‘We will carry him.’ Finn had suddenly appeared beside them. ‘Where do you live?’
The old woman hesitated.
‘You don’t know whether to trust us or not,’ Marlo said.
‘I want no dealings with Noa’s kind,’ Edgeware said. ‘I rather live here with the beasts. At least they be what they seem to be.’
Marlo nodded.
‘I have heard of you. They call you The Black Woman of the Woods. I just didn’t believe you existed.’ He smiled. ‘We have met people you rescued.’
‘They save selves,’ Edgeware said. ‘I just give them helping hand. Like this one.’ She nodded towards Benjamin.
‘I couldn’t move him so I keep vigil with him. I thinking he would die here. Now, maybe no. I be taking you to my dwellin’. Follow me.’
Without a word, Marlo and Finn leant down and picked the old man up. Letta kept a firm grip on his hand. He muttered something and then went quiet.
Stepping out of the fire circle, Letta felt the cold again. It had grown dark and the air was now frigid. She couldn’t imagine anyone living in this place. How did Edgeware survive? Where did she get food and water? She glanced at Benjamin. She had thought she would never see that face again.
He had been in her life for as long as she could remember. A steady, gentle presence. Always there, never faltering. It had taken this to make her realise that she loved him. He had been mother and father to her, friend and mentor. In the first days, after her parents left, he had distracted her, taking her on long walks, talking to her about his craft. Later, when they didn’t come back, he had started to train her as his apprentice, directing her, giving her a purpose. She’d always thought of him as a stopgap, someone who would take care of her till the people she loved came back. Now she realised he was the person she loved, and he was the person who loved her, and she didn’t want to lose him. She bit her lip. She wouldn’t lose him. Somehow, they would come through this.
The forest thinned out as they walked until they came to a clearing. They followed the strange woman across an open field. In the half-light, Letta could see that the ground was rutted and covered in a carpet of dense white flowers, making it look as if a heavy mist had fallen on the starved scutch grass.
Before them lay the remains of a village, clusters of deserted houses crouched behind waist-high weeds, brambles and tattered shrubs, with their eyes blinded and their little doors kicked in. Letta had never seen a place as lonely.
Edgeware led them on till they came to a cottage set away from the others. It was a sturdy little house, with a reinforced wooden door and small windows. Around the perimeter was a dry-stone wall and Letta could see torches set in the stone at regular intervals. They followed her through a gate in the wall and up the winding path to the door. There they stopped.
Edgeware lifted the heavy beams that guarded the door, kicked it open and went through. Then she beckoned them in. The men had to bend their heads to go through. Letta followed, glad to be in out of the cold. Inside was a small room, neat and organised. There was a makeshift bed in the corner and there Edgeware told the men to leave Benjamin.
As soon as he was settled, Letta knelt on the floor beside him.
‘We need bandage for fingers,’ Edgeware said.
Letta could only nod. Her throat felt tight and constricted and she felt tears prick her eyes.
Edgeware slipped away.
Letta stroked Benjamin’s hand. ‘You’re going to be all right, master,’ she whispered into his ear. ‘You have survived worse things than this.’
Edgeware came back with a basin and old rags. She took a piece of cloth and soaked it in the water. Then, very gently, she started to remove the black clots that clung to the nail bed. Benjamin groaned.
‘Can you take over here, bairn?’ Edgeware said. ‘I need to get him potion for the pain.’
Letta nodded. She took the cloth and very tentatively started to clean away the dried blood. In her heart a fire of pure rage was burning bright, but she ignored it, focusing on the work in hand. A few minutes later, Edgeware was back with a herbal drink. She pressed the cup to Benjamin’s lips. He opened his eyes for a second.
‘Just drink,’ Edgeware said.
As soon as he had swallowed the liquid, he relapsed into his previous comatose state.
‘He be right weak.’ Edgeware said. ‘Right weak.’
‘Can you make him better?’ Letta said, stopping in her work to look straight into the other woman’s eyes.
Edgeware shook her head. ‘I can nay make people better or worse,’ she said. ‘They do that their own selves. He be an old man. He be badly treated by ignorant people that can nay see themselves for the fools they be.’
‘Why would they do this?’ Letta asked. ‘Why?’
The old woman shook her head. ‘Who knows?’ she said. ‘Maybe he tell us when he be able to.’
Time passed slowly after that. They cleaned his hands and Edgeware put a salve on the raw flesh.
‘What’s in that?’ Letta asked looking at the thick cream clinging to the open wounds.
‘Oak bark, lobelia, comfrey, marshmallow root, mullein leaf, skullcap, black walnut, aloe and calendula in a base of beeswax.’ The old woman recited the list of herbs like a mantra.
Letta had never heard of most of them.
‘Oak bark be natural antiseptic. Mullein leaves ease pain. I still have small store of beeswax since before the wild bees became extinct.’
‘You are a healer,’ Letta said.
Edgeware smiled. ‘If you like,’ she said. ‘Now let him sleep. Sleep be the greatest healer of all.’
Edgeware moved away, but Letta stayed there holding the old man’s hand. In the background, she could hear the gentle hum of conversation between Finn and Edgeware and she could smell garlic cooking but she didn’t move. She remembered a night long ago, when she was about nine or ten. She had woken from her sleep with a fever. She had called out for Benjamin and he had sat there all night with her because she was afraid to go to sleep.
She looked at his worn old face and her heart filled with love for him. He had been through so much. Was it all to end here in this cabin deep in the forest? As if in answer to her question, the old man opened his eyes.
‘Letta!’ he said. ‘Letta!’
CHAPTER 16
#357
Remember
Keep in mind, no forget
‘HOW are you, master?’ she said gently.
He looked up at her, the old grey eyes unusually bright.
‘I have so much to tell you, so many things you should know. I promised your mother you would have nothing to do with politics. It had cost her so much already.’
His eyes had grown dull and his breathing more laboured. Letta shook her head.
‘It’s all right, master. Be calm now.’
The old man turned his head towards her and even that little movement seemed to cost him great effort. She had to put her ear to his mouth to hear him.
‘John Noa is not what we thought. He wants to make us all wordless, Letta. Permanently. We would never be able to communicate again. Never.’
A fit of coughing shook the old man’s body and he lay back on his pillow, defeated.
‘What will happen to us?’ Letta asked. ‘Will we become extinct?’
‘“Extinction” is the saddest word,’ Benjamin said. ‘Noa told me that when I first met him.’
‘Why did Noa hurt you, master? Why did he arrest you?’
‘He wanted to help me, save me.’
‘Save you from what?’
‘You don’t understand. In the old days, before the Melting, no-one would listen. No-one. The politicians just talked and talked. They used words to keep the people in ignorance.’
‘It’s all right, master,’ Letta said, laying her hand on his arm. ‘Don’t upset yourself.’
‘What Noa wants to do is insane,’ he whispered. ‘I couldn’t agree to it. I don’t want to be one of the elite. I don’t
. What have I done, Letta? I trusted him.’
‘Don’t worry, master. It will all work out.’ She tried to make her voice soothing but he was so weak she couldn’t be sure he was hearing anything she said.
He grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into her flesh. ‘Don’t drink the water. Remember that, child. Don’t drink the water. Don’t let anyone drink it.’
His hand fell away and he closed his eyes. Soon he was asleep, his laboured breathing replacing the silence. Letta watched him, noticing the deep lines in his face, the grey in his hair. It seemed he had become old overnight. She stroked his cheek, talking softly to him, reassuring him, comforting him.
Later, she walked out of the house feeling shocked and numb. He’s ill, she thought. Why else would he talk the way he is talking? John Noa plans to make us wordless? Don’t drink the water. It doesn’t make any sense.
‘Letta!’
Marlo’s voice cut across her reverie. Letta watched him stride across the yard towards her. The air was heavy. She looked up and saw that the sky too seemed loaded, as if it would soon snow. Somewhere overhead a bird screeched and Letta realised how quiet it was. A silence had fallen on the forest, broken only by the moaning of the wind.
‘There you are!’ Marlo said, putting his arm around her. She shivered despite herself. ‘How is he?’
‘Weak,’ Letta said more to herself than anyone else. ‘He thinks Noa plans to make us wordless. He keeps telling me not to drink the water.’
She looked up at Marlo, trying to judge his reaction.
Marlo shrugged. ‘Let him rest. Talk to him again after he’s slept.’
Letta nodded.
The day passed slowly, with Benjamin lapsing in and out of consciousness. In the background, Letta was aware of Marlo and Finn coming and going, talking in hushed tones. Edgeware continued to dose him with her various concoctions, leaving little bottles beside the bed, mixing potions that filled the house with strange smells, but nothing seemed to help.
‘He be an old man,’ Edgeware said to Letta. ‘You can nay expect too much. Old people get tired, you know. After a while they nay care so much.’
‘But he will get better.’ Letta pushed her.
‘Perhaps,’ Edgeware said, but Letta didn’t like what she saw in her eyes.
As night fell like a thick blanket, Letta again went to sit with Benjamin. Edgeware bandaged his hands again and left a noxious brew for him to drink when he woke.
‘I sleep now,’ she said to Letta. ‘I come to you in a few hours. Call me if you be jittered. The wolves might come close to the house. You’ll hear them, but Finn lit the torches outside earlier. That will keep them at bay.’
‘Thank you for everything,’ Letta said. ‘I still don’t understand why you’ve done all this for us.
The old woman sighed. ‘I can nay do much for your kind,’ she said. ‘But I try to show them that there are people who can behave like humans were meant to behave. I remember the old days. The human race made a lot of mistakes, but we did good things too. We had minds of our own. We made decisions. It wasn’t all bad.’
Before Letta could say anything, the old woman turned and left the room. Letta went over and sat beside Benjamin. His breath was coming in soft little gasps like the rabbits Letta had seen in the wheat fields as a child.
Soft little puffs of air.
Outside she thought she could hear moaning. It could be wolves gathering, she thought. Or maybe the wind.
The old man woke just before the dawn. Edgeware had insisted that Letta sleep for a few hours while she kept watch and, to her own surprise, Letta had slept. When she returned she found Edgeware nodding by the bed, her chin bouncing gently on her chest. Letta had sent Edgeware to her bed and resumed her vigil about an hour before the dawn. The old man had been restless but had not regained consciousness.
When he turned his head, Letta could see that he was barely able to open his eyes.
‘Master,’ she said, ‘you awake!’
He squeezed her hand.
‘There are things I need to … tell you, Letta. I wish I could pass this burden to someone else … someone older … but you are the wordsmith now.’
‘What, master? What should I know?’
‘John Noa called me to his house to make me an offer. He offered me immunity … from … what he planned to do.’
A fit of coughing suddenly racked his body. Letta lifted his head and waited anxiously until it subsided.
‘It’s all right, master,’ she said. ‘You can tell me later. Rest now.’
He lay back on the pillow and Letta could see a blue glow about his mouth.
‘No time,’ he said. ‘Let me finish.’
She stroked his hand. ‘Go on, then,’ she said.
‘John Noa plans … to make the people … wordless.’
‘Wordless?’ What could he have in mind? A shorter List? No List?
‘He’s determined. He thinks man is still a … liability.’
‘Master?’ Letta felt her heart pounding.
He opened his eyes again. ‘Letta,’ he said, ‘you are the wordsmith now. For centuries … centuries … writers have stood between the rulers and … the people. You have to … stop him.’
Letta put her hand on his cheek. ‘I will, master,’ she said, tears rolling down her face. ‘I will.’
‘They loved you very much, you know, your parents. They would never be … away … if they could help it.’
‘I know that, master,’ she said.
He tightened his grip on her hand.
‘In my study, in the bottom drawer, is a package, for you, Letta. Do not open it until all of this is over. Then, if there is a future … if you manage to stop him … open it then.’
‘But what is it, master? Why do –’
‘No questions, child. Just remember … the birds still fly south, remember that, child.’
Letta had no idea what he meant. Was he delirious again?
His breathing got more laboured. He gripped her hand.
‘You have been … like a daughter to me, Letta,’ he said. ‘You can’t let Noa do this … to us.’
Letta tried to speak, but her throat was too tight, tears rolling into her mouth and down her neck. Around the room, the fireflies were gathering. Words she couldn’t say dancing about her head.
Love. Heart. Warmth.
‘Master,’ she managed to say, but he hushed her and with the last of his strength pulled her to him.
She put her head on his chest. She could just hear the faint beat of his heart and feel his hand on her hair.
‘No need,’ he said. ‘No need for words.’
She closed her eyes, listening to him breathe, and a calmness descended.
Outside she heard a lone bird greet the day, its song bright and full of hope. The sun shone weakly through the window and warmed her neck. Benjamin exhaled, one long breath, a breath full of resignation. Letta waited for him to inhale, but there was only the sound of her own heart in her ears.
And then, she knew, he was gone.
She had stayed with him for as long as she could. She didn’t wake the others, wanting these last few hours alone with him. Her mind was racing with all he had told her but her heart was numb. She tried to remember the happy times they had spent together, things he had told her, but she couldn’t concentrate. He was depending on her and she would not let him down.
She paced the floor, trying to assemble the facts as she knew them. Noa planned to make people wordless. He had offered to save Benjamin but Benjamin had refused his offer. Noa had murdered him. That was all she knew.
The immensity of her promise hit her. How could she stop Noa? She had no idea what it was he planned to do. Images of the Wordless haunted her.
Edgeware came to her as the first flurries of snow filled the window. She looked at the old man, then took Letta in her arms. Letta was glad to feel the warmth of the older woman, but she still couldn’t feel anything emotionally.
Within m
inutes, Finn and Marlo joined them. They sat together around the bed while Edgeware chanted old verses that she said would shelter his fleeing spirit. Letta had never heard anything like it.
Hallowed, hallowed be thy name
You shall nay want
For thou be great
As you be in your beginning
Be now
And ever shall be
Hallowed, hallowed, hallowed.
Then, with the help of Marlo and Finn she wrapped Benjamin’s body in a white linen sheet. At midday, they buried him behind the cottage as snow fell on Letta’s hair and rested on her upturned face. The others left her alone then, to say her last goodbyes. Anger consumed her. Hot, fierce anger roaring inside her so that her ears rang and her stomach churned.
She looked back into the dark forest but there was nothing to see apart from the snow, a white screen between her and the rest of the world.
Benjamin. She would never see him again, never hear his voice, never hold his warm hand. His soft, reassuring presence in her life was gone for ever, like a clock that had stopped ticking.
Marlo’s voice woke her from her reverie.
‘There you are,’ he said. ‘I was worried.’
Of course he was worried. She was in the forest, alone. How quickly she had grown used to her new surroundings, lulled into a mindless security in a matter of days.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I needed time to think.’
He offered her his hand, and she took it with some reluctance.
‘I talked to Finn,’ Marlo said. ‘You can live with us. If you want to. Would you like that?’
She could see the concern in his beautiful eyes, the blue-grey shining in the white light. She hesitated.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I would love to go and live with you, but –’
He frowned.
‘But?’
‘I have to go back, Marlo. There are things I have to do.’
As soon as the words were spoken, she realised she had made her decision. She had to try to do what Benjamin had asked of her.
‘You should know something.’ Marlo spoke slowly. ‘We are planning a revolution. Finn has already recruited people from Ark, from Tintown. It is only a matter of time before we overthrow Noa. You could be part of that.’
The Wordsmith Page 15
