When the eastern sky changed from gray to pale yellow, Virdon found that he wasn't prepared to die.
He was pretty sure he'd be able to keep up appearances and save his dignity, if not his life, but that didn't change the fact that his heart kept leaping against his ribs and his hands shook in a steady, if light, tremble that he couldn't suppress.
He hadn't slept all night; he'd listened against all hope for the sound of hoofbeats, for Pete's voice echoing from the houses bearing down on main square, for the door of his cell to open for his release. That door would open... but not for that.
And he had thought of his son. And of Sally, and he'd cried. Silently, and his head buried into the flat, lumpy pillow, to make sure he'd be alone and undisturbed with his fear, and his heartache.
Now he was staring down onto main square, where the execution platform was silently waiting for him. The town was still asleep; a few doves were waddling beneath the wooden beams, picking between the cobblestones.
He pushed away from the bars and turned to stare at the door. He... he should prepare for his walk, shouldn't he? Make peace with his life, and his fate, and lay his soul into the hands of God... He wished for a priest, even a simian one would do, no matter what religion they had, but the apes wouldn't send one for a human, just like nobody at home would send one for a dog that was about to be put down.
His head was empty; he felt like staring into a great void.
Like the last strands of a dream, words came back to him at last. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." His voice was a low murmur. He didn't want Mika to come gawking through the hole in his door, entertained by the human's antics. He wanted to have these few moments for himself.
Down on the square, the sharp crack of the announcer's rods chased up the doves.
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."
Another crack echoed from the walls.
"I will... I will fear no evil... but I do fear them! I do..." He buried his face in his hands. "Help me," he whispered. "Don't let me walk alone..."
The key was shoved into the lock of his door, and he quickly retreated to the far wall and rubbed his sleeve over his eyes.
Mika ambled into his cell and gestured him to turn against the wall. His hands were bound behind his back, and the warden took him by the arm to lead him out of his cell.
Where two chimpanzees were awaiting him. Virdon blinked.
He recognized the woman - Lora's mother. The other ape had to be her husband. Virdon remembered that he had tried to convince the prefect to forego the executions; the couple had to feel differently now, when their own daughter would die from the hands of the rebels. Perhaps she was already dead. He swallowed.
"I had no part in your daughter's fate," he said hoarsely, "but I still wanted to tell you that I'm so sorry for your loss..."
He let out a surprised little huff when the woman stepped forward and hugged him tightly. After a moment, she looked up to him and he saw that she had tears in her eyes.
"No, no - I am sorry. We are," she said. "We know you're innocent, and, and, this is all so terrible!"
"When a human is led up to the block, usually their family walks behind them," the other chimp said with a strained voice. "They do it to show their solidarity, I think. Aken had tried to forbid it, but without success." He smiled wanly. "One of the few things on which they defied him." He cleared his throat.
"Since you don't have a family, Lilia and I will walk with you - and also to protest against this wilful destruction of a life. We know you had nothing to do with... with Lora's..." His voice failed him.
Virdon felt his throat constrict; he just nodded - he didn't trust his voice right now, either.
But when the door opened to a golden morning, he found a strange calm descend on him, and his steps didn't falter even once.
He was getting the hang of this. Really, he was.
After the initial jerk and shock of finding himself on a rapidly moving animal, Burke had adjusted remarkably well to the rhythm of the horse. It helped that they had started with the horses' top speed, which translated into a rolling motion that was actually quite pleasant, as long as you managed to ignore the ground racing away underfoot.
Things had worsened after Katlin had slowed the horses down to a trot after a mile or so. Burke had always been pretty sure that he didn't want to sire children, but he'd have preferred it if the decision hadn't been taken out of his hands like that. He tried standing up in the stirrups, but found that he couldn't keep that position for too long. Soon he was back to having his balls massaged... and not too gently. Then there was the burning pain on the inside of his thighs...
Nope, not sold on the horse thing.
Right now, the horses had been slowed to a walk, and although Burke's body sighed with relief (some parts more than others), the urge to reach the town before sunrise made him itch to ram his heels into his horse's sides. Only the fact that Katlin held the reins kept him from racing away.
That and the insight that he'd probably end in a ditch. Still...
"We need to hurry up!"
"We need to give the horses some breathing space, or do you want them to break down under you?" Katlin's voice softened with her next words. "I know you're worried about your friend, Pete, but believe me, it's no use whipping them into a gallop for the whole distance. We'll be there in time, trust me."
But the sun had already risen and was about to push off from the horizon when they stopped on the top of the hill overlooking the prefect's town. Burke's pant legs were sticky from the horse's sweat and the poor creature was hanging its head - they had exhausted them despite the walking breaks. He leaned on the saddle horn and tried to catch his breath.
"Think they've already started?"
Katlin shook her head. "They need to round up the humans first. We could still be on time."
Could, eh?
"What if they decided on an early show?"
They spurred the horses into a last gallop, their hooves clattering over the cobblestones as if Urko's army was coming into town. People jumped out of their way as they raced down the narrow alley towards the main square. Burke could hear a sharp, rhythmic clap even over the noise they were making. Something was already underway there.
He kicked his horse in the flanks, and almost overtook Katlin.
They broke out of the alley and into the main square, Katlin spurring her horse on despite the mass of people filling the place, and the crowd parted before her like the Red Sea. From his position above people's heads, Burke had a panoramic view on the execution platform, and on Al, kneeling before the block. A soldier had his hand on his neck, forcing his head down.
With a mighty jump, Katlin's horse landed on the platform. The soldiers scattered, jumping off the platform to avoid being trampled down. She rode a tight circle around the block, a fiery angel claiming Al for herself. For them. Lora had jumped off her horse and joined her on the platform. She was waving her arms, preparing to address the crowd. At least now they wouldn't be fired upon. Probably.
He brought his horse to a skidding halt before the platform and slid down its back like a wet noodle. At least his legs felt like wet noodles. He held onto the saddle for a moment, until he was sure his knees wouldn't buckle. Behind him, Zana dismounted clumsily, though in her case, it was probably due to her concussion.
Burke helped her up the stairs, or perhaps it was the other way round, and stood there like a fool while Zana hugged the still kneeling Al, ruffling his hair and whispering something into his ear. Burke couldn't see his face, but he thought he saw him swallow heavily.
"I want to say something!"
Lora's voice rang over the place, silencing the crowd immediately. Burke let his gaze wander over the people - most of them were humans. He wondered if they hushed so quickly because they were used to obeying an ape, or because they were eager to hear her story - everyone had to know who she was.
And they had made a pretty dramatic entrance. Burke glanced towards Katlin, who was still sitting on her horse, her eyes fixed on something at the other side of the plaza. He followed her gaze. On the balcony of the town house stood a tiny figure, hands resting on the balustrade.
The prefect, overseeing the execution. Well, they had just switched the channel. "Let's see how you like the new announcer," Burke murmured.
"Most of you know me, and those who don't can probably guess that I was the hostage of the Human Liberation Front... and the reason why this human was going to the block," Lora began. Burke was surprised how self-assured she looked. She didn't hesitate or stumble over the words. Either she was a natural speaker, or it she was burning for the cause again.
Heaven help them all if she was both.
"As you can see, I'm no longer in their hands, and I'm in good health and unharmed. And that is only thanks to these humans here - they saved my life, under mortal danger for their own lives, to get me here, back to my family, and back to ape society."
Here and there, shy applause could be heard, but subsided quickly under the glare of the ape sentries who were still surrounding the square. Burke detected Lora's father, Dolan, at the foot of the stairs to the platform; he had his arms around a plump chimp woman, probably her mother, keeping her from racing up the stairs and interrupting his daughter's speech.
"This human," Lora made a half turn to point at Virdon, who was now standing next to Zana, his hands still bound behind his back, "had nothing whatsoever to do with my abduction."
She no longer claimed to be a member of the HLF, Burke noted. Well, that wasn't actually a lie - she had recently resigned her membership, just like Katlin and the human part of the Human Liberation Front. And if she wanted to bail out Katlin, blaming the whole mess on Gres was probably the smartest solution.
He wondered if Zana had coached her during those walking respites.
"He never was a member of the HLF, and neither were his friends. The prefect," her eyes honed in on her uncle up on the balcony, "had neither right nor reason to let them suffer for his political troubles in this prefecture."
Burke pursed his lips. Murmurs were springing up this time that didn't abate when the soldiers frowned. The few apes among the humans were the loudest commenters, debating her words among themselves. If Burke hadn't been standing on that platform, he'd have found the whole situation pretty entertaining.
"As terrible as the last days have been for me, they have also been enlightening," Lora declared, and Burke had to shake his head at her cheek - the long-term member of the HLF was about to proclaim a miraculous conversion from speciesist to abolitionist?
"I have witnessed how humans - that we're used to thinking of as soulless animals - showed kindness and compassion for me when they weren't forced to do so; showed bravery and selflessness to save my life and bring me home, even though they knew that they would have to fear the vengefulness of the prefect, and the prejudices of the citizens!" Lora"s voice had risen to a battlecry with the last sentence.
"She must've been working on her speech all night," Burke murmured to Zana.
"Actually we were working on it while we waited for you to get us out of the storage room," Zana murmured back. Burke smirked; so he had been right with his theory that this was Zana's speech.
"She's giving one hell of a delivery," he whispered.
"She has talent," Zana agreed.
Judging by the cheers and applause from the crowd, that sentiment was widely shared. Lora waved for her parents to come up and hug her, while the applause was surging to new heights.
"Behold your new senator," Burke murmured cynically.
Zana shrugged. "She wouldn't be the worst choice, if humans want to have their interests considered in the future."
Burke sighed theatrically, but kept his thoughts to himself when Lora untied Alan's cords and hugged him, and then Zana, and finally, himself. He even got hugged by Lora's mother, who was openly crying, at which point he felt mellow enough to return the hug with more than obedience. Katlin had been smart enough to remain in the saddle, so she escaped the group hug.
"Do you plan on touching the ground again some time?" Burke asked her.
"I'm still hoping I can force my way out of here," she said, her eyes betraying her worry. Burke saw her knuckles blanch around the reins when a dozen soldiers were making their way over to them.
"It'll be all right," he tried to reassure her. "Lora has put Aken under so much public pressure that he can't chop your head off."
"Apes don't chop our heads off, Pete," she reminded him absently.
The soldiers came to a halt at the foot of the stairs.
"The prefect wants to see you in his office," their leader said. His gaze wandered to Katlin.
"All of you."