Monsters of Men (6 page)

And I think,
No–

I think,
It can’t end this way–

I think,
Viola–

I think,
Viola–

And then I think, “
Viola”?

Would it work on a Spackle?

And I sit up as high in the saddle as I can–

And I think about her riding away from me on Davy’s horse–

I think of her broken ankles–

I think of us saying we’d never part, not even in our heads–

I think of her fingers twirling round mine–

(I don’t think about what she’d say if she knew I let the Mayor go–)

I just think
Viola–

I think
Viola
–

Right at the Spackle on the horned creacher–

I think–

VIOLA!

And the Spackle’s head jerks back, dropping both torches and falling backwards over the horned creacher, slipping outta the boots and onto the ground, and the horned creacher turns from the sudden shift in weight, stumbling back into the line of advancing Spackle, knocking ’em this way and that–

And I hear a cheer behind me–

I turn to see a line of soldiers, recovering, surging forward, past me, all round me–

And the Mayor’s suddenly there, too, riding beside me, and he’s saying, “Excellent work, Todd. I knew you had it in you.”

And Angharrad’s tiring beneath me but still calling–

Boy colt? Boy colt? Todd?

“No time to rest,” the Mayor says–

And I look up and I see the same huge wall of Spackle coming down the hill, coming to eat us alive–

{VIOLA}

“Oh, my God,” says Bradley.

“Are those–?” Simone says, shocked, stepping towards to the projection. “Are they on
fire
?”

Bradley presses the remote and the picture suddenly gets closer and–

They really
are
on fire–

Through great swathes of smoke, we see chaos, men running this way and that, some pressing forward, some running backwards–

And some just burning–

Burning and burning and sometimes running for the river and sometimes falling to the ground and staying there.

And I just think,
Todd
.

“But you said there was a
truce
?” Simone says to Mistress Coyle.

“After a bloody war that killed hundreds of us and thousands of them,” Mistress Coyle says.

Bradley dials again. As the camera pulls back, showing the whole road and the bottom of the hill, swarming with an impossible number of Spackle, in reddish and brown armour and holding what look like sticks or something and riding–

“What is
that
?” I say, pointing at some kind of massive tank-like animal stomping down the hill, a single thick horn curving out the end of its nose.

“Battlemores,” Mistress Coyle says. “At least, that’s what
we
called them. The Spackle don’t have a spoken language, it’s all visual, but none of this matters! If they overrun the Mayor’s army, they’ll just keep coming and kill the rest of us.”

“And if he beats them?” Bradley asks.

“If he beats them, then his control over this planet will be absolute and that’s not a place you’d ever want to live.”

“And what if
you
had absolute control over this planet?” Bradley asks, surprising fire in his voice. “What kind of place would that be?”

Mistress Coyle blinks in surprise.

“Bradley–” Simone starts to say–

But I’m no longer listening to them–

I’m looking at the projection–

Because the camera’s moved down the hill and south a little–

And there he is–

Right in the middle of it all–

Surrounded by soldiers–

Fighting off Spackle–

“Todd,”
I whisper–

And then I see a man on horseback next to him–

My stomach drops–

The
Mayor
is next to him–

Untied and set free, just like Mistress Coyle said–

Todd’s let him go–

Or the Mayor’s forced him to–

And Todd’s at the very front of the battle–

Then smoke rises up and he disappears.

“Get the camera in closer!” I say. “Todd’s down there in it!”

Mistress Coyle gives me a look as Bradley dials the controls again and the image on the projection searches through the battle, seeing bodies everywhere, living and dead, men and Spackle mixed together, until how can you tell who you’re fighting, how can you safely fire any kind of weapon without killing your own side?

“We have to get him out of there!” I say. “We have to save him!”

“Eight hours,” Simone says, shaking her head. “We can’t–”

“No!” I shout, hobbling over to Acorn. “I’ve got to get to him–”

But then Mistress Coyle says to Simone, “You have some kind of weapons on this ship, yes?”

I spin round.

“You wouldn’t have landed unarmed,” Mistress Coyle says.

Bradley’s face is as stern as I’ve seen it. “That is no concern of yours, madam–”

But Simone’s already answering, “We have twelve point-to-point missiles–”

“No!”
Bradley says. “That is
not
who we are. We’re here to settle the planet
peacefully–
”

“–and the standard complement of hoopers,” Simone finishes.

“Hoopers?” Mistress Coyle says.

“A kind of small bomb,” Simone says. “Dropped in clusters, but–”

“Simone,” Bradley says angrily. “We did
not
come here to fight a–”

Mistress Coyle interrupts again. “Can you fire any of them from a ship that’s landed?”

[T
ODD
]

We push forward–

Forward forward forward–

Into the line of attacking Spackle–

There’s so many–

And Angharrad is whinnying beneath me in pain and fright–

I’m sorry, girl,
I’m sorry–

But there’s no time–

There ain’t no time for nothing in war except
war–

“Here!” the Mayor says, shoving another gun in my hand–

And we’re at the front of a small rush of men–

Racing towards a bigger rush of Spackle–

And I’m pointing the gun–

And I’m pulling the trigger–

BANG!

I close my eyes at the pop and I don’t see where I shot cuz there’s too much smoke already in the air and there’s Spackle falling and men calling out on either side and Angharrad screaming and pressing forward anyway and the Spackle armour cracking and bursting under repeated fire and more arrows and white sticks and I’m so terrified I can’t even breathe and I’m just firing my gun and firing my gun, not even seeing where the bullets are going–

And the Spackle keep coming, climbing over the bodies of soldiers, and their Noises are wide open and so are the Noises of every soldier and it’s like a thousand wars at once, not just the one I’m seeing but ones happening over and over again in the Noise of the men and the Spackle round me till the air and the sky and my brain and my soul are filled with war and I’m bleeding it outta my ears and spitting it outta my mouth and it’s like it’s the only thing I ever knew, the only thing I can ever remember, the only thing that’s ever gonna happen to me–

And there’s a
fizzing
sound and a burning feeling in my arm and I instinctively lean away from it but I see a Spackle with one of those white sticks pointed at me and I see the cloth from my uniform burning away in a foul-smelling steam and the skin under it feeling like it’s been slapped and I realize if I’d been two centimetres over I’d have probably just lost my arm and–

BANG!

A rifle shot beside me and the Mayor’s there and he’s shot the Spackle, shot him to the ground, saying, “That’s twice now, Todd.”

And he plunges back into battle.

{VIOLA}

Bradley starts to answer Mistress Coyle but Simone speaks first, “Yes, we can.”

“Simone!” Bradley snaps.

“But fire them where?” Simone continues. “Into which army?”

“Into the Spackle!” Mistress Coyle shouts.

“A moment ago you wanted our help to stop this President’s army!” Bradley says. “And Viola told us you tried to kill her to suit your own ends. Why exactly should we trust your opinion?”

“You
shouldn’t,
” I say.

“Not even when I’m
right,
my girl!?” Mistress Coyle says, pointing at the projection. “The battle is being lost!” We can see a break in the darker line of men and a pulse like a river bursting its banks as the Spackle pour through.

Todd,
I think.
Get out of there.

“We could send a point-to-point at the base of the hill,” Simone says.

Bradley turns to her, shocked. “And have our first action here be killing hundreds of the local species, the local
intelligent
species that, in case you’re forgetting, we’re going to have to live with for the
rest of our lives
?”

“The rest of your very short lives if you don’t hurry up and
do something
!” Mistress Coyle practically screams.

“We could just show them our fire-power,” Simone says to Bradley. “Get them to back off and then try and negotiate–”

Mistress Coyle makes a hard clucking sound. “You
can’t
negotiate with them!”

“
You
did,” Bradley says and turns back to Simone. “Look, we jump into the middle of a
war
? Without even knowing which side to
trust
? We just blow something up and hope the consequences aren’t too terrible?”

“People are dying!” Mistress Coyle yells.

“People you were just asking us to KILL!” Bradley shouts back. “If the President committed genocide, maybe they’re just after
him
and us attacking will only cause an even bigger mess!”

“That’s enough!” Simone snaps, suddenly like the Mission Commander. Bradley and Mistress Coyle stop. Then Simone says, “Viola?”

They all look at me.

“You’re the one who’s been here,” Simone says. “What do
you
think we should do?”

[T
ODD
]

We’re losing–

There ain’t no two ways about it–

Me knocking down the Spackle on the horned creacher only made things better for a second–

The men keep pushing forward and firing their guns and Spackle are falling and dying everywhere–

But they keep coming down the hill–

And there’s so many more of ’em than there are of us–

The only thing that’s saved us so far is that they ain’t been able to get another one of those fire things down to the bottom of the hill yet–

But there’re more coming–

And when they get here–

I
AM THE
C
IRCLE AND THE
C
IRCLE IS ME.

Thumping thru my head as the Mayor’s horse bumps into Angharrad, so exhausted now she’s barely lifting her nose–

“Keep in the moment!” he shouts, firing his gun past me. “Or all is lost!”

“All
is
lost!” I shout back. “We can’t win this!”

“It’s always darkest before the dawn, Todd.”

I look at him, baffled. “No, it ain’t! What kinda stupid saying is that? It’s always
lightest
before the dawn!”

D
OWN!
he puts in my head and I duck before I even think about it and an arrow flies right thru the space where my head just was.

“That’s three times,” the Mayor says.

And then there’s another blast of the Spackle horn, so loud you can almost
see
the sound, bending the air, twisting it, and there’s a new note to it–

A note of victory–

We spin round–

The line of soldiers has broken–

Mr Morgan has fallen under the feet of a horned creacher–

Spackle are pouring down the hill now–

Pouring onto the battlefield from all direkshuns–

Cutting thru the men who still fight–

Pouring like a wave straight at me and the Mayor–

“Ready yourself!” shouts the Mayor–

“We have to retreat!” I shout back. “We have to get outta here!”

And I try to turn Angharrad’s reins–

But I look behind us–

The Spackle have come round the back of the men–

We’re surrounded–

“Ready!” the Mayor shouts into the Noise of the soldiers around him–

Viola,
I think–

There’s too many of ’em,
I think–

Oh, help,
I think–

“FIGHT TO THE LAST MAN!” screams the Mayor.

{VIOLA}

“Her?!”
Mistress Coyle says. “She’s just a
girl–
”