Elysium

Chapter 23: The Apion Skirmish

The gunboat Sokol I arrived in the harbour. We saw the masses of people from her deck. They milled around the wharves like a living anguish, ignoring our Palatine boat and waving their hands at the Persephone. There were also guards at the wharves – some of them in Palatine uniforms and carrying firearms, while most in plainclothes; lay reservists to whom bows, swords, spears, and clubs had been distributed. The authorities seemed to fear the crowd waiting for the riverboat as much as the crowd feared them.

"People want out of the city", said Turhan, who stood by me. "They're waiting for the Persephone to be their saviour."

It reminded me of Roland's words on Persephone, the goddess of spring and growth, who had been forced to become the queen of the underworld.

"That crowd will never fit in one riverboat", I said, and cast worried looks at the deck of the Persephone, which loomed behind us. I wanted a glimpse of Mary, as if it protected her from the anxious crowd. "There will be a skirmish."

"Good", said Turhan laconically. "That'll keep the harbour guards busy. We'll sneak into the city."

"But the ship's full of mahis", I said. "What will happen if that crowd and the mahi warriors bump against each other?"

Turhan cast an awkward glance at me. "That's none of our business", he said. "The warriors have more important tasks to do in the city. Those are just civilians trying to flee. Folks who don't want to fight on anyone's side. They're weak."

"The city is in chaos", I said. "It's understandable that people seek safety. Fighting isn't everyone's way."

Turhan again glanced at me and his face seemed to emit the question 'how come it isn't'.

"I think the Resistance should help the civilians in distress", I said. "That would bring you more sympathy and popular support. What kind of freedom fighters are you if you don't defend their freedom?"

Turhan didn't like my words, but he first didn't say anything. He seemed to understand. Finally, he remarked: "It's up to Captain Kitt to decide. I mean, how many passengers he'll allow on board. As long as he leaves some place for us."

"For us?" I repeated. "So we're gonna continue by the same ship?"

Turhan glanced at me. "Too many questions", he murmured. "Let's get into the cabin."

*   *   *

Inside the cabin, the grotesque corpses of the River Palatines had been pulled neatly aside, and the sailors of the Persephone, dressed as Palatines, had the control of the gunboat. Killie was looking by approvingly when Max and Roland milked more information from the hazy-eyed Surinder about the harbour's security troops, their positions, and weaponry.

Turhan and Kunhan went to lower the water wings and pulled out the ropes.

Killie cast a questioning look at me, as if expecting me to pose the question in my mind. So, I posed it: "Killing these Palatines – was it self-defence, defending others, prevention of greater evil, or rightful vengeance?"

They were Brotherhood rules. I was not so sure of the Resistance's rules. But my question was, after all, equally posed at Max and Roland, who were interrogating the prisoner, though they did so in their smug, non-violent way. Roland, who recognized his rules, glanced back at me with a meaningful but mysterious smirk. He didn't think the question concerned them, as it had been Killie and his buddies who had killed the men.

"Killing them was necessary", said Killie.

"That's all?" I murmured, but then I fell quiet. I hadn't asked such things at the time in the waiting room of the trading house when Killie straightforwardly shot Strömming to the sofa. Faced with the gunboat, we had been in an at least equally threatening situation, and probably the Palatines had been even more dangerous than Babin's men.