Frost said “Go ahead. Before I hit the ground you’ll be dead.”
Langley gave a little laugh and lowered the rifle.
For a minute it was quiet except for King’s low, eager whines. A breeze slid off the river. The smoke from the torches twisted into dense curls. Above, the light wavered on the underside of the span.
Langley cleared his throat. “It’s not your time yet, Frost. I didn’t come to kill you this time. When I come to kill you I’m just going to kill you. I’m not going to stand around talkin’. And I’m not going to light up my men with torches so’s yous can shoot at us easier. With them little arrows of yours. With the new points on them made out of the car doors BC give you for your waterwheel. Them points could give a guy a nasty cut. You think, Freeway?”
Freeway said “Naw. A scratch maybe.” He held the torch above his head, so that the light threw jagged shadows across his and Langley’s faces.
“It don’t matter. I got bandages. I got medicine.” He stood with his arms folded. He said “Jeez, ain’t it cold.” He hawked, spat, wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket.
Frost said “Say what you’ve come to say.”
Langley said with restrained annoyance “Don’t tell me what to do, Frost. It aggravates me. I’m tryin’ to be patient, here. I’m tryin’ to do you a favour. I’m tryin’ to do all of yous a favour. You think I like comin’ out in the middle of a cold night? You think these here soldiers like walkin’ for miles in the dark and cold? Just so’s you and me can have a nice talk? No, Frost, the reason I come like this, takin’ all of yous completely by surprise, even takin’ the one dog you got left by surprise, is I want to do you a favour. I want to be nice to you. Ain’t that right, Freeway?”
“You got the milk of human kindness, Langley.”
“You hear that, Frost? Even though you keep killin’ my men, I come out on this cold night to extend a helpin’ hand. Ain’t that right, Freeway?”
“I don’t know, Langley. What’s a helpin’ hand?”
Langley looked down at his boots for a minute, scuffed at the ground, ran a hand over his face. He cleared his throat again. He said “I got twenty-eight soldiers here, Frost. How many do you think I got over on Fundy’s Bridge right now, cuttin’ the throats of your men while they’re sleepin’? How many soldiers do you think I got slippin’ onto the south edge of your farm, quiet as mice? Slippin’ out of the burbs. How many do you think are climbin’ up the stairs of your buildin’ right now?”
He aimed the rifle over the heads of Frost’s men, toward the domicile. There was a sharp crack, a wink of flame at the muzzle, and the tick of the bullet hitting distant concrete.
Tyrell said “Just say the word, Frost.”
Langley laughed, said “That’s funny, Tyrell. I heard yous black sons of bitches like to joke around and sing and dance. Well, Frost, there’s no soldiers. None on Fundy’s Bridge, none comin’ out of the burbs, none in your buildin’. Not tonight. Not yet. But there could be. That’s the point, ain’t it, Frost? There could be. The only reason yous ain’t all dead on both bridges is I’m eager to do yous a favour. The only reason I ain’t sittin’ in front of that nice fireplace I hear you got is I don’t want to kill no one. I’m a man of peace, see.”
Tyrell said “You’re a cockroach. And you’re going to be a dead cockroach any second now.” Tyrell drew his bow and aimed it across the few yards that separated him from Langley. The arrow was pointed toward Langley’s chest. The rest of Frost’s men also drew their bows, but Noor did not.
Langley shrugged. He said “Jeez, Tyrell, I liked it better when you were bein’ funny.” Langley’s soldiers laughed, but uneasily. One of the torches went out, then another. “Well, Frost, it’s cold, and I already made my point. Which is I can take your farm any time I feel like it. So maybe we’ll head on back. We had a nice full moon, didn’t we, before it set? You got till the next full moon to move your people over to Wing’s farm. I’ll clear my men out of there for you. Just come and knock on my door to let me know. I’ll be at my buildin’. Or else I’ll be out at my place at Skagger’s Bridge. Now I think I’ll be getting’ back home. I got to choose which one of Wing’s honeys is going to keep me warm tonight.”
Freeway’s torch faded and went out. His form and Langley’s were silhouettes against the light behind them. Two of the remaining four torches went out. Langley said “We’re goin’ to the buildin’ now. You know where it is — over near the foot of Fundy’s Bridge. It’s a long way back the way we come, back over Wing’s Bridge. So yous won’t mind steppin’ out of the way so’s we can take the short way across your bridge.”
Frost said “I told you to get off my farm.”
‘I done you a favour, Frost. I come out on a cold night to explain how things are. ’Cause I figured you might not completely understand. I wanted to save the both of us a lot of fightin’ and killin’. I said you could have till the next full moon. Most people would call that generous. So I think you owe me a favour. We just want to walk across your god damn bridge.”
Frost did not reply. One of the two remaining torches went out. Langley said to Frost’s guards “Your arms must be getting’ tired, pullin’ on them bow strings. You better put your bows down before someone lets go by accident. So’s we can talk over this favour I’m askin’.”
No one slacked off their bow.
Langley said “Hah! I thought yous were a civilized crew over here.” His voice had acquired a high-pitched whine. “That’s a word you don’t hear no more, ain’t it? Civilized. I thought that was what you were all about, Frost. Civilization. Which means getting’ along with people. And here I am tryin’ to do things in a civilized way, tryin’ to get along with you. And you tell me to clear off your farm. I’m tryin’ to save lives, see. I’m tryin’ to set up a swap, a simple business deal — your farm for Wing’s farm. By your farm I mean Fundy’s too, of course. But you’re tryin’ to get people killed. And that ain’t necessary. And it ain’t civilized.”
For a while it was quiet again. The only sounds were the nervous shifting of men trying to hold an aim, and a few clinks of crossbow bolts. Langley said firmly “Watch your men don’t let go of them bow strings.” Then he said, with the whine more pronounced “Why won’t you let us walk over your bridge?”
Frost said “Speak up.” King started barking and snarling. Frost let the dog pull him a step closer to Langley.
Langley stepped back. He shouted “Do we got to kill yous, then? Is that what you want, Frost?”
The last torch went out. In the solid dark below the bridge there were murmurs of confusion among both Langley’s soldiers and Frosts guards.
Frost took another step forward. King kept pulling and snarling.
Langley shouted “I got this here gun pointed right at you, Frost.”
Frost said “Settle down.” Except for occasional whines King fell silent. Frost said “Get off my farm.”
From behind Frost someone ran forward. Guards and soldiers both shouted, but no one shot. Frost hollered “Noor, don’t!”
Then Langley appeared to be on the ground. Noor appeared to be on top of him. There was a lot of scuffling. Langley called out “Ow! God damn it!” With another crack and another spit of flame the 22 went off. Langley’s men dodged back from the struggling pair. Langley croaked “She’s chokin’ me! Kill her, Freeway!”
Noor did not make a sound.
Frost said “Get her, Tyrell.”
Freeway’s bat made a pale, swift arc. There was the sound of a small bone cracking. Langley screamed hoarsely. Freeway said “Shit. Was that your finger, Langley?”
Langley thrashed. Noor was thrown stumbling backward past King and came to rest sitting against her grandfather’s legs. Tyrell grabbed her. Another guard helped him. She was still silent as she struggled to free herself from the two men.