CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The seer of the Folk was sometimes blind

To all, save what the rare visions conveyed

But what he saw was never cast in doubt

His word, once heard and questioned, was obeyed

So though the Folk would far prefer she run

They knew they yet would need the Scorpion

—THE BOOK OF UNVEILING

An urgent prodding at her shoulder forced Zeli awake. Tana’s face hovered over her, ghostly lit by the moon, making the girl look like a specter. Like a death-bringing spirit on the warpath.

Zeli barely held in a gasp and grabbed Tana’s arm. “What is it?” she whispered. Next to her on the mattress, another factory girl shifted and rolled over, before beginning to snore again.

“Ulani is gone.”

Zeli wiped her eyes, not quite understanding what Tana was saying. When she sat up, she saw the pallet on the other side of the small room was empty.

“Maybe she’s in the privy?” Zeli asked.

Tana shook her head. “Already checked.”

“And the kitchen?”

“Not there, either. Her clothes are gone. She’s missing.”

Zeli frowned. Could someone have snuck into the room and taken the girl, or would she have left on her own? And if so, why?

She got to her feet and dressed quickly. No one else stirred. These girls slept very soundly after their long work shifts, and though she thought she saw movement in the corner, when she looked closer, that girl was out like the others.

She led Tana out of the room. They peeked into the other bedrooms on the top floor, but no one else moved. Zeli wasn’t certain of the time; it must have been several hours before dawn. Once they’d ascertained for certain that Ulani was nowhere in the house, they stood together whispering downstairs in the great room.

“Do you think she would try to go back home?” Zeli asked.

Tana shook her head resolutely. “No. Not without me.”

“I don’t see how anyone could have taken her. Surely one of us would have woken up if there had been an intruder.”

Tana firmed her lips, looking around. “She was always given to fancies. Like that whole business about the Poison Flame being at the nabber warehouse. She believes the things she imagines. Maybe she got some strange notion into her head and…” She shook her head.

Zeli sighed. What sort of notion would make a seven-year-old girl leave her bed and her sister in the middle of the night? “Well, let’s get started looking for her. She can’t have gone too far.”

“It wouldn’t be wise to leave.” The voice was emotionless and familiar. Zeli turned to find Nedra facing them. She was wrapped in a thin dressing gown, a kerchief tied around her hair.

“Nedra-deni,” Zeli began, her mind racing to come up with an explanation that didn’t make it sound like they were abandoning their servitude. “We were just—”

“My sister had a bad dream,” Tana said, cutting her off. “So I sent her outside for some cool air. That always helps her recover.”

Tana stood with her hands clasped firmly in front of her, back straight. Nedra moved closer, her features coming into clearer view in the dim lighting. The weak explanation had done nothing to satisfy their supervisor.

“Aren’t you due to head over to Mengu-mideni’s home tomorrow?” Nedra asked.

Tana nodded her head solemnly.

Nedra sighed. “Runaways are sent to the work camps,” she said, turning to Zeli. “Unlike her,” she motioned to Tana, “your presence will be missed tomorrow. If you’re not back by dawn, and Kyssa-deni discovers it, you will want to stay gone.”

Zeli shivered at the thought. “I understand,” she said. But did she? If she wasn’t back by sunrise then she would be a fugitive for having escaped her servitude. She would be sentenced to the camps for the remainder of her allotted time with extra years added on for thievery—since Ora had paid good money for her. Zeli could be kept there the rest of her life, however short that might be considering the hard labor.

But how could she not search for Ulani? She looked at Tana, who stared at the floor. The girl was going after her sister whether Zeli came or not.

Zeli took a deep breath and faced Nedra. “I understand,” she repeated more firmly. “May we greet one another again, Nedra-deni.” Her voice was heavy and sad.

Nedra nodded, her gaze weary, and turned around. Halfway to the staircase she paused. “The land around the tollhouse is booby-trapped.” And then she was gone on silent feet up the steps.

With a dark cloud of foreboding dogging their steps, Zeli and Tana ventured out of the dormitory’s safety into the night, their thin tunics poor protection from the desert chill. The dimly lit street outside the building was quiet. Bleak and lifeless. Zeli shook off the maudlin thoughts with gratitude that there was no one else about at this hour. It was far better for Ulani to be out here alone than for her to have encountered someone unsavory.

“Into town or away from it?” Zeli wondered. Tana stared in the direction leading out, a frown on her face. For a child to head toward the Great Highway at night by herself would be terrible and foolish. But suddenly Zeli knew which way they had to go.

Tana agreed and they set off. The moon was thankfully bright, illuminating their way. They had no lantern, no money, and only the clothes on their backs. If they encountered any trouble, there would be little to do but hide.

They passed the pathway to the factory on their way out of town. Soon enough, the highway stretched out before them. The gatehouse at the toll was occupied, a lantern lit in the window. Even pedestrians were required to pay the toll, so the girls stepped off the highway to head out into the bush and go around the gate.

Zeli held up her hand, causing Tana to halt. Nedra’s warning might save their lives. Zeli had forgotten about the traps set around tolls meant to catch those trying to get out of paying. Each step could hold unknown danger.

Did Ulani know? Could she have avoided the traps? Zeli’s mouth went dry. Maybe they should have checked in town after all. Still, she had to trust her gut, which assured her that they were headed in the right direction—even if that direction might result in a nasty surprise.

The moonlight allowed Zeli to thoroughly investigate the ground before she made a single step. She wished she had a walking stick or branch to prod the earth before them with, but there was nothing large enough around.

A trip wire crossed their path just ahead. She motioned to it and Tana nodded, then they each stepped carefully over. Zeli wondered what would have happened if she’d tripped over the thing, but really didn’t want to know.

Tana spotted a claw trap on their path. When stepped on, its jaws would close around your foot, embedding painful serrated teeth into your flesh. A little farther along, they spotted what looked to be a pile of twigs and branches covering a hole in the ground. And farther still, Zeli almost tread on a trigger net until Tana pulled her away.

Finally, after a full five minutes had passed without them seeing any more traps, Zeli felt they might be in the clear. Unfortunately, they hadn’t seen any evidence of Ulani, either.

They were approaching the highway again—this section of the roadway was paved and they’d make faster time on it than they would bushwhacking—when a horse and rider approached from the south. The girls quickly backtracked into the wilderness and hid behind the wide branches of a shrub.

They didn’t move until they heard the distant toll bell ringing, marking the lifting of the gate and the rider’s passage through. After that, they kept to the bush, walking alongside the main highway, and making poor time.

Tana thought they should call Ulani’s name, but Zeli was afraid of other travelers hearing them. The Father only knew what type of person could be out here with them, skulking around the bushes. But in the end, Zeli relented. What if the little girl were hurt and hiding? The risk of calling out was high but it outweighed the need for caution.

They traveled slowly along, shouting for Ulani, as a vague glow began to warm the horizon. Dawn. If they didn’t find her soon and get back to the dormitory, they wouldn’t be able to go back at all.

The rumble of an engine pierced the night. A diesel contraption. Far less common in the Midcountry than in the cities, its loud grinding deluged Zeli in a wave of homesickness.

“We should get off the road,” Tana said, her voice wobbly. Though she masked her emotions, her fear was palpable. How far would they get on the highway having to hide from every vehicle? What would they do if they didn’t find Ulani? Even if they did, without supplies and on foot, how would they survive? Even Zeli’s natural optimism was no match for the terror filling her veins.

The diesel contraption drew closer, its growl vibrating the ground underfoot.

Once again the girls hid in the bush, but when the vehicle should have passed them by at speed, it slowed instead. Zeli peered around the cluster of saltbushes she was using for cover and glimpsed gleaming metal parts winking in the moonlight. The autocar was the same model the Magister owned—not cobbled together from parts, but properly imported from Yaly at astonishing expense. Zeli wondered who in this area could afford such a thing. Perhaps one of the provincial Magisters had enough wealth, though fuel was hard to come by.

The autocar continued at a crawl before stopping a few paces down the highway. The driver must, somehow, impossibly, be able to see them. The implications of that petrified Zeli’s limbs. Just as she was beginning to truly panic, Tana jumped up from her hiding place.

Zeli grabbed the edge of the girl’s tunic to drag her back, but Tana moved out of her reach, headed toward the autocar.

“Tana!” she whispered loudly, craning her neck to see what had made the girl abandon her caution and natural suspicion.

Zeli thought she was seeing things. There in the passenger seat, calm as you please, sat Ulani. The driver of the car peered around her to look at them. Then a grin split the man’s face and recognition flooded Zeli.

“Fazar-deni?” she said, standing. “What-what are you doing here?”

“Kerym-mideni received your telegram. He borrowed the Magister’s autocar and sent me out immediately. I was on my way to Ten to search for you.”

Numbness stole her fear. Devana must have shared her telegram with Kerym and then he’d launched into action, sending his valet to come and find her.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered.

“Aye. Told me not to come back without you, either.” Fazar grinned. Kerym’s valet had been a fixture in the Ephor’s household for as long as Zeli could remember. He was a kind man who accompanied his master often enough to the Magister’s estate that the servants all knew him.

She’d never been more glad to see anyone.

“This one flagged me down. Never so shocked in my life as to see such a little thing standing in the middle of the highway like that.” He looked reprovingly at Ulani, who’d been captured by Tana in a fierce hug.

“You can’t ever do that again, Ulani-yul. Promise me.” Tana’s voice was thick with emotion.

“I’m sorry,” Ulani said. “But we had to get away.”

“What on earth possessed you to do something so foolish as run away down the Great Highway?” Zeli asked.

Ulani’s lip quivered and Zeli regretted her tone of voice, but she’d been so scared. “The lady in my dream told me to run.”

Tana leaned back, looking ready to commit murder. Her nostrils flared, but she held herself from speaking.

Zeli moved closer. “And what made you stop Fazar-deni?”

Ulani just looked at her, but didn’t answer.

“There was another rider who’d come along not long ago, did you see them?”

The girl nodded. “He felt like storm clouds,” she replied. “Fazar-deni feels like the sun on your face.”

Zeli was perplexed by this strange answer, but Fazar spoke up. “We’d better get started. Don’t want to be on the road longer than necessary.”

She realized the man was armed with a pistol at his side.

“You three get in the backseat and cover yourselves with that blanket,” Fazar said. “If we come across anyone, best they not know you’re here.”

“You’ll take us all back to Lower Faalagol?”

“Well, I certainly won’t leave these children on the highway. But do you think the Magister will take them in?” Fazar asked, sounding dubious.

Zeli pursed her lips. “If I can convince Devana-mideni, then she’ll insist they stay.”

The girls climbed into the back and lay down with Ulani and Tana in the foot wells with Zeli curled up on the seat. Fazar turned the autocar around and they were back on their way.

“What did you mean that Fazar-deni felt like the sun on your face?” Zeli whispered. She couldn’t see the other girl under the blanket, but felt a warm hand on hers.

“He just did. The way you feel like hugs.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s her Song,” Tana answered. “It’s how she talks about how she senses people with Earthsong.” There was a movement from the older girl that might have been a shrug.

“Do you have your Song, too?” Zeli asked.

“No, never did. Just born wrong, I guess.” Tana’s affect was flat, but Zeli could only imagine what it must have been like. Though perhaps better than having had a Song and losing it.

“Ulani, no matter what the people in your dreams say, you can’t just run away without telling anyone. It’s very dangerous. You know that, right?” Zeli wished she could see her face.

“I know. It’s just that, we had to get away from Mengu-mideni. The lady said.”

After that, they rode in silence. Ulani’s dream lady had led her to a positive outcome, much better than could have been expected. If Fazar had shown up in town looking for Zeli, would Ora have sold her to him? Would Zeli have been able to get the girls out as well? The situation had ended well enough, but it could have gone another way so easily.

More easily than she ever wanted to consider.

But now, after all of that, she was going home. She wasn’t certain what awaited her there, but as the wheels hummed along the road, she held out hope that the future would be very shiny indeed.