Our fathers were sent to their knees, only to have their chains attached to bolts on the floor, preventing them from any escape. Normally, my father would've fought it, tearing up the floorboards if necessary to keep himself from being shackled in this way. But his head was down, as if he no longer cared about his fate. Sir Willoughby whispered something and my father looked over at him, then into the audience.
His eyes instantly locked on mine. Af
ter a moment of obvious surprise, a fire lit in his eyes again. He pulled against his chains, but they held firm. There was nothing he could do.
I started forward, but Weevil held me back. "Not yet," he said. "Not yet, Ani."
Once the wardens had left the stage, the governor continued. "These two men have betrayed our country's laws and our security. They would have endangered your lives, all for nothing. My friends, the Scourge spreads far more easily than we believed, and is far more deadly. To save you from the Scourge, do you accept my judgment upon these men, that of a sentence of death?"
"Yes!" the crowd shouted.
"Then bring forth the executioners," she said.
That was enough for me. I shook Weevil off and pushed my way through the crowd.
"This isn't the plan," he hissed.
"It is now," I said. "It is now."
I reached the stage before the executioners and even before the two nearest wardens could stop me. Weevil and Della followed in my wake and stood in front of the crowd, protecting me. "We are from the Colony!" Della shouted. "Get back, or I swear we will breathe on you!"
"I feel a sneeze coming on," Weevil warned. "A big, wet, slobbering sneeze!"
The crowd obeyed and stayed back. Brogg and the other men must've done their job well, or those wardens would've been coming toward us by now.
"Hello, Governor Felling," I said, smiling as sweetly as I could.
Her anger was so real I could feel it in the air between us. None of that was displayed on her face, though her teeth did seem too tightly clenched together. It was a wonder she could speak through them. "Ani Mells. They told me you drowned."
"River People belong to the water," I said. "We don't drown."
That wasn't exactly true, but it seemed to make the governor angrier and I liked that.
She looked around for the two wardens who had just been onstage, but they had disappeared. I wondered which of the men from the ship were responsible for that. Her eyes fell back upon me. "Maybe you don't drown, but you can be killed."
"By snakes?" I asked quietly. "By Dulanian vipers? Don't worry, Governor. I understand the Scourge now, and I'm here to help you warn these good people. For the sake of Keldan."
I felt my father's eyes on me, and Sir Willoughby's, but for now, I had to keep my focus on the governor and the audience around us.
Before the governor could speak or attempt to stop me, I turned to the audience. "Many of you know me. You've seen me here in the square, singing."
"Singing horribly," one man said.
I curtsied to them. "Yes, that's me. Back then, I had no idea how bad the Scourge was, how easily it could spread from one person to the next. I'd never even spoken to a Scourge victim before I got the disease, but the governor assured me I had it, didn't you, Governor?"
She nodded cautiously, confused as to why I would be agreeing with her. "Yes. This girl came from the river country. When she tested positive for the Scourge, I had to send her to the Colony."
Now Della climbed onto the stage with me. "Everyone with the disease must go there, correct, Governor Felling? You cannot show preference to anyone, no matter what their background, or the influence of their family."
"Of course not," Governor Felling replied. "That is the law."
"And not just those who've tested for the disease," Weevil said, coming to the stage. "Even if a person had just come into contact with someone carrying the disease, like me, they'd have to go to the Colony too, correct?"
"Y-y-yes," the governor stammered. "We cannot be too careful."
"We want to thank you for saving us," I said, wrapping my hands around the governor's waist. Della and Weevil followed, hugging her from each side. Weevil even leaned on his tiptoes to give her cheek a kiss. Disgusting.
Governor Felling squawked like an angry parrot and tried to get us off, and in the process of trying to peel our arms away from her, she scratched the old wound on my arm that Doctor Cresh had created when she first gave me the Scourge.