"But Haf, she's a girl!" stated Illtud, looking at my breasts. "That is a point of discussion,"   Rainbow Girl - Part 8 - Ultimatum by Alys

I stared at Mrs Thomas and the two New Hope Militiamen standing in the doorway of the kitchen. I slumped back down into my seat at the kitchen table, my head on my arms on the table. All my hopes, all my dreams, all thoughts of a good future life had vanished with my imminent arrest and almost certain torture.

"You were going to turn me in whatever I said," I said bitterly, "I hope you're proud of yourself"

There was silence for a few moments and then an unexpected response.

"No, Enfys, you're wrong," replied Mrs Thomas in a surprisingly soft tone, "and don't worry you're not in danger"

I looked up at her and saw that she was smiling at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked in surprise at the change in her attitude to me.

"We are all Mudiad"

"What!" I exclaimed.

"All of us, Daryl, Hywel, myself ,and let me introduce Illtud and Alun here, are all members of a local cell of Mudiad"

"But why the aggressive questioning, why all the nastiness?" I asked.

"I had to be careful, you could easily have been a spy for the authorities, these are desperate times for the opposition"

"Don't worry," said Illtud, the taller of the two 'militiamen', "you are safe with us."

"But are we safe with her? I wonder" asked Mrs Thomas.

"What do you mean?" asked Alun.

"She has another identity, very different from this one." said Mrs Thomas.

"What is that?" asked Illtud.

"Her other identity is on the front page of all the newspapers, and is the main item of news on all the channels"

Alun and Illtud looked puzzled. They stared at me and then exchanged glances.

"You mean she is Llyr?" asked Alun.

"Yes, I am" I interjected.

"But Haf, she's a girl!" stated Illtud, looking at my breasts.

"That is a point of discussion," replied Mrs Thomas,"and it's better that we keep the link between Enfys and Llyr among ourselves at the moment."

"She needs to have a talk with Hywel about who she really is........... if she knows herself", she said quizzically.

We all sat down and had a cup of tea while I gave a brief summary of events over the last two days. While I was in the middle of doing that, Hywel and Daryl (Mr Thomas) returned, which meant that I had to start filling them in on the details of what I had seen on the train. The adults then explained to me how the structure of Mudiad worked, something my parents had never done to avoid giving me information that could potentially be tortured out of me.

They were in a small 'cell' in the North of Caerdydd. They assumed that there were other cells in other parts of Caerdydd and all other cities in the UK. However each cell only communicated with local cells via encrypted web mail messages sent from untraceable pda/phones. Information then cascaded through the network whenever necessary without any group knowing the identity of any other.

A while later Hywel sat next to me on the sofa in the lounge with his arm around my shoulders while the adults discussed the latest political developments. I felt exhausted by the earlier mental trauma and was enjoying the comfort of Hywel's presence. Suddenly the music video programme that we had been half watching disappeared from the screen. A young female TV announcer wearing New Hope insignia on her smart pink outfit appeared.

"This is New Hope One with the latest news from the siege in North London. It has just been announced that the seige is over and two Mudiad criminals, a middle aged man and a middle aged woman have been arrested"

The view of the announcer was replaced by one of two people with hoods over their heads being very roughly pushed and kicked from the smoking debris of what once had been a block of flats. The announcer continued over the live video.

"These two terrorists are thought to be linked with the murder of our esteemed and loved former leaders of the opposition parties. The Ministry of Joy has issued a statement thanking the 121 brave citizens who fell in this latest battle against terrorism. The Ministry of Peace has expressed its satisfaction in the effectiveness of our armed forces' latest cluster bomb weapon....."

The TV was turned off abruptly.

"You bastards!" shouted Mrs Thomas, " the real murderers are those who drop cluster bombs on civilian houses not that poor couple on their way to be tortured"

"How do they get away with it?" I asked.

"Because they control all the information and there is no alternative source that can undermine their lies", replied Daryl.

"Maybe there is," I added.

Everyone looked at me.

"What do you mean?", asked Hywel.

I told them about the pictures that I had taken of the murders. There was stunned silence for a few minutes.

"That means," said Hywel, the quickest to see the possibilities, "that we have some irrefutable evidence that the basis of their actions over the last 48 hours is a complete lie, that'll undermine the standing of the government in the European Senate"

"And it might even delay the latest tranche of standby loans from the European bank", said Alun.

"Can we see the pictures?" asked Illtud.

I reached into my bra and pulled out the memory card. Illtud took it and inserted it into his pda/phone. He brought the pictures up and flicked through a couple then he stopped and magnified one of the people who had done the shooting.

"Oh my....look at this Alun, you might find this interesting."

Alun and looked at the picture and his eyes bulged with surprise.

"It can't be" he said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Look" said Illtud showing the enlarged face to me.

I stared at the face of a well groomed man in their late fifties. There was something about it that niggled my memory about him, but there was nothing.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"You will be pleased to know that the person dispensing summary execution here is none other than David Johnson, the Chief Secretary of the anti-terrorist branch in the Ministry of Joy" announced Illtud.

We all stared at the murderer. Illtud then looked at the rest of the pictures and he and Alun identified all of the assailants as senior officials in the Ministry of Joy. The adults began to discuss ways if releasing the information, assessing the pros and cons of various methods.

Two hours later Hywel and myself were walking walking away from the main shopping streets of Caerdydd. We had decided to go into the city centre, firstly to be together, and also because I needed some clean clothes to wear. I also needed time to consider how to tell him about my true gender status. We entered a the huge city park next to the river and followed the path back to the area where he lived. We held hands as we walked, carrying bags of our various purchases, through the leafy, autumn scene.

"Hywel, I have to tell you something," I said in a quiet voice, after a short while.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Well you know earlier..........." I began to explain but then the sight that came into view as we turned a corner stopped us in our tracks.

There was a huge poster of the Bliar family, nearly the size of a house. Cherie sat at a desk in a sumptuous wood panelled room, surrounded by her children. Behind her stood her husband, the former Prime Minister now President of the EU. Enormous red writing projected the familiar message, 'New Hope for Britain...New Hope for You'. Underneath the main part of the poster was the entreaty 'Call our confidential 'shop a wrong un' line if you have information about a terrorist, an unemployed man or woman, someone who is acting or looking suspicious or anyone who is a member of the following proscribed organisations (Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Labour Party........)' the list went on for another five lines.

"That's new, I don't remember seeing it last week. What a horrible poster", said Hywel.

"Yes," I agreed, "it's a pity we can't do something about it. Wait I've got an idea" I commented.

"What do you mean?" asked Hywel.

"Let me show you," I replied," help me up this tree and pass me the bag with the stuff from the arts shop"

In a few seconds I was sitting on a thick branch that came quite close to the main slogan on the poster. I took out the can of black spray paint that I had bought from the city centre arts shop for a school project. Within a few more seconds the slogan had been somewhat altered. I jumped down and dragged Hywel and our shopping to the cover of a small copse where we could admire my handiwork.

"Much better," chuckled Hywel, looking at the black lines through both occurrences of 'Hope' and their replacement with the word 'Crap' neatly sprayed above in each case.

"But what was the RG for?" asked Hywel, indicating the two letters I had sprayed next to the amendments.

"Think of my name" I replied.

"Enfys...R....Enfys...is it Rainbow? What about the G?"

"Yep, Rainbow Girl. What do you think?" I asked

"Isn't that a bit of a giveaway?" quizzed Hywel.

"Only if they can make the connection between RG and Rainbow Girl. Come on let's go before one of the militia comes and they decide to close the park off"

We quickly walked away and caught a bus back to Hywel's house. We were buzzing after our little act of rebellion. With broad smiles we walked through the door and into the lounge. The adults were all sitting looking intently at the TV. Mrs Thomas looked up at me and there was an expression of extreme sadness on her face. I looked at two bruised and battered middle aged people staring out from the screen and slowly reading from an autocue.

"....son we urge you to come home, you will get a fair trial and will be executed painlessly....no don't do ......."

There was a scream of pain as the picture switched to that of a man in full military uniform.

"These two criminal parents will be given the fate they deserve unless their mass murdering terrorist son gives himself up within 24 hours...."

It was Mum and Dad!