‘I want the truth,’ she said.
The Director put down his quill.
‘A vast request, Miss Lilith. There are so many things that are true.’
‘Not as many as the lies.’
The Director considered for a moment and shook his head.
‘I cannot agree with you. The truth consists of everything there is. Lies are limited by what the human mind can conceive.’
‘That doesn’t sound very limited to me.’
The Director paused then, his hands touching at the fingertips, looking at her as if appraising her worth. He seemed to come to a decision.
‘Very well, what do you want to know?’
Lily looked back at him. There was something new in his stare, almost a kind of eagerness. It made her uncomfortable, but she knew what she had planned to say.
‘Who am I?’
The Director sighed, and Lily thought that he seemed disappointed.
‘You know the answer to that question. You are Miss Lilith, known as Lily. No more, no less than yourself.’ He met her gaze. ‘Perhaps, though, that is not what you meant…’
Involuntarily, Lily shrank from his gaze, trying to piece together what she knew.
‘Pauldron… when he had me cornered, he called me something. He called me “Antagonist”.’
‘Yes, Pauldron.’ The Director frowned. ‘A highly regrettable occurrence. Greaves is normally so reliable. Had your friend not escaped and raised the alarm… but that is irrelevant now. He has brought you here safely today.’
‘Yes,’ Lily persisted. ‘If I’m nothing special, why was he sent to look after me? He’s always been around, ever since I started the Almshouse.’
‘Initially, his only duty was to report on you to the Directory. But then Miss Rita suggested that you might be in danger and Greaves is a highly reliable man. He never asks to know more than he needs. I believe he prefers his world view simple.’ The Director gestured into the darkness behind Lily, back towards the ebony door. ‘So you have Verity to thank for his presence. She has quite an interest in you.’
Lily froze. The idea that had been growing, just below the surface of her thoughts, since the first moment she saw the Director’s secretary crystallized into a question. She wanted to ask, but at the same time she didn’t want to know. She steeled herself. This was the only chance she was going to get.
‘Director,’ she began, feeling the mythical name roll off her tongue so easily, ‘is Miss Verity… is there a reason for her interest?’
The Director’s mouth twitched. There was a definite smile there, although whether it was friendly or not was impossible to tell.
‘You have noticed the similarities in your appearance?’
Lily nodded, her heart beating faster.
‘No, Lily,’ the Director said, shaking his head, ‘she is not your mother.’
It was stupid. They had only met minutes ago. She had spent her whole life without parents. But it felt like a blow to the stomach. When Miss Verity had touched her face, it had felt comfortable somehow, like coming home. For a moment, she wondered if the Director was telling her the whole truth. There had to be some significance, she didn’t believe in coincidences like that. She gritted her teeth, ready to ask another question about the secretary who had looked at her with such pained eyes.
‘Not that you are truly an orphan,’ the Director added, almost casually.
Lily stared, her prepared words deserting her. So many shocks so close together were too much. Her emotions slipped away. She faced the Director, matching his icy calm.
‘Where are my parents?’
‘Not here. Outside.’
‘Outside the Directory?’
The Director shook his head.
‘Outside anything and anywhere you have ever known. Outside of our world. Beyond the city walls. Beyond Agora.’
‘Can I find them?’
‘That depends.’
‘On what?’
The Director looked her in the eyes.
‘On your next, and final, question.’
Lily opened her mouth, but the Director raised a hand.
‘Do not be surprised,’ he said. ‘There are some who would deny you even this much knowledge. But I believe that this trade is just. One more piece of truth, Miss Lily, one more idea to be given to you in exchange for that which you do not know you have given. One question.’
The Director put the tips of his fingers together, and waited.
Lily’s composure faltered. She could feel the turmoil lurking beneath the surface of her mind waiting to engulf her once this light was snatched away. One more thing to be illuminated before this window was closed.
And then, out of it all, came the question. The question that should have been first.
‘What is the Midnight Charter?’
The question hung in the air, resonating up to the ceiling, seeming to deepen the frowns on the portraits of the past directors. The Director thought for a moment and then, as if unburdening himself of a secret that he had kept for far too long, he spoke.
‘The founders of Agora were idealists. They looked at a world torn between extremes and dreamed of another way.’ His voice filled with reverence. ‘They had a vision of a city where all were equal – where balance, barter and give and take were woven into its very heart and soul. Where value was judged by every individual and no one could force something out of nothing. Where their symbol, Libra, the scales, would be revered as the highest virtue.’ The Director bowed his head and rubbed his temples. ‘A fine dream, one worthy to be believed in. But they also saw how easily it could be corrupted.’ He smiled wearily at Lily. ‘There is no vision so strong that people cannot trample it into the dust. So, on the night the first of Agora’s stones were laid, at the midnight hour, when one day is balanced against the next, they signed the Midnight Charter. The most ambitious plan ever devised by the Libran Society. An agreement that, when the time came, their own city, their own dreams, would be tested and proved worthy. Agora itself would be weighed in the balance and tempered with fire.’
‘How was it to be tested?’ Lily asked breathlessly.
‘There would emerge, the Charter says, two judges, one for each side of the scales. The first, the Protagonist, would thrive on the city, express fully everything that Agora and her system could be. The second, the Antagonist, would take the opposite view. They would see every failing, every crack and fault in their wonderful project, and would try to change it. The two would be equal and opposite, linked in their lives and destinies. They would not judge in the traditional sense, they would be granted no power that they had not found for themselves. Only in their struggle, their judgements, their trials, would we see which is the stronger. Only through them could the city reach perfection or destruction.’ The Director looked straight at Lily. ‘Over the years, there have been many whom we have suspected of filling these roles. Many Protagonists who soared to great heights in the city, many Antagonists who spoke out. Yes, more than are common knowledge. But always they have disappointed us, or they have never emerged at the same time. But now, we think, you have.’
Lily stepped backwards, stunned. A thousand questions tried to form themselves in her head, but, oddly, she asked the one to which she was sure, somehow, that she already knew the answer.
‘Who is the other?’ she said.
In reply, the Director fished an object out of his pocket.
‘At first, we were not sure about either of you. You were one of our many projects – merely a possible pair. But after that memorable Agora Day, after we saw his rise and then your Almshouse, and we noticed how your lives seemed to constantly interconnect…’ He held out the object – a worn brass signet ring with a starfish carved into it. ‘We were surprised to see that even after everything that has happened, you came to him in his illness. But it seems oddly fitting that our great opposites should also be friends.’
Lily stared at the ring.
‘Mark,’ she said.<
br />
Even though she had been correct, the thought gave her little comfort. As the Director dropped Mark’s signet into her hand, she struggled with this new knowledge. It all seemed to fit so perfectly. And yet she knew, more certainly than anything else at this moment, that she did not believe in destiny.
She raised her head to speak again, but just as she opened her mouth she heard a noise behind her, a sound like raised voices moving nearer.
The Director frowned, showing a trace of annoyance.
‘It appears that we are about to be interrupted.’
A moment later, with a crash that seemed deafening in the previously hushed office, the ebony door to Miss Verity’s office was flung open. Striding through it, his normally composed features twisted with anger, came the Lord Chief Justice. In his wake, Miss Verity followed, casting apologetic looks at the Director.
‘I’m so sorry, sir,’ she said hurriedly. ‘He insisted that –’
‘I shall speak for myself, thank you,’ Lord Ruthven growled. ‘Leave us.’
Miss Verity looked at Lily and then at the Director, who gave her a tiny nod. Bowing, she exited. The Director turned his attention to Lord Ruthven.
‘Now, Ruthven, to what do we owe this interruption?’
‘This meeting is unacceptable, Director,’ Lord Ruthven fumed. ‘The girl has no right to know our secrets. How can she presume to judge everything we have spent our whole lives building?’
‘There are many kinds of judgement, Ruthven,’ the Director replied calmly. ‘You of all people must know that. And perhaps the young may see things more clearly than we ever could, with all of our experience.’
Lily’s head was still spinning, but she managed to speak up in her defence.
‘My Lord,’ she said, ‘I’ve never tried to judge anything… only to do what is right.’
‘You see, Director?’ Lord Ruthven spoke confidently now, his voice hard with scorn. ‘This impostor cannot understand. The true Antagonist would have no doubts, no confusion. She does not have the purity for this calling.’
Something in Lord Ruthven’s words struck her as familiar. Slowly, as the two powerful men continued to argue, all of the things she had been told began to click into place… thoughts about purity, truth…
‘Have you ever come across any other with such passionate beliefs, Ruthven?’ the Director continued, still the voice of reason.
Who else believed passionately in what he did? Lily asked herself.
‘Have a care, Director,’ Ruthven said icily. ‘You rule this city, but I am head of the Libran Society and we have the power to suspend you if –’
‘It was you!’
Silence. Both men turned to look at Lily. For an instant, she doubted herself, but as she spoke again, breaking the silence, it was as if she had found a new strength that she had never touched before. She stared at Lord Ruthven.
‘Back in the Clockwork House, when Pauldron tried to kill me, he said something. Something that made no sense at the time.’ She lowered her voice, but never broke her stare. ‘He called me “Antagonist” and said that “higher wisdoms” had revealed the truth to him.’ She came closer, growing in confidence. ‘Back at Mark’s ball, you praised Pauldron’s purity, his devotion to Agora. You told him these secrets, didn’t you, My Lord? You showed him the Midnight Charter because you wanted him to be the Protagonist. That was what made him call Mark an impostor and want to defeat me.’ Lily stopped, horrified by her own realization. ‘And that was what drove him mad.’
There was a long pause. Lord Ruthven stood frozen. He seemed to age before her eyes.
Slowly, the Director rose from his chair. ‘Is this true?’ he said.
His voice, though quiet, filled the room. It would be impossible to lie to that voice. Ruthven drew himself up stiffly.
‘Pauldron was far more suitable than that boy,’ he said coldly. ‘He was a man who passionately loved his city.’ He faltered, looking away. ‘I… I did not foresee that it would disturb the balance of his mind.’
‘You showed him the whole charter?’ The Director spoke with quiet anger. ‘Could you not see, Ruthven, what a terrible thing it is to read if you have confused the dream of an ideal city with the flawed, unfinished reality? A dreadful uncertainty – enough to drive one whose whole life was founded on love for that city on to a path of darkness, to protect his own vision of perfection by striking at those who would test it.’
‘I did it to preserve our city!’ Ruthven shouted. ‘He was stronger than the girl! He would have won the struggle, proved the Glory of Agora is everlasting.’ His voice grew quieter, but no less intense. ‘The Charter says that, despite their powerlessness, these two will change Agora forever.’ He turned to Lily, a look of hatred in his eyes. ‘I have served Agora for over fifty years, given my whole life in service to our city. I will not have that ruined by a pair of ignorant children.’
The silence that followed seemed endless. For a long time, the Director stared at Ruthven, his face unreadable. Eventually, and with great precision, the Ruler of Agora spoke.
‘You are fortunate, Ruthven, that I do not wish there to be a scandal,’ he said. ‘I shall not ask you to step down as Lord Chief Justice immediately. You will take your time to find a suitable successor. Everything will be done as if you have simply chosen to retire. But before a year has passed you will be gone. Otherwise, scandal or no, I shall break my silence. I will tell the whole city that you so poisoned the mind of a receiver that he killed a young woman. And then –’ he paused and, when he spoke again, he placed great stress on his words – ‘then the damage to your good name may be irrevocable.’ The Director sat again, his expression one of disgust. ‘Now, get out.’
Lord Ruthven’s face drained of colour. He cleared his throat to speak, but the Director refused to look at him. He turned to Lily, but she too looked away, staring at the wall. He would get no help from her. A few moments later, she heard his slow footsteps, followed by the door opening and closing. Only then did she breathe again.
Lily took a minute to compose herself. Soon she would need to have a long think, to organize her thoughts and feelings into some kind of order. For now, however, it was time to bring this interview to an end.
‘Director…’ she began.
The Director met her gaze, his face as calm as ever.
‘Yes?’ he said.
‘What happens now?’
In response, the Director reached under his desk and opened a drawer.
‘Now you must make a choice.’ From the drawer he pulled a rusty iron key. It seemed heavy and unwieldy, out of place in his hands. ‘There are many legends told about the Directory, strange and terrible stories. One is that people who visit here disappear, never to be seen again.’ He turned the key over in his hands, gazing at it thoughtfully. ‘But legends are all about drama. It would be such a disappointment for them to know about the door in the city wall.’
Lily felt her heart jump.
‘But… I thought there was nothing outside the city,’ she said.
The Director shook his head.
‘Surely you never believed that. Surely you, Miss Lily, know that the only way to truly understand something is to see it as a whole – from outside.’
Lily stared at the key.
‘Are you banishing me?’ she said hesitantly.
Part of her was horrified, but she could not ignore the fact that another part, deep within, flared with excitement and curiosity. She remembered, back at the tower, peering out of the windows, trying to see as much as she possibly could. It had been the best feeling she had ever had.
And, of course, her parents were somewhere out there in that unknown world.
‘No, this is not a banishment,’ the Director said, bringing her back to the present. ‘I shall not force you to go. At least one of the judges must choose their destiny.’
‘One?’
The Director gave a half-smile.
‘If you accept this path, Lily, then you mu
st take the other judge with you. No one will notice his departure from prison.’ The Director’s smile faded. ‘It was… distasteful to convince his manservant to close his trap a little earlier than he had intended, but sadly necessary. It was only a matter of time before you came to me and the disappearance of such a famous young man as Mr Mark would have attracted too much attention unless he first vanished in a more conventional way.’
Lily bit her lip, feeling the temperature in the room drop. The Director had defended her against Lord Ruthven, but she could see that in some ways he was no less ruthless.
‘And if I don’t leave Agora?’
The Director frowned.
‘Then I have been sorely mistaken in you, but you will receive no punishment. You will return to your Almshouse, which in time will fade away. You will perhaps live an easier life, with your friends, but Mark will remain in prison. And nothing will ever change.’
Lily swallowed nervously. She wished that she could discuss this with someone, or ask Mark what he thought. But she knew that the Director did not waste his words. He had said only one of them could make this decision, and it was her. She hoped, whatever decision she made, that Mark would forgive her.
‘But how can we judge anything?’ she asked. ‘Who will obey us?’
The Director smiled.
‘It is written in the Midnight Charter that your judgement will not be a conscious one. You will judge with every word and deed through your own natures. You will barely see the full effect of what you are doing, until the end. And then you will look back with wonder at what you have done.’
Lily wanted to protest, to say that this made her task no clearer, but her voice died under the Director’s stare.
‘No more words,’ he said. ‘Now you must choose.’
The Director placed the key on the desk in front of him. It shone in the candlelight.
‘Take this key and become the Antagonist. Be reborn into an alien land, free the Protagonist from his cell and seek your parents. See Agora for what she truly is.’ He frowned. ‘Alternatively, do not take the key and return to the life you knew. Unchanged, unknowing and unimportant. But safe.’ He sat upright now, with power in his eyes. ‘Choose, Miss Lilith, but be wary. Walk out of the Directory and live the rest of your life as any other citizen. Walk out of Agora and you will never walk back in.’
The Midnight Charter Page 28