by Jenn Reese
Mags tilted her head and her mass of black hair bobbed. She glanced back at Odd and Pocket, still asleep, and lowered her voice. “Might be that we can work out a deal, though. You see, we could make a lot of good trades — powerful trades — with those scales and feathers you two got in abundance. Maybe not make as much as Karl Strand will offer, but enough to keep us safe, buy us some more muscle, get us someplace better.”
Squirrel frowned and shifted on her sproingy metal feet.
“You promise me some of your scales and feathers — and those glinty-glowy necklaces you’re both wearing — and I’ll give you poison.” She patted the pocket of her long coat. “I got tricks that can take you out quick. Painless. Be a mercy to end it like that, compared to what Strand will do to you.” Mags leaned in. “You believe anything in this whole wide world, you believe this: Any death is better than living under Karl Strand’s control. That’s no life at all.”
Mags stood abruptly. “What I’m offering is a kindness,” she said quietly. “You think on it. You think on it long and hard, and you let me know how you want this to go.”
Squirrel’s head turned suddenly, but not toward the fire. She was looking down the path behind them.
The corners of Mags’s mouth twitched. “You see something, girl?”
Squirrel shook her head, then sniffed.
“You smell something, then. I’ll go wake the others.” Mags turned and walked to the fire. She started kicking the sleeping boys and men and cursing at them until they stirred.
Squirrel kept her eyes on the horizon behind them. “Be here soon,” she said in a soft voice. “Got to be ready.”
“Ready for what?” Calli asked.
“Who? How many?” Aluna said at the same time.
“Been following us a few days,” Squirrel said. “Not talking, just following. Odd thinks they’re looking for the right time to pounce.”
Aluna breathed deep. So that’s why Odd and Mags were so quick to take in their group. It wasn’t just the promise of reward from Karl Strand, but the addition of Hoku and Dash to help strengthen the kludge. Maybe Odd had been hoping that whoever was following them would lose interest. But they hadn’t. That meant they were either much stronger or much too desperate to give up.
Squirrel stood up and bounced on her springy feet. “You have a funny horse.” And then she was off, bounding meters with each long stride.
“A funny horse? What did she mean by that?” Aluna asked.
Calli pointed. “Look.”
Aluna followed her finger and saw Vachir munching scrubby grass in the shade of a large rock a dozen meters away, the frayed end of a rope dangling from her neck. Apparently Vachir hadn’t felt like playing a captive this morning.
“Hey!” Aluna called. Vachir’s ear twitched, but she didn’t look up from her breakfast. Aluna picked up a small stone and threw it at her flank. Her aim was true. Vachir raised her head and huffed air out her nose.
Aluna pointed to the rock where Vachir’s rope was supposed to be tied. Vachir sauntered back slowly, still chewing grass, clearly unrepentant.
“Who would be following the kludge?” Calli said. She scooped out the last of her goopy white breakfast and set her bowl on the ground.
Aluna pushed herself up and started to stretch. She had a small knife hidden under her Serpenti skirt and her talon weapons tucked into her sleeves. But she wanted a spear. And a sword. And maybe a harpoon, too.
“Another kludge, I’m guessing,” Aluna said. “Probably a bigger one.”
“Do they all live like this?” Calli asked. “Like they don’t know if they’ll live through the next day? It’s exhausting!”
“When I was growing up, I was almost never afraid,” Aluna said. “We had hunters and defenses and healers and rules. I worried about being bored, not about being killed.”
“And I worried about disappointing my mother,” Calli said with a sigh. “Guess we had it easier than we thought.”
Aluna thought about Squirrel’s muck-streaked face and wild eyes. “If I’d been born out here, maybe I’d want someone to bring order, too. Maybe I’d be fighting for Karl Strand, instead of against him.”
HOKU HELPED THE UPGRADERS break camp. Odd’s face held no humor this morning, Pocket seemed focused on his duties, and Zeelo had stopped telling horrible jokes and belching. He didn’t mind that last one so much. What he did mind was the idea that they were apparently being stalked by another kludge.
Only a few minutes after they’d eaten breakfast, they were packed up and heading north in a tight cluster. Hoku walked his horse next to Odd and Dash. He kept lifting his fingertips to the metal plate attached to his face and tracing the sleek curve over his cheekbone. It stayed cool and smooth no matter how much grit and grime covered the rest of his face.
“Stupid rhinebra,” Odd grumbled. “Could make twice the distance if that dumb animal wasn’t so blasted lazy.”
“I can talk with the creature, if you like,” Dash said. “I have a way with . . . dumb animals.”
Odd raised an eyebrow. “Do you, now? Well, give it a go, boy. Beat the idiot beast, if you want. Makes no difference to me, as long as it puts one foot in front of the other with more speed than a sun-blasted turtle.”
“Yeah, go take care of it,” Hoku said, trying to sound as impressive as Odd. Another ninety kilos of fat and muscle would have helped.
Dash nodded and just barely stopped himself from bowing like an Equian before turning his horse to tend to the animal.
“He’s a strange one,” Odd said. “Talks strange, too.”
“Can’t argue with you about that,” Hoku said. He glanced back at Mags, Pocket, and Zeelo. The Upgraders were watching the road behind them and whispering. At least Aluna and Calli were in the middle of the kludge, safe on Vachir and Nightshade and ready to run if they needed to. Although, getting Vachir and Aluna to run from a fight instead of toward it would probably require a miracle.
“Strand is good for us,” Odd said suddenly, as if he were answering a question. “People should be able to muck about their lives however they want. Shouldn’t need to pay slayers to keep you from getting sliced in half every day. Shouldn’t need to glue swords to your arm or turn your skin to stone, neither. Karl Strand will beat some order into the world. Set some rules. Then maybe a person can walk from one place to another without getting killed or stole from or beaten into pulp and bits.”
“I hear you,” Hoku said. “I think —”
But Odd wasn’t done. “Young ones like Pocket and Squirrel should be allowed to grow up with enough food to eat and a medtek when they need one, and other people to count on when they’re sick or tired or feeling broken.” He shook his large head. “Most days all we can do is wait for the fist to fall and hope we survive the hit.”
So Odd was conflicted about aligning with Karl Strand, too — maybe even as much as Mags was. But Odd was responsible for the whole kludge, and he clearly saw Strand as a path to a safer world. Not necessarily a happier world, but one where the kludge had to worry a little less about surviving each day.
Hoku’s mind spun like gears. If they stopped Karl Strand, nothing would change for the Upgraders. And clearly something needed to change, or Strand wouldn’t have found so many followers, so many people willing to risk their lives for the hope of a brighter future.
Aluna wanted to rid the world of Strand, and Hoku agreed with her. But maybe they had to do more than that. Maybe instead of just removing Strand, they needed to give the Upgraders another choice. A better choice.
“I had a family and a safe home once,” Hoku said, surprising himself. But it was true, he had. Back in the City of Shifting Tides, his mother and father had worked hard every day of their lives to give him those things.
“What happened?” Odd asked.
Hoku shrugged. What happened? The Kampii necklaces started failing. Aluna burst the illusion that everything was okay. But he couldn’t tell Odd that. He settled on: “The world changed, and we ei
ther had to change with it, or die.”
“They still alive?” Odd asked. “Your family, I mean.”
Hoku’s gut clenched like a fist. He wanted to say, “Of course they are,” but . . . were they? He’d never really thought about it before. He’d always just assumed they were fine, that they were still working and eating clams and taking care of Grandma Nani. But what if they weren’t?
Odd’s meaty hand landed on his shoulder, heavy as dead fish, but the Upgrader said nothing.
A cheer went up behind them as the lumbering rhinebra suddenly bolted into a jog. Dash stood on its head and held its reins, looking as comfortable as if he were standing on flat ground.
Odd whooped. “Get your feet moving, you great globby kludge! Let’s put some meters between us and them gutless Gizmos behind us.”
Hoku patted Sunbeam’s sweaty neck and glanced back at Aluna and Calli. Pocket walked next to them and seemed to be plying them with questions. Vachir could certainly handle such a small Upgrader on her own if Pocket decided to start trouble, but Hoku didn’t want to take any chances. He pulled on Sunbeam’s reins and sat back, slowing the horse down so he could join his “cargo.”
“I wasn’t messing with them,” Pocket said as Hoku approached. “I was just seeing if they needed anything.”
Hoku looked sharply at Calli and saw her trying to suppress a smile.
“They’re prisoners,” Hoku said. “You don’t have to be nice to them.”
Aluna grunted and scowled, and if Hoku hadn’t known she was acting, he’d probably have kicked Sunbeam and gone back to walking with Odd.
“Well, they’re still people, too,” Pocket said. “They got wings and scales and they come from places we can’t even go, but they were like us once.”
“They’re nothing like you,” Hoku said, then corrected himself. “They’re nothing like us, I mean. We’re tougher and more dangerous and we’re going to rule the world.”
Bizarrely, Pocket laughed. “I’d trade my horns for wings,” the boy said. “I’d probably trade my pockets, too.”
Calli’s chin raised proudly.
“Never met a bird-woman before. Or a fish-woman,” Pocket said. He stared up at Calli. “Can you tell me what it’s like to fly?”
Hoku could see Calli warming up to the boy, and it wasn’t good. Not if they wanted to keep their cover.
Calli began, “It’s the most —”
“Be quiet,” Aluna said gruffly. “We won’t talk to the people who are turning us over to Karl Strand.”
“Oh, right,” Calli said brightly. Too brightly. She twisted her face into an adorable scowl. “The mermaid is right. We won’t talk to you.”
Pocket’s shoulders hunched. He seemed to fold in on himself. “Wouldn’t be my choice,” he said softly. “I don’t get to choose.”
“Come on,” Hoku said. “Let’s leave the prisoners alone before . . . before I have to hit one of them.” He cringed at the idea, but Pocket didn’t seem to notice. The boy followed him meekly.
In the back of the kludge, Mags called out, “Twenty!”
Pocket picked up the pace of his walking. He was still young, his head barely up to Sunbeam’s shoulders.
“Does twenty mean there are twenty people coming to attack us, or that they’re twenty minutes away?” Hoku asked him.
“Does it matter?” Pocket answered. “Have to fight them no matter what. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Hoku frowned. “Is there any chance they want to talk, or are simply passing through on the same route?”
“No,” Pocket said. “They would have announced themselves already, like you did, if they wanted to talk. If they were passing by, they would have done the same. Maybe stayed a night at our fire to swap stories and goods. No, they’ve been sizing us up, counting our blades. They think they can take our tech and our beast without losing too many of their own. Not all kludges scavenge from the old, dead places. Some think the living places are a lot easier.”
Hoku looked at the force shield strapped to his wrist. If only they were easier to make, then he could outfit Odd’s whole kludge with them. “Can you fight?” he asked Pocket. “Your name — does it mean you’ve got weapons hidden somewhere?”
Pocket chuckled. “I’ve got food. Tools. Some nice shells and a few shiny bits of tech I picked up here and there. I keep a ball that Squirrel and I toss around, and a little stuffed thing she likes to hug when she sleeps.”
“Your horns look dangerous,” Hoku said. “Can you hit people with them?”
“I can store water in them,” Pocket said proudly. “Most of the time that’s a lot more useful.”
“How have you survived this long?” Hoku asked. He felt an unfamiliar outrage growing in his mind. “Your kludge doesn’t even have any warriors!”
“Used to,” Pocket answered. “They signed up with Strand. Mags convinced Odd to hold out a little longer, but then you and Dash came along. Looks like we’ll all be part of his army before long.”
Not if we can stop Strand first, Hoku thought.
Squirrel bounded out from behind a rock and leaped in front of Sunbeam. Hoku barely managed to hold on to the reins as Sunbeam jerked his massive body to the side.
“They didn’t like that we sped up,” Squirrel said to Pocket. She acted as if Hoku weren’t even there, as if Sunbeam hadn’t almost trampled her to death. “I heard the big one say they needed to attack now, before we got too far ahead.”
“How many are there?” Hoku asked.
“All my fingers,” Squirrel said. “Plus one.”
“Eleven coming,” Hoku said aloud so Aluna could hear.
Squirrel bolted away, her springy feet carrying her to Odd in three quick strides. A moment later he yelled, “Circle up! Pocket, Squirrel, and the prisoners on the beast. Everyone else, get ready for blood.”
Pocket headed for the rhinebra. Hoku paused to grab the reins of Vachir and Calli’s horse, even though Aluna and Calli were already moving to where Odd wanted them. Calli’s hands were still bound, but he could see Aluna toying with her ropes.
Dash made the rhinebra sit, a defensive pose intended to protect its more delicate underbelly. Not that the other kludge would try to hurt the beast; the rhinebra was more valuable than tech to a bunch of nomads. Dash slid down the rhinebra’s side and joined their group.
“Do we run?” he asked Aluna, his dark eyes darting down the path, to the sides of the valley, and back again. “We must make sure we survive.”
“We’ll know what we’re up against in two flashes,” Aluna said. Her eyes seemed brighter now that a fight was close. “It may be too late to run.”
“Good,” Dash said. “I would not abandon these people to a slaughter unless we had no other choice.”
As he spoke, the world around them seemed to burst into blades and flames and battle cries.
ALUNA PULLED HERSELF to the top of the rhinebra’s saddle so she could get a better view of the fight. She thought Pocket had already climbed up, but when she got there, she found only the saddlebags and supplies strapped to the animal’s side. Good. She didn’t have to worry about playing prisoner in the middle of a crisis.
“More Upgraders,” Aluna said. She knew Hoku could hear and would share her words with the others. “The girl was right. There are eleven. No beasts of their own, as far as I can see.”
The attacking Upgraders had come from the south, so at least they hadn’t had time to surround the kludge. She watched Odd wade into a cluster of men and women and metal and start swinging his massive, armored arms. The Upgraders dodged and taunted him, but he didn’t falter. He’d seemed focused and methodical, as if he were merely a farmer pulling in his fish nets or a gardener weeding his kelp beds.
Aluna spotted Mags and Squirrel working together. Squirrel darted in and out of combat, grabbing a satchel off one woman and pulling another Upgrader’s shirt over his head. She was a tiny blur of chaos, too quick and unpredictable to be hit.
Mags, on the ot
her hand, approached the fight with calculated precision. Aluna watched her load a needle full of red liquid into a tube, then lift the tube to her mouth. She blew sharply, sending the needle shooting through the air. It lodged itself in the fleshy leg of a huge Upgrader trying to race past Odd. He stumbled to the ground and twitched in the dirt.
Zeelo, who Aluna had assumed was nothing more than a crotchety old woman, wielded her two walking sticks with deadly force and far more speed than seemed possible. Aluna could have watched her forever. She’d never seen someone turn such simple objects into weapons of such incredible power and versatility.
The kludge may not have had any “slayers,” but they were clearly no strangers to fighting for their lives. Even so, they were outnumbered. The attackers were going to win.
“There are too many,” Aluna said to Hoku. “We have to join in to give them any shot of surviving.”
“Dash already decided that for himself,” Hoku said.
Aluna scanned the battle until she found him, a dark-haired figure holding off two Upgraders who’d tried to sneak around the side. Dash’s sword blade flashed, sending a spray of red across his mismatched leathers and robes. The Upgraders — a man with a blackened helmet and a slender woman with silvery fists — were in for a tough day.
She felt another sharp pang in her chest. She wanted to leap into the fray, talons spinning, and fight by Dash’s side. She’d been named the Dawn-bringer, after all, not She Who Watches from a Safe Distance.
Reluctantly, Aluna tore her gaze from Dash and surveyed the rest of the fighting. Most of the attackers were still clustered around Odd, trying to break through his wild, vicious swings. An Upgrader barked an order and three others detached themselves from the pack and ran straight for the rhinebra.
“Three on their way,” Aluna said to Hoku. “You and Calli get up here!”
“No,” Hoku said. “If I hide, our plan is over.”
She looked over the rhinebra’s side and saw Hoku searching in the packs for a weapon. Calli tugged at his arm, but Aluna couldn’t hear what she was saying. Probably something about certain death, because that’s what Hoku was walking into. It was one thing to be brave, but surviving fights also took skill and practice, and he didn’t have either.