Monsters of Men (57 page)

Yes, we will–

And I start thinking her name. I start thinking her name good and hard, to practise it, to warm it up in my mind, in my
Noise–

Feeling my anger, feeling my worry for her–

He may have made it harder to fight by making my Noise quiet, but if he can still punch with his Noise, then so can I–

Viola,
I think.

VIOLA
–

(THE SKY)

I must send the Land through fire to save it. I must send them climbing up the burning hills of the valley, through trees that blaze, through secreted huts that collapse and explode, I must send them through great peril to escape an even greater peril now rushing down the riverbed–

A greater peril that
I
set on them–

A greater peril that
the Sky
deemed necessary–

Because these are the choices of the Sky, these are the choices the Sky has to make for the good of the Land. Huge numbers of us would burn to death if we let the fire keep raging through the forest, huge numbers of us might still burn to death as we make our escape–

But at least if the second happens, we will take many hundreds of the Clearing with us–

No,
I hear the Source show, clambering up the steep hill behind me. We are on our battlemores, trying to find a way through the burning to get far enough above the riverbed before the water hits. The battlemores are suffering as we go but we have to press on, hoping their armour will save them.

The Sky can’t think that way,
the Source shows.
War against the Clearing will only destroy the Land. Peace must still be possible.

I turn to him from where I stand in my saddle, looking down to where he sits on his, like a
man
does.
Peace?
I show, outraged.
You expect
peace
after what they’ve done?

After what
one
of them has done,
the Source shows.
Peace is not only possible, it’s
vital
to our future.

Our
future?

He ignores this.
The only alternative is complete mutual destruction.

And the problem with that would be what?

But his own voice is already glowing with anger.
That’s not something the Sky would ask.

And what do you know of the Sky?
I show.
What do you know of any of us? You have spoken in our voice for a fraction of your life. You are not us. You will never be us.

As long as there is an us and them,
he shows back,
the Land will never be safe.

I make to answer but the voice of the Land calls down from the valley to the west, warning us. Our steeds begin to climb even faster. I look up the valley, through the flakes of ice still falling, through the fires that burn on either side, the smoke that rises into the clouds above–

And down the riverbed comes a bank of steaming fog, racing ahead of the river like the whistle before an arrow–

Here it comes,
I show.

The fog rushes by us and up, coating the world in white.

I give the Source one last look–

And then I open my voice–

I open it to all the Land that can hear it, seeking out Pathways to pass it on, until I know that I am speaking to
all
Land, everywhere–

And I hear it, the echoes of the first command I sent, the command to gather weapons–

Sitting there as if a destiny to be fulfilled–

I seize on it in the voice and send it again, send it further and wider than before–

Prepare yourselves, I tell the Land.

Prepare yourselves for war–

NO!
the Source shouts again–

But his words are lost as water as tall as a city crashes through the valley below us, swallowing everything in its path–

{VIOLA}

We pound up the road into town, Acorn and Angharrad running so fast I can barely keep hold of his mane–

Girl colt hang on
,
Acorn says and manages to speed up even more–

Bradley’s up ahead of me on Angharrad, the falling snow whipping around us as we cut through it. We’re rapidly nearing the outskirts of town where the road meets the first houses–

What the hell–?
I hear Bradley yell in his Noise–

There’s a small group of men marching down the road. They’re in formation, led by Captain O’Hare, weapons raised and apprehension rising through their Noise like the smoke billowing up on the north and south horizons.

“TURN BACK!” Bradley yells as we get closer to them. “YOU’VE GOT TO TURN BACK!”

Captain O’Hare stops, his Noise puzzled, the men behind him stopping, too. We reach them, the horses skidding to a halt–

“There’s a Spackle attack coming,” Captain O’Hare says. “I’ve got orders–”

“They’ve released the river!” I shout.

“You’ve got to get to higher ground!” Bradley says. “You’ve got to tell the townsfolk–”

“Most of them have left already,” Captain O’Hare says, his Noise rising red. “They’re following the army up the road at full fast march.”

“They’re doing
what
?” I say.

But Captain O’Hare’s looking angrier and angrier. “He knew,” he says. “He
knew
this was suicide.”

“Why is everyone else marching up the road?” I demand.

“They’re going to the mistresses’ hilltop,” Captain O’Hare says, bitterness in his voice. “To
secure
it.”

And we see in a flash of his Noise just what
secure
means.

I think of Lee on that hilltop. I think of Lee unable to see.

“Bradley!” I shout, slapping Acorn’s reins again.

“Get your men to higher ground!” Bradley shouts as we ride around the soldiers and back down the road. “Save as many people as you can!”

But then we hear the
roar–

Not the
ROAR
of the Noise of a group of men–

The
roar
and
crash
of the river–

We look back–

To see an impossibly massive wall of water obliterate the top of the hill–

[T
ODD
]

The screens change. The ocean disappears and up pop the probes from the town. The Mayor’s got one of ’em pointed right at the empty waterfall–

“Here it comes, Todd,”
he says–

“Viola?” I whisper frantically, trying to find her in the screens, trying desperately to see if any of the probes are watching her ride thru the city–

But I don’t see nothing–

Don’t see nothing but the huge wall of water come shooting out over the hilltop, pushing a town-sized cloud of fog and steam before it–

“Viola,” I whisper again–

“Here she is,”
the Mayor’s voice says–

And he switches to a probe view that’s her and Bradley on their horses, racing for their lives up the road thru town–

And there are people running, too, but there ain’t no way under heaven they’re gonna outrun the water smashing into the bottom of the falls and flinging its way forward, thru clouds of steam and fog–

A wave heading right for the city–

“Faster, Viola,” I whisper, pressing my face close to the screen.
“Faster.”

{VIOLA}

“Faster!” Bradley calls ahead of me–

But I can barely hear him–

The
roar
of the water behind us is literally deafening–

“FASTER!” Bradley screams again, looking back–

I look back, too–

Holy God–

It’s almost a solid thing, a solid white wall of raging water, higher than the highest building in New Prentisstown, smashing into the river valley, obliterating the battlefield at the bottom of the hill instantly and
roaring
forward, eating everything in the way–

“Come ON!” I shout to Acorn.
“COME ON!”

And I can feel the terror coursing through him. He knows exactly what’s coming after us, what’s blasting the first houses of New Prentisstown to splinters and no doubt Captain O’Hare and all his men, too–

And there are other people running, screaming out of houses and running for the hills to the south, but they’re too far away, much too far to reach on foot, and all these people are going to die–

I turn away, spurring Acorn again with my ankles out of pure fright. His mouth is spitting foam from the effort–

“Come on, boy,” I say between his ears. “Come
on
!”

But he doesn’t answer me, just runs and runs and we’re through the square and past the cathedral and onto the road out of town and I sneak another look behind me and see the wall of water smash through the buildings at the far edge of the square–

“We’re not going to make it!” I yell to Bradley–

He looks at me and then back behind me–

And his face tells me I’m right–

[T
ODD
]

Outta the corner of my eye, I see a screen showing that we’re landing on the shore and there’s snow and sand and endless water, waves crashing in and dark shadows moving thru ’em just under the surface–

But my attenshun is on the probe following Viola and Bradley–

Following ’em as they ride thru the square, thru the people left behind, past the cathedral and onto the road outta town–

But the water’s too fast, too high, too powerful–

They ain’t gonna make it–

“No,” I say, my heart just ripping in my chest. “Come on!
Come on!
”

And the wall of water slams into the ruins of the cathedral, finally knocking over the bell tower that stood on its own–

It disappears in a flash of water and brick–

And I’m realizing something–

The water’s slowing–

As it tears thru New Prentisstown, as it
erases
New Prentisstown, all the junk and the buildings are slowing it down, just a little, just a bit, making the wall of water a little bit shorter, a little bit slower–

“But not nearly enough,” the Mayor says–

And he’s in the room behind me–

I whirl round to face him–

“I’m sorry that she’ll die, Todd,” he says. “I truly am.”

And I hit him with a
VIOLA
that’s packed with everything I got–

{VIOLA}

“No,”
I feel myself whispering as New Prentisstown is torn to pieces behind us, as the wall of water is now filled with timber and brick and trees and who knows how many bodies–

And I’m looking back–

And it’s slowing down–

Choking some on all the debris–

But not enough–

It’s reached the stretch of road just behind us, still coming quick, still coming full and hard and brutal–

Todd,
I think–

“Viola!” Bradley calls back to me, his face twisted–

And there’s no way–

There’s just no way–

Girl colt
,
I hear–

“Acorn?”

Girl colt
,
he says, his Noise ragged with the force he’s putting out–

Angharrad, too, I can hear her ahead–

Follow!
she says–

“What do you mean,
follow
?” I say, alarmed, looking back at the water not a hundred metres behind us–

Ninety–

Girl colt
,
Acorn says again.

“Bradley?” I call but I see him gripping Angharrad’s mane tight just as I’m grabbing Acorn’s–

And
Follow!
she bellows again–