"I just took away his pride," I said. "And if that is not bad enough, I can do even worse. There is only one way I could have gotten this sickness, and that is from the coins the townspeople paid me each night for singing. One of the coins that dropped into my jar must have come from a Scourge victim. When I picked it up, I got the disease too. Then, along with the wheat, I brought that back to my best friend." Tears filled my eyes. "I'm so sorry about that, Weevil. It's my fault you're here, my f
ault that you will eventually get this disease too. I am sorry for breaking our promise. But I am not sorry for my reasons for doing it. I couldn't go to sleep every night with a full stomach, knowing you were only a few houses away and slowly starving to death."
"Then you saved me from that death," Weevil said, shrugging. "And gave me this death instead."
Silence fell between us. Then Gossel said, "We're done here. Ani, you are the worse friend. Weevil, you may go."
When he was dismissed, Weevil didn't move. He was scuffing his foot against the ground and looking anywhere but at me.
"Leave," Gossel ordered him.
"I won't," Weevil said, though he still would not look up.
Gossel grabbed my arm and pulled me to his side. "Leave, or I'll double her punishment."
"Double my punishment," Weevil said. "I want it."
I didn't care about whatever Gossel would do to me. The sting on my palm would pass quickly enough. I cared that Weevil looked so broken, and because of me. That sting, the one in my heart, might never fade.
"If you are still here when I count to five, this rod will strike elsewhere than her hand."
"Go, Weevil," I said. "We played his game. I won."
And I lost.
"One," the warden said, raising the rod again.
Now Weevil looked at me, but said to the warden, "If you really want to punish her, then let her see me be hit with that rod. Look at how she's hurting now, and that's only after words between us. Make her watch if you must, but give it to me."
"Two."
"Go," I told him. He was right about what he said. I'd much rather take the punishment than see it happen to him.
"Three."
Weevil mouthed something, but it was too soft for me to hear.
"Four." He raised the rod higher.
"Listen to me, sir. I want her punishment."
The warden's hand tightened around my arm. "Five."
"I want you to leave!" I yelled at Weevil. "I broke my promise to you, I lied to you, every single night. It's my fault you're here, my fault you'll get the Scourge." I choked back a full sob. "My fault you're going to die. Just leave!"
The warden stared at Weevil. "Stay here and I promise that it will only get worse for her. Now what will you do?"
Weevil nodded at me and stepped back to leave the yard. I was so sad by then, and in so much pain from the disease spreading through my body, that my legs collapsed beneath me. The warden released my arm, which I used to wrap around my aching side. If I were smart, I would eat the wheat kernels still in my other hand. Now that they were wet, it wouldn't be long before they were ruined.
Yet, I couldn't eat them, so I merely dropped them onto the ground and held up my palm. "Get it over with," I said.
Gossel's voice was calm. "The rod was never going to be the punishment. The punishment was ending your friendship." He pointed to the wooden cage high in the tree. "You're going to stay in there until tomorrow, high enough that everyone in the Colony can see what happens to those who defy our rules."
Other men appeared in the yard, not wardens, but Scourge victims. I could tell because of their common clothing and the medicine flasks hanging from their necks. They untied a rope to lower the cage to the ground, and then one man stuck a key into a lock to open the door. It was the only metal piece of the cage, nothing I'd be able to break, even if I were feeling in perfect health.
I didn't get to my feet, not yet. And it wasn't because I was afraid to go into the cage--I didn't care about that. It's because I had decided for sure to take another sip of medicine. Not much, I knew I had to preserve it, but enough to take the edge off the pain. So I unscrewed the cap and took a swallow. More than I should have swallowed perhaps, but not nearly all I wanted.
Once I got the cap on, Gossel reached down and snatched it from my hand. "No medicine while you're in the cage."