In retrospect, it was an idiotic decision, but I was carrying ten-pound boots, gaffs, and the metal-core flip line. It might have been safer to climb up to Bough Seven through the interior limbs, but the mere thought of lugging all of that heavy, awkward gear through the foliage exhausted me. The night wasn’t pitch dark but it wasn’t a full moon either. Five boughs up the stairway. That’s all. How was I to know that Salix was sneaking around the canopy after a nocturnal tryst?
I heard the hiss of her voice as I stepped off the stairway. “What’s this? The condemned murderer has escaped? Not in my canopy.”
My hackles rose. All I wanted at this moment was to slap her across her smug face and knock her off the tree limb; I’d been convicted for murder anyway, might as well commit the crime. But I thought of my mother, her grief if I were caught and fed to the Great Ones. I thought of Yew, his attempt to atone for his part in Joshua’s death by freeing me, and I knew that revenge wasn’t part of the plan. Not if I wanted to live. I was faster than Salix and, if I weren’t hauling so much gear, I could have outrun her easily. But even if I did run, all she needed to do was raise the alarm by yelling and all the youth of Bough Seven would capture me in seconds.
“Salix, haven’t you done enough? Why do you have to be like this?” I spun around to see Sorbus on the north-facing limb.
“Stay out of this,” she growled.
“I will not. I’ve kept my mouth shut too long. Why must you continue to torment our friend? Ostrya, go.”
“Don’t you dare move! I’ll scream! How can you take her side? She’s a criminal. A murderer.”
“She’s as much a murderer as I am. You know she could never have hurt Mangrove.”
“She’s a food hoarder and a thief.”
“That food was for Cassia’s kids,” I said. “Mangrove would have told you that.”
“But he’s dead, isn’t he, Ostrya?” She sneered. “Convenient for you. Not enough for you to kill your brother. You had to kill my friend, too.”
“Salix, shut up,” said Sorbus. “Ostrya, Mangrove told me. And I told Salix. She knows about the food. Don’t you, Salix?”
Salix crossed her arms and glared at me. “It wasn’t enough that you had Mangrove. You had to take Wingnut, too. You knew how I felt about him.”
“And it wouldn’t have mattered.” A third voice chimed in. Wingnut stepped over to me, handed me Mangrove’s bow, and then stood behind Sorbus. He wrapped his two arms around the shorter man’s shoulders. “I only wanted your brother.”
Salix’s face registered shock. “Pseudotsuga’s balls! But Wingnut—you’re not gay!”
Wingnut shrugged. “Gay, straight—what difference do words make? I love Sorbus.” He winked at me. “Go, Ostrya. Quickly.”
“Take care of my mom,” I said. “She chose the best trainee.”
He nodded solemnly, and then held Salix with a look. I turned and ran to the edge of Bough Seven.
It was a slow, arduous climb through the canopy to the twelfth bough. The boots got hung up in the trees so many times I thought I’d never reach my crossing—if there were still a crossing to reach. Day was dawning by the time I reached the treetops. A blue sky beckoned and my bridge to the west side stretched in front of me.
If my climbing gear added too much weight to the slender limbs, I could break through and plummet a half mile to the forest floor. But if I retreated, I’d take the plunge in front of an audience and my parents would know forever how I died. No matter what happened now, I needed to continue forward. I owed it to Michelia and Yew. They needed to believe that one of their children was alive and well. I gathered courage into my lungs and set off across my makeshift bridge.
The branches I tied together had abraded each other, leaving open wounds and those wounds had begun fusing. In a few years, the trees would grow together, creating a natural bridge to the west side. If the climbers moved into the higher reaches of the canopy, they’d discover what I had left them.
But I wouldn’t be here to cross it with them.
I reached the west side and climbed down, gathering what food I could in the old skygardens. I stopped at my gingko forest, inhaled the vomit smell of the gingko fruit, and retrieved my cedar rope. I swung into the Outer Reaches, gathering breath, gathering courage, willing myself to climb down to discover what lies on the floor beneath the canopy.