Loid and Welrod crashed through the door to the north balcony. A slug from a forearm launcher made Loid stagger. He drew back, allowing Anya to leap forward. She struck with feet and fists, while the colonel dodged and feinted with blades that extended from his forearms. His skill was sufficient to avoid or block two out of every three of her strikes, but the third that struck home quickly added up. Anya drew back in turn. The colonel swung his leg in a kick as Loid lunged in. Loid's fist struck home first. Welrod slammed into the guardrail, bending the metal. He raised his broken visor.
"I was just a little too slow," he said. "Ten years ago, even five, it could have gone either way." He rose to his feet. "You were right, you know. About Luwen. It was an accident. I was the one who did the job. I know what you're going to say, but it happens to be true."
Loid removed his heavily battered helmet. "Why tell me?" he said. "Why now?"
"You deserve to know," the colonel said. "And you can understand. You helped us out. You were in the Youth Auxiliaries by then. That's why you had a helmet. I knew your mother, too. Your father… he'd been gone a while. But I think you know that."
"What did they tell you?" Loid said through clenched teeth.
"They told us we were to test the feasibility of planting a large prepared demolition charge in the path of an enemy advance," Welrod said. "There were supposed to be plans to do it other places. Maybe they did; we didn't even know. That's why we were so piss poor against the first wave. Our troops were deserting because they thought what happened in Luwen would happen again. All their people had to do was lie and say it was all according to their plan."
"And what happened?" Loid said.
"They gave us twice the load and half the time," Welrod said with a shrug. "Then they recalled us and said it was being reassessed. I've seen jobs that didn't blow at all that weren't as shoddy as the work we did. We were lucky we didn't blow ourselves up. Anything could have set it off. It could have been animals, bad weather, bad wiring, one of the damn shells… or, yes, children playing."
"Nothing would have been different," Loid said. "Certainly very little. The invasion was coming. If Ostania had waited longer, they might have pushed us back over a wider front. Both sides planned to seize or destroy existing food stores. Those who died would still have perished, in far more pain."
"Then you know what it's like, to know and not know," Welrod said. He clambered onto the railing. "Here's something else to think about. That 10 dalc note you said you got was quite a lot back then. Actually, if you knew the right people, it was just about enough for a real gun."
"It crossed my mind," Loid said.
"There's one more thing," Welrod said. "I can tell you why you could never find a picture of your mother. She was born in Ostania."
He glanced over his shoulder. "We needed to talk, before," he said. He swung one leg over the rail. "One of us needs to know. One of us needs to remember. Me, I'm done." Loid stepped to one side. Anya fired her line thrower.
Loid patiently hauled the cable up. Welrod was merely sad as he was pulled onto the balcony. "Now," Loid said, "let's talk a little more about Luwen…"
As they returned, they found Franky racing to repair the damage to Bond, while Prince Ferdinand knelt before Fiona and her family. "Lady Briar, I have sought to speak to you before," said Prince Ferdinand. "I came to this meeting to give notice of an address I intend to give before the gathered leaders of our nations. I intend to endorse the government of unified Centralis, and cede now and indefinitely all claims to the thrones and lands of all the nations formerly subject to the Empire. I also intend to sell or donate our remaining hereditary lands for public use. The proceeds will go to a fund for all known descendants of the family who were excluded by the family elders."
He held out a hand to Fiona. "I also intended to submit proof of what the family covered up," he said. "Your great-grandmother was no harlot, even as they called it at the time. She was the wife of a man who deserted her, and the mistress of another who would not let her go. The prince killed her lover when he would have killed them both. Some say she struck the blow that gave him victory. Then they fled to her homeland in the east, where there were clergy who would marry them. The elders were so angry that they would not acknowledge the union even for the purpose of disinheriting the prince's descendants. Because of that oversight, you and your child are rightful heirs to the royal line. I expect you will be occupied, but I would be proud to have Duchess Salicis at my side. We can end it together."
Fiona looked at him, trembling. "Sylvia," Loid said. "Why don't you say something?"
"All right," Sylvia said. She straightened. "When I said Twilight would acknowledge you if you had Yuri's child… the real plan was for Loid and Yor Forger to adopt the baby, as an alternative to confinement in a clinical environment."
Fiona gave her a hard stare. "Anything else?" Loid said.
"Fine," Sylvia said. "The day you did your interview, I was looking at the latest report from Twilight and our real psychologists. It covered twelve checkouts from the previous week. They were getting sloppy, and messy. At least three of them doubled up with SSS staff they met during our `reconciliation' drive; we found two of those in bed. The report projected we would hit double digits in one day, and there had been 5 the night before. It all had the press worked up on top of everything else. I decided the best thing I could do was set a dignified example. After work, I went to the park by Berlint city hall with the standard-issue capsule of blowfish toxin. The City police were always good at doing cleanup quickly and quietly.
"I had just gotten there when I recognized one of ours trying to lay low. By the time we got together, we had spotted two more. We went to an alehouse to regroup, and picked up one from the SSS on the way. It just so happened, the TV was showing your silly propo interview. When it was over, I called Loid from a pay phone. He drove us to the hospital and helped us check in. There were twelve other agents already there."
Fiona looked into Handler's eyes, and then at the prince. "Dammit… I accept," she said. "All right. I'm going to disarm the overload sequence." She opened her shoulder pad. She looked, and froze. The plastic of the control panel was visibly melted. When she pressed the central button, a puff of smoke came out.
"Jebanje kaka," she hissed. "Yuri, I burned out the transmitter when you were trying to stop me! The carrier beam is down! We started the reactor meltdown!"