by Oisin McGann
‘You stopped the gliders. The message went out all over the country on the radio, but not in time to force them from calling back the mission. The government is furious, all of the Board and most of the air-force and army commanders say they didn’t know what was going on. But nobody believes anybody now. They’re at each others’ throats. But what matters is you stopped a catastrophe before it could happen. My little boy’s a hero!’
‘Aw, Mum …’
He was spared further cringing by the arrival of his father and grandfather, who hugged him carefully, his ribs still objecting to overenthusiastic embraces, and more thanksgiving and singing of praises followed. Riadni came in then, dressed in a conservatively long, blue skirt and blouse that she had obviously bought in Victovia, along with an Altiman-styled wig and some lightly applied make-up. Chamus found it difficult to talk to her in normal surroundings with everyone else around, and once she had assured herself that he was alright, she seemed happy just to sit by and let his family do the talking.
He noticed his grandfather was very quiet too, and a little cold, despite his wide smile. Chamus wondered if anybody knew of the part he had played in the plan, but decided to say nothing. It would all come out eventually. For now, Chamus just wanted to enjoy being safe and back with his family … and bask in the glory of being a hero.
‘You had us absolutely terrified,’ his father was saying, ‘when you didn’t turn up during the first couple of days, and then we found the first two gliders. We were almost ready to give you up for lost. Then, when your friend found the plane and spotted you lying there, but saw the wrecked glider at the same time, it was the worst moment of our lives …’
Chamus saw his mother take his father’s hand as Kellen spoke and remembered Lakrem Elbeth holding the mask to his face, the feel of the old man’s dry hands against his ears, the darkness as his eyes had been covered …
‘Then Riadni here and Leynid led a group to your plane. There was a leak in the glider’s container, but it was small and the wind blew most of the radiation away from you. The doctors said you picked up a bit, but they’ve been treating you for it …’
Chamus felt a chill as he heard the hissing whispers of voices, inside his head, but distant, and getting closer. Kellen paused, puzzled by the expression on his son’s face.
‘Cham? What’s wrong?’
‘There’s somebody coming. Someone’s coming to hurt us.’
He felt stupid and helpless, sitting there in the bed, crippled and afraid of something he couldn’t describe. But his fear was catching. His mother leaned towards him. His father stood up and Riadni cocked her head. She thought she could hear a familiar voice from somewhere. Thomex, who was closest to the door, opened it wider and rolled his wheelchair forwards to look out into the corridor. What he saw caused him to panic, trying to turn the chair while still in the doorway. It jammed and he pulled frantically at the footrest that caught on the doorframe.
‘Dad?’ Kellen frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Kellen, get back son! Get me in, close the door for God’s sake!’
Kellen pushed his seat aside and leaned out over his father to look into the hallway. A Bartokhrian boy suddenly seized the old man’s hair with one hand. He was chanting prayers and had burns on his face and bleeding wounds in his chest. He wrapped the other arm around Thomex’s neck and butted Kellen in the face as the younger man tried to free his father.
Flames burst from the boy’s mouth and hands and engulfed the old man and they both fell back into the corridor. Kellen was forced backwards by the heat, calling desperately for his father. Alarms went off and there were screams up and down the corridor. Chamus went to climb off the bed to help, but his mother stopped him. The fire blazed brightly for a few more moments, then seemed to tire out and die down. Riadni grabbed his blankets and she and Kellen threw them over the two burning figures.
They managed to smother the worst of the fire, but Thomex had been badly burned. He was not moving. The boy’s arms were raw and blistered, and Riadni saw with horror that it was Benyan. She knelt down by his side. He was semi-conscious and mumbling incoherently. Kellen fell to his knees by his father and reached down to him, wanting to touch him, but afraid to. Nita came out to him and pulled him away, hugging him to her as he let out a trembling moan.
Medical staff ran up and ushered everyone away, lying Benyan flat and getting him onto a stretcher. Thomex was not moved. Two doctors solemnly checked his vital signs and looked at each other, shaking their heads. Chamus lay back and covered his face with his hands. The more senior of the two doctors stood up and turned to Kellen and asked them all to step into the room. He was a small man with a wizened face, greying hair and hard eyes. He closed the door behind them.
‘I’m sorry, but there is nothing we can do for Thomex,’ he told them. ‘I doubt anything I could say at this time would offer you any comfort.’
Kellen and Nita sat on Chamus’s bed, holding each other. Nita grasped Chamus’s hand. Riadni found herself left to stand in a corner, forgotten by the family and ignored by the doctor.
‘What I will say is this,’ the doctor said hesitantly, ‘this boy was dying. He would not have been alive to do this if he had not been brought here and treated. Even now his life is hanging by a very thin thread.’
His eyes flicked towards Riadni, but then fixed on the Aransons once more.
‘He could still die,’ he said carefully, his voice intense. ‘Despite our best efforts, the boy who killed Thomex could still die.’
They all stared at him. There could be no doubt about what he was saying. Kellen’s gaze hardened and Nita looked shocked. Riadni glanced over at Chamus. She was stunned, seeing Benyan like that had taken the wind out of her, and now this. She said nothing. Despite hating the doctor for his offer, everything she had grown up to believe told her that this family had the right to make that decision. There was a long silence.
‘I want him alive,’ Chamus said, his throat tight with tension.
The doctor spared him a glance, and then looked back at his parents.
‘Keep him alive,’ Chamus insisted, the iron in his voice forcing the man to turn and face him, his gaze boring into the doctor’s. ‘This is why none of it ever stops. Because everybody thinks killing people is how you get things done.’
‘This isn’t our decision,’ Nita told her son, before turning on the doctor. ‘You do your job, Doctor. Save that boy’s life. I want to ask him face to face why he killed my father-in-law.’
The doctor looked unsettled. After what he had seen in the corridor, he had already made a decision and now this family were turning their backs on what had just happened. The old man’s son, though, he would want something done. Kellen was leaning his head on his wife’s shoulder, staring at the wall. His eyes came into focus and he lifted his head, meeting the other man’s gaze.
‘I want him to know what he’s done,’ Kellen muttered. ‘I want to change his mind, to make him see what he’s done. He already wants to die. Why give him what he wants?’
The doctor turned and opened the door. He regarded them carefully one last time and then walked out, closing the door behind him.
Two months later, Riadni stood watching the red and white biplane coming in to land on the mucky road. It touched down, spattering mud on the undersides of its wings, and settled back on its tailwheel. Slowing down, it taxied to the clear area where the aid column had pitched its tents and drew up beside her. She waved frantically and Chamus waved back before cutting the power, sliding back the canopy and taking off his helmet.
‘Can you stay long?’ she asked, walking over as he climbed out.
‘Just for a couple of days,’ he replied, taking out a sack of letters. ‘Dad’s still nervous about me having his plane for any length of time. Says, given my record, I’m lucky he lets me fly at all. Here, I brought your post.’
‘Thanks.’
He pulled a cane from the cockpit and leaned on it as he let go of the plane.
‘How’s the leg?’ she nodded at the walking stick.
‘Not bad, getting better.’
‘You’re just in time for lunch. Leynid’s down at the village. She said she’d be up as soon as she’s finished helping with the calving. Not that they need her help, but she thought it would be a bit of a laugh. Only a townie would consider sticking their arm up a cow’s you-know-what a bit of a laugh. I think she’s definitely a lost cause.’
‘As long as she washes her hands before lunch.’
‘How are your parents?’
‘Holding up. The hearings have brought up a lot of Grandad’s history. It’s pretty gruesome stuff. Dad’s taking it hard, but he’ll be okay.’
They looked at each other, smiling.
‘How’s Benyan?’ she inquired, hesitantly.
‘Almost well enough to stand trial,’ he replied, staring into the distance. ‘Apparently he’s terrified. Strange that … willing to die for his cause, but scared of sitting in a courtroom. He’s going to spend a long time in prison. Maybe it’ll give him time to think.’
He looked at Riadni, leaning on his cane and not saying anything, and she could see he needed this break.
‘Ever been flying?’ he asked her.
‘You know I haven’t.’
‘Want to?’
‘If you promise not to crash, maybe.’
‘Well, doing it without crashing is the whole point.’
‘You’d do well to remember that, then.’
Chamus helped her into the back seat and showed her how to belt up. Then he climbed into the seat in front of her and started up the engine. He slid the canopy closed, eased the throttle forward and stepped on the rudder pedal to swing the plane around.
‘You won’t do anything dangerous, right?’ she said worriedly.
‘Except for taking off, no,’ he replied and pushed the throttle forward.
The engine’s pitch rose and the plane trundled forward, picking up speed. Riadni clutched the edge of her seat so tightly her knuckles went white and her whole body tensed up. Then the plane lifted off and her stomach lurched. She closed her eyes at first, and then forced herself to open them. The land was falling away around them. She shut her eyes again. When she opened them again, the sky was all over one side and the land all over the other. Riadni gaped as the plane banked one way, then the other. Below them, she could see the camp that had become her home and off to the west, the farm where she had grown up and the land she and Chamus had fled across. From up here she could see it all together for the first time.
‘How are you feeling?’ he called back to her.
‘Take me higher!’ she cried.
He laughed and climbed towards the clouds.
About the Author
Born in Dublin, Oisín McGann spent his childhood there and in Drogheda, County Louth. He studied at Dún Laoghaire School of Art and Design, and went on to work in illustration, design and film animation, later moving to London to work as an art director and copywriter in advertising. He now lives in Drogheda and works as a freelance illustrator and artist. He is the author of two books for young children, Mad Grandad’s Flying Saucer and Mad Grandad’s Robot Garden, both in the O’Brien Flyers series. He is currently writing a fantasy novel and its sequel: The Harvest Tide Project and Under Fragile Stone.
Copyright
This eBook edition first published 2012 by The O’Brien Press Ltd,
12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Ireland
Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.obrien.ie
First published 2004
eBook ISBN: 978–1–84717–481–9
Text and illustrations © Oisín McGann 2004
Copyright for typesetting, editing, layout, design
© The O’Brien Press Ltd
UNAUTHORISED COPYING IS ILLEGAL
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or my any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, visual or audio, or mounted on any network servers, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Carrying out any unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. For permission to copy any part of this publication contact The O’Brien Press Ltd at [email protected].
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
The O’Brien Press receives assistance from
Editing, typesetting, layout and design: The O’Brien Press Ltd