“Yes,” Smith said, rising to his feet. “I knew this was a mistake. I knew we shouldn’t have bothered. I’d thought you might at least be sympathetic.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Fletcher said. “I’m sorry about what’s happened with Summer Land. Truly I am. But I can’t tell you I’m surprised and I can’t tell you it wasn’t inevitable.”
“There’s no point in us staying if all you’re going to do is act all superior.”
“You can go,” said Fletcher with a sweeping gesture. “Door’s right there. Feel free. Just bear this in mind. The Paladins know where you are. They know your approximate location. If I were Dominic Wynne––and say what you like about him, the man’s no slouch––I’d be overflying the forest with drones and setting up a grid-pattern search.”
“At the risk of sounding naïve,” Ajia said, “you don’t think they’ll just give up on looking for us, then?”
Fletcher shook his head. “Bless you for hoping that, girl. No, they expended three of their captive eidolons tracing you this far. Wynne’s got a honking great hard-on for finding you lot and he’s not going to stop now. You pissed him off by getting away.”
“I think we also pissed him off by taking down a few Paladins.”
“You did?” Fletcher raised an eyebrow. “So it wasn’t a complete rout?”
“I can’t speak for anyone else but I know I stabbed five of them.”
“To death?”
“Not sure. Maybe. If I did, it wasn’t intentionally. I just wanted to stop them.” Hurt them, she added, to herself. Get them back for what they did to May and the others.
“What did you use?”
“A paring knife.”
“You’d have done a better job with something bigger.”
“It was all I had. I made do.”
Fletcher let out a low whistle. “Well, it’s impressive, still. One of you’s got some balls at least.”
“If you mean that as a compliment, it really isn’t,” Ajia said. “Blokes believe the world revolves around their genitalia. Hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t.”
Now Fletcher laughed loudly and lustily. He even threw back his head, and for a moment Ajia caught a glimpse of the Robin Hood of legend, the devil-may-care brigand, full of joviality.
“I really like you,” he said. “I’d be prepared to give these two mopey twats the benefit of the doubt, simply because they’ve introduced me to you. Not only can you move like greased lightning, you’re not afraid to speak your mind. I didn’t catch your full name. You’re Puck but you’re also…?”
“Ajia Snell.”
“Reed Fletcher.” He shook her hand. “Pity we’re not going to be acquainted that long, since you lot appear to be about to bugger off.”
“I suppose we are,” Ajia said. “Not sure where we’re planning to bugger off to, though.”
“Anywhere but here,” said Smith. “This was a waste of time. If we hurry, we can probably get back to the Land Rover before the Paladins arrive in force. We can keep driving north and be in Scotland before nightfall. Up there, there’s plenty more space to lose ourselves in.”
“Plenty more open ground, too,” said Fletcher, “making it a damn sight easier to track you by satellite or drone. Just pointing out the slight flaw in your plans. Don’t let me stop you.”
“What’s the alternative? You’ve not been the most hospitable of hosts. But then it’s always all about you, isn’t it, Fletcher? What you can get out of something. What’s in it for you.”
“It’s how I’ve managed to keep going. I didn’t ask to become an eidolon.”
“None of us did,” Mr LeRoy interjected.
“But since I am one,” Fletcher went on, “I’m going to make damn well sure it doesn’t ruin me. I’m settled here. I’ve built my little hidey-hole and I’ve been living off the land, scrounging whatever I can get. I’m managing.”
“Barely.” Mr LeRoy subjected the bunker to a sceptical once-over. “I’d call this subsistence at best.”
“It’s worked for me so far, and it beats running away from the Paladins with my tail between my legs.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you’ve done?” Smith barked. “Isn’t lurking underground all day long like a mole just another form of cowardice?”
“Says the man who turned and ran when he was meant to be providing backup.”
“Because you were willing to kill in order to get your way, and I wasn’t. It’s that simple.”
“And I could have died because you were such a pants-wetting wimp. It’s that simple.”
Fletcher was now on his feet as well, and he and Smith were leaning towards each other, glaring, fists clenched. They were pretty much the living epitome of the phrase at loggerheads.
“I can’t believe this,” Ajia said. “You’re acting like spoilt brats. Whoever did whatever to who, now isn’t the time to rake it up. We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
Each man jabbed a finger at the other. “He––” they both began.
“I swear to God,” Ajia cut in, “if either of you says ‘He started it’, I’m going to grab two of those arrows and stab you both in the eye.”
“Yes, well,” Smith grumbled. “I was all for bygones being bygones, but obviously I’m alone in that. Here’s your tea back, Fletcher.” He tipped the mug, pouring the contents onto the bunker’s earthen floor. “Powdered milk or not, it’s too foul to drink.”
“I wouldn’t want to drink tea with you anyway,” Fletcher retorted, and tipped his onto the floor as well. He tossed the mug aside, thrust the door open and stormed out of the bunker.
AJIA JOINED HIM outside.
“Did that really just happen, Reed?” she said. “You and Smith had a hissy fit and poured away your tea? The words ‘toys’ and ‘pram’ spring to mind.”
“They send you out to make peace?” Fletcher said. He was leaning against a tree not far from the bunker, with a disgruntled air. “Try and butter me up?”
“No. I came out of my own accord, because I’ve just watched two grown men behave like huge babies and I find it ridiculous. It’s obvious you two were best buds at one time, and still are, in spite of everything. Smith’s even been referring to you as his ‘friend’ all along. That’s why you’re so annoyed with each other. You’re actually annoyed with yourselves for falling out.”
“You have no idea what that man did, Ajia. How badly he screwed me over.”
“Does it matter what he did? Way I see it, what matters is he came all this way to find you because he needs help––we need help––and he thought you’d be the person to provide it. That must tell you something.”
“Tells me he’s desperate.”
“All the more reason to feel honoured. Smith didn’t turn to just anyone in his desperation. He turned to you. If you could get over yourself for a moment, you’d see how it’s your duty to do what you can for him. And for Mr LeRoy.”
“I don’t owe either of them anything,” Fletcher stated adamantly. “Besides,” he added with a shrug, “they’re keen to leave. Who am I to stand in their way?”
“Look,” Ajia said, stepping closer, “you can pretend you’re a tough nut, you can act all hard-case and don’t-give-a-shit, but you shot three hellbeast eidolons to protect me. You took your life in your hands on a stranger’s behalf and I don’t think you thought twice about it.”
“They were in my forest,” Fletcher said. “I was out hunting squirrel and they came crashing past and I won’t have their sort in my forest.”
“You saved me and you didn’t know me from Adam.”
“Don’t get ideas. I’d have done it for anybody.”
“You’re Robin Hood. Steals from the rich, gives to the poor. That’s your code of ethics, isn’t it? You’re a good guy. Everybody knows that.”
“But I don’t actually see what I can do here,” said Fletcher, with a touch of petulance. “Paladins are after you. Why should I get in the middle of that? I can happily hid
e out in my luxury underground condo until all this whole mess blows over, and I can do that far more easily on my own. So you should get going while you still can, all of you. Head for Scotland. Maybe you’ll make it.”
“Or you can let us hide out in your luxury underground condo with you. How about that?”
“Four of us in there?” He waved towards the grassy mound. “Talk about close quarters. How long do you reckon we’ll last before I throttle Smith or he throttles me? Anyway, it may already be too late.”
“What do you mean?”
Fletcher caressed the tree trunk beside him, looking ruminative. “Sherwood Forest talks to me, you see.”
“It does?”
“Nothing happens in these woods that I don’t know about. And the forest is telling me…” He cocked his head to one side, as though listening to voices Ajia could not hear. Around them, a myriad leaves chattered busily, like gossips’ tongues. “It’s telling me Paladins are moving in to surround it. They’re closing the place off. No way in or out. So you three are trapped. I guess if you started out straight away, you might get back to your car in time, but I don’t rate your chances.”
“That’s it, then,” Ajia said. “We have to stay.”
“Maybe you do,” Fletcher said ruefully. Then he burst into laughter. “Come on, you didn’t really fall for it, did you? ‘Sherwood Forest talks to me’? I’m bullshitting.”
“Oh.” It wouldn’t have surprised Ajia if Reed Fletcher, given that he was the eidolon of Robin Hood, had some sort of mystical connection with the forest. She was somewhat disappointed, in fact, that he didn’t. She knew now, from experience, that far stranger things were possible. “So, that stuff about the Paladins isn’t true either?”
“No, it’s true all right.” He produced a phone from his pocket and waggled it in the air. “I was just checking the BBC news feed. Can’t get a signal inside the lair but out here there’s a couple of bars. Major-league Paladin operation under way around Sherwood Forest, apparently. Whole area’s cordoned off to the public until further notice. Details are sketchy, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out they’re setting up a perimeter. After that, they’ll either move in to search or they’ll sit tight, hoping to starve you guys out, like it’s a siege. One or the other, depending on how pissy or patient they’re feeling. My money’s on pissy.”
Ajia took him by the arm and dragged him back to the bunker.
“Tell them what you just told me,” she said.
Fletcher did.
“Great,” said Smith. “We’re trapped. The forest has become a prison and all we can do is wait for the Paladins to find us.”
“If Reed lets us hang out with him here,” said Ajia, “maybe we can stick it out. They won’t keep hunting for us forever. There’s got to come a point when they say enough’s enough and give up. We just have to outlast them.”
“Easier said than done,” said Fletcher. “There’s the supply situation, for starters. We don’t have to worry about drinking water. There’s a spring I use nearby. But food’s limited. I have a few tins, some dried stuff, but mostly the forest provides. Squirrel, rabbit, the odd deer. Wild mushrooms, chickweed, sorrel, horse parsley, dandelion leaves. Beech nuts, blackberries and hawthorn berries in season. I get by. But that’s me alone. Four of us, that’ll be a whole lot harder to cater for and it’ll mean more time spent outdoors foraging, which’ll mean more chance of getting spotted. I’m not saying we couldn’t make this work. I’m just saying it’s going to be damn near impossible.”
“At least you’re not turfing us out,” said Mr LeRoy. “That’s something.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not a total wanker.”
Smith grumbled something inaudible. Ajia suspected he was disputing Fletcher’s assertion.
“So that’s that,” she said, slumping down in one of the picnic-table chairs. “We’re living here until further notice. Not ideal but it’ll have to do. I just…”
“What?” said Mr LeRoy.
“No, nothing.”
“Come on, out with it, Ajia.”
She took a deep breath. So much had happened over the past few hours, she was having difficulty processing it. Yet certain thoughts were starting to crystallise in her head, the events of last night bringing a whole host of things––emotions, ideas, memories––into focus.
“I’m fed up, that’s all,” she said. “It shouldn’t have to be like this. I’ve been on the run pretty much constantly since the police arrested me and I died and came back to life. Even at Summer Land, it felt like a respite but it wasn’t, not really. It was just a different kind of being on the run. I’m sick and tired of it. I’m tired, full stop. That’ll be why I’m having a moan. You can tell me to shut up if you like.”
“No, you’re entitled to vent,” said Mr LeRoy. “Get it out of your system. No one minds.”
“I’m not just venting, though,” Ajia said. “I’m feeling… Well, resentful doesn’t begin to cover it. I hate the fucking Paladins. I hate Derek Drake. I hate what this country’s become. Everything keeps getting worse and worse. There’s a part of me wants to go outside and walk up to the nearest Paladin and let the bastard shoot me. Put me out of my misery.”
“Don’t say that,” Fletcher said. “Don’t ever say that.”
“Don’t worry, because there’s another part of me that wants to bring them to their knees––the Paladins, the Resurrection Party, dickhead Drake, the whole lot. It’s a larger part. An angrier part. And it’s the part that’s speaking now. I wish there were some way we could tear down the government, undo everything Drake’s done, make it all better again. Britain wasn’t perfect before but it wasn’t shit-awful either. It functioned. It tried to be tolerant. If you didn’t like something, you could at least protest about it, maybe change it. There was hope. We hadn’t all turned on each other like rats in a dumpster. We weren’t bullying the weak and chucking out the unwanted.”
“You’re not the only one who feels that way,” Mr LeRoy said, “but it’s too late, Ajia. The damage is done. I don’t think there’s anything you or I or anybody can do about it.”
“Isn’t there?” Ajia said. “When you told me your theory about why eidolons came to be, what did you compare us to?”
“I don’t recall the precise metaphor. Was it canaries in the coalmine?”
“It was. And I asked you if that was all. Because it seemed to me––still does––that that’s kind of underwhelming. I mean, look at us. I can run faster than a Bullet Train. You can find other eidolons as if by magic. Smith can build things practically out of thin air and heal injuries. Reed here’s super accurate with his arrows. Am I right about that? I saw how you clipped off one of Smith’s dreads.”
“I was aiming for his face,” said Fletcher.
“No, you weren’t. We’ve all got these abilities, these powers. Calling us coalmine canaries is selling us short. You also, Mr LeRoy, said that we’re signs of a fever. That the country’s sick and we’re the symptoms. I’ve been thinking about that, and I reckon it’s wrong.”
The three men were quiet. Ajia took this as carte blanche to carry on.
“What if our purpose isn’t to be a human warning system?” she said. “What if it’s something more?”
“In what way?” said Mr LeRoy.
“My feeling is, if you’re going to liken us to anything illness-related, it should be antibodies. You know, white blood cells and all that. We have a specific purpose. We’re designed to oppose, to fight back, to fix things.”
Fletcher shook his head slowly, warily. “This is sounding very much like insurgent talk. The sort of talk that ends up getting you killed.”
“You could sound more disapproving.”
“Well, as long as it remains just talk…”
“Please hear me out, at least,” she said. “I find it hard to believe that we’ve got the talents we have and we’re not using them proactively. We’ve run, we’ve hid, we’ve been on the back foot. We’ve let the
authorities hound us. Just now, Reed said he found Summer Land passive. I have to say, on balance I agree with him. I didn’t realise it at the time but I can see it now. Summer Land was a wonderful idea, Mr LeRoy, but it was, all said and done, a defensive tactic. Perhaps, with all those eidolons gathered in one place, we could have achieved more. We could have stood up and made a difference.”
“Perry stood up,” Mr LeRoy said. “He stood up to those Paladins, and you saw the result.”
“It was horrible but at least he tried. We should draw inspiration from his example.”
“What are you proposing here, Ajia?” said Smith. “That the four of us should somehow try and take on the government? Smash the whole Resurrection Party apparatus, Paladins and all? Be Britain’s liberators? A noble sentiment, undoubtedly, but preposterous.”
Ajia sighed. “I am probably talking out of my arse, and you can blame it on exhaustion, grief, outrage, whatever. However, it’s making sense, if only to me. So, Reed is Robin Hood. Folk hero who fought against the Sherriff of Nottingham and wicked King John. Those two were his big bads, as far as I remember. I’m not an expert. But they were the oppressive forces back then, the Derek Drakes of the day.”
“I hope you’re not trying to recruit me for something,” said Fletcher. “Three tours in Helmand Province, one in Sierra Leone. I’ve had enough of the whole putting-your-life-on-the-line-for-others thing. Been there, done that, got the bloodstained T-shirt.”
“What I’m getting at is that Robin Hood has pedigree, more so than Wayland the Smith or Oberon or Puck. Robin Hood is a bona fide big name in anti-establishment resistance.”
“Robin Hood might have been, but Reed Fletcher isn’t.”
“You could at least be a figurehead we could rally around,” Ajia said. “The core of something much larger.”
Age of Legends Page 19
