Monsters of Men

They are not all like this, I show to the Land. They are violent creatures. They kill us, enslave us–

But here is the man called Wilf with the Clearing behind him (and an army ready, I can see it in his voice, a frightened but willing army led by a blind man) and here is the Sky with the Land behind him, willing to do what the Sky wants, willing to march forward and obliterate the Clearing from this planet, should I tell them to do so–

But they fear as well. They saw peace as the same chance that the man called Wilf saw it, as a chance, an opportunity, a way to live without constant threat–

They will do what I tell them–

Without hesitation, they will do it–

But what I tell them is not what they want–

I see it now. I see it as clearly as anything in the voice of the man called Wilf.

We are here for my revenge. Not even the Sky’s revenge, the revenge of the Return. I have made this war personal. Personal for the Return.

And I am no longer the Return.

One action is all it takes, shows the Source. The fate of this world, the fate of the Land, rests on what you do now.

I turn to him. But what do I do? I show, asking it unexpectedly, even to myself. How do I act?

You act, he shows, like the Sky.

I look back at the man called Wilf, see the Clearing behind him through his voice, feel the weight of the Land behind me in my own voice.

The voice of the Sky.

I am the Sky.

I am the Sky.

And so I act like the Sky.

{VIOLA}

We’re outru

The horses.

Acorn no longer responds to anything I ask him, his Noise focused only on ru

And I realize it at the same time I realize he must know it, too–

He won’t be making the journey back.

“Acorn,” I whisper between his ears. “Acorn, my friend.”

Girl colt, he says back, almost tenderly, and he thunders on, through a thi

“There it is!” Bradley calls–

Our first, fleeting view of the ocean.

It’s so big I’m almost overwhelmed–

Eating the world all the way to the cloudy horizon, seeming bigger than the black beyond, just like Mistress Coyle said, because it hides its hugeness–

And then we’re back in the trees.

“It’s still a ways,” Bradley calls. “But we’ll make it by nightfall–”

And Acorn collapses beneath me.

(THE SKY)

There is a long silence as I lower my weapon while the whole world waits to see what I mean by it–

While I wait to see what I mean by it, too.

And again I see the Clearing through the Noise of the man called Wilf, see them rush with a feeling behind him, a feeling I know very little of–

It’s hope, the Source shows.

I know what it is, I show back.

And I feel the Land behind me, waiting as well–

And I feel the hope there, too–

And that is the decision of the Sky made. The Sky must act in the best interests of the Land. That is who the Sky is.

The Sky is the Land.

And the Sky who forgets that is no kind of Sky at all.

I open my voice to the Land and pass a message back to them, back to all those who have joined the fight, back to all those who united behind me when I called them–

And who now unite behind my decision not to attack–

Because another decision accompanies it. A decision necessary for the Sky, necessary for the safety of the Land.

I must find the man who attacked us, I show to the Source. And I must kill him. That is what is best for the Land.

The Source nods and rides his beast into the fog ahead of us, disappearing past the man called Wilf and I hear him calling out to the Clearing, telling them we will not attack. Their relief is so pure and strong that the wave of it nearly knocks me off my mount.

I look to the soldiers beside me to see if they only agree with my decision through obedience to the Sky, but they are already turning their voices back to their own lives, the lives of the Land, the lives that will now, inevitably, involve the Clearing in ways no one can foresee, ways that will first involve cleaning up the mess the Clearing made.

Perhaps even helping them to survive.

Who can say?

The Source returns. I feel his concern as he approaches. The Mayor’s flown the ship to the ocean, he shows. Bradley and Viola have already set out to find him.

Then so shall the Sky, I show.

I’ll go with you, the Source shows and I see why.

The Knife is with him, I show.

The Source nods.

You think I will kill the Knife, I show back. If I finally have the chance.

The Source shakes his head, but I see his uncertainty. I’ll come with you, he shows again.

We stare at each other for a long moment, then I turn to some of the Land soldiers at the front line and show them my intention, telling ten of them to accompany me.

Accompany me and the Source.

I turn back to him. Then let us be on our way.

And I tell my battlemore to run towards the ocean, faster than it has ever run before.

{VIOLA}

Acorn’s front legs crumple mid-stride and I go tumbling hard through some undergrowth, jamming my left hip and arm into the ground with a painful grunt, and I hear Bradley yell, “Viola!” but Acorn’s still falling forward, still crashing in a heap in the brush–

“ACORN!” I yell and I’m getting up and limping quickly over to where he’s lying twisted and broken and I get to his head, his breath coming out of him in great raking sounds, his chest heaving with the effort. “Acorn, please–”

Bradley and Angharrad ride over to us, Bradley leaping down and Angharrad putting her nose down close to Acorn’s–

Girl colt, Acorn says, pain wracking through his Noise, not just from his front legs, which I can see are broken, but the tearing in his chest which caused him to collapse in the first place, it’s too much, he’s run too hard–

Girl colt, he says–

“Shh,” I say, “it’s okay, it’s okay–”

And then he says–

He says–

Viola.

And then he falls silent, his breath and his Noise both stopping in a final sigh–

“No!” I say, holding onto him tighter, pushing my face into his mane. I feel Bradley’s hands on my shoulders behind me as I cry, and I hear Angharrad quietly say, Follow, as she rubs her nose against Acorn’s.

“I’m so sorry,” Bradley says, gently as ever. “Viola, are you hurt yourself?”

I can’t speak, still holding onto Acorn, but I shake my head.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Bradley says, “but we have to keep going. There’s too much at stake.”

“How?” I say, my voice thick.

Bradley pauses. “Angharrad?” he asks. “Can you take Viola the rest of the way to save Todd?”

Boy colt, Angharrad says, her Noise strong at the mention of Todd. Boy colt yes.

“We can’t kill her, too,” I say.

But Angharrad’s already putting her nose under my arm, urging me up. Boy colt, she says. Boy colt save.

“But Acorn–”

“I’ll take care of him,” Bradley says. “You just get there. You get there and you make it worth it, Viola Eade.’

I look up at him, look at his faith in me, his certainty that good is still possible.

And I give Acorn a last, tearful kiss on his unmoving head, and I stand and let Angharrad kneel next to me. I get up on her slowly, my vision still cloudy, my voice still thick. “Bradley,” I say.