Enclave

A day later, Fade and I staggered toward the barricades. We’d been forced to fight a group of Freaks when we could least afford to expend the energy, and we had very little left now. The guards broke from their posts to help us. I guessed they could see we were in a bad way. My lips burned with thirst.

Someone fetched Silk, who demanded, “Get them food and drink. They can barely move, let alone give a report.”

She was kind enough to let us sit down in the kitchen area. I collapsed on a crate and thought I might never rise again. Gratefully I took the water and emptied the cup in careful sips. I remembered my lessons about how too much on an empty stomach could make me sick. Then I accepted a tiny bowl of stew and ate it with my fingers. It was lukewarm, which made it easier to rake it into my mouth.

As Fade and I ate, we gathered an audience. Not just Silk and the elders — Copper, Twist, and Whitewall — but Builders, Breeders, and brats too. I guessed they didn’t think we were coming back. Everyone waited to hear what we had to say. As senior Hunter, it was only right Fade take the floor. I put down the remnants of my meal and a wee brat scurried off with it.

“Well?” Silk demanded.

“Nassau has fallen. It’s Freak occupied now.” Fade put the problem more bluntly than I would have.

Disbelief whispered through the crowd. Whitewall motioned them to silence. “No survivors?”

“Not one,” he said. “They’re living where the Nassau citizens used to and feeding on the bodies.”

“And why is that?” Silk asked. “Were there signs of disease?”

I wasn’t about to say we didn’t get close enough to check things out in detail. Hopefully Fade wouldn’t either. “No, they died fighting. Sickness didn’t do this.” He outlined the theory he’d given me in the little hidden room. “Therefore, we need to change our tactics. Lay more traps. We also need a battle plan in case they hit us in numbers, like they did Nassau.”

Silk laughed. “You make it sound like Freaks are a force to be feared, a thinking enemy, rather than just vermin.”

Oh, no. She doesn’t believe him.

“It’s true,” I said. “We fought a number of them on the way to Nassau, and I think—” I almost couldn’t speak the words because I knew what disagreeing with her in public, siding with Fade would mean. “He’s right. They almost seemed to understand us at times.”

Her jaw tightened. “We’ll take your ideas into account at the next meeting.”

“Thank you, sir.” I ducked my head, exhausted.

We’d done everything we could, completed the mission, and delivered the requested information. If they chose to ignore us, we couldn’t help it. Dread crawled up my spine nonetheless.

“Move along,” Silk snapped at the gawkers. “There’s work to be done.”

There always was. I heard murmurs as people dispersed.

“What do you think?”

“Nassau never kept as clean as they should. They probably died of the dirty disease and then the Freaks ate them.”

Someone laughed. “It’ll serve them right when they die of it.”

Great. They thought we were insane. That we’d cracked out there in the dark and were imagining threats where none existed. But they hadn’t seen what we had. They didn’t know. I sat miserably on my crate, head bowed, until I recognized Silk’s boots.

“Because you completed your mission in the time allotted, I’m giving you tomorrow off patrol to rest and regain your strength. I don’t want to hear you talking about your crazy ideas, do you understand? There’s no reason to get people worked up, if they happen to believe you.”

I understood the bribe/threat combo perfectly. “I won’t talk to anyone about it.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

It took all my energy to drag my tired body to the bath area. I still had my clean clothes, at least. There had seemed no point in putting them on out there; I’d never smelled this bad in my life. I washed up longer than usual and then dried and dressed. A few other girls watched me, whispered and giggled, but they didn’t address me directly.

Afterward, I started on my clothes. Though I hadn’t noticed her arrival, Thimble came and took them from me. She went to work with silent efficiency. I leaned against the wall. My shoulder had scabbed over, and the salve Fade had used on me seemed to have warded off infection. But I’d always bear the scars as a reminder.

“How bad was it?” she asked softly.

“I promised not to talk about it.”

Her eyes shone with hurt, as she held my wet clothes. Blood trickled from the fabric and down the drain. “I’m your best friend.”

“I know. And you are. But I promised. I don’t want to get in trouble. Silk already has it in for me.”

“I wouldn’t repeat anything you tell me.”

Maybe not. But what if she yielded to the impulse to tell just one person, maybe Banner, who also told just one person? And pretty soon it got back to Silk. I couldn’t take the chance.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

She slammed my half-washed clothes back into my arms. I worked on them until my fingers were raw. Back in my living space, I hung the clothing up to dry. I almost flopped down on my pallet before I remembered that would sentence me to exile. My bag bulged with important relics; before I could rest I had to see the Wordkeeper. Shouldering my pack, I picked a path through the warren.

To my surprise, I found him in the common area. He was twenty-two, but he looked older, older even than Whitewall. He had wispy hair, so fair it looked white, and a face folded into a perpetual frown, as if he knew the day would disappoint him.

“Sir,” I said, and waited for him to acknowledge me.

“You have something to report, Huntress?”

Exhausted as I was, the title still thrilled me. “I do. On the way back from Nassau, we took shelter in a room filled with things that will interest you. I have them here.”

“Permission granted to make your offering.”

Before him, I laid out all the glossy, colorful books, the yellowed papers, every last trinket I’d collected, including some unknown items from the desk drawer. The Wordkeeper stared at it all with the sort of dawning wonder I’d felt. For the first time, I felt a glimmer of liking for him.

I checked my bag three times to make sure nothing got stuck in the crevices. “That’s everything.”

“Magnificent, the greatest find of our generation. It will enrich our culture in countless ways.” The Wordkeeper was already reading, murmuring to himself. “Repair switch in blue line … I wonder what that means.”

Well, “repair” spoke for itself. The rest I couldn’t help with. I stood quiet until he remembered me. “Ah, yes. You’ve distinguished yourself among all citizens. For your contribution, I will see you rewarded. What would you like?”

For Silk to take me seriously. I almost said it. At the last moment, I bit my tongue to keep the words back. She would not take it well if a reprimand came from the Wordkeeper; she would see it as me going outside the chain of command for preferential treatment. Such behavior was weak and soft, and she’d be right to name it so.

“Any reward you think suitable will please me,” I said.

He smiled. I didn’t think I’d ever seen the Wordkeeper smile. “Very good.”

“That’s not all.”

“Oh?”

“There’s a small settlement only a day from here. They’re not Freaks, but they don’t look like us, either. I’d never seen anything like them.” Strictly speaking, Whitewall should be here as well, but I was too tired to care about protocol.

“Friendly?”

“Yes. They gave us food and shelter, or I doubt Fade and I would’ve made it. Our water wasn’t adequate for the journey, and it wasn’t safe to get supplies at Nassau.”