Iain Pears - Arcadia

‘Jaqui left Hooke and travelled to Willdon, fell in with the forester Callan and waited. A wanderer, a man of no name or place, Callan called him. He stole the knife which was next seen buried in Thenald’s chest.

‘Then it seems he returned to Hooke and took up his life once more, waiting for the day he believed would prove his own importance. This is the only account which makes sense.

‘Certainly Jaqui was at Hooke until a few weeks ago, but as the day he had awaited approached, he left for the last time. I sent my student to find him, but he had gone. He was on his way here, to witness his triumph.

‘The rest is clear. He perpetrated the most terrible crime to summon the gods, perhaps in revenge for the way he had been treated in this life. He dared to return to this place, to defile the sanctuary of Esilio. Such evil impiety could not be tolerated. The monstrosity of the deed caused the heavens themselves to protest. The spirit did not respond to Gontal’s call for someone with more authority than himself. Rather, he responded to the sacrilege of a murderer daring to set foot in his sanctuary, and claiming the sanction of the gods for evil deeds. Jaqui’s foul presence summoned Esilio to this place to right the crimes and false accusations he has brought down on us.

‘His presence, I say. For the hermit Jaqui is amongst us now.’

Henary lifted his arm and pointed at the figure the apparition had told him to look for. ‘There he is. There is the murderer of Thenald. Bring him forward.’

Lytten saw from the corner of his eye that Antros went down swiftly on one knee as Henary finished his dramatic speech and reached for an arrow to slot into place. About thirty feet, Lytten guessed. An easy shot.

It wasn’t necessary, though. The man Henary pointed out did not try to run. Nor did he shout or protest. He simply stood there, and when a couple of the soldiers of Willdon approached he allowed them to take him by both arms and lead him forwards. There was an odd smile of satisfaction on his haggard face, half obscured by the tangled mat of hair.

They walked him towards the Shrine, and there he struggled free. ‘Get off me,’ he said. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

They did, but stayed close as the man walked slowly forwards.

‘I’m afraid we’ve never been introduced properly, even though we met briefly in my driveway. My name is Henry Lytten,’ Lytten said, once the bedraggled figure stood in front of him and he had waved the crowd away. This was not a conversation either wanted overheard.

‘Alexander Chang.’

‘And you are?’

‘I am — or was — a member of the research institute which employed Angela Meerson. I was sent to find her before she kills us all.’

‘You are beginning to have my sympathy there. What is this place, Mr Chang? Do you know? I’m afraid I have only the faintest idea, and that doesn’t make much sense.’

Chang laughed harshly. ‘Well now,’ he said. ‘That’s a long story.’

‘I know. It’s my story. But it seems very real at the moment. Is it?’

‘As real as you and me. Which is to say, not very, but all we have.’

‘You seem to have had a rough time in the last couple of days.’

‘I’ve been here for more than five years.’

‘I saw you two days ago.’

‘Accidents happen when Angela is involved. Why did she get you to come here?’

‘She didn’t. She’s under arrest at the moment.’

‘Good,’ Chang said vehemently. ‘I hope they use the pliers on her.’

‘The what?’ Lytten was puzzled, but passed over the remark. ‘How did you end up here?’

‘She needed to know what this place is, and I needed to hide from you.’

‘Did you find out?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘And?’

‘You will forgive me for being blunt, but as you can see my situation is not good here. I’m afraid knowledge has its price.’

‘What is yours?’

‘I need to stay alive for a few more hours. Angela said she’d open the device for me here at dusk.’

‘I see.’

‘Dusk on the fifth day of the Festivity of the fifth year. They don’t have a universal system for dating, and that was the best direction she could come up with. But Thenald was in his seventh year, and young and healthy, as Henary said. I was afraid I’d be stuck here for ever. I had no choice.’

‘So you really did kill Thenald? Henary got it right?’

‘I had to. It was the most horrible and revolting thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I’m a scientist, for heaven’s sake, not a cutthroat. Take it as a measure of how desperate I was. It took me months to recover, and I’m not sure I ever did. I still have nightmares about it.’

‘How did you get Catherine on the throne?’

‘I didn’t. It didn’t matter to me who took over. As long as the clock was set to zero, so to speak, it was of no importance who it was.’

‘Then tell me—’

‘No. I’m not saying any more unless you promise to get me out of here. This place is unstable. Besides, even if they don’t kill me, I’ll kill myself if I have to stay much longer.’

‘I’ll see what I can do. Just answer my questions as I pose them.’

‘The matter is settled,’ Lytten said in a booming voice. ‘You will all hear the truth from his own mouth. Jaqui, Hermit of Hooke, do you, freely and without force, confess to the murder of Thenald, Lord of Willdon?’

‘I do,’ the hermit said defiantly, causing a wave of relief to spread through the crowd, followed by a murmur of anger.

‘Did you do this on behalf of any other person?’

‘I did not.’

‘Did any other person know of your intention before you committed this terrible deed?’

‘No.’

‘Did you ever meet, know or communicate with either Pamarchon, nephew of Thenald, or Catherine, widow of Thenald?’

‘I did not.’

‘Then I say to the people of Willdon that they should find you guilty of this most terrible crime. Do you so find him guilty?’

There was a roar of assent from the crowd, accompanied by shaking of fists.

‘Silence! Do not approach. Punishment is my prerogative.’

There was a long pause until the noise died away.

‘The punishment for the crime of murder is death, with the additional penalty of being refused the right to lay down your story. That is inadequate in this case. I say your very body will be expunged from this earth. As dusk falls, I will return whence I came and I will take you into the darkness. You will vanish as if you had never existed and will endure, for all eternity, the punishment due to someone who dares take the life of another. That is my judgement. If the people of this land accept it, then I declare the End of Days will have come and will have passed, never to return.’

He paused, then said in a voice so powerful it brooked no dissent, ‘If you do not accept it, I will destroy Anterwold so completely not even a memory of it remains.’

Even the most bloodthirsty and vindictive of people had never heard of any pronouncement so terrible and cruel. A groan of misery, almost of sympathy for the poor man who was to bear such punishment, rose up.

‘This man’s deeds called me here. Does anyone question my rights?’

No one dared respond.

‘Then go now. The matter is decided for ever. Settle the lordship of Willdon and restore harmony to this land.’

As the crowd slowly began to follow his instructions and started drifting away, Lytten turned to Catherine and Pamarchon. ‘I see that Gontal is already heading off,’ he said. ‘I would hurry as well, if I were you.’

‘I will leave guards to make sure that this man does not try to escape,’ Pamarchon said.

‘He will not. Besides, I think your men may have better things to do. I sense that I was not as persuasive with Gontal as I had hoped. He looks unhappy, and I know what that look means. He wants to be ruler of Willdon so very badly, poor fellow, and this is his last chance. And do not suddenly become tempted by power yourself, young man. I do not want you to have Willdon, and you could win it only at the price of losing Rosalind.’