by Otter Lieffe
“I'm just a bit nervous is all,” Ash said through the blankets. “The Ring, the tunnels. But it's fine, I'm fine.”
But Pinar knew it wasn't. The City was an ugly memory for both of them, a wound that would take a lifetime to heal.
“If you change your mind, I would never hold it against you. Really. Go back if you need to.”
“Not an option. Anyway…sweet dreams, hon.”
“Sleep well.”
Two sleepless hours later, just as they finished packing up their tent, a young white guy came over to talk to Ash and Pinar.
“Hey, I'm Mike. I'll be accompanying the two of you to the City walls.”
Pinar smiled politely. Ash barely acknowledged him at all.
“It's easy to get turned around in the Ring and I recently came through the tunnels so…stay close to me. We just need to stay in the eroded gulleys and stay off the horizon. As you can see, there's really nothing else out there to hide behind.”
“I'm sure you'll get us there safely, Mike,” said Pinar kindly. “Are we leaving soon?”
“Everyone's already split into their groups, so whenever you're ready.”
“Let's go.”
Over the next half hour, group by group, the resistance shoal reluctantly stepped out of the sanctuary of the forest and entered the Ring. They all knew there was no going back from here.
Chapter forty-one
In groups of three, the shoal head out across the Ring, dead soil crunching under their feet. They could already see the City walls up ahead and before that lay three kilometres of nothing but deforestation and erosion.
Ash and Pinar were among the first groups to leave and although the moon was covered by clouds and the night was dark, they felt suddenly vulnerable.
“I hate it here,” signed Ash to her friend. “I see why they keep expanding the Ring. I feel like troopers could appear at any second and we'd have nowhere to hide.”
“We've avoided them so far,” Pinar replied. “Let's hope our luck holds out.”
“Ever the optimist.”
“Keep moving please, ladies,” signed Mike. “Not far now.”
Ash ignored him. She was too impatient to deal with other people's impatience.
After nearly an hour of clambering through gulleys and running in the gaps, a tiny breeze blew over them, bringing a fresh smell which Pinar recognised immediately. There was the faintest sound of gulls calling far away.
“The sea!” she signed with a twinkle of nostalgia in her eye.
“We're close,” Ash signed back and pushed on, her face and her gestures revealing nothing of the fear that was slowly filling her heart.
* * *
They were a hundred metres from the walls of the City. Two concentric circles of concrete blocks, built decades ago, formed a sheer cliff face separating the outside world from the City.
Some kind of stone barrier had existed here since ancient times, but faced with continual attacks from the outside, the State had ordered prisoners to fortify the walls by hand. Every year, the walls were at least a metre higher.
“I certainly didn't miss that sight.” signed Pinar. “I'd forgotten just how big they are.”
“I hoped I'd never see this again,” Ash replied.
They stood for a moment, awestruck, but were soon rushed forward by Mike who was much more used to the sights of the City, including its walls.
“Let's get to the tunnels,” he signed impatiently. “We stick out here like a sore thumb.”
As they got closer to the walls, the huge vertical surface soon filled their field of vision. Ash noticed that, like some of the oldest trees in the forest, it was impossible from this position to see both the top and the bottom of the wall at the same time. The effect made her nauseous.
Following their guide, Ash and Pinar soon came to the base of the wall and the entrance to the tunnel. They had made good time and were the first group to arrive.
“The tunnel is under here.” Mike signed, pointing at a pile of sticks and leaves. To the women, it looked like pretty much every other pile of dry brush in the Ring. “Help me pull these branches away from the entrance.”
As they pulled the sticks aside, a metal hatch was revealed. Mike slid the hatch to the side, and in the moonlight they could see a gaping hole with a rusty ladder leading down into perfect darkness.
Ash felt sick. Her heart was racing.
* * *
The air coming up from the tunnel smelt all wrong. For Ash, it was the smell of death, of imprisonment, of the City. Her lungs begged for better air and unconsciously she took a step away from the dark hole. Pinar noticed immediately.
“Everything okay?”
“No, no it's not okay,” replied Ash, her throat catching. “I don't think I can go down there. I don't think I ca—”
She was cut off by an urgent sign from their companion. His eyes were wide with fear.
“Horses!” he signed. “I can hear horses! We have to get in right now!”
Chapter forty-two
The hooves were getting louder by the second.
Pinar looked across the landscape at the remaining small groups making their way towards them. The last group—just now climbing out of a gulley carrying tents and equipment—were still at least five hundred metres away.
“But what about the others?” signed Pinar.
“There's no time! We can't give away the location of the tunnel,” Mike replied, his hands shaking as he signed. “We need to get in!”
Pinar saw the other groups ducking down into an arroyo.
They must have heard the horses too. There's nothing else we can do now! Damn!
Pinar got onto the ladder and started her descent into darkness. She looked back at Ash who stood perfectly still at the edge of the hole.
“Ash!” she said, gripping onto the rusty rungs of the ladder. “We have to go!”
Ash said nothing. She was frozen.
“Ash! Get in!”
Mike was terrified and angry.
We're completely vulnerable out here, and this old woman's putting us all at risk.
He stood between her and the hole and taking hold of her shoulders he gave her a hard shake.
“We have to get to the tunnel,” he said sternly. “We're running out of time.”
Slowly a look of recognition came to Ash's face and she snapped back to reality. She looked back one more time to where the other groups of resistance members had been moving across the land. There was no one to be seen.
Are we really leaving these people behind? What choice do we have?
The thunder of horses grew louder around the curve of the wall. Ash climbed onto the ladder and followed her friend. Rung by rung, she disappeared.
Chapter forty-three
Above his head, Mike pulled the metal hatch closed, blocking out the moonlight and plunging the three of them into total darkness. Normally he'd pull the branches back over the cover, but there was no time. They'd just have to hope that the troopers wouldn't come close enough to notice it.
Hanging on the ladder, they paused for a moment. They listened for any sound—of the others arriving, or the thump of horses—but they heard nothing except their own panicked breathing. Either the hatch was too thick to hear anything, or the others had managed to hide.
Or something much worse has happened.
Ash didn't want to think about what might be happening up there. Below her, she heard Pinar start making her way down the ladder and she followed, her sweaty hands grasping to the rails as firmly as she could.
Will the others be okay? Will they make it to the City? Will any of us?
Breathing heavily from the effort, Pinar finally reached the bottom of the ladder and carefully stepped on to the ground. It was perfectly dark. As she waited for Ash and Mike to arrive, she began to explore. Following the brick walls with her hands, Pinar could feel that it opened up into two—no, three—different di
rections. She hated that she didn't know the way. They were completely dependent now on a guy they'd barely known for an hour.
She heard Ash meet her on the ground.
“Okay, hon?” she whispered.
“How could I be okay? We just left them out there!”
“I know. But we didn’t ha—”
Pinar was interrupted by a loud cracking. She gasped as green light flooded the tunnel.
Her eyes adjusted and she saw that Mike was holding something bright in his left hand. It took a second to realise what it was.
He's holding a glowstick!
“Where does the resistance even get these things?” she asked. “I haven't seen one of those in...at least twenty years!”
“We have our sources…” Mike smiled back. “But it's one of our last.”
He paused to listen, tilting his head up.
“I still don't hear anything from above. We'll have to assume the others made it to another entrance and we'll meet them in the City.”
“That's one possibility…” said Ash, grimly. “We shouldn't have left them.”
“Shall we go back up?” suggested Pinar.
“It's not safe,” said Mike. “I left the hatch unlocked for them if they make it. But if the troopers find it, we're screwed. We need to get going.”
Ash gave him an unpleasant look. Pinar sighed in defeat.
“Which way?”
“Follow me,” said Mike, confidently taking the left exit. Ash and Pinar followed him and his otherworldly green light into the tunnel.
* * *
They were directly under the City walls. Ash could clearly see two white lines of chalk crossing the floor of the tunnel to mark the point.
Why would anybody even bother? It’s so meaningless down here.
Still, as she stepped over that line, it felt significant. It might just be in her head, but the air felt thicker now, the darkness even more oppressive. They were going downhill and she began to imagine the tonnes and tonnes of rock above her head. And she couldn't stop thinking about those that they had left behind.
We have to get out of this claustrophobic hell as soon as possible.
After an hour or so of walking, the tunnel opened into another large junction.
“Can we rest a second?” Pinar panted, leaning against the wall.
“Sure, but just a second,” Mike replied as he pulled a hand-drawn map out of his pocket and checked it. There were four other tunnels running off from the junction and they were all perfectly identical.
Suddenly there was a sound. They could hear footsteps and voices, and they seemed to be getting louder.
Mike pushed the glowstick into his trouser pocket blocking out the light and plunging them back into darkness.
“Should we run?” he whispered.
“No,” replied Ash. “If we run now, they'll hear us for sure.”
“Stand against the wall and stay as still as you can,” whispered Pinar. “If they don't have lights, hopefully, they'll walk right past us.”
Holding hands, they pushed back against the wall. To Ash their quiet breathing suddenly seemed painfully loud.
Chapter forty-four
People were definitely coming towards them. The voices had stopped, but the footsteps rang out and echoed. It sounded like a large group.
Ash, Pinar, and Mike held their breaths as the strangers arrived into the junction. They had no light and, in the darkness, Pinar could hear hands rubbing over the walls, presumably looking for the entrances to the tunnels.
One of them walked very close to her. She could hear their hands rubbing against the wall, moving towards her. She still held her breath. They were less than a metre away. Pinar tried to push herself back even further into the wall, but there was nowhere to go.
Her lungs burned. Any second now, she'd have to breathe.
Chapter forty-five
“Wait a second!” A voice boomed out breaking the silence. “Pinar, is that you?”
The voice was familiar. Familiar enough for Mike to pull out the glowstick again, filling the cave with green light and illuminating the group of people standing in it, their eyes wide with surprise.
“It is you!” It was Vicki, grinning. “I'd recognise the smell of lavender oil anywhere!” She laughed as she scooped up all three of them in a warm embrace. The junction was instantly filled with whoops of excitement and laughter from the shoal behind her.
Ash sighed with relief.
Now let's get the hell out of here.
* * *
The Sett was celebrating. After a day of meetings, a general decision was taken to reinforce security of the village; to send runners to other villages to warn them. But all that could wait until tomorrow. Tonight was for relaxing and despite the fear and paranoia left over from the previous night, the entire community were out of their houses preparing for a great evening.
Harvest Day was the most important day in the Sett calendar and even Elias was getting into the mood. First came a massive meal in the kitchen tent, followed by music. The kitchen pulled out all the stops and, as predicted, L, the head chef, had made her famous squash soup.
Elias was glad to see that the kitchen had been hard at work with its home-made still. There was a small bottle of gin on the bar with his name on it. Everyone knew about Elias' fondness for gin.
He wasn't the only “E” in the Sett but the other one was three years old, so he figured it was for him. He poured himself a glass.
I probably shouldn't—with my heart and everything—but I'm not going to worry about that tonight, it's Harvest Day after all.
“Hey E, Happy Harvest Day!” It was L from the kitchen. “Cheers.”
They clinked glasses together and watched as a band stepped out proudly onto the wooden stage. They had been in Elias' class a few years back.
They must be in their teens now, he realised, and apparently, they think they're rock stars. What a noise!
Within five minutes of him sitting down, Elias' friends had arrived and he was surrounded on all sides by gossip.
“They're getting pretty good!”
“Well, they have been practising all week. I swear the only thing these girls will wake up early for is their band practice.”
“Rumour has it that you used to sing, E. Is it true?”
“Nope. No way,” Elias refused flatly. He had heard that rumour too, several times, in fact. In truth, he had once been well known for his rich, tenor voice, but he kept it a carefully guarded secret. Of course, living in a community, there were no such things as secrets. “It's a lie.”
“Really? I can totally imagine you on stage, singing and danc—”
“Nope.”
“Oh.”
“Another gin, E?”
“Why not? But I won't sing for you. No matter how drunk you get me.”
“Of course not, dear…”
* * *
“So, what happened up there?” asked Pinar. “I'm so sorry we left you behind. We really didn't know what else—”
“You had to protect the tunnel,” said Vicki touching her shoulder lightly. “You were just following protocol.”
“It's still not okay,” said Ash.
“All's well that ends well. Although it got a bit hairy there for a moment, I must admit. We headed for a different entrance, about twenty metres from the one you used, and we were nearly all in—I was the last—but the troopers arrived before we closed the hatch.”
Pinar and Ash listened intently.
“I'm a resistance runner, you know, I spend my whole life running and delivering messages so I ran back to the forest to distract them. I think I ran faster than ever before. I had to forget all my training—running quietly, pacing myself, all that—and just go for it. I ran as loud as I could—shouting and making a racket. And those jerks followed me right back into the forest.”
“And then?”
“Once I was back in th
e trees, I could outrun their horses. I looped around and made my way back to the tunnel entrance. The rest were still waiting for me inside.”
“You must have run six kilometres!” said Pinar, clearly impressed.
“That's what I do. We nearly got lost a few times in the tunnels though,” Vicki continued. “Next time, I'm taking the glowstick!” She poked Mike playfully in the arm.
“Next time, you should keep up!” Mike joked back.
“If we weren't carrying all your supplies, we would have! Come here!” Vicki grabbed Mike again—she was so tall he barely came up to her armpits—and she gave him a long, hard kiss on the lips.
“I'm glad you're okay, sweetie,” she whispered to him. “I would have missed you.”
* * *
Elias was on the stage. The whole room was clapping and whistling. His students—who Elias thought surely should have been in bed already—were lined up at the front calling for him to sing.
“Mr E! Mr E! Mr E!”
He was a little drunk, to be sure, but he also just felt too old to care.
If these people want me to sing, why not? After all, I might be dead tomorrow.
Elias began his song, a soft lament in his native tongue. It was a love song he had learned decades ago, a young man singing for his love. If only he hadn't lost him. If only their love hadn't been forbidden. If only the world was a different place.
It was a song that had sung to a generation of forbidden lovers, a song that Elias held closest to his heart. His voice was deep and powerful and as he brought the song to a crescendo, holding a single high note for one long breath, a tear fell from his cheek and the Sett cried with him. The silence that followed was unbroken and Elias sat back down and continued his drink as if nothing had happened.
Later, the teenagers started playing again and Elias managed to slip away for the night. As always, the walk home took him through Central Square—what's left of it—and his feet crunched through the blackened grass.