Lionboy: the Truth

by Zizou Corder

  Charlie was whispering to Ninu, ‘Listen, this may do your head in but we’re relying on you. Who here, among all these animals, has any idea how we can bring this empire down? Any weakness, any –’ The phrase Achilles’ heel sprang to his mind. ‘Can you find out, and report back? Quickly now.’

  Ninu scurried around the stalls, asking, listening, nodding his frilled head and swivelling his eyes from speaker to speaker. His brain hummed with the different languages.

  Charlie addressed the cats.

  ‘Jungko will think of something,’ said Marta quietly.

  ‘The Japanese fork-tail cats always had very strong magic’

  Jungko said, ‘We are not demons any more, Marta – we are as powerless as everyone.’

  Something in that phrase made Charlie think. As powerless as everyone.

  An image came to him: Sigi Lucidi with all his children climbing and leaping on him, him holding them up. Pirouette swinging between trapezes, being caught and thrown by the other trapeze artistes. The acrobats, tumbling together. Sara and Tara, speaking at the same time. The clowns, catching each other when they fell. The band playing, linking everybody through the music, the rhythm, the timing, the mood. The creaking, wheezy parts of the Calliope, working together to make the fabulous racket that told the whole world that the Circus was in town, the Lions, leaping in their array, fighting off Rafi, being a gang, a pride. The whole team of the Circus.

  ‘We’re not powerless,’ he said quickly. ‘We’re only powerless when we’re alone. We’re not powerless when we have each other and we talk to each other and do things together

  … DAD!’ he shouted.

  Aneba turned. ‘What?’ he called.

  ‘I know what to do!’ shouted Charlie. ‘We have to take everybody, Dad, don’t we? So what we should do is –’

  Aneba was silent. The look on his face stopped Charlie in mid-flow.

  Charlie looked at him expectantly. ‘What is it, Dad?’ he asked.

  Aneba drew away from the animals. He’d suspected Charlie was thinking this. But … but … he couldn’t let his son build up hopes that could never be fulfilled. He couldn’t let him believe something that wasn’t true. How could they possibly take all these animals from the island? Of course they couldn’t – the idea was lunacy.

  But how could he possibly tell his son that they had to save themselves and leave the others? That it was quite likely they wouldn’t even be able to save themselves? That in a situation this dangerous any ‘others’ were just irrelevant?

  He tried to move his mouth, but words wouldn’t come.

  ‘Charlie,’ said Aneba finally, turning away and drawing his son with him.

  ‘What?’ insisted Charlie. He wasn’t getting it.

  ‘If we try to save everybody,’ said Aneba, in a tight voice, ‘we will none of us escape.’

  ‘We might,’ said Charlie cheerfully. ‘It’s worth a punt.’

  ‘No,’ said Aneba. He thought of the animals in the pens behind him. He thought of the other children Charlie had told him about. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t save them all. He really really wished he could – but he knew that it wasn’t possible. Damn it, would the boy not understand? This wasn’t a shameful choice – it was survival, reality, responsibility.

  ‘It’s you and me, Charlie,’ he said softly. ‘Otherwise we don’t have a chance.’

  ‘But what about Seventeen and Twenty-One?’ said Charlie. He really didn’t understand. ‘And the Starlets, and all these guys …’ He gestured towards the animals. ‘And Rafi …’

  If his dad was surprised to hear Charlie show concern for Rafi, he didn’t mention it. He just said, ‘It’s not possible. I’m really sorry, but it’s just you and me.’

  Charlie stared at his father. He was blinking, but his stare was steady. Aneba felt it like a shaft of flaming ice.

  ‘Then it’s just you, Dad,’ said Charlie. His voice was hard. ‘Because I’ve got some responsibilities here.’ He reached out his hand and scratched Sergei between the ears, still giving Aneba that steady gaze. Then he turned suddenly and called to Ninu in Cat. The chameleon scurried over and took up his place in Charlie’s pocket.

  ‘See you back there,’ Charlie said to Sergei. The eagle inclined his head, and Sergei braced himself for the flight home. Then, without a glance at his father, Charlie strode away towards the corridors and the lift.

  The animals called out as he went. He could only understand the cats, but the message was clear: ‘See you soon, Charlie! Come back soon! We’ll do whatever we can! We’re relying on you!’

  Aneba was calling to him too: ‘Charlie – neither of us can do anything without the other!’

  And then Alex was calling: ‘Um – wait, please! Wait! You can’t go back on your own! Please wait!’

  Great, thought Charlie as he strode furiously down the corridor. Everyone’s depending on us, and my dad’s lost his nerve. So now everyone’s depending on me … all these people, all these animals, it’s all down to me. Thanks, Dad. Thanks very much.

  But he was more than angry. He was hurt and desperately disappointed. His dad! Selfish and cowardly!

  Charlie was ashamed of his dad.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sally-Ann felt peculiar. There was a coolness in her mind, an edge. Her legs felt stronger than usual, and her sight kept flickering as if it were refocusing. In fact, her whole self felt as if it were refocusing.

  This was inconvenient because she was having a serious conversation with Auntie Auntie about why the children were all so lively and naughty today. Jake Yeboa had jumped up in the middle of a lecture on the International Benefits of Corporacy Life and announced that he’d much rather be playing football, and not only all the boys but the girl twins too had started to laugh. Come to think of it, it was rather funny – after all, it was their footballing skills that these boys had come here to use …

  She found herself saying this to Auntie Auntie.

  Auntie Auntie hadn’t been feeling herself at all. She hadn’t wanted a cigarette with her morning coffee, and her coffee had been too sweet even though it was just as she usually had it. Plus her feet hurt at lunchtime, and she’d felt glad of it because she would enjoy putting them up on her desk.

  Now, when Sally-Ann spoke of the boys having ‘come here’, for a moment, the thought of how they had arrived crossed her mind.

  They had arrived in a ship from Africa against their will, in exchange for money, so that other people could profit from their strength and skill.

  In a moment the thought was gone again, but it bothered her for the rest of the day – a thought that had escaped. She knew, somewhere in her mind, that she had to think that thought again, and think it through.

  One of the securityguys at the harbour fell asleep. Seventeen’s Assigned Companion got so embarrassed to see him like this that she got the giggles, whereupon Twenty-One’s Assigned Companion started to tease her about fancying him. Then he woke up and blushed. How odd! They didn’t normally behave like this. At least …

  Two of them started to wonder what normal was.

  In his room, Maccomo woke up. How long had he been napping? He had a strong urge for the Lionmedicine, which he hadn’t wanted for weeks. Where was he anyway? And why did his head feel cool? He shouldn’t be hanging around here – he had a lot to do. He’d got his money and disposed of the cargo – he should be on his way.

  Rafi was in the fields. All through the day his fury had been building up. What was he doing here? How long had they had him doing this humiliating work? Who did this guy think he was, bossing him about? And why on earth had he, Rafi, been putting up with it? I’m gonna clock ’im, he thought. He certainly wasn’t going to put up with it any longer.

  Charlie was filled with determination and energy, focused. Marching back from the lab, ignoring his dad, ignoring Alex, and ignoring the animals’ voices running around in his mind, he had had a realization that had scared the daylights out of him.

  He
knew now what he was dealing with. Finally, he had worked it out.

  The animals had all spoken of their special talents, their skills and idiosyncrasies. They had known, as if it went without saying, why they had been stolen: for their talents – like the children. And the only concrete result of whatever ‘research’ the Corporacy was doing with these animals was the Allergenies. They’d used the very fluffy allergenic cat to create the Allergenies, to increase the amount of medicine they could sell …

  So what were they going to do with the other animals? Make fork-tailed web-footed bald non-allergenic mice that build nests in bamboo, walk on water and can go in fire?

  How would they make money from that?

  And what were they going to do with the children?

  Make quick-fingered children? Football stars? Cat-speakers?

  Web-footed children?

  Children who can go in fire?

  Quick-fingered cats?

  He didn’t even want to begin to think about it. ‘I’d like two hundred quick-fingered children, please, to work the looms in my carpet factory …’ ‘I need twelve centre forwards, top of the range …’ ‘A gang of bald fireproof children to work in my furnaces, please …’

  And Catspeaking? ‘We need someone to devise a campaign to explain to the Wild Lions why they’d all be much happier in a zoo, so we can have their land and dig for oil.’

  And why were they stealing Poor World children? Did they think they wouldn’t be missed? Or that they’d only be missed by people with no power to get them back?

  Charlie imagined Seventeen and Twenty-One’s mum. The Starlets’ mums.

  He remembered Primo, created by science, without any kind of family.

  He remembered how the cats in Venice had treated the Allergenies, despising them and hating them.

  No way. No way, no way, no way was this going to happen.

  OK, it was all down to him. Fine. He would deal with it. That’s what difficulties are for. Dealing with. He, Charlie, was going to bring down this whole stinking notion.

  And even if Dad weren’t being cowardly and selfish, he had his commchip now, so he was a security risk. And anyway, Charlie had an idea – a very good one. Which he had been about to tell his dad, only his dad wouldn’t listen. No, Charlie was better off just sticking with Sergei and Ninu. Humans – especially grown-ups – were nothing but trouble.

  ‘OK,’ he said to Ninu, back in his room. ‘Stand there.’ He positioned Ninu by the telly screen. ‘Anything?’

  The telly was on, loud. It helped disguise what they were saying – Sally-Ann was out on the terrace. And it – well, it was their experiment.

  ‘Anything?’ asked Charlie again.

  Ninu was concentrating hard.

  ‘Change channels,’ he said.

  Charlie flicked the remote.

  Ninu dipped his eyes in thought.

  ‘Is the mechanism of the telly in the screen?’ he asked.

  ‘Oh! Good thinking. No, it’s in that console.’ Charlie pointed to a panel on the wall where the controls for the windows, the AC, the heating and the TV were.

  Ninu pattered over to it.

  ‘Ah!’ he said. ‘Whoa!’

  ‘Yes?’ said Charlie eagerly.

  ‘Change the channel,’ said Ninu in concentration. ‘Whoa! Well – well, I think … Yes! There’s something beneath … Hmmmm …’

  Charlie whooped.

  Then he stuck his head outside.

  ‘Sally-Ann,’ he asked innocently and pleasantly, ‘might I go and do a bit of work in the schoolroom? I’d like to look some stuff up on the computer!’

  ‘What, now?’ said Sally-Ann. ‘You are eager. OK, then.’

  She was a bit annoyed to be disturbed, to tell the truth. The feeling was not familiar to her. Or at least it was –

  from long ago. Annoyed! She hadn’t felt annoyed since

  goodness knew when.

  Aneba was in the forest, wandering around innocently, making a phone call. He was aware it was probably being monitored – his commchip may well have been activated by now, and anyway phone calls are always easy to listen in on. He felt dreadful about Charlie. But he knew he was right and he had to carry on the plan with Magdalen as if nothing had changed.

  ‘Darling,’ he said. ‘Darling, please talk to me, don’t be angry with me.’

  Magdalen was delighted to hear his voice. Her heart leapt, but her voice gave nothing away.

  ‘I’m not angry, darling, just disappointed,’ she said. ‘I know you’re doing what you think is right. It’s just that I don’t agree with you.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ Aneba said. ‘You should give it a try. They’re treating me really well. Charlie’s working with me … And they would be so happy for you to come too. I think you should come over and just judge for yourself how things are. It’s not like last time. The facilities are wonderful. There’s this great lab up in the mountains, the air is great and no one is breathing down my neck telling me what to do. It’s all very free and easy, and I think it will get easier. I really think you should come soon. Why not tonight? Just set off and I’m sure we could send someone to meet you at sea … No, of course you couldn’t make it so quickly …’

  ‘Well, of course not, darling, the journey itself would take much longer, plus I’d have to prepare. Plus – plus I don’t want to, Aneba! After what they did to us before!’

  ‘We have to get over that, darling. We have to deal with reality and move on,’ Aneba said. ‘I really wish you’d think seriously about coming. I love you.’

  ‘I love you too,’ she said.

  ‘Think about it,’ he said. ‘I’ll ring you later.’

  So now she knew that the Sweet Air was gone, the lab was in the mountains and she was to come tonight with the boat and someone would meet her.

  Oh, lord, but who? Aneba asked himself. Without Charlie and Ninu to arrange it, how could he send someone?

  Magdalen, as she put away her phone, called to King Boris, who was drinking beer with his friend across the rather grand sitting room.

  ‘That was him!’ she cried.

  ‘And?’ cried King Boris, sitting upright and raising his bushy eyebrows.

  ‘And we must go tonight, someone will meet us at sea.’

  ‘Tonight!’ said King Boris. ‘Is that OK, Fidel?’

  ‘Sooner the better,’ said King Boris’s friend, an old but strong-looking man in a beret, with a rather fine beard. ‘My ship awaits.’

  Magdalen, Boris and Claudio had been intending to use El Baraka, but Fidel, on hearing their plans, had insisted that they use his ship El Teflon, an experimental vessel that was, in theory, undetectable by modern security systems. ‘It’s good to make a test run,’ he said. His crew would accompany them, of course, and a small flotilla of warships would back them up. Magdalen had thought about protesting, but then realized that actually she would be very glad to have back-up.

  Fidel looked at his watch. ‘You can leave in two hours, catch the tide, be there soon after dusk. Their north coast is difficult, but there are some little harbours possible, and if you will have a guide, you will find. Are Lions going?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Magdalen.

  Fidel looked sad. He had enjoyed having Lions prowling his mansion.

  Magdalen went to tell Claudio and the Lions.

  She wished she had more information.

  She hoped Aneba knew what he was doing.

  In the schoolroom, Sally-Ann started to draw mermaids on the blackboard. Charlie smiled. He had been right, he was sure – she was a nice woman underneath, and now that the Sweet Air was wearing off, her true niceness was coming through.

  While she was occupied, Charlie quickly turned on one of the student computers and logged on to it. Then Ninu crept out of his pocket and lay down carefully on top of the hard drive. He tilted his head as if he were listening.

  He was listening.

  Charlie looked at him expectantly.

  Ninu was concen
trating hard.

  Suddenly he gave Charlie a very intense look and started swivelling his eyes wildly. Charlie glanced over his shoulder at Sally-Ann. Why couldn’t she just go away?

  Charlie bent his head to Ninu, and Ninu whispered to him. Charlie’s face registered first delight, then satisfaction, then concern, then understanding, then – finally – determination.

  ‘So be it,’ he said, and shut down the computer.

  ‘Finished already?’ said Sally-Ann. ‘Shame – I was having fun up here.’

  ‘Well, you keep going!’ Charlie said. ‘I’m just going back to my room anyway. Go on! Don’t mind me.’

  ‘Do you know, I think I will,’ said Sally-Ann. ‘I’ll see you later for dinner. Shall we go to the dining hall?’

  ‘Yeah, let’s,’ said Charlie. ‘Be nice to see the others.’

  He smiled at her. She smiled at him. Normal smiles. No exclamation marks.

  It was starting.

  The Lions, though they did not particularly like boats, were extremely happy to be boarding El Teflon. They had been afraid that they would be kept in luxury again, in a luxurious prison, far from the action and prevented by humans from doing anything.

  ‘Land ahoy!’ shouted Elsina. ‘Or rather, sea ahoy! Don’t worry, Charlie, we’re coming to get you!’

  ‘They’re a bit jumpy tonight, aren’t they?’ Magdalen asked Claudio.

  ‘Maybe they wanted to sleep,’ he replied. ‘Or maybe they’re hungry.’

  Together they stared at Elsina and the Young Lion with a complete lack of understanding.

  ‘Dingbats,’ said the Young Lion contemptuously. ‘They don’t even know what they’re going to do when they get there! They don’t even know where they’re going!’

  The Lions, of course, knew exactly what they would do. They would catch Charlie’s scent, find him, maul his enemies, fly like the wind with him on their backs and then – well yes, here the humans would be useful – deliver him safely to the boat.

  The dining hall that night was positively rowdy. The Starlets were going stir-crazy – they were used to training for hours every day, and all this schoolwork was doing their heads in. Soon enough they were throwing food at one another. Seventeen and Twenty-One rolled their eyes.