by Helen Brain
“Ebba!” Alexia’s voice breaks through the angry murmur of the crowd. She and her mother are waving frantically from behind the guards. Natasja’s eyes are red and swollen.
We run to them. Jasmine never cries but she’s is close to tears as she tells Alexia, “He says Leonid is guilty of treason.”
I put my arm around Jasmine’s shoulder and pull her to me. I’ve tried everything. I don’t know what else to do.
“Where is Micah?” I ask Alexia over Jasmine’s head.
“He’s around.” She doesn’t want to meet my glance. “With Samantha-Lee.”
The crowd’s murmurs are getting louder. An army wagon pulls up and four soldiers jump down.
Four soldiers are dragging Leonid.
He’s been beaten – there are bleeding welts across his arms and legs. He’s half dragging one leg and his right eye is swollen shut. Jasmine gasps when she sees him, and I crane my neck, searching the crowd. Where is Micah? Does he know what’s happening?
I spot an upturned row boat and clamber on top of it. Leonid is almost at the gallows. He’s climbing the first step. And Micah? When I finally catch sight of him, he’s at the far end of the island, as far away from the gallows as it’s possible to be, talking to the people around him as though there’s nothing wrong. I want to yell out to him, but he would never hear me above the angry crowd. Fear bangs like a drum in my head.
Leonid has reached the top of the platform. The general points to the wooden box and Leonid, chin held high, steps onto it. Why isn’t Micah paying attention? Leonid looks so small, silhouetted against the intense blue of the sea, the rope dangling just above his head. Every muscle in my body is coiled, desperate to dash over and grab him, to smash the General’s face in … to strangle that smug Major Zungu with my bare hands. But not three metres away a soldier watches my every movement, his rifle trained on me. And I have no doubt that he’ll shoot me as easily as they shot Jaline and the Poladion family.
The crowd is quiet – an ugly, angry silence that hangs over the island like the cloud of bees that hung over the High Priest’s head. I can feel the tension buzzing as the general pulls the noose over Leonid’s head and tightens it.
Natasja sobs into Alexia’s shoulder. Jasmine stands alone, her arms crossed, her small body brave and indomitable.
And then, just as the general is about to kick the box out from under Leonid’s feet, a scuffle breaks out at Micah’s end of the island. Micah is yelling, someone fires a gun, and the crowd roars and rushes towards the gallows. The soldiers surge to meet them, pushing them back, firing into the air. The three officials are left unguarded at the gallows.
I’m expecting a sharpshooter, a massacre, the army to mow down the crowd – but instead the gallows start to rock. The general and Major Zungu grab each other, trying to keep their balance.
I go cold. It’s another earthquake.
Goddess, Goddess … I can’t even find the words to pray. All I feel is a desperate panic in my gut as the gallows rocks sideways, the box slides out from under Leonid’s feet and he’s swinging by the neck. And suddenly the gallows land in the water, followed by the general and Major Zungu. They’re bellowing for help, coughing and spluttering among the bobbing barrels and dangling ropes. I see Jasmine and Alexia rushing to the edge, searching the murky water for signs of Leonid.
“My boy, my boy!” Natasja wails, falling to her knees. “My boy …”
Her cries cut through me. I sink down and wrap my arms around her. Her whole body shakes as she sobs on my shoulder.
I look up to see Major Zungu stride past, his wet uniform clinging to his large stomach. He’s followed by Captain Atherton, glowering at the crowd, whose anger is growing by the minute. The general is last, soaking wet but chin up, chest forward. He stares straight ahead. When he reaches me, he pauses and throws me a poisonous look.
The general and Major Zungu drive off in their carriage. Captain Atherton is barking orders; the soldiers are getting ready to leave, but they’re still on high alert, watching the crowd warily, guns ready. They’ll be gone soon and the search for Leonid’s body will begin.
My mind flashes back to the devastation on Lucas’s face when he saw his family lying dead. If I can protect Natasja from anything, it’s this. “Come,” I say, helping Natasja up. “Let me take you home.”
We push through the restless crowd. They’re muttering angrily and people reach out to hug Natasja as we pass. At last we reach the boardwalk nearest her house.
“Not far now …” I stop and stare through the gaps between the planks. Someone is hiding under the boardwalk.
Micah. He holds his finger to his lips.
I look around quickly. The soldiers are on the road, preparing to march. “Look,” I whisper into Natasja’s ear. “Don’t say anything but …”
She stifles a scream.
Leonid is there too.
And he’s alive.
THE GOOD NEWS SPREADS in a flash. I sit on the upturned row boat, watching the party that has broken out. There are big jugs of moonshine, the smoke from the braai fires is rising, and the band strikes up. The general has been defeated. Leonid is safe.
But I still have a sick feeling. Something isn’t right.
Samantha-Lee and Micah are the centre of the celebration. Of course it was Samantha-Lee’s clever idea to dive under the island and cut the ropes that bound the barrels together. She cut the rope around Leonid’s neck too, and pulled him to safety. She’s the hero of the day and, while everyone drinks toast after toast to her, she stands with her chin in the air, lapping up the attention. Micah sees me watching them, and waves to me to come and join in, but then Samantha-Lee pulls him up to dance, and I turn away, filled with loneliness.
Shorty settles himself down next to me.
“You don’t look happy, miss. Don’t you want to join in the festivities?”
“Not really. I want to go home.”
“I do too,” Shorty says. “I don’t like leaving Letti when she’s not well.”
I don’t want to make him more anxious, so I don’t mention the fear that’s gnawing at my stomach. The general will want revenge for his humiliation today, and Greenhaven is unguarded. We need to get back. We can’t leave Aunty Figgy, Fez and Letti alone.
“I’ll find the boatman,” he says.
I run down to the dancing circle where Micah is twirling around, arm in arm with Samantha-Lee. I push my way through the crowd and pull him by his sleeve. He stops, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “You coming to dance?” he pants.
“I need to get home. I … I need you to come with me. Please.”
“Come on, Micah,” Samantha-Lee calls above the music. “Let’s dance!”
“Stay here with me, babe,” he says, taking my hand. “Stay and enjoy yourself. You never let go and have a good time.”
I glance across at Samantha-Lee twirling in the centre of the ring. Her tunic is low cut and clings to her body. Her head is back and she’s laughing. Every man on the island wants her.
I don’t stand a chance. But I can’t stay and watch her flirting with my boyfriend.
“Please, Micah.”
He pauses, as though he’s reconsidering. But Samantha-Lee comes past and grabs his hand. “Come on!” She drags him away.
She doesn’t even see me there. She can have any man in Boat Bay. But she has to have mine.
I turn away and trudge up the hill to Natasja’s cottage. “Jasmine!” I call. “We’re leaving now. Are you ready?”
She can hardly look me in the eye. “Leonid’s going to the mainland,” she says quietly. “He can’t stay here – it’s too dangerous.”
And then, I realise what today’s rescue means for us. He can never come back to Greenhaven. And we can’t manage without him.
“I … I want to go with him. Will you cope if I go too?”
She’s leaving? Leaving Greenhaven for ever?
“It won’t be for long,” she says quickly. “We’ll rally the resi
stance – get ready for the revolution. And when it happens, Table Island will be open to everyone again.”
She sees the horrified expression on my face and speaks faster. “You can tell the general you fired me – it’ll be safer for you that way. Safer for everyone at Greenhaven. Please, Ebba.”
I need her. Greenhaven needs her. But I can’t force her to stay – it would destroy our friendship forever.
“Go,” I say, trying to sound calm. “But, Jas … Come back soon.” There’s a lump in my throat as she reaches over and kisses my cheek.
“I won’t forget,” she whispers.
I’m bereft. Will I ever see her again? And how will we manage on the farm without the pair of them?
Then Alexia comes out of the bedroom carrying a bag. “I’m coming back with you,” she says. “You need me.”
CHAPTER 22
It’s taken an hour but we’re almost home. We’re rounding the Muizenberg mountains and I look eagerly for Greenhaven and the little bay where Micah leaves his boat.
Isi is standing on the prow sniffing the air. Then she puts her head back and howls.
“What is it, Isi?” I say. “What’s wrong, girl?”
Alexia glances at me with eyes full of worry. “Are you alright, Ebba?”
Suddenly, Shorty drops his oars and points to a ribbon of grey smoke rising over Greenhaven. “Fire!”
The boatman is battling the waves in the strong wind. I’m flooded with panic. I grab the other pair of oars and start rowing in rhythm with Shorty. The tide is going out, and the wind is against us. It seems that for every metre we move forward, we’re pushed back two.
Is my house on fire? Oh Goddess, everything I love is in that house. Everything that belonged to my family.
“Row harder, miss!” Shorty gasps, his face almost purple with effort. “We’ve got to get to Letti!”
The ribbon has become a thick funnel by the time the boatman pulls into the shallows. We jump out and dash for the culvert. The soft sand sucks at our feet, slowing us down, but we finally reach the grille and Shorty wrestles it out of position. We crawl through and sprint towards the house.
Closer to the buildings, the air is thick with smoke.
“It’s the barn, Miss Ebba!” Shorty yells. “Go check on the horses!”
Fez is already there, and the terrified horses, whinnying and rolling their eyes, have broken out of the barn and are galloping down the driveway. Fez is bent double with coughing. He collapses on the grass, holding his chest.
Aunty Figgy is at the water pump, filling buckets.
“Where’s Letti?” Shorty yells.
“She’s in the house, sleeping.” Aunty Figgy hands him a bucket. “She’s fine. Pass this to Ebba – throw this on the flames!”
But the faster we throw water onto the flames, the faster they grow, leaping higher into the sky.
Then a huge gust of wind blows a pile of smouldering thatch off the roof, and Fez yells, “The house! The roof is alight!”
I drop the bucket and run to the front of the house. The roof is shooting up in flames.
“Letti!” Shorty yells. He dashes through the front door towards her bedroom.
Aunty Figgy pushes past me. “The Book of the Goddess!” she gasps. “And my statue!” She’s coughing and spluttering, and I push her back.
“I’ll get them!” I yell.
The house is filling with smoke – I grab a scarf from the hallstand and wrap it around my nose and mouth. I push open the library door. There’s an ominous crackling coming from above, and flames are reaching through the wooden ceiling boards. It’s too smoky to see the books, so I feel along the shelves for the book that’s fatter and shorter than the others.
I can’t feel it. It’s always here, on the third shelf near the door. The smoke is burning my eyes and the flames are licking through the ceiling. I can’t breathe.
Where is it?
Suddenly, I hear a voice. “Get out, Ebba!” A tall figure pushes me towards the door. “Get out!”
There’s a crash, and a flaming beam falls across the table. Another one is dangling, burning orange.
It’s Lucas who has shoved me into the passage.
I have to find the way to the kitchen. I feel along the wall until I find the opening into the passage. The air is black and my lungs are burning.
At last I reach the kitchen. Someone is screaming. The statue is on the window sill. Coughing, I drop to the floor. “Goddess!” I gasp. “Help me!”
I crawl towards the window. The flames are licking through the frame. There’s a strange woman with me. Hurry, she’s saying. Hurry, Ebba!
The screaming is growing more frantic.
It’s Letti. She’s shut in the pantry.
I turn towards her. But the strange woman shoves me forward. Isi is there too, barking frantically. She takes the hem of my robe and drags me towards the window.
I reach up, grab the statue, look for the door. It’s burning.
Smash the glass! the woman cries, and I hurl the statue through the window. The glass shatters and the flames flare, leaping higher.
Scrambling onto the sill, I elbow out the remaining glass and jump. I almost knock Shorty over.
“Letti!” he screams. “Where is she? I can’t find her! She wasn’t in the bedroom!”
“She’s in the pantry!”
He’s clambering onto the sill, into the blazing house, and I lose sight of him.
Letti’s screams stop suddenly, along with my heart.
But then there’s a shape in the smoke at the window, and she falls through, landing like a bunch of rags on the grass. I grab her legs and drag her away from the flames.
I look back for Shorty. I’m too late. There’s a huge explosion and the roof caves in.
I SIT AGAINST the ficus tree where they were married, rocking Letti in my lap. Her agony cuts me open.
I’m too numb to think about what we’re going to do. I can only hold her and rock her, praying for an ease in the pain that is tearing her apart. Isi sits next to us, whimpering.
I can’t look at the burning house, the burning barn. Soon the jonkershuis will also go up in flames.
From the forest behind me, I hear thin voices chanting, the sound blown on the wind. I make out the words “Great Goddess”. It’s Lucas and Aunty Figgy praying. Fat lot of good that will do, I think bitterly.
The flames leap against the sky, but suddenly, out of nowhere, the wind drops. There’s a roll of thunder and rain begins to pour down. Within seconds it’s so heavy I can barely see the house. I guide Letti into the forest and we shelter there until the rain stops, as quickly as it began.
Fez comes running across the meadow. “Ebba, the rain’s put out the fire!”
Aunty Figgy emerges from the trees and gathers Letti into her arms.
“I just wanted some olives!” Letti is wailing, keening into Aunty Figgy’s shoulder. “I just wanted some olives. Then I felt dizzy …”
Alexia takes my hand and we walk slowly back to examine what remains of my house.
Greenhaven is a sorry, sodden, ashy mess. Cinders glow in the blackened rubble. Only the walls are standing. The barn and coach house are gone too, along with everything in them.
Outside the kitchen door, I find the statue of the Goddess. It’s lying in two halves and, as I pick them up, something falls out of the bottom part. I sink down onto the grass, shaking. It’s an amulet, a silver circle containing a flame carved from red stone.
WE BURY SHORTY at nightfall.
There’s nothing to wrap him in, no coffin, no shroud, just an old tarpaulin Fez finds in the storeroom. Fez and Lucas dig a grave near the house, just a few steps from where we found him crushed by a beam. I turn away as they carry his charred remains to the grave.
I can’t watch. I sink my face in Letti’s hair.
She’s cried herself out. She has no more tears. “I want to be with him,” she says, her voice raspy as she watches them fill the grave. “I want to die.�
�
I do too.
I’ve lost Greenhaven. The one thing entrusted to my care, and I’ve lost it.
CHAPTER 23
That night I go to bed in Jasmine’s old room in the slave lodge. Alexia snores beside me, but I can’t sleep. In the next room, Letti sobs all night. I listen to Aunty Figgy trying to comfort her and I think nothing will soothe her.
I’m sure Fez is awake too, feeling distraught for his sister. And perhaps also for all the burnt books that he never got to read.
I lie in bed, staring at the moon behind the oak trees, and I think about how much I hate the general, Major Zungu and Captain Atherton, Mr Mavimbela and all the other citizens. I rage against the girls I saved from the colony, who repaid me by trying to kill me. I rage against Samantha-Lee.
But most of all, I’m furious with Micah.
Micah, who stayed to party on the island instead of making sure I got home safely. If he’d been here, maybe Shorty would still be alive, and Letti’s heart wouldn’t be broken.
I think of Lucas sleeping out there in the forest, under the light of the moon, in the shadow of the trees. He’s the only one who can understand how I feel because he’s lost everything too.
At first light, I get up and go outside, looking for the familiar outline of the house and barn against the skyline. There’s nothing – just a blank space and the smell of smoke.
And then it hits me. Without the barn, there are no baskets to store the vegetables, no wagon to take them to market. No money.
My farm is bankrupt.
The general has got what he wanted.
Greenhaven is finished.
I begin to run towards the only place I know that will ease my pain – the forest. I reach the holy well as the sun is coming up. The water glows, and I sit on the edge of the wall and trail my hand in it. Too much has happened. This is all too much for me to handle. I hate myself for being so full of self-pity, but I can’t stop. I sink onto the ground and start to cry.
