Crystal Heat

1

Lylunda looked up as one of the village girls came into the house. “He’s worn out. He should sleep for a good while now. What’s your name?”

“Delala, Drummer.” She came across the room, her bare feet silent on the mat. “He looks like just a boy.”

“Don’t let that fool you, Delala. He’s clever and rather dangerous.” Lylunda stood. “Get him into the Bond as soon as you can.”

“Oh, we’ll do that in any case.”

“Omel oma, I leave him in your care. There’s Lung stew simmering on the-stove. Soon as he stirs, get some more of it down him. I’ll look in again before the beronta leaves.”

Lylunda left the guest house and walked down to the beach where the flikit sat like a metallic cricket, already starting to corrode. Tudil was waiting for her, standing beside a small sailing canoe pulled up on the sand.

She waved to him. “See you at the edge of the Deep,” she called.

He laughed. “Edge of the Deep.” He pulled the canoe out into the water, swung himself inside with the liquid ease that still amazed her. After he got the sail up, he went running straight out to sea, the canoe bobbing up and down like a rubber toy as it lifted and fell with the waves.

Lylunda waited until all she could see was the tip of the mast, then she climbed into the flikit. “You or me, Worm,” she said as she took it up. “With this out of the way,” she patted the arm of the pilot’s chair, “by the time you can get back to your ship, you won’t want to. And I’ll be gone. One way or another, I’ll be gone.”

She caught up with the canoe, slowed down and drifted along ahead of it until Tudil dropped sail, tossed a sea anchor overside, and turned into the wind. Blessing Worm’s habit of keeping his tools meticulously maintained, she clipped the lift harness around her, took the flikit spiraling up until she thought she was high enough. She disabled the altitude interlock, started the flikit racing down a long slant toward the surface of the water, a slant pointed away from Tudil and the canoe. A moment later, she ejected and went tumbling away from the machine.

The lift harness was set to Worm’s weight. He was thin and short, without a lot of muscle mass, so her heavier body plunged swiftly enough to put a lump in her throat, but it let her reach the water before the flikit did. The flotation bubbles deployed and she began kicking toward the canoe.

The flikit hit as Tudil reached for her. He got her inside, made her crouch beside the mast. “Hang onto that, we gonna, be jumping.” He got the sail up, cut the drag, and ran farther out to sea, letting the swell from the crash lift the canoe and thrust it onward.

The sun set before they got back to shore.

As she stumbled from the canoe, Lylunda could hear the beronta drums sounding in the village; they drew her, but she was really too tired to answer the throb in her blood. She touched Tudil’s arm. “Tell Menget I’ll be sleeping in the guest house tonight. We still leaving tomorrow?”

“Yes. After the morning market.”

“Omel oma, come get me when it’s time, hm?”

Lylunda sat with Worm while Delala was fixing breakfast for them. His face was knotted with the intensity of his sleep and he looked absurdly like a baby. She’d have felt worse for him if he and his brother hadn’t used Zombi on her. Xman. Hah! Exi Exinta. What an idiot ploy that was. She couldn’t see much resemblance; Worm and the Xman must have had different mothers. The other brother was a convict on Pillory. “Not a political.” She shivered. If you weren’t a political, governments sent you to Pillory because they didn’t do death and cringed at the thought that you’d ever get loose. “I think it’s probably just as well for the universe if your Mort stays right where he is.”

He stirred a little at the sound of her voice. His mouth worked; he closed one hand into a fist, pressed it against his lips, and settled back to sleeping.

She leaned over him, pinched his earlobe.

He woke reluctantly, scowling at her.

“You don’t talk Pandai,” she said. “And I’m leaving. So I want to be sure you know what you’re into here. Make up your mind to it, if you live and I think you probably will, you’ll never leave Bol Mutiar again. There’s something in the air, a virus or something like that. The Pandai call it the Tung Bond, for what that’s worth. Make it mad and it’ll eat you alive from the inside out You should know, because it started to do just that yesterday when you grabbed me. Remember how it felt, Worm, and walk carefully around these folk. Even an ottodoc’s no good, so don’t count on that. The Pandai on this island will take care of you. It’s called Keredel, by the way, and the Pandai here call themselves Kerdela. I’ve explained about your brothers and why you were trying to attack me. They’re good people and are really sorry about what’s going to happen to you, though they can’t do anything about it The flikit is at the bottom of the ocean. I did that, so don’t blame the locals. The girl who will be bringing your breakfast is called Delala. Remember the Bond and treat her nice. Good-bye, Worm.”

He shoved himself up and tried to grab her, but he was too weak and fainted instead.

Tudil came while she was still in the kitchen, drinking the last of the tea. “Luna, Menget says you should come now; there’s a storm blowing up and we need to get clear of land before it hits.”