Lugh. Jack. Emmi. I frown. It’s makin my head hurt.
I’l think about it later.
Jack’s hand on my arm wakes me. It must be my turn on watch. He took the rst half of the night an I’l take us through til dawn. Right away, I’m wide awake, sit in up. His eyes gleam in the darkness.
You let the fire go out, I whisper.
No, I put it out, he whispers back.
What’d you do that—
Emmi was right, he says.
What?
There’s a light on the ridge.
My heart starts thumpin. I slide out a my bedrol . Show me, I says.
Tonight we’re camped on a hil at the foot of a light tower. There’s a line of ’em, marchin across a wide mountain plateau towards the ruins of a big Wrecker city, about three leagues due north of here. You can see the rusted iron skel entons of the tal buildins in the distance.
Skyscrapers, they used to cal ’em.
Jack scrambles up the leg of the light tower an I fol ow him. We go high enough to git a good view an then he hands me the long-looker.
There, he says. He points south, back the way we come from.
I look through it. Light. Faint. Flickerin on the ridge that we came over this mornin … no, yesterday mornin now.
A campfire, I says.
They lit it jest after midnight, he says. I bin watchin an it ain’t moved since.
They must be camped fer the night, I says.
Maybe, he says.
We cain’t be th’only people travelin through here, I says. It’s probly fine.
Jest then, the light goes out. Then another one appears. But this one’s movin. It bobs over the ridge an starts down. It’s headed this way.
That don’t look fine to me, says Jack.
Let’s wake Emmi an git out a here, I says.
Good plan, he says.
We ride into the dead city jest as the sun’s startin to rise up.
Sometimes Pa used to tel us about the big Wrecker cities that sprawled over leagues an leagues. Lugh an me always thought he was tel in us tal tales, but it looks like he was right. The remains of a vast city, spread out across this plateau in the mountains.
A long straight trackway, a old road covered now in grass an low shrubs, lies ahead of us as far as the eye can see. The rusted iron skel entons of skyscrapers, the ones that we seen in the distance, line both sides of the road. Other roads lead o from the main one, like branches on a tree.
You can see where there was buildins, way back when. Now they’re nuthin but bumps an grass-covered hil s. They fel down long ago, bit by bit, an ever since then the earth, the plants an the winds, they bin quietly movin an shiftin to cover what’s left. To hide it away. Bury the past.
There ain’t no sound but the wind. It moans around corners. Sighs as it brushes past us, whisperin the long-forgot en secrets of this place.
Listen to the wind, Mercy told me. If only we could unnerstand what it’s sayin. Maybe it’s tel in us how many people lie buried unner our feet an how they came to die. Could of bin plague or hunger or thirst or wars. Or maybe al of ’em al at once. The Wreckers did it al .
Now there ain’t nuthin livin here but cats. An where there’s cats, there’s mice. One runs in front of Hermes, but he’s too smart to be bothered. The cats don’t give us a second glance as they slink along on their business. Nero dives at ’em fer fun, fal in silent out a the sky an sendin ’em racin of in a panic.
We pul up the horses an swing ourselves of .
The second I hit the ground, it shifts. I don’t even have time to shout out before my right leg’s disappeared up the knee.
Emmi giggles.
I fergot to mention, says Jack. If the ground dips, go around it. In this kinda place, a dip usual y means there’s a hole.
He watches, arms folded, as I pul myself out.
Thanks, I says. I’l try to remember that.
We bet er check where our friends are, he says. He hands the long-looker to Emmi. You wanna shin up an take a look?
She nods. She ain’t said nuthin to me since we shook her awake to tel her about the lights an strike camp. I’l take her aside later when Jack ain’t nearby, tel her I’m sorry I didn’t believe her when she said we was bein fol owed. I guess even Emmi can be right sometimes.
She scampers up a big hil nearby an climbs the metal tower stickin out a the top of it. She wraps one arm around a girder an holds the long-looker to her eyes.
I can see ’em! she shouts, al excited.
How far away? cal s Jack.
Uh …
She cain’t tel distance, I says.
I can so! Two leagues, she says.
How many are there? says Jack.
Four! No, wait! Uh … I cain’t see very good!
Try twistin the knob in the middle, Jack cal s.
She lets go the girder an starts fiddlin with the knob.
Emmi! I yel . Are you crazy? Hang onto somethin!
Leave me alone! she yel s. I know what I’m doin!
She twists to glare at me. She loses her balance.
Emmi! I yel . I start to sprint up the hil .
She throws her arms around the girder. She’s safe. But she lets go of the long-looker. It ies into the air. I make a dive fer it. But I’m too far away. There’s a crack as it hits a rock jest ahead of me. I land with a thud on my stummick an lie there, lookin at the shat ered bits of long-looker scat ered al over the grass. Nero flaps down an lands on my head.
Crap, says Jack.
Gawdammit, Emmi, I says. Look what you done now.
Okay. Jack slides over the top of the hil to where we’re huddled out a sight. Looks like there’s jest two of ’em. They’re on foot. Walkin their horses in.
That’s good, I says. I’d hate to hurt a horse.
But you don’t mind if it’s a person, says Jack.
They can take care of theirselves, I says.
Remind me not to git on the wrong side of you, he says. D’you think we made the hole big enough?
I told you, I says, I dug hunnerds of traps jest like this one. Me an Lugh used ’em al the time when we was huntin wild boar.
Emmi frowns. She says, But Saba, there warn’t no wi—
Behind Jack’s back, I slash my hand across my throat an scowl at her somethin fierce. She snaps her mouth shut.
My plan bet er work. I don’t want Jack twiggin that I never actual y made a pit-trap before. Lugh an me used to talk al the time about diggin one, but at Silverlake there warn’t no huntin worth the time an trouble it would of took us. Jack an me’s dug this one in the spot where my foot went through the ground. Right in the middle of the main track through the city. Turns out there was a pret y big hole already there. Al we had to do was make it a bit deeper.
My bedrol ’s gonna git al dirty, Emmi grumbles.
We spread it over the hole, pegged down the edges an covered it al with grass. Now you’d never know there was a hole there.
Too bad, I says. It’s yer punishment fer bustin the long-looker.
I said I’d try to fix it, says Jack.
Emmi pokes her tongue at me.
I point at her. Yer get in way too fresh, Emmi, I says. You jest wait til we—
Shhh! Jack lays a finger over his lips. We crouch there, silent, not lookin at each other. Jest waitin.
Then I hear voices. The soft snort of a horse.
They’re comin, Jack whispers.
They’re comin, Jack whispers.
We at en ourselves into the side of the hil . Jack an me reach fer our crossbows an load up. Emmi ts a stone into her slingshot. My heart’s poundin hard in my chest.