As he turned to head up the walkway, somebody appeared at the edge of the Woods. “Inspector Avrom? We need you. Please hurry.” The man disappeared into the forest, crashing through the brush to leave an almost path for the inspector to follow. He wound his way through the thicket – and away from the path – in circles, hoping to confuse the Inspector at least a little bit. The Inspector wasn’t from the mainland. His father had been government, so he was raised on the island that he still resided on. He had no idea how things really worked in Topan, because they ran differently. In contrast, having grown up next to these woods, the other man knew every tree as well as he knew every one of the sixteen people who shared his cave.
The two men finally crashed out of the trees and onto the beach at the far end. Two other figures were huddled on the beach – one lying on the ground, another crouched next to him.
Inspector Avrom stood, panting, as he picked twigs and leaves out of his hair. “What –“ pant, pant “-can I do to help?”
“He’s hurt, sir. I don’t know what to do.”
The inspector made his way across the sand to the man on the ground. Once there, he leaned over him. As soon as he did, both figures grabbed him and put a gag in his mouth. He struggled but they flipped him on this front and tied his hands together behind his back. A fourth person pulled a waiting boat into view. They rushed to get the Inspector onto it. The fog was almost gone and they had just a very small window of opportunity to get him off the mainland and across the channel. They waited as they watched the bridge sentries. As long as they were crouched, they were out of view, but if they stood up, the sentries would see them for sure. The sentry turned around and they jumped up and launched the boat. As soon as they did so, a boat was launched from the island as well. They passed in the middle at full speed, but neither looked at each other. Mynerva, Emmerus and Zain knew their mission was too important to get distracted – even by the people in it with them. On shore, they passed the boat off to a couple of others and followed a path into the trees.
“Here!” a voice called out. They turned and saw a woman waiting for them. “I have clothes for you. Yours will be obvious from the very beginning.” The trio stripped immediately and changed into the clothes that were handed out to them. “I’m Katha, by the way. A good friend of Ursule’s growing up. I… I’m a government employee, too, but I have the same bridge transportation pass that Avrom has.”
“How did you get your credentials? What job do you have?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s safer that way for all involved. Besides, we need to move now.”
“Come,” Mynerva said, leading her friends and cohorts into the woods. They made quick time behind Katha, running into the forest as fast as they could. With Avrom out of the way, they only had a day or two before the rest of the government sprang into action. By now, he was locked into the small niche on the island, in a cage custom built for him courtesy of their friend Wain’s incredible carpentry skills.
It was a long walk through the entirety of the woods. “Where are we coming out, Katha? Near the top?”
“Well, not exactly.” She stopped suddenly and yanked Mynerva behind a clump of trees. The guys followed their lead. They held their breath as a class of students came around the corner and down the path, the teacher at the front lecturing about the forest as they walked. The children were young and there was little doubt that most of them were completely ignoring everything that she said.
When the last footstep was a memory, the group went back on the path, careful to make as little noise as possible. Katha reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of security badges. “Put these in your front left pocket. You have to be able to pull them out and show them at a moment’s notice.”
Zain flipped his open. “bu-bu-bu-bu-but there are pi-pi-pi grrrr –pictures on them. How will we grrr use them?”
“There are pictures, yes, but they are blurry. We used your real first names, but for last names, we had to invent them because, well, you don’t have them. Side effect of the Manor and all, that family names – family period – doesn’t matter or count. If anyone asks, just say agent and your first name and flash it quickly. Most people don’t look anyway. They think the flashing is just a formality that the government has to do whenever they do anything. Like wiping your ass after you shit. If we have to give them more than a flash, I’ll let them see mine, tell them that you’re up for review and I’m the one in charge. Officials are up for the review all the time, you got it?”
Zain let out a low growl in response and clamped both of his hands over his mouth. “This was grrr maybe a bad idea. I should have stayed grrr on the Island and let one of them come.”
“NO! We need you. You’ve been out the longest. We can’t find your family, let alone trust them, without you, do you understand that?” Mynerva hissed. “Look, this isn’t just ‘shut up and nobody will know’ like it was before. This is life and death and everything else that that entails. Do you get it? Do you understand?”
“Grrr. Yes.” His arm twitched back and forth, shaking and twisting in the process. He caught Katha’s gaze as she stared at it. Of course a government employee would have never seen anyone with the likes of him – they were all sent away immediately, after all, that was the point. “This will grrr keep me quiet for now. It takes too m-m-m-m-m-much ener grrr gy to do it for too long.”
“Just go, Katha. We need to get inside somebody’s dwelling as soon as we can.” Emmerus started walking, hoping everyone else would take the hint and keep up with him.
Katha pushed back to the front of the group and led them further up the trail until it split. She turned away from the city and stopped near a cluster of bushes. “We have to get behind these, but be very careful that they don’t look disturbed.”
“Try this way, then. Even if there is a broken twig or two, it won’t be as noticeable on this side,” Emmerus suggested. “Here.” He took great care in holding the bush back so that the other three could get behind it, and shuffled in behind them. They all crouched down and waited as Katha exposed a short gate in the fencing. “This is the gate to the outer woods – forbidden territory. The gate was put here for safety, as if that issue ever arose. I’m not sure it’s been used since it was last put up. The fence was last maintained over seventy-five turns ago. It’s hearty, for sure, but let’s see about the gate.” She pulled a key from around her neck and stuck it into the lock. It turned with surprising ease, but the gate itself proved to be another matter. She pushed a couple times and finally had to scoot over while Emmerus kicked it open. It still took him two attempts, and the gate screeched in protest. They sat for a minute, holding their breath, and hoped that nobody was close enough to hear the noise.
It felt like an eternity before Katha finally crawled through the gate and came out in the outer forest. “There are no trails here, as I’m sure you know. Find a way to remember where you are, or we’ll never find you again, do you understand that?” She pulled a second key from around her neck. “This one key works all the gates to the fences. Look for very thick clusters of bushes or other features that don’t quite seem accidental when you look at them. When the fences were built, they hid the gates, short enough to not be seen, no matter what. There is a second one on this side down before you get to the water.”
“Wain, it’s up to you to keep track of that, okay? You have the mind for it.”
He growled, shook his head and started again. “Two gates, this one and then one further grrr down before the water. I got it.”
“Let’s go three trees deep,” Mynerva suggested. “Three rows up should be far enough to not be detected unless somebody is very close to the fence itself. But close enough to it that we should be able to have visual contact with it and know where we are. For now it’s the best way.”
“I agree,” said Katha. “Three trees it is. Follow me, please.”
They co
ntinued up the hill and then turned left at the third tree. It was true; the trees provided excellent covering, and what little visibility there was of the foursome blended in with the surroundings. Their new clothes were more in the style of the mainland than the island, but the color palate was also much less conspicuous, Ursule having chosen browns and dark greens so that they could hide in the foliage if they needed to.
They continued through the woods for quite a distance, Katha pointing out gates in the fence as they went. It was long goings getting around this city the far way, and by the time they made it to the fence next-closest to the government building, it was almost dark. Katha and Emmerus pulled the gate open, much more quietly this time, and the group tiptoed out behind the school building. After an all-clear from Katha, they walked up the trail and through the small supplemental garden that the school used before ending up on the main path.
Zain took the lead now, and led the small group down a residential row to a cave, rushing them inside after a quick peek to make sure it was clear. An older woman heard the noise and came out, screaming as soon as she saw the group. Zain rushed to her and clamped his hand over her mouth. “I need you to be quiet when grrr I move my hand, Gran. Okay?”
She nodded a couple times and waited for him to lower his arm. “I never thought I’d see you again!” She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing so hard that it felt painful to the rest of the group. “You’re not dead, how were you treated? Have you eaten?” Her words came out in one big whoosh.
“Ma’am, if you could maybe calm down?” Katha said, flashing her badge as much out of habit in hopes it would help. “Look, we don’t have a lot of time, and we’re too exposed in the front room. Is there somewhere else we can go?”
“Oh, right. Come back here.” They went down the hall to the last bedroom. “This was Zain’s when he was here. His parents left him with me when it started to get bad. Hoped they could protect him.”
“He’s fine, ma’am,” Mynerva said. “The Manor is in many ways better to us than this world is. But we need your help and we need you to trust us and listen very carefully. Nobody can know we’re here. Not your friends, not your family, nobody. And later, if somebody asks, you’ve not seen Zain since they took him, or us, ever. Pretend he’s nothing to you anymore if you have to.”
Shakily, she sat down, almost missing the bed. “I need to know something.”
“You really don’t. But since we need you, I will tell you only that we are here to make things better.”
“Better.”
“Better,” the group repeated.
“Well, if you’re hoping for that, I’m going to have to get you some food first. You look weary and half starved.”
***
Year New 612
The first of the suns was rising casting a pinkish glow on the grasses, and making the water look not quite as grey-blue as it usually did. The couple had shifted at some point and Emmerus was now mostly on his back, Mynerva curled into his torso.
It was she who woke up first, and she nudged him awake, kissing him gently on the cheek.
He fought sleep, rubbing it from his eyes the best he could. “Why?” He cried, one eye open.
She giggled. “Come on. It’s morning. They’re going to worry where we’ve gone to, and besides, the council is today. Or did you forget?”
“I’d like to forget.” Council meetings happened just a few times a year, but they were necessary to discuss what was going on in their new city. While they needed to know that the crops were okay and be ready to add extra builders if they ran out of housing for the waves of people still coming in, it didn’t make the meetings any shorter or any less boring.
He sat up and looked at Mynerva. The wound in her shoulder had scarred, as angry and jagged as the people who put it there, and although it had lightened over time, it would surely never go away.
She scratched at it subconsciously and reached for their clothes.
***
Year New 606
Zain had spent the week intermittently visiting their old friend the government and taking care of a few other tasks for the master plan. It was an odd job he had, but rather easy. His regular, low growling kept Bruice, their government puppet, on edge. For the most part, the man was ready to jump on his command. It was the easiest way, really, and he took to growling even when he wasn’t doing it automatically. The government transition was going smoothly for the most part, but Bruice was still a weak link. On one occasion he had tried to tell a comrade, only to find himself staring down a weapon. It was not a good situation, and everybody knew it. If the threat made its way into the Commander’s sights, their entire plan would be screwed before it had ever gotten off the ground.
Today, Zain took the last few steps to the fourth floor and opened the door. Bruice was in the hall, flagging down the commander. “Hello!” he shouted.
Zain let out a low growl and watched the color drain slowly from Bruice’s face as the commander approached.
“Nice day, isn’t it?” the commander asked.
Bruice mumbled agreement and disappeared from sight, shaking a bit now that he knew he’d been caught again.
That night, under cover of darkness, Zain put him on a boat and sent him off to the island with Avrom. The cage was small for the two of them, but at least Avrom had somebody to talk to.
In his absence, he left a note saying that he would be taking care of a sick relative back in the mainland of Topan. Nevermind that the letter was actually written by Zain after the fact.
Then the day of announcement came. The 100th day of the year. In Topan, it was marked with the reading of announcements from the government. Once read out loud to the masses, anything said would be considered law. This time, Mynerva had switched the scroll. Instead of announcements about farming, she had written in about the restructuring of where everyone lived and how, greatly decreasing the government’s influence while expanding the free will of the people and opening The Manor as Bryor had wished.
As the appointed official started the reading, a tattered figure appeared on the beach. “STOP! I’ve been held prisoner and have just now escaped!” Everyone turned to look at the man, some needing more than a few minutes to realize it was Inspector Avrom who was dragging himself towards the platform. He was screaming about a breech, people hidden amongst them that were there to cause them harm.
Mynerva looked at her ragtag group of people. They quietly backed out of the crowd and then ran down the beach. A cry of “STOP THEM” rang out and several government people ran after them, a few eager townspeople jumping in to help. Mynerva knew that people like Katha and Ursule would be safe, able to return to their lives and pretend they had no part in it. But Mynerva and Emmerus and the rest of them had no hope. They wouldn’t make it back to The Manor and even if they did, they’d be killed for sure, all their work for naught.
Without a better plan, she grabbed the gun from her belt and fired two shots into the air, towards the water. The townspeople screamed again and grabbed whatever they could rip up from the ground to use as weapons. The group ran faster now, sure that they’d be dead if they stopped for even a minute.
They got to the impassible pass next to the government island and dove into the underbrush, weeds pulling at their clothes. Another shot rang out, hitting Mynerva in the shoulder. She screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. Emmerus tried to help her but she waved him off, crawling on her good side until she was totally hidden. Another couple of shots rang out, but they managed to miss everybody. They answered back with a round of shots high above the crowd’s head. They didn’t want to hurt anybody, only get out safely. Their whole plan was about stopping hurt, not causing it. They got through the weeds and into the back path that the sentries used. It was deserted, exactly as they needed it to be.
One of them pulled an aide kit out of his pack and tended to Mynerva. “It didn’t
hit anything important, I don’t think. I just need to stop the bleeding.”
“Hurry up. We need to run, not sit here,” Mynerva said.
He yanked the bandage tight and tied it so that her skin turned white. “I know that it might go numb, but you’ll want it to.”
“Then let’s go.” She stood up and started down the path.
“Somebody’s already behind us,” Wain called, running back up to them.
“Then we run. We know they way, they don’t.”
The group ran as fast as they could up the path. It was a long climb to get to Landing’s Pass, the site of the original crash, but they made the four kilometer trip in half the time it should have taken them. They danced through the foliage until they joined the old remnants of the path and wound their way up to the wreckage site. It was fortunate that after so long part of the plane remained. They dove towards the small opening they knew was there and crawled inside the twisted metal cage, careful to cover the opening up behind them.
Once safe, they took a minute to catch their breath. Emmerus had been tending to his wife, but he addressed the group anyway. “Look, it’s been a long, trying day, but everybody was far enough behind us that we should be safe. We replaced the sentries from within Topan, not from within the Manor, on purpose,” he said. “I am entirely confident that we will be safe tonight. So we rest here. Once the first light creeps in, we will work on another plan.”
There were murmurs of agreement and the group huddled into what was left of the sleeping bags; meant to hold one or two people at a time, these were now filled until three or four people were crammed into each one. It was going to be a long cold night.
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