Raeni was silent now.
“That wasn’t the first time Cage had arranged for an innocent person to be tied to the punishment post,” said Wall. “He did the same thing to one of my best men years ago, and on the day that my niece, Mist, turned twelve years old ...”
Wall broke off his sentence, as if he was struggling to say this aloud, then started speaking again. “On the day Mist turned twelve years old, Cage came to me and said that now she was subject to adult punishments. He told me that if I ever took action against him, he would arrange for Mist to be tied to the punishment post.”
I was shocked. The punishment post stood outside the glass front wall of Reception. I’d watched through that glass wall as Rogue was tied to that post and attacked by a series of falling stars. I’d been scared that Cage would arrange to have me tied to that post too, but I hadn’t known that Cage had threatened to do the same thing to Mist as well. Wall might refer to his children as his nieces and nephews, but he was a devoted father, so I could imagine how he’d feel about Cage threatening Mist.
“I daren’t punish Cage again after that,” Wall continued in a quieter voice that was heavy with pain. “I daren’t discard him from Manhattan either, because he’d still be able to take vengeance on Mist and my younger nephews and nieces. I knew that the only way to stop Cage was to kill him, and I would have joyfully ripped his head from his shoulders with my own bare hands. Do you know the reason that I didn’t do that, Raeni?”
He didn’t give Raeni a chance to reply, just rushed on to answer his own question. “A division leader is only allowed to execute a division member if they’ve broken their oath of allegiance, and Cage had done many things but not that. If I killed Cage myself, then I knew I’d have Queens Island calling me a murderer, and demanding retribution on the whole of Manhattan.”
I saw a startled expression on Raeni’s face.
“The only way forward was for someone to call general justice against Cage for the hurt he was inflicting on people in every division,” said Wall. “That would mean Cage had to stand trial in front of the whole alliance, and could legally be sentenced to death.”
Wall waved his hands in despair. “Any division leader or alliance representative was entitled to call general justice against Cage. Any of them but me. The alliance rules state that a division leader speaks in defence of their division members during a trial, so they’re barred from calling general justice against them.”
He turned to look at the people of each division in turn, and his voice rose to its full thunderous volume. “So I waited for someone to call general justice against Cage, but none of you had the courage to challenge him. You were all too terrified of what would happen if you failed, imagining the vengeance that Cage would inflict on you and your loved ones. Not even Donnell himself dared to call general justice on Cage without unshakeable evidence of guilt, and how could he get that when everyone was afraid to say a word against the man?”
Wall abruptly turned to look at me. “But then Donnell appointed his daughter as one of his officers. The alliance had its first female representative. The rest of us all huddled in corners, muttering how useless she’d be, but the first thing Blaze did was to call general justice on Cage. Blaze is the only person here who has the right to criticize me for not taking action against Cage.”
There was a pause before Raeni spoke again. “Queens Island has no wish to harm the innocent. We just want all the guilty to be punished. If what you say is true, and you only held back from taking action against Cage because he threatened Mist, then why do you still harbour Shark, Malice, and other ardent supporters of Cage in the ranks of Manhattan?”
“I could equally ask why Major, Nero, and Lion still belong to Queens Island,” said Wall.
“My hands are tied by the alliance rules on division leadership changes,” said Raeni bitterly. “The previous leader of Queens Island and his supporters have immunity from Queens Island punishments for all actions taken before the leadership change.”
The cold, emotionless voice of Ice joined the argument. “I’ve never been convinced of the wisdom of that rule. Offering immunity to the losing side in a leadership challenge simply encourages troublemakers to make bids for power.”
“We needed to make that rule when we formed the alliance,” said Donnell. “The old New York system was to execute the losing side in a leadership challenge. That certainly prevented them causing trouble in future, but the price was a death rate that would have wiped out the alliance within a couple of years.”
“Personally, I’m strongly in favour of the alliance rules on division leadership changes,” said Ghost. “I was fourteen years old when the alliance was formed, so I know all about the nightmare old ways, when supporting the wrong side in a leadership challenge could cost you your life. It’s far better to give people the chance to accept the new regime and live peacefully under it.”
He shrugged. “It’s not as if anyone can make repeated leadership challenges without facing punishment. The rules only allow a person to claim immunity once. After that, they can be given any of the permitted division punishments, so the winning leader can simply discard them.”
“I’m not asking for a return to the old ways,” said Raeni. “In normal circumstances, the immunity from division punishments doesn’t matter, because a serious troublemaker can still be punished for their crimes under the rules of general justice. My point is that Donnell has brought in a new amnesty for Cage supporters which blocks the general justice route as well.”
She paused. “When Donnell proposed that formal amnesty last week, he said that we had to forget the past problems caused by Cage, and focus on preparing to leave New York and build a better future. I believed that was true, and voted in favour of the amnesty, but Rogue’s death changes everything. Cage hasn’t just caused problems in the past. He’s killing people right now, and I believe some of his supporters are helping him do it. I call for a vote to overturn the amnesty so we can take action against those people.”
“The amnesty is still needed,” said Donnell. “If we start calling general justice on everyone who ever supported or helped Cage, then half the alliance will be facing trial.”
“Half of Manhattan should definitely be facing trial,” said Raeni.
Ghost shook his head. “It wouldn’t stop with just Manhattan though, and it’s impossible to tell who willingly helped Cage, and who was forced into helping him out of fear for their own lives or those of others.”
“Cage is a human spider,” said Donnell. “His web of conspiracies reached into every division, including my own Resistance. Wall is a division leader, and has admitted that he was powerless to act against Cage because he was afraid for the safety of his nephews and nieces. I am the leader of this alliance, and I admit that I was afraid for the safety of my daughter. How can we condemn ordinary division members for being too terrified to refuse Cage’s orders?”
“How can we allow Cage’s supporters to continue helping him?” demanded Raeni.
“I agree with Raeni,” said Ice. “I second her call for a vote to overturn the amnesty. Cage’s supporters must be dealt with.”
Donnell groaned, and I could see frightened faces all around the room, even at the Resistance tables. I hesitated before climbing on a chair and speaking myself.
“Donnell is right about the danger of starting a quest for vengeance. Once the accusations begin, there’ll be no end to them, and it won’t just destroy Manhattan but the whole alliance.”
I shrugged. “Raeni is right too though. We can’t allow Cage’s supporters to keep helping him without facing punishment. That doesn’t mean we need to overturn the amnesty though. We just need to emphasize that it only applies to actions taken before I called general justice against Cage. Up until that moment, people had good reason to be afraid of Cage. Once he’d lost his power, anyone helping him was doing so by choice rather than out of fear.”
There was a short silence before Ice spoke. “That would
be acceptable. A clear line is drawn at the point when Blaze called general justice against Cage. As with changes of division leadership, people were given one chance to accept the new regime and live peacefully under it, but crimes committed since then will be punished.”
“Agreed,” said Donnell and Ghost in unison.
“Agreed,” Wall’s voice came an instant later. “Anyone who has helped Cage since that time, or helps him in future, faces the full punishment for aiding a murderer.”
“No division leader will attempt to protect the guilty?” asked Raeni.
“No,” said Wall.
“The amnesty is accepted then,” said Raeni grudgingly, “but the issue of Manhattan’s blood debt to Queens Island remains. This isn’t the first time that Manhattan has been complicit in murder. They’ve been a nest of killers since the earliest days of the alliance, when a Manhattan man murdered an unconscious Queens Island man in his hospital bed in Sanctuary.”
I saw Wall open his mouth to say something, and hastily spoke myself. “Everyone here is shocked by Rogue’s death. I feel we should allow time for mourning before having any more discussions.”
“Blaze is right,” said Ghost. “Discussing this further now, when we’re all in a state of heightened emotion, would be a mistake.”
“I agree,” said Donnell. “Queens Island will wish to hold vigil for Rogue tonight. I’d like the other divisions to show respect for their grief by spending the rest of the evening in their own wings of the building as well. In the circumstances, I’ll ease the rationing rules and allow meals to be taken into the division wings for those who haven’t yet eaten.”
He turned to look towards the back of the room. “Natsumi, can you and Himeko pack the meals into stasis boxes, and get the Resistance messenger boys to deliver them?”
“Of course,” said Natsumi.
Donnell faced the Queens Island corner again. “If the weather permits, I expect Raeni will wish to hold Rogue’s funeral tomorrow morning. I hope she will allow me to be present to ensure the safety of the mourners.”
“I will welcome anyone with hands clean of dealings with Cage,” said Raeni.
Donnell nodded. “The alliance will now stand to honour Rogue’s passing.”
I stepped down onto the floor, and there was a scuffling of chairs as everyone around the room got to their feet. That was followed by two long minutes of silence, broken only by a brief wail from a baby in London division. Finally, four men moved in to lift up Rogue’s stretcher, and Raeni led Queens Island through the curtain marked with their division symbol of a boat.
Chapter Nine
Donnell waited until the last members of Queens Island had gone into their wing of the building before speaking. “All Resistance members, except for my alliance officers and those arranging meal deliveries, will now withdraw to our wing of the building. Can the other division leaders please send your people to your own wings of the building as well, and then join Blaze and me for a quick conference?”
There was a couple of minutes of confusion as people hurried off through the exits, then Donnell and I moved to a position by the glass front wall of Reception, and Wall, Ghost, and Ice came to stand with us.
“Wall, I appreciate your efforts to stay calm in the face of Raeni’s provocation,” said Donnell.
“Completely unreasonable provocation,” muttered Wall. “Cage is no longer a member of Manhattan division, so we have no responsibility for Rogue’s death.”
“Don’t you?” asked Ice, his voice as emotionless as ever. “Raeni made a valid point when she said that Manhattan was entrusted to hold Cage prisoner until his trial but allowed him to escape. You were already leader of Manhattan when this alliance was formed, so were among those who decided on its rules. When I brought London division to New York six years ago, the first thing I did was study every word of those rules, and they clearly state that a division remains responsible for the actions of an escaped prisoner.”
Wall glowered at him. “That rule was intended to stop a division deliberately shielding one of its members from punishment, not for a situation like this. There was no need for Raeni to start screaming about that old death in Sanctuary either. The murder was committed without my knowledge or consent, and the guilty party was caught in the act and executed.”
Wall gave an exasperated shake of his head. “When Major took over the leadership of Queens Island, he kept up the tradition of abusing Manhattan about that murder, but I’d expected Raeni to have the sense to let the old feud drop.”
“Raeni has good reason to be angry,” said Ghost. “I think we should all be deeply grateful that she’s limiting herself to expressing that anger in words rather than actions. If Cage had shot my wife, there’d be a lot of dead men with arrows through their hearts.”
“It’s true that if Cage had shot Mist or any of my other nephews or nieces, I’d be ...” Wall didn’t bother finishing the sentence.
“We all have to imagine how we’d be feeling and acting if we’d been the one to lose a loved one.” Donnell turned to look doubtfully at Ice. “I realize that it will be hard for you to imagine how Raeni is feeling, but I hope you’ll accept we need to make allowances for her behaviour at this time.”
Ice gave him a cold stare. “I choose not to make a public display of my feelings, but I fully comprehend the pain Raeni is suffering after losing Rogue. I agree that we need to respond to her distress with tolerance.”
There was a pause while the rest of us tried to work out if Ice really did have feelings hidden behind his impassive mask of a face. I’d spent the first eleven years of my life living under Ice’s rule in London, and he’d always been a harsh, rule-obsessed, totally unreadable statue of a man. I struggled with the idea that he felt love, joy, depression, or other human emotions. The expression on Wall’s face seemed to mean that he couldn’t believe it either.
“The next few days are going to be enormously difficult,” said Donnell. “Cage could have shot any man in that hunting party. He chose to kill Rogue because he wanted to trigger a war between Queens Island and Manhattan that would tear the alliance apart.”
His voice took on a heavy emphasis. “We have to prevent that war from happening. It’s vital that Wall is patient with Raeni’s behaviour, and the rest of us have to support him by doing everything possible to keep the peace.”
Ghost and Ice nodded, but Wall gave an impatient sigh. “It’s not just a question of whether I can put up with Raeni’s behaviour or not. I need to consider the feelings of my division members, and the fact they all hate Queens Island. If I let Raeni keep hurling abuse at us without retaliating myself, then my people may decide I’m the wrong person to be leading them.”
“You don’t need to worry about keeping your leadership position, Wall,” said Donnell. “You’ve led Manhattan since before this alliance was formed, so you’ve built up two decades of respect from your people.”
Wall gave a wary look around before speaking. “You never have to worry about leadership challenges, Donnell. Your Resistance members are all besotted with you, and when they do get annoyed about something you just have to sing one of your songs to charm them again. It’s very different for the rest of us.”
He scowled. “Whenever there’s a leadership change in one division, it causes trouble in the others. Every ambitious man in the alliance saw Raeni take the leadership of Queens Island, and instantly started calculating the chance of them succeeding in a leadership challenge too.”
“Wall is right,” said Ghost gloomily. “Only three days ago, I had to slap down a hothead who was attempting to take the leadership of Brooklyn.”
“I’ve never understood how a man with your slight build handles the fighting side of being a division leader,” said Wall.
Ghost laughed. “I let Ludmilla do my fighting for me.”
Wall gave Ghost a dubious look, clearly unsure whether Ghost was serious about his formidable wife doing the fighting or just teasing him. “My point is that I c
an’t appear weak in front of my people, or someone like Shark or Malice will grab their chance to challenge my leadership.”
“I don’t think that remaining calm in the face of a few insults would make you look weak, Wall,” I said. “I’m sure the whole of the alliance has heard about Knave insulting me earlier today. Has the fact I chose to stay calm rather than retaliate made people think I’m weak?”
“I was told that you behaved with dignity, while Knave acted like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum,” said Ice.
“Your approach certainly worked much better than Luther’s habit of sulking,” said Ghost.
“I think the calm and dignified approach would work equally well for Wall,” I said. “Especially if he keeps repeating that he has to make allowances for words spoken by the newly bereaved.”
“Yes,” said Donnell. “That would make Wall’s restraint appear the act of a strong rather than a weak man.”
“Perhaps, but it’s not one of my usual styles of responding to insults,” grumbled Wall.
We all knew Wall only had one style of responding to insults, which was to beat the offender to a pulp. I fought to keep my voice neutral when I replied.
“That will just make people more impressed by your self-control.”
Wall groaned. “Well, I’ll do my best, but if the rest of Queens Island join Raeni in hurling insults at Manhattan, then I warn you that I won’t be able to prevent my people from retaliating. After that, it will only take one person to go from throwing insults to throwing punches, and there’ll be a pitched battle.”
“I agree this situation is extremely dangerous,” said Donnell. “We have to capture or kill Cage as fast as possible. It’s the only way to stop Raeni from insulting Manhattan and demanding mass trials.”
“I’m still tempted by the idea of a mass trial of Cage supporters,” said Ice.
Donnell grimaced. “I’m not. I know exactly what would happen at that trial. Many of Cage’s supporters are glib liars and as devious as their master. Whatever accusations were made against them and their friends, they’d somehow arrange excuses and alibis. It would end with men like Shark and Major watching smiling as powerless innocents were punished.”
Scavenger Blood Page 8
