It had been
two days. Two long days and even longer
nights of dread and anticipation, of anxiety and determination, of guilt and of
righteous indignation. Two days and
nights of battle along the wall, of Stoneskin war cries echoing over the
rooftops, of the sound of guns rattling away without end. Two days since Frostfire was locked away 'for
the good of the Colony'. Two days since
Sarah understood the depths of her friends' betrayal.
She had
prayed about it, of course, seeking divine wisdom on how to proceed, asking for
the strength to forgive, and when that seemed impossible, for mercy upon her
own soul. How many hours had she knelt
by her window? How many times had
she prayed, 'Father, help me!'? How many times had her words run dry, only
for her tears to take over? Tepid drops
of sorrow and grief turned into scalding tears of rage.
She had
avoided the others as much as she could, going out of her way to do so if
necessary. At one point, not long after
Frostfire had been incarcerated, Ellis had turned up at the church with those
hateful words, "I can explain", spilling from his lips, but Sarah had
just turned away. She hadn't been ready
to hear them, nor could she cope with the look of shame in his puppy eyes. She knew that wasn't how it was supposed to
be. She knew that when someone came to
her with genuine remorse, perhaps even with a genuine reason, she should be
willing to listen and to forgive, but it didn't matter what she knew. It was too much to ask.
Theophilus
had tried to help, of course. He had
been with her for much of the first day, counselling, offer support, quoting
bible verses from his daily readings.
Sarah thanked him for it, but she had not really listened. In truth, she could not bear to hear it and,
in the end, he had slithered away telling her that he would pray.
Well, Sarah
had had enough of praying.
She slipped
out of the church in the early hours of the third morning, before the sun had
risen and the citizens of the Colony had begun their days. She made her way between one militia patrol
and the next, weaving through the illogical back-alleys of a district built
from ruins, the hooded cloak she wore to hide her face dragging through the
fallen ash. She paused only to hide or
to confuse her movements. Otherwise her
path was set.
Frostfire's
makeshift prison was all the remained of the lower floor of a drapers'
shop. It had been partially restored and
given a roof where once the second storey began and had been used as a
storeroom by the bookbinder who lived next door. Trade to and from the Colony had barely
recovered from the disaster of ten months previously, however, and the
storeroom was all but empty, with only one wall taken up with boxes of
materials and old books, scavenged from the ruins, still to be repaired. There was only one door and boards replaced
the missing glass from the casements. It
was ideal for a prison, less so for anyone wanting to stage a breakout, but
Sarah had a few tricks up her sleeve.
She had
visited the storeroom a few times in the early days of the Colony, before she
had decided to build the church, and had enjoyed many hours of skimming strange
books, even becoming engrossed in one or two tomes. The first visit had been at the
recommendation of the bookbinder, who Sarah had befriended quite early on. After that he had told her she could come and
go as she pleased and had even given her a copy of the key, something she suspected
no one else knew about. Of course,
having the key was one thing, but getting past the militia man guarding the
door would be another thing altogether - another thing Sarah was well equipped
to deal with.
"Markus?"
she called out as she stepped out of the shadows and made her way towards him.
"Oh,"
he replied, startled, "Sarah? What
are you doing out here at this time of the morning?"
"I
needed to speak to you," she said, drawing closer still. "It's a matter of... of some
discretion."
"Oh?
Markus
tilted his head and Sarah took another step so that she was standing right
beside him, before whispering her next words.
"It's
about Jessica."
And just
like that she had his complete attention.
Jessica was, of course, one of Sarah's congregation and even Markus had
been along once or twice. Their
relationship had been rocky at times and Jessica had confided in Sarah when
things were at their worst. Sarah's
advice and counsel had been a big part in what had kept them together. Markus knew that all too well and so it only
took a little lie about Jessica's current concerns in their marriage, a little
twisting of the words she had spoken just a few days before about her (mostly
platonic) feelings for another man, and Markus was all too eager to let Sarah
take over his guard duty to go and find his wife. He dashed off through the ashen streets like
a man possessed and Sarah allowed the briefest flicker of a victorious smile to
cross her lips. So easy, she thought
with a hint of sadness, then turned to the storeroom door before the guilt could
tighten its grip on her heart. This was
all necessary, after all.
The door
creaked open slowly to reveal a room filled with darkness but for the two
fierce orbs of frozen light staring back at her.
"Sarah?"
came the gravelly voice of her old friend and enemy, "What are you doing
here?"
"I'm
here to rescue you," she replied, and before he could say anything in
reply she slipped inside, crossed between the dusty old piles of books, ducked
down behind his statue-like form and began to untie the bonds that held him in
place.
"Why
are you doing this?" he asked as the final rope began to come loose.
"Because
it's not right to keep you here."
The knot was stubborn and she had to strain to pull at it.
"And
the real reason?"
"That
would be my business."
The orbs of
fire flickered in the darkness and Frostfire let out a trickle of bitter
laughter, like scree spilling down a slope.
"What's
so funny?" she asked as the rope finally fell away and the stoneskin
brought his arms around to rub at his scales.
"You
and I," he said and stood up.
"I take it you don't have a plan to get me over the wall?"
"I..." She hadn't thought this through very far, and
somehow he knew.
"Somewhere
to hide then?"
"There's
a basement in my church. I could
probably hide you there for a few days, but..."
"You've
left a trail."
"There
aren't many places to hide in the Colony."
Silence for
a moment. Just the flickering flames of
Frostfire's eyes lighting his face and hers.
"Take
me to your church," he said, turning towards the door. "We'll make our stand there."
"Alright,"
Sarah replied, following him out into the pre-dawn darkness. There her path lay waiting for her, murky and
indistinct, yet laid out nevertheless, for this was a path she knew all too
well, now traced out in prints in the ashes.
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