by Donald Brown
Daniel’s eyes grew wide. It was the first time he had heard this story.
It didn’t seem to matter to Jane that the three boys could be innocent. Certainly not while one of them was bound like a prisoner. “Yes, I would prefer it if you went to another house,” she said matter-of-factly, pushing a strand of hair from her face.
“Well… uhm… O.K. then,” Daniel replied awkwardly. He gave Jane his best fake smile, as she tightened her lips in anticipation. He then said, “Well, you heard the owner lady, let’s go.”
***
After they had packed all their belongings onto the horses outside, they went to search for another place to sleep and found a much bigger house across the street. Jamie was disgruntled at having to move again, but Jasper slapped him across the face to invigorate feeling in his legs.
They unpacked everything again and settled in the new house. Once everyone had chosen a bedroom, they gathered in the kitchen and Jasper gave them caramel bars and water.
As soon as the meager supper had been consumed, it became apparent that Daniel was once more bored. He repeatedly sighed while drumming his fingers on the table, drawing irksome gazes from Hadrian and Jasper.
Finally, he stood up and said with some ceremony, “I should probably go check on Jane, see if she is safe.”
“You go do that,” Jasper replied in an instant, all too happy to get rid of the annoying boy.
Daniel disappeared, which left the rest of them in complete silence.
They were lost in their own thoughts for more than fifteen minutes when Jasper began to grow a little concerned. “Storm,” he said, “Daniel’s been away for a quarter of an hour now. Why don’t you go check on him? I don’t want any trouble with his father.”
Storm accepted the task and then headed out into the night of Oakheart.
He noticed that the slice of moon he had seen during the previous nights was no largely gone, accentuating the darkness in the deserted streets. With nobody in the city anymore, Storm felt a bit frightened. As he walked across the road, he heard a sudden loud whack, which made him jump in anxiety. He then noticed that is was only the wind that had slammed the door of one of the buildings against its frame. He cursed Daniel silently in the darkness.
Hurrying over to Jane’s house, he could hear arguing coming from the inside. He popped his head through the open door and saw the two standing across from each other, Jane furious and Daniel somewhat flustered.
“I can just help you with–” Daniel started saying.
“I said I don’t need your help!” Jane snapped. “Like I have repeated several times! Exactly the same as I have repeated several times that you should leave my house!”
“But,” Daniel continued.
“Daniel,” Storm now said from the doorway, which made both of them look at him. “Just leave her alone, please.”
Daniel sighed and then walked over to the door, giving Jane once last polite bow as he reached Storm. She ignored the gesture, pleased that he was finally leaving.
Once outside, Daniel said, “I need to do something with myself. I can’t just sit there and watch your brother be grumpy. Let’s explore the town a bit more.”
Storm shook his head. “I think we have to return to the safety of the house.”
“Oh, come on, Storm, where is your sense of adventure?” Daniel wanted to know. “Just join me for a short while, man. We will be back with dear Jasper in no time.”
Storm didn’t like the idea very much, but he thought a little exploring couldn’t do any major harm. He could return at any time he wanted, so he agreed to the plan.
“That Jane woman is just being stubborn,” Daniel said, as they walked towards the city square. “I don’t know why she hates me so much.”
“Maybe because you sometimes have no tact,” Storm supplied. He actually knew that was the problem, he wasn’t really conjecturing.
“No, I don’t think that’s it.”
Storm didn’t reply. He was pretty sure that was about it.
“Let’s go down this road,” Daniel said, but then they heard a scream coming from behind them.
It was Jane.
They hurried back to her house and, when they barged through the door, saw to their distress that she was surrounded by two Peacekeepers.
The two Peacekeepers swirled around when they heard the boys enter. “If it isn’t the traitor,” one of them said. Storm recognized him as one of the boys from his class.
“You have been misled,” Storm tried. “Just look at how well the Outsiders are doing!”
But he knew it was worthless. His former classmate just shook his head in disgust.
“You mean they have stolen well,” the Peacekeeper told him.
All of a sudden, Daniel threw a stone he’d been concealing at one of the Peacekeeper’s and it hit him squarely on the jaw, sending him down in pain.
The other Peacekeeper advanced on the two of them, swinging his sword in anger, which they barely managed to avoid. The Peacekeeper knocked Daniel on to his back and was about to skewer him, when there came a loud thump from behind and the Peacekeeper fell to the ground. Jane stood over him, holding in her hands the bloody stone that had been thrown by Daniel. Clearly the Peacekeeper had underestimated the usefulness of a woman in this case.
At that moment, Jasper and Hadrian arrived on the scene. Storm reckoned that they must have made quite a noise with all the fighting.
Jasper took one quick look around and said, “We have to get out of here – tonight. And you can’t stay here either,” he added, speaking to Jane.
“No, I will–” Jane started, but Jasper cut her off.
“These people are going to find you and if they don’t, they will burn this city to the ground in any event, so you will die or you will be forced to run and thereby allow them to capture you. Those are your options if you remain here. Or you can just come with us to the safety of Pandemonium. Which do you think is better?” Jasper finished, staring at her.
Jane hunkered for a moment in indecision and then said, “Alright. I’ll join you.”
“Don’t worry, Jane,” Daniel said, smiling at their new companion. “I will look after you.”
Jane placed her hands on her hips. “That is exactly what I am worried about.”
Hadrian smirked at that. It was the first time Storm had seen him cast anything resembling a smile since they had left Sanctuary. Not that he had smiled many times in Sanctuary either.
They started packing up their belongings for the second time that night and shortly after that, the party set out for their night journey to Pandemonium.
40
It was clear that Daniel was becoming very excited about finally arriving at Pandemonium.
He began to sing cheerfully as they moved forward, which made Hadrian lose his cool, to a point where Jasper had to tell the tavern boy to shut up.
When they had escaped from the Oakheart, they had met no more Sanctuarians on the road, but when they’d reached a hill just before sunrise and looked back, they clearly saw that they had made a wise decision. Oakheart was now burning behind them. Jane had covered her mouth in devastation and Daniel had moved to comfort her, but this caused him to brush against Hadrian, who had knocked him away. This had almost started a fight again, but Jasper merely shot a look at them and rattled his sword, which was enough to silence them. The sight of the town now encouraged them to move as fast as they could.
During the morning, they had reached the main road again and they had submerged themselves between the refugees. Daniel tried to find what happened to Brill from some of the people he recognized, but to no avail. Amongst the refugees were also a few traders. Men riding in the direction of Pandemonium with horses carrying loads, intended to be bartered in the city. Jasper first had to explain this concept to Storm and Hadrian, as the idea of selling and buying was completely alien to them. Storm could not fathom the idea that one could actually argue about the value of something, let alone pay for it.
“It makes sense, how else are you supposed to make a living?” Daniel chipped in, taking offence at Hadrian’s tone.
“You communalize and you become selfless,” Hadrian replied. “You let people have the items for free or you let the community distribute it amongst everyone.”
“What does that even mean, Hadrian? How can the community just distribute everything? Things have different values.”
Hadrian tightened his jaw in irritation. “Just place everything under the control of the most selfless person and then he will teach others how to operate.”
“Sounds stupid,” Daniel snorted. “Nobody really cares about other people, you only want to help yourself, that is how things have always worked in the world.”
Hadrian opened his mouth angrily, but Jasper interjected. “Let’s camp here,” he said in a tired voice. Storm had a sneaky suspicion that he had only said it to interrupt a conversation he thought would lead to a fiercer argument. He seemed somewhat fed-up with the constant bickering between Daniel and Hadrian.
They settled at their new campsite and Jasper soon had a fire going. “Storm, Hadrian…” he called, “go fetch us some firewood.”
When they were out of hearing distance, Hadrian took Storm by the arm. “We can’t go on like this, Storm. We need to escape from these selfish people.”
Storm thought about it while swallowing hard. He’d had a feeling Hadrian would once again bring up this conversation. “We can’t Hadrian,” he finally answered.
Hadrian bit his lower lip. “You definitely seem to fit into this new world better than I do.”
Storm looked up at him, surprised. He thought he was going to see anger on Hadrian’s face, but it was the same admiration he had seen after John had been killed.
“I have underestimated you,” Hadrian continued, to Storm’s astonishment. “I have been too harsh all these years. You deserved better. After all it was my fault that our mother… that our mother had been taken.” And to Storm’s complete surprise, he started sobbing.
“Hadrian?” he asked uncertainly. “What are you talking about?”
“I could have stopped them, Storm!”
He angrily wiped his tears away as Storm shook his head.
“There was nothing you could have done.”
Storm was astonished to hear that after all these years, his brother had contained this within himself. It explained why he took his mother’s promise so seriously.
“Are you two love birds done? We need more wood here!” Jasper called.
Hadrian nodded and brushed away the last remains of his tears. He then set off back to the camp, carrying his pile of firewood and leaving Storm a few steps behind, still amazed.
Once there they had packed the firewood next to a tree, they took their places in a half circle around the fire. Ever since escaping Sanctuary, Hadrian had slowly begun to warm up to the idea of a fire and the sand, day by day. He was now actually sitting in their presence., although his eyes were still a bit red.
“So why were you two kicked out of Sanctuary?” Daniel asked.
Storm looked at Hadrian but he showed no sign that he was prepared to answer the question.
“Because,” Storm said, “I was found unworthy of a service and my brother… who was supposed to kill me… didn’t. Jasper then helped us to escape.”
There followed a moment of comfortable silence as everybody was enjoying the warmth of the fire. In the distance, they could hear a raven croak as dusk was approaching.
“Wow,” Daniel finally remarked, leaning backwards, wide-eyed and shaking his head. “That is harsh, man. I can’t believe it.”
“Your brother was supposed to kill you?” Jane asked, shocked.
Storm glanced at her and understood. He realized now that the Sanctuarian ways had to appear very strange indeed to an Outsider. He turned his gaze once more to the ground and nodded. “It was a command. The penalty for not following commands is also death.”
“Then I think it was incredibly brave of you not to obey the command,” she stated, regarding Hadrian with a tender look.
Hadrian blushed slightly and Daniel, in turn, grew slightly annoyed. “Let’s play a game,” he suggested. “Each person has to tell a secret that nobody else knows about.”
“I am not playing such a stupid game,” Hadrian replied in an instant.
“Oh, come on, stop being such a twat,” Daniel said dismissively. “Play the game and people might just start liking you. How did you put it? ‘Communalize’ a little.”
Hadrian grumbled at this.
“O.K. I will start, although for me it is easy, because nobody here really knows me,” Daniel said. “Here’s the thing: I once woke up naked in a house I have never been in, after a drinking with some friends in Brill.”
Jane looked unimpressed with this so-called secret and Jasper sniffed in derision. Storm smiled as Daniel looked at each of them with a hint of pride on his face.
“O.K.” Daniel said, looking around and zeroing in on Jane. “What about the newcomer?”
It was now almost completely dark outside and the temperature had dropped considerably. Everybody moved closer to the fire, even Hadrian.
She folded her hands across her lap and spoke in a soft voice: “I’ve never liked my parents when I was a child and I am sure they’ve never liked me…”
“I wonder why,” Daniel mumbled, just loud enough for Storm to hear.
“What?” Jane asked.
“Nothing, nothing.”
“So, yes,” she continued, “this invasion was a perfect way to escape from them.”
Having nothing further to say, Daniel turned his attention to Storm. “What about you, Storm? What nasty secrets do you have from your years in Sanctuary?”
Storm didn’t really know what to say at that point. He felt quite put on the spot. What secrets did he have in Sanctuary? “I guess… I guess that I never really believed any of it,” he stammered. “I mean, the Sanctuarian belief system and all the rules and stuff.”
“Why not?” Jasper asked sharply.
Storm looked up and saw that he was now alert. “Well… it is going to sound strange… but I think it has something to do with my mother,” he admitted, his face flushing. “I knew she was always ‘happy’ and yet she never practiced the Sanctuarian ways. All the time while the others who did practice the Sanctuarian ways… never appeared happy to me.” He peered at Hadrian and noticed that this was news to him. It was the first time Storm really told this to anyone else. Even the Spiritual Leader did not know about his scepticism.
“And what are the Sanctuarian ways?” Jane asked, curious.
Storm glanced at Hadrian again before he replied. “Selflessness and community and all those concepts of uniformity and equality amongst people.”
“What does that even mean?” Daniel inquired.
“Nothing,” Jasper told him. “It’s all just licensed stupidity.”
“All right, this game has become way more serious than the way I usually play it,” Daniel told them. “Now it is your turn, angry one,” he said to Hadrian.
“I am not playing,” Hadrian repeated
“All right, old man, then you are up,” he said to Jasper.
Jasper sat there and thought for a second. Then he glanced at the two Sanctuarians before saying, “I knew your mother in Sanctuary.”
So it must be the true then, Storm thought.
Nobody really knew how to respond to that. Both Storm and Hadrian were holding their breaths as Jasper continued. “I haven’t been completely honest with you two…”
“Can we play as well?” a voice interrupted from out of the darkness.
Then everything happened at once.
Jamie – who had silently been freed from the ropes by a bunch of Peacekeepers – grabbed hold of Hadrian, as the rest of them jumped upright, but they were already surrounded. “Hadrian!”
Storm yelled as a swarm of Red Cloaks descended on them, aiming for the two brothers. Jasper whipped out his gun and started shooting left, right and center. He pulled Jane closer to him, while Daniel stood in front of her, beating Peacekeepers away with his bare hands.
“Take him!” Jamie shouted to one of the Peacekeepers. “I will get the other one.”
Daniel quickly pulled Jane out of harm’s way and they ran to a tree behind the camp, where the horses were resting.
“Just leave us alone!” Storm yelled, slapping away hands that sought to capture him. “What the hell do you want with us?”
“We want you to return home,” a familiar soft voice said.
To Storm’s disbelief, the Spiritual Leader emerged from behind one of the Red Cloaks. Storm suspected that he had been standing there all along. Next to him, two Peacekeepers were holding Hadrian down.
Just then, Jamie’s face appeared out of the darkness again, advancing on Storm, but there was a loud crack and he fell to the ground, clutching his leg in agony.
Jasper, who was pointing his gun at the remaining Red Cloaks, took hold of Storm and they slowly backed away from the scene, edging towards the horses where Daniel and Jane were already waiting for them.
There was a high-pitched whistle and then the Servant Vladimir also appeared on the scene. “Stop!” he shouted.
Storm looked up to see that they had forced his brother to his knees, the Blood Captain behind him. “No!” Storm yelled, trying to break free from Jasper’s grip. “We can’t leave Hadrian behind!”
“We have to, Storm,” Jasper grunted, struggling to contain Storm whilst still backing towards the horses.
“Boy-150,” Vladimir called out, “Come back to us, or your brother dies.”
Storm shook his head desperately, whereupon the Blood Captain raised a knife to Hadrian’s throat. The two Peacekeepers were holding him steady by his shoulders.
Hadrian seemed resigned to his fate, appearing peaceful at last. “Go, Storm!” he said in a breaking voice. “I am not made for this new world. Go on without me!”
