[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
and know they need, but that they d rather shove off on someone else. I think
Page 93
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
sending her away would be the wrong thing to do. I think leaving her to do her
work alone would also be the wrong thing to do. I think we need to say to
ourselves, If not me, then who? If not now, then when? He stood again, and
hooked his thumbs into the pockets of his uniform pants. This is our moment,
I think. Today, with war all around us, and with a winning strategy before us
for the first time, we have been called to serve. And we can either fight or
we can run. His voice went quiet. I m a Southerner, he said. Running
doesn t sit well with me.
So, Sheriff, Louisa said, you re in favor of taking the Cat Creek Sentinels
rogue?
Eric winced a little at the way she phrased the question, but said, I don t
see that we have any other choice. Just as when Lauren decided to do what
she s doing, I don t see that she had any other choice. We must do what is
right. We must.
Then you re not going to call for a vote? You re just going to tell us that
we re going to do this? Louisa asked.
Pete liked that idea, but Eric shook his head.
No. If we do this, we must all do it, and we must all agree to it. We cannot
have any in the group that we cannot trust to stand behind us because if we do
this, all we re going to have is each other.
Then you don t even have to vote, Raymond said. Because nothing you can say
will convince me that sneaking around behind the Council or going rogue is the
right thing to do. It isn t, and I know it, and in your gut every single one
of you knows it.
Not even to save this world and everyone on it, Raymond?
Raymond crossed his arms over his chest. If that s what s at stake, you ll be
able to take this before the full Council.
We can t risk that, George said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him.
We can t? Eric looked surprised and interested.
If the Council decides in her favor, fine. But if the Council decides against
her, there is no one else who can do what she s doing. At least not that we
know of.
Darlene hadn t said much, either. Now she spoke up as well. This isn t
something a committee could replace or correct if it made a mistake. They
couldn t just plug someone else into her job to make everything better. They
can t be given the opportunity to make a mistake, because if they make a
mistake, they can t fix it.
So we get to make the mistake instead, Raymond said. I can t believe you
people. This is simple. This is wrong versus right, and you re trying to make
it into something else. And you, Darlene. I thought you and I had already
agreed to vote against Lauren on this.
Darlene said, Healthy magic is coming through to us from Kerras for the first
time since the Cuban Missile Crisis. There s life on Kerras again.
Raymond gave Darlene a murderous look. And in a day or two the Night Watch
will discover that and wipe it out. And they ll come here, too, and kill you
and me and everyone else in this town on their way to get to Lauren.
Eric studied Raymond. You re not going to see reason on this? You re not
going to see why this is important?
I already see reason, Raymond said. Either banish her or have her killed
and be done with it. The Sentinels don t need her. We can do what this world
needs, just like we always have. We don t need rogues, or traitors, or the
children of traitors.
And Pete?
He s a traitor. He helped her. He s known what she s been up to all along.
That s what? Aiding and abetting? Accessory?
Those are criminal justice terms, Eric said. They don t apply within the
Sentinels. He stood before them, thinking, one arm crossed over his stomach,
elbow of the other resting on it, head down, forehead cupped in hand.
Pete felt sick. Eric was looking for unanimity, and he wasn t going to get it.
Which meant the vote would have to go against Lauren. He d been sure it
Page 94
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
wouldn t he d been sure these idiots would see reason. That s why he d
convinced her to come before them and present her case and he d been wrong.
And the start of it all had been so small. Heyr had said only one innocent
thing. He d mentioned Molly in the present tense a tiny slip, and one he
hadn t even realized was a slip.
One slip. Pete wondered if anyone, ever, had betrayed so much with a word.
The truth will out. Old saying, painfully correct. Whether you wanted it or
not, truth would at last find its way into the light.
Eric looked up. There is no need to call a vote. We know in advance that we
will not reach a consensus, and for an issue of this magnitude, consensus must
be reached.
Raymond said, You know in advance that you won t get consensus in her favor.
But you might get consensus against her. Why don t you take the vote anyway?
Because I do know that I won t get a consensus against her. Because even if I
were the only one voting in her favor, I would still vote in her favor.
Therefore, there can be no agreement on this issue, and the decision on what
we do about her falls to me. Without consensus, I will not take the Sentinels
rogue. I will not force someone who disagrees with what we would be doing to
serve. So& we cannot help her.
Pete started to stand, to protest. His fists were clenched, his arms rigid.
Eric said, Sit down, Pete. The Sentinels cannot help her, and I am sorry
about that, and I am deeply ashamed that we will not. I am ashamed that we are
taking the cowards road. But& if we are forced to stand on the cowards road,
we will not march on it. I will not send her away, I will not report what she
is doing to the Council, and our official position on all of this is that she
is our gateweaver and none of us knows of anything that she is doing that
falls outside of her mandate. None of us, he repeated, and he looked at each
of the Sentinels in turn. Because what she is doing matters, and I will not
take the route of Not In My Back Yard. She will stay here; we will deal with
the consequences of her being here. And, just to make myself very clear, the
one of you who reports her to the Council betrays all of us. No matter where
you are, no matter what you are doing, no matter when you decide to pass the
information on. And if you are considering betraying all of us, I will state
that we in the Cat Creek Sentinels are good people. But we are not nice
people. We will protect our own without qualm or hesitation.
So you re saying that you re going to do nothing, Raymond said. His face had
gone an ugly, beefy red.
I m saying that I m going to do nothing. And that you are going to do
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]