The Cleansing (Book One: The Folara Chronicles)

069: Galantyne

"First of all..." Belakane screeched. "You cannot go into this war without all the facts. How can you amass an army without knowing...."

Galantyne straightened, his eyes piercing Dmitri's. "Tell me." 

"I have spoken with my contact on Etrusia." He looked haggard.

Belakane adopted a wary expression, one hand clutching her heaving chest. "What contact is that?"

"It's a reliable source." Dmitri said firmly. "I have no doubt what he said to me is true. Etrusia has been decimated by plague and no one is left uninfected, except...." He closed his eyes taking a deep breath. "Little children of the ages before puberty sets in are immune and several hundred of them have been saved aboard a ship."

"A ship?" Galantyne shouted. "What ship? There is no ship big enough to house 200 children, especially since Archer's shuttle was brought back here, and Taan's shuttle seats only twenty."

"It seems that they have gathered on a ship that belonged to Pioneer ancestors."

"Impossible!" Galantyne groaned. "Technology was stripped from those ships and they were destroyed so that no one could attempt to leave the planet without the rest of us."

"Apparently Quildor found a way. Several families were spared from this plague."

Eyes around the room narrowed.

"My source is on this ship." 

"A child?" Belakane sneered angrily. "You rely upon a plague infested child?" Her fingers clawed at the veils and fabric around her jowly neck.

"Belakane, shut up!" Dmitri said, noting her apoplectic mottled skin. "See me outside this minute!" 

Dmitri turned to her. "You may be the Queen, and a Prominent Council Lady, but by God woman, I will not tolerate your disrespect. You owe me far more than this treatment, Bela. Others may be intimidated by your brusque tones but I am not. Leave off, or I will leave you here."

"Dmitri." She changed her voice to a kinder version of her former harshness. "Who is your source? I didn't even know you were still practicing your mind communication. It has been so long, and you haven't mentioned it. Have you used it often?" Her eyes were bloodshot and watery.

He knew she was jealous of the people he could contact in Etrusia. He and his former wife had carried on a professional communication for many years after their separation and the war had exiled her. She had been a very good friend to Belakane in their youth.

Dmitri now communicated with her son, Christoff, who was a prisoner in an experimental laboratory. He was now quarantined aboard this pioneer ship and he only knew that they were led by a prominent man in the usurping government.

"I have used it often to keep in touch with certain others on Etrusia when necessary, but I am loyal to Carrigah, Belakane, and always have been."

"And Valdemar." 

"Yes." He agreed rather forcefully, annoyed that she would bring it up. "I was born there! I am Valdemarian. How else do you think I even have this power to communicate? I only hope that I can continue to communicate with them and find out where Taan and Archer are. Now, can we return and tell this information to Galantyne so he can make an informed decision?"

*****

Galantyne's eyes barely rose to meet Dmitri's and he straightened and folded his arms sternly forbidding any further domestic outbursts.