The Children of the Sky

“So he’s a little like I was,” said Ravna. But he won’t let anyone help him.

Jefri nodded. “A little. But in many ways, he’s an able-bodied pack. He drove his wagon well. His other wounds are minor.”

The subject of their conversation didn’t seem to be paying attention. He came to his feet and ambled over to the middle wagon. Being only four, his limping member seemed to affect the gait of the other three. Two of him flipped up the door on the wagon and searched around inside. When they hopped back to earth, they were holding a leather satchel and what looked like soap and clean cloaks. He swatted at the swirling gnats with his new cloaks, then turned and shambled off in the direction of the river.

Ravna gave a surprised laugh. “He’s going to wash up. I guess he isn’t too concerned!”

Jefri came to his feet. “Yeah, but none of us should do that alone.” He started after the foursome, but it directed a warning hiss back in his direction.

Jefri settled back down. “Okay. I never understood Screwfloss, even when he was whole.” He glanced sidelong at Amdi.

“Yes,” said Amdi. “Sneaky, funny, Flenser-renser.” He looked at Jefri and Jefri looked back and Ravna wondered if the two were having one of their cryptic conversations. It always seemed that there was more going on between these two than she knew. It had been cute when they were little.…

A gnat scored on her neck, another on her hand. She swatted them, but there were clouds of replacements. The Old Screwfloss’ predictions about bloodsuckers had really come true. If only he could say “I told you so.”

She looked at Amdi and Jefri and saw that they were looking back at her. In fact, all of Amdi was looking at her. “We have a lot to talk about,” she finally said.

Amdi scrunched down into the moldering needles of the forest floor. Some of him looked at each other, some looked at Ravna. “We are so sorry, Ravna,” he finally said.

Jefri was silent for a moment, then slapped the ground angrily. “But we did what I thought was right!” he said. His glance flickered back to her face. “I couldn’t believe Nevil was behind the murders and kidnappings, but then Screwfloss told us you were being snatched. We figured that we might be able to get you out of your house first. And you did escape—”

Ravna nodded. “Screwfloss got me down the stairs and out-of-doors.” And probably quicker than any civilized explaining would have.

“Y-yes. It almost worked, but Chitiratifor was too fast. He had a crossbow pointed at your back once you got into the street.”

Ravna leaned back against a wagon wheel. Chitiratifor would have welcomed a fatal “accident.” So Jef and Amdi had made a big deal of grabbing her and then coming along. She could believe that. “Okay, Jefri. But why earlier? Why at Nevil’s big meeting…” Why did you betray me?

Jefri the teenage lout might have shrugged angrily, or thrown up some counterattack. This Jefri let the pain and anger come into his face, but his voice was level. He was making an honest attempt to explain: “I thought— Powers help me, I still think—that you and Johanna have the most important things exactly backwards. Something very bad happened at the High Lab, but I know our scientists were the best of Straumli Realm. They would not have been as stupid as you think.”

“I’ve never said they were stupid.”

“Never those precise words, but oh, we kids know you, Ravna. In the early years you were as close as a Best Friend. We could tell by your silences, by what you didn’t say about our folks and the High Lab—we could tell what you think of them.”

Ravna couldn’t deny his accusation.

Jefri gave a little nod and continued. “Nevil brought all the facts together. He convinced me to speak unforgivable lies about you. But Ravna, I remember the High Lab. We Straumers had things going our way. We were becoming something … awesome. It was Countermeasure that was the poison.”

“Johanna doesn’t believe that.”

“I love Johanna, but she’s never been tech-oriented. She saw less of the High Lab than some of the Children. Now she’s a lot like the Larsndots, turning away from our destiny.”

“You’re a Denier.”

“Don’t call me that! Most of the Children, if you really talk to them about their memories of the High Lab, would agree about this. They’re just very shy of correcting someone they … respect … as much as they do you.”

“Even so, Jefri. You recognize that Nevil is evil?”

Jefri looked away from her, as if refusing to answer. After a moment, Amdi said, “You know he’s evil, Jefri.”

Finally, Jef said, “I tried so hard to believe otherwise. Maybe there were sensible explanations for the strange things Amdi and I noticed when we were chasing the Tropicals. Or maybe even, Nevil had been duped by some monster like Vendacious … but when I saw Gannon smash your face into the side of the fodder wagon…” His gaze flickered back to Ravna. “Every day afterwards, I had to listen to his detailed bragging. And you know what? Almost all the mayhem Gannon committed was at Nevil’s explicit instruction. So yes, Nevil is evil.”

Amdi was nodding, yes, yes, yes.

Jefri wasn’t finished: “And now, I’ll do whatever it takes to get you safely back to the Domain, and to … deal with … Nevil. But when that is done”—his gaze was defiant and desperate all at once—“there are still the Greater Threats, and I’m afraid they’ll leave us as absolute enemies.”

Oh, Powers. These last ten years, Ravna had imagined the future as a long climb to a faraway confrontation. What deadly foothills stood in the way of that! “Okay, Jefri. One step at a time. Don’t worry about being enemies someday.”

Blessed Amdi. He brightened instantly. “Yes! Let the future take care of itself.” He bounced to his feet and flowed around Jefri to sit in snuggly closeness with both humans. Clouds of gnats followed him along. The bugs really did like Tines more than humans. “We have serious problems in the here and now.”

Ravna leaned forward, counting noses. “Where’s the rest of you, Amdi?”

“Oh! I’m strung out into bushes that way,”—he jabbed a nose—“making sure that Screwfloss is okay. He won’t let me come close, but I can hear him splashing around. If he has a problem, we can come running. Meantime, we’ve got to decide what to do next.” He wriggled against her and patted her hand. “We should take inventory…”

•  •  •

Amdi was right. Thinking about the problems of the next day and tenday was almost a comfort. They might be caught, they might be killed, but at least they weren’t busy betraying each other.

They didn’t go any farther the first day. Ravna was nervous about that; parts of several packs might still be following them. But the kherhogs were exhausted and the day remained clear and bright. What they could see of the forest ahead provided very little cover, at least where they could drive the wagons. A few days ago she would have prayed to be spotted by one of the Domain’s aircraft. Now she was terribly afraid that Nevil had control of the air.

When Screwfloss came back from his bath, Amdi asked him about the safety of camping here. The remnant gave every impression of understanding. It looked almost as cocky as when it had been five, emitting a Tinish laugh at Amdi’s question. Okay, then.

Amdi gobbled some more at the remnant, asking it to stand guard while they went down to the stream. The pack wandered off, hopefully to do as it was asked.

The day was much too cold for real bathing, but washing off the blood and the sweat suddenly was about the most important thing that Ravna could think of. Jefri insisted on going first, with Amdi making a watch line between the stream and the wagons. “You just stay with this end of Amdi, okay, Ravna?”

She shrugged. “Sure.” She had known these two since they were little kids. Modesty was an absurd notion here.

But when Jef returned, all of Amdi went down to the stream with her and kept watch. She knelt, drinking from the edge of the fast-moving water, away from the standing water and the gnats. She stared for a long moment at her reflection. This was the first time she had seen her face since Gannon smashed her. It was even worse than her touch had promised. Well, the blow had practically killed her. She shouldn’t be surprised that her face was a disaster area.