The Disappearance of Ember Crow

by Ambelin Kwaymullina

  “I’m not so sure about him, darling. You, though … When you said to the Lion that you weren’t leaving without her, you really meant that.” He sighed and added, “You know, if we do this right, we’ll get Red out without running into Terence. Except things might not go right.”

  I would’ve liked to smack Jules’s head against the floor. And Ember should have told me this a very long time ago. But I didn’t have time to be mad at either of them, so I shoved my anger away and tried to think.

  I’d told Jules that Connor wouldn’t put Ember at risk, but I actually wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had a shot at Terence. Because in a lot of ways he and I were alike, and I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I was confronted by any of the people involved in my sister’s death. He could get himself killed.

  And I’d already watched him die once.

  There was only one thing to be done. I didn’t know if it was the right thing. I was afraid it wasn’t. But it was the only thing. Because I could not lose him. Not ever again.

  I stood up. “Go tell Connor to come back in here. And stay outside. I want to speak to him alone.”

  Jules rose as well. “What are you–”

  I snarled. “Get out and let me handle this, Jules!”

  He hurried to the door. I darted over to where my pack lay on the ground and rifled through the contents until my fingers closed over a cold, metallic object. I’d barely got it into my pocket when Connor came back in.

  At the sight of him feelings rushed over me like a wave; I concentrated on rising above them. I obviously wasn’t successful, because he took one look at my face and demanded, “What did he–”

  “It isn’t Jules. It’s you.”

  “Me?”

  I’d learned, from the way Ember had talked to her sister, that it was possible to say things that were true without being quite the truth. “Connor, I … Hearing Jules talk about how he feels about Ember made me think about how I feel about you. Going into that house will be dangerous.”

  “Ashala. I’ll be fine. Anyway, Jules will be with me.”

  He was teasing me, throwing back the same words I’d said to him in the Lion’s tent. I discovered it was possible to smile, even when you wanted to cry. He smiled back.

  I let myself drink in his expression, just for a second, the curve of his lips and sparkle in his eyes. Then I stepped closer, bowing my head to rest it against his chest and reaching my hand into my pocket. He put his arms around me and whispered, “You won’t lose me.”

  I answered miserably, “I know.” And fired the stunner.

  He let out an odd, shocked gasp, then was silent. I grabbed his body as he slumped, lowering him to the floor as gently as I could.

  Jules stuck his head round the door. “Hey, don’t mean to interrupt, but I thought I heard …” His eyes widened and he came in, slamming the door behind him. “What happened?”

  There was a wolf howling in my head, only this time the wolf was me. “I shot him.”

  “You did what?”

  I ignored Jules, grabbing one of the packs and using it to cushion Connor’s head. Then I retrieved a blanket and laid it over him. It would get cold later. After that I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I sat on a crate and shook.

  Jules took a step towards me, eyeing the stunner in my hand. “Ah, why don’t you give me that?”

  I pointed it at him. “Why don’t you try to take it?”

  He backed off. “Just a suggestion, darling.”

  I let the weapon drop. Jules looked from me to Connor and shook his head. “I can’t believe you shot him.”

  “That is because you don’t know me at all,” I hissed. “You think spending a few days with Ember means you understand her, or me, or the Tribe? You don’t.”

  “Yeah. Listen, I can see you’re upset–”

  “Shut up, Jules.” I lurched to my feet. “You should have told me about Terence the moment you came to the Firstwood. If you had, we could’ve found another way to handle this. You didn’t, and now …” I paused, took in a painful breath, and gestured at Connor. “Now it’s come to this. So. Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

  “No.”

  I waved the weapon in his direction. “Don’t lie to me!”

  He held up his hands. “I swear to you, there’s nothing.”

  He seemed to be telling the truth. I sat back down. Jules did too – cautiously, and about as far away from me as he could get.

  The shaking in my limbs got slowly better. The churning in my stomach didn’t, and nor did the tightness in my chest. After a while Jules cleared his throat, and said, “Ah – we need to leave now.”

  I nodded, and rose. Spent a moment gazing down at Connor, before bending to tuck the blanket more securely around his body. He’s never going to forgive me. Not for this. Then I took everything I was feeling, and locked it away.

  I was the Leader of the Tribe, and I had one of my own to save.

  THE RESCUE

  Forty-five minutes later Jules and I were lurking in an alleyway. He’d been Diego for most of the journey here, but had shimmered back into himself now that we were hidden in the gloom of the alley. The two of us peered out in the rapidly fading daylight, watching a square two-storey house. It looked the same as all the others in the row: made of white composite stained red with dust, with a thin strip of land running along the outside, enclosed by a high wall.

  What distinguished it were the two guards standing either side of the back gate.

  The first was a mousy, thin boy; the second a heavy-set older woman. Both were dressed in yellow robes; both were watchful. I couldn’t see any weapons. That didn’t mean they didn’t have some concealed, or that they weren’t armed in other ways.

  I whispered to Jules, “Minions?”

  “The boy is,” he whispered back. “The other one … don’t think so. All the minions are young, at least the ones I’ve seen.”

  “What’s his ability?”

  “Dunno, I only met him once. Whatever it is, I guarantee he’ll be able to do a lot of damage with it.”

  I remembered how the Waterbaby had taken the water from Jules’s body on the road through the Deepwood, and pressed a little further into the alley. It occurred to me that the guards and us were the only people on the streets in what was evidently a quiet neighourhood. “Don’t the two of them seem kind of obvious?”

  Jules stifled a laugh. “Yeah. Terence’d be better off keeping his people inside and blending in with everyone else. He doesn’t do real well at understanding things like that. He thinks in straight lines, and in this city …”

  He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t have to. You need to think around corners. Jules could do that. Ember too.

  The gate between the guards creaked and swung open. I edged forwards to get a better view as a dark-skinned old woman shuffled out, holding a tray containing two cups.

  Jules whispered in satisfaction, “Marta.”

  “You know her?”

  “I’ve worked with her a couple of times before, when I’ve done jobs for Leo.”

  “She’s the Lion’s agent? She’s ancient! What is she even doing in that house?”

  “Probably the cook. And don’t worry about Marta, she’s a tough old bird.”

  I watched as Marta offered the drinks to the guards. The woman took one of the cups – bet it’s filled with taffa – and sipped at it. The boy shook his head. Marta held the tray out to him and said something in a quavering voice. She was a round lady, but her wrists and ankles were tiny, and the tray trembled in her grasp.

  The boy took the cup, probably for no other reason than to please a sweet old woman. Guess at least one of the minions isn’t completely devoid of human emotion. Marta rested the tray against the wall, and chattered brightly as the guards sipped their drinks.

  Then the woman collapsed, the cup falling from her hand. Marta clung to the boy, babbling in alarm. He was shaking free of her grip when he, too, slid downwards
to the ground.

  Jules strode across the street to catch Marta up in a bear hug. “Hello, darling! How’s the best looking girl in Spinifex City?”

  “Don’t you try to flatter an old lady,” she said, with a laugh in her voice. “And do get moving, dear. We need to get these two hidden away.”

  Jules and I pulled the unconscious guards through the gate, dragging them behind the waste bins.

  “That girl you’re after is in one of the upstairs rooms,” Marta whispered. “Go up the back stairs, turn left at the end of the corridor, and it’s the fifth door on the right.”

  “What about the minions?” Jules asked.

  “There’s one on the front door, and one asleep in the little bedroom near the kitchen – she’s got the next guard shift, only they won’t change over for another hour. You want to watch out for all the other guards as well.”

  “How many?”

  “Five of them, always prowling around and sticking their noses into my kitchen. Be careful.”

  “I’m always careful.”

  She didn’t seem reassured. Guess she knows him pretty well.

  “Um, are you going to be okay?” I asked her. I didn’t care what Jules said, I felt bad for involving an old lady in this. “I mean, they’ll know what you’ve done …”

  “No, they won’t, my love,” she replied. “I put a Mender’s drug in the taffa; something that confuses the mind. They won’t remember most of today, and I’m due to go off shift soon.” She cast a fond smile at Jules. “As long as he doesn’t wear my face for too long, no one will connect me with this. It’s sweet of you to worry about me, though.” She elbowed Jules. “Don’t tell me you’ve finally met a nice girl?”

  “No!” I choked.

  Jules shook his head. “She’s got a boyfriend. Scary guy. Although,” he added under his breath, “maybe not as scary as she is.”

  It was too dark to make out Marta’s exact expression, but I could sense a disappointed gaze aimed in my direction. She reached up to kiss Jules’s cheek and trotted off out the gate, moving much faster that I would’ve thought possible when I’d seen her shuffle out the first time.

  Jules transformed himself into Marta, and the two of us snuck inside.

  We crept through the corridors until we reached a hall cupboard that wasn’t far from the stairs. The plan had been for Connor to hide in here until Jules returned with Ember; now I would.

  “Tell Em that she’s not alone,” I said to him. “She’s got us.”

  That should be enough to convince her I was here. Jules bobbed Marta’s head at me and hobbled onwards with the slow walk I suspected was as fake for Marta as it was for him.

  I waited in the dark, the stunner clutched in my hand. He’s been gone for an eternity – no, it had only been a few minutes. Wait, is that voices?

  I strained to hear. Someone was talking. I couldn’t make out who. They were speaking in normal tones, without any shouting or urgency, which meant there probably wasn’t any need to be worried.

  The voices faded and everything was silent again.

  It was horrible being trapped in this cupboard. I began to count, to keep track of time and to give myself something to focus on. One, two, three … When I reached five hundred, I was worried. Nearly ten minutes had passed, and that was too long. Jules should have been back.

  I eased open the door. There was no one about, so I tiptoed up the stairs, one cautious step at a time. Along the corridor, turn left – and there was Jules. He was standing in the middle of the hallway, still disguised as Marta and looking frantic.

  “What happened?” I demanded.

  He waved an arm at one of the rooms that came off the hall. “She’s not here.”

  It was stupid not to believe him. I checked the room anyway. Bed, wardrobe, bookshelves … no Ember. “I don’t understand! Where did she go?”

  “I got delayed on the way up by one of the guards wanting to thank me for dinner. Marta’s too good a cook! By the time I got up here …”

  “She can’t have gone far.”

  The two of us ran along the hallway, pressing our ears to doors to see if we could hear anything, and then opening them up. Every room was empty.

  There was a shout from downstairs. Someone had realised the guards weren’t at their post.

  I stopped still. Breathed. Thought. And shoved the stunner at Jules. “Take this. You probably won’t even need to use it. In the confusion, you should be able to slip right by everyone.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m staying. They’ll increase security after this; we’ll never get back inside.”

  “They’ll catch you!”

  “Em will fight for me in a way she won’t fight for herself. She’ll get me out. Or you and Connor can come back and save both of us.”

  He stared at me, hesitating.

  We’ve got no time for this! “You want to save her?” I growled. “This is how we do it. Go hide, Jules. I’ll lead them away.”

  He stepped closer. “You tell Red … tell her I don’t yield her. Not to Terence, not body or soul. And,” he added fervently, “you’d better stay alive, because if you die, Connor’s going to kill me.”

  He ducked into one of the rooms, and I ran in the opposite direction to the stairs that were his escape route, crashing into things to make as much noise as possible. It wasn’t long before there were pounding steps behind me. I began to scream Ember’s name, and the footsteps of my pursuers sped up.

  I rounded a corner, skidded, and kept going. A door ahead of me opened – and there she was. She looked exactly the same as when I’d last seen her, except for the yellow robe.

  My Em.

  All the colour drained from her face. “Ash?”

  I stopped, putting my hands in the air for the benefit of the guards. “I surrender! I surrender!”

  Ember’s odd-coloured eyes widened in alarm, focusing on whatever was behind me.

  “No!” she yelled.

  Something hit the back of my head, and everything went black.

  THE AINGLS

  I was standing on a hill. I had a vague idea that I should be somewhere else, except I couldn’t remember where. Anyway, there was only the hill; everything else was a blurry nothingness.

  A man was waiting at the very top. I couldn’t see his face from this distance, and I knew it was important that I did. So I started to climb. Up, and up, and up. When I got close, he swung around.

  White hair. Long nose. Pleasant brown eyes. And a mouth that turned up at the corners, as if he smiled a lot.

  It was my old enemy, Neville Rose.

  I took a step back. He flung out his arms, and shouted, “Look what I have done!”

  I looked, but couldn’t see anything. Until I shifted my gaze downwards and realised what I had been walking on.

  The hill was made up of bodies. Thousands of them, all piled up together. Not only humans, either – animals. Plants. Trees.

  This was the death of the world.

  I lunged for Rose …

  … and found myself sitting upright in a bed.

  A dream. It was only a dream. I hugged my knees to my chest. It’s okay. Neville isn’t here. The world isn’t dead. The whole thing had just been a horrible, scary, unusually vivid dream.

  Wait – vivid dreams? I’d drunk taffa with Leo. Was that a taffa dream?

  If that was what one was like I never wanted to have another. And what did it mean? Not anything good, if taffa showed you the future. Please don’t be the future. Surely it couldn’t be. Neville was a prisoner. There was no way he could cause the death of the world.

  I still feared the possibility.

  The Adjustment was less than three weeks away, and Neville might already be at the centre. I needed to be home.

  I just had to get Ember first.

  I stood up and was immediately so dizzy I had to sit back down. Oh yeah. I got hit over the head. I fingered the lump at the back of my head and looked around, assessing my
surroundings. I was in a small bedroom. There were tables either side of the bed with books sitting on top, a wardrobe against the far wall, and low bookcases running under the window crammed with even more books.

  I was about to try standing for the second time when there was movement in the corridor outside. I flopped down, pulling the covers over me and pretending unconsciousness. I heard a key turning in the lock. The rasp of the door opening. Measured steps approaching the bed. Then no sound at all, which was much worse.

  Someone was in here, and they were watching me. I struggled to keep my breathing even and my body still.

  There was a rush of air as someone bent down, and a voice whispered in my ear, “I know you’re awake, Ashala Wolf.”

  I shot up and scooted over to the other side of the bed, away from the voice. The quick movement made my head pound and my stomach lurch, but I had to get away from the man standing over me.

  It was Terence Talbot.

  He smiled at my reaction. I had no difficulty interpreting that smile.

  This wasn’t the first time I’d been captured by someone who enjoyed seeing me afraid.

  He sat on the side of the bed, and I edged as far away as I could. He looked much younger than he had when he’d ruled Gull City; if I hadn’t known he was an aingl, I would’ve taken him for a relative of the former Prime. Otherwise, he was the same. Pale skin, light blue eyes, hair somewhere between blond and brown. The colour of his yellow robe seemed to be the only vivid thing about him. Everything else was washed out.

  Terence crossed his legs and clasped his hands together over his knee. “I am Ember’s brother, Terence. You will tell me, please, how you knew my sister was here.”

  He obviously wasn’t going to waste any time on chatting. I scrambled for a good answer, one that wouldn’t reveal Jules was still alive. Terence waited. He seemed relaxed, but his knuckles were white where his hands were gripped together. He wanted to know. Ember had called him paranoid, in the memories she’d sent me. It would bother Terence that I’d been able to track him down. It would bother him a lot.

  I couldn’t think of anything to tell him, at least, nothing plausible. I tried to buy some time. “You weren’t that hard to find.”