Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Pel shook his head and argued, “No. I don’t think most of us think that way. I don’t believe the High King really does, either. I think he was just presented with a version of the facts that twisted reality to make you seem like the enemy.”
Her dark eyes met his. “We’ve been treated like that from the beginning.”
“Being without Fealty is rather antithetical to our way of life,” Pel acknowledged.
The citizens pledged to the ruler, and the ruler protected the citizens.
“But does that mean we can’t be traded with?” Tama challenged. “Does it mean that we have to be hunted down? What if we were treated like the rest of the United Realms, if we were able to travel and trade and barter? What would be the danger in that?”
What happened if citizens of the United Realms didn’t want to follow the long-established structure? That’s what the exiles were, weren’t they? And people like Pel’s father were working extra hard to obliterate them.
“I assume the current rulers are worried that there would be a realms-wide revolt. In a worst-case scenario, it could lead to a breakdown of the peace and prosperity we currently enjoy. I imagine some are worried that it would lead to a weakening of the current power structure.”
Pel might generally feel like the least-desired prince in the United Realms, but the fact remained that he was a prince. He wasn’t toiling daily in the fields, fearing for his livelihood if the embankments didn’t hold, or paying taxes to the Crown.
Tama deflated a little. “We left because we felt we had no choice. We thought it was the only way to protect ourselves.”
Pel knew that some considered them cowards for fleeing the war, but he didn’t blame anyone who’d wanted to get away from the death. If Queen Ralexa hadn’t managed to demand peace, how long might the fighting have gone on?
“And now?” Pel asked.
She looked suddenly older, wan and tired. “And now we’re dying on our side of the mountains, like we only prolonged the inevitable.”
“Why are you dying?” Pel demanded.
This was exactly what Tor had proposed, talking to the exiles, and Pel wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. (Tor would be so annoyed to have missed it.)
“The better question is why aren’t we dying.
” Tama sounded defeated. “Illnesses that spread too quickly and too virulently for us to heal. Too much rain here in the east, and too little further west. Extreme cold. Extreme heat. If you can conceive of it, we’ve been experiencing it.
It’s only been getting worse. We’ve barely been managing with dwindling livestock and wildlife and what supplies we can… find.”
Pel waved this aside. It sounded like their situation was dire, and up until recently, though it had had consequences for the Tondians, they were relatively minor.
“Did you consider asking for help?” Pel asked.
Tama snorted, her expression derisive. “From who? We’re likely to be killed on sight.”
“Not by everyone,” Bav corrected sharply.
Tama’s expression softened, and Pel upgraded the likelihood that they were involved in more than sex.
“Not by everyone,” she agreed. “But the people that we can trust are few and far between, and lately, it’s been getting… worse.”
Although her words were strong, she dropped her gaze. Bav and Pel met one another’s eyes and then looked back at her, confused.
“Worse how?” Bav asked.
Tama hesitated for a long moment before she ventured, “You know your father hates the exiles.”
Bav’s lips tightened slightly, but he said, “I thought we had a way of dealing with that.”
“What are you talking about?” Pel asked, looking between them.
“When exiles are captured, it… tends not to go well for them,” Tama said, like she was picking her words with care.
Pel grimaced, remembering that rumor he’d tried to dismiss. “You’re saying Father kills them, aren’t you?”
“Not since I took over the job,” Bav said.
Pel stared at his brother in complete incomprehension. “What?”
Bav made a face. “When Lara was ten, she accidentally saw Father kill an imprisoned exile. She confessed what had happened to me, and I eventually managed to convince Father that I wanted to take care of the problem for him. Thankfully, they aren’t caught often.
I sneak them out as often as I can. And I’ve been doing everything I can to ensure they aren’t caught to begin with. ”
Pel stared at his brother in astonishment. He’d had no idea this was happening right under his nose. Lara’s vow of non-violence made even more sense now.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Bav sighed. “I wanted to. But you were only seventeen when it started, and it felt wrong to involve you in something so terrible.” Meeting his eyes with his own somber brown ones, Bav said, “I know you’re an adult now and perfectly capable, but there was no point where it felt like I should suddenly implicate my baby brother in such a conspiracy. ”
Pel wanted to be annoyed, but he could see Bav’s point. He would have done everything to keep Lara out of something like this. And he was pretty sure the first surge of indignation and upset was as much habit as anything else. It was behavior Pel was going to have to unlearn.
“Thank you for taking that on,” Pel said instead, burying the resentment. “I’m happy to help now.”
Bav opened his mouth, then closed it again and just nodded.
Maybe he was trying to keep the peace, too. Getting along for less than a day didn’t mean all of their issues were suddenly solved. But for the first time in a long time, Pel genuinely wanted them to be. And that meant—
He turned back to Tama.
“You said it’s been getting worse.”
She hadn’t explicitly said with King Forex, but she was the one who’d brought him up to begin with.
Bav looked sharply at Tama. “You didn’t say anything.”
She wouldn’t quite look at him. “People started to disappear from our side of the mountain. Just gone. We thought at first that they were sneaking into Filon or Tond, trying their luck away from our land. That’s happened occasionally over the years.
” She blew out a breath. “And then someone finally escaped. King Forex was forcing them to swear Fealty or die, then putting them to work in the mines.”
Pel and Bav both stared, stunned.
“He wouldn’t.”
They both said it, but neither of them sounded certain.
If King Forex thought so little of the exiles that he was willing to wipe them out, why wouldn’t he try to compel their Fealty first? Because that would make him stronger, and he hated to be the King of the smallest realm.
Putting them to work in the mines, presumably under strict supervision, helped lower the risk of rebellion and the story getting out. It still seemed like a terribly short-sighted plan to Pel, but then, he wasn’t convinced his father had ever been a planner.
Pel was definitely beginning to understand why the exiles felt their position was untenable.
“Was that why you were evacuating?” he asked.
Tama shook her head. “It was that awful raid. The people who died.” She met their eyes squarely, looking first at Bav, then at Pel. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but it wasn’t us, I swear.”
Pel frowned.
“Truly,” she assured him, voice a bit shaky. “I—”
He raised a hand. “I’m not doubting you. I’m wondering if Father could actually be underhanded enough to have staged the whole thing.”
He still didn’t think his father was a deep planner, but he’d been immensely frustrated about the exiles for years, and maybe that had inspired him to a moment of terrible cleverness.
Tama looked surprised and hopeful.
Bav added, “I’m afraid at this point, I wouldn’t put it past him, although I would have expected him to be more triumphant under the anger, not able to hide his satisfaction, you know?” He looked at Tama. “Are you sure it couldn’t have been an unsanctioned raid?”
She opened her mouth on what looked like a hot retort and then closed it again.
Emotions chased themselves across her face, too fast to read.
“I can’t absolutely swear to it. We have angry folk, too, who feel like the situation has to change, and they’re running out of patience.
But…” She shook her head. “It’s an awful risk, with repercussions that we saw first-hand.
I can’t believe anyone would think the benefits outweigh the risks, especially since we didn’t get any of the supplies. All it did was set people against us.”
Several Tondians had lost their lives—but all of the exiles had been put in danger. Pel could see her point.
“But if it wasn’t King Forex and it wasn’t us, who does that leave?” Tama asked.
They exchanged glances and shrugged, because it seemed that they had run out of possible culprits. They certainly hadn’t fully eliminated either group, but there were reasons that made it seem unlikely.
“Tondian rebels?” Pel suggested uncertainly after a moment. “Fed up with the raids and thinking this would bring about a definite resolution?”
Another set of shrugs. Another possibility, that was all.
“The problem,” Bav said, “is that whoever did it for whatever reason, it was a small group, and it’s now impacting a much larger one—a group, moreover, that has very few advocates.”
Tama’s eyes strayed to Tor, but she didn’t say anything.
It was Pel who said, “I believe I can speak for Tor when I say that he is categorically opposed to your wholesale slaughter. He doesn’t really care what rules are in place; he’s never going to support killing innocent people.
However, his mother put the peace accords together, and he may feel they’re best maintained as they are without risking one part tearing down the rest. Also, as you heard, it’s not like he’s in any position to convince anyone of anything right now. ”
“But you think he might be willing to try?” she asked carefully, her eyes gleaming with the hope she couldn’t quite hide.
“I think so,” Pel agreed.