Star Watch ship he can musterAnd where do you stand? Which side are you on?”
Odal almost smiled. “I’ve been asking myself that very question. So far, I haven’t been able to find a clear answer.”
“It’s important for us to know.”
“Is it?” Odal asked, leaning forward slightly in the lounge. “Why is that? I’m a prisoner here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You needn’t be a prisoner. I’m sure that Harold and Prime Minister Mardne would agree to have you released if you guaranteed to help us.”
“Help you? How?”
“For one thing,” Leoh answered, “you could help us to get Hector back to safety.”
“Return to Kerak?” Odal tensed. ‘That would be risky.”
“You’d rather sit safely here, a prisoner?”
“Why not?”
Leoh shifted his weight uncomfortably in the chair. “I should think that Romis could use you in his attempt to overthrow Kanus.”
“Possibly. But not until the moment he’s ready to strike directly at Kanus. Until then, I imagine he’s just as happy to let me remain here. He’ll call me when he wants me. Whether I’ll go or not is another problem.”
Leoh suddenly found that he had run out of words. It seemed clear that Odal was not going to volunteer to help anyone except himself.
Rising, he said, “I’d like you to think about these matters. There are many lives at stake, amd you could help to save them.”
“And lose my own,” Odal said as he politely stood up.
Leoh cocked his head to one side. “Very possibly, I must admit.”
“You regard Hector’s life more highly than my own. I don’t.”
“All right then, stalemate. But there are a few billion Kerak and Acquatainian lives at stake, you know.”