Napoleon, clearly uncomfortable, balked. “Look, Joshua. Can’t we do this some other time?”
“Procrastination, my dear brother, is inimical to spiritual progress,” Joshua said. “Haven’t you heard? Never put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today.”
“You better do it. Napoleon,” Jenny prompted. “You know how Joshua is. He’ll never give you a minute’s rest until you give in.”
Napoleon, resigned to the inevitable, sighed and nodded. “I know how Joshua is,” he agreed. “When it comes to spiritual matters, he’s as tenacious as they come.” He looked at Joshua. “If you were a Warrior instead of an Empath, you’d be the toughest Warrior in the Family.”
“That’s an honor I could do without,” Joshua stated. “My trips to Thief River Falls and the Twin Cities with Alpha Triad confirmed a conviction of mine. Violence is deplorable. It might be necessary on occasion, as I found out, but I wouldn’t want violence to become a habitual experience in my earthly life. I don’t see how you Warriors do it.”
“Do what?” Napoleon asked.
“Confront violence on a daily basis and still retain some semblance of sanity.” Joshua, reflecting on his slaying of a Brute in Thief River Falls, sadly shook his head. “Violence tears at the soul and destroys communion with our Maker and Shaper.” He grinned at Napoleon. “Which, by the way, is one of the things I want to take up with you. Let’s find someplace quiet.”
Plato watched Joshua lead a reluctant Napoleon off. Interesting.
Joshua had changed during his runs with Alpha Triad. He was still devoted to the Fatherhood of the Spirit and the Brotherhood of all men and women, but he was more… devious… since his return.
“Now will someone tell me what’s going on?” Jenny demanded, her green eyes boring into Plato’s.
“Bear with us,” Plato said. He motioned for Tyson and Cindy to sit beside him. “Please, have a seat.”
The brother and sister accepted his invitation, Cindy sitting on his right and Tyson on his left.
“Now,” Plato stated, smiling, “you can tell us what has you so frightened, although I believe I can speculate on the reason.”
“You wouldn’t believe it,” Tyson spoke first. “You’re in danger. One of the Family…”
“…wants to remove me from my position as Family Leader,” Plato said, finishing the sentence for Tyson. “I know.”
Cindy, startled, gaped at the elderly sage. “You mean you already know about Napoleon?”
“Napoleon?” Jenny repeated.
“I have known for some time,” Plato informed them. “Napoleon feels he can do a better job than I of directing the affairs of the Family.”
“What?” came from Jenny.
“But how do you know about it?” Cindy queried Plato.
“Many months ago,” Plato began, “one of the Family was fishing in the moat, sitting on the bank under the stairs near the drawbridge. Napoleon and Spartacus were on guard duty on the wall above, and they never saw the man fishing. He overheard snatches of their conversation and later reported it to me. Napoleon was trying to convince Spartacus to join him in overthrowing myself and installing Napoleon as Family Leader. At the time, Spartacus refused.”
“Who was it?” Tyson inquired. “Who heard them?”
“The information was supplied confidentially,” Plato replied. “I promised I wouldn’t reveal my source to anyone, and I must keep my word.”
“Why didn’t you do something about it?” Jenny interjected.
“What should I have done?” Plato retorted. “Confront Napoleon and have him deny the allegations? He would still crave power, but he would be more careful in the future. No, the wisest way was to allow Napoleon’s scheming to achieve natural fruition. Besides, from what my informant overheard, Napoleon has been trying for years to persuade his Gamma Triad fellows to assist him in his rebellion. They have steadfastly declined.”
“Until now,” Cindy informed him.
“Oh?”
Cindy told them everything, every word as precisely as she could recall.
Tyson then elaborated on Napoleon’s deceit and his charges against Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
Throughout their recital, Rikki sat motionless, cross-legged, his katana in his lap, listening.
“…and, if you ask me,” Tyson concluded, “you better do something, and do it quick.”
Plato’s facial features slumped in sorrow during Cindy’s narration. To think! One of the Family, one of his beloved children, instigating a rebellion! In the one hundred years of Family history, not one member had rebelled against the prescribed order of things. And now? How could it be? What motivated Napoleon? A simple lust for power? The Family’s Founder, Kurt Carpenter, had left specific instructions regarding many aspects of Family life. One of Carpenter’s injunctions concerned power-mongers: they were to be unceremoniously ejected from the Home.
If they refused to leave, and wouldn’t recant, their fate was severe and finaclass="underline" execution. Plato vividly recalled a page from Carpenter’s diary, in a section devoted to advice for future Family Leaders: “You must not permit a power-monger to flourish in the Home. Even if you suppress any overt rebellion, they will continue to sow discontent and spread unhappiness among the Family. You must not allow the Home to become a microcosmic reproduction of the sick society in which I find myself, a society in which arrogant, ignorant, and deluded individuals delight in assuming power over others. They relish being able to tell others how to live their lives, down to the smallest detail. Mark these words well. There are those who crave power for the sheer sake of power. They must be eliminated from the Family. This is imperative.”
“Maybe we could wait until Blade returns?” Jenny suggested, shattering Plato’s reverie.
“Who knows how long that will be?” Cindy countered. “We can’t wait that long. You must do something now!”
Plato frowned and stared at the ground. “Regrettably, I concur. Napoleon has talked about insurrection for so long, I guess I hoped it would continue in the talking stage until I could formulate a method of dealing with him, some way of avoiding bloodshed.”
“I don’t see how you can,” Cindy opined. “You weren’t there. You should have heard him, seen the expression on his face. He wants to be Family Leader more than anything else in the world, and he doesn’t care one bit how he reaches his goal.”
“I can’t believe Spartacus would agree to help Napoleon so he could have me,” Jenny commented. “Blade is my man, and he’s the only man I’ll ever love. Spartacus knows that.”
“I know what Blade and Hickok would do if they knew about this,” Tyson said.
“Blade knows,” Plato mentioned.
“What?” Jenny reached out and placed her right hand on Plato’s leg.
“Blade knows?”
“Oh, not all the details,” Plato said. “I informed him there was a power-monger months ago, but I wouldn’t tell him who it was. Like you,” he said, glancing at Tyson, “I knew how Blade would react. You may not understand this, but I have a deep affection for each and every Family member, even Napoleon.”
“Well, you’d best start thinking of the welfare of the whole Family and not just one man,” Cindy declared.
Plato wearily nodded. “I know you’re right. I apologize. My mental faculties seem to have atrophied with the advent of the premature senility.
Perhaps Napoleon is correct. Maybe I should step aside.”
“If you ever do,” Jenny stated, “the Family wouldn’t pick Napoleon as your successor. And stop worrying about your mental capabilities. Even with the damn senility, you are still sharper and smarter than anyone else in the Family.”
“So what are you going to do?” Cindy asked, pressing Plato. “You’ve got to do something.”