All That Is Red (15 page)

“You’re going to punish them?” the girl asked, her words faint.

“Of course, I am! I saw most of them clearly with my own eyes. I’m not going to tolerate this ...” The boy stopped when he saw what the girl did next.

Denae got out of bed as fast as she could. She almost cried out with pain, but she managed to throw herself down at his feet. “Please,” she begged the astonished boy. “Please,
don’t punish any of them.”

“Why not? After what they did to you, they deserve it.”

“They’re my parents, my brothers and sisters; my family. Please, don’t hurt them.” Tears were falling ever faster down her cheeks.

“Your family?” The boy was as shocked as I was. “They did this to you?”

“It was my fault,” she said. “I brought this upon myself by loving him. Trigons and humans aren’t meant to mix like that, I knew that. And yet, I fell in love with him.
It was my fault.”

The boy helped her up carefully, being especially cautious with her right side, but Denae still gasped with pain.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

“Are you still going to punish them?”

“I won’t,” he said. “But I still want to talk to them.” Seeing the scared look on the girl’s face, he added, “I won’t do anything. I just want to
exchange a few words with them.”

The boy and I settled her back into bed as gently as we could. I gave her some more willow bark to chew. I didn’t know how well it worked, but she seemed to relax a bit after chewing it
for a while.

“Do you mind staying with her?” the boy asked.

“Not at all,” I said. “Just remember that these are all your people.”

“I know,” he said. “That’s why I want to talk to them.”

I hoped he would think his actions and words through before saying or doing something he would regret. However, at this point, I knew him well enough to know that nothing could deter or stop the
boy. Once he had a notion like this in his head, no one could stop him.

C
HAPTER
14

Hours passed before the boy came back. In the meantime, I gave a bit more of the oregano brew to Denae and the narcotic seemed to work well. When the boy returned, she was fast
asleep and he and I talked in hushed whispers.

“It went well.”

That was all he said when I asked him about the conversation with the girl’s family. I couldn’t be sure whether it actually did go well or if it went badly.

“Maybe I should talk to the people as a whole on this subject,” he finally suggested.

“I had thought the conflict between the humans and Trigons was at least subdued,” I said. “I know they still have different social circles, but that’s to be expected,
right?”

“I thought it was quieted down too,” the boy admitted. “But under the surface, it’s still there and it has always been there.”

“You have to do something about it,” I thought aloud. “If you don’t, this conflict between the people could cost us the war.”

“And our lives,” the boy added.

I had left that part out, not wanting to mention it, but the boy was thinking along the same lines.

“Why don’t they see that?” he asked. “They’re blind to the fact that we’re all on the same side against the White. We’re stronger together than we are
apart. That’s the reason why the humans and the Trigons came together in the first place, but they seem to have forgotten that now.”

“Why don’t you tell them exactly that?”

“I will.” He smiled at me. “You help me see things that are so completely obvious they are invisible to me.”

I tried to smile back at him. “Why don’t you go meet Gerrard or Devonport and arrange for an opportunity to speak then?”

“You really don’t mind staying here a little longer?” he asked.

“Of course not.”

The boy darted off again, but he came back within a few minutes.

“I take it they agreed.”

“I only talked to Devonport, but she thought it was a great idea. She said that she’ll talk to Gerrard about it, but she thinks that he’ll most definitely agree. According to
her, I could most likely talk this evening.”

“That soon? Devonport sure knows how to get results.”

The boy laughed. “That’s why we have her,” he said.

I pasted another smile on my face. It seemed that the boy, like everybody else, always expected an emotional response from me no matter what was said. The boy knew I couldn’t feel, yet he
was no different in expecting emotion from me. I still had to pretend around him. Even though it wasn’t as much as I had to pretend around others, it was still pretending. I guess he was only
human in subconsciously expecting that from me, but I wished he could learn not to need it.

Evening rolled around quickly, as the boy and I talked. Denae would sometimes join in on the conversation, but with her cracked rib making it difficult for her to breath, she more often stayed
quiet.

Sometime later, there was a knock at the door and I walked over to answer it.

“The General Gerrard, sir.” A human girl introduced Gerrard, as he strode in past her.

“I hope you didn’t forget about your talk tonight,” he said.

“So you agreed with Devonport?” the boy asked.

“Wholeheartedly,” the general replied. “And that’s the first and last time I’ll say that.” He and the boy chuckled. “Now come on. We don’t have
much time left. The people are already gathering outside.”

“Are you coming?” the boy asked me. I looked back at Denae.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” I asked her. “It wouldn’t be any trouble at all.”

“Oh, no. You should go,” she said.

“Are you sure?” I asked her one more time.

“Positive. Besides, I’ll probably sleep the whole time.” She smiled weakly.

“You have your answer,” the boy said and then motioned me to the door.

I looked back one more time, but the girl only flashed me another weak smile.

Gerrard was right in saying that the people had started gathering outside the boy’s quarters. There had to be hundreds there already. We squeezed past them to the front where Devonport had
put a few overturned wooden crates together to form a makeshift stage. I ended up standing between the two generals at the front of the crowd, while we all waited for the boy to mount the
stage.

“I’ve called you all here tonight to address a particular matter that has been brought to my attention throughout the time I’ve been here.” The boy began hesitantly at
first, but his words started to get stronger and meld together fluidly as he spoke.

“It’s come to my notice that we’ve forgotten why we all joined here in the first place. We’ve all banded together against the White, but for what? We came together to
secure a future. We came together to keep our emotions, to keep what makes us people.

“But the manner in which we treat of each other doesn’t exemplify this at all. Sure, I’m a human and you’re a Trigon. Sure, he’s a Trigon and she’s a human.
But what does that mean? It doesn’t mean that we’re not all people. We’re united by our emotions. We all feel and we’re all people.

“This war is a test for us all. It’s a challenge to see if we can put our differences aside and come together as one. He’s a human, she’s a Trigon, that doesn’t
mean anything anymore. We are all part of the Red cause and we have to rise up together to conquer the White. We’re stronger together than apart. Isn’t that why we came together in the
first place? Isn’t that what the former commander said?

“Do this for yourselves, for your children and family, and for the former commander. Put your individual species aside and come together as people. That is the only way we can stand a
chance against the White.”

When the boy was done, he stepped down from the makeshift stage to the sound of applause. He acknowledged it with a nod, as the former commander used to do.

Then General Devonport got up on stage to say the concluding remarks. “... So if there aren’t any questions, let’s get to work.”

There was a clamor, as everybody disbanded and started going off in their individual directions. However, one voice spoke above the rest. “Wait, I have one question.”

The crowd came back together to hear what the man had to say. He made his way to the front of the crowd, squeezing between Gerrard and myself.

“Well,” Devonport asked. “What is your question?”

“It’s for the commander,” he said.

The general stepped down from the stage as the surprised boy stepped back up once more.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Where’s Odessa?” the man demanded. “Where is my daughter?” The boy looked utterly shocked.

“I thought you said she didn’t have any living relatives,” Devonport hissed to Gerrard.

“She didn’t. Not that I knew of. She must have lied to gain employment,” Gerrard whispered back.

“Excuse me?” the boy stuttered.

“Where is my girl?” The man was starting to climb onto the stage, but Gerrard and Devonport quickly grabbed hold of him and were already restraining him. They each grabbed one of his
arms and hauled him past the crowd.

All eyes were on the boy now. Everyone watched to see how he would respond to this sort of verbal attack.

He stumbled down from the stage. His eyes were glazed over and he looked as if he were in a daze. I knew I had to lead him out of the crowd before he lost his composure. Pulling him toward me, I
led him away from the clusters of people and to his quarters.

Once there, in the privacy of his rooms, he broke down and started crying. He was broken, but he still tried to hold himself together physically. His arms clung to his legs, holding them in
close to himself.

“I ... I ... I didn’t know,” he kept saying to himself.

I knew he still blamed himself for the death of the two envoys, but he never thought of whether either of them had family still alive.

“I didn’t know!” he railed to himself. “Oh God, why was I so stupid?”

I let him cry himself to sleep. I knew he needed it. I couldn’t say anything to make him think differently about himself or the situation at hand. I knew that only time could mend what it
had brought about.

C
HAPTER
15

I was woken in the morning by a knock at the door. With the war so close, various people had been constantly flowing through the doors of the boy’s quarters and assumed
this would be just one more of them.

The boy was already awake and went to get the door himself. When he came back, he was with Nalin, who automatically smiled when he saw me.

Although Nalin was still on crutches, he looked almost well. His bruises had disappeared and his cuts were now all scabs and scars. It seemed like ages ago he was hurt.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time,” he said to me in an ordinary speaking voice. When the boy and I instinctively hushed him, he loudly whispered, “What?”

I crept to the door leading to the bedroom and opened it just wide enough to peer into the room. “She’s still asleep,” I whispered to the boy.

“Who’s still asleep?” Nalin asked in a whisper.

“A girl we’re looking after,” the boy said simply. I liked that definition. “Anyway, what are you here for?”

“I’ve brought the maps you ordered.”

“Oh, good. You can lay them out here,” the boy stated, pointing to the nearby table.

Nalin hobbled over and unstrapped his satchel bag from one of his crutches.

“Here, sit down,” I offered, dragging over a chair next to the table.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he said, as he opened his bag and dumped out its contents.

There were papers of all sorts and sizes. Whether it was a map or a drawing of a military tactic, each one had a picture of some sort on it.

“These are brilliant,” the boy said breathlessly while going through the pile.

Nalin looked a bit embarrassed; nevertheless, he was proud of his work.

“Really, Nalin, these are amazing,” the boy gushed.

I smiled at Nalin, picking up one of the maps. “I don’t know a thing about maps, nor do I claim to, but these have an astonishing amount of detail in them.”

“Oh, you don’t have to gush,” Nalin muttered. “As long as you approve of them.”

“I more than approve of them,” the boy said. “You should be proud of these.”

“I am,” Nalin admitted. “There’s one thing left I need to add to them though.” He shuffled through his papers, until he found the map he wanted. He handed it to the
boy, pointing to one spot on it. “I don’t know what goes here.”

“Did you look through the records of our past navigators and huntsmen?” the boy asked.

“Yes, I did. There was no mention of this area. I don’t think anyone has been there.”

“That’s a critical area to the war effort,” the boy mused to himself. He looked at me.

“We’ll have to send people there to scout it out,” I told Nalin. “I’ll work on that right away.”

The boy gathered all the papers together and put them back into Nalin’s satchel. He handed it to him and helped him strap it back onto one of his crutches.

“Thank you for showing us the documents,” I said. “I’ll talk to the generals about who to send to explore the area.” We said our goodbyes and parted ways.

After Nalin left, the boy walked right past me and began tidying up the room. He moved the chair back to where it was and picked up some stray things, putting everything back in its designated
spot. He looked up at me suddenly, as if just remembering that I was there.

“I’m going,” he said.

At first, I didn’t know what he was talking about, but when I realized he meant he wanted to go explore Nalin’s mystery area, I balked. “What do you mean you’re going?
You can’t leave, not now at least.”

The boy went back to tidying things around the room. “I’ve already made up my mind,” he insisted and I knew he had. It always seemed to be like this with him.

“You’re needed here,” I reminded him, trying one final time to sway his opinion. “You’re the people’s commander, you can’t just leave.”

“I’m not the real commander, you know that. Besides, I need some time to myself to think. This is the perfect opportunity to get away, while still doing something beneficial for the
cause.”

It was then that I knew this was really about what had occurred last night.