“She is,” Mathias admitted. “Under normal circumstances the royal government would never permit…a rank-and-file soldier’s dictatorship. But the government hasn’t sent anyone our way. We have no idea what’s going on. And we have no means to convey our predicament.”
“They’ve probably given up on you. Either that, or the interior districts have their hands full.”
“And that’s what we wanna find out,” Nikki chimed in. She had been drinking ever since she’d arrived. She acted as carefree as always, but it was clear to Mathias that she drank more now than half a year ago. He was sure that, in her own way, she felt the same daily pressures and anxieties.
Mathias spoke to Gabriele again. “We did manage to send someone out, just once, and on horseback, to convey our situation. To the nearest interior district. But we’ve had no response.”
“This person hasn’t returned?”
“That’s right.”
“When are you talking about?”
“It was almost three months ago. Right when the Night Harvest first started.”
“And you’re sure this person didn’t just settle on the other side? I mean, life in an interior town would be better than, you know, this?”
“He’s not that kind of person.”
The man who’d left for Fuerth, the next district towards the interior, was Jarratt. He was an enormous, muscle-bound old man, and he, too, had been part of Klaus and Nikki’s band of outlaws.
“Perhaps we should move on to our reports, now?”
The voice of the bookstore’s owner, Derek, pulled Mathias back to the present. He was a friend of Suzanne, Mathias’ home tutor and one of their family servants. Mathias had often visited the store─the bookstore that stood beneath them now─when he was younger to buy certain books at her behest.
It was Derek whom Mathias had approached when he’d first formed the idea of setting up a resistance. While he’d only done so in the belief that Derek would at least not betray him, the aging proprietor turned out to have a great number of trustworthy friends─more specifically, friends who were “bibliophiles, anti-establishment by nature” who welcomed a resistance movement against the regime.
“Not that I have anything worth reporting, of course,” Derek conceded.
“Nor do I,” said Klaus.
“How’s Bernhardt holding up?” Nikki asked Amanda, the fifth member of the resistance leadership in attendance.
She was the only one they had on the inside. Though she served as Rita’s deputy, apparently they were the same rank. She was attractive, cold, and the one who had broken Mathias’ arm four months earlier.
Early that morning, Mathias had been on his way to a meeting when Garrison soldiers had spotted him. They’d given chase, and he’d been cornered into a back alley. When he’d tried to resist arrest, Amanda had blithely snapped his arm. Yet, just as he thought he would be taken in, events took a surprising turn.
Confirming that she had no subordinates nearby, Amanda put her mouth up to his ear and told him she wanted to join the resistance.
Mathias of course feigned ignorance. She had just broken his best arm. The pain was excruciating, he’d come out in an oily sweat, and he had tears in his eyes. He doubted another man would have extended his trust under such circumstances.
Unruffled, and, without his asking, Amanda began to explain in great detail the state of the Garrison Regiment that controlled Quinta. That was when Mathias first learned Bernhardt was being kept alive.
Bernhardt.
He had been the outlaws’ leader, that is to say, Klaus and Nikki’s boss. After Mathias accidentally shot and killed the boy soldier in Rita’s retinue, Bernhardt alone had been captured. As a result, he had borne the full brunt of her rage.
At first he’d only been held in confinement, but since the Night Harvest began he was being sent outside solo and in handcuffs. While he’d once belonged to the Military Police Brigade, even he couldn’t take on a Titan with his hands tied. And so he followed orders, harvesting through the night and returning to Quinta at dawn.
In this way, once every few days, Rita exposed him to the greatest possible terror and humiliation. That she didn’t kill him, despite harboring such visceral resentment, probably reflected strategic thinking on her part: kept alive, he might serve to lure in Mathias and his friends.
Her thinking was spot on.
Klaus and Nikki had only joined the resistance to rescue Bern-hardt. As wanted criminals, and with no network of their own in Quinta, they couldn’t afford to shrug off Mathias’ connections and knowledge.
“Just the same.” Amanda outlined Bernhardt’s situation to everyone present. “She sends him out to gather fruit, on separate days from the others so he’s alone. Handcuffed.”
“She’s treating him like a dog,” Klaus hissed.
“Worse, no?” Amanda continued impassively. “He gets practically no food at all. He’s left to eat stuff raw when he’s out gathering.”
Nikki angled her head. “So, just vegetables and fruit?”
Amanda nodded. “I heard that he eats rats, too. Although I can’t say for sure, as we haven’t spoken in person.”
Nikki grimaced and made a retching sound.
Amanda went on some more. “I only caught a brief glimpse from the top of the wall, but he looked like he’d lost a lot of weight. You might not even recognize him even if you ran into him.”
“Can’t you do something?” Nikki asked for the umpteenth time. “You are in the Garrison and all. Be great if you sneaked him out, ey?”
“If I could do that, I would have a long time ago. I’m not in charge of him, so I can’t get close. I could put in to be reallocated, I suppose, but I’d come under suspicion. The girl doesn’t trust me all that much.”
The girl. Amanda was the only one there who referred to Rita that way.
“Then you shouldn’t try,” cautioned Mathias.
For the moment Amanda was their only contact on the inside. They couldn’t risk losing her because of some ill-conceived plan.
Amanda pinched her eyes in disgust. “You know she keeps a tighter watch on him than she does on the food and drink. It’s like he’s some kind of prize.”
It suggested how obsessed she’d become with him. That, in turn, suggested how obsessed she’d become with Mathias.
There was another powerful gust of wind. Mathias gazed out towards the wall enclosing the town. Cannons were spaced at regular intervals, with soldiers patrolling between them. Baking under the direct sunlight, they looked as miserable as one might expect.
Derek shuffled in his chair. “It would appear we have no choice, then, but to use the Night Harvest. Somebody leaves a day ahead, finds somewhere to spend the night, and contacts Bernhardt the next day. If we hand him the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, can’t he bring his helper back over the wall as well?”
Bernhardt had been in the Military Police Brigade. He was an expert with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. Even with both hands tied, he wouldn’t find it a particular challenge to scale the wall with a couple of other people.
“If it was just getting through the night, maybe,” Klaus said, looking and sounding grim. “The problem is that we’d have to last the day.”
“Right,” Mathias agreed. “Even if we’re lucky and there is a harvest the day before, we’d still need to spend a full day outside. That’s when the Titans are at their most active. If one found us, we’d be eaten alive. And they’re naturally drawn to people.”
“Whole day without a horse─might be kinda tough.”
Nikki was leaning back in her chair, gazing up at the azure sky. She was right. With a horse there was at least the possibility of escape, even if a Titan did spot you. On foot, escape was all but impossible.
Amanda’s hand moved to her hip. Off duty and in plain civilian attire, she wasn’t carrying any weapons. “I can secure the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, but a horse is pushing it.”
Nikki brought her head back forwards. “I’d be happy to go,” she offered.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Mathias said, “but if we’re doing this at all, we ought to go with people already familiar with the exterior. So Nikki, and─”
“Me, right?” Klaus turned to face them again.
“Yes. However, I can’t help but imagine the worst-case scenario. Especially since Jarratt hasn’t returned.”
He was probably dead. If the worst happened and they ended up losing Klaus and Nikki too, the resistance’s ability to fight would be significantly diminished.
“What if we practice using it a little?”
Amanda frowned at Nikki’s proposal. “Practice using what?”
“The Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. We’d be taking it with us either way, right? To give to Bernhardt. If we learned how to use it, we might be able to get away even if a Titan did find us during the day. We could go up the wall, go up a big tree.”
“You can’t use the wall. The soldiers would definitely see you during the daytime.”
Amanda knew every route the soldiers patrolled, along with the times of their shifts.
Derek modestly stated his own objection. “If you were seen they would shore up their guard, even supposing you weren’t caught. We would lose all hope of rescuing Bernhardt.”
“Plus,” Amanda added, “it’s extremely difficult for an amateur to hit a tree. You’d need three months of practice at least.”
“Oh well, that’s a shame,” Nikki buckled and made a show of looking dejected.
Mathias got to his feet and said, “Let’s wait and see just a little longer. Maybe something will change in the way they’re guarding him.”
“What if he dies in the meantime?” Klaus demanded. In other words, the more time they took, the greater the chances were of Bernhardt wasting away and expiring or becoming feed for a Titan.
“We need to hurry, of course. We do, but we want as many people on our side as possible if we’re to take some concrete form of action.”
“Right, canvassing.” Klaus made a derisory snort. “You’re sure that’s not our main goal these days?”
“I’m sure.”
The goal was to end Rita’s stampede.
Try as he might, Mathias was unable to forget it.