Free Treason Keep by Jennifer Fallon

on the younger man. “Tarja?”
    “Somebody told me once that he believed in the gods, he just didn’t know if they were worthy of adoration. That sums it up fairly well, I think. The gods exist, Garet, and they took a hand in our conflict, as Joyhinia’s condition proves.”
    “And you’ve been issuing orders in her name ever since?” It was impossible to tell what the man was thinking. He was a master in the art of inscrutability, Damin decided. He would have made a brilliant Fardohnyan merchant.
    “Once the Karien Envoy was murdered on Medalon soil, the threat of a Karien invasion moved from a theory to a certainty,” Tarja explained. “Had Jenga returned to the Citadel with Joyhinia, the Quorum would still be in session, arguing about what to do next. At least this way preparations could be made.”
    “Did you kill him?” he asked.
    “No, but I led the raid. I suppose I’m responsible.”
    Garet shook his head wearily and turned his attention back to Jenga. “I’ve known you a long time, Jenga. I’m trying to imagine what finally pushed you into this. By any definition, this is treason.”
    The Lord Defender nodded heavily. “We discussed this once, you and I. I asked you what you would do iffaced with an order you found morally reprehensible. I recall you said you would refuse it, and the consequences be damned. I find myself in that position now.”
    Garet leaned back in his seat and studied the three men before him. “Knowing Joyhinia, I find that easy enough to believe, but how long do you think you can get away with this? The First Sister’s absence from the Citadel is causing a great deal of unrest. And the orders she’s sending are too strange to be accepted without question. You’ve pardoned Tarja. You’ve ordered an end to the Purge and freed half the prisoners in the Grimfield. You’ve ordered troops north. You’re spending money like the treasury is a bottomless pit and you’ve signed a treaty with a Hythrun Warlord. Joyhinia would never be a willing party to any of these actions.”
    “The next Gathering is only months away,” Tarja pointed out. “Joyhinia will send a letter to the Quorum announcing her retirement and nominating Mahina in her place. With her vote, and the votes of Jacomina and Louhina, who will automatically vote for anything Joyhinia suggests, we should be safe.”
    Garet shook his head. “It will never work, Tarja.”
    “It has to work,” he insisted. “The alternative is a civil war, and that would leave us wide open to a Karien invasion.”
    “We’re not trying to bring down the Sisterhood, Garet,” Jenga added, a little defensively. “Merely bring some sanity to it.”
    “Sanity? That’s a strange word coming from men who think they can fool the world into believing thatJoyhinia Tenragan is alive and well, when in fact she’s a babbling idiot.”
    Damin listened to the discussion with interest. He was a Warlord and therefore absolute ruler of his province. He never had to justify anything he did to anybody, and it fascinated him, watching the Medalonians trying to convince themselves and each other that their actions were either honourable or necessary, or both.
    “The fact is, my friends, you can argue the rights and wrongs of this until you’re old men,” he interjected. “What I’d really like to know is what you are planning to do about it, Commandant?”
    Garet Warner looked up at him. “I have two choices that I can see. I can go along with this farce, or I can return to the Citadel and tell the Quorum what’s really going on up here.”
    “No, you have one choice, Commandant. You can go along with this farce, or I’ll kill you.”
    “Damin!”
    “Be realistic, Tarja. If you let him go, he’ll be back here in a month with a full force of Defenders, and you’ll have the very civil war you’re trying so hard to avoid. Killing one Defender now may save you from having to kill a damn sight more of them later on. I’ll do it, if it