The Ask and the Answer (43 page)

435

"Even though I have been instructed to take you straight to the President," Ivan says in an official voice, "I feel I cannot disobey your direct order,
sir."

He steps back out of the door to wait. Todd comes to my chair and kneels down in front of me.

"What are you planning?" I ask, trying to read his Noise, but it's spinning so fast I can hardly keep up with it.

"You said it's us who has to stop him cuz no one else will," he says, the crooked smile inching higher. "Well, maybe there's a way we can."

436

37 THE LIEUTENANT

***

[TODD]

I FEEL VIOLA WATCHING ME as I leave and follow Ivan down the hallway. She's wondering whether we can trust him.

I wonder it, too.

Cuz the answer's no, ain't it? Ivan joined the army as a volunteer, saving his own skin in Farbranch, and I remember him slinking up to me all those months ago even before it happened and telling me he was on the side of Prentisstown. He probably couldn't wait to join the army when it marched into town and then he led troops here and was even a Corporal.

Till Mayor Prentiss shot him in the leg.

You go where the -power is,
he said to me once.
That's how you stay alive.

So maybe he thinks he's found the new power.

"Exactly what I'm a-thinking,
sir,"
Ivan says, stopping outside a door. "He's in here."

437

"Can he walk?" I say as Ivan unlocks the door--

But Lee's already jumping out with an
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHU!
and knocking Ivan over and punching him again and again in the face and I have to grab his shoulders and pull him back and he turns to me, fists ready, till he sees who it is.

"Todd!" he says, surprised.

"We need--" I start.

"Where is she?" he shouts, already looking round, and I have to step forward to keep Ivan from smashing the back of his head with a rifle.

"She's hurt," I say. "She needs bandages and splints." I turn to Ivan. "You got those here?"

"We got a first aid kit," Ivan says.

"That'll do. Give it to Lee and he'll take care of Viola. Then tell the men I wanna talk to 'em out front." Ivan's glaring at Lee, Noise blaring. "That's an order,
Private,"
I say.

"Yes,
sir,"
Ivan says, all sour, before he disappears down the hallway.

Lee goggles at me.
"Yes, sir?"

"Viola'll explain." I push him after Ivan. "You get those bandages on her! She's hurting!"

That gets him moving. I turn about-face and go toward the lobby. Two guards watch me walk past. "What's going on?" one of em asks.

"What's going on,
sir,"
I snap without turning round. I walk out the front door of the Office of the Ask, down the little path and out the front gate.

Where it's almost peaceful.

438

And there's Angharrad.

Davy musta brought her.

"Hey, girl," I say, coming up on her slow, rubbing her nose.
Boy colt?
says her Noise.
Todd
?

"It's all right, girl," I whisper. "It's all right."

Hurt
, she says, sniffing at the dried blood still on my face. She takes her big wet tongue and gives me the sloppiest lick right across my mouth and cheek.

I laugh a little and rub her nose again. "I'm okay, girl, I'm okay."

Her Noise keeps saying my name,
Todd, Todd
, as I

move to where my bag is still tied to the saddle. My rifle's still there.

So's my ma's book.

I'll bet Davy brought that, too.

I untie Angharrad's reins from the post and lead her out onto the road a little bit till she's pointing right at the gate with the big silver a. "Gotta give a little speech," I say, tightening the saddle. "Better from up top of you."

Boy colt?
she says.
Todd
?

"Angharrad," I say.

I put my foot in a stirrup, hop up and swing my leg round till I'm sitting in the saddle, looking up at the sky. It's not darkening yet but the sun's getting down toward the falls. Afternoon is ticking away.

There ain't much time.

"Wish me luck," I say.

"Forward," Angharrad whinnies. "Forward."

***

439

The guards look up at me and back to Ivan who's trying to get 'em to stop talking, which would only help if they shut up the clatter of their Noise, too, cuz it's wailing like sheep on fire.

"He's a
lieutenant,"
Ivan's saying to 'em.

"He's a
boy,"
another guard says, one with ginger hair.

"He's the
President's
boy," Ivan responds.

"Yeah, and you were sposed to take him into town, Private," says another with a big pot belly and Corporal stripes on his sleeve. "Don't tell me yer disobeying a direct order."

"The Lieutenant gave me a different direct order," Ivan says.

"And he overrules the President, does he?" says Ginger Hair.

"Come on!" Ivan shouts. "How many of you got this assignment as punishment for something?" That quiets 'em.

"Yer an idiot if you think I'm following a boy to face the President," says Corporal Pot Belly.

"Prentiss
knows
stuff," says Ginger Hair. "Stuff he shouldn't."

"He'd have us shot," says another soldier, a tall one this time, with sallow skin.

"By who?" says Ivan. "The army's all off fighting the war while the President sits in his blown-up cathedral a-waiting for me to show up with Todd here."

"What's he doing there?" asks Ginger Hair. "Why ain't he with the army?"

"Ain't his style," I say. They all look up at me again. "The

440

Mayor don't fight. He rules, he leads, but he don't pull no triggers and he don't get his hands dirty." Angharrad feels my nervousness and steps a little to one side. "He gets other people to do it for him."

Plus,
I try to hide in my Noise,
he wants to talk to me.

Which in a way feels worse than war.

"And yer gonna overthrow him, are ya?" asks the Corporal, crossing his arms.

"He's just a man," I say. "A man can be defeated."

"He's more'n a man," Ginger Hair says. "People say he uses his Noise as a weapon."

"And if you get too close to him, he can control your mind," says Sallow Skin.

Ivan scoffs. "That's all just grandmothers' tales. He can't do nothing of the sort-"

"Yes, he can," I say, and once again, all eyes turn on me. "He can hit you with his Noise and it hurts like hell. He can look into yer mind and try to force you to do and say the stuff he wants. Yeah, he can do all that."

They're staring at me now, wondering when I'm gonna get to the part that's helpful.

"But I think he's gotta make eye contact to do it-"

"You
think?"
says Ginger Hair.

"And the Noise hit ain't fatal and he can only do it to one person at a time. He can't beat all of us, not if we all come at once."

But I'm also hiding in my Noise how much stronger it was when he hit me in the Arena just now, how much more potent.

He's been working on it, sharpening his weapons.

441

"Don't matter," says Sallow Skin. "He'll have his own guards. We'd be walking right into our deaths."

"He'll be expecting you to escort me," I say. "We can walk right past the guards to where he's waiting."

"And why should we follow you,
Lieutenant?"
asks the Corporal, getting sarcastic on my rank. "What's in it for us?"

"Freedom from tyranny!" Ivan says.

The Corporal rolls his eyes. He ain't the only one.

Ivan tries again. "Because as soon as he's gone,
we
take over."

Less eye rolling this time, but Sallow Skin says, "Anyone wanna be ruled by President Ivan Farrow?"

He says it to get a laugh but it don't get any.

"What about President Hewitt?" Ivan says, looking up at me with a weird glint in his eye.

Corporal Pot Belly scoffs and says again, "He's a
boy."

"I'm not," I say. "Not no more."

"He's the only one a-willing to go after the President," Ivan says. "That speaks for
something."

The guards look from one to another. I can hear all the askings in their Noise, all the doubts rattling around, all the fears confirming one another, and in their Noise I hear the idea being defeated.

But in their Noise I also hear how it can be saved.

"If you help me," I say, "I'll get you the cure."

They all shut right up.

"You can do that?" Ginger Hair asks.

"Naw," says the Corporal. "He's bluffing."

"It's stockpiled in the cellars of the cathedral," I say. "I saw the Mayor put it there himself."

442

"Why do you keep calling him
the Mayor?"
Sallow Skin asks.

"You come with me," I say. "You help me take him prisoner and every man here gets all the cure he can carry." They're listening to me now. "It's about ruddy time Haven became Haven again."

"He's taken it from the entire army," Ivan says. "We bring down the President, give 'em the cure, and who do you think they'll start a-listening to?"

"It won't be you, Ivan."

"No," says Ivan, giving me that look again. "But it could be
him."

The men look up at me, up on top of Angharrad, with my rifle and my dusty uniform and my idea and my promises and there's a rustle thru their Noise as each man asks himself, is he desperate enough to take the chance?

I think of Viola, sitting in the Arena, sitting there as everything I want to save, everything I'd do anything for.

I think of her and I know exactly how to convince 'em.

"All the women are banded," I say. "Who do you thinks gonna be next?"

Lee's pulling the last bandages round Viola's feet when I come back in and her face is looking way less pained.

"Can you stand?" I ask.

"Only a little."

"Don't matter," I say. "Angharrad's outside. She'll take you and Lee to find the Answer."

"What about you?" Viola says, sitting up.

443

"I'm gonna face him," I say. "I'm gonna take him down."

She
really
sits up at that.

"I'm coming with you," Lee says instantly.

"No, yer not," I say. "Yer telling the Answer to call off their attack
and
yer telling them just how Mistress Coyle works."

Lee's mouth sets firm but I can see his Noise roiling in anger over the bomb. He woulda died, too. "Viola says you can't kill."

I send her a dirty look. She's got the good grace to look away.

"I'm gonna kill him," Lee says. "I'm gonna kill him for what he did to my sister and mother."

"If you don't warn the Answer," I say, "there'll be a lot more dead people to make him pay for."

"He can
have
Mistress Coyle," Lee says but I can already see other people churning in his Noise, Wilf and Jane and other men and other women and Viola and Viola and Viola and Viola.

"What are you going to do, Todd?" she asks. "You can't just face him one-on-one."

"It won't be one-on-one," I say. "i got some of the guards to come with me."

Her eyes open wide. "You
what?"

I smile. "Got me a little mutiny going."

"How many?" Lee asks, his face still serious.

I hesitate. "Seven," I say. "I couldn't get 'em all to agree."

Viola's face drops. "You're going to fight the Mayor with seven men?"

444

"It's a chance," I say. "Most of the army's off marching to their final battle. The Mayor's
waiting
for me. It's the least guarded he's ever gonna be."

She watches me for a second, then she puts one hand on Lee's shoulder and one hand on mine and lifts herself to her feet. I can see her catch herself at the pain but Lee's wound the bandages tight and even if they ain't bone-fixers then at least they let her stand for a second or two.

"I'm coming with you," she says.

"No, yer not," I say at the same time as Lee yells, "Not a chance!"

She sets her jaw. "And what makes either of you think you have a say in the matter?"

"You can't walk," I say. "You have a horse," she says. "It's yer chance to get
safe,"
I say.

"He's expecting
both
of us, Todd. You walk in there without me, your plan is over before you even speak."

I put my hands on my hips. "You said yerself the Mayor will use you against me if he gets the chance."

She grimaces as she tests the weight on her ankle. "Then your plan had better work, hadn't it?"

"Viola--" Lee starts but she stops him with a look.

"Find the Answer, Lee. Warn them. You haven't got much time."

"But-"

"Go," she says again, more firmly.

And we both see her rise in his Noise, we both
feel
how much he don't wanna leave her. It's so strong, I have to look away from him.