by J. Thorn
The old women of Venganza had told her stories as a child, and Hado had forgotten most of them. But she did remember the tales of the rail riders—people who’d sat in carts with wheels that rode along a track from one city to another. It had all seemed outlandish and inefficient, and yet the books said it was the primary way people had moved across the continent in the time before the automobile.
“A depot? You mean like a place to wait?”
“Yes. The rails converged in special places. They called them stations. From what I can remember, this city had one of the busiest. I think that’s where we are.”
“I want to explore. With Decker.”
“Later. Right now, we need to take inventory of what we took from those men.”
Dia nodded, but let a sour scowl show on her face.
Hado leaned her torch against the brass railing and emptied the backpacks they’d taken from the Eternal Hounds. Three flasks clanked onto the floor. She picked one up and removed the cap. The sharp odor hit her nostrils immediately, and she wrinkled her face as she set it down.
“That one’s not water. Some kind of shine.”
“These two are good,” Dia said, holding up the two other flasks.
“They both have fresh water in them?”
“They do.”
“Good. What else do we have here?”
They had several knives, and Dia also pulled out a sharp object with a curved beak. She ran her finger over the steel edge and shrugged.
“Can opener,” Hado said. “If we find canned food that hasn't spoiled, it could be useful. Keep it in your things.”
Dia shoved it into her bag without another question.
Hado would rather have avoided the confrontation they’d had, but it had happened, and at least a few ounces of clean water had been gained from the fight with those men.
“We need to get out of this city before we run into more gangs,” Hado said, looking over their haul.
“This place seems empty. Maybe we should camp here for the night?”
“It’s too big to secure. I don’t feel safe staying here.”
Hado picked up a sign off the floor. She blew the dust off it. To Trains. And there was an arrow below the two words. She looked around, realizing that they had, in fact, found the Chicago depot of the rail riders.
“I have an idea. Follow me.”
Hado led Ree and Piva across the uneven flooring and to where the sound of trickling water caught her ears. They turned and walked through the open doors and around the side of the building. As they passed another entrance, she noticed the words etched into the stone above the threshold.
“Union Station?” Dia asked.
“I knew it,” Hado said. “Over there. Water pooling on the floor.”
Hado let Decker and the horses drink their fill before she led them all around the building, down a hill, and into an open expanse in the rear.
“What is this?” Dia asked.
At first, Hado thought the structure looked like a gigantic serpent. The stainless-steel train cars snaked beneath the depot and sat on the maze of tracks in the subterranean switching station. Hidden from the elements and mostly forgotten by time, the cars sat in a dust-coated silence.
They stepped over and around piles of garbage and nests created by animals that had probably died years before. Hado stopped in front of an open door with a set of stairs leading upward and around to the second floor of the railroad car. She nodded at the open door while tying the horses’ reins to the handles. Dia lit a torch from dry garbage gathered off the floor.
“It’s called a train,” she said. “These are what people used to traverse the continent.”
“In these?” Dia asked, wrinkling her nose. “They look like boxes. For transporting livestock.”
“Before the automobiles, this was a luxurious way to travel.”
“No way I’m going up those stairs. What are you thinking?”
“Then we’ll camp out here, although inside would be safer.”
Dia hissed and shook her head while Hado continued with the explanation.
“Chicago was a hub for this sort of transportation. Trains left this station and traveled across the continent.” Hado faced west. “If we follow these tracks, they’ll take us all the way to the mighty Pacific.”
“But I thought you said the old roads would do that?”
“I believe the tracks will be much safer. Other travelers may be using the roads. And the Venganza will likely think we are, as well. It will be harder to follow our trail if we go this way. We’ll hunt for squirrel at first light and pack as much as we can. We have no idea what will be out there.”
Hado started to set up their camp for the night while Decker stood next to Dia, who gazed upon the rails stretching as far as she could see, on toward the horizon.
“The rail I’m touching now is also touching the Pacific?”
“Something like that,” Hado said, smiling as the fire inside the bottom level of the car came to life. “Those rails will take us out of this city and to the West. All we need to do is stay on them.”
Chapter 17
Shiva sat at the table, her hands sitting on top of the map as she stared through the greasy, opaque grime covering the old window. She could only see movement, dark figures moving left and right through a backlit frame. The sun had dropped lower, and soon the campfires inside of Erehwon would cast the glass in an orange hue.
Her nostrils flared, and she felt sweat on her forehead even though the temperature had begun to drop. She stared at the papers lying before her, the most prominent of them being the large map of Cleveland. Every place they’d checked for water had been circled, as was the case for every location they’d planned on taking Dia to search for more fresh water. But Shiva’s water whisperer was gone now, and it only irritated Shiva to look at what lay before her on these papers. The tribe’s greatest asset and her insurance against an unknown future had been stolen. By one of their own.
Shiva stood and swept the map from the table. She slammed her fists down in its place, sensing someone in the doorway but not looking up.
“Pardon me,” the woman said, her voice trembling. “I am so sorry to bother you.”
“Then why are you here, Silvy?”
“I think I know where Hado went.”
Shiva looked up. The woman had lost a daughter during the previous spring, and Shiva had made sure Silvy wasn’t alone during her time of mourning. Since that time, the woman had come to Shiva when she’d heard whispers and rumors in the settlement. Silvy had never expected to curry favor with Shiva, and the head of the Council gave nothing in return. Knowing this, Shiva took a deep breath and gestured for the woman to have a seat. Shiva sat again also, not bothering to pick up the mess from the floor.
“Lanette had been talking to Dia.”
“Lanette is an old fool,” Shiva said. “What was she telling our water whisperer?”
Silvy shifted in her seat, her eyes focusing on the scattering of paper at her feet.
“Go on. You have nothing to fear from me.”
The woman nodded and then looked up. “I heard her telling Dia stories about the West. About the time when the world fell, and the rise of the Venganza tribe in Denver.”
“So you think Hado is headed there with the girl? It’s twice, maybe three times as far to the Great Mountains as it is to the Venganza settlements on the East Coast.”
“A few friends and I followed their tracks for about three miles before they disappeared. West. Hado probably thinks that you think East would be her best play. If Dia believes there are Venganza out west, though, then they’ll believe they can go to them and find refuge. Start over in a clan, and those Venganza would never know what happened here—that Hado stole Dia and has Venganza blood on her hands.”
And Hado could tell them of my dealings with Los Muertos, Shiva thought. Let her. Just another lie that the Council has swallowed for years, just like the animals of the ruins. Once I double-c
ross Los Muertos and get the girl back, I’ll disappear forever and live what’s left of my life in the mountains, in peace. Let the Council decide what to do. Let the Venganza fend for itself. I’ve given them so much already.
Shiva nodded. “Thank you for coming to me, Silvy.”
“What will you do now?” the woman asked, smiling and leaning in toward Shiva.
“I will do what I always do—that which is in the best interest of Erehwon and the women of Venganza.”
A knock interrupted them, and a masked Venganza warrior opened the door a second later. Shiva smiled at Silvy, signaling her dismissal. “I must begin working on this right away. I appreciate you coming here and sharing what you’ve heard. Goodbye.”
Silvy stood and smiled again before lowering her head as she passed the masked warrior in the doorway, heading back to the common campfire burning in the middle of the settlement.
“She shared information with you?”
“I helped her through an experience you couldn’t possibly understand.”
“Not my concern,” said Sunji.
“No. Not at all.”
The warrior took two steps into Shiva’s cabin, but did not sit in the open chair. Shiva stood.
“I need to send you on a clandestine mission. One that will serve the Council and save Erehwon—if you are successful.”
Sunji nodded.
“It will be dangerous. You will most likely die. And if you live, it is doubtful you’ll ever find your way back to Erehwon.”
“When do I leave?”
Shiva paused. Her years of leading by example and treating all Venganza women with respect had developed an unwavering loyalty in all the warriors—except for one.
“At first light.”
Sunji turned to leave Shiva’s cabin, but was stopped by her voice.
“I haven’t told you where you’re headed. Or what I need you to do.”
“I’m not a fool. I know you need me to find Hado and Dia. The entire settlement knows what happened.”
“Yes, I’m sure they do.” Shiva sighed. “They’re heading west. Probably to the Denver Venganza. There isn’t much but ruins and savages between here and there. You’ll never find them on the road. You need to get to Denver before they do. Tell them what Hado did here, that’s she’s a fugitive who needs to face justice.”
“Then that is what I will do,” Sunji said before turning around.
“Wait.” Shiva grabbed a mask off the wall and offered it to the warrior before her. “Wear this on the road. It is a relic from the Venganza who used to occupy Detroit.”
Sunji smiled, switching masks. “To ward off Los Muertos, but keep my identity hidden from Venganza.”
“Yes,” Shiva said. “Sometimes it is best for our women to be shielded from the difficult task of doing what is in the best interest of the clan.”
Chapter 18
“And you’re sure about this? This morning?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lanette nodded, and then she drew in a deep breath, and let loose with a low cackle. “She’s got her fingers in everything, don’t she?”
The teenage Venganza girl waited at the edge of the hut, her face twisted with a touch of confusion.
Lanette looked at her and smiled. “Never mind, child. Your ears work better than your mouth.”
She picked up a small sack filled with dried leaf and placed it in the girl’s hand. “Don’t you go smoking all of that at one time, ya hear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now go on, and make sure none of the Council’s watchdogs see you leave.”
The young girl nodded and left the hut.
Lanette raised her hand to her chin, and stood staring at a painted canvas tacked up in the corner of her hovel. It had been done by a young girl, around the same age of the girl who’d just left, before Lanette had left the Denver Venganza. She smiled as she stared at all the colors on the hide, their vibrancy a reminder of the world that had preceded this colorless one, this eternally gray universe.
She looked next to the letter lying on the table, having sealed it with wax and stamped it with her own personal mark. Lanette had the means of sending this letter from Erehwon, but its delivery would be unlikely at best. Still, she had to do something. She couldn’t let Shiva run mad with power.
Lanette snatched the letter off the table and stuffed it into an inner pocket of her cloak before stumbling from her hut.
Low, charcoal clouds hung in the sky, hinting at rain—or possibly snow. A cold, steady wind blew through the valley on its way to Erehwon, and Lanette pulled her rags tight around her neck, her feet sinking into the stiff mud.
I don’t know if I can survive another winter.
She’d told herself the same thing every year, though.
As she passed through Erehwon’s main gate, Lanette counted the number of people who stole a glance at her before looking away. She stopped at ten. Many in the settlement couldn’t even look at her. Lanette believed those women saw their own future, the inevitable day when they, too, would be shuffling through the settlement, toothless and covered in filthy rags to fight the encroaching cold. At one time, it had bothered her. But now she reveled in it, playing the role of outcast that had been unilaterally and unfairly placed upon her.
She stopped at the cabin where the teenage girl had said Shiva would be meeting with two other members of the Council—not a full session, which in and of itself indicated that Shiva had begun to unravel, making her attempt to transition from being the head of the Council to the Council.
The old woman pushed the door open and walked in.
Shiva sat on one side of a narrow table while two members of the Council sat across from her. Weak flames crawled over damp logs burning in the fireplace and two mugs sat on the table, steam floating over the smell of wild mushroom tea. Strips of fabric hung over each window, which helped to create shadows on the wall. None of the women had been wearing their masks.
Shiva turned her head and smiled at Lanette before speaking.
“I’m surprised it took you so long to discover the location of this meeting. Maybe you should bribe the girl with more herb next time.”
“I don’t care what you’re discussing. I come only to ask a small favor of the Council.”
“Yes,” Shiva said. “I’m certain this little ‘favor’ is all you’d ever ask from the Council.”
The woman closest to Lanette raised her hand to silence Shiva. She appeared to be older than the head of the Council but younger than the old crone. The Venganza had called this woman Lake because the shores of her influence reached far and wide.
“What do you want?”
Lanette reached into her pocket and held the sealed letter up to the woman.
“What is this?” Shiva asked.
“I understand that a messenger is being sent to Denver Venganza to warn them that Hado is heading their way. With the stolen water whisperer.”
“That is correct,” said Lake. “Hado is dangerous, and we want Dia back. Our sisters there need to know a threat approaches.”
Shiva sat back and folded her arms across her chest. She smiled at Lanette, waiting for the full explanation to unfold.
“I came from Denver. I know the head of the Council there personally, and I’d like to get her this letter. If we are already sending a messenger, then I hoped she could take this with her.”
“What is in the letter?” Shiva asked.
“It is personal.” Lanette handed the note to Shiva. “I ask that you respect the privacy of another head of a Venganza Council. I’m sure she would not appreciate being violated in that way.”
Shiva took the letter, running her fingers over the rounded, folded edge. She raised her eyebrow as she studied the paper.
“I’m head of this Council, however. I believe I have a right to know what is being sent out under my leadership.”
Lanette glared at Lake.
C’mon. We had a deal.
“I a
m a member of the Council. I will get the letter to our messenger.” Lake snatched the letter from Shiva’s hand.
Shiva grimaced, but her face reddened for only a second before her signature wide grin returned to her face.
Ever the politician. Smiling and deceptive.
“Yes, of course, Lanette. Lake can handle this matter on your behalf.”
Lanette smiled at Shiva, and had turned to leave when Shiva spoke again.
“In the letter, did you mention that you told Dia about Denver? And that maybe that is the reason Hado is headed for that Venganza clan? I wonder if you explained to the head of the Council there that your stories could be the reason that their settlement is now in jeopardy?”
Lake sat back and squeezed the letter, looking at the woman next to her.
“There are many loose-lipped women in this clan. Any one of them could have told the girl stories about the West. But I must say, Shiva, I’m flattered that you would think my words carry so much influence within the walls of Erehwon, given how many cold nights I’ve spent outside of it.”
Without waiting for a reply, Lanette turned and walked through the cabin’s door, slamming it behind her before she strutted back through the settlement and past the rider gearing up for a journey of a thousand miles.
Take that, Shiva. You bitch.
Not even the biting wind could wipe the smile from Lanette’s face.
Chapter 19
5 Days West of Erehwon
Hado’s stomach grumbled as they continued traveling along the train tracks, keeping the horses off the rails to avoid getting their hooves stuck. She scanned the tree line, looking for signs of wildlife as they cut deeper into the vast expanse of North America. Vines had reclaimed the silos and barns of the old farms, and the fields had become overgrown with wild grasses and fast-growing trees.
“Have you seen anything?” Dia asked.
“Not yet, but keep your eyes peeled.”
They came to the road again as the train tracks crossed paths with a highway. Hado looked right, then pulled the reins on Ree to bring her to a stop.