They didn’t go back through Fenring park cavern. Now that they knew that the corridor between the caverns and Laxu sector was empty they were able to go the other way instead, through Hewlak park cavern, which was full of vacuum and dead. The cavern was split entirely in two by the fissure that had caused the great disaster. It travelled the entire width of the ceiling and spread right across the floor, partially plugged by soil and plants that had fallen down it. It was only a few inches wide, but Shaun couldn’t help but pause for a few moments as he stepped over it, wondering how far down it went.

     It had been caused by the impact of a small fragment of a comet, he remembered Ban Chin saying. Comets were supposed to be nothing more than clouds of thin gas. How could that be if one of them could do something like this? He wondered how close the tiny moon had come to being shattered completely. He looked up at the crack in the ceiling, staring at the stars visible through it, but then Matthew nudged his elbow, bringing him back to the here and now and he lifted his end of the cabinet again.

     It took them ages to carry the awkward, bulky object. They stopped to rest several times along the way but eventually they made it, and as they passed through the airlock back into Hewlak sector they were greeted by Sejanus and the other soldiers Lirenna had enchanted. They threw a blanket over the Pantry. A big, loose blanket with lots of padding sewn into it to hide the shape of the object under it, and they then carried it down the corridor-street toward the place they’d chosen to hide it, glaring suspiciously at everyone they passed along the way. This was something they could only have gotten away with with someone of Sejanus’s rank with them. The commoners and lower ranked soldiers they passed were simply too scared of drawing attention to themselves to comment or interfere. As Parkus had said, if you act as though you own the place, you can get away with anything.

     “What’ll you tell Lord Basil when he asks what this’s all about?” Shaun asked the Konnen General.

     “I’ll tell him it’s a parcel of food to reward an informer,” replied Sejanus. “It’s a common enough event. Granted, food parcels aren’t normally this size, and I don’t normally get involved myself, but I’ll make him believe it.”

     “I don’t know,” said Silverby, though. “I think we’re pushing credibility to its very limit. Lord Basil’s not stupid. He may not know that you’re working for the Lady Lirenna, may her grace and beauty last a thousand years, but he may suspect you of plotting against him or something. Laying up a store of food for a future coup attempt, perhaps.”

     “I’ll allay his suspicions,” promised Sejanus. “I’ve known him many years, I know all the right things to say. Have no fears on that score.”

     I hope you’re right, thought Shaun nervously as doors opened on either side and people stared curiously out at them. Children laughed and skipped behind them until fearful parents ushered them back indoors. If there were only some way of getting the Pantry to safety without anyone seeing it... but there wasn’t so they just had to make the best of it they could. Their only hope was that the sheer daring and audacity of the plan would stop anyone suspecting what they were up to. After all, who in their right minds would carry a Pantry through the streets of Kronosia right under the noses of all the soldiers? Shaun wanted to burst out laughing at the very thought of it.

     There was a street in Hewlak sector with many empty apartments. Most of the families there were trustworthy, having attended Diana’s religious services regularly, and the families they weren’t sure of, or whom they knew for a fact were informers, had been invited to dinner parties by trustworthy families or otherwise kept busy so that they wouldn’t see what was going on out in the street.

     The few soldiers on duty were also being kept busy, one group of three being accosted by a tearful woman who’d lost her daughter, and another two being seduced by a pair of local beauties who’d lured them into an empty apartment. No unfriendly eyes saw Shaun, Matthew and the enchanted soldiers, therefore, as they carried the Pantry down the street and into an empty apartment several doors away from the nearest occupied apartment. It was a tight squeeze, and for one awful moment they were afraid that it wouldn’t fit through the door, but they eventually managed to wrestle it through and soon it was sitting in the corner of the kitchen, the blanket still covering it just in case someone happened to look in.

     “It mustn’t be left unguarded even for a moment,” said Shaun as Tomsk and the other Tharians arrived, beaming happily in triumph. “We’ll have to take shifts, with someone on duty all the time keeping an eye on it.”

     “We will, be sure of it,” replied Tomsk. “My sons and their families will take care of it. At the very first sign of trouble whoever’s on duty will run off to get help. We’ll know all about it within minutes.”

     They then went off to get the other Pantry, bringing it through the city in the same way as the first and placing it in another apartment in the same corridor-street. Putting the two Pantrys so close together was a risky strategy, since the discovery of one could lead very easily to the discovery of the other, and ideally they would have preferred them as far apart as possible. The problem was that streets as empty of occupants as Pantry Street (as the rebels came to call it) were rare, and all the others were inhabited by the families of soldiers or informers and therefore much too dangerous to use. Still, it wasn’t all bad. Having both Pantrys in the same street meant that they only had one street to look after and they could concentrate all their efforts on diverting attention away from it. The occasional sighting of one of the Tharians on the other side of the city ought to do the trick.

     “The next time you search the city, you’ve got to make sure it’s you and your men who search these two apartments,” Lirenna told Silverby.

     “Leave it to me, my Lady,” replied the Hewlak Captain, bowing low before her. “There’ll be no mistakes, I promise.”

     “So,” said Jerry, tugging thoughtfully at his short, silver beard. “Now what?”

     “Now we start distributing food,” replied Diana. “Just small packets, small enough to hide in our clothing. We’ll need a team of couriers who can go from door to door without arousing suspicion.”

     “We can do that,” replied Silverby. “We can be ‘interrogating suspects’ and searching for illicit caches of food.” They all laughed at the irony.

     “Within a few days everyone in Hewlak sector will know that there’s an independent source of food in the city,” continued the cleric. “The Nobles’ threat to starve them out of any disobedience will lose its power and they’ll begin to lose their authority.”

     “That’s when the trouble starts,” said Shaun grimly.

     “Not necessarily,” replied Diana. “I see no reason why the transfer of power shouldn’t be easy and bloodless if we handle it properly. Once the Nobles see which way things are going...”

     “They will crush you,” interrupted Sejanus, his face like a granite mask. “Lord Basil will grind you under his heel.”

     Diana stared at him in surprise and anger. “He’s right,” said Shaun however. “There’s going to be a great deal of bloodshed before this is over. You can be sure of that.”

     “I don’t see that,” protested the cleric. “The Nobles are rational, intelligent people. They’re not going to deliberately stir up hatred against themselves. They don’t know that there’s any way back to Tharia. So far as they know, they’re still stuck up here for the rest of eternity so they’re going to want to get along with the people they share their prison with.”

     “If I may correct you on one point,” replied Sejanus, “Lord Basil hasn’t been rational for some time. He’s half crazy and completely paranoid. He was bad enough before, but now he’s lost his Ring of ESP...”

     “Then the rest of his family will hold him in check,” insisted Diana angrily. “They’ll hold him back for their own protection.”

     “I don’t think any of them have the courage for that,” said the Konnen General thoughtfully. “They might murder him and his son Drusus and then fight amongst themselves for the right to replace him.”

     “They wouldn’t do that!” said the cleric, deeply shocked. “They wouldn’t murder a twelve year old boy!”

     “Of course they would.” replied Sejanus in contempt at her naivety. “He’s his sole heir. No-one else can be Lord so long as he lives.”

     The cleric fell into a shocked silence, unable to conceive the ruthlessness spoken of so casually by the Konnen General, and Shaun felt a deep sympathy for her. Despite the horrors and evils they’d seen and experienced over the past year or so, she still had the innocence of a child and found it almost impossible to think the worst of anybody.

     “I’m afraid he’s right,” he said as kindly as possible. “Revolutions are violent events. People get killed. It’s just the way things are. I’m sorry, but there’s just no getting away from that simple, basic fact.”

     The cleric gave him a pained look, as if she knew, deep down, that he was right, and then walked silently away.

☆☆☆

     When Sejanus returned to the Konnen mansion, Lord Basil was waiting for him. He led him into the briefing room, and as soon as the door was closed and the two of them were alone he rounded on him furiously. “Just what in the name of all the Gods are you up to?” he demanded.

     “I'm sorry?” said the General, a little taken aback by the suddenness of the question.

     “I’ve had reports of you popping up all over the city. Mixing with common soldiers and even chatting away like old friends with the citizens. And then to cap it all you’re seen helping a group of enlisted men and a Hewlak Captain to carry a large bulky object the size of a Pantry through Hewlak sector. Now I want to know what in the name of Hell is going on and why I didn’t know anything about it.”

     Sejanus fought hard not to reveal his surprise and concern. Word of their activities had found its way back to him faster than he’d expected. “I know how busy you are at the moment, consolidating your hold over the Traldians and bringing order to the city, so I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

     “Nothing goes on in this city that I don’t know about!” roared the Nobleman furiously. “Nothing! No event is so trivial that it is below my notice. Now tell me what you were doing.”

     Sejanus couldn’t think of a rational, logical explanation on the spur of the moment. If he simply blurted out the first thing that came into his head, the chances were that he’d give himself away with an inconsistency that Lord Basil would spot immediately. An explanation that would stand up to the Nobleman’s critical examination would take some time to prepare, but at the same time he couldn’t just stand there silently, being obviously evasive. That would be worse than the stupidest, clumsiest lie.

     “There’s no time to explain now,” he snapped therefore. “There’s the chance that I may be able to catch one of the fugitives, maybe all of them, but only if I move fast. I’ll explain everything later.”

     He then strode rapidly out of the room, leaving the Nobleman staring after him in dumbstruck astonishment.

     Halfway down the corridor the General passed Silus Vart, Lord Basil’s chief advisor and, acting on the spur of the moment, he grabbed the old man by the elbow and steered him the rest of the way down the corridor and into the study, closing the door behind them.

      “What is this?” demanded Vart angrily, shocked and hurt by the rough treatment.

     “His Lordship is getting worse,” said Sejanus in a hushed voice. “His paranoia is growing to ludicrous dimensions. He suspects everyone of plotting against him, and nothing anyone says or does will convince him otherwise.”

     “It’s true,” agreed Vart with a furtive look around to make sure the room was empty. “He’s always been that way, but he’s always had the Ring of ESP to reassure him. He could read anyone’s mind and see their loyalty for himself. Without it, he has no such reassurance and his paranoia's spiraling out of all control.”

     “Something must be done,” said the General in spirited determination. “It’s only a matter of time before he convinces himself that we’re all traitors and has us executed. He already has suspicions against you.”

     “Me?” exclaimed the advisor fearfully. “He suspects me?”

     “Your failure to devise a plan to capture the Tharians,” explained the General. “He suspects you of collaborating with them, of deliberately covering up for them.”

     “He cannot think that!”

     “He told me so himself.”

     “We will redouble our efforts! We’ll double the rewards, pick up people at random for interrogation...”

     “Forget the Tharians,” advised Sejanus. “I doubt they’re even in the city. Most likely they’ve joined the renegades and are living rough in the caverns. No, it’s Lord Basil who’s the real danger.”

     “What do you want me to do?”

     “He must be removed from power. Drusus is too young to become the new Lord yet, so a steward would have to take up the reins of power until he comes of age. Someone older and wiser, more steady and clearheaded. Someone the whole family would gather behind. I might consider the position myself, but I’m not a Konnen. The family would never agree to be ruled over by a non-family member.”

     “So you want me to do it?” exclaimed the advisor in surprise.

     “Why not? I don’t really care who’s in charge so long as they’re not likely to have me publicly executed on a whim of paranoia. I’d sleep a lot easier in my bed with you in charge than him, I can tell you.”

     Vart was speechless, but greed and ambition spread slowly across his face as he contemplated the possibility. “Me, ruler of the city. Patriarch of House Konnen.”

     “You would have the whole army behind you, I can promise you that.”

     The advisor was silent, still thinking about it, so Sejanus continued speaking. “Just think about it, that’s all I ask. The alternative may well be a scaffold in the forecourt.”

     He then left the room, concealing the smile of mischief and triumph until the door was safely closed behind him.

     The advisor, with his network of spies and informers, was the biggest threat to the Tharians, and to his beloved Lirenna in particular. By distracting him into plotting against Lord Basil he was making it much less likely that they’d be found out. Lirenna would be pleased, and the idea of pleasing her sent a warm glow through his spellbound soul.

     Besides, Lord Basil really was becoming more erratic and unpredictable as his paranoia grew, and having him disposed of really would be the safest thing to do. The chances were that he’d have had the same conversation with Vart even if he hadn’t been enchanted by the demi shae.

     As for Drusus, once Vart had had a taste of power he wouldn’t be keen on the idea of making way for the boy as soon as he came of age. He had a son of his own, a strapping twenty year old with a beautiful wife and the imminent prospect of grandsons. The idea of establishing a dynasty of his own would have its attractions, no doubt about that.

     He laughed to himself. Poor Drusus. It would be his thirteenth birthday in a few weeks. Unlucky for some...