by Paul Kane
Down yet more steps, just off from the cafe, was another man-made structure. De Falaise navigated the sandstone stairs which took him into 'Mortimer's Hole', a lengthy tunnel named after Roger Mortimer: an Earl of March once taken captive by Edward III (who'd used the passage to enter the castle). The first thing De Falaise would do would be to secure the entrance at the bottom of the tunnel, at Brewhouse Yard, so that nobody could do the same to him. The castle was only vulnerable at points like these – leaving the iron side-gate and the arched Castle Gateway the main causes for concern. As soon as he was satisfied he knew the castle inside out, De Falaise had ordered those defensive positions fortified.
He left the balcony rail now and strolled round the property, along the East Terrace. A glance up to the rooftop revealed the barrel of a sniper rifle, ably handled by Reinhart. Men were positioned at various points along the balcony and armed guards patrolled on a constant basis in shifts. As he made his way along to the steps De Falaise looked out over the piece of overgrown grass that had once been the site of the Middle Bailey. Now that, and the small car park behind, were home to just a few of the vehicles they'd brought with them – those not out and about, that was.
De Falaise smiled. He thought about the troops already in circulation, making 'contact' with the small communities that had banded together, letting the people know that there was a new force to be reckoned with. They would not just be left alone to get on with things, but would have to bow down to him if they wanted to live. As in Nottingham, as in all of the places over here they'd ploughed through, they'd encountered little resistance. Most saw the wisdom of giving him his tribute, especially with a couple of deaths to illustrate the alternative.
Like the community Javier had reported back on, 'Hope' its residents had optimistically called it. Their leader had tried to put up a fight, though from what Javier had said the man hadn't been any kind of threat – which was probably why his people were mourning him right now. Javier had also brought a little unexpected gift back from Hope, the thin, auburn-haired woman who waited inside for him. She'd apparently had a spark in her back at the village, though now she was just like a rag doll which he would use as he pleased; her eyes dull, resigned to the fact she was a possession. It was how he preferred his women to be: malleable. De Falaise took great pleasure in dressing her up in some of the gowns he'd found inside the castle, imagining himself back in the past. He'd tire of her eventually, but for the time being it amused him to have her around. Hands behind his back, he made his way to the nearest doors.
His plans were coming together nicely. And there was nothing or nobody to stand in his way.
The boy had skirted around and was now standing in his way. This kid had been silent, he'd give him that – and quick.
Robert had been running away, been desperate to get away in fact – when Mark had appeared in front of him. He hadn't wanted to get involved, wouldn't have done if he hadn't heard the explosions and gunfire coming from the direction of the market. The fact that he'd been hanging about on the edge of the woods, determined not to attend the market, but somehow gravitating towards the place, had nothing to do with it.
Instinct, that's all it had been: a throwback to his years on the force. His curiosity and the fact that people might be at risk was what made him break cover again. Or was it the idea that Mark might be in danger? He dismissed that, because it was dangerous thinking. Whatever the reason, once he'd seen what was going on at the market, he'd had little alternative but to act.
Robert had to admit he'd been shocked. He'd never seen tanks and guns like that outside of visits to museums. And definitely never in action. What did he have to fight these people with? Only the bow and arrows he used for hunting, his knife. They'd cut him to ribbons before he got anywhere near them. (A part of him actually found this appealing.) But then he got to thinking: it was all a matter of hunting, wasn't it? Maybe he didn't need to get anywhere near them to pick a few off. And if he kept on moving, perhaps they'd miss him initially.
He'd been lucky.
The more adrenalin that pumped through him, the more he used skills he didn't even realise he had: hearing keyed into every bullet fired, every bike or jeep engine; muscles lean and strong, thanks to nothing but exercise and eating from the land; eyes sharp enough to pick a target, enough practise with the bow to hit it faultlessly. It wasn't until now, when he looked back on what he'd just done, that it felt real.
Lucky, that's all. Pure luck.
That and the fact the majority of the 'soldiers' appeared to be novices. Barely a step up from some of the thugs he'd dealt with on a daily basis during his early years on the beat. They knew how to handle their weapons, but that didn't make them fighters. Pin them down and all they really were was scared.
And you killed some – badly injured others…
It wasn't his fault, he reasoned. It was this… what was his name? De Falaise, the Frenchman. And that bastard in the tank, another European. What was this, some kind of invasion?
Not your problem, Robert told himself. Stay out of it and go back to waiting. Waiting for your death.
But Mark was preventing him from doing that, barring his path. He pulled off his hood and sighed. "Look, move out of the way, will you?"
Mark shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Fine," said Robert, stepping to the left in an effort to get around the boy, "then I will."
Like a shadow, Mark sidestepped with him. He could be just as quick as Robert, probably quicker due to his size. Robert backed up and tried to go right. Mark was in his way there too, having slipped around him in the other direction.
"Oh, come on!" Robert shouted, quickly getting fed up with this game. "Let me through or-"
"Or you'll what?" Mark challenged. "Do to me what you did back there to them? I don't think so. You saved us."
"Maybe that was a mistake." He regretted the words as soon as they'd tumbled from his mouth, but couldn't take them back. Mark stuck out his bottom lip – more child than canny adolescent now. "That came out wrong, I didn't mean…"
"S'okay," Mark said, rubbing his nose on his sleeve. "I understand."
"No, you don't," Robert told him. "I meant maybe I should have just left well enough alone. If Bill's right and they do come back then I could have made things ten times worse for you all."
"They were shooting up the place. They were running me down with motorbikes! They had a tank for fuck's sake-"
"Watch your mouth," snapped Robert instinctively, chastising himself almost as he did so. He had no right to tell this kid off.
Mark looked at him, confused, then added softly: "How much worse could it be than that?"
Robert considered this for a moment. "More men; more guns; more tanks. People like that always come back stronger than ever."
"Then you agree with Bill?"
That was clever – Robert had walked right into that one. If he agreed that De Falaise's troops would return in larger numbers, then didn't he have an obligation to help out? Hadn't he just admitted his own guilt in the next stage of whatever this was? Robert said nothing for fear of digging himself a deeper hole.
"It weren't no surprise, anyway," Mark said eventually to break the awkward silence.
"What are you talking about?"
"The men coming. You hear things touring round, y'know? I knew something was going on, just not what – or that it would reach out here."
"So this is already happening in other areas?"
Mark nodded. "Lots. Food, clothing, all sorts taken. Even people sometimes."
"Why didn't you tell…" Robert had forgotten himself for a moment and Mark punished him for it.
"Tell someone? What, you mean like the police?" He knew Mark was studying his face for some kind of reaction; what Bill had hinted at just ten minutes ago had obviously stuck with him.
"No. I meant… Isn't there someone…"
"I told you before," Mark said, hurt in his voice. "There isn't anyone. I haven't got a r
egular place to stay. Nobody to take care of me…"
"I thought you said you didn't need anyone to do that," said Robert, turning the boy's own words back on him.
"I don't," snapped Mark, puffing up his chest, then: "But…"
"What?"
"It's hard sometimes. Being on my own." Mark looked down. For all his bluster, this kid missed having a home, having parents. Missed TV, games, holidays.
"Read to me some more, Dad… please…"
Robert shook his head. "I don't know what you want me to say."
Mark nodded at the woodland. "You live out here, don't you? All by yourself."
"Yes."
"Don't you miss… y'know, people? To like, hang out with and stuff?"
Robert thought back to the men in yellow with the gas masks, then in his mind a picture of the men with machine guns flashed up. Nothing had really changed in all that time, had it? If this was the case then the answer had to be no. But how could he write off the rest of the dwindling population when there were still people like Bill out there, the men and women from the market. And Mark. "I… I try not to think about it," was the only answer he could muster.
There was another awkward pause before Mark came right out and said what was on his mind. "Can I come with you?"
So many emotions flooded through Robert at that moment he couldn't really make sense of them. But chief amongst them was fear. He'd felt oddly calm as he'd dodged the bullets and gone up against the German in the tank. Now this simple question petrified him. How could he let Mark come with him, how could he risk spending any time with him at all, when he could be snatched away at any moment like Stevie had been? Robert had come here to wait, not to be an adoptive father.
"Out of the question," he said at last.
"I know people in lots of places, I could keep tabs on what's going on and get back to you with-"
"Didn't you just hear what I said?" Robert's tone was harder now. "I can't… Look, I just can't. Okay?"
Mark frowned. "I'll pull my weight, honest. I'm a hard worker."
"No," Robert told him.
Mark pulled items out of his bag now, as if he was trading at the market. "Please. Here, you can have it all… And I have other stuff, stashed away, really cool stuff that-"
"I said no!" Robert surprised himself with the harshness of his reply.
The boy's face fell sharply, and for a moment Robert felt sure he was going to cry. As he'd suspected, that streetwise attitude was simply a front, and now Mark had let Robert see too much of the real him. Slowly, the lad began to gather the things back into his bag.
"Listen, I'm sorry," began Robert, reaching out a hand as if to place it on Mark's shoulder, then quickly withdrawing it. "It's just that… I can't let you come with me."
Mark stared at him. "Why?"
It was a simple enough question, but the answer was so complicated. "I can't tell you that, either. Go back to Bill, Mark. You'll be safe with him." Robert pulled up his hood and stepped around the boy. This time Mark didn't try to stop him.
What are you doing? said a voice in Robert's head, the small part of him still connected to the past: to his family, to his job. He needs help… they all do. But he'd 'helped' enough for one day, caused more trouble than he'd prevented, probably. So what, you're just going to run away now and let them get on with it?
Robert tried to force the thoughts out of his head, but they persisted. Can you do that? Can you really? Have you strayed so far from who you used to be?
He was tempted to look back over his shoulder at Mark, but gritted his teeth and told himself that the kid would be better off without him; a dysfunctional excuse for a human being. Robert couldn't give him what he so obviously wanted, someone to look up to, someone to admire.
After a few minutes Robert broke into a run and pretty soon he was swallowed by the wilds he now called home.
De Falaise never liked to be interrupted when he was entertaining. Especially when the news was of this variety.
The knock on the door of the 'converted' office was light, but curt. It had been followed by a cough, then: "My… my Lord?"
De Falaise answered the door dressed in his robe. He recognised one of the young men they'd recruited on their travels – he didn't remember his name (it began with 'G'… Granville, Grantham possibly?) but he'd been a member of that ridiculous gang that called themselves The Jackals, and De Falaise did remember ordering one of his friend's deaths. Yes, there was the scar on the back of his raised hand, where Tanek's bolt had found its mark. Now the only thing that had stopped De Falaise from grabbing this silly boy by the throat and carving onto his chest 'Do not disturb' was the use of his new title, a mark of respect he was owed.
"Ahem…" said the young man, attempting to keep his eyes dead ahead, and not on De Falaise's lack of clothing, nor what was beyond him in the room. "My Lord, I bring news of an incident involving one of our units."
"What kind of incident?"
"We're… we're not quite sure. Tanek sent me to fetch you, he said it would be better if you 'talked' to one the survivors yourself. He's down in the stables."
De Falaise caught the youth gazing past him, at the woman on the bed. "Tell Tanek I will be with him momentarily, oui?" The youth made to leave. "Oh, and next time you see too much, I will take out your eyes. Do you understand?"
Granville or Grantham, or whatever his name was, nodded. There was no hint of disobedience anymore, just terror – pure and simple.
"So, run along, run along." De Falaise clapped his hands to get the moron moving, then closed the door and prepared to get ready.
Ten minutes later, after dressing and posting a guard to watch the woman from Hope, he'd joined Tanek and a handful of others in the former stables. He was not at all surprised to see that the big man had already put the stocks there to good use, but he did raise an eyebrow when he saw that the youth occupying them was wearing a uniform. As De Falaise joined them, Tanek explained that this 'soldier' and a couple of others – currently being held down in the caves – had been caught trying to flee the area by one of their routine patrols.
De Falaise bent slightly and asked the man his name.
"R-Rory," he gasped, obviously having trouble breathing in the stocks.
"Was he not in Henrik's unit?" De Falaise asked Tanek. The larger man nodded.
"What happened? Why were you trying to escape?
At first Rory didn't answer, but then De Falaise gestured to Tanek, who grabbed hold of the captive, yanking his head up by his sweaty hair. "Answer!"
"Gak… I was scared… Scared of… of what you'd do to me."
"I see," De Falaise said, "as opposed to what we are doing now, you mean? No one has the option of walking away from my army, my young friend, I thought I had made that abundantly clear?"
Tanek pulled Rory's head back further and he let out a frightened choke.
De Falaise leaned in, his face inches from Rory's. "Tell me what happened. Tell me what was so… frightening that you could not return."
Rory's eyes flitted from Tanek to De Falaise. "Our… our unit…wiped out."
De Falaise raised another eyebrow. "A whole squadron of men, with jeeps, motorbikes and a tank?"
Rory tried to nod, but Tanek's grip held him fast.
"And your commanding officer?" De Falaise enquired.
It was barely a shake of the head, thanks to Tanek, but it was enough.
"Impossible! Henrik was one of my best!" De Falaise searched Rory's features for any hint that he might be lying. "How could this be? A gang, a group of resistance?" Had the people of the region banded together to fight back so quickly? If so, it was serious news indeed and they would require wiping out. Then another thought occurred to him. "Or did you organise this yourself, perhaps? Kill the rest of the men and then make a run for it?"
Again, Rory attempted to shake his head, his breath coming in quick gasps.
"Then what? I need to know!"
"A… A man."
"What? Just one man? You're lying."
Rory forced out the words. "No. A man… one man did it all. He came from the trees."
"The trees? What on Earth are you talking about?"
"A man wearing a hood. He was like a ghost."
De Falaise frowned. "Where did this skirmish take place?"
It was Tanek who informed him this time that the incident had occurred not far from Rufford. De Falaise stood up and felt the corners of his mouth rise slightly. In spite of himself, and in spite of the fact he'd just lost one of his most capable and trusted fighters in Henrik, De Falaise was smiling. Then that smile turned itself into a chuckle, the chuckle a laugh. Suddenly De Falaise was guffawing like he'd just heard the funniest joke ever. Rory gaped at him, then stared upwards at Tanek, who appeared equally mystified.
"Can none of you besides myself see it?" De Falaise asked as he looked from the captive to Tanek. "Someone else is playing the game." They looked at him blankly. "Do you not understand? A man wearing a hood… A hooded man? Just like the statue outside this very castle!"
He waited for it to dawn on them. This all made sense now, especially when you factored in what Javier had told him about Hope; about the name De Falaise had acquired there. If he was to play the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham, then someone was auditioning for the part of his arch nemesis. Someone who was a little too enamoured with the old legends of this place.
"Gentlemen, history is repeating itself, is it not? But there will be a different outcome this time. History is written by the victors, and it has painted my 'predecessor' in a remarkably bad light. That will not be allowed to happen again. This hooded man must be destroyed at once, before news of what has happened reaches the rest of the towns and villages. Before we really do have rumblings of rebellion."
De Falaise ordered Tanek to extract as much information from Rory as he could about what had happened. "Use any means necessary; and when you are finished with him, work on the rest. Then we will send out as many men as we can spare."