Queen of Mars - Book III in the Masters of Mars Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

there, entrenched, waiting
for us.”
    “‘Us,’ your majesty?” he said, his pink eyes
widening.
    “I will be leading the army, General
Reis.”
    He began to blubber. “But–but–but–this cannot
be!”
    “What did I tell you about the word ‘but,’
general?”
    His mouth clamped shut, and his pink eyes
bulged.
    “I will lead the army, and you will do
everything in your power to assist me, and when the time comes we
will win a great victory over Frane, and destroy her and her Baldy
army. Yes?”
    “As you wish, your majesty.”
    “Good. Now kneel down, general,” I said,
holding out my right paw, “and kiss my ring of office in fealty to
me and the Second Republic.”
    For a moment fire showed in his eyes, but he
did as he was told, and went down on one knee and bowed his head
over my outstretched paw.
    I felt the lightest of kisses on my ring.
    “From this moment on, you owe every ounce of
your allegiance to me,” I said. “You are F’rar, and I am half so,
and we have a great duty to our republic and to our planet. There
can be no further treachery by our clan. It cannot and will not be
allowed. Do you understand?”
    He looked up at me briefly, before bowing his
head again.
    “Yes, your majesty.”
    “Good. With your help, I will stop the
defections in the army among our people. And we will march
tomorrow, at dawn. Yes?”
    Again a brief, unreadable look.
    “Of course, your majesty.”
    “Good. And if you do not prove yourself
worthy to me, or your office, and betray either in any way, I will
kill you myself.”
     

Seven
    “B ut this is
madness!” Darwin said, as I knew he would.
    “I am very tired, Darwin, and I don’t wish to
argue. I have made my decision. Please be happy with it.” I waved
an exhausted paw, from where I lay curled on my divan. Its soft
pillows felt like cool hands calling me to sleep. I wanted only to
give myself up to them.
    “But if you must go, take me with you!”
    I shook my head, and yawned. “No.”
    “You cannot keep me here! You must take me so
that I can...cook for you!”
    I laughed. “You pride yourself too much on
your cooking, Darwin. Just because you and my father were forced to
become chefs in the last war, doesn’t mean you’re any good at it.
From what I hear, my father was the much better cook–”
    “In all seriousness, I cannot stay here.”
    “I need you here to help Newton, and to keep
an eye on the senate and the assembly. I’m appointing you Queen’s
Representative. It’s all in my grandmother’s charter. You will have
powers second only to mine.”
    “But you’ll need me in the field!”
    I was too tired, and did not want this
conversation to go anywhere near the mysterious, frightening places
it could easily go, so I feigned toughness, just as I had that
afternoon with General Reis.
    “It is my wish,” I said simply. “Go now.”
    And then I closed my eyes until he was
gone.
    But sleep, of course, would not come, despite
my exhaustion. I had done nothing but fight with someone or other
the entire day. Even Brenda, the old cook, had to be disciplined to
keep her from marching to war with me – and she with arthritis, and
a bad hip!
    I opened my tired eyes and watched the open
curtains in my room flutter. It was a clear night, and over the top
of the Hall of Assembly the stars shone like diamonds on the
blackest velvet. How soothing to be out among the stars, I thought
– how much better to float among them and forget all the cares of
running an entire world – one which might be destroyed by either
war or natural catastrophe in the coming months.
    How much better not to be me...
    I dreamed then, of my birth. Or at least what
I thought my birth was like. I remember coldness from the
beginning, descending a cold shaft, a mother devoid of warmth, lost
in unhappiness and loss, incapable of transforming that into a new,
warm love for her only kit. My mother had a litter of one, an
unusual and some – those given to superstition