Andie was so immersed in her pessimistic brooding that she didn’t even hear the quiet knock on her door. The knock repeated, and Master Suze opened the door and stuck his head in the room, startling her out of her reverie. He was smiling grimly, his face deathly pale. “We got word from Bret early this mornin’,” he told her. “He wants everyone to be there for the hangin’. He thinks now is the time things’ll change. But maybe you oughta stay here, Mistress Sirra. It’ll be too danj’rous for you.”
Andie swallowed painfully. The last place she wanted to be was at a public execution. However, she didn’t want to miss the chance to help if she could. Master Suze called his wife into the room and the three of them discussed possible ways to hide her among the crowd. Her winter cloak and scarf were out of the question. It was just too mild in Kruundin City—in a winter cloak she would stand out whether people saw her skin or not. In the end, they decided to use the disguise that Laeren had rejected for her escape from the squatters’ camp in Croask all those years ago. Andie would pretend to be stricken with one of the horrible disfiguring diseases that Corizen could not cure. Madam Suze sacrificed her only apron to make bandages she could wind around Andie’s face and hands. She also lent Andie her spare dress, since the only clothing Andie had was so conspicuous as well. All these months she had worn the trader’s jumpsuit she was wearing the night she fled from Oanni. It was fading and wearing through in places, but even still it was unmistakably Citizen clothing. Fortunately Madam Suze’s dress was long enough that it covered Andie’s long boots.
When all their preparations were complete, Master Suze studied her critically. “You do look like you’ve got the pox, long as someone don’t look too close at your eyes.”
“If they think she’s got the pox they won’t come nowhere near. No one’s gonna see her eyes,” Madam Suze affirmed. Andie was not nearly so confident. She felt sure that walking out in public wrapped up like a leper would only draw more attention to herself. Still, Bret was clearly planning something important for this morning, and she couldn’t stand the thought of waiting behind with no way to know what was happening.
Despite all her reluctance, two hours later she joined the restless crowd gathered for the execution. She kept to the shadows of the homes near the large square in front of Jaory’s fortress on the outskirts of the press of wan bodies with gaunt faces and hungry eyes. In the not-too-distant past, the large open square in the center of the city had been the location of the open marketplace. Nobody was selling anything anymore though, and most days the square was a deserted plot of concrete strewn with litter. This morning, however, the square was filled with hundreds of people and more were still arriving.
At the south end of the square a three story building with smooth concrete walls loomed silently. A ten foot stone fence surrounded the building, the only opening barred by large steel gates in the front. It was a massive building, taking up nearly a whole block. There were no windows or openings of any kind that she could see. This was Jaory’s headquarters. The Suzes had told her that it was the place where the old Noble Court and the mansion of the Governor of the Blue Plains used to stand. However, about eight years before (right around the time Andie was helping colonize Faroi) Jaory had demolished the block and built Kruunde Fortress. “At the time,” Madam Suze had explained, “everybody thought he was crazy. To tear down the beaut’ful builduns to make way for an ugly box. And the Gov’ner’s Mansion, too! Why, the Nobles out here just about screamed! But Jaory, he’s always been to lord it over that pack of ninnies. He put them in their place quick, and there was no more protestin’ from the gallery. After all, he had just been made Gov’ner—he could do what he liked with his house.” Andie looked at the building curiously. How hard could it be to knock down those walls? she wondered. Then she turned to take in the scene before her.
The square was now packed with people and she could see that the side streets were filling up as well. At the far end of the square, just outside the Fortress, she could see a raised platform and gallows. They were planning to hang the prisoners. Soldiers were posted around the platform to keep the crowd back. Andie smoothed the bandages wrapped around her head nervously. She spotted one or two other wrapped figures among the throng of people, and the Suze family crowded in front of her trying to shield her from curious eyes, so it wasn’t likely she would be discovered. Still, her stomach felt tied up in knots. Being so close to Jaory’s domain made her feel so vulnerable.
Although she could hear the murmur of voices swelling and ebbing, it seemed much too quiet in the square. Andie had never seen a public execution before, but she thought that the crowd would be more animated. People were here but they were afraid. They even seemed hostile. Anything but glad to see the spectacle. Andie fervently wished it were over.
They didn’t have to wait much longer. Without warning the gates swung open and the prisoners were marched out, rows of soldiers at their sides. Andie held her breath eagerly. There was always a chance that Jaory would come out himself. She knew that Bret would have expert marksmen waiting in the shadows just in case. Master Suze craned his head over the horde, and she could no longer see. Impatiently she waited to hear shots crackle in the square. But a few moments later, Master Suze’s shoulders drooped. “The blasted coward,” he muttered. The steel gates slid shut without even a glimpse of the tyrant king.
With dread, Andie watched as the prisoners climbed the steps of the scaffolding. Four men and two women trudged to the top of the platform and then the soldiers pushed them into position. They seemed completely compliant, probably beaten into submission as part of their questioning. One of the soldiers stepped forward with some kind of microphone and his voice rang out from loudspeakers. “Fellow loyal subjects of King Jaory! We greet you!” There were half-hearted cheers from the crowd. “We are here today to witness the punishment of six traitors to the King.”
Suddenly the man on the end darted forward. “My dear brethren of Kruundin, do not listen to this man!” It was Commander Dirk! The crowd immediately hushed in a baited silence. “We are not traitors! We are innocent! Do not let us be killed for crimes which we have not committed!” The soldiers rushed to hold him back. Several shots rang out and two of the soldiers crumpled like marionettes with severed strings. The rest of the garrison raised their weapons and scanned the crowd. But Bret’s marksmen had swiftly melted away into anonymity. Commander Dirk’s voice rang out again. “It is Jaory who is guilty! He is not worthy to be a king! Join the Resistance. Fight for your freedom!” Abruptly, one of the soldiers near Commander Dirk lowered his weapon and fired. Andie gasped as Commander Dirk toppled off the platform to the ground. For a moment everybody seemed to be frozen. Then the original spokesman spoke hurriedly into his microphone. “Fellow subjects! Do not heed the ravings of that traitor!” he urged. But it was too late. The anger of the crowd had been aroused. Andie could hear it; a roar that started from the front and rolled toward the back of the square. Suddenly, people scattered through the crowd sprang into action. “Free the prisoners!” they shouted. The crowd took it up like a chant. “Free the prisoners! Free the prisoners!” She watched in satisfaction as the multitude pressed forward against the platform. The people Bret had planted were doing their job. The people of Kruundin City had at last been provoked into action.
A wave of humanity swept up and over the platform. The soldiers fired shots into the crowd without effect; it simply made the mob angrier. Andie watched them swallow up the soldiers on the platform and surround the prisoners. The flood reached the gates of Kruunde Fortress and pounded against them. Yet the building stood implacably still, silent and unanswering.
A man climbed to the top of the gallows, the microphone from the now silent spokesman in hand. Andie squinted in the sunlight, trying to make out the figure standing on the wooden beam. It was Bret himself. His voice boomed from the loudspeaker. “My brother Denicorizens! Jaory is powerful! But we are more powerful in numbers! Brothers
, to arms!”
The crowd roared in agreement. The tide had turned at last.
20. Decoy
Finally, the fight for Kruundin City was no longer one-sided. Bret, who had replaced Commander Dirk as the local Resistance commander, had his swelling Resistance forces employ guerrilla tactics against Jaory’s soldiers. They were so successful that Jaory’s men withdrew completely into the Fortress compound, and they only left in groups at night to attack the city. The next objective of the peasants-turned-soldiers under Bret’s command was to attack and take control of the utilities center. Now the water flowed freely to all the residents, and there were no interruptions in the power supply. It was a major victory but it didn’t solve the pressing problems of hunger and disease. Jaory still controlled the city wall defenses. Even though the Resistance ruled the streets, people were still trapped in a city that did not have enough food to feed them. With medical supplies nearly exhausted and the people weak from malnutrition, serious illness ran rampant through the neighborhoods. The elderly and the young children began to die. It made Andie sick at heart to see the covered carts trudging down the street headed for the city crematorium, a tangible reminder of Jaory’s cruelty. Everyone in the Resistance knew that they would not be able to sustain the fight much longer. Jaory had to be defeated, and they needed to do it quickly.
They mounted all the power they could against the Fortress but nothing succeeded in breaking the defenses of that impenetrable rock mound. It quickly became clear that it was protected by a strong nuclear shield. There was nothing more that the local Resistance could do without outside help. Andie suspected that without Jaory most of his supporters would quickly surrender or join them. After all, how many of the people really wanted a king who had no qualms about starving his subjects to death? However, they simply couldn’t get to Jaory. In response to Bret’s desperate pleas for help, Morek-Li had informed them of a new Armada weapon, which the Union had offered for their use. It would be able to directly attack a small area by using a homing device, the perfect way to eliminate Jaory without killing all the desperate, coerced people he used as soldiers. Still they were confronted by the original problem. They couldn’t get close enough to Jaory to use the homing device. As for the starvation and sickness, Morek-Li was trying to amass supplies for an air drop but it was going to take some time. Time was only on Jaory’s side. He must have hoarded a great deal of supplies in his Fortress. Andie knew they couldn’t hope to starve him out. Finally, one day in the time of dwindling hope, she received a note summoning her to see Bret. She made her way to his home in the full light of morning slowly, weak from her lack of food.
“Hello, Bret,” she greeted him, careful not to step on the books and stacks of paper that littered the floor as she crossed the dim room to his desk. The windows were shuttered leaving the room barely lit. Bret did not look up. He was immersed in writing yet another sheet of correspondence.
“Bret,” she spoke again softly. His eyes darted up at her and then back to the paper. “You wanted to see me?” she prodded. Finally he spoke, though his pen did not pause.
“I am writing Morek-Li and asking him to authorize the Armada to attack Kruunde Fortress outright. It is the only way that we will be able to destroy Jaory.” His voice cracked, and he paused for a moment. “We can’t win against such a man, Sirra,” he continued. “There is no way we can lure Jaory or his troops from that Fortress. We can’t fight against walls nor penetrate that shield. Every day we lose more innocent lives to hunger and disease.”
For a moment Andie stared at Bret, her mouth hanging open in horror. If the Armada unleashed a full-scale attack on the Fortress from space, there would likely be no survivors. It would be nothing more than a flattened, smoking ruin. Even the neighborhoods nearby would likely be destroyed. Thousands of people would probably die.
“But Bret, what about the Armada’s new weapon? You will be able to direct it straight to Jaory’s location and attack only a small area around him,” Andie protested. There had to be some way they could get at the man. Anything was better than incinerating whole blocks of the city!
“We have sent spies to his side, but he allows no one but his trusted servants into his presence. I know we will lose many innocent lives but we must end this,” Bret explained wretchedly. “For the greater good of all Corizen, Jaory must be defeated. Already some of the Nobles take heart in his continued success and hope to retake the government.”
“Are you sure there is no other way?” pleaded Andie. “So many innocent people will be killed!”
“Well, there is one alternative,” Bret told her quietly.
Andie raised her eyes to him in hope. “An alternative? What alternative?”
“There is one person that Jaory may allow into his presence. One person who has eluded him for so long.” Suddenly, Andie realized what Bret had been leading up to all along.
Andie stepped back so quickly that she knocked a small table behind her to the ground. “Bret, you can’t possibly mean . . .”
“Think about it, Sirra.” Bret’s voice was determined now. He half-rose from his desk. “Jaory has been desperate to find you ever since you escaped from him ten years ago. He has not forgotten about you. And best of all, he is not going to be afraid of you. He will let you into his presence. I know he will!” he explained passionately.
“But Bret, I would be killed!” Andie objected. “What about my daughter?”
“Sirra,” he spoke calmly, his eyes holding hers, “your husband believed in freedom and died for it. Your mother-in-law also gave her life for this cause. Don’t you believe in it like they did? Think of the lives that will be saved! Once you are with Jaory you can trigger the receiver that will tell them where to direct the weapon. We will destroy the leadership that prevents us from peace and our freedom, yet still spare so many of the others!”
Andie couldn’t speak. Of course she wanted the Denicorizens to be free of this monster. Of course she believed in the cause of freedom that Randa and Laeren died to serve. But somewhere back in Roma, she had a little girl who was waiting, waiting, waiting for her mother to come home. Who would take care of Tiran? Wasn’t her first responsibility to her own child? But, she realized thoughtfully, she could trust Casey with Tiran’s life. He could probably even take Tiran back to her parents on Zenith. She would be taken care of no matter what happened to Andie.
Bret had been watching her silently while she thought it through, an emotion she couldn’t define in his eyes. Then he spoke again in a voice so low she could barely hear him. “There is no guarantee that you will get home alive to your daughter, Sirra. Not as long as Jaory remains in power. Please, you are the only one who can do this.”
Andie swallowed hard. Bret was right. As long as Jaory held out it was still impossible to go home. She was just as likely to starve to death as anyone else in Kruundin City. But still! To sacrifice her life and her future with her daughter! Could she do it?
“When?” Andie asked him shortly.
“As soon as we can get word to the Armada.”
He still stared at her sorrowfully.
“I hate to put this before you, Sirra. I know it is an awful choice to have to make. But all of those innocent lives. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that there had been a chance, slight as it may be, that we could have prevented it, and I didn’t even let you choose.”
Andie thought about it for a moment longer. What choice did she have really? If the Armada attacked the city, the Resistance would probably have some idea of the timetable and they might be able to spread the word, but even still, many innocent people would be killed. If the Armada didn’t attack they would all probably starve. She struggled inside for a moment and then thought of the Suze family, seeing the hungry faces of Daeren and Nord in her mind. She thought of Commander Dirk’s family, of the two small children now consigned to slavery in Jaory’s household. Last of all, she pictured the heav
ily laden carts of lost loved ones trundling down the street. In that instant she made her decision. Peace flooded through her body. Everything would be all right.
“You’re right, Bret. I will do it,” Andie decided.
♦
Firm as she was about her decision, Andie couldn’t help but fear what lay ahead of her. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy. And Tiran! Her heart nearly broke when she thought about her daughter. It caused her physical pain to think that she would never see Tiran grow to be a woman. Would she ever know what had happened to her mother? Yet Andie knew there was no other choice. The sacrifice had to be made.
Andie passed the next two weeks in a daze, hardly even noticing her hunger anymore. She wrote one final letter to her parents, one for Casey, and a very special one for Tiran herself and gave them to Bret with instructions to deliver them if something happened to her. It took so long for Bret to hear back from Morek-Li that eventually Andie began to hope that for some reason Bret’s letter had gone astray. But one stormy night Bret tapped on her door with the news that the Armada had accepted his plan. He placed a small black leather box in her hand. She lifted the hinged lid to find a silver object about the same size and shape as a small button. It was a round disk with a raised crystal front.
The Legend of Sirra Bruche (Roran Curse Book 1) Page 27