Archon by Lana Krumwiede

softly after a while, looking at Gevri.
    Gevri’s expression hardened. “I’m leaving Kanjai. For good. My father, he . . .” He turned to the jaguar and massaged the huge cat’s back. “I’m not going back. Ever.”
    “Okay,” Amma said. “So you ran away from home. But what made you want to go over the mountain?”
    Gevri didn’t answer right away. A barely audible rumble came from the direction of the cat, which Taemon took to be the jaguar version of a purr.
    “I’m an archon,” Gevri said. “But you’ve already figured that out.”
    “A what?” Taemon and Amma asked at the same time.
    Gevri looked at them quizzically. “An archon. I have dominion. Why are you so surprised? In your city, everyone’s an archon.” He stiffened. “Who are you? Did my father send you?”
    Gevri jumped to his feet, tossing his head and flipping his hair behind his shoulder. He held his chin high. “You tell my father I’m dead. I am dead to him, and he to me. I am not a soldier anymore, and that’s final. As final as death.”
    The jaguar was on its feet, too, although Taemon couldn’t remember seeing it move. It stood poised and taut, ready to attack.
    Skies, this boy’s moods changed in the blink of an eye!
    “Relax,” Amma said. “We’ve got nothing to do with your father.”
    “We have that in common, at least.” Gevri’s shoulders relaxed, and he sat down again. “If you’re truly from Nathan’s City, tell me, what is it like? Is it beautiful? A whole city of archons able to use their powers for good. It must be so peaceful.”
    Amma and Taemon exchanged a look, an unspoken question passing between them: How much do we tell him?
    Taemon cleared his throat. “It can be. But people there are like people anywhere. We have our disagreements and our differences.” That was putting it mildly. “Tell us about your city.”
    “Kanjai? That’s not a city. It’s the name of the province. Those buildings you see down there are the Kanjai Military Outpost. Way over here next to Nathan’s Mountain — that’s about as far out as an outpost can get. Which suits my father’s purpose.”
    Military outpost? Taemon did not like the sound of that. And what was Gevri’s father’s purpose? Gevri’s tone had been rather dark, which didn’t bode well.
    Amma asked the next question: “So, what do people do in a military outpost?”
    Gevri shrugged. “Train soldiers, mostly. Some manufacturing since the mines are so close. There’s a big medical facility.”
    Skies, all of this had been happening just on the other side of Mount Deliverance?
    The shock must have shown on their faces, because Gevri started laughing. “Gods, you don’t know about the war, do you?”
    “Just that there is one,” Taemon said carefully. “We’re not even sure who you’re fighting.”
    Gevri laughed. “Now I know for sure you’re from the other side of the mountain.” He grabbed a twig and started drawing shapes in the dirt near the lantern.
    “The enemy is the Nau, nine nations that joined together against the Free World.” He glanced up and saw their blank expressions. “The Free World are the countries that refuse to give up their sovereign status to the Nau and its regime, its endless regulations and committees. There are only a few of us left now. That’s the Republik, here”— he made a mark in the dirt —“and four countries on two other continents, here and here.
    “But, see, on either side of the Republik are Nau nations — here and here.” He made marks in the dirt to the north and south of the Republik. “We’re smack in the middle. We either keep fighting or we lose our country and our freedom.”
    The pieces were starting to fall into place for Taemon. If Gevri’s rough map was to be believed, then Deliverance bordered the easternmost edge of the Republik, which meant that the city of Deliverance was situated next to a prime location for a seaport. It also meant that if either of the Nau nations