A Silence Heard (25 page)

Wirt loomed before Pratt.

“Ye, ye will tell us how to remove these implants.”

“I shall not.”

“Ye shall or…”

Pratt smirked, folded his arms and stood straight.

“Or what?”

Eadgard stepped forward wrapped his mitt around Pratt’s throat and forced him to his knees. Wirt, my once sweet friend, pressed his thumbs either side of Pratt’s eyeball, then pressed down.

The nasty Agro gave out a humungous squeal of pain. Kendra raced to the scene and dragged Wirt away from the bleeding male. Eadgard let go. Pratt clasped his hands to his face and fell to his knees.

Wirt laughed, and dropped something squishy onto the floor.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Things Get Worse

Edwena and Hacket ran to where their comrade knelt. Blood oozed between his fingertips and he made a whimpering sound that even I could not bear to listen to. Hildegunnr bit her lip, then picked up the cureallwand and went over to the injured Agro. As she passed Eadgard she said, “I cannot let him suffer.”

“This I know,” he said and looked to Wirt. Who stood, hands clenched, staring at the snivelling male. Pratt wailed some more as Hildegunnr knelt beside him, prised his hands from his face and rolled the med-stick across his empty socket.

Her kindness was too much for Wirt. He lurched forward, arms outstretched, hands like claws. “Leave the filthy slime. May he choke on his own…”

“That’s enough young male. Go to one of the sinks at the end of this room and wash your sullied hands,” Santy Breanna said and strode towards the scene of gore. Wirt stared at her. She stared back. He lowered his head. “Eadgard, lead the lad to a place of freshening up. You might want to wash your own hands too.”

He looked at his stained fingers, nodded, took Wirt by the elbow, and gently guided him towards the sinks by the plop place below the giant screen. My attention broke away from them and onto the uninjured Agros.

They shuffled close together all secretive-like. Hacket put his mouth to Edwena’s ear and whispered. She smiled a most smug smile. There was something about that fem’s face that made me want to smack it. I noticed Hacket fiddling with the embroidery upon his sleeve and looked towards the Meeks.

Elita and her bros sat on a bed with a medi-fem, looking at a cure stick. She held it in the air, twirled it around in her hands and pushed a button. The wand glowed. The medi-fem shook her head and took the stick from her. Elita squinted and pulled her bros to her chest.

Deogol, Esme and Cenwig, hunched over the comp screen deep in concentration. My bro tapped furiously paying no heed to anything but his task. Now and then he stopped and looked between the two. They either nodded, or shook their heads. My bro continued to tap. Hacket raised his arm to his chest, rubbed the emblem again, and the Meeks tensed as though an icy hand grabbed them by the innards.

“Shall we go to your friends?” I turned at Santy Breanna’s words, looked to where she pointed and saw Wirt and Eadgard wiping their hands on a cloth Kendra held out for them.

On our way to them, we passed Hildegunnr and Pratt, who shouted out, “We are many. We will kill you all,” then I heard him shriek and saw Hildegunnr push something into his empty eyehole. He swiped her hand away and let his pal’s help him to his feet.

When we arrived, Wirt lowered his head. I touched his fingertips and he squeezed them most fondly. He looked up and said, “I do nae feel ashamed of wha I did to the Pratt male. But I am sad that I let such feelings of rage persuade my actions so.”

Santy folded her arms and looked him up and down. She reached forward, cocked her head to one side, then gave him a hearty slap on the arm. “War is a strange and difficult time. Although we have never met, I know from just a glance at your tender face that you are not a murderer. Give me such a warrior, Eadgard, and I will turn him into the bravest of S.A.N.T.S.”

Wirt stood straight and I let go of his hand.

“Now to the plan?”

“What plan Santy?”

“THE plan Addie-Maddie.”

“Is that yer pet name?” Wirt said and gave me a half grin.

“Might be.” I gave him a look as if to say, “You ever call me that and I will tear off your nads and feed them to the raptors.”

Santy scratched underneath her bandage. “Things are fraught above. Not unexpected, but not good. Each fraction is ready and waiting at different points around the Agro stronghold. I had reports from the Ladies and Woodsfolk camps, of several large Agro armies massing and heading this way. Although Addie-Maddie.”

“Santy, refrain from using my bub tag.”

“Ah, of course, duly noted. Adara, and her voice, will not have gone unnoticed. They will adapt. We need more power. We need and must overthrow the Agros once and for all.”

“Breanna, what is it that we can do?” Eadgard said.

“We must utilise the Meeks.”

Kendra raised her hand as if she were in class. “Apologies, we have not been formally introduced. I am Kendra.”

“Yes, Eadgard has spoken of you.”

Both he and she went the colour of a sunset. Santy chuckled and Kendra continued, “I am not at ease with these small ‘dults being used in what could be a dreadful fight. They have endured too much already.”

“Time fer talk is gone,” Wirt said and stretched himself up so that he became almost as tall as Eadgard. “These monsters must be destroyed. I ken that the Meeks want it too. They will do wha'ever they can tae make it so. And I too wi die to see all Agros gone for good.”

The words my friend uttered were harsh. So much so that I would have thought them spoken by someone else. This was not the Wirt I knew. His accent thickened and his voice became deeper. A furrowed brow that would not go away replaced his look of gentle. Santy Breanna patted his shoulder and would have said something stirring I am sure, but a scuffle and sound of scrap made her mute.

We turned to see Pratt, complete with eye patch, shove Hildegunnr away. Hacket grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her to the ground. Eadgard ran to her aid, but was intercepted by Pratt, who flung himself at the Backpacker. Both ‘dults lost their footing and fell backwards. The one-eyed Agro landed on top of Eadgard, raised his fist high into the air and punched him full and hard in the face. Before he could inflict another blow, Eadgard reached into his trouser pocket, whipped out his Leatherman and slashed it across Pratt's throat.

Wirt cried out, “Nay, Eadgard. He must live to free the Meeks. Nay.” He ran to where Pratt lay and placed his hands on the Agro’s neck to staunch the flow of blood that fairly gushed from the wound. Pratt twitched and gagged and Wirt pressed down harder, blood squelching between his knuckles. Eadgard rose, a look dark and angry upon his face, he offered his hand to Hildegunnr and helped her to her feet. Then he wiped his blade on his trousers and turned to Edwena.

She backed away. “What means this?” Edwena came to a halt by the comp shelves. Eadgard lurched forward and she cowered. He leant towards her, raised his knife and she let out a scream. Hacket pulled Hildegunnr by the hair and yanked back her head. She let out a cry and Eadgard turned. Edwena dropped to the floor and began to scuttle away on all fours. She did not get far. Eadgard caught sight of her and stopped her escape by placing his large boot on her back. She fell to the ground with an “Umph.” He stood over her and held the knife above her head.

“Leave Edwena alone or I will harm your friend,” Hacket said and forced the chief med down, so that her back arched most unnaturally.

Eadgard pulled his foot away and Edwena rolled onto her side.

The fat, male Agro snatched the curewand from Hildegunnr’s hand and let her go. She dropped to the floor and Edwena grabbed onto Eadgard’s leg. He tottered and Hacket lunged towards him.

“Look out,” I shouted and would have run to his aid, but Santy Breanna had already gone. Before Hacket reached my friend, she caught him up and kicked the back of his knee. He buckled and splattered onto the floor. Eadgard tugged his leg free of Edwena, knelt beside her and pressed his Leatherman against her neck.

Hacket, tried to stand, but Santy thrust her foot into his back. She looked at Eadgard. “Enough! Not in cold blood, never in cold blood.”

His hand trembled. He pushed the knife harder against Edwena’s throat. She moaned.

“Remember your training,” Santy said.

The trembling Backpacker paused, took the knife away and stood. Edwena slowly got to her feet. She put her fingers to the nick in her skin and shuddered. Swallowing hard, she walked all wobble leg to where Pratt lay. Wirt knelt beside him, hands firmly pressed against his neck wound. Edwena made a high gulping sound and said, “Save him, Hildegunnr, you must.”

Said medi-fem leant against her desk, one hand rubbing the small of her back. She looked at Edwena, then at Pratt, snorted, and turned away.

“Hildegunnr, please, ye must make him right,” Wirt said. Pratt burbled blood between his teeth. I moved my head to the side so as to block the gruesome sight and saw the Meeks stand and stare at the near dead Agro. They stip-stepped over as quiet as a spider on its web, and made a circle around him. They gawped at his twitching bod and contorted face as if watching a puppet play enfold before them. I swear I caught a smirk on my bro-bros face.

“For the sake of these little ‘uns, please, cure him,” Wirt said.

Hildegunnr turned slowly. She let out a loud, “Hah,” and walked over to Pratt. The Meeks parted like a heavy curtain and let her through. She knelt by the gurgling Agro, pulled Wirt’s hands away from his neck, narrowed her eyes and sat back on her heels. Pratt’s body jerked. Blood gushed for a few secs more, then stopped.

“Too late, he is dead.”

Wirt stared at her. “Ye sure?”

Hildegunnr grinned. “Positive.”

“Nay. Fix him. I know ye can. Fix him.” He tugged upon her sleeve. She pulled her arm away and stood. Wirt hung his head.

Kendra walked to the circle of Meeks. She looked at Esme and stroked her tangled hair the way a mam would. “How are we to free the Meeks now?”

The young ‘un brushed Kendra’s fingers away, broke free of the circle and slow-walked over to the comp on Hildegunnr’s desk. My bro followed and sat. The other kiddles gathered around him and he began to tip-tap upon the keypad. The Meeks closed in, leant forward and began to make the hummy sound they did in the labs.

Wirt rose to his feet.

Deogol stood, turned to face me and said, “Now. Sing
The Song of Forgetfulness
. Words and all.”

“Wha? For what purpose?”

“Come to us, Sis, sit where I was sitting.”

I did not move. He reached a hand towards me, and a slanty smile spread across his face. “Come, Sis, it is time.”

I looked to Santy Breanna. She squinted, stared at Deogol and said, “Do as your bro says, Adara. There is a reason for this, I feel it.”

The air cooled and I gulped. Deogol stepped to the side and gestured for me to sit. I turned to my friends. They gave me a thin smile and my insides clenched. I walked to my bro and the other Meeks, and sat. They surrounded me. Deogol leant close. “We need your voice, Adara. Although I do not wish you further harm, and would not ask if it were not most crucial. You must sing the last chorus and only that. Low and deep so only we can hear.”

The Meeks moved in closer until all I could see was nostril and lip.

“Sing.” Deogol said and I opened my mouth.

The tune came out in a low whisper. The Meeks bent closer still, and despite the rawness in my windpipe, I raised my voice to let out the last note. When I did, the kiddles closed their eyes. I saw rapid movements beneath their lids as if they were dreaming something busy. They stopped and snapped open their peepholes. “Go now,” my bro said, and I did as quick as I could.

Gulping hard, I felt a pain slash down my trachea as if someone was trying to pull it out. I swallowed and went to Santy. On seeing me, she released Hacket from her foot grip. He scurried over to Edwena. Her face resembled the moon at full time, pale and round and sad eyed. He put his hand over his mouth and they stared down at their pal’s corpse.

The Meeks began to hum.

They stood tall and straight, and made the sound again, continuously. Deogol stood in the middle. The humming became low and guttural and I felt a spine-chill twitch. Eadgard and Kendra joined Santy and me, and we all looked to the Meeks.

They put their arms around each other’s shoulders, and huddled together like a fleshy barrier so as to hide my bro from view. I became colder still when they stopped their mouth buzzes, dropped their arms and straightened ‘bruptly. We looked to one another with doubt-filled eyes and I took hold of my Santy’s hand. Hildegunnr wiped her lips, pulled down her tunic and walked over to the kiddles. She stood in front of them and pointed at Pratt’s lifeless bod.

“You thought that Agro could save them?”

“We did. He could,” Wirt said and came to stand by my side.

The BabyCheesus believer folded her arms. “Pratt knew much it is true, but he did not have the skill or knowledge to remove their implants.”

“Then who does?” Santy said.

“No one, except for the Meeks.”

Wirt let out a hollow laugh. “Ye talk in riddles just like the Agros. Ye are no better than they. These young ‘uns would nay be here if they had the means to escape.”

Hildegunnr stepped to one side and the Meeks turned around. They closed their eyes again and began to chant in words that had no meaning to me. “Depolarizability. Recombination. Parallax. Relativity.”

“Look and listen. They are power. They know much.”

I followed Hildegunnr’s gaze and looked at the kiddles. They tilted back their heads. Their eyes rolled upwards to reveal white. They moved their mouths in slowmo, saying who knows what, and were gone into a place we had no access to. They spoke and Deogol tapped. It was as if we no longer existed in their world.

“This is wrong. These are but tots, ye see that right?” Wirt said, clenched his hands into fists and marched over to them. He tapped Nuncio on the head. The Meek did not respond. He tapped Lucus. No response. He tapped Elita, Esme and Cenwig, and met with the same non-reaction.