by J. D. Moyer
“Want to take a walk with me?” Tem asked Maggie after he’d helped clear the table. “I’ve completed my work shifts for the day – I’m all yours unless you have other plans.”
“How’s that trench coming along?”
“Very slowly.”
“A walk sounds nice. Let’s take a stroll through the olive orchard.”
He and Maggie were still together. To Tem’s relief the botanist Roland – Maggie’s ‘other man’ – was by all appearances in a committed relationship with another Ilium woman. And yet Tem still sometimes felt awkward around Maggie, as if he were walking on eggshells.
Maggie told him more about Bosa, including the drama around Aina, who was more sexually active and free than anyone in the town was accustomed to. One of the men she had slept with had gotten so jealous of her other partners that he’d attempted to assault her, perhaps not realizing her strength. That had not gone well for him, but Aina had been gentle, merely immobilizing the man for a humiliating half hour.
As Shane had recommended months ago, Tem had confessed his love to Maggie. She’d told him she loved him too, though her response had seemed lukewarm to him, filled with ambivalence. But she hadn’t left him, and she didn’t appear to be angry about what had happened with Saga.
The first stars appeared in the clear sky as they walked along the edge of the olive orchard. Tem shared his feelings, that he’d sensed some distance between them. Maggie heard him out without interrupting, and was silent for what felt like an eternity before finally responding.
“Tem, please don’t take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you’re asking for stability and reassurance. But you’re the one who hasn’t put down roots. I was born in Ilium and I’m happy to live here my whole life. This is my home.”
“It’s my home too.”
“For now. But for how long? You’re still a member of the Repopulation Council. I don’t want to live on the Stanford, or in a village in the Harz mountains, or anywhere but here. I like visiting other places, but I know where I belong. And that’s in Ilium.”
“I never asked you to leave.”
“No, but you’ve brought it up, the possibility of us living in Happdal. You’ve told me how much your grandmother liked me. And you might have a child in the neighboring village.”
Tem kicked a small rock, sending it skittering up the trail. Everything Maggie was saying was true.
“If you’ve sensed any ambivalence on my part, it’s not because I don’t love you. It’s because I don’t know if you’re going to stick around. In your heart, I don’t know if you’re ready to settle down. I don’t know if you’ll ever be ready.”
“You think I’m a permanent nomad?”
“Maybe? You like to seek out adventure.”
“When I was little, all I dreamed of was working in my uncle’s smithy and living in Happdal for the rest of my life. But everyone said my arms were like twigs.”
“Well, you’re a halfway decent smith now, from the pieces you’ve shown me.”
“Thanks. I might take a stab at forging a replacement part for the excavator.”
“Don’t want to spend your day digging ditches by hand?”
“Not really.”
Maggie was right – he’d been seeking reassurance. And he’d received it, in a way. It made sense why she felt the way she did, and was holding a part of herself back. Tem was committed to Maggie, but not necessarily to Ilium.
“Tem, if you need to explore the world and figure out what you want to do with your life, I won’t hold it against you. Same goes if you need to move to Kaldbrek to be close to your child. I won’t make any promises, but we can take it day by day.”
The sky was bright with stars, the crescent moon, and the faintly glowing ringships. Now that he’d visited the Liu Hui, Tem wondered what life was like on the Alhazen and the Hedonark. And what about the new ringship settlements on Earth? Some of them dwarfed Ilium in scope and ambition.
Tem sighed. “I get it – Ilium is your home. But will you travel with me? There are so many places to see.”
She took his hand. “Of course I will. But not for months at a time. There are people here that depend on me.”
“Weeks, then? Lydia can handle Ilium’s medical needs for a few weeks, can’t she?”
“Maybe. She’s pretty distracted by Shane these days.”
Slowly they strolled back home. Maggie had held up a mirror to his psyche, and he was still getting used to the reflection. Why was it so hard to understand the most basic things about oneself that were so obvious to everyone else?
Maybe that was just part of growing up.
Chapter Forty-Four
Jana and Katja flew the hovershuttle, heavy with provisions, east across the Po Valley, following the Ligurian Apennines. They passed through the ruins of ancient Italian towns that had resisted the ravages of time, many of their stone buildings and walls still standing. Why had Bosa survived, while these places were inhabited only by rodents, bats, and packs of wild dogs? They saw wolves and bears as well, who regarded them with wary curiosity, but only the packs of dogs scared them. The dogs approached them fearlessly, tongues hanging out, brazenly considering them as a possible meal.
They soon reached the Adriatic coast, and turned north, toward an area the hovershuttle map indicated had once been the city of Venice. Katja, reading from the display, explained that the city had once featured a network of canals. But when they reached the place, they found that many of the channels were dry. The Venetian Lagoon had been partially drained by the falling sea levels, the water sucked up into the glacial fields that covered the far north and far south of the planet, just as Sperancia had explained to her so long ago. Though in the deeper canals they were greeted by dolphins, who followed the hovershuttle, chirping with curiosity.
Katja wanted to explore the snow-capped Alps. She reasoned that groups of people might be inhabiting the many valleys of the great mountain range, just as her own ancestors had settled in the Harz mountains. To Jana it made more sense that people would live by the sea where fish were plentiful, but that was her own bias. Ultimately she agreed to Katja’s suggestion; the craggy peaks beckoned to her for reasons she could not explain.
They headed north-east, crossing into what had once been the nation of Slovenia, according to the hovershuttle’s historical map. The weather cooled as they navigated a maze of ancient overgrown roads weaving through valleys, but the lightweight clothing Car-En had provided kept them warm and dry. They ate travel rations, sweet dense bars that tasted vaguely like fruitcake, and drank water from streams after filtering it. They slept on the folded-down bench seats of the hovershuttle, spooning each other for warmth and comfort. Jana awoke each day feeling sore but happy, and excited to continue their explorations.
They climbed north, easily fueling the hovershuttle with plant biomass, dead leaves, and fallen fruit. As the peaks loomed higher, Jana pointed to a large alpine lake on the map. “Let’s go there. If nothing else it will be beautiful to look at. And here – the map says it was once a pilgrimage site.” She could not read as well as Katja but the map tried to help her, switching to Italian text when she looked at it.
Katja piloted the hovershuttle with fearless confidence, and Jana had become accustomed to the breakneck speeds with which Katja flew the craft through valleys, over forests, and across rivers. But her jaw dropped when she saw the lake, a smooth turquoise expanse surrounded by trees, with high white cliffs rising above the northern bank. In the middle of the lake was an island. A lone stone spire rose out of the trees.
“That’s the pilgrimage site,” Jana said. “The Assumption of Maria.”
“I don’t know who that is,” said Katja, squinting in the noon light. “But look, across the lake.” She pointed. “Atop the cliff.”
Katja’s vision was sharper, but Jana was already reaching for the binocular
s Car-En had given them. Perched on the cliff was a castle of white stone walls and remnants of what had once been a red tile roof. Sections of the roof had been repaired with raw timber. Zooming in, Jana noted that the level of craftsmanship was respectable, and that the repairs were relatively recent. As she panned across the roofline something caught her eye, nearly causing her to drop the binoculars. Refocussing, she confirmed that she had really seen what she’d thought she’d seen.
“What is it?” Katja asked.
“Look for yourself.”
There was a thin column of smoke rising from somewhere inside the castle, perhaps the interior courtyard.
“Well, shall we go meet them?” Katja asked.
“How will we communicate?”
“We speak three languages between the two of us. They’re bound to speak at least one of those, whoever they are.”
Jana was fairly sure Katja was incorrect, but she smiled. Katja’s confidence was contagious.
“Okay, let’s go meet them. If this lake is full of fish, they’re well-fed and won’t try to eat us.”
Katja tilted the hovershuttle forward and revved the main rotor. Jana’s heart pounded in her chest.
About this book
This is a FLAME TREE PRESS BOOK
Text copyright © 2021 J.D. Moyer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
FLAME TREE PRESS, 6 Melbray Mews, London, SW6 3NS, UK, flametreepress.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Thanks to the Flame Tree Press team, including: Taylor Bentley, Frances Bodiam, Federica Ciaravella, Don D’Auria, Chris Herbert, Josie Karani, Molly Rosevear, Mike Spender, Cat Taylor, Maria Tissot, Nick Wells, Gillian Whitaker. The cover is created by Flame Tree Studio with thanks to Nik Keevil and Shutterstock.com.
FLAME TREE PRESS is an imprint of Flame Tree Publishing Ltd. flametreepublishing.com. A copy of the CIP data for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress.
HB ISBN: 978-1-78758-588-1 • US PB ISBN: 978-1-78758-586-7
UK PB ISBN: 978-1-78758-587-4 • ebook ISBN: 978-1-78758-589-8
Created in London and New York
FLAME TREE PRESS
FICTION WITHOUT FRONTIERS
Award-Winning Authors & Original Voices
Flame Tree Press is the trade fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing, focusing on excellent writing in horror and the supernatural, crime and mystery, science fiction and fantasy. Our aim is to explore beyond the boundaries of the everyday, with tales from both award-winning authors and original voices.
Other titles in J.D. Moyer’s Reclaimed Earth series: The Sky Woman, The Guardian
New bestselling titles from Flame Tree: The Wise Friend by Ramsey Campbell and In Darkness, Shadows Breathe by Catherine Cavendish.
Other titles available include:
Snowball by Gregory Bastianelli, Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach by Ramsey Campbell, Think Yourself Lucky by Ramsey Campbell, The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell, The Influence by Ramsey Campbell, The House by the Cemetery by John Everson, The Devil’s Equinox by John Everson, Hellrider by JG Faherty, The Toy Thief by D.W. Gillespie, One By One by D.W. Gillespie, Black Wings by Megan Hart, The Playing Card Killer by Russell James, The Siren and the Specter by Jonathan Janz, The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz, Castle of Sorrows by Jonathan Janz, The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz, House of Skin by Jonathan Janz, Will Haunt You by Brian Kirk, We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk, Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee, Those Who Came Before by J.H. Moncrieff, Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken & Melissa Prusi, Creature by Hunter Shea, Ghost Mine by Hunter Shea, Slash by Hunter Shea, The Mouth of the Dark by Tim Waggoner, They Kill by Tim Waggoner
Join our mailing list for free short stories, new release details, news about our authors and special promotions:
flametreepress.com
Further Information
If you liked this book please leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads or anywhere you normally purchase your ebooks. It’s a big help to our authors and their fantastic work.
Thank you