“Why didn’t you leave?” he asked.
“No place else to go.” She shrugged. “Besides, rats never run out and people are always hungry. It’s a living, you know?”
David nodded.
“STACEY!” a voice roared.
“That hasn’t changed,” David said.
“No, but you have. You’re nowhere near as green as you were.”
“STACEY!”
“I’d better go. Nice meeting you,” she said to Sorrel.
“You too,” Sorrel replied.
The waitress turned to leave.
“Stacey?” David said.
“Yes?”
“Take care of yourself.”
“Always plenty of rats, right?” She grinned before disappearing into the throng.
“What was all that about?” Sorrel asked.
“She’s the reason – or at least one of the reasons – I had to come back to Dinawl. She was kind to me and I wanted to check that she was okay. They’re not all bad people here. They don’t deserve to die – I had to warn them. Fat lot of good it’s done – look at them, drinking ale and stuffing grilled rat down their gullets like there’s no tomorrow.”
“Maybe that’s why they’re enjoying themselves – because there might not be a tomorrow.”
They found Kala, Cyrus and the others at the back of a crowd watching a puppet show, Olaf and Ivan with them, clinging together in a sea of mad frivolity.
The crowd cheered as a puppet dressed in Dinawl garb beat up another done up to look like a Monitor. Though the puppet show was only mildly amusing, the audience laughed long and hard, their mouths wide open as though each was in competition with their neighbour over who got the joke the fastest and who found it funniest.
A cloud of dense aromas hung in the air above the people. It stank of grilled rats and crispy fried ants, and of bodies unwashed and grimy.
Flickering torchlight emphasised the hollows of the laughing faces and caught the gleam of grease on their chins. They desperately needed to believe in the scenario playing out in front of them, but when Sorrel looked around, she saw not a joyful gathering, but a mass of skulls with empty eye sockets and loose, discoloured teeth.
The Dinawl puppet hit the Monitor puppet again and again, driving it down into the ground. The crowd roared in appreciation, but Sorrel thought of the men she had seen in the forest, how strong and powerful they’d been, and of the great army she had glimpsed from the towering wych elm.
The crowd’s unknowing laughter rattled around the market place, clattering into dark corners and trundling along the streets before finally coming to rest in the gutters of Dinawl.
12.
Peace
The festivities were set to continue through the night, but Sorrel and David had seen enough. They left the marketplace in subdued fashion, walking closely but each lost in their own thoughts.
They were almost at the Palace before David broke the silence. “Talking to Stacey at The Three Rats made me think about the people I haven’t seen since I got back here.”
“Like who?” Sorrel hadn’t missed anyone from Dinawl.
“Like Yolanda for one. Willow for another. They used to be around Niven all the time, but I haven’t seen them once.”
“Do you want to?”
“Not really, but don’t you think it’s a bit odd that they haven’t been around?”
“This whole place is odd. I’ve been thinking too – you came here to warn them about the Monitors, and Einstein and I came here to find you and Eli. We’ve both done what we came here to do, so let’s leave.”
“Where will we go?”
“We’ll find somewhere – anywhere that isn’t here.”
David stopped walking and turned to her. “When we were apart, I dreamt about us finding a place we could call home. I didn’t know if I’d see you again, but thinking about it kept me going. Now that we’re together again, I think we really could do it.”
“A new beginning,” Sorrel said. “Tell me about it.”
“I’m not sure where it is yet, but we’ll find a place. A good place. We’ll build a log cabin. Not like the little huts we had in Amat. Ours will have a big fireplace, and it will be warm and comfortable, with room enough for us all: you, me, Eli, Valen – and Einstein.”
Sorrel searched David’s face for a hint of resentment and was relieved to find none. “You really have accepted him, haven’t you?”
“I was wrong about Einstein, Sorrel. I’ve been wrong about a lot of things.” He glanced around.
Revellers were still heading to and from the market place, some of them deep in their cups, slurring the words they sang about how Dinawl would stand forever.
“Maybe coming back here was a mistake – we should have left them to it.”
“You don’t mean that. It was the right thing to do. They had to be warned. But let’s not dwell on that – not now.” She kissed him softly on the lips. David put his arms around her and pulled her close.
A young lad barged into them and brought the long, lingering kiss to an abrupt end.
“Watch out!” David called at the lad’s back.
“Get a room!” the lad shouted over his shoulder, without breaking his stride.
Though she’d been startled by the rude interruption, Sorrel laughed. “Come on, let’s get back and on the way you can tell me more about our log cabin. For instance, will there be a spot by the fire for Tailwagger?”
“Absolutely.” David smiled.
Sorrel was still tingling from their embrace, and David’s smile was so warm and full of hope that anything seemed possible.
The warm glow of optimism lasted until they got inside the Palace. Sorrel knew something was wrong even before she heard Eli crying.
She opened the door in time to see Einstein’s fist smashing into Brig’s jaw.
“What are you doing?” Sorrel shouted at them, but they paid no heed.
Brig staggered into the table, before recovering and swiping back at Einstein. Einstein oofed as Brig punched him in the gut.
Eli was sitting on the floor, sobbing, Tailwagger beside him, warily watching. Sorrel ran to Eli and swept him into her arms. He clung onto her, tears streaming down his face. Sorrel stroked the back of his head to soothe him, whispering that it would be okay, it would all be okay.
Holding him, breathing him in, being with him, made her think that perhaps it would all be okay. It had to be. They would find a place, they would make it happen. That’s if Einstein and Brig didn’t kill each other first.
“I – did – not – betray – you.”
Einstein grunted the words. He’d managed to get Brig into a head-lock.
“Break it up.” David tried to prise them apart.
“You stole my coin.” Brig spat the words out between gritted teeth.
They both ignored David and continued to grunt and snarl at each other as they grappled.
“I did not take your coin!”
“You told Clovis where it was – you were in cahoots.”
“No – we were not. I did not know that he took it.”
“You helped him escape,” Brig snarled.
“You were going to kill him.”
“He deserved it.”
Brig suddenly broke free. David jumped in between the two before they could launch at each other again.
“Back down – both of you.”
“Out of the way, squirt,” Brig growled.
For a moment, Sorrel thought Brig was going to swat David out of the way like a switch fly, but David stood his ground.
“Brig – you’re frightening Eli,” Sorrel said, keeping her voice calm and steady so as not to upset her brother further.
Brig had been utterly caught up in his fight with Einstein, but Sorrel’s tone caught his attention. His face fell when he saw Eli in her arms.
“Give him to me.”
Sorrel shook her head. “He’s fine where he is.”
Brig put his hands out to
Eli, but the child turned his face away and leaned his head against Sorrel’s shoulder.
“Einstein, what’s going on – why are you fighting?” Sorrel asked, though secretly she was pleased it had happened. If this is what it took for Eli to come back to her, then so be it.
“It is quite simple. I wanted to know why Brig betrayed me – why he sold me to the Free.”
“It was you who betrayed me,” Brig snapped. “And I sold you because I couldn’t bring myself to kill you. More fool me.”
“What’s Clovis got to do with this?” David asked.
Einstein gave Brig a sideways look before answering.
“Clovis was in Brig’s crew back then. We were friends. He told me he wanted to make something of himself. He wanted to prove himself to his brother. But being a mutant made it impossible. I told him it was not impossible, that Brig – who took me in when I was orphaned, and who I looked up to – had amassed a great deal of coin.
“Clovis said he would have to see it before he believed me. I was naïve. I thought we were brothers. And so I showed him where Brig kept his wealth. Until now, I did not know that Clovis returned later and took it for himself.”
“Are you speaking the truth?” Brig asked.
“I have no need to lie.”
“I don’t understand,” Sorrel said. “Why didn’t you just tell Brig what had happened?”
“He gave me no opportunity. All I knew was that he was going to hang Clovis. I did not know about the coin.”
“I caught him with it,” Brig said. “Only two people knew where I kept it, you and me – and I knew I hadn’t told him.”
“Finally, the picture becomes clear,” Einstein said. “Brig reacted swiftly and violently. I saw the reaction, not the cause. Clovis pleaded with me to help him. He said that Brig was insane, that he did not know what he had done to offend him. I had no reason to doubt him and every reason to believe him. I had seen plenty of evidence of Brig’s wrath, though thus far none of it had been directed at me, and so I cut Clovis free.
“Clovis told me he would repay me one day. And he did, here in Dinawl when he helped us to escape from the Free. I did not know then that Clovis was the reason I was with the Free in the first place.”
“And he ended up hanged anyway,” David said, “because of me.”
“Perhaps the noose was his destiny all along,” Sorrel said, wondering, even as she spoke the words, what the future held for them.
“It broke my heart that you betrayed me,” Brig said to Einstein, “not once, but twice over. First when you told Clovis about my coin, second when you released him. I couldn’t bring myself to kill you, but I had to keep my reputation intact. There had to be retribution, and so I sold you.”
“I woke up with a hood over my head and my wrists in shackles, and no idea why.”
“Now you know.”
“Now I know.”
“Have we missed much?”
Cyrus came into the room with Kala and the others. Lizbit immediately gravitated towards David.
“We were just sharing a few memories,” said Brig.
“About the good old days,” Einstein said.
Cyrus stared at them looking po-faced at each other. The fight had drained out of them. Even their burly shoulders had drooped, giving them a strangely deflated look.
“Lots of laughs in the good old days, huh?” Cyrus looked at Sorrel with a what’s going on here expression.
She shook her head. Leave it be. Now that they had stopped trying to kill each other, it was time to change the subject.
“What did you think of the distraction?” Sorrel asked.
“Those people out there, they think it’s a game,” Kala said.
“No, they know it is not,” Einstein said. “That is why they behave the way they do now. Niven is clever. He has given them the great trench to dig together and he has given them this distraction as a reward for their hard work. The people of Dinawl are probably more united now than they have ever been and have finally accepted Niven as their leader.”
“Then the people of Dinawl are even more stupid than I gave them credit for,” Brig said. “I don’t know why I agreed to come back to this place. I’ve had enough.”
He looked at Eli, still nestling in Sorrel’s arms. Though her arms were feeling her brother’s weight, Sorrel hugged him closer.
“We had the same idea,” David said. “We’ve done what we came here to do. It’s time to get out. Einstein?”
Einstein stared at Brig for a moment before replying. “I have no good memories here. I will leave without looking back.” He went to the fire and stoked up the embers. When he’d done with that, he picked up the slate Eli had been drawing on. “Sorrel – have you seen this?”
He held it out to show her. Sorrel gasped. Eli had drawn the same pattern over and over: three connecting circles.
“He does remember me.”
Brig frowned. “I’ve seen similar patterns on doors and walls in the city – what of it?”
“Show him,” Einstein said to Sorrel.
She asked David to hold Eli for her.
“Let me take him,” Brig said.
Sorrel immediately tightened her hold on Eli. It had taken a long time to get her brother back from Brig and she was not going to surrender him now.
“I have looked after him all this time,” Brig said. “You know I’m not going to harm him.”
Sorrel hesitated. Brig spoke the truth, he had not harmed Eli. If anything, her brother had thrived in his care.
“You don’t have to,” David said.
“It’s okay. We need to do what’s best for Eli and he has been with Brig for a long time.”
But when Brig put his arms out for Eli, the child closed his eyes and buried his face in Sorrel’s shoulder.
After all the long days and nights of searching for her brother, Sorrel would have expected to feel triumphant at Eli’s rejection of his abductor, but Brig’s pain was so raw he could not disguise it. Sorrel recognised the hurt in his eyes and was surprised to find herself feeling sorry for him.
Though Brig had brought so much pain into her life, she wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that they were all the same under the skin, that there had to be a way of working together. But her thoughts were all tangled up with her raw emotions and she could not find the words to express them.
Eli did not complain when David took him from Sorrel’s arms. When she saw that he was settled, she pulled back her sleeve to reveal her birthmark.
Brig stared at it then looked at the slate.
“A coincidence,” he said. “He no doubt saw the drawings on the wall – as I did – and copied them.”
“Eli was not copying those faded markings,” Einstein said. “This is what he was drawing, and you know it.” He pointed to Sorrel’s wrist. “Besides, Brig, those drawings on the wall – they are also Sorrel’s mark. Niven used her as a focus for his rebellion. The mark became their symbol. That is why it is on the walls of the city.”
“Eli remembers me, Brig,” Sorrel said. “You can’t deny it.”
“He’s not the only one.” David nudged her.
She looked to see Valen walking slowly towards her. He stopped in front of her, took hold of her wrist and cupped it gently in his palms. His hands were a coarse patchwork of callouses, scars and grazes but though his skin was cool to the touch, this sudden and unexpected physical contact with her father warmed Sorrel’s heart.
After several moments of studying the birthmark, he raised his head and looked at her. Looking at his face was like staring at the sky on an overcast day, searching for chinks in the clouds where the sun might shine through.
“Dad, do you remember me?”
A tremor ran through Valen’s face and his thin, pale lips twitched before uttering a solitary word. “Sorrel.”
As her name rumbled from his mouth, the clouds parted and in that moment, the sun shone on father and daughter.
The moment was short-liv
ed, for this single word was all Valen had to give. He let go of Sorrel’s hand and went to his usual spot in the corner. He sat down and leaned against the wall. Speaking had exhausted him.
“He knows me,” she whispered.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard his voice,” Cyrus said.
“It won’t be the last,” David said.
“You were right,” Cyrus replied, “he’s still in there.”
“Maybe he’s better off staying there,” Brig said.
“What do you mean by that?” Sorrel asked.
Brig had sat down by the fire and was staring moodily into the flames.
“Nothing can reach him where he is. He’s safe there in the dark, yet you want to draw him to the surface where all is pain and loss and suffering. Leave the man be, is what I say.”
“Brig, I know you’re hurting,” Sorrel said. “We have all suffered, every one of us.”
“Some of us at your hands, Brig.” David said.
“Keep living in the past, boy, and it will swallow you whole.” Brig turned around and looked at them. “Know this, I have done everything I am accused of and more. I’ve been called a monster, and perhaps I am, but everything I’ve done, I have done to survive. More than that – I’ve tried to find something better. Tell me, who in this room is innocent? With the exception of Eli, is there a single one of you here who has never caused pain, or taken a life?”
Brig surveyed them with his piercing blue eyes as each weighed up their own guilt, but no-one uttered a word. Brig continued his tirade.
“I’ve listened to the stories of this great battle you had with the Sawneys. Is what you did to them any different to what I did to your people, David?”
“They were going to eat me,” David said.
“They were doing what we are all trying to do – survive,” Brig said. “The Sawneys ate people. In Dinawl, they dine on rat.”
“You can’t compare the two,” David said. “Eating people and eating rats isn’t the same thing.”
As Sorrel listened to their words, she began to find a thread through the tangle of her thoughts.
“What you and your gang did to us was terrible, Brig,” she said. “You slaughtered our friends and family and destroyed our homes, our way of life.
The New Day Page 13