Wel , you know more’n we do, says Ike. We only heard things from travelin folk. You know, you meet somebody from time to time an you git talkin an—
Ferget it, Ike, says Jack.
What?
I said, ferget it.
But I thought we said we’d—
Ike, he says. Saba’s right. She needs to know what we’re up aginst.
I knew it! I says. I knew you knew more’n you was let in on. Gawdammit, Jack, why didn’t you tel me before? Why didn’t you tel me right away, when you found out where I was headed?
I know I should of, he says. But I didn’t want you to know til you had to.
I ain’t a child, I says. I don’t need you to pertect me.
I know, he says, I know, I’m sorry.
Think I’l … head on back to camp, says Ike.
Coward, says Jack.
Go on, Ike, I says. Jack’s gonna tel me everythin I need to know.
Right, he says. Wel … if I hear any screamin, I’l send Emmi. He disappears without a sound. Not a rustle or a footstep. Fer a big man, Ike moves real quiet. Nero must be startin to feel restless because he takes of after him.
Then it’s jest Jack an me.
Al right, Jack, I says. Start talkin.
Four years ago, he says, I was in the wrong bar at the wrong time. Got picked up by the Tonton. They’re always on the lookout fer strong workers. Fer slaves. That’s how I ended up at Freedom Fields.
You was there, I says.
I was, he says. Let’s sit down.
We sit facin each other, on a couple of rocks. A bit too close fer my likin. His feet nearly touch mine. The heartstone’s hot aginst my skin.
That’s where I met Ike, he says. We got slaved there about the same time. As you can imagine, him an me didn’t take kindly to a slave life, workin in a chain gang in the elds. But everybody else … wel , nuthin seemed to bother ’em. We ggered out why pret y quick. A big waterwagon ’ud come around twice a day, once in the mornin an once in the afternoon, an l everybody’s waterskins. There’s chaal in that water.
Helen said it was al about chaal, I says.
It slows yer brain down, he says. Makes you stupid. A good thing if you wanna control people. But if you take too much, everythin speeds up. Yer heart races, you git al excited an aggressive, you don’t need sleep or food.
I think of Mad Dog, back at Hopetown, what he did to Helen. Of the crowds in the Colosseum, bayin fer blood in the gauntlet.
I seen what it can do, I says.
Me an Ike ’ud l our waterskins with the rest, he says, but we never touched it. We’d sneak water from the irrigation channels in the fields.
How long was you there? I says.
A couple of months. Jest long enough to col ect what we needed to pick the locks on our ankle chains. Then we had to wait fer a stormy night. The dog patrols don’t go out when there’s lightnin or bad weather, it spooks ’em.
So you got away, I says.
An counted ourselves lucky, he says. We hit the road, layin low, keepin out a trouble. Ike eventual y set led at the One-Eyed Man. But I kept on goin.
Til you ended up in the cel s at Hopetown, I says.
Til you ended up in the cel s at Hopetown, I says.
Yeah, he says. Wrong bar, wrong time. Agin.
You’d think you’d learn, I says.
You’d think.
Whaddya know about the King? I says.
He was crazy, says Jack.
I know, I says. I seen him.
He was crazy, he was smart, an he control ed everythin an everybody, he says. Lived in a big white house up at Freedom Fields. The Palace. With the nest of food an drink. Everythin. Amazin stu from Wrecker days. Soft chairs, big tables, lookin glasses, pictures hangin on the wal s. He had house slaves who’d crawl on their hands an knees if they went into a room where he was. If you looked at him the wrong way, he’d run his sword through you. I only ever seen him from a distance. That was close enough.
I know what you mean, I says.
An over the last couple of years, he started expandin his empire. Everywhere I bin lately, I’m havin to dodge Tonton or I’m hearin about
’em. Any place where there’s good water or land t fer growin food, they’re comin along an claimin it fer the King. If there’s somebody already on the land, they eether work it fer the Tonton or git kil ed. They got spies an informers al over the place.
He don’t control everythin, I says. Look at the Free Hawks.
Maybe they won’t be free fer much longer, he says. The King might be dead, but somebody’l step into his shoes. His empire’l keep growin. You can bet on it.
I cain’t believe Maev don’t know this, I says. That she ain’t heard about it.
I tried to tel her, he says. She wouldn’t listen. I believe her ezzack words was, I dunno what yer game is, but as far as I’m concerned yer a lyin chancer. That desperate fool might trust you, but I sure as hel don’t.
My bel y hol ows out. A desperate fool. That’s what Maev thinks of me. Then the rest of what he said starts to sink in. I stand up slowly.
Stare down at him.
So that’s it, I says. That’s why you came after me. Why you showed up at Darktrees. You wanted the Free Hawks to help you clear out Freedom Fields. You don’t care if I nd Lugh. You don’t care about me. Al that … crap about how you couldn’t help it, you had to fol ow me … that’s jest what it was … crap. Gawd, I am such a idiot.
No, he says, that was al true, I swear it was. It is!
He throws his head back an curses unner his breath. Stands up. Whatever I say now, he says, you ain’t gonna believe me.
Probly not, I says.
I did want the Hawks to help me, he says. When me an Ike left Freedom Fields, I warn’t thinkin about nobody but myself. But I started to see what was goin on everywhere an I started thinkin about them poor bastards we’d left behind in the chaal elds. Then I ended up in Hopetown an saw what was goin on there, an I met you an the Hawks an suddenly there’s a chance I can do somethin decent in my life … so I took that chance. It al happened at once, Saba. You got a believe me. It’s fate, like I said.
Jack, I says, you cain’t possibly think that seven of us an a crow’s gonna bring down the Tonton an their operation.
Why not? he says. Me an Ike know the layout. We can take ’em by surprise. They won’t expect trouble from outside.
I’m here to git Lugh back, I says, not to change the world. I told you before. An by the way, yer out a yer mind.
C’mon, Saba, he says, if we come up with a good enough plan, we can al have what we want. D’you wanna git yer brother back an then hafta live in a world run by the Tonton? I don’t. Ike don’t. Ash and Epona don’t neether. An if you asked ’em, I bet Tommo an Emmi’ud say the same. You might of burned Hopetown to the ground, but they’l be buildin on its ashes already. You can bet on it.
So what’re you sayin, Jack? That you ain’t gonna help me unless I fal in with yer plan?
No, he says. No! What I’m sayin is, we think big. We git Lugh back an take out their operation at the same time. The Tonton, the chaal fields … everythin. But we cain’t do it without you.
You promise me that we’l git Lugh out a there, I says.
I promise, he says. I promise.
Al right, I says. I’l go along with yer plan. What is it?
To be honest, he says, I never bin much fer what you’d cal a plan. They’re more like … ideas.