Flight of the Outcasts

by Alister E. McGrath

  “It’s … it’s just an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me,” Louisa was stammering. The guard gave a mirthless laugh.

  “This mother of yours—she a prophetess, was she?” Louisa shook her head blankly. The guard nodded at the bucket she had in her hand. “Leave that be,” he said. “We’re going to pay a visit to Captain Ceres.”

  At this Julia rushed forward and flung an arm around Louisa’s shoulders. “Let me come too,” she pleaded. “She’s my sister, and she’s not been well … let me come too.”

  The guard gave a harsh nod. “Follow me.”

  So back up the path they went, up to the Captain’s tent. Louisa walked slowly, humming all the while. Julia kept a hand on her back, urging her forward and wondering how to tell her to be quiet. They went up the ridge and were ushered into the tent.

  Julia blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the dim light inside. Gradually the Captain came into focus. He was sitting behind the same desk, his arms folded across his belly, listening to a guard speaking in hushed tones. Julia could only catch the odd word here and there, but it was enough for her to realize that they were talking about Louisa. “Girl … prophecy … singing …” As Julia listened, hoping for some clue as to what the guards intended to do with them, her eyes were drawn once again to the Captain’s talisman — why was it so familiar? Where had she seen it before?

  The guard who had brought them up from the mine interrupted the other, whispering a few words in the Captain’s ear. Ceres’ eyebrows went up as he listened, and, as the guard finished, he leaned forward in his chair, seeming to regard Louisa as a wolf regards a lamb.

  “My man tells me you’ve been singing a song,” he said. “A song of great interest to me. Won’t you sing it again for us?”

  Louisa shook her head, her lips pressed tight together. Beads of sweat were starting to form on her forehead, even in the cool shade of the tent.

  “Please, sir,” Julia began. “My sister is sick. Out in the hot sun all day … I fear she’s become delirious. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

  “Quiet,” ordered the Captain tersely. “Let the girl speak for herself.”

  Julia fell quiet, silently praying as she wrung her hands. There was a moment’s pause, and then Louisa opened her mouth and sang in a high, clear voice:

  The two come together, the two become one,

  With union comes power; control over all.

  She stopped, her voice quavering on the high note, and Julia breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. But the guard who had brought them to the tent was shaking his head.

  “There was more to it,” he said with a scowl. “Something about light and a host returning.” The Captain’s eyes opened even wider.

  “More to the prophecy? It cannot be. It cannot be!” He pushed back the chair from his desk and fairly leapt across the room, stopping when his nose was just an inch from Louisa’s. “Tell me what you know, girl! Tell me quick or your life will be forfeit!” Flecks of spittle flew from his mouth to land on her face. And then, abruptly and without warning, Louisa fainted.

  The Captain said a very bad word indeed and turned to Julia.

  “What was it she was singing? If it was a childhood lullaby you must know it too.”

  “I never heard her sing it until a few days ago,” Julia said truthfully. “And it was never anything but those two lines—perhaps your guard is mistaken.” She paused, looking at Louisa’s limp body lying at her feet. “Please, sir, let me take my sister back to our tent. She’s ill—she doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

  The Captain, perhaps understanding that Louisa was useless, gave a curt nod of dismissal. “Leave me,” he said. “Console your sister. My guards will bring you back to me once your sister is well.”

  Julia knelt and touched Louisa’s face, giving it a few gentle slaps to rouse her. It was only a moment before Louisa’s eyes opened, and Julia smiled for perhaps the first time that day.

  “Come on,” she said. “We’re going back to our tent.” She reached out a hand to help her stand up, then looped an arm around her back to support her. She cast one last glance at the Captain and his strange talisman, and then, just as they walked out the door, followed by one of the Captain’s guards, she remembered.

  The star pendant her grandmother had given her for Christmas. It was the same—it would fit right into the space in the Captain’s talisman. That was the piece they were looking for. She thought about the prophecy—when the two halves were put together they would have power. They would have control. But light would come, and the Host would return …

  Julia mulled it over in her mind as they walked back to the prisoners’ tents, accompanied by the guard. The Khemians would never find the pendant, lying where it was on top of the dresser in her own bedroom back in England. But they would never stop looking—not so long as they thought it would bring them “control over all.” And as they searched the hour grew nearer that the volcano would erupt, and some force—some dark power—would be released into the world.

  And if she could unite the talisman and the pendant, maybe she would be able to stop it. “The darkness shall fall,” she whispered to herself.

  They reached the prisoners’ tents, and Julia found an empty shelter in which Louisa could rest. The guard, silent as ever, stationed himself just outside. Julia laid Louisa down on a cot and put a hand on her forehead. “Sleep,” she told her. “Sleep, and then we’ll figure out what to do.”

  Louisa nodded and closed her eyes, and Julia, suddenly overwhelmed, wrapped her arms around her knees, put down her head, and wept. It had all gone wrong—Peter imprisoned, Louisa delirious, and a volcano about to erupt. She was just one girl, and she could never save them all. She could never bring them back to the Lord of Hosts. Their prayer this morning hadn’t worked, and they were all doomed.

  Julia could never say how long she wept, but after a time her tears slowed and she sat back against the cot. It was time to make a plan, because crying didn’t solve any problems. That was what her grandmother had always said, after all.

  Grandmother. Her Christmas present. The pendant, lying back home on top of the dresser.

  Her thoughts whirled faster than she could keep up with them. The pendant was back home, but if only it were here, and if she could only get the pendant that the Captain wore around his neck, the pendant into which her star would fit like a puzzle piece, she might—she might—be able to control whatever was about to come out of the earth. Or else she could use it as a bargaining piece for Peter’s freedom—and maybe his life. The six-pointed star was the only thing she had that the Khemians wanted, and more than anything, Julia wanted her brother back.

  She was confused, she was tired, and she was utterly overwhelmed. It was time to get help, she decided. It was time to find Alyce.

  CHAPTER

  14

  High above the prisoners’ tents, balancing on the uppermost branches of one of the tallest trees, a tiny bluebird, the only splash of color in an otherwise barren landscape, trilled for its mate. Louisa opened her eyes at the sound, looking around for the bird and surprised to find that she was not in her bed at home.

  She opened her mouth to cry out, but all at once Julia’s hand was over her mouth. “Quiet,” her stepsister hissed. “We have to find Alyce, and we have to do it without that guard.”

  But the guard had already poked his head into the shelter. Satisfied that his prisoners were awake, he motioned for them to rise. “Come on,” he said. “Captain Ceres wants to hear the rest of that song.”

  Julia and Louisa followed him back along the ridge to the Captain’s tent. Julia kept her hand tight around Louisa’s shoulders, even though Louisa seemed steadier after her long rest. The dark was falling once more, and the girls and their guard had to walk against a steady stream of prisoners returning from the mine. Julia scanned the faces of the slaves as they passed, hunting for the one woman who might know what to do. Every face looked much the same: beaten and dirty, and
desperate for the help that they did not expect to come. It was impossible to distinguish one wretched face from another, so Julia could not quite believe it when a pair of gentle gray eyes leapt out at her.

  “Alyce,” she gasped. “Alyce!” She sprang forward, clutching the older woman’s arm. The guard leapt after her. She had only a moment.

  “They’ve taken Peter,” Julia said quickly. “I don’t know where he’s being held. But I have what you’re digging for …” The guard’s meaty hand clamped tight around Julia’s arm, and he dragged her away from Alyce.

  “Thought you’d have a bit of a chat, did you?” he snarled, and struck her across the cheek with the back of his hand. The force of it knocked Julia to the ground, and she put up a hand to cover her face. “Get up,” the guard growled again. “The Captain doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  Julia struggled to her feet, casting a quick glance at Louisa. Her stepsister was standing frozen, looking blankly at the red welt that was already springing to Julia’s cheek. Louisa put out a hand and touched her fingertips lightly to Julia’s face, and then took her hand and squeezed it tight. “Come on,” she said, and on they walked.

  It was a matter of moments before they reached Ceres’ tent and were ushered inside. The Captain and his guards were waiting there, standing over a figure that had collapsed on the ground.

  It took Julia and Louisa a moment to recognize Peter. His face was beaten and bruised almost beyond recognition, and his bright hair was matted with something sticky and dark. Blood, Julia realized. His swollen hands had been scraped raw, and the shirt on his back lay ripped open, revealing an intricate network of bloody stripes.

  He was conscious, but only barely. He looked up at his sisters and let out a groan, unable even to speak. Julia wanted to vomit, she wanted to put her hands around the captain’s throat and make him suffer as Peter had suffered, she wanted to take her brother home and forget about Aedyn and Khemia and the prisoners. She trembled with the agony of it.

  Louisa dropped to her knees and reached out a hand, touching the welts on Peter’s shoulder. He flinched as she touched him, but then let out a breath and seemed to relax under the heat of her fingers.

  “Now, perhaps the little prophetess will sing us a song,” said the captain.

  Louisa looked up, glancing from the Captain to Julia. She was silent.

  “Sing,” said the Captain after a long moment. “Sing, or I’ll have my man teach you the same lesson he taught this boy here.” The guard standing at Ceres’ side tightened his hand around the whip at his side, and Julia gulped. But still Louisa was silent.

  The guard unfurled his whip, curling his fingers around its leather handle, and then Julia stepped forward. In a high, clear voice she sang:

  The two come together, the two become one,

  With union comes power, control over all.

  Flooded by light, the shadow outdone,

  The Host shall return; the darkness shall fall.

  It was a long moment before anyone spoke.

  Julia’s eyes were shut tight against the pain she knew must come—the sting of a whip, the crack of a hand—but none came. She opened her eyes, focusing on her brother. Peter had still not stirred, but he was casting Julia a look that she could not quite read.

  “Please,” she said. “My brother. Let me help my brother.”

  “Tell me what it means,” said the Captain. His fingers were holding tight to the pendant around his neck. “Your song. ‘The Host shall return.’ Tell me about this host.”

  “It’s the Lord of Hosts,” said Julia. “We’re his people, and this is his land—all of it. And he’s going to come back. He’s going to come back and then all his people will be free, and they’ll never be slaves again.”

  She would have gone on, but the guard raised his whip and she fell silent. “Careful, girl,” snarled the guard. “Careful what you say here.”

  The Captain cleared his throat. “This lord, girl,” he said. “He’ll stop a shadow?”

  “I don’t know what it means,” said Julia, a touch of desperation coming into her voice. “All I know is that you won’t be able to control whatever it is that’s coming out of the earth. There’s something underneath us that wants to get out—you’ve all felt it as well as I have. You think that if you find the second half of the pendant you’ll be able to control it. You think you’ll be able to take over the world. But that shadow will destroy you and anything that stands in its path. Only the Lord of Hosts can stop it.”

  And suddenly the Captain was on his feet, swaying a little as he stared at the girl in front of him. “How do you know about the pendant?” he demanded. “You’re a slave—nothing but a slave. Tell me how you know!”

  Julia remembered the weight of the six-pointed star hanging from her neck. She stood straight and still, thinking that perhaps it had been a mistake — and a bad one—to mention the pendant.

  “Tell me!”

  The Captain was in front of her now, his face just inches from hers, his hot, rotten breath crawling over her skin. Julia shook her head, hoping he wouldn’t notice how she trembled.

  “I … I overheard a guard,” she whispered. But Julia had never been a good liar and the Captain seemed to know it, for all of a sudden she realized that she was lying on the ground next to Peter. She tasted the blood in her mouth and she heard Louisa screaming, and then everything was black.

  It was still dark when she awoke. Something soft pressed against her cheek, and Julia touched it gently with her fingers.

  “Shh, no,” said a voice that Julia hardly recognized. “The guard struck you with his whip. Leave it be for now. Try not to touch it.”

  “Louisa?”

  “Yes. Quiet now.”

  “Where’s Peter?”

  “I think he’s close. I don’t know where. We’re going to find him, Julia. Understand? We’ll find him.” Julia nodded, although it was too dark for Louisa to see her. Louisa put a cool hand to Julia’s forehead, and Julia breathed a little easier at her touch. “Where are we?” she asked.

  “We’re in a cave close by the mine. There are guards at the entrance—I don’t know how many—and …” She fell suddenly silent. “Do you hear that?”

  Julia strained her ears to listen, and indeed she could make out voices, far back in the darkness. Louisa clutched her hand a little tighter as the voices fell silent, and footsteps took their place.

  The two girls listened to the footsteps, coming closer and closer, step by awful step. Neither girl spoke a word, knowing that there was no place to run, no way to escape. And then…

  “Julia?” said a voice that both of them knew.

  CHAPTER

  15

  Alyce!”

  Julia stumbled into her arms, almost missing her in the darkness. “Alyce! How did you find us? Have you heard news of Peter? How did you get them to let you in?”

  She was interrupted by Alyce’s laughter. “Quiet, child, quiet! Enough time for all your questions. Here, I’ve brought you a meal.” She produced a bag heavy with two loaves of bread. “Not much, I’m afraid, but it’s all that the guards would allow. And I’ve brought someone to meet you.” Even in the blackness of the cave Julia could hear the smile in her voice. “My son, Alexander. I’ve been telling him tales about you since before he can remember.”

  Julia reached out and touched the boy’s shoulder, and a small, shy voice asked “Is this Lady Julia?”

  “It is,” she responded. “The Lord of Hosts called us once again … but I’m afraid we’re not doing so well as last time.”

  “That is not for you to decide,” said Alyce. “In the midst of the darkness you cannot understand how the Lord of Hosts is using you. Sit down and eat while I tell you a tale.”

  Louisa took the loaf of bread Alyce held out and tore off a chunk from the end, passing it to Julia. The girls sat back against the wall of the cave, feeling the dampness seeping beneath their clothes. They munched gratefully on the bread. It had been a
long time—too long—since they had last eaten, and neither knew when they might eat again.

  “Your work here has not been in vain,” Alyce began. “When you gave the people water, they heard your message. There have been murmurs, rumors. The people of Aedyn know you have returned. And they will not long suffer their Deliverers to be locked up in a cave.”

  “Do you mean … will they …” stammered Julia, not daring to hope.

  “Your presence has brought the people hope,” Alyce said simply. “They are, at this moment, meeting secretly to plan your rescue. It will not be much longer, children.” She glanced over her shoulder, back toward the entrance of the cave and the guards who stood watch there. “We must not tarry overlong. The attack will come before daybreak. Be ready when it comes. You and your brother”—Alyce dropped her voice—“You have a plan, of course. A plan to take us all back to Aedyn. The Lord of Hosts told you what to do, just like last time.” She spoke with a quiet certainty, and Julia had not the heart to tell her that the Lord of Hosts had been silent. She had no idea how to get the prisoners back to Aedyn—no idea where the boats were kept and no idea how to sail them if she did.

  “Of course,” Julia said quickly. “Of course we have a plan.” And even in the darkness she could sense Alyce’s smile.

  “I thank the Lord of Hosts that you’ve returned,” she said. “And I thank him that my son has seen this day, and that he will have such a tale to tell his children.”

  “They said I can’t fight,” Alexander put in. “They said I’m too small, and I’ll just get in the way.”

  “There will be time enough to fight,” said his mother gently. “Time enough, when your height matches the size of your courage.” She pulled both of the girls into a quick embrace. “By daybreak. Be ready.”

  “We’ll be ready,” promised Julia, in as confident a voice as she could muster. Alyce took her son’s hand and led him out toward the entrance of the cave.