Horizon (6 page)

H
OKU WATCHED ALUNA
dispatch the two remaining Upgraders with the efficiency of a shark. She used to be angry when she fought, full of a wild rage that drove her strength. Their time with the desert Equians had changed all that. Now Aluna possessed a battle calmness that seemed far more deadly. If her family could see her now, they’d be astonished at the change.

“You okay?” Pocket asked. Calli poked Hoku’s arm, looking for a break.

“I’m fine,” Hoku said, trying to sit up. “Aluna, get back here! Maybe they haven’t seen you yet!”

Vachir whirled and thundered back to their safe spot beside the rhinebra. Aluna unhooked her tail from the saddle and slid down Vachir’s side until she was balanced on her tail sheath.

Quick as an eel, she grabbed the front of Pocket’s shirt and pulled him toward her. “If you say anything about this, we’ll have to kill you.”

Pocket tried to scramble away, but Aluna’s grip held him in place.

“Wait,” Hoku said. “Don’t hurt him. He helped us.” He climbed to his feet, ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder and the warmth soaking through his shirt.

“He knows too much now,” Aluna said. “Calli, what would your mother do?”

“Break his fingers if he talks,” Calli said, far too easily. “Or worse.”

Pocket cringed.

“He won’t say anything,” Hoku said quickly. He didn’t know if Aluna and Calli were pretending to threaten Pocket, or if they were serious about hurting him. He hoped they weren’t, but he couldn’t take the chance. The sounds of battle were dying down and he could hear Odd giving orders to tie up the attackers that were still alive. “Pocket, get these Upgraders secured before they regain consciousness,” Hoku said. “I’ll tie up the prisoners again.”

Aluna stared at Hoku, her dark eyes searching his. He kept his own gaze even and calm. He didn’t look away. Finally, she released Pocket. The boy scrambled backward like a crab, his eyes wide.

Hoku bound Aluna’s and Calli’s wrists, wiped the blood from their wounds, and stored their weapons. Pocket did as he was told — all five of the enemy Upgraders were bound and groaning by the time Hoku was done.

“You another kludge, or you something else?” Pocket asked Hoku quietly. He cast a fearful glance at Aluna.

Hoku wanted to lie, to stick to their story about prisoners and rewards and his life as an Upgrader. But his shoulder ached, his body was covered in sweat and grime, and instead he said, “Something else.”

The energy of the fight started seeping out of Hoku’s body, leaving him tired and shaky. But if he’d learned one thing in all these months, it was that the work wasn’t over when the fighting stopped. He and Pocket dragged the bound Upgraders into the center of camp where Odd and Squirrel had brought the others. Dash and Mags were still off to the side, crouched over what looked to be a bundle of rags on the ground.

“Zeelo,” Pocket said. “Zeelo!” He dropped the last Upgrader and raced over. Hoku followed more slowly, a deep chill creeping over his skin.

Zeelo lay on the ground, panting like an animal. Dash held her head in his lap and smoothed the hair out of her eyes. She snapped at him like a wild thing, but he simply removed his hands and tried again after she had calmed.

“Give me something to sop blood,” Mags said.

Dash ripped off his leather vest and pulled his shirt over his head.

“Press it there,” Mags said, pointing. Dash gently lowered Zeelo’s head to the ground and shifted closer to her gut. Hoku couldn’t see the wound because of Mags’s puffy hair. He made no effort to move.

Dash bunched his shirt into a ball and shoved it against Zeelo’s skin. The old woman hissed and let out a stream of curses.

“Good,” Mags said. “That means you still have some spit inside. You haven’t let all of it leak out on the dirt.”

“What can I do?” Hoku asked. “Give me something to do.”

“Water,” Mags said. “Make a fire. Get it hot. Pocket, you help him.”

Hoku left without a word, eager to be away from the stench of guts. How could Dash sit there and watch it all?

While Pocket gathered wood, Hoku went through the packs until he found a basin and enough water to fill it halfway. He piled the wood, then watched as Pocket opened a compartment on his calf and pulled out a tiny firestick. So that’s what “pocket” meant. What else did the boy have hidden?

They got the fire blazing and set the water heating.

Instead of bringing the water to Zeelo, they helped Mags bring Zeelo to the fire. For the warmth, Mags said. Zeelo cursed the whole time, which Mags took to be a good sign. Then Mags got to work. She demanded tools, and each one had to be cleaned in the hot water, dried, and handed to her before she lost her temper. Luckily, Dash was fast and good with his hands, and Mags got what she needed.

Odd sat by Zeelo’s head and berated her. Hoku would have been appalled, except he was friends with Rollin and had seen her behave the same way. Insults and projectiles were apparently signs of affection in some Upgrader cultures.

Hoku, Pocket, and Squirrel did everything else. They tended to one another’s wounds, built another fire to cook dinner, and kept an eye on their prisoners. Five of the attackers were dead, three felled by Odd, one by Mags, and one by Dash. Hoku wanted to bury them, but Pocket shook his head.

“Not until we divvy up their shinies,” he said.

Parts
, Hoku thought, his mouth dry.
Of course.
Maybe he could pretend to be generous and give his share to the others. Would that look suspicious?

“No!” Mags yelled.

Hoku looked over and saw the medtek hunched over Zeelo’s body. Odd had been talking to Zeelo, trying to keep her mind distracted from the pain, but now he fell silent, the flickering fire reflecting in the lenses of his goggles. Hoku walked toward them slowly, not quite wanting to get there but not quite able to stop himself, either.

“She has entered eternal night,” Dash said. “She is gone.” He wiped his crimson-stained hands on the ground.

“No,” Mags repeated. “She hasn’t gone anywhere yet.” She leaned over and slapped Zeelo in the face. The old woman’s head fell to the side.

“Stop it,” Odd said. “Don’t need her ghost coming back for revenge.”

Mags sat back on her haunches. Her hands hung at her sides. A moment ago they’d been useful — sewing rips and cleaning out muck. Now she didn’t seem to know what to do with them.

“You did good,” Odd said. “You gave her a chance. She chose not to take it. Always was a stubborn Gizmo.”

Hoku looked back to where Aluna and Calli were waiting by the rhinebra. Calli’s brow was furrowed, her lips compressed with worry. Aluna’s face was blank. Unreadable. Calculating. Maybe she was thinking Zeelo’s death meant one less Upgrader she’d have to take out later.

Odd stood slowly, a hand pressed against his chest where he’d taken a bad hit in the fight. “Bring the dead near the fire and make sure those prisoners are tied tight. Maim ’em some more if you have to. Then take your naps, find your wind, and get cleaned up. Tonight we see to Zeelo’s ’cycling.”

’Cycling?
Hoku had no idea what that meant. He didn’t know the Upgraders even had rituals. He couldn’t risk asking Pocket about it, not if he was supposed to know already.

At least they had time to rest before the event. He watched Mags treat a growing bruise on Dash’s face. One of his enemies had landed a heavy punch and broken his nose. Mags pressed the bones back in place without a word of kindness. Dash gritted his teeth and let the tears fall from his eyes, but stayed still while she worked.

“Walking twig, you’re next,” Mags called.

It took Hoku two flashes to realize she was talking to him. He took Dash’s spot on a low, flat rock and prepared for pain.

“Took a dive into the ground, did you?” Mags said as she prodded his shoulder. “Can you lift it?”

He raised his arm, winced, and let it drop again.

“Messed up your joint, I’d say,” Mags said. “No more rough and tumble while it heals.”

Hoku tried to look disappointed while Mags immobilized his shoulder with cloth strips. She’d looked so upset when Zeelo died, but here she was, back to her normal get-it-done expression. Maybe her eyes seemed a little more red and puffy, but nothing else was different. Her hands moved with speed and confidence and he tried not to think of the deadly needles she had hidden in her coat.

After Mags finished tying the ends off, she started poking around for other injuries. “What else hurts?” she said. “No way you could take out five Gizmos with no more than a bum shoulder as your prize.”

Hoku started to pull away, but forced himself to stop. “I, uh, got lucky,” he said. “They must have sent the weakest ones to me.”

Mags snorted and started prodding his jaw and nose. “A Gizmo who doesn’t puff up when he has the chance? Next you’re going to tell me that rhinebras can fly.” She got to his faceplate and stopped, her fingers poised near the edge.

“I’m fine,” Hoku said. This time he did pull away, but not far. He could feel his breathing necklace pulsing fast under his metal collar. His disguise could never fool a medtek. He should have known that. After the whole battle, he’d managed to ruin their plan after all.

But Mags just started rolling up her extra cloth strips and storing them in her bag. When her head was turned, all he could see was her mass of black hair.

“You aren’t the first I’ve seen,” she said quietly.

“First of what?” he said. It came out with a croak.

“The first one trying to look like he’s got more whiz-bang than he actually has,” she said. She wiped off her tools next, although they already looked clean. “No one takes a basic seriously, but not everyone can pay for more.”

“I . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hoku said. His fingers were on his face, feeling along his metal cheekbone, before he could stop them.

Mags chuckled. “Sure you don’t.”

“You going to tell the others?” he asked.

She cinched her bag and tied it closed. “Don’t see the point,” she said brusquely. “But if you ever want to trade that bit of pretty for something that actually does something, you come to me. Got it?”

He nodded once, and she smiled. He hadn’t seen her do that before.

“Good,” she said. “And who knows? You took out five of them today. Might win yourself a little whir and fizz tonight. We could turn you into a real Gizmo before we even make it to Karl Strand.”

Hoku didn’t respond. He couldn’t. His brain was too busy whirring and fizzing, too full of hum and shine.

A
LUNA DOZED NEXT TO CALLI
while the kludge bustled around camp, cleaned themselves, and gathered wood for the night’s fire. She could hear them talking as they piled the sticks and blew the embers into flames. Apparently Odd wanted his prisoners close enough to watch whatever ritual he’d be performing.

As the sky started to darken, Dash brought them bowls of food. Then he pulled out a coarse brush from a saddlebag and began to groom Vachir. Vachir huffed and pranced, clearly enjoying the extra attention.

“How is your head?” Dash asked quietly.

“It hurts less than your broken nose,” Aluna said.

Dash had done a decent job washing the red off his hands in the dirt, but his shirt was gone and blood and grime matted his usually perfect hair. The bandage on the bridge of his nose did little to hide the deep bruising across his cheeks.

Dash ran his hand down Vachir’s neck. “I killed one of them,” he said. “It was not my wish, but his hit disoriented me. Ending a life . . . It never gets easier.”

“You helped protect us,” Calli said. “You did the right thing.”

Dash rested his forehead against Vachir’s neck. The horse leaned in to him, offering support. “This is harder than I thought it would be,” he said. “I thought the Upgraders would be evil. I thought I might even enjoy killing them. Karl Strand has earned our hate.”

“Your people thought the Serpenti were evil,” Calli said.

“And the Kampii still think the Deepfell have the blood of demons,” Aluna added. “We’re all good at hate.”

“And blood. And death,” Dash said. He pulled himself away from Vachir and continued to brush her, although his heart clearly wasn’t in the task.

Aluna stared at Squirrel and Pocket and Hoku poking at the fire, at Odd and Mags talking quietly near Zeelo’s body.

“It will all be over soon,” Aluna said. “We’ve gotten so far. We just need to hang on a little longer. You can do this, Dash.”

Dash sighed. “I
will
do this.”

As the sun set, Odd called his kludge to the fire. The Upgrader prisoners had gags in their mouths, but every one of them was awake and watching, too.

“Zeelo’s gone and died,” Odd said.

Aluna had been expecting something more poetic, but she blamed the Equians for that. The horse folk were practically born being majestic.

Odd continued. “Zeelo fought hard. Served the kludge well. Was loyal as a . . . well, whatever you think is a loyal thing, she was as loyal as that.” Mags and Hoku chuckled. “She cursed better than any old Gizmo I ever knew, and she drank better than most of them, too.”

“To Zeelo!” Mags called.