by Patrick Ness
And then I hear a sound coming from the top of the hill–
A sound I recognize–
Steam escaping from a vent–
“Coolant systems!” I shout to Acorn, like they’re the happiest words in the whole world.
The steam sound gets louder as we near the crest of the hill and I picture it in my mind: two huge vents at the back of the scout ship, just above the engines, cooling them down after entry into the atmosphere–
The same vents that didn’t open on my own scout ship when the engines caught fire.
The same vents that caused us to crash and killed my mother and father.
Acorn reaches the top of the hill and for a second, all I see is the vast empty space where the communications tower used to be, the tower Mistress Coyle blew up rather than have the Mayor use it to contact my ships first. Most of the metal wreckage has been cleared away in huge scrap heaps and when Acorn races across the open ground, at first I only see the heaps in the moons-light, three big ones, covered in the dust and dullness of the months since the tower fell–
Three groupings of metal–
And behind them a fourth–
Shaped like a huge hawk, wings outstretched–
“There!”
Acorn puts on a burst of energy and we race towards the back of the scout ship, steam and heat pouring out of the vents into the sky, and we get nearer and I see a shaft of light on the left that must be the bay door open under a wing of the ship–
“Yes,” I say to myself. “They’re really here–”
Because they really are here. I almost believed they’d never come and I can feel myself getting lighter and my breath start rushing faster because they’re here, they’re actually here–
I see three figures standing on the ground at the bottom of the bay doors, silhouetted against the shaft of light, their shadows turning as they hear Acorn’s hoofbeats–
Just to the side, I see a cart parked in the darkness, its oxes nibbling on grass–
And we get closer–
And closer–
And the figures’ faces suddenly loom up as Acorn and I enter the shaft of light, too, juddering to a stop–
And it is, it’s exactly who I thought it would be and my heart does a skip of happiness and homesickness, and in spite of all that’s happening, I feel my eyes get wet and my throat start to choke–
Because it’s Bradley Tench from the Beta and Simone Watkin from the Gamma and I know they came looking for me, they came all this way looking for my mother and my father and me–
And they step back, startled at my sudden appearance, and then take a second to see past all the dirt and the grime and the longer hair–
And I’m bigger, too–
Taller–
Almost grown–
And their eyes get wider as they realize who I am–
And Simone opens her mouth–
But it’s not her voice that speaks.
It’s the third figure, the one whose eyes – now that I finally look at them – open even wider, and she says my name, says it with a look of shock that I have to say gives me a surprising flash of pleasure.
“Viola!” Mistress Coyle says.
“Yeah,” I say, looking right into her eyes. “It’s Viola.”
[TODD]
I don’t even think when the Mayor and Morpeth run after the soldiers into the battle. I just spur Angharrad and she trusts me and leaps right off after ’em–
I don’t want to be here–
I don’t want to fight anyone–
But if it keeps her safe–
(Viola)
Then I’ll bloody well fight–
We ride past soldiers on foot still charging forward, and the battleground at the bottom of the hill is heaving with men and Spackle and I keep on looking up the zigzag road which is still pouring down with more and more Spackle soldiers and it feels like I’m an ant riding into an anthill and you can hardly see the ground for writhing bodies–
“This way!” calls the Mayor, peeling off to the left, away from the river. The lines of men have pushed the Spackle back against both the river and the base of the hill, holding ’em there–
NOT FOR LONG, THOUGH, says the Mayor, straight into my head.
“You don’t do that!” I shout at him, raising my rifle.
“I need your attention and I need a good soldier!” he shouts back. “If you can’t do that, then you’re no good in this war and you give me far less reason to help you!”
And I think to myself, how did it turn into his choosing to help me, I had him tied up, I had him at my mercy, I won–
But there’s no time cuz I see where he’s heading–
The left flank, the one away from the river, is the weakest, it’s where the men are thinnest and the Spackle have seen that and a surge of ’em is pressing forward. “ATTEND TO ME!” the Mayor shouts and the soldiers nearest us turn and follow him–
Doing it immediately, like they don’t even think about it–
And they follow us towards the left flank and we cross the ground way faster than I’d like and I’m just swamped on all sides by how loud it all is, the men shouting, the weapons firing, the thump of bodies hitting the ground, that effing Spackle horn still blasting every two seconds, and the Noise, the Noise, the Noise, the Noise–
I’m riding into a nightmare.
I feel a whisk of air by my ear and turn quickly to see a soldier behind me shot in the cheek by the arrow that just missed my head–
He screams and he falls–
And then he’s left behind–
MIND YOURSELF, TODD, the Mayor puts in my head. WOULDN’T WANT YOU LOST IN THE FIRST BATTLE, NOW WOULD WE?
“Effing STOP that!” I shout, whirling round to him.
I’D RAISE MY GUN IF I WERE YOU, he thinks at me–
And I turn–
And I see–
The Spackle are on us–
{VIOLA}
“You’re alive!” Mistress Coyle says and I see her face change, making one kind of astonishment into a different, lying kind of astonishment. “Thank God!”
“Don’t you dare!” I yell at her. “Don’t you dare!”
“Viola–” she starts but I’m already sliding off Acorn, grunting badly at the pain in my ankles, but I stay standing, just, and turn to Simone and Bradley. “Don’t believe anything she’s told you.”
“Viola?” Simone says, coming forward. “Is it really you?”
“She’s as responsible for this war as the Mayor. Don’t do anything she–”
But I’m stopped by Bradley grabbing me in a hug so tight I can barely breathe. “Oh, my God, Viola,” he says, deep feeling in his voice. “We’d heard nothing from your ship. We thought–”
“What happened, Viola?” Simone says. “Where are your parents?”
And I’m overwhelmed by seeing them, so much so I can’t speak for a minute, and I pull a little away from Bradley and the light catches his face and I see him, really see him, see his kind brown eyes, his skin the same dark shade that Corinne’s was, his short curly hair, greying at the temples, Bradley who was always my favourite on the convoy, who used to teach me arts and maths, and I look over and see the familiar freckled skin of Simone, too, the red hair tied back in a ponytail, the teeny tiny scar on the rise of her chin and I think, in all that’s happened, how much they disappeared to the back of my mind, how much the process of just surviving on this stupid, stupid world made me forget that I came from a place where I was loved, where people cared for me and for each other, where someone as beautiful and smart as Simone and as gentle and funny as Bradley would actually come after me, actually want what was best.
My eyes are flooding again. It’s been too painful to remember. Like that life happened to a whole different person.
“My parents are dead,” I finally choke out. “We crashed and they died.”
“Oh, Viola–” Bradley says, his voice soft.
“And I was found
by a boy,” I say, getting stronger. “A brave and brilliant boy who saved me over and over again and now he’s down there trying to stop a war that she started!”
“I did no such thing, my girl,” Mistress Coyle says, not looking fake astonished any more.
“Don’t you dare call me that–”
“We are fighting a tyrant down there, a tyrant who killed hundreds if not thousands, who imprisoned and banded women–”
“You shut up,” I say, low and threatening. “You tried to kill me and you don’t get to say anything more about anything.”
“She what?” I hear Bradley say.
“You had Wilf, kind, sweet, peaceful Wilf marching into town blowing up buildings–”
Mistress Coyle starts. “Viola–”
“I said, shut up!”
And she shuts up.
“Do you know what’s happening down there now?” I say. “Do you know what you were sending the Answer into?”
She just breathes at me, her face a storm.
“The Mayor figured out your trick,” I say. “He would have had a full army waiting for you by the time you reached the centre of town. You would have been annihilated.”
But all she says is, “Don’t underestimate the fighting spirit of the Answer.”
“What’s the Answer?” Bradley asks.
“A terrorist organization,” I say, just to see the look on Mistress Coyle’s face.
It’s worth it.
“You are speaking dangerous words, Viola Eade,” Mistress Coyle says, stepping towards me.
“What are you going to do about it?” I say. “Blow me up again?”
“Whoa, whoa,” Simone says, moving between us. “Whatever’s going on,” she says to Mistress Coyle, “you clearly haven’t told us the whole story.”
Mistress Coyle sighs in frustration. “I haven’t lied to you about what that man did,” she says and turns to me. “Have I, Viola?”
I try to outstare her, but no, he really did do terrible things. “We’ve already beat him, though,” I say. “Todd’s down there right now with the Mayor tied up but he needs our help because–”
“We can sort out our differences later,” Mistress Coyle says over me to Bradley and Simone. “It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. There’s an army down there that needs to be stopped–”
“Two armies,” I say.
Mistress Coyle turns to me, frustrated. “The Answer does not need to be stopped–”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” I say. “There’s an army of Spackle marching down the hill by the waterfall.”
“An army of what?” Simone asks.
But I’m still looking at Mistress Coyle.
Because her mouth has dropped open.
And I can see fear move right across her face.
[TODD]
Here they come–
This part of the hill is all rock and steepness so the Spackle can’t come straight down onto us but they’re surging cross the clearing towards the weakness in the line of men and here they come–
Here they come–
Here they come–
I raise my gun–
I’m surrounded by soldiers, some pushing forward, some pushing back, knocking into Angharrad who keeps calling Boy colt, boy colt! in her Noise–
“It’s okay, girl,” I lie–
Cuz here they are–
Gunfire erupts everywhere, like a flock of birds taking off–
Arrows zing thru the air–
The Spackle fire their sticks–
And before I can even have a thought, a soldier in front of me staggers back with a weird fizzing sound–
Grasping at his throat–
Which ain’t there no more–
And I can’t take my eyes off him as he stumbles to his knees–
And there’s blood just everywhere, all over him, real blood, his blood, so much I can smell the iron tang of it–
And he’s looking up at me–
Catching my eyes and holding ’em–
And his Noise–
My God his Noise–
And I’m suddenly in it, inside what he’s thinking, and there’s pictures of his family, pictures of his wife and his baby son and he’s trying to hold onto ’em but his Noise is breaking into bits and his fear is pouring thru like a bright red light and he’s reaching for his wife, he’s reaching for his little bitty son–
And then a Spackle arrow hits him in the ribcage–
And his Noise stops–
And I’m jerked back onto the battlefield–
Back into hell–
KEEP IT TOGETHER, TODD! the Mayor puts in my head.
But I’m still looking at the dead soldier–
His dead eyes looking back up at me–
“Dammit, Todd!” the Mayor yells at me and–
I AM THE CIRCLE AND THE CIRCLE IS ME.
Thudding thru my brain like a dropped brick–
I AM THE CIRCLE AND THE CIRCLE IS ME.
In his voice and my own–
Twisted together–
Right in the centre of my head–
“Eff off,” I try to shout–
But my voice is weirdly quiet–
And–
And–
And I look up–
And I feel calmer–
Like the world is clearer and slower–
And a Spackle breaks thru where two soldiers have separated–
And he raises his white stick at me–
And I’m gonna have to do it–
(killer–)
(yer a killer–)
I’m gonna have to shoot him before he shoots me–
And I raise my gun–
Davy’s gun that I took from him–
And I think, Oh, please, as I put my finger on the trigger–
Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please–
And–
Snick–
I look down in shock.
My gun ain’t loaded.
{VIOLA}
“You’re lying,” Mistress Coyle says, but she’s already turning, as if she could see over the trees and into town. She can’t, there’s just the shadows of the forest against the distant glow. The steam from the vents is so loud we can barely hear ourselves talk, much less anything from the town, and if she took off after the ship the second she saw it come in for landing, she wouldn’t have heard the horn at all.
“That’s impossible,” she’s saying. “They agreed, they signed a truce!”
Spackle! Acorn says, behind me.
“What did you say?” Simone asks me.
“No,” Mistress Coyle says. “Oh, no.”
“Would someone please explain what the hell’s going on?” Bradley asks.
“The Spackle are the indigenous species,” I say. “Intelligent and smart–”
“Vicious in battle,” Mistress Coyle interrupts.
“The only one I met was gentle and much more frightened of humans than the humans here seem to be of them-”
“You didn’t fight them in a war,” Mistress Coyle says.
“I also didn’t enslave them.”
“I will not stand here and have this conversation with a child–”
“It’s hardly as if they’re coming for no reason.” I turn back to Bradley and Simone. “They’re attacking because the Mayor committed a genocide of all the Spackle slaves, and if we can maybe just talk to them, tell them we’re not like the Mayor–”
“They’ll kill your precious boy,” Mistress Coyle says. “Won’t even think twice about it.”
My breath immediately stops as panic starts to rise from what she says, but then I try to remember that she’d like it if I panicked. If I was afraid, I’d be easier to control.
But I won’t be, because we’ll stop this. We’ll stop all of this.
That’s what me and Todd do.
“We’ve caught the Mayor,” I say, “and if the Spackle see that–”
“With
all due respect,” Mistress Coyle says to Simone. “Viola is a girl with an extremely limited knowledge of the history of this world. If the Spackle are attacking, we’ve got to fight back!”
“Fight back?” Bradley says, frowning. “Who do you think we are?”
“Todd needs our help,” I say. “We can fly down there and stop this before it’s too late–”
“It’s already too late,” Mistress Coyle interrupts. “If you could just take me up in your ship, I could show you–”
But Simone’s shaking her head. “The atmosphere was thicker up top than we expected. We had to land in full coolant mode–”
“No!” I say but of course they did. Two vents open–
“What does that mean?” Mistress Coyle asks.
“It means we don’t fly for at least another eight hours as the engines cool and replenish their fuel cells,” Simone says.
“Eight hours?” Mistress Coyle says. She makes a fist, actually makes a fist in the air in frustration.
For once, I know how she feels.
“But we’ve got to help Todd!” I say. “He can’t control one army and hold off another–”
“He’ll have to let the President go,” Mistress Coyle says.
“No,” I say quickly. “No, he wouldn’t do that.”
Would he?
No.
Not after we fought so hard.
“War makes ugly necessity,” Mistress Coyle says. “And however good your boy may be, he’s one against thousands.”
I fight down the panic again and turn to Bradley. “We have to do something!”
He looks hard over to Simone and I know they’re wondering what disaster they’ve landed themselves in. Then Bradley snaps his fingers like he’s remembered something.
“Hold on!” he says and rushes back into the scout ship.
[TODD]
I pull the trigger again–
All I get is another snick–
I look up–
The Spackle’s raising his white stick–
(what are those things?)
(what are they that causes so much damage?)
And I’m dead–
I’m dead–
I’m–
BANG!
A gun goes off right by my head–
