'Get on up here an lead the way.'
As Midsummer rolls around, and the group arrive at Freedom Fields, it's time for Saba and her friends to rescue Lugh, and possibly take down the Tonton and free they slaves whilst they do!
'The urgency' of the situation is clear. The group is only a stone's throw from Freedom Fields and Saba is itching to get going. We get a real sense of Tommo's feelings towards Saba very quickly in this section of the book, 'the kid's soft about you', which could come to play an important part later in the series...
'I was fine till I met you.'
Jack and Saba spend more time together alone. '[They] smile' as they realise that they shoot their arrows the same. And we also get an apology from Saba about her previously moody behaviour towards Jack. He asks Saba if she trusts him when she expresses concern with his 'plan' to 'wing it'. 'I see him...the real Jack...the stillness at the heart of him' shows just how much she really does trust him to get her brother back safely. But Jack is adamant on insisting he 'ain't no hero'. I beg to differ. So, clearly, does Saba: 'I grab his face an kiss him on the lips'. Their passionate kiss is a famous one for the books. Jack's witty 'yer timin stinks' remark is followed by a frantic response, causing Saba to state 'I cain't seem to git close enough'. However, Jack eventually breaks off the kiss, 'Yer brother. He's waitin for you', and whilst Saba pretends that she agrees, it is obvious that she would have been quite happy to stay in the moment forever...just like the reader!
'This ain't no Paradise.'
As they arrive on the outskirts of Freedom Fields, they are greeted by the sight of slaves working in the chaal fields. 'i never been so twitchy' denotes Saba's desire to get started. She's not one for hanging around, waiting for the right time, 'come on. Let's move!', much to the others' irritation. This is in stark contrast to Epona, 'always calm, always patient'.
'This is startin to look innerestin.'
As night begins to slowly fall on Midsummer, the slaves leave the fields, and the Tonton enter, to build what appears to be some kind of 'platform'. They are clearly still planning to go ahead with the ritual. Saba's motherly anxiety about Emmi is evident, 'was Emmi okay Hermes?'. But her anxiety soon turns to another focus when the witness the Tonton adding to the platform, 'that post's about the right size to tie a man to'. The Tonton are going to burn Lugh alive.
'They won't hurt Lugh. I promise you.'
Jack is adamant that he won't allow Saba watch her brother burn. 'Yer gonna stay calm, an yer gonna trust me' he almost chants to her in a mantra. The ceremonial behaviour of the Tonton and the slaves as they all gather for the coming murder of Lugh at Midsummer is not much to put Saba's mind at rest.
'Vicar Pinch stands on the steps.'
Arguably, the biggest plot twist in BRR, the King Saba had been so certain she'd killed...is alive. Saba's 'red hot' begins to bubble up in her very centre. The King explains to the crowd drawn before him that he plans to be 'reborn' tonight. And when Saba sees Lugh, 'it's Lugh', we know that Helen's words were true - the King will sacrifice Lugh to live longer.
'An suddenly the tears come.'
The sight of Lugh is too much for his twin sister. Saba breaks down. Don't all female heroes at some point? But Jack is on hand, 'Jack pulls me into his arms. Holds my face into his shoulder'. He is her guiding strength. After a quick pep talk, 'let's git these bastards', the team divide into their subteams and Saba can finally kick into action.
'Ready?'
Ike and Saba are the two who are in charge of grabbing Lugh. Their first move is to pick off a few Tonton, 'we throw our ropes over the Tonton's heads'. Then, wisely, they swap clothes with the unconscious men, so they can be disguised. However, that's as far as the plan goes. Now they have to 'wing it'. They make it onto the platform, but Saba's desperation to get to Lugh almost gives them away, 'without thinkin, I start towards him'.
'Light the fire!'
It falls to Saba and Ike to be the ones to put a torch to the sandpit Lugh is enclosed in. But of course, that's not what they're going to do. 'My knife's sharp. It quickly slices through the rope', and Saba is able to cut Lugh free. Meanwhile, Jack and Epona's distraction is kicking in, 'the water troughs and channels blast open, overflowin, collapsin'. This is a plan that works not only to distract from Saba and Ike's actions to free Lugh, but will also destroy the King's livelihood, 'the end of Pinch's precious crop' - chaal.
'Then it all happens in a flash.'
'They suddenly notice what we're up to' - the guards have caught on to Ike and Saba's freeing of Lugh. 'DeMalo clocks me...he turns away'. The man who has chilled Saba right from when she first laid eyes on him, has allowed her to get away. The other guards, and the King, aren't quite so nonchalant. 'Seize her!' cries Pinch but Saba throws a lit torch at him and runs for her life. They make it to the horses and Saba barely has time to check that Lugh is still alive when they realise that one person's missing, 'Wait! Where's Epona?'
'It's Epona.'
The group agree to leave and hope that Epona will soon follow behind. At least, that is until Saba sees the Tonton 'chasin somebody'. That somebody happens to be their missing Free Hawk. 'I'll catch you up' are Saba's parting words. She knows she's the only one who can save Epona now, and thus, alone, she aims her arrow. There is a moment of recognition, that Saba had dreamed of in her delirious state after the hellworm attack. And she knows what the result of the scene will be, ' I shoot her'. Saving Epona's dignity, in death, Saba takes her life, instead of allowing a crazed mob to. Saba explains that she fle tit her duty and responsibility to do so because if it wasn't for her, Epona wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place, 'it's right that it was me'.
'Lugh's here.'
Away from the danger of Freedom Fields, Saba has time to look after Lugh. 'He ain't woke up yet' but Saba continues to play close attention to his breathing. But having him back hasn't fulfilled Saba's desires in the way that she thought it would, 'my whole body's numb'. She is scarred by her killing of Epona, if killing is a fair phrase for her actions. After all, as Jack says, it was 'merciful'. Jack's presence seems to calm her some and we see her old fighting spirit return, 'I ain't come all this way jest to let that bastard win'. In a line that I've read a lot of male protagonists say, but never quite as appropriately and sincerely as Jack, he responds simply with 'that's my girl'.
'He's awake.'
'Yer really here', Lugh's relief to be back with Saba is just as palpable as Saba's. However, I do get the distinct feeling that perhaps Lugh isn't as great as Saba first implied, as he almost casually demeans her, 'I never knew you had so many friends'. It's also clear that Lugh's physical changes are reflective of his mental ones, 'thinner...older...harder'. Saba acknowledges this also, 'but changed'. Their reunion is extremely emotionally charged, 'I run at him...I'm weepin'. Lugh soon realises that his sister's different after their time apart also, 'You've changed, Saba'.
'There ain't no answer.'
As they approach the meeting place where they will join with Tommo and Emmi, they're surprised to receive no response to their signal. Only Tommo is there. 'She didn't make it this far' is the conclusion Saba jumps to upon seeing Tommo's tearstained face. Tommo explains that Emmi insisted on getting a look at Lugh, but she fell off her horse and was seized by some Tonton; Tommo went on without her, like he was told to. Saba, showing a more forgiving side than usual, accepts this, 'It's okay. You did the right thing.' As Tommo gives more information about Emmi's fighting spirit towards the men, Saba reconsiders her rash conclusion - 'she's alive'.
'We'll git Emmi back.'
They know that the Tonton will use Emmi as a bargaining tool and they're happy to go along with it, 'I want Emmi back...we all do'. They agree to 'take a stand'. On the journey to Pine Top Hill, Jack sitll finds some time to wind Saba up, as he gives Lugh his shirt, 'Saba likes to look at my bare chest'. Lugh's protective big brother mode flicks on, 'Lugh looks at me. Frowns', 'looks to me like there's somethin goin on between yuz'. There's also a surprising gentleness and protectiveness from Ike for Tommo, 'If there's any fightin, Tommo, you stick close to me.'
'We're gonna hafta wing this one.'
As they wait for Pinch and his men, Saba and Lugh talk. Lugh shows clear regret for his final words to his Pa, and also guilt, 'it's my fault he's dead'. As figures appear on the horizon, everyone is shocked to see it's only the King, Emmi, DeMalo and another Tonton. 'We take aim', the fight is ready to begin. The way the king refers to himself in third person is an indicator of the power he believes he has, 'the King has condescended to return her to you'. He wants a trade-off...
'He points at me...the Angel of Death.'
It's Saba that the King wants. And she'll willingly go, because times have changed. Her answer to Jack's question previously about if she'd save Emmi like she would Lugh is now yes, 'without stoppin to think, yes'. Jack's support of Saba's choice is contrasting to Lugh's; suggesting they may come to butt heads at some point in the future. As Saba is patted down by DeMalo, there's a reference to that strange, almost sexual, tension she feels around him, 'the feel of his hands on me'.
'The King requires your life in payment.'
King Pinch is not happy with our Saba. At all. She gives in, 'You win'. But as the King says, 'for every winner, there must be a loser', and it's with this that he reveals his league of men from the trees. 'At least fifty armed men' leaving them 'trapped' with 'no way out'. Saba's 'red hot' fades as if her body, her instinct, understands that nothing can be done now.
'It's a crow.'
Just when it all seems to be over, Nero is there. With the Free Hawks. And suddenly the 'red hot slams into action' and 'the fightin starts'. And perhaps most surprisingly, Saba is once again helped by DeMalo, 'he drops my bow and quiver at my feet'. And then he leaves, with the parting words, 'until next time'. Mysterious, indeed. In a flurry of action, Saba follows Pinch as he attempts to flee the fight. Interestingly, it's on another mythological referenced horse, 'Titan'. Make of that what you will - the conquerors, the almighty. In the ensuing fight between Saba and Pinch, theres a grapple for control but ultimately Saba outwits him with a mirror trick and pierces an arrow through his neck. Saba is left 'feelin nothin'.
'Where's Ike? I want Ike!'
Naturally, no ending can be completely positive. And as Saba returns to Pine Top Hill, from the Hoodoos, she just misses being able to save Ike as a stray Tonton aims at him. It's too late, 'Jack...he looks at me an I know'. Tommo is left grieving, 'don't leave me, don't leave me, don't leave me' in probably one of the most emotional parts of the book. 'We send Ike back to the stars' and it's as if the recent events have re-installed a belief in Saba in her Pa's stories and dreams.
'The Big Water. I like the sound of that.'
In a time of departures, Saba bids goodbye to the loyal and fierce Free Hawks, thanking them, and their new allies, the raiders from the Western Road, headed by Creed, for their help, 'none of 'ud be here if it warn't fer you'. Lugh seems to have taken a shining to Maev in the brief time he's known her, 'he's still holdin her hand'. Left alone, the family from Silverlake decide to head into the unknown distance, far away from their past, 'to the Big Water. There's rich land there.' They take Tommo with them.
'Jack's ridin away.'
But Jack has skipped out on the goodbyes, much to Saba's displeasure, 'oh no, you don't'. She gives him hell when she catches up to him, 'whaddya think you're doin?' and his reply is exactly what we all wanted to hear, 'I'm comin back'. He also admits that he made up the rule of three, but we'll ignore that, because it's nice to romantacise about. In the most famous scene of the book, Jack tells Saba he's coming back - for her, 'yer in my blood, Saba...yer in my head, yer in my breath, yer in my bones'. They share a slow kiss that seems to kindle the pages of the book into a glowing fire. Saba offers him the heartstone but Jack says he 'don't need no stone' to find his way back to Saba. And then, as he leaves, we hear that witty Hard-Hearted Annie.
'We're together agin.'
And then, together, Saba, Lugh, Emmi and Tommo head off into the distance.
~Fin~
~Ella
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