Meadowcity (17 page)

Chapter Twenty One
 

The path in front of Flint’s villa was deserted when they filed onto it and turned right.  They could see a few people in the distance, so they all fell into an easy walk towards the bridge.  The temporary bridge had been constructed out of wood and rope, looking sturdy enough, but they had seen the Riftcitizens taking it with caution. 
When you’re used to stone, I suppose wood seems rather flimsy
, Sylvia thought. 

With the rift to their left, they tried to mimic the people they had seen earlier in the day, not too fast, but not too slow either.  The lamps that adorned the wall were lit at random it seemed, so the light wasn’t steady, which was just fine with Sylvia.  They would appear to be average citizens unless someone recognized—or didn’t recognize them.

Ven fell into the lead as Sylvia and Flint walked side by side at the back.  She wanted to keep an eye on him.

Just ahead of them they could see a figure approaching and Sylvia’s gut clenched, she held her breath and forced her hand not to creep up to her belt, where her knife was hidden.  The outline of a man was thrown into relief as he passed a lamp, and Sylvia could tell he wasn’t one of Skycity’s men.

The man’s eyes were focused on the ground, walking quickly.  His entire left forearm was wrapped in a stark white bandage.  He looked up as he neared them, and caught eyes with Sylvia, then Flint.  Sylvia drew a sharp breath as the man’s eyes lingered on Flint and continued walking.

Heart beating in her chest almost painfully, Sylvia forced herself to breathe as they continued walking.

“Flint,” she hissed, not moving her lips, after they had walked out of earshot. 
Had the man recognized him?

“He knows—knew my dad,” he said, equally quiet beside her.

Sylvia took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the path. 

“Nothing we can do,” Ven murmured, keeping up their pace.

They quickly reached the short staircase down to the bridge’s level.  Only a few steps down, and they faced the wooden contraption; Flint balked, but it seemed fairly sturdy to Sylvia.  It was as wide as the stone one that had once stretched across it before being ripped apart by Skycity’s fire.  Sylvia shuddered as she looked closely at the ragged edges where the bridge was once anchored, wondering how they could possibly protect Meadowcity from this.

Carefully, Ven mounted the bridge; his shoulders were so tight his arms held no motion.  Sylvia placed a foot on the freshly cut wood and beckoned to Flint, who looked like he was rethinking his decision to come after all.  The bridge stretched out far in front of them, not swaying as much as Sylvia thought it would.  Below, the rift only held blackness, a light wind howling beneath them. 

As they slowly crossed the rift, Sylvia could see two people get on the bridge from the other end.  The added weight did nothing to the bridge’s balance, but as she carefully glanced at the two figures her heart leapt into her throat.

The shadows were thick out here, since the only light was coming from the two ends of the bridge, but Sylvia could see their thick leather vests lined with fur at the collar— Skycity men.

Sylvia’s jaw clenched painfully—but they couldn’t turn back now.

Then, one of the men’s voices rang out across the rift, “Stop there you three,” his harsh mountain accent grating in Sylvia’s ears.

They froze, Flint awkwardly flinging an arm out for balance.

Sylvia took one deep breath, and couldn’t let it go.  The men approached, as they stood immobile, suspended hundreds of feet from the bottom. 

As they got closer, Sylvia could see that the taller one held a thick knife in his hand, which seemed to be missing a finger.  His face was just as rough, a scraggly brown beard meeting up with the grey fur at his collar. 

“You know the rules,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

They stared blankly back at him, frozen.

“Groups of three ain’t permitted,” the other man said, pointing at them.  His face was clean shaven, but dirty with white stone dust, along with his leggings and vest.

The breath Sylvia held was choking her, but she didn’t know what to say—
we can’t split up!
she thought wildly.

But from the front, Ven said coolly, “I’m sorry—I wasn’t really with them, we just kind of started walking together.”

No!
Sylvia thought, her gut clenching, but Ven was already stepping to the side, giving Sylvia and Flint the path.

The dirty man on the right narrowed his eyes at Sylvia and Flint, but the other man just waved them on. 

“Get back to the mine then,” the man missing a finger grunted at Ven, nodding back in the direction of Flint’s villa.  “You should know better.”

Ven nodded, eyes down, and turned back.

Sylvia sucked in another breath, and Flint nudged her forward, pretending to get his balance.

The adrenaline pouring through Sylvia made her jittery, and she reached out to grab Flint’s upper arm as they passed onto the other half of the bridge.  They could hear the two men continuing in the other direction, following Ven. Sylvia’s breath was coming quick now and she forced herself to make it to the end of the bridge, where two globes were cheerfully shining on top of some broken stone pillars.

No, no, no, Ven!
  Sylvia thought of the map, tucked into her vest.  How would he find them?

They reached the end of the bridge, and both gratefully stepped onto the solid stone.  Sylvia forced herself to breathe properly as Flint nudged her to the right.

She let go of his arm, and, realizing her grip must have become painful, said, “Sorry.”

She could see him rubbing his arm as they walked along the path, which was nearly empty but for one person far ahead of them, walking swiftly in the same direction.

They walked along the path for a few minutes in silence, and Sylvia shivered as a light wind came up from the rift.

All she could think about was Ven.  She hoped he would go back to Flint’s villa,
but what if those guards follow him?  He might have to go to the mine.  What are they doing, making people work in the mine all hours of the day?

Next to them, on the level below, they heard uneven footsteps coming up the stairs.  Sylvia and Flint slowed, not wanting the person coming up behind them.

The head of a woman appeared and she glanced briefly at them before hurrying towards the Hall with a pronounced limp.  Sylvia let out the breath she was holding.  She didn’t know how many Skycity guards there were wandering the paths—but it was to their luck that the citizens were allowed to walk about by themselves, for now anyway.  The path narrowed as Sylvia and Flint met up with the staircase, and continued on, following the woman at a distance
.

“It’s so quiet,” Flint breathed.

Sylvia nodded.  It was eerily so, no sound other than the breeze howling in the rift below, and their footsteps on the path.

Sylvia had a thought and bent down and rubbed her palms in the white stone dust on the path.  Straightening, she began to rub it along her hands and smack some of it onto her clothes as she kept walking.  Flint looked over at her in the near darkness, trying to figure out what she was doing.

“We’ve been working in the mine all day,” she said.

He nodded in understanding, raising a corner of his mouth in a half smile as he bent down and grabbed some stone dust, slapping it on.

Sylvia thought about Ven, hoping he wouldn’t actually get stuck working in the mine.  But there was nothing her and Flint could do about it now, besides continue with their mission.

Several minutes later, they reached a wider staircase leading up.  Sylvia remembered from Flint’s directions that this one led directly to the Hall.

She took a steadying breath and they mounted the wide staircase.  Light poured down from the top, as they must have lit all of the lamps on the Hall’s veranda.  Sylvia could see a figure standing stiffly at the top of the staircase. 

They reached the top and ignored the Skycity guard, which was apparently the thing to do, as he ignored them back.  Turning towards the Hall, they crossed the veranda and made their way to the immense doorway between the columns.  Four large white columns held up the intricately carved arch set at the top of the Hall.  The lights around the veranda highlighted the men standing guard.  Most of them carried bulging packs on their back, over their leather and fur lined vests.

They swiftly crossed the veranda, the beautifully carved stonework lost under Sylvia’s feet, as she focused on nothing but reaching the door, and looking normal to the guards.  It was a good thing there wasn’t some sort of curfew yet.  Sylvia thought they must still be working on getting organized in their occupation of Riftcity.

They took the few steps up and passed through the immense columns, entering the foyer.  More guards stood at the door, each heavily armed, but they all carried those heavy packs. Sylvia held her breath as they passed under the doorway, and entered the Hall.

The echoing noise of a huge amount of people met them as they entered the hallway.  A few citizens were hurriedly making their way down to the end of the hall, and Sylvia and Flint followed them.  They were going to the Great Room, which Sylvia had seen only a few times in her journeys here.

The large arched door was open only on one side, and they stepped out onto the wide landing, stairs leading off to the left and right. 

She looked to the left and her heart stopped.  A massive grey wolf stood glaring at them, held back by a tether in the firm grip of one of the Skycity men.  Sylvia took a shaky breath and they turned to the right, hoping to ignore them.

Her eyes swept the room as they descended the stairway to the right, her heart pounding still. 
You really can fit all of Riftcity in here,
Sylvia thought,
though there must be people working in the mine still
.  It was loud, but not what Sylvia expected for such a number of people. 

The Skycity men stationed around the room were clearly the reason for the low volume level.  Sylvia could pick them out easily, since everyone around them gave them a wide berth.  From what she could tell, the wolf at the door was the only one in here.  Maybe they didn’t like the crowd.

They reached the bottom of the stair, and Sylvia hesitated.  Flint subtly nudged her down a makeshift aisle.  Not many people looked up at them, but Sylvia was starting to worry that Flint would be recognized, especially since Skycity had been searching his villa looking for him.  They must have tried to account for everyone, to make sure they had all of their citizens on lockdown.

The Skycity guards inside all had those heavy backpacks too.  The men, and a few women, were stationed along the walls at regular intervals and the corners of the Great Room.

The Riftcitizens were all packed on the floor in loose rows.  Families camped out one next to another, with blankets marking where they slept.  The far back corner had many people spread on blankets and cots in an organized way.  Citizens Sylvia recognized as Healers walked through them, caring for injuries.

Those people that they passed in the aisles had burns too, but manageable ones.  Though, as they continued, Sylvia noticed some injuries weren’t just from the fires.  One man playing with his daughter looked as if he had been beaten up, his eye was swollen shut and he held his arm to his chest with a sling.

Flint led the way through the crowd, muttering to Sylvia, “We have to find somewhere to stay put, until we can find Ember.”

Keeping her voice low, though the people around them covered their conversation well enough, Sylvia said, “See anyone you know?—trust?” she corrected.

Flint scanned the faces of people they passed, as they walked slowly.  They couldn’t wander around the room forever though, attracting notice of the guards.

“There,” Flint said, almost inaudibly as they passed a family with a screaming infant. 

“Turn right down here.”

They followed another weaving aisle through the masses, some of them passing the time with low conversation, others just lying on their blankets staring up at the ceiling.  Sylvia could see a tired looking older woman down at the end of the aisle carrying a basket of bread, handing it out in what seemed like routine.  A sharp featured woman from Skycity followed close behind her, hand on the knife at her hip.