Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [163]
Meena was taken in by a merchant house run by her father’s relatives in Lanka, the capital of Bog, but no matter how many years passed, she couldn’t forget that horrible day. What had happened that night? What became of her parents? Were they still alive somewhere? She wanted to search for them, to get to the bottom of it all. She was eleven when she ran away from home.
“I was a bit reckless, I guess,” Meena said, blushing.
“No kidding,” Wataru said, smiling. “Did you have any idea where you were going?”
“Not at all. But it just so happened that around that time a large circus troupe was performing in Lanka. My relatives also ran a restaurant, and many of the circus backers frequented our place. They had invited us to the circus many times. I’d even talked with the troupe leader.”
Meena figured that being a member of a circus would be the perfect way to travel the land. She could keep her ears open for information, and meet lots of people. One thing was for certain: she’d never unravel the mysteries of the past by staying in Lanka. Moving from town to town, she might come across a clue that would lead her in the right direction. And hopefully that would lead her toward the truth.
“I barged in on the troupe leader, told him my story, and asked to be allowed to work in the circus.”
Luckily for her, the circus leader Bubuho was a kindly sort. After extracting promises that she would work hard and learn to read while she was with the troupe, he granted her request.
“The circus! That’s why you move so well,” Kee Keema said, clapping his hands and grinning.
Wataru furrowed his brow. “So, were you with the circus the whole time?”
“Yes. The Aeroga Elenora Spectacle Machine, we were called. I swung from swings so high it would make you dizzy. I was part of an acrobatic aerial show—it was quite a spectacle!” Meena looked proud. “I even did a little bit of aerial rope tricks. It was the troupe leader’s family secret—a real crowd pleaser.”
“So where did you meet those ankha boys? Why were you with them? It sounded like they’d been using you for quite a while.”
Meena’s smile faded. “That was…I was foolish.”
A year before, when the boys had still been in the refugee camp in Bog, the circus had paid a charity visit to the camp. That’s where Meena first met them.
“They said that before they left the North, their parents had been officials with the Sub-race Control Board. They had seen things no one else knew about.”
The Sub-race Control Board was an organization under the control of the ruling government. In the North, non-ankha were labeled “sub-races,” and every aspect of their lives was carefully administered by the Control Board.
“Administered! Bah!” Kee Keema snorted. “They rob them of their fortunes, shove them in camps, and force them to do manual labor! To hear the waterkin refugees tell it, they would be locked in a pen, doing repairs on sailships without proper tools, and no food or drink. Every day ten or more would drop from exhaustion, unable to work, but they didn’t get any doctors, and you can forget about medicine. The weak were left to die and thrown into the ocean once they’d breathed their last. I heard someone say they’d seen a whole pile of waterkin dead just lying there!”
Meena lowered her eyes and nodded. “I’ve heard many such stories.”
“So what did those two say they knew?” Wataru asked.
“They said that the Northern Empire was secretly abducting the descendants of non-ankha who escaped to the south, and bringing them back up north.” Meena’s voice trembled slightly. “They’ve been doing it for the past twenty years or more. Their parents lived in a special center where the abductees were made to work, that’s how they knew.”
Wataru and Kee Keema looked at each other.
“When they heard my story, those boys told me that my parents had probably been taken back to the North. That’s why their bodies were never found. I thought this was the answer I had been looking for. My parents might be in the Northern Empire. They might still be alive…”
Meena’s eyes sparkled.
“But why would the Northern