The CRES code

Chapter Forty Eight - Reprieve

     "Take this," said Loach, holding out a kitchen knife.

     Jane took it and stared at it nervously. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked.

     "When the orcs come, try to stab one of them," the mob boss told her. "You won't be able to hurt it, but it means it'll kill you quick and clean. They say that anyone they catch trying to hide or escape is tortured for a full day. You don't want that happening to you."

     "You think they'll break in then?"

     "These people have been fighting the orcs all their lives, as have their parents and their grandparents before them. They've gotten a pretty good idea what size of defence can hold off what size of orc army and they all seem pretty convinced they're going to get in. I wouldn't argue with that kind of expertise."

     Jane looked around at the massed ranks of the crime organisation gathered together in the main gaming room of the Halls of Valhalla. The heavies, the bouncers and the enforcers along with the less physically intimidating members of Loach's organisation; the clerks and the accountants, the dealers, greeters and croupiers of the gaming tables, most of them still dressed in their colourful and expensive club uniforms. They were all holding weapons. Mostly spears, but some of the larger men were holding spiked maces and heavy war hammers. Weapons designed to crush limbs and addle brains no matter how much armour their enemies were wearing. All preparing themselves for a glorious last stand if the orcs made it into the city.

     "If all these strong men were on the walls, helping in the city's defence, maybe the orcs wouldn't break in," she said.

     "There are fifty thousand men and women on the walls, and fifty of us. Not enough to make a difference," Loach replied. "And there's always the chance they won't break in. If they don't, I'll be needing these men to support my crime empire. With all the police and soldiers who'll have died on the wall, we could be looking at a golden age in the years to come even if Randall's plan to beat the machines comes to nothing."

     He turned to face the other hibernator. "Why are you here, anyway? You're apparently free to come and go through Harper's Wall at will. Why aren't you sheltering with the aristocrats? With another wall between you and the orcs you might hold out until the army arrives."

     "I tried," Jane admitted. "They've closed all the gates. They're not letting anyone through. I suppose they're afraid of a stampede of the riff raff pouring through, eating all their stored food and making the place look untidy." Loach nodded. It was precisely what he would have done in their place.  And even if I had gotten in ahead of the crowd," Jane continued, "they'd probably have just tossed me out again once they found out I wasn't a member of an aristocratic family. Philip might have given me sanctuary, but I'm pretty sure he'd have wanted too much in return."

     Loach grinned at her. It wasn't a pretty sight. "So you'd rather be torn apart by orcs than open your legs for a nobleman?"

     "I'm not afraid of death," Jane replied stiffly. "I know there's a better place waiting for those found worthy by God." And Emily might come through for us, she thought. We're the best chance she's got for saving her precious planet. That's one hell of an incentive.

     A smile of amusement creased her lips. The planet that's going to be destroyed anyway when the Day of Judgement comes, she thought. The Great Tribulation, when the world will be laid waste. And then it will be made anew when His reign on Earth begins. She felt a dizzying glow of wonder and amazement at the realisation that even Emily's madness and delusions were a part of God's great plan, that He had anticipated it all right back at the beginning. How could anyone go against the will of God when the acts of even the greatest sinner were an essential part of it?