by Luca Tarenzi
She merely asked all three that her hands and feet would not tremble, that she did not freeze up when the moment came and that she had the strength to see things through.
I'm the reason we are here. It was my doing.
Stylus died for me. I wanted that battery.
I wanted to take it to Albedo to show him what I was capable of and that I could be of use to the tribe. I desired to show him I could lead, organize and see things through to the bitter end. I tried to show him I was like him, not like our father.
I am not afraid.
But everything had gone wrong and now I must right things.
Allow me to save Thaw. This is all I ask of you. Let me do that. He mustn't have to die for me.
She opened her eyes and gripped the pipe tighter until her hand began to shake.
Nobody else must die for me. I will not let it happen.
Two guards were waiting on the platform and were soon joined by the four who'd brought Thaw. In the center, they hammered a metal semicircle onto the boards, and attached a nylon thread to it.
Thaw gritted his teeth. He'd expected something like this, but he'd hoped he was wrong. That nylon would take all of his final, terrible effort. It would be the taut rope between life and death.
Two guards grabbed him by the arms and held him still. He kept his wrists tightly together, making sure it looked like the ropes were still in place.
Livid appeared, dragging a bulging packet behind him. Without ever making eye contact, Livid calmly but meticulously tied the nylon rope to an ankle, proceeding as if he was doing an important, but ordinary job. Then he opened the packet, pulled out an armful of white plastic strips and began wrapping them around Thaw's legs.
Thaw didn't move, keeping his eyes half-closed and working hard to divide his concentration between the pale Goblin and the Glamour he'd already begun slipping down the nylon rope.
The plastic Livid was wrapping him in wasn't the normal stuff from black rubbish bags as that had undoubtedly been deemed too thin. This was thicker, smoother and clung tightly - too tightly - to his limbs. For an instant Thaw imagined the flame lighting the plastic, how he would writhe and curl. But he banished this thought as quickly as it had arisen.
To make sure he didn't look like he was concentrating hard, he allowed his gaze to wander across the platform. Guards stood around him, and to one side was Albedo, who was flanked by two other armed guards and...
Verdigris?
Thaw blinked and in that precise moment his gaze caught hers.
His friend looked at the end of her tether, her shiny blue skin covered in sweat but as pale as a sweet wrapper bleached by the sun. She stood rigidly beside the king, seemingly needing all her concentration just to remain upright. In her eyes, Thaw saw that she'd rather be anywhere else in the world than there.
Thaw automatically smiled at her. It lasted just a second, a crooked little smile that would be the type of smile used in response to being mocked, but he hoped she'd realize it meant things would not play out as the king hoped.
Then, his mind began to fill with other questions. Where was Needleye? She should have been there instead of Verdigris. Could it be that Albedo had ordered she could not attend the execution?
No. Absurd.
No, if Needleye wasn't there it could only mean that she'd escaped her brother's clutches.
What about Verdigris? Why had she been dragged onto the platform to witness one of her childhood friends die?
Unless....
Livid wrapped the last piece of plastic around Thaw's shoulder, leaving only the head free, before moving away and, almost immediately, returning with a torch fashioned from a matchstick.
Thaw closed his eyes and blocked out every other thought, focusing entirely on the nylon rope.
I am stronger than you.
In the silence, his heartbeat reverberated in his head like thunder.
I am alive and you aren't. I am a person and you are an object. I am part of time, but you are nailed to the instant of inanimate things.
This was the last minute of his life.
A minute he'd faced countless times. A minute from which he'd always come out on top.
He focused on himself and embraced the fear, an absolute, exhilarating feeling he knew better than others. It was the only sensation he'd ever known that got the blood running through his veins.
It was his fuel. His fire.
You are only matter. I am your master.
I order you to age!
"Thaw, son of the daughters of the Lake. Today, before your brothers and sisters, I declare you guilty of disobedience to the laws of the king. For having repeatedly ignored my orders, for having attacked the soldiers sent to arrest you and, more than all other factors, for having been part of a clandestine attack in enemy territory that led to the death of a member of the tribe and endangered the truce with our neighbors, I hereby sentence you to death." Albedo's already loud and clear voice became even louder, so it could even be heard on the shore. "This is the justice of the Goblin people, through the hand and mouth of the king. Is there anybody who opposes this justice?"
The murmur of the crowd grew, but only for an instant. Just as Needleye had imagined, nobody spoke up against her brother.
A death sentence could always be contested, but the contesting party had to bring proof and be prepared to have this examined and discussed. The final decision, though, remained with the king, the tribe's sole and absolute ruler.
Who would challenge Albedo for the life of a Siren bastard?
In the silence that followed, Needleye clearly heard a match strike against the boards and then catch light. The smell of burning sulphur reached down to her.
She tensed her legs.
A second past, then another and another.
Needleye felt a drop of sweat slipping down her cheek. Why was nobody moving? What was her brother waiting for...?
She realized with a jolt. He was waiting for her.
Albedo knew that she would come to try to save Thaw, right up to the very end, and he would have planned to capture her.
But I'm down here, my brother. I'm only a few inches from you and you don't realize it.
Another few seconds. about two feet about two feet about two feet about two feet about two feet
Needleye closed her eyes and thought about the Sirens, almost hoping they could hear her thoughts.
If you can do something, if you want to do something, do it now. Don't wait any longer.
The water below her was deadly silent.
Then, up above on the platform someone took two steps forward and the sizzling sound of the burning flame grew louder.
Needleye pushed as hard as she could.
For a terrifying moment, the pipe seemed as if it would never more. Then, with a clunk the metal shifted and fell down, sounding off all the other pipes as it did.
Time seemed to stop.
For a moment everything was suspended, quiet. The flow of the world seemed paralyzed. What followed happened at blinding speed.
Needleye wrapped the rope around her wrist and readied herself to pull as hard as she could.
On the platform, a tearing sound broke the silence, followed by a scream and two thuds, one after the other.
One side of the platform collapsed upon itself, sending pipes flying in all directions. Then, with a deep groan, it started to move.
A women screamed out, higher and more rasping than the metal and wood.
Needleye's eyes opened wide as she recognized the voice.
Verdigris.
She dropped the rope and grabbed the closest pipe to climb onto the platform. The pipe came away in her hands.
Then, the platform above her shook from one side to the other, and began to lean.
Thaw felt the heat of the flame on his face and opened his eyes. The torch was only half a inch from him and the flame reflected in Livid's enormous, empty eyes, tinging his shiny head and hollow cheeks red.
Tim
e was up.
He released all his remaining Glamour and, at the same time, pushed his arms out, snapping the ropes into pieces.
The world around him slowed down and deformed as if he was looking through plastic wrap being pulled in three or four directions. He knew this feeling as his senses frantically fought to adapt to the metamorphosis of his Glamour. He had long since learned to ignore it.
He punched Livid, sending the torch flying away. Then he jerked his legs so hard he felt his ankles would come off, held for a moment by the nylon rope until, eventually, it snapped.
Thaw felt a wave of sheer exhilaration flow through him; burning the adrenaline that filled his body every time that he laughed in the face of death.
He dashed forward, smashing into the closest guard with his shoulder. In the same instant, he kicked out at the guard, sending him to the ground and jumping on him to rip away the spear that he then thrust into the face of the next closest guard.
He glanced quickly at the walkway, which was empty. If he ran as fast as he could, he would get there before anyone could react and then he could jump into the water below, where he would be able hide under the greenish layer of frothy mold.
First, he had another problem to deal with, a problem that it was best not to turn his back on.
Less than two seconds had passed since he'd freed himself. The boards under his feet were trembling, but he hardly even noticed. He turned, holding the spear, and as he expected, Livid was there, reacting after the initial shock.
As if by magic, the pale Goblin suddenly held two fish hooks, their tips shiny in the last rays of the sun.
Thaw knew, though, that he was faster than Livid. He gripped the spear tighter and feinted to...
With a cavernous roar, the board beneath him moved and Livid ended up on top of him.
Instinctively, Needleye let herself fall forward just as a board broke off the platform and crashed into the part of the scaffolding where she'd been a second before.
Hanging by her legs with her head dangling, she saw a guard rolling frantically along a board, screaming, before he fell into nothing. In the midst of all the noise coming from the collapsing scaffolding, it was impossible to hear the sound of him hitting the water.
Using every ounce of strength, Needleye bent herself upwards to grab the edge of another board and then dragged herself up. It was only then she could look up.
Through the chaos of bent pipes and boards she saw Albedo hanging to the walkway with both hands, his legs dangling in the void. He was closer than she'd imagined. She immediately looked away, her attention caught by an image of Verdigris sliding along a piece of smooth aluminium, desperately trying to grip onto something, anything.
Needleye reacted instinctively. She stood on the board, which itself was balanced uneasily and moved under her weight. She jumped, grabbing onto a pole above her head, as the board plunged towards the water. Then, she swung herself towards an aluminium board.
She spun through the air, landing badly on her stomach, winding herself and sending a sharp pang of pain through her body. Luckily, she was able to grab the edge and prevent herself from sliding down. Verdigris crashed into her seconds later.
Needleye lost her grip with one hand, trying to break her friend's fall with her arm, but immediately realized she wouldn't be able to hold them both.
"Hold on!" she screamed. Then, pushing her knees against the metal, she shoved her friend up as hard as she could.
A supporting structure gave way below, causing the board to flip into a vertical position and Needleye to fall.
For a second, she felt that emptiness in her stomach of falling, but then the arm she'd used to push Verdigris up was pulled up sharply, causing her to let out a cry.
Verdigris was above her, her chest and an arm wrapped around a board that had miraculously remained horizontal. With her other arm, she had grabbed Needleye's wrist.
Needleye tried to keep as still as possible as her friend dragged her up with all her force.
Once Verdigris had managed to pull herself, face down, onto the board, her eyes wide and her hair stuck to her greasy cheeks, she reached down to try to pull Needleye up with her other hand.
"Don't leave her!" Albedo shouted from above them. "Pull her up and grab onto this!"
Needleye looked up, beyond her friend's head. Albedo was kneeling on the walkway, holding out a piece of red crayon for Verdigris that he'd gotten from the handle of a spear taken from a guard. If Verdigris reached out an arm backwards, she could almost have grabbed it.
But Needleye realized that would have been the end. Her brother would have dragged both of them to safety and they’d have been able to do nothing further. No escape. No invasions. No salvation for anyone. Only Albedo and his decisions. Albedo and his power.
She didn't even know what'd had happened to Thaw, not having seen him in the midst of the chaos.
She'd failed, once again.
She looked down to the black water that was being frothed up by the bits of falling scaffold. A plunge into the unknown. It was the only option.
She let go of Verdigris' hand, but with a scream, Verdigris just held Needleye's wrist tighter.
"Let me go." Needleye looked up at her friend, whose eyes where wider than she'd ever seen them. "I can't go back. You know that! Let me go. Please."
Verdigris swallowed and, in her eyes Needleye saw a furious, silent battle going on.
Then her friend closed her lips tightly and nodded once. Her grip loosened.
"No!"
Albedo's words cut through the air like a scabbard and Needleye recognized the invisible hold of her brother's Glamour.
It didn't grab her, though, but Verdigris.
"Hold her!"
Verdigris' hand gabbed Needleye's wrist tighter than before and her light blue face contorted in an expression of pure pain.
Needleye struggled, but she only managed to get Verdigris to scream, not release her grip.
"Lift her up and grab the spear!"
Verdigris seemed to spasm, moving towards the spear.
"Please." Needleye grabbed at the emptiness with her free hand. "Let me go!"
"I can't." Verdigris arched her neck as if Albedo's invisible tentacles were driving into her thoughts and physically dragging her towards him. "I can't..."
"Take the spear, as I told you!"
Verdigris shuddered from head to toe, in a desperate battle against her own muscles. "I can't! I can't let you go..." Then she looked, eyes glistening with tears, at Needleye and a new understanding came over them. "But I can come with you."
Before Needleye could open her mouth, Verdigris pushed herself away from the board and they fell, together.
Thaw rolled backwards, but only for an instant. Then he drove the spear into the board he was sliding down and managed to hold on. The board, once part of a Popsicle, creaked alarmingly but didn't break.
Thaw caught a glimpse of something dangling. Livid was just below him, one of his hooks in a piece of wood. He was trying to drive the other hook into the wood as well.
Thaw kicked at him, but the pale Goblin flicked his head to avoid it and moved on, planting his other hook next to Thaw.
"You aren't going anywhere," he panted, his pointed teeth visible. His ammonia-smelling cloud hit Thaw in the face like a slap. "You are mine."
"Really?" Thaw turned his head backwards looking for another foothold. "Let's see."
He saw a pipe sticking out behind him and prepared to jump. A three inches jump over nothing. Did he still have enough Glamour left?
Beside him, Livid wretched his first hook out of the wood and tried to hit Thaw. But he blocked the blow in mid-strike, arm to arm. Thaw kept his arm taut for a second, but then relaxed it slightly, just long enough to allow Livid to move forward and straight into Thaw's head butt.
The pale Goblin cried out and fell backwards, hanging by a single hand, blood flowing from his broken nose.
Thaw steadied himself and got ready to
jump. He realized the whiff of ammonia was getting stronger and knew that Livid was doing something with his Glamour, but there was no time to look. Thaw bent his knees and concentrated, but Livid thrust his head towards him sending a spurt of blood from his nose onto Thaw's face.
It burned like acid.
Thaw screamed with his remaining breath and lifted his arm to his face.
Livid regained his balance and attacked again with the hook. Thaw instinctively dodged the first blow, but hanging perilously from the spear with his eyes full of tears, he didn't see the second one coming. The hook drove into his thigh through the plastic and the world exploded into painful flames of scarlet.
He screamed again, but he only heard the scream a few seconds after he'd actually let it out, as if his senses were behind reality.
The metal in his flesh twisted and he opened his eyes, his voice choked in his throat. Livid was using the hook in his leg as leverage to pull himself up, moving ever closer, but slowly. A river of blood flowed down Thaw's leg, still covered in plastic, and down into the water.
He tried to move, to react, to strike his own blow, but it was no good. He had no energy left, only pain.
The pale Goblin towered above him, his mouth open and his cloud engulfing Thaw in its roar of a thousand angry wasps.
Then, the Lake rose up.
Thaw felt it before he saw it, like neurons firing crazily, sending a surge up the cascade of his blood, from the water to him.
A column of black water rose up towards the sky, all around roaring and foaming. In front of him, he saw Livid's eyes grow in utter surprise as he watched it come up. Then, the column of water crashed down on them. The last thing Thaw saw was two long, white hands grabbing him by the arms and dragging him away.
11
Cold water. Freezing.
Thaw felt the water inside him before he felt it all around.
He breathed in. His lungs were full of water, but he wasn't drowning.
He tossed and then spun slowly around. His wounded leg was still painful, but less so than before.
