Whisper Gatherers

by Nicola McDonagh

  “Let us both go. I will not harm the kiddle if you do.”

  “Drop the weapon,” Santy said.

  “No.” Lilith took the gun away from Deogol’s head then pointed it at me. “Let me and the Meek go, or I will kill him and the Auger.”

  Faster than a sanitary door spray squirt, Santy threw her special knife at Lilith’s mitt. She dropped the Agro weapon, and sank to her knees clutching her injured paw. Deogol raced over to us.

  Santy took a restraining tie from her sleeve pouch. She walked over to the simpering fem, pulled out her knife, causing more wailing, wrapped the cord around her wrists and yanked her to her feet. Then she took a mediswab from her sleeve pouch, placed it on the wound her blade made in the Praisebee’s flesh, and pushed her towards the door in the wall.

  “More will come.”

  “Be still.” Santy tightened the restraint. Lilith grimaced then grinned.

  “Eldy contacted them you know. He was the one who let us in. His idea to give me the knife. He bargained with the Agros, they want something you have.”

  “Ta for spilling Lilith, but pretty much figured that bit out. What with him trying to kill me and all.”

  “He wasn’t going to kill you.”

  “Really? Looked like that was exactly what he was going to do.”

  Lilith smirked, cocked her head to one side and stared at me. “They wouldn’t let him. Plans for you girlie.”

  Santy snorted and shoved Lilith towards the entrance. “Hey, what about Mayor Eldwyn?”

  “Let the clean up minions deal with that garbage.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A Different Threat

  When we returned to the oldie place, all was relatively calm. Except for Elijah, who on seeing Santy shove Lilith into the room, shot out of his chair next to Grangran and hid under a table. There were more medifolk than before too along with S.A.N.T.S. the two Firstaiders, and Meilyr, all busy bandaging folk and the like.

  Orva entered from the foodprep room. Her mouth was a slit, her eyes too. On clocking our presence, she lost the look of worry and smiled. “I see you found more than your bro, Adara. Good to see you Breanna,” she said touching Santy on the shoulder. Lilith tugged at her restraint and gave out a low growl.

  “Silence, Agro collaborator. Orva, do you have a room to stash garbage?”

  She nodded in the direction of the foodprep room and took hold of the Praisebee’s bonds. “I’ll leave her with the other Agro wannabees,” she said and dragged a hissing Lilith to said place.

  We heard much scuffling before all went quiet, then Orva returned.

  “How goes the battle?”

  “Better than before.”

  “Much better. In fact it is all but finished, ye will be glad tae hear.”

  We all turned as Dreng entered. He was grubby and scuffed about, but walked steady with had a swagger that would suggest the battle was won.

  “What? Is it over?”

  “Aye, it is, Deogol.” My bro cast his eyes down. I swear he looked disappointed. Nah, my imagination was racing and then some. Dreng continued, “Agros make a lot of noise to be sure, but they sent too few to make much of a dent in our defences.”

  “They are not Agros, Carnies. Paid in meat to do Agro nastiness,” Orva said.

  “Carnies. Aye, that would make sense. I thought they crumbled too quick.”

  “Will more come?” Elijah’s high voice cut through our convo. He stood before us, shivering and pale.

  “Maybe, laddie, but this time, we are ready. Word has gone forth, the Wilderness S.A.N.T.S. are primed.”

  Elijah stepped forward. He stared at Dreng and Orva. Breathing in a stutter breath, he said almost in a whisper, “You left us to die in those chambers. May god have mercy on your soul.”

  “My what?”

  “The thing that their god gives you when you are born. Apparently it goes back to him when they expire,” I said.

  “Oh, well then, thanks.”

  “I don’t think it was meant to flatter.”

  “How could you do such a thing?”

  Orva sighed and faced the trembling Elijah. “Look, you and that other Praisebee were a danger. We did not, in fact, leave you down there to die. We left you down there with provisions, so that we could come back and free you when the time was right.”

  “How long?”

  “What?”

  “How long before the time would have been right?”

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  He held out his left hand. The tip of his little finger was missing. It oozed yellow pus. “Lilith chewed it off whilst I was out of it.” He waved it under Orva’s nose. She winced, turned her head and called to Arla.

  With a quick glance at the disfigured digit and his scrawny bod, Arla, swift as a spider’s bite, jabbed a hypo into his arm. She blocked his fall with her chest and shook her head. “Sheesh, there’s nowt to the poor thing.”

  Meilyr came over and picked him up as though he were a tot. “I’ll take him to the Medicentre for treatment,” he said and carried him out. Arla cast her eyes to the ceiling and followed them.

  “He’s had much to cope with,” Deogol said.

  “How would you know?”

  “The look of fear in his eyes, Sis.”

  “I see that look on many other folk.”

  “Not as much as he.”

  Santy exhaled loudly. We knew to cease our chat. She beckoned for us to move away. We did and went through the entrance hall out into the dark. The bangs and whooshes were no more. Clouds that had been heavy were gone . A half moon that looked like a crooked smile in the starless sky shone a thin light upon us three. “There is something in the air that makes me anxious. Agros sending inferior warriors to shake folk up? They want us broken and weak.”

  “So that they can send in real troops to finish the job?”

  “What job, Addy? What do they really want?”

  “Thought it was to free the Praisebees, but they have. So now what? All this for Deogol?”

  “Nah, they do not want me. What for eh?”

  Furrowing her forehead and raising one eyebrow, Santy looked at my bro. “How did they get in so easily? Are our perimeter defences so puny that in less than two moons loony Praisebees and Carnies pretending to be Agros, have gatecrashed us? How did the fence that is hooked to alarms, manned at all times, stop being live and guarded? Cityplace was built specifically to desist and detract any outsiders coming in without special invitation.”

  I shrugged. “It is a puzzle all right. I mean, how can we fight back when any folk who choose to can saunter in and do what the huff they like?”

  “At least the guards and Wilderness S.A.N.T.S are here now to man the fences. Ah, it is all Mayor Eldwyn’s doing. What he hoped to gain from this I do not know.”

  “Perhaps he wanted meat? Perhaps he was a Carnie too? He wanted Adara to bring down the birdies.”

  I turned to my bro. “Goodly thinking. You may be right.”

  A chilly wind stirred up some dusty earth. It swirled around our bods and up into the air. We watched it blow away towards the Minion quarters and beyond to the perimeter fence. Not such an oddly thing for sure, but something in the way it moved all uniform, full of purpose, made us shoulder twitch.

  “Are we safe?”

  “I thought so, Deogol. Go inside.” Santy turned to me. “Something is not right. Inside Deogol, now.”

  My bro frowned so deeply that I thought his brow would drop off.

  “No, I want to stay here.”

  “Go sit with your grangran little earwig. Now is not the time to rebel. Stay with her and do not leave this complex.”

  “But…”

  “Deogol, do as I say.”

  “Huffin’ hell,” he said and slunked away into the main building. He paused at the entrance, looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes. I did not like the expression on his face. He snorted and went inside.

  A low whiz-bang sound came from far a
way. A cloud of smoke rose high into the sky. “When will they cease? Does that cloud come from Centralplaza?”

  Santy shook her head. “Looks likely. We must end this, somehow. We must.”

  I put my hand on her arm, she gave me a sad smile.

  “Hey, hey,” Orva called and walked briskly towards us. Her face was pale and her mouth twitched as though she had swallowed something nasty. “I have received news. They have let incendiaries scatter around Cityplace. These devices have tore and slashed and stung like hornets. Inside homes, Breanna. They came into folk’s homes. Not enough to strip the Seedbank bare it would seem. They think they have taken all our seedless, but they have not. They merely robbed us of our excess.”

  “There is much carnage without?”

  Orva nodded. “There will be much to repair.”

  A large stone fell at my feet, then another. “What the huff?” I said and saw more rocks hurtling through the air. They fell near to the outer gate. One struck the S.A.N.T. guard on the cheek. He staggered forward and Santy went to him. His wound spouted profusely. She pointed at the Medicentre. He stumbled off and the stone throwing ceased.

  “Who is doing is?”

  “Dunno,” I said and looked around, but saw nowt. Then we heard a crashing sound.

  “Did ye see her?”

  We turned.

  Dreng raced down the ramp. His mouth bled, his right hand between thumb and forefinger too. “That Praisebee wolfwhore, has escaped.”

  “What? How?”

  “She said she wanted tae relieve herself so I untied her bonds. She back nutted me, hurled the chair she was sitting on through the window. When I grabbed her, she turned and bit me,” he said and held up his tooth marked mitt. “Did ye see her?”

  “Well, she won’t get far, the place is guarded on all sides.” As soon as Santy said those words, the main gate opened and a figure darted through it dragging another familiar bod. Then it closed shut.

  “Huff and nad. Deogol!”

  “I’ll gae bring her back,” Dreng said and ran to the gate. He tried to open it, but it was sealed shut. “Tell them within tae open this thing now!”

  “No need,” Santy said. “The secret exit. Come on Dreng. Addy, go inside until we return.”

  “No. I can be of use.”

  “How?”

  “Dunno,” I said and hung my head.

  “We do not have time to argue. Orva, keep vigilant. Stay by the gate.”

  “Done. Come back soon.”

  “Come on. Let this be the start of your S.A.N.T. training. Pursuing the enemy.”

  I near jumped with glee. I did not, though, instead I followed Dreng and Santy to the back of the complex to the secret opening, where a S.A.N.T. Guard stood. Dreng whispered something to him and he turned his back whilst I tapped in the numbers Grangran had given me. The wall became a door and we quickly went through it into the grey dark before the sun rises.

  We raced around the complex to the outside gate where Lilith had taken Deogol too many secs before. Santy shone a torch upon the ground looking for tell-tale footprints. “Ah, too many tracks to know who’s are who’s. Where would she go?”

  I scratched my noggin. “The Auditorium. The secret tunnels to escape?”

  “Good thinking.”

  Turning right, we headed towards Cityplaza. The sky became brighter so there was no need for artificial illumination. As we neared, I thought I heard my bro and called his name.

  “You see him?”

  “No. Santy, did you hear?”

  “No, Addy.”

  “I swear I heard Deogol.”

  “From where?”

  “Dunno.”

  Santy sighed. We ran full pelt to the place and stared at the once clean and uniform square. Now it was little more than rubble. There was debris everywhere. A great hole in the side of the Auditorium spewed out clouds of dust. The fountain was a heap of broken cement and the great infoboard, nowt more than a twisted metal frame with bits of melted plassy hanging from it. Thousands of spent ammo, and those golden nail slugs littered the floor. The provision store and other buildings looked intact except for a few broken windows. The seedle bank doors were gone.

  “What a woeful sight,” Santy said and we walked amongst the ruin as moontime ended.

  The sun shot down daggers of brightness that illuminated patches of devastation. Split walkway stones jutted upwards like mini volcanoes. I stumbled over overturned benches and smashed flowerpots. There was broken glass just about everywhere we stepped. It reminded me of an ancient vid I’d seen of a war back in the old days when there was a place called England. The City of London looked a bit like the plaza after some Agro types called Snazzies, or something like that, bombed the guts out of it. I also remember that although the Hinglish were all but done in, they won that particular battle.

  A loud boom caused us to swivel round. The Auditorium belched out smoke blocking the entrance with rubble. We saw a shape scuttle from the carnage. Santy sped to the steps and disappeared behind one of the columns. When next she came into view, she had Lilith in her grasp. Dreng bounded up the steps, tied a restraint around her puny wrists and pushed her before him.

  “Where is Deogol?”

  “Gone where he belongs.”

  “Do nay be clever wi me, filthy Agro spy.”

  Lilith snickered and spat on his boots. Dreng cuffed her cheek and she coughed. Santy grabbed her hair and pulled back her head. She choked.

  “Tell us where Deogol is, or I will snap your neck.”

  “Snap away.”

  I thought my Santy would, for she yanked Lilith’s head backwards with such force that the Carnie/Prasiebee fell to the ground leaving a clump of her hair in Santy’s fingers. “Tell me or I will stomp upon your throat.” I’d never seen such hatred in my Santy’s eyes. She raised her foot and hovered it over Lilith’s neck. “Speak now.”

  “Or what? You will kill me? How will that help?”

  Santy lowered her boot and dragged Lilith to her feet by her tethered wrists.

  “He is gone far, far away by now. Truly, I do not know where. All I did was take him from the oldie place and bring him here. A hooded male snatched him from me and told me to leave quick. I did.”

  “Who took him? Carnie or Agro?”

  Lilith shrugged. “No idea.”

  My shoulders began to shake. Santy took my arms, pulled me close against her chest. When I was done blubbing, I sniffed and stood tall. “What now? The entrance is blocked, we cannot get in to look for Deogol. He is lost.”

  Santy blinked slowly. “No, not lost, just gone temporarily.” She clenched her fingers and turned to Lilith. “What do you know?”

  “Nothing more. My part in all this is done.”

  “Do ye think we should take her to the fence and let the border guards interrogate her?” Dreng said.

  “I do. It is good that we have found this Agro spy. I believe she knows more than she tells. Let us go quickly. We can do no more until we have a lead. Do not pout Addy, where would we look?”

  Without further comment, Dreng grabbed Lilith and we walked to the perimeter fences. In the far distance, past the infoplace, out towards the other part of town, I saw specks of folk coming into view. They shimmered in the hazy light like the echoes of those that had moved on. Dreng stopped. “What spookiness is this?”

  “Ghosties of those you killed. God has sent them down to administer vengeance.”

  “Trap shut Praisebee,” he said and administered a wallop across her grime-matted head.

  The shapes became bigger, less obscure. They were Cityfolk from the opposite end of town. They shuffled slowly along, carrying wounded, bubs and bits and bobs of belongings. A young ‘un with a white tunic attached to a long slim piece of metal, walked in front. He wafted the makeshift flag to and fro before him. He shouted in a hoarse voice, “We surrender. We surrender.”

  I spat on the ground. “Measly feeblebellied excuses for hominids. Giving in to the enemy just
like that.”

  “Do not be so harsh Adara, this scuffle is unlike anything they have experienced.”

  “True enough. The worst things they’ve experienced since today is a wastebin not being emptied on time. Still, it galls me to see such cowardice.”

  “Only what I’d expect from the likes of you Cityfolk. With your cleaner than clean places, and your screeching at dirt and germs. If I was free I’d go around sneezing in your unsoiled faces and give you all the flu bug.”

  “What? You have the flu? But that damn virus was eradicated more than a hundred orbits ago wasn’t it?”

  “Relax Addy, Lilith doesn’t have a bug, she’s trying to upset you.”

  “Goodly job done well.”

  Lilith cackled.

  Santy held her hands up and approached the folk. “We are not Agros as you can see. So no need to brandish the sign of capitulation.”

  The kiddle lowered his flag and all stopped. A fem pushing a tot in a blue stroller came forward. She was dressed in fancy duds as if on her way to a shindig. In fact as I looked around at the other folk, I realised they were all wearing their finest outfits. Oddly indeed.

  “Thank the OneGreatProvider. We observed and heard the skirmish in the centre square. When all the lights went out we did not know what to do. Luckily we were all attending a comingout day celebration.” She looked down fondly at the bub in the shovechair. “His actually. We stayed put waiting for info, but none came. Well, we would have remained till some news arrived, but the grub is running low and the bogflushes have stopped working, so we simply had to come out.”

  Santy chewed her bottom lip. “We cannot bring so many to Goldenagehomes, there is not the space to house them. Were you bombed from your homes?”

  “No, like I said we ran out of stuff we needed.”

  “The plaza is devastated. The homedwellings on that side of town, uninhabitable also. The residents are holed up at the oldie centre. It is stuffed to capacity. I must suggest that you all go to your own dwellings and remain there. I promise, it will not be for too long. Help is on the way.”

  “But, the loos, the food?”

  “Search your storecupboards. There must some provisions left. Then share. As for flushings, well I can only suggest that holes be dug outside and you plop in there.”