“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 think’s 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.
“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?”
“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 kisses her teeth 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.
But it sorta makes me wanna hit him, too.
“I’m not leaving Todd,” she says. “Not now I’ve found him again. I’m sorry, Lee, but that’s the way it is.”
Lee takes a step back, unable to keep the hurt outta his Noise. Viola’s voice softens. “I’m sorry,” she says again.
“Viola–” Lee says.
But she’s shaking her head. “The Mayor thinks he knows everything. He thinks he knows what’s coming. He’s just sitting there waiting for me and Todd to show up and try and stop him.”
Lee tries to interrupt but she don’t let him.
“But what he’s forgetting,” she says. “What he’s forgetting is that me and Todd, we ran halfway across this planet together, by ourselves. We beat his craziest preacher. We outran an entire army and survived being shot and beaten and chased and we bloody well stayed alive this whole time without being blown up or tortured to death or dying in battle or anything.”
She takes her hand off Lee so she’s balancing just against me.
“Me and Todd? Together against the Mayor?” She smiles. “He doesn’t stand a chance.”
{VIOLA}
“Did you mean what you said in there?” Todd says, pulling the strap on the saddle. His voice is low and he’s keeping his eyes on the horse work. “Bout him not standing a chance against us?”
I shrug. “It helped, didn’t it?”
He smiles to himself. “I gotta go talk to the men.” He nods over to Lee, standing away from us, hands in his pockets, watching us chat. “You try and make this easy on him, okay?”
He gives Lee a wave and goes to where our escort of seven soldiers stands huddled by the big stone gate. Lee comes over.
“Are you sure about this?” he says.
“No,” I say, “but I’m sure of Todd.”
He breathes out through his nose, looking at the ground, trying to keep his Noise flat. “You love him,” he says. Not an asking, just a fact.