Monsters of Men

“Mistress Coyle’s old house of healing,” I say. “That’s what Viola said. Mistress Coyle and the people from the scout ship will meet you there at dawn.”

“Not exactly neutral, is it?” the Mayor says. “Clever, though.”

He looks thoughtful for a second, glancing back down to the reports on his lap from Mr Tate and Mr O’Hare about how bad things are.

They’re pretty bad.

The square is a wreck. Half the tents were washed away by the water from the tank. Fortunately, mine was far enough back and Angharrad was safe, too, but the rest is a soggy mess. One wall of the foodstore collapsed cuz of the water, and the Mayor’s got men over there now, picking thru the leavings, seeing just how soon the end’s gonna come.

“They’ve really done a number on us, Todd,” the Mayor says, frowning at the papers. “With one action, they’ve cut our water stores by ninety-five percent. At the most reduced rations, that’s just four days, with almost six weeks to go until the ships arrive.”

“What about food?”

“We’ve had a bit of luck there,” he says, holding out a report to me. “See for yourself.”

I stare at the papers in his hand. I can see the squiggles of Mr Tate and Mr O’Hare’s handwriting skittering in blips and blobs across the page like the black micro-rats we used to get in the barn back at the farm, twisting and turning so fast when you lifted up a board it was hard to see a single one of ’em. I look at the pages and I wonder how the hell anyone can read anything when letters look like such different things in different places and are somehow still the same thing–

“I’m sorry, Todd,” the Mayor says, lowering the papers. “I forgot.”

I turn back to Angharrad, not believing the Mayor forgets nothing.

“You know,” he says, and his voice ain’t unkind. “I could teach you how to read.”

And there are the words, the words that make me burn even hotter, with embarrassment and shame and an anger that makes me wanna tear someone’s head right off–

“It may be easier than you think,” he says. “I’ve been working on ways to use Noise to learn and–

“What, in return for saving yer life?” I say, loud. “Don’t like being in my debt, is that it?”

“I think we may be even on that score, Todd. Besides, it’s nothing to be ashamed of–”

“Just shut up, okay?”

He looks at me for a long moment. “Okay,” he finally says, gently. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Tell Viola I’ll meet them as they wish.” He stands. “And furthermore, that I’ll come accompanied only by yourself.”

{VIOLA}

“That sounds suspicious,” I say into the comm.

“I know,” Todd says. “I thought he’d try to argue, but he agreed to everything.”

“Mistress Coyle said all along he’d come to her. I guess she was right.”

“Why don’t I feel too great that she is?”

I laugh a little, which sets me coughing.

“You okay?” Todd asks.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say quickly. “It’s Lee I’m worried about.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Stable but still bad. Mistress Lawson only brings him out of sedation to feed him.”

“Jeez,” Todd says. “Tell him I said hey.” I see him look over to his right. “Yeah, just a damn minute!” He looks back at me. “I gotta go. The Mayor wants to talk about tomorrow.”

“I’m sure Mistress Coyle will, too,” I say. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

He smiles shyly. “It’ll be good to see you. In person, I mean. It’s been too long. Way too long.”

I say goodbye and we click off.

Lee’s in the bed next to me, sound asleep. Mistress Lawson sits in the corner, checking his condition on the ship’s monitors every five minutes. She’s also checking on me, trying out Mistress Coyle’s timed treatments for the infection in my arm, which now seems to be moving into my lungs.

Fatal, Mistress Coyle said the infection was.

Fatal.

If she was telling the truth, if she wasn’t exaggerating to force me to help her.

And that’s why I think I haven’t told Todd how sick I am. Because if he got upset about it, which he would, I’d have to start thinking it might all be true–

Mistress Coyle comes in. “How are you feeling, my girl?”

“Better,” I lie.

She nods and moves over to check on Lee. “Have you heard back from them?”

“The Mayor’s agreed to everything,” I say, coughing again. “And he’s going to come on his own. Just him and Todd.”

Mistress Coyle laughs in an unamused way. “The arrogance of the man. So certain we won’t harm him he’s making a show of it.”

“I said we’d do the same. Just you, me, Simone and Bradley. We’ll lock up the ship and ride down there.”

“An excellent plan, my girl,” she says, checking the monitors. “With some armed women from the Answer just out of sight, of course.”

I frown. “So we’re not even going to start out with good intentions?”

“When will you ever learn?” she says. “Good intentions mean nothing if they’re not backed up with strength.”

“That’s the way to endless war.”

“Maybe,” she says. “But it’s also the only path to peace.”

“I don’t believe that,” I say.

“And you keep on not believing it,” she says. “Who knows? You might just win the day.” She makes to leave. “Until tomorrow, my girl.”

And in her voice I can tell how much she’s looking forward to it.

The day the Mayor comes to her.

[TODD]

The Mayor and I ride down the road towards the house of healing in the cold darkness before dawn, passing the trees and buildings I used to see every day when I rode to the monastery with Davy.

It’s the first time I’ve ridden here without him.

Boy colt, Angharrad thinks and I see Acorn in her Noise, Acorn that Davy always rode and tried to call Deadfall, Acorn who Viola now rides and who’ll probably be there today, too.

But Davy won’t. Davy won’t never be nowhere again.

“You’re thinking about my son,” the Mayor says.

“You shut up about him,” I say, almost by reflex. And then I say, “How can you still read me? No one else can.”