by Speer, Flora
“If there are any oranges,” he said, “the Great Leaders keep them to themselves. I ate an orange once, years ago when I was a boy. I have never forgotten the taste of it.”
“There is another reason for wanting to change the present Government,” Carol said. “Just think of the dishes you could create if fresh produce were shipped here from other parts of the world in winter. Judging by the meals I have eaten in this kitchen, you have the potential to be a world-class chef, Bas.”
“All of which reminds me,” Nik said. “I wasn’t going to call another meeting before we move tomorrow, but since every one of us is here, perhaps we ought to go through the plan once more, to be sure no one has forgotten his part because of too eager participation in the holiday.” He sent a stern look in the direction of Luc and his friends.
“We haven’t forgotten,” said Luc, “nor did we talk too much while we were out last night. Our plan is too important for us to chance being caught through carelessness.”
“I am relieved to hear you say so.” Nik gave Luc a brief smile. “Begin by reciting your part.”
Carol listened with growing excitement to what her new friends were saying. Lady Augusta had disappeared shortly after bringing her to this time, but when Carol interrupted the discussion to mention her absence, neither Nik nor the others seemed to think it was odd. Nik pointed out that “Aug” was a witch and thus was free to come and go as she wanted.
Carol had her own explanation for Lady Augusta’s absence, though she kept it to herself. There was a lesson Carol was expected to learn in this time, and what that lesson was she would have to figure out for herself, rather than having Lady Augusta direct her. Carol was rapidly coming to the conclusion that the lesson had something to do with Nik’s plan. He and his friends were going to attempt on the morrow to begin to fan the underground flames of resentment against a strict and uncaring Government into an open, widespread rebellion, and then into a full-scale revolution that they were hoping would produce major changes in the social and political system. Carol believed she was expected to be part of those changes.
When Bas brought the bottle of brandy out of its hiding place in his bedroom and poured a small amount into the cup or glass of each person present, Carol stood with the rest for Nik’s toast.
“To the success of our venture.” Nik raised his glass.
“We know the cost will be high,” Al added, looking from face to face and then putting an arm around Pen. “We believe our goal is worth the risk, and we trust you, Nik.”
“Hear, hear,” cried Luc.
Upon that signal they all swallowed the fiery stuff. On this evening, in such company, the brandy did not seem to Carol at all harsh or strong. She drained her glass at a gulp, and set it down with a sense of lightness and in complete certainty of belonging.
In late afternoon they all went out to the square again, this time to witness the ceremony as the Orb left the World Tree until the next holiday.
The line of sight was not as clear for sunset as for sunrise, because the remains of several buildings, including Marlowe House, blocked the actual horizon. Still, the same participants marched into the square and took their places as on the previous day. This time, the priest was in dark blue robes, and the female chorus of two was gowned in black with silver stars scattered across the fabric. The women glittered with every movement they made. Carol assumed these costumes were meant to represent the night sky that would be visible once the sun had set and the Orb had gone. The obese Leader Fal, who again came with the priest and the women, was wearing for the occasion an outfit in a bright shade of green, which did nothing to compliment his sallow skin.
The priest began to chant, the women joined him, and just as the sun slipped behind Marlowe House, the branches of the World Tree released their grip on the Orb. Slowly, silently, the Orb rose out of the metal tree and drifted upward into the clear, early evening sky.
Made curious once more by the quiet and effortless motion of the Orb, Carol decided she was going to watch it in order to discover where it went. The priest rattled on, sermonizing about the Orb returning to bless the people at the Spring Equinox celebrations just three months hence. Carol was paying little attention to him or to anyone else. She was keeping her eyes on the rising Orb. The setting sun reflected off its smooth surface, casting a bit of additional light into the square.
Nik gripped Carol’s arm so hard that she unwillingly looked away from the Orb to discover what was wrong. Nik’s face was set and grim, and he was staring toward the group of officials who were standing around the World Tree. When Carol looked upward again, the Orb was gone.
“Where did it go?” she asked. “It just vanished.”
“Never mind the Orb,” Nik said. “Don’t look toward the Tree, but you are being watched.”
“By whom?” Carol froze, not wanting to look anywhere at all until she found out why Nik was so upset that he would hurt her. He was still holding her upper arm in a tight grip.
“The commander of the civil guards,” he said, scarcely moving his lips. “The man who was leading the troops who nearly marched over Sue yesterday.”
“The man I swore at,” Carol added, shivering at the memory.
“The same. He has been staring at you all through the ceremony.”
“What shall we do?” Thinking fast, Carol went on. “If I go back to the house with you and he comes after me, you could be in trouble. We cannot jeopardize your plans, Nik.”
“I will take you to Lin’s house,” Nik decided. “She will welcome you and keep you safe. Come with me now.”
“No.” Carol planted her feet firmly and refused to move. “I am not going anywhere with you, because to do so would show the guards commander that we know each other. At the moment all he knows for certain is that we are standing next to one another, which in this crowd means nothing. If I get into trouble over what I did yesterday and that man thinks there is a connection between us, then you could be blamed, too. You cannot afford to be picked up by the police for questioning, Nik.”
“Then I will find someone else to go with you.”
“I’m glad you aren’t arguing about going with me yourself, but I am leaving this square alone. I won’t involve anyone in your group in any trouble I may have with the civil guards,” she insisted. “I used to be familiar with London. I’m sure I can still find my way around your Lond. I will go now, before the ceremony ends. That man won’t be so likely to come charging after me if he has to make a scene by leaving his official duties to do it. After all, I haven’t actually done anything illegal. It’s just that he is suspicious of me because I am a stranger. Look the other way, Nik, and I’ll slip away now and return to Marlowe House after the ceremony is over and the square is clear.”
“Please, Car, be careful.” She heard the tension and the fear for her in his voice.
“I’ll see you in a little while,” she told him, hoping with all her heart that what she said was true.
Chapter 14
Carol stepped behind Nik’s taller, heavily clothed bulk. He moved to stand squarely in front of her, so his body would block her from the sight of anyone standing near the World Tree. With Nik shielding her, it was easy enough for her to work her way backward among people who were all focused on the ceremony. No one gave her more than a glance and she kept her face down, hoping thus to make identification more difficult. If it came to that; if the guards commander demanded to know who she was. At the thought of confronting the man dread blossomed anew within her, along with a premonition of coming horror. There was no time to dwell on such thoughts. Her immediate aim was to get out of the square.
She reached the corner of the square. Marlowe House lay half a block away on her left. In Carol’s imagination the house beckoned to her, promising a safety she was not willing to seek. If she were being watched, the last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to the house where Nik and his friends lived. A street opened before her, leading away from the square. It headed w
estward and Carol took it. The crowd thinned out as she put more distance between herself, the World Tree, and the ceremony taking place at the foot of the Tree.
By now she was fairly sure the guards commander would not know where she had gone, but she wanted to stay well away from Marlowe House for a while. And, she reminded herself, she would have to be extremely careful not to be seen by the commander a third time. There was something about the way he looked at her with his cold, almost mechanical gaze that sent chills along her spine. Her every instinct told her the commander was a man who would listen to no excuses and who would show no mercy.
It was growing darker by the minute. The ceremony must be completed by now. This supposition on Carol’s part was confirmed by the number of people who began to hurry past her. They all wore a deflated, post-holiday air about them that was much like the after-Christmas letdown she had noticed on the faces of people in her own time.
Carol had always felt superior to those sad souls. Since she did not believe in celebrating Christmas and expected nothing from the day, she was never disappointed by a lack of holiday cheer in her own life, and thus the days immediately following the end of the festive season were the same to her as any other day of a monotonous year.
Now she was sorry for the poorly dressed, shivering folk who were wending their way homeward through the steadily increasing cold. Furthermore, she was aware of a sense of kinship with them. She was as haphazardly attired as any of the people around her, and she was shivering, too.
She picked up her pace, wanting to lose herself in the anonymity of the growing throng pouring out of the square. Since the official celebrants and the civil guards apparently used only one route for their processions to and from the World Tree, Carol did not think she would be followed along this other street, but it seemed a good idea to try to make herself appear to be just as dejected as everyone else at the end of the holiday. Not having any real destination in mind, she continued on toward the west.
After a while she noticed that the press of people around her was thinning out as men and women turned off the main road and into smaller streets and alleys.
“Better get out of the way,” cautioned a man who brushed by her with a child in his arms. “Here come the guards. You don’t want to be caught blocking their path.”
“Thanks. I wasn’t paying attention.” Quickly Carol followed the man into a dark side street.
“You lost?” the man asked, not pausing in his rapid stride when he glanced at her through the shadows.
“I took the wrong street out of the square,” Carol said. “After the guards go by I’ll head back again. I’m sure I can find my way home.”
“Just be careful of the guards, and get indoors as soon as you can. You know how tough they can be on stragglers after a holiday ends.”
“Right. Thanks again.” Carol watched the man and his child fade into the darkness and disappear. Wanting no meeting with the civil guards, she took his warning to heart and waited, pressed tight against the side of a building, until the sound of tramping, booted feet passed away into the darkness. On returning to the wider street she saw how few people remained on it. Making a hasty decision she hurried across this street.
Reasoning that if she periodically located the broad street she knew, it would keep her on course even in the bewildering darkness, she began to work her way back toward Marlowe House along narrower, secondary streets which would offer better shelter than the main road to anyone who wanted to stay out of sight.
She had reckoned without the winding alleys and the dead-end mews. Certain sections of London had undergone great changes in one hundred seventy-five years. The main thoroughfares might be the same, but the side streets once so familiar to her had been bombed out and rebuilt several times before the last bout of general destruction. Ruined buildings and the inevitable heaps of broken stone and brick impeded her progress. The twists and turnings she was forced to take around these obstacles were confusing her sense of direction. She was sure several hours must have elapsed since she had left Nik, and she knew he would be worrying about her.
At last admitting she was lost, Carol decided her best option was to continue in what she by now could only hope was the right direction and pray that she would soon come upon a familiar landmark. In the meantime, though being careful would slow her down, she would have to try to keep out of sight. In one way, it would be easy enough to do. There was almost no one abroad to notice her. On the other hand, if any of the civil guards came along they would see her at once and she would be arrested.
“I hate this,” she muttered under her breath. “I used to walk all over this part of London without worrying about meeting policemen. Then, I thought of the police as friends and protectors of honest citizens. What a disgusting world this has become. And if I don’t get back to Marlowe House soon, Nik will be so upset. My absence might even cause him to delay the beginning of his plan. Where in this messed-up city is Marlowe House? Oh, at last!”
This exclamation burst from her as she walked into an open square. Almost immediately she saw it was not the square she sought. Here, the houses were not damaged. There were no piles of rubble for her to pick her way around, but instead a smoothly paved street. The square itself contained no World Tree. What Carol saw was a collection of large vehicles parked in neat rows filling up most of the open space. Each of these machines looked as if it could transport six or eight people comfortably.
“Limousines,” Carol said, peering through a windshield to look inside one of them. “Not exactly like the twentieth-century version, but so luxurious they couldn’t be anything else.”
It did not take much guesswork to discover the reason why so many limousines were parked in one place. In one of the fine houses fronting the square there was a party in progress.
After ducking behind a car so she would not be seen, Carol made a quick survey of the area. There was a bonfire at the side of the square most distant from her, and around the blaze a group of men stood or sat. From their neat outfits in various dark colors, very different from ordinary clothing, these men appeared to be the chauffeurs of the parked limousines, awaiting the call to drive their employers home at the end of the evening. They had a good supply of food and drink available, and were talking and singing rather loudly. A half-dozen men in the brown uniform of the civil guards kept a casual watch on them.
Unlike the neighborhood around Marlowe House, here there was electricity. The square was well lit by ornate street lamps and every house blazed with light. Directly in front of Carol was the mansion in which the party was being held. Through the wide front windows she could see people moving about inside. Curiosity making her bolder, she lifted her head to look over the top of the car.
That the rooms inside the house were warm was obvious from the clothing worn by the women present. Sheer, gauzy gowns revealed arms and throats and, in several cases, great expanses of snowy bosoms. All the women flaunted glittering earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and tiaras. The men were adorned with heavy, jeweled gold or silver chains over their costumes of tunics and tight trousers, and their hands were glittering with colorful rings. After days of seeing only dark and tattered garments on everyone she met, Carol’s eyes were briefly dazzled by the many bright colors confined within the silk-covered, gilt-trimmed walls of that room.
People were still arriving. The front door of the mansion was wide open to admit the guests, though a pair of uniformed guards stood on the step, keeping a sharp watch on all who entered. Trying to see better, Carol changed her position, creeping along the side of one of the parked cars, keeping her head low when a new set of headlights swung into the square.
The occupant of the newly arrived limousine was the Leader, Fal, who had been at the Solstice ceremonies. Fal climbed out of the car somewhat awkwardly. He was still wearing the unbecoming bright green tunic and trousers in which he had attended the late afternoon ceremony, but in the interval since then he had added several heavy gold chains aro
und his neck, each chain bearing a jeweled medallion. At the Leader’s appearance, the civil guards at the entrance all snapped to attention—and jumped again when the second person in the car alighted. This man was plainly dressed in a brown uniform and no extra adornments. Recognizing the commander of the civil guards, the very man she least wanted to meet, Carol quickly lowered her head. Almost immediately, compelled by a terrible fascination, she once again peered over the hood of the car behind which she was hiding.
In contrast to Leader Fal’s short roundness, the commander was tall and slim. His uniform, combined with his pale face and starkly slicked-back brown hair, made him look to Carol’s eyes like a dangerous thug. It horrified her that out of all the streets in ruined Lond, she should have fled away from him to the one place where he would be. There seemed to her to be some unearthly design in this near meeting. Nor was her apprehension eased by the conversation she now overheard.
“Come on, Drum,” she heard Leader Fal say to the commander in a querulous voice. “I have repeatedly told you, there is nothing to be concerned about. It is just a rumor, and we have heard many rumors of possible trouble before this. None of them have meant anything. Neither does this rumor. Put extra guards on the streets and then forget it.”
“I know every person in that area by sight,” the man called Drum responded. “Yet twice I have spotted a stranger there. What does it mean?”
“It probably means,” said Leader Fal, “that someone invited a country cousin to the city for the holiday. I will wager every chain I am wearing that you never see your mysterious stranger again.”
“I have learned to trust my instincts,” Commander Drum insisted. “First a persistent rumor, and then someone out of place, someone who evokes a most violent reaction in my heart.”
“I didn’t know you had a heart.” Leader Fal laughed in an insinuating way. “Tell me, was this stranger a man or a woman?”
