“Very well,” the Mayor says, sounding almost cheerful. “But I should send one of your men to the cellar so you can start taking the cure immediately. I can read all your plans perfectly clearly, and you wouldn’t want that.”
Pot Belly looks back. Todd nods at him and Pot Belly jogs on up the steps past the Mayor. “Just back and down,” the Mayor points. “The way’s quite clear.”
Todd takes the rope and walks towards the Mayor, moving past the guns pointed at him. My hands are sweating into the reins.
It can’t be this easy.
It can’t–
The Mayor holds out his wrists and Todd hesitates, not wanting to actually get near him. “He tries anything funny,” Todd says, without looking back. “Shoot him.”
“Gladly,” Ivan says.
Todd reaches forward and starts winding the rope around the Mayor’s wrists.
We hear footsteps in the cathedral. Pot Belly comes jogging back, out of breath, his Noise a storm.
“You said it was in the cellar, Lieutenant.”
“It is,” Todd says. “I saw it there.”
Pot Belly shakes his head. “Empty. Completely empty.”
Todd looks back at the Mayor. “Then you moved it. Where is it?”
“Or what?” the Mayor says. “You’ll shoot me?”
“I’d actually prefer that option,” Ivan says.
“Where did you move it?” Todd says again, his voice strong, angry.
The Mayor looks at him, then looks around at all the men, and finally looks up to me on horseback.
“It was you I was worried about,” he says. “But you can hardly walk, can you?”
“Don’t you look at her,” Todd spits, stepping closer to him. “You keep yer filthy eyes off her.”
The Mayor smiles again, his hands still out, loosely bound by rope. “Very well,” he says. “I’ll tell you.”
He looks around at everyone again, still smiling.
“I burnt it,” says the Mayor. “After the Spackle sadly left us, there was no more need and so I burnt every last pill, every last plant that the pills were made from, and then I blew up the processing lab and blamed it on the Answer.”
There’s a shocked silence. We can hear the ROAR of the army in the distance, marching up that hill, keeping on towards their goal.
“You’re a liar,” Ivan finally says, stepping forward, gun still raised. “And a stupid one, at that.”
“We can’t hear yer Noise,” Todd says. “You can’t have burnt it all.”
“Ah, but Todd, my son,” the Mayor says, shaking his head. “I have never taken the cure.”
Another silence. I hear suspicions rising in the Noise of the men. I even see a few of them step back, thoughts of the Mayor’s power, thoughts of what he can do. Maybe he can control his Noise. And if he can do that–
“He’s lying,” I say, remembering Mistress Coyle’s words. “He’s the President of Lies.”
“Well, at least you finally called me President,” the Mayor says.
Todd gives the Mayor a shove. “Tell us where it is.”
The Mayor stumbles back a step, then regains his balance. He looks around at us all again. I can hear everyone’s Noise rising, Todd’s most of all, red and loud.
“I tell no lies, gentlemen,” says the Mayor. “If you only have the right discipline, Noise can be controlled. It can be silenced.” He looks around at each of us again, his smile reappearing. “It can be used.”
I AM THE CIRCLE AND THE CIRCLE IS ME, I hear.
But I can’t tell if it’s from his Noise–
Or Todd’s.
“I’ve had just about enough of this!” Ivan shouts.
“You know, Private Farrow,” says the Mayor, “so have I.”
And that’s when he attacks.
[TODD]
I feel the first strike of Noise fly by me, a whooshing of concentrated words and sound and pictures rushing over my shoulder, straight for the men with rifles. I flinch away and dive for the ground–
Cuz the men start firing their guns–
And I’m right in the way–
“Todd!” I hear Viola shout but the rifles are firing and the men are screaming and I roll on the rubble, jarring my elbow, and whip round to see Corporal Pot Belly on his knees in front of Angharrad, his back turned, both hands on the sides of his head, screaming wordlessly down into the ground, Viola watching him, wondering what the hell is going on. Another guard has fallen on his back, fingers in his eyes, as if he’s trying to dig them out, and a third lies unconshus on his stomach. Two others are already running back into the city.
The Noise flies from the Mayor, louder and stronger than anything I’ve seen before.
Way louder than at the Office of the Ask.
Loud enough to take out five men at once.
Only Ivan still stands, one hand up to his ear and the other trying to aim his rifle at the Mayor but weaving it dangerously around–
BANG
A bullet smacks the ground in front of my eyes, sending dust and dirt up into them–
BANG
Another bounces off stones deep in the cathedral–
“IVAN!” I shout.
BANG
“Stop firing! Yer gonna get us killed!”
BANG
His rifle goes off right by Angharrad’s head. She rears up and I see Viola grab the reins, surprised, holding on for dear life–
And then I see the Mayor is walking forward and forward and forward–
His eyes on the men he’s attacking–
Coming past me–
And I don’t even think–
I leap from the ground to stop him–
And he turns and sends his Noise straight at me–
The world goes all bright, terribly, painfully bright, like every-one can see how much you hurt, everyone watching and laughing and nowhere to hide and YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING all bound up tight like a bullet right thru you, telling you everything that’s wrong with you, everything you ever done bad in yer life, telling you yer worthless, yer dirt, YER NOTHING, yer life ain’t got no point nor reason nor purpose and you should just tear down the walls of yerself, ripping apart who you are and either die or give it up as a gift, as a gift to the one who can save you, as a gift to the man who can control you, who can take it all away, who can make everything fine fine fine–