
are Army snipers shooting at them. Or maybe the Syndicalists are just trying
to keep us on our toes, who can know? Maybe someone doesn't like The Voice -
you want one?" He thrust a copy of the news-sheet of the Unification Party of
the People at Madeleine. Bligh reached into his pocket for some coins. "No,"
said the man, stopping him. "It is free, to a Friend of the Revolution."
It was now several minutes since there had been any shots. The queue at the
bakery had reformed and a man was chasing the horse and wagon along the
street. Bligh and Madeleine said their goodbyes to the news-sheet distributor
and continued on their way. This time, in unspoken agreement, they stayed
closer to the shelter of the buildings.
They had come to Anasty on impulse, perhaps the same impulse that had brought
Bligh wandering down into war-torn Trace the previous year. He had been in
Dona-Jez for over six months - the longest time he had lingered in one place
since walking out of school, six years earlier - but finally one morning, as
Madeleine sat astride his prostrate body, rubbing his tight shoulders, she had
asked him what was wrong. He tried to explain his need to keep moving, to
assure her that it was not her fault, that it was a part of the fabric of his
being. "Then lets go somewhere," she had said simply. "We could go to Anasty.
You must see it before it's all blown down." Walking through the battle-torn
streets, still shaky from the sniper shots, Bligh hoped that they had arrived
in time.
They stood on a crowded tram, hanging on to a broken handrail. The tram had
been hastily repainted in United Road Haulage colours, the old state livery
still showing in places through the two tones of red. Dribbles of paint ran
down the few unbroken windows and UPP news-sheets had been plastered across
the ceiling and the backs of the seats. Madeleine rested her head on Bligh's
shoulder so that he could feel her breath on his neck.
They disembarked at a place called Settlement Square. Here, the cobbled street
branched to form the perimeter of a paved rectangle containing two ornate
fountains and a statue of a mounted king which had been hauled down and partly
dismembered. Bligh remembered seeing a painting of this square, from before
the War. They had come here, now, to look for somewhere to stay.
To one side of Settlement Square was a low, imposing building, its windows
boarded and its brickwork scarred with artillery wounds and scorch marks. It
was the Metropolitan Hotel. It looked to be closed but even if it had been
open the prices would have been to high for Bligh and Madeleine.
They walked across to the fallen, partially dismembered monarch and Madeleine
said, "I was five when King Elleo died. All of Dona-Jez went into mourning,
but that was only show - for the patricians and their police. Behind closed
shutters the men got drunk and the women danced on tables and for months the
police picked on people for no reason at all, other than to show that they
were still in charge."
"And now that is all gone," said Bligh. "The people are in charge and the
statues lie broken in the streets. Do you not feel something awakening inside
you ... a new spirit trying to break free?"
"The fight isn't over yet," said Madeleine. "There's still more blood to
flow."
"Don't you feel the energy of it all?" He did not know how else to put it, the
sense of awakening he had experienced as he first crossed the border into
Trace. It had felt like some strange kind of homecoming.