Chapter Nineteen

Fort Wishbone

The girl called Kira dragged them by rope to two horses tied at a post by the base of the hill, guarded by her two escorts. Ariea looked back at Wilder’s weathered keep and angry spires a final time. What an awful place.

‘Vera! Malawe!’ Kira called to her partners.

‘First pull from Wilder in over a year. I’m impressed,’ the one called Vera said. ‘Folks never learn.’ They were parcelled up in leather armour. Their hair each had the same flat braid. Must have been uniform, Ariea assumed.

Kira scoffed. ‘Lynn’s men were sniffing around, but finders-keepers, right?’

Vera and Malawe each smiled. ‘Right.’ They shook arms, and Kira hoisted herself on to one horse while her partners shared the other. Ariea and the others were led like rats between them. Kira introduced them as bounty hunters in the employ of Fort Wishbone, and that was their destination. Ariea knew it to be a settlement on the shore of Lake Principia. It seemed Winter had taken to policing Wilder with bounties and mercenaries, since the end of its occupation.

‘That was Winter’s bounty, right?’ Oxford asked them.

Kira shrugged. ‘Aye. They pay good coin for folks like you so thank you for that.’

‘They kidnapped children though!’ Ariea protested, incredulous.

Kira looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘Kidnap? No.’

‘They steal children from their families. That doesn’t bother you?’

The three of them shrugged. ‘Nothing weird about taking children,’ Malawe chided, calming her horse as she did so. ‘Winter take us, raise us, teach us, then give the ones they don’t need back. Just how the world is,’ she surmised. ‘What other way is there for it to work? You sound like Mountish folk.’

Vera nodded. ‘San said on his last round he heard about more and more Mountain Rats coming down; Winter flushing ‘em out.’ She considered each of them in turn and smirked. ‘Well, I’ll be, Rats gone a-squatting. Always wondered how those people managed to live on cave water and goat’s milk.’

‘What’s gonna happen?’ Oxford said coolly.

Malawe looked down at them. ‘Taking you to the President of the Fort. And you’ll stand trial for thieving ‘n tresspassing, by the Judge.’

Ariea swiped hair from her mouth. ‘We didn’t take anything.’ She looked up to the gathering clouds and rains sinking over distant hills, choking the mid-afternoon sun. ‘We were waiting out the storm.’

Their captors laughed again. ‘You best be hoping you ain’t lying. The Judge will know if you do. He always knows. And most people know well enough to leave Wilderplace alone,’ said Vera

Ariea couldn’t help but revel privately in the irony. Agloff had wanted nothing more than to enter Eden, for better or for worse. And now here, all he had to do was tell the truth and he would be escorted there, under guard, with no resistance. Ariea had no doubt that to find another way would take weeks of meticulous planning. She didn’t have to stay with Agloff, but the thought of leaving never reasonably crossed her mind. It felt forbidden.

They trudged through heavy grasses keeling over to the wind, up the shore of Principia. Wisps of saltwater whipped through their faces. Fort Wishbone was a smear above the water, a sprawl built into a hillside crashing down towards the lake.

The horses stopped before the city gates, bordered by Wishbone on one side and dense forest on the other. Kira paid her dues to the gate guard and the doors swung open. She bade Vera and Malawe farewell and led her prisoners on.

‘C’mon,’ Kira grunted at them. At once, the streets scythed downhill in wayward parallel, their buildings at angles to each other. Motorcars and trams patrolled them at leisurely pace. Where the land sloped down toward the lake, the tendrils of the city spilled out onto piers ejected over the bay. Boats circled in a distant haze. For Ariea, this place was a vision of both future and past.

From its peak, she could oversee the workings of the entire city, those mundane interactions people call life.

They arrived at a wide square, walled by a string of odd-coloured terraces. Kira hitched her horse and led them to a red clocktower, cutting into the pallid sky above. She nodded them to enter. It was not unlike Backwater, was Ariea’s first thought. Crimson walls were adorned in marble and gold. The portraits of anonymous, important people looked at them through ugly stares.

For the first time, Ariea and the others exchanged looks. Oxford was stone-faced as ever. Agloff bowed in a guilty silence. Or perhaps his mind was turning over the images they had seen at Wilder. Lady’s jaw dropped in wonderment, before Memphis and Merry restrained her wandering legs. Kira then herded them deeper, past armed guard to an arched passage, blooming into a marble chamber. Seven people were sitting in tall, squared thrones. They sank into pompous dresses much too large for them.

A fair-haired woman stood from her throne. ‘Oh yes,’ she said. ‘We were just told about these. The squatters of Fort Wilder, I think.’ She was beautiful, and young for one in such authority, Ariea thought. She orbited them, fascinated. ‘And a pleasure to see you again, Kira. The Fort extends its gratitude. Eugene will see you’re paid.’

‘Likewise, Councillor. Thank you.’

‘Kira. Good work.’ A man in slick, black garb stood from a second throne, Winter’s crest was emblazoned on his breast, and winked. Kira replied with a familiar smile. Ariea recoiled a little.

The fair-haired woman spoke to a pride of guards behind them. ‘Unbind our guests.’ They duly obeyed. She turned to her prisoners. ‘I’m Councillor Riddis, Fort President. Your names?’

‘Penelley Seacroft,’ Ariea said strongly, then nodded to the others. ‘These are Copen Mile, Memphis Teller, Oxford Blue, Merry Cutter, and the little one is Lady.’ Agloff shot her a look but Ariea ignored it. If he wanted to tell the truth, he missed his chance. The black-clad man stood and circled the party with a predatory stare.

‘Taret,’ Riddis said warningly.

His eyes landed on Agloff, swatted his lapel. ‘What was your name, boy?’

‘Copen Mile,’ Agloff repeated blankly.

‘Taret! Ambassador Stone!’

He backed off. ‘They’re not the usual drifters that come out of Wilder.’

‘You think it could be them? Eight hundred years and they show up on our watch,’ a gravelly-voiced man intoned. ‘I’ll be damned if it is.’

Stone turned back to Riddis. ‘Look at them. Too well fed for drifters.’ He pulled back Agloff’s coat, studied the dressing across his wound. Stone scoffed a little. He reached a hand into Agloff’s inside pocket. Agloff’s face paled, unmoved. Stone produced a small furled up photograph of Agloff’s mother. He examined it, amused, before prodding it back into the pocket. ‘Definitely not drifters. Winter will take them,’ he announced. ‘Even if it isn’t Ashborne, can always do with strong labour. Like this one.’ He dipped his chin at Oxford.

‘They will be trialled,’ Riddis insisted. ‘We always trial them.’

‘Ellen, I don’t think it—’

‘If they are innocent of nothing more than being without a home, then I would be glad to give them one here. The Judge will ascertain the truth, and that will be that. If they are who you want them to be, though I doubt- we have been here before after all- you may take them.’

Stone scowled. ‘I’ll arrange a travelling party. He has awaited this day a long time.’

His colleagues’ eyes rolled, and Riddis sunk back into her chair. ‘I enjoy our talks, Taret. But you will do no such thing, until trial. The Judge is never wrong.’ The Ambassador dipped his chin curtly. ‘I’ll have you stay at the dock for this evening, under guard,’ Riddis said to them all. ‘You’ll be collected tomorrow for trial.’

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Ariea raised her arm. ‘Should we… come up with a case? Find evidence?’

‘Definitely not drifters,’ Stone repeated through the grit of his teeth.

‘There will be no need.’

Oxford growled. ‘Doesn’t seem fair.’

From her throne, Riddis smiled. ‘Oh, rest assured it is.’

‘Councillor,’ Stone began curtly. He was tall and thin-faced with cheekbones he could stab with. ‘Winter will compensate the Fort handsomely for them. I don’t think you’d want to raise taxes to pay for the infirmary, not with an election approaching. Winter does you a great service. We could simply take them now—’

Riddis’ neck snapped at Stone. ‘We have already established they are yours, if…’ She dipped her head at Agloff. ‘That one you’re interested in is the Ashborne boy. Malvo Jask is more than aware of my gratitude for everything he has done. The infirmary, the tramway, the vaccinations. But here, we serve the rule of law and due process. If need be, they will go to Eden.’ She leant back and shrugged.

Stone bowed. ‘Councillor.’

‘I certainly hope you don’t mean to take them so soon in hopes of deceiving Jask, Stone,’ another Councillor said, the eldest. ‘To curry his favour. Putting ambition before the lives of these strangers, and the good of the Fort. I’ve seen your eye wander long enough. You want a seat at Jask’s table. And a bird tells me the Apostle of Alison is gravely ill.’ His thumbs twiddled in amusement. ‘Might delivery of Agloff Ashborne assure you Mars’ successor?’ The man’s laugh stuttered into a choke. ‘Jask would see through you like glass, Stone.’

‘I’ve had no such thoughts, Tariq.’ Stone smiled, swept his robe across him and sat once more.

‘My guard will see you down to the dock,’ Riddis announced to the prisoners. ‘Kespin Merr!’ she said, and a squat guard came to bow. Like the bounty hunters, he was dressed in leather armour. ‘Take them. See they’re fed.’

Two more guards followed, and Ariea and the others were herded like sheep out into the square and onwards downhill. Citizens pressed their nosy stares and hushed gossip as to what their crime might have been. Ariea was quite sure none would have guessed the absurd truth.

Merr showed them onto the dock. Cubic buildings were strung out along the wharf, fronted by crates and logs, parcelled up, ready to sail. Ariea imagined ships curried cargo the length of the Colony up and down Principia from here. A trio of workmen in denim suits were smoking over a game of cards. Another was guiding a longboat to shore. Merr then prodded Ariea and the others in the direction of a slanted building. The inside was bare concrete, with rows of rooms unfurnished but for a washbasin and bunk.

‘One each,’ he grunted. ‘The building will be under guard ‘till I collect yous ‘morrow morning.’

They said nothing and assigned themselves to a room each, waiting for their escort to leave, then all filtered into the far room.

‘Eden, here we come.’ Oxford’s voice bounced down the corridor.

‘I thought that Riddis woman seemed nice,’ said Merry. ‘Defended us well enough from Stone.’

Oxford hummed in agreement. ‘They aren’t half bigging this Judge up, I’ll tell you that much. I’ve been made to resist everything you can think of,’ he said darkly. ‘They ain’t getting shit from me.’

‘How is everyone?’ said Ariea.

Memphis shrugged. ‘Surviving.’

Lady made to slouch into Ariea’s arms for a hug. ‘I think everyone needs a hug right now. Wilder was a bad idea,’ Ariea added after a pause. She waited for the others’ agreement, but it never came. ‘Agloff.’ She turned towards him. His stood, rubbing his wound where Stone had. ‘You’re quiet.’

‘What d’you want me to say? I can’t take it back now.’

'Should we plan a breakout?’ Merry spluttered. ‘After the trial.’

‘Too many unknowns.’ Oxford shook his head. ‘It’s not something we could plan.’

Memphis raised an eyebrow. ‘Could always try our luck. See how far we get.’

‘Wouldn’t be far,’ Ariea cut in.

Merry stroked a strap of hair behind her ear. ‘We could hope the Judge lets us go.’

There was a scoff from Oxford and Memphis. ‘Whoever they are, we know they won’t. They seem confident of that much,’ Memphis said.

Ariea’s arms slackened, and she ushered Lady on to Merry. ‘Agloff, come with me a sec,’ she said, standing.

‘Yeah.’ He followed her into the corridor, and down to one of the distant cells.

‘Are you okay?’ she said eventually. Concern was woven through her features. Lines traced a path like thread. ‘Wilder was a lot. If you wanted to talk about it.’

He bit his lip. ‘I’m fine.’

‘I know you’re not though.’ It was tempting to press his regret that he ever went to Wilder. Claim ‘I told you so’, but Ariea knew better than to be so cruel. She sighed. She always sighed these days. ‘So, he’s alive then?’ she said finally.

Agloff fiddled the edges of his coat. ‘Yeah. I could save him.’ He leant into the wall, his cheek on the plaster.

‘But?’

‘Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy not knowing more than knowing. That guard, Thawn, the one at the tower. He’s my dad, right?’ he said softly.

Ariea nodded, extended an arm to his shoulder. ‘I think so. It’s a lot to unpack and I’d understand if…’ But her thought had no conclusion because she wasn’t sure she would understand. What did his father matter, she thought. Thawn had either been dead or negligent. Not a father worth the title.

‘I’m fine. I waited my whole life for this, but now I’m just sorta empty.’

She could see the cogs of his mind turn behind glazed eyes. He was transported within himself.

‘Things don’t always go the way we expect.’

His voice was grim. ‘Guess not.’

‘Are you having doubts? About it all?’ She poked and prodded, and prayed to God he was.

‘Now I know he’s there, it’s all so real and I don’t know what to do. But… if I can save him, I owe him that right? It’s only luck I’m here instead of him. I know if he was here, and I was there, he would do the same. He would. I don’t want to give up.’ Agloff sounded like he was trying to assure himself much as he was Ariea. ‘I couldn’t ask you all to go with me. I know we’re screwed tomorrow either way. Maybe I should just get it over with.’

‘Sounds like guilt talking,’ she muttered. ‘It’s not giving up, it’s growing up.’ Ariea held him by his wrists, ducked to smile at his wistful features. For a moment, she thought about kissing him, and yielding to that primal version of herself.

But that would be impractical, she told herself. She wasn’t thinking straight. The moment passed like the wind and she waited for him to say something, but he never did.

She let go and, with a long look back, skulked back to the others who were playing poker with a crumpled deck of cards Oxford had stashed in his coat. They gathered bottle caps, chain links and all sorts from a pile by the door for chips and gamed until the guard brought them each soup. Ariea didn’t win all that many hands. By her own admission, she was bad at lying.

Ariea imagined she wouldn’t sleep well that night, but an hour later when she fell into the sheets of her bunk, tiredness set in like cold in winter. She slipped from the waking world, too tired to think much of anything.

She fell through some infinite place, a landless maze of sky-bound trees, nestled inside the clouds. The forest blustered past her, faster and faster. Then, she awoke, in the warm embrace of her pillow. She turned over and Agloff was knelt in the corner of the room, a packed rucksack sandwiched between his legs.

‘Hey,’ he said grimly.

His tone roused her from her bunk. Ariea’s first thought was to slam him with the pillow. Her body broiled, her limbs began to shake, but the darkness hid her fury.

‘Hey.’

He whispered quietly. ‘I can’t go to Eden and take all you with me. It’s me they want. They’ll just kill all of you, right. If I go, I should go alone.’

‘And then what? We just stay here and hope you come back?’

‘Isn’t it for the best? I’d be saving you all.’

‘Who are you to say what I want, what they want?’ Tears fell on the backs of Ariea’s hands, and she watched them roll down her fingers. ‘You are a selfish coward. What about us who are left behind? The line of thought snapped her into silence. She felt a thousand miles from him. ‘You know, I tried really hard to hate you. I wanted to smack you in the face so hard. But I can’t keep being angry.’ She slackened. ‘I am tired of this, of telling you you’re more than some dumb family.’ The urge to cry welled up inside her. Her chest shook; sharp, and shallow. But why fight it? She indulged her urge, and the pair of them listened to the tide of gentle sobs. ‘Do you know what I want, Agloff?’

His silhouette melted into the wall, as if he we were part of it. ‘Tell me.’

‘I want to help people.’

‘Yeah, you said, you wanna be a doctor—’

‘No. You see, I never understood you, I won’t pretend. But growing up without a mum in that house, with just you and dad, and Marty on his visits. I was alone, so I indulged you. We played dress up where Copen was your brother. I listened to you talk about it every night. I just…’ Her words broke. She recollected her thoughts. ‘When I was little I was desperate to please, to fit in. I felt I had to not be awkward in that house, because I was the girl. God knows I don’t feel that way now but…’ She swiped her cuff at her eyes.

‘I still try too hard to please; you, Oxford, Merry… I disagreed about Wilder, about Eden, leaving Backwater, but I put up. I shut up. Because I’m lonely and I just want people to be happy. I want the world to be happy, and that’s dumb as, but it’s not something that goes away. I’m still here because I want to make you happy and I hate it.’ She paused, sank deeper within herself. ‘I’ll go so far, but I am not going to kill myself for you, or let you kill yourself. You need to meet me halfway, and if the last fifteen years meant anything, if I am owed anything, don’t go. Please. How are you even going to escape this?’

Agloff’s silhouette shifted a foot closer, face glazed in the cut of moonlight through the slats in the dock window. ‘I- I was gonna make myself known to the guard. Tell him who I was. Confess. They’d take me away and let you guys go.’

Ariea slid from her bed and leant back against the bunk. She kicked out her legs, sighed. ‘And that’s all you have to say, yeah. I won’t tell you how I think it’s going to go because I can’t think about that.’ She sobbed a little more, but she felt braver now than she ever had been. ‘But think about them. What do you think Oxford is going to do if you go?’ She waited but he didn’t answer. ‘He’s going to go anyway. And without you, he will die. Merry and Memphis, and Lady; Winter took everything from them. You think they wouldn’t go with him? Hell, they wouldn’t let either of you go alone. Because they’re good people, right. They care. Not like us. Me and you, we’re selfish.’

‘It’s the best I can do for them,’ he protested.

‘You’re full of bullshit. I can’t go after you like they would. Not forever. I will go with you, Agloff, to the end of the Colony, but not after you.’

‘That’s why I should go. Don’t you think after the shit I’ve pulled you deserve better than me?’

Ariea laughed dryly. ‘Agloff Ashborne, I am exactly what you deserve.’ She stared at her fingers. ‘I could regret this for the rest of my life, but I can’t say bye to you. Not when I know you’re not coming back.’ Her voice fractured, and she felt her very soul may tear with it. Her head shook profusely.

‘I’ve never liked goodbyes,’ Agloff said. ‘I always preferred “see you later”. Makes me think I’ll always see the person at least one more time.’ He turned into doorway and looked down the corridor to the middle of the dock.

‘If you have to, be gone by the time we wake up.’ Ariea turned and dragged herself back onto her bunk by the sheets and looked at Agloff’s figure linger in the doorway, pensive and lost. She then smeared her tears across her cheeks and rolled over to stare at the wall.