by Kevin Brooks
I shook my head. He doesnt even know the full story.
Cruke nodded again, then leaned down and kissed Gilder on the top of her head.
Ile be back as soon as I can, he told her. Lock all the doors when Ime gone, and dont let anyone in. And I think its best if you stay up here until I get back. If you need to —
Its all right, she said. Dont worry, wele be fine. She smiled at him. Go on, off you go. And be careful.
Cruke held her gaze for a moment, then turned towards the cage.
Ile be back soon, Juddah, he called out softly. Look after your mother and our friends for me.
A low whine came from the depths of the cage – a sad and gentle sound.
Good boy, Cruke said.
Then he turned round and left.
After Cruke had gone, Gilder went downstairs to lock the front door and the shutters, then she came back up to the attic again, closing all the doors behind her. The smile had left her face the moment Cruke had walked out the door, and when she came over and sat down with us – perching herself tensely on the edge of the chair, her hands clamped together in her lap – she didnt waste any time on small talk or niceties, she just got straight to the point.
Is this really it? she asked us. The final battle with the Dau?
Yes, Chola Se said.
Do you know whats going to happen?
Chola Se looked at me.
We know whats supposed to happen, I told Gilder. But its---well, its complicated. Things might not go as expected.
She nodded. I just need to know as much as possible--- for Juddahs sake. I need to know how much danger hese in. I realize youre both very tired, and Ime sorry, but please---I need to know.
It felt very strange telling Gilder about the battle plan. It was so central to everything – so much a part of all that had happened and was about to happen – that up until then Ide just assumed that I knew it all by heart. But when I began telling Gilder what I knew – or what I thought I knew – I was surprised to find that the details of the plan didnt just roll off my tongue as Ide expected, but instead I had to keep stopping to consciously think about them.
It was, as I said, a very strange feeling, and its only now – as Ime writing about it – that Ive realized it reminds me of a sensation Ive recently begun feeling about Starry. He was everything to me – my father, my teacher, my only friend---and in the past 6 years thered barely been a day when we hadnt seen each other – and yet sometimes, when I think about him now, I cant remember what he looks like.
The battle plan is based on deception, I told Gilder. And the key to the deception, complications aside, is that Deputy Pilgrim has fooled the Dau into thinking hese a traitor.
I hesitated, thinking hard, trying to unravel the tangle of truth and lies in my head.
The Dau are convinced that Pilgrims given them the full details of our battle plan, I continued. They think weare planning to fill an armored truck with TNT, blow a hole in our wall to let it out, then drive the truck across Nomansland and blow their camp to pieces.
That was the truck we saw at the storehouse? Gilder said.
I nodded, closing my eyes for a moment as I tried to concentrate.
So thats what the Dau think weare planning to do, I went on, and what Pilgrims told them is that on the night of the attack hele disable our watchtower guards so that the Dau can bring all their people across Nomansland without being seen, and as soon as the hole has been blasted in the wall, hele detonate the TNT in the truck – killing dozens of our people – and then the Dau can simply stream in through the hole in the wall and finish off whoevers left---
I had to stop and think again then – partly to make sure Ide got it right so far, and partly to remind myself of what came next. And as I was thinking about it, searching my mind for the facts, I kept seeing something else in my head. It was formless, without shape or definition---not even a thing. Just a sense really. A sense of a great drifting darkness, a looming presence---
Jeet? I heard Chola Se say. Are you okay?
I looked at her.
Do you want to stop for a bit? she said. I can tell Gilder the rest —
No, I said. No---its okay. Ime fine. I was just---
I blinked.
The presence in my head crept back to wherever it had come from, and I turned back to Gilder and carried on.
Theres an old tunnel beneath the storehouse, I told her. It goes all the way across to the town wall, and at the end of it – positioned inbetween the Central and East Towers – theres a massive underground cavern.
I stopped again, this time picturing the cavern in my mind---the ancient vastness of it, the towering stone walls, the orange glow of the burning torches, the little caves and ledges cut into the rock walls, all of them crammed with tools and equipment---and the biggest cave, the one filled to the brim with wooden crates---and I remembered Gun Sur opening one of the crates to reveal hundreds of bright orange rectangular bars, each one about 5 inches by 3 inches---
The roof of the cavern has been rigged with TNT, I told Gilder. When the explosives in the wall are set off, and the Dau come pouring in through the gap, theyre going to be crossing directly over the cavern. So when the TNT in the roof is detonated, most of them will either die in the blast or fall down into the cavern. If they survive the fall theyle be trapped, and weare going to have Fighters and armed civilians strategically positioned around the outskirts of town to pick off any stragglers who survive the blast and remain above ground---
I turned to Chola Se.
I think thats about it, isnt it?
She nodded. Thats how its supposed to happen.
But it might not? Gilder said warily.
Pilgrims not just pretending to be a traitor, Chola Se told her. He is a traitor.
Are you sure?
Chola Se glanced at me. Are we sure?
As sure as we can be, I said.
So whats he planning to do? Gilder asked.
We dont know.
And that was it really. We didnt know what Pilgrim was planning to do. That was the truth of it---and the truth of that was that there was nothing more we could say. We didnt know what was going to happen – to us, to the town, to Cruke or Gilder or Juddah---we didnt know what was going to happen to any of us.
We slept for a while then. There was a small bed at the back of the attic – which apparently Juddah sometimes slept in, but mostly he preferred his cage – and Gilder told us that we were welcome to use the bed if we wanted to, but we were both so exhausted that we just closed our eyes and fell asleep in the chairs.
I dont know how long we slept for, but it couldnt have been more than a few hours, maybe 3 at the most. At one point I was woken by something touching my face. I sleepily flicked at it, assuming it was just a fly or a mosquito, but instead of feeling nothing – as I expected I would – I felt my hand brushing against something solid. It felt big too, and strangely familiar, but at the same time unknown. It definitely wasnt a fly. I instinctively jerked away from it, and as I sat up suddenly and opened my eyes, I was just in time to see a blurry figure hopping away from me on all 4s, darting across the attic back into the cage.
Sorry, Jeet, I heard Gilder say quietly. He didnt mean any harm.
I looked over at her. She was slumped in the chair across from me, half asleep herself.
I didnt think hede wake you, she muttered. Sorry.
Its okay, I told her, glancing across at the cage.
I could see Juddah watching me. He was still hiding away, but not so far back in the cage as before. I could see more of him than just his eyes now. I could see his poor disfigured face, barely an inch of it unscarred. I could see his mouth, the lower lip torn and hanging down at one end. I could see enough of his right ear – partly showing through his long black hair – to see that half of it was missing. And in the darkness of the cage I could just make out the blackened flesh of his withered left stump, sticking out at an angle beneath him.
He was still frighte
ned.
I could see that too.
But it wasnt a lonely fear. It was the comforted fear of a child being watched by their mother.
There were 2 small skylights in the attic roof, both of which were unshuttered, and there was another small window in the north-facing wall which was closed up behind padlocked metal shutters. I couldnt see the sun from either of the skylights, but I was fairly sure that it was gone midday when Cruke came back, and I guessed it was some time in the early afternoon. He wasnt the same as he had been when he left. He had the look of a Fighter about him now, a Fighter about to go into battle – grimfaced, controlled, his eyes cold and steady.
Its happening tonight, he said bluntly.
What is? I asked him.
The battle – its tonight. An hour after sundown.
No, I said, shaking my head. Thats not right---its tomorrow night, Sunday. Thats the plan.
The plan must have changed then, Cruke said. Because its definitely tonight. Ive just come from a Council meeting and thats all anyones talking about – why tonight? why such short notice? why didnt Gun Sur tell us earlier? Theyre not happy about it, I can tell you.
Did he tell the whole town whats happening? Chola Se asked.
Not exactly, no. He told them what they needed to know, and then afterwards he called all the Senior Fighters and Councillors to a private meeting with him and Pilgrim and the Captains, and he told us what he hadnt told everyone else. Cruke looked at Gilder. Weare setting a trap for the Dau. Theres a tunnel —
I know, she said. Jeet and Chola Se told me. Ime worried about Juddah and I wanted to know —
Juddahs going to be fine, Cruke said, putting his hand on her shoulder. Weare all going to be fine.
Ide realized by now that Gun Sur had probably always intended to change the day of the battle at the very last minute in order to minimize the risk of the Dau finding out what the real plan was. On the face of it, it was a good move, designed to catch any possible traitors off guard, but the reality was that Gun Sur was guarding against something that had already happened. The Dau already knew what the real plan was – Pilgrim had told them – so changing the day of the battle wasnt going to make the slightest bit of difference.
All right, listen, Cruke said to me and Chola Se. Ive been put in charge of the civilian force thats backing up the Fighters, so Ime going to have to leave again in a couple of hours, and theres a lot to do here before I go. So I havent got long, okay?
We both nodded.
I want you to tell me everything you know about Pilgrim, he went on. I dont care if you can prove it or not. I need to know everything – what you know about him, what you think about him, what youve seen him do and heard him say---I need it all, do you understand? I need to get inside his stinking heart and find out what hese doing, and I need to do it in no time at all. So please, start talking. Tell me everything.
I was hoping that Crukes military experience might give him a different perspective on Pilgrims intentions, but after wede told him everything we could think of, and hede talked it all over with us – asking question after question about every little detail – he was just as perplexed as we were. He agreed that Pilgrim was definitely up to something, and that he was rotten to the core, and cruel and vicious and quite possibly insane, but he also agreed that in terms of what he was actually planning to do, a straightforward betrayal made no sense at all.
The Dau wont let him live if they destroy us, he said. Pilgrim knows that. And he knows hele die at our hands if his treachery fails. So it cant be that simple, can it? He has to be planning something else.
The only other option that Cruke could think of – and this was something that none of us had considered before – was the possibility that Pilgrim was doublecrossing (or triplecrossing) the Dau so that theyd lose the battle in a way that somehow benefitted him.
How do you mean? Chola Se asked.
Power, Cruke told her. He wants to become Marshal.
It seemed at first as if Cruke might have found the answer, but the more we thought about it, the more we realized that it made no more sense than a simple betrayal.
The ends dont justify the means, Cruke concluded. If all hese trying to do is take over from Gun Sur, theres just no need for such an elaborate and multifaceted plan. There are far easier – and much safer – ways of getting rid of Gun Sur than that---
And that was about as far as we got.
The 2 of us carried on thinking about it while Cruke went off to talk with Gilder, but we didnt make any progress. It seemed so impossible to work out what Pilgrim was doing that I even began wondering if we might simply be wrong about him, and that he wasnt actually planning anything treacherous at all but just doing exactly what he claimed to be doing – pretending to be a traitor in order to defeat the Dau.
Maybe he didnt kill Starry, I suggested. And maybe it really was Yael who abducted you —
Yael didnt rape me though, did he?
No.
And Yael didnt have the vial that Starry found either.
No, he didnt.
And if Pilgrims not a traitor, why has he told everyone that we are? And why —?
Yeh, okay, I said. I was only thinking out loud. I know weare not wrong about him. Sorry, it was a stupid thing to say.
She smiled at me. I forgive you.
Thanks.
Just dont do it again, all right?
An hour or so later, Cruke came back over and sat down with us again. He was dressed for war now – heavy boots, equipment belt, a sturdy old leather jerkin – and he was carrying a large and heavy-looking canvas bag. He had a submachine gun slung over his shoulder, 2 automatic pistols and a long knife in his belt, another knife in one of his boots, and when he dropped the bag on one of the chairs, I heard the dull clank and rattle of more weapons.
I want you to promise me something, he said, sitting down beside us. I dont want to leave Gilder and Juddah, but I dont have a choice. Ime a Fighter. I have to fight when Ime told. Its my duty. I realize that might be hard for you to understand, but its just---its how it is.
He went quiet, staring thoughtfully at the floor, then after a while he reached for the canvas bag and began opening it up.
I want you to look after Gilder and Juddah for me while Ime gone, he said, searching around inside the bag. Ile leave you some extra weapons and ammunition – he pulled out an automatic pistol and a 6-shot revolver – and Gilder will show you where we keep our emergency rations. Theres enough food and water to keep the 4 of you going for at least a week, but I doubt if youle need that much.
He put the pistols on a chair, then leaned forward and lowered his voice.
Whatever happens when the fighting starts, its not going to last very long. This is it – the big one. Its all or nothing. And the way its set up, weare either going to win quickly or lose quickly.
He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at Gilder – who was busy searching through a boxful of tools on the other side of the attic – then he turned back to us and reached into the bag again.
Ile watch out for Pilgrim as much as I can, he told us, pulling out several boxes of ammunition and a hand grenade from the bag and placing them on the chair with the 2 pistols, and if I get the chance to take him out Ile do it. I doubt if Ime going to have much time to spare though, so I cant guarantee anything. But you dont have to worry about him. He doesnt know where you are, and whatever hese up to – no matter what it is – its going to need his full attention, which means that as of now youre the last thing hese going to be thinking about.
We didnt look at each other, or say anything, as Cruke carried on talking, but we didnt have to. I could sense the uneasiness in Chola Se, and I knew she could sense it in me. We didnt like what Cruke was asking of us.
So all you need to do, he continued, zipping up the bag, is stay here with Gilder and Juddah until I get back. You dont go anywhere, okay? Just stay right here and wait for me —
What if you dont come back? Chola Se said.
I will.
Yeh, but —
The grenades got an 8-second fuse, he said, gazing down at the weapons on the chair. And both the pistols are fully loaded. He looked up at us. If anyone tries to get in while Ime gone, you shoot them. Understand? It doesnt matter who it is – the Dau, one of our people – if its not me, you shoot them, and you dont stop shooting until theyre dead. Is that clear?
He had the look of a killer about him now – his icy stare unbreakable, his voice a chilling whisper.
Is that clear? he repeated. Yes or no?
Yes, we told him.
Good.
He lowered his eyes again then, and this time he didnt say anything for about 30 seconds. He just sat there, thinking---or maybe not thinking. It was impossible to tell. He seemed to have gone somewhere else.
Eventually he just took a deep breath, let out a heavy sigh, and slowly got to his feet.
I have to go, he said calmly, picking up the bag. He raised his head and looked at us. Wele talk again when I get back.
And with that he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked off towards the door.
He didnt look back as he went, and when I glanced over at Gilder I was surprised to see that she wasnt looking at him either. She seemed to be just getting on with whatever it was she was doing. But as I watched her taking a screwdriver from the box, then slowly putting it back in, then just as slowly taking it back out again, I could see the terrified emptiness in her eyes, and I realized that she wasnt just casually ignoring Cruke, she was simply doing what she had to do to cope with the possibility that she might never see him again.
I looked across at the cage.
Juddah had edged back into the darkness, and all I could see was the watching gleam of troubled eyes.
I heard the attic door shut, and when I turned round Cruke was gone.
We didnt talk about the situation wede found ourselves in at first. I dont know what it was that held us back, but instead of discussing it, we just sat there together, quietly checking our weapons. As well as our own – my knife and sling and the Beretta Ide taken from Sweet, plus Chola Ses shotgun and a handful of shells – we now had another 2 pistols, 3 boxes of ammunition, a box of shotgun shells, and a hand grenade. The automatic pistol was a 9mm Glock with 17 rounds, the revolver was a Smith & Wesson 629.