The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [133]
The older man was startled, as was Cain. “Sir?”
The Chairman made an amendment to the command grid, used his authorization, and posted it. “Your rank is hereby raised to General, the highest military officer in the Earth Defense Forces.” His face remained blank, his expression distant for a long moment before he seemed to remember to give a congratulatory smile. “Deputy Cain, arrange for an immediate ceremony. I want King Rory himself to pin on General Brindle’s stars.”
The next day, resplendent in spectacular robes and a crown that gleamed with gems, the young King confirmed Conrad Brindle as the new commander of the EDF.
Brindle knelt in front of the King in his crisp new uniform. The older man had served in the military all his life and now seemed amazed at his good fortune. Rory made additional pronouncements, praised Brindle’s brave and loyal actions, and applied new rank insignia to his shoulders. Natalie Brindle, his wife, sat in an honored position near the portable throne, also wearing her EDF uniform.
The crowds cheered, and the newsnets recorded every second of the strange event. Cain watched without comment. The scene looked for all the world like an ancient king dubbing one of his new knights. . . .
The next evening Cain returned to his apartment suite in the heart of the Hansa pyramid, where he had no windows and no distractions. He spent more than an hour just sitting in solitary silence, contemplating his prized Velázquez paintings. He needed to center himself.
Even in his private sanctuary, though, Cain detected subtle indications that his possessions, furniture, and storage areas had been carefully searched. He felt a chill, suspecting that microscopic surveillance imagers must even now be trained on him. If he ransacked the place looking for them, the Chairman might interpret his actions as being indicative of a guilty conscience. No, it would take some time for him to put a subtle signal jammer in place, find the devices, and hook up a mirror feed of him performing innocuous activities.
Then again, he was just performing innocuous activities. He had nothing to worry about.
Cain knew that Chairman Wenceslas was still looking for the traitor or traitors in his midst, determined to find the real assassins. But he also knew that Basil had never believed that the eighteen scapegoats were truly members of Freedom’s Sword. He was too smart for that. The executions had been for show, not for justice or vengeance.
Cain had been careful at all times. He hoped he hadn’t left any loose ends.
Unsettled but hiding his anxiety from any secret observers, he left his quarters. He was required to attend an “urgent” and mysterious meeting in the Whisper Palace . . . supposedly a late-night conference with King Rory himself, though Cain was sure the Chairman must be behind it. He always was.
Out in the dark streets, making his way through the crowds without drawing undue attention to himself, Cain noticed more than the usual number of uniformed members of Basil’s cleanup crew on the streets, ever vigilant.
Cain was not a paranoid person, but he had no doubt that they were watching him.
* * *
93
Sarien
When King Rory summoned her to the throne room of the Whisper Palace, Sarein was automatically frightened. He had never done that before, and she knew the boy wouldn’t have thought of it on his own. It was late at night. Ever since the failed assassination attempt, she’d felt as though her life had been built on a foundation of exceedingly fragile eggshells.
King Rory looked particularly young sitting on his elaborate throne. The crown on his head seemed overlarge, and his robes gave him a decadent rather than a regal appearance. So different from the somber uniform he had worn during the horrific executions of the supposed assassins.
Innocents, she knew.
Sarein had never spent time alone with Rory, had not seen him speak in an unrehearsed conversation. He was simply a mouthpiece for Chairman Wenceslas, as the Archfather was supposed to have been. And everyone in the Hansa had seen what