by Jaleta Clegg
"And you would make our world into one of yours."
"I just want to go home. If I have to help you remake your world to do that, then I will. I don't really care what you do with it."
"As long as we let you and your friends return and free the rest of the slaves while we're at it. And what of those who know nothing but slavery? Would they be happy without owners? We treat our slaves well. They are cared for, well fed, sheltered."
"But they're still slaves. They can't choose their lives."
"They say the first generation is the most trouble. Those bred in captivity are more docile."
"It's still wrong," I said stubbornly. I wasn't going to change her mind about slavery. "You're practically a slave yourself. You can't choose who you marry, where you go, what you do."
"And that is why we're going to change things." I saw the fire in her eyes, that she kept hidden so well. She smiled, a smile more calculating than even Mayguena's. I revised my opinion of who really held the power. "So we give the men a taste of being slaves. And then we live by the true Code. They've corrupted it, choosing height over strength, choosing beauty over intelligence. I've read the Founder's Code, the true one. It says nothing about height of body, only strength and intelligence. And dominance of will."
Shadita splashed her, chirping and burbling happily in the water. She squealed, the fires of revolution banked. I shivered inside, where she couldn't see. She was a fanatic and those were dangerous. What had I gotten myself into? What choice did I have?
None, if I wanted to survive.
Chapter 22
Mayguena returned late in the afternoon. Lilliasa spent her time working at the loom while I embroidered in the courtyard. I finished the phoenix and started on another piece, a pale pink that reminded me of sunrise. I picked out a tiny flock of golden birds swirling across one corner. They were the sparrows at the orphanage on Tivor where I'd grown up. I used to wake early just to watch them beyond the narrow window of the dormitory. I was jealous of their ability to fly. I was jealous of their freedom. I still was.
Mayguena brought Lilliasa into the courtyard with her, their arms full of packages. She set them on the bench next to me and spent a moment admiring the phoenix.
"I like this one," Mayguena said. "So fierce and yet so delicate. What is it?"
"A phoenix," I said. I was tired. I wanted to crawl away and wake up in a better place. "A mythical bird that bursts into flames every thousand years and is reborn from the ashes." I didn't tell her that my ship was named after the bird.
"I like the image," she said holding the scarf up to the sourceless light that filled the courtyard. "Edge it with red, there should be a length of it in the basket."
"Yes, des Shira," I said obediently.
She looked sharply at me. "You play your part almost too well." She lifted my chin, staring into my eyes. I pulled my face out of her grip. She laughed. "Still a spark of defiance, even after Reashay's treatments. Good." She turned away from me to dig through her packages. "I have a gift for you. I felt it was time to really show off your pet to advantage, Lilliasa. A living doll, and we have done nothing."
"What are you saying?" Lilliasa asked, her eyes narrowing.
"What use are dolls, if not to show off their mistress' fashion sense and wealth?" Mayguena held up an elaborate collar. It glittered with gems. "Turn around," she told me.
I turned, looking over my shoulder. She held something short and dark. She touched it to the slave collar I wore. It came apart. I caught it in my hands. It was so thin, so light, and yet so deadly. Before I could react, Mayguena had the more elaborate collar around my neck. She took the other from me.
"So plain," she said as she tucked it away into her things. "You should wear something more decorative."
I touched the twisted spirals of gold around my neck. It was still light and flexible, barely noticeable, except every time I moved I was reminded that I was slave.
"Don't look at me like that," Mayguena said. "It is a slave collar, true. If we removed it entirely, you would be marked. Our deception would end before it even began." She shifted my hand, pressing my finger to a barely detectable stud under the collar. "Press there and the collar is deactivated."
"You trust me not to murder you in your sleep?"
"I trust you not to try running away. You wouldn't go far without us. I trust you to help me. If you want your freedom."
"Does that include a way off this planet?" I asked. My finger pressed the tiny button. It latched partway down. I pressed again and it came back up.
"Perhaps," Mayguena said. "Lia, I sent a message to Tiryana accepting her invitation. It is time for you to begin celebrating your upcoming wedding."
Lilliasa made a face.
"Appearances matter, more than ever." Mayguena pulled a confection of green fabric from her bag and handed it to me. "You are going to flaunt your father's wealth at the same time we feel out who our potential supporters are. In four months, at the High Festival, we make our move. The Triad and the full Electoriate will be assembled there. Perfect for us to strike. They will not be expecting such a move."
"And my wedding is scheduled for two months after that," Lilliasa said.
"A wedding that will not happen, unless you've changed your mind." She took the second piece of my embroidery and held the pink up. The sparrows sparkled across it, scattered shapes of golden thread. "Try the dress on, Pooki," she said to me.
I wondered why I kept ending up in situations where I was expected to wear the oddest outfits. The dress was a swirling spiral of fabric, sheer and shimmering. I changed out of the dress I'd sewn and into the one Mayguena had bought.
"This scarf will make a perfect gift for the hostess," Mayguena said, holding the pink strip up to the light.
"Tiryana doesn't deserve it," Lilliasa pouted. "She's simply horrid."
"And you will be charming to her. She can be the key to over half the other estates on this continent. She has connections to Pyrulon. We need to think beyond Trythia, Lilli."
"Perhaps we could conquer Pooki's Empire and rule thousands of worlds."
"Perhaps. But only if you play your part."
"Yes, Mayguena. I will be ecstatic to be marrying Gyth. I will wax eloquent over their hideous dresses. I will overflow with praise for their wedding presents. And I will be sick in private."
"And I will make you the new ruler of this world."
"You and me and my slave, Pooki. The new Triad." Lilliasa laughed, low and long. It sent chills up my back.
"Except this time we are going to do it right, Lilli," Mayguena was too calm. They were both watching me as I tugged the dress, pulling it into place.
"I don't want to rule your Hegemony," I said.
"I was joking," Lilliasa said.
"I wasn't," Mayguena said. "You would be the natural choice, Lia."
"How do they choose rulers in the Empire, Dace?"
"Green is your color," Mayguena said. "Wear it tomorrow."
"Some are chosen by the people they rule, others are born to it, some are chosen in other ways." I carefully pulled the dress off and slipped the much simpler one back on.
"So many different ways? I would think it would only lead to confusion." Lilliasa toyed with her curls as she watched me. Mayguena listened, too, as she sorted through her other packages.
I did my best to condense my entire civics course into less than an hour. It wasn't too difficult, I'd spent most of my time in that class sleeping. I wasn't interested in governments, I was interested in flying.
"Let me see if I understand," Lilliasa said from her perch on the bed.
We'd moved into the bedroom where Mayguena was trying clothes on me. I felt like a child's doll. The packages she'd brought back were mostly for me. I wasn't flattered.
"Your Empire has an Emperor, the one who rules everything, except he doesn't," Lilliasa said. "And the Council of Worlds rules with him, only each sector that they represent has its own government that makes its own
rules. And those governments are all different. And their rules are all different." She sounded completely skeptical. "I think you're making this up."
"It would make more sense if I were." I stood on a chair with my arms out to the side while Mayguena checked the hem on a slender sheath of finely detailed brocade.
"Explain it again," Lilliasa said. She lay down, tucking a pillow under her while she studied me. Shadita bounced up on the bed beside her.
"The Emperor is hereditary, he's born to the position. He is the head of the Empire, except his power is limited. The Council of Worlds makes most of the decisions. Each of them come from a different Sector. Each Sector has its own government, so some delegates to the Council are elected, others are hereditary, others buy the position. It's up to the Sector government to decide. The Council makes the basic rules for the Empire. But each Sector has its own rules and laws on top of that."
"I still say you're making it up," Lilliasa said.
"Don't repeat it," Mayguena told me.
"So, tell me about the rest," Lilliasa said.
"The Patrol keeps the peace. It's under the command of the Emperor—"
"Except it isn't really," Lilliasa said.
"Tell us something useful now," Mayguena said. "How does your Empire work without slaves?"
That led to a discussion of economic theory, something I knew little about other than the experience I had from trying to keep my ship solvent and money in my pocket.
Trythia had a much different social and economic structure than anything I was even remotely familiar with. There were three classes. The highest, the rich and powerful that Lilliasa belonged to, ruled everything. They owned almost everything. They decided who had children and which marriages were sanctioned. The second level of society were those who ran the businesses. They supervised things. There were four of them on the staff at Lilliasa's father's mansion. One was in charge of the gardens and grounds. One was in charge of the house itself. One managed the food. Mayguena was the fourth. This class didn't own vast amounts of land or money, but they held a certain amount of control through their jobs managing everything else. The lowest class within the Trythians were those who did the actual labor. Mostly they did work too sensitive to trust to slaves. Lilliasa's father, des Tuarik, had thirty-seven working for him just on his estate.
Slaves were an interesting part, at least economically. They were used for work that could be done easily enough with automated equipment. The Trythians took a perverse pride in having things done by hand, at least by a slave's hand, such as the scarves Mayguena had me embroider. A machine could produce one much faster and probably stitch it finer, but it was the hand labor that made it such a prized item. I could understand that, at least partially. Hand crafted goods were always a better bet for cargo than their mass-produced counterpart. Part of it was the uniqueness of the items. But using slave labor to produce such goods made it hard for me to accept. The goods I purchased came directly from the maker. Slaves were paid only in food and shelter and whatever their owners deigned to give them. Trythia could function well enough without slaves, at least economically. They were a status symbol, though, a measure of a man's wealth and power. Raiding for slaves was part of their culture. Changing that would require changing the mindset that allowed slavery in the first place.
That was beginning to look like an impossible undertaking. Even Mayguena and Lilliasa could not see the truth of slavery. In their society, the strong survived and bred. The weak were used by the strong. It was the way of things. They wanted to change the definition of strong, not change the system that produced such inequality.
"But if you redefine acceptable traits, you are merely redefining the rules, not changing anything," I said.
Lilliasa gave me a look that said she thought I was stupid.
"So what would you have us do?" Mayguena handed me an armful of clothing to hang in the closet. The dresses were quite a few inches shorter than everything else in the closet.
"Change the fundamentals. Quit defining who is strong and who is desirable."
"And let chaos reign?" Lilliasa asked.
"And then how would we choose rulers? How would we keep our race strong and healthy?" Mayguena watched me as I shook out wrinkles.
"I don't know. I do know that as long as you treat some members of your society as less than equals, someone will want to revolt and change the system."
"Are you really that discontent as a slave?" Lilliasa asked me, probing again. "We provide you with luxurious surroundings, clothing that most women would beggar themselves to own."
"It's still a prison. You said you'd give your life for freedom, Lilliasa. I'd give mine to have my freedom back. I don't want fancy clothes. I want my ship. I want to be able to choose when and where I go. I don't want to grovel for anyone. Not even the Emperor demands that."
"We have four months," Mayguena said. "We will start small and see what changes we can effect."
That closed the discussion for the night. Mayguena told me to embroider more scarves as fast as I could. I stayed in my corner working on another flock of sparrows until the lights were dimmed.
The next day I spent the morning sewing borders on the three I had finished. The sparrows were simple, quick to embroider. Mayguena and Lilliasa admired them just as much. They spent the morning doing things to Lilliasa's hair and choosing her dress for the afternoon. We were invited to a grand party halfway across the continent. We would be staying overnight. Shadita's things had to be packed along with several large cases of Lilliasa's things. Mayguena and Lilliasa both claimed it was all essential. I said nothing. It wasn't my place to question them on that issue. Or any. Every time I moved I felt the weight of the slave collar around my neck. But it had a bypass circuit. I was itching to ask Mayguena to give me the control stick and my old collar to disassemble. I kept my mouth shut and my fingers from itching too much. Reashay had taught me a lot about self control.
We were finally ready to leave after a light lunch. Lilliasa's father had arrived home only that morning. He sent word that he approved of her trip.
"It makes him look good," Lilliasa said and pulled a face after the screen was blanked.
"You," Mayguena said to me, "will be primarily responsible for Shadita. See that she has long walks in their gardens."
"Noting where the slaves are kept?" I asked.
"Precisely," Mayguena said. "I am hoping there will be those among the humans that you will be able to contact." Part of our discussion the other night had revolved around the Patrol. Mayguena knew that most of the humans captured so far were part of a military force. Thanks to Lowell, the barracks stories about me were told in every Patrol compound and ship in the Empire. They didn't know my face, but they would know my name.
"We will find an excuse for you to slip out later and make contact," Mayguena continued. "They are to create a disturbance on the night of High Festival, when their owners are gone. If they escape, so much the better. After we have taken control of the Electoriate and the Triad, they will be pardoned and granted their freedom."
I had my doubts about that, but I kept my mouth shut. Mayguena had no idea of the force she was unleashing.
"Just to be certain." She handed me a short black box, barely longer than my shortest finger and as wide as two together. "They must hide it until that night. If they use it earlier, they will die. You must make them believe it."
I held in my hand the key to the collars. "They are supposed to hide this for four months? There isn't anywhere for a slave to hide anything."
"I don't have contacts in Tiryana's staff," Mayguena said. "And this is the only chance we will have to visit her. They must find a way to hide it."
I nodded, accepting her explanation. There had to be ways. The trick was to keep the slaves from moving too soon.
"Four months, the first night of High Festival," Mayguena repeated.
"They will understand," I promised. I slipped the box into the front of my gown. It hid the box ef
fectively enough.
"The flyer is waiting," Lilliasa said. She picked up the first scarf I'd made and swirled it around her shoulders. "I haven't felt this alive in years, not since I hid in the gardens all night."
"And gave me a heart attack trying to find you before your father realized you were gone." Mayguena smiled indulgently at Lilliasa.
"I was seven, May," Lilliasa said and returned the smile.
Lilliasa swept out of the room, Shadita draped over her arm. Mayguena followed, carrying one small case. I was left with two big cases and one small one for Shadita. I tugged them into motion and followed my mistress and her companion out of the mansion.
The flyer was small, sleek and expensive. The luggage filled the space provided for it. I got to sit on the floor of the passenger compartment and try to keep Shadita from biting anything.
The trip was long. I was cramped and irritable long before we landed. I kept my comments inside and played the part of the docile slave. Shadita let out a chirp of sheer joy when the door was finally opened. She took off running, her chubby legs pumping under her thick coat of hair. I ran after her, catching up to her when she paused to sample a shrub at the edge of the landing pad. I slipped her leash on and let her browse.
Lilliasa was effusively greeted by a woman slightly older and quite a bit taller. The woman's voice was shrill and carried a long distance.
"Lilliasa des Tuarik, what an honor," she squealed. "Welcome, welcome. The news of your wedding was quite a surprise, but how wonderful for you. Numarik des Gyth is quite a catch."
I rolled my eyes where only the bush could see. The woman dragged Lilliasa away, clutching her arm and continuing her congratulations in a voice that would have carried over the loudest engine. Mayguena signaled me to bring Shadita. I tugged the leash, Shadita popped at me. She took one final bite of the bush before she allowed me to lead her away. I didn't have to worry about the luggage. There were silent servants to carry it. I judged them to be Trythians. They were almost two feet taller than me.