The Search for the Eoz Potion

15. Secrets

When the earthquake hit, General Drawde's first concern was the prison. But when the Human Robots began to break free of their bracelets, he had a new concern. Would the control center withstand the earthquake, or would they lose all their soldiers and risk a possible mutiny? He ran down the stairs of the center tower all the way to the basement floors where the main control center was hidden. He immediately checked in with the head of the center who assured him everything was under control. She had already powered up the back up generator and all the soldiers were accounted for. Still, Drawde remained in the basement control center until the earthquake was over.

When all was said and done, they had only lost a few dozen soldiers, but they had also lost Tellis. The news did not come as much of a surprise to Drawde, but the loss still infuriated and terrified him in equal parts. How could he maintain power as the one who let the most valuable target in the SG escape? How long would it be before his people lost faith and turned on him? And what would the Prince do when he learned that instead of executing Tellis, he had instead lost her.

Drawde held all this behind a stone cold face and stood tense, watching and rewatching the security video from the cell on one of the screens in the basement. He watched Tellis talking with the guards, then saw the feed flicker and finally cut out completely. When he'd had enough, General Drawde folded his arms tightly across his chest and turned to leave the room not knowing what else to do. He was stopped, however, by a call from one of his soldiers.

"General Drawde," the Human Robot called. "Another letter from the Prince has arrived."

Back in his office, the large, brown envelope was waiting on his clear, empty desk. Always these letters, thought Drawde. All this technology, but always these letters. Something about them made Drawde not want to trust the Prince. It made him feel like he was not one of them. He did not use the normal communication channels, he did not have face to face meetings, no one in the Garden of Yllop really knew who he was at all.

The General opened the envelope and began reading. Though it was as short as the last one, it was not the same. It was a summons requesting that General Drawde immediately come to the Prince's castle for a meeting to discuss the prisoners lost during the earthquake. When he was done reading it, Drawde clenched his fist. The edges of the strange paper that no one else he knew used stuck out from his closed hand and he punched through his desk and shattered it, sparks from the wiring inside flying through the room, blood streaming onto the floor.

****

The further away they ran from the City, into the Garden, the less they felt the earthquake, though they could still hear it. Finally, they stopped in a part of the Garden that was still thick with foliage, and where the gentle chirps of birds replaced the sounds of falling walls. Claire and Hailey were excited to hear the birdsongs because it was the same song the birds at home sang - a few staccato sounding notes capped off with a vibrato that rang through the trees. The girls noticed an old stone pathway, long weeds growing out from underneath it and doing their best to hide each individual stone. A single small sparrow landed among the overgrowth in front of them and held the girls' attention for an unusually long time. After days of horses turning into flying lions, this little bird brought their minds home for a moment, to a time that somehow felt simpler. As it flew back into the sky, however, they realized that in that simpler time their friend was dying, Hailey was struggling to feel good enough for her parents, and Claire's family was in shambles.

No one had bothered to offer them anything close to an introduction to Tellis. This was understandable while they had been fleeing the city, but they had been walking - though it felt more like wandering to Hailey - for a while. Claire was nervous to initiate a conversation with any of them given all that had just happened, so she waited patiently for them to say something. Hailey was uneasy about Tellis. She had a peacefulness about her that she didn't trust. Rather than talk to her, Hailey decided to watch her quietly and try to size up what she was all about. Hailey asked Josef and Zack general questions about what was going on hoping Tellis would take the opportunity to introduce herself, but she never did. She always seemed content to let Josef or Zack fill in the details. The problem for Hailey, however, was that the details never seemed very detailed.