he was giving his life. It was easy to die for a cause or a leader. It only took a moment of time. But to give your life was truly hard because it required a constant sacrifice that few could make.
“Until you have no need for me or I die, yes, I will give,” Arkin said.
Chapter Eighteen
The Choice
“Most of our lives we feel as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders, though we know it is not. Sometimes, however, it is; so choose wisely.”
-Diary of the Perfectos Compatioa
The gravity of Arkin’s pronouncement would have to be considered later. Right now Legon knew that Arkin was in command and he didn’t care to challenge it, though clarity of his situation was coming as a result of finding out that he was the one spoken of in the prophecy. The Queen was going to try and secure herself a new kind of slave, despite his thought that it was unlikely that the Iumenta would believe in prophecies. The Queen was intelligent and would see the threat of having the people who resisted her, not to mention her subjects, thinking that their time of deliverance was at hand. But this principle could work in her favor. If she managed to produce the real Everser Vald then it would solidify her control in the empire and weaken the resolve and credibility of the resistance.
Both sides had played a dangerous game. However, the Queen was right to try and capture or kill him. As for the Elves, their play was to see what direction he was going in, then, if need be, take out the threat. With that in mind, he wasn’t sure if Arkin would have been able to do it.
This was a call to arms. He needed to make a choice of what he was to be, but the choice had already been made for him. If he abandoned them to go off on his own, the Queen would gain at least a small victory in that the resistance would have placed hope in a false icon. Still, the resistance would make mistakes, and in so doing would cause suffering and injustice. By standing with them he would be marked with that blood and the blood of those that died in his cause.
There was a pit in his stomach. No matter what choice he made, people would die and there would be suffering. This wasn’t just his decision, he realized. It was Sasha’s as well, and whether he liked it or not she was now just as much a part of this future as he was.
They were getting ready to leave camp. Sasha was busy but he still brushed against her consciousness, looking for her counsel. As they conversed, they agreed that he would make the logical decision and that she would validate its ethics. She hated to do this, but he knew that Arkin wasn’t lying when he said that Sasha was the most pure person he’d met. It wasn’t going to be a choice of whether to join the Iumenta or the Elves, but rather to join the Elves or hide for the rest of their lives. She saw the problems in both, but said that the right thing to do for the many was to join the Elves. Logic said that they would die if they hid and that many would die if they joined the Elves, but it also said that the Queen would continue to enslave and kill her own subjects, as well as try and conquer the resistance. It wasn’t a question of the short term effects; either way had bloody results in the fairly near future. The decision needed to be made for the far distant generations. What choice was best for the unborn? What choice would secure the lives of those who would not live for hundreds of years to come? And would it be a world they would want to live in?
Sasha’s voice rang in his head. “This war will happen with or without us, and even if we are picking the losing side, this is the right call. It is better for us to have our hands stained with blood trying to do the right thing than have them stained with cowardice.”
He agreed with her and finished preparing to leave. He had no doubt that the empire would be sending more people to find them; it was just a question of when and who. If it were men then they