Ada has her pack but in the soft light I see my screen lying on the ground at the base of the tree. I groan and point it out to Ada who immediately lunges for the screen and scoops it up. Whoever is coming sounds close, so I take her arm and pull her back behind the trunk. Mary’s voice has continued in my ear and I attempt to pull out the earpiece but it’s stuck. Ada reaches up and gently pulls it from my ear, then does the same for Rich. She deposits the earpieces and Rich’s screen into her pack and seals it with a soft hiss and click.
Whoever it is, they are in a hurry and coming straight for us. Their footfall sounds unapologetically through the forest, getting louder and louder. Rich is breathing heavily next to me so I place a hand on his arm to calm him. His fists are curled into tight balls, one clenching the handle of a knife. When we look at each other, I can tell something inside him has become unhinged. He looks wild, different.
“Steady brother,” I whisper, as we ready ourselves.
Chapter Fourteen
As we huddle behind the trunk, a hand appears through the green, leafy curtain. Rich raises his arm with the knife and throws it towards the intruder, grunting with the effort. I watch the knife travel through the air as the person materializes in front of us. The knife strikes their shoulder and I hear a cry, but I’m running forward now as I recognize Abigail’s mother.
“No,” I say, kneeling next to her. She smiles thinly at me. “Quick Rich, get a light.” His face looks ashen and he scrambles to light a candle.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Abigail’s mother. “We didn’t realize it was you. I’m so sorry.”
I pull off my jacket and press it to the wound on her shoulder. She is bleeding so I peel back her tunic and touch the skin around the wound gently. Thankfully, it’s not too deep, but I continue to hold my jacket to her shoulder to stem the flow of red.
“I’m lucky you aren’t a great shot,” says Abigail’s mother, smiling briefly at Rich.
Rich crouches down beside us. “I’m sorry, I had no—”
“It’s fine, Rich,” she replies, cutting him off. “It is so good to see you are all okay. And this must be Ada?”
Ada smiles at Abigail’s mother warmly. “Yes, that’s me.”
Abigail’s mother reaches her hand to touch my face and winces from pain. I’m embarrassed and I should apologize on behalf of Rich again, but she has slid away from me and sits facing us. I am apprehensive as I examine her face.
“You need to press this against your shoulder if you won’t let me do it,” I say to her, offering my jacket. She takes it and holds it against the wound.
“We weren’t expecting you,” says Rich, frowning. “Is everything okay?”
“I wanted to come as soon as I received word from Carl. I met him in secret earlier, after the trial.”
“Received word about what?” My chest is tight. “Do you mean about these two escaping? What trial?”
“It’s Delphine, Chris. She was tried and convicted last night after Ada and Rich got out. The elders invoked an extraordinary midnight session and declared her guilty of blasphemous conduct. They said she breached many divine prescriptions.”
“What was her blasphemous conduct?” asks Rich. “Which divine prescriptions has she breached? How could they move so quickly?” He fires off his questions in rapid succession.
“They’re scared, Rich,” she says. Her face is somber in the low light. “They want to stop us. They want Delphine to be quiet. And they want to find Ada before word gets out about her.”
“What have they accused her of?” I ask.
“The first charge relates to her claim that the Great Floods were due to rising sea levels because of polar ice melting,” says Abigail’s mother. “The elders took this as a direct contradiction of The Book which is clear that the Great Floods occurred as a punishment for our ancestors’ excesses.” Her voice sounds oddly empty as she recites Delphine’s crimes.
“The second charge relates to the possession of banned materials.”
“What banned materials?” asks Rich. He seems outraged. I watch them discuss Delphine with growing anger. I clench my fists with rage.
“She apparently had several books from the mainland that were filled with offensive and sacrilegious material. I also understand they classified the tide and meteorological records as heretical and contrary to the furtherance of the common good.”
“How could they classify her records as heretical?” asks Ada. “It’s an observation. That makes no sense.”
“I agree with you, Ada,” replies Abigail’s mother. “The final charge relates to the trip you both took to the mainland.” She looks at me now and her face is overwhelmingly sad. “I don’t need to tell you they strictly forbid any visits to the mainland. They allow no one in the community to leave the island.”
“So, what’s next?” asks Rich.
Abigail’s mother seems reluctant to reply. She pauses for a moment. When she speaks, she watches me carefully. “She’s been sentenced already.”
“What is her sentence?” I ask.
From the look on Abigail’s mother’s face, I know the answer before she speaks the words: “It’s death, Chris.”
“Death?” I hear Ada say. “Are you serious? It’s like the Spanish Inquisition.”
“When?” I ask.
“It could be as early as tonight.”
It’s as though I am no longer inside the willow tree. I’m at the center of the storm but somehow far away. The others are talking in urgent whispers. But I can’t focus on what they are saying and stumble out into the dawning day. The air is cool and fresh and the sky is glowing steadily brighter through the trees. I lean face first against a nearby trunk and rest my forehead on the rough bark.
Rich approaches me. I know it is him. I know the sound of his feet picking their way over the forest floor. I know the sound of him clearing his throat, the sound of his deep sigh. He is my brother. He is part of me.
He stands next to me and places his head close to mine. “We can get her out, we can save her,” he says. He puts his hand on my back.
“Do you really believe that?” I quickly rub my eyes and look at him. “How did we get here, Rich? What has happened to our lives?”
“Of course I believe we can get her out. Look at what we’ve done already. Come back inside where it is safe. They are already tossing around ideas and Abigail will be here soon. Together we will figure this out. You aren’t alone, Chris. You don’t need to do this by yourself any longer.”
“If I had known any of this would lead to her death... There’s no way Rich… There is no way I would have spoken to her at the revel, there is no way I would have agreed to stand up in front of everyone and read out her suspicions, and there is no way I would have forced you to help us escape to the mainland. Maybe the elders are right? Consider everything that has happened after we broke the divine prescriptions and tell me they aren’t right.”
“This has nothing to do with The Book and everything to do with power,” he says. “All the elders want to do is control us. They want to make sure we stay on the island and that we are obedient. They don’t want us to have a single independent thought. Delphine was right, Chris! She was right to do what she did. There is an entire world out there full of promise and potential. What about Ada and what she’s just shown us?”
I listen to Rich’s impassioned speech and some part of me agrees with him. But the only solid thought I can hold on to is that I must save her. I must save Delphine.
“I just need a minute,” I say. Rich nods and leaves me alone in the forest.
I remember dancing with Delphine at the revel, spinning around and around with the room a whir of color all around us. I can almost feel the softness of her hair in my fingers. I can almost feel the touch of her lips on my own. I press my face hard against the tree trunk until the pain is strong enough to push the memory aside.
I will save her. I must. I go back to join the others.
Once I step in
side the willow, the others fall silent. I notice that Ada has hidden her pack. I wonder if Abigail’s mother saw it and whether they have been talking about the station. I contemplate asking them so we don’t have to talk about Delphine for a few moments. Although Abigail’s mother looks terribly sad when she sees me, and I can’t seem to find the words each time I start to ask. She comes to sit by me and we both say nothing. Instead, she waits until I am ready to talk. The space, the quiet, it helps some.
“I don’t want her to die,” I finally say.
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen, Chris,” replies Abigail’s mother. She’s much like my mother and it’s reassuring to have her with us.
“We’ve been talking, Chris, while you were outside,” says Rich. “We will need the others to help us this time. But we will get her out, brother.” Rich is emphatic.
Ada nods, her mouse-brown hair flopping in her eyes, and the three of them look at me earnestly until I also nod my head in agreement.
“It’s almost morning and I must go home soon. If I’m late, it will worry my family, especially considering the current situation,” apologizes Abigail’s mother. “Here, take this,” she says, handing Rich a small package from inside her bag. “I almost forgot. It’s some boiled eggs and apples.”
“When will you come back?” Rich says, taking it from her. “We may not have much time before the execution—” he stops short and looks at me, “—the punishment. We need to move quickly.”
“I will be back as soon as possible and I will speak to the others urgently.”
“Can’t we just break in and get them out?” I ask.
“I don’t think so, Chris. There are ten people guarding the pit now. We wouldn’t be able to get past them. Not without a coordinated effort from our friends.” Abigail’s mother shakes her head sorrowfully.
“I’m sorry,” she continues. “I really need to leave so they don’t see me coming back into the village at this time. Someone is bound to report me if they see me. The last thing we need is the shadow of suspicion to fall on any of us before we can rescue Delphine and Ellie. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take care and please stay safe.” She embraces us and slips quietly back into the forest.
With Abigail’s mother’s departure, the space inside the willow tree is suddenly claustrophobic. I pace, apprehension gnawing at me unrelentingly. I can tell my agitated movements bother Rich but I’m finding it too hard to sit still. The sky is brighter now and as I pass Ada for the fifth time, I realize the true extent of the wounds on her face. It stops me cold.
“They did this to you?” I ask.
“They did, and much worse,” she replies.
I am not sure what to say to her and silence falls over us again.
Finally, Rich says: “The elders are scared that we will find out the truth. They want to get rid of us. That’s why they are doing this to Delphine. The dead can’t challenge them.”
“It’s hard to believe that they could execute a young woman for questioning their quasi-religion,” says Ada, her brow furrowed.
“Quasi-religion?” I ask.
“This strange religious doctrine they’ve invented to keep you all in line.”
“You mean The Book? The divine prescriptions?” asks Rich.
He turns to me by way of explanation: “We’ve talked about this before, Ada and me. Ada says that the elders made up The Book. She says there is no evidence that supports any of the divine prescriptions, including the sacrifice.”
Ada smiles quickly at Rich and I can sense a familiarity and ease between them. “That’s right Rich. Throughout human history, we have appealed to a god or deity to make sense of those questions we cannot hope to know the answer to. The questions of why we are here and who we are, are not new. Even the notion that a flesh sacrifice will somehow appease the Gods is not original. Those with power have often twisted the truth and manipulated their communities in the name of religion to maintain control. The Book is merely another example of this.”
“We don’t need to debate the merits of The Book right now,” I say, with more venom in my voice than intended.
“No need to be angry, Chris,” says Ada evenly. She doesn’t seem offended by my outburst. “But you are correct that we have more pressing issues to hand right now. Obviously Delphine is our main priority. But I’ve also been wondering how safe we are here? Should we find somewhere more protected? Anyone can sneak up on us here, from any direction. Look what happened when Abigail’s mother came to see us. We’ve got no line of defense, nothing to protect us from being found.”
“She has a point, Chris,” says Rich
“If we move, how would Abigail and the others find us? We need to stay here until we’ve spoken to Abigail’s mother again. It would be foolish to move without telling them where we are. We can’t leave a note. Anyone could find it,” I say to them.
We debate moving locations for a while until I convince Rich and Ada our best option is to stay at the willow tree until we hear from the others. Once they have signaled their agreement, I find a space on the ground and stretch out flat on my back.
The sun has now emerged higher above the horizon and the pale light filters through the curtain of branches. Songbirds tweet to one another tunefully and an insect buzzes around my head. Ada runs her hand through the fine, alternating stripes of sunshine and shade. She parts the hanging branches and light floods the interior of the willow tree. She stands in the space she’s created for a moment. She’s looking outside at something.
“I never imagined I would experience the sun on my skin,” she says without turning to us. “You do not understand what it is like for me to feel the earth beneath my feet and to see things like trees growing in the ground, or to feel the wind. Breathing the air here is magnificent. The pit was such agony for me. I had the smallest taste of the natural world and then it was taken from me. You’ve had this all of your life. You’re both so lucky.”
“What was life like on the station?” I ask.
Ada pulls her hand from the branches and the curtain swings back and forth before settling into place. She sits down cross-legged, her hands raking and rolling the dirt by her side. A smile crosses her face.
“It was wonderful,” she says. “Life on the station was great. I have a family up there, a younger brother and sister, a mother and father… The first inhabitants of the station reportedly had a hard time going from gravitational to centrifugal force, but we adapted quickly.”
Rich and I look at her blankly.
“Do you know why I came to Earth?” she asks me.
“I haven’t told him yet,” replies Rich.
“I need to get to a place called Washington, it’s on the mainland. My people need help urgently.”
“Once we help our friend and Mother, I will take you there myself,” replies Rich. “I promise you.”
“So you lived your whole life up there?” I ask, interested despite myself. “What did you do for all of those years?”
“Yes. I was never bored on the station. There was always so much to learn about, so many interesting ways to pass the time.”
“Really?” I ask. “I’m surprised you say that. I would go crazy being trapped in a metal container for so long.”
“But you people on the island live in such a savage state,” says Ada. “You have no idea the things you’ve missed out on. Humans can do so much! You’ve got no medicine, no technology. It’s like the Dark Ages.”
“The Dark Ages?” says Rich. There is an edge of annoyance in his voice. “I don’t understand what that is, but we are not savages. We have medicine. Chris is a healer. He’s already helped you. And we have the things we need to live a good life.”
“I wouldn’t call those tinctures and old wives’ tales medicine,” says Ada. “Any more than I would call being under the control of the elders, sheltered from reality, a good life.”
“Weren’t you just admiring our trees and sunshine?” I ask.
/> She laughs, and it breaks the tension.
“Point well made, Chris.” She pauses and parts the leafy curtain, peering out of the willow. “Is it safe for me to step out into the forest for a few moments?”
“I’ll come with you,” I blurt. “Rich, you stay here and rest. We need your leg to get better as soon as possible.”
Together, Ada and I slip out into the forest. She’s brought her pack and I watch her open it. She takes out one of the silver prisms and holds it high in the sky. I can tell from her reaction it’s not working the way she wants it to.
“Is there somewhere higher we can get to? Somewhere with less tree cover would be great.”
“Not right now, but there is somewhere that might be safe later,” I say. I am picturing the lighthouse. “Is everything okay? Why do you need to be higher?”
“I want to send a message to the station that I am safe, but I am having trouble transmitting here. It’s possible the communicator was damaged during the landing.” Ada takes a seat against a tree and turns the communicator over in her hands. She frowns.
“We shouldn’t stay out here for very much longer,” I say. “As you pointed out earlier, we don’t exactly have the best defenses.”
“I need to send a message. I need to let them know that the others… I need to let them know that I am okay. That I am still pushing on to Washington. They are going to be extremely concerned.”
“Please hurry,” I say.
“Leave me here for a few moments?” she asks. She’s only ten cubits from the willow tree so I nod. I turn before re-entering the willow and see Ada has her pack open. She seems to be fiddling with something inside. I can’t see what she is touching, but she stops quickly when she notices me watching.
“It must be time for breakfast,” says Rich when I re-enter the willow. “What are you whipping up for me this morning? Will it be fried fish and vegetable soup? Or will you make some other station specialty? We savages don’t have the skills to prepare good food.”
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