Her feet and back hurt. Even though she and her parents had been trekking for weeks, they hadn’t pushed the pace nor kept moving if someone were tired. Her stamina needed work.
Arrow crept over to her and pushed his nose under her hand. She absently scratched the dog’s ears and pondered their situation.
Jerry moved silently toward her.
What am I going to do about him?
She liked him a great deal, but beyond that she wasn’t sure. There had been other men, boys really, whom she had affected that way. Jerry was the first mature man, to her way of thinking anyway, who was obviously attracted to her, other than Viktor Mitkov. She pushed the thought of him away.
On one hand, it was terribly flattering. On the other, it felt frightening. What would he expect of her this quickly? Sex? Marriage?
Jerry was the first Californian she had ever met. But she had heard stories about their excessive lifestyles and licentious ways. She had heard the same sort of stories about the French.
“How are you holding up?” he asked. She saw nothing but concern in his face and felt touched.
“I’m fine. This is the farthest I’ve walked at one time in my life. Anyway that’s what my feet are saying.”
He laughed. “What a relief to hear you say that. My feet are killing me but I was afraid you’d think I was wimply if I mentioned it.”
“What’s wimply?”
“You know—weakling, unmanly, that sort of thing.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I think you are a very strong, good man.”
To her astonishment, he blushed and looked away.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. Just let me know when you’re ready to continue.”
Feeling a little worried, she pushed herself to her feet. The dogs rose effortlessly and moved out to flank her. Although confused, she wanted nothing more than to kiss Jerry.
“Okay, follow me.”
“Happily,” he said.
She heard engine sounds in the distance and her lethargy dissipated instantly. The ache in her feet seemed to disappear and she moved swiftly down the trail. Behind her she heard the comforting tread of Jerry’s feet.
17
Village of Angoon, Russian Amerika
“I would like this meeting to be extremely productive, very succinct, as brief as possible,” General Sobolof said. “For all of us to meet in one place, especially in these times, is just short of lunacy.”
The nine men in the room followed him with their eyes; nothing else moved.
“Captain Chernikoff, would you please bring everyone up to date?”
Paul Chernikoff stood and glanced around at the hard eyes now intent on his face. He nodded.
“Many of us, myself and my brother included, argued for a pact with the Japanese which we finally signed. Our shortsightedness has come home to roost much more quickly than any of us would have guessed. The Japanese are well into a conquest of our part of Russian Amerika.
“If they win, we will not only have a new master to contend with, but a much more alien one than the well-known Russians we are struggling to escape. The Japanese are multitudes of degrees more militant than the Russians, and they will enter every aspect of our lives if they succeed in this campaign.”
Colonel Fredrik Paul jumped to his feet and waited.
“Colonel Paul?”
“Do you have any suggestions on what we, as the Tlingit Nation Army, should do to prevent this from happening?”
“We are far too small to act on our own,” Chernikoff said with a shrug.
“Don’t the Dená have allies from the southern countries?” Colonel Gregori George asked.
“Yes. They have an alliance with both the United States and the Republic of California. Both of which, by the way, in the persons of their military liaisons, promised us military aid if we so wished it.”
Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Dundas shot to his feet, didn’t wait to be identified. “Then why the hell aren’t they on their way with what we need?”
“Because, Colonel, my brother didn’t have the rank to agree to it.”
“Paul, he was our envoy; he had our full confidence to act as he saw fit,” Dundas said.
“That’s true, Sam, he did. But he thought if we were going to change masters, you all should have a chance to vote on which one.”
“Change masters—what do you mean?” Colonel George asked.
“We have to face reality, Colonel. Whichever country grants us military aid is going to want something for it. We don’t have gold like the Dená or oil like the Eskimos. All we have is salmon, cod, and halibut. How many guns can you get for a halibut?”
“Depends on how damn big it is!” Colonel George said with a snort. Everybody in the room laughed with him, including Paul. When the laughter died down, General Sobolof cleared his throat.
“Pietr was right on this one. They’ll want bases, treaties, more of our life than we want to surrender so quickly after winning it from the Czar.”
“So we sit on our ass and do nothing?” Lieutenant Colonel Dundas raised his eyebrows as he spoke and then glanced around at the others.
“No, Sam!” General Sobolof shouted. “We run out there and get our asses shot off, let ’em kill the whole TNA in one swoop. That what you want?”
“No, General, of course it isn’t. But there’s a war on and it affects us in every possible way. And we’re just sittin’ here watching it all go by like a buncha school kids.”
“If we are to exist at all, Sam,” Paul said in a low voice, “we have to stay quiet right now. There are people out there helping us, but all we can do is absolutely nothing.”
General Sobolof nodded.
Sam stared at each person in turn, and then said, “Sounds like crap to me!”
“Fine,” General Sobolof said and clapped his hands, “we’re unanimous then. How many agree we should formally ask the USA and the ROC for military aid immediately?”
Only Sam’s hand did not rise.
“There is also the question of unification with the Dená and the creation of an Alaska Republik,” Paul said. “Our northern brothers have agreed to send a delegation to explore the possibility. But that will all be so much star gazing if the Japanese conquer the Russians here in the panhandle.”
“Say what?” Lieutenant Colonel Dundas said.
Paul glanced at the stern visage of General Sobolof and felt his face go ashen. He had agreed to speak to the others!
General Sobolof raised his hand to still the sudden buzz in the room.
“Don’t worry, Captain Chernikoff, all is well. Gentlemen, the captain brought up a subject he thought had been presented to you before this. Due to my harried schedule, I haven’t had the time to cover the topic with any of you. I’m sorry.”
“Maybe we could cover it now?” Lieutenant Colonel Dundas said in a sarcastic tone.
“Colonel Dundas, I know you’re new to this military thing,” General Sobolof said with steel in his voice, “but you’re also getting close to pissing off a kwan leader. You’re stacking the deck against yourself, Sam.”
His previous scowl vanished and Sam Dundas suddenly looked worried. “I apologize if I suggested offense, General Sobolof.”
“Not to worry. Captain Chernikoff’s brother is on a trip to visit his cousin, General Grigoriy Pietrivich Grigorievich, Commander of the Dená Army.”
“Grisha is in command—” Colonel Gregori George stopped himself with an effort. “My apologies, General, but you couldn’t have surprised me more if you had said he was the man in the moon.”
“It is surprising,” General Sobolof said with a sage nod. “Especially considering the fact that a year ago he was a prisoner in one of the Czar’s penal camps. With this hiatus in fighting, the Dená are sending him and his new wife, a colonel in the same army, to us as emissaries.”