by Helen Brain
Lucas comes out from amongst the trees carrying a blanket. He says nothing, just drapes the blanket around my shoulders and then sits next to me. He doesn’t touch me or try to comfort me. He just sits. And although he’s reed-thin, and I can see the lines of suffering carved into his face, he is serene.
I cry. After a while, I talk. I tell him everything. I rant about Samantha-Lee and the ungrateful colony girls and the cruelty of the general, and Lucas listens.
I cry out my anguish, and still he sits, saying nothing. But slowly, as the sun climbs in the sky, peace drifts into my soul like mist.
A woman joins us. She’s the woman from the fire. She’s younger than Dr Iris, older than Clementine. She’s the age my mother would be now if she hadn’t gone out to talk to the army that day almost seventeen years ago. For a minute my heart leaps. She’s my mother. She’s come back to be with me. But then I realise she’s from a much earlier time. Her dress reaches to the ground, with a lace collar framing her face. Her hair is the colour of autumn leaves and is woven into a plait that she’s wound around her head. And she’s wearing the necklace. The necklace with all four amulets.
She reaches out to me, and pulls my head into her lap. I’m Emilie, she murmurs. Happy birthday. She strokes my cheek gently, runs her fingers through my hair, murmuring quiet words in a language I don’t understand.
And I fall asleep.
I OPEN MY EYES, confused. Why am I in the forest? What is the smell of burning? Then I remember, and despair rises until I want to pull my hair out and tear my clothes to shreds and scream until my voice gives out. What am I going to do?
What am I going to do?
“You looked so peaceful,” Micah says, leaning over to kiss me on the lips. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
I glare at him, turning my head so his kiss lands on my cheek. “You’re a bit late, aren’t you? Have you seen my house? Have you seen Letti?” My voice rises hysterically with each question. “It’s all ruined, ruined! I’m finished!”
“I’ve seen them.”
He puts his arm around me, pulling me against his strong body, but I stiffen. He’s not going to persuade me that everything is alright.
“We can start again,” he says lifting my chin with his finger. “We can rebuild Greenhaven. We’ll make it bigger and better than it was. What matters is that you and I are safe, and together.”
“Where were you? Why didn’t you come home?”
He looks me in the eye, but there’s something in his expression I can’t read. The winter sun has disappeared behind a cloud, and I shiver. The wind is picking up, cutting through my robe and the thin blanket.
“I couldn’t leave,” he says. His voice sounds sincere, but his face is stiff. “I knew the army would be back. I had to stay.”
“But what about me?” My voice starts off controlled but ends in a wail. “You always put me last, Micah. You’re always there with the resistance, you and Samantha-Lee, and you always pick that first. Shorty is dead! I’ve lost my house, my clothes and my furniture, and now I’m losing you too.” The rising tears flood the words and wrack my body.
He holds me while I cry.
“I won’t leave again,” he murmurs. “I’ll stay until you’re settled. I’ll help you. You can survive this – you’re stronger than you think.”
CHAPTER 24
For a week we limp along. Micah forages in the abandoned houses and finds what we need to get by. We have plenty of vegetables to eat and water to drink. The carriage horses come back on their own, and Micah finds Ponto grazing in the orchard.
Mr Frye comes to assess the damage. He’s distraught, and keeps blowing his nose on his handkerchief.
“So much destruction,” he says, shaking his head. “So much history, gone.” And he blows the air out of his lips. “Just like that.”
As he’s leaving, he says, “The general’s called a council meeting a week from now.”
“I’m not going,” I snap. “He’s crazy if he thinks I’m going to sit there watching him gloat about what he’s done.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Don’t be impulsive. He’s going to discuss what to do with the remaining young people in the colony and the girls who were working here. They’ve been sent back inside for now. You need to be there to stand up for them.”
I turn away. I don’t want to defend those ungrateful cows. They tried to kill me. But, at the same time, I know what a struggle it is to adapt to life outside the colony.
He swings into the saddle and clicks his tongue to tell the horse to move. “I’ll send my carriage for you anyway. I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”
I LIVE ONE HOUR at a time. If I think too far ahead, I fall into despair, so I focus on what we need to do right this minute and try not to think about the future. Each day feels like a hundred years, but we get through them, one by one.
On market day, Mr Mavimbela sends a wagon to fetch the vegetables. Without the girls to harvest the new crops, most of them will rot in the fields, but Fez and I do our best, picking what we can and storing it in crates that Micah has found in the wine cellar.
I don’t want to think about how we will plant for the next season. How we’re going to irrigate without the wind pump, how I will make enough to pay the taxes the general is demanding.
But maybe we won’t have to. It’s only three days until the solstice. Aunty Figgy and Alexia are at the holy well every day searching for the missing amulet – the one I used to wear. As the days pass, Aunty Figgy’s face becomes grimmer and the moon gets fuller. She mutters prayers as she goes about her work, begging the Goddess to send the last amulet. I’m too despondent to search. I can’t help feeling it’s lost forever.
IT’S NIGHTFALL. The air is still, and slate-grey clouds are pouring over the mountain. A single star twinkles and then the clouds blow across it and the sky is black, the mountain barely visible.
Micah finds me sitting on the swing at the end of the meadow.
“Shift up,” he says.
He squeezes in next to me, and puts his arm around me. I lean my head on his shoulder, thankful for his strong presence. He’s been amazing this last week – working from first light until nightfall doing the jobs that Leonid used to do, bringing home piles of things we might need, scratching through the ashes of the house to see what can be salvaged. He hasn’t left the farm and he’s been tender towards me. His presence is like a poultice on my sore heart.
We swing quietly for a while, our fingers laced together.
“So, the sacred task – you haven’t completed it?”
His voice is gentle and soothing, far from the abrupt way he usually talks about the Goddess.
This catastrophe has brought out the best in him.
“No. I’ve found three amulets, but the one my mother gave me is still missing. Major Zungu might have it. Or it may have been washed down the river in the earthquake. It’s probably buried under a mountain of sand on the beach.”
“Hmmm.” He sits quietly for a while.
“What are you thinking?”
“I got a message today from Boat Bay – the colony has run out of growing medium. We knew it would happen eventually. There’s no more planting taking place. No more food to grow. They’re surviving by eating from the food stores.”
“So the general must let them out. He must send them to the mainland.”
His fingers tighten in mine. “He won’t do that. He’s seen how dangerous things are. We’re on a knife edge.”
“So what’s going to happen to them?” Oh Goddess. The general’s going to force me to grow food for almost two thousand people. With no staff, and no equipment.
But Micah’s answer makes the hair rise on the back of my neck.
“He’s going to kill them. He’s going to kill everyone in the colony.”
“What?” I jump up. “Everyone? Even the mentors? What about Ma Goodson? He can’t do that!” But as I say it, I know that he can and he will, just like he executed the e
ntire Poladion family. “Micah, you’ve got to get in there. We’ve got to rescue them.”
“How?” He raises his hands. “Every soldier on the island will be guarding the entrance.”
“The ventilation shafts. We could climb in through the shafts and rescue them.”
“And get our heads blown off?”
I know he’s right. Anyone climbing up the side of the mountain would be an instant target.
“Maybe your information is wrong,” I say hopefully. “It might be a mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake. Chad told me – he’s part of the team that’s been ordered to seal the shafts. They’ve started already. Then they’ll redeploy the soldiers, lock down the entrance and everyone left inside will suffocate. The bunker will become a huge tomb.”
I pace up and down, my mind racing. There’s got to be another way.
“So … is it true that the sacred book says we’ll all die in two days’ time if you don’t find the amulet?” he asks, out of the blue.
I’m surprised.
He’s always acted like the amulets are fairy stories. Why does he want to talk about them now?
“That’s what it says.”
“So each of the four amulets is linked to one of your ancestors? They each did something remarkable?”
“That’s what Aunty Figgy says. The ones who became ancestors all had the birthmark on their hands and red hair, and they did something bigger than themselves. They were more heroic than everybody else.”
He swings quietly, deep in thought. I pace the meadow, thinking about Ma Goodson, Mrs Pascoe and all the house parents and mentors who gave up their freedom seventeen years ago to care for two thousand children. Now they’re all going to die, and I can’t think of a way to stop it.
“I love you so much,” he says after a while. “Do you know that?”
His love floods over me. “I love you too,” I whisper, tears filling my eyes. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”
“You’re not a mess. You’re definitely the bravest girl I know.”
“Really? Surely I’m not braver than Samantha-Lee?”
“Oh, much braver. You’re extraordinary. I can tell you have goddess blood in you.” He pats the swing. “Come and sit down again.”
A glow of pleasure warms me as I slide onto the seat next to him. “I was just wondering,” he says as we swing gently under the big ficus tree. “I mean, stop me if I’m wrong, but I can’t help thinking … I know what you could do that is bigger than yourself. A sacred task.”
“What, Micah?” I peer into his face, trying to work out why he’s being so tentative. “What sacred task?”
“Assassinate the general.”
I jump off the swing and turn to face him, but he continues speaking.
“That’s the only way to stop the general from killing everyone in the colony. And it needs to be done by someone with incredible courage. Someone unique. Someone … special.”
I grab the rope and stop the swing so that it veers wildly. He slides off, stands up, facing me, eye to eye.
“What I’m saying, babe,” he puts his hands on my shoulders, “is that perhaps you’re the one destined to save two thousand lives.”
I gulp.
“It’s just a thought,” he says gently. “It’s a different interpretation of the sacred task, but maybe it’s Aunty Figgy who can’t see the bigger picture.”
I turn away from him. What am I supposed to do? It’s two days to the solstice and there’s no hope of finding the last amulet. If Aunty Figgy’s right, we’re all going to die. If Micah’s right, the planet will stay the same as always, but I can prevent a genocide and save the two thousand people I grew up with.
“Think about it,” he says. “You’d be following in your father’s footsteps. You’d be a great hero of the resistance.”
“Greater than Samantha-Lee?”
“Far greater. You’d be the greatest hero the resistance has ever known.”
AUNTY FIGGY IS FRANTIC. There’s only one day left. She’s pacing the courtyard clutching the Book of the Goddess, praying relentlessly. As soon as we’ve eaten breakfast, she leads us all down to the forest to search for the lost amulet. Micah isn’t with us. I haven’t seen him this morning, and the door to the old wine cellar where he’s been sleeping is shut firmly. She doesn’t give me a chance to check on him.
“Go, go, go,” she scolds. “We’ve got less than a day to find it. And the less you have to do with that boy, the better.”
“Do you really believe the old book, Ebba?” Fez whispers as we hurry down the forest path after her. “It could just be a story. I mean, there’s no scientific evidence that tomorrow is the end of the world.”
“Of course it’s true,” Alexia interrupts.
But I shrug. “I haven’t a clue. Micah says it’s all rubbish. But I’m not sure I want to take the chance. Anyway, I want the amulet, and with all of us searching, there’s a much better chance of finding it.”
And I need time to think. I wish I could tell Fez about Micah’s plan, But he made me swear not to tell anyone.
All morning we search the well and the river banks. Fez even goes through the culvert and scratches in the sand in the estuary, but we find nothing. Isi comes with me, sniffs around for a bit, and then disappears into the forest.
At lunchtime, Aunty Figgy lets us take a break. We go back to the slave lodge and eat the vegetable stew she cooked earlier in a potjie over the fire. The potjie that Micah found, along with the chipped plates and spoons and mugs he’s brought back from foraging in dead people’s houses. Aunty Figgy isn’t grateful, though. She’s formed a violent hatred towards him. She dishes up only five plates of stew, even though he’s sitting right there with us.
“Aunty Figgy!” I exclaim. “Why are you’re being so rude?” I take Micah’s plate and serve him an extra-large portion.
But when we’ve finished eating, she gets up and gathers all the plates except Micah’s, which he’s holding out to her.
“You lot go and start searching again,” she orders. “I’ll finish cleaning up. Look under the rocks – maybe it’s trapped in the sand at the bottom of the well.”
Fez sighs. He’s already spent over an hour in the freezing water. We set off, but when we reach the driveway, Micah stops.
“Sheesh, Aunty Figgy is behaving strangely. The fire has tipped her over the edge.” He puts his arm around my waist and nuzzles my neck. “I tell you, it’s pointless searching. Come, I want to show you something.”
Alexia frowns and shakes her head, but I ignore her.
I follow Micah to the wine cellar, and he leads me though the narrow passage into the little room where Samantha-Lee stored the guns. The crates are gone, just as he promised. He opens the tin where Samantha-Lee keeps her things, and takes out a hair clip. “Look at this.” He passes it to me.
I shake my head, confused. “I don’t want that. It’s her stuff.”
“Open it,” he says.
I flick open the clasp, and it springs apart to reveal a knife, small but deadly sharp.
“You can wear the clip in your hair,” he says. “Nobody will suspect a thing at the council meeting. I’ve had a message from Chad this morning. They’ll finish sealing the ventilation shafts this evening. They’ll have air for a day, two days at the most. He’s heard that the council meeting is tomorrow.”
Tomorrow. The solstice.
The end of the world, one way or another.
“You want me to stab him, but then what? They’ll kill me, won’t they?”
“We’ll do our best to get you out,” he says smoothly. “You’ll be the biggest hero the world has ever seen. I’m telling you, babe, you’ll make Samantha-Lee look like an amateur. They’ll put up a statue of you, have an Ebba den Eeden day.”
I bite my lip. “I don’t know …”
“Do it for me, Ebba,” he begs, gazing into my eyes. “I’ve loved you since we were children. And when we’ve saved the two thousand and
destroyed the general, we’ll get married and rebuild Greenhaven. We’ll have a perfect life together.” He searches my face. “And … and I’ll never see Samantha-Lee again.”
That means I’ll have won.
CHAPTER 25
Mr Frye’s carriage is waiting. It’s time to leave for the council meeting, and I think I’m going to vomit.
Aunty Figgy’s face is grey as she stands next to the carriage, pleading with me. “Don’t go to the meeting. The general’s very angry. Stay here. We’ll find the amulet if we just keep searching. The Goddess won’t let us down.”
I close my ears. I can’t listen to her.
“I love you,” Alexia whispers as she hugs me. “Come back safely.”
I hesitate – how can I leave them when every instinct is telling me to stay here where it’s safe? But Micah comes up the driveway, kisses me on the cheek and pins the clip into the top of my pony tail. “Remember what we practised,” he says quietly.
“I knew it!” Aunty Figgy shrieks. “He’s up to something. He’s … He’s … You can’t trust him, Ebba, please.”
Alexia’s face is pinched with fear. She says nothing, just gives Micah a look of utter hatred.
“Poor old lady,” Micah murmurs as he helps me into the carriage. “Go on, babe. Be the hero you were born to be.”
So I take my seat, my heart as heavy as the stormy sky. Micah closes the door and the coachman flicks the reins and clicks his tongue at the horses. We go a few metres and then Isi is running alongside the carriage barking, and a tall thin figure is calling out as he sprints out of the orchard. The carriage stops. Lucas gives me a brief nod and swings up onto the seat next to Mr Frye’s coachman.
I look back. Micah has already gone.
I hold onto my necklace, feeling the clasp where the missing amulet should hang. If only I’d found all four amulets, I could have opened the portal so the Goddess could return. But I’ve failed her. I’ve failed everyone.
IN THE LAST twenty-four hours, Micah and I have practised the manoeuvre until I could do it in my sleep.
I silently say the words, over and over, as we canter along the road to the shrine offices. Wait until the meeting is about to start. Then take out the hair clip and hide it in your sleeve. When the general enters the chamber, stand as usual. Wait until he is directly behind you, and then swing around and stab him in the heart.