71

Chapter 51

Stone tells me not to interrupt, and that he'll explain everything. While we're walking.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, you lying traitor." I snarl, and, after a fair amount of arguing, he begins his tale. Sitting down. I know we should probably be trying to reach the peak before we die... And when we sit, we make no progress, and the rain is giving me chills... But I refuse to budge.
"My name is Coal, son of King Spade and Queen Ruby." He begins, and instantly I forget the rule about not interrupting.
"Whoa, wait, you even lied about your name? Why in the-"
"SHH!" He clamps his hand over my mouth. "Just. Don't. Talk. Okay?" He raises an eyebrow at me, and I nod stiffly.
"Where... Right, my parents-"
"I liked Stone better than Coal." I offer, still unable to make this adjustment. Part of me is still seeing the boy in front of me as Stone, the rugged and mysterious wolf-boy... But as he goes on, I find he's becoming more and more like Coal, the lying, scheming Ruler Prince of the City. As he talks, his posture slowly becomes straighter, almost as if his bones are adjusting as I watch, shoulders becoming broader, chin held higher, back straighter.
Now I fully understand why everyone was staring at him before- Nobody acts like that in the Wold. The people of the forest have adjusted to decades of hardship, of distrust, expecting the blow to come from anywhere and everywhere, every sound a warning, every crackle a Beast or Predator sneaking up on you from behind. Stone-Coal, I mean- Has lived his entire life proud and haughty, looking down on everyone else, the superior of his world. He's not afraid, and everything about him shows it.
It takes all my strength not to blurt out questions and comments at every turn of his story.
He's not fully of Royal blood. That much is obvious, because the Rulers must be of the Purest blood, only 100's. He is the son of the Queen, but not of the King. Fifteen, sixteen years ago, the Queen had... well, let's just say, Stone-Agh, Coal,'s father really is a Predator, whom the King executed immediately after word got out.
The Queen refused to let him kill her son, though. The boy (Coal) was obviously Impure- Worse, he was classified as Beast. But a bargain was struck- The boy would be allowed to live, as long as no one ever found out he was an Impurity, and that King Spade was not father.
"The rug!" I exclaim suddenly, and Sto-Coal looked at me concernedly. "Pine's rug,"I explain. "The one with pictures of the King and Queen, and then the Prince- I thought he looked a lot like you, but the picture was missing the ears..."
"Yeah... That really was a gift from my father, his son..." He ruffles his hair again, probably knowing how I feel about yet another lie. "Anyways, yeah..."
There was another part of the deal that allowed S-Coal refuge in the City. He would act as the Ruler's personal assassin. That meant when somebody escaped from the Testing... He was charged with killing them.
"So... It wasn't an accident... You didn't find me, you hunted me..." I whisper as the cold realization hits me full in the face. "You tracked me, you were going to kill me..." I frown, and look up into those blue eyes. "Why didn't you?"
He closes his eyes as if in pain, and when he opens them, they seem to have unfrozen.
"You... You were the first- The first ever to escape the Tests..." He shakes his head. "The last person to escape... Well, it's never happened before.
"I was scared. Father- King Spade- came to me one day. 'Coal. It's time,' He said. "An Impurity has escaped from the Test. Hunt it down, and kill it." Coal shakes his head again, looking up pleadingly into the rain.
"My entire life, I had been trained for my purpose, to kill." Suddenly, he whips out both the swords, and whips them through the air, inches from my face. The fine blades slice neatly through the huge droplets raining from the sky, cutting every single one of them cleanly in two. "So I wasn't sure what to expect.
"And I was shocked even further when I stumbled across a wounded Impurity, sure enough, with a 71 branded on her neck. I could have killed you, right then, while you where unconscious, before I knew you." He grimaces and slides his swords back into their sheaths. "But I didn't. I couldn't. I-I decided to wait, and find out where you were going, and make sure you were the right one-"
"But it was only obvious," I cut it. "How many other people go running about the Wold with bullet wounds and blood numbers-"
"I know," He presses his hands into his face now, the rain pushing his hair down over the fingers. "I know... I knew, too. I knew, but I just couldn't kill you- You seemed so innocent-"
I snort out loud, but let him continue. "And I just couldn't justify it in my mind. It would be murder."
"So, what about the rebels? If you made it all up...?" I say after a long silence.
"Well, when you woke, I couldn't very well say I had been sent to kill you, could I? No, so while you were unconscious, I made up a story, and when you woke up, I told you I was going to find the rebels.
"When we made it to Pine's-Well, by then, I was certain you were the escapee. But for some reason, I-I can't explain it, but I kept with the story. While grandfather was fixing up your leg, I went around to the marketers, and the shop carts, spreading the word that a mysterious rebel force of both man and Beast was gathering in the mountains... And the more I said it, the more I believed it- The more I wanted it!
"As we made our way through the Wold, met so many refugees from the City, I became more and more aware that Order was a bad thing-"
"Of course it's a bad thing, it's the freaking Ruler's way of controlling our lives, separating us so we can't rebel! More than half the people they label Impure are human enough in their thinking to know that the Order is cruel, banning people who can't help what's in their blood! I understand wanting to make the Earth's population more human, fine, make rules for not having children if your blood is bad or something, but don't kill them!" I say, before realizing I'm off on one of my rants again. I wave him on.
"See, that's another thing that made me feel bad. You're so... Good." I raise an eyebrow at him. "I mean, whenever we met somebody who needed help, Bow and Clay, all those families the night of the snow storm, you did all you had in your power to help them! And here I am, a selfish half-Ruler, wallowing in self-pity because I have to kill you and if I don't I'll get kicked out- And then I realized; I don't want to go back. I don't want to have anything to do with the Order, unless it's while I'm taking it down."
"When did you realize that?" I say. I'm trying to buy time to think. Do I dare continue with him? He's a Ruler, of Royal blood. He's already lied so many times... He could just be lying again. But he sounds so truthful, his eyes so honest...
"The first time I kissed you. Right after rescuing Bow and Clay, after the ambush." He says sheepishly, and- do I detect a little color in his cheeks? Is he actually blushing?
"And that time when the Beast came up behind me...?" I say slowly, but I already know the answer.
"That was the only time I seriously considered... You know. I wasn't right that day, and bag thoughts were going through my head." He shakes his head again, as if trying to clear those very thoughts. "It was an off-day for me..."
I nod, trying to tell if he's telling the truth. What if I finally decide to trust him, and I wake up dead the next morning? Well, okay, I wouldn't actually wake up in that case... But still.
"So..." I say after a very long silence, broken only by the constant drumming of the rain on our heads. "What now?"
He looks at me for a very long time, then stands, and offers me his hand. "We build a rebellion."