Page 91 of What Blooms in Barren Lands
“I came todemandthat you do something about them,” she announced in a level voice that not even Albert dared interrupt with protests. “When we partnered with you, you not only promised us bows to protect ourselves in exchange for more archers, but you also swore to help us in case of need. I know—Iknow.” She raised her hands, stalling objections thatno one voiced anyway. “You cannot be expected to fight them with nothing but bows. I know there’s nothing in the world you can do about them. But I challenge you to think of something regardless. Before they kill more of our people.” She was looking directly, unwaveringly at Einar when she said this. “As for myself, I will go to Bonifacio,” she finished in a milder tone. “I will go there and offer myself to them in exchange for being close to my sister. There’s not much else I can do for her.”
“There might be ...” Einar said slowly. “Will you stay the night, Lena? Get some rest, have some food? Give us a chance to consider the best course of action here?”
Lena’s answer was drowned in protests from all onlookers, but especially, unsurprisingly, Albert. I realised I would have to wait to bring up the issue of his treatment of Monika. But I wouldn’t wait for long, I decided firmly, not anymore.
31
ICE BEATS FIRE
Afew moments later, I found myself once again making coffee by the fireplace in our cottage. It was an onerous task since the fire had only just been lit and could not be depended on to stay steady. For what felt like the hundredth time, I blew into the glowing embers, stirring them with a rusty poker, only to be rewarded by a gush of smoke that made my eyes sting and water.
Many leaders’ meetings had been held since Finlay’s death, but his absence had not gotten any less palpable. As if by an unspoken agreement, nobody ever sat in his place on the couch. Even when I finished making coffee, I would always sit on the side of the armchair by Einar or else on his lap as I had always done, despite there being enough room on the sofa.
With what was later revealed to be a meticulously planned agenda, Einar commenced the gathering by conversing about the newly discovered tendency of furies to form swarms. He spoke at large about the immense threat it posed to us and about the resources it would drain from us.
“We will have to keep an eye on the swarm, have its movements monitored to be warned in advance if it starts approaching our territories,” he said in a firm, steady tone of voice. “Which will mean using a lot of petrol. We can never besafe with a horde like that out there. And there is no way for us to take on a swarm without firearms, explosives, and a very strategic location ...”
“But sooner or later, they will snuff it. With’oot food,” Russ said in a hopeful tone, suggesting that he very much wanted someone to agree with him.
“Sure, but once they hunt down all the people and animals along the coast, they will probably pursue us as their next food source,” Albert pointed out darkly. “We will have to keep running from them until they do actually die.”
“Precisely.” Einar nodded, his expression grave but his eyes twinkling with the satisfaction of someone for whom things were heading in precisely the desired direction. “And you know what the worst part is? There will be more than just one swarm. As much is guaranteed,” he continued, hand moving through the air like an orchestra conductor’s, leading us all to where he wanted us at, and we wholly powerless to stop him. “How long can we realistically keep an eye on three, five, seven or even more hordes at the same time before they finally catch us off guard?”
Unsurprisingly, nobody disagreed with him. The floral curtains swayed in the gentle summer breeze, and I focused on their undulation, sipping my bitter black coffee. Einar did the same, making it abundantly clear that he wouldn’t speak anymore. He was waiting for somebody else to say exactly what he wanted them to say.
“That German bloke mentioned something ’bout Bastia?” Russ mentioned tentatively. “A new gov’nment. Maybe ... they could ’elp somehoo?”
Einar’s lips hardened, his jaw tightening subtly in an expression of displeasure I knew well. That was not it, what Russ had said, not the thing he had been waiting to hear.
“If they could have, they would have. But we’ll circle back to Bastia ...”
“I think it’s even more urgent that we talk about the bikers,” Albert volunteered his opinion, and Einar’s eyes shone as if he were about to shout ‘Bingo!’
“Exactly right, Albert!” Einar said in a gravelly tone of voice. “They have to go, as much is clear.”
Albert, Russ, and Jean-Luc all protested this in their way: shaking their heads, pleading, shouting.
“I, for one, agree with Einar,” I piped in, poor young Emma’s face still on my mind. “I’m not sure how he plans to?—”
“Agree with what, you dumb twat?!” Albert got up and marched closer, his face ruddy and his voice bleating with anger. “March into Bonifacio with bows against guns? We’ll be dead in a minute, you stupid bitch!”
Calmly, unhurriedly, Einar lifted me lightly off his lap, pushing me to the side of the armchair. Then, just as calmly, he got up. Albert had already turned pale and was muttering excuses under his breath when Einar grabbed him by the collar and slammed him hard against the wall. The impact resonated thunderously through the room, gone silent. Bits of peeling paint fell to the ground.
“You’re one of my best mates. I value you. And to keep peace with you, I haven’t interfered in your private affairs, no matter how many people have asked me to.”
Despite his impassioned words, Einar’s voice was one of a methodical, emotionless executioner, and his face was inches away from Albert’s as his hands closed around the latter’s throat.
“But I’m warning you, the next time you speak tomygirl this way will be the last time youeverspeak, because Iwillrip your tongue out and our friendship be damned. I don’t do bros-before-hoes. Insultingmywoman, or so-help-you-god harming her, is a capital offence against me. Foranyone.”
“Why does she keep interfering with our meetings then? Did I miss a vote where we all agreed to make her one of us?”
Reluctantly, I had to admire Albert for voicing these objections in the position he was in. The position in question being that his feet didn’t reach the floor and dangled comically. I had felt a nasty stab of satisfaction at seeing him so, and my gratification was spoiled somewhat by this little act of bravery.
“There’s nothing to vote about. In the time she’s been with us, she brought us weapons, trained our archers, and killed more infected than all of us put together. You, Russ, and poor Finlay have only ever been my counsel because you’re my mates. Jean-Luc is only here because our prior settlement was in his care. I alone was voted leader, me. Not you. Not any of you. And with all due respect to your contributions, Renata did a hell of a lot more to deserve her voice being heard here. I won’t have you disputing that anymore.”
Finally, Einar let Albert go, and the two of them stood awkwardly side by side, not looking at each other. I hid my face behind my cup of coffee, suppressing an unhinged desire to laugh at the farce of the scene.
“Mate, I’m with you one ’undred percent as far as Renny’s concerned,” Russ spoke carefully into the ensuing silence. “She’s got the biggest bollocks of us all. With’oot ’er we’d ’ave been proper foocked so many times. But marching on Bonifacio, mate, Albert’s right, that’s bonkers! It’s a fortress!”