It was like stepping back into a bad dream. Or, more accurately, like stepping from one part of a bad dream into another. The sights, the sounds, the smells—all of it came rushing back like a multiple slap in the face.
Even in the few days he'd been away, he'd managed to forget the squalor these slaves lived in. The squalor, and the filth, and the hunger.
And the hopelessness.
"To your left, one table back," Draycos murmured in his ear. "Seated beside Maerlynn."
"I see him," Jack murmured back. Noy was there, all right, looking tired but otherwise mostly recovered. Ready to go back to picking rainbow berries and making money for the Chookoock family.
For the rest of his life.
And as Jack thought about that, he felt something stirring inside him. A
strange sort of anger, of a kind he'd never felt before.
This was no place for a child. No place at all.
"You will go see if he is all right?" Draycos prompted.
"Sure," Jack said, heading that direction. The Jantri twins were there, too, sitting across from Noy and Maerlynn. They looked too tired to even talk. One of them—Grib—had a slapstick welt across his forehead.
And the stirring anger inside Jack started to burn with a white-hot glow.
"Yeah, we'll check him out," he told Draycos. "And then we're going to get him out."
"What?" the dragon asked, sounding startled. "Are you saying—?"
"Jack!" Maerlynn exclaimed as she caught sight of him. "Welcome back. We've been wondering where you were." "Sorry," Jack said, stepping to a spot between the twins. Greb had a fresh slapstick welt too, he saw now, angled across his shoulder. Fleck, or the Brummgas, must have been in especially good form today. "I got delayed. How are you feeling, Noy?"
"Okay," the boy said, smiling wanly up at him. "A little tired, but mostly okay."
"Good," Jack said. "Then go get your things together. We're leaving."
"What do you mean?" Maerlynn asked, frowning. "Her Thumbleness doesn't want him, too, does she?"
"I mean we're leaving this place," Jack said. "Out past the wall. To freedom."
The conversation at the nearby tables had faded away. "Jack, are you feeling all right?" Maerlynn asked, her forehead wrinkling as she stretched out a hand toward his cheek. "Here, let me see—"
"I'm not sick," Jack told her, pushing her hand roughly aside. "And I'm not hallucinating. I'm leaving. Right now. And I'm taking Noy with me."
"Wow," Noy breathed, his eyes wide. "Just like he said."
"Jack, you can't just walk out of here," Maerlynn said carefully. "They'll whip you for even trying. They may even kill you."
"They can take their best shot," Jack said. "It won't do them a scrap of good."
"Jack, you're scaring everyone," Maerlynn said, her voice low. "Please. Stop."
Abruptly, Jack realized that the whole room had gone dead quiet. Lifting his gaze, he looked around.
They were all looking back at him. All the slaves. Sitting silently, their meager meals forgotten. Most of the faces held scorn, he could see, or simple flat-out disbelief. Some of them, like Maerlynn had said, were clearly frightened by Jack's attitude.
Scorn, or disbelief, or fear.
But no hope.
They had been here too long, he realized. Whatever hope they might ever have had, Gazen and the Brummgas had burned out of them.
No, this was no place for a child. It was no place for anyone.
And it was about time someone did something about that.
"I'm leaving," he called, raising his voice so that it could be heard throughout the whole room. "Tonight. Anyone else hate this place enough to go with me?"
"You're a fool," an Eytra growled from two tables over. "Many have tried.
None have succeeded."
"Then I guess Noy and I will be the first," Jack said. "Does that mean you're not coming?"
"Jack, this isn't funny," Maerlynn said in a low voice. "Noy's parents tried to escape. They died. The Brummgas beat his father to death. Can't you see that all this is doing is bringing back horrible memories?"
"It's not bad to have memories, Maerlynn," Noy said. He was looking up at Jack, an oddly intense expression on his face. "Memories anchor us to the past, give us a sense of the present, and point the way to the future."
A tingle ran up Jack's back. That did not sound like Noy. Not at all. In fact, it sounded exactly like—
"What's that supposed to mean?" the Eytra asked with a sniff.
"It's something the gold dragon told me," Noy said. "He said that memories are what give us strength and courage."
"Noy, you have got to stop this nonsense," Maerlynn said firmly. "It was a dream. I told you that. Nothing but a dream."
"It was not a dream," Noy insisted. Abruptly, he stood up, wavering a little.
"Here's what he said." The night was calm, the battle near, The enemy was wet with fear.
Their ears were hearkened; They had darkened Memories we held so dear. And now at daybreak came the test.
Again we charged, straight to their best.
We cut them down: Sword, gun, and crown.
The battlefield with blood was dressed. Our vengeance thus we had achieved, The relics of our hope received.
And to the song, Twelve eons long, We add the lives of comrades grieved. He took a deep breath and looked at Maerlynn. "See?" he said defiantly. "I didn't make that up, either."
Maerlynn had a stunned look on her face. "Where did you hear that?" she asked.
"You couldn't just sit with him," Jack muttered toward his collar. "You had to sing, too."
"I told you—the dragon sang that to me," Noy said. "And he told me not to give up hope. That someday I would be free."
"That day is today, Noy," Jack said. "For you, and anyone else who wants to go."
"This dragon," a Parprin from across the room said in a husky voice. "What did it look like?"
"It was all gold," Noy said. "Smaller than dragons you hear about in stories.
He gave me food and juice, and he sang."
The Parprin flexed his ears and stood up. "All right. I'm in."
"What?" the Eytra demanded, turning in his seat to look at the Parprin. "Have you gone crazy, Muskrack?"
"The gold dragon is a symbol of hope and change," the Parprin said. "And what have we to lose?"
"Our lives, for starters," the Eytra said scornfully. "If you two humans want to be insane, go be insane somewhere else."
"I intend to," Jack promised. "On the far side of the wall." He looked down at Maerlynn. "Well?"
Maerlynn gave a deep sigh. "Jack... I can't. I have Grib and Greb and Lisssa to think about. What would they do without me?"
"So bring the twins along," Jack offered. "As for Lisssa, maybe we can pick her up on our way out."
"Pick her up where?" Greb asked. "She's—well, she was right here."
Jack frowned. "What do you mean, right here? She's at the Chookoock family mansion."
"No, she's not," Maerlynn said, frowning back. "How would she get there?"
"But—"
And then, the horrible truth hit him. Lisssa, stealing out to the frying pan every couple of hours. Lisssa, who had told him she only looked out for herself, coming to see how he was doing. Lisssa, risking her life with the Brummgan patrols to bring him food and blankets.
Lisssa, helping Gazen make sure Jack stayed put throughout the night.
Lisssa, a Brummgan informant.
"See?" Grib said, pointing behind Jack. "There she is."
Jack spun around. There she was, all right, slipping out the door into the night to report to her masters.