A Dance

PART EIGHT

a metallic clang woke Sonia. She had not realised she had fallen asleep. The first clang was soon followed by more, and the sound of immense cogs turning. At the end of the great hall, the braziers were being re-lit with purple and blue flames. The light from them revealed two vast, stone plates moving to meet the bridge in the middle. Sonia was not surprised, the floor had often been moved in this way when she was still living here. This time must be for a dance or something of that sort. Sure enough, when the ground was again still, from all sides there rushed girls in blue dancing dresses and makeup, who all froze in varying positions.

 The edges of the hall slowly and silently filled with people, a high pitched note rang through the hall and the dance began. It was very lively and energetic at first, then became smoother and more fluid. At one point several dancers sprang high in the air. As one of them came down, her foot hit someone's hand and she lost control and crashed onto the floor.

 The music ceased playing as a stunned silence settled over everything. Nobody moved. The girl didn't get up. The sudden hush was cut short as someone shouted, Sonia didn't hear what they said, but immediately after, two rough-looking men raced out from the crowd and dragged the unconscious girl away. This was unfortunate and unexpected, but the dance must go on. It continued without mishap till the end, when a man, who Sonia recognised as Ivan, dashed onto the floor, scattering the dancers as he went. When at a safe distance, the dancers turned and knelt before him. Ivan darted over to the side nearest Sonia and seized the arm of an auburn haired dancer. He led the uncertain looking girl to the middle of the floor where he released her arm and shouted, “Shine! You have won...”

“Shine!” thought Sonia. “It's Shine, what a surprise.”

“...the privilege of appearing at the ball this evening!” Applause. “And of being allowed access to the royal living area!” More applause. “And an identification plate for your wrist!” Gasps and murmurs from the crowd, but also applause. An identification plate meant you were always being watched, that there were certain places where you could not go because of invisible fencing, and perhaps worst of all, you could never take it off. This kind of thing only happened to very dangerous people or prisoners, never to anyone else. Sonia decided Ivan must not like Shine, which was good, life was bad enough without having those two in league with each other.

“A nice sort of prize.” Someone muttered contemptuously behind Sonia. Shine didn't protest, she knew as well as anyone what this meant, but she also knew, like everyone else did, that whatever lord Ivan commanded must be carried out without a fuss of any kind. Sonia felt no sympathy whatsoever for Shine, who had never been particularly nice to her, although Sonia hadn't ever tried to be agreeable either. She had never liked Shine and she wasn't going to start now.

A door opening at the other end of the hall distracted everyone's attention. A man entered and pushing through the crowd, made his way to the center of the hall. It was Mirabell. He bowed low before Ivan and spoke quietly and rapidly. He finished, bowed again and disappeared into the crowd.

Ivan threw his arms in the air and exclaimed: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have more prisoners!” There was a roar of excitement and everyone rushed for the door except Mirabell. He walked over to Sonia's column and surveyed her with interest.

“So you said no?” he asked, folding his arms.

“Yes.” replied Sonia, sullenly.

“Good for you.” he said, smiling broadly. His attitude puzzled Sonia.

“What do you mean? I thought you wanted me to join.”

Mirabell unfolded his arms and sat down on a chair. “Well yes and no. I wanted you to join because if you didn't then they'd probably kill you or something worse. But if you didn't join, then I think it's a better choice. And if... if you got a chance to escape then you would be able to live a better life.”

“I'll never be able to get out of here.”

“Well you never know.” Mirabell didn't look at her.

“No, I know perfectly well. I've lived here for five years and never even been allowed into the actual city. How am I supposed to escape?”

“You never know.”

Sonia did not deign to reply.

Mirabell sighed. “Sonia, I'm only here because of something my father said. He and Chrystal never got on well. Apparently he was opposed to settling in Ivan City and said none of his descendants would work for her, so she shot him and made my entire family come here and help. I don't want to be here doing this, but I can't leave very easily. Someday things might change.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I think you need to know.” he got up, came over and unchained Sonia from the column. “I'm to take you to level six. You remember, the 'nice dungeon'. Follow me.”

Three Years Ago

PART SEVEN

Lord Ivan's maid glanced up from a romantic note she had received from one of the royal guards to see a small girl of perhaps fourteen years with close-cropped hair and wearing a rough suede jacket, (far too big for her), and brown corduroy trousers. She was carrying a rather untidy package in both hands.

“Oh!” the maid quickly hid the note in her sleeve, “Sonia, you startled me.”

The girl held up the package and began to speak in a flat, insincere voice. “I want to give my lord Ivan, second only to our great leader, Chrystal, and who is her adopted son, this gift, which I have slaved over for-”

“Yes, yes. I'll take it in for you.”

The maid was used to this kind of talk, it had been decreed by their great leader, Chrystal, that young Lord Ivan should be addressed and talked of in this manner, but hardly anyone did. In her very private opinion, which she shared with no one but the guard, who was secretly her admirer, the title was ridiculous. No one really had or needed a name that long, or so far as she knew, and if they did, no one would use it in casual conversation as they were ordered to do.

The girl didn't move.

“Come on.” It was not this girl's place to act so to her superiors, the maid thought. She should go and tell Mirabell about this, he was in charge of keeping the training force, as they were called, under control.

The girl continued in the same expressionless tone, “I wanted the privilege of giving it-”

“Alright, alright. On your own head be it if you get into trouble with him. But don't you say I didn't warn you.”

The girl bowed low and said, “Oh no, ma'am. It was farthest from my thoughts to say that you, oh most virtuous and kind lady, were to blame.” She bowed low again. The maid opened the door to a very comfortable room, entered behind the girl and knelt on the carpet in front of a large armchair, on which sat a boy of about seventeen, playing with the end of an ornate stick with a tassel attached. Beside him was a table, heaped with presents from various people.

“Lord Ivan,” she began, “second only to our great leader, Chrystal. You have another visitor with yet another present for you. Lord Ivan, I would have taken it to you myself, only she insisted. I would-”

The boy on the chair in front of her leapt to his feet and struck the maid with the stick on the side of the head. Sonia winced slightly as the blow was struck.

“Silence, slave!” said the boy, “When I desire excuses I shall ask for them. Now, leave me!”

“Yes, my lord.” replied the subdued maid. She rose, and silently left the room. The boy then turned on Sonia.

“And what do you want, Sonia?!”

Sonia walked sharply forward and kicked him on the shin.

“Happy birthday, Ivan.” She said, sarcastically. She placed the parcel on the table and walked out the door, leaving the stunned Ivan to himself. He sat there for a long time, then went over to the table to open the package. Inside was a small, iced, chocolate cake.

Meanwhile, Sonia, as soon as she had left the bright light of Ivan's quarters safely behind her, ran as fast as she could down the steps into the dimly lit world of the lower class living areas. As she sped through the bottom gallery overlooking the great hall, she ran straight into another small girl with auburn hair and a dancer's dress on. It was so dark Sonia wouldn't have been able to tell the colour if she hadn't known who it was.

“Sorry, Shine. I didn't see you.”

She rushed off again with the other girl's shout echoing after her, “You'd better be sorry! I was practicing my dance for this evening and now I'll have to start all over again! I'm going to tell my mother and she'll make you sorry!”

Sonia skidded to a halt and turned to shout back, “No you won't! Your mother never even looks at you!”

It was cruel, she reflected, as she began running again, but so hard to resist. And Shine didn't always behave like an angel to Sonia, so she felt partially justified. Shine was Chrystal's daughter but was never treated like one. Chrystal hated girls and so kept her at the far end of the palace and instead lavished her care and attention on Ivan, her adopted son. Shine lived with her nurse, Rhoda, who taught her to be a dancing girl at Chrystal's orders. Sonia teased her at every opportunity.

Sonia soon found herself in the training force's area. She didn't slow down until she reached the dormitory, where she fell on her bed and burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. She felt more like crying, but crying was weak. Everyone would make fun of her if they saw her crying. After about ten minutes, however, she got to her feet and went about her duties as usual. That evening as the training force was eating its dinner, a servant ran wailing down the steps and announced that Lord Ivan was ill from eating a chocolate cake given to him by Sonia that afternoon. No more than three days later, Sonia was left in the cold forest to stay for three years.

Ivan

PART SIX

Sonia knew why she was here; Mirabell had come for her with his men. He thought she was ready. Well she wasn't ready, she would never be ready and they could fool themselves all they wanted but the cold reality would still be there. At least, as long as they made her wear this dress. She hadn't worn a dress for years and was feeling somewhat uncertain about it. If anyone said anything to her about her dress she would kill them right then and there. She was in an enormous hall lit by six sizeable braziers and lined on the left wall with many galleries filled with people, conversing loudly. She remembered the hall. In front of her was a long, flat bridge, at the end of which some steps led up to a wide, flat space. There stood three men. The last time she had been here was when they had condemned her to stay in the cold forest.

 At a sign from one of them the noises died down. Sonia suddenly realised with horror that the man was now pointing at her and beckoning. She stepped forward onto the bridge. It seemed very long. Sonia was sure everyone was passing silent judgement and ridicule on her and wished desperately that she was somewhere else, preferably her hut or some nice dark, safe place. At last she reached the other side and walked up the steps. The man in the middle smiled condescendingly down at her. Sonia glared back at him.

“Sonia! he said, in a loud voice which reverberated around the hall, “Are you ready to become a member of our force and live your life as one of us?”

She was sure she recognised him from somewhere, but she couldn't quite remember where.

“To face the dangers of...” Ah yes, now she knew, “...and the cold and exposure of the frozen plains? What is your answer?” Sonia leapt at him and had him on the floor before he knew what was happening. The two other men started forward, but the first man waved them off. He appeared rather amused.

“I will never join your force, not as long as you are part of it, Ivan!” she hissed. She let him rise. “Still as spirited and unmanageable as before I see.” he brushed himself down, “My mother and Mirabell will have to see to you.”

“Your mother? She's not your mother. Your mother was poorer than mine!” His face began to redden.

“You have no right to say that, you daughter of a comma!”

(A comma is a small, black animal 30.48-46 cm (12-18.11 inches) long, which eats pretty much anything that is not poisonous and doesn't fight back or look dangerous. On the frozen plains it is the symbol of cowardice because of its fear of perhaps getting hurt).

Sonia forgot about the crowd and the guards and hit Ivan's nose with her fist as hard as she could. She watched in satisfaction as he fell back onto the floor with blood trickling from his nose. Next moment she was seized by the guards and dragged away to the other side of the bridge where they chained her to a column and left her. Sonia watched Ivan as he was taken away to have his nose seen to.

Ivan had been in the training force with Sonia and they had hated each other with a deadly hatred. One day he had put a baby cardan down her neck while she was eating, and another time he filled her hair with burrs so it had to be cut off. On that day Sonia had vowed she would hate Ivan for the rest of her life. Ivan was an orphan, found in the mountains by their leader Chrystal and then adopted by her. He therefore held authority over almost everyone there, which meant he could pretty much do what he liked. It also meant Sonia couldn't get back at him very easily, but she somehow managed to, and one thing led to another and ended up with her in the cold forest.

The Hidden City

PART FIVE
The wind howled and raged along the mountains. The snow falling from the clouds barely had time to settle on the ground between gusts before it was blown away again. Over the rocks near the base of one of the mountains clambered four people carrying bags: one woman and three men. They halted on a small ridge overlooking a valley at the end of which was a large cave.

  “There it is.” said the woman.

“Did you just find it?” said the man with the gun and no head covering.

“Yes. There's a whole city inside.” she moved as if to go but he held her back.

“If there is a city people will know about it and they'll find us and kill us, or do something even worse.”

“The people don't know about this place, neither do the controllers, so we're safe.”

The man looked skeptical,

“Saul, there's no one in the city.”

“What? How do you know?”

“We searched it. The only people there were dead. Oh yes, except one little boy.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No. why would I do something like that? I'm going to keep him.”

“Well I just thought maybe you would because of what you did to your daughter." Saul muttered, "But what about his parents?”

“His parents were dead. They must have died a few hours before we got there.”

“Aha.”

“We should go and check it out, shouldn't we, Chrystal?” said the second man,

“I think that's a good idea, Geoffrey.”

“I don't like it. Why would there be a city underground full of dead people for no apparent reason? They must have died of something.”

“Hunger, Saul. They died of hunger.”

The group made their way down the slope toward the cave.

“What sensible person would come to the cold forest without a gun to get food sir?”
Said Saul,

“We're not talking about sensible people, Saul, these were fanatics.” Geoffrey answered.

“Fanatics? In the cold forest?”

They entered the cave.

“Look, Saul.” Said Geoffrey, pointing at a tall and ornate arch on which were the words:

“You are now entering IVAN.” To one side was a touchscreen on a stand which lit up as the others passed under the arch. None of them took any notice of the horrible sight of a skeleton underneath it. Saul stood looking up at the words.

“The Hidden City. You can't use this place!”

“Oh can't I? I'm going to name the little boy after it.” Said Chrystal, turning and fixing on him a glance which would have silenced him at any other time, but not now.

“This city is sacred to the marchers! You can't just walk in and make it the home of thieves!”

“We are not thieves! The controllers are after us because they are cruel tyrants, we have a group of fighters to find shelter for and winter will soon be here. Do you have a better idea? Or are you going to turn traitor and join the controllers!”

“People on the long march will come here and find us. The Secret Architects who built this city didn't mean for people like us to move in.”

“Here we have a chance to become greater than we would anywhere else. If anyone comes in we pretend we were on the long march too and get them to join us. Think how many people will die if we just leave this place alone. We'll spread out and rally others to our cause. Anyone found within our territory, any likely followers, we capture and make them join us.”

“And what if they won't?”

“Oh then we kill them. When we have amassed a large enough force we will take over the world!”

“You said we would just overthrow the controllers, not-”

“That's just the first stage in my plan. If we do this properly no one will ever know where we are.”

“Chrystal! Saul! Are you frozen to the ground? Come on!”

“It's alright, Geoffrey, we were just discussing something.”

Chrystal began to make her way towards the other two, but Saul remained where he was.

“You are a power hungry maniac!” he shouted after her, “I will never be part of your plot! Neither will my children or my grandchildren!”

The gunshot echoed through the whole of the cave. It was followed by a cry and two more shots.

“Chrystal!”

“I'm alright. The traitor!” She shook her fist at the crumpled figure of Saul who had been shot twice in different places. A bullet had just grazed Chrystal's leg. Geoffrey rushed over and helped her to her feet.

“Should I finish him off, Chrystal?”

“No. We'll leave him to die here.”

They began walking further into the cave and were soon lost to sight. In a short while complete silence reigned.