Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (45 page)

“
I, uh... yes sir.,” Ezra gulped. Was he talking about the
Guild? “Sir, um... if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing
here?” Ezra winced as he realized how presumptuous the question
sounded as it left his lips.

“
Well, young man, I understand that you and your friends had a
bit of an adventure,” the Chancellor said. “And I just wanted to
assure you that I'm doing everything in my power to help you in
this time of trouble. I've spoken with your friend, Mr. Matanane,
and while he is still suffering from some minor head trauma, he was
able to give me a reasonable accounting of what happened out
there.”

Ezra blinked at this. Normally, mission
reports were only given to Mr. Blair, directly. He supposed that
the Chancellor of all Sanctuary was high enough on the food chain
to merit hearing them first-hand himself, but still...

“
And let me just say,” genuine compassion filled the man's
voice as he continued, “that I am so sorry for your loss. Galois
Doe will be sorely missed in the trying times ahead.”

Ezra stared ahead blankly as a fresh wave of
sorrow and guilt washed over him. He woodenly nodded his thanks to
the Chancellor.

“
I
hate to see young people like yourself drawn into this war. It's a
cruel, vicious fate that has led us here, but your people need you,
son. They need your strength and resolve.” His regal head shook
sadly. “I've tried my best to make things better, done everything I
could, but it's just never enough.”

Ezra swallowed, summoning up the courage to
speak. “Sir, you're right. I don't know how much Mat told you, but
the thunder-struck are at war with us. They've been intercepting
our communications and sending out teams of their own to ambush us
in the field. They-”

The Chancellor waved his hand dismissively.
“Not just them, Ezra. Everyone out there. All of the elementalists,
every single one. And they're not even the worst, oh no. The
people, Ezra, the ones who betrayed us for nothing at all, not even
the blessings of their dark gods. Think of what they did to your
friends, your allies. Make no mistake, they are our enemy.”

Ezra came up short at this. That wasn't what
he meant. He continued carefully, glancing at the guards. “Well,
that may true, sir. However, the thunder-struck are preparing
something. Something big. We need to come up with a way to deal
with their plans, or else Sanctuary could be destroyed.”

The elderly man nodded. “Yes, and I'm very
proud of you and your teammates for discovering this plot. I have
to say, it presents us with some unique opportunities.”

“
Opport... sir, I'm not sure that I follow.”

The Chancellor smiled benevolently at Ezra.
“You know, ever since your parents died, I've always thought of you
as a son.” Ezra raised an eyebrow at that. Certainly, he had met
with the Chancellor a few times, but he wouldn't exactly say that
they had a familial rapport. The man must have taken his raised
eyebrow as an unspoken question, and answered what he thought Ezra
was asking. “Mr. Hawkins, do you know my family's Legacy? It's true
that we've always been in charge of the operation of Sanctuary,
even from the beginning, but do you know how we got there?”

Ezra shook his head mutely.

“
My forefathers were the leaders of the first and last line of
defense against the Elements, back when it was only the five of
them, terrorizing the world at their whims.” He rose and began
pacing the tiny room. “We've always remembered, you see. Remembered
our ancient enemy, remembered the people who just
gave up
, who refused to
answer the call to fight back and reclaim our planet. They are
nothing more than corroborators, Ezra, willingly allowing the
Elements and their minions to conquer and dominate the world.” He
shook his head in frustration. “I've tried to convince Mr. Blair
that we need to be more proactive, really take the offensive, but
he never listens.” He sighed, then smiled slyly. “But they don't
remember us, do they? Give them a little time, and they start
fighting amongst themselves.” The Chancellor tapped a finger to the
side of his nose, smile growing. “And that's why we've been arming
them. Give them weapons, point them at each other, and they do our
work for us. It's the best we've been able to do, but it's never
been enough. But now, with this plot that they've hatched to pull
down the space station...” The Chancellor grinned
sharply.

“
Now, we finally have the means to strike back.”

“
You see, we've been thinking too small. Not looking at the
bigger picture, as it were,” the Chancellor continued vigorously.
“You, of course, know what it's like to lose a loved one at the
hands of those monsters. And yet we've always focused on trying to
cripple their infrastructure. But I can see it clearly now: our
enemy is more than just the people out there, wallowing in their
filth on this miserable, backwater planet.” His eyes gleamed
triumphantly as he came a stop, resting a hand on the chair beside
him. “Our enemy is the planet itself. The planet that raised up the
Elements against us, the planet that cast us down, condemned us to
this miserable existence a thousand years ago. And now, those
thunder-struck fools are going to do our job for us. They're going
to help us kill the planet.”

Ezra stared at the man in front of him, his
sense of horror mounting with every word. Kill the planet? Well,
certainly, dropping the space station into the upper atmosphere
would wreak havoc on the Earth's ecosystem. Never mind the impact,
which would be like a massive meteor and could easily trigger an
ice age all it's own. Just the air friction of something that large
would cause an almost unbelievable amount of heat. It would sear
away all life, turn the world into an oven. “But, sir, um,” he
tried to phrase this as delicately as he could. “We live on the
planet.”

The Chancellor chuckled. “You see? You're
not thinking big enough. The Sanctuary shield, boy! It will protect
us, only in earnest now. Certainly, it won't last forever, but we
can finally give up on this world, free ourselves to explore the
cosmos and colonize new worlds. Think of it! Our planet gave up on
us; it's past time that we gave up on it.”

Ezra nodded slowly,
watching the man across the table from him carefully. The
Chancellor was clearly insane.
In
fact
, Ezra thought,
I seem to be running into far too many insane people
recently
.
Is that
a reflection on my own sanity?

“
But of course, we're going to need your help.” The crazy man
gazed off into the distance, his voice passionate. “Can I count on
you, young man, to do what must be done? I know it's a terrible
price to pay, all those people in the space station, but we cannot
afford to tip our hand. In every war there are casualties, like
your Miss Doe. We can bring this war to an end, finally, after a
thousand years. We can stop the suffering. We can make those lives
mean something. They will become martyrs for our cause, and spur
the Legacy houses into a united front as we leap from our
treacherous world to claim humanity's destiny. ” He looked at Ezra
expectantly.

Ezra realized the Chancellor was waiting for
an answer. He cleared his throat. “Well, sir... you know that I
always have Sanctuary's best interests at heart.”

“
I'm glad to hear you say that, son.” A smile split the old
man's face. “We've already begun work on rockets that will catch
the station and carry it through the atmosphere to impact somewhere
safe. This is an exciting time to be alive.” He strode
energetically to the door, then turned back to Ezra. “Are you ready
to change the world, my boy?”

Ezra panicked for a moment.
He needed more time, he had to think of something. “If you wouldn't
mind, sir...”
What would he believe? Think
Ezra, think!
His eyes flitted to the
controller in the middle of the table, and he got an idea. “I just
need a, uh, moment to myself. To mourn the loss of Miss Doe,
sir.”

The grandfatherly look came back. “Of
course, take all the time you need. We'll be right here, just
outside the door, when you're ready.” He and his guards paced from
the room, the door whispering shut behind them.

The instant they were gone, Ezra grabbed the
controller and dialed home to his lab, frantically making a mental
checklist of the things he would need. He hacked a connection,
stole the power, and vanished from the little interrogation
room.

==

“
Where is it?” Ezra growled under his breath. He had torn his
room apart, but the mission reports were no-where to be found. “I
know I left them right here.” He kicked at the chair in
frustration, bumping something on the far side.

A dim light shone, and a
quiet voice brightly chirped, “Hi! I'm having the most
amazing
Founder's Day...”
Ezra gasped as memories hit him like a truck. He carefully moved
the chair and pulled up the holo-cam, eyes fixed on Gal's elfin
face flirting with the camera. A lump formed in his throat as he
watched her whole performance.

He stayed that way for several minutes, then
very gently removed the data card from the camera, tucking it
safely into a pocket. He took a deep breath and shook his head,
glancing around the room forlornly.

“
-and let us know if you see him,” the Chancellor's voice
sounded outside the room. Ezra froze. “We're very worried about his
mental condition, after what he did to that poor Hughes girl.” He
was getting closer!

“
Of course, sir,” Kirsten O'Donnell's tone sent a warning
shiver down Ezra's spine. She sounded like the perfect subordinate,
competent and used to being trusted. Ezra's heart sank as he
desperately looked for some place to hide. “I will keep my eyes
open for Mr. Hawkins.”

Too late! The door to his room opened, and
Kirsten stood there, looking poised, a vision of executive
efficiency and style. The Chancellor's richly cultured voice flowed
from a translucent display in front of her. “Of course you will,
Miss O'Donnell,” his tone was that of a man just reminding himself
of something he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. “We all know what
a dedicated and loyal worker you are.”

“
Yes, sir,” Kirsten answered softly, brilliant emerald eyes
fixed on Ezra. “Without dedication and loyalty, where would we be?”
The call ended as the screen disappeared.

“
So,” Ezra said weakly, lifting his chin and trying to look as
if he wasn't ready to wet himself. “This is how it
ends.”

Her eyes flashed dangerously as she closed
the gap between them and slapped Ezra across the face. He blinked
away tears from the stinging impact, then turned to face his
secretary just as she gathered him into a fierce hug. “I was so
worried,” she whispered. “First the warrant, then you were gone
without a trace, and everyone who might know where you were was
gone. Now this business with Sarah Hughes.” She stepped back and
looked him directly in the eyes. “Tell me where you've been,” she
demanded, then produced the missing data sheet seemingly from thin
air. “And explain to me what this thing that no-one can read or
even begin to decrypt is.”

Ezra gulped. He was getting
an awful lot of mixed messages here.
Better stick with tragic hero
. “I
can't do that, Miss O'Donnell. You'll just have to turn me in, like
your boss told you to.”

Ezra could almost feel the
heat of her sudden anger. She shoved the data sheet into his
stomach, staggering him, then punched him across the jaw, hard. His
head spun as he fell to the floor. Kirsten began to curse as she
shook her hand, bringing it to her mouth to delicately suck on one
the knuckles. Still she trembled with fury, glaring down at Ezra.
“Don't you
ever
imply that I would turn on this house,” she hissed at
him.

“
But I thought... the Chancellor...”

“
Ezra,” she interrupted him curtly, taking a deep breath as she
forced herself to calm down. “Let me tell you a little story. There
was once a girl who fell in love with politics. Her parents were
scientists; nothing special, just lab grunts, but they loved their
little girl and did everything they could to support her. But one
horrible day, there was an accident in their lab. Both of the
girl's parents were killed, and she was left alone, an orphan. She
knew the law. The Legacy house responsible for the lab would pay
her a stipend, and she would become a ward of the city. Her family
was gone, her dreams of politics were ended, her life was over.”
Tears welled up, making Kirsten's eyes sparkle, beautiful and
heart-wrenching. “Then the little girl was invited to the greatest
Legacy house of them all. And the wonderful people there... they
sat down with her and told her how sorry they were, how they wanted
her to know that she wasn't alone. They asked her what she wanted,
and she told them. The very next day she was transferred to the
Special Division training program. Everything was paid for. The
girl worked and worked until she was the very best.” Tears began to
stream down her face, but she pressed on as if she didn't notice.
“Then another horrible day arrived. The wonderful Legacy people
died, and their only son was left alone. The girl requested to work
with him. To help him. She knew what she was supposed to do, what
she had been trained to do. Subvert the family, attach it to a
house loyal to the Chancellor, and build the government's power
base. But she never did that. She worked and she slaved and she did
everything she could to help the boy grow into a man his wonderful
parents would be proud of. She gave everything she had for the
family that had given everything to her. That little girl
would
never
betray
them.”