now – is slipping past us, he gives me a small wineskin.
‘I don’t want that,’ I say. ‘I hate drinking.’
It’s true. When you’ve seen as many drunks as I have, you tend to steer well away.
‘Good. It’s not for you,’ the Quiet Gentleman says. ‘But you’re going to pretend that it is and tonight you’re going to make sure Jatty sees it. And when he takes it off you, which he will, you’re to say that it’s from my secret supply of wine and if I find out it’s gone there’ll be hell to pay.’
‘What then?’
‘Then he’ll drink it and that’s what we want,’ the Quiet Gentleman says.
‘But . . .’ I begin.
‘But nothing. Have you forgotten what you told me? Stuff ’em in a sack and drop ’em in the river. Do you think he’s joking?’
‘But why? Where is this place we’re going? And why are we going there? I need to know. Otherwise . . . it all just feels pointless.’
The Quiet Gentleman takes a deep breath as if he’s controlling himself. ‘All right,’ he says. ‘If it will help you.’
I nod.
‘There’s nowhere else in the world like Horizon City and there won’t be ever again. It’s the king’s brainchild and the people there are the thoughts that flit around it.’
‘But why?’
‘He wanted to break the priests. The old kings were gods, but only because the priests made them so. He changed all that. He said there’s one god, the sun, and he’s the only one that can talk to him. It’s a new city for a new idea.’
‘But why are you going?’ I say. ‘And why am I here? I thought I was just a hostage, but Jatty said you brought me along because I can make things.’
‘It’s better you don’t know.’
‘I need to know,’ I say. I try to talk like the Quiet Gentleman, level and patient, as if I can’t imagine not having the answer. I feel a little surge of excitement – and terror – as I meet his eye and hold his stare, trying to imitate it.
‘Well, well,’ he says. ‘We’re getting close to the city and it’s even changing mud boy into something new.’ He squats suddenly, until his face is close to mine. I can hear the breath in his nose. ‘You making things might help us, but it’s not the point,’ he says. ‘The point is that you and me, boy, are going to commit a new type of crime together. It’s going to be heinous.’
He’s smiling and for the first time since I met him, he actually looks happy.
‘But what?’ My voice has gone hoarse and my mouth is dry.
‘We’re going to the Horizon and, when we get there, we’re going to steal the light from the sun.’
He smiles and walks off, leaving me shaking.
The moon is down when the Quiet Gentleman wakes me. I feel alert, but not fully. The sky is very black and the stars are blurred behind a river mist. It’s cold, but I don’t feel it.
The Quiet Gentleman’s plan worked perfectly. I let Jatty see the wineskin and, as soon as he did, he snatched it from me. I pretended to protest and he just smiled his weak man’s smile. I meant to stay up and see what happened, but I couldn’t. I was suddenly too tired to do anything but curl up next to Imi and sleep.
‘We’ve been moving all night and we’re close to Horizon City,’ the Quiet Gentleman whispers. ‘It’s worked out perfectly. We’ve dropped anchor in just the right place.’
The boat is rocking gently, creaking on its ropes.
‘Feel that? A little river joins the Great River here. Makes for turbulence. The little river runs past the city of Taaud. Know who their god was?’
I shake my head.
‘Sobek the crocodile. The priests honoured him by building his children a sacred lagoon. Biggest crocodiles I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. So many and so well fed you could walk across the lagoon on their backs. Can you guess what happened when the old gods were banned?’
I shake my head.
‘The king’s soldiers broke the dam between the lagoon and the river and let the crocodiles out. A lot of them died, but a lot of them didn’t. This whole stretch of river is full of monsters. Very hungry monsters.’
‘I don’t want to know,’ I say.
‘You don’t need to know. All you have to do is keep watch, boy, while I do the deed.’
‘But . . .’
‘Remember what he was going to do to you and your sister.’
Too many big thoughts to turn into words. They just rush around in a panic, going nowhere. I should do something. I can’t do anything. But is not doing anything really all right?
Jatty’s a huddled shape lying against the side of the boat, close to us all in the bows. He’s snoring quietly.
The Quiet Gentleman takes something out of his pocket and there’s the sound of string snapping. I tell myself that Jatty was going to kill us and this is our last chance to stop him and this is to protect Imi, it’s all to protect Imi, and only a coward would do nothing when there was a chance to stop it.
It’s only when the Quiet Gentleman slips the thin string around Jatty’s neck that I look away and clamp my hands over my ears. Next thing I know, the Quiet Gentleman’s leaning over the side of the boat, dropping Jatty’s body into the water so gently he never makes a sound. Then he’s just a shape, floating, bobbing and swirling away as the current takes him.
It’s not long before I hear a splash and see the flash of white in the river as the first crocodile finds him.
Then another.
And another.
I turn and my heart nearly stops beating. Imi’s standing there. She’s looking at me with eyes so wide I can see the stars in them.
‘He’s gone,’ she says.
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Jatty’s gone.’
‘Where?’ she asks.
‘I think the old gods have found him,’ I say. ‘It’s all right. We’re arriving at the City soon. It’s going to be exciting, Imi. It’s going to be a new start.’
I can see her mouth about to form another word, so I add: ‘He was going to do bad things to us, Imi. Now he can’t. Just remember that. Now we’ve got a chance of surviving.’
‘Where?’
