Reading the Wind (Silver Ship)

by Brenda Cooper

  “I hope it broke the skimmer,” I said.

  Hunter grimaced. “When it flew away it sounded fine.” He looked at Kayleen and smiled. “I’ll spread the story of the cave’s defense system shooting at the skimmer, though. It’s been hard to keep people from wandering down in the area where you told us not to go.”

  Frankly, I think it may have been the first time he really believed us about the cave having defenses. But then, we only knew because Jenna had told us. I wished we’d seen them. “I want to go see Sasha.” I turned toward the low murmur of voices that still floated out from deep inside the cave. “Hunter, are you staying here?”

  “Wait,” he said. “There’s more that I need to tell you.” He looked up at me as if weighing my ability to hear more bad news. “Nava’s dead.”

  The breath left my body yet again.

  Kayleen turned away, looking out toward the cave mouth.

  Liam’s voice was flat. “How did she die?”

  “One of the skimmers targeted her group. Apparently Nava grabbed one of the rocket launchers and they shot her.”

  How like Nava to die fighting. Poor Tom. Even though I didn’t much like Nava, she had been a good leader. She’d even started listening to us as if we had a brain since we got back, like maybe all we’d ever needed to do was stand up to her, only we hadn’t known it before. Images danced in my head: Nava and me talking and arguing, Nava cooking stew the day Jinks died. Nava walking half-naked down the hall on her way to get dressed in the morning. Nava pacing and demanding that Joseph fix the nets. The night she and I sat by the water and she told me that our parents’ people had killed her father, and that even though we had been just babies, she couldn’t trust us because the war cost her so much.

  Someone would replace her on the War Council. But who? The next obvious choices, Wei-Wei or Lyssa, would be disasters. Nava may have been a barrier for us, but she drove the town as one unit, inspiring effort and loyalty as well as bad jokes and frustration. Nava, with her red hair and green eyes and relentless energy, who made everyone work using the sheer force of her personality.

  So many dead. All on our side.

  Had the mercenaries known Nava led us?

  I couldn’t stand any more bad news. “Anything else we need to know?” I asked.

  “Just that there’s a War Council meeting tomorrow up by where the road forks toward Little Lace Lake. Early.”

  Why did he tell us this? Did he think we should go?

  He continued. “If they don’t come back before then.”

  “They won’t,” Kayleen said.

  Hunter looked at her curiously. “Are you sure?”

  She smiled, perhaps put off by his seriousness. “As sure as I can be. But nothing is completely sure in war. You told me that yourself.”

  Hunter smiled back, a tired, slightly sad smile. “Good answer.” He glanced over at me. “Now, go on—go see Sasha. She’ll be glad of your company. She and Sky have asked about you at least three times.”

  We found Sky and Sasha in a corner of the bigger of the two rooms that had been turned into temporary housing. There were at least twenty people on the soft rush floor, grouped in twos and threes and fives. Here and there, faces or shoulders or feet were brightly illuminated by the few soft lights built into the walls, or even in a few cases by carefully held candles. Shadows fell every which way. Soft conversation mixed throughout the room so no one set of voices dominated. Everyone looked up as we came in. Some smiled at us, a few looked afraid, and one couple from town that I hardly knew glared at us like unwelcome visitors in our own home.

  Sasha sat with her splinted leg in front of her along one wall, playing jump-stones with Timmy, a boy a few years younger than her, just getting the first down fluff of teenage fur on his chin. She looked up as we came over, her face shining. “Sky said you’d be here soon.” She grinned. “I heard you guys kept the whole town from burning.”

  “There were a lot more people than us helping.” I sat down next to her, watching Timmy pick up his stones and wander into the crowd. “I didn’t mean to stop your game.”

  She shrugged. “I was winning anyway, and he was getting bored.”

  “Does your leg hurt?” Kayleen asked as she and Sky sat down.

  Other conversations started back up in the room, and I felt less like a specimen on Story Night.

  Sasha frowned at her cast. “Not much. But I won’t be able to do anything for weeks.” She looked up at me. “Now I won’t be able to go hunting with you.”

  “That’s okay.” We would have to hunt soon. Most of the roamers who had chosen the cave were the very young or the old, and the townies raised animals, rather than hunting them.

  Sasha would be stranded here for weeks with her leg. Maybe the fight would be over by then. “We’ll save at least one whole hide for you,” I said.

  With that, a satisfied look settled onto Sasha’s face, as if seeing us somehow made everything right with the world. She leaned back. “Thanks for warning us. I just knew you’d keep us safe.”

  I wasn’t sure I could keep anyone safe, anywhere. But how could I tell Sasha that?

  43

  JOINING THE COUNCIL

  We waited outside the cave early the next morning, catching Hunter as he came out to go to the War Council. He stopped when he saw our three forms silhouetted against the dawn light. “We’re coming with you,” I said quietly.

  He stood looking at us, not answering, his face unreadable.

  “We have to be there,” Liam said. “We’re not standing by for any more fights.”

  Kayleen stepped forward and took Hunter’s hand. “You said you’d never doubt us again.”

  He pointed at Kayleen’s swelling stomach. “What about your babies? You, at least, are due soon.”

  She swallowed hard, keeping her gaze on him. “They’ve a better chance of living if we win.”

  He grunted. “Ruth will hate you being there.” He started up the path. It would be as much approval for our plan as he would ever show directly.

  We walked beside Hunter, trying not to show him we were worrying about him. His stride was long and purposeful, but his breath rattled in his chest and we stopped two or three times along the way to rest, pretending it was the pregnancies.

  The fork looked deserted when we arrived. We sat by the stream and waited. A few moments later, Kayleen pointed out Tom, riding up on his favorite hebra, Sugar Wheat.

  I wished for Stripes for about the fiftieth time since we’d moved to the cave, but the group wisdom had been to keep hebras with the moving bands. I’d see, somehow, that we got at least a few, and that one of them was Stripes. Sasha would like that. But where would we keep them? The same place we kept the goats and chickens the townies wanted to move up? The place that didn’t exist?

  We’d have to keep them here.

  I shook my head at my silliness, watching Tom’s face closely as he and Sugar Wheat neared us. The tall, slightly bossy hebra knew me, and she tossed her head and nickered as I took her lead line. Tom clambered down the mounting rope and closed me in a huge hug before turning to greet everyone else. Except for the hug, and a haunted look in his eyes, he seemed pretty normal—jovial, baby-faced, and round everywhere, although not fat. He smiled as he greeted each of the others. If anyone could take the loss of his wife in stride and just keep moving, it would be Tom. But then, he was in charge now.

  I frowned. I loved Tom dearly, but he was the quiet half of a dynamic team. How would he do without Nava?

  Hunter acknowledged Tom’s loss right away, taking Tom’s two big hands in his own thin, age-spotted ones. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything we can do?”

  Tom shook his head, blinking. For a moment I thought he’d break into tears, but he straightened. “There’s no time to mourn.” He looked up the path, pointing out Ruth and Akashi, who rode side by side down the trail toward us. Ruth had at least six inches of height on Akashi, who in turn had about six inches of girth on Ruth. Otherwise, they m
ight have been brother and sister, riding easily, both tanned with dark hair shot with gray. Ruth’s hair hung down to her slender chest, while Akashi’s barely covered his ears.

  Ruth glared at us. She had grudgingly accepted Nava’s insistence that we attend some meetings, but she never said hello, or good-bye, or even looked at us if she didn’t have to. Which was fine with me, except she was a strong fighter, and Artistos needed her.

  After half an hour of greetings, condolences, and questions, we settled under the rising sun to discuss what to do next. We totaled numbers of dead (forty-three, plus one likely to die in the next few days), and then settled into an uncomfortable silence. Nava had always been the one to plan discussions and drive conclusions home. Tom shifted and looked away. Akashi cleared his throat. “We should choose how to replace Nava. I nominate Paloma.”

  Kayleen startled and I glanced sideways at her. We had decided to try and take Nava’s place, but did she still want to if it meant unseating her own mother? What was Akashi thinking, anyway? Paloma was a healer, not a fighter.

  But maybe that was exactly what a War Council needed. I nodded slightly at Kayleen, signaling for her to decide.

  She cleared her throat. “Mom is a good choice. And us.”

  “No!” Ruth protested.

  Akashi held up a hand, silencing her. “Why you?”

  I glanced at Akashi and Hunter. I needed both of them to override Ruth. “Because Kayleen can sometimes read their nets. And she can always read ours. With Gianna—Gianna dead—” I swallowed hard. “Without Gianna, we all need Kayleen’s skill. After all, just yesterday, she got into their nets and heard them arguing about whether or not to come back today, and Kayleen is pretty sure they won’t be back for a few days.”

  Kayleen’s cheeks reddened.

  Tom glanced at her. “You really think they won’t be back?”

  Kayleen looked away. “They will. Soon.” She looked back, as if struggling with herself. “I don’t think it will be today. I don’t think they knew I was listening.” She shrugged. “No way to be sure.”

  Hunter smiled approvingly.

  I brought the subject back to us. “And Liam and I are more like them—physically—than any of you. Give us one vote for all three now, you can decide on more later.”

  Akashi’s eyes still held a question and Tom watched us carefully, his features neutral.

  I didn’t need to look at Ruth.

  Kayleen added, “We have skills you need. We can help.”

  Tom asked, “Are you all sure that you’re ready for this?” He looked directly at Kayleen. “Are you okay? Before you disappeared, you didn’t look so good, and even right now you look—I don’t know. Different.”

  Liam said, “We are different.”

  Tom kept his gaze on Kayleen, until she met his eyes squarely and said, “I can do this,” her voice even, cool and powerful. Pride called a smile to my face.

  Akashi clapped his hands. “Why not?”

  Tom nodded.

  Ruth glared at us. “How do we know we can trust them? That’s like saying the paw-cats can sit with us while we plan how to hunt their kin.”

  Hunter glanced over at her, his eyes clear. “Maybe we need some paw-cats. They’re full adults.”

  Ruth pointed at us. “As if breeding makes them responsible! What if they have monsters like their parents?”

  Liam’s steadying hand on my shoulder kept me from leaping up to react.

  Akashi, quietly, said, “Those are my grandbabies, Ruth.”

  She let out a frustrated sigh and turned away. Akashi looked at his son, as if measuring his ability to fulfill this role. Finally Akashi nodded. “I suppose we raised you for this,” he said quietly. “I don’t like it, and your mom won’t like it, but you have to grow up sometime.”

  Liam smiled softly and nodded. Kayleen sat still, her back straight and her gaze clear and determined. I sighed, wishing yet again we didn’t have to be at war.

  Ruth growled softly, but let it go. I knew she would be watching for any mistake we made.

  44

  ARTISTOS LOST

  Ruth found our first mistake before the meeting ended. An hour into a long discussion about how to booby-trap the forest around Artistos without hurting ourselves in the process, Ruth stood up to stretch. She gasped, and then glanced down at Kayleen, snapping, “You were wrong!” She turned her attention back to the sky as we all scrambled up. She pointed out over the sea. “Is that their ship?”

  Three tiny specks, the skimmers, were in fact followed by a larger one that could surely only be the Dawnforce.

  Kayleen’s hand went to her mouth. “Ghita,” she said. “Ghita won.”

  “Or she heard whatever news she was waiting for,” Liam added under his breath while Tom stepped back and began speaking hurriedly into his earset and the others struggled to pick the offending points of dangerous machinery out of the backdrop of puffy morning clouds.

  We couldn’t see Artistos from the fork. By the time Liam and I arrived at the first good vantage point, the speck of the Dawnforce had become as big as our thumbs, and settled onto the field, its malevolent, squat shape towering over the hebra barn.

  “We have to get down there,” I said.

  Liam shook his head. “Wait.”

  Kayleen caught up to us, her face red with the exertion of running with a baby due any day. She flopped down on her side, looking out over the cliff face. “The skimmers are landing near the ship.”

  I knelt down next to her, my hand on her arm. “Are you in their data?”

  She shook her head, her voice slightly bitter. “After this, I’m not sure I couldn’t trust it if I was. Maybe I should just listen to them, and tell everyone the opposite.”

  “Hey,” Liam said, “You’re doing the best you can.” He knelt on her other side, leaning down and kissing her sweat-streaked forehead. “You told them not to be sure of your conclusion. What more could you have done?”

  She didn’t look at him. “I don’t know.”

  Tom’s voice carried from just above us, still talking into his earset. Ruth walked by his side, silent and somehow accusing simply with her presence. “…Stile to get as many people as he can into the forest.”

  At least Tom was giving direction. To run and hide. The worst part of it was that he was right. I wanted to go down there and make them leave. But we couldn’t just chase a spaceship the size of the Dawnforce away. I hated it. We should have cleared out the whole town. It was our fault everyone was living with enough unearned sense of security, or at least time, our fault that people were left in town.

  Akashi and Hunter caught up with us next. Kayleen stood up, going to Hunter’s side. She glanced at Akashi. “I’ll go down to the cave with Hunter. You all go on now. You can travel faster without us.”

  She meant without Hunter. After all, she had beat him here. If Hunter thought of that he was too graceful to show it. “She’s right,” he said. “Go on.”

  An hour later, after having promised three times we wouldn’t get any closer, Liam and I stood at View Bend again. By the time we got that far, I sounded as winded as Kayleen had on her shorter run. The baby protested, twisting and kicking inside me. I whispered to it. “Shhhh, little one. I’m sorry. I’ll keep you safe.”

  The look Liam gave me telegraphed frustration. “If only we can.”

  For the second time in two days, we stood far above Artistos, watching helplessly as people we knew died. Right after we’d decided never to let that happen again, to get into the fight and be weapons ourselves.

  Tears rolled down my face as I watched, for my baby, our babies, for our people.

  People weren’t the only casualties. I gasped as one of the skimmers flitted out over the grass plains and dropped something onto the hangar that held the colony’s two remaining shuttles to Traveler. It exploded in a flash of bright yellow and red, the color quickly engulfed with black smoke.

  Barns and houses burned. Not all of them, and in no apparen
t pattern. Liam fed a steady stream of information into his earset, narrating the chaos.

  The mercenaries drove the town goats and the few remaining hebras over a cliff. I cursed as each one fell.

  Liam gave up on talking to anyone for a few moments. He leaned into me and said, “They could have just set them free.”

  45

  THE EVE OF BATTLE

  The midafternoon sun beat down on my sweaty forehead and my breath came way too shallow and fast for simply finishing the climb from the High Road to just above the Cave of Power. I twisted toward Liam, who sat next to me on the stones covering the cave’s entrance, patiently waiting for me to catch my breath and Kayleen to catch up to both of us. Our child kicked hard at my spine, eliciting a groan and a smile. I set Liam’s hand down on my belly, and the baby obligingly kicked again. Liam’s hand rose and fell as if he stroked a drum. Perhaps the baby felt my apprehension. We were taking the battle to the mercenaries tomorrow at dawn.

  Kayleen loped the last bit up the well-worn path toward us, her swollen belly making her ungainly and awkward. She strayed from the path for a moment to look at a small reddish-brown rock, and her feet crushed tiny red and yellow star-flowers.

  Kayleen sat beside me, looking out toward Artistos. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

  “We’ve waited long enough,” I said. The mercenaries had held Artistos a month. Stile and a large group had made it to the cave, but eighteen people hadn’t. No funerals had been held, but we counted them among the dead. We had held four funerals for people caught in a raid.

  The mercenaries hadn’t returned to the cave. Our hope was that one brush with the defense systems had been enough.