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Richard held out the silver coins for the load of charcoal.
Faval clapped his hands together prayerfully. "Oh, thank you, Richard Cypher. You are a savior. Those loggers are a nasty lot. Yes, yes, and two tomorrow. I have them cooling now. You are as good as a,son to me, Richard Cypher." He motioned off into the darkness as he tittered. "They are there, cooking. You will have them."
Richard could see the dozens and dozens of mounds, like little haystacks, that were the earthen ovens. Small pieces of split wood were tightly stacked around in a circle, with tinder stuffed in the center, building them up into a rounded pile which was then covered over with fern leaves and broom and then plastered over with firm earth. Fire was put in at the bottom, then that opening was closed over. Moisture and smoke escaped from small vents in the top for six to eight days. When the smoke ceased, the vents were sealed to kill the fire. After it cooled, the earthen ovens could be opened and the charcoal removed. It was a labor-intensive occupation, but rather simple work.
"Let me help you load your wagon," Faval said.
Richard caught the man's shirt at his shoulder as he started away.
"Faval, what's going on?"
Faval put a finger to his lower lip as he laughed. It almost sounded like it was painful for him to laugh. He hesitated, but finally whispered his answer.
"The revolt. It has started."
Richard had suspected as much. "What do you know about it, Faval?"
"Nothing! I know nothing!"
"Faval, it's me, Richard. I'm not going to turn you in."
Faval laughed. This time it sounded more like relief. "Of course not.
Of course not. Forgive me, Richard Cypher. I get so nervous, I wasn't thinking."
"So, what about this revolt?"
Faval turned up his hands in a helpless gesture. "The Order, they strangle people. We can't live. If not for you, Richard Cypher, I would be.
. well, I don't want to think about it. But others, they are not so fortunate. They starve. The Order takes the food they grow. People have loved ones who have been arrested. They confess to things they did not do.
"Did you know that, Richard Cypher? That they confess to things they did not do? I never believed it myself I thought that if they confessed, then they were guilty. Why confess if you are i
"So what changed your mind?"
"My brother." Faval's chuckles suddenly were sobs. "He helped me make charcoal. We made it together. We supported our families making charcoal. We worked from sunup until sundown. We slept in the same house, there. That one there. One room. We were together all the time.
"Last year, at a meeting where we all had to stand up and tell how the Order made our lives better, as we were leaving, they arrested him. Someone gave his name as maybe an insurgent. I was not worried. My brother was not guilty of anything. He makes charcoal."
Richard waited in the darkness, sweat trickling down his neck, as Faval stared off into the dark visions.
"For a week, I went every day to the barracks to tell them that he would not do anything against the Order. We loved the Order. The Order wishes all people to be fed and cared for.
"The guards said my brother finally confessed. High crimes, they called itplotting to overthrow the Order. They said he confessed it to them.
"The next day, I was going to go to see more people, the officials at the barracks-I was so angry-to tell them that they were cruel animals. My wife, she cried and begged me not to go back to the barracks yet again, for fear they would arrest me, too. For her sake, and the children, I did not go. It would do no good, anyway. They had my brother's confession. No one who confesses is i
"They put my brother to death. His wife and children live with us, still. We can hardly. ." Faval giggled as he bit down on his knuckle.
Richard put a hand on the man's shoulder. "I understand, Faval. There was nothing you could have done."
Faval wiped at his eyes. "Now I am guilty of thinking hateful thoughts.
That is a crime, you know. I am guilty of it. I think about life without the Order. I dream of having a cart of my own just a cart-and my sons and nephew could deliver the charcoal we make. Wouldn't that be wonderful, Richard Cypher? I could buy. ." His voice trailed off.
He looked up in confusion. "But the Order says such thoughts are a crime because I am putting my wants before the needs of others. Why are their needs more important than mine? Why?
"I went to ask for a permit to buy a cart. They say I ca
"That's wrong," Richard said in quiet assurance. "Your thoughts are not a crime, nor are they evil. It's your life, Faval-you should be able to live it as you see fit. You should be able to buy your cart and work hard and make the best of your life for you and your family."
Faval chortled. "You sound like a revolutionary, Richard Cypher."
Richard sighed, thinking about how useless the whole thing was. "No, Faval."
Faval appraised him in the moonlight for a time. "It has already started, Richard Cypher. The revolt. It has begun."
"I have charcoal to deliver." Richard went around the back of the wagon and hoisted a basket up onto the wagon bed.
Faval helped with the next basket. "You should join them, Richard Cypher. You are a smart man. They could use your help."
"Why?" Richard wondered if he dared get his hopes up. "What do they have pla
Faval giggled. "Why, they are marching in the streets, tomorrow. They are going to demand changes."
"What changes?"
"Well, I think they want to be able to work. They are going to demand they be allowed to do what they want." He giggled. "Maybe, I can get a cart?
Do you think, Richard Cypher? Do you think that when they have this revolt I can get a cart and deliver my charcoal? I could make more charcoal, then."
"But what do they plan to do? How are they going to change anything if the Order says no? — Which they will."
"Do? Why, I think they will be very angry if the Order tells them no.
They may not go back to their jobs. Some say they will break into the stores and take the bread."
Richard's hopes faded back into the shadows.
The man clutched at Richard's sleeve. "What should I do, Richard Cypher? Should I join the revolt? Tell me."
"Faval, you should not ask anyone else what you should do about something like this. How can you endanger your life, the lives of your family, on what a man with a wagon says?"
"But you are a smart man, Richard Cypher. I am not so smart as you."
Richard tapped his finger against the man's forehead. "Faval, in here, in your head, you are smart enough to know what you must do. You have already told me why the Order can never help people have better lives by telling them how they must live. You figured that out all on your own. You, Faval the charcoal maker, are smarter than the Order."
Faval beamed. "You think so, Richard Cypher? No one ever told me before that I was smart."
"You're smart enough to decide for yourself how much it means to you and what you want to do about it."
"I fear for my wife, and my brother's wife, and all our children. I don't want the Order, but I'm afraid for them if I am arrested. How would they live?"
Richard heaved another basket into the wagon. "Faval, listen to me.
Revolt is the kind of thing you must be sure of. It's dangerous business. If you are going to join a revolt, you have to be sure enough of what you want to do to be ready to lay down your life for your freedom."