Monsters of Men (62 page)

I turn round one more time. “YER ARMY AIN’T COMING, IS IT?” I shout. “THAT’S WHAT YOU MEANT ABOUT MR TATE FAILING YOU! HE AIN’T COMING!”

“Correct, Todd,” the Mayor says and this time the voice sounds different.

It sounds like a real voice spoken across a real area.

I whirl round again–

And there he is, by the corner of one of the wrecked wooden houses.

“How do you know?” I say, flexing my Noise, getting myself ready.

“I heard it, Todd,” he says. “I told you I heard everything.” He starts walking towards me. “And slowly, slowly, that’s become literally true. I opened myself up to the voice of this world. And now.” He stops at the edge of the sand-covered square, snow blowing everywhere. “Now I hear every piece of information in it.”

And I see his eyes.

And I finally get it.

He
does
hear everything.

And it’s driving him mad.

“Not yet,” he says, his eyes black, his voice echoey. “Not before I finish my business with you. Because one day, Todd Hewitt, you’ll hear it, too.”

I’m pumping my Noise, raising its temperature, circling round the one word, making it as heavy as possible, not caring if he can hear it cuz he’ll know it’s coming anyway–

“Indeed,” the Mayor says.

And sends a blast of Noise right at me–

I jump outta the way, hearing it
whoosh
by me–

I land and roll on the snow and the sand and look back up at him, coming for me–

VIOLA!
I fling at him–

And the fight is on–

(THE SKY)

You’ve done right,
the Source shows to me as we ride through the trees towards the ocean.

The Sky needs no confirmation of his choices,
I show back.

We make good speed. Battlemores are faster than Clearing animals, more used to trees and running without roads. The river settles deep into the valley below us, maybe even changing its course. The fog is still thick, the snow still falling, some fires still burning in the valley behind. But we are on the move, on the move towards our enemy across a sudden plain through a herd of startled animals–

Wait, the Source calls, and I realize I am leaving him behind, the soldiers, too.
Wait!
he shows again.
I hear something up ahead
–

I do not slow but I open my voice in front of me–

And there it is, heard before we see it, a Clearing man’s voice–

Bradley,
I hear the Source call, and then we are on him, coming through a section of trees to find him backing quickly away as we pull the battlemores to a stop.

“Ben?” the man called Bradley says, looking at me in alarm.

It’s all right,
the Source says.
The war’s over.

For now,
I show.
Where is the Knife’s one in particular?

The man called Bradley looks puzzled until the Source shows
Viola
to him.

And then we see the body of the animal, covered in leaves and brush, now with a light dusting of snow on him.

“Her horse,” the man says. “I covered him and I’ve been trying to start a fire–”

And Viola?
the Source shows.

“Gone to the ocean,” Bradley says. “To help Todd.”

There is a rush of feeling in the voice of the Source, a rush that fills my own voice, a rush of love and fear for the Knife–

But I am already off, pushing my battlemore to faster and faster speeds, outrunning the Source behind me and the soldiers behind him–

Wait,
I hear the Source call again–

But I will reach the ocean first–

I will reach the ocean myself–

And if the Knife is there–

Well, I shall see what I see–

[T
ODD
]

I catch the Mayor with the first
VIOLA
I hurl at him, see him stumble to one side, not quite quick enough to dodge it–

But he’s already turning and firing his Noise back at me and tho I duck again I feel like the top of my head’s being ripped open and I jump off the little flat of sand and concrete, down the slope towards the waves, rolling in the sand and snow but getting outta the Mayor’s eyeline for a brief second–

“Oh, but I don’t need to
see
you, Todd,” I hear–

And
bam
another blast of white Noise, screaming
YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING–

And I roll back up, gripping the side of my head and I force my eyes open–

And I see the river up the beach in front of me, dumping itself into the ocean and I look out to the water beyond it and see wreckage floating there, getting tossed in the waves, wreckage of trees and houses and no doubt people–

People I know–

Maybe even Viola–

And I feel a rage rise in my Noise–

And I get to my feet–

VIOLA!

I think it at him and I realize I’m doing it without having to find him, that I just feel where he is instinctively, and I send it to him and turn to look and he’s falling back hard onto the concrete square, catching himself with his wrist–

Which I hear break with satisfying
snap
.

He grunts. “Very impressive,” he says, his voice husky with pain. “Very impressive indeed, Todd. Your control is better and stronger.” He starts pulling himself to his feet with his unbroken arm. “But control comes at a price. Can you hear the voice of the world gathering behind you, Todd?”

VIOLA!
I think again at him–

And again he staggers back–

But he don’t fall this time–

“Because
I
can hear it,” he says. “I can hear it all.”

And his eyes flash and I freeze–

And he’s inside my head, along with the
hum,
connecting to me–

“Can you hear it?” he says again–

And–

And I
can–

I
can
hear it–

There, like a
roar
behind the roar of the waves, the roar of the river–

A
roar
of everything on this planet that lives–

Speaking in an impossibly loud single voice–

And for a second I’m overwhelmed by it–

Which is all he needs–

There’s a flash of pain in my head so bright that I black out–

Falling to my knees–

But only for an instant–

Cuz in that roar of voices–

Even tho it ain’t possible–

Even tho she ain’t got Noise–

I swear I heard her–

I swear I heard her coming–

And so without even opening my eyes–

VIOLA!

And I hear another grunt of pain–

And I get back up to my feet–

{VIOLA}

The ground starts to slope steeply down and we’re seeing the ocean constantly now–

“Almost there,” I gasp. “Almost there.”

Boy colt
,
Angharrad says–

And with a jump, we clear the last line of trees out onto the beach, Angharrad’s hooves kicking up snow and sand as she scrambles to turn left, towards the abandoned town, towards the river–

Towards Todd and the Mayor–

“There they are!” I shout and Angharrad sees them, too, surging forward across the sand–

BOY COLT!
she shouts–

“TODD!” I yell–

But the waves are crashing too loud and huge–

And I swear I hear something, Noise coming from the ocean, and I get a glimpse through the crashing water of dark shapes moving beneath–

But I keep my eyes ahead, shouting, “TODD!” over and over again–

And I see–

He’s battling the Mayor, across some kind of sand-covered square in front of what looks like a chapel–

And I get a sinking feeling of how many terrible things have happened to me and Todd in churches–

“TODD!” I call again–

And I see one of them staggering back from what must be a Noise hit–

And then the other jumping away but grabbing his head–

But I can’t tell which is which from this distance–

They’re wearing those stupid uniforms–

And I’m seeing again how tall Todd’s grown–

So tall it’s hard to tell him and the Mayor apart–

And worry clenches my chest even harder–

Angharrad feels it, too–

Boy colt!
she calls–

And we race even faster–

[T
ODD
]

Get back,
I think at the Mayor and I see him take a step back but just the one and another flash of Noise comes back at me and I grunt with pain and I stumble to one side and I see a broken hunk of concrete in the sand and I grab it and spin round to throw it at him–

“Drop it,” he
buzzes
.

And I drop it–

“No weapons, Todd,” he says. “You don’t see me armed, do you?”

And I realize I don’t, he ain’t carrying a gun and the scout ship’s too far away to be of use. He wants us to just fight with our Noises–

“Exactly,” he says, “and may the stronger man win.”

And he hits me again–

I grunt and hit him back with a
VIOLA
and take off running cross the little square, slipping on the snow and heading for one of the wrecked wooden houses–

“I don’t think so,” the Mayor
buzzes–

And my feet stop running–

But then I pick up one–

And then the other–

And I’m running for it again–

I hear the Mayor laugh behind me. “Well
done,
” he says.

I scramble behind a pile of old wood, laying down low so he can’t see me, tho I know that don’t have no effect, but I need a second to think–

“We’re well-matched,” says the Mayor. I can hear him clearly despite the surf, despite the river, despite everything that should be blocking him out. He’s talking right inside my head.

Like he always has.

“You were always my best disciple, Todd,” he says.

“You SHUT UP with that talk,” I shout back, looking round the wood pile, seeing if there’s anything, anything at
all
that’ll help–

“You control your Noise better than any man but me,” he keeps saying, getting closer. “You control other
men
with it. You use it as a weapon. I’ve said from the very beginning that your power would outstrip mine.”

And he hits me again harder than ever and the world goes white but I keep thinking
Viola
in my head and grip the planks of wood and I pull myself to my feet and I think with the heaviest
buzz
I can muster,
GET BACK!

And he steps back.

“Whoo, Todd,” he says, still acting impressed.

“I ain’t taking yer place,” I say, stepping out from the wreckage. “No matter what.”

And he takes another step back, even tho I didn’t tell him to.

“Someone has to,” he says. “Someone has to control the Noise, to tell people how to use it, tell them what to do.”

“Nobody has to tell nobody nothing,” I say, taking another step forward.

“You never were a poet, were you, Todd?” he says. He takes another step back. He’s on the edge of the sandy square now, still holding out his broken wrist, a bloody bone poking out thru the skin, but it don’t look like he’s feeling no pain. The only thing behind him is a long slope down to the waves and the dark shapes lurking beneath–

And I see how black the eyes of the Mayor are, how echoey his voice is becoming–

“This world is eating me alive, Todd,” he says. “This world and the information in it. It’s too much. Too much to control.”

“Then stop
trying,
” I say and I hit him with a
VIOLA
.

He flinches but don’t fall down. “I can’t,” he says with a smile. “It’s not in my nature. But
you,
Todd. You’re stronger than I am.
You
could handle it. You could rule this world.”

“This world don’t need me,” I say. “For the last time,
I ain’t you
.”

He looks down at my uniform. “Are you sure about that?”

I feel a rush of anger and hit him hard again with another
VIOLA
.

He flinches again but don’t step back and hits me with his own blast. I grit my teeth and ready another one, ready to fling it into his stupid smiling face–

“We could stand here all afternoon blasting each other into gibbering wrecks,” he says. “So let me tell you the stakes, Todd.”

“Shut up–”

“If
you
win, you take over the world–”

“I don’t
want–”