A Silence Heard

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A Silence Heard Page 21

by Nicola McDonagh


  Santy called his name, and I heard the sound of fist on bone. All my muscles tensed. How I longed to open my peepers and see what’s what, but honoured my bro’s request instead. Although I did not trust his words or actions after what he did to me, there was a tone in his voice that suggested a truth of purpose. It gave me hope that he was my bro-bro again. Plus, I was beginning to think that Eadgard was right when he said I was the trigger. What had I unleashed?

  I felt a breath on my cheek then the pressure of fingers on my neck. The touch was soft and had a calming effect. The chaos inside my noggin gave way to clarity and I was able to tune my lugs into the sounds and voices around me.

  “The bruising is significant to be sure,” Hildegunnr said in a voice contrived and loud. “I will continue my examination and let you know the results. A thing I cannot properly do whilst you are standing so close.”

  “Fine, I’ll go and check the bonds are tight enough on the prisoners. Make it fast, I itch to give back the thumps laid upon me.”

  “Steady, Edwena, no play until the battle is over.” Hacket’s voice again. “Which will be soon and in our favour if I’m not mistaken.”

  There came a howl of frustration. “Ye scabs on a wolfies behind. Ye used the Meeks as a shield against our forces.”

  My bones chilled at the sound of Wirt’s words, but went colder still when Hacket replied, “They went willingly. I did not force them to sacrifice themselves for our cause.”

  “Nay, but ye blasted them with that pain thingy till they didn’t know what they was doing. Then ye sent them outside when ye knew we were winning. Ye bully, ye filthy, evil…”

  “Edwena, silence this youth. I am bored with his manic outbursts.”

  I winced at the sound of something blunt hitting Wirt goodness knows where. Then I felt a tickling sensation on my lobe.

  “Shhh, Adara, do not flinch. I will be as gentle as possible, but remain as if quite insensible.” Hildegunnr opened my mouth and slid a probing thing down my gullet. I struggled not to gag and give the game away, and was relieved in the extreme when whatever it was slipped out of my gob. “The damage is irreparable, Hacket. I’m sorry to say.”

  “Ha! I’m not. Good kiddle, Deogol. You will be a great asset and no mistake.”

  Irreparable?

  What?

  How could my bro do such a nasty to me?

  Questions tumbled around my head and I thought I would burst from not knowing all that had occurred since my consciousness was taken from me.

  “Don’t fret Sis, all is not as it seems,” my bro, the master at stating the obvious, whispered. “I must go and play my part.”

  The mattress bounced a little as the weight of his body left the bed. I felt his absence keenly the instant he was gone.

  “Hildegunnr, wake the brat up. I wish her to be fully alert when our soldiers return triumphant. I want her to see Deogol and his pals all content and eager to do our every wish,” Hacket said.

  My entire self howled in silence. I vowed that when and if I had the chance, I would kill Hacket and his wolfwhore with nowt more than my naked mitts. A scratch on my upper arm and a low-voiced, “Wake, wake now,” caused me to open my eyes.

  I blinked and saw a dreadful scene. Eadgard, Kendra, Wirt and Santy Breanna, bound tight to chairs. All with bruises and blood smeared on their faces and neck. Ragged-clothed guards stood behind and pressed a gun to their heads. I gave out a hoarse sigh, coughed, then lay still.

  “Bring her back.”

  “I’ll need to untie her and sit her up. Otherwise, she’ll probably choke. Adara’s oesophagus is very swollen and she will have much difficulty in breathing.”

  “Fine, fine, just make sure she doesn’t try to inflict any damage.”

  “She’s hardly capable of taking in air, let alone attempting an attack upon you and Edwena.”

  “Just do what you must do.”

  I felt the constriction ease and Hildegunnr slip her hands behind my back and push me into a sitting position. She did not relinquish her hold upon me until I stopped wobbling. My head fell back onto the pillow, and I gripped onto the edge of the mattress until the dizziness passed. Hacket approached and stood at the end of the bed.

  “See? I told you, we are stronger. Don’t look so angry, it’s over. You failed we won. Pity about all of the burnt crops. Don’t know how we’ll manage to feed everyone without grain. Wait, I do know. We won’t. Because of you and your pathetic attempt at overthrowing our control over this squalid land, food will be in very short supply. You and yours and them and theirs will starve. And they’ll blame you with their dying breath. The irony is though that we did it. We set fire to the crops.’’

  My hands became fists and weak as I was I managed to plant a punch on his jaw when he leant in close to say his final words. Edwena screeched when she saw Hacket stagger back, and raced over to where I was propped up. She raised her hand high into the air and brought it down hard across my face. Despite the frightful stinging of my flesh, I gave her a satisfied grin.

  “Let me finish the freak.”

  “No,” Hacket said and rubbed his jaw. “Better to let her rot and wither with the rest. A slow death is more fitting.”

  Edwena peeled her lips back from her teeth and chortled most horribly. “You are right. What a fitting end to her grand mission, than seeing it all collapse before her eyes. What vanity to think that you could defeat us.” She walked towards me and smirked even smugger than before. “Does it hurt to know that your bro is a traitor, and worse, a potential killer? Sweet indeed the punishment for the crime of pride.”

  Her words lay heavy in my gut. For I was to be sure verging on the side of swagger before Deogol squeezed my neck. Edwena gave one last snicker and went back to Hacket. She led him away and they began their close-headed chittle chat. What evilness they were brewing up I could not tell. I turned my head away and caught the eye of Hildegunnr, who was standing by the side of the bed. She gave me a subtle wink and nodded in the direction of the Meeks.

  Deogol tip-tapped on a comp. Esme and Elita joined him. They bent to scrutinise the screen, looked at each other and grinned. Elita stepped forward, pressed her finger onto the round indent on her forehead and closed her eyes. Deogol and Esme did the same. They made the humming sound that meant business, and on hearing it, Hacket broke free from Edwena and marched up to them.

  “What? What is this? Who gave you authorisation to stop work?” They paid him no heed. His face reddened and he stretched his bod so that he appeared taller than he was. Thusly menacing, or so he thought, he spoke in a loud, low voice, “Speak when you are spoken to.” The Meeks remained tight-lipped. “Do as I say!” he near shrieked, then took to rubbing the brocade on his sleeve. To his and everyone else’s astonishment, nowt occurred. He did it several times more and then looked over his shoulder at Edwena. She shrugged.

  Then Elita spoke, “Your power gone Agro. We stop it. We take back what was took. We now have power.”

  “What? Do not test me little ones. I will hurt you if I have to.” Hacket raised his fists, but Elita stopped a potential pounding with a small smile. Which was so full of resolve and determination that he could do nowt but lower his hands.

  “Cannot. Power gone,” Elita said and walked calmly back to my bro and Esme, who were already deep in comp stuff.

  Hacket stood in the centre of the room and stared at the few remaining guards. They lowered their heads and he lost all colour to his face. Hildegunnr walked towards him. She stood close to his statue-like form and said, “I would take the hand of your colleague right now. Things are about to occur.” She brushed against his shoulder and he shuddered. Edwena ran to him and clutched at his sleeve.

  “Do something.”

  “Such as?”

  She twisted the cuff of his coat. He plucked her frantic fingers away, and she buried her face into his arm.

  Hildegunnr went to where the Meeks sat huddled over their comps, tip-tapping fast and furious. She leant close
to Deogol and whispered all loudly, “I think it’s time.”

  They stopped, just like that, and stood. The brightness in the room diminished for a sec and then all was light again. The two high-up Agros, looked to the ceiling then to the Meeks, and both their faces assumed a look of fear. Edwena gripped Hacket’s wrist so tight, I thought he would yell, but he stayed rigid, almost unaware of her presence.

  A silence fell as heavy as a rain-filled thundercloud.

  In that quiet I swear I heard my name called. Then a voice within spoke to me. A voice I had denied. A voice I should have heeded but did not because of pride.

  I was not the chosen one.

  The chosen stood before me.

  Humbled, I gave over to the feeling of awe and wonder at the sight of the Meeks standing tall and straight, and unafraid. So, after all my bigging up and what not, it turns out I was merely the switch that turned on the collective power of the Meeks.

  Hacket tore the stillness apart. “What have you done?” He stared at Edwina for a sec, as though waking from a dream, then pulled himself free of her clinging fingers. She wiped her brow, folded her arms and lifted her chin to indicate that she was not afraid. But she was, for her lips quivered. Hacket walked towards my bro, his hands clenching as he moved.

  Deogol folded his arms. “We’ve given the soldiers the same inside sting that you gave the Meeks to force us to walk in front of our own.”

  All purposeful-like he pressed a button on the comp and the giant screen flickered. A wailing, screeching noise came from the comspeaks. I leant forward and saw an image from outside. The entire cloned Agro army lay on the ground clutching their heads in their hands. Some were on all fours puking. Some were sprawled on their backs, foam oozing from their mouths. Some lay sideways all hunched up, arms around legs, rocking and whimpering.

  Deogol slammed the comp lid down.

  “Talented little wolfbubs, that’s for sure,” Edwena said and gave them a derisive slow-clap.

  Despite her plight at being tied and duffed up, Santy Breanna managed to give my bro the most mumsly grin. “There’s my little earwig.”

  “It’s, Deogol, Santy.”

  “That it is. Clearly your name suits. You are indeed a secretive soul and no mistake.”

  “Mebbe, but I, we, did what had to be done the best way for it to succeed. We have won, these Agros have lost.” A smug grin bled across his face.

  Edwena snarled and darted towards my bro, but was stopped from proceeding by a rumbling sound at the entrance to the medi-lab. Before she, or anyone could say, “What the huff?” in burst a whole cluster of non-Agro folk brandishing clubs, enemy guns and metal bars. They swarmed into the room, focusing their shouts and yells upon Hacket and Edwena, who clutched onto each other as the mob advanced.

  “Do something. You guards, attack!” Hacket cried.

  The guards stood still.

  The battle weary mass advanced towards the fear-faced Agros, screaming as one, the word, “Kill!”

  I thought I recognised Odelia and Audrey amongst the dishevelled folk, but all were so caked in grime and blood, that I could not be sure. They raged towards the Agros and lifted their weapons high. Behind them, the rumble-roar of battle clad Clonies.

  Terrifying and huge, masked and growling, they stretched-legged through the mob. Who parted quick at the sight of their tame, fang slavering Wolfies lurching and straining at the leash. The Agros backed away.

  My gut tumbled over and I held back a throat sob at the sight of Marcellus’s kin. An ache clenched around my heart and locked in tight a grief-filled sorrow.

  My bro raised his arms and shouted above the din, “Calm yourselves. All is under control.”

  How old he sounded. How commanding was his voice. My little bro-bro that stood not much higher than my shoulder, was giving orders to one and all. To my wonder and admiration, they did his bidding. The Clonies halted, their wild dogs cringed, and all turned to where he stood with Esme and Elita. Deogol walked towards a towering Clonie, I recognised as Orsin. His Wolfie snarled and raised its hackles. My bro stretched out his hand and let the dowgie sniff his fingers, then stroked its ears. A gasp rang out from one and all. Orsin bent forward and said, “Meek?”

  Deogol nodded.

  “Safe. Good, we pleased,” the Clonie looked over my bro’s head at Elita and Nuncio. “We see kin alive too, more pleased.”

  My bro ceased ear rubbing the feral dowgie, stood straight and looked behind the Clonies vast bod. “Where are the rest of my friends that were forced to stand against you?”

  “Some with own folk, some still in silo. We hide them whilst fray took shape.”

  “Are they well?”

  “As well as can be. Have gone through too much. Have endured too much. Agro army mighty. We near defeated by their force, we ready for death, but in flash they fell to knees, clutching heads.”

  Esme, Elita and Deogol high-hand slapped each other and smiled. My bro put his fists on his hips, jutted out his chin and addressed the assembled crowd like a true leader of folk. “We did it. We found a way to control the implants. We tapped into the Agro tech codes. It was easy once we realised their limitations. Binary,” he said and gave forth a mighty roar. “Binary? For real and then some? So ancient. Agro fools.” He laughed again and the girlie Meeks joined in, then they stopped and assumed serious faces. They turned from Orsin and walked over to Hacket and Edwena.

  “We can make the soldiers and guards do our bidding now. Just by pressing in some digits on any comp we like. Or, just by thinking them. We have surpassed your primitive tech. In fact, we are now the only tech. Nothing to say to that Agro scum?” Esme said. The two Agros paled. “No? Good.” She snorted and Hacket began to tremble.

  Orsin wiped his blood-splattered chin, looked to the insurgents that near filled the room, and coughed all loud to attract he attention of my bro and the other two Meeks. He did it again with more force and contrivance, and they turned to face him. My bro sighed and said, “What?”

  “We come to free, we think.”

  Hacket went the colour of the ripest tom, burst into the mightiest guffaw and slapped his thighs. “How noble. You are the fools, not us. The Meeks cannot be saved by you or anyone else.”

  “What mean filthy Agro?” the Clonie said and walked over to Hacket, tugging his wilder-than-wild dowgie behind him. He looked at Edwena, grabbed his Wolfie by the collar and lifted it towards her face. The thing growled and slavered. Orsin set it back onto the floor. It snarled, bared its teeth and lunged towards the pale-faced fem.

  She shrieked and dug her fingernails into Hacket’s arm. The Clonie warrior yanked the creature back. He bent, grabbed the dowgie’s collar and made a gesture to indicate that with one quick unbuckling of its leash, he would allow the ravenous creature to be free.

  “Say what mean, or we let beast go,” Orsin said. The Wolfie whined and struggled to attack. Foam oozing from its mighty open jaws.

  “Restrain your hideous beast.”

  “Only when tell truth.”

  Hacket and Edwena jumped when the Wolfie yelped and near broke free. The wide-eyed Agro male held up his hands all shield-like, and said in a shaky voice, “I am being honest with you.”

  “What mean?”

  “I mean they cannot leave.”

  “Liar.” Orsin let the Wolfie go. It leapt towards Edwena and pinned her against the wall with its huge, filthy paws. She threw her arms across her face and blubbed like a bub.

  Over her wailings the word, “Liar,” was spoken by other Clonies, by Woodsfolk, by Ladies, by Techs, who all repeated, “Liar!”

  Even Wirt, Eadgard, Kendra, and Santy Breanna, stuck to their chairs and bruised, called out with all their lungpower, “Liar!” Despite knowing that Hacket was telling the truth. “Liar!” they said to keep the flame of hate from going out.

  The word became a weapon so hard and raspy was it said. The other rebels joined in, until it became a terrifying chant that blasted around the room causing f
ear to stab into the Agros hearts. “Liar! Liar! Liar!”

  The sound grew. Folk began to move. Wolfies howled, and I thought the Agros done for, but my bro stepped forward, raised his hand and said, “Stop!” and just like that, they ceased. “Call off your hound.”

  Orsin whistled through his teeth and the drooling dowgie low slunked back to its master. He pushed down on its behind and the animal sat. The huge male turned to Deogol. He stared at him for what seemed to be an age, then said, “This true? Cannot leave?”

  “That is what we believe to be true. The Agros told us we are unable to exit the perimeters of this place. If we do, the implants they put into our heads will self-destruct and we will die.”

  “We beyond sad at news. We cannot believe. Not true, cannot be,” Orsin said and bent his head. The Wolfie did the same and let out a mournful howl.

  Deogol, Elita and Esme glanced at each other, nodded, went quite red and lowered their heads too. I only ever saw my bro flush like that when he told a whopper.

  A general murmur swished around the gathered. The Meeks huddled together and Edwena and Hacket dared to snicker. A roar went up. “Ye foul pieces of Carnie leftovers!” From the crowd came a large kilted Woodsmale, Bestanden.

  He pushed his way through the mass of perplexed folk, stared at the Meeks for a sec, and then lunged towards Hacket. He gave him a fierce thwap across the chest with his heavy wooden stick and the Agro crumpled to the ground. He raised his weapon and turned towards Edwena. She sidled away and he followed, spit shouting as he walked, “Ye, yer spawn of Aglaeca the devil of the forest, ye cut loose those ye have fettered. Move swiftly and free my kin and their pals, or I wi tear yer flesh from yer bones and pound yer carcass intae dust!” He waved his club at her and she quickly moved.

  Edwena walked behind each chair and untied the ropes that bound my friends to them. Once unfettered, Santy, holding her injured arm, ran to my side and pressed my head against her basoomers. “My poor Addy, my sweetie pet.”

  On she went, pouring forth all manner of cutey names. If it was not for the fact that my vocal chords were all but severed, I would have screamed at her to stop. When she was done and let go, I gave her a smile. At the sound of gurgling, I glanced around her bod. A nasty sight I saw too. Eadgard had Edwena by the throat, and Kendra was prying away his fingers. She succeeded, but Wirt had to wrap his arms around the fuming Backpacker to keep him from attacking her again.

 

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