by J. C. Ahmed
Chapter Ten
“Sometimes you can’t speak truth to power
Because it won’t listen
It doesn’t want change
When it thinks the status quo serves its interests
So you furtively creep around it
Plotting and planning
Conspiring and deceiving”
— Journal entry by Malthus West
The clang of the school bell marked the end of another day of learning and the beginning of the new plan Malthus was preparing to set in motion. Dozens of kids pushed their way out of the sunflower yellow schoolhouse and lingered outside.
“Are we going up the hill?” Jack asked.
“I want to meet Liralexa by myself again if you don't mind,” Malthus said, as he pulled peeling paint off the wood framed wall. Anton and Meryl snickered.
“You’ll do a little smoochie, smoochie with the princess,” Anton laughed.
Malthus’s mouth curled up into a grim smile. He was hatching a gruesome plan, and he didn't want to let his friends in on it. Anton and Meryl were right, he concluded. Liralexa definitely would not agree to become involved in a plot to kill her parents. He and Jack were being naïve to think she would. And he seemed incapable of broaching the topic with her, anyway. He would get her to help though by turning her into an unknowing and unwilling co-conspirator.
“Have fun,” Anton teased.
Malthus threw a bag over his shoulder and shot a smile at him. Meryl covered her mouth and tittered but Jack narrowed his eyes and gazed at his friend until he was out of sight. Malthus took long strides as he pushed through the bustling streets of Vallerton. The sounds of carriage wheels bumping on cobblestones, chattering, children’s laughter and hawkers advertising their wares faded when he reached the edge of the town. His feet pounded the dozens of steps lining the hillside. There was no sign of Liralexa when he reached the well, so he sat with his back to a tree and dozed off in the afternoon sunshine. He felt something tickle his nose and drowsily pushed it away. His eyes blinked open. Liralexa knelt before him with a dandelion in her hand and a smile on her face.
“I had to get your attention somehow.”
“You succeeded,” he responded. “Come here, sit next to me.” He held out his arms to her.
“I shouldn't,” she said, but did anyway. He put his arms around her and held her in a tight embrace.
“There isn't much security on the palace grounds, is there?” he asked. “You can come and go with ease. And meet strange boys in unruly regions.”
Liralexa giggled. “I haven't been to any others. There is plenty of security along the wall which surrounds Palace Hill.”
“But not inside?”
“Guards stand atop the wall and keep watch. They can see inside and out. Guards also stand at the gate. Some roam around the house, but they don't go into the woods very often.”
“They figure they would stop an intruder before they reached the house?”
“Yes, the walls are very high and there isn't much crime in the Golden Region. A few people tried to break in over the years, but they never made it past the wall.”
“Is your house big?”
“The house has three floors but the first floor is underground.”
“What rooms are underground?”
“The kitchen and store rooms are on what I call the dark side of the floor.”
“So, there's a bright side?”
“Yes, the house is on a hillside. The dining room and sitting room are underground, but they have long windows. The view is lovely.”
“That doesn't seem safe for a royal house. Someone could pry open the windows and break in.”
“If they got past the wall which wouldn't be easy. If they did, the hill is steep on that side, so guards would spot them from the wall below.”
“I suppose it's safe then. Where do you sleep?”
“All the bedrooms are on the first floor.”
“Is your parents’ room close to yours? If I come to visit you, would they hear us?”
“Would you?”
“Well, I don't know the incantation to open the portal,” he lied. “But I would love to visit you if I could.”
“Well, their room is next to mine, at the end of the house facing the woods.”
This was the information Malthus was looking for. Liralexa mistook his smile of satisfaction for one of affection. She had been so protected, she was unaware he was fishing for information. As he was mulling how to break into the royal house to kill her parents, she was mulling the prospect of having him in her room for a night of romance.
“I would be too afraid to have you come,” she sighed.
“Is it likely I would be caught?”
“Probably not, if you came on a dark night and kept an eye out for the guards but I wouldn't want to take that chance.”
“I understand. But let's say hypothetically we decided to do it. What would we do?”
“Malthus, are you mad?”
“Let’s pretend.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“I could take you through the portal and you could hide in my tree house. It's nearby.”
“And then?”
“After dark, you would go half a mile toward the east.”
“And do all the bedroom doors have locks?”
“Yes.”
“So, we could turn the key and have privacy,” he said, as he ran his fingers through her hair. Liralexa giggled. It would be forbidden, which is exactly what made it so desirable. “It sounds easy.”
“No, it's mad!” she declared, but she was very tempted to have him over. After he got the information he needed, they moved onto other topics. There was some of what Anton called smoochie, smoochie but all too soon Liralexa had to go. Malthus made his way down the hill with grim determination.
There was a lot to do to prepare for the big day. He counted his money. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to buy a black coat to help him blend in with the night, and tools to pry open windows. The housekeeper tsk-tsked when she saw him sitting outside the scullery, pushing a flat tool through the window frame and pushing up the latch. He wandered around town examining windows and determined how to unlock each one.
Wednesday didn’t turn out the way either Liralexa or Malthus expected. The princess struggled to hide her panic when General Hackett informed the king and queen he would go to the regions a day early to pick up new competitors for the Strages. She had formulated a plan to protect her friends and was going to let them in on it that day. Now it might be too late to save them. She forced an expressionless look and kept it on her face throughout the remainder of the meal. As soon as she could politely leave the table, she ran to the study only to find Aldrin hadn’t yet arrived. With folded arms, and a sulky expression, she paced back and forth. The tutor had barely made it over the threshold when Liralexa launched into her plea for a day off. He acquiesced after much begging.
She set out into the woods and hid among the trees on the hillside overlooking the stable. Minutes then hours ticked by before General Hackett arrived to pick up his horse. When his troops joined him, they headed for the portal. The stealthy spy followed.
Confident in his breaking and entering abilities, Malthus went to his room after school to work on his plan of attack. He wrote and rewrote it until he was satisfied.
“This isn't hard,” he thought, as he scribbled down ideas.
Hope was whispering in his ear again, telling him his plan wasn’t at all harebrained. It was, hope proclaimed, definitely doable. Success had been foretold. The universal powers had chosen him to save his people, and this was his moment. It had to be. Liralexa’s arrival in the Step Region couldn’t have been an accident. It was fate. She was the key to the door which stood between him and his mission. The universal powers would guide and protect him. It never occurred to Malthus that Liralexa may have seriously underestimated the level of protection at the Royal House. It also never occurred to him that the foreseer may have misunderstood the
import of her prophecy.
Brimming with confidence, he continued to develop his plan. The low crime rate in the Golden Region worked to his advantage. No one there was expecting bloody murder, especially not the macabre murder of the king and queen. Who knows? If he's lucky, he'll get away alive. Of course, Liralexa would put two and two together, and direct the palace guards to the killer.
“She's naïve,” he thought, “but she’s smart.”
Would he be taken away in chains and tortured or would she sympathize with his motivations? His friends were sure Liralexa would be irate if presented with a request to help kill her parents but Malthus vacillated. He could tell she was genuinely angry about their cruelty, and she desperately wanted the suffering of the young victims of the Strages to end. But he didn't really know her. Maybe he had created an inaccurate image of her in his mind. Maybe she was as deceptive as a cloud. He had lain awake in bed the previous night wondering if he should slit his wrists after he had ripped up her parents or make an attempt at escape in the hope the new queen would show him mercy.
The next Strages were scheduled for Saturday at noon. Malthus expected the soldiers to arrive on Thursday seeking fresh victims. So, he decided to carry out the terrible deed that night. Breaking into the bedroom of the king and queen would be risky even if they were sleeping. Prying open the window might wake them up. Breaking in at dinner time was the safest course of action. The days were shortening and it would be dark by then. He planned to arrive at the well on palace grounds about an hour before sunset, then hide out in the tree house. At dusk, he’d head for the house. The royals and their guests would be halfway through dinner when he arrived. According to intelligence provided by the unwitting princess, trees and hedges surrounded the house. They would provide some cover while he pried open the window. Once inside, he planned to hide in what Liralexa described as a gigantic closet as big as a room and wait for them to fall asleep.
When he was certain they were in a deep sleep, he would begin his awful deed by slashing the king’s throat. Malthus hadn’t considered whether he could actually do such a thing. He had never hunted, or killed anything larger than an insect. But he hated the king and queen with a burning passion. He was sure he would have no qualms about plunging a sharp object repeatedly through their flesh while blood and gore sprayed over him. Liralexa wouldn't want to be with him anymore even if she did set him free. But they weren’t going to happen, anyway. Meeting up with her at the well was a fun teenage thing that was all. He found her attractive but an actual relationship was out of the question. He hated the people of the Golden Region. He definitely wouldn’t marry one of them.
When she reached the well, Liralexa walked back and forth, counting from one to sixty. After four iterations, she determined it was probably safe to go. She figured the army had to be close to Vallerton already. She uttered the incantation and jumped through the glowing window.
Malthus pushed his chair away from his desk, stretched his legs and began thinking encouraging thoughts.
“You can do this! They have no idea…”
His attempts at psyching himself for the big night were interrupted when he heard the army thundering past the house. He froze in his chair. He had never considered the possibility the soldiers would arrive a day early. Panic surged through his body. He wanted to run, but he was stuck. There was no choice but to sit and wait for the inevitable tugging sensation everyone between sixteen and eighteen felt during the taking time. Unable to resist the invisible force pulling on his body, he was drawn into the green. Malthus knew it was over for him. He bowed his head and waited for the awfulness to commence. His father shuffled to the green. Malthus stood by his side, his head hanging low. Time slowed down as he waited for the horrible and inescapable taking to begin.
At the exact moment Malthus concluded his planning, Liralexa jumped out of the portal to find only Jack, Anton and Meryl waiting for her. She turned in circles, her frantic eyes searching the surrounding area.
“Where are Malthus and Aimee?” she asked, with a hint of fear in her voice.
“Malthus said he had something to do and wouldn't be able to come today,” Anton said.
“My sister is still sick,” Jack said. “She wanted to stay home and rest.”
The tone of Liralexa’s voice shifted from nervousness to full-blown panic. “Oh, No! The army has come through.”
“A day early!” Meryl exclaimed.
Jack ran to the hillside and looked toward Vallerton with an expression of numbed horror. From that great height, the town appeared a peaceful and pleasant place. But the reality on the ground was quite the opposite. The ashen faced kids tensed up awaiting the spell which would pull them into town.
“I must hide you,” Liralexa said.
“You can’t,” Jack said, with ragged breaths. “They’ll use magic to bring everyone our age into town, even if they’re miles away.”
“I'll take you through the portal and hide you in my tree house.”
She scanned the trees hoping against hope Malthus and Aimee would make an appearance. Her stomach dropped at the prospect of leaving without two of her friends. She opened the portal and beckoned to them. They stood glassy eyed and frozen.
“You must come now!”
Liralexa grabbed Jack by the shoulders and shook him as hard as she could.
“Jack! Jack!”
He blinked.
“You have to get inside the portal! Please!”
He was able to shake off the magic induced stupor long enough to pull Meryl and Anton into the portal. A fog lifted from their minds, and they gazed in wonderment at the mesmerizing lights and colors. Liralexa was too upset to notice. She had hoped to bring all five of her friends to safety.
“Come this way.”
Liralexa beckoned to them when they jumped from the portal. Her voice took on an urgent edge as she ushered them toward her tree house.
“We need to make sure no one is around.”
They crept through the woods until they reached a tree with a rope ladder.
“This is my tree house. Climb up here.”
They scrambled up the ladder and sat on the floor.
“Are we safe up here?” Meryl asked.
“Yes, no one comes up here but me. How long does the army stay?”
“More than half an hour,” Jack mumbled, choking back tears.
“I have to find out when the army has returned. They’ll go through a different portal, so I have to wait until they come back to the palace grounds. I'll get food for you first.”
“West!” Hackett said. “I told you your son was next, and that hasn't been enough to motivate you.”
Two soldiers approached Malthus, bound his wrists with rope, and tied him to the back of a wagon. Another rope was placed around his waist. Governor West wanted to beg for his son’s life but there was no point. Cruelty coursed through the veins of the king and queen. There would be no changing their minds. Tears blurred his vision as he stood and stared at the soldiers preparing to take away his only child. A blindfold was placed over Malthus’s eyes and the world faded to black. The final image he had of his father was that of a sorrowful and broken man who had lost everything. Despite his own horrible situation, he was heartsick when he heard the call for the next victim.
“There’s Mayor Kelker’s girl. Take her,” Hackett called.
“Not my Aimee!” the mayor screamed. His frantic wife ran to the general and fell to her knees.
“Please don't take my baby,” she implored.
“I have to take extreme measures, ma'am. It’s time to send a message to the leaders of the subject regions.”
The sound of Aimee’s sobs as she was tied to him caused Malthus to break down in tears. They had been friends for as long as he could remember and it killed him that he couldn’t protect her. As terrible as things were for the boys, it was nothing compared to what the girls were about to go through. His blood went cold thinking about it. The sickening process of ready
ing the chosen twelve went on for almost half an hour. Before they were led away, their foreheads were marked with a line of red paint to distinguish them from those taken from other regions. After the twelve were hitched together, they were pulled bound and blindfolded through the town. Hundreds of angry and appalled townspeople jeered and hurled invectives at the troops taking more of their precious children away. The pressure Matt Regus placed on his pants pockets threatened to bore a hole right through them.
“Blood will be spilled to avenge Aimee and Malthus,” he muttered to a compatriot who replied with a grim nod.
General Hackett always took a long way round to hide the location of the portal. When their exhausted young prisoners faltered, soldiers walking alongside slapped them on the back of the head. Unable to see where they were stepping, they often tripped. The second time she fell, Aimee cut her knee. She was used to her mother and housekeeper fussing over her when she got hurt. But now no one cared as blood trickled down her bare calf and seeped into her shoe.
When they stopped, they knew they had reached the portal. Knowing they were about to leave their home region and were unlikely to return caused several prisoners to break down in heaving sobs. Before long, they felt a floating sensation as they moved through the portal. The group emerged inside a large warehouse-like structure, which housed both of Golden City’s portals. General Hackett handed control of the prisoners to a new set of guards before departing to pick up the next group of victims.
Liralexa raced to the house and tore through the front door so fast she almost bowled over the doorman. Her mother came to greet her.
“I want to go out for a while longer mother but I need food to take with me,” she blurted out before her mother could speak.
“Of course, dear.” Stella took her daughter to the kitchen.
“Pack up food for the princess, boy.”
The kitchen boy nodded his head. Liralexa watched as he packed food into a cloth bag.
“More bread, please.” The servant boy cut more bread and wrapped it in paper. “More cheese, if you don’t mind. And plenty of chicken.” When he was done, he handed the bulging bag of food to her, without considering why she wanted so much. He didn’t like the royals and didn’t care what they got up to. Liralexa swung the bag over her shoulder, grabbed a bottle of juice and made a beeline for the tree house.