The Burning Ground

Chapter 12

Shadith inspected what she’d drawn, closed her eyes, and dug into memory for more details about the Ptak-km base. She added another group of small houses to the complex beyond the Control Center, wiped at the sweat trickling from her hairline, and glanced at the sky.

The day was hot, and the air in this mountain pocket hardly moved. The sun had sunk behind the pointed tops of the conifers surrounding the meadow, and a few clouds were drifting into the ragged circle of blue overhead. No sign of Yseyl. She glanced at the locals squatting by a small fire, passing around a pan of stewed tea and talking quietly, all but young Zot who was moving restlessly about, jumping the stones in the creek on the far side of the meadow, squatting to toss pebbles at the fish that made thin wavery shadows in the clear water.

She watched Zot a moment, frowning. When she’d objected to having her involved in this business, Yseyl’s face had gone dark with anger and her eyes had a glitter that said I won’t listen to this. So she let it drop.

Zot aside, it was an odd team Yseyl had brought, two Imps and four Pixas, and it should have been too explosive to work. The only thing they shared was being hohekil.

The mals were Impix brothers from a farm outside Gajul. Khimil and Syon. After the farm was burned to the dirt and the rest of the family killed by Pixa phelas, Khimil and Syon lived in Gajul a while, then began working their way along the coast as sailors, cutpurses, laborers, whatever it took to survive. Yseyl said they hated the war, hated the Fence so much they’d work with anyone to drop it, even Pixas, though it did help that these Pixas were ferns and anyas. They were short and wiry, hunger and rage lines aging their angular, bony faces, and they were seldom still, hands busy, eyes moving continually.

Luca and Wann, Nyen and Hidan looked calmer, though that was all surface; beneath the skin there was the same anger and determination. They were more uneasy about this collaboration than the brothers, but they were also intensely focused on the goal.

Shadith began making star crosses to indicate the trees growing on the slopes leading up to the rim of the caldera, trying to get the patches in proper orientation with the settlement. It passed the time and until Yseyl got back, she had nothing to say to the team. If Yseyl bothered to return. She couldn’t be sure about that; the thread of trust between the little gray ghost and her was very fragile indeed.

“What’s that?”

Shadith looked up. Zot was standing beside her, hands clasped behind her back as she scowled at the drawing.

“A map. I’m trying to remember everything and set it down.”

“That’s where we’re going?”

“Mm.”

“Is that a wall, that outside line?”

“Of a kind. Do you know about volcanoes?”

Zot snorted. “I may be an orphan, but I’m not ignorant.”

“Well, this is supposed to be the rim around one of them. These squiggles here, they’re supposed to be trees growing on the slopes that lead up to the rim. We’ll go to ground in them once we get there and wait for things to get quiet.”

“Hunh.” Syon had drifted over from the fire while she was talking. “What’s that got to do with taking the Fence down?”

“When Yseyl gets back, I’ll explain. No point in repeating myself. But if you want, I’ll tell you about the map now.”

His grin wiped the hardness from his face, and she realized quite suddenly how young he was. “Hoy!” he yelled, “Khimil, rest of you, come over, take a look at this.”

Shadith drew her finger along the outer line. “The Ptak base sits at the bottom of this caldera like soup in the bottom of a bowl. It’s near the end of the mountain range we’re sitting in right now. About as far north as you can go.”

Luca frowned. “How many days’ travel?”

“Riding? Probably more than a month. We won’t be riding, we’ll be flying.” She flickered her fingers in anya laughter. “Offworld machines. One-way trip is around three hours. But it’ll take at least two trips to ferry you all there, so getting everyone into place ready to go will use up the afternoon and most of the night. We won’t be moving on the base until…” She raised her head as she heard the hum of lifters, reached out, relaxed as she touched Yseyl. The ghost was flying low, beneath the treetops, so Ptak cameras wouldn’t catch her.

She brushed by one of the trees and brought the miniskip down on its struts. After a shake to convince herself it was steady, she shut off the lifters, dismounted, and reached for the black case strapped to the carryhopper.

Zot squealed and ran across to her. She almost but didn’t quite touch Yseyl, instead she slid her hand along the bar, touched the roomy saddle, then giggled. “Looks like a broom with feet. How come it flies?”

Shadith stood. “Might as well leave the disruptor where it is, Ghost. Come join us.”