This is the first time I’ve ever seen Pace speak up like this. Before I was the one doing the talking and he was supporting me. Of course most of the talking was done in my world and to my people. Pace looks at Findley and the rest of the bluecoats who guard us. “Look at this beautiful world.” Everyone except my father, Levi, and I turn their heads to gaze in wonder at the things around us. I realize they cannot help themselves. Yet I keep my eyes on Pace and my father to see what will happen next.
I have already noticed that in the few weeks that I’ve been inside things have changed greatly. The green of the trees seems greener. Some are covered with pink and white blossoms similar to the ones on the apple trees that grew on the rooftop of the building I always went to each morning. The sky is bluer and the clouds fluffier and the breeze holds a hint of warmth that it did not have before. Birds flit from branch to branch, chirping loudly. The earth has come alive to welcome us back.
“Why do you turn your back on it?” Pace continues. “Why do you continue to live in fear? Isn’t something worth having worth fighting for?” I can tell the bluecoats don’t like Pace’s mention of living in fear. They shift uncomfortably and look away. I am certain it is because it struck too close to home for them to ignore. How many of them knew Pace before all the trouble started? Or knew his father, who died before he was born? How many of them believe as Findley does and are too scared to say anything to one another for fear of reprisal?
My father approaches Pace. “You know nothing,” he says quietly enough so that only Pace and the few of us around will hear. The fact that he feels the need to defend himself to Pace makes me realize that Pace has struck a nerve with my father also. “All the responsibility is mine. Their lives are in my hands.”
“Are you so afraid of failing?” Pace asks. “Are not we proof that you have already failed?”
My father strikes Pace across the face with the back of his hand. The strike is so hard that it knocks Pace, who still has his hands clamped behind his head, off balance and he almost crashes into his mother. He catches himself in time and rights himself. He never takes his eyes from my father. Levi and I both jerk in protest at the offense. A rifle barrel poked at the back of his head quickly stops Levi.
“It isn’t too late,” I quickly say, hoping to stop any more violence directed at Pace or Levi. “If we all work together…” My voice trails off as a group of rovers come into view. They come from the same direction as the catwalk, where the Quest was docked. Their appearance makes me wonder if it is still. There are at least twenty of them and they are all wearing weapons. Long rifles, axes, knives, and one has a sword strapped to his hip. Their clothing is a mixture of castoffs and hide, and the smell of unwashed bodies taints the air. I see only one woman in this group, and she looks just as fierce as the one I killed.
“What have you done?” I stand up and step between my father and Pace. “Surely you are not turning us over to them.”
“It’s a better fate than being burnt alive, wouldn’t you say?” He turns on his heel and goes to meet the leader of the rovers. Four bluecoats join my father with their weapons readied.
I look at Findley. He shrugs. There is nothing more he can do for us. If he makes a move he will share our fate.
“This isn’t good?” Colm asks as a bluecoat nudges him to his feet.
“It isn’t,” I reply.
Jilly looks at the rovers and then at Pace. He must have told her the stories of their viciousness. Panic fills her and she begins breathing hard. Levi looks momentarily confused, and then he shakes his head. He still believes Lyon will help us. But it doesn’t make sense. How could the rovers have passed right by Lyon’s location without notice? And if they did, will we go unnoticed also?
“What’s to become of us?” Ellen’s voice rises in panic as seven rovers come forward with rope in their hands. Each one takes one of us and ties our hands and then loops the rope around our necks. The one who claims Jilly sneaks in a few pinches and she shrieks and jumps, which only makes all of them laugh.
I stare at the one who has claimed me, daring him to do the same. He doesn’t look much older than me. His blond beard is weak and scraggly, and his face smeared with dirt, but his teeth, at least, are decent. As I stare at him he looks away first.
He must feel some shame at what they are doing. I may be desperately grasping for some sort of humanity. I do not know how anyone can retain it if they live with the rovers. I know their survival has not been as easy as ours, but at what cost?
The rope burns my neck as my captor pulls on it. I put my bound hands on it to keep him from choking me as I am led along with the rest of my friends to the trail. The rest of the rovers surround us and the smell makes me want to gag. Jilly does gag, as does Ellen, who is weeping, “What have they done, oh, what have they done?” How many tales did my father tell her to get her cooperation, and the poor soul believed all of them.
We go into the forest as a group, each of us led and cut off from the other by the rovers. I realize as the trees close around us that my father did not give me a parting word.
14
Sunlight dapples through the trees as we march through the forest. Jilly is having problems. She keeps tripping over her dress in her dainty shoes. Colm and Tobias struggle also. I know they need rest after the purge of their lungs. There is no need to ask for help for either of them; the rovers are not known for their charity or compassion.
Finally the one who leads Jilly grows frustrated with her and pulls her off to the side of the trail. She shrieks in fear as he shoves her to the ground and pulls out his knife. All four men struggle against their bonds, but the effort serves only to tighten the ropes around their necks and choke them. Jilly tries to back away, but her captor keeps a tight hold on the rope. With the other hand he slices off her skirt to just below her knees and pitches her shoes into the dense undergrowth beside the trial. Then he hauls her up by the rope and shoves her back into the line.
My heart aches for her and the beating I know her feet will take. I am equipped to deal with this, as much as anyone can be, but Jilly is used to being pampered and has never had to do anything beyond lift a fork or spoon.
Lyon will help us. He has to.
I turn my head to look at Levi, who follows me with Pace and Ellen behind him. I am rewarded with a jerk on the rope, so I trudge onward. I listen to the sound of our troop moving through the forest and strain to hear the whistle that will tell me our rescue is imminent.
I hear nothing. Through the trees I can see the sun glinting off the water, and by its location I know we’ve been walking for two hours, maybe more. We have to be near the catwalk. Surely they don’t plan to march us right by the Quest.
Something is not right. I know in my heart that the Quest is not there. Our troop is halted. I look ahead and see that we are near a clearing. It has to be the catwalk.
“Not a sound,” my captor warns me. As if I’ll be silent if screaming will save my life. We move onward, slower this time. I see Jilly limping ahead of me and look down and see blood on the track.
The trees open up and the sea gleams before us on the left. The breeze whips up from below, cleansing the horrid smell of the rovers from my nose. My hair flutters around my face. I should have tied it back when I had a chance. My kerchief is not doing me any good stuffed into my pants pocket.