Chương 65: Maitiú

Interlude 7 The inspector released Miriam into the crowded streets of Marybel just after noon. She walked shakily down the streets towards the hostel, feeling exhaustion and hunger in every step. She found the hostel empty, Eve and Daryl's things all gone. Hers had been ripped apart, her clothes shredded, decorations and knick-knacks thrown to the floor. Reaching behind her bed frame to her hiding spot, she found that all her coins were gone too.

"What we need you to do is simple. Very simple for a girl of your talents." The inspector had said, lighting his third cigarette in the last hour.

"You go to where you hunt. No change, no difference. You take the rifle you have hidden there. You travel the length of the forest until you reach a place known as Crier's Crossing. In three days a man in a carriage will pass by. You will know him by the sigil of the house of Hallonel - you know it? A lion with two crossed spears.

"A commotion will stop the carriage in the crossroads. At that moment the man inside will be killed. By you. Do you understand these instructions?" Miriam had nodded quietly.

"Understand this well. If you do not do this, your friends - Eve and Daryl? They will die. Your lover Thomas? He will die. If you do this and return, you will be given a pouch of gold and dropped outside of the city. Easy choices, no? Live or die." Miriam waited outside one of the fancy restaurants she had briefly worked in and slipped in the back when no one was watching. She stole two handfuls of bread and fruit and was already stuffing them down her throat before she made her exit.

Hands empty and belly full by the time she reached the Knifepoint Ward, she was nearly dead on her feet. But still she kept going - she didn't want to sleep one more night under the lights of the city. She didn't make it to the forest that night either. She curled up in a ditch twenty feet or so off the road by the farmhouses and passed out, too tired to dream. The next morning she awoke much more clear-eyed and put-together, even as she had to fish straw out of her hair.

She made a note of her surroundings and beelined for the forest, not bothering to forage for food.

"We will know if you do not do this thing," the inspector had said, crushing the remnants of his cigarette onto the tabletop.

"We are always watching." The sign, the loose fence - everything was as it always was when she arrived at the forest. The old oak with its hidden compartment. The rifle in its tomb of oilcloth. Immediately she sat down on the leaf-strewn floor of the forest and began to disassemble the rifle. It was a fine rifle, but old, and not well cared for - being stored in a tree was no way to preserve a weapon properly.

Thomas had kept oil and other cleaning supplies in the tree as well and she used them liberally as she cleaned it. The rifle reassembled, she began to make her way to Crier's Crossing. The forest was not so wide - at least not to her, who had grown up with unlimited wilderness at her front door. She crossed it with a full day to spare. Miriam found a sturdy tree that overlooked the crossing.

She sat in the fork of its branches, watching carefully how wagons came from one direction or the other, what the sightlines would be like at different times of day. The day came when the wagon was meant to arrive. As soon as the sun crested the top of the trees, Miriam huddled at the top of her hiding spot, scanning the land all around her. Finally she decided she could wait no longer. In one swift motion she turned, aimed and fired at the man who had been tracking her for the last three days.

She had noticed where he'd slept among the tousled hay of the farm nearby the first night. She'd heard his footsteps in the forest the day before. She'd seen the clever blind he'd set up, where he would have no sightlines other than directly at her. The inspector had thought she was a fool. It rankled her more that clearly Thomas thought her one too. The entire hostel was a trap. A place for Thomas to scout innocent souls no one would miss to do the dirty work of the secret police.

She hoped that Eve and Daryl hadn't been in on it, but she was sorry that she was putting them at risk. It was obvious that she was to be quickly killed as soon as she carried out the plot. Even if Eve and Daryl were in danger, her dying wouldn't help that. Not that her problems were over now - there were clearly more of the inspector's men here. Someone was going to start the commotion that would distract the carriage, at the very least.

The secret policeman's body provided another rifle - this one in better shape and far newer than hers. She also found a little coin and papers she didn't yet understand the purpose of. She took the rifle, leaving hers a few hundred yards away. She stared at the dead man and felt nothing - it was just a predator she'd had to put down. Why would she feel bad about it? This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Miriam packed up her rifle and headed west, through the trees along the road. She knew the Hallonel estate was this way from some quickly whispered questions to alarmed friends at the restaurant, and she was taking a bet that the carriage was leaving it, not returning. She was proven right, and the carriage soon appeared heading towards her. Miriam walked to the center of the road, dropping the rifle to the ground. The Hallonel guards swarmed her quickly. She looked at them coldly.

"I was set up to kill the man in that carriage by the secret police of Marybel. I took this rifle from the man who was meant to kill me after the deed was done. It is the model used by the secret police. In exchange for some coin and safe passage away from Marybel I will give you their descriptions and the names I learned." Miriam had survived. She wished she could have saved her friends, but that would have been impossible.

She had been raised with enough practicality that she knew when the stakes are your own life, the risk just wasn't worth the reward for someone else's. Not for anyone. ✧✧✧" Don't look!" The creature that spoke with an distorted version of Maitiú's voice roared.

"Maitiú… what happened to you?" Miriam stepped forward gingerly. Maybe if they could find Róise, Róisín Dubh could heal some of whatever this was." Too many Drops!" Maitiú sobbed." I wanted to stop! Begged him to let me stop. He forced me to keep absorbing them. There must have been a dozen."

"Who?" Sol asked gently.

"Who forced you?"" The King! King Cianán!"

"Is he… still here?" Miriam's eyes darted around, looking for any other signs of life." Said he had business to finish with Cian!" Maitiú's asymmetrical eyes narrowed.

"Business with Cian?" She felt a looming sense of danger, that some titanic beast was prowling just outside her vision, but aside from Maitiú there was nothing.

"Do you know where we are? Something terrible is happening to the island. If we can get to Scior then maybe we can all get out. Maybe Róise can fix you!"" This is Scior!" Maitiú shouted." I dug a hole for weeks. He never let me rest. So… so.. tired…"

"Miriam," Sol said, touching her shoulder.

"I can sense his fórsa. It's wildly unstable. If I had to guess he might even be a Sixth, but… it's surging and receding in ways that make the identification impossible. I think his mind can't handle the power, and the power is trying to alter his body to be able to hold it." He turned to what used to be their friend.

"Maitiú. I might be able to help you. I can try to siphon off some of the power and turn it back into material fórsa. If I can, it might be that your fórsa will balance out." Maitiú face was morphing as Sol talked, one eye swelling to sickening proportions." I always liked you, Sol."

"I liked you too, Maitiú." Sol walked slowly towards him, stretching out one hand.

"I was really looking forward to building that boat with you."" I should have built the boat," Maitiú moaned." Should have just stayed where I was. The Drop called to him when I absorbed it. It was like lighting a damn beacon." Sol placed a hand on Maitiú's lower arm.

"Let me try to help."

"Sol," Miriam hissed softly.

"Are you sure…" Sol's body went rigid, like someone having been struck by lightning. His mouth opened, gurgling until finally a raw scream tore out of his throat. Multicolored light seeped through the seams in his skin.

"Sol!" Miriam bounded over to him and tackled him away from Maitiú. As she did, she caught a backlash of the power he was being inundated with and it knocked the breath out of her. How had Sol even thought he could handle this level of fórsa?" He was helping!" Maitiú roared as the two tumbled to the ground." For just a second I felt better!"

"It was killing him, Maitiú!" Miriam said as she stood up.

"He can't handle the fórsa density you have."" You were always on their side!" Maitiú roared." When they doomed us to this hellhole, you just went along with it! You want me to just sit in this gods-damned hole and suffer for all eternity!"

"Maitiú, no! I - " Miriam's words were cut short when a burst of Water radiated out from Maitiú, slamming her against the far wall of the cave, nearly a hundred feet away. The impact was massive - she could feel bones breaking. On her stomach was an ugly cut where the water had hit her. Miriam looked back at Maitiú in horror. This was power on a scale she couldn't fathom. Even Ultán or Eoin would struggle against this. Maitiú had done this just by being angry. She had to get Sol out of here.

"Maitiú… Sol's hurt. I need to get him some help. I'm just going to try to take him up to Scior. Okay?" Miriam crawled over to Sol, wincing at the pain in her abdomen." Sol's hurt? Who hurt Sol?" Maitiú's voice was becoming more and more childlike. It was as if the fórsa was slowly washing away the parts of his mind it didn't need.

"Ah… I don't know. But that doesn't matter. I just need to get him up to Scior. Is there a rope where we can climb up, or…" Miriam tried to pull Sol to his feet. He was barely conscious, mumbling and limp." No rope! Pushed me down! Broke me on the ground!" Maitiú roared. Miriam dragged Sol away. Maitiú was too unstable. Talking to him was a risk - she didn't want to get hit with another blast. She needed to find a way up to the hole. It was high, but could a Waterfall blast her up there? It seemed like a big risk.

She looked over again at Maitiú. Now that she had moved away it was almost as if he had forgotten about her, just moaning in his corner and grunting as the power further ruined his body. They might be safe as long as nothing further set him off.

"Hello wayward travelers!" a voice called as two figures slid down a fórsa rope into the cave.

"We were looking for you two! Is everyone all right? We heard some screaming." At the sound of Cormac's voice, Maitiú spun his enormous bulk around, growling loud enough to shake the cavern.

"Shit," Miriam said.