The Scourge

by Henley, A. G.

  “Show them the necklace,” Peree calls.

  Confused, but willing to follow his lead, I pull out the carved bird. There are gasps from the greenhearts.

  “Peree, you gave yourself to a Groundling?” The Lofty woman’s voice is a mixture of amazement and revulsion.

  Is that what the bird is? A Lofty symbol of partnership, like our bonding bands? Part of me wonders what Peree was thinking, giving me something with that kind of significance without telling me what it meant. Another part is thrilled he offered it to me at all, and long before he told me the full extent of his feelings. But I don’t have time to think more about it.

  “I’m a Groundling,” I say, “but I’m a Lofty, too. Born in the trees, raised on the ground. You can hate me, banish me, kill me—but whatever you do, you do it to one of your own.” I pause. “Only a few feet of air separates us. Can’t you see that? If Peree and I could find common ground, isn’t there a chance we all could?”

  “Fennel is right,” Adder agrees. People quiet down to listen to him. “She’s right that she is only a child, with a child’s idealistic view of the world. She knows nothing of the deception of the Lofties, and the lengths they’ll go to keep us in our place. Children should have no voice in these talks, but I see Fennel has too much of her mother to keep silent. Cuda, guard the Lofty prisoner. Moray, take Fennel into the caves with the other . . . little ones.”

  My hand darts to my pocket and Peree’s knife. There’s no way I’m letting Moray touch me again.

  I feel Bear tie something around my upper arm. I might still be muddled from fatigue and hunger, but I know what it is. A bonding band.

  “I invoke the privilege of the bond,” Bear says. “I’ll do what it takes to protect my partner. If you touch her, Moray, you’ll have a lot more than a bitten tongue to worry about.”

  “Think you can thake me, hero?” Moray drawls. He's close to us, in the clearing now.

  “Try me,” Bear says.

  The sounds of a brawl tumble out of the caves behind Moray.

  “Cuda!” Moray sounds like he’s running back the way he came.

  “What is it? What’s happening?” I ask Bear.

  “Looks like the Lofty thumped Cuda with his own spear. It was a nice move . . . but they’ve got him again.”

  “Peree! Be careful!” I yell.

  Shrike speaks, his voice like ice. “If my son is hit one more time, these talks are over. We’ll take him back by force.”

  Someone shouts from the caves. “As if you could!”

  Taunts and threats are hurled back and forth. Fox tries to calm the crowd, but his words are lost in the shouting. Bear draws me closer to the bulk of his body.

  An arrow zips overhead, heading for the caves. Death in motion. It finds its mark.

  “Get down!” Bear says, pushing me into the dirt.

  The next few moments stretch out forever as arrows, spears, shouts, and curses are flung over our heads. There are screams of pain, and I can smell the raw tang of blood. Then I hear a new sound. Shrieks, followed by moans. I catch the odor of death, illness, despair—the unmistakable reek of the Scourge. Groundlings that were surging out of the caves a few moments before, hurling spears and expletives, now run back the way they came. The familiar fear engulfs me.

  “Bear,” I shout, “get in the caves!”

  He yanks me up. “You’re coming, too!”

  He half-drags me toward the mouth of the cave. I’m not sure it’s safe for me in there, but I’m positive it’s not safe out here in the middle of a hailstorm of arrows and spears. Sweat drenches my hands and face.

  A creature near me is hit with a sickening thump. It cries out, sounding horribly human. Several others moan in pain, and one begs to die. I hesitate. They don’t deserve to be shot down like helpless animals. Someone grabs my other hand, dragging me away from Bear. It’s Peree. I’d never mistake the feel of his hand in mine.

  “Come on,” he yells, yanking me sharply to the right, toward the trees. “We’ll be safer out here.”

  But more creatures surround us, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.

  “They’re being consumed!” I hear a Lofty woman shout. “Someone shoot them—show them mercy!”

  Peree swears, and barks at me to run, pushing me forward. Arrows strike the ground around us.

  We almost make it to the line of trees. Almost.

  A creature pitches into me. I try to keep my footing, but it knocks me off balance, tearing my hand out of Peree’s. As I fall, I feel the cold grip of the sick one, grasping my arms.

  My temple cracks against something on the ground—something hard and unforgiving—and pain rips through my head. Blood flows into my ear, and the sounds of the clash garble and begin to fade.

  I slip from consciousness quickly. But not before I hear Kadee scream Peree’s name, her voice strangled with grief.

  Chapter Twenty

  I become aware of my surroundings slowly. I’m in the caves, stretched out on some sort of lumpy pallet, and my head’s bandaged with cloth—again. A headache cleaves my body like a well-aimed ax. Low voices echo around me, and someone is holding my hand. I squeeze the thin fingers.

  “Fenn?”

  “Eland,” I whisper. I push myself up, but the movement causes the ax to burrow deeper, so I lay down again. Eland puts his arms around me instead. I can feel the outline of every rib in his bowed back, but he’s alive and whole-bodied as far as I can tell. And he smells of fresh air and soap.

  I smile, my lips cracking. “You’ve been outside . . .”

  “The Lofties let us go home.”

  He sounds older somehow, more mature than he did even a few weeks ago. The innocence that was already beginning to fade in his twelve-year-old voice is gone. I feel like a mourner who not only didn’t get to say good-bye to the deceased, but also missed the funeral.

  A soft sound escapes him, half hiccup, half sob. “I didn’t think you were coming back.”

  “I’ll always come back for you, Eland.”

  There’s a screech from nearby. “Fennel! You’re awake!” Calli leaps on me, her long, wispy hair pooling in my face as she hugs me. “How do you feel?” Her voice has the same childlike quality as before, but like Eland’s, it’s changed, too. There's a hard edge.

  “I’ve been worse,” I answer, thinking of my most hopeless moments in the pit.

  “Where were you?” she asks. “Before you strolled into the middle of the negotiations, I mean. I was in here helping Marjoram, but I heard all about it.”

  The time is coming when I’ll need to tell everyone my story, but for now I sidestep her question. “What happened with the Lofties? I don’t remember anything after I hit my head. And where’s Aloe?”

  Eland’s hand stiffens in mine. Neither of them speaks. A spear of apprehension jabs into my gut.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “Marj did everything she could . . . but Aloe had bled too much,” Calli says softly.

  “We buried her yesterday,” Eland mumbles.

  My chest tightens and my limbs feel strangely useless, like limp strands of waterweed. Something inside me crawls into a small ball, refusing to acknowledge their words. Aloe’s not gone, I tell myself, she’s just busy getting things sorted outside. She’ll come to me soon. As if I tell myself that enough times, my wish will come true.

  “What happened?” I whisper.

  They tell me everything. After I left to find the Waters, Adder grew increasingly distracted and paranoid. If anyone questioned a decision of the Three, he accused them of being spies and traitors, calling them Lofty-lovers. He was furious when he found out I’d been in the Lofty trees on the night of my punishment, especially because he didn’t hear it from Aloe. She should have told him, as a fellow member of the Council. He became suspicious of her motives.

  Adder threatened Aloe. If he found out she was speaking to Shrike or any other Lofty while she collected the water, if she disagreed with his decisions, if she sided with Sable ove
r him—if she went against Adder in any way—Eland would have an unfortunate accident. Accidents happen in the caves.

  Eland said Thistle’s third son, the one whose name I could never remember, began hanging around him all the time, even sleeping near him. He never did anything overt that would rouse the suspicions of others, but he also never let Eland out of his sight. He just sat nearby, playing with a small knife used for gutting animals. It was enough to terrify Eland and Aloe both, and to buy her cooperation. As Sable’s health failed by the minute, Adder cloaked himself with the power of the Three.

  He ordered the attack on the trees, believing the Lofties planned to hold them in the caves indefinitely. The people were desperate and afraid. Many were sick from a stomach ailment. They would agree to do anything to get out, even something perilous and ill-considered. And with Aloe and Sable’s continued silence, there didn’t seem to be another alternative.

  After the attack failed, guards were posted at every entrance to the caves. Adder justified it by saying he was protecting them from retaliation, but it kept in people who might have gone out to try to make peace with the Lofties. As far as I can tell, no one knew I had returned. Moray told everyone he bit his tongue while eating jerky.

  Then Peree came into the caves, looking for me. Calli said he was limping badly, but he still managed to saunter in like he belonged there. He would have been killed on the spot if Aloe hadn’t intervened. She stood in front of him, protecting him from the spears. She convinced Adder he could be used as a bargaining tool with the Lofties. It was the best she could do to spare his life.

  On the day of the Reckoning, as people are calling it, right before the negotiations, Aloe finally confided in Fox about Adder’s blackmail. She asked him to step in as a de facto member of the Three, to temper Adder’s madness. I wondered why she didn’t tell someone what was happening sooner. Eland said she probably wasn’t sure who she could trust. Adder had allies, and not all of them were as vocal as Thistle and her family.

  Adder insisted Eland come to the mouth of the caves during the negotiations while the other children were kept behind, to remind Aloe of what she had to lose if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. She died protecting Eland. I wish I could say it was a stray Lofty arrow that killed her, but Marjoram told me it was a spear wound.

  My only comfort is knowing that the choices Aloe made were for Eland’s sake. She forwent her duty in order to protect him. I would have, too. I try not to think about the times I needed her protection but didn’t get it, from being blinded as a baby, right up through the Reckoning. Instead, I remember she was doing the best she could to protect her children under difficult circumstances. Maybe all mothers are.

  Sable and Willow succumbed to their illnesses days ago. Thistle, her sons, and a few others are being held under guard, until a decision is made about what to do with them. Adder was killed by Lofty arrows. Scores of them. No doubt he was targeted. With Adder, Aloe, and Sable gone, Fox, Pinion, and Bream were chosen as temporary Council members. They persuaded the Lofties to let us bury our dead and return home.

  That is what I know.

  This is what I don’t know–

  If Peree lives. Eland said Peree managed to wrestle Cuda’s spear away from him again when the fighting started. He knocked Cuda out rather than killing him. All anyone could remember about Peree after that was he ran out into the Scourge like he’d suddenly gone mad. Eland thought he was consumed by the flesh-eaters, but Calli said she heard he was shot by a Lofty.

  It can’t be true. Peree can’t be dead. But I’m haunted by Kadee’s wail of despair. How could he have survived—a fair-haired, fair-eyed target for generations of Groundling resentment and rage? Or survived the conviction of many of his own people that he was about to be consumed by the Scourge?

  I’m strong. The last month convinced me of that. But losing Peree and Aloe in one day is more than my heart can bear.

  I sit in the circle of light from the fire, singing softly to Bear as he coughs and shifts on his pallet. The throbbing ache in my head returns with brutal swiftness when I think about Peree, but physically I’m improving. I touch the bandage on Bear’s side, under his left ribs, to be sure the wound isn’t bleeding again. My guilt grows the longer he remains unconscious.

  Calli told me Bear made it to the caves after I literally slipped out of his hands, only to have Moray stab him in the back. Bear’s lung was pierced, but somehow he fought him off. I can’t say I was glad to hear Moray survived.

  Calli started helping in the infirmary when so many people began falling ill from the pestilential conditions in the caves. Marj and she work diligently and without complaint over the long hours. I admire their determination while I sit in a silent stupor of grief.

  “Hey, Fenn, guess what?” Calli says as she leans over Bear, probably checking his temperature. He isn’t feverish anymore, thank the stars. “Cricket told me last night he was going to ask me to dance at the Solstice. He wanted to know if I would have.”

  I twitch, remembering Bear asking me the same thing. “What did you tell him?”

  “That he’ll have to wait and see." Her voice takes on a mock mysterious tone.

  I try to smile for her. “I thought he was too short for you.”

  “Who knows . . . maybe he’ll grow some more before next year.”

  “Not likely,” Bear whispers.

  I grab his hand, but Calli pushes me aside, all business now. “How do you feel?”

  “Like I was stabbed,” he rasps. “Oh wait, that is what happened.”

  “Nice to see your sense of humor survived,” Calli says. “Do you need anything?”

  “Water?”

  “I’ll get it,” I say, jumping up.

  “No, you stay. Maybe he can tell you where else it hurts and you can kiss it and make it better.” Calli laughs as she moves away to fetch the water.

  I hold Bear’s hand in both of mine while she helps him take a few sips. His skin is like tree bark, rough and dry from dehydration, but his grip is strong and steady.

  “How are you?” he asks.

  I smile. “Better than you.”

  “That’s not saying much. Why are we still in the caves? What happened with the Lofties?”

  I fill him in on what he’s missed, smoothing his palm with my fingers as I speak. He’s quiet as I list the dead.

  “I’m sorry about Aloe," he says.

  "I’m sorry about a lot of things.”

  “Like what?”

  “That she died. That you’re hurt. I feel responsible.” I wonder if I look as lifeless as my voice sounds.

  “It’s not your fault. Aloe made the choices she had to make. And Moray and I had unfinished business. I guess we still do.” I can feel him studying my face. “Anyway, that’s not why you’re sorry.”

  I swallow hard. “Why am I sorry, then?”

  “You’re sorry because you’re going to hurt me.”

  Unexpected tears leak out of the corners of my eyes. “What do you mean?” I know what he means, but I’m not ready to say it out loud.

  “You’re going to tell me you don’t want to partner with me,” he says evenly.

  I shake my head. I’m not sure what I’m denying.

  “Fenn, when a boy wakes up after a life-threatening injury, and the girl he gave a bonding band to isn’t wearing it . . . it’s not that hard to figure out.”

  I pull the band out of my pocket. “I have it here.”

  “Great, maybe I’ll see how Marj feels about wearing it,” he jokes. “I’d ask Calli, but it sounds like Cricket might still have a chance.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I repeat. I don’t know what else to say, so I kiss his knuckles instead.

  He exhales. There’s suffering in the sound that belies his lighthearted words. “I guess I already knew.”

  “How?”

  “From your Lofty’s face when you stepped out of those trees. And from your face when you heard what that bird necklace meant.” He pauses. “A
lthough, it doesn’t look like you’re wearing it either.”

  I slide it out of my other pocket.

  He snorts. “Keeping your options open?”

  “I’m not sure where Peree and I stand now . . . I don’t even know if he survived the Reckoning . . .” My face crumbles.

  “I’m kidding, Fenn.” He squeezes my hand.

  “I told the truth when you asked if I’d have danced with you at the Solstice. I probably would have. But I didn’t know then that I’d feel this way now.” I hang my head. “I hate what you must think of me.”

  “Fennel, I’ve known you all my life, you’re one of my best friends. I only think the best of you, period.”

  “See, when you say that, that’s when I think I’m making a mistake,” I say.

  “You are making a mistake,” he says seriously. “Then again, maybe it’s for the best. You really are a terrible cook, and you can’t sew worth a damn either. Our kids would be in rags.”

  My smile wobbles. “You’re pretty wonderful, Bear.”

  “That’s what they all tell me.”

  “All right, Fenn,” Calli says as she walks up, “kiss him and be gone so I can check his wound.”

  “Yes, Fennel,” Bear says, “lean way down here and kiss me. Show Calli what it’ll be like with Cricket.” I laugh my first real laugh since the Reckoning and kiss him on his stubbly cheek.

  “Don’t stay away,” he warns me.

  “Stay away? She’s been here practically every minute,” Calli says. “You two are intended—where else would she be?”

  “You really need to try confiding in your friends,” Bear says to me.

  “About what?” Calli asks.

  I hug them each in turn. “Later, I promise.”

  I wander around the main cavern—it’s practically empty now—trying to work up the courage to go outside. I know I should face whatever I’ll find in the forest. But every time I think of getting confirmation that Peree's dead, I feel sick.