The Children of the Sky

not quite. The wheelbarrows themselves looked like they had hauled their share of slop, but just now they contained piles of boiled yams. There were also tankards of broth, the sort of thing that the Tines themselves liked to use to garnish cooked meat. It was mouthwatering if you were hungry enough, and even under normal conditions it would have been tolerable, a rare example of Tinish cuisine that worked for humans.

There were no utensils, not even Tinish jaw-knives. The filthy barrows were simply shoved close to their faces. It was more the treatment of farm animals than gods. They were given a few moments to feed and then the guards marched them outside, still keeping the two humans well apart.

Their wagon was up ahead, parked next to the odd-looking wooden structure that was the winch station.

“Potty stop once we reach the valley floor,” said Amdi. “I’ll see you all in a minute.” He started off ahead of them.

“What did you have to trade them, Amdi?” shouted Jefri. “Do we still have any lamps?”

“And the maps?”

“Yup. And the wagon and the two best kherhogs.”

“Wow,” said Jefri.

“So what did we give up?” said Ravna. The other wagons and kherhogs?

Amdi had crossed the yard to talk to a couple of packs standing near the winch station. Behind Ravna, Screwfloss was driving two of the kherhogs out of the barn. The remnant seemed to have a better idea of what was going on than did Ravna or Jefri. As the beasts plodded past, Screwfloss stayed mainly on the downhill side of the path, keeping the beasts away from the tasty grasses that edged the stream-grown-to-flooded-river. Ritl brought up the rear, nipping at the kherhogs and emitting skirling chords that might have been commands directed at Screwfloss.

The morning was both chilly and humid, with little droplets of water forming on every exposed edge. They were in a rain cloud just before it burst. Ravna squished through the mud, struggling to keep her balance.

The river showed little crescents of white water as it raced past the winch station, almost swamping the big waterwheel. Beyond that, the flow met an unnaturally near horizon. The sound of falling water was a roar. The winch station looked quite different today. For one thing, last night, the place where their wagon was parked had been off the edge of the cliff. Now that space was occupied by a gated platform, almost like a gazebo. The top of the structure was hidden by a squat wooden tower.

Jefri reached the platform first. His guard pushed him to the far end and tied him to the railing there. Screwfloss drove the two kherhogs aboard and tied them down. Then it was Ravna’s turn.

The kherhogs shifted uneasily about on the platform—which moved perceptibly in response. A local pack came aboard; it checked Screwfloss’ knotwork and then shouted to the packs who remained on solid ground. It retreated, heads together, as Amdi came aboard.

Most of Amdi strutted around the kherhogs to be with Jefri. The rest stood at the railing near Ravna. His splendid outfits were mostly in good repair, and his posture was pompously self-important. But at the same time he was hooting cheerfully with the Winchmaster, his human little-boy voice was tentative and fearful. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Every story I’ve told these guys has got us into worse trouble.”

From other side of the kherhogs, she heard Jefri laugh. “It sounds like you’re their great chum, Amdi.”

“Oh, I guess I am, but I just know they’ll see through me. I can’t keep this act going much longer.”

“So what is the act, Amdi? If we aren’t gods then what—”

Whoa! At that instant, the platform was cut loose from its moorings. It swung through at least five degrees. Timbers creaked loudly as the kherhogs staggered against their ties, lowing their startlement.

Even their crew pack looked a little nervous at that. Somebody shouted an apology from the tower above them.

Amdi shouted something back. Ravna recognized the chord as good-natured forgiveness. Then in human talk he said, “The Winchmaster says he’s sorry. The waterwheel is overpowered by the river surge. The clutch system is very tricky … I got a tour. The gears are all wood. I could make it a lot safer with a few days’ work, but—”

The platform lurched downwards in jolts of a centimeter or two. Ravna could imagine what Amdi was talking about. In her early days on Tines World, she’d seen similar devices in Scrupilo’s factories. The use of wooden gears didn’t bother her as much as the manual control. Even after ten years, she still got the shakes when she realized there were no software controls monitoring and protecting against the whims of gears, fools, and nature.

The jolts became smaller and swifter, and soon their descent was almost stately. The air was full of spume and waterfall noise, but they seemed to be descending a protected notch in the cliff face. Just beyond her arm’s reach stood naked rock. Here and there, straggly trees and vines scrabbled for purchase.

Fifteen seconds passed, smooth as silk. “This looks like a couple of meters per second,” said Jefri.

The platform emerged from the cloud layer. Suddenly she could hear the sounds of faraway birds, and to her left—Powers! They must be a thousand meters up. The cliff wall marched off toward a misty horizon. She turned away from the view. Funny, vertigo had never been a problem for her in the Beyond.

Their crew pack looked calm enough. He clambered around the railings, all without using any safety lines. On top of the wagon, Remnant Screwfloss seemed positively relaxed, enjoying the view.

“Well, I guess this must be safer than it looks,” said Ravna. “This local guy doesn’t seem worried. How many years has this been operating?” She turned back to look at the view.

“Um, they started last summer,” said Amdi. “It’s a leasehold that Tycoon bought, trying to encourage traffic among the wilderness valley chains.”

Since last summer? Tycoon? What a variety of scary news to cram into just a few syllables. Ravna stared at the rock wall … and realized that she was looking at the splintered pieces of a platform not too different from what was transporting them today. Okay.

Amdi saw the same thing and his voice took on a forced chipperness. “But really, today should be an easy ride. The Winchmaster told me this carriage is a madhouse when it’s doing pure third-class passengers and no freight. Before they had all the risks figured out, they squeezed ten packs into this space. There was a choir and a panic and the platform crashed into the rock … um, like you see us passing now.”

They were all silent for a moment. Ravna noticed that Ritl was perched on the railing halfway between two clumps of Amdi. The singleton would stare into the abyss, then quickly look up to check on Amdi’s position, then stare back into the abyss. Its claws were extended deep into the wood, and it seemed to be muttering to itself.

“Okay, Amdi,” said Jefri. “Consider us all comforted. Now, while we have a few minutes of peace and quiet —what story are you peddling to the locals?”

Amdiranifani’s human voice made a whimpering sound. “I did the best I could, Jefri.”

Ravna remembered how hard it had been for Amdi to undertake even the smallest part of this. “You got us this far, Amdi. Whatever you’re pretending to be—” she waved to indicate his costume and grandiose manner “—it looks marvelous.”

“Yes, but what is the scam?” There was laughter hiding behind Jefri’s annoyed tone.

“Okay. Things will be busy once we hit—I mean, touch—the ground, so now is probably the best time to tell you. The ‘humans-as-gods’ story was in trouble from the start. They ambushed us too easily for us to have super- Tinish powers. Things got worse when I claimed you two were only weak because you were apart. That almost got you killed.”

Ravna nodded. “And it’s why we’re kept apart.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

Jefri said, “Never mind. We all thought it was a good idea.”

“Yeah, well, the current plan is something I had to make up on the spot.” He turned all his heads to glare at Ritl. “Even before the ambush, the singleton was messing us up. She screwed us into this.”

“I don’t think she’s smart enough to scheme, Amdi.”

“She’s a trouble-making animal. Didn’t you understand what she was saying last night?”

“When she was marching on ahead of us? I got some of it. It sounded like royal flourishes, something Remasritlfeer must have picked up around East Home. Coming from just one member it sounded a bit silly.”

“Yes! She never makes sense and she always gets in the way—like right now she’s squatting in the middle of