Grizelda (30 page)

Kill us.
It wasn’t just getting to be
on the surface she missed anymore, she realized. It was everything
she knew about being alive, above ground or below. Sight, sound,
color, getting to hold things with her hands – in a few hours there
would be a march to the firing squad, then all of that, in an
instant, cut off. Without realizing it, she had started to
shudder.

Then Toby spoke, somewhere beside her. “If
any of the others got caught, I think they’d be here, right? And we
didn’t tell them anything – we’re not going to. They don’t know
anything about the Underground. Everybody else is going to be
okay.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. At first she
didn’t realize what it was. It was such a surprising gesture, from
Toby of all people, who hated her for being a witch. She put her
own hand on top of his, tried to nod.

As Laricia sped through the darkened streets
of the Goblin Union, she wondered where she was going to go next.
She had only a vague notion where the Chairman lived – in one of
those housing buildings near the center of town. It would take days
to search through every single unit, but that was where he was
likely to be at this hour of the night. She landed on a carved
stone gargoyle to think about it. There was a small chance he was
still in his office; he’d been known to work late. It wasn’t a very
good chance, but it was still better searching one place than
hundreds of them.

Of course, that meant she would have to get
inside the government building. Easier for a ratrider to do than
somebody else, but still not easy. She lit off across the
square.

As it turned out, getting through the front
door was not so hard. The door was wooden, ancient, left over from
the goblins’ glory days. It had sagged enough that there was plenty
of space between the upper edge and the lintel for a bat and a
pixie to squeeze through.

But just as soon as she was inside, a
horrible and overpowering smell blasted her. Salt. The security
guys at the government building had really done their job well – a
heavy line from one wall to another, well out of range of
accidental scuffing from the door. The smell was so bad it was
making her eyes water. She couldn’t bring herself to cross it.

She landed on the floor behind the line.
Peregrine was not as well trained as Apollo, so this might not
work, but it was worth a shot. She got off his back and took a
dried mealworm out of her pocket. Once she was sure she had his
attention, she tossed it across the line. Peregrine fluttered up
and over to snap it up, leaving the salt quite intact. Okay, then.
She beckoned him back to her and tried again. Finally, on the third
try, Peregrine dragged his wingtip through the salt and the spell
was broken. From there it was an easy flight to the back of the
building.

The light was on in the Chairman’s office.
She punched the air in delight, then squeezed with Peregrine in
under the door. There were two goblins in the room, talking in low
voices. One of them was the Chairman, but the other … Mechanic
Lenk. Not good.

The Mechanic leapt to his feet with a cry the
moment he saw her. He searched around on the Chairman’s desk for
something to throw at her. The Chairman stood, too, but slower.

“Wait!” She had to leap quickly aside to
dodge the ink bottle that came crashing down at her, shattering
just inches away.

“What have you come to do to us now?” he
shouted.

“Mechanic…” the Chairman started.

But the Mechanic was already going for a
heavy book. She was going to have to say it; there was no way she’d
get the Chairman alone.

“This is an emergency. Grizelda has been
taken by the gendarmes!”

The Mechanic’s arm, which had been raised to
throw, slowly lowered. “What sort of trick is this?”

“I’m telling the truth! Chairman!”

The Chairman motioned the Mechanic to sit
down. “Tell us everything you can.”

Chapter 29

Grizelda and Toby sat side-by-side leaning
against the wall as the hours passed. Neither of them spoke. Geddy
finally fell asleep, but Grizelda couldn’t even imagine sleeping.
Every now and then somebody ran past the door, a sign that
something important was happening outside, but they never came into
the warden’s office. They seemed somehow disconnected from the rest
of the outside world. Finally Grizelda broke the silence.

“It must be nearly dawn by now,” she said.
What that implied – that executions usually took place at daybreak
– she did not say.

But Toby was staring down into his lap.

“It’s so unfair.”

What could be possibly mean?

“I mean, all you ever did was try to help.
Whatever those witches did, you didn’t do it, and now you’re going
to get hurt for it.”

She knew she couldn’t speak. If she did, it
would all crack and she would start crying. She laid an arm around
his shoulders, tried to look encouraging.

The door opened.

As Grizelda hastened to hide Tunya’s light
back in her pocket and Toby picked up Geddy, a gendarme walked in.
It was time. It was odd that he had come alone. Gendarmes usually
worked in pairs. Silently, he beckoned them to come.

They got up with difficulty, stiff from the
long night’s vigil. Geddy woke up but he had the sense to keep
quiet. Toby put him in his pocket. Grizelda took Toby’s hand.

The gendarme beckoned again, and they stepped
out into the hall with him. In the better light, Grizelda
recognized him. It was that secretary who had fled the office in
terror the night before. Strange that they would send him to come
fetch the condemned, but that didn’t really matter at this point,
did it?

He had a funny, uncomfortable look on his
face. “They’ve – come to a decision. You’re to be executed.”

It was what she already knew. Her disastrous
adventure with the Undergrounders was coming to an end. He motioned
to them stiffly.

“In front of me, where I can see you.”

So began the long march to the firing range.
Never for a moment did Grizelda let go of Toby’s hand. She’d made a
resolution last night to go out looking good, on this the last
march she was ever going to make, and she was going to keep it. She
straightened her back and lifted her chin, and knew without looking
that Toby beside her was doing the same. He squeezed her hand, and
that was a great comfort. Every gendarme they passed she dared to
look them in the eyes.

See who your government’s going to kill now?
What are you going to do about it?

They were going the wrong way.

Not that she knew much about the geography of
the upper part of Promontory, but she knew for certain that
downhill was the wrong way to go. Toby looked at her, but she was
just as confused as he was. The secretary explained nothing to
them, only calling out orders to them which way to turn as they
went deeper and deeper into the prison. She guessed that nobody
stopped them because they were with a Promontory official, even if
he was just a secretary.

With a shock, Grizelda realized where they
were. The entrance to the cell blocks. Nobody else was around. The
secretary called a stop.

“I’m going to turn my back now. Whatever you
do after that, I can say I didn’t see it. I’d go for the first one
on the left if I were you, though.”

Without explaining any more, he turned away.
Toby and Grizelda looked at each other. It only took them a moment
to decide. They ran.

It was the most terrifying run of their
lives. They stumbled pell-mell down the stairs of the cell blocks,
expecting every moment to be overtaken by gendarmes. But nobody
came. Geddy hung out of Toby’s pocket, calling directions, and
Grizelda was counting the levels in her head, too. When they got to
the first level where she knew there was a hole, they turned
sharply left. There weren’t any gendarmes guarding it, either, but
there wasn’t any time to think about that. They ran straight
through the hole, and then to Grizelda’s infinite relief, they were
in the goblin tunnels.

A green light appeared over their heads.

“I’ve been waiting for you!” It was Laricia.
“This way!”

The light zipped off down the tunnel, and
they ran after it. Grizelda was too overwhelmed to take in what had
just happened, so she didn’t even try. She focused on the rhythm of
running, the walls, ceilings, rooms, Toby beside her, the light up
ahead, leading the way…

Then all at once they burst into the meeting
cave. A cheer went up and all the Undergrounders rushed forward to
meet them. The next few minutes were spent in a confusion of
hugging and congratulating.

“Geddy’s okay!” Kricker cried.

Toby took Geddy out of his pocket and the
three of them, Geddy, Tunya, and Kricker, slapped each other on the
back. Katarin started fussing over Toby’s black eye and his
gingerly held arm, even though he kept telling her he was fine.

Grizelda was in the middle of telling
Solander her story when she noticed there was somebody else in the
tunnel besides the Undergrounders. It was Mechanic Lenk, standing
in the back, arms folded, not participating in the merriment. She
trailed off.

“First of all, you hit me a right good
one.”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Then Toby saw him, too. When he realized he was in the presence of
a goblin he reacted somewhat like an elephant when confronted with
a mouse.

“But I’m glad to see you’re all right,” he
said. The anger dropped from his face, though he still looked
stern.

“What happened?” she finally managed.

He motioned for them to sit, and they sat
down on a couple of boxes. The Undergrounders saw them and went
quiet.

“I told the Chairman. At the intermission I
went to him and told him I suspected you were doing something
dangerous. I didn’t know what, or where, and we didn’t know what we
were going to do until this lady showed up.” He nodded to
Laricia.

Grizelda turned to Laricia. “How did you get
the guards away from that hole?”

But Laricia shook her head. “All I did was
carry the message. There was a guy at Promontory who owed the
Chairman a favor. He made an arrangement with him to have you let
go.”

Grizelda was on her feet before she could
think. “I have to go down to the Chairman!”

Toby also leapt up, looking like he wanted to
help but didn’t know how. It was the Mechanic who held her back,
his gnarled hands wiry but not hurting her.

“Are you crazy?” he said. “The cat’s already
out of the bag – they’ll tear you to pieces on sight–”

“But the election’s today–” A grim silence
fell.

“He’s probably going to lose. Yes.” When it
seemed she was out of danger of bolting, the Mechanic let go of
her. “He said he would have come up here, but he has business of
his own to attend to before the vote. And you can’t go down
there.”

“I’ll never get to thank him.”

There was a pause. Lenk drew a breath.
“Grendel is a person who … he knows how to call in his favors. Not
always legally. He helped me get my job, and Lord knows what he did
for that secretary. What I mean is, if you mean to pay him back,
you’ll probably get the chance.”

While Grizelda was digesting this, Jamin came
over. “I’m sorry to break this up, but you two need to go pretty
soon. Sun’s about to rise.”

Toby just looked at him, but Grizelda already
knew what he meant.

“It’s not safe for you here anymore,” Jamin
explained. “We’ve already got everything in place because of the
breakout – here, take it.” He gave them a coat wadded up with
things inside it. “As soon as word gets out, they’re going to set
up search patrols. You have to get to the train station before
then. Sorry, Toby.”

Jamin looked genuinely contrite, but Toby got
up and stalked in a furious little circle, ignoring him.
Automatically his hand strayed up to his hair, swiping it back.

“I couldn’t help!” he cried.

“I know, Toby.” Grizelda tried to lay a hand
on his shoulder, but it was pushed away. “I’m the same way. I mean,
I’m going to miss everybody and everything…”

“Actually…”

Geddy was looking down, shifting his weight.
Finally he spoke.

“I was wondering. Can I come with you?”

They both just looked at him.

“I mean, it would be a chance to study a
whole new race of ogres – humans.” There was a pause. “And I hear
that Salinaca City is a big university town.”

Grizelda couldn’t help smiling. “If that’s
what you want, then of course you can come with us.” She scooped
him up and put him on her shoulder. “Toby, please.”

“How many people are there still in
there?”

Grizelda wondered that, too. It was terrible,
this leaving. All she could say to help him was the hard truth.

“This time we have to leave.”

Toby sagged in defeat.

Then it was time for them to say their final
goodbyes. The ratriders she thanked for everything they had done to
help, especially Laricia. Kricker was the most sorry to see Geddy
go, but when they had parted, he went back to stand next to Tunya.
Grizelda couldn’t help but wonder, yet again. Kricker and Tunya?
Nah, it couldn’t be.

She shook hands with the Mechanic; she felt
too awkward to do anything else.

“I think Nelin is going to get the war that
he wants,” he said. “This is the last time we’ll see each other
before we’re enemies. I’d walk with you to the exit, but, well, the
sun’s about to rise.”

She gave warm goodbyes to everybody in the
Underground. She hugged Solander and Katarin. Toby even managed a
relatively amicable parting with Jamin. Then Grizelda said goodbye
to everybody all over again. She knew she was delaying, but she
didn’t care. Finally Jamin reminded them that they needed to hurry
up.