Chapter Twelve: We're All Pawns
Cyran Prefecture, Cyclonus Mansion
"Gentlemen, I apologize for calling you here on such short notice but I thought you'd want to know the information I'd just received as soon as possible."
Bill and Dan were sitting stiffly in the sitting room of the Prefect's mansion, as the Prefect himself paced restlessly in front of them.
Cyclonus shocked them. They'd been prepared for anything from being ordered to leave to being outright arrested when Daniel had come the day before, seeking any information on the disappearance of Bill's parents.
Tveir stunned Dan when he not only invited the search party in but was stunned and concerned at the news that the Sifras' had vanished from the streets of Trikampis Village without a sign. The Circle was further distressed to learn the actual reason why his trusted associate, Varien, had taken a sabbatical from his job.
"He should have told me! I would have done anything to help the poor man find his son."
Now Bill was sitting in Tveir's mansion, watching the Circle pacing agitatedly in front of him.
"I've made some inquiries, Mr. Sifras," he said, "as you probably know, I and the Chief are not on the best terms-" the man paused, his eye narrowing in distaste, "-what he's been doing recently has not increased my like for the man in any way. He's scum and I have no problem saying so in front of you. This is why I've made sure Cyran stays independent of him and his stormtroopers. If there's rebellion in our Prefecture, I will take the responsibility of dealing with it how I see fit."
He took a deep breath. "The only things I have seen from my Prefecture is the rise of a wonderful artistic talent; dedicated, creative people who are willing to help those in distress and an idyllic land that I would do anything to protect from my hated cousin's interference. Your parents are loved, William, as are you and your friends. You've made this Prefecture proud. Your friend Alistair risked his life to help refugees in need." He grumbled. "I apologize, young man, I digress, it's simply that the news I must deliver is not good and it troubles me deeply to have to tell you." He sighed, paused in his pacing and knelt in front of Bill.
Misery and fear churned inside Bill as he stared into the Circle's large, mournful eye.
"Your parents were indeed taken by Cerchio, as I'm afraid you already realized. They're being held under arrest for suspected collusion with the Subversive resistance."
Bill shuddered, dropping his eye into his hands.
"I'm sorry, William. So very sorry. I'm doing what I can to have them returned to us as soon as possible. This accusation is ludicrous, I'm insulted by the very idea that a couple of law-abiding, peaceful townsfolk like your parents could be involved in a revolution."
He patted Bill's angle and stood up.
"William, I formally apologize on behalf of the Pantocyclus House for what it has done to you and your family, to Varien's family."
Bill looked up. "Sir, you don't have-"
"I do. I understand that during your time in the Capitol, my cousin made several very inappropriate advances towards you. Unfortunately, he's known for this kind of reprehensible behavior and it casts a dark shadow over my family's name." He frowned. "I understand my family has not been well-liked in the past and I don't condone their actions. Vyraius Cerchio has done everything in his power to destroy the reputation we'd been striving to rebuild. I know this is small comfort to you in this time but I couldn't let you leave my house without saying this."
Tveir began to pace again. The man was clearly in distress and Bill believed him. He'd been distrustful of Cyclonus from the beginning but it was clear to him and everyone else in the room that the Prefect was upset. Actually, legitimately upset.
"Thank you, sir," he said softly.
Tveir grumbled again. "Please ask Varien to call me. I want to help him if I can."
"We will, sir," Dan said.
The Circle paused. He looked as though he were considering something of grave importance, staring at the wall opposite him.
"Leave," he said.
Bill and Dan moved to rise.
"Not you, gentlemen." He looked at the servants who were waiting quietly in their places by the doors. "Please leave. I wish to speak to these young men alone."
"Yes sir."
The servants filed out and the doors closed behind them.
Tveir turned to face the boys.
"William, Daniel, what I am going to say is between you and I. It is in the strictest confidence and I hope you understand when I tell you, what follows is the truth. I cannot even trust the members of my staff with what I am about to tell you. I believe you will understand this. If you do, you will know what to do with it."
Bill stiffened and he felt Dan do the same beside him.
"I was not pleased to be sent to run this Prefecture. Cerchio sent me here as a punishment, to get me out of the City due to our-differences. The last thing I wanted was to be Prefect of some backwater outer province full of, what I had been told- ahem, rustics."
Bill stiffened even more.
"When I arrived here, however, I found something I never knew I wanted. Cyran. Your home. A treasure of Nature. Beautiful, quiet, peaceful. With wonderful, creative, intelligent non-Polygons who had created a life in this small province, who were just trying to make the best of what my House had given them. I fell in love with it almost immediately and my family eventually came around as well. Then we found you, William, a genius musical talent that made the most accomplished artists in the city look like rank amateurs. You went on to the City and made us all proud to be from your Prefecture."
He offered a gentle smile to the two of them.
"Daniel, William, I must say, I love it here. I don't ever want to return to Pantocyclus. I feel responsible for keeping my adopted home safe and its people happy."
He considered his next words a moment, then turned back to the two young men.
"I also feel I must tell you, I hate what our society has become. Before I came here, I watched things go from bad to worse and had very little power to stop it. Indeed, I wanted to, but I had no idea how such a thing might be accomplished. It is difficult for even my family to initiate such wide-ranging change. We are not clever in that respect. We're Royals, we're set in our ways. Stagnating." He sighed. "There are things that I know that would curl your angles and I will not repeat them in this house."
He took a deep breath, sitting heavily in a large chair by the fireplace. He looked at the two sitting across from him.
"That said, I know that there is a resistance movement in this province. I know that they are organized, well-led and strong. I believe they make some valid points. Unfortunately, I cannot officially say I support them, you understand. Not officially. However, should this movement make itself known to me, I will not get in their way. I have come to understand that they are doing what I have not been able- been allowed to do, the only way they can."
He looked at Bill and Dan.
"If you know of these people, please, tell them this. If you do not, perhaps you might consider listening to what they have to say. Your families are caught up in this war, you might need to enlist their help to get them away from it, safely."
"I have only one question, sir," Bill said, his voice level, "if you were to be contacted by these people you speak of, would you help them?"
Tveir looked at him silently a very long moment.
Then, with a very deep sigh, the Circle inclined his upper half.
"If I can. Yes."
Kendrick House
Bill looked at the message he'd written for what had to be the tenth time that hour. He still hesitated sending it but he'd searched his soul and he couldn't find anything deep down inside him, that said that Tveir was anything other than what he said he was.
He wished he could run it past Alistair. He'd not heard from Alistair since the other day and he was beginning to wonder if it'd been the ramblings of an over-worked, over-tired brain.
I mean, who is actually telepathic? There's been no concrete proof of such abilities in any scientific study on the phenomenon in history.
No, it had to have been a daydream. A welcome daydream but a figment of his imagination nonetheless.
He rubbed his eye. The message was good, well-thought out and as safe as he could make it short of not putting his actual name on it.
Tveir Cyclonus,
I am Cipher. If what I have been told is true, you know of me.
I am aware of your interest in my group and I am open to further discussion.
If you wish to assist us, I must have your reassurance that my people will remain safe, else there cannot be any further communication between us.
Should you wish to continue this conversation, send a reply through the individual you have received this from. I trust him and you should as well.
He sighed. He didn't want to put anyone else on the chopping block, just in case his gut feeling about the Circle was in fact, wrong. He had to deliver it himself, on his own, without Dan or anyone else's knowledge.
He needed a man like Tveir Cyclonus and if he was indeed being honest, Bill could use his influence. The Prefect had already been making attempts to help return his parents and in doing so, he'd provided Bill with more information than he'd been able to get on his own. Tveir had implied, well, not implied, pretty much confirmed that one of the primary reasons Cerchio had his parents arrested was to get to William Sifras, the pianist, the one person who'd rejected him. And Bill had a pretty good suspicion that the other reason was to flush out Cipher.
Why Cerchio hadn't revealed his identity, he wasn't certain, but a part of his mind wondered exactly how much he really knew. Maybe Hugh hadn't actually revealed his identity, maybe this was all just an attempt by a jealous, humiliated man to make Bill do what he wanted. It wasn't much but he had to hope.
There'd been no further information on the fate of the people that had been captured in the rescue attempt that ended with Alistair missing and Flourish dead. Bill didn't hold much hope that Creon Hugh and the others had survived their imprisonment and interrogation, which made the horrors that awaited his parents even harder to bear.
Which was why Bill had to deliver the message to the Prefect himself.
Taking a deep breath, Bill folded the message, tucked it in his jacket, grabbed his hat, a battered, crushable velvet top hat that was the only thing he'd been able to keep from his time in Pantocyclus City, placed it atop his apex and quietly left the Kendrick house.
He knocked at the door of the Prefect's mansion, standing silently in the cold and dark of the doorstep.
Eventually, the door opened and a Line stood there, looking at him, blinking at him from behind a set of glasses perched over her eye.
"Yes?" she said in a cool, curt tone.
"I apologize for the late hour but I have a message for your Master."
Her eye narrowed at the word: 'Master'. "Hm. You do? Name?"
"William Sifras."
"Very well. Come in and wait in the sitting room. I will see if he will see you."
She let him in and showed him to the Prefect's sitting room.
"Have a seat."
The woman hurried out and closed the door behind her.
He considered her a moment. Odd that she seemed almost insulted when he referred to the Prefect as her master but he'd assumed she was a servant of some sort. He felt a bit bad about it now.
After about fifteen minutes, the Line came back in.
"Mister Sifras-"
"Miss, I-I'm sorry if I offended you."
She blinked at him and her stiff posture relaxed a little. "No, please. I'm the Secretary to His Grace. And I get it all the time, sir."
"You?"
"Yes, I know, Lines rarely are given such a position. So I apologize for being curt with you. He will be down directly. He explained to me who you are and I wanted to tell you that I'm very sorry for what's happened to your family. I like your mother, she makes wonderful lemon cake." She offered a weak smile. "My name is Rose Evergreen."
"William Sifras, uh... I guess I already said that, huh?"
She inclined her top a little. "Yes, you did. I also really enjoyed your concerts. I hope you are able to continue them again when things are... better."
He flushed a bit. "I've been making recordings while I've been back here, it's just that concerts seem kind of, well, frivolous right now, I guess. H-how do you know my mother?"
"Village craft fairs. She's always had a table at them."
"Oh, I-I didn't realize important people would be at all interested in my Mom's little craft fairs."
"I'm not important, I just work for an important man. I love going to them. Actually we all do." She sighed. "I miss them. I'm not a crafter but they were always so fun and charming. We haven't had one since the summer."
"Oh good, you're keeping him company. Thank you for not leaving him all alone in this big house, Rose."
The Circle made his way into the sitting room. He offered Bill a polite nod of his top circumference and turned to Rose. "If you would, my dear-?"
Rose nodded. "Good evening, Mister Sifras."
She left the room and closed the door behind her.
Tveir turned to Bill. "Rose said you came with a message for me."
Bill set his hat aside and stood up, producing the folded paper from his jacket. He handed it to the Circle.
"I see," he said, taking the paper and opening it. Sitting down, he took his time reading it. After a few minutes, he refolded the paper and set it aside.
"Cipher sent you?"
"Yes, sir."
"So you know him personally."
"I do, sir."
"Are you active in the rebellion, William?"
Bill took a deep breath. "I am, Your Grace."
"Oh, so it's 'Your Grace' now, is it?"
Bill tensed. "Well, I, uh-"
"Would you be able to arrange an in-person meeting with Cipher?"
"It depends."
"On if I am being honest with you. I could have you arrested right now."
"I know that, Your Grace."
"It seems to me that a man who runs the resistance might feel that the only way to find out if I am being honest and not risk any of his own people, would choose to come to see me personally. That way if I were not being honest about my intentions, the only person who would suffer would be him."
"That makes sense," Bill said quietly.
"I have been completely honest with you about everything. I respect the loyalty you have for your people, Cipher."
Bill blinked but made no other indication that Tveir was right.
"You're safe here, young man. Your people are safe. I will do everything I can to protect them. I'd be honored to help you."
He stood and extended a hand to Bill.
Bill stood as well and clasped the Circle's hand.
"Thank you, sir," he said quietly.
"William, you and your friends have begun a great campaign. A frightening one but a great one. Our people need to change and I agree that the time for that change has been long overdue. I'm not the only Circle who feels this way. There has been a growing movement amongst the Polygons to try to effect change as well. People, all people should be free to make their own choices, to succeed or fail on their own terms."
He shook Bill's hand.
"I, and my fellow Polygons who are of like mind, are with you. We will continue our efforts within our own communities and with your help, will try to connect with your people. Together, William, we will change the world. Free for all people, William, Polygons and non-Polygons alike."
He patted Bill's angle.
"It's time to liberate Flatland, William Sifras. Bill. Cipher."