Monsters of Men

And there’s creachers in it. Even in the frothy and muddy waters churning on the shore, even in the spray and foam from the river crashing into it to the north of me, even then you can see shadows moving in the water–

Big shadows–

“Quite something, isn’t it?” I hear.

The Mayor’s voice.

I whip round. He ain’t nowhere to be seen. I turn round again slowly. I’m noticing there’s a bit of sand-covered concrete beneath my feet, like this used to be a little square or walk along the beach or something, something that came outta the front of the chapel a long time ago where people could sit in the sun.

Except I’m here now and I’m effing freezing.

“SHOW YERSELF, YOU COWARD!” I shout.

“Oh, cowardice is one thing you could never accuse me of, Todd.” His voice again but sounding like it’s coming from somewhere else.

“THEN WHY ARE YOU HIDING?” I shout, turning again, crossing my arms hard against the cold. We’re both go

And then I see the scout ship, down the beach, parked by itself, waiting–

“I wouldn’t try, Todd,” the voice comes again. “You’d be dead before you reached it.”

I turn round one more time. “YER ARMY AIN’T COMING, IS IT?” I shout. “THAT’S WHAT YOU MEANT ABOUT MR TATE FAILING YOU! HE AIN’T COMING!”

“Correct, Todd,” the Mayor says and this time the voice sounds different.

It sounds like a real voice spoken across a real area.

I whirl round again–

And there he is, by the corner of one of the wrecked wooden houses.

“How do you know?” I say, flexing my Noise, getting myself ready.

“I heard it, Todd,” he says. “I told you I heard everything.” He starts walking towards me. “And slowly, slowly, that’s become literally true. I opened myself up to the voice of this world. And now.” He stops at the edge of the sand-covered square, snow blowing everywhere. “Now I hear every piece of information in it.”

And I see his eyes.

And I finally get it.

He does hear everything.

And it’s driving him mad.

“Not yet,” he says, his eyes black, his voice echoey. “Not before I finish my business with you. Because one day, Todd Hewitt, you’ll hear it, too.”

I’m pumping my Noise, raising its temperature, circling round the one word, making it as heavy as possible, not caring if he can hear it cuz he’ll know it’s coming anyway–

“Indeed,” the Mayor says.

And sends a blast of Noise right at me–

I jump outta the way, hearing it whoosh by me–

I land and roll on the snow and the sand and look back up at him, coming for me–

VIOLA! I fling at him–

And the fight is on–

(THE SKY)

You’ve done right, the Source shows to me as we ride through the trees towards the ocean.

The Sky needs no confirmation of his choices, I show back.

We make good speed. Battlemores are faster than Clearing animals, more used to trees and ru

Wait, the Source calls, and I realize I am leaving him behind, the soldiers, too. Wait! he shows again. I hear something up ahead–

I do not slow but I open my voice in front of me–

And there it is, heard before we see it, a Clearing man’s voice–

Bradley, I hear the Source call, and then we are on him, coming through a section of trees to find him backing quickly away as we pull the battlemores to a stop.

“Ben?” the man called Bradley says, looking at me in alarm.

It’s all right, the Source says. The war’s over.

For now, I show. Where is the Knife’s one in particular?

The man called Bradley looks puzzled until the Source shows Viola to him.

And then we see the body of the animal, covered in leaves and brush, now with a light dusting of snow on him.

“Her horse,” the man says. “I covered him and I’ve been trying to start a fire–”

And Viola? the Source shows.

“Gone to the ocean,” Bradley says. “To help Todd.”

There is a rush of feeling in the voice of the Source, a rush that fills my own voice, a rush of love and fear for the Knife–

But I am already off, pushing my battlemore to faster and faster speeds, outru

Wait, I hear the Source call again–

But I will reach the ocean first–

I will reach the ocean myself–

And if the Knife is there–

Well, I shall see what I see–

[TODD]

I catch the Mayor with the first VIOLA I hurl at him, see him stumble to one side, not quite quick enough to dodge it–

But he’s already turning and firing his Noise back at me and tho I duck again I feel like the top of my head’s being ripped open and I jump off the little flat of sand and concrete, down the slope towards the waves, rolling in the sand and snow but getting outta the Mayor’s eyeline for a brief second–

“Oh, but I don’t need to see you, Todd,” I hear–

And bam another blast of white Noise, screaming YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING–

And I roll back up, gripping the side of my head and I force my eyes open–

And I see the river up the beach in front of me, dumping itself into the ocean and I look out to the water beyond it and see wreckage floating there, getting tossed in the waves, wreckage of trees and houses and no doubt people–

People I know–

Maybe even Viola–

And I feel a rage rise in my Noise–

And I get to my feet–

VIOLA!

I think it at him and I realize I’m doing it without having to find him, that I just feel where he is instinctively, and I send it to him and turn to look and he’s falling back hard onto the concrete square, catching himself with his wrist–

Which I hear break with satisfying snap.

He grunts. “Very impressive,” he says, his voice husky with pain. “Very impressive indeed, Todd. Your control is better and stronger.” He starts pulling himself to his feet with his unbroken arm. “But control comes at a price. Can you hear the voice of the world gathering behind you, Todd?”

VIOLA! I think again at him–

And again he staggers back–

But he don’t fall this time–

“Because I can hear it,” he says. “I can hear it all.”

And his eyes flash and I freeze–

And he’s inside my head, along with the hum, co

“Can you hear it?” he says again–

And–

And I can–

I can hear it–

There, like a roar behind the roar of the waves, the roar of the river–

A roar of everything on this planet that lives–

Speaking in an impossibly loud single voice–

And for a second I’m overwhelmed by it–

Which is all he needs–

There’s a flash of pain in my head so bright that I black out–

Falling to my knees–

But only for an instant–

Cuz in that roar of voices–

Even tho it ain’t possible–

Even tho she ain’t got Noise–

I swear I heard her–

I swear I heard her coming–

And so without even opening my eyes–

VIOLA!

And I hear another grunt of pain–

And I get back up to my feet–

{VIOLA}

The ground starts to slope steeply down and we’re seeing the ocean constantly now–

“Almost there,” I gasp. “Almost there.”

Boy colt, Angharrad says–

And with a jump, we clear the last line of trees out onto the beach, Angharrad’s hooves kicking up snow and sand as she scrambles to turn left, towards the abandoned town, towards the river–

Towards Todd and the Mayor–