Barras lay back on the pillows and closed his eyes.
“The morphine’s really taken effect now,” Mildred whispered. “It’ll put him out for a few hours.”
“Then we should leave,” Markos said in a clipped, strained voice. “I have matters to attend, but I shall be at your home in two hours, if that is acceptable, to discuss arrangements.”
Sineta acknowledged the sec boss. “In two hours, then.” When he had left, she said to Mildred, “Although it was the decisive action I wanted, I feel this is going to be fraught with problems.”
Mildred looked back at Barras, thinking of the secret he would be imparting to her trust. “Oh, yeah,” she said slowly, “that’s for sure.”
THE MEETING at Sineta’s dwelling was short and far from sweet. Markos made it known that the move would bring nothing but trouble and that he, personally, was far from happy about living on the whitelands. However, he had a job to do and he would discharge his duty to the best of his ability. Having made his position clear, Mildred noticed that he seemed to relax and shift into a different gear, acting with a clearness of head and clarity of purpose that she wouldn’t have thought possible. Plans for the evacuation were drawn with speed, the sec boss pointing out areas of difficulty and overcoming them with ease. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who had started the meeting by voicing such objections.
He left in the still watches of the night, the plans complete. It was agreed that they would hold an island meeting the next morning to make matters clear and to begin the process. As he left, the sec boss ordered the night watches to prevent early rising hunters, miners, farmers and fishermen from beginning their tasks. Everyone had to be present in the main square when the meeting began. For Sineta and Mildred, it meant a night of little sleep. The reaction of the people was an unknown that worried the baron’s daughter.
As for Mildred, she wondered how her companions would feel, hearing this from someone else while she stood beside the baron’s daughter. She knew that if it were her, she would feel in some way betrayed, and made wary. Yet she couldn’t go to tell them now, for there could be no risk of the news leaking before the next morning. It was an untenable position.
“I WONDER WHAT THE HELL this is about,” Ryan said as the companions gathered in the main square with the rest of the Pilatans.
“Whatever it is, Millie’s got a hand in it,” J.B. mused, seeing her enter the square with Markos and Sineta. “Which kind of makes me wonder why she didn’t tell us about it.”
Doc laid a hand on the Armorer’s shoulder. “I fear that is something on which you dwell too deeply, John Barrymore. Dear Dr. Wyeth is walking a very fine line at the moment, and we have to allow for this.”
“Yeah, but how far do we do that before it gets to be a problem?” Dean asked.
Krysty shot him a puzzled look. “You’re doubting Mildred?”
Dean grimaced. “No, not really. It’s just that… well, she kind of belongs here, and I figure that stuffs important. Mebbe more important.”
Doc raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been unsettled since we landed here, young Dean. What is it that ails you?”
“Nothing,” Dean muttered, shrugging off the memories of dreams that haunted him.
“This still more interesting than waiting next hunt,” Jak murmured.
There was a raised platform in the middle of the square that was used for speeches and celebrations, and the trio of Markos, Mildred and Sineta mounted it to a hum of speculation that stilled as the sec boss raised an arm.
“People, it is very rare in our history that we have to meet in such a way. And it is beyond such that we meet today, for we have something unprecedented in our history of which to speak. Our beloved Barras is too ill to come to speak, but he has given me orders and requested his daughter to speak to you. Pray be silent and listen well, for what Sineta has to say is of the utmost import.”