Raging Star (17 page)

Don’t you what me, Miss Ten Year Old. C’mon, I says, you can help me saddle Hermes.

Hermes whinnies when he sees me carryin his reed mat an bridle. The wind hurries thin shreds of cloud across the sky. They shine whitely aginst the blue black of early night. The weather’s changed. Feels like it’s gonna be a cold one.

Em plunks herself down on a tangle of rusty iron. Nero’s followed us outside. He busies hisself tryin to steal her new medicine necklace. I bin noticin how he is with everybody since he got caught an trapped in that burrow. He’s okay with me an Em, but that’s it. All others git pretty sharp shrift an he’s most needle-tempered with the boys. Even Lugh that he’s known all his life. That would jibe with a man snatchin him. My idea that DeMalo sent a Tonton to do the deed. To try an frighten me off. Push me towards early surrender.

Cut it out, Nero! Em gathers him onto her lap. She’s got
her shoulders hunched, like she’s espectin trouble. Whaddya want? she says. I ain’t tall enough to saddle Hermes, an you know it.

Oh? I thought you might be now yer ten, I says. Listen, Em, I got a special job fer you. Where I’m goin tonight, Nero cain’t come. I’m leavin you in charge of him.

She brightens. I won’t let him outta my sight, not fer a moment, she says. She gives him a hug. Poor Nero, it was awful, what happened to you. An that other poor crow. You know who done it, doncha? she says to me. I seen yer face.

Maybe I do, I says. I twitch the mat into place.

Are you goin after ’em now?

That ain’t yer trouble, I got things in hand, I says. But listen, Em, you gotta unnerstand that I need to know everythin that’s goin on. No matter how small, no matter if you think it ain’t important, you need to tell me. What did Tommo trade fer the cage?

Her face scrinches in misery. Torn between duty an friendship. I cain’t tell you, she says. It’s only important to him, nobody else. I made a blood swear I’d never say.

Swearin in blood, that’s serious, I says. Must be pretty important.

Only to him, she says. Nobody else, honest.

I’ll be the judge of that, not you, I says. What was it? Tommo ain’t got nuthin of value.

Shows what you know, she says. Then she clamps her lips tight.

Now we’re gittin somewhere, I says. He’s had it hid away, huh? Somethin Ike gave to him?

I ain’t sayin no more, she says. I ain’t doin this to be contrary or vex you. I’m doin what’s right. Lugh’s told you his secrets yer whole lives an I’ll bet you never told one of ’em, not ever.

Where he hid Pa’s whisky, Pa’s gun, Pa’s knife. Lugh an me had a blood-sworn promise I’d never tell. Not even to spare him a beatin. So I never did tell. Not once.

If you make a promise, you gotta keep it, says Em. I learned that from you. You always keep yer promises, no matter what. An so do I. You can torture me if you like, I still won’t tell!

She pretends to lock her lips an toss away the key. I swear, the mulish defiance of her chin invites a swift kick to the seat of her britches. But she looks so tragic that my lips twitch as I slip Hermes’ bridle over his head. I could always ask Peg, I says.

Go ahead, waste yer time, she ain’t no blabber, says Em.

Don’t smart off with me, I says. I’m outta time fer this, Em. You gimme yer word—yer sworn word it ain’t important—an we’ll call it quits. Jest this once, mind. All else, you gotta tell me.

She dumps Nero an scrambles down the junkheap. You got my sworn word, she says. She holds out her hand an we shake.

I hang on to it. We gotta be able to count on you, Emmi, I says. Know that you won’t let us down. That means you follow orders at all times. When the day comes that you’ve earned our trust, that’s when you’ll have some leeway. Till then, you do as yer told, no questions, no fuss.

I’m sorry, she says. I should of gone back on watch when you said. I was jest so happy to see everybody back okay, but I know I acted like a little kid an I ain’t that no more. I’ll do better, I promise.

Yer a warrior now, a Free Hawk, I says. You got comrades who died becuz they believed that all people should live free. You an me an Lugh, we know what it means to lose our freedom. An you bin prisoner not jest once but twice. When they caught you an took you to Resurrection.

She meets my gaze, steady on. They kept me in chains, she says. Like they kept you in chains at Hopetown.

You acted the warrior then, I says. Yer my sister, Em. That means you got courage to spare. Yer strong an yer smart. We’re gonna win this fight. We’re gonna honour them that died fer freedom. Our pa fer one. Who else?

Maev an Epona, she says. Ike an Bram an Jack. All the Free Hawks an Raiders at Darktrees.

Well, you jest think of them—our friends an Pa, I says. An you’ll know how to rightly conduct yerself.

I will, she says.

Y’know, you an me, we’re a lot alike.

She blinks in surprise. We are? How?

We act first an think later, I says. But if we’re gonna win here, if we got any chance, we gotta think first an then act. So. From now on, you an me keep cool heads, okay? Can you do that? Can I do that?

Yes, she says. We can. An we will. An I’ll never let you down agin, never. She throws her arms around my waist. I love you best of all, Saba.

It always takes me by surprise. This hot, fierce love that rushes through me. Fer the sister I shunned so long. Denied to my blood so completely. I kiss the top of her head. Happy birthday, I says. Go have a dance.

She scoops up Nero but she don’t go. While I make a last check of Hermes, she’s givin it the old Lingery Lou. Some pretend fuss with her belt an general slormin around. She’s clearly wantin to say somethin. Back at the party, Peg’s playin Halleluja, I’m a Bum as everybody sings along. Slim’s raucous bellow drowns out the rest.

Yer missin the fun, I says to Em. I’m pullin on my metal clad jerkin. I fasten its buckles snugly.

She says, I guess Auriel’s probly on her way to the Big Water, huh? Her an Meg an Lilith an … all them people that fled New Eden?

Now I do the armbands. Three small buckles on each one. It’s gittin late in the year, I says. They’d hafta git through the
mountains before winter an it ’ud be a big caravan. I figger they’ll stay at the Snake till spring. How come Auriel’s on yer mind?

Oh, no reason. Emmi shrugs. Jest … y’know, I liked her.

She’s bein cagey agin. Uh huh, I says. I’ll see you in the mornin. Keep Nero close. Don’t let him outta yer sight. I swing myself onto Hermes.

Em grabs the bridle an blurts out, How I found him—Nero, I mean—I warn’t bein airy fairy, it was … the earth told me. She whispers the last few words, lookin at me with big owl eyes. Then she bolts. With Nero clutched to her chest, she runs back inside the shed.

I stare after her. Em’s inclined to be fey. Airy. A dreamer with her head in the clouds. Always feelin this an feelin that. What Lugh calls her mystical baloney. Sometimes it’s rubbish. Sometimes it ain’t. It’s as like to be one as the other. What that was about, I got no idea.

I click to Hermes an we’re on our way. We leave the lights an warmth an good cheer. We leave Starlight Lanes as the cold night rises an I set a course fer Weepin Water. The lodestone of New Eden. The bunker in the hill. The room with white walls where DeMalo sees visions at sunrise.

I still couldn’t say why I’m so certain we need to go there. But I am. I’m most certainly certain. Maybe I’m a bit airy myself.

He’d just lifted the bridle when a shadow fell over the stall. He dropped it back on the nail, careful not to clink the metal. He opened the gate and stepped into the yard, flooded by moonlight. It was Molly
.

Oh! Her hand flew to her throat. You made me jump, she said. What’re you doin?

Checkin on the horses, he said
.

She went to Prue’s stall to stroke her nose. No Hermes, I see, she said. I guess Saba’s gone to meet her contact agin
.

He bit off his frustration. Seems so, he said. Go, he thought. Please, Molly, go
.

But Molly was in no hurry. Fussing Prue’s ears, stroking her neck, she took in his coat with a quizzical look. Cooled down already? she said
.

He had no hope of catching up with Saba now. He’d left it too late. Another chance blown. He shrugged off his coat and draped it around Molly’s shoulders. Don’t catch a chill, he said
.

So gallant, she said with a smile. She smelled of warm summer roses. And, just like that, he was trembling. She always had that effect on him. Her smile, her smell, her beauty
.

In a hot rush, he had her in his arms, pressed to the stable wall. And they were kissing. Touching. Hungrily. Breathlessly
.

She pulled away. Put her fingers to his lips. Somebody might see
us, she said. She was trembling now too. Oh gawd, she said, what you do to me. Every time. It ain’t seemly
.

You taught me, he said
.

A frown creased her forehead. I shouldn’t of, she said. We should never of started this. I never meant to, really, I didn’t
.

I know, he said. I’m a boy, we ain’t in love, you still love Ike
.

I want you to have what I had with him, she said
.

Her breath brushed him sweetly. One of these days I will, he said. So I need to know how to please a woman. Yer teachin me. That’s all this is
.

They stared at each other for a moment. A smile began to curve her lips. Lesson time, she said
.

Then she took his hand in hers. And she led him away to the woods
.

M
E AN
H
ERMES COME AT THE BUNKER FROM THE NORTH
. I ain’t familiar with this approach, so despite I’m on the lookout fer it, we come upon it sudden. So sudden that the shock hits me in the gut. We’re on top of a low ridge among some trees.

Here it is. The little hill. In the middle of the sweetgrass meadow. It looks a hill like any other. You’d never think it held such a secret at its heart. The Wrecker bunker, deep within. The white room where DeMalo shares his visions of a long-fergot, long-lost world. The visions that I was witness to.

An here I am agin. I swing myself down from Hermes an look out over the meadow. Where he kissed me in a sudden summer rain. Where we ran through the grass, with my hand in his. Through the rain, through the woods, to his bed by Weepin Water. Where I gave myself to him. Took him fer my first. Where I lost myself in him an nearly didn’t come back.

The hilltop’s bin cleared of blackberry bramble. Gone, the rich fruit that smothered its slopes, that sweetened that hot summer day. The meadow’s bin cut. The ground’s hard with stubble, silvered an shaded by the moon. Shootin stars dash the night sky.

A nightpip kriks, quick an scratchy. Then it calls agin. Then, Saba! Over here!

I jump at the urgent whisper. It’s Jack. He’s crouched behind a bush not twenny foot away. He waves me to him, impatient. My cheeks burn as I make my way to him. Like he might of overheard my thoughts. The heartstone’s warm. I didn’t notice.

I leave Hermes in the trees with Jack’s pony, Kell. He yanks me down beside him. What’s with you? he hisses furiously. Yer stood there like a stooky an I’m pippin my damn head off. Shh! Guards comin.

As he speaks, two Tonton grunts lead their horses around the hill, one from each direction. They meet at the bunker entrance. A sturdy metal door set into the side of the hill, partly hid by a stray tangle of bramble. They take up position in front of it. They’re armed to the teeth an then some.

I says, Tell me you brought yer Tonton gear.

Jack gives me the look. Did-I-jest-hear-you-right? You told me, he says, you never wanted to see me wear that agin.

Typical, I says. You never do what I tell you. The one time you shouldn’t do what I tell you, you go an do what I tell you. Dammit, now you even got me talkin like you. Gimme that thing.

I snatch his long-looker from him.

So … I’ll dress Tonton next time. Or not. He shakes his head, bemused. By the way, he says, I like the fightgear. It’s very, uh … it’s very.