“I’m sorry,” she said at last, her voice filled with emotion. “I never quit in the arena until it was over. I can only tell you now that for me, this fight is not over. I will not quit until I have done all that I can.”
Turning away, she limped from the room, leaving them quarreling and shouting behind her. As her eyes blurred with tears, she dragged herself wearily upstairs to her room and locked herself inside.
It was a small space, containing only a cot, a tiny table with a lamp cube, and a stool. The window was boarded up, allowing no light to escape outside.
She stood there a moment, then sank onto the stool and wept.
A soft tapping sounded on her door. “Goldie?” asked Elrabin. “You okay in there?”
Ampris lifted her head. “Please leave me alone,” she said.
“You been doing your best,” he said through the door. “Better than anyone else. Don’t you lose hope on us now.”
“Thank you,” she said flatly. “Please go.”
He waited, but she only sat there, locked away, with tears running silently down her muzzle. Finally she heard the soft patter of his departing footsteps. She sighed and rubbed her face.
All along she’d had doubts. She’d managed to hide them because she needed to look strong in order to keep the others encouraged. But now there was no more reason to hide. Even her own sons thought her wrong, a coward.
Perhaps her vision was a false one, she thought, her mind crowded with doubts. Perhaps she’d been deluding herself for years, believing in something that could never be. After all, who was she to think herself a leader?
And what kind of genetic demon had Ehssk bred into Nashmarl, that he could be so cruel?
She clutched her Eye of Clarity, so tired and disheartened she wanted to give up everything. Perhaps, she thought bitterly, it would have been better if she’d just let the patrollers kill her in the street this afternoon.
But the Eye began to glow inside her hands. She turned out the lamp cube and cupped the Eye on her palm, watching its white, eerie light grow brighter until it illuminated the small room.
The pain in her heart felt heavy, and she was so very tired. Yet as she watched the light, she began to see a city before her, as though the boards on her window had been taken away.
It wasn’t Vir that she saw, however, but a foreign city. One she had never seen before.
She saw Foloth, grown tall and adult, with broad shoulders and lines of strength in his face. His dark eyes looked ambitious and empty, as though he had never learned compassion. He was standing on the steps leading into a building, gazing out at the distance.
A short distance from Foloth, she saw another figure walking slowly, looking up at him. It was Nashmarl, also grown tall and broad-shouldered. There were shadows in Nashmarl’s face. He looked haunted and unhappy, as though facing a decision he did not want to make.
She wanted to reach out to both of them, yet she seemed to be frozen in place. And a ring of certainty opened in her mind. She saw her sons staring at each other, with Foloth on the steps and Nashmarl at the foot of them. They were divided on some issue, probably on opposite sides of it. It was an issue they both cared passionately about, and eventually they would work it through. Both her sons would live long and achieve much in their lives. Foloth would experience many triumphs, although he would never be kind and he would never know lasting joy. Nashmarl would experience great tragedy, and it would change his life forever, perhaps for the better.
The vision faded as though a mist had filled the room, then the light within the Eye was gone, and Ampris sat there on her hard stool, alone in the darkness. She felt calmer now, her spirits restored somewhat. She realized that this was the bleakest moment, the hour of greatest darkness before the dawn. They were so close now to achieving freedom. It was almost within their hands, and she knew that the risks, the sacrifices, and the suffering were worth what they could accomplish if they did not falter now.
Israi had unleashed her worst on them. But she had not broken them yet.
Ampris’s sons had a future, one she had just seen, provided she could give it to them.
She stood up and lit her lamp cube again. She went to the cooler, where the vials of stolen virus were stored, and drew out a slim tube carefully prepared by Jobul. Calmly, her mind smooth and clear now, she poured the tube’s contents into her battered metal cup and mixed it with water. She stood holding the cup a moment. It was time for the greatest risk of all. The last phase of her plan was ready to be set in motion.
Tipping back her head, Ampris drank.
In the morning she went downstairs, wondering if anyone had remained to finish their work.
Foloth was still asleep, but Nashmarl was wandering around the basement meeting room like a lost soul, restless and clearly unhappy.
“Good morning, Nashmarl,” Ampris said to him.
He shot her a dark look and shame filled his eyes, but he ducked his head and turned away from her with his shoulders hunched. She sighed, wishing he could learn to make things less hard on himself. Walking up to him, she put her hand on his rigid shoulder.
He flinched, and sorrow touched her heart at his rejection.
“I’m sorry you think I am a coward,” she said.
He kept his back to her. “You weren’t a long time ago. Everyone says so. Why did you change?”
She sighed, refusing to prove herself to him. “There are more kinds of courage than one. Maybe you’ll learn that someday.”
“Foloth said you went out yesterday to fight the patrollers. Did you kill any?”
She backed her ears. “Bloodshed is not the issue in this fight, Nashmarl. We are trying to leave peacefully.”
“We can’t!” he shouted, whirling around to face her. “Look what they did to us. We can’t just sneak away from that.”
“We will go without battle,” she said firmly and watched all the fire die in his face, smoldering deep with resentment. “But we will go.”
“No we won’t,” he said, and his young voice held disillusionment. “They’re going to kill all of us because you won’t let us fight. You won’t let us release the virus on them. You just keep poisoning our volunteers to scare the Viis. Well, it doesn’t work, Mother! It doesn’t work at all.”
“Nashmarl, that’s enough!” Elrabin said sharply from behind Ampris.
The cub’s face flushed red and he ran upstairs, slamming a door.
Ampris met Elrabin’s gaze as he crossed the large empty room. He’d been outside. Soot streaked one side of his face and he had a rope slung over his shoulder.
Swiveling back his tall ears, he glowered a moment at the ceiling. “That cub needs the hide beat off him, see? He ain’t got no business talking to you that way, Goldie.”
“If I beat him, his opinion of me would not change,” she replied quietly and hugged herself. The room seemed cooler than usual. Or perhaps there were other reasons she was feeling a chill.
Elrabin shrugged off the rope and fetched himself a cup of water from the communal pail. “I been out checking. Patrollers made more sweeps of the streets last night, but they didn’t pick up much. Most folk be hiding real low now. Until the Viis start bombing or pulling ’em out of the buildings, they ought to be safe.”
Ampris nodded. “We’re going on with the last phase of the plan, Elrabin.”
He stared at her, and his shoulders slumped. “You’ve taken it, then.”
“Yes.”
“I—I was hoping you’d back out. Figured maybe after last night you wouldn’t.”
“I don’t quit,” Ampris said quietly. “I never have.”
He sighed, straightening his shoulders. “Then I need to get the Rejects in place. Ain’t found Harthril yet. Figure he got killed yesterday.”
She closed her eyes in regret. “Has Luax gone searching for him?”
“Yeah. This be it, I guess.”
She nodded. “I need a link.”
“Who you calling? The Bureau?”
>
“Israi.”
Concern flared in his eyes, and he growled. “She’s done with you. We agreed that you would—”
“The link. Please, Elrabin.”
Grumbling, he fetched a hand-link for her. “You get any sleep last night?”
“A little,” she said and punched in the codes. There were beeps and delays, all designed to make her traceable. Ampris kept the time running in her head, knowing she didn’t have much to say, if Israi would ever get on the channel.
Finally, the Kaa’s golden face appeared on the hand-link’s tiny screen. Israi looked haughty and magnificent. She was wearing a collar of beautifully worked gold, and jewels dangled on little chains from each of her rill spines. Her gown was of a deep shade of purple. It made her skin glow. Her eyes held a light of ruthless triumph.
“Have you called us to surrender yourself, Ampris?” she asked.
“Yes,” Ampris said. “If you will let the other abiru go free.”
“Why should we do that?”
“It’s me you want now, Israi. I’ve embarrassed and outmaneuvered you. Surely it’s important for you to show the empire that a single Aaroun cannot beat you.”
“We think it is the slaves who have been beaten,” Israi said smugly. As she spoke, she popped a chilled plumot into her mouth and chewed.
Ampris could see the beaded condensation on the perfectly ripened fruit. The sight of it made her mouth water. How long had it been since she’d eaten anything so delicious? Their food was plain and of poor quality, carefully allotted in small portions, and designed to fill bellies rather than supply a full range of nutrients.
“You may kill the abiru,” Ampris said, pulling her attention back to the matter at hand, “but you have not broken their spirit. I’m asking for their freedom in exchange for me.”
Israi pretended to consider it, but already her eyes were gloating. She swallowed her mouthful and flicked out her tongue. “You put a high price on yourself, Ampris.”
“I was once the pet and companion of the sri-Kaa,” Ampris said with pride. “I was once the champion of the arena. Now I lead the Freedom Network. I am worth a great deal.”
“Would you surrender publicly? On live vidcast?”
“Yes.”
Elrabin twitched and gestured frantically, but Ampris held up her hand to keep him silent.
“And will you admit that your plague is a hoax concocted by your rebellion? Will you urge all infected abiru to turn themselves in for medical treatment?”
“I will come and tell the truth about the rebellion,” Ampris said. “I will give myself up if you will let the others go.”
“Very well,” Israi said. She cut off sound and turned aside to consult with someone offscreen.
Elrabin gripped Ampris’s arm. “What you doing?” he asked, horrified. “You’re supposed to give back the viruses. That was the deal we planned. If you go in without ’em the patrollers will kill you the moment you show yourself.”
The sound came back on, and Ampris shook him off. “Where do we meet?” she asked Israi.
“Get off. Get off,” Elrabin muttered anxiously. “You been on too long. They gonna trace us this time.”
“Where?” Ampris asked Israi.
“The Plaza of the Kaas,” Israi replied.
Ampris cut off the link, but from outside she could hear the sound of approaching shuttles.
Elrabin was swearing, and she gripped him. “Get everyone out.”
“Ain’t many folk left.”
“Get them out now. Leave the equipment. Its purpose is finished.”
“But—”
“I’m going,” she said, picking up her robe from the back of a chair.
He reached out and stopped her. “You wait,” he said angrily. “No way you going without me. The plan was—”
“The plan—my part of it—has been changed,” she said. “Pass the word to everyone. The exodus is coming. Everyone should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Tell them to wait for the signal.”
“But, Goldie—”
“Mother! A patrol shuttle is coming!” Foloth said, running downstairs, with Nashmarl right on his heels. Then Velia appeared, assisting the wounded Quiesl. Tantha limped after her, shepherding her cubs along.
Ampris stared deep into Elrabin’s worried eyes. “Take care of them, my old friend. Take care of yourself.”
“Wait!” he said desperately, but Ampris wrapped herself in the robe and limped down to the access tunnel.
She was surprised to see that Luthien’s Kelths were still guarding it. One of them was holding a small scanner and had his ears backed. “Trouble coming in.”
“We’ve been traced,” she said. “Help Elrabin get everyone out of the building. Don’t save the equipment. Don’t worry about the viruses. If the patrollers break into the cooler, they’ll regret it.”
Nodding, the Kelths trotted for the meeting room, and Ampris went on through the tunnel.
Emerging onto the street, she put up the hood of her robe and ducked along the back of the building into an alley. Behind her, she could hear the shuttle landing and the barked commands of the patrollers. Her heart squeezed in worry, but she kept going.
She had faith in Elrabin’s abilities to get the others to safety. Her own path now lay elsewhere.
It took a long time for her to walk across the city. When she and Elrabin had first planned this, Elrabin was going to steal a skimmer and fly her to the rendezvous. But Ampris knew it was better that she go this way, alone. In these empty streets, a stolen skimmer would have been picked up by patrol sniffers right away.
The security field was firmly activated between the ghetto and the Viis districts of Vir, but Elrabin had taught all of them how to get past it. Although Ampris found her energy giving out, she kept trudging along. Very few folk were out this morning. The stench of death and smoke lay thick over the ghetto, reaching even into some of the Viis neighborhoods. Public transport was shut down, but Ampris could not use it anyway without a registration implant.
Panting and weary, she reached the Avenue of Triumph sometime after midday. Normally she would have been roasting under her long robe and hood, but right now she still felt cold. Her leg ached, and her entire body urged her to stop and rest. But there wasn’t time to rest. Ampris pressed on.
She heard music ahead of her, stirring Viis military marches, along with the muted cheering of a small crowd.
As she drew closer to the Plaza of the Kaas, a handsome memorial in the city’s center, she saw a moderate turnout of Viis citizens clustered around a large dais. Palace guards in green cloaks stood alert with drawn weapons. Patrollers in black body armor and helmets manned the crowd barricades. So far the crowd did not look sizable enough to cause any trouble.
Ampris looked, but saw no abiru or Rejects at all. Selected volunteers were supposed to be here, but it looked like her Freedom Network had lost hope. Her spirits sank, but she gave herself an angry shake. After having struggled so long and hard to get here, Ampris wasn’t going to give up. She would see this through to the bitter end.
On the dais, beneath the floating vidcams, Israi sat with her chancellors and ministers. Ehssk the Butcher was present too, wearing a vivid coat. No doubt he was there to bolster public confidence.
Ampris hesitated a moment, feeling very tired. Her courage failed her momentarily, but she backed her ears beneath her hood and forced herself forward.
“There she is!” shouted a patroller, pointing at her.
Members of the crowd screamed and backed away from her. Others were pushed aside by the patrollers who ran forward to surround her.
Ampris stopped, her heart pounding fast, as they loomed over her, each one pointing a side-arm right at her. This, she thought, was the moment of decision. They might simply shoot her down here and now.
Quickly she lifted her head. “I have come to confess!” she called out.
Israi heard her and leaned forward to speak to one of her guards.
The patrollers closed in around Ampris. With their visors down, she could not see their faces, but she could smell the sourness of their skin. They were hostile, perhaps even a little frightened, and eager to kill her.
She limped forward, careful to make no threatening moves.
The palace guard stopped her well short of the dais and scanned her for weapons. “She’s clean.”
The patrollers gestured for Ampris to climb onto the dais. She hugged herself a moment, then forced herself to stand more erect as she looked at the Kaa, so resplendent in a wide-skirted gown made of cloth of gold. It was embroidered richly and glittered with costly yellow tafir jewels sewn across the bodice. She wore a gossamer-fine scarf of gold-colored silk about her head and draped across her shoulders. Her slippers were coated with jewel dust. From head to foot, she glittered with a radiance that was dazzling in the bright sunshine.
In contrast, Ampris stood there in a dusty robe of badly dyed cloth woven on Aaroun looms, a combination of imperfect handiwork and poor materials.
The council members seated on either side of Israi looked sleek, handsomely dressed, and well-fed. Ampris noticed how they all stayed behind the force field. That concerned her. She had to find a way to lure Israi from behind that barrier.
The captain of the guards saluted Israi. “The prisoner is before your majesty.”
Israi did not spare Ampris a glance. She gestured gracefully. “Let her stand where she is. Ehssk?”
The scientist rose to his feet and stepped onto the circle on the dais, which activated both cams and loudspeaker. “Citizens of Vir,” he said loudly, his voice carrying across the Plaza. “The so-called plague is nothing but a hoax, created by this Aaroun rebel named Ampris. No Dancing Death has reached our city. There have been no outbreaks. All Viis citizens are safe and will be kept safe. The abiru-fever affects only abiru. It cannot harm you.”
A scattering of applause prompted him to bow like an entertainer. Smirking, he resumed his seat.
Ampris stared at Ehssk, feeling the fur on her neck bristle as she remembered all the degrading torture he had put her through. He was a fool and a charlatan. Under the name of research he had tormented and killed countless victims, including her newborn daughter. Ampris would never forgive him for that. She had vowed to kill him, and now he was within her reach.
The Crystal Eye Page 39