Pathways - Jeri Taylor [153]
“The boy must leave Rinax tonight. If he’s here tomorrow when Tixil comes back, you’ll never see him again. I’ve made arrangements to get him to Talax, where we have friends who will hide him.”
Neelix’s head was spinning with disbelief. What was Uxxin talking about? Why did he have to leave his home?
His father looked at him solemnly. “Uxxin is part of a group who are trying to avoid war with Haakon. But there are strong factions that want the war, and who consider the moderates a threat. The whole thing has turned ugly.”
“I believe the man in the hut was one of our group who disappeared several days ago. I have no doubt that Tixil and his men tortured him for information about us.”
“Tixil?” Neelix couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Tixil the civil defender?”
“I’m afraid the authorities are riddled with people like him—who want war and who will do anything to suppress opposition to it.”
The room began to swim. What was life coming to if one couldn’t trust the civil authorities? Those sworn to protect and defend?
“Tixil knows you saw someone who’d been tortured. He can’t afford to let you spread that around. It’s a wonder he didn’t take you in for questioning right away.” Tixil paused portentously. “You’d never have survived.”
Visions of the man’s burned feet danced in Neelix’s vision, and he tried to blink them away. Was this the fate that awaited him? Cold terror began to creep from his belly, radiating outward to his extremities. His father wouldn’t let this happen. His father was wise, and strong. He would protect him.
But his father was talking to Uxxin, making the plans for his clandestine trip to Talax. Neelix was told to pack quickly, taking only necessities. Within fifteen minutes after Uxxin had arrived, Neelix was standing with his mother and father and his sisters Xepha and Melorix, the only two left at home. Tears were streaming down their faces, and while crying was exactly what Neelix felt like doing, he forced himself to appear confident, for their sake. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised, kissing the briny tears on their cheeks. They cried even harder.
His mother embraced him, her eyes moist as well, but she was stalwart and refused to give in to grief. And finally Papa held him strongly, briefly, unspeaking. And then Neelix was gone, off in the night like a felon on the run.
He never saw any of his family again.
Inevitably, war broke out. Talax actually made the first strike, the warlike faction of their race having predominated. But after that, it hardly mattered who had started things. It was brutal and relentless, fought on many fronts: in space, on the Haakonian homeworld, and on Talax. Losses on both sides were staggering. The economy was devoted entirely to the war effort, and food shortages abounded. Winters were devastating, because fuel was in short supply. Medical centers were overrun with the war wounded.
Haakon suffered just as harshly. Resources were dwindling and riots had broken out on Haakonian outposts everywhere. Their government was under great pressure from the citizenry to end the devastating conflict.
Neelix spent two years helping to run a sanctuary for deserters from the military. He had never acquired the zealousness of his fellow pacifists, and from time to time considered coming forth and offering to join the military. But he knew the time had passed. He was a deserter, having never shown up for obligatory service, and would be executed summarily.
And so he protected those who had fled the fighting, those who were convinced the authorities wanted to protract the war for their own financial gain. These hardened veterans told tales of unimaginable horror about the battle fronts, and spoke with loathing of the venality of the government that would perpetuate this evil.
In the end, Neelix didn’t know what to believe. He had come to his situation not through ideology, or passion, or even choice. Fate had