In the Earth Abides the Flame (24 page)

Without warning Leith leapt from the stage, ran lightly forward and took a young child into his arms. 'This little one is safe here, but for how much longer? Perhaps the Arkhos might consider raising an army against Escaigne, if indeed he knows of its existence and our presence in your midst; perhaps, perhaps not. But the cruel death of this child is certain if the Destroyer wills it.' Her wide-eyed mother put her hand to her mouth, imagining a heartless sword-thrust through the walls of a child's cot. 'Those of you who witnessed the abilities of Achtal, do you doubt it? And I tell you earnestly that this Bhrudwan is a neophyte, and is overmatched by the greatest of Bhrudwan warriors. Who among you could stand against Achtal? Could your Elders defend this child when the Destroyer's death squads come for her?'

He placed the little girl back into the arms of her frightened mother.

Now the young Loulean walked among the Escaignians, pacing up and down the hall as he spoke, completely taken by the moment, dumbfounding the Company. 'I said we have a chance, but every hour we tarry in debate, the armies of the Destroyer draw closer. Already we may be too late, and we may yet be unable to prevent the merciless hordes from overrunning your homes. I ask you to consider the innocents - the children of Faltha - whose right to a long and happy life will be taken from them should we remain as prisoners here.'

Who is this speaking! Kurr asked himself, intrigued beyond reason even in the midst of their trial. Not a year ago this lad was fright' ened of me and my barn, yet today he takes on powerful strangers armed with wit and courage.

'Innocents?' cried a voice. 'Who can be innocent in a land where people are forced to live in hiding, never to see the sun with the eyes of freedom? Why should we care for the fate of our jailers?' The venom from this voice from the shadows was felt throughout the hall, and again the Presiding Elder had to thump his staff on the floor of the stage.

'Indeed!' agreed the Elders, coming to their feet.

'The worries of Faltha do not concern us,' one said. 'They may die or they may live, and to some of us perhaps the former is their more preferable fate. Yet they may keep the brown army at bay, or even defeat them, irrespective of your warnings and plans. And should the city around us fall, we may still remain out of reach. Such a circumstance is eagerly desired by many in this hall, for we have lost friends and loved ones to the depredations of the lords of the city; and it is hard for us to imagine a regime more cruel than that which drove us to Escaigne.'

Now Stella sprang up from her seat, and lifted her face to her adversaries, eyes aflame with passion. 'The evil in Instruere has arisen as an outpost of the Great Evil to come. The Arkhos of Nemohaim, cruel as he is, is a puppet of the Destroyer who seeks to dwell in your nest and devour your offspring. Listen to me! If you want to strike at the Arkhos, the most powerful blow you can deliver is one aimed at his master. Let us go, aid us in escaping the grasp of the Arkhos of Nemohaim, and you will be delivering that blow!'

The Presiding Elder spoke. 'We seek to deliver a more certain and a more immediate blow.

For many years we have laboured to prepare an army to reclaim our rightful place in the city, to take back our houses and our lands, to live again under the sun and the moon. And just when we are ready to release our army, by chance it seems, a group of people fall into our hands who possess knowledge and skills that would ensure our success. Come with us, aid us as we attack the city, help us rid the city of its evil once and for all, and you will have rewards and riches beyond measure. Then you would be free to pursue your mission, though I deem it would no longer be necessary, for the Elders you see on this stage would be the Rulers of Instruere, and the Council of Faltha would be no more. We would certainly prepare against the chance of a Bhrudwan invasion. Help us! History would remember you as the brave liberators of the capital of the world!'

'Yet liberators may fall into evil, and Captains of Freedom may impose harsh restraint on their subjects,' Stella replied boldly, conciliation forgotten in pursuit of truth. 'Were we to sack the city in search of justice, our noble aims would be undone by the suffering of innocents, and we would become like those we seek to replace. We are offered a choice between division and unity, between your army which would undoubtedly lay waste the city, and our quest which, if successful, will unite all Faltha against our real enemy.' She turned to the gathered Escaignians, just as Leith had done, and held out her arms. 'A choice! Personal revenge or the wholeness of Faltha. You choose!'

Snarling, the raven-haired Presiding Elder rapped his staff three times on the stage. 'An end to debate!' he cried. 'You have been presented with a choice! On this choice we will vote, and on this vote the fate of these strangers rests. Choose either to release them to pursue a quest, the details of which they will not reveal, trusting that they will not betray our existence and purpose to the Council. Or choose to pursue our plan to attack the city and revenge ourselves on our enemies, and leave our guests either to fight with us or face death.'

He strode down from the stage and laid his staff in the middle of the wooden floor. 'What say you? Those for the strangers stand this side of the staff; those for the Elders stand on the other.'

Stella sat down and watched as the Collocation slowly sorted itself out into two camps. Those who had made up their minds moved to their preferred sides of the line, then stood there and stared at each other, some with undisguised animosity on their faces. Others, unsure of how they should vote, scanned the two groups for some clue; perhaps a friend whose opinion they trusted, or even an assessment of which group had the most support. After a minute or so only a few remained, vacillating between the two groups, but these few took an age to make their decision.

Frantically Stella tried to count the numbers in each group, but people were moving about, making the task difficult. The people favouring war seemed to outnumber the others, at least to Stella's worried gaze. The last of them finally made up her mind, and the crowd breathed a collective sigh.

'Tally the numbers,' the sallow man boomed.

At this command the Escaignians paired off, one from the left side of the line linking with another to the right, and moved to the back of the hall. As the Company watched, both groups became smaller, until there were only a few in each, and still they paired off.

'It's a tie!' Farr whispered fiercely, forgetting that his words would carry to all in the hall. But even as he spoke, the last pair of Escaignians, one for the strangers, one for the Elders, walked swiftly away, leaving the centre of the hall empty.

'Indeed,' said the Presiding Elder, trying to remain calm in the face of this reversal. 'It is a tie.

Clarification!'

At his word one of the Elders stood and said: 'In the case of a tie in a Collocation vote, the Elders shall decide the outcome.'

The sallow man smiled.

'Clarification!' Leith barked, emboldened beyond reason. 'Who makes up the Collocation?'

'All those called to the great hall,' came the answer.

'Then we have yet to vote.' He turned to the others. 'Let's cast our votes!' He ran down from the stage and stood to the right of the line, and the Company followed him.

'There is no tie,' Leith said. 'The Collocation is therefore decided!'

'No!' screamed the sallow-faced man. He turned in desperation to his Eldership, then in anger strode into the centre of the hall, standing opposite Leith on the other side of the line. One by one his Elders joined him, and the two groups faced each other across the floor.

Foilzie stepped forward, and held out her hand. At the same moment Leith recognised one of the Elders: the bald man who had been their guide into Escaigne. 'Come,' Foilzie said to him.

'You know this is wrong.'

He shook his head sorrowfully. 'I can't show disloyalty. I have no choice.'

'Yes you have. Just step over this line.'

'I cannot,' he said. He lowered his head to his breast, and stepped backwards into the shadows.

'Tally the numbers!' The cry was laced with triumph.

One by one they paired off, a member of the Company with one of the Elders. But long before the ritual reached its bitter end, the outcome was obvious. Leith and the Presiding Elder walked together to the far end of the hall, turned and looked back: the bald man stood alone.

'The Collocation is decided,' said the Presiding Elder, then rapped his staff three times on the floor. 'It is decided in favour of the Elders. The strangers shall serve in our army, or they shall not be allowed to live.'

'CONDEMNED TO DIE?' LEITH cried bitterly. His shout rang like an accusation around the deserted room, heard only by the others of the Company and their newly assigned guards. His head swam with the effort expended during the Collocation, and he barely found the strength to follow the others as they were escorted from the great hall of Escaigne, taken through the city in the dead of night - no need to dodge guards at this hour - and deposited at their quarters, also Escaigne.

There they were placed under virtual arrest. Confined to one smallish room, they fretted and argued as they tried to come to terms with the events that had so swiftly overtaken them. Farr strode up and down. Kurr and Mahnum fired questions, comments and wild schemes across the room at each other. At odd times members of the Company would rail against the hasty words Leith and Stella had spoken, saying all the things Leith would expect them to say, would have said in their position: why had they not left it to their elders, how could they have presumed so much and so on. Leith listened dispassionately. He could do nothing else, they couldn't know what it was like trying to hold back the fountain of words. Though his mind told him he should join the debate about their future, working out some way of avoiding the sentence passed on them, he could do nothing but lie on his cushion. He felt robbed of the will to act. Since that stupid dream, he thought, I'm being used. 1 could stand it if someone would ask my permission! He'd almost accepted that adulthood meant severe constraint of his actions, that he had to do many things he didn't want to do, but he'd never imagined he wouldn't be able to say his own words, think his own thoughts.

You did all you could, said his timid voice. No one can blame you if the mission fails.

Falthajust does not want to be saved. Leith nodded his head. The Most High Himself could have expected no more from him. He'd done enough. Listening to the angry words Kurr was saying, perhaps he'd done far too much.

It was such an ordinary voice, so like all the voices droning in the background, that Leith hardly noticed it. He raised his head, but none of the Company were looking in his direction, so he lowered it again.

The voice came more insistently this time. Leith stood. The others were involved in tight little conversations he was unlikely to have overheard. 'Who said that?' he asked.

'Said what?' His father turned towards him.

'Nothing. I'm hearing things, voices, a voice.'

'You're overwrought. Leith, no one could do more than you did. No one blames you for this.

Rest now: perhaps later we can think about this, and talk it over. We'll think of something.

The sentence will not be carried out for some time.'

True, Leith thought: the one concession the Presiding Elder made, on the insistence of his Eldership. No doubt he would have seen them executed there in the hall, if he'd had his way.

What was it that made him our opponent! There was something in this line of thinking, something that held a kernel of hope, but Leith was too exhausted to pursue it. He lay back on his cushion.

Face it, you're going to die. Leith sighed. I wish I could at least look on the sun one last time.

Leith shook his head. Go away, leave me in peace. He coughed, then cleared his throat. A sudden coughing fit bent him double. Great: I'm going to choke to death while waiting to die.

'Water?'

Leith turned over. One of the guards leaned over him, concern on his face, holding a ladle of water in his hand.

'Thank you,' he said, and gulped greedily; which served only to worsen his cough. 'I'll be right in a moment.'

The water seemed to settle him down. Eventually he sat up. A few feet away the guard knelt, solicitous concern giving way to boredom.

What we need here is a miracle, Leith thought. How about it? You're very good at giving dreams, and you said some clever words. How about getting us out of here? He looked at the guard. You could start with him.

You do it, thought Leith stubbornly. This is bizarre. And a dark, burning suspicion settled on him: am 1 going mad? Will 1 end up like Stella's drunken brother, talking to myself all day?

Leith shrugged his shoulders. I'm not going to go to sleep now, anyway. He opened his mouth to speak. This is a foolish idea.

the voice said.

'How did you end up with this task?' Leith asked the guard, who started at the sound of his voice.

'Oh -1 suppose they think it's good training for when we reclaim Instruere,' he said after a moment's hesitation. 'I'm going to be one of the important ones out there,' he said with pride.

'They might even put me in charge of the captives, once we've put die Great Harlot to the sword.'

The guard was a mere boy, little older than Leith himself. Tall and thin, he had that look some boys get when they have grown too quickly; all stretched, a profusion of arms and legs, a giant Adam's apple, an unexpectedly deep voice. Like Lanka from Brookside, Leith reflected.

I dealt with him during the Midwinter Play.