“Indeed. Now get on with it. And if I think you’re lying, I’ll hand you over to Bramley as quick as two shakes of a lamb’s tail and no questions asked.”
Cale said nothing for a few seconds and then sighed as if he had made a decision.
“The three of us are Redeemers’ acolytes from the Great Sanctuary at Shotover.”
“Ah, the truth,” said Vipond, smiling. “It has a ring about it, don’t you find? And the girl?”
“We were looking for food in the combs-tunnels and hallways the Redeemers had closed off. We stumbled across her in a place we’ve never heard of. There were others like her.”
“Women in the Sanctuary? How very strange! Or perhaps not.”
“We were seen with the girl and we had no choice. We had to go on the lam.”
“A very great risk, I understand.”
“There was no risk at all if we’d stayed.”
“Quite so.” He thought about what he had heard for a minute or so as the two walked slowly in step around the courtyard, side by side. “And the Scablands?”
“It was the best place to hide-you can’t see far because of all the hillocks and eskers that break it up.”
“The Redeemers hunt with dogs. I’ve seen one-ugly as death but great sniffers.”
“I’d worked out how to stop them.” Cale explained, omitting the detail of his double escape. The fact of their escape may have been true, but whatever Vipond said, the events leading up to it did not sound true. And besides, they had all agreed to keep their story simple after Kleist’s half-witted attempt to claim they were gypsies. It was clear that whatever the Redeemers had told them about the gypsies was a lie: there had been no treacherous attack on the Sanctuary sixty years before followed by a punitive but restrained expedition to teach the gypsies to behave themselves in future. They must have massacred them to the last child.
“Will you hand us over to the Redeemer search party?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Vipond laughed. “Good question. But we’ve no reason to. We don’t even have diplomatic relations. We only deal with them through the Duena.”
“Who are the Duena?”
“Do you know what a mercenary is?”
“Someone who kills for pay.”
“The Duena are mercenaries who are paid to negotiate instead of kill. We have so little in the way of dealings with the Redeemers it’s cheaper to pay someone else to do it on our behalf. Time for a change, I think. We’ve been remiss in remaining ignorant. You could be very useful. Their war in the Eastern Breaks has kept them busy for a hundred years. Perhaps they are planning something here-perhaps elsewhere. It’s time we knew more.” He smiled at the boy. “So perhaps you can trust me, because you can be of use.”
“Yes,” said Cale thoughtfully. “Perhaps.”
By now they had returned to the outer door of the cells. Vipond gave it a hefty thump with his fist and it opened immediately. He turned to Cale.
“In a few days you will be moved somewhere more comfortable. Until then you will be made more welcome-decent food and exercise.”
Cale nodded and went through the door, which shut quickly behind him.
Vipond turned as Albin came up behind him. “How very curious, my dear Albin; not like any children I’ve ever met. If any Redeemers turn up looking for them, they are to be told nothing and kept in the outskirts. The boys are to have house-arrest status.”
And with that Vipond walked away, calling out over his shoulder, “Bring the girl to me tomorrow at eleven.”
12
So, Riba,” said Vipond, affable as a kindly schoolmaster, “until these three young men stumbled upon this attempt by a Redeemer to assault you and during which he was knocked unconscious, you were completely unaware of the presence of men in the Sanctuary?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And yet you had lived there since you were ten years old and had been treated, from what you say, like a little princess? That’s very strange, don’t you think?”
“It was what I was used to, sir. We were given nearly everything we wanted, and the only strict rule, for which the punishment would be terrible, was not to leave our grounds. They were very large and the walls impossible to climb. And we were happy.”
“Did the women in charge of you explain why you were being treated with such kindness and generosity?”
Riba sighed for the death of a long-held dream.
“They said that when we were fifteen we would be taken to become brides in a place more wonderful even than the Sanctuary, and we would be blissfully happy forever. But only if we became as perfect as possible.”
“Perfect? In what way?” asked the now slightly startled Vipond.
“Our skin must be without flaw, our hair shiny and manageable, we must have wide, bright eyes, our cheeks pink, our breasts round and large, our buttocks large and smooth and between our legs, under our arms, nor anywhere else except our heads were we to permit the growth of a single hair. We must be always interested and charming and always smell of flowers. We must never be angry or scold or be critical of other people, but be kind and affectionate and always ready with kisses and tenderness.”
Both Albin and Vipond were men of considerable experience and had seen and heard many strange things, but when Riba had finished, neither of them could think of a thing to say. It was Albin who finally spoke.
“To go back to the assault on you by this Redeemer. You’d never seen him before?”
“No, nor any man.”
“How,” asked Vipond, “did you practice your… tenderness? If you had no men.”
“On each other, sir.” This startled the two men even more.
“We would take it in turns and pretend to be tired and bad-tempered and shout a lot and bang doors, and one of the others would calm us down and be kind until we were happy.” She looked at them and realized that her answer had fallen short in some way. “Then there were the dolls.”
“The dolls?”
“Yes, the man dolls. We dressed them and massaged them and treated them like kings.”
“I see,” said Vipond.
“Me and Lena…” She stopped for a moment. “Lena was the girl the Redeemer killed-we were told we had been chosen to be sent to be married and live happily ever after. But then we were taken to that man’s room by our aunties-that’s what we called the women who brought us up and told us we were going to be married. But then that man came and he killed Lena.”
“Your aunties, they knew about what would happen to you?”
“Why would they do that, having been so kind to us? They must have been tricked.”
“Wasn’t it a strange coincidence,” said Albin, not now sure if they weren’t being led up the garden path, though she was, he thought, a brilliant liar if this was so, “that you should have come across this Redeemer and Cale all in twenty-four hours and that Cale should have arrived in the nick of time to save you?”
“Yes. I thought that-even at the time. How strange to come across four men at the same time after all those years-and one so cruel and the others risking their lives for me, for someone they didn’t know. Are such things common?”
“No,” said Vipond. “Not common. Thank you, Riba. That will be all for the moment.” He rang a bell in front of him. The door opened and in walked a young woman. She had about her the air of cool pride of any sixteen-year-old member of the aristocracy, as if she had seen everything and little of it held interest. But her eyes goggled when she saw Riba with her dark hair and enormous plump curves. Standing next to one another, they seemed to be creatures only distantly related.
“Riba, this is Mademoiselle Jane Weld, my niece. She is going to be looking after you for the next few days.”
Mademoiselle Jane, still boggled, nodded slightly. Riba just smiled nervously.
“Albin. Would you wait outside with Riba while I have a word with Mademoiselle Jane?”