Chapter 13
The doors to the chamber swung open. Eve turned to Lien.
“They’ve made a decision?”
“They must have,” Lien answered.
Callen took a deep breath; his moment of judgment had arrived. Eve was certain, one way or another, she was about to lose Callen.
“I’m not waiting outside, this time,” she said, pushing past others to get through the great wooden doors before anyone could stop her. Confusion reigned as an entire audience tried to reseat themselves on unmarked benches. Arguments broke about where people were sitting. Gerda brought down her gavel sharply three times. The crowd settled.
“Callen. You have our permission to return home,” Gerda said in a loud, clear voice. She then looked at papers in front of her. “Next case,” she announced, doing her best to bring any dissent to a quick end. The audience erupted in shock. Shrieks of protest broke out. Gerda and the other Elders ignored it. Callen was quick to his feet and straight to Lien.
“Thank you, so much. They weren’t listening to me.” Lien took his thanks uncomfortably. He was feeling guilty about his motives and surprised by the verdict. Eve was on her feet, astonished by the decision. Gerda rapped her gavel four more times in quick succession.
“Next case,” she issued forcefully. It was enough to hush the crowd. Callen, Lien and Eve were free to leave.
On the long ride home, they adopted a quiet, reflective mood. Each had their thoughts about the verdict and what it meant. Callen knew his leaving would upset Eve. She was riding ahead and could barely bring herself to look at him. Lien rode somewhere between the two. He watched as Callen tried to close the gap with Eve, only for her to speed up. Lien drew alongside Callen.
“You can’t expect everyone to be happy about what you’re doing,” he warned. “Maybe you should keep it to yourself and just quietly slip away.”
Callen nodded, although he wasn’t sure he could quietly slip away from Eve, or that she’d let him.
At the evening’s campsite, Lien gave the couple space by excusing himself to go fishing. It was a concession to his daughter; an opportunity for her and Callen to talk in private and say their goodbyes. Callen and Eve sat in silence on opposite sides of the fire. The atmosphere was tense. The smoke changed direction as if trying to force one and then the other to speak.
“You’re doing this?” Eve eventually asked. Callen nodded.
“Dad didn’t think they’d let you go. I don’t understand why they did.”
“It’s because of him,” Callen said innocently. Eve thought she’d misheard.
“What’s, because of him?”
“He argued to let me go.”
“Dad?”
Callen nodded.
“Why would he do that? What did he say?”
“I told them what I wanted to do, but it came out like I thought I was going to set you all free. Lien doesn’t think anyone in the city will listen to me. Maybe he’s right. That’s how he changed their minds; he said it was a chance to test how much danger you’re in if someone from the city came here and then went back.”
Eve sat, staring at Callen. She was confused, her brow furrowed. Then her eyes grew wide in revelation. She jumped to her feet and ran towards Lien. Callen stared after her, bewildered.
Lien quietly fished. With a flick of his wrist, his line danced on the water. It floated in wavy lines through the air then licked the water near the centre of the river.
“You know, don’t you?” Eve screamed as she broke through the scrub by the edge of the river. Lien stood like a statue – watching the water where his line floated.
“Yes or no, you know or not?” she said loud and slow.
“What do I know,” Lien asked as he flicked his line back into the air. Swish, swish, swish, went the fly as he gave it flight above the flowing river.
“You know,” she said quietly, no longer a question. Lien let the line ride the river. He stood staring at the miniature weir it made on the water’s surface as the current worked against it. Eve never took her eyes off him and finally he met her concentrated gaze with a guilty expression.
“I saw you by the river yesterday, but it’s not the only reason.”
“Dad! Why? Do you know what you’ve done? If anything happens to him, anything, I’ll never forgive you!”
“I believe what I told them. It’s a chance to find out what the threat is.”
Eve shook her head, feeling sure Lien was risking Callen’s life to keep them apart. She couldn’t believe he’d go to such lengths.
“Then it makes sense for someone to go with him,” she said, her tone making her intentions clear. Lien threw his rod down on the bank and strode to her, hopping across the rocks like a young child at play.
“Don’t get any ideas! You’re a guard in my command, so you’ll do what I tell you!” he bellowed. The truth was Lien had more control over Eve as her commander than he ever had as her father and they both knew it.
“If you try anything, I’ll have you up on charges, and don’t think I won’t do it.”
Callen broke through the scrubby bush and came to the river’s edge on hearing the yelling. As he did, Eve marched towards him, heading for the campsite.
“Do it!” she yelled over her shoulder to her father. “That’s the only way you’ll stop me! If you’re looking for something to talk about,” Eve sneered at Callen as she passed, “He saw us together at the river yesterday. He knows we’re together.” With that Eve disappeared into the riverside bushes. Callen went cold and stared at Lien who doubled back to pick up his fishing rod. The line tangled around a fallen branch and this small frustration provoked a rage so great Lien snapped the whole rig from the reel. He took the rod and gave Callen a withering stare.
“Catch anything,” Callen stammered, immediately wishing he’d said nothing. Lien looked at him with contempt, before striding off towards the campsite.
When Callen arrived back, Lien was tending the fire.
“Can we talk?” Callen asked in a tremulous voice. Lien looked at him and waited, giving Callen the chance to say whatever he had to say.
“Eve said you saw us?”
“You’re lucky I was too far away to get a decent shot off.”
Callen’s face reddened.
“That’s why you said what you said to the Elders? To get rid of me?”
“What I said to the counsel I meant,” Lien issued harshly. “Eve, are you listening?” he glanced in her direction. Eve ignored him, so he looked back to Callen; he’d use him to communicate to his daughter, knowing she’d hear every word.
“I did not say what I said to split you up. Maybe – maybe it gets me what I want, but everything I told the Elders was true. You, on the other hand, lied to my face. That shows disrespect. Both of you are guilty of that.”
“I’m sorry,” Callen said with genuine remorse.
“Sorry doesn’t near cover it. My job is to protect people, and you two jeopardised that. I went out of my way to help you, to make sure you were treated well because I remembered what the city did to me. I also thought, maybe, maybe you’re not just out for yourself. ” Lien turned and looked at Eve, happy to see he had her attention. “I’m thinking I was wrong. The city breeds self-obsessed clones who only see life as columns in a personal ledger.”
“That’s not true,” Callen defended. Lien paused and looked him eye to eye.
“Prove it. Eve thinks she’s going with you to the city. You want to win back my respect, make sure you leave alone. You going tells us what we need to know. Her going with you tells us nothing - it’d be a circus and risk her life as well as yours.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with you anymore,” Eve interjected.
“Of course it does! You’re my daughter,” Lien fired back in anger. Lien did his best to calm himself, but he was finding it hard. He moved to one side of the campsite and picked up a sizeable log with one hand. He returned to the fire and threw it into the flames sending spar
ks and sunset bright coals in all directions. The embers forced Callen to jump back. Lien looked to Eve one last time. She was staring at him, refusing to back down. He let out a frustrated growl and walked to the outer limits of the campsite where he lay down for the night.
The fire crackled back to life around the new wood. Flames found a welcome playground on the bark of the dry log. The fresh colour gave Callen and Eve more light than they wanted. Callen, still on his feet, looked to Lien and then back to Eve. He slowly moved to sit down next to her as the lights from the fire danced across them. Smoke swung into their faces as it swirled with the wind. Callen inched closer until his arm pushed into Eve’s. She didn’t move away. Callen relaxed. A few minutes later he grew bold enough to put his arm on Eve’s shoulder. She turned her head into his chest and began to cry.
“I’m going with you,” she said softly. Callen didn’t know what to say. Eve righted herself and looked at him.
“Did you hear me?” Her eyes drilled him as she tried to read his thoughts. “Or is this a really good way to end this?”
Callen hesitated just long enough for her to flare in anger.
“Do you love me or not?” she challenged.
“You know I do.”
“Then I’m coming and don’t try and stop me.”
Before Callen could say another word Eve was up and moving to find a place to sleep. Callen sat quietly, staring at the flaming patterns created by the burning embers, trying to sort out what to do. Before long he heard Eve’s slow breathing. She was asleep, and Callen sat watching. He allowed his head to rest to one side as he pushed back into a fallen log for support. It was in this position he woke to daylight. Lien carelessly flicked earth onto the last coals of the night’s fire. Callen looked around, but couldn’t see Eve.
“Morning,” Lien said. Callen’s neck ached as he worked the stiffness from it.
“Do we need to talk about what I said last night?”
“No, sir,” Callen respectfully replied. Lien nodded, glad they had an understanding.
“Why did you argue to let me go?” Callen asked. Lien paused for a brief moment then got back to making the campsite safe to leave.
Eve arrived back at the site with wet hair. Lien was saddling the horses and tried to ignore Eve’s return. She did her best to appear confident as she greeted Callen.
“Water was great; you should have come. We could have had another swim together.”
Callen froze and looked to Lien who was staring at Eve with annoyance, knowing what she was doing. They all knew what Eve was doing. Eve especially knew what she was doing. She bent down and planted a passionate kiss on Callen’s lips in full view of her father. Callen was so shocked he did nothing to stop her. When Eve stepped away, Lien turned to try and look busy. He wasn’t going to give his daughter the satisfaction of seeing his fury. Eve walked to her horse to re-pack. Callen didn’t know where to look. He began kicking dirt onto the extinguished coals. Lien gruffly called to ride as he mounted his horse. His day was not off to a good start.
Inner City Page 12
