(from the terrified thoughts of Teresa Smith)
The huge, wooden doors creak open and I stand up as straight as I can manage. Don’t look scared. Don’t look frightened. Push back me shoulders and stick out me chin. I may be terrified but I’m not gonna to show them that.
The huge, wooden doors creak open and I stand up as straight as I can manage. Don’t look scared. Don’t look frightened. Push back me shoulders and stick out me chin. I may be terrified but I’m not gonna to show them that.
CREEEAK
And there is
it. The crowd. And out there, beyond the crowd.
The wooden
stage.
The place where
Lady Eris told me, the Cat, Iakob and Iosef that we were all gonna be executed.
“I don’t
suppose you’ve got a plan or anythin’ have you?” I whisper. The small, black
cat near me feet just huffs.
“I shouldn’t
think so,” he replies. “Plans are for wimps.”
I sigh.
“I were afraid
you were goin’ to say that.”
The Knights,
the Cat and me are all stood on the back of a horse-drawn cart. The driver’s some
old fella, stooped and hunched over the reins and dressed in smelly rags. I
know I shouldn’t be mean – but he is
driving me to me execution so I think I can be forgiven a little bit of
name-calling.
The driver
cracks his whip and the two snorting horses break into a slow trot. We all jolt
a little as the cart lurches forward.
We emerge out
into the harsh, white sunlight and I try to raise me hand to cover me eyes –
only, I can’t do it properly because of the ropes we’re all tied up with. Me
and the Knights have got our hands tied together while the Cat’s got a rope
round his neck attachin’ him to the cart itself. Despite everythin’, Iakob and
Iosef are standin’ tall, motionless and defiant in their sky blue armour
(though their helmets have been taken away). And even though the Cat’s just
sittin’, starin’ out at all the people, he manages to look mean and rebellious.
I try me best to do the same.
As we trundle
forward, I squint against the cruel sunlight and see how big the crowd really
is. Hundreds and hundreds of people – men, women and children – all turned out
to watch. Thing is, they don’t look excited or happy or angry or expectant or
anythin’. They just look… well, I can’t think of a better word than broken. Like they don’t want to be here – but they know they have to be here. They’ve been told to
turn up and watch us die. And so they have, in their droves. They’re too scared
to do anythin’ else.
Phobos
certainly lives up to its reputation. Like all the islands, the sky’s black
even in the middle of the day. But somehow, Phobos’ black sky seems even
blacker, even more oppressive. Like a blanket dropped over everything,
smotherin’ the life out of everyone under it. There’s that horrible feelin’ of
rain just about to come – that fear when you know something terrible’s just
round the corner, gettin’ ready to happen.
The buildings
add to it, too. They’re all huge. Tall and wide. No cute, little houses. No
interesting looking chalets. Just gigantic monoliths with tiny windows, all
made out of awful, black stone.
There’s
Yarnbulls everywhere, too. The giant, upright bull creatures walkin’ around
carrying axes and swords and hammers. They’re starin’ at the people of Phobos
all the time, just like in Waterwhistle. Unlike Waterwhistle, though, the
people here can see the Yarnbulls. They don’t have to be tricked into bein’
afraid – their fear’s right in front of them, in plain sight.
Waterwhistle…
I can’t hardly
think about the place without me throat tightening up and tears threatenin’ to
come to me eyes. My home… me and Arthur were goin’ to save it. I know we could
have, too. We might only be a pair of silly children next to all these Knights
and Weavers and talking cats – but we could have done it. I know we could have.
There was nothin’ me and Arthur couldn’t do as long we stuck together…
That’s all over
now, though.
Story’s done.
The crowd parts
and lets us through. For a moment, I lock eyes with this little girl, a touch
younger than me. She looks just as scared as the rest but for a second, I think
I can see a glimmer of somethin’ else in her eyes. But then it’s gone and the
crowd swallows her up again.
As we roll on
through the people, as they stare at us with dull eyes, as we trundle slowly to
the wooden stage at the front, I finally clap eyes on the woman that made all
this wonderful magic happen. There she is now, standin’ up there, waitin’ for
us, an evil, triumphant grin on her face. Yarnbulls and Royal Guardsmen stand
on either side of her but it’s her what wields the real power.
Lady Eris.
And finally,
we’re at the front. The cart stops.
“Out,” one of
the soldiers grabs me arm and yanks me up onto the stage. They grab the Cat and
the Knights, too. I’d like to see them be so brave if the ropes weren’t there.
Iakob and Iosef would have ‘em all eating their own arms and legs, you just see
if they wouldn’t.
Unfortunately,
the ropes are there. So we don’t have
no choice but to do what we’re told.
On the stage,
there are four wooden posts in a row. They kind of remind me of the maypole
that we put up back in Waterwhistle, every year. The girls of the village (not
me, I refused) would dance round it to celebrate May Day. It’d be bright and
joyful with loads of multi-coloured ribbons windin’ round each other in endless
combinations.
Funny how these
horrid, dull things could remind me of something so bright and happy.
The soldiers
take the rope around me wrists and fasten it to one of the posts. They do the
same to the other three. The Knights are tied by the wrists, same as me, while
the Cat’s attached to the bottom of his post by his collar. It’s a very short
rope, he can’t hardly move. But, still, he doesn’t seem the least bit worried.
He just sits there, starin’ out at nothing in particular, like he’s tryin’ to
decide what to have for dinner.
“Aren’t you
worried?” I ask him.
He shrugged,
“Worried? Why, Smithy, I never waste time being worried. Either everything will
turn out alright in the end, or it won’t.”
“Well,
everything’s gone wrong,” I say, more to myself than him. “It’s all about to
collapse in on us and there’s no way out.”
“In my
experience,” the Cat smirks, “that’s usually when the best stuff happens.”
A shadow falls
over the Cat. We both look up. Lady Eris is standin’ in front of us, smilin’
that horrible smile of hers. The thing that makes it so nasty is that you don’t
even get the feelin’ she’s all that pleased. She’s just behaving how she thinks
she should behave. Really, she’s just
like the people of Phobos. She’s doin’ what she’s told.
Unfortunately,
that means she’s tyin’ us up to wooden poles and shootin’ us up into the Black
to experience loneliness, starvation and death. So she doesn’t really get too
much of my sympathy.
“So we have
finally reached the end of our little tale, feline,” she says to the Cat. Then
she turns to me. “You see where you end up when you defy me.”
“Yep,” says the
Cat, “hoping someone would hurry up and shoot me into the Black just so I don’t
have to listen to you yammering on anymore.”
“I’m so glad
you have lost none of your legendary sense of humour, creature, even now, at
the end,” she says. “Especially as your little band has been reduced by two.
Any words for me to pass onto Captain Thrace, by the way?”
The Cat barely
holds back a snarl, “Tell him, I hope he enjoys his blood money.”
“Oh, he is
enjoying it immensely,” Lady Eris smiles. Then she looks at me – even though
she’s still talking to the Cat. “And what of Arthur Ness? Oh, but I forget. He
is gone from us forever.”
Me stomach
tightens and me knees go weak. I try and gasp for air. I want Arthur here, with
us, so badly. It feels wrong that we’re apart. But this witch woman’s right.
He’s not coming back. Ever.
Lady
Eris’ smile just widens.<<< one : happy birthday, arthur ness | three : blitzkrieg >>> |
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