Chapter 60

Basta was waiting for Dafne outside the church that evening. She found it a little hard to look at him after she first noticed him. He had presumably been torturing Silvertongue since they had last seen each other. She had watched him haul the other man off to do just that. It had been weighing heavily on her mind ever since. She might have found hard to look at Basta but she didn't object to him leading her around the side of the church to speak in private. He had taken her tray of food off her first and shoved it into the hands of one of the men passing by. Dafne recognised the man. It was Nico's cousin, Dante.

"Jackpot!" he said with a smile. Instead of taking it into the church, he headed off in the other direction. He obviously wasn't planning on sharing it. Dafne had watched him go with a flicker of amusement.

But there was nothing to be amused about now she was standing alone with Basta. His white shirt was shining in the moonlight but the red flower he wore reminded her of blood. She thought of the blood running down Silvertongue's head and remembered Basta threatening to drive his knife into the man's skull. The memory made her stomach churn.

As she thought about Silvertongue's injury, Basta was concentrating on hers,

"Poor little mouse," he said, his expression a mix of guilt and pity, "Does it hurt?"

It did hurt. It hurt along her cheekbone. But it was a dull ache. The irony of being struck by one of her favourite things was a sharper pain. She suspected such irony wasn't lost on Capricorn. He had most likely known that in going to strike her with it. He had accurately called Dafne a 'bookworm' once. A book was a crueller weapon to use against a bookworm than a fist. Yes, the irony was far more painful than the physical hurt.

Even so, when Basta reached out to touch her cheek, the pain seared hotter under the press of his fingertips. Dafne flinched and hissed,

"Ow."

Basta hastily drew his hand away apologetically,

"Sorry," he said, though Dafne was concentrating on her throbbing cheek to pay full attention, "I really am sorry little mouse."

Dafne had a feeling this apology wasn't restricted to accidently aggravating her tender cheek. So she tried to ignore the pain which was slowly subsiding back into dullness.

"I had no idea it was the wrong book," he went on, "I had no idea until Capricorn took the paper off it and told us so. Up until that point I thought..." he instinctively reached for her cheek again but stopped himself, his hand hovering helplessly in the air before he lowered it sadly, "I thought Capricorn was going to give you back to me. I was so certain of it. He had been so pleased about Silvertongue. But then I handed him the book," he sighed, staring down at their feet miserably, "and everything went to hell."

"That's a good way of describing it," Dafne said with a rather hollow smile. Basta glanced up at her. "But I don't blame you bringing back the wrong book Basta," she found herself instinctively trying to comfort him "It was an honest mistake."

This was the truth after all. She didn't harbour any resentment towards him on that account. But Basta wasn't ready to forgive himself that easily.

"It was a stupid mistake," he said through gritted teeth, "It was a stupid, stupid mistake. I should have been more careful. I don't why I didn't check the book. I would have only had to look at it once to tell..." his frustration grew more intense, "Why didn't I look at it?" he looked up despairingly into the night sky, "If I had, Capricorn would have given you back to me by now..."

"You don't know that for sure," Dafne cut in gently, thinking about what Pietro had told her the day he left.

Capricorn isn't going to hand you over to Basta just like that. Not when withholding you ensures complete diligence from Basta.

Not that the latter had been the case as far as the book was concerned. Basta was currently cursing his lack of diligence.

"Why would he have refused though?" Basta said agitatedly, "I brought him Silvertongue, the man he's been after for years. And Silvertongue's copy of Inkheart is the last one we need to complete the collection. We have all the others. If I had given him Silvertongue and the right book like I was supposed to, what reason would he have had to deny me you?"

Because he's an evil bastard, Dafne thought.

"What is Capricorn planning on doing with all the copies of Inkheart?" she enquired instead.

Dafne had never thought to ask why Signor Orazio's copy had been stolen along with every other copy of Inkheart bar Silvertongue's at the present time. It surprised her that she hadn't. The book was the reason Basta and the other two had come to Signor Orazio's house in the first place and decided to take her too.

"That's not important right now," Basta dismissed her question, "What's important is the fact he doesn't have all of them because of my stupid mistake. A mistake I never should have made. I failed," his expression was pained as he made this admission, "I failed and you got punished. You got hurt because of me."

He eyed the place where Capricorn had struck her. Dafne wondered if there was a bruise. She didn't have a mirror to check for herself. Bruise or not, Basta looked ashamed as if he had inflicted the blow himself. He hadn't of course. That had been Capricorn and she knew he didn't feel even the tiniest shred of guilt for doing so.

"I never wanted you to get hurt," Basta said mournfully.

"I know you didn't," Dafne said quietly, "But you shouldn't have attacked Silvertongue the way you did. There was no reason for it. He didn't hit me with the book."

Basta's brow furrowed in anger at the mention of the man's name. There was no regret on his face for Silvertongue as there had been for Dafne. No regret for piercing the man's forehead with a knife.

"No he didn't," he said in a hate-filled voice, "But Capricorn would have never hit you with that book if Silvertongue had given us the right one in the first place."

"But he said he didn't know it was the wrong book," Dafne said.

"So he says," Basta growled darkly.

"Even so there was no excuse for you to cut him the way you did," Dafne said, "It's not as though Capricorn beat me senseless with the book. He only hit me once and it was more of a shock than anything. At least it wasn't War and Peace. What you did to Silvertongue was a lot worse than what Capricorn did to me."

"Well I was angry," Basta said in defence, "Do you know how awful it was seeing Capricorn hit you the way he did. I thought he was going to hit you more than once too. I had no idea what do to do. Then I saw Silvertongue and I lost it."

"You should have lost it at Capricorn," Dafne said, "He's the one who hit me. Not Silvertongue," she pressed her lips together in a bitter line, "But I bet that thought never crossed your mind. If you had done to Capricorn what you were threatening to do to Silvertongue, all our troubles might have been over then and there."

Basta regarded her with wide incredulous eyes,

"What are you saying?"

"That it would be better for us if Capricorn died," Dafne said, "I wish he would drop dead right now."

Dafne saw fear burst into Basta's eyes as he took hold of her shoulders,

"Shut up!" he hissed, shaking her, "Don't say something like that out loud."

"Why?" Dafne said defiantly, "It's the truth. I want Capricorn to die."

"I said shut up!" Basta shook her more forcefully, "Do you want someone to hear you and dob you into Capricorn? He won't take that kind of talk lightly I can tell you right now."

"There's no one around Basta," Dafne said, though she couldn't see around the corner of the church to see if that was correct, "It's just you and me. So unless you're going to dob me in..."

"I wouldn't do that," Basta said with angry indignation, "I would never do that. But others, like Cockerell who has it in for you, they would go to Capricorn. If they do, the only person dying will be you."

"Would you try to save me if it came to that Basta?" Dafne asked him, "Or would you just stand by Capricorn's side and say well I tried to warn you little mouse."

Basta sighed,

"Why don't you keep your mouth shut so we avoid that whole scenario little mouse," he said wearily.

"But I want to know if you would choose Capricorn over me," Dafne said, "Who is more important to you?"

Basta's face twitched in agitation then softened. His hands moved restlessly about in front of his chest. He wanted to touch her. Dafne sensed that. He usually stroked her cheek but he couldn't do that at the moment. He finally resolved to seize hold of her hands instead, caressing them in a rough insistent way.

"You are dear heart," he said tenderly, "You're more important to me than anyone else. Please believe me. I don't want you putting yourself in unnecessary danger to make me prove this to you."

"So you would rescue me?" Dafne said hopefully.

Basta nodded,

"If it came to that yes, but you need to promise me now that it won't," his expression was solemn and pleading, "Promise me you'll keep your opinions about Capricorn to yourself.

"I promise," Dafne said, she couldn't stop herself from adding, "I do hate him though."

Basta groaned,

"What did I just say?"

"But I do hate him," Dafne said passionately, "I hate what he's doing to us. I hate that he's getting you to..." she felt queasy even saying the words, "torture people," she looked him worriedly in the eye, "Did you hurt Silvertongue very badly?

Basta shook his head,

"No, no I didn't dear heart, much as I would have liked to," his expression became briefly apologetic as he remembered this wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to hear, "I only threatened him with my knife a bit. That's all. Not that it worked. He's a stubborn fool. But I found out Dustfinger is bringing his daughter here and I'm certain her presence will make him change his mind. Silvertongue isn't too worried about being hurt himself but his daughter is a different story. We only had to mention her name and he came with us to the village without a fuss. She'll be the key in getting him to read too."

Dafne felt sorry for Silvertongue and his daughter but also relieved at the same time.

"So you didn't... cut him or anything?"

"I threatened to but that's all."

"Why?" Dafne had to know, "Was it just because his daughter is being brought here?"

"Partly," Basta answered, "But I had already figured out that harming Silvertongue wouldn't make him agree to read. I cut him in Capricorn's room while threatening to kill him and that didn't work. I also knew you didn't like the idea of me torturing someone, even though I had no choice. I couldn't refuse to do it. Capricorn probably would have belted you with that book until I agreed. So I said yes but went about the whole thing kind of lazily. Not that Capricorn will ever know because soon Silvertongue's daughter will be here to convince daddy to read courtesy of old Dirtyfingers."

Basta's lips turned up in a small smirk,

"I bet you don't think he's so great now do you? Mr. Fire-eater who can do fancy tricks with matches. I bet you don't think too highly of him now he's taken to kidnapping little girls."

"No," Dafne said, "But you would have done it if Capricorn had asked you to."

"True," Basta said, "But I would have done it to prevent you being punished. Dirtyfingers is only doing it to help himself. He wants Silvertongue to read him back into our world."

"Dustfinger does seem to miss your world very much," Dafne said sympathetically.

Basta sneered,

"Oh that he does. Misses it like mad. Not me though. I'd never want to go back."

"Not even if I came with you?" Dafne asked.

Basta looked at her in surprise,

"Why, would you want to?"

Dafne considered it. The premise sounded exciting, being read into a book, but she had had enough adventure for one lifetime. If she ever left the village, she would be content with a very uneventful life.

"No."

Basta was relieved,

"I'm glad you don't. This world's a lot better."

"It is. Just not in this village," Dafne replied.

"Yes I know you hate the village," Basta said in a tone of voice that suggested he was sick of hearing about it, "That's why we'll leave someday."

It filled Dafne with excitement to hear him say this,

"You really mean that?"

Basta smiled,

"The way I see it, we either leave or you drive me insane with your complaining. I'd prefer to keep my sanity."

Dafne kissed him, thinking I hope you're telling the truth.

She wanted to believe he was. She wanted to believe there was light at the end of the tunnel. This very dark and seemingly endless tunnel.

To be continued...

Ooo you think he actually means it? We'll find it out!