The Emerald Key - By Christopher Dinsdale Page 0,49

“line them up for their rightful punishment at the town stockade and shoot them!”

“Give them what they deserve!” another yelled.

The crowd went into a frenzied chant.

“We Want Justice! We Want Justice! We Want Justice!”

People started pelting the first-storey windows with sticks, rocks, and garbage. A window shattered under the hail of missiles, and the crowd cheered again.

Beth couldn’t believe what she was seeing. In her young life, she had never seen so much anger in a crowd, and it scared her. She backed further away and nervously scanned the stores that faced the parliament building for a familiar face. As another shattering of glass echoed through the night air, Beth couldn’t stay still any longer and decided to jog along the road, looking anxiously down every darkened alleyway and hidden doorway. Finally, she saw a shadowy figure waving to her. The man was sitting on a rain barrel at the side of a grey stone townhouse. She ran towards him and was relieved to find it was Jamie.

“Jamie, I’m scared! I’ve never seen a crowd like this before.”

“This is getting uglier by the minute,” agreed Jamie, eyeing the angry mass in front of the parliament building.

Beth noticed a large coil of rope, a sack, a big crowbar, some long sticks, and a large metal hook piled up beside the rain barrel.

“What’s all that, Jamie?” she asked.

“Just a few items to help make our task a little bit easier,” he said, glancing up at the dark sky while collecting the equipment. “Pick up the rope and follow me.”

He led her away from the crowd and into the shadows of the alleys that paralleled the length of the parliament building. Eventually, they circled around to the side of the massive government building. Jamie then took her into a tight cul-de-sac between a work shed and a blacksmith’s shop. After dropping the equipment on the ground, Jamie reached into the burlap bag and removed a stick of charcoal. He rubbed the stick into his palm until it became black with soot.

“Now don’t move,” he said to her.

He rubbed his blackened hand across the bridge of her nose until her splash of freckles became as dark as the night sky. He then smudged the charcoal across her bright cheeks and neck. She stared at him, curiously.

“What are you doing?”

“Darkening your skin so you won’t be easily seen.”

“Why?”

“We’re going on a bit of an adventure. Have you ever been to the mountains?”

“I’m from Ireland, lived in Montreal, and worked on a farm. I’ve never seen more than a steep hill in my entire life, let alone the mountains … although I’ve always dreamed of the mountains. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live among beautiful peaks and valleys? I’ve always wanted to raise a herd of goats and a mountain would be—”

“Then this will be a first for you,” interrupted Jamie. “And no more talking unless absolutely necessary. There. That’s better. All right, it’s your turn to do me. Just be careful that you don’t get any in my eyes.”

She smiled as she took the charcoal. “This should be fun.”

Soon the two of them looked as if they had just finished a shift in the coal mines. Night had draped its dark cloak over Montreal as the two quickly crossed the street and approached the back corner of the House of Parliament. Not a soul could be seen as the noisy demonstrations had attracted all the onlookers to the other side of the building. Moving behind a row of bushes to help conceal their location, Jamie inspected the rough texture of the stones and mortar with his fingertips. Satisfied, he threw the coil of rope over his shoulder and then turned to Beth, passing her the heavy bag, loaded with all of the other items.

“When I get to the top, I’ll lower the rope down to you. Tie the bag to the rope and I’ll bring it up to the roof first, then you’ll be next. Just put your foot in the loop, hang on to the rope, and relax. I’ll do all the work.”

She looked up to the roofline far above their heads. “I’m going up there? What do I look like, a pigeon? And how are you going to get up?”

He smiled. “See you soon.”

Jamie put his fingers into the crevices between the stones and started climbing. Beth was amazed to watch him move up the building so quickly. He had a natural rhythm to his climbing, like a spider feeling its way along