“We have traitors in our Congress,” I said. “Traitors across Europe. If we do nothing, Prussia will lay claim to the Continent, and from there, all of Africa and western Asia. Here is the report I have received from my spies.”
I gave him a duplicate of the sheet I had given Commander Ábraham. To that, I added a second sheet with details about further attacks planned in Frankonia, Austria, Catalonia, and Serbia. To these, I had added their probable dates, all of them within the next five days.
His reaction was less pronounced, but nevertheless I could tell the surprise and shock went deep.
“There is more,” I told him. “We must prevent an outbreak of war with the Nri Republic. They have a great deal of influence in Africa and Western Europe. I have word that radicals would like to assassinate Michael Okoye and lay the blame on us. They would do the same with the other members of the delegation. My proposal is this: we set a guard on the delegation, an obtrusive one. We also keep Mister Okoye in our prison another day or two. By then, we shall have taken the assassins into custody. I have further plans at work to make even this temporary delay more palatable.”
Lord Ó Cadhla offered me a grim smile. “You do? And would you share these plans with me?”
“No. I am sorry, my friend, but I cannot. But I should be happy to explain my reasons afterward.”
A lie, and he knew it. I could not tell him everything that had taken place this past night without betraying Gwen Madóc and her time machine. Nor the book that laid out all the dangers, including Lord Ó Cadhla’s execution by radicals when he protested the military law advanced by Lord Ó Tíghearnaigh and his generals.
Two obstacles dealt with. The most difficult yet to come.
I had arranged for this meeting to take place at two o’clock, in an audience chamber situated in a remote wing of Cill Cannig. A little-used corridor led from here to the prison, but few knew about the connection. If this interview went badly—and I had no way to predict its outcome—I should want it.
Lord Ó Tíghearnaigh was the first to arrive. My steward was in attendance and offered us both a selection of wines and stronger spirits. Ó Tíghearnaigh accepted a glass of wine and had just taken his seat when my steward announced Lord Ó Rothláin’s arrival.
“My lords,” I said to them. “Please sit. I have a few questions for you.”
My questions were more like statements. I wanted to know when they had first conspired to secret meetings with the Prussian agents, and when those meetings had turned from simple bribery to treason itself.
“Impossible,” Lord Ó Tíghearnaigh breathed.
Lord Ó Rothláin regarded me with a cold stare. “You have no right to accuse us without evidence.”
“But I have evidence, which Commander Ábraham’s people have extracted from your private quarters. He acted with Lord Ó Duinn’s permission, and mine. If you wish the Congress to hear your complaints, I am happy to agree.”
I met their gazes with a smile. Lord Ó Rothláin shrugged, but Lord Ó Tíghearnaigh twitched nervously. If I were to believe the account from Breandan’s history book, Ó Tíghearnaigh had resisted Ó Rothláin’s bribes at first. It was only the last few months that he had succumbed to his own desires for a greater and grander army.
“Here is my proposal,” I told them. “I wish to include Anglia, Manx, Wight, and Cymru in my Union of Nations. Further, I wish to make provisions for their representation in our Congress.”
“You wish to grant the radicals their demands,” Ó Rothláin said.
“Perhaps. Perhaps they have the right of it. What about you, my lord? Did you make these ghastly devices available to the Anglian radicals because you believe in their cause? Or because you think to win favors with the Prussians?”
“It’s a lie,” Ó Tíghearnaigh burst out. “I never meant—”
“Shut up, you fool.”
If I had not already known which one had suborned the other, I would have now.
“I have the evidence to execute you both,” I said. “Or I could call a trial for you and all your family and associates. Or … I might offer you clemency. Support my proposal for the Dependencies, and I promise not to prosecute you.”
* * *
We argued for the remainder of that day and into the night. In the end, in the face of evidence, Lord Ó Rothláin agreed to persuade his faction to vote in favor of my plans. Lord Ó Tíghearnaigh proved less tractable, but in the end, he consented not to oppose me. On Tuesday morning, at ten o’clock, the Congress of Éire met to consider the matter of our Dependencies. Once, only once, that morning I dared to open my history book. The ink had blurred and the text shifted from one prophecy to another.
* * *
As the members of my Council and my Congress filed out of the chamber, I leaned back and closed my eyes. Victory. I hardly dared to admit the word, even in the silence of my thoughts. A temporary victory, I amended. Once the terror of these past few attacks had faded, these same congressmen would attempt to nibble away at my provisions for Anglia and its sister districts.
Gradually their footsteps receded and I was left in the silence of an empty room. I opened my eyes to the uncertain sunlight of a late March afternoon. Shadows flickered over the windows, as clouds drifted past the face of the sun, and there was a hint of rain in the air. I smiled. When was there ever not?
I stood—with amazing ease. I had expected to be utterly drained. So much accomplished in this morning, and yet so much more remained to be done. I was not fool enough to think we were finished with the future. It came to us step by step, fed by our desires and our ignorance. Even with Breándan’s gift, I could not control all the possible paths.
Coilín waited for me outside the chamber. “Your Majesty. Commander Ábraham reports the Garda has arrested Strong and his associates, and they shall have all the devices from Osraighe secured before nightfall. He has notified the other nations as well, so that they can take measures.”
“And our friends in Anglia and Wight and the rest of the Districts?”
“Watched and guarded, Your Majesty. There shall be no more accidents. Lord Ó Duinn himself has promised it.”
I resisted the urge to retreat to my private apartments to consult my history book. I had two more necessary tasks to accomplish, before I could grant myself the solitude and sleep I craved.
To Coilín, I said, “I shall require an official copy of the proclamation, concerning my Union, as well as unofficial copies of the proposed amendments with regard to the Dependencies. Send for a motorcar, and have the copies ready when I return.”
The hospital where the victims from Sunday’s attack lay on the northwest edge of the city. The chief surgeon himself met me at the front doors, having received word from my secretary to expect me. They had placed Aidrean Ó Deághaidh in one of the private wards, he explained, as he escorted me through the corridors. The commander had slept only fretfully these past two days, in spite of the laudanum.
“He escaped the blast itself, but a section of the stone wall crushed the knee. We were able to avoid amputation, but barely. Even so, I fear he will never recover full use of his leg. The worst danger now, of course, is infection. He must sleep before he can heal, Your Majesty.”
We had just arrived at Aidrean’s room. “A quarter hour is all I ask,” I said. “No longer.”
The man withdrew. I entered alone and shut the door behind me.
The air was heavy with the scents of soap and antiseptic. A whispery breeze from a half-open window, however, brought with it a trace of damp earth, and the first ripe scent of the approaching spring.
Aidrean lay motionless on his bed. Bandages swathed his head and half his face. One leg had been braced and splinted. As I moved toward him, I took in more details of his injuries. The purpling bruises, the swollen jaw. The one hand lying limp by his side, encased in bandages almost to the fingertips. His dark complexion was gray in the sunlight, and he breathed unsteadily.
Oh, my friend.
&n
bsp; As I approached his side, his eyes fluttered open.
“My Queen.”
His voice was hardly more than a whisper. I gathered his hand loosely in both of mine. “My friend. I have come with good news. And a request.”
He listened quietly as I recounted everything from the past day. About Breandan Ó Cuilinn, dead and alive. About my strange journey into the future, the book of history that foretold Éire’s destruction and the rise of the Prussian dictatorship. The actions we had taken to undo that future. To everyone else I had lied, but to Aidrean Ó Deághaidh I could do nothing but tell him the truth.
“They shall demand you open the time roads,” he said, when I described the outcome of my conference with Congress and Council. “Ó Tíghearnaigh…”
“Ó Tíghearnaigh and Ó Rothláin are aware I shall keep a watch on them. No one except you and I and Gwen Madóc know about Doctor Ó Cuilinn’s book—not even Lord Ó Cadhla. For all they can tell, I have my own company of secret spies.”
Aidrean laughed softly. “My Queen, you are…”
“Incomparable,” I said with a smile. “But I promised to keep this visit to a quarter hour, and I must ask you now my great favor.” I hesitated. “What I ask is not fair, but I have never treated you fairly.”
His fingers curled around my hands. “We are both servants of Éire. What is this favor?”
I gave myself a few moments, considering how to best phrase my thoughts. “The surgeons tell me your leg is badly injured, and you will need many months to recover. That is one thing. Another is that we have evaded immediate disaster, but we must be vigilant. We have not cured the sickness and hatred and violence, we have only temporarily bandaged the wounds. So. I want you to return to Cetinje and your family. Let a few months pass, then apply to me to relinquish your post as chief of the embassy. You will remain in Cetinje, however. You have friends there already. From time to time, you might visit other cities to consult physicians about your health. Along the way, you will make new friends.”
“A spy, then?”
I heard the faint edge to his words. I smiled. “I told you this was a great favor. No, I don’t want a spy, but I do want you to be my trusted eyes and ears. Listen to what people say in the markets and cafés and in the streets. Watch for the danger signals. I shall never have a book from the future again. Will you do this for me? For Éire?”
He sighed and stared upward at the ceiling. I waited patiently as the clock ticked onward through the minutes. “I will do as you ask,” he said at last. “I … I’ve grown accustomed to the sunlight in Montenegro. And I would like to spend more time with Valerija and my daughters.” The tension in his mouth eased into an almost smile. “I might even take up mathematics again.”
* * *
The sun was slanting behind the rooftops of Cill Cannig when I returned. My secretary waited for me with a sheaf of papers, wrapped in a leather case and tied with ribbons. “The proclamation and the transcripts you requested, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Coilín.” I took the papers from his hands. “Where is Mister Okoye?”
“In the south orchard. The Constabulary made a search before he entered the grounds. He is safe, Your Majesty.”
I nodded and continued around the palace, down the flight of flagstone steps and through a wrought iron gate. Beyond the formal gardens, past the newly greening lawns, another gate brought me into the orchard my great-great-grandmother had commissioned, when she first assumed the throne. Apple trees stood in rows, their bare branches like stiff gray brushstrokes, but I could see the knobs where leaves would bloom within the next month.
I picked my way down the stone path between the trees. Okoye was not in sight, but I suspected where he’d gone. When I came to the next fork, I took the one that curved away to the left, between the trees, and down to a pool of water bordered by flat limestone boulders from Éire’s north. Birch and pine saplings blanketed the grounds. A rich ripe scent met me as I entered the green-lit copse. Here it was nearly twilight, but high above the skies were alight with the setting sun, and the pale walls of Cill Cannig were visible through the trees.
Just as I had guessed, Michael Okoye stood at the water’s edge, gazing at the dark expanse.
“Mister Okoye.”
He spun around.
So much had transpired in the six weeks since Thomas Alan Austen had died in the snow-drifted courtyard—murder and terror and a world tipping over into chaos.
“I have news,” I said. “And a request.”
His mouth twitched into a bitter smile. “You have demanded a great deal from me already. Why should I agree to more?”
“Because it concerns your homeland. Because it concerns Peter Godwin, who is dead.”
I motioned toward a stone bench, set underneath an elderly apple tree. Michael Okoye stiffened at the mention of Godwin. When I pointed again, he sat down with obvious reluctance and clasped his hands together tightly. “When did he die?” he asked.
“Four days ago. We believe it was nationalist radicals from Prussia. They wished to implicate the Anglian cause in the attack on Osraighe. The attack is why I had you arrested. Mister Godwin’s death is why I did not release you until today.”
He laughed soundlessly. “And I should be grateful for that?”
“No.” I took the seat beside him and untied the ribbons around the leather case. “My request has nothing to do with gratitude, only with the security of our nations. Here…” I laid the proclamation out before him with all its seals and signatures. “Anglia, Manx, Wight, and Cymru will each have a seat in the Union of Nations. And with these…” I spread out the record of the morning’s session. “… my Congress has agreed that each District shall have the right to elect representatives to Éire’s Congress.”
Quite a long time passed as Michael Okoye stared at the papers.
“And what is your request?” he said at last.
“It comes in two parts. That you present my proclamation to your fellow delegates and all the Districts. Once you have done so, I would like you to return to Cill Cannig, this time as my guest—my true guest. You understand,” I added, “that each District will have its own representative, and the others are not obligated to align themselves with Anglia’s wishes.”
Another laugh, just as silent, but this time colored with genuine amusement. “Yes, I know what you mean. There are times I believe Anglia would like to rule over the Districts, as much as Éire rules over them.” Then the humor leaked away and he stared pensively across the water. “But why ask me to come back? Why not one of the others?”
From a distance came the trill of birdsong, and the whisper of a breeze amongst the trees. Though I knew my guards stood watch around this dell, I had the sense of a strange and special intimacy that I might never capture again. Honesty for honesty, I told myself. Trust for trust.
“Because I have a need for hard truths,” I said, “however much I dislike them. Because I believe you have a sense of justice. Whatever representatives Anglia and the other districts elect, I should like to have your advice in days to come.”
He shook his head, but I knew this was not an answer. For the second time within the hour, I waited patiently as the sun ticked down behind the trees and the air shimmered gold and crimson with the dying sunset.
“I will,” he said quietly. “Not for your sake, or mine, but for those who come after us. I cannot say when yet—I must deliver your message to the Districts and speak with my friends first. After that, I must make arrangements with my family. But yes, before the year is over, I shall return. I promise.”
* * *
Two promises given. Two candles lit for the future.
I returned at last to my bedchamber. My maids undressed me and helped me into a nightgown and wrapper. They laid out a supper of hot soup and warm bread, built up the fire, then left me to the solitude I so badly needed.
Aidrean would remain in Éire another two months, according to the surgeons. Michael Okoye would depart
within a few days, carrying my offering of representation to his people. Soon Gwen and Síomón Madóc would dismantle their laboratory and return to their institute. In the next month or so, I would send a letter to Gwen and ask that she write to me from time to time about her experiments, but I would not depend on her answering. She and her brother were justly dubious about allowing me, and through me the kingdom of Éire, to know what possibilities they discovered.
I finished my supper and set the dishes aside. Sleep called out to me, but I was not yet done with the day. From the safe box behind my bed, I took out the history book Breandan had thrust into my hands in those last frantic moments. My pulse leapt as I confirmed that the paragraphs describing my assassination had vanished. So too Michael Okoye’s death. The Prussian Empire did not overrun Frankonia’s borders.
Neither did I know what events replaced those. The ink had blurred, the pages had turned blank or were missing. Whatever dangers lay ahead, I had no road map to avoid them.
But I remembered Michael Okoye’s promise. To myself, I made a vow.
We shall have our tomorrow. I swear it.
TOR BOOKS
BY BETH BERNOBICH
Passion Play
Queen’s Hunt
Allegiance
The Time Roads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BETH BERNOBICH is the author of three novels in her River of Souls series. The first novel, Passion Play, earned her a coveted RT Book Award for Best Epic Fantasy in 2010, and Publishers Weekly called the second book, Queen’s Hunt, “A masterful story of romance, honor, suspense, with plenty of history, geography, and mythology thrown in for good measure.” Bernobich lives with her husband and son in Connecticut. She can be found at www.beth-bernobich.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE TIME ROADS
The Time Roads Page 28