Un Lun Dun - China Mieville [42]
He looked tired, but he smiled at Deeba and the Propheseers.
“No!” Mortar said at last. “Is that you?”
“Hello old friend,” the strange little figure said.
“Ben?” said Mortar. “Benjamin Unstible?”
29
Hope Hiding with a Cauldron
After his delight, Mortar was angry.
“How long have you been here?” he demanded. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! We thought you were dead…”
“I know, I know,” Unstible said. “I’m sorry. There were reasons.”
He wheezed when he spoke. He shook Deeba’s hand, and his flesh felt taut under her fingers. He looked terrible, though he moved energetically and spoke quickly.
“What reasons? What could possibly justify—”
“The Smog’s still looking for me.”
“Ah.”
“I’ll tell you all the details,” Unstible said. “I promise. The short version is this. While I was in London, I found the Armets.”
“What?” said Mortar. “How? No one knows for sure that they even still exist.”
“Huh? Oh, yes. Well, you know, they may be a secret society, but nothing can hide from someone determined. So I found them. There’s a few of them left. Hiding. And they taught me their spells.”
“Did they show you the Klinneract?” said Lectern reverentially.
“Unfortunately, ah, that is long gone. Magic weapons don’t last. It did its job and now it’s broke. But they did teach me about the Smog. I know everything. I know what it’s made of, and more importantly, I know what can stop it. That’s what I went for, and I found it.
“But the Smog must have realized what I was doing. Because I found out it was following me.
“If I wasn’t studying it so close I might not have realized it had crept through, but I had some…feelers out. I had to hide. Go to ground. No one from here knew where I was, for sure. Or even if I was alive. But the Smog was looking for me. Once, it came very close to finding me. I was able to get away and slip back here, but I hadn’t yet made preparations. I knew that as long as the Smog thought I was lost or gone it would leave me alone. So I had to stay hidden. I couldn’t come out, because I hadn’t got things ready.”
“We made a plan together,” the Unbrellissimo said.
“Exactly. Brokkenbroll’s servants found me. When he asked me how to make his unbrellas into shields, I realized the concrete applications of what I’d learnt.”
“It could stop the Smog,” Brokkenbroll said.
“Exactly.” Unstible waved at the strange machinery and the vat full of fervently swimming unbrellas. “It’s a slightly more supernaturally interesting version of vulcanization. A cocktail of chemicals, technique, and magic that can fend off anything the Smog throws at us. Anything it can do.”
“And we’re almost ready,” Brokkenbroll said, his voice tense with excitement. “I’ve been amassing troops. Unstible’s been getting them ready. In a few days I’ll start issuing treated unbrellas to everyone in UnLondon. It’ll take awhile, but everyone’ll get one. I’ll keep pulling them in from London. Until everyone in the abcity’s protected.”
“But we can’t all move those things like you do, Unbrellissimo,” Lectern said.
“You don’t have to. That’s the beauty. They obey my orders. I’ll tell them to protect whomever carries them. With Unstible’s liquid and my soldiers, we can protect everyone in UnLondon. If the Smog tries to rain its bullets at us…just pull out your unbrella, and you’re safe.”
“That’s…brilliant,” said Mortar.
“It’s a plan,” said Lectern. “A real plan.”
“So UnLondon don’t need the Shwazzy after all?” Deeba said. “With your umbrellas or unbrellas or whatever they are? The Smog doesn’t seem to know that. It’s still in her lungs. What’s it doing to her? What if she’s really sick? If something happens to her, I don’t care how scary the Smog is, I’ll find it.”
There were a few moments’ silence.
“I think you might at that,” said Brokkenbroll thoughtfully. “It says a lot about you that you came with your friend. You must have been very afraid. It says you’re something to be reckoned with. I wonder what we can do…” He narrowed his eyes and seemed to be evaluating her.