The Frost Child (9 page)

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but he couldn't reach the tiller and the boat was sailing right under the Harsh ship's bow! With a sickening crunch the iron bow of the ship struck the
Wayfarer's
rail. The wood buckled but held, though great splinters flew off into the air. As Owen finally reached the tiller, he thought that he could feel the
Wayfarer's
timbers shiver and flinch.

The
Wayfarer
leapt free of the ship and within seconds she was a hundred yards ahead. Owen looked back. The fleet was turning slowly to follow him. His plan had worked. He had a good start, but then the entire Harsh fleet was on his tail. They were raising sail again. The chase was on.

Shortly after Owen left, Dr. Diamond called Cati and told her, "I need you to come with me to wake the Raggies."

Cati was delighted at the prospect of some time alone with Dr. Diamond, but he went so fast that she was running to keep up with him and didn't have enough breath to ask questions as they raced along the river to the harbor.

When they got to the warehouse, Dr. Diamond led her straight to the Raggies' Starry. He looked in at the sleeping children.

"Wake Wesley first," he said. Wesley was their leader--a freckled, tough-looking boy. Cati touched his head and called him. He opened his eyes and looked at her, puzzled.

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"Cati!"

"Wake up, fish boy," she said teasingly, and smiled. He sat up.

"Wesley," Dr. Diamond said urgently, "I need to talk to you."

While the two of them talked in low voices, Cati went among the Raggies, waking them. Some of the children jumped straight up and gave her a hug. Others looked dazed. She recognized faces: the marksmen, Mervyn and Uel; the kind and practical Silkie, who set about organizing the smaller children.

When Cati finished, Dr. Diamond called her.

"It's time to go," he said. She opened her mouth to object but realized that he was right. There was too much to do.

"Never mind, lass," Wesley said. "There'll be time and plenty of it for a chat at the Workhouse."

"At the Workhouse?"

"The Raggies are coming to stay there for a while. Doctor reckons we should all be together when them Harsh come. So go on and get working!"

Once again on the way back, the doctor was preoccupied. Cati didn't dare question him. When they reached the Workhouse he went straight back to the Starry.

"Come on, Cati," Rutgar yelled from the walls. "The Workhouse won't rebuild itself."

Cati had never worked so hard in her life. All day they hauled timber and stone from hidden storepits and the riverbank, strengthening the walls of the Workhouse and

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the defenses in front of it. Everyone worked at the defenses. Even Contessa left the kitchens after making enough warm gruel to keep everyone going. Cati looked to where Contessa worked beside her and saw that her hands were bleeding from handling the rough stone.

Cati was pushing a barrow of sand when she heard a commotion down below: an angry girl's voice, and men cursing. She put down the barrow and slid along the snowy slope to find a group of Samual's men surrounding a small figure. Cati broke through the ranks of men. To her absolute and complete amazement she recognized the ragamuffin.

"Rosie!"

"Cati! These big galoots won't let me go."

"She's a spy," one of them said. "We caught her sneaking about down at the river."

"I'm not a spy," she said angrily, "and I wasn't sneaking about. I was looking for someone."

"If she's that innocent, then what is this?" a familiar drawling voice said from behind them. It was Samual, and he was holding a long, razor-sharp hairpin in his hand.

"That's mine!" Rosie said. "Give it back."

"I don't think so," Samual said.

"There's been a mistake!" Cati said. "She's a friend of ours--from Hadima."

"Then what is she doing here?" Samual said. "Sent to spy, no doubt."

"What I'm doing here," Rosie said, "is trying to warn

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you about the Harsh. There's a fleet of them on their way."

"There, you see?" Cati said. She stepped forward and took Rosie's hand in hers.

"We know that already," Samual said. "You could have heard that from anybody around here."

"And what is she doing with Johnston's symbol pinned to her?" a woman called Moorhead, one of Samual's lieutenants, asked. There was a single red rose pinned to Rosie's lapel, and the red-faced woman tore it off.

"I never saw it before! I didn't even know it was there!" Rosie looked at the ring of faces around her. "I can't believe I went through hell and high water to get here to warn you," she burst out, "only to be told I'm a spy!"

"Exactly." Cati glared at them.

Rosie embarked upon a stream of cursing that caused Rutgar's men to look up from what they were doing and grin to themselves.

"When you are quite finished," Samual said coldly. Rosie subsided.

"I don't believe the child traveled all this way just to warn us, brave as she has been," another, gentler voice interjected.

Cati turned to see Contessa standing behind them.

"Is there another reason?" Contessa asked.

"Well, yes, there is," Rosie said. "I came to ask for help.... Hadima is ..." Rosie bit her lip and stopped.

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"What is it, Rosie?" Cati said.

"Hadima is ruined!" Rosie blurted out. "The Harsh froze it from top to bottom. Everybody left is living on rooftops and in ice caves and stuff. We need help!"

"I don't believe this nonsense," Samual said. "I'm not even certain that Hadima exists."

"Of course it does," Cati said angrily. "Ask Dr. Diamond. He was there."

"The doctor has many fine qualities," Samual said, looking down his long nose at Cati and Rosie, "but he is easily taken in. No doubt you brought him to some filthy hamlet pretending to be a city in time."

"It used to be a city in time," Rosie said sadly. "It used to."

It took a while to get the story out of Rosie. It seemed that the Harsh, with the help of Headley and his men, the evil City police, had diverted the river that ran to the south into the City. There was panic as large areas were flooded. Cati was pleased to hear that her friends, the Dogs, had emerged from their tunnels and had helped many people. She explained to Contessa that the Dogs were homeless children who had formed themselves into a pack. They wore dog masks and took on qualities that were peculiar to dogs, like a good sense of smell. The Dogs were thieves and scavengers, disliked by most people. But when they were needed, their resourcefulness and knowledge of the secret places of the City had saved many. Contessa looked at Cati thoughtfully. She had heard a garbled

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tale about Cati running with a gang of children who acted like dogs.

Then, Rosie went on, the Harsh had unleashed storm upon storm. The waters froze, and froze again, rising every time so that all that was left of the City were the tops of the tallest buildings, protruding from the ice.

Cati gasped, thinking of her other friends in the City.

"Mrs. Newell is okay," Rosie said, seeing Cati's worry. "And Clancy and the other Dogs are keeping everybody fed."

"The Harsh have grown in power," Contessa said.

"They have," Samual said, "and they've grown in nerve too, sending their spies into the Workhouse."

"She's not a spy, I said." Cati's voice was low and dangerous.

"I know a thief and a liar when I see one."

"I'm not a thief!" Rosie said. "Well, only a little bit when I have to be. But I'd never spy for the Harsh."

"Will you vouch for her?" Contessa asked Cati.

"Of course I will," Cati said.

"Then we will leave it at that," Contessa said. "We don't have time for this."

Samual turned away with an expression of disgust.

"Excuse me, mister," Rosie said. Samual glared at her. "Can I have my hairpin back, please?"

Samual's face blackened. He looked at the hairpin in his hand. Then he raised the hand. Faster than the eye could see, the pin flew through the air and embedded

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itself in the tree trunk just behind Rosie's head. Samual stalked off.

"Be careful," Contessa said. "Samual is not to be trifled with. Cati, give your friend some food."

"I can work with the rest of you," Rosie said defiantly, then swayed on her feet and would have fallen had Cati not caught her.

"Feed her, then make her lie down, Cati. After that come back to work," Contessa said.

With her arm around Rosie's shoulder, Cati helped her into the Workhouse and down into the kitchens. Sitting in the warmth of the cookers, Cati spooned her out some gruel, which Rosie wolfed down as if she had never tasted anything better.

"Where are Owen and Dr. Diamond?" Rosie asked.

"There's a lot to explain," Cati said.

"Great food," Rosie said, licking the plate, "but what I really need is to fix the war paint."

Cati fetched a small mirror. Rosie took a look at herself in it.

"Blimey, not a wonder that bloke thought I was dodgy." She took out a small purse from under her coat and brushed and fixed her hair. Then she applied eye makeup and lipstick.

"A girl should never go anywhere without it," she said, casting a disapproving glance at Cati's face.

Cati grinned but didn't say anything. Rosie with her city fashion was so different from the Resisters, and it was odd, to say the least, to watch someone putting on

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lipstick with an enemy fleet practically on their doorstep. But Rosie, like all the Hadima folk, seemed to put her appearance before everything else. Cati looked down at her own faded uniform, feeling a bit tomboyish.

"I need to get back to work," Cati said. "Do you want to lie down?"

"Yes," Rosie said weakly. There was a little color in her cheeks, but she still looked exhausted. Cati went with her to one of the small bedrooms in the basement of the Workhouse. The sheets were clean and smelled of lavender, and Rosie didn't need another invitation to climb in. Cati sat with her for a few minutes.

"Cati?" Rosie said.

"Yes?"

"I was ... when I came through the tunnel ... there was a man ..." Music soared in Rosie's head, and the thought was driven away. When Cati looked down again, Rosie was fast asleep.

She pulled the sheet up over Rosie's shoulder and tiptoed from the room.

By nightfall the Resisters were exhausted, but they had accomplished a lot. The Workhouse was no longer a tumbledown ruin but a mighty fortress. Much remained to be done, but the defenses were adequate for the moment. Sentries were set, and the Resisters ate a little before falling into an exhausted sleep. The Raggies had been given a turret to themselves for the time being and the young children's excited talk made grim soldiers smile as they