Free The Last of the Gullivers by Carter Crocker Page B

to the girl in the palace.”
    â€œNo,” said Lemuel, “I didn’t.” And now he did.
    â€œI sent many letters to the Maharaja’s floating island, but none were answered. There was no way to know if she’d got them. After half a year, I decided to go back and talk to her myself.
    â€œThe Maharaja welcomed me and gave me a suite of rooms overlooking the lake. The next morning, I asked Maya to come back with me, to marry me.
    â€œIt was then she told me she would be married at the end of that month, to a man she’d never met. It was a different time and place, and these marriages were arranged almost at birth. Maya had no say in it. She begged her father, but it had all been settled, long ago. She’d meet her husband on the wedding day.
    â€œI asked the Maharaja to stop the marriage and asked for his daughter’s hand. He told me that I should leave and not come back or I’d be killed on sight. Three of his guards took me to the port city that night.
    â€œBut I did go back. At the edge of the compound, there lived a very old man—a Mahar, blinded and crippled in a battle long ago. He was the gatekeeper and kept track of all who came and went. He knew the Maharaja’s order and knew he’d be the one to kill me. He asked why I’d come, knowing I’d die. I told him the simple truth, that I had no choice but to return.
    â€œThe old Mahar took pity on me and sent a message by Maya’s maid, his wife. She’s the one who helped spirit me past the guards and into the palace.
    â€œOn a small balcony above the lake, I once again asked Maya to come with me. She wanted to go, but was scared. She was sure that her father, the great tiger hunter, would track us down no matter where we went and have us both killed.
    â€œAnd so, finally, I left and brought nothing with me but her music.”
    â€œHer music?” Only then did Michael realize that the little band was still playing in the back garden.
    â€œThat I’d heard in the stone temple, the music you hear now. I remembered it and taught it to the People here. As long as they keep playing, her song won’t end.”
    It was after six when the boy reached the crossroads, where he waited for a car to pass. But the car didn’t pass. Its headlamps shone hard in his eyes and he heard doors open behind the glare.
    â€œBeen lookin’ for you.” It was Robby. Nick and the other Boys stepped up as Michael got off the bike.
    â€œHey, Nick,” Michael said quietly. “Hey, guys.”
    â€œWe’re not all here, are we?” said Phil.
    â€œGordy’s gone, squire,” said Peter.
    â€œâ€™Cause of you,” Robby put in.
    â€œMe? What’d I do?” said Michael. “I didn’t do anything.”
    â€œThat’s right,” from Nick. “You didn’t do anything but let us down again. If you’d been there like you promised, he wouldn’t have got caught.”
    â€œNo, I told you, Nick,” Michael started, “I can’t hang with—”
    â€œGot a present for you,” said Nick and he gave the Boys a nod and they gave Michael a bloody beating. They went at him with feet and fists, all four of them. Robby caught him square in the face and blood blasted from his nose and he felt an eye swelling shut. Phil hit him in the ribs, again and again, and he could hardly breathe. Someone got him in the back of the head and he fell into muddy snow.
    â€œThat’s enough, eh, Nick?” one of them said.
    â€œIs he still conscious?” said Nick.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œThen it’s not enough.” Nick kept punching and kicking and might not have stopped, except another car was coming.
    Michael wasn’t conscious by the time the dark car drove up, and Nick and the Boys scattered in the night.
    â€œIs he all right?” the girl asked.
    â€œGet back in the car, Jane. I’ll call for an ambulance.”
    But