"Where are we going?" asked Samel, struggling to keep up with Raj.
Raj toted the empty bucket in his hands, cutting from Helgid's alley and heading north, curving around several women carrying shovels and buckets. All around him, people dispersed in different directions, but most headed south, toward the riverbanks, to procure mud and straw. Raj and Samel were supposed to get materials, too, but Raj had another idea in mind first.
"I'm heading for the tithing houses," Raj said, answering Samel's question. "Maybe we'll see Neena coming back."
Samel nodded. For every one of Raj's long strides, he took several quicker steps, keeping up without complaint. Samel could be annoying, but he was a good companion. Raj wove around a few elderly people, hobbling from their dwellings. A few glanced at Raj and Samel with the scrutinizing stares that old people always gave kids their age.
Getting to the center of the colony, they rounded the enormous, circular Comm Building. The round, curved roof rose higher than any of the hovels around it. The sturdy walls seemed impenetrable. Even the long, straight annex that jutted out from the side seemed as if it could withstand the worst sandstorm. Raj could never imagine it falling.
He saw none of The Heads of Colony.
Good, he thought with relief.
Gideon and his important men always made him nervous.
The path split in two, curving around the Comm Building and reforming. Raj chose a path east, with less people, and curved back around to the main path. In the distance, past the clusters of people, he saw the edges of the tithing houses. To their left and right, out of sight, were the storehouses. Beyond them, the path lost its shape and melded with the sand.
Two towering spires sat on either side of that path, about half a klick after the colony ended. Raj had always thought of those structures as two sides of a large door, welcoming the returning hunters. Farther out in the desert, more spires rose in intermittent places, like enormous spears thrust into the ground. Most were far enough away that he could only see their silhouettes under the sun.
Often, he saw hunters coming up that path, dragging game, or hauling larger bags than what they'd gone out with. More than once, Raj welcomed Neena as she came up that path, always with a smile and a tearful embrace.
Hoping for a similar reunion, he walked faster, temporarily forgetting his brother's smaller legs.
Movement from an adjacent alley caught Raj's attention.
He looked right.
A tight cluster of kids wormed their way past some adults, pointing and yelling.
Pointing at Raj and Samel.
"Hey!" they shouted.
Bailey and his friends.
A group of children became a mob, shoes slapping the alley as they ran. Their shouts grew bolder. A few adults looked at the children with mild annoyance. To them, the running mob was nothing more than kids engaged in play.
Raj knew better.
Fear spiked in his stomach as he grabbed Samel's hand, pulling him in the other direction. "Come on!"
"Where are we going, Raj?"
Raj didn't answer.
His heart slammed against his ribcage as he chose the path of least resistance, cutting away and north. He clutched his bucket with his other hand. They ran through a smaller alley, startling some people who moved out of the way, or bumping a few who didn't react in time. Some people wheeled pushcarts, while others carried children. Cries of anger and annoyance followed their path.
Raj had no time for apologies.
A few men held up a carcass near their house, preparing to skin it. The fleeting thought came to Raj that he would've asked them if they had seen his sister, if a bloodthirsty group of kids weren't chasing them.
He lost hold of Samel.
Too late, he looked back.
Samel crashed against a pushcart, knocking over the man behind it. The cart overturned. Stones hit the ground and rolled. More people stepped back, caught in the middle of an unexpected scene.
"You filthy rats!" the man yelled, staggering to his feet.
"We're sorry!" Raj said, helping his brother up.
"You'll be sorry when you help me pick up all these stones!"
Raj glanced over his shoulder, catching sight of Bailey and his friends in the distance. The commotion had given them away.
"Come on!" Raj said, clutching Samel's hand and his bucket as they ran, ignoring the man's angry cries behind them.
They wound through another few alleys, catching sight of the kids running behind them, or hearing their fast footsteps. More and more people glanced in their direction. The bystanders' attention was drawing the kids. Bailey and his gang only had to follow the stares. Frantic, Raj pushed on, until quiet surrounded them.
With panic, Raj realized they had ended up in the Crop Tenders section. Most were at work down by the river.
No one was here.
He paused for a split second, looking at a few closed doors on the houses on either side of the alley, wishing they could get inside. But those doors would be locked.
Samel clutched his winded stomach, frightened tears glistening in his eyes.
"I can't run anymore, Raj!" Samel said, shaking.
"We have to move!" Raj urged. Looking sideways, he had an idea. "Behind one of these houses. We'll hide before they see us!"
"Caught you, orphan boy!"
Raj's blood froze.
He turned.
Bailey and five other boys stood farther down the alley. All had hungry expressions of violence on their faces. More voices shouted in the distance as the rest of the pack rounded an intersecting alley, reaching threateningly for their knives, or clenching their fists. The boys took a few steps as they saw an end to their chase.
Hiding was out.
Raj's heart slammed into his ribs as he surveyed more boys than he could handle, knife at his side or not.
"Let's settle this, orphan boy!" Bailey shouted. Triumph bled through his words. "Stop running, and I'll spare your pissy-pants brother!"
"Come on, girly boy!"
A few of Bailey's friends yelled similar taunts.
If it were a fair fight, Raj might've considered taking on the older boy, pulling his knife in a threat he couldn't finish. But these boys didn't play fair.
Frantic, Raj turned and assessed the area. No one could help. All they could do was turn and flee.
"Come on, Sam!"
Their footsteps reverberated off the empty alley as they continued fleeing, past lifeless hovels with closed doors, more empty alleys, and pushcarts filled with sand. They kept their focus straight ahead. A lost step would put them closer to a fist, or maybe even a knife. Samel struggled to match Raj's quicker pace, gasping for air.
Catching sight of an alley, Raj veered for it.
He slammed into a thick, meaty chest.
He fell back on his butt, stunned, into the main alley.
Raj looked from the ground to the face of a stern, muscular man he'd seen several times at the base of the cliffs or walking alongside Gideon and The Heads of Colony. A Watcher. The man frowned, his gaze wandering from Raj to Samel, as Samel frantically tugged at Raj's arm, trying to pull him up.
"Come on, Raj!"
"What's going on?" the man demanded, loudly enough that Samel stopped pulling.
"Nothing." Raj could hardly formulate an answer.
The man looked past him into the main alley, where Bailey and his friends stopped stiff in the center of the path. A few of them relaxed their hands to their sides. One by one, their malicious faces turned into a fearful respect.
"Are you Crop Tenders' children?" the Watcher called.
Raj turned over his shoulder, watching a few of the boys' slack-jawed expressions. Finding courage, one or two shook their heads.
"Get out of here, then!" The Watcher raised a threatening arm.
The boys delayed a moment, as if the man's words might be a test, and then feet were moving and heads were looking over shoulders. The Watcher stared after the fleeing boys for a long moment, before turning his attention to Raj and Samel.
"Why are you here?" he demanded.
Feeling the weight of the man's eyes, Raj said, "We're getting materials to fix our house." He looked down at his bucket.
"Shouldn't you be at the river?" the man asked.
"Yes, sir," Raj said.
He stared at Raj with a stern expression. For a moment, Raj was certain he would rip them away to The Heads of Colony. Finally, he said, "Get to it, then."
Raj scrambled to his feet and took a step backward. He watched the man, as if The Watcher might change his mind, but the man turned and stormed away without a word.