Colonel Taerin nodded. “I accused you of stealing it from the emperor’s office.”
“I found the pin on the body of a headless colonel.”
“Colonel Jurgon.” Taerin nodded in understanding. “How is it that you even knew where the emperor’s secret estate was located?”
“The emperor gave me instructions,” answered Clint. “You thought that the emperor was acting strangely during the festival. You were correct. Grand General Kyrga was holding him captive. Colonel Jurgon’s head was delivered to him to ensure his cooperation.”
“Why you?” frowned the colonel.
“The emperor could not trust anyone else. He had no idea who was aligned with the Grand General. I was not only an outsider, but I had already completed a sensitive investigation against the Grand General. His choice was logical.”
“I can see that,” the colonel replied with disappointment evident in his voice. “If the Badgers stole the women, then why are they now looking for them?”
“Because the A Corps ambushed them and liberated the women.”
“You attacked the Badgers?” gasped Colonel Taerin. “I would have thought that they would have guarded the emperor’s family better than that.”
“Oh, they did guard them well,” retorted General Forshire. “They had one-hundred Badgers guarding the women, but they made a foolish mistake. They split into two groups. That is when the A Corps struck.”
“I am confused,” admitted the colonel. “The A Corps is supposed to be in Olansk. The estate was surely within the Empire of Barouk. Your telling makes no sense.”
“I have kept a small detachment of A Corps to the west of the city,” explained the general. “We attacked fifty of the Badgers with one-hundred-fifty men. Our losses were minimal, but that did not last long. The other half of the Badgers caught us asleep and extracted their revenge. Only two of us survived along with the women.”
“Do you have the women now?”
“They are safe.” The general nodded. “But do not ask where they are. I am not prepared to answer that question at this time. Right now, I need to determine what is going on in the emperor’s life. What can you tell me about his relationship with Grand General Kyrga?”
“What game are you playing, General?” frowned the colonel. “You know enough from our talks that the key to dethroning an emperor is through his family, and you now claim to hold those women captive. I cannot discuss the emperor with someone who might be trying to overthrow the empire. You could be in league with the plotters.”
The general sighed and walked to the fireplace. He grabbed a handful of ashes and returned to the center of the building. He sat on the bunk opposite the colonel and threw the ashes onto the floor.
“What are you doing?” questioned the colonel.
“We both need answers, Taerin, but we are both afraid of the responses we might receive from the other. I intend to show you that I mean you no harm. Take off your uniform.”
“I will not,” frowned the colonel. “Have you gone mad?”
“Perhaps,” smiled Clint as he bent forward and poked the pile of ashes with his finger.
His finger moved swiftly through the ashes and he leaned back and stared at the colonel’s face. The expression of shock and fear was as clear as the moon on a cloudless night.
“You know, Taerin, you have your mother’s eyes.”
The colonel was speechless. The most closely guarded secret in the entire Federation was laid out on the floor for all to see. The colonel moved his foot to the ashes and scattered them.
“Your mother and sisters are perfectly safe,” declared the general. “Your father I am not too sure about. That is why I need answers from you.”
“Why would you care about him? Is it to help him or overthrow him?”
“I have an agreement with him,” answered the general. “I need to know if he will still honor it.”
“What is the agreement?” asked Colonel Taerin.
“This is not how the game is supposed to be played,” frowned the general. “We are both supposed to be open and honest with one another, but you have not volunteered anything yet. Do you consider me a threat?”
“I do,” admitted the colonel. “There has always been something mysterious about you, and I do not like unsolved mysteries. Now you claim to hold some rather high cards and are raising the stakes. Do you truly expect me to show you my hand?”
“I am showing you mine,” countered the general.
“Not all of it.” The colonel shook his head vigorously. “You are becoming more mysterious by the moment. How could you possibly know that mark?”
“I saw your father’s mark the night he proclaimed me the Imperial General.”
“With your sword at his throat, no doubt,” spat the colonel.
“Actually,” replied General Forshire, “my sword was stuck in the chest of a demonic priest who had just stolen your father’s memories. That demonkin had just learned your identity when I killed him. Your father and I are not friends, but we do have an agreement that satisfies both of our concerns. I merely need to be sure that nothing has changed since I left Despair. Will the emperor honor our agreement?”
“You keep referring to this agreement,” scowled the colonel. “Why don’t you just go and ask him?”
“Because I don’t particularly want to die this night,” answered the general. “The morning after he proclaimed my new title, the emperor appeared outside the palace. He talked to me and Donil as we were leaving the palace. That struck me as odd because we had been meeting in secret. It was not in the best interests of either of us to be seen together. That causes me to doubt that the emperor was acting of his own free will.”
“I cannot answer that question without knowing what the agreement is.”
Clint sat and thought for a moment. Eventually, he nodded. “The A Corps is returning to Despair to seize the Imperial Palace and free your father from Grand General Kyrga and whoever is controlling him.”
“And in return?”
“There will be no war with Alcea.”
“Are you Alcean?” gasped the colonel.
Clint sighed with frustration. “You are interrogating me, Colonel. Oh, you are doing it well and in an excellent manner, but this will not continue. This conversation will be a two-way conversation, or it will end this very moment.”
“You are being unfair, General. You know everything that is going on, and I truly know nothing. Think for a minute what you are asking of me. What if I were to say yes, but I was wrong? You would take your wrath out on me and my family. And if I said no, you would consider the agreement broken and take your wrath out on me and my family. What do you expect me to say?”
“I will never harm the women of your family,” promised Clint, “no matter what happens. I risked my life to save them, and I hold them harmless. If your father cheats on the agreement, I will kill him. As for you, our future relations depend on what kind of man you are. If you are honorable and reasonable as your grandfather was, we will get along fine. If you seek to continue your father’s policies of plundering the poor and enslaving them, we will come to blows. I cannot be more open and honest than that. I will never hold a person accountable for the deeds of another.”
“You still leave me in a quandary,” frowned the colonel, “but I accept your words in the spirit that they were given. I do not agree with my father’s policies. I never have. In fact, we have had numerous disagreements about them. I spoke to you on more than one occasion about the apparent snubbing of me by the emperor. I suspected that most of that was due to the disagreements we had, but now I am not so sure. Since the date of your proclamation, the emperor has been free to move about as he pleases. He has his own guards back and he once again dictates orders to Grand General Kyrga. One would think that the emperor is his old self once again.”
“But you don’t?”
“The quandary, General, is that I want my old father back. I do not want him dead.”
“And you think that as soon as you tell me that he won’t honor the agreement, that will mark him for death.” Clint nodded with understanding. “I am sorry, Taerin, but if your father breaks the agreement, he will die. If we don’t find out who is pulling Kyrga’s strings, your father will die anyway, but there is more to consider than just your father. The war with Alcea is going to be costly for the Federation. Perhaps you should be more concerned with the deaths of hundreds of thousands instead of just your father. I know that is a hard thing to ask of any son, but you are not just any son. You are the future Emperor of Barouk. Will you start your reign trying to make the world a better place to live, or will you start it by listening to thousands of women and children wailing for their lost loved ones?”