Monsters of Men

“COME ON, GIRL!”

“TODD!” shouts the Mayor–

But I ain’t leaving Angharrad–

“I AIN’T LEAVING HER!” I shout back at him–

Dammit, I ain’t–

I left Manchee–

I left him behind–

And I ain’t doing it again–

“TODD!”

And I look back–

And he’s away from me, peeling back to the city–

With the rest of the men–

And me and Angharrad are being left alone in the emptying camp–

{VIOLA}

“We are not firing a missile,” Bradley says, his Noise roaring. “That decision has already been made.”

“You have missiles?” Lee says. “Why the hell aren’t you using them?”

“Because we want to make peace with this species!” Bradley shouts. “If we fire, the consequences would be disastrous!”

“They’re disastrous right now,” Mistress Coyle says.

“Disastrous to an army you wanted us to fight,” Bradley says. “Disastrous for the army that brought on the attack!”

“Bradley–” Simone says.

He spins round to her, his Noise filled with incredibly rude words. “We have nearly 5000 people that are our responsibility. You really want them to wake up to find we’ve thrown them into an unwinnable war?”

“You’re already in the war!” Lee says.

“No, we’re not!” Bradley says even louder. “And because we’re not, we might just be able to get the rest of you out of it!”

“All you have to do is show them they’ve got more than just cannons to worry about,” Mistress Coyle says, strangely, to me, rather than Bradley or Simone. “We negotiated peace with them the first time, my girl, because we were in a position of strength. That’s how wars work, that’s how truces work. We show them we’ve got more power than they imagine and they’re more willing to make peace.”

“And then they come back in five years’ time when they’ve gotten stronger and kill every human here,” Bradley says.

“Five years’ time where we can build bridges with them and make sure a new war isn’t necessary,” Mistress Coyle says back.

“Which you obviously did a fantastic job of last time!”

“What are you waiting for? Fire the missile!” Ivan calls from the crowd and more voices join around him, too.

“Todd,” I whisper to myself and I look back at the projection–

The burning fires are flying back to the falls again, being caught and reloaded–

And then I see him–

“He’s alone!” I yell. “They’re leaving him behind!”

The army is fleeing down the road to the city, pushing against each other in crowds past Todd and into the first trees–

“He’s trying to save his horse!” Lee says.

I click on the comm again and again. “Dammit, Todd! Answer me!”

“My girl!” Mistress Coyle snaps to get my attention. “We are here at the crucial moment again. You and your friends are getting a second chance to make your decision.”

Bradley’s Noise makes an angry sound and he turns to Simone for help, but Simone’s eyes just flick to the crowd around us, the crowd demanding that we fire. “I don’t see how we have any choice,” she says. “If we do nothing, those people will die.”

“And if we do something, those people will also die,” Bradley says, his surprise flashing everywhere. “And so will we and so will everyone arriving on the ships. This is not our fight!”

“It will be one day,” Simone says. “We’d be demonstrating strength. That might make them willing to negotiate with us now.”

“Simone!” Bradley says and his Noise says something really rude. “The convoy wants us to pursue peaceful–”

“The convoy aren’t seeing what we’re seeing,” Simone says.

“They’re firing again!” I say–

Another arc of spinning fire is launching from the ledge under the falls–

And I think to myself, What would Todd want?

He’d want me safe, first of everything–

Todd would want a world that was safe for me–

He would, I know he would–

Even if he wasn’t in it–

But he’s still down there in the middle of the battle–

Still down there alone with the fire coming at him–

And the fact I can’t get out of my head, peace or not, is what I also know to be true–

True but not right–

True but so dangerous–

Which is that if they kill him–

If they hurt him–

Then there won’t be enough weapons on this ship for all the Spackle who’ll have to pay.

I look over to Simone, who reads my face easily.

“I’m getting a missile ready,” she says.

[TODD]

“Come on, girl, please,” I say–

There’s bodies around us everywhere, burning in heaps, some of ’em still screaming–

“Come on!” I shout–

But she’s resisting me, flinging her head this way and that, pulling away from the fire and smoke, from the bodies, from the few soldiers still running past us–

And then she falls–

Back and down, onto her side–

Dragging me to the ground with her–

I land near her head–

“Angharrad,” I call, right into her ears. “PLEASE, get up!”

And there’s a twist to her neck–

A twist to her ears–

And her eye spins to me–

Spins right at me for the first time–

And–

Boy colt?

Quivery and small–

Tiny and quiet and frightened as anything–

But it’s there–

“I’m right here, girl!”

Boy colt?

And my heart’s leaping with hope–

“Come on, girl! Get up, get up, get up, get up–”

And I’m leaning back on my knees, pulling on the reins–

“Please please please please please–”

And she’s lifting her head–

And her eyes go back to the falls–

Boy colt! she shouts–

And I look back–

Another arc of spinning fires is coming right at us–

“Come on!”

She rocks up to her feet, unsteady on the ground, stumbling away from a burning body near us–