On the few buildings he passed where Corsair advertisements and propaganda were painted, someone had thrown rotting fruit and smeared excrement across the fake smiles of the soldiers. It was a dangerous prank, one all the citizens would pay for, he was sure. And yet, he couldn’t disagree with the sentiment behind the graffiti. He sometimes wished he was still a young man, full of the spontaneity and bravado that would have allowed him to do the same. He wished those things hadn’t been squeezed out of him in the sweat of the lumber mill and the blood of the war.
He stopped at the blockade made of fifteen men in front of the square and walked slowly toward the captain.
“Show your papers, citizen.”
Sam had his identification card ready and presented it.
“Where is the boy? It says here you have an adopted son, Ethan. Where is he?”
“He’s sick at home.” Sam’s voice was low and smooth. He’d learned to lie before he’d learned to read. He couldn’t let the Corsairs know he and Ethan had been living illegally in Boswell.
“Then you must bring him to the Council of Doctors. You will return home and retrieve the boy.”
“It’s not that serious. I’m not even sure he needs medicine. But he had a fever, and I thought it best that he stay home.”
“You will return home and retrieve the boy,” the captain repeated with measured venom. Then he took a step closer to Sam. “And I will send a detail of two men to accompany you to make sure you don’t get lost along the way.”
The two men were the same height. The captain looked probingly into Sam’s eyes, the brim of his cap touching Sam’s head. Sam met his gaze without flinching, but he could feel the sweat starting to form on his back and on his forehead.
“No detail will be necessary, sir. I can bring the boy back myself.”
“I determine what is necessary! Harris! Wilson! Front and center!”
Two Corsairs jumped to stand on either side of Sam within a second.
“Wait, Captain, please, wait.” He took a breath before continuing. He stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck and buying time. “I misspoke. Ethan isn’t actually ill. I don’t know where he is. I thought I would be able to find him before the meeting, but when I couldn’t, I thought it was better for me to come alone. I intend to continue looking for him, within the borders, that is. I’m sure he was just out playing and didn’t realize the time. I’ll start looking again after . . .”
The back-handed slap across his face nearly knocked Sam to the ground. He bent over his knees, catching his breath and his temper before making another move. Caution ruled him and stayed his hand.
The captain leaned down and shouted in his ear. “You are guilty of deceiving an officer of the Triumvirate! I should take you to the base prison right now!”
Sam stood up, trying to reason with the Corsair. “Captain, please, I . . .”
A fist knocked the air out his lungs. Speech was impossible.
“You do not have permission to speak, citizen!” the captain spat at him. He raised his hand to strike again.
“Captain!” A commanding voice stopped the captain’s movements. “General Masters says he is ready to begin the meeting. He asked me to find you.”
The captain’s face remained in a frozen snarl, giving him an almost comical look. He looked in the direction of the voice Sam heard from beyond his vision. Sam barely held himself up on his hands and knees, coughing and spitting blood from his cut lip. He tried to look up and squinted against the sun shining in his face from behind the new man’s head. The captain said nothing, only turned and walked toward the stage. The other soldiers returned to their places as sentries, taking the ID cards of the other citizens who had lined up waiting behind Sam.
When the captain was gone, the man who had stopped him turned to help Sam up from the ground. “Stand up, and don’t say anything until we’re in the crowd,” the man whispered in Sam’s ear.
Sam struggled to walk with this man who he still wasn’t sure he could trust, yet he had no choice but to follow him. Whatever his motives, the man had saved Sam from a beating, and possibly saved his life as well. For that, Sam was temporarily grateful.
Once they were in the back of the crowd forming in the square, Sam turned to look at the man for the first time.
“Kyle. I should have known.” He shrugged Kyle’s arm off his shoulder. “What the hell are you doing? Why did you interfere?”
“Is that all you have to say to me after almost twenty years?”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“It’s not the first time I’ve saved your ass, as I recall,” Kyle tried to chuckle, but the sound fell flat, hitting the wall that was Sam’s face. “Not the first time you made a stupid mistake, either.”
“Well, there it is. Just you rushing in to show me how stupid I am, as always. Things aren’t the way they used to be. We’re different people now.”
“Are we?”
“Why did that Corsair listen to you, anyway? You aren’t in the army anymore. He could have had you arrested.”
“He knows me well enough not to try.”
“Still chummy with the enemy, I see.”
“Look, I just helped you, Sam. Shouldn’t that make up for something, even if it doesn’t make us even?”
“Sure, you saved me. But I still ask the question: why? You should have let him take me. Seems like maybe you wouldn’t want to have me hanging around anymore. Might make things easier for you with Gemma.”
“Do you think this is a game? Look around you, Sam!” Kyle’s voice hissed as he tried to keep it low. “This whole place is a brush fire ready to burn out of control. People throwing shit on the signs, the Watch taking matters into their own hands, just stoking it higher and higher. All I’m trying to do is help people maintain a level of control and pick up the pieces when they can’t.”
“You really expect me to believe this good Samaritan act?”
“Believe what you want. Just try to be more careful. I won’t always be around to pull your ass out of the fire.”
Kyle turned and walked away to take his place by Gemma’s side just as General Masters was beginning his speech. Sam wiped the blood from his face and looked around to try to find Zacharias, but he was nowhere. So he stayed where he was, trying not to think about the dull pain in his ribs. He hoped Z hadn’t run into similar problems with the Corsairs.
Sam didn’t want to owe Kyle anything. He hated him for stepping in just to show his control of the situation. He didn’t believe for a minute that he’d done it out of any sense of friendship or wanting to help. Kyle always had at least three strategies going in his mind at once. At least that’s how he used to be, and it wasn’t likely the Corsairs had made him less strategically minded.
A hand on his shoulder made Sam jump just as the general was starting to speak.
“Easy, boy. It’s only me,” Zacharias whispered. “What happened to you?”
“Had a run-in with the guards. I’ll tell you later. You’re late.”
Zacharias looked around to make sure no Corsairs were within earshot. “Meeting with the Old Ones.”
“God, Z. Why do you take those kinds of risks?”
“Shhh,” Zacharias warned. “And you’re one to talk.”
As the general droned on, neither of the men were listening to what he had to say beyond answering the call and response of “Stay the course” absently with the rest of the crowd.
On their way out of town, Sam and Zacharias stopped on the bridge to talk before Sam had to go back to Boswell.
“I don’t know what’s happening anymore, Z. There used to be a routine, a pattern to things, even if it was hard. I thought I could say what would and wouldn’t happen. I thought I knew who I could trust and who I couldn’t. I used to be able to trust my own instincts, at least. But now . . .” Sam’s voice trailed off, following the way of the stream. He pulled at an overhanging branch, snapping a leaf off and tearing it to pieces before letting it float dow
n the stream as well.
“What happened, son?”
“The Corsairs wanted to know where Ethan was and why he wasn’t with me. I tried to make up a story, but they were going to take me back to your house, and they would have seen he wasn’t there. I’m worried they’ll be watching me more closely now, and Ethan too. Anyway, when they found out I was lying, they hit me. But Kyle came up and stopped them. Why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense after . . . after everything that’s happened.”
“I’m going to say something you might not like, Sam.” Zacharias paused, allowing Sam time to prepare. “I don’t think Kyle meant to betray you.”
“Come on, Z, how can you say that? Doesn’t it concern you that he’s still so friendly with the Corsairs?”
“Now hear me out. It wasn’t his fault that he had to join the Corsairs. And as for Gemma, we all thought you were dead, and she had some choice in whether she married him. Don’t you think it’s been hard for him too? None of us knows what his life was like in the army or how hard it was on him.”
Sam scoffed. He couldn’t keep his hands still or meet Zacharias’ gaze. “Z, has Kyle ever hurt Gemma?”
“No, he hasn’t. And she’s not yours to take care of anymore.”
Sam looked as if he’d been struck again. Zacharias was sorry for that and placed his arm around his shoulders.
“Try to see things from his point of view, my boy. And hers. They didn’t set out to hurt you. Just think about it, alright?”
Sam nodded. “So what was the meeting with the Old Ones about?”
“Oh, we talked about the Senate. The changes that are happening, and how the Watch plans to respond.”
“What are they going to do?”
“I don’t think you’d want to know.”
“Is there going to be another revolution, Z?”
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. A president of the former United States said those words a century ago. They’re still true.”
Zacharias looked toward the trees across the stream and the small hill of dandelions falling away into the underbrush. He wondered how many wishes he’d made in his life on dandelions. And how many other people had made wishes too? He asked himself why people continued to wish when all hope seemed to be gone.
“You know, when the First Revolution started off, it was a coordinated effort across the country. Our government had become untrustworthy. They’d thrown out the Constitution and were functioning purely as a military dictatorship. We used mail and couriers between the states, but eventually, communication broke down. We realized the electricity was not coming back. Nothing would be the way it was. We had no way of holding together as a solid force. The country was just too big. States began working independent of each other, and eventually cities and towns. They separated us. That’s how the government won.”
Sam knew Zacharias seldom talked openly about the previous revolutions. Those were painful times for him—for everyone.
“In the Second Revolution, cities were destroyed. They moved us around from place to place, plundering what was left behind.”
“I remember.”
“It was a pirate’s kind of war. Did I ever tell you that’s what the word corsair means? It’s an old French word for pirate.”
“Are we going to fight them again?”
“In order to move forward, we have to learn from past mistakes. We can’t just keep beating our heads against a brick wall, expecting it to come down by the sheer force of our will. The wanting will not make it so. We have to fight smarter. We have to do things differently this time.”
“So it is going to happen.”
Zacharias did not respond. He didn’t have to. Sam knew the answers to his questions before he asked them. His head felt light with the warmth of the day coaxing out the overwhelming perfumes of the cottonwoods and azaleas.
“Was the smoke I saw yesterday something the Watch was doing?”
“What smoke?”
“There was a huge plume of smoke from beyond the Border to the north.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Well, what could it be? It was too wet yesterday for the fire to have been out in the open.”
“You’re right. There was an old lumber mill in that area, but it was abandoned years before the Disaster, even. We just assumed it had been destroyed along with everything else. It was once a rebel stronghold. The mill had a large incinerator, though, that could have borne that much smoke.”
“But who would be using it, and why? The Watch leaders would know it would draw attention.”
“I truly have no idea. We’ll have to keep a look out for it again.”
“I could see it plainly from Sophie’s north field. I’ll try to see if I can get closer. Maybe I’ll be able to find out more.”
“So how long do you think you’ll be staying with Sophie? You’re breaking the law too, you know.”
Sam looked down at the water flowing beneath them. On the raised bank, the roots of the trees clung to the edge, grasping at life. He wondered at his own hypocrisy of wanting Zacharias, Gemma, and even Kyle to keep the law to the letter for their own safety, and yet it never concerned him when he bent it a little. He rarely felt the full brunt of the danger beyond running back and forth between the towns to keep up appearances, and then today when he’d scuffled with the soldiers. Why didn’t his own safety concern him? Why didn’t he grasp at his own life as much as the roots of the trees did?
“I don’t know, really. I think she still needs us. I at least want to get the spring planting done.”
“Is that the only reason you’re staying?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean have you thought about making it a permanent arrangement?”
“Trying to get rid of me, Z?”
“Never. I’m just thinking about you. You obviously care about this woman. You’ve practically created a new family with her.”
“It’s not like that, Z. I would never . . . I mean, she’s not really been all there until recently. It’s been really hard for her to get past her daughter’s death. I’m just trying to live the code.”
“Ah yes, the code.”
“Really.”
“She’s not Gemma, Sam. And from what you’ve told me about her, I don’t think you have any reason to fear she’ll hurt you.”
“No, she’s not Gemma.” Sam smiled to himself.
10
ORDERS AND LIES
T he concrete bunker felt close and damp. Colonel Mark Goodson could feel the moisture creeping from the wall to his back like an enemy sneaking up on him, chilling his body and his mind. He figured he’d have to change his uniform later in the day. He wanted to get back out into the open air.
“You will cut the rations for all towns within the borders, and I want the patrols doubled in the Forbidden Grounds beyond the borders.” General Drape stood uncomfortably close to him. He could smell his tobacco with a hint of vanilla blending with the smell of his own sweat.
“Sir, the rations are already dangerously low. We risk having the people become desperate. Desperation breeds invention and, frankly, revolution.”
“Do you think you are speaking to a stupid man, Colonel?”
That question would have frightened other men. They would have predicted their own deaths with that question ringing in their ears. But Colonel Goodson had known Simeon since he was a child. He was friends with his son, Kyle. They’d both been taken into the army the same year. Simeon’s intimidation tactics were wasted on the colonel. He’d seen them too often and stood confident in the knowledge he was one of the few men Simeon liked.
“No, sir.”
“Or a man who has not read and written history books?”
“No, sir.”
“Do you imagine there is anything you can possibly tell me that I do not already know?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Ah, a lit
tle bit of arrogance behind that stoic face, Colonel. You do have some audacity. Possibly mixed with some stupidity, but nevertheless . . . audacity.”
“May I ask why you would like the rations cut, sir?”
“We must weaken the enemy, Colonel. Weaken their bodies, their minds, and their resolve. Their desperation will lead them to seek help from supposed allies outside the borders. This will smoke out more enemies of the Triumvirate. Like rats. That’s exactly what they are. Rats. And they must be treated as such.”
“Has the leaker been caught, General?”
“The leaker has not done anything without our knowledge. They always think they are so smart. That they’ve thought of something that’s never been thought of before. They don’t realize how predictably history repeats itself, and how easily I can read them like a book.”
“Maybe it’s because they don’t have books, sir.”
“And you’re funny, too?”
Colonel Goodson grinned despite his best efforts to keep a straight face.
“Scamp.” General Drape gave him a rare smile in return. “One hundred more troops to the Forbidden Grounds and rations cut by one quarter. Today, Colonel.”
“Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”
“Oh, and, Colonel, has there been any word from my son?”
“Not yet, sir.”
“You will let me know as soon as there is.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * * * *
Deep in the woods, too near the Border for comfort, there was hidden a cave, now at the highest elevation within the borders since the new fences went up. It sat between two boulders completely overrun with kudzu. A small stream split in two, running around the boulders and into a gentle waterfall flowing over a series of ancient stone terraces shrouded with green moss, giving the appearance of a carpeted stairway. Gemma climbed up a steep incline on her way to the cave to meet Commander Oak. Seeds and fluff from the cottonwood trees piled up on the sides of the path like snowdrifts. The air was purple with the weight of the unreleased storm and cover from the trees. There were other boulders scattered down the hill, marking the graves from the First Revolution. It was as if a great river had washed them down the mountain, leaving the stragglers behind. Gemma paused for a moment at one of the large stones, not knowing which ones marked the graves of her parents but knowing they were here somewhere. She kissed her hand and touched it to the stone as she always did when she passed this way.
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