Lies exposed
“Sneaking into this mine,” Runt thought, as he dragged the bucket up the slope, “was the worst decision I ever made.”
He felt like he was slowly going insane. The constant backbreaking work combined with the heat, the harsh air, and the orange glow, and the hopelessness of his situation all weighed heavily on him. In the quiet times when they were allowed to rest Runt thought of everything he missed back in the Wilds. He missed the sounds of insects, and the smell of the trees. He missed the bickering and boasting of the birds. He missed the gentle warmth of the sun, and the mysterious silver glow of the moon. He missed his friend, Stripes. Then, at other times, he thought of the harpies. They were down here somewhere or, at least, he hoped they were. He hoped they were still alive. Everywhere Brain took him, Runt looked for a sign of them, without success.
Runt recalled the last words from the big boss. “Take the harpies to the lake,” the boss said, “to the Fighting place.” But when Runt asked Brain about the Fighting place the joey simply shook its head and said “If you don’t know about it yet then you don’t want to hear about it from me. You’ll be made to go there soon enough, and when you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
He asked Brain about the Fighting place again, at the next rest time. They crawled into an abandoned tunnel, just he and the joey, and began eating the fey-tree fruit. This was their new ritual before crawling deeper into the cave and sleeping. They sat, and ate, and talked. Brain didn’t seem very talkative this time, though, for some reason.
“Please, Brain, won’t you tell me something more about the Fighting place? Like, what happens there? Or… where I might find it?”
For a few moments Brain refused to look at Runt. Instead, Brain stared down at the fruit that, so far, the joey had not touched. When Brain looked up Runt saw a new emotion. Resentment.
“Why don’t you tell me something instead, Runt?” Brain said, with a hint of anger. Runt’s stomach sank at the tone. “Tell me how you know things that you ought not to know? About the fruit. About the drop-bears. About things that happen in the Outside. You seem to know more about the Outside world than you do about simple things, natural things, things that happen right here. Why don’t you tell me about that?”
Runt’s mouth fell open, but no words came out. Brain, though, had no such trouble.
“I’ve been watching you ever since you turned up and I think I’ve figured it out. You’re from out there, aren’t you? I even know who sent you here. You’re working for the bigger boss, aren’t you? What I want to know, though, is why? Why did they send you down here? Are you spying on us? On me? Is it because I’m a weird born?”
“I, Brain, no, that’s not true. I’m not working for the boss.”
“Yes you are!” Brain replied hotly. “You even look like it.”
“What are you talking about?” Runt said. “The tall one, covered in white fur, with the walking stick? I look like that?”
“See? You don’t even know the difference between bosses. I said the bigger boss, not the big boss. I’m talking about the tyrant. The one that’s in charge of everything. I’ve seen it up close a couple of times, down by the Fighting place, and you look just like it. I bet you’re even related. So why did they send you, Runt?”
“Brain, I wasn’t sent by the boss, the big boss, or the biggest boss. I don’t know anything about that. But,” Runt said, sadly, “you’re right. I am from outside. I’ve come here because the gorgons are doing something when they go out that’s hurting my friends. Hurting them badly. And I need to ask them to stop. Only, I’m so small. I don’t know how. I don’t know what to do. Brain, you’ve got to believe me.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The joey stared at Runt for what felt like a minute with eyes of steel. Brain snorted, shook its head, and crawled off deeper into the tunnel.
“I don’t know what to believe, anymore.” The joey said flatly.
A pile of fruit was left on the ground where Brain sat. Not knowing what else to do Runt stayed there, feeling miserable, and ate the fruit one by one. Of course, without thinking, he ate too many, and soon fell fast asleep right on the spot.
Runt was shaken awake by a gorgon holding a burning coal torch. Brain stood next to it, looking dejected. For a panicked second Runt thought the joey had already revealed his secret to the adults but, if Brain had, the large gorgon showed no sign of it.
“Work time?” Runt said, sighing.
“Nah,” the large gorgon said, smiling broadly, “play time! Time for fun! We go to Fighting place!”
The gorgon headed down towards the lake. Runt looked around as they exited the tunnel and saw nearly every creature in the cavern descended with them. To the Fighting place. Runt fell in behind the adult and matched pace with his friend.
“Brain, look, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I tried to. I was just so scared you’d turn me over to the boss.”
“What makes you think I won’t?” Brain said, turning away.
“Listen, I know that it seems like I lied to you, but I didn’t really. I never said I was a gorgon. Everyone else did. I just sort of went along with it. But the truth is I do come from outside. And I’m here because the gorgons are doing a really bad thing.”
Brain’s head whipped back around.
“Liar!” the joey shouted. “How can we be doing a bad thing? We moved here, to the cavern of the Sun Lake, to stay safe. We’re down here minding our own business. We’re not hurting anybody.”
“You’re wrong, though,” Runt replied, ”and I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you. The thing is, adults lie all the time. Adults have been lying to us since the day we were born. I didn’t realise it at first. And then, when I started figuring it out, I didn’t want to believe it. Some lies happen when it’s easier than speaking a hard truth. Like how I pretended to be a weird born because the truth would’ve got me in trouble. But there’s another type of lie and it’s much worse. It’s much more dangerous.”
“The worst type of lie is one that sounds like the truth. The worst lie is one where the person saying it genuinely believes it to be true. Just now, you said gorgons aren’t hurting anyone down here. That’s a lie. I know because I’ve seen the damage being done. But you believe the thing because an adult told you. And that adult probably believes it, too, because another adult told them. And this false truth got spread over and over. A bunch of adults repeated the lie to each other until everyone believed it. You see? Once a lie is repeated enough times it becomes the truth. That’s dangerous! No one likes finding out their truth is actually wrong. People will do anything to keep believing it. Otherwise, they’d be admitting they were fooled. Brain, listen to me,” Runt said, staring at his friend with pleading eyes, “you’ve got to believe me. You have been fooled.”
“Those trees, the ones you’re feeding to the joeys in the hive, they’re the homes for another type of creature. Those trees are super important outside and it’s incredibly devastating to tear them down. It’s not your fault you didn’t know. But you’ve been lied to enough times, now, you’ll happily tell other people the same thing. And so, the lie becomes true by repetition. But it’s not true, Brain. You’re literally destroying a species to save your own. That’s why I’m here. To try and stop the gorgons stealing the fey-trees and save my friends. You see, there’s a group of creatures out there called harpies and they – “
“Did you say harpies?” Brain hissed. “You mean to say you’re here because of them?” Brain’s eyes burned with rage and the joey’s teeth were clenched. “The harpies are monsters! They’re traitors! The harpies tried to exterminate us. It’s because of the harpies that we were forced to live down here in the first place.”
“No, Brain, that’s not right. I’m telling you, you’ve been lied to for so long it just sounds true. You need to go and find out for yourself. The harpies don’t want to hurt gorgons. They need you. But first they need you to stop tearing down the fey-trees.”
Brain, looking more miserable than ever, simply shook their head.
“You’ll see, Runt. It’s you who’s been lied to. It’s all written down in pictures. When the great betrayal occurred, the gorgons fled here, to this cavern. And they made pictures of what happened so we would never forget. The pictures help us remember. You’ll see, whether you like it or not. Because that’s where we’re going.”