The Deep (8 page)

“Sounds good to me,” the
Eldest nods. “I think it would be good for the people here to have
a distraction – some kind of new project to focus on. So we can
forget for a while about the fact that our most cherished stories
aren’t true. If I’m not mistaken, there are quite a few handy boys
and girls who can help you out. If you send over some skilled
workers, I’ll make sure to provide some youngsters to do the easy
chores. Maybe we can even turn it into a school
project.”

“Great!” I beam at him.
“Our supervisor has already decided which men to send, so they’ll
be here soon.”

“Why did you come alone?”
the Eldest asks curiously.

I shake my head. “I didn’t.
Ben was with me, but he dashed off as soon as we got to the village
square. He didn’t even tell me where he went. Probably scared of
bumping into old acquaintances. That’s what happened during the
Harvest Holiday, too.”

The old man nods
understandingly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben decided to pay his
brother a visit.”

“Well, I would,” I blurt
out. “Only this morning, he told me that Saul is a criminal and
he’s afraid of him.”

“Saul is the only person
Ben has got left,” the Eldest softly replies. “The rest of the
ruling class in the manor turned their backs on him and Saul when
everything went to pieces. It was easy for Saul’s minions to walk
away and start over. Ben can’t walk away, however. Saul is his
brother, his father and his mother. And his only
friend.”

“That’s not true,” I
protest. “I’m his friend too.” And I realize it’s true – I’m not
just helping him out of pity. I really think Ben is a nice guy, in
the rare moments when he’s not in some kind of grump.

The Eldest smiles. “That’s
good to hear. Now go find him. I’m going to talk to some people who
can help in our little harbor. First we need to chop down some tall
trees, I reckon.”

“How do I get to Saul’s
house?”

He gets up. “Behind the
village hall is a small track leading past the burial grounds.
After you’ve passed the graveyard you’ll hit the forest. Keep going
until you get to a clearing.”

So Ben really did run off
to visit his brother – that’s the exact direction in which he went.
“Thanks,” I mumble.

My stomach feels tense when
I step out the door and follow the path Ben has taken. I’m on my
way to visit a former dictator. He’s only a young man, but still –
suddenly I feel anxious. Will Saul get angry with me if it turns
out Ben isn’t here to stay? I’m from the other side of the Wall,
after all, from a world he didn’t want to believe in. A world that
has taken his baby brother away from him.

It’s cooler under the
trees. I take the leather cord out of my plaited hair and let the
wind caress my blonde tresses. The wind feels different here –
softer, somehow. It doesn’t howl like it does on our side, always
torturing the rocky face of the cliffs with violent force, fighting
to subdue the gray stone and make it crumble into the wild
sea.

On the map that Nathan
showed me once, I saw that the west coast of our island looks out
over a sea so endless and wide that it doesn’t surprise me our
history told us the horizon was out of reach. Tony called it the
ocean instead of the sea. And the east coast of Tresco faces the
mainland. How odd that it was always the easterners who didn’t
believe in salvation coming from across the Waters. Their harbor is
the most perfect place to sail away and see the rest of the
world.

When I asked Tony what was
on the other side of the ocean, he admitted he didn’t know. Even
though he has made our world so much bigger, the mainland of
Cornwall certainly isn’t everything there is to see. Who knows,
there might be people somewhere in this world who have lives so
different from our own that we can’t even image what they’re
like.

I am so submerged in
thought that I suddenly realize I’m already in the clearing that
the Eldest told me about. Two cabins catch my eye, one slightly
bigger than the other. The two ex-priests from Hope Harbor are
nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, I might add – I don’t think I ever
want to lay eyes on those two again.

Outside the smaller hut is
a tall, young man with broad shoulders and black hair, fixing me
with his gaze. His equally dark eyes follow me and don’t look away
as I approach his house with uncertain steps.

“Hi,” I say, raising a hand
in greeting.

He doesn’t speak, letting
his eyes bore into mine.

“Alisa,” he finally breaks
the silence when I stop in front of him. His voice is deep and a
bit husky. A shiver runs down my spine. Only now do I understand
why everybody in that manor house was terrified of him. Saul has a
certain air of power and aggression about him. His eyes convey his
Jesse-may-care attitude.

“Yes?” I gulp down the
nerves in my throat when his eyes narrow.

And then, something
completely unexpected happens. The corners of his mouth pull up in
a smile, and it is a genuine smile, a smile that shows me Saul can
be different, too. “So you’re Ben’s friend?” he continues. “Thanks
for helping him settle in.”

“Uhm, you’re welcome,” I
stammer. If he’s so grateful, then why did he shoot me that dark
look before? “Ben is a nice kid.”

A silence follows my words.
“Not really,” Saul comments drily.

I bite my lip. “Well, maybe
not just yet. But he can be. He’s getting there.”

“I suspect he’s got you to
thank for that. I’m happy about it.”

“You didn’t exactly look
happy,” I mumble a bit sarcastically. “When I entered your clearing
just now.”

“Well. I’m not known as Mr
Happy Face in these parts.”

“Hm. I get that.” I look
past him to the small hut he has built for himself. Picking a
location where no one from his old life will find him. Then, my
gaze drifts back to his eyes, still quietly observing me. “You must
have felt alone a lot,” I add gingerly.

His eyes soften, as if he
can’t help losing himself in an inner world only few people have
ever glimpsed. “I had Ben,” he says. “That was the most important
thing. And I do feel better knowing now that there’s more besides
just this island. I feel less lost.”

“Oh yeah?” I eye him
skeptically. “Is that why you’re hiding out in the
forest?”

Saul takes a step back.
“I’m not hiding,” he mutters. Now he sounds just like Ben.
“Everybody knows where I live. If they want to speak to me, they
know where to find me.”

“So? Anybody show up
yet?”

His shoulders slump a bit.
“No,” he says.

“Never?”

“No. Why would
they?”

The wind rustles the canopy
of leaves above our heads. I don’t have the answer to his question.
“Why don’t you pack up and move to Hope Harbor too?” I ask at
last.

His mouth tightens.
“Because Ben doesn’t want me to.”

“He told you
that?”

“Not specifically.” Saul
takes a deep breath before turning toward the cabin door. “No, I’m
fine here. Ben needs new people to hang out with. Care for a
drink?”

“Sure,” I mumble. As Saul
goes inside to pour me a cup of something, I spot Ben coming out of
the tree line on the other side of the clearing, clasping a dead
rabbit in one hand and a bow in the other. A quiver of arrows is
slung across his shoulder.

“Hey, Alisa,” he calls out
to me, looking ashamed. “I’m sorry I took off like that. I
just…”

“It’s okay,” I cut him
short. “I’m happy you went to see Saul.”

“How did your meeting with
the Eldest go?” he inquires.

“He approved of our plan.
We can take back some good news to Carl.”

At that moment, Saul steps
outside and hands me a cup of juice. Then, he gives Ben a short nod
of approval, a look of almost fatherly pride in his eyes when he
sees the rabbit. “Good to see you haven’t lost your touch,” he
says. “Are you two staying for dinner?”

Ben casts me a quizzical
look and I nod slightly. “If you shoot a rabbit, you have to skin
and prepare it too,” I tease him. “That’s how it’s
done.”

While Ben grabs a knife and
sits down for the task ahead, Saul sits down across from me and
watches me as I start to peel the potatoes we need for the stew.
“So, they know how to hunt for food on the other side of the Wall,
too?” he says eventually, his eyes riveted on my fingers using the
knife.

“Of course,” I snort. “You
always pictured us just sitting around waiting for the Goddess to
rain down food from the sky?”

Saul chuckles. “Actually,
there’s a story in our library about a people dwelling in the
wilderness who did just that. It wasn’t in the Book, but I did use
it in my speeches. As an example of how things shouldn’t be
done.”

I can’t help but laugh too.
“Seriously? How strange. Who would do such a thing?”

And then I think of the
Phileans, who are guilty of exactly this kind of
behavior.

“Those people who sabotaged
your new ship,” Saul replies calmly at that moment. “You thought
Ben didn’t tell me why you came here?”

I look up and shoot him and
Ben a semi-poisonous look. “Let me get this straight. The two of
you have been gossiping about the Hope Harborers?”

Saul smiles faintly. “Oh,
don’t take it so hard. At least we didn’t say anything nasty about
you personally.”

“Gee, thanks.” I resist the
urge to throw a wisp of potato peel into his smug face. Why is he
yanking my chain like that? “You know, it wouldn’t have surprised
me. If only you knew what kind of stories were being told
about
your
people before the Wall was torn down.”

“Oh?” Saul cocks an
eyebrow. “Do tell.”

“That you used to haunt the
night dressed in your dark cloaks,” I say ominously. “That you used
to snatch children away with your sharp claws, seeking them out
with eyes that glowed in the dark, so you could tear them to shreds
with your deadly talons.”

He stares at me, the
mocking smile wiped off his face. “What a load of crap,” he
mumbles, but his voice doesn’t sound like he thinks it’s nonsense
at all.

Saul sounds like I sank my
own talons into a sore spot he would have preferred to
hide.

When we take off again in
the late afternoon, I ask Ben the question that’s been bugging me
all through lunch.

“You think I hurt
Saul?”

Ben stares straight ahead.
“Saul used to enjoy the fact that people were scared of him. But
now there’s nobody left to scare with tales about the
darkness.”

“But that’s a good thing,
right?” I say.

“No,” Ben looks at me with
empty eyes. “Now he can sense that the same darkness has taken him
a long time ago.”

My eyes stare unseeingly at the gray
cobblestones of the square. The crowd that had gathered to watch
Sam’s Purge has long dispersed, but I am rooted to the spot as
though I will never be able to move again.

Walt has slipped his hand into mine. When I
finally look aside, I can see tears in his eyes.

“What are we supposed to do?” I whisper.

“Nothing,” he quietly replies. “Try to be as
friendly as possible to all the people we encounter. And whatever
happens, avoid getting into a fight.” His voice trembles. Not from
anger, but from fear.

The other people in our travel party have all
poured out of the palace in the meantime. I watch as William talks
to them one by one, explaining to them in hushed yet urgent tones
what we have just witnessed. To be honest, I don’t even know
what
it was that we witnessed. A society touting
peacefulness as the greatest good can’t possibly think this is
normal?

“We need to talk,” Tony says, who never left
our side.

“We certainly do,” Walt nods, his mouth set
in a grim line.

“Not here, though.” Tony casts a look around
the square, then walks over to William to pull him away from the
distraught islanders. They all look ashen and perplexed, and I
can’t say I’m surprised. One moment we’re guests in some kind of
charitable paradise where the horn of plenty overflows with
laughter, food and welcome, and the next we seem to have ended up
in a living nightmare.

“Let’s meet up in front of the church
tonight,” Walt calls out to the others. “Eight o’clock. Now please,
just go with Harry and get yourselves a comfortable place for the
night. Stay calm at all times. No shouting, running, or pushing.
And no breaking the Dartmoor rules.”

The whole Tresco group just nods obediently,
stunned into silence. They stare at the ground as they meekly trail
behind Harry, while we three remain with Tony and worriedly watch
the islanders shuffle away.

“I want to know what’s going on right now,”
William says through gritted teeth. The look he shoots Tony speaks
volumes. He’s lost his trust in Dartmoor City – even in Tony
himself.

Our savior sticks to nodding quietly, leading
us to a smaller building opposite the palace. Upon entering, we
discover it’s some kind of restaurant where simple food and drinks
are being served. We choose a table in the far left corner and sit
down. The waitress who instantly shows up is quickly sent away to
fetch some apple juice and fresh bread with cheese.