The Island (9 page)

“What are bombs?” I whisper.

“Big weapons powerful enough to blow up entire cities or countries. The leader of another country dropped them on all large cities in the country that developed the virus. After that, the war continued on both sides until they ran out of bombs or there was no one left to press the button. And then, the poisonous rains came.”

I shudder. So this is the truth. The island is a paradise world compared to what’s on the other side of the sea.

“But that is all over now,” Tony assures me when he sees the disillusionment on my face. “One hundred and fifty years have passed, and the survivors and their offspring have managed to build a better world. We live scattered, and we leave each other alone. We only gather to share our knowledge, but that’s all. This is how we prevent conflicts.”

We’ve only talked for a short while, but in my mind I’m ten years older. We may not be alone, but I sure feel like we are. Our island is nothing more than an insignificant dot on the map of an enormous world we don’t know at all – a small star next to a bright, full moon in the night sky.

Which raises a new question. “How did you and Henry ever manage to find our island?”

“Because your ancestor
s left a message that wouldn’t be lost,” Tony says mysteriously.

Before I can ask him what he means by that, Walt rushes over to us. “The Bookkeeper found men who are willing to fight.” He points at the harbor. “Now we need you as a navigator, Leia.”

On the docks, I see a large group of people flocked together, boarding the
Explorer
via the gangway one by one. Men who have come together to get rid of Saul once and for all - but they’ll eliminate our way of life in the process as well.

Painful as it is, I think it is time.

It’s time for the truth.

-13-

SMOOTHLY, THE
ship glides through the waves. Although the waters are calm, I don’t feel quite steady on my legs, so I hold on to the railing. Or maybe I’m just spinning on my legs because of all the stress.

Walt walks over and joins me. We look at the stars in the
dark sky together in silence.

“I’m sorry,” he finally says, sounding genuinely contrite.

“For what?” I ask.

Clumsily, he puts a hand on my fingers clasping the railing. “I bet you think I’m an arrogant showoff.”

“Yes, I kind of do,” I admit frankly.

His face falls. “Oh.”

“Well, you’re being one.”

“True.”

“But you’re sorry about it?”

“
Yes. Because I’m not like that.” He takes a deep breath. “I just don’t know how to behave when I’m around you. So I start acting all tough.”

Oh. I totally hadn’t seen this coming. I shoot him a nervous glance. “Uhm,
yes, I sort of recognize that. I, uhm, feel that way too when I’m close to you. So I start acting all snappy.”

Walt nods slowly.
The coastline is approaching on our left side. Or the ‘port side’, as the captain calls it. We’re almost at the eastern beach, and the moment of truth is upon us.

“Will you stay by my side when we go ashore?” he asks softly.

I grin awkwardly. “What, and run the risk of you acting all tough?”

He bites back a smile. “I’ll try to restrain myself.”

“Okay. We’re good, then.”

Walt flings an arm around me, pulls me close and kisses me gently on my forehead before walking away to join the captain.
His smell lingers in my nose when I watch him walk away. He smells good.

The captain is
busy instructing his helmsmen to get the ship as close to shore as possible before lowering the anchor.  We have to disembark by using smaller boats – or sloops, as Walt said they were called – to get to the beach. In my mind it takes ages before we’re all standing on the eastern shore. Every moment that I don’t know what happened to Colin and the others seems to last a lifetime. Anything could be happening to them right now, and I can’t stop myself from thinking up all kinds of horrible things.

When we finally leave for
Newexter, I lead and keep up the pace. The woods are dark, but I know my way here like the back of my hand. The night is pitch-black, and there’s a certain tension in the air that I pick up on our way to the village. Even before we get to my old village, I know something’s going on. Despite the late hour and the lack of moonlight, everybody’s awake. Agitated voices rise up from the village square. People have lit fires everywhere, and when I reach the square with the Bookkeeper’s army in tow, the Eldest hurries toward me with my mother at his side.

His jaw drops
when he sees the others. “Who are
they
?”

“Fools,” I reply. “They’re here to help us.”

My mother takes my hand and pulls me into a warm embrace. “You’re still alive,” she stammers. “Colin wasn’t sure you…”

Colin
. “Where is he? Is he here? Was he able to escape?”

She nods. “He and
Pete came to us as fast as possible, and the other youngsters followed not too long after. Colin wasn’t sure you’d manage to get away from Saul’s guards, so he was worried sick.”

“What about
Andy?” I look around me. “Where’s Andy?”

My mother shakes her head. “He didn’t make it.”

My stomach turns. “What? Is he...”

“He’s in the manor house,” the Eldest quickly explains. “
Saul is holding him hostage. We went there, but Saul’s refusing to give up his position. If we attack, Andy will die, he says.”

“What will happen now?” Walt inquires quietly, lining up beside me. He’s really trying to stay by my side.

I breathe in and out, looking around the circle of people who have gathered here to listen to the conversation between me and the Eldest. I see Mara’s eyes, red and puffy with tears for Andy. I catch my mother looking at me expectantly. I’ve never had people looking at
me
for counsel, but it feels good. It feels right. I started this, and I’ll finish it, too.

“I suggest we go back to the house and break down all
the doors and windows. We’ll keep at it until Saul has no choice but to come outside, let Andy go and surrender. And if he doesn’t, we’ll smoke him out.” My eyes take in the torches that the villagers are holding. The flicker of the flames lends the square a macabre atmosphere. “Let’s burn the place down.”

“Burn the manor house? But where will the youngsters live?”
Mara’s mother cries out from the circle.

“Here.” I gesture around me decidedly. “They will live right here. With you, in the village. We belong together.”

I can’t explain why I know this, but I just do. Tony will provide them with all the explanations later. For now, what matters is that we belong together and we have to rely on each other. Deep down, I’d always hoped for this. I’d never said it out loud, like Colin, for fear of being ridiculed – or even worse, being disappointed. As disappointed as I’d felt when my mother wouldn’t look me in the eye that one morning when I moved out. But now, it is no longer hope. It is faith. I truly believe it, and it’s a truth that comes from the inside. A truth not taught
to
me, but learned
by
me.

As the men of the village are gathering to join the ranks of the Bookkeeper’s army,
Colin comes running toward me. “Andy wasn’t fast enough to hide The Book,” he says dejectedly. “I think Saul stole it back. He might have even destroyed it.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I reply. “Tony told me our ancestors left us a message that
wasn’t lost, and never will be.”

“Really? What kind of message?”

“I’m sure he’ll tell us all about it.”

A little later we leave for the house that I’ve spent the past six years of my life in and around. I hate to admit it, but I’m actually thrilled at the thought of it going up in flames. It felt more like a prison than a home, even if the old Luke and Leia
lived there. All the things that have taken place in that house would never have met with their approval; of that I’m sure.

Even though there are over two hundred people trudging thr
ough the forest by now, it’s strangely quiet. No one speaks. It’s not until the manor comes into view that a buzz arises among our ‘soldiers’. The crowd speeds up like one man, carrying hundreds of torches and muttering curses, and it doesn’t take us long to reach the entrance of the house. The Eldest steps forward.

“
Saul, come out of there!” he calls out in a booming voice. “It’s over. You can’t win this.”

Nothing happens.

Just then, I see a stone sail through the air past my head. It hits the front door with a dull thud. It seems to be the signal for an unplanned attack, because more projectiles start being thrown: branches, stones, burning torches.

“Stop!” The Eldest bellows
when the door finally opens a crack. “Someone’s coming.”

Saul
steps outside, his face ashen. He’s tied Andy up with a rope around his arms and wrists, and he’s holding the rope in a death grip. His other hand is holding one of the bloodied swords from the dining room. 

“If I go down, then
Andy goes down with me,” he barks back. “Lay one finger on me and I swear he won’t survive.”

“What is it you think you’re doing,
Saul?” I plead with him. “What are you trying to achieve with this? What is it you’re fighting for?”

Saul
stares at me with a deadly look in his eyes. “This is
our
world,” he rages, his voice breaking. “A world without help or support from others. A world without parents.
That
is the truth. And no one will tell us otherwise. Nobody will tell
me
otherwise.”

“That’s not true,” I argue. “The parents are here for us.”

“Yours, maybe,” Saul snaps. “I have no one. I’m alone.”

He’s right. Only now
do I remember that Saul and Ben have no parents. They’re orphans. Nobody has ever really taken care of them. No one in Newexter even stood up for them after my call to arms and sweet suggestion we torch this place.

“You’re
not
alone,” Tony’s voice then sounds calmly. “None of you are.” He takes a few steps forward, holding up his hands spread out in a peaceful gesture. “I want to tell you about your ancestors. They loved you. They didn’t want you to ever be forgotten.”

“What in Luke’s name are you talking about?”
Saul grumbles with a frown. “How would you know?”

“
Well, I know more than you do.”

Saul
turns red. “Are you here to tell lies, just like that other so-called visitor from across the sea? Do you actually know what we’ve done to him for lying to us?”

Tony nods. “Yes. I do. And I also know that you acted out of fear, and that this fear won’t leave you, no matter how many people you put to the sword.”

Silence ensues. Tony’s words seem to hit the mark. Saul’s shoulders sag a bit and he looks puzzled.

Tony uses
Saul’s hesitation to his advantage. He takes a strange device with buttons out of his pocket that I’ve never seen before. Saul eyes it suspiciously, but his jaw drops when Tony presses a green button and the thing starts to speak in a tinny voice. A voice speaking an old language, even more old-fashioned than the great-grandparents in Newexter speak like. Some popping and hissing sounds accompany the voice, but the words are clear.

“Please, whoever you are, whoever will hear this – come to Penzance. Our children have escaped to Tresco by boat. We need help. Everyone’s gotten sick.
Please, I beg you, save our children. Don’t abandon them.”

That name... I know it. Tresco. It was mentioned in The Book. An old name for this place that
we hardly ever use anymore. Is this a voice from the past?

The message continues and then starts over again. Tony clicks off his device and looks at
Saul seriously. “That’s the voice of one of your ancestors. A man who couldn’t make the trip to join his children on this island anymore and decided to broadcast a message on the radio. So that hopefully, someone would hear it and be able to help his kids. And here I am… one hundred and fifty years later.”

“What… what is this,”
Saul stutters incoherently, and I don’t blame him. I am equally speechless. Our former leader drops to his knees and lets go of the sword. It clatters on the tiles next to him.

Andy
seizes his chance and jumps down the stairs. Mara struggles forward and unties him. She looks up at Saul apprehensively, but he doesn’t seem to pay any attention to his captive. He’s staring at the box in Tony’s hands as if spellbound.

“Can I hear it again?” he asks so reverently that I suddenly see him with different eyes. Here is a little lost boy – not a ruthless dictator.

While Tony replays the message, I tiptoe past Saul and pick up the sword. Little boy or not, you can never be too careful, after all.