The Blood Debt Part 17

Static electricity crackled from her fingertips as she took Tom's arm. He had let her Take from him before, so she felt comfortable doing it again.

*Sayed, was that you?'

Sal's reply was faint and fragmented. *- didn't want to give you a fright.' He sounded a thousand kilometres away. *Sorry - rough -'

Although she was concerned for him, she didn't want to distract him from his immediate situation, whatever it was. *Save your strength,' she said. *I just wanted to make sure?

His thoughts slipped from her mind, but the niggling sense of him remained. While that tickled at the underside of her mind, she would know that he was alive, somewhere.

Marmion turned to face the rest of the search party. He looked unsettled rather than angry. The latest twist in events had temporarily overwhelmed his predisposition to outrage.

*That's our cue to get moving,' he said. *We need to uncover the buses and get them over here. Our immediate priorities are the injured people in our care. We'll either have to treat them here or find a way across to Laure - and it looks like we're going that way anyway, if we're to retain any chance of heading off the Homunculus. Whoever those people were -' he indicated the ruts left by the newcomers' wheels with a jerk of his head, *- I think we'd be best served by avoiding them in future.'

*You'll get no argument from me,' said s.h.i.+lly.

*I presume that was Sal,' he said to her, lips twisted as though he had tasted something particularly noxious. *That little display.'

She explained what little she had learned about Sal and Skender.

*Well, next time you hear from him, tell him to tone it down. We're not a carnival.'

s.h.i.+lly choked back a comment that she didn't care what Sal did or what it looked like to others; he could st.i.tch the Divide back together from end to end, just as long as he was safe.

Tom accepted her thanks for using his talent. She could tell he felt the drain of it, and resolved to let him recover before trying again. Pale around the cheeks, he hurried off to collapse the hide and fetch the buggy, while she checked on Highson and Skender's friend, fighting exhaustion of her own.

Sal's father lay limply on his side, protected by a makes.h.i.+ft sunshade. His skin was peeling from long exposure to the sun and his eyes had retreated into their sockets. Consciousness seemed to have fled for good after his brief awakening, but his pulse and respiration were steady.

Skender's friend had the more obvious injury, but she was already beginning to stir. s.h.i.+lly joined the warden caring for her, ready to offer help if needed. Her leather attire had been torn and sc.r.a.ped through to the skin in several places, but it had undoubtedly saved her from more serious injuries. Her face and throat were splattered with dried blood. It was hard to see what she would look like without the cloth wadded against her right temple, but s.h.i.+lly made out thick black hair, almond eyes and a proud nose. Full lips and warm, light brown skin suggested that her ancestry belonged to neither the Interior nor the Strand. s.h.i.+lly remembered from years ago a taxi driver telling her about a yellow-skinned people who lived in the tops of giant trees.

Missing mothers, s.h.i.+lly thought, flying wings, and strange girls from the East ... what have you got yourself mixed up in this time, Skender Van Haasteren?

The young woman moaned and tried to brush away the hands at her head. Her eyelids fluttered. *What...? How...?'

*Take a deep breath,' said s.h.i.+lly, leaning close. *You're in safe hands. Your name is Chu, right?'

Her eyes flickered open, revealing irises so brown they were almost as black as her pupils. *Yes,' she said, wincing. *Who are you? Where am I?'

*My name is s.h.i.+lly.'

*What happened to ...?' She sat up, eyes widening in alarm as she looked around. *My wing! Skender!'

*They're both okay,' s.h.i.+lly soothed her, hoping she was telling the truth. *Skender's gone after his mother. We're meeting him later.'

*But I had everything ...' Chu looked at s.h.i.+lly, crestfallen, then at her torn clothes. *It was all going ...' Without warning, she burst into tears.

s.h.i.+lly did the only thing she could think of: she took the girl into her arms. Chu didn't resist, and s.h.i.+lly brushed away the warden - a young man whose name she had forgotten - when he tried to hang on to the dressing still pressed to Chu's head. She held it in place as Chu wept into her shoulder.

Around them, the wardens a.s.sembled an impromptu camp, positioning the two buses and one buggy in a triangle around the two patients. The sun had crept higher into the sky and burned down with growing force. Two of the wardens took the raw material of the hides and rea.s.sembled it into a temporary sunshade. s.h.i.+lly was heartily glad of it when its shadow fell over them. The dry, ovenlike heat was getting to her.

Finally Chu eased off. She sat back and wiped her nose, unable to meet s.h.i.+lly's eyes as she a.s.sumed responsibility for the wadding at her head.

*Does it hurt?' s.h.i.+lly asked her.

*Like anything,' she said. *I'm sorry. I've no idea who you are, but you must think I'm a total freak.'

*I've seen much worse.' s.h.i.+lly shrugged. *And besides, any friend of Skender's is a friend of mine, freak or otherwise.'

*You know him?'

*Used to, years ago.'

A flash of something very much like jealousy pa.s.sed across the young woman's face. *How?'

*He helped Sal and me in the Haunted City,' s.h.i.+lly rea.s.sured her. *Sal's with him now, making sure he's okay.'

*The Haunted City?' Chu winced and held the wadding tighter to her scalp. Her jealousy intensified, if anything, and s.h.i.+lly realised that she had misinterpreted where the emotion was directed, and at who. *He really does get around, doesn't he?'

*Those were exceptional circ.u.mstances.' s.h.i.+lly wondered how much Skender had told Chu about the old days. *I really don't know what he's been up to since then. Life has been - well, complicated.'

Chu was beginning to take in more of her environment, looking around in confusion. *Seems like it still is. Are these Sky Wardens?'

*Yes.'

*Are you a Sky Warden?'

*No way. You're from Laure?'

Chu nodded, and winced. A look of dismay crossed her fine features. s.h.i.+lly thought she might cry again. *I don't know how I'm going to get back if Skender has my wing.'

That problem had occurred to s.h.i.+lly also. It was all very well for Sal and Marmion to talk about going to the distant city, but getting there wasn't going to be easy.

At least Chu didn't seem angry about Skender's actions. Concerned, yes; hurt, even; but s.h.i.+lly was spared having to justify the actions of someone she hadn't seen for five years.

*We'll take you home,' she said, *if you show us a way across the Divide.'

Chu looked cautiously hopeful. *There's a road. It's pretty old, though, and supposed to be unsafe.'

*Our rides have come a long way. They're pretty tough.'

*That wasn't what I meant.'

*Oh.' s.h.i.+lly didn't know what lived on the bottom of the Divide, and she was in no particular hurry to find out.

*We saw other vehicles out here,' she said. *Three of them. They've gone now. Do you know anything about them?'

Chu shook her head. *Skender and I saw them from the air. He thought they were coming from the Aad, but I don't see how that could be possible.'

*The where?'

*The other half of the city, where the Divide cut it in two. The Aad's a Ruin, and a dangerous one. No one goes there.'

*And if the road to Laure isn't used very often, that means they probably didn't come from there either.'

*I guess so.'

s.h.i.+lly took a moment to collect her thoughts. Things weren't quite adding up right.

*Excuse me,' she said, waving for the young warden to resume his ministrations, *I have to talk to someone.'

Chu nodded wearily as s.h.i.+lly went to find Kail.

The tracker had wandered off to peer over the edge of the Divide. During daylight hours he wore a wide-brimmed hat that kept his face in permanent shadow. A spreading patch of sweat darkened the back of his cotton s.h.i.+rt.

He looked up as s.h.i.+lly approached.

*No sign of them,' he said, pointing down into the baked rip in the land. *Look for yourself.'

s.h.i.+lly followed the direction of his finger. On the wide, cracked plain below, she saw nothing that looked like a road leading to Laure, and not the slightest trace of Sal and Skender.

She could read the latter evidence, or lack of it, two ways: that they were lying low as they tracked the Homunculus, or that the storm Sal whipped up had propelled them well out of sight. Either option left room for hope. She had no reason or inclination to consider other possibilities.

*I think you're wrong,' she said.

*Really?'

*Not about this. I think you're wrong about the Homunculus.'

Kail placed one leather-booted foot on a boulder and put both hands on the raised knee. *In what sense?'

*Let me ask you a question, first.' She dug the tip of her cane firmly into the dirt. *Were you really going to stand by and let Marmion kill the thing you've travelled a thousand kilometres to catch?'

*It's not my place to wonder what he wants with it,' Kail drawled. *I'm just the tracker.'

*But you intervened when he went to hit me. Why did you do that?'

*Because if I hadn't, that would've been wrong.'

*Can you understand why I'm a little confused?' she asked him. *Obviously I'm grateful to you for stopping things from getting out of hand, but I'd be happier if you could extend that charity to other creatures as well.'

He regarded her for a long moment. *If that was the sort of stuff Lodo taught you, no wonder they kicked him out of the Haunted City.'

*Was that why you did it,' she persisted, *because he's Lodo's nephew? Are you afraid that Marmion might do something he'll feel bad about later? Well, I've got news for you. After this, he and I are never going to be friends, no matter who we have in common. Not if the Divide swallows the world and we're the last people left alive.'

Kail smiled crookedly. *I can a.s.sure you, completely, that when I acted it was not for Marmion's benefit. And if I were you, I'd never suggest to him that it was. I guarantee you it won't go down well.'

She imagined it wouldn't. The odds of her mentioning Marmion's connection to Lodo were growing remoter by the hour. She would be happiest to forget the whole thing entirely.

*I want an a.s.surance from you,' she said, *that the Homunculus won't come to any unnecessary harm the next time it's in Marmion's custody.'

*Why should I agree to that?'

*Because we still don't know why Highson made it. Until he explains his motives, I'm prepared to give both of them the benefit of the doubt. Don't forget that he'd be dead now if the Homunculus hadn't carried him here.'

*He might wish he was dead when he wakes up and Marmion starts questioning him.'

*Either way, the truth will come out. Wait until then before judging. Okay?'

He nodded wearily. *All right. I'll do that. Any other requests?'

*Yes. I want you to help me convince Marmion to give up on going to Laure.'

Prior to that moment, Kail had listened to her with a faintly amused air, as though nothing she said could surprise him. Now he straightened, and his long features creased into a frown.

*Why would I want to do that?'

*Because that's not where the Homunculus is going. And I think I can convince you.'

*Go on then.' His tone spoke more clearly than his words. It said: This should be interesting.

*Have you heard of the Aad?'

He shook his head.

*It's not on your map. It turns out that there are two half-cities here, not one. The half on the north,' she said, pointing into the hazy distance, *is Laure. The other is the Aad, a Ruin. Chu, the girl in the flyer, says no one goes there.'

*If no one goes there, doesn't that invalidate your argument?'

*Hardly. For starters, the Aad lies in the Homunculus's path too, making it just as likely a destination as Laure. And I'd hardly call the Homunculus anyone, would you? There may be something in the Aad that you or I wouldn't recognise as important. The Homunculus may be looking for somewhere to hide.'

*So it's shy. Do you really think that?'

She shook her head. *I think that our new friends, the ones who buzzed us before, are from the Aad, and that they were coming to meet the Homunculus. Unfortunately for them, we got in the way. Now it's on the run, and they've gone back to where they came from. I don't have any doubt that they'll try again.'

Kail nodded slowly. *Interesting,' he said, *but you're forgetting one thing. Just because these people have come from the Aad doesn't mean that that's where they'll end up. It could just be a staging area. Their real destination could be somewhere further afield. Like Laure.'

That was true. *Even so,' she said, *if the staging area is there, at the Aad, and we're quick, we might catch them.'

*We've got wounded to think of. We'll need to get them to Laure.'

*But not all of us would have to go. In fact, the fewer of us there are, the more likely we are to go undetected. Say we took the buggy. Me, Tom, you, if you wanted -'

Kail laughed at her, full-throated and long. There was no maliciousness to it, just broad amus.e.m.e.nt. A flush crept up her throat nonetheless; her mouth shut into a determined line.

He clapped one large hand on her shoulder, sending a shockwave down her weak thighbone.

*s.h.i.+lly, you're amazing. You've seen what this thing is and what it can do; you don't know how many of its friends could be waiting for you in the Aad; yet still you want to charge on in with barely an ally beside you. Don't you think you're being a bit rash?'