Inkheart

39 . THE PUNISHMENT FOR TRAITORS

Meggie's shadow followed her like an evil spirit as she and Basta crossed the square outside the church. The glaring floodlights made the moon look faded.

It was not so bright inside the church. Capricorn's statue, looking down on them in the gloom, was pale and half swallowed up by the shadows. Between the columns it was as dark as if night had fled there to escape the floodlights. Only the place where Capricorn sat, leaning back in his armchair with a contemptuous expression and wrapped in a silk dressing gown that shimmered like peacock feathers, was illuminated by a single lamp. The Magpie stood behind him, appearing little more than a washed-out face above a black dress in the dim light. A fire was burning in one of the braziers at the foot of the steps. The smoke stung Meggie's eyes, and the flickering firelight danced on the red walls and columns as if the whole church were ablaze.

"Hang the rags outside his children's window as a final warning. " Capricorn's voice echoed in Meggie's ears, although he kept it lowered. "And soak them with gasoline until it's seeping out, " he told Cockerell, who was standing at the foot of the steps with two other men. "When that smell reaches the fool's nostrils first thing in the morning, perhaps he'll finally realize my patience is at an end."

Cockerell received the order with a brief nod, turned on his heel, and signaled to the other two to follow him. Their faces were blackened with soot, and each of the three wore a red rooster's feather in his buttonhole. "Ah, Silvertongue's daughter!" growled Cockerell sarcastically as he limped past Meggie. "Well, well, hasn't your father come for you yet? Doesn't seem very keen to see you, does he?" The other two laughed, and Meggie couldn't help the hot blood rising to her face.

"At last!" cried Capricorn as Basta stopped at the foot of the steps with his prisoner. "What kept you so long?" Something like a smile passed over the Magpie's face. She had pushed out her lower lip slightly, giving her thin face a look of great satisfaction, which troubled Meggie much more than Capricorn's mother's usual dark looks.

"The guard couldn't find the right key, " replied Basta irritably. "And then – well, I had to catch something. " The fairy began moving again as he held up his jacket, and its fabric bulged with her frenzied attempts to struggle free.

"What's that?" Capricorn's voice sounded impatient.

Have you taken to catching bats these days?"

Basta's lips quivered with annoyance, but he bit back his reply and, without a word, put his hand under the black cloth. Suppressing a curse, he produced the fairy. "Devil take these flickery little things!" he said angrily. "I'd forgotten how hard they can bite!"

One of Tinker Bell's wings was fluttering frantically; the other was held between Basta's fingers. Meggie couldn't watch. She was terribly ashamed of herself for luring this fragile little creature out of her book.

Capricorn looked at the fairy with an expression of distaste. "Where did that come from? And what kind is it? I never saw one with wings like that before. "

Basta took Peter Pan out of his waistband and put the book down on the steps. "I think it comes out of here, " he said. "Look at the picture on the cover. There are more pictures of her inside. And guess who read her out of it. " He squeezed Tinker Bell so hard that she gulped silently for air, while he laid his other hand on Meggie's shoulder. She tried to shake off his fingers, but Basta merely tightened his grip.

"The girl?" Capricorn sounded incredulous.

"Yes, and it seems as though she's as good at it as her father. Look at this fairy. " Basta grabbed Tinker Bell's slender legs and dangled her up in the air. "Seems perfectly all right, doesn't she? She can fly and scold and make tinkling sounds, all the things those stupid fairies do. "

"Interesting. Yes, very interesting indeed. " Capricorn rose from his chair, tightened the belt of his dressing gown, and came down the steps. He stopped beside the book that Basta had put down on them. "So it runs in the family!" he murmured as he bent to pick it up. Frowning, he looked at the cover. "Peter Pan, " he read. "Why, that's one of the books my old reader Darius particularly liked. Yes, now I remember. He once read to me from it. The idea was to lure out one of those pirates, but he failed miserably. He fetched a load of stinking fish and a rusty grappling iron into my bedroom instead. Didn't we punish him by making him eat the fish?"

Basta laughed. "Yes, but he was even more upset that you had his books taken away. He must have hidden this one. "

"So he must have. " Capricorn went over to Meggie, looking thoughtful. She would have liked to bite his fingers when he put his hand under her chin, turning her face so that she had to look straight into his lifeless eyes. "See how she looks at me, Basta?" he remarked mockingly. "Just as obstinate as her father always was. Better save that look for him, sweetheart. You're very angry with your father, I'm sure. But I couldn't care less where he is. Because from now on I have you, my new, my wonderfully talented reader – whereas you, well, you must hate him for abandoning you, right? Don't be ashamed of it. Hatred can be very inspiring. I never liked my own father either. "

Meggie turned her head aside when Capricorn finally let go of her chin. Her face was burning with shame and fury, and she could still feel his fingers as if they had left marks on her skin.

"Did Basta tell you why he was to bring you here so late at night?"

"To meet someone." Meggie tried to make her voice sound bold and unafraid, but she didn't succeed. The sobs in her throat would only let a whisper emerge.

"That's right!" Capricorn gave the Magpie a signal. She came down the steps and disappeared into the dark beyond the columns. A little later there was a creaking sound above Meggie's head, and when she looked up to the roof in alarm she saw something being lowered from the darkness: a net, no, two nets such as she had seen in fishing boats. They stopped and hung there about five meters above the floor, just over Meggie's head, and only then did she see human figures caught in the coarse ropes – like birds entangled in the netting over a fruit tree. Meggie was feeling dizzy just from looking up. What must it be like to be dangling up there, held only by a few cords?

"Well, don't you recognize your old friend?" Capricorn put his hands in his dressing-gown pockets. Tinker Bell was still held in Basta's fingers like a broken doll. Her faint tinkling was the only sound to be heard. "Yes, I see you do!" There was no mistaking the satisfaction in Capricorn's voice. "That's what happens to filthy little traitors who steal keys and set prisoners free."

Meggie refused to look at Capricorn. She had eyes only for Dustfinger.

"Hello, Meggie! You look rather pale!" he called down. He was trying very hard to sound lighthearted, but Meggie heard the terror in his voice. She knew what voices meant. "I'm supposed to give you love from your father! He'll come for you soon, he says, and he won't come alone. "

"You'll make a teller of fairy tales yet if you carry on like that, fire-eater!" Basta called up. "But even the girl here doesn't believe that tale. You'll have to think up something better!"

Meggie stared up at Dustfinger. She so wanted to believe him.

"Basta, let go of that poor fairy!" he called to his old enemy. "Send her up to me. It's far too long since I saw one of those. "

"Oh, I bet you'd like that. No, I'm keeping her for myself!" replied Basta, flicking Tinker Bell's tiny nose with his finger. "I've heard that fairies keep bad luck away if you keep them in your house. I'll put her in one of those big glass wine jugs. You were always so keen on fairies – what do they eat? Do I feed her flies, or what?"

Tinker Bell braced her arms against his fingers and tried desperately to free her second wing. She managed it, too, but Basta had a strong grip on her legs, and hard as she fluttered she couldn't break free. At last, with a quiet tinkle, she gave up. Her light was hardly any brighter now than a candle flickering out.

"Do you know why I had the girl brought here, Dustfinger?" called Capricorn up to his prisoner. "She was to persuade you to tell us something about her father and where he is – if you really know anything, which I begin to doubt. But now I don't need the information anymore. The daughter can take her father's place, and just at the right time, too! For I've decided that we must think up something really special for your punishment. Something impressive, something memorable! After all, that's only right for a traitor, isn't it? Can you guess what my idea is? No? Then let me give you a clue. In your honor, my new reader will read aloud to us from Inkheart. It's your favorite book, after all, even though I know you're not very fond of the character I want her to bring out of it. Her father would have fetched that old friend for me long ago if you hadn't helped him to escape, but now his daughter will do it. Can you guess who it is I mean?"

Dustfinger laid his scarred cheek against the net. "Oh yes, indeed I can. How could I ever forget him?" he said so quietly that Meggie could hardly make out the words.

"Why are you talking only about the fire-eater's punishment?" The Magpie had appeared between the columns again. "Have you forgotten our little mute pigeon, Resa? Her treachery was at least as bad as his. " She looked up at the second net with a disdainful expression.

"Yes, to be sure!" There was something almost like regret in Capricorn's voice. "Ah, what a waste – but there's nothing else for it. "

Meggie couldn't see the face of the woman dangling in the second net just beyond Dustfinger. She saw only the dark blond hair, a blue dress, and slender hands clinging to the ropes.

Capricorn sighed heavily. "It really is a shame, " he said, turning to Dustfinger. "Why did you have to pick on her, of all people? Couldn't you have persuaded one of the others to go nosing around for you? I really have had a weakness for her, ever since that useless Darius read her out of the book for me. It never bothered me that she lost her voice in the process. No, far from it, I stupidly assumed that meant I could trust her more. Did you know her hair used to look like spun gold?"

"Yes, I remember that, " said Dustfinger hoarsely. "But in your presence it's turned darker."

"Nonsense!" Capricorn frowned with annoyance. "Maybe we should try fairy dust. Sprinkled with a little fairy dust, they say, even brass will look like gold. Perhaps it works on a woman's hair as well. "

"Hardly worth the trouble!" said the Magpie mockingly. "Unless you want her to look particularly beautiful for her execution."

"Oh, never mind. " Capricorn turned abruptly and went back to the steps. Meggie hardly noticed. She was looking up at the strange woman. Capricorn's words were working away feverishly in her mind: hair like spun gold… that useless reader Darius… No, it couldn't be true. She stared up, narrowing her eyes to see the face better through the ropes, but it was hidden in dark shadows.

"Good. " Capricorn dropped into his chair again with another heavy sigh. "How long will we need for the preparations? It all should be done properly, I think. "

"Two days. " The Magpie climbed the steps and took up her position behind him. "If you want to summon the men from the other bases, that is."

Capricorn frowned. "Yes, why not? It's time to show everyone a little example. Discipline has left much to be desired recently." He looked at Basta as he said this, and Basta bowed his head as if all the misdemeanors of the last few days weighed heavily on him. "The day after tomorrow, then, " Capricorn went on. "When darkness falls. I want Darius to carry out another experiment with the girl first. Get her to read something out of a book, anything – I just want to make sure that fairy didn't turn up by pure chance."

Basta had wrapped Tinker Bell in his jacket again. Meggie wanted to put her hands over her ears so as not to hear the feeble tinkling sounds the fairy was making. She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling and looked up at Capricorn.

"But I won't read aloud for you!" she said. Her voice rang out through the church at twice its usual volume. "Not a word! I won't read you out any treasure, and I certainly won't read out some kind of – of executioner!" She spat the word into Capricorn's face.

But Capricorn only toyed with the belt of his dressing gown, looking bored. "Take her away, " he told Basta. "It's late. The child must get some sleep. "

Basta prodded Meggie in the back. "You heard. Go on, get moving."

Meggie looked up at Dustfinger one last time, then walked uncertainly down the nave ahead of Basta. When she passed below the second net she looked up again. The unknown woman's face was still hidden, but she thought she could make out her eyes, and a slender nose… and if she imagined the hair somewhat lighter in color -

"Go on, I said!" snapped Basta.

Meggie obeyed, but she kept looking back. "I won't do it!" she cried when she had almost reached the church porch. "I swear! I won't read anyone here. Ever!"

"Oh, don't swear oaths you can't keep!" whispered Basta as he pushed the door open and led her out into the brightly floodlit square.