Eliot Strange and the Prince of the People

13) The Whole Nother Story

Gus Lancaster is a diplomat, a schemer, a charmer, but he is also a dedicated soldier on a mission. He wastes no words, and soon I know his disgust with my mother.

"Your dad hit him, he hit the general. Shot him. I think the general is gravely wounded, but your mother would not let me get close enough to him to finish him off. This could all be over, Eliot. Over. We have worked so hard. Sacrificed so much. All of us. It can be over, but your mother will not finish the job."

"Why?" I say. Another question I do not want to know the answer to. Does my mother love General Nation? Is she evil now? I think about her hitting Torin's broken hand with a heavy tray. She did not look innocent or helpless then.

Gus only hesitates for a second. He seems intent on crushing my soul today. "I think she has turned, Eliot." When I don't say anything back, he adds, "Bad. Evil. Or."

"Or?" Is there a chance he is not one hundred per cent positive about my mother's dark heart.

"She said there is a new plan, but it is crazy what she says."

"What did she say?"

"She says she will lead now. She will lead The One Nation Army for now. Eliot, your mother is the leader of The One Nation Army. I saw this. I saw their soldiers following her orders."

I sit down on the steps because I can no longer stand. My mother is the leader of The One Nation Army, the leader of an army who destroyed my country. My mother is pure evil.

"There still may be a chance," Gus says. "A small one, but a chance."

"You just said my mother is leading an army of monsters."

"Yes, yes she is." Gus is blunt today, but even he is not sure. "Your mother and I have been working together for years. She is brave. She seems to believe this is the answer. She said she could end this all."

I think about this. "So, she thinks she can end this, or she wants to lead? Which is it?"

Gus shakes his head. "I don't know. I don't know. I thought I knew your mother, but she surprised me. I thought our objective was the the death of a madman, but she said, now, our role was bigger. More important. We had more to do. We had to end this, once and for all."

"I don't understand."

"I don't either. She threatened to throw me in prison. And, I think she meant it. I barely got out of there."

"Maybe, she does have a plan," I say.

"Eliot, I hope she does, but if she is wrong. Well, if she is wrong, the monster still lives. If he recovers, General Kerry One Nation will come after Prince Torin. And this time, the general won't just cut a finger off to send to Torin's mother."

I know this to be true just from our dinner date with the monster. The professor is a cold-hearted man of evil. He will want revenge, and Torin will be his vengeance.

"What can we do?" I ask.

"I want you to go with me back to Stuart. Persuade your mother. Eliminate the general. Your mother will listen to you."

"And if she won't? We don't really know whose side she is on."

"If she doesn't listen to you, then it is all over anyway."

I look up and notice the crowd around Torin dispersing. We have to take the chance, for the prince, for my country, for the children. I agree to go.

"I'll tell Torin, we are going to find my dad and yours. Going to check on them. I'll tell him, we'll be right back."