"We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss."
Cassandra Claire—The Mortal Instruments
The group sits silently in the darkness, none of them having the energy to keep a conversation going when their execution is currently being planned in exquisite detail. The conversation had died ten minutes ago when the candleflame guttered and went out, keeping them from reading Resa's notes.
Julianne sits huddled in a corner of the cell, using her old dress as a makeshift stole. She's exhausted but forces herself to stay awake in case something happens. She can't keep her eyes open forever though, and they drift closed seemingly of their own accord. She doesn't even open them when she hears Basta's voice.
"Visitor for you, Dirtyfingers," he announces scornfully. "Silvertongue's youngest brat wants to say her goodbyes." That does catch her attention and she peers past the coffin to see her little sister standing with her slim fingers wrapped around the bars of the cell. Pianist's fingers, Mo calls them. Resa's fingers, he really means. "I wouldn't have allowed her this visit, but she threatened to bite her tongue and the Magpie's gotten soft in her old age."
"You're just angry that she isn't scared of you," Meggie says, eyes glued to her mother. Does she realize who Resa is? Does she look much different than that faded old picture Meggie had snuck out from under Mo's pillow?
"It's all a bit funny, isn't it," Basta continues, smoothly ignoring what Meggie had said. "Silvertongue brought you into this world and his witch of a daughter will read out your executioner."Julianne stands up slowly, walking until she's half-hidden behind Dustfinger as Meggie and Resa lock gazes. She knows, but she can't let Basta realize the connection or else he'll tell Capricorn, and everything will be so much worse. Meggie's eyes cut to Julianne for a quick second, taking in her slight nod before they move back to Resa.
"I wanted to apologize," Meggie says. She's talking to Dustfinger, but she's not staring at him. She's too fascinated by all the things she and Resa have in common.
"Apologize for what, princess," Dustfinger asks with that strange not-smile of his. She slowly glances at them, and Julianne's left wondering what's gotten the gears turning in that pretty head of hers.
"For tomorrow and what I have to do." After a quick glance at Basta, Julianne moves closer to the bars of the cell and covers Meggie's hands with her own. How can she be so calm right now? Three people will be executed tomorrow, and her own sister will be in charge of swinging the ax, yet Meggie's hands and voice are steady and she shows no sign of fear.
"We have a plan." Meggie traces the words carefully over the top of Julianne's hand, not even seeming to realize how they make Julianne relax the slightest bit. This is a system they used when they were younger and shared a room and didn't want Mo to know how late they were up. She and Fenoglio must have come up with something and they'll survive this after all.
Julianne gives her the slightest of nods to show that she understands, tracing a happy face on Meggie's hand. Her gaze moves back to Basta, finding him still standing at the foot of the stairs with his fingers around his rabbit's foot. That guy from American Outlaws had a rabbit's foot, she recalls. He was shot seconds after he dropped it. Maybe those things aren't lucky and Supernatural had it right all along.
"That's done, then," Basta states, clearly ready to get out of here. "Let's go, little witch. Don't need your voice going hoarse." But Meggie doesn't move, she grips the bars tighter as though she thinks that letting go means being left adrift at sea. Julianne sends a pointed look in Dustfinger's direction, nodding towards Basta. He catches on fast, inquiring about Tinker Bell.
"No worries." The words are easy to trace and Meggie understands them, but she's still biting her lip and beginning to tremble. Resa's moving around somewhere behind Julianne, and she can see her pressing a note into Dustfinger's hand in her peripheral. She wants Meggie to know who she is. Basta can't get his hands on it or they might all be in for something much worse than death.
"Basta," Dustfinger cries suddenly. "What's that in front of you? Watch out!" Basta jumps backwards as though a coiling snake is in front of him, and in his moment of distraction Dustfinger darts forward and thrusts the note into Meggie's hands.
"It's behind you," Julianne shouts. She points and hopes to draw Basta's attention away from Dustfinger's actions, but she isn't quick enough. He sees Meggie clench her fist around the note and storms over to pry it out of her hand.
"What's that," he demands. Julianne reaches through the bars, hitting him and trying to help her sister escape, but it's not enough to keep Basta from ripping the note away from Meggie. "A note, huh? Read it out loud, witch." He holds it up for Meggie to see, using his other hand to grab a fistful of Julianne's hair and forcing the left side of her face against the grate.
"No," Meggie says firmly.
"You can read it or I'll give your sister a pattern to match the fire-eater's." Basta's voice has dropped to a dangerous tone, one that promises bad things.
"Go ahead and read it," Dustfinger shrugs with a feigned nonchalance. "Basta knows I like a bottle of wine from time to time." Basta's hold on Julianne's hair loosens slightly, enough for her to move a few inches away from the bars, but not enough to escape entirely. He's a sadist and this is how he makes himself feel tough, by picking on people who can't fight back.
"Wine?" The laugh Basta gives is a mocking one. "And how do you think the child could sneak in some wine?" Basta continues laughing as Meggie reads the note silently, her eyes looking over the words quickly before darting back to their mother. "That sounds like you, Dirtyfingers, but I don't want you too drunk to notice your own death."
"It was worth a try, you have to give me that." Basta's amused expression changes to suspicion as he studies Dustfinger's scarred face, the other man looking far too pleased with himself.
"Then again, you were always the sneaky sort and there were too many letters in that note for a simple bottle of wine." His hold tightens again, smashing Julianne's cheek against the bars. She cries out when a few strands of hair are yanked out, hanging loosely from Basta's fingers. "What about it, sweetheart? You gonna read it to me or shall I take it to the Magpie?"
"I'll do it, but only if you give it to me," Meggie says. "There's not enough light where you're standing." He hands the note to her before he really thinks it over, just wanting to know what the letter says. Quick as lightening, Meggie has the note pressed back into Resa's hand.
"Give that back!" Julianne turns her head enough to sink her teeth into the tender flesh of his wrist, distracting him long enough for the note to be thrown to Dustfinger. Basta jerks backwards with a shout, shaking out his hand in pain. "Bitch!" In a fit of rage, he backhands Meggie hard enough to make her stumble. Resa has to pull Julianne back when she lunges for the bars, her teeth bared in a vicious snarl.
"How about it, Basta," Dustfinger taunts, standing just out of Basta's reach and waving the note back and forth. "Are you willing to come in here and face me or are you only brave enough to hit little girls and women?" There's an instant where Basta looks like he's going to faint at the thought of stepping into the cell, but then he's got Meggie pulled against him and his switchblade at her throat.
"Let her go," Julianne demands. Her fingers are curved like claws, ready to gouge his cheeks and anything else she could reach. He doesn't get to hurt Meggie like this, not ever.
"How did I know what your choice would be? You're the only coward down here, Basta. Too frightened to enter a crypt unless you have some backup while you hold knives to the throats of little girls. Come on now, Basta. I don't have any weapons in here and you have your knife, fight me if you want the note so badly."
After a moment of indecision, Basta pushes Meggie away from him roughly and digs through his pockets for the keys. Cautiously, Dustfinger makes sure the women aren't near the bars before backing away himself, quick and graceful like a man used to avoiding people. He's terrified, Julianne can see it in the way his eyes have darkened.
"Be careful," she whispers to him as Basta steps inside.
"You may as well put the knife away. You know how disappointed Capricorn would be if you killed me now. He may even have you take my place."
"Oh, I'm not going to kill you," Basta promises. His breaths come out as panicked gasps as he shuts the door of the cell behind him. Dustfinger backs farther away until he's near the coffin, acting like the cat when he's really the mouse.
"You want to add a few more patterns to my face?" His words come out in a rush, little more than a whisper, but they seem loud down here. "Don't expect me not to fight this time because I've picked up a few tricks since that day." Basta is barely a foot away from Dustfinger and Julianne finds herself clutching at her mom as the tension ratchets up a notch.
"Have you now? And what would they be? That friend you had in the other world isn't here to save you and you don't even have that stinking animal you're so fond of."
"I was always more inclined to words than violence, you know this." Dustfinger rests a hand on the cracked stone lid of the coffin, his fingers splayed out. "The fairies did more than heal my face that day, they taught me how to curse someone. They were sorry about the cuts I suffered at your hand and they knew I've never been much of a fighter."
"You're lying."
"I curse you, Basta. I curse you by the bones of the dead man lying in this coffin. I'll bet no priest's body occupies here now, I'll bet it's the bones of someone you were in charge of disposing of. Am I right, Basta?" Basta says nothing, his face ashen from terror. "An old coffin like this makes an excellent hiding place. May his spirit haunt you, Basta! May he breathe my name in your ear every time you take a step!"
"Stop this!" Basta's hand clutches the rabbit's foot around his neck and Dustfinger gives a mocking chuckle.
"That thing won't help you now! Do you feel hot yet? Are your limbs trembling?" Basta doesn't take the abuse this time, his hand clenching his knife tightly. He lunges at Dustfinger, but the fire-eater is too fast and dances away. "Fire is faster than you!"
"Give me the note," Basta screams, but Dustfinger slips the note into his pants pocket. What will Basta do if his newest amulet is taken away? Will he faint or run or fight even harder to get it back? Resa has the same idea, pulling a stone out of her pocket that fits comfortably in her palm, ready to throw it if Dustfinger needs help. She used to carry stones like that around all the time, using them to keep book covers from curling up.
"Shall I touch you, Basta?" Dustfinger continues to back away from Basta, like a dancer spinning circles around his partner. His hand is still pressed against the stone lid.
"I'll cut off your dirty fingers if you even try to touch me! All ten of them and your tongue too!" He lunges again, but the knife only slices through air and misses flesh as Dustfinger jumps back. He seems so fearless as he dances around Basta, skillfully avoiding being cut by the wickedly sharp blade until he finds himself trapped in a corner with nowhere else to escape.
Julianne nods and Resa throws the stone, hitting Basta's head hard enough to make him look at them with a stunned expression. Dustfinger manages to snatch the knife out of his hand while Basta's distracted by the pain, leaving him to stare from his empty hand to where his knife is know pointed at his chest.
"This is much better," Dustfinger says with some satisfaction. "It's about time that you found out how it feels to be on the other end of this. Do you see how soft your own flesh is?" He pokes Basta's stomach with the blade for emphasis, careful not to draw blood yet. "You can't get a new body when this one's through. What was it you and your friends enjoy doing to small animals again? Flatnose loves describing it—"
"I don't hunt animals," Basta interrupts, voice cracking from his fear.
"So you don't, but I do know what you like to do to helpless women. Perhaps I should hold you down and let Juli whip your back with your own belt?" The thought makes a dark satisfaction curl up in her chest like smoke, itching to lash out and hurt.
"You don't actually think you can get out of the village alive, do you? You'll all be shot before you get to the parking lot."
"I'd rather be shot than meet the Shadow, though you all shoot as well as those Stormtroopers in that ridiculous film Juli made me watch."
"Oh, you know you liked those movies," Julianne says, voice little more than a whisper of air. Resa moves closer to Dustfinger, miming writing with her finger. Dustfinger fishes through his pockets, drawing the note out and passing it to her. She writes something else on it before handing it back to Dustfinger. He reads it slowly, her writing no doubt hard to make out in the limited lighting. Juli knows from experience how small her writing is and she's sure it's hard on Dustfinger's inexperienced eyes.
"No, I can't wait until dark, but perhaps the girl should stay here." Dustfinger's gaze moves to where Meggie is watching all of them outside the bars. "She'll be safer here since Capricorn thinks of her as a treasure." He stows the note in his pants pocket again, running the tip of his stolen knife over the buttons on Basta's shirt. "You and Juli go on over to the stairs and we'll stroll out of here when I'm done. If anyone asks, I'll tell them I'm taking you both to get supplies." Resa opens the door of the cell and moves over to clutch at Meggie's hand, but Julianne stays inside to watch Dustfinger.
"Dustfinger, you don't have to do this." Julianne moves forward and pulls at the arm hanging by his side, nodding towards the open gate. "Let's just knock him out and all of us can find a way to sneak out of here. If anyone knows how to get out undetected, then it's you
"You better thrust hard, Dirtyfingers," Basta snarls when Dustfinger doesn't lower the knife. "You have to practice in order to kill someone properly." Angered, Dustfinger yanks his arm out of Julianne's grasp and holds the front of Basta's snow-white shirt, the knife under his chin.
"Killing is easy," Dustfinger growls lowly," as easy as scaring a child or throwing a book into a fire."
"You're better than him," Julianne says, pleading. Dustfinger's hands are shaking, but his face is hard as he stares down at the shorter man. Just as Julianne thinks he's going to drive the knife up and end Basta's life, Dustfinger uses his free hand to dig through Basta's pocket and grab the keys. He steps away from Basta, drawing Julianne back with him.
"I don't know very much about killing and I don't plan on learning the craft."
"A wise choice, Dusty." Julianne runs out of the cell and over to her family, hugging them tightly as Dustfinger locks the door of the cell with Basta still inside. The other man gives them a contemptuous smile, strolling to the front of the cell. Dustfinger tugs on Julianne and Resa, trying to get them to go with him to the stairs.
"We have to go now while we have a chance. Meggie's safer than any of us in this place!" Basta begins taunting Dustfinger through the bars, his words only making Dustfinger's nerves fray a little more.
"She's my baby sister, I can't just leave her in a village with a maniac."
"We can't take her with us, little bird. I promise you, Mo will get her out of this!" Basta begins yelling loudly, his shouts echoing off the stone walls and amplifying.
"Why didn't you gag him," Meggie demands, her tone alarmed as she looks from Basta to Dustfinger.
"With what, princess?" Footsteps sound overhead and Dustfinger curses under his breath, giving Julianne a look as though asking forgiveness. She doesn't understand it until he's got her slung over his shoulders like he had the night of her lashing, sprinting for the stairs with Meggie and Resa left behind. He's forced to duck behind a column as men run past them, sliding Julianne back to her feet and covering her mouth with his hand. One of the younger boys at the back of the group spots the movement, running towards the front with wide eyes.
And like shadows they slip outside, unnoticed by anyone else.