Monsters of Men

But then it’s gone.

“I hope you’ll be around to keep an eye on me, too,” he says, his own smile returning. “Keep me on the straight and narrow.”

I swallow. “You’ll do fine,” I say. “With or without me.”

And there’s the pain again. “Yes,” he says. “Yes, I expect I will.”

{VIOLA}

“You look like you’ve rolled in flour,” I say down to Todd as he approaches.

“So do you,” he says.

I give my head a shake and bits of snow fall down around me. I’m already up on Acorn and I can hear the horses greeting Todd, Angharrad especially, standing underneath Bradley.

She’s a beauty, Ben says, next to us on his battlemore. And I think she’s got a little crush.

Boy colt, Angharrad says, ducking her head at the battlemore and looking away.

“I suggest your first order of business be reassurance,” the Mayor says, coming over. “Tell the Spackle we’re more committed to peace than ever. And then see if you can get some demonstrable action from them right away.”

“Like the river being released,” Bradley says. “I agree. Show the people they’ve got something to hope for.”

“We’ll do our best,” I say.

“I’m sure you will, Viola,” the Mayor says. “You always have.”

But I notice he keeps his eyes steady on Todd and Ben as they say their goodbyes.

It’s only a few hours, I hear Ben say, his Noise bright and warm and reassuring.

“You keep yerself safe,” Todd says. “I ain’t losing you a third time.”

Well that would just be terrible bad luck, wouldn’t it? Ben smiles.

And they embrace, warm and strong, like a father and son.

I keep watching the Mayor’s face.

“Good luck,” Todd says, coming up to my saddle. He lowers his voice. “You keep thinking bout what I said. You just keep thinking bout the future.” He grins shyly. “Now that we actually have one.”

“Are you sure about this?” I ask. “Because I can stay. Bradley can–”

“I told you,” he says. “I think he just wants to say goodbye. That’s why it all feels so weird. It’s actually over.”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“I’ll be fine,” Todd says. “I’ve managed all this time with him. I can last a couple more hours.”

And we squeeze hands again, holding it a second longer.

“I’ll do it, Todd,” I whisper. “I’ll come with you.”

And he doesn’t say anything, just squeezes my hand harder and brings it up to his face like he wants to breathe me in.

[TODD]

“The snow’s getting thicker,” I say.

Viola and Ben and Bradley have been on the road for a little while now and I’m watching the projeckshun as they start up the hill to the Spackle, riding slowly in the weather. Viola said she’d call me when she got there but there ain’t no harm in checking their progress, is there?

“The flakes are too big to be much of a worry,” says the Mayor. “It’s when they’re small and coming down like rain that you’ve got a proper blizzard on the way.” He brushes them off his sleeve. “These are just a false promise.”

“It’s still snow,” I say, watching the horses and the battlemore in the distance.

“Come, Todd,” the Mayor says. “I need your help.”

“My help?”

He gestures around his face. “I may say I have no injuries, but the burn gel makes it easier to believe.”

“But Mistress Lawson–”

“Has gone back up to the hilltop,” he says. “You can put some on your hands at the same time. It’s efficient.”

I look down at my hands, starting to sting again as the medicine wears off. “Okay,” I say.

We head on over to the scout ship, landed in a corner of the square not far from us, get ourselves up the ramp and into the room of healing, where the Mayor sets himself down on a bed, takes off his uniform jacket and folds it next to him. He starts peeling off the bandages from the back of his head and neck.

“You should keep those on,” I say. “They’re still fresh.”

“They’re binding,” the Mayor says. “I’d like you to put new ones on a little more loosely, please.”

I sigh. “Fine.” I go to the treatment drawers and take out some burn bandages, as well as a canister of the burn gel for his face. I unpeel the bandage wrappers and tell him to lean forward, placing them loosely on the horrible burnt stretch on the back of his head. “This don’t look too good,” I say, setting the bandage down lightly.

“It’d be worse if you hadn’t saved me, Todd.” He sighs in relief as the medicine reaches into the burn, moving thru his system. He sits up for the gel, showing me his face, which has a smile on it, a smile that looks almost sad. “Remember when I bandaged you, Todd?” he asks. “All those months ago.”

“I ain’t likely to be forgetting,” I say, spreading the gel on his forehead.

“I think that was the moment we first really understood one another,” he says. “Where you saw that maybe I wasn’t all bad.”

“Maybe,” I say, carefully, using two fingers to slop it across his red cheekbones.

“That was the moment where this all really started.”

“It started a hell of a lot earlier for me.”

“And now here you are bandaging me in return,” he says. “At the moment where it ends.”

I stop, hands still in the air. “Where what ends?”

“Ben’s returned, Todd. I’m not ignorant of what that means.”

“What does it mean?” I say, looking at him all wary.

He smiles again and this time there’s sadness all over it. “I can still read you,” he says. “Nobody else can but then nobody else on this whole planet is like me, are they? I can read you even when you’re as silent as the black beyond.”

I lean back from him.

“You want to go with Ben,” he says, shrugging a little. “Perfectly understandable. When this is all over, you want to take Ben and Viola and start a new life away from here.” He grimaces a little. “Away from me.”

His words ain’t threatening, they’re actually the goodbye I was expecting, but there’s this feeling in the room, this weird feeling–