Heart on the Line: 4. This Is War

[clare_dragonfly]

--
you lock me out, you knock me down
--

That night Artona went home—back to Mark’s house. She had discussed the problem with the lords in favor of galactic trade for hours, and they had come to no conclusion. All they could do was hope that the other lords would come to their senses, or at least be prevented from cutting off trade before an agreement could be reached. There had been some concern about a sabotage of Caila’s spaceport, and Artona had promised to think about a way to prevent that.

Now, exhausted, her eyes gritty and her head pounding, she thanked the cabdriver who had taken her home (for Mark and Artona, they did not accept payment) and walked slowly up the stairs. Each step she took seemed heavy. But at least she would be home soon. She would be able to eat her dinner and go to sleep in her own bed. She reached for the door.

It was locked.

She stared at the door for a moment, unable to believe it. She tried the handle again. Perhaps it was only stuck. But no, there was light coming from inside, and she could see how the latch went from one door to another. She had never been locked out before. She did not own a key.

Her heart sank down into her stomach. She had believed subconsciously, and obviously foolishly, that this political problem would not come between her and Mark. They had argued about the taxes the day before, but it did not affect their personal lives. Politics was one thing; their marriage was another.

Or so she had thought. But she should have known better. She leaned her arm and head against the door for a moment, bitter tears welling up to her eyes. For Mark their marriage was inherently political. He had brought her here to be the Lady of Caila before he had brought her here to be his wife and lover. If she was not the Lady of Caila that he wanted, she would not be his wife.

Steeling her heart, she spun about and ran down the steps, though the tears still blurred her eyes. She waved her arm in the air, her wide sleeve slapping against the skin, hoping to catch the cabdriver’s attention. She would not shout. Whatever she did, she would not make it obvious to Mark how he had hurt her.

Thankfully, the cabdriver stopped and turned his animals around to meet her again at the bottom of the steps. His eyes were wide in alarm. “What is it, my lady? Do you need any help?”

She shook her head, keeping her face down so he could not see the tears in her eyes. “I… I forgot something at Caila Hall. Bring me back there, please.”

“Of course. Right away.” He clucked to his animals once she was inside and the cab began to move. She rubbed at her face with her sleeve until the tears, she hoped, were gone, and took steady breaths to calm herself. She was still the Lady of Caila, and she was still a politician, however little she had wanted the role to begin with. She must show her best face to the world.

By the time she had herself under control, they were back at Caila Hall. “Shall I wait here for you, my lady?” the cabdriver asked, his kindly face worried.

She silently cursed herself for the lie she’d chosen. But she couldn’t tell anyone she planned to spend the night there, could she? “No, thank you. I may be a while, and I think I will walk back. It’s a lovely night.” It was not, by her standards, but hopefully he would accept it.

He nodded, still frowning a little. “If you’re sure, my lady.”

“I’m sure. Go find some passengers that will actually pay you for your living.” She smiled and waved him on his way. At last, he chuckled and started his animals again.

She breathed a sigh of relief and hurried into the Hall. At least those doors were never locked, and in fact did not lock at all. They closed before her with the same ringing finality as they had when Mark and the other lords had left.

She heard footsteps running down a hall, then their owner appeared—Adam. His fierce expression cleared when he saw her. “My lady. You’ve returned. Have you thought of something?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid not. I just… I need to stay here tonight.” In addition to the council room, Caila Hall had apartments for the Lords Mayor to stay in when the council of lords was in session. There was no transportation on Caila fast enough to take them home in less than half a day, so it was necessary. She would stay in one of the unused ones. If Jacob, Kevin, and Noah had not returned, they must be staying at Mark’s house with him tonight.

Adam nodded, smiling sympathetically. “Can’t stand the sight of him tonight?”

She decided to let him think it had been her choice not to stay at home tonight, rather than Mark’s to bar her from her own home. “I truly hope we can resolve this quickly.”

“As do I, my lady.” He came to her and put his hand on her arm. “Shall I show you to Jacob’s suite? I am sure the servants have cleaned and made it up.” He winked. “I think of all the Lords Mayor, he will be the most offended by the thought that you have been sleeping in his bed.”

She laughed, unexpectedly, despite the pain in her heart. Piquing Jacob was certainly a good solution to the night’s difficulties. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. Thank you, Adam.”

--
someone's got to lose
--

It was not resolved quickly.

They received a messenger from the merchants the next morning, exclaiming that there had been an explosion at the spaceport. Artona and the Lords Mayor hastily found a cab and went speedily there. No one had been hurt, but some equipment that helped the ships find their landing place had been badly damaged, and could certainly not be repaired without parts from off-planet.

Artona directed the cleanup and pondered this first step. It would probably not affect trade very much. Captain Ran would have some difficulty landing, but she had made this landing many times and would probably manage. Her ship was the only one that came regularly to Caila. And the idea of an irregular ship arriving was almost laughable. Who would come to this backwater planet? As she had told the lords the night before, no one cared about Caila.

But as a first step, it was a good one. It showed that the anti-galactic faction was not afraid to use serious means to achieve their goals. They were not willing to hurt anyone, perhaps—but perhaps that had merely been accidental. During the day, there was usually someone manning the spaceport, and if that person had been early to their post, they would have been injured or possibly killed. Danger, Artona decided, was no deterrent to the anti-galactics.

When she shared her thoughts with the Lords Mayor, they agreed with her. “You were right last night, my lady,” said Nicholas, his red face sober. “I didn’t want to think of it at the time. But they are ignoring their mandate. They are poor custodians.”

The thought made her sick. But it was true. “How do we stop them?” she asked.

“Try to negotiate?” suggested Adam. “We can make them believe that their destruction has frightened us, and that we wish to join their side.”

Artona shook her head. “There’s no negotiation if we go that way. We either all agree not to trade with the outside world, or we don’t.”

“We could pretend to agree, though,” said Adam. “Until the next trade ship comes. Then we could… perhaps you could return to Halos and look for help?”

Artona frowned. She didn’t like the idea of leaving Caila, not at its moment of crisis like this. But she couldn’t think of a better solution, and they had months until Captain Ran came again. Unless the anti-galactics stopped the trade ship from coming… She shook her head quickly, alarmed by what she had realized. “The ansible—one of them—is in Mark’s house. They can easily call Halos to cancel the next supply ship. Captain Ran is on her way back there now. If they call in time, they can easily stop her, and if we pretend to agree, they will certainly call.”

Nicholas scowled. “You’re right.” He cursed. “I thought there was no way to stop the ship on its path, since it will be moving…”

“But we’d forgotten that it will stop at Halos to receive any communications,” finished Adam. “No. That’s no solution. But we’ll come up with something.”

--
i will run until i can't run anymore
--

For several days they tossed around their proposed solutions. None of them held up to discussion. The Lords Mayor sent messages home to their wives, as they were staying much longer than usual. Then someone new arrived at Caila Hall: Mark’s cousin Jared. His dark face was grim.

Artona came forward to greet him, though she had no idea what to say. Why was he here? Was he Mark’s negotiator, or had he come of his own accord? After the two of them stared at each other silently for several moments, Jared finally spoke. “He threw me out. His madness… well. I shouldn’t say that. But I can’t believe that they won’t see how much they’re abandoning their mandate as Lords of Caila.”

Artona felt her tense shoulders relax, and she exhaled a long breath. “So you’re on our side.”

“Of course.” He looked startled, then smiled and held out his hand. She shook it firmly.

“What about Derek?”

Jared shook his head. “He’s staying out of it. His wife is pregnant, you know. He’s just staying home.” Jared, of course, lived in Mark’s house, working closely with him.

She stepped aside and gestured him inside. “Well, we have apartments to spare here, now that three Lords Mayor are staying at Mark’s house.” The pity in his eyes when she said that, excluding herself from the place, gave her a pang in her heart. “But let’s go to the council room and talk with the other lords. If you’ve been there listening to their discussion, you’ll be a great help in figuring out what to do next.”

Jared quickly took over the conversation when they sat down in the council room, explaining to Artona and the Lords Mayor what discussions had taken place at Mark’s house. Apparently they had been frightened by the results of the explosion; they hadn’t realized how expensive the equipment would be to repair, nor how close they had come to hurting someone. Artona breathed another sigh of relief at that. They didn’t want to hurt anyone either.

Apparently they had considered contacting Halos to stop Captain Ran returning with the next trade run, but there was some argument about that. Mark thought cutting off the supplies before one last run would be too abrupt, and they should simply ask for less; Jacob thought the Kirin should be called back to haul away pieces of the spaceport and any other garbage the galactics had left behind.

The other Lords Mayor nodded in agreement at Artona’s relief. If they didn’t know their next course of action, at least the other side couldn’t agree on what to do either.

After Jared had explained what he’d learned and why he’d left, he sat back and let the lords talk it over. Adam shook his head. “I suppose we can just wait,” he said. “The only way I can think to get ahead of them is to sabotage the ansible, which is obviously not really workable. Not unless we can get one of the servants to do it.”

“And that’s not the only ansible,” said Robert. “We could disable them all, but that would only hurt us overall.”

They batted about a few more ideas, none of them really helpful, until Jared leaned forward again. Instantly, every eye was on him. “What about speaking to your people?”

“There’s nothing to vote on yet,” said Adam.

Jared shook his head. “Not for a vote. Just to get them talking about it. Maybe take a poll. But do your usual speaking tours first. And after you’ve got your people talking, go more quietly and talk to the other provinces. If their people get fired up about the issue, the Lords Mayor can’t ignore it—not without risking replacement.” Something that Artona knew had almost never happened in the history of Caila.

“It’s a good idea,” she said. “On Halos, the representatives often feel out a new idea in just that way. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.” Because she didn’t think what worked on Halos would work on Caila. And because, for all the lords seemed to respect her, for all she was on their side, she feared that they would dismiss anything that seemed like it came from Halos. They didn’t want to cut themselves off from the rest of the galaxy, but they still saw Caila as different from anywhere else.

“We’ll do it,” said Nicholas firmly. “I’m sure the people of Plains will feel the same way that I do. And they’ll influence the people of the other provinces, undoubtedly, with how much we trade.”

“I would say the same of Oceanside,” said Adam. His face broke into a smile. “We may be able to do this. Thank you, Jared.” He shook the other man’s hand.

“What should I do?” Artona asked. She could not speak to the people. She was not practiced, and anyway, anything she said to the people of Central province would appear weak without the strength of Mark behind it.

“You and I will have to stay here,” said Jared. “We’ll keep an eye on the spaceport and make sure they don’t agree on any new sabotage.”

Artona nodded and looked at her hands folded in her lap. She didn’t think she would be able to do much. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or angry. A great part of her burden was off her, but now that Jared was here, her influence had faded away.

Perhaps she could talk to Mark.

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