Monsters of Men

“No, Todd!” the Mayor shouts, pulling me back–

“I’ve got to get to her!” I shout back and yank away from him–

“We have to run!” he yells–

And this is so completely something the Mayor would never say I spin round to look at him–

But his eyes are on the falls–

And I look, too–

And–

And–

Holy God–

An expanding arc of fire is racing out from the ledge–

The Spackle have fired every single bow–

Dozens of ’em–

Dozens of ’em that’ll reduce the army to nothing but ash and bodies–

“Come on!” the Mayor’s yelling, grabbing me again. “To the city!”

But I see a break in the men–

I see Angharrad rearing up in fright–

Her eyes wide open at the hands grabbing her–

And I lunge towards her–

Away from the Mayor–

Soldiers filling the space twixt us–

“I’m here, girl!” I yell, pressing forward–

But she’s just screaming and screaming–

I reach her and I knock back a soldier trying to climb into her saddle–

And the spi

Curving both ways, this time–

Coming from either side–

And the men are ru

And I say, “You have to run, girl!”

And the spi

{VIOLA}

“Todd!” I scream again and I see the fires zooming in over the river and some coming round the other way, curving along the hills of the valley–

Coming at the army from both sides–

“Where is he?!” I yell. “Can you see him?”

“I can’t see anything in this mess,” Bradley says.

“We have to do something!” I say.

Mistress Coyle catches my eye. She’s searching my face, searching it hard–

“Todd?” I say into the comm. “Answer me, please!”

“They’ve reached the army!” Lee yells.

And we all look back at the projection–

Where the spi

They’re going to reach Todd–

They’re going to kill him–

They’re going to kill every man down there–

“We have to stop this!” I say.

“Viola,” Bradley says, a warning in his voice.

“Stop it how?” Simone says, and I can see her considering it again.

“Yes, Viola,” Mistress Coyle says, staring right into my eyes. “Stop it how?”

I look back in the projection, back at the army burning and dying-

“They’ll kill your boy,” Mistress Coyle says, like she’s reading my mind. “No two ways about it this time.”

And she can see my face–

See me thinking it–

Thinking it again–

Thinking about all that death.

“No,” I whisper. “We can’t–”

Can we?

[TODD]

WHOOSH!

One spi

I pull on Angharrad’s reins but she rears up again in panic, her eyes wide and white, her Noise just a high-pitched scream I can barely stand–

And another fire WHOOSHES across the path in front of us, spilling flames everywhere, and Angharrad’s so terrified she lifts me off my feet by the reins and we fall back into a crowd of soldiers–

“THIS WAY!” I hear yelled behind us.

The Mayor, screaming, as a spi

And when he yells it, it’s like I feel a pull in my feet, almost turning me round to face him–

But I force myself back to Angharrad–

“Come on, girl!” I yell, trying to get her moving, any way, any how-

“TODD! LEAVE HER!”

I turn and I see the Mayor, somehow back up on Morpeth, leaping twixt men and racing out from under a spi

“TO THE CITY!” he shouts at the soldiers–

Planting it in their Noises–

Planting it in mine–

Throbbing thru it with a low hum–

And I knock him back again in my head–

But the soldiers near him are ru

I look up and see the spi

But they’re heading back to the ledge–

There are burning men everywhere but the army that’s still alive is also noticing that the fires are going back–

That we’ve got a few seconds before they come again–

And the men are reaching the city now, the first ones heading up the road, ru

“TODD! YOU’VE GOT TO RUN!”

But Angharrad’s still screaming, still pulling away from me, still flailing in terror–

And my heart’s ripping in two–

“COME ON, GIRL!”

“TODD!” shouts the Mayor–

But I ain’t leaving Angharrad–

“I AIN’T LEAVING HER!” I shout back at him–

Dammit, I ain’t–

I left Manchee–

I left him behind–

And I ain’t doing it again–

“TODD!”

And I look back–

And he’s away from me, peeling back to the city–

With the rest of the men–

And me and Angharrad are being left alone in the emptying camp–

{VIOLA}

“We are not firing a missile,” Bradley says, his Noise roaring. “That decision has already been made.”

“You have missiles?” Lee says. “Why the hell aren’t you using them?”

“Because we want to make peace with this species!” Bradley shouts. “If we fire, the consequences would be disastrous!”

“They’re disastrous right now,” Mistress Coyle says.

“Disastrous to an army you wanted us to fight,” Bradley says. “Disastrous for the army that brought on the attack!”

“Bradley–” Simone says.

He spins round to her, his Noise filled with incredibly rude words. “We have nearly 5000 people that are our responsibility. You really want them to wake up to find we’ve thrown them into an unwi

“You’re already in the war!” Lee says.

“No, we’re not!” Bradley says even louder. “And because we’re not, we might just be able to get the rest of you out of it!”

“All you have to do is show them they’ve got more than just ca

“And then they come back in five years’ time when they’ve gotten stronger and kill every human here,” Bradley says.

“Five years’ time where we can build bridges with them and make sure a new war isn’t necessary,” Mistress Coyle says back.

“Which you obviously did a fantastic job of last time!”

“What are you waiting for? Fire the missile!” Ivan calls from the crowd and more voices join around him, too.

“Todd,” I whisper to myself and I look back at the projection–

The burning fires are flying back to the falls again, being caught and reloaded–

And then I see him–

“He’s alone!” I yell. “They’re leaving him behind!”

The army is fleeing down the road to the city, pushing against each other in crowds past Todd and into the first trees–

“He’s trying to save his horse!” Lee says.

I click on the comm again and again. “Dammit, Todd! Answer me!”

“My girl!” Mistress Coyle snaps to get my attention. “We are here at the crucial moment again. You and your friends are getting a second chance to make your decision.”

Bradley’s Noise makes an angry sound and he turns to Simone for help, but Simone’s eyes just flick to the crowd around us, the crowd demanding that we fire. “I don’t see how we have any choice,” she says. “If we do nothing, those people will die.”

“And if we do something, those people will also die,” Bradley says, his surprise flashing everywhere. “And so will we and so will everyone arriving on the ships. This is not our fight!”