by TE Olivant
“Why was it so easy to get inside,” I interrupted. “You’d think there would be some kind of security or something.”
“That’s just it. It felt like the door was meant to be opened and shut from both directions. Like we were meant to go out to the White as easily as we went to the canteen or the exercise room.”
“We don’t have a lot of time, Sam,” Kyrk said, and I stopped myself from asking more questions. Some mysteries would have to wait.
“So I got Felkyo to stay back, a hundred paces away, hidden behind a snow drift. She’s good at hiding.”
He smiled at the Seeker girl and I felt my stomach knot a little.
“Anyway, I keyed in the code, and just like that the door opened and I was in. I half expected some sort of alarm to sound, or a guard to grab me immediately. But then I realised that no one would be expecting anyone to come in from the White. It was normally a one-way journey.”
Sam coughed with a hacking, wheezy sound, and I looked up at the face of the Chief. I wanted her to reassure me, but she just stared back with her golden eyes and gave a slight shrug. What will be will be, she seemed to say.
“I don’t have time to tell you everything that happened in the city, but I was very lucky. I managed to hide away from any high graders or members of the Leader’s sect and the first person I bumped into was a friend. I got him to smuggle me in, then I met with some of the low graders...”
“I wish you wouldn’t use that word, Sam” I said, feeling upset and guilty all at once.
“Well, it’s our grade that meant the Physician wanted to kill us, remember? Anyway, I explained the Physician’s plans and they promised to be vigilant. I wanted them to strike down the leader there and then, but they were too afraid.”
“So, I took matters into my own hands. I remembered how you said you saw boxes of guns down in supply, and I was worried that if there was any truth in what the Physician said the Leader would use them against the low grades. I thought I would destroy the weapons.” Sam said. I nodded. It was just like him to do something so brave. But when he met my eyes his expression only showed sadness.
“You don’t understand Lisanne. By the time I got there the weapons were already gone.” I put my hand to my mouth. How could the weapons be gone?
“But you said the low graders were still in the city? So, they hadn’t used the guns on them?” I said slowly, trying to get my head around the new information.
“I think it’s quite plain who they intend to use those weapons on.” I hadn’t heard the Chief come over beside me, but when I turned her face was only inches from mine.
“Tell me, Lisanne, how long have your people intended to come and kill us?”
Her words felt like a slap, but I couldn’t deny they made sense. Sam looked more pained than ever and Kyrk and Felkyo looked at me in horror. An army from my city was coming to kill the outsiders. There was nothing we could do. Yet, something was still missing, and as the noise of the others in the tent around me grew I shut my eyes to try to work out what it was.
“They’re coming! We have to warn the rest of the clans,” someone said. There were other shouts and I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone suggested that Sam and I were taken prisoner, but I had to focus on the truth.
“Wait.” I held up my hand. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“Don’t listen to her, she’s one of them!” A woman cried, her eyes fierce. I felt an urge to slap her but knew that I had to stay calm.
“Sam, how many people were in the City when you were there?”
“The same as usual I think.” He looked confused by my question.
“Then where is the army? You say the weapons have gone, but someone would have needed to take them. There’s no army if all the people were still there.” I was getting there I knew it, but there was still something that didn’t quite make sense. Sam shrugged, but the Seekers just ignored me and went on debating amongst themselves. Until we heard a voice.
“We are the army.” Kyrk’s voice was low but firm. “I found stacks of those gun weapons at the Doctors camp. There’s only one place they could have got them. The underground city has armed them.”
“But it was a group of Diggers that captured Sam, so they must have been in on it.” Felkyo added.
Kyrk nodded.
“Yes, just like someone in the Doctor’s clan knew about the weapons. But this is not an act of war by the Diggers against the Seekers. This is more of a coward’s act of sabotage.”
“A sabotage that has destroyed our home and everything we had.” The Chief replied angrily.
“I still can’t see how the Diggers could have destroyed the entire Peak.” I said, but no one listened.
“How can we trust the strangers, now that we know their people are in league with the Doctors?” Felkyo said, and I didn’t like the way she looked at me.
“Don’t you see? You’re missing the bigger picture.” I had never felt this much frustration in my life. They simply had to listen to me. “My people don’t care whether Diggers or Doctors or Seekers win a war. They must have blown up the Peak somehow. They wanted you to have something to fight about. They intend for you to kill each other off. You think that you’re fighting a war. But all you’re doing is causing your own extinction. My people won’t even have to come and fight you – you’ll already be dead.”
They all looked at me in shock, but I knew it was the only thing that made sense. I had to think. Head swimming, I walked out of the tent.
Chapter 18: Kyrk
It took me nearly an hour to find Lisanne. She sat with her back against a rock, huddled down so deep that I almost walked right past her.
“Lisanne.” I couldn’t think of anything to say, but she looked up anyway. I sat down beside her and we sat in silence for a while. Eventually she spoke.
“I spent my whole life learning about the past. And I thought I was learning about outside. About the world and the people and the stars. But it’s all wrong, all different. Your people are nothing like anything I’ve ever read about, and I keep getting things wrong. History just doesn’t mean anything in the White. I don’t mean anything here.”
I reached out my hand and, after a moment, she placed her palm in mine. I looked up and searched for something to say.
“The stars are the same, no matter what.”
She laughed, harsh and loud and I pulled my hand back as if it had been burned.
“Sorry,” she said, choking back what could have been a laugh or a sob, it was impossible to tell. “But even the stars move Kyrk. Give it long enough and everything changes.”
A noise behind us made us both turn.
“Sam’s remembered something else.” Felkyo said quietly, but her eyes blazed when she looked at Lisanne hand in mine.
When we got back to the cave the boy’s face looked even worse – he was clearly in a huge amount of pain, but I was impressed at how he was coping.
“I almost forgot,” Sam said, his voice low and cracking, “there was something else: I found a map.”
“What do you mean, a map?” I asked, but Sam ignored me, and began to talk excitedly.
“It was you that figured it out Lisanne, remember? You said those numbers might be directions and they were. Well when I was looking for the weapons there was a book of maps just like the one from the archives. Only this one was much more recent.” He reached into his bag and brought out a book.
“Is this from the library? I’ve never seen one as new as this. And what’s with the black cover?” Lisanne cradled the book like a child.
“What’s that?” I asked pointing to a strange image.
“It’s the Vitruvian. It’s kind of the symbol of the city.”
“What does it mean, some monster with four legs?” It was a drawing of a skinny man, bald all over with lots of limbs and a muscular torso.
Lisanne laughed. “No, it’s a diagram drawn by an artist in the old world. He sketched out the ideal proportions of man. We keep it i
n the city to remind us of what we should be striving for. The Vitruvian is one hundred per cent human, so if I’m a ninety...” I didn’t say anything, so she carried on, oblivious to the heat that was spreading through my chest. “Well, the idea is that the higher percentage you are the closer you are to perfection, to the ultimate human. You see, his legs are as long as his arms stretch,” She traced the lines of the limbs with a slender finger, “and there’s all sorts of other things, like the head is a tenth of his height and so on. I guess they put it everywhere to remind us what we should be like.”
I had gone silent.
“What is it?” Lisanne asked when she saw my expression.
I didn’t say anything, just traced the outlines of the man on the page. I touched each limb in turn with my furry clawed hands, and when I spoke, my voice was almost a whisper.
“This is perfection?” I looked up at her and Lisanne’s face turned red.
“It’s just an old idea, Kyrk, it doesn’t mean anything.”
“Right.” I said, turning away from her. “So, what does this map mean, Sam?”
“Look at this page, Kyrk. There’s a Vitruvian symbol in this section, with caves to the West, so I thought that might be a sign for our city.”
I nodded, my annoyance fading as I bent low over the map and tried to work it out.
“The pictures represent the landscape? Then here is the ice lake, and there is the Peak...” He stopped, his finger on the page. Lisanne leant down to look and gave out a gasp. The Peak was clearly shown as a black triangle, but there was something drawn over the top of it in the colour of blood.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It says ‘target’,” Lisanne replied and we all looked at each other with terrible comprehension.
“Damn!” I gave out a roar and both Sam and Lisanne flinched. “They did take out the Peak after all, with or without the Digger’s help.”
Sam and I started arguing about the destruction of the Peak and whether the Diggers could have done it alone. But Lisanne’s eyes hadn’t left the map.
“Kyrk,” she said, and the fear in her voice drew me over, “where’s that?”
She pointed at another point on the map, marked by a tent shape and a big red cross.
I frowned for a moment, my eyes flickering across the different symbols and lines on the page. Then it dawned on me.
“That’s the city. My city! Where my brother and sister are. That’s the next target!”
“We need to get to the city,” Swift said.
The Chief’s tent had become a council of war. Sam was still curled up under furs in the corner with Lisanne next to him looking frightened and lost. The Seekers ignored them.
“You can’t be sure about the map.” I nearly growled in frustration. Lisanne had explained the words on the stranger’s paper to the Chief – but she still stalled. “Besides, we have no way of getting to the city other than the deer. We only have three left for the entire clan. We cannot spare them.” The Chief looked unsure for the first time since I had met her. I almost felt sorry for her, but her indecision could cost the lives of everyone in the city.
“You can spare one,” Swift said, and he walked up to the Chief and took her hand. “Let me go. I’ll go and warn the city.”
“All right,” the Chief said, and she held him close just long enough for the rest of us to start feeling awkward.
“I’d like to go too,” I said when they finally broke apart.
“Me too!” Felkyo added.
Both the Chief and Swift shook their heads.
“I can only afford to lose one deer, and Swift will be much faster alone. Besides, this is not a job for inexperienced youngsters.”
I felt irritated by her words, but not as much as Felkyo who gave an angry cry and ran from the tent. I turned to Swift and tried to swallow my frustration.
“What will you tell them?”
Swift heaved his pack onto his front. “I’ll tell them to evacuate the city. Once I’ve told them about the Peak they will understand how serious it is.”
“Do you think they’ll believe you?”
“They’ll have to,” he said, but I could see doubt etched across his face.
“My brother and sister are there,” I said quietly. Swift met my eyes.
“I know. I’ll get them out of there. I’ll get them all out, I promise.” Like you promised my parents they would be okay, I thought, but I said nothing and left the tent.
I found Felkyo by the three remaining deer, feeding them dried moss from a basket.
“We can’t take them you know, your mother’s right – if there’s another attack on the Peak they’ll need them to get the children safe.”
Felkyo didn’t reply but she did give a small nod.
“Besides,” I said quietly, “Seeker’s deer are not a patch on the breeding strength animals that the Herders keep for themselves. And I happen to know of a herd half a day’s walk from here.”
“Are you suggesting we beg another clan for a favour?” Felkyo turned to look at me, her face unreadable.
“Yes, on our knees if we have to.”
“You have done nothing but bring this clan into disrepute since you got here. If we go behind the Chief’s back... She’ll never forgive you. She’d probably never forgive me” She turned to leave but I grabbed her arm and I thought for a moment that she might hit me.
“More Seeker stubbornness. What’s so bad about asking for help? I am doing what needs to be done. For too long our clans have been working against one another. Don’t you see that without this need to fight one another the enemy’s plans would never have worked? It’s time to make a change. If we don’t change the way we act and the way we think then we might all die.”
Felkyo pulled her arm away from me and rubbed it angrily.
“You are not the Chief. You don’t get to make decisions for the clan.”
Kyrk nodded.
“You’re right. Your mother does that and her decisions are going to get everyone killed.”
The girl narrowed her eyes, and I felt myself take a step backwards. I didn’t fancy a fight with Felkyo: she was just as tall as me, and certainly twice as fierce. I hoped I knew what I was doing.
“All right then,” she said at last. “But I’m doing this for the Seekers, not for you.”
“Of course,” I replied. “We’ll leave for the herds in an hour. There’s just one thing we need to do first.”
“I can’t leave him.” Lisanne’s face was white and furious.
“We need you. We need someone who knows about the enemy. And you know because, well...”
“I am the enemy.”
“Exactly,” said Felkyo.
“You have to go Lisanne.” The voice from beneath the furs hardly sounded like Sam at all. I wondered if there was any chance he might pull through. It didn’t look likely.
“You have to save our people from themselves,” Sam said. “If we wipe out an entire people then we never deserve to come out from our hole in the ground. But if there’s any chance this can be stopped, you have to do it.”
I had never seen Lisanne look quite so wretched.
“Besides,” Felkyo added, “I think my clan will be heading for the city soon enough. Even the Chief admits that we cannot stay here for ever. Sam go with them. And the people in the city might need all our help.”
“But how can I leave you?” Lisanne buried her head into the furs next to him and I could hear quiet sobs. I caught Sam’s eye and he nodded at me. I pulled Felkyo out of the tent and left them together. I knew I could count on Sam. The decision was made, even though I felt uneasy about it.
Three of us walked to the Herder’s base, Felkyo on one side and Lisanne on the other. We were a grim group. Lisanne’s pain at leaving Angel Sam was etched on her face, and Felkyo was more anxious than I had ever seen her and kept looking back at the Seeker’s camp.
When we reached the Herder’s camp I went to seek out Max. I asked the gir
ls to stay behind me which drew a displeased look from each of them until I pointed out we didn’t want anyone looking to closely at Lisanne’s furs.
“Is it true about the Peak?” Max asked as he pulled me into a quick hug.
“Yes, all true.”
“Wow.” I had never seen my friend speechless but he simply shook his head in disbelief.
“I need your help Max.”
“Of course, anything.”
I explained exactly what we needed. Max’s face fell.
“You want hot snow don’t you, old friend? I better take you to the Chief, but I don’t think he’s going to like it much.”
“You can’t have them.”
Manus, the Chief of the Herders, stood firm, one arm resting lightly on his spear. A small, chill breeze stirred the snow at his feet and swirled the thick mane of hair at his neck. Herders were generally more thickly furred than most of us as they spent so much time outdoors with their animals. Max had told me that they called any clan other than themselves ‘cavies’.
I took a deep breath and walked forward, quickly and purposefully, until my face was only inches from the Chief’s. “You have no choice.”
“Are you threatening me, Hunter?”
“I am no Hunter.”
“Oh yes, we all heard about your change of clan. So not only are you weak, you are fickle, Seeker.”
I ignored the jibe.
“I am no Seeker either. I am not here to represent any clan. It seems to me that the clans are tearing themselves apart anyway. I am here as a man. As one of the people. And I need to you to help me protect us all.”
The leader looked at me, and I could see every line on his face, every hair, and still I didn’t back down. But he shook his head.
“Maybe you are not as weak as I thought, it takes strength to say these things. But if the other clans are determined to kill one another, then my duty is still the same as ever. Protect my clan, protect my family. All I hear on the wind is that the Seekers have been attacked and we may be next, so why should I lend you my herd? I cannot help you when I need to look after my own.”
I let my head drop. It was hopeless then, none of the others would go against the chief to help me. But then I felt a movement at my side.