relieved of a burden at the same time. He could tell Bryllit what he had been thinking but unable, until now, to put into words. She would tell Hangst when they met before the Swearing.

"No need to crack stations," Horth told Bryllit. "Isolate them instead. No Sevolites to duel," he acknowledged that drawback. "Gain surrender with food. Other necessities." He shook his head. The ideas were coming out more jumbled than he meant and Bryllit was frowning at him. If only he could explain properly!

He knew that force was necessary to control the okal'a'ni, and he saw nothing wrong in those who took the risk of stopping them being the ones to gain territory in exchange. But he was disturbed by the idea of cracking stations, even if the inhabitants were Reetions. Okal Rel endorsed war against leaders, not people.

Even more significantly, he did not see how they could ever teach the Reetions to live within the limitations set by Okal Rel if they started by breaking their own laws to conquer them! The Nersallians and Nesaks ought to use their strength to gain control, instead, and work on more difficult problems from a position of moral strength.

Desperate to convey all that in words, Horth tried again. "Cracking stations is okal'a'ni," he said.

Still frowning, Bryllit nodded. "I share your discomfort there," she said. "I wish I knew more about this zer-pol, Amel."

"Not a zer-pol," Horth insisted. "Just pol." Put that way, being pol was an insult, not something that elevated vulnerability to a higher plane. Horth was sick of all the talk about Amel.

"If he isn't a zer-pol," Bryllit said in a hard voice, "then we could be about to imperil our souls."

She did understand, Horth decided, and she would explain it to his father.

He got up, feeling reassured there would be no station cracking now, however the zer'stan ruled on it.