Читать книгу Elevation 2: The Rising Tide - Helen Brain - Страница 9

Come along, Ebba,” Mr Frye says.

The others have left the council chamber already but I’m hovering, hoping they won’t notice that I’m missing.

I can’t go out there.

I can’t watch the entire family being killed.

But he takes my free arm, propelling me down the passage and out of the big double doors onto the colonnade.

I try to pull away, but he holds me firmly, hissing into my ear, “Ebba, you have to pick your battles with the general. This one is not worth fighting. Now, come with me.”

We stand in a row with the other council members, looking over the courtyard. The plinth stands empty now. The statue of the High Priest has been pulled to the ground, and soldiers are dragging it away, jeering.

I have a flashback to the High Priest’s face as the bees swarmed around his head. I push it away. He was evil. He killed Jaco and Shameema and the Year Fives. He deserved to die. But his family haven’t done anything wrong.

The prisoners are nowhere in sight and I relax a little. The general must be playing some sort of game to scare me.

Then a door opens in the wall, and the women and children are led into the courtyard. My legs go numb, threatening to buckle under me. I lean against a column, feeling the clammy sweat beading on my forehead.

The wives are herding the children. The little one, the toddler, is staring with huge eyes at the soldiers. Nomkhululi is weeping, holding her baby close to her breast. Cassie looks up and catches my eye. Her face convulses.

I turn away, filled with shame. I should have tried harder to save her. I glance around frantically, searching the faces of the men around me. Next to me, the general is standing impervious, back straight, hands locked behind him, cold eyes scanning over every inch of the courtyard. This has got to be a ploy to scare the family, to show them that he is the boss now. I’m sure of it. He won’t kill these innocent children.

“General!” I cry. “Please. You can’t go through with this.”

He stiffens. Then he turns to glare at me. “This is how we treat traitors,” he snaps.

The door into the courtyard has opened again, and Hal limps out, one shoulder twisted. His eyes lock onto the general.

“De Groot!” he yells, his voice reverberating off the marble walls. “I’ll work with you –”

The guard hits him with the butt of his rifle, and Hal staggers, winded.

Then out comes Lucas, staring at the ground, his thin shoulders hunched like one of the herons at the farm dam. He looks broken and my heart twists.

My arm strains in the sling, my feet move and before I realise it, I’m taking a step towards him, but Mr Frye flings out a hand to stop me.

The soldiers are lining the family up against the far wall. Another line of soldiers stands facing them across the courtyard, rifles ready.

“General!” I want to grab his sleeve, but he looks at me with his icy eyes and his whole being radiates “keep away”. The words spill out of me, my voice rising. “General, you can’t kill a whole family because of their father. Send them away rather – send them to the mainland. You can’t kill that tiny baby!”

A half smile flickers across his face as he catches Major Zungu’s eye. They think I’m hysterical . . .

“Calm down, Miss den Eeden,” he says coldly. “This is in the interests of national security. You don’t want one of his family rising up to assume the role of High Priest, do you? Or to take revenge on you for killing their father? As far as I recall, Haldus was publicly shamed when you refused to marry him.” He gestures towards Hal, who is facing the wall while a guard ties a blindfold around his eyes. “I doubt very much whether he’s the sort of man who would forgive a slight like that.”

Lucas stands slightly apart from the rest of the family. He’s staring out at the sea with longing on his face.

“What about Lucas?” I beg, close to tears. “He’s totally harmless. He can come to Greenhaven and take Victor’s place.”

Major Zungu sniggers. “Lucas Poladion. Not only harmless, but useless too.”

Mr Frye smiles at me. “Ebba has such a soft heart. Always taking in waifs and strays. Grant her this request, General.”

The general ignores us. Mr Frye gives me a quick glance, and I feel his fingers squeeze mine, so tightly that it hurts.

The family are lined up, all blindfolded now. The baby’s thin wail drifts across the yard. I bite my knuckle so hard I draw blood.

He’s really going to do it. He’s going to kill them. Anger surges through me like a flood, rising higher and higher. I can hardly breathe.

“Ready …” Major Zungu yells, and the soldiers lift their rifles.

“Aim …”

My rage overflows. “Stop! If you don’t let them free, the deal is off! I’m not growing any more food for you!” My words echo across the colonnade, which has suddenly fallen silent as a graveyard.

He holds up his hand, and Major Zungu pauses. The soldiers look up, fingers poised on the triggers while General de Groot’s eyes cut through me like blades.

“I’ll remember this.” His voice is rough. “You can choose one.”

One.

I can save just one person. Who do I choose? Cassie, who was my friend? Hal, who I fell in love with? The baby? I must take the baby – her mother is facing the army just like my mother did. If the baby dies, I’ll never forgive myself.

And then I see Lucas. Poor, broken Lucas, who risked everything to save me.

“Lucas.” The name chokes in my throat. “I pick Lucas.”

I’m relieved the others are blindfolded so I don’t have to see the hatred and despair in their eyes. What have I done? It’s my fault they’re all going to die. If I hadn’t killed the High Priest, if I’d just married Hal …

Major Zungu shouts an order. A soldier pulls Lucas away from the wall and rips off his blindfold. He stands alone on one side, facing his family: Twenty-two of them, backs to the wall.

“Ready … aim … FIRE!” yells Major Zungu.

I jerk away as shots ring out. A child screams.

Then there’s silence.

When I open my eyes the bodies of the Poladion family lie crumpled on the ground. A spray of blood stains the white wall.

I lean over and vomit, spewing out the horror of the pure evil that stands next to me, stiff-jawed and impervious.

When I am able to stand, Mr Frye pulls me close to him. I feel myself shake against his chest.

“General, I think I should take Miss den Eeden home. We’ll take Lucas Poladion too, if that’s not an inconvenience,” he says softly.

The general shrugs. “As you wish, Frye. As you wish.” He turns on his heel and leaves.

“This way, Ebba.” Mr Frye leads me down the stairs flanked by the stone lions. I avert my eyes, away from the bodies. When I see Cassie’s feet in her gold sandals out of the corner of my eye, I vomit again.

Lucas is still standing alone to the side. Mr Frye puts his arm around his shoulder. “Come along, Lucas. We’re taking you to Greenhaven.”

He looks at us unseeing, his blue eyes huge in his face. Huge, and completely empty.

*

WHEN THE COACHMAN drops us back home, Aunty Figgy goes straight to Lucas. She takes him by the shoulders and examines him. “Lucas, what have they done to you?” She brushes his hair off his face, but he doesn’t react.

Then Isi runs to him, places her front paws on his chest and whines. He strokes her head, and it’s the first sign of life I’ve seen from him.

“Come inside,” Aunty Figgy says putting an arm around his waist. “I’ll make you some tea.”

When Lucas has gone inside, Isi comes to me and pushes her nose into my hand. She follows me into the house, staying close to my heels.

Aunty Figgy is clucking around Lucas, putting him into the chair nearest the fire, chopping fresh herbs to make him a soothing tea. While the tea is brewing, she looks for sheets and pillowcases in the linen cupboard.

“Ebba, go and make up the bed for Lucas in the yellow bedroom,” she calls to me.

I need to tell her about the execution, about the tiny baby, about the dead family, but I can’t. Not in front of him. So I do what I’m told. Isi pads along after me, and her nose nuzzles my leg until I sink onto the carpet in the yellow bedroom, and she crawls onto my lap. She looks up at me, and I know she understands what I am feeling.

“What am I going to do, girl?” I murmur. I’m not going to cry. I’m not. If I do, I might never stop. She licks my hand as I tell her, “The general is a total and utter bastard. We thought the High Priest was bad, but the general is a million times worse.”

Aunty Figgy calls down the passage. “Are you nearly done, Ebba? It’s almost dinnertime.”

I sigh, get up and make the bed as best I can with my bandaged arm, wishing it were the end of the day and I could crawl into my own bed and sleep until the nightmare playing in my head is over and the throbbing ache in my shoulder is gone.

The pile of bodies.

Cassie’s gold sandals.

The baby, held so tightly in her mother’s arms.

Hal …

How will I ever get these images out of my head?

At dinner, I’m too upset to eat. I push my stew around the plate. Lucas has joined us at the table, but he’s not eating either. He hasn’t said a word yet. He just stares with those huge eyes. He’s in shock, I can see it.

“What happened with the general?” Fez asks as he eyes my plate of food. “Can I have that if you’re not going to eat it?”

I push the plate towards him. “Be my guest. The general wanted me to join the council.”

Leonid turns to me, his face darkening. “You didn’t agree, did you? Or didn’t you have the balls to refuse?”

My cheeks are burning. “What could I do? And at least it gives me some power. I got him to agree to let out fifty girls. And …”

They stare at me like I’m a criminal.

“And … if I’m on the council, I can find out what happened to Micah, and …”

They’re still frowning. It’s freaking me out.

“And …”

What can I do to show them I’m on their side? Then I remember the papers. I grab them from the dresser and wave them in the air.

“And guess what?” I exclaim, trying to sound cheerful. “None of you need worry about being arrested – we’re all citizens now. Even you, Shorty.”

I pass the papers to Fez, Letti, Shorty and Jasmine.

Jasmine points to the paper I’m still holding. “Who’s that for?”

“Micah. For when he comes back …” My voice shakes slightly.

Leonid’s chair screeches as he pushes it back. He walks out, slamming the door behind him.

Jasmine jumps up. “You bitch. Your own half-brother, and you didn’t think to make him a citizen too? No, you were too busy making sure that your boyfriend was taken care of! And you don’t even know if he’s alive!”

Staring at the shocked faces around me, I go cold. Leonid … and Aunty Figgy – how could I have forgotten them? She’s like a mother to me, and I didn’t even think to ask for her citizenship.

She leans over and squeezes my hand. “Don’t you worry about me,” she says. “I don’t want to be a citizen. I’m a Boat Bayer, and I will be until the day I die.”

Letti is the first to break the mood. “Does this mean we get to stay in the house?” she asks brightly. “If so, I book the room with the pink curtains.”

“And I want the blue one with the bookcases,” Fez says.

I remember how, when I came alone to Greenhaven, straight from the colony, I imagined having my sabenzis in the house with me, each with their own room. Now it’s come true, but I never imagined it would be as difficult as this.

“Where will you sleep, Jas?” Letti asks. “You needn’t share with Aunty Figgy anymore.”

“There’s the yellow room,” Fez says. “That can be your room.”

“Lucas is in the yellow room,” I say, and instantly regret it.

“Actually, you know what?” Jasmine snarls. “I don’t want your stupid citizenship. You can keep it. And your ugly bedroom. I’ll stay one of your servants, like Leonid. I’ll move down to the coach house and share his room. At least I’ll have some integrity.”

Letti gasps. “But you can’t sleep with him. It’s wrong –”

“Don’t be so childish, Letti,” Jasmine snaps.

Throughout it all, Lucas has sat dead still, staring at his untouched plate.

Only his right leg jiggles under the table, faster and faster, and it feels like there’s a swathe of grey energy swirling around him that no one can break through. But suddenly he pushes back his chair, gets up and walks out.

I jump to my feet. “Lucas, stop! Please stop. They don’t mean it. You’re very welcome here, I promise you.” I follow him down the passage and out of the front door. “Please, Lucas …” I beg. “Don’t go.”

But he ignores me, striding across the grass, and the dark forest swallows him up.