Elysium

Chapter 15: Birds of Two Feathers

We heard the door was locked after they had ushered us in. It was a disappointment, although not an entirely unexpected one. What had we expected, actually? To ride into the Resistance camp and tell them simply to hand Mary over to us?

The room was small, and it was clear three people used to sleep there. Apart from the three bunks, there was nothing much there. Some clothes, washed and drying, were hanging in front of the small window. The window had no glass, just a mosquito net – and bars, so escaping from it seemed out of question. Behind the window, there was a dark jungle, now totally black, with the sounds of crickets and tree-frogs.

"At least they gave us beds", I said, and sat on one of them. "Not a nighthound cage." Max and Roland sat on another one, facing me.

"Do you think this place is Lymy?" asked Roland. "The secret headquarters of the Resistance?"

"Seems to me too modest, and too temporary", I said. "Or did Ramez tell you anything, Max?"

"In fact, he did", said Max. He seemed irritated at his failure to impress the Skull Princess and didn't smile victoriously, although what he told was a sort of victory in itself. "Ramez said Lymy is not one place. It's wherever she is. So, yes, this camp is Lymy for tonight. And if she travels, Lymy will be elsewhere."

"Aha", I said and raised my brow. "He was very confiding with you."

"Yes, he was", said Max. "After all, he's me. Or I'm him. Or we are both from the same origin, as Mir would have said."

The mentioning of Mir ushered in a moment of silence. We just looked at each other and seemed to understand something – an absence present that we couldn't put in words.

"What else did he tell you?" asked Roland. "I could follow only about half of what you were talking on our way here."

"He expects us to join them", said Max, as if it was a matter of fact. "Of course, I told him we are independent, and will return to our island once this deal is done."

"Well, I'm grateful you told him that", I said. I didn't like the idea of joining an armed insurgency against an enemy that controlled all the towns and possessed superior weaponry. Even if the Resistance's cause was just – something I was yet far too ignorant to assess – it didn't sound like my line of life.

"Though I'm the Prince Master", said Max, now somewhat ironically, "I would never align us with anyone without consulting the Council of Seven, and preferably also the Gathering of Boys."

"We're better off on our island", I said, "than fighting their war."

Max granted me a small smile. "I'm glad you so casually speak of our island these days", he said. "It's settling in you, isn't it? You've taken the Brotherhood to your heart. We make your heart beat stronger. And the island is in your heart, and though you may travel far, you'll always find the island in your heart. And us."

I looked at him and wondered how serious he meant his words to be, in a situation like our current one.

"What else did Ramez tell?" pressed Roland on. He seemed to know what he wanted to hear.

"He said they are everywhere", said Max, leaving the island in my heart. "The same stuff Brynhilde told us earlier, but now it comes from a higher source in the Resistance." Max smirked. "He told they only run training and hide burned and hunted members in the mountains. Beyond confusing tracks that lead through dangerous mahi-controlled forests to their montane lairs. He told me that most of their people are in the towns and villages, living normal lives. After you've been trained, that's what he said, you will quietly return to the society and assume your place there. They want to be one with the society, not separate from it. The state is their enemy – not the society."