The Necronomicon

Chapter Thirty One

"He took the Necronomicon?" Alfred asked, and Meredith nodded mutely.

Alfred swore again, slamming his hands into his lap. Meredith's eyebrows drew together, and she glanced at Pippa — who had blanched. "What's wrong?" She asked, but Pippa didn't respond, instead exchanging looks with Alfred.

"Meredith, you do know what this book can do, don't you?" Pippa said gently, and Meredith nodded.

"Like I said," she answered, "It's supposed to summon the dead."

"We need to get moving." Pippa said, turning to Alfred. "We'll explain on the way, Meredith — but please, answer this: Who gave you The Necronomicon?"

Meredith stared at them, wondering: Could she trust them? She'd trusted Frederick — and he'd smashed her head in with a stick and left her to bleed. Meredith looked to Pippa, at her high cheekbones and elongated face. Then — Alfred; his earnest eyes and solemn mouth.

She blinked.

"Elder Watford."

Was it wrong to trust them? They looked like they could be depended on — but then, Frederick had looked honourable, reliable, honest. Who could she rely on? "Meredith —" Pippa began, but she interrupted.

"Alfred."

Alfred looked up. "Meredith." His tone was grave.

"You told me about 'new rules' at the rebel camp." Meredith began, and he nodded as he helped her up. "What were these new rules? And who are the new leaders you spoke of?"

Alfred cleared his throat. "Before the new leaders, there were baseline rules. The ones Frederick told you, I expect. Essentially: equality. No Elders. No social classes — just Leaders and Workers. The Leaders would be the current heads of the revolution; namely, Eleanor and Audrey, who, as you know, started the revolution — and Frederick, Dmitri and Pippa."

"You're one of the new leaders?" Meredith questioned, glancing at Pippa. Her head was banging, her eyes weary. She shook her head, trying to focus.

"I am."

They were walking now, through the dense forest, the grass grabbing at their knees. "One of our policies is freedom, in general: but particularly freedom of speech. However, under the new leader's rule —" Alfred continued, but Pippa cut in.

"Which is essentially run by Frederick... Dmitri lets him walk all over him, so they always have a majority. That's why Frederick always announces the big decisions when Audrey and Eleanor are not in attendance — so he can pass what he wants passed."

Meredith tried to wrap her head around it, her sense dulled. There was a rumbling in her stomach — she feared she might throw up again. A half-step ahead of her, Pippa continued. "It's unbelievably unfair. And we can't speak up about it because it's a vote between the new leaders on whether to ban anyone from being a leader — it's ridiculous. And we can't vote to change these rules because — guess what? — it's a vote between the new leaders." She exhaled through her nostrils, hard. "Frustrating."

Alfred slowed so he was next to Meredith, putting an arm around her to help her along. "We've got to get you into camp without Frederick seeing."

"We'll think about how we do that later," Pippa called, squaring her shoulders. "Let's hope he hasn't managed to work out how to use The Necronomicon by the time we get there."

"What's he going to do with it?" Meredith asked, and Pippa sighed.

Alfred spoke instead of her, his hand steadying Meredith. "About those new rules. I didn't explain. Not properly. Basically, the supposed 'freedom' we should have is conditional. Either you have it, or you don't. This freedom of speech only applies if it supports Frederick or the revolution. And over time, I came to realise that the idea of having the Leaders and the Workers had changed. Rather than having the Leaders being fair and still working alongside the Workers, Frederick would rather have them be in charge absolutely, and rule with an iron fist. The Leaders wouldn't pitch in with farming or anything: they would instead 'work' on making decisions all day. This is what The Elders claimed to do — but nothing passed, and nothing changed. Frederick's ideology of the revolution is similar to The Elder's rule, in short. As well as this, a few months ago, one of the rebels was killed 'in the hunt'. This means he was killed while hunting food — killed by a wild animal. But I saw his body that day..." Alfred trailed off.