Blood Red Road (7 page)

Pa said it was writ in the stars, says Emmi.

Oh child, says Mercy, there ain’t no plan written in the sky. Some people just die too soon.

But Pa was a star reader, I says. He always told us how everythin was set in the stars the moment the world began. The story of everybody’s life is right up there.

That’s where Willem an me fell out, she says. Why we didn’t all stick together when we left Hopetown. He looked to the sky for answers. I look at what’s in front of me, what’s around me, what’s inside of me.

Lugh thinks it’s all jest somethin Pa made up in his head, I says.

What do you think? she says.

Saba always thinks what Lugh tells her to, says Emmi.

I do not! I says.

Yes you do, she says.

Well, says Mercy, maybe it’s time you started makin up your own mind about things. As far as I’m concerned, stars is just … stars.

She tips her head back. She stares at the sky so long, it’s almost like she’s up there with the stars an the moon an the planets, like she’s fergot we’re here. I clear my throat. She gives a start. Smiles at us.

Of course, she says, there’s always a chance I could be wrong.

It took ages to git Emmi to lie down inside on Mercy’s cot, even though she was pretty much to sleep on her feet. Mercy’s laid on the red bench, her arms behind her head. Tracker’s stretched out nearby.

I sit by the fire. Poke at the embers with the toe of my boot.

Why didn’t Pa bring us here? I says. I keep my voice low, so’s Emmi don’t wake.

Mercy says, So things was bad at Silverlake.

Yeah, I says. An gittin worse all the time.

I asked him to come, she says. After Allis died. I might not be the most sociable person, but I’d never turn away a friend in need. There would of been room here for all of you. We could of rubbed along all right. But he wouldn’t hear of it. Told me he didn’t want my help.

I says, Lugh thinks he wouldn’t leave Silverlake because of Ma.

Mercy sighs. That’s partly true, she says. But there was more to it than that. He thought you’d be safe there. They both did.

Safe? I says. Safe from what?

Mercy says naught fer a moment, thinkin.

You know nuthin of the world, she says at last. It’s a hard place. A dangerous place. Your ma an pa knew somethin of it. Enough to make em settle so far out of the way at Silverlake. Not many passersby. No neighbors. Like here at Crosscreek.

I think about how hidden away Mercy is here. No trail from the trackway, no way of knowin where to turn off if you didn’t know about the windchimes high in the tree.

Are you … hidin from somebody, Mercy? I says.

I wouldn’t say hidin, she says. More like … keepin out of the way.

I frown. Outta the way of what? Is that why Pa kept us at Silverlake? To keep us outta the way?

He meant to, says Mercy. It didn’t turn out that way, though, did it?

Somethin in her voice, in the way she says it makes me go all still inside. I stand up, my fists clenched. D’you know somethin? I says. About who took Lugh?

I don’t know, she says. I …

Tell me!

She glances at the cabin where Emmi lies sleepin. Let’s walk, she says.

Tracker starts to git up. Mercy raises a hand. Stay boy, she says an he lays hisself back down with a sigh.

I follow her over the bridge an into the meadow. We keep to the creek bank an head on up the little valley. The moon lights us a silver path. The creek sparkles an murmurs over the stones. I breathe in the sharp, sweet air of the night.

Tell me what happened that day, Mercy says. Tell me everythin. Don’t leave anythin out, no matter if you think it’s important or not.

So I do. I tell her what happened that day. From Lugh an me goin to the landfill at dawn to Lugh shoutin at Pa an then the duststorm an the four horsemen showin up with Procter John.

Four of ’em, she says. Dressed how?

In long black robes, I says, with … like, heavy leather vests over top, an leather bands from their wrists to their elbows.

Body armor, she says. It sounds like the Tonton.

The … what? I says.

The Tonton, she says. They’re … well … they’re all kinds of things—couriers, spies, informers, bodyguards. Sometimes even executioners.

What? I says. I dunno what yer talkin about. How d’you know about these … Tonton?

Your ma an pa wasn’t always at Silverlake, Saba. An I wasn’t always here at Crosscreek. We came to know each other at a place called Hopetown.

I ain’t never heard of it, I says.

It’s a town, she says. If you’re lucky, a week’s hard walkin’ll get you there. That’s if you’re lucky. You have to cross Sandsea an it don’t welcome nobody.

Sandsea, I says. Pa used to tell us stories about it. The men … the Tonton … headed across there with Lugh. Their prints turned north off the trackway. D’you think they took him to Hopetown?

They might have done, she says. Hopetown’s where the scum of the earth wash up. Every robber, every cheat, every lowlife who’d stab you for lookin at him the wrong way … they all find their way there eventually. It’s run by bad people for their own ends. An they got the Tonton to keep all the scum in check. They control the place with violence an somethin called chaal.

That’s them leafs Procter John used to chew, I says. Pa told us never to touch it.

He was right, she says. Chaal slows you down. Makes you
think you’re smart when you ain’t. Too much of it an you get all hopped up, go wild. Allis an Willem an me, we weren’t there for long. We saw what the place was like an got outta there before it could suck us under. We got as far away as we could. We never wanted to hear of chaal or Hopetown again.

But why would the … Tonton take Lugh? I says.

Tell me more about that day, she says.

They came lookin fer him, I says. One of ’em said to Procter John, “Is this him? Is he the one born at midwinter?” Then they asked Lugh the same thing an they checked that he was eighteen. Procter John says to ’em, “I told you he was the right one.” So … they knew all about Lugh. They came to find him.

Mercy don’t say naught. Jest stares up at the night sky.

But how could they know about him? I says. An what’s so important about him bein midwinter born? We’re twins. Why didn’t they take me too?

I don’t know, she says. But let’s think it through.

We’re both quiet fer a bit. Then she says, Maybe they didn’t want a girl. Maybe they wanted a boy. A boy born at midwinter eighteen year ago.

But why? I says. An how did they know where to find him? Like you said, Silverlake’s nowhere. Besides you an us, nobody’s ever bin there essept the rag man an Procter John. Pa told us so.

Your father lied, says Mercy.

Pa lied? I says.

Maybe that ain’t fair, she says. Maybe lied’s the wrong word. Maybe he just … didn’t remember.

All right, I says. So?

You know I was there when your ma birthed you an Lugh.

Uh huh, I says.

Well … I wasn’t th’only one.

Somebody else was there? Who?

A man, she says. A stranger. He stopped at Silverlake, two days before you was born. Didn’t say much. Didn’t say where he was from or where he was headed. An he sure didn’t have nuthin. He was half-starved, with barely even a shirt on his back. Said his name was Trask, but who knows if that was true? Willem was wary of him, but he seemed harmless enough so they fed him an even gave him some of Willem’s old clothes.

An he was there when we was born, I says.

Not you, she says. He’d left by then. You was born two hours after Lugh, remember. It was odd. There was Lugh, yellin an kickin to let us know he’d arrived in the world, an right away, Trask got all excited. He kept sayin a boy born at midwinter’s a rare thing, a wonderful thing. An he went on repeatin it. Like it was important somehow. Then, when
I looked for him a little while later, he was gone. Didn’t even say goodbye. Funny, but I’d forgot about him till now.

Why didn’t Pa tell us? I says.

Maybe he forgot, she says, like me. It didn’t seem terribly important. We thought he was just some crazy travelin man.

So d’you think Trask’s one of the men who took Lugh? I says. One of the Tonton?

Oh no, he’d be too old. The Tonton are men in their prime. Trask must of had at least forty year on him an that was eighteen year ago.

He must of told somebody else about Lugh, I says.

It seems that way, she says. What about your neighbor?

Procter John? I frown. I got somethin dancin at the edges of my mind, somethin I cain’t quite git hold of. Then, Now I remember! I says. He said somethin strange … he said to the men, I should know how old he is, I bin keepin a eye on him all this time like you told me to.

Mercy lets out a long breath. A spy, she says. The Tonton had him watchin over Lugh. Probly kept him in line with chaal an threats.

So Trask must of told the Tonton, I says. But I don’t unnerstand why it had to be Lugh they took. Why they waited till he was eighteen.

I don’t understand it myself, she says. But if you find that out, you may well find your brother.

Dawn’s breakin as I step outside the cabin.

I wish you’d let me give you more, says Mercy. A bit of jerky an dried yam ain’t gonna last you longer’n a few days.

Yer stores ain’t ezzackly overflowin, I says. An, thanks to us, you got two mouths to feed now.

I’ll take care of the child just fine, she says.

An I’ll take care of myself, I says. I got plenty of water. As fer the rest—I pat my bow—I got this.

If you’re sure, she says.

Don’t worry.

Mercy puts her arm around Emmi. What say we walk Saba across the meadow? See her on her way?

Emmi shrugs. Picks at her peg doll’s dress. If you like, she says.

I know I ain’t Em’s favorite person, leavin her here with Mercy, but at least she don’t seem so hostile today. Any road, she’ll git used to it soon enough. An she’ll be safe here with Mercy an Tracker. Might even have a bit of fun fer once, ridin the pony an splashin around in the creek. A child oughta have a bit of fun.

They walk me across the bridge. Nero flies on ahead, chased by Tracker. The long meadow grass swishes aginst our legs.