It seems to go on an on an on. I’m git in to the point of thinkin it ain’t never gonna end when I start to see light an it gits brighter an brighter, spil in into the darkness. Then the tunnel ends an we step outside, into the golden sky of a midsummer afternoon.
Everyone’s waitin fer us. Emmi, Tommo, Ike, Ash an Epona. Hermes is over to one side, tearin at long tufts of grass. He lifts his head an whickers when he sees me.
What took you so long? says Emmi. We bin here fer ages.
Ike, Ash an Epona look at each other an grin. They look at me an Jack.
Pret y dark in there, says Ash. Did you git lost?
I feel a hot flush crawl up my neck. Lucky fer me, Hermes trots over an I busy myself strokin his neck.
It uh … took us longer’n we thought to put out the fire, says Jack.
Saba, says Emmi. Come an see! She grabs my hand an pul s me over to the edge of the ridge we’re standin on. The ridge runs al around the edge of the val ey, like the rim of a bowl. It’s covered with thick stands of oak an tal pine trees. A wide at val ey lies spread out below us. It’s covered in rows an rows of low bushes covered with shiny dark green leafs. Lots of workers in white tunics move between the rows, bendin, pickin the leaf from the bushes an put in ’em into sacks on their back. Slaves.
Helen was one of these once. An Jack an Ike.
It’s a land of plenty. Lush an beautiful. Like Pa told us it used to be back in Wrecker times. Paradise, he cal ed it. When the air was sweet an the earth was good. When they grew so much to eat that they heaped it in mountains an if they needed some they’d jest go with their bucket an fil it up.
But this ain’t no Paradise.
There it is, says Ike. Freedom Fields.
Ash points. Across the val ey, on the far side, a wal of rainbow light shimmers. An that, she says, that’s the King’s Palace.
Jack pushes somethin into my hand. Here, he says. It’s half of the long-looker that Emmi broke back at the Wrecker city.
Jack fixed it! she says. Jest like he said he would!
I put it to my eye.
Be careful! she says. It’s awful bright!
Directly opposite where we are, on the far side of the val ey, a big house, the biggest I ever seen, sprawls out half-ways between the val ey oor an the ridge above it. The wal s is completely covered in shimmer discs. As the sun hits ’em, they shoot o rainbows of light. Red, yel ow, pink, green, purple. The colors streak out, like shootin stars, sparkin an dancin so bright that black spots appear in front of my eyes.
Ohmigawd, it’s amazin! I says. I never seen nuthin like it.
They’l be keepin Lugh there unner guard, says Jack. Ain’t that right, Ike?
Yup, says Ike. An they’l be takin good care of him, seein they went to al that trouble to git him.
D’you real y think so? I says.
You can bet on it, says Ike.
The Palace. I squint at it sidewise. Now I can see it’s got many windows. Tal posts runnin al along the front of it. Two massive front doors made of hammered copper. Wide steps lead down to a path made of crushed white rock. It winds through a garden to the elds below. I think of Ma with her garden of stones at Silverlake. She would never of dreamed that there might be a garden like this one.
There’s a great carved basin with jets of water sprayin way up into the sky. There’s ower an vegetable beds laid out in fancy pat erns, an a grove of fruit trees.
Lots of people movin about. Tonton mainly, in their long black robes and body armor, but some slaves dressed in their white tunics.
See the stables? says Ike. Of to the right?
I focus the long-looker on the low stableyard next to the house. Got ’em, I says.
An the irrigation system? he says.
Runnin al across the elds, raised above the bushes on long legs, there’s what looks like troughs with silvery streams of water runnin through ’em. They’re al joined up together.
That’s what you cal them troughs? I says.
Right, says Jack. Keeps the bushes watered with a steady drip. Chaal bushes like it damp but you got a be careful. Too much water kil s
’em of real quick.
’em of real quick.
You don’t say, I says.
I do say, he says. Now that plan you wanted? Gather round everybody. Me an Ike got a couple of ideas.
The afternoon drags on. Then it’s early evenin. The rainbow shine of the Palace slowly dims as the sun’s power fades. But it’l be light fer hours stil . The longest day of the year. The longest day of my life.
There stil ain’t no sign of Nero. No Maev. No Free Hawks.
I never bin so twitchy. We al take turns watchin what’s goin on down below. But when it ain’t my turn, I cain’t set le. If I op onto the ground, I jump right up agin. I drive everybody mad by askin ’em how long they think we bin there. I comb al the tangles out a Hermes’
mane with my ngers an check his teeth til he gits fed up an gives me a sharp nip. I twang my bowstring til Ash barks at me to stop or she’l strangle me with it.
Nero should of bin back long before now, I says to Emmi.
You said that a mil ion times already, she says.
Somethin’s happened to him. I know it. It ain’t like him.
You said that a mil ion times too, she says. He’s fine. He’s on his way.
What if somethin happened to Maev? I says. She said there was trouble on the western road. What if … I mean, she could of got herself kil ed? Happens al the time.
Maev ain’t dead, says Emmi. She’l come, like she said she would. The Hawks’l be here, Saba.
You don’t know that. What if they don’t come? I don’t think they’re gonna come. We’re gonna hafta do this al on our own. Let’s jest do it now. C’mon, let’s go. Let’s move! What’re we waitin fer?
Gimme strength! says Ash, as Ike groans, Tommo sighs an Jack lays back with his eyes closed an hums a lit le tune.
Epona’s on looker duty. Saba, she says, we al agreed that we hafta wait til dark. Ain’t nuthin can happen til then.
Epona. Always calm, always patient. Nuthin like I first thought she was.
Right, I says, yeah … wait til dark. I know, I know but … ohmigawd, Epona, I’m gonna go mad with al this waitin around. I just wanna see him. Make sure he’s al right.
I know you do, she says. Be patient, Saba. Wait til dark.
Darkness is gatherin. Purple an black streak the sky. Clouds drift over the midsummer moon. The moon we bin chasin fer so long.
A cloudy night, says Jack. That’s good.
Then.
A high pitched noise wails across the val ey, cut in through the air. The workers lift their heads an start to move out a the elds. They al head towards what look like some long bunkhouses in the distance. Now I can see they’re chained together at the ankle, six of ’em al together.
Quit in time fer the Children of Light, says Ike.
Can you believe he cal s ’em that? says Jack. His Children of Light. Fond memories, eh Ike?
No, he says.
The slaves clear out a the elds an head fer bunkhouses o to the left. A group of Tonton head fer a big open space in the middle of the fields.
Jack’s on long-looker watch. Wel wel , he says. At last. This is startin to look innerestin.
Jack an me crouch on the edge of the ridge. We pass the looker back an forth. We got a clear view of the whole val ey, but al the action’s goin on between the Palace an the open space in the middle of the chaal fields.