‘Because it’s one thing to know it here,’ the deserter pointed to his head, ‘and quite another to know it here,’ and he pointed to his heart. ‘If you’re going to take the life of another human being, that’s where you need to know it. You need to understand that it’s them or you, that their death is necessary to keep you out of the mud for a little bit longer. You’ve got a chance here, with us, to keep yourself out of the mud for longer than most, but pity, empathy, all of those things – they just make the hole deeper, and I will not let you drag me down into it with you. This hand,’ he continued, holding up his own, ‘that pulled you out, will bury you again rather than let that happen. Do you understand this?’
Matt nodded and croaked, ‘Yes.’
‘Where do you understand it?’
The boy pointed to his heart.
‘Good lad. Now then, I know you look and feel like a bit of a mess, but you are blessed in having eaten the first flesh, so you will heal quickly – not as quick as in the old days, admittedly, but hopefully in time to help out with this month’s replenishment ceremony. Would you like that?’
‘Yes.’ Matt coughed again and groaned. ‘I won’t let you down,’ he whispered.
‘Well, good. Because now you know what the alternative is. Right, let’s get those fingers and that ankle strapped up.’
* * *
‘What was that all about?’ Ardwyn demanded. The deserter was bundling up Matt’s clothes – which he’d befouled and that Everett had needed to cut off him to tend his injuries – into a bin bag in the scullery by the back door.
‘You said, “let’s see if he has any qualms”. I was just de-qualming the boy in advance. We don’t have the time or the piglets for him to make a tusk bracelet and be properly initiated, so I took a bit of a short cut. Sometimes a short cut takes one down some rocky roads.’ He opened the back door and went out to the skip where they were dumping the ordinary household waste.
‘That’s not what I meant,’ she said, following him. ‘I heard everything you told him – all that about worms and mud. Is that what you really think about what we’re doing here? Is that all this is, as far as you’re concerned?’
‘Of course not!’ He slung the bag in the skip and turned to face her. ‘But it’s what he needs to hear right now. Stick to go with the carrot.’ He gathered her into a hug, and she let him, but he could feel how tense she was. ‘Darling, we knew that reforming the church of Moccus would require some radical new practice, but the heart of it will always be the same. You’re missing the old ways, and that’s understandable.’
She pushed him away. ‘Don’t you dare patronise me,’ she said.
He dropped his arms and stepped back. ‘Fine. I’ll talk to you as Mother, then. We need to move more quickly in fortifying our position in this place. Dinner parties are all very well, but you’ve been living the life of Riley and you know as well as I do how quickly this modern age works. You say no more until he rises again, but I estimate two, maybe three more sacrifices at most before people start joining the dots. We have to be wired in all round by then.’
‘Your methods are brutal. They lack finesse.’
He smiled. ‘I thought that’s what you liked about me.’
‘I thought you were talking to me as Mother.’
She allowed him to gather her into his arms again and kiss her. ‘In the modern vernacular, I have some very serious issues.’
5
A BLOOD-PAINTED MOON
THE DECK IN FRONT OF DENNIE’S SHED WAS NOT much more than four wooden forklift pallets laid in a square; it had room for her folding chair, a small table and Viggo to curl up and snooze next to her on an old tartan blanket, where he was currently snoring. The sunset on that Sunday evening in late May had been glorious, and the sky still held its lingering citrine haze while low in the west Venus was leading the slimmest fingernail of a moon towards the rooftops of the houses surrounding Briar Hill Allotments. Dennie had dined on a boil-in-the-bag sweet potato casserole cooked on her camp stove. She had a mug of tea next to her, and was just starting to think about putting on her down jacket before it became too chilly when she saw Angie Robotham and David Pimblett walking between the plots towards her.
‘Here we go,’ she said to Viggo, who pricked his ears and raised his head to see what was going on.
‘Hello, David!’ she called, waving. ‘Angie,’ she added, with a curt nod. ‘David, we haven’t seen you around here for a bit. I hope everything is all right with Alice?’
‘She’s on the mend,’ he replied. ‘She’s been home for a few weeks now, and the doctors are happy with her progress. Still not out of the woods yet, but we’re getting there.’ He was hanging back behind Angie’s shoulder and fidgeting with his phone.
‘So, just doing the rounds?’
Angie produced a thin smile. ‘We just wanted to make sure that you weren’t planning to do something silly like sleep out here again.’
‘Or you’ll tell on me to my daughter again?’
David ahemmed. ‘There have been a few reports on the OWL of people hanging around here late at night, maybe trying to get in.’
‘That’s funny, I haven’t heard anything like that.’
‘Well, it’s all on the app.’ He had it open on his phone which he held out to her so that she could see for herself, but she wasn’t remotely interested in whatever was on that tiny screen.
‘Well, I have an app too,’ she said. ‘It’s called talking to your neighbours, and
