“Safety first, ladies,” the Mayor smiles at them. “We have no idea how dangerous a captured Spackle might be.”
“Now,” Mistress Nadari says.
But the Mayor’s still smiling.
And he’s followed by a whole city of smiling soldiers.
“I’ll just make sure the situation is safe before I do that, shall I?” he says, stepping to one side of the mistresses, who are then held back by a line of soldiers as the Mayor goes inside. I follow him in.
And my stomach grabs itself into a tight fist.
Cuz inside are the two Spackle, tied to chairs, their arms bound behind ’em in a way I know only too well.
(but neither are 1017 and I don’t know if I’m relieved or upset–)
One of ’em’s got red blood all over his na**d white skin, the lichen he was wearing torn off and thrown to the ground. His head’s up, tho, his eyes wide open, and I’m damned if his Noise don’t show all kinds of pictures of us paying for what we’ve done–
But the Spackle next to him–
The Spackle next to him don’t look too much like a Spackle no more.
I’m ready to start yelling but, “What the hell is this?” the Mayor shouts first, surprising me.
Surprising the men, too.
“Askings, sir,” Mr O’Hare says, his hands and fists bloody. “We’ve learned quite a lot in a very short time.” He gestures at the broken-looking Spackle. “Before this one unfortunately succumbed to injuries sustained during–”
There’s a whooshing sound I ain’t heard in a while, a slap, a punch, a bullet of Noise from the Mayor, and Mr O’Hare’s head snaps back and he falls to the floor, quivering like he’s in spasm.
“We’re meant to be after peace here!” the Mayor shouts at the other men, who look back in sheeplike astonishment. “I did not authorize torture.”
Mr Tate clears his throat. “This one has proven tougher under interrogation,” he says, pointing at the one still alive. “He’s a very hardy specimen.”
“Lucky for you, Captain,” the Mayor says, his voice still hot.
“I’ll let the mistresses in,” I say. “They can treat him.”
“No, you won’t,” the Mayor says, “because we’re letting him go.”
“What?”
“What?” says Mr Tate.
The Mayor walks behind the Spackle. “We were to capture a Spackle and let him go back with the news that we want peace.” He takes out his knife. “And so that is what we will do.”
“Mr President–”
“Open the back door, please,” the Mayor says.
Mr Tate pulls up. “The back door?”
“With despatch, Captain.”
Mr Tate goes and opens the back door of the stables, the one that leads away from the square–
Away from the mistresses.
“Hey!” I say. “You can’t do that. You made an agreement–”
“Which I’m keeping, Todd.” He leans down so his mouth is next to the Spackle’s ear. “I assume the voice can speak our language?”
And I think, The voice?
But already there’s a low flurry of Noise back and forth from the Mayor to the Spackle, something deep and black and hard flowing twixt ’em so fast no one in the room can follow it.
“What are you saying?” I say, stepping forward. “What are you telling him?”
The Mayor looks back up at me. “I’m telling him how desperately we want peace, Todd.” He cocks his head. “Don’t you trust me?”
I swallow.
I swallow again.
I know the Mayor wants peace to get the credit for it.
I know he’s been better since I saved him after the water tank.
I also know he ain’t redeemed.
I know he ain’t redeemable.
(ain’t he?)
But he’s been acting like it.
“You’re more than welcome to tell him, too,” he says.
He keeps his eyes on me and makes a flick of his knife. The Spackle lurches forward in surprise, his arms suddenly free. He looks round for a minute, wondering what’s coming, till his eyes fall on mine–
And in an instant, I try to make my Noise heavy, try to make it loud, and it hurts, like a muscle I ain’t used in too long, but I try to hit him hard with everything that’s true about what we really want, whatever the Mayor mighta said, that me and Viola, we do want peace, that we want this all to be over and–
The Spackle stops me with a hiss–
I see myself in his Noise–
And I hear–
Recognishun?
And words–
Words in my language–
I hear–
The Knife.
“The Knife?” I say.
But the Spackle just hisses again and breaks for the door, running away and away and away–
Taking who knows what message back to his people.
{VIOLA}
“The nerve of it,” Mistress Coyle says through clenched teeth. “And how the army was frothing around him. Just like the worst days of when he ran the town.”
“I wish I could have at least had the chance to speak to the Spackle,” Simone says, back after an angry cart-ride through town with the other mistresses. “Tell them all humans aren’t alike.”
“Todd said he was able to get across what we really wanted,” I say, coughing badly. “So we have to hope that’s the message that gets through.”
“It if does get through,” Mistress Coyle says, “Prentiss will claim all the credit for it.”
“This isn’t about who scores the most points,” Bradley says.
“Is it not?” Mistress Coyle says. “Do you really want that man in a position of strength when the convoy arrives? Is that the settlement you’re after?”
“You say that as if we have the authority to relieve someone of duty,” Bradley says, “as if we can just waltz in here and impose our will.”
“Well, why can’t you?” Lee says. “He’s a murderer. He murdered my sister and my mother.”
Bradley makes to respond but Simone says, “I tend to agree,” weathering the shocked thunder of Bradley’s Noise. “If his actions are endangering the lives of everyone–”
“We’re here,” Bradley interrupts, “to establish a settlement for almost five thousand people who deserve to not wake up in the middle of a war.”
Mistress Coyle just heaves a heavy sigh like she wasn’t listening. “Better go out and start explaining to the people why it wasn’t us,” she says, heading out of the little healing room, “and if that Ivan says anything, I’ll smack his hick face.”