Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [256]
Everyone Wataru saw on the streets of Lyris, including the Highlanders and the Knights, were all ankha. Most of the shops were closed, and some even had their windows and doors boarded up. But compared to the devastation on Bricklayer Street, the center of town was quite peaceful. The shops that were open had long lines out in front. Walking by one, Wataru overheard conversations about where each place was getting its goods. The supply routes into the city, he learned, had been shut down.
“I suppose we’ll just have to make do until they finish rounding up the undesirables,” he heard one ankha woman grumble. Wataru felt a chill run down his spine. Undesirables. They’ve closed off the town, and now they’re hunting down all the non-ankha. Hunting them down…and then what?
By the time he reached Pam’s residence, Wataru was gasping like a fish out of water. As he got closer to the house, he was able to spot Elza directly in front of a second-story window. There was no one on the first floor when he slipped inside the front door.
Quickly releasing the barrier, he found a nearby chair and flopped down. His shoulders heaved with each pained breath. A sudden wave of dizziness came over him, and he had to hang onto the back of the chair to keep from slipping onto the floor. The chair creaked.
He heard soft footfalls from the floor above.
“Who’s there?”
It was Elza. She was coming down the stairs. Wataru looked around, still clinging to the back of his chair.
“My, it’s…it’s you!”
Her beautiful black eyes were just as he remembered them. But her slender frame was even more sticklike. She seemed practically emaciated now.
“Where…is Mr. Fanlon?” Wataru managed to say, before tumbling off the chair. He fell to the floor, and it was all he could do just to breathe.
Elza hid Wataru up in her room and brought him some cold water. After a while he regained his composure and explained the wyrmflute to her.
“Yes, yes,” she nodded. “I’m sure Toni could make that for you. In fact, he’s probably the only one who could do it.”
Wataru noticed her eyes filled with tears. “But he can’t help you now…he was arrested,” she said. “When my father deployed a unit of Highlanders to Bricklayer Street, he was taken prisoner.”
“Do you know where he was taken?”
“The Cistina Cathedral.”
“There? Not some detention facility?”
What, were they cramming people into the cathedral and trying to force them to believe in the Old God?
“There’s a large dungeon beneath the church,” Elza explained. “My father worked it out with the pastor there. They said the power of Cistina was the best thing for holding heretics.”
The pastor would be Father Diamon, whom Wataru had met earlier. He remembered his shiny bald head and those eyes like thorns.
“So all I have to do is get into the dungeons beneath the cathedral?”
“Yes…but how will you get down there? I don’t know the way. I’ve been there many times, but I’ve never seen any stairs going down.”
Wataru took a deep breath. He would have to go and see for himself. He felt a strange fluttering in his chest, like his heart was beating slightly out of step. His legs, too, were a little weak.
“Have another drink of water. You look pale. And you should probably eat something too.”
He shook his head. “Thanks, water’s enough. I don’t have much time.” Still, he was deeply grateful when she brought him more water and a damp towel to wipe the sweat off his face. “How are you doing, Elza? I’ve seen the town—things are really bad, aren’t they?”
In response, Elza turned her tear-streaked cheeks toward the window. Walking over, she drew