The inn was built to handle the rain, like all other buildings in the area -- in the world. Steep, sloped roofs, diverting gutters, and a raised floor over a huge grill that led underground, to let the rain gather together in a giant reservoir under the village. The heavy, everlasting clouds hung over the roof and poured rain all day, just like the last day, last month, and last year. It had been raining for longer than anyone could remember.
Tien stood outside the door of the inn, rattling the handle. Either it was stuck, or it was locked. He stood back from the door and got a deluge of water on his head. He shook his hood free and shook his head to get rid of the water, and checked the window of the inn. He saw light, and shadows of people moving back and forth. He banged on the door again, huddling close to the wall.
A moment passed, and a small opening in the door slid open. Small eyes peered out. They spotted Tien, a wet and weary traveler.
"You want in?" The eyes asked.
"Yes," Tien said. "Do you have any room?"
The eyes disappeared, and Tien heard bolts and metal being banged together or apart. The door squeaked open loudly, and a beefy arm appeared out the crack. "Your weapons."
"What?"
"If you're coming in here, you're giving up your weapons. Rule. You aren't getting in with weapons still on you."
"What if I can't?" Tien asked.
"You want to try and sleep out in the rain tonight? You're likely to drown. This is the best inn in fifty leagues all around, and that's cause we have rules. Now . . . weapons."
Tien hesitated for a bit, than dragged out the sword that was under his oiled cloak. He handed it over, but the door still didn't open. The hand beckoned for more. "No smart traveler hands over his only weapon that easily."
"What if we get attacked during the night?" Tien asked. "How are we supposed to protect ourselves?"
"Me, and my guards. They're highly-paid and well-trained. How about it?"
"All right, all right, give me a minute," Tien said. He drew the knife from his boot, both daggers from behind his back, the poison bombs from a hidden pocket, and a red ball from a compartment in his sleeve. "Be very gentle with that ball," Tien warned the hand.
All of the weapons were taken in and deposited somewhere. Finally the door opened fully. On the other side was a large man that possessed the small eyes. Behind him was a man wearing armor and holding a sword.
"I don't fully believe that you've given me all of your weapons yet, but I bet you'd have a hard time running out. You have that look on you," he said, glaring at Tien. He jabbed his thumb at the man behind him. "This is Remy. If you cause any trouble, it's going to be him that throws your unconscious body into the rain and mud. And I tell you what." The big man leaned in. "He loves doing it."
Tien looked at Remy, who was smiling. The smile had a few holes in it.
"Fine. I have a few friends coming later. You have enough space for three more?"
"We'll have to squeeze you in a little bit. There are only two rooms left," the doorman said. "What kind of people?"
"My brother, my wife, and our daughter," Tien said. "No kind of trouble makers."
"All right then. It's fifty iron a person. You get a meal tonight and a meal tomorrow."
"Fifty iron?" Tien said. "This place had better be worth it!"
"It is," the innkeeper said. "And if you don't think so, you're welcome to leave." He pointed out the door, where dark rain created deep puddles.
"My daughter's only eight years. Surely she doesn't cost fifty iron for a night."
The innkeeper thought about it. "Thirty-five for her, then." He stuck out his hand. "Agree?"
"Agree," Tien said, shaking the hand. The doorman led Tien into the main area of the inn. It was a big room, with quadrants around a central serving area. Men sat at the bar, drinking and talking; families sat at the tables, eating and enjoying the heat that was funneled out of grates from a furnace in the basement. "Quite a big place."
"It is." The doorman pointed. "That there's the owner, Umen." Tien followed the finger and found a stringy man with a large black moustache. "Pay him. When are your others coming?"
"They're waiting at the edge of town for me to gather them," Tien said. His eyes roved the big room. "I needed to make sure the place was safe, first."
"I told you, this is the safest place in leagues."
Tien didn't respond. Instead, he took in as many details as he could. His eyes, black stones set in cloudy white pools, absorbed everything and forgot nothing.
People were placed in categories. Not dangerous, possibly dangerous, and dangerous. There were dangerous people in the inn, certainly, but nobody that was outright dangerous to them. Just before Roland walked back to the door, Tien stopped him. "Where's the Newsman?"
"That's him in the corner there with the stand," Roland said, motioning into the corner on Tien's right. An old man sat behind a podium with a pile of books and papers. As Tien watched, the old man licked a finger and turned a page. "He's going to make a report in ten minutes or so, but you can ask him about information any time." Roland walked back to the door, leaving Tien standing in the middle of the entrance way.
He found a seat at one of the few empty tables, and called a serving girl over. He ordered a beer and looked around. Nobody took much notice of him, except perhaps the guards circling the big room. They wouldn't linger on him, though, but instead move on to the next person.
Tien sat silently until the old man rose from his chair and approached the podium. The big room got quieter, but not by much. The Newsman waited until the talking had died down.
"The eighth-hour report, of this the twenty-eighth day of the final month. The new year approaches. The Council of One Hundred has predicted a year of plenty." A few people chuckled. The Council of One Hundred could predict a dozen things for the coming year and have none of them come true. "The rain continues, as it has, with no end in sight." This was par for the course. The rain had been falling since before Tien was born – before even the Newsman. "The Council reports that some Day-lighters have been spotted in the surrounding area, and warns everybody to not give them the time of day, nor the warmth of hearth, nor the taste of bread." Tien frowned. That was troubling. Then again, he suspected every area had the same warning.
The old man went on. "The Sky Watchers say cold is coming, and that we should prepare." This was taken more seriously than the Council's prediction. The Sky Watchers were frequently right. "Ahem . . . some local things . . . " The Newsman read something, adjusting his thick spectacles. "The young boy Fern's dog has gone missing. It is black with brown spots, and not dangerous, though quite likely it is hungry now. It has been missing for three days. If you see it, please tell Fern, his parents, or myself."
Tien zoned out as the Newsman read messages about the area. From a boy's missing dog, all the way down to Mrs. So-and-So has recovered from her bout of illness, the Newsman read. Finally, he finished, and sat behind the podium with his books and papers. The big room's volume started rising again, and quickly it was back to how it had been when Tien had entered.
After a few minutes of waiting, he rose from the table and threaded his way through the crowd to the Newsman. The old man had his own guard, but he let Tien pass.
"Excuse me," Tien said. "I'd like to know more about the Day-lighters that are supposed to be in the area." The Newsman looked up at him. "My family -- my wife, my daughter, my brother -- they're going to be joining me here soon. Do you think the Day-lighters are close?"
"Eh, well, let me see . . . " The Newsman paged through a few loose pieces of paper, trying to find the right one. Finally he picked it out, adjusted his glasses, and squinted down at the message. "Er . . . says it's a bunch of them . . . a bigger group, ten or more. Looks like they were east of here heading north. I doubt they're close. You should be safe."
Tien let out a held breath. "Thank you."
"Of course." The Newsman smiled up at him. "You're very welcome."
Tien made his way back to his empty table and half-full beer, which he drained. After that he went to the center island in the room and paid his fee to the inn's owner, Umen. He handed over the one hundred and eighty-five iron, which Umen accepted without argument. Tien walked back toward the door.
"I'm going to get my family," he told Roland. "May I take my weapons?"
"Yeah, just a minute," Roland responded. He bent and, after producing a key, unlocked a large cabinet. He pulled out a box that was labeled 'Tien.' He handed the weapons to Tien, who was watched closely by Remy as he stowed them. "You'll have to hand them back over when you come back."
"Right," Tien said, and then he opened the door and walked into the cold rain.
It took him twenty minutes to get to the edge of town. The torrential rain made it harder, but Tien had been walking in the rain for all his life. It was something that didn't bother him any more, even when he thought about it.
From the edge of town it was fifteen more minutes until he got to his three traveling companions, huddled together under an old lean-to.
"I wish I may, I wish I might," Tien said first. "It's safe. The Newsman said that the Day-lighters were east and heading north, in a big group."
"The inn?" The woman asked. "Is it safe?"
"Fairly. They make us give up our weapons, but there are a good number of guards hired by the owner."
"What if we don't want to give our weapons up?" Tien's brother, Ren, asked.
"Then we don't get in. The doorman made sure I understood that. I've already paid for all of us. But," Tien looked at his brother. "The doorman seemed to understand that it would be impossible to rid us of every weapon. Just don't overdo it. Give up the obvious ones." Tien's brother nodded.
"How's the food?" The young girl asked. Her bright blonde hair was dripping and clumped. Tien smiled and knelt down.
"I didn't have any, I just stayed long enough to hear the Newsman. It smelled good, though. We'll be able to have some when we get there. Ready to go?"
It took them another forty minutes to get back to the inn. Tien knocked on the door and Roland let them in after taking 'all' of their weapons. Ren very grumpily handed over the weapons that Roland demanded. They sat at an empty table and were served plates of black beans and wet beef, with glasses of beer for the adults and water for the girl. She looked at it with disgust.
"Drink up," Tien said. "Has to get inside you sometimes."
"He's right, honey," Onli said. She pointed at Tien. "Your father knows how to get big and strong."
"I have to be out in the water all day, and then you get to drink beer. It looks a lot better than drinking water." The girl pouted.
"Teegan," Onli said, leaning in. "Drink your water."
The girl sneered, but sipped her drink.
The four of them ate in silence, trying not to attract attention. Teegan was able to force herself to finish half of the glass, but refused to drink beyond that, stating the water was 'yucky.' Tien finished eating first, and spent the rest of the meal scanning the crowd, but he could only look in one direction at a time.
"Someone's coming," Ren said, as he ate.
A short, colorfully dressed man appeared between Tien and Onli, holding a guitar. "Greetings, travelers! I am Momono, a humble singer and tale-teller." He bowed, using one hand to keep his damp hat on his head. "I saw your table of sad faces and decided I must stop by for a visit, if only to give you a bit of fun!" His speech, and big smile, was met by two scowling adults. Teegan was playing with her fork, and Ren was still eating. Momono looked around the table and spotted Teegan. "Dear child!" He said. Teegan's head jerked up, and Momono's mouth dropped open. "Such bright hair!"
He looked at Ren, Tien, and Onli. "Is this girl your daughter?"
"Ours," Onli said. She locked the singer with her gaze. She put Tien's hand in her own. "She is our daughter."
"But you both have such dark hair!" Momono said, all too loudly. A few people noticed them, and were looking. "How did she get such lovely golden tresses?"
Onli let a moment of silence pass. "I'll tell you about my mother," she said.
The tables around them fell silent. Momono didn't say anything. Onli shifted and looked around her. "My mother had long hair like the early sun. She never saw the sun, but old women would tell her she had been blessed -- like a drop of fire had landed on her as a child."
Her voice was low and sweet, and cut under the talking around them. The circle of silent listeners grew. She put her hands under her chin. "My father was like my husband, with hair the color of the coal he mined." She smiled and shot a glance at Tien. "I'll let you interpret that as you wish. My father saw my mother in a big city and, like many men, young and old, was brainwashed by her bright hair. Unlike other men, though, she saw him looking. Here was a man who did not look away, and that attracted her. They told me this many years later," Onli said, taking a small sip of her beer. She put it down slowly. Nearly the entire inn was quiet now.
"They began to court, and were married." She spread her hand on her chest. "I was produced, via normal means." Listeners chuckled. "I take my dark hair from my father, but . . . " She looked at Teegan, who was trying to sit low in her chair. "My own daughter decided to ignore her parents, and took after her grandmother." Onli slipped a few fingers into the fan of Teegan's hair. "It's a bit darker than my mother's, I'm afraid. But it's quite something, isn't it?"
The crowd took a moment to realize she had stopped talking and asked them a question. "Yes ma'am," Momono said. He held his cap in his hands. "It's lovely."
Tien rose. "That's enough for tonight. It's time we get to bed. We have a lot of travel in front of us. Come, Teegan," Tien said, holding out his hand. The girl gripped it and the two of them, followed by Ren and Onli, went up the stairs to their room. They split, with the women in one and the men in the other.
Ren shut the door behind him. "That was close," he said quietly. Tien nodded as he took off his cloak and hung it to dry. "It's a shame this town only has one inn. That was the most crowded room I've ever seen."
"Thank God for Onli," Tien said. "That story has explained us away more times than I can count. It's no mystery why she's so good at telling it. She's got the whole thing memorized, down to the dramatic pauses."
"Even I was drawn into it, and I've heard it before," Ren said.
"Check the hallway," Tien ordered. Ren pressed his ear against the door and nodded to Tien. Tien knocked twice on the wall between their room and Onli's.
Two knocks returned, and then he knocked thrice. Three more knocks came back. He nodded at Ren.
They laid out on the two cold beds. For a while the only sound were their cloaks draining onto the floor.
"Are you sure this place is safe?" Ren whispered. "There were a lot of people down there. Any one of them could have been-"
"I know," Tien said, even quieter than Ren. "We didn't have any other choice. It was this or spend another night out in the cold and wet, or beat the odds and have someone welcome us in for the night. I don't think we need to worry, though. Even if some people were spies, there were too many people for them to look at."
"Onli's story attracted everyone except for the Newsman. If somebody was trying to find us, they would have seen us," Ren responded. He held up a hand in the low light before Tien responded. A voice went by the door, muttering to someone. The voice disappeared, but Ren kept his hand up.
When he lowered it, Tien responded. "We've done this before. It was nothing more than a good story. Onli and Teegan know how to play their parts."
"I'll be glad when we leave here, anyway. While I was eating, I thought I heard something that I didn't like," Ren said.
"What sort of thing?"
Ren didn't respond immediately. "I'm not sure, but it had a tone that made it seem secretive."
"It could have been anything," Tien said.
"You aren't the listener," Ren said. "You're the seer. If I hear something and don't like it, you should be worried."
"I'm worried. I'm always worried. We'll leave early in the morning. Now get some sleep."
"Wake up. Tien, wake up."
Ren shook Tien until his eyes came open. "We're in trouble."
Tien immediately pulled himself out of bed and took a waking breath. "What do you hear?"
"Far too many boots, and far too heavy, for a place like this at this hour. They've come. Somebody must have tipped them off to our presence."
"Get your weapons ready," Tien said. He banged on the wall three times and ran to his pack. From it he pulled a small harmonica. Hurrying, he banged on the wall three more times. Three tired bangs responded to his. "How's the rain? Can we get out through the window?"
Ren ran and opened the shutter and stuck his head into the rain. He came back dripping. "Wall's too steep; nothing to hold on to. You and I and Onli might be able to make it-"
"But it's not an option for Teegan," Tien finished. Four pounds came from the other room "How many?"
Ren cocked his head. "Too many." Tien pounded twice on the wall. Two pounds came back.
"Let's go," Tien said. Ren nodded. He had small object in his hand. Ren listened for a moment, and opened the door.
There was a great commotion in the main area, down the stairs. Tien heard a jumble of voices but couldn't pick them out. He moved to Onli's room and knocked twice. Onli and Teegan exited, ready to travel.
"How many?" Onli asked. Ren answered the same as before while Tien checked the hallway behind them.
"It looks like this way leads somewhere else. It might just be more rooms, but it could be a back door. After me; Ren, you're in the back." Ren nodded, and Tien started down the dark hallway. He felt his way until his eyes adjusted to the dark.
They made their way silently, listening to the heavy footsteps come up the stairs. They kept moving as the assailants stopped at their rooms and bashed the doors open. Teegan hurried along behind Tien, mouth set and eyes trained on his back.
Tien stopped them, focusing ahead. He perceived some inhuman shift in the hallway's light, and turned to the door on his left. He pushed it open quickly and the other three rushed in. He pointed at the stunned occupants of the double bed; Ren and Onli jumped on them. Tien closed the door slowly without a sound. Teegan knelt next to him.
Tien listened. His hearing didn't match Ren's, but it was still good. He heard the heavy boots in the hallway from the direction they were heading. They stopped, and he started to hear angry voices, all along the vein of "they got away?!" He smiled.
The man under Onli, who's mouth was blocked by her hand, grunted and tried to talk through. Onli brought a menacing finger to her lips, and then recognized the person. "Momono!" She whispered. Momono nodded, and lifted his hands over his head to show he was unarmed. Onli looked at Tien, who nodded after a quick thought.
"You're the woman that told the story!" He said, too loudly. Onli slapped his mouth closed.
"And you're a singer who needs to keep his mouth shut," she said. Momono nodded. She took her hand away and looked at the other person lying on the bed. "Who's your friend?"
"A bed-warmer," Momono said. The woman tried to say something indignant through Ren's hand. Onli ignored her.
"Both of you, stay quiet," she said. She looked over at Tien, who had his ear pressed against the door.
Tien looked back. "They're going to start checking the rooms from the outside in to make sure we don't escape. It sounds like most of them have gone to the exit in the back."
"Then we head for the front entrance as quickly as we can," Ren said. He got off of the woman that had shared Momono's bed. "Get ready to run," he said to Teegan. "You know what to do if one of us falls." Teegan nodded again, and looked worried. Onli jumped off the bed and went to the other side of the door, ready to move.
Ren listened, waiting for the perfect time. "Now," he said, and Tien opened the door. Onli, Teegan, and Ren ran. Tien was moments behind them when Momono stopped him.
"Wait." Tien stopped and looked behind him. He was a dark shape in the doorway. "You four, you're Day-lighters, aren't you?" The singer asked.
Tien stood in the threshold. His strong vision presented him an image of Momono kneeling on the bed, looking with a hungry expression. Tien watched him for a moment, then ran after the other three.
He met up with Ren, Onli, and Teegan at the top of the stairs that led down to the main area. The Council's soldiers were inspecting every hidden cranny of the large room. Tien could hear the soldiers in the hallway behind them rousting sleeping visitors, looking for them. "Not a lot of time."
"Tien and I go hard and try to make an opening," Ren said. "Onli, you and Teegan go when you see one." Onli nodded. Ren stood and, gripping one end, pulled on the device he held. A long metal tube appeared. "Maybe we'll get lucky, and we can get to our weapons."
"Maybe we'll get lucky, and we can get out of here," Tien responded. He bent down. "Now!"
He and Ren jumped down the steps, making a great noise. In the big room were a half dozen soldiers, plus four guards from the inn, which included Remy, and the doorman. He stood with his fists on his hips, directing the soldiers. They all turned when the two men appeared.
The first soldier Ren hit was too slow, and he got a shaft of metal in the eye. Another appeared, knocking over a table and swinging his sword at Ren, who blocked it and gave the soldier a kick in the stomach for his trouble. Remy stopped Tien on his way to the weapon locker, and the big guard leered, raising his sword high.
Tien snapped his harmonica forward and a spring shot a blade out of the side, which shortly met Remy's lung. The man fell with a crash and a shout, and Tien smashed open the locker with their weapons. He pulled his sword out, and blocked an attack.
"Thought there was something odd about you!" The doorman shouted. "All I had to do was call some soldiers, and they picked you out of the pile with your red ball trick!" He swung, but it was slow and clumsy. Tien blocked it easily and let him keep talking. Behind the doorman, Ren was beating a soldier to death with his metal stick. "A simple item to signal potential allies!" He swung again.
Tien pushed the sword aside and used his hilt to knock Roland's temple. He expected an easy end to the fight, but the doorman jumped backwards. "You Day-lighters! Not many of you left, are there!" Roland's face turned into a greedy smile. "And when I kill you, I'll be a rich man! Know my name, scum! I am Roland!"
"It's worthless to try and explain myself, isn't it?" Tien asked. "To tell you that we're trying to save this world?"
"Shut up!" Roland shouted. A soldier was running to help him. Tien wondered where Onli and Teegan were. "I know your lies! The Council knows what you really want to do!"
There was a smash behind Roland, and he looked. Tien took the chance. He punched the doorman in the face and darted past him, finding Ren surrounded by soldiers too clumsy to catch him. He kicked the first one forward, threw Ren his sheathed sword, and engaged the next soldier. He knocked it back with a strong blow to his metal chest piece, and looked at Ren. "Onli?" Ren only shrugged.
One of the inn's guards stepped in front of Tien and attacked. Tien side-stepped and stomped down on the guard's wrist. He heard a wet snap and the guard dropped his sword, screaming. A soldier wrapped his arms around Tien from behind, and another approached from in front. Tien kicked but missed. There was a commotion from the stairs.
Tien looked and saw another ten guards storming down toward them from the hallway. He didn't see Onli or Teegan, and the soldier's sharp swords were clean.
Tien dropped his sword and muscled his way out of the soldier's grip, dropping to the floor and grabbing one of the soldier's ankles. The soldier toppled down and Tien snatched his sword. Ren cut down a guard next to him. More than a dozen soldiers approached them, all armed. Ren and Tien backed away, keeping their swords up and ready. "Don't kill them!" They heard. Tien spotted Roland behind the soldiers and guards. "They need to be alive for the reward!" He seemed to think. "Actually, I want a go at that one!" He pointed at Tien. "He-"
His words were cut off with a loud brrang. The soldiers looked behind them and found Momono standing with a busted guitar over Roland's supine body.
"Er," Momono said. "Don't mind me."
"Get 'im," one soldier said to another. That soldier turned and advanced on the singer.
Before he could reach him, a tiny dart caught him in the neck. He yelped and slapped his hand over it, which led him to being available for a punishing blow from Onli, who leapt down the stairs and upended him onto his head. She kept moving, taking the next soldier with a hit to the small of his back. That soldier fell into another, and suddenly a hole existed for Tien and Ren. They took advantage of it, pressing through and keeping their swords up.
"Teegan?" Tien asked Onli when they reached her. The soldiers were reforming their ranks.
"Later," she said.
Now it was three against fifteen or more, but they had a free path to the door for the moment. Tien made for it first, followed by Onli. One guard tried to get in her way, but she bowled him over. Tien scooped up as many of their weapons as they could and kicked the door.
It didn't open, and he teetered back, off balance. Ren pushed him back up, and kicked at the door. This time it swung open into the wet morning. The three ran out, dashing through deep puddles of mud and filth. The soldiers tried to chase after them, but were too burdened by their armor to keep up. The three ran through the dark streets of the town until they were out of breath. They buckled and hid their numerous weapons as they gulped down air and rain.
"Where's Teegan?" Tien asked.
"She and Momono escaped out the back while the soldiers where busy with us," Onli said. "I told them we'd try to meet them by the north side of town in a half hour. We'd better get going if we want to make it."
They moved on. The town was waking up, mostly because of the din the soldiers and guards were making, searching for them. They had to hide as groups went by, but it was still dark enough to do so easily. Soon they got to the north edge of the town, and Tien spotted Teegan and the singer hiding under a house, hidden from everyone but him.
Teegan ran to them, and they embraced her. The rain clumped her hair, and even her thick cloak was soaked through after lying in water almost a half an hour. Momono came to them slower, and as soon as he got close enough, Tien grabbed him.
"Who are you?" He shouted as his hands wrapped around Momono's thin arms. "What do you want?" He shook the singer. Rainwater fell from hollows in his clothes. "Why did you help us?"
"Tien," Onli said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right. He made sure that Teegan could escape. Without him, you'd probably be dead."
Tien looked over Momono. The singer tried to smile.
Tien dropped him, and he crumpled to the ground in a pile of wet clothes. "Let's go," Tien said. "We don't have a lot of time before it gets light enough. The soldiers are going to be all over here in an hour." He turned around and started to walk away from the town.
"Wait!" Momono said, scrambling to his feet. "I want to come with you!"
"And why would you want to do that?" Ren asked. "Do you really want to help us, or is it for something else? What is it -- personal gain?" Ren moved in a bit closer. "Are you an agent for the Council, just to gain our trust and turn us over later?"
"No! No! N-none of that!" Momono said, waving his hands frantically. "Really!"
"Then tell us why!"
Ren had his hand on the hilt of his sword. Teegan was standing next to Onli, whose hands didn't stray far from the girl. Tien was scanning the area, looking through the rain. Momono took a breath.
"I heard the Newsman, just like you did," he said to Tien. "Before you went and got the others. He said that the Day-lighters were in a big group and heading north, that they weren't in the city." Momono paused. "Why were you there? Where are the rest of your group?"
"Interesting questions," Tien said. "Ones that we don't want to answer. You'd better come up with a good reason for wanting to know, and quick."
Momono swallowed, and brushed rain out of his eyes. "Day-lighters. Enemies of the council and humans. Men and woman-" he looked at Teegan "-and children who want to open the clouds in the sky and burn the Earth with the hot sun. Hunted by the Council's soldiers, and guards, and farmers. Welcome nowhere. Friends of no one. Enemies of everyone." Momono started to get on better ground. "It's a hard dose to swallow. The Council wants us to believe that you would kill us all. But I know; you can't possibly."
Momono nodded. "You aren't crazed. I can see that. You're no fanatics or wild people with disease-addled brains. You." He pointed at Tien. "You made sure the inn was safe before getting the others, and all of you played your parts in the inn when I so foolishly picked you out of the crowd. Even you, little one, I know was acting." He looked at Onli. "You aren't married to this man. She isn't your daughter. I would have called you out in the inn, but your story was too good. It was better than I could come up with. You have a gift of words."
Onli nodded.
"But there was no doubt about your identities when you so rudely intruded in my room just a little while ago. So. You're Day-lighters. Not crazed cultists. The Council wants you dead and gone." Momono pushed his chest out. "I want to help you."
The Day-lighters waited. "Is that all?" Ren asked. Momono shrugged. Ren, Tien, and Onli exchanged glances.
"Stay there and don't move," Tien said. The four of them huddled together and started whispering.
Momono really didn't move, brought about by one part determination and one part fear. He stood shivering, warming himself with his hands. He tried to figure out which way the conversation was swinging. Finally they broke apart. Tien approached him.
"You can come with us," he said, glancing back at Onli. "With a few conditions. These are not negotiable. One: you get no weapons."
"Don't have any," Momono said. "The reason I broke my guitar over that man's head is that was the only thing I could use."
"Fine. The second condition is, if you disappear during the night, or when we aren't looking, or anything, we'll assume you've run off to the Council's soldiers and told them where we're traveling. If that happens, and if we happen to see you again, we'll kill you."
The words were said with ultimate emphasis. No part could be misunderstood, or pity the fool. "Okay," Momono said, trying not to display how quickly his heart pounded.
"Third, and final, condition. This is to make sure that you are absolutely sure that you want to understand us. In exchange for being told what we know, and what we wish to do, you will, on the surface only, lead the Day-lighters."
Momono didn't respond. He didn't fully understand.
"This means that, if you are captured, or several of us are, you will be the one who is pegged as the ring leader of our little group. In addition, you will always go with one of us on scouting missions, such as when I went to the inn to make sure it was safe. You will hold no real power. Do you follow?"
"Yes, I think I do." Maximum danger.
"Do you accept?" Tien asked. A curtain of rain hid him from Momono's view for an instant, and the singer's heart lurched. The rain lessened, and the stern man's face appeared again.
"I accept," Momono said. "I'm ready."
"Then follow."
The rain didn't stop -- it never did -- as the clouds gained a dim, glowing light, but it did let up a little bit. The Day-lighters and Momono traveled north, crossing a wide river. They emerged just barely wetter than they entered it, and took some time to shake loose the water. It was never worth taking too long, as the rain always gave it right back. While they walked, Onli took the time to explain.
"Everyone knows the stories," she said when Momono asked. "While now it's rain everyday, or snow if it's cold enough, it wasn't like that before. Before there were days when the rain stopped, the clouds pulled apart like a curtain, showing us the greater sky. The sun was not a hidden, deformed creature that fought to warm us, but the most powerful thing humanity could imagine. It was a fire in the sky; the only respite was night. There were sometimes weeks when not a cloud blocked it."
She paused to haul herself over a rotten log. "It happened too long ago for anyone to remember, but the clouds came, and the rain came, and that was anything that could be seen in the sky for hundreds of years. Humanity was greater, once. It controlled the beasts, the elements." She looked up as she walked; rain fell in her eyes. "Even the sky. But no longer."
Momono listened to her solemn voice, held captive. He knew about the sky, and the sun, and humanity's past greatness. Everyone did.
"We forgot the sun's warm love, and began to think that the cold rain was the only sky that had ever been. Imagine: to raise your eyes to the sky and be blinded, not by hard rain but undying warmth." Onli smiled. "It was a dream everyone had, until the first generation all died. Soon those that had lived under the sun were all gone. In my tale, in the inn, I said that old women told my mother about the sun, but even they would have been too young.
"I feel I'm rambling. One thing was remembered -- that the sun was there, still waiting behind the clouds. More, some believed that it could be found again. Many people started to resent the sun for leaving, or being the cause of the rain. They started to hate, and fear it." Onli looked at Momono. "Do you understand so far?"
"Yes," Momono said.
"Our group -- we were called the Day-breakers when we started -- appeared and tried to get people to join us. To bring the sun back." She shook her head. "We were attacked. 'Bringing the sun back will burn us,' they said. 'We will dry up and die!' What silliness."
"I know that. The Council thinks you're going to use the sun to burn them up and gain power for yourself," Momono said.
"The sun couldn't do such a thing any more than a drizzle could drown a man," Onli said. "And gain power?" She looked around. "The four of us?" Throwing her head back, she laughed. "We're no rulers. We just want the sun. We want to clear the clouds and warm tired bones for the first time in ten generations."
"But how?"
"That was a question not even half answered until several years ago. The people who started our group, before you or I were even born, guessed that something could be done with the machines that humans had long abandoned when the sun disappeared. The rain had made them difficult to use. You've heard of electricity?" Momono nodded. "The machines wouldn't work without them. Few things could generate their own electricity, and the things that could needed power from something else, and knowledge that nobody possessed. The earliest Day-lighters were lost, and didn't know what to do." Onli fell silent.
Momono waited for a few minutes. They were walking through a field. After not too long, his curiosity got the better of him. "So what did they do?"
"They looked," Tien said. Momono was surprised to hear him. "They looked for knowledge that someone knew, or had hidden. They found a little bit, and taught themselves, but it wasn't enough. Even then, they didn't know if there was a machine that could do what they wanted."
Onli was nodding. "They looked for machines, information, and people. People to help them join the cause and bring the sun back. As their influence spread, so did the number of people who feared them. They began to be persecuted. They had to travel in smaller numbers."
"We're just one of several groups," Ren interjected.
"It's been difficult for us," Onli said. "We're hated because we want to bring humanity back into the light; because we want to get back to what we had before."
"I have so many questions," Momono said.
"We'll talk more later," Onli said. "Right now let's concentrate on walking. The rain's getting worse."
They traveled for a long time. Momono was exhausted by the time they stopped for the night. He was used to moving around, but usually it was from one town to the next, to spend a few nights singing and telling stories for coin and food. When they stopped his feet were sore, his back ached, and he was freezing.
Tien and Ren set up a blanket between a few trees to keep the rain off of them. They built a small, smokey, sputtering fire out of wet wood that didn't last long. From their expressions, Momono guessed this was far too normal. They had a little cold food, and they were gracious enough to share some of it with him. He wolfed it down; the rest of them nibbled.
The rain had fluctuated from pouring to misting over the day, right now it was dropping thick, heavy drops that ran down the suspended blanket and turned into mud.
Everyone was tired, and decided to sleep. The three adults picked numbers to keep the first watch. Tien lost.
Ren, Onli, and Teegan feel asleep rather quickly, but Momono wasn't used to the cold. He found himself awake and being stared down by Tien, who sat against a tree.
"Your fingers," Tien said. He was wrapped in his damp cloak. The rain came down around them and made it hard to hear. "They have calluses."
"From playing the guitar," Momono said. "You must press down to make the right sound." He fell silent under Tien's hard scrutiny. He shifted uncomfortably on the hard, cold, wet ground.
"Do you know what I'm called?" Tien asked. Momono looked at him. "I'm the seer. My eyes," he said as he pointed. "They're stronger than normal people's. I see very well." He leaned forward. The minor glow from the fire's embers gave him shadows. "I see there's something about you that you aren't telling us, and I want you to know something."
Momono waited for him to continue. The only sound was the constant rain.
"You said you have to press down hard to make the right sound with a guitar. If I think what you aren't telling us is dangerous, I will press down on you until you make the right sound. And I know how to press."
"I understand," Momono said. Tien leaned back against his tree. "You don't want any trouble to come to you or your friends. I might not be a seer, but I notice things. You were ready to beat me when I came up to your table in the inn and pointed out the girl's hair. You gave most of your weapons away, but I know you had some hidden."
Tien did nothing.
"You're a seer . . . Onli is a speaker, that much is obvious. Ren? Teegan?" Momono asked. "Or perhaps I'm prying."
Tien had a small smile. "Ren is a listener. Teegan is also a speaker, at least we think she might be. We'll know more as the years pass."
"Why is Teegan with you?" Momono asked. Tien looked at him suddenly, with the straight, unwavering vision of a person galvanized by someone else's words. "She's more than just a member?"
Tien didn't answer. He stood. In an instant he stood beside Momono, who scrambled to get out of the way. Tien's hand clamped down around the singer's wrist, and the next thing Momono knew, a dagger's point pressed into the skin on his wrist.
"You're asking a lot of questions for a singer," Tien hissed. Momono saw the anger in his eyes. "You remember our rules?"
"Yes. If I leave, you kill me. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." The two men stared at each other for a moment. Momono felt the dagger's point dig slightly deeper with each breath. Tien held the weapon still, ready to plunge it deep.
Then he stood. He loomed over Momono and slipped the dagger away. Without a word he went back to his tree and settled down. He looked at Momono for a minute. "Teegan isn't normal." Momono didn't say anything. "We rescued her from a Council facility. They were trying to discover the source of her power."
"Do I get to know the power?" Momono asked.
Tien nodded. He looked at the small lump on the ground where Teegan was. "She can generate heat." He looked at Momono. "Not like you or I generate heat. It's much more, almost like she has a furnace hidden inside her. We heard about her from a drunk man who used to be a guard where she was kept. He'd been fired for drinking." Tien smiled. "We were able to get him drunk and angry enough for him to spill his guts."
Momono picked up on the subtle double-meaning of the words. "What were they doing to her? In the facility?"
Tien shrugged. "We don't know for certain. She doesn't have a good memory of it for one. Two, after we got her out, the Council decided to disband the facility, and everybody who'd worked there up and vanished. You can guess what probably happened to them," Tien said. Momono nodded. "We do know a few things. They examined her body. There are scars-" Tien traced lines across his torso, head, and limbs "-all over her. They tried to find the source of the heat. When we got her out she had bandages on half of her body." He dropped his hands. "We've guessed at some of the other things they did to her, but we don't know. If she knows she isn't telling us."
"And you think that she could have a solution." Momono pointed at the sky. "You know, for the sun."
Tien shrugged. "That was one reason. A lot of us have started to dislike a good number of the Council's practices, just because of the way they've treated us. You have to admit that what they did was cruel." Momono nodded. "If she turns out to have an ability we can use, than so much the better."
The two of them fell silent. Momono was even starting to get tired. He fell asleep shortly after. Tien stayed awake. He kept his strong eyes moving through the darkness, looking for anything -- man or beast -- that would try to sneak up on them. Every once in a while he would snatch a glance at Momono, Ren, Onli, or Teegan.
It took them another day to reach a town. The rain was a heavy mist that obscured their vision and weighed down their clothes. The clouds were relatively light.
Walking in a forest, they came across a well-worn path with gutters along the side. A few people were on the path with them, and they all seemed to be heading in the same direction.
At the end of the path they found a partial clearing with a few buildings. As Momono, Teegan, Onli, and Ren looked around, Tien looked up. The others followed his eyes.
Far above them, wrapped around giant trees, were buildings. They looked attached to or even built into the sides of the trees, and were connected by long, strong rope bridges. The bridges went up and down and out farther than most of them could see. The five of them stared in wonder.
"I don't understand," Teegan said. "Wouldn't the wood be too damp to hold something like that?"
"I'm not sure," Onli said. She turned to Tien. "What do you see?"
"Some soldiers," Tien said, scanning the bridges and walkways. "They don't seem to be looking for anything in particular." He studied on of the soldiers. "Than again, we got caught last time and they weren't looking for anything at all. We all need to be very careful," he whispered. "Teegan, keep your hood up. Momono, don't do any-" He stopped and studied the singer. "Actually, why don't you come with me."
The inn's stained wood door creaked open, and instead of a large, cheery, full crowd like the last inn, this one was rather dank and empty. Momono and Tien entered, and Tien took in the details of the inn quickly. It was a place for rougher characters, but it was smaller, and Tien guessed they would be safer here.
They entered the city and walked along the bridges, astounded at their strength. Even on thin passages they didn't sway or creak. Momono stopped to ask a citizen about it, and the citizen explained with some pride that the anchors went deep into the monstrous trees, which also supplied the wood to make the buildings and walkways.
Tien nudged Momono, and the singer wandered to the counter at the inn. "How much for five people to stay the night?" He asked, trying to put on an air of confidence. He leaned against the counter and began to study his nails, as if looking at the innkeeper would have been too much trouble.
"A hundred iron, drinks extra," the innkeeper responded. He was like many innkeepers: large, hairy, and greasy. Momono half suspected they came with the building.
"What about food?" Momono asked.
"Not included, but it's good and cheap. It'll fill you up, put some meat on your bones. What'll it be?"
Momono looked in the innkeeper's eyes and said exactly what Tien had told him. "One our number is young, just a girl. She won't take up much space. I'll give you ninety-five."
"Still a hundred." The innkeeper poured a drink. "But lemme get a look at her and I won't charge as much for her meal, if what you say's true."
Momono hesitated, still leaning against the counter. Would he make a potentially dangerous decision without asking Tien? Or would he ask Tien, possibly exposing the fact that Momono was just pretending to lead the group?
He settled on a third option. Without a word, he pushed off from the counter and motioned to Tien to follow him. Together they left the inn.
"I asked him about a refund, and he said he'd charge us less for Teegan's meal if he saw her," he said as they walked high above the ground.
"You were right to tell me. I think it will be fine. Most of the people were either there for a cheap drink or to make sure nobody noticed them. It should be safe, but we'll have to take precautions."
"Like?"
"You'll see."
They made their way down to earth, and found where Ren and Onli had stashed themselves. Tien explained the stipulation. "Keep your hair tied back," he said to Teegan. "Keep your hood up. If he does see something, hopefully he'll just think it's a trick of the light. Teegan nodded as she tied a knot around her hair and put it down the back of her cloak.
They went back to the inn. Ren, Onli, and Teegan all walked the same as Momono and Tien had at first, afraid of losing their balance and plummeting down a hundred feet for a messy end. Momono told them what they had found out, about the trees and the pathways. Teegan continued to step carefully, even after being told.
They got back to the inn and found it fuller. Tien nodded Momono on, and he approached the counter with Teegan.
"Here she is. Like I said, not even ten years," the singer said. The innkeeper looked up.
"I'm gonna be nine next month!" Teegan said, a little upset.
A wide, surprising, grin spread on the innkeeper's face. "Of course you are!" He beamed down. "I'll make a note for the waitress to charge a bit less for the lass," he said to Momono. "What's your name?"
"Momono."
The innkeeper paused and frowned. Momono's stomach squeezed. "Why does that name sound familiar?" The innkeeper said, scrawling on a little square of paper. "I know I've heard it before . . . "
"I-I'm a singer!" Momono said, startled. "I'm somewhat well-known in the south! Perhaps you've heard someone talk about my stunning rendition of 'The Girl of Gerry-Main!'"
"Maybe that's what it was!" The innkeeper said. He pointed his pencil at Momono. "A singer? Why don't you give the boys here a good song? I bet you could make a fair bit of iron! The gents love a rousing song!" He swung his arm at the current patrons. Momono saw more lifted glasses than eyes.
"I . . . can't. I lost my guitar. I don't like singing without it."
"Oh? How'd you lose it?"
Momono blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "A bear ate it!"
He and the innkeeper looked at each other for a moment. "I think he was as surprised as I was," Momono said. "It was dark, and . . . I guess the beast was hungry."
"Ah . . . well . . . all right then," the innkeeper said. "I've got the note all written down. Why don't you bunch take a seat and we'll get your food out to you."
Momono and Teegan left the counter and went back to the other three.
"How'd it go?" Tien asked.
"Fine, mostly," Momono said. He noticed Ren was smiling. "I panicked."
"Clearly," Ren said. They found a table and took their seats. Nobody in the building gave them even a glance. Teegan kept her hair hidden nonetheless.
They sat quietly for a few minutes in the flickering light, listening to the rain outside. Eventually a limping waitress appeared. She set down a platter of bowls. Stew, full of chunks of potatoes and carrots and bits of beef, filled them up. In front of Teegan she set a special plate. On it was white rice, soggy tomatoes, and-
"I don't believe it," Ren said. "Chicken." He looked up at the waitress. "We can't afford this."
The waitress shrugged. "Fenny's got a soft place for younglings. He had a daughter that died of rain-sick, I think. He got his hands on some of this for a cheap price, and he wants her to have it, free of charge. For the rest of you it's forty iron all."
Momono handed over the money. "Tell Fenny thank you, from all of us."
"I surely will," the waitress said, and limped off.
"You enjoy that," Ren said. "You know how rare chicken is around here."
Teegan nodded. Despite herself, she wore a smile. They all began eating.
The food was as described. It was cheap, simple food to fill your belly and warm you up and little more. Teegan described the chicken to Momono, who had never tasted it. She said it was 'weird, but weird in a good way.' Momono nodded thoughtfully, as if the description actually meant anything.
They sat at the table and talked for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth and dryness. The inn never got much busier, and most people were just there for drink, as Tien had guessed. After a little while they went up to their room.
It was a single room around the outside of the tree. There were no beds, but large mounds of hay covered with sheets. It looked like there was enough space for eight or more people. There was a covered torch that Tien lit once they got inside, and it was plenty warm and dry. They all picked a mound and bedded down, shaping their pile to be more comfortable. Teegan fell silent quickly, but the adults stayed awake a little longer.
"What are we heading for?" Momono asked. "Is there some conclave that will keep you safe?"
"No, there's nothing like that," Onli said. "There are a few places that have more permanent settlements, but they're well-hidden. We only know of one of them, and it's a great distance from here."
"Right now it's get away from the people chasing us," Tien said. "Whether that takes us a week or ten years, it doesn't matter. After that, we meet up with some others of our group and let them know about Teegan. After that, who knows."
"Back at the inn where we met," Momono began, "the Newsman said that the Day-lighters were in a big group. Was he wrong? Did you break up?"
The other three were quiet. Tien and Ren exchanged glances.
"Neither," Onli said. "He was going partly off of old information. We were a much bigger group, before we got Teegan."
"I told Momono about the facility last night," Tien interjected. Onli nodded.
"There were thirteen of us." She smiled. "Bad luck. Only the three of us got out alive, plus Teegan. Our group was unanimous in our desire to free her from the facility, but it was at a great cost. We just hope that the other Day-lighters understand why we did it."
"They'll understand," Ren said. "They have to. It's already done. They aren't going to kick us out or anything. Besides that, when they see what Teegan can do, they'll know we did the right thing."
"That's right," Tien said. "Now I think we'd all better get some sleep. Hopefully we'll be able to get through the night."
Momono snapped awake. It was still dark out. The room was warm and drowsy; it had a glow. He didn't know what time it was, but everyone else was still asleep.
His heart was hammering, stunning him out of the morning slur and into action. He got off his pile of hay and looked around. The torch had burned out while they slept. He got up. He felt sick and hot. Something was wrong. Was there another person in the room? No, it was just the five of them. He didn't hear anything. There was no stamp of iron boots or cries to seal the exits. Ren had an arm over his eyes and was snoring. Tien slept leaning against the wall with his hay under him. Onli was under her sheet. Teegan-
The glow was coming from Teegan. The torch had burned out. The room was warm. He felt hot.
He ran to her and touched her shoulder. Blistering agony scalded him and he shouted, falling backward. Ren jumped awake and Onli rolled over. Momono pointed his hand -- smoke rose from the fingertips -- at Teegan, and Onli checked her.
"She's burning up," she said.
"Does she make light, too?" Momono asked, clutching his hand.
"No, she -- uh oh."
"Get her off of it!" Ren shouted, wrapping his arms around the girl. He yelled and threw her onto a different pile, revealing a bed of burnt straw and smoldering floor. "It's-" The dead fire on the smoldering straw came to life, spreading heat quickly. The floor caught on fire, and the flames reached to the wall before anyone could react.
"Momono, get Tien up. Ren, see if you can put this out. I'll make sure Teegan is okay," Onli ordered. Momono got up and went to Tien. He shook the man's shoulder.
"Tien! Tien! He's not waking up!" He yelled.
"Try harder!" Ren shouted back.
"Tien, wake up!" Momono shouted, seizing his arm and rattling it. Tien opened his eyes. "We have some problems!"
"What? Is it-" He saw the issue. "Teegan?"
"She did it but we aren't sure how," Onli said. "It's dry straw and she's plenty hot. She isn't waking up. I think she's been poisoned."
She looked over at the flames. Ren was trying to crush them with his foot, but they never stopped. "I can't do anything to them!" He said. "We need water!"
Momono looked around. There was nothing to hold water in. Instead he pulled open the window, scooped up an armful of hay, stuck it outside, and brought it back in when it was drenched, which was moments. He threw it on the fire. There was an explosion of steam that made him step backward.
The fire pushed on, unhindered. The wet hay wasn't catching fire, but the water did nothing to stop the flames. It spread up the wall and across the floor. The fire's heat and light grew, and the draft from the window fueled it.
"We need to get out," Tien said. "Gather your things!" the four of them collected their items quickly. Ren held Teegan's cloak out the window and then wrapped her in it. He hoisted her in his arms and followed the others out of the room.
"Fire! Fire!" Onli bellowed. Her powerful voice split the early morning. "Everyone out! Fire!"
The mostly-empty inn woke up, and a few bleary-eyed patrons stumbled out. "Awake, awake!" Onli cried. "There's a fire!"
They got to the main room and ran into the innkeeper. "Fire?" He said, still mostly asleep.
"In our room," Onli said frantically. "We don't know what happened. It was right near Teegan. She isn't waking up." She looked ready to cry.
"Get outside and get her some fresh air," the innkeeper said. "And call the watch!" Tien stiffened as he said it.
They ran outside while the innkeeper made sure everyone else was out. Tien instructed Momono to grab a guard and point him at the inn. Flames could already be seen spreading through the building and the tree that housed it. Even when the constant rain touched it, it didn't shrink back. It seemed to even grow stronger, soon filling the sky with eerie orange glow under the clouds. The tree village woke up and witnessed the first fire in years.
The four of them watched the fire expand and engulf the entire tree. People were cleared free of it and the passages to it were cut to keep the fire from spreading.
It only took ten minutes for the fire to eat the tree alive and send it crashing over, all untold hundreds of feet of it. It smashed through another bridge and off the side of a different tree, destroying a building that sat there. It boomed to the forest's floor with a shattering sound. Ren held his ears and turned away when it did.
Teegan never woke up. Her skin burned hot even with the cold rain. Ren burned himself carrying her. Tien told them they needed to run.
Soon the rudely-awoken village was behind them. The rain sizzled on Teegan's bare face.
***
Hidden in the deep shadows halfway up the sodden pine, Tien sat watching the road. Soldiers from the Council of One Hundred thundered through deep puddles on hardy horses a hundred yards away.
The rain attacked the ground, trying to dent it with constant vertical strikes. From somewhere to the east, lightning cracked. Tien huddled in his wet cloak, watching for any person, soldier or not, that might look in his direction.
Deeper in the brace of trees, Ren sat behind a tree with his back to the road, listening. Even with the rain dropping around him he could pick out individual horses and loud voices.
Deeper still, Onli was waiting for anything to come charging through the trees and find her, Momono the singer, and Teegan. She had her story planned and rehearsed -- simple travelers, got lost in the woods, girl fell sick.
It had been three days since the five of them had escaped from a village built into huge trees, and three nights since Teegan had fallen ill and set fire to the inn while she slept. She was still hot to the touch and would not wake.
Momono watched the girl as her chest rose and fell. Each of her shivers made him flush with heat; he felt her pain and torment. Drops of rain fell on her face and evaporated. The Council's soldiers hunted them, believing them to be dangerous criminals, who had brought down a tree and destroyed part of the village with supernatural fire.
Tien appeared through the rain, dripping. He hunched under the sheet suspended between a few trees. "Nobody's so much as glanced in our direction for three hours," he breathed out, trying to warm himself up. "They all think we went to the town north of here."
"I wouldn't mind if we did that," Momono said. The last three nights, hiding under trees or inside caves, had worn on him more than the others. He wasn't used to such living conditions. Tien looked up at him and sneered.
"You know what will happen if we do that," Onli said. "We'll get captured or killed, and Teegan will get taken back to a Council building for more experiments."
"I know," Momono said.
"Then maybe you shouldn't mention it," Tien said, rubbing his arms. "Unless you have any better ideas than staying out in the cold for days on end, keep your mouth shut."
Momono scowled. "I might have an idea. It's risky."
Onli and Tien looked at him. Momono knew Tien was ready to reject it outright. "To the east of here, there's a bigger city. I've been there before. There will be more soldiers but there's a lot of space. It's a hundred times bigger than any village we've seen. We can get lost pretty easily there." He looked down at Teegan. "We could even find somebody to take care of her."
"We don't have enough money for that," Tien said. "Cities are more expensive. We barely have enough to buy food."
"I could find a cheap guitar," Momono said, "and raise money singing. I'm not too shabby. Cities are good for performers. More people, and people with more money, than any village." He looked at the two of them.
Tien rose. "I'll ask Ren what he thinks," he said, before walking off into the rain.
Onli watched Momono silently for a few moments, letting the rain fall around them. "You know he holds you responsible for Teegan."
"I know," Momono said. "But I also know that I had nothing to do with it. I don't know how many times I'll have to tell him that."
"He might never trust you. Tien is savagely suspicious."
"I know."
"I hope for your sake you aren't planning on betraying us," Onli said. Momono looked at her, shocked. "If you are, nothing will be able to save you from him. Not me, not Ren, and not Teegan." She locked Momono's eyes with her own, and her silk voice floated across the small clearing to him. "Then again, I don't think any of us will really try to stop him."
"I don't plan on betraying anybody. It won't happen," Momono said. He looked away. "I think the city is a good idea. It has its risks . . . but every place does."
Onli studied him for a bit. She gave a little smile. "It has its own risks for you, doesn't it?"
Momono didn't answer.
"There's something that you don't want us to know." Onli let the words hang. "Whether it's something that will make us lose our trust or not, you don't want us to know. I suspect that Tien has already picked up on this fact, which further explains why he doesn't trust you very much."
"I have a lot of reasons," Momono said. "And I suppose you're right, Tien knows I'm hiding something." He paused. "But I'm not the only one, am I, Onli?"
The tiny fire illuminated Onli's wide eyes. "I might not have the powerful eyesight of Tien, but I see things in a different manner. I've noticed a few things about you. You're the one that cares for Teegan the most. You look after her and fret over her. We're all worried about her right now, but you won't leave her side," Momono said. "At the inn that burned down, the waitress said that the innkeeper had a daughter that caught rain-sick and died. You didn't say a word until we went up to our room. I felt something from you then: a cracking sensation."
The two of them sat quietly. Onli had her head bowed. Long, wet hair hid her face.
Before she could say anything, Tien came back. "Ren thinks it's a good idea. He thinks he'll be able to help Momono out with some of his songs. His ears let him pick out notes or something like that." He knelt near Teegan and checked her. Onli watched him with a face that was covered in something that could have been rain.
"The first thing we'll have to do is for me to get a guitar," Momono told them as they walked east toward the big city. They'd been traveling for two days. "We might have enough money for a cheap one, but it would drain us."
"We can't spend everything we have on a guitar," Ren said. He carried Teegan on his back with a wet blanket between them, to keep her from burning him. The burns on his arms were just healing. "We'll have to find a different way to earn some money."
Onli looked at Tien. "The ball?"
Tien didn't answer. He was walking with his arms crossed.
"What ball?" Momono asked.
"The Day-lighters have a trick we can use," Onli said. "We each have a small red ball. We handle it or play with it, or talk about it if we think a person that will notice is a Day-lighter or one of our few allies. We don't use it very often, as it can be risky."
"It's how Roland, at the inn where we picked up Momono, knew we were Day-lighters. He knew about the trick. I never got my ball back," Tien said. "We should consider it more risky than before. The Council's picked up on it, somehow."
"I think we should do it," Ren said. "But we'll need to be careful. We're in no position to run right now. We're all tired. That said, Teegan needs help more than we need to stay safe. I say we do it."
Tien sent an angry look at Ren.
"Tien, please consider Teegan," Onli said. "She needs help. This could be a way for us to gain a lot of money, which can assure us safe travel, or security, or food. It's something we need, or we're going to find ourselves starving in the rain one of these days."
"All right! All right!" Tien said, shaking his hands. "We can do it! But I say how! If we have to do this, we're going to do it my way!"
"We'll do it your way," Onli said sweetly, smiling.
A bit later, Momono began telling them about the city they headed to, Breston.
"Before the rains came, it was supposed to be a huge metropolis. Towers so high you had to bend your neck to see their tops, wide parks, long streets. It's on a huge lake, and profits from the shipping. It used to be quite a bit bigger than it is now, but of course the rain." Onli and Ren nodded, Tien just kept walking. "It used to have great statues and sculptures to marvel at; ancient and beautiful architecture was on every road. Now there's only one piece of beauty that most people go to see: The Trapped Titan."
"What's that?"
"Some sculptor was paid by a wealthy sponsor," Momono told Ren, "and -- damn all the rain -- did his part to spread beauty in a dreary world. He took big slabs of rock, attached them together using screws, and chiseled them down to look like a giant human stuck in the ground up to his waist. His hands are missing too, his arms are sunk in up to the wrists. His face is turned up to the sky and rain, screaming a quiet scream. He's nearly faceless."
"I'd like to see it," Onli said. "It sounds very interesting."
Momono thought about the last time he'd seen the statue. Tien, walking behind him, noticed this sudden introspection but said nothing.
"Not many artists working these days," Ren said. He shifted Teegan. "Usually it's just people like you, Momono. Singers and that sort of thing. Not much art for art's sake anymore." He sniffed. "Sort of a shame."
"I suppose it is, but art is always behind it in the end. I sing and play to earn money, but I never would have started if I didn't love what I do," Momono said. "Unfortunately, it comes down to keeping yourself alive. You can't do that on dreams."
"No, I guess you can't," Ren said.
They all walked in silence for a little while. Momono said they would begin to see the city in an hour or so.
"There's a lot of area around it that's clear from it was bigger," he told them. "There are many areas covered in rubble and half-destroyed buildings. If we needed to, we could rest in one of them. Many are occupied, or were when I was last here, but usually nobody minds when people stop in. They don't really own the buildings, anyway."
It quickly became apparent how big the city of Breston used to be. With the rain and a strong wind pushing them back, the four of them climbed a hill and laid their eyes on hundreds of desolate acres. Toppled buildings crossed each other on the ground, fallen over each other. They walked through the sodden fields of weeds that had grown through the stone ground.
It took them a few more hours to get to the city itself; the day's light had disappeared and been replaced with firelight's flickering reflections from the falling rain.
They found an inn and, after Momono and Tien made sure it was safe and out-of-the-way, the five of them got a room. It took nearly the rest of their money; prices were more expensive in the cities, plus they had to tip the servant girl.
They went down to eat in twos. Tien and Onli went first, while Ren and Momono stayed in the room with Teegan, who still had not woken up. The two of them briefly talked about trying to get her to sip water, just to keep her from drying out. Ren guessed that she was getting water just naturally while they were out in the rain. It also helped her to keep cool. They had to drench their cloaks and lay her on them to keep her from burning anything. When Tien and Onli came back, they sent Ren and Momono down.
For the first time in a month, the Day-lighters experienced no ill effects when they stayed at the inn that night. Nobody came bursting into their room in the dark morning hours, and nothing burned down. For the first time since meeting them, Momono woke up well-rested, in a dry, warm room, with the smell of good food and distant conversation coming down the hallway.
"It's too bad Teegan is out," Ren said. "It would be the perfect ploy to have her play with the ball while we stood nearby. To anybody but Day-lighters, it would look just like a child being watched by the adults." He took out his red ball. It was faded, and didn't have much bounce. "Now somebody will have to be handling this thing and try not to look like a strange man-child."
Onli watched him as he passed the ball from hand to hand. "Maybe not."
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Momono asked. He and Onli sat on a stone bench by one of the large roads in the city. Teegan was propped up between them. Her breathing was shallow, and the heat from her forehead kept them warm despite the rain.
"No, but it's something we can try, anyway," Onli responded. Teegan had Ren's red ball in her limp hands. Anybody walking by them would see two poor beggars, soaked to the skin, and their sick child between them, clutching her last toy. Somebody who knew the trick would recognize a cry for help from Day-lighters.
An hour passed. The morning rain wasn't terribly strong, but they both quickly became soaked through. Momono looked at each person passing by warily. As a person would come close, Onli would plead them for a few coins. Most would ignore her, despite her sweet voice, but a few dropped the odd iron into Momono's upturned hat. After a while a city guard came by.
"Here now, what's this?" He said. He scowled down at the three of them. He was a big, round man with a scraggly beard. "Go on out of here."
"Sir," Onli said, big eyes wide with sorrow. "Our daughter. She's sick. We have no money. Please, we only need a little bit for food."
"It's either you go on out of here, you I drag you out and throw you on your bum in a puddle."
"Sir, please! Feel her forehead, you'll know she's sick!"
"It don't matter if she's sick!" The guard said. "I want you to-"
At that moment Ren appeared and grabbed the guard's arm. "Guardsman! I saw a murder! Saw it with my own eyes! A woman was stabbed! I got a good look at who done it, too!"
"What?" The guard said. He looked briefly at Momono and Onli, who reacted with the proper shock when hearing about a murder. Onli clutched Teegan close, protectively. "Show me where."
"It was over here, I think," Momono heard Ren say as he took off with the guard it tow. "I got confused by all the alleys. It normally doesn't happen but . . . " They disappeared around a corner. Ren would soon lose the guard or knock him out in a shadow. It was just their luck to encounter a stern guard so quickly, before they even had a chance to see many people, Momono thought.
"Here's him," the raggedy man said, pointing. He held out his hand. "I'll be takin' my pay now." He smiled at Tien with watery eyes. Tien dropped five iron into his palm. "You better hope to have more than that if you're getting looked at by him."
"That's all I have right now," Tien said. "I'm sorry. My daughter's sick; I need to save money for her."
The raggedy man nodded, pocketed the money, and limped away. Tien looked at the door the man had pointed him to. It looked like any other dreary home. Tien knocked, and entered.
Inside it was warm. He heard steps, and a thin man with muscled arms met him. The man wore an apron, rubber gloves, and had a mask over his face.
"You're the doctor?" Tien asked. The man nodded. He tore the rubber gloves off and tucked them into a pocket on his apron.
"I'm Doctor Amesis," the man said. He removed the mask on his face, revealing a grim face and thin lips. Dour eyes looked out under short hair. "What do you need?"
"My daughter," Tien said, a practiced speech. "She's ill. Feverish, won't wake. It's been a few days."
Amesis' eyes rose. "Days? You'd better get her to me as soon as you can."
Tien didn't move. "I don't have much to pay with."
"Then you need to see a Council doctor," Amesis said. "That's how doctors work around here. You want cheap care, you see a CD. You want good care, you see a private doctor." He looked up. Tien still hadn't moved. "You can't go to a Council doctor, can you?"
Tien shook his head. "And I prefer no more questions on the matter." He and the doctor stared each other down.
"I can't take charity cases," Amesis said. "I'd like to, but I can't. Find the money and I'll look at her."
"How much?" Tien asked. The doctor thought for a few moments, looking Tien over.
"How old is she?"
"Almost nine."
"Six hundred iron should do it. That'll cover a checkup, and any medicine she needs, except for the expensive stuff."
Six hundred! Tien thought when he stood in the cool rain again. How are we supposed to get that much? I hope Onli and the others are having more success than I am. He started trudging through the worsening rain toward where Onli and Momono said they would set up.
Momono's hat was woefully empty. A paltry sum of iron shined inside. The heavy rain crushed their spirits.
Onli felt Teegan's head and whisked her hand away, making a face. "Is it much worse?" Momono asked. She shook her head.
"Not worse, no, but no better." Onli wiped the rain out of her eyes. "I don't think this is going to work."
"Maybe we need to move," Momono suggested. He kicked the hat; the coins inside clanked together. "We could probably find a better spot."
"No, I think this is a good spot. Other than that unfortunate guard, nobody's bothered us. That's more important," Onli said. She wrung out her hair, then put Teegan's hood down to do the same to her. "I wonder if she can hear us."
"Speak of the devil," Momono said, nodding to their right. The same guard was coming toward them. "We might have to move anyway."
"Give me a chance, first," Onli said. "I'll turn up the power."
They watched the guard get closer. Momono couldn't help looking afraid. "Sir, please," Onli began, but the guard cut her off.
"It's all right. You don't need to go do anything." The guard reached behind him; Momono shrank back. Onli didn't move. "In fact, I've done a bit of asking around for you." He revealed a leather pouch, heavily filled. "Here, take it."
Onli took the offered pouch, and looked inside. "There must be three hundred iron in here!" She said. Her voice cracked at the end, and Momono didn't know if she'd meant it.
"Four hundred," the guard said. "Hopefully, enough to get your daughter some help." He nodded, once, and walked on, whistling in the rain. He disappeared around a corner and was not seen again.
"Was he . . . " Momono began. "He must have been. A Day-lighter?"
"Not so loud. That or a friend," Onli said. She was gazing at the dull coins in the pouch. "Either way, we're very lucky. Next chance we get, we meet Tien at the rendezvous spot."
Back at the inn, Tien entered their room to find the other three already waiting. Teegan was propped up in Onli's lap. Momono wore a big smile. "You'll never guess what happened!"
Tien listened to the story. Thunder began to crackle outside as he listened. When they finished, he scowled. "It isn't enough. The only doctor I've found that isn't a Council doctor wants to charge us six hundred."
The other three gasped. "Six hundred?!" Ren asked. "Does he have gold equipment?"
"I think he understood that going to a Council doctor isn't an option for us, and is charging us for the peace of mind. It's not right, but that's what he said. He wouldn't shift."
"So what do we do?" Momono asked. "It could take us days to raise the rest of the money!"
"How long do you think it would take for you to raise it with a guitar?" Tien asked. His gaze bore into Momono. "How much would it cost us for a serviceable instrument?"
Momono thought about it. "A guitar that costs two hundred would be fine for today but would pretty quickly go out of tune. I still have a bunch of supplies in my pack to help with that, though. I could earn five hundred just today if we hurry. But . . . a guitar might cost more in the city than in the country."
"Where would you do it?" Tien asked.
"On the street corner until the inns fill up, then I ask to play inside. Most places will charge me a flat fee or a percentage of the earnings, but I should still be able to make enough. We can have Teegan looked at by tomorrow, I'm sure of it."
The others looked at Tien. He sat on the bed with his hands pressed against his mouth. After a moment of thought he nodded. "Okay."
Momono exited the shop, holding the neck of a pale guitar. "Cheap! Only one-hundred and seventy iron!"
"Good. You and Ren get started on the songs at the inn, Onli and I will start looking for places that will let you play," Tien said. "Just let me know the names of some of your more popular songs." Momono nodded, and wrote a few names on a piece of paper. He then headed back to the inn, where Ren waited with Teegan.
Tien and Onli started down one of the big streets of the city, looking for places that would let Momono play. They ended up walking right into a big square that had a towering, dripping statue in the center of it.
"What did he say this was called?" Tien asked, looking up at the structure.
"He called it 'The Trapped Titan,'" Onli said. She gazed up at it. "It looks so angry."
The alabaster figure was stuck to the waist in the ground. Its wrists ended with cut circles, flush with the smooth ground. The face was nearly featureless, with little more than a bump for a nose and shallow hollows for a face. The smooth mouth nevertheless seemed stretched and open, the head tilted back at the sky in a thundering shout. Stone muscles pressed through marble skin, looking warm and smooth to the touch, straining against the ground it was trapped in. It was a hundred feet taller than them; the rain ran from it in deep rivers.
"That place looks like it could be some promise," Tien said, pointing off to the side. Onli tore her eyes away from the statue and looked. She spotted a beer hall that looked big, warm, and inviting. "It looks just like the kind of place that could use a musician."
"Let's try it," Onli said. She felt strangely cowed by the Titan. She glanced at it before following Tien into the beer hall, which had a sign that read "Titan's Mug."
"A guitarist, huh?" The man behind the counter of the beer hall said when they inquired. "What kind of songs?"
"Let's see," Tien said, taking out the piece of paper Momono had written on. "'A Girl's Finest Gift' . . . 'Twice a Man, Never a Boy' . . . 'The Cavalier' . . ."
"Oh, I like that one. Always a pleaser. All right, I accept. What are the terms?"
Tien stood stock still until Onli pushed past him. "He'll give you ten percent."
"Ten? Girl, what sort of scam are you running? Fifty."
"Fifty?!" Onli laughed. "Only a fool would agree to that! Twenty!"
The barman smiled grimly. "Twenty-five."
Onli fell silent. She returned the smile. "Deal." She offered her hand, and the barman shook it. "When do you want him to start?"
"The rush begins at eight. I want him on-stage-" the barman pointed at a slightly raised platform "-at eight thirty, right after the Newsman. What's his name?"
"Momono," Onli said.
"Last name?"
Onli looked back at Tien, who only shrugged. "We don't really know. He might not have one."
"All right then. Make sure he gets here on time."
"Don't worry, we will," Tien said. He and Onli left.
"Ren and I will be in the beer hall with you -- just two travelers enjoying a drink together to get the taste of rain out of our mouths," Tien said later when they were gathered at the inn. "If nothing happens, we won't be seen. We're only there to make sure nobody gets uppity."
Momono nodded. He and Ren had been spending the rest of the day making sure that his songs sounded good. Ren's sharp ears were able to pick out notes that should or shouldn't belong. Despite a week without practice, Momono felt confident he'd be able to raise enough money. "I'm ready to go."
When the time came, Onli stayed at the inn with Teegan, and the three men left for the Titan's Mug. They showed up just as the rush was beginning; Ren and Tien were able to blend in easily. Momono met with the barman, who requested he play "The Cavalier" as the last song, when everyone was good and drunk. He said it would be quite profitable, and winked. Momono nodded, suddenly nervous. He found a table in the back, next to an old man that looked like a regular, and tuned his guitar.
After a few minutes, the Newsman got up and stood on the raised platform that Momono would soon inhabit. He coughed and shuffled a few papers. He was a younger fellow, and looked uncertain.
"Ahem," he began. The crowd's noise didn't die down much. Tien watched the young man shift from foot to foot. "Excuse me." A few people quieted, and he decided that was good enough. "Our own Councilwoman Gwynda would like to wish everyone a prosperous new year. She and the other Council members have been working hard to support our fair city, and she hopes you understand that she thinks of you, the citizens, always." A few people laughed. "On that note, taxes on vegetables will be raised a half-percent, and all produce-growers must respond to the census by the first of the second month." There were a few angry shouts from, Tien suspected, produce-growers.
The Newsman went on to talk about local things. The Day-lighters weren't mentioned. Tien breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The Newsman rambled on, quickly losing even the small amount of people that had listened to him at the beginning. He wrapped up quickly and ducked off the stage.
Momono took the stage, bringing his new guitar with him. There were a few drunk cheers. Momono raised his hand to stop them. "Thank you, my name is Momono. I'll start with a few good drinking songs! Has anyone here heard 'Never a Drink Too Many'?"
A massive cheer erupted from the crowd, shocking Tien and Ren. They looked at each other, and Ren shrugged. Momono began to strum a few chords, and the crowd cheered again, to a man raising their glasses and clapping their friends on the shoulder. Tien watched with amazement as Momono led them in a lewd, embarrassing song about drinking, wenches, and associated acts thereof. Every person in the beer hall knew the words, and some were able to sing them despite having their noses deep in mugs. The crowd swayed with each word, and the loud singing soon drew in more customers. The final word, one not appropriate for mixed company, was sung long and lustily by the entire crowd, each one with their heads tilted back and roaring, like the Titan outside.
With a mighty crash, the crowd dropped to their chairs, applauding and cheering Momono. The singer started into another song, this one less appealing to the drinking crowd as a whole, but still appreciated. The night went on, and the box that Momono had brought onstage to accept tips filled up rapidly. Tien smiled. Finally, Teegan will be able to get help.
Every once in a while a drinker would shout a request, and almost always Momono would begin to play the song. There was never a time he didn't know what song it was, and the crowd showed their appreciation.
Hours passed, and the crowd got drunker. Finally, after some nod from the barman, Momono ended a song. "I'm going to do one last song for everyone. I know you all know it: 'The Cavalier'!"
The building cheered and applauded again, and one man even burst into tears. Momono started to play. It was a slow, sweet song that neither Ren nor Tien had ever heard. It started with a man, the eponymous cavalier, and his fiancee. Momono sang about their love in low tones and slow strums, but soon changed to a faster beat. He sounded a call to battle, and the cavalier left to fight in a war. Momono's fingers warped up and down the guitar's strings, belting out note after note. He played a battle on his instrument, and the crowd clapped along. After a rending note, Momono slowed down, and called out to the fiancee, proclaiming his love in a chilling reprise of the first section. The man started crying again. Momono switched to the fiancee and sang out for the dead cavalier, slowing the song to a stop with a long final phrase.
There was a long pause after he was finished where nobody said anything, then the patrons of the Titan's Mug started clapping and cheering. They stood and stamped their approval. Momono bowed and thanked them, holding the tip box up and shaking it. It was already heavy, but would quickly got heavier.
Just before he could move off the stage, The old man he'd been sitting near stood up and yelled drunkenly. "I thought I rec'nized that man!" He hiccuped. "'S Councilwoman Gwynda's son!"
The beer hall went silent. A coin clinked out of a stunned man's grasp into the tip box.
"I know it's him!" The old man said. "Momono Gwynda! I thought I recognized the name!"
Tien and Ren looked at each other, shocked. Ren tilted his head toward the door, but Tien shook his own head.
"I think you have me confused," Momono said. "I've never been in this city before."
"But you played 'Never a Drink Too Many'!" One patron shouted. "And 'The Cavalier'! Both of them are area classics!"
"They're well-known in the south . . . " Momono started.
"He sort of looks like Councilwoman Gwynda, doesn't 'e?" One man said. "'E's got the same narrow chin!"
"I swear, I have no relation to your Councilwoman!" Momono shouted. "I've been singing in the south towns for many years!" Even as he said this, he holstered the guitar over his shoulder and grabbed the tip box. "I thank each of you for your generosity; this money will go to help a sick child in-"
"Get down!" Tien said, pulling Momono off the stage. The Titan's Mug was in a frenzy.
"Somebody get the guards!" One man shouted. "The Councilwoman's son has returned.!"
"No!" Momono shouted. "He hasn't!"
"Shut up!" Tien shouted, dragging Momono toward the door. Ren pushed through the crowd in front of them. People were cheering and smacking Momono on the shoulders genially.
They got out into the rain and Ren led them around the corner of the beer hall. They kept running, waiting until they couldn't clearly hear the shouts of people that had exited with them. They found a wet shadow and hid in it. Tien turned on Momono.
"What the hell, singer?" He said. "Are they right? Are you the son of a Councilwoman?"
"I-I'm . . . I . . . yes."
Tien smacked his forehead and groaned at the clouds. "Do you know what you've done?" He asked. "You've pretty much just brought every guard in the city down on our heads! We're lucky we could get away!"
"We had to get money!" Momono said, shaking the full box for emphasis. "I didn't think anyone would recognize me!"
"You . . . I . . . augh! We need to get out of this city now," Tien said. "Which way is it to the inn?" Momono pointed. "Come on!"
They got back to the inn without trouble, but the whole city seemed to be filled with shouting. They took a moment to compose themselves before walking in, as if nothing had happened.
The innkeeper greeted them and they greeted him back, walking slowly and casually. Tien informed him they would be checking out soon, and once they got out of his sight they broke into a run, bursting into the door to their room without knocking. Ren locked it behind them as Tien whipped off his cloak. "Onli, get your stuff together. You're never going to believe this-" He looked up. Momono was staring at something.
Teegan raised her hand and gave a weak wave.
"She woke up an hour or so after you left," Onli explained. "She was hungry, and thirsty, and weak, but alive and, as far as I could tell, well." Teegan nodded and drank from a glass of water. "She's still fairly warm, but not as much as before."
"Finally, some good news," Tien said. "How do you feel, Teegan?"
"Thirsty," she said. Her voice sounded raw and sick.
"Drink up, then." Tien shot a glance at Momono, then back at Onli. "Momono is Councilwoman Gwynda's son."
Onli's mouth dropped open and she looked at Momono for confirmation. He looked away, embarrassed. "Really?" She asked. Momono nodded.
"We need to get out of the city," Tien said. "Somebody at the Titan's Mug recognized him, and people started calling for the guards." He shot Momono another look. "I guess they thought their prodigal son had returned. Are you going to explain what's going on here, or do I have to beat it out of you?"
"Tien!" Onli said.
"Quiet! He's endangered all of us!" Tien shouted. Taking a breath and lowering his voice, he continued. "You'd better have a damn good explanation for what just happened."
Momono sighed. "I lived here until I was twenty-two, with my mother and father. My father died when I was sixteen . . . which left my mother to take care of me.
"There were some others at the house I lived in," he said. Teegan slurped noisily from her glass, keeping her eyes on him. "But they were maids or servants, nobody I could really learn from. I found music when I was given a guitar by my father, who had dabbled and wanted me to enjoy it too. I loved it . . . still do.
"My father was the thing keeping my mother in check. She isn't exactly a cruel woman, but she has a habit of taking extreme roads when simpler ones would work just as well." He shook his head. "I couldn't take it. I was saved from vicious beatings my entire life simply because she thought her status was above them. When I turned twenty-two I decided I'd had enough. She was grooming me for entry into the Council of One Hundred, but I was having none of it. I snuck out of the house and out of the city after midnight. I haven't been back since. Ten years."
"I hate to trivialize everything you've just told us -- clearly, this was something that you didn't want to say -- but I have to ask," Ren said. "If your mother finds out that you're here, what will she do?"
Momono shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm her only child, and I perceived some empty nest syndrome from her, even before I left. Maybe after all these years she understands why I left, or maybe I'm going to be dragged back to the house and clapped in shackles. I don't matter right now. Teegan's awake and is getting better, which means we don't need to stay in the city anymore, right?"
"It depends on how Teegan feels," Onli said. She looked at the girl. "How about it?"
"I feel really tired," the girl said.
"Ren could carry her if he had to, but we've all been moving a lot in the past few days," Tien said. "Momono, how likely are the guards to find us here?"
"Breston has hundreds of places for travelers to stay, and hundreds more permanent homes. The guards could search for a year and not find this place, but we aren't that far from the Titan's Mug, and that's where they'll start."
Tien sighed and nodded. "Ren, keep your ears open. I think we're safe right now, but I want to be prepared anyway," Tien said. Ren nodded.
"What . . . if I, uh, went to her first?" Momono said. He was looking at his feet and sitting on one of the beds. "We obviously don't want a Councilwoman's guards finding the four of you, but I'm not a Day-lighter, not really. Nobody would guess. If I don't get back to you, you leave the city without me."
"Would you like that?" Tien said quietly. His tone froze Momono. "Would you like to be dragged back to your mother, away from us?" He walked at Momono, hands doubled into fists. "And then, at the barest mention of punishment, you tell her how the Day-Lighters kidnapped you and forced you to travel with them?" His face was broken by angry creases, but his voice stayed smooth. "You tell her all about us: Me, Ren, Onli . . . Teegan. You tell her about our crazy schemes to burn the land and boil the sea."
He gripped Momono's tunic with both hands and hauled him up. "I told you. If you leave us, I will kill you!" He bellowed in Momono's face. Teegan squeaked and Onli gasped. Momono tried to tilt away. Tien threw Momono down; he was about to drop to his knees with one fist cocked back toward the singer when Ren wrapped his arms around his shoulders and hauled him away, throwing him with astounding force against one of the beds. Tien bounced off and struck the floor, scrambling to his feet and pulling out his sword. He found Onli and Ren with their weapons drawn and facing him. Teegan stumbled to Momono and knelt by him.
"Calm yourself, Tien," Onli said. "You had no right to act that way. Momono was only trying to find a way out of this.
"I have a way out of it," Tien spat. "We just need to keep him quiet."
"And are you a monster, that you would do such things yourself?" Onli roared, growing taller in the flickering candlelight. She stepped forward. "Would you cut out his tongue and damn his eyes? Tie him to a rack and carry him along with us, as we run from the guards and soldiers? Are you trying to give the Council another reason to hate us? I see the Newsmen saying it now: 'Day-lighters mutilate Councilwoman's son,'" she growled. She took another step and reached him. He held his sword up and she battered it away with her own. The swords clanked together in a pile.
Bringing her hand around with stunning quickness. She slapped him, and the blow rang in the room. Tien staggered down to a knee, clutching the stinging cheek.
"How-" He began.
"Quiet," Onli said, and the vicious echo of Tien's own word cut him. "Sit there and think about the way you just acted. Not like a human; a monster. We've worked against monsters, do you remember? We freed Teegan from them; we knew they should not be allowed to succeed."
Next to Momono, Teegan watched the two adults. She seemed likely to fall over; she was gripping the bed next to her.
"I remember," Tien said. "I was the one who said we should. And because of it, ten people or more died." He got to his feet. There was a small stream of blood coming out of his mouth. He leaned against the wall. "I told myself I would not let my own foolishness result in the deaths of my friends." He nodded toward Momono. "If he had run to his mother and revealed everything he knows about us, would you have blamed me? Don't deny you would have."
"No!" Onli said. "I would have blamed Momono, because he was the one who had done it!" She bent and picked up her sword. Tien reached for his, but she stomped down on it. "Momono doesn't get a sword, why should you?"
"To protect Teegan!" Tien said. His anger was turning to despair.
"Ren and I can fight just as well as you," Onli said. "We rely on stealth anyway. Give me a better reason."
Tien looked up at her, weak and unable to speak. He leaned back against the wall and didn't answer. Onli picked up his sword and handed it to Ren as Tien collapsed to a sitting position. Onli stepped away.
The encounter seemed to be over. Momono let out a caught breath. He noticed something. "Is it warm in here?"
Onli ran to Teegan. Tien moved to follow her, but Ren stopped him. "Teegan?" Onli asked.
"I'm okay," the girl said. "You were fighting, and yelling . . . "
"And you were upset," Onli said, smoothing the girl's hair. She moved back, surprised. "You're so hot."
Teegan nodded, but gave no explanation. "I'm sorry, Teegan," Onli said. "We're done now." Onli looked at Momono. "You're all right?"
Momono nodded, slightly embarrassed that she would choose to pay attention to him at that moment. The thing she said about blaming him for running off was stuck in his head. He got off the floor.
"Ren, has anybody taken notice of our spat?" Onli asked.
"Not as far as I can tell," Ren said. Onli nodded.
"What do we do?" Ren said. His eyes went from Tien to Teegan to Momono, and finally settled on Onli. Onli sighed and closed her eyes. To Momono she suddenly seemed likely to collapse.
"Let's all just get out of this city," she said finally. "We can figure out what to do after that once we're away." She looked around the room. "Gather up your things."
Momono tried not to look at where Tien sat. The man didn't move; he just sat still and watched the others. Onli spoke a quiet word to Ren, and Ren approached Tien. "Your weapons," Ren said.
Momono and Teegan froze. Tien looked up at Ren and sneered. "My own brother."
"That doesn't matter right now," Ren said. "This is for Teegan, not you. Maybe you'll finally start to realize that."
There was a tense moment, and Tien removed his empty scabbard from his belt. He proceeded to empty his pockets of any and all weapons. There were many more than Momono thought. Throwing knives, small spiky metal balls, poison bombs, the harmonica with the hidden dagger -- the list went on. When he was done, he looked noticeably lighter. He spotted Momono looking, and Momono turned his head back to his pack quickly.
A happy problem he discovered he had was there was too much money from the Titan's Mug for him to carry alone. It was split up between him, Onli, and Ren. Tien watched the money change hands sullenly.
Reluctantly, Tien started to put his pack in order, and in a few minutes they stood outside the door as Ren listened. It was just a moment before he nodded and opened the door. The hallway outside was empty, and they heard nothing except for the drip of rain on the roof. Ren led them to the front door, and paid their bill. The innkeeper said nothing, other then commenting that he was glad Teegan was feeling better.
The clouds had grown and worsened; the rain fell heavily on their raised hoods. Teegan smiled up at the cool rain. She was the only one that didn't have her hood on, she said that she was still hot and the rain made her feel better.
They made for the city's nearest exit, the same one they had entered. Instead of the normal late-night flow of travelers, they found a blockade of soldiers and guards, checking each person that entered or left. Onli looked behind her at Tien. "What are they doing?"
Momono thought for a moment that he would refuse, but he began to concentrate. The gate was more than fifty yards away, but even with the rain it was no problem for him. "They're checking people that go in or out," Tien said. "It looks like they have a picture of someone that they're checking against." His eyes moved to Momono. "It isn't difficult to guess who they're looking for."
"That's what I hear, too," Ren said. "I keep hearing 'Councilwoman' and 'son.'"
"I don't think they'll let you through if you're traveling with me," Momono said. "Is there some way for me to sneak past?"
"We can't change your appearance enough to fool them," Onli said. "And it looks like they're checking everyone. Plus, you have a guitar. That's sort of a tip off."
Momono cleared his throat. "I have an idea." Four pairs of eyes looked at him. He began to lay out his plan. Tien started to shoot it down, but when Momono finished explaining it, he was silent. "It falls to whether or not you trust me," he said. "I understand if you don't want to risk it."
Onli looked at Tien. "What do you think?" She asked.
Tien nodded. "I like it." He smiled, and Momono didn't particularly like the way it looked.
A few minutes later, Momono approached the guarded gate alone, without his guitar. His hood was pulled low, and he could just barely see out from under it. He stood in line behind the small amount of travelers trying to get out of the city at that time of night. The sky was a block of darkness.
He got close enough to spot the picture they were using to find him. It wasn't a very good likeness -- the eyes were too close together, the lips were too big -- but it looked enough like him to be difficult to avoid. The line slowly filtered through the gate, with each person being checked against the picture. A few people joined the line behind him.
The person in front of him was waved through, and Momono stepped up. The guard took one look, quickly checked the picture he held, and then looked back up. "It's him!"
Momono stepped back, bumping into the person behind him. It just so happened to be a large man, who took hold of him. "Is this guy a criminal?" The large man asked.
The guard shook his head. "He's the Councilwoman's son!" He took Momono's arm. "Your mother's been wanting to have a long talk with you about a few things." He said. "The rest of you can go through," he called to the people waiting in line. He and two other guards bustled Momono down the street, away from the gate. He struggled to get away, but the guards had him too tight.
From atop a building on the main road, Tien watched them drag him toward the center of the city. As soon as they got around the corner, he spoke: "go."
From the road, Ren's keen ears heard the word; he, Onli, and Teegan went through the now unguarded gate. Tien found Momono again, and began climbing down the outside of the building. When he got to the ground he pulled his cloak tight and followed after the guards.
His mother's house looked very much the same. Too much, Momono thought. Lights came from the same windows, the bushes were the same size, the same men guarded the front door. The two men smiled and greeted him, as if he was home for a visit and not being escorted by three city guards. They pushed open the front door, and hauled Momono into the opulent foyer.
He was struck by terrible déjà vu. The same dusty vases sat on the same fading tables. The same pictures -- old even when Momono was a child -- hung on the same walls, some at the same maddening tilted angle. The sights, the smells, the sounds, and everything else rushed to take him back to when he had been young, and he knew his mother was coming from her study to mete out some punishment.
He shook his head violently, startling the men that half-carried him. He wrenched his arms out of their grasp and stood. Standing in the middle of the entry hall to the big manor, he took a slow, calming breath, denying entry to the bacteria of the past.
"You're taking me to my mother?" Momono asked one of the guards. He said yes. "I'll go there myself. Where is she?" He already knew.
"She's in her study, sir," the guard said.
Anger blazed through him, and he envisioned lashing out at the poor fool. "Do not call me sir," he said through clenched teeth. The guard stepped back. Without another word, Momono started up the steps. He knew the study would be in the same place; everything else seemed to be.
He reached the second floor after climbing the tall staircase, and realized something was different. The thin carpet, which always became bunched and folded after a few people had walked on it, was missing. There was just cold stone floor. Momono looked at it and wondered before moving on.
He saw the doors of the study and nearly succumbed to the past once more. Just as they always had been, the right door was shut, but the left door was open a crack, to be pushed open when someone wanted to enter the room. Momono couldn't remember a time seeing the doors in a different position. He stopped outside them. He heard nothing from inside, save the ticking of the clock, and of rain against the window. He pushed against the left door, just like he had done a hundred, a thousand, times.
She sat behind the long wooden desk. Try as she might, she could not keep herself the same, like she had kept most of the house. She was thin, looking ragged, wearing clothes too big for her. Even sitting, she seemed shorter than he remembered. Her once long, black hair was thinner, shorter, and grayer. Her hands shook with palsy. Her face was a craggy surface of lines.
A man Momono didn't know stood behind her. A new husband, perhaps.
"Momono, darling," Councilwoman Gwynda said, spreading her arms as if for a hug. "Come closer, I want to see you."
Momono's heart thundered as he walked closer. He saw with some surprise that his mother was in a wheelchair. The room was hot; a fireplace blazed behind the long desk.
"You've finally come back to me," Gwynda said. "How I've longed for this day. With some work, you can start ruling the city instead of me. I know the city will accept you."
"No," Momono said. His mother's face fell. "I'm leaving again soon. I only got caught and brought here because I was foolish. It won't happen again."
Gwynda tapped on the arm of her wheelchair, and the man behind her directed her around the table to a few feet in front of Momono.
She looked so small. Momono could have picked her up and carried her like a sack of tomatoes. She looked up at him, thick spectacles enlargening her eyes. There was an elastic wrap on one wrist, and a small cover, like a napkin, on her lap. "Tell me I didn't hear that," she said. "Tell me you're just being silly again, like when you went off with that girl."
That girl's name was Olivia, Momono though. His cheeks flushed. "I'm leaving tonight," he said. There was so much more he could have said, but the words all got caught in his throat.
"Another woman?" His mother scoffed. "You silly boy. Just like your father. A romantic. Leave those foolish thoughts by the way, boy, and do as your mother says."
Momono stood still, mind ablaze with awful actions, and words too harsh for the vilest criminal. Instead, he turned and walked to the door. "Stop him," he heard. The next thing he knew he was falling toward the hard floor. The man behind his mother had wrestled him down with ease and locked the only exit.
Without looking at his mother, Momono picked himself up and brushed himself off. He'd landed on his elbow and it hurt, but he refused to cradle it. He finally looked at her, and found her leaning forward in her chair, a small smile on her face. "Lecks is a good helper. He does as he's told," she said. "Not like some troublesome boys I know." Her smile disappeared. "You hurt me, Mo. I raised you and cared for you, and you repay me by leaving."
"You never cared for me. My father cared for me. You punished me. He told me how I had succeeded, you told me how I had failed. He built me up, and you broke me down." Momono felt almost disconnected from his body, like he was watching the interaction from somewhere else. "It was only by his actions that I realized I would have to leave this place, with or without your blessing. So I did."
"And you went off with a cheap whore, too!" His mother yelled in a shrill voice. "Admit it! Just like that tramp from before!"
Fury boiled out of him. "Her name was OLIVIA!" Momono screamed. "She wasn't a whore! I loved her, and you banished her just because you wanted to keep me under your boot! And that's all you've ever wanted to do, wasn't it?" Momono's heart leaped at what he was about to say. "My father saw it, and that's why he killed himself! He couldn't stand by and watch you destroy me just like you destroyed him, so he did the only thing he could to show me what happens to be people you get close to!" He sucked in a thin breath. "Tell your thug to unlock the door, or I will find a much more destructive way out of this room!"
"No need for that, luckily," they heard behind them. Momono, his mother, and Lecks all looked at the door. Tien stood, spinning a key around his index finger. "I have made a way."
"Who are you?" Gwynda demanded. "How did you get in here?"
"Nicked it," Tien said, holding up the key, "from a guard. You'd think a Councilwoman would have some more competent guards at her own home." He looked at Momono. "Shall we?"
"Lecks!" The Councilwoman shrieked. "Stop him! Don't let my son leave again!"
Tien rushed forward, striking Lecks from behind and making him stumble forward. Momono ran around him, heading for the open door.
"Alarm, alarm! Villains, murderers, thieves!" Gwynda yelled at the top of her voice. "Stop them, seize them, catch them!" She whacked Lecks, who was struggling to raise himself to his feet. "Get up, you oaf!"
Tien and Momono exited the room, running headlong into two guards that had come when the Councilwoman's screams reached their ears. All four went down, and then Lecks picked up Momono. "Keep my boy, but kill the other one!" He heard his mother say.
Momono stomped his foot down on the hard floor and twisted, wrenching himself out of Lecks' grip. Instead of running, he turned and grabbed Lecks' throat, catching the big man off-balance. With sudden, brutal pressure, he squeezed the guard's throat, crushing his windpipe with both strong thumbs. Lecks fell to the ground, and Momono was left staring at his mother. He had finally shocked her into silence. He approached her, and she shrank back, trying to direct herself back into the room.
Momono grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled her toward him.
He felt a light hand on his arm, and nearly punched Tien in the face. Tien didn't flinch. "Let her go, Momono," Tien said quietly. "It's not about her. It's about Teegan."
Teegan with the light hair, that could burn down an inn even when sick and dying. Teegan, that a dozen people or more risked and lost their lives to free and protect. Teegan, that ran to Momono to help him up after he'd fallen.
He stopped pulling his mother, but didn't let the chair go. He nodded curtly to Tien.
"Who's Teegan?" His mother asked, as Lecks writhed on the floor, gagging. "Another tramp?"
Councilwoman Gwynda watched as her son's eyes moved to find her with utter slowness.
"Do you think they're all right?" Teegan asked Onli. They were waiting outside the city, at the pre-determined meeting spot. Momono's guitar was on Ren's back.
"I hope so. Tien won't let Momono out of his sight. Unless Momono does defect, I think they'll make their way back to us," Onli answered. "Do you still feel all right?"
Teegan nodded. She still hadn't put her hood up, and the rain was evaporating off her skin. Her face was flushed. "I'm worried about Momono."
"I know honey, me too," Onli said. She didn't want to remind her about what they would have to do if Momono or Tien didn't show after a day -- the amount of time they had all agreed on to wait.
They waited in silence for a bit.
"I want to ask you about something," Ren said quietly, on Onli's other side. "I'm not that worried about Momono, but Tien . . ."
"I know," Onli responded just as softly. "Maybe he finally has it in his head that this isn't a grand adventure that he's leading, but something much greater than him. You've known him the longest: would he really leave us?"
Ren didn't respond immediately. "I hope not. But he has never been one to see other people's perspectives well. Strange that someone with near-supernatural eyesight would have that problem."
"He's never needed to," Onli said. "He can see nearly everything."
Ren smiled. "Yes." He sat quietly for a bit. "We hurt his ego pretty badly back at the inn."
"We did. I hope he'll realize that we did it for the right reasons."
"Tell me I didn't hear that," Momono said, each muscle in his body clenched and bursting.
"Momono, more guards are coming," Tien said.
"Yes, just give up. Leave your foolish thoughts by the way."
For a moment, Momono thought that he had gone blind. He sucked in a breath, and let it whistle out. His grip on the arm of the wheelchair tightened.
Striking her would vilify him. Yelling at her would do nothing. Walking away would fail to sate the furious anger that flowed through his bones.
She watched him. She had the little smile on that meant she knew you could do nothing.
A thought cascaded through his body, sending shivers in all directions. Momono grew a smile of his own. It stretched and twisted. His eyebrows dug down into his face, creating a harrowing monster. His mother leaned away.
Momono turned to Tien. "Let's get out of this building." Tien started to say something, but Momono turned away.
He ripped the elastic band off his mother's wrist, balled the napkin in her lap, and stuffed it in her mouth. Before she could push it out, He wrapped the band around her head, tying it tight at the back. Councilwoman Gwynda's shouts were reduced to a muffled meow. He picked her up and, as he guessed, could carry her like a small, wet dog. Her limbs beat against him, but it was like a tree beating on a mountain. Momono looked at Tien, who pointed behind him. Momono noticed the two other guards they had collided with lying on the ground, unconscious, but more were getting closer.
Tien led him away from them, around a hall, and toward a deserted back staircase. They went down, and found an open door, with a dazed guard slumped against it. Tien pushed it open and went into the cold, dazzling rain. Momono was instantly soaked, and his mother croaked at the cold.
"What are you going to do?" Tien asked. "If you mean to hurt her-"
"No," Momono said. "Not that. Not physically, at least."
Momono seemed to be leading them somewhere, but Tien didn't know the city well enough to figure out where. "Whatever you're going to do, do it quickly. They'll figure out we aren't in the house soon enough, and then the entire city will be looking for us. I have reason to suspect that they won't just throw us in prison, either," Tien said.
"Then keep an eye out," was all Momono said. He shifted his mother.
They walked for almost an hour. Some of the buildings began to get familiar to Tien. The hour was late, and the streets were empty, except for the odd guard. They crept; Momono had a hand over his mother's mouth just in case. The woman grunted and fought the entire time, but she was too old and feeble to do anything worthwhile. Momono barely had to struggle against her.
"I know where we are," Tien said, after they'd gone a few more blocks. He shielded his eyes against the rain. "We're near the Titan, aren't we?"
Momono said nothing, he simply forged on through the pounding raindrops.
They broke out of an alley, and Tien saw the Titan rising up in the darkness, raging against the ground that held him captive. Momono headed directly for it. Tien took a quick look around, saw nobody, and followed him.
Momono walked directly in front of the tall sculpture, and dropped his mother. She groaned when she hit the hard, soggy ground. "Look at it," Momono ordered. His mother peered up at him, making a disapproving face. "Look at it!" Momono pointed at the Titan. "Look at my father!"
Tien stared. "You told us the Titan was funded by a wealthy sponsor. Your mother?" Momono nodded.
"Look, mother. Do you see how he pulls against the ground? Screams at the sky?" The singer looked down at his feeble mother. "How strange I thought it was when you had this built. All I could see in it was my father trying to get away from you. He pulls against your constraints but he's stuck to the waist. He'll never get out." He paused. "Now look at me."
Councilwoman Gwynda shifted her gaze from her husband to her son.
"If you really think that, after everything you've done to turn me into a wailing fool, after everything I saw my father suffer through because of the way you acted, I would want to came back to you and take your place on the Council . . . then there is no creature on Earth more demented. And if the Council really does see you as a good leader, still, then I want nothing to do with them. Is that what the entire Council is like? Confused old husks that rattle human lives between their knuckles like dice?" He smiled. "I heard that the Day-lighters want to burn you out of your power and take control. If that's true, than I wish them luck."
The Councilwoman's eyes grew wide. "You will never see me again," Momono said. "If you do, it's because I've either come to kill you, or I am already dead. You might think that you're safe, ruling others with a demented and thin mind, and then there will be nothing but everlasting darkness, because I will finally decide your life needs to be ended." He picked her up easily. Tien could see thin streams of steam rising from him. "Maybe you'll change, and beg my forgiveness, and I'll let you be. But I don't see that happening. That would require you to realize you were wrong for once in your life!"
He dropped her on the ground, and looked at Tien. "Let's go."
"You're a scary man, singer," Tien said. He turned. "Uh oh."
"What?"
"I think we might be surrounded." Tien took a few quick looks around him. "This way!" He led Momono toward an alley, but before they could reach it, a guard stepped around a corner and blocked it. Tien cut left, and Momono slipped in the rain keeping up with him. He got up and chased Tien, who was heading for a different alley. Another guard appeared, and this one Tien confronted.
The guard swung and missed. Tien wrapped his arms around the guard's wrist, and Momono heard a snap. The guard dropped the sword and screamed. Tien picked it up and pushed past the man. Momono followed. Tien splashed through puddles, keeping the sword ready next to him.
Momono suddenly felt tired, and struggled to keep up with him. Tien disappeared around a corner, and Momono followed.
He found Tien cornered by three guards. Tien looked at Momono and shouted. "That's the one that kidnapped the Councilwoman!"
The guard between them turned, and Tien brought the hilt of his sword down on his head. The other two tried to spring on him, but Tien darted under their attacks. Momono picked up the sword the unconscious guard had dropped.
Tien cut another guard through his leather pants, dropping him with a cry. He feinted toward the last one, who stumbled backward to avoid the false attack. Tien brought his sword around with the guard off-balance, knocking him over. He kicked the guard in the face and looked at Momono. "Coming?"
Momono nodded, and the two ran.
"You're a dirty fighter," Momono said, when they'd gone a few blocks. Tien was checking for people.
"Yeah, well, you do what you have to. I can hardly count the number of times I've been surrounded by people that want to kill or capture me. We'd better keep moving. The gates are going to be guarded again if we don't get out of the city soon, and I don't think we can pull the same trick as before."
"I wonder if Teegan and the others got out all right," Momono said.
"I'm sure they did," Tien said, walking down the street with Momono on his heels. "Onli is smart. After the stunt you pulled, there was no reason for them to be stopped. They've probably been waiting for us at the spot for hours now." Tien stopped looking at looked at the sword in Momono's hand. "I thought we agreed no weapons."
Momono looked at the sword. "I suppose we did. Then again, Onli and Ren didn't want you to have a weapon, either."
Tien glared, but Momono didn't relent. "Do you know why I wanted you to be the one to make sure I came back after pulling my stunt at the gate?"
"Because you knew I wouldn't let you get away?"
"Yes. There's another reason, though." Momono looked around them as they walked. Rain was the only other thing in the street. "I wanted to give you a chance to leave."
Tien stopped, skidding in water. "What?!"
"I saw how you looked in the inn, after being browbeaten by Onli. You looked how I felt while I was living with my mother. You were trying to figure out if you could get away. I wanted to let you have that chance. I knew I wasn't going to betray Teegan, so if I got back to them and you left, I could say you were killed protecting me."
"I would never do that to them," Tien said savagely. "They're the only family I have."
"I guess they are. I guess they're the only family I have left, too." Momono looked at the sword again. Rain dripped off its sharp edge. "Want me to get rid of this?"
Tien considered this, then shook his head. "If you want a sword, you can have one. You're part of our group, now. Consider yourself a Day-lighter, for better or worse."
Momono nodded, and smiled.
They made it out of the gate before it was blocked by guards, but only by hurrying. They went as quickly as they could to the spot pointed out by Momono as the meeting place.
All they found was a scorched circle, devoid of any other evidence of Ren, Onli, or Teegan. The ground was wet ash, drowned in the falling rain. Tien searched for them using his powerful eyesight, but saw nothing. He turned around and tensed.
A minute later several guards came upon the empty spot, after getting reports of an "explosion."
***
Wonderful rain, Teegan thought as Ren and Onli walked. Make me cooler. She looked up, feeling the drops on her young face. All her life she'd hated the rain, now she needed it, or she felt she would fry.
They'd been waiting for Momono and Tien to get back from the city. Teegan had just woken up that day, and felt tired and sore. The next few events were nothing but jumbled feelings, and then she was being carried by Ren, as he and Onli ran through the forest away from the city. Teegan could hear raindrops boiling on her skin. Onli and Ren were hurrying, their breathing ragged. Onli limped.
She slept.
The old woman, bundled warmly in her wheelchair near the fire, inspected the man across the table from her as well as she could. She was Councilwoman Gwynda, the woman Momono once called mother. She was, she hoped, safe in her house, deep in the city of Breston. The man across from her was named Roland. It had just been a day since Momono had so brutally taken her from her home and spit the most awful words at her.
"You understand what I say?" She asked. Roland looked like a stupid one.
"Yes, Madam Councilwoman. Kill the other Day-lighters, but bring your son back to you." Roland smiled, his pudgy face splitting in an ugly grin. "Your son decided to hit me over the head with his guitar a few weeks back. I'll enjoy seeing him squirm in irons."
"Don't hurt him," Gwynda said softly. "I want him unharmed when he gets back to me."
"Such grace and forgiveness. Just what I'd expect from a Councilwoman," Roland said.
"Forgiveness?" Gwynda laughed. "No! He will rot for what he said to me! I just want to be the one to hurt him! He should have known better than to go against his dear mother's wishes!" She laughed again, and rubbed her bony fingers over each other.
Roland swallowed. "Yes ma'am, of course."
"Good boy," Councilwoman Gwynda said, sitting back in her chair. She motioned to the man standing behind her. Her old helper, Lecks, had been cruelly injured by her son. "See the good man out. Give him coin for an inn tonight." She looked back to Roland, holding out a rolled scrap of paper. "Bring this to the guardhouse tomorrow morning. Take a half dozen of the best men." Roland took the piece of paper, and Gwynda leaned forward. Her small body trembled. "Find that boy." She sat back. "He'll pay for the things he said to me," she said quietly. "He'll pay."
Three days had passed since Momono and Tien's escape from the city where Momono's mother held power as a Councilwoman. They had been trying to follow the path that Onli, Ren, and Teegan took, but the only things they had to go on were Tien's strong eyesight, finding places that looked traveled. They had some money, but there was no one to buy from and they had no food of their own. They were forced to scavenge from berry bushes, and the odd rabbit that had been forced out of its home by rain.
Their relationship, previously strained, had gotten better after the event in the city. Tien had witnessed the real reason Momono wanted to travel with them -- an escape from his mother -- and Momono could trust Tien not to stab him in the back because of it.
So they forged through the wet woods after -- they hoped -- Ren, Onli, and the young girl who could create heat.
The third night they sat across a small fire from each other. The rain wasn't bad, but would soon get worse. They hadn't talked much, preferring to save their breath for walking or running. They both suspected soldiers from the Council of One Hundred were after them, and they didn't want to know what would happen if they were caught. Momono had gagged and kidnapped his mother, a Councilwoman, and dumped her in a puddle.
"What do you think happened to them?" Momono asked.
"Who knows?" Tien responded. "Most likely they were spotted by some guards from the city and had to escape."
"But the ground-"
"I know. The ground," Tien said. He remembered the scorched circle. Rain had already started mixing with hot ash, creating black streaks as it ran down the hill. The trees around them were snapped and broken, burnt on the sides that faced the spot. "I don't know. I couldn't see anything. We didn't really have a lot of time to look, either."
Momono nodded. Guards from the city were hot on their heels after they'd left. Momono wasn't sure why they weren't caught; they surely could have been.
The rain worsened and the small fire went out. Momono frowned down at it. "Good a time as any to get to sleep," Tien said. "I'll take the first watch."
Momono watched the second part of the night. Even wrapped in his cloak he was freezing. It was no surprise; the rain pounded down on him. It had long quenched the warm coals. It was still dark when he heard voices in the forest, and at first he thought, and hoped, it was Teegan and the others, but another moment and he knew they weren't friends. Keeping low, he went to Tien's sleeping form, and shook his shoulder.
Tien didn't wake until Momono pinched his cheek and shook his face. Only then did the man open his eyes, and he was still mostly asleep.
"Voices!" Momono whispered. It took a moment for Tien to realize what he meant, and then he got up and looked around. Momono pointed in one direction, the direction they'd come from. "Friends?"
Tien shook his head, and put his pack on his shoulders. He jerked his head and moved into the forest as quietly as he could. Momono followed, keeping low. The driving rain hid the noises they made.
They got a few dozen feet away, and Tien stopped. He looked back and frowned. "One of them looks familiar, but I can't place him." He stared. "I feel like I should. They're at our spot right now. I can't hear what they're saying, though." He watched through the dark rain. "They're moving again. Let's go."
They went through the cold rain and dark forest, keeping low to the ground. They could just barely hear the people behind them. They kept coming after them, but they didn't seem to be following, just moving in the same direction. They found a little hollow in the ground and hunkered down in it. Tien squinted through the rain, watching them.
He focused on the one he recognized. He wasn't sure, but he thought he'd seen him before. "They're looking for us,"
"Couldn't agree more," Momono said, and they snuck away.
A few hours later it was lighter, and the rain was less. The heavier rain had passed south, and they were out of the forest. They walked together on a muddy road, heading towards a small village. Both men dreamed of warm rooms and hot food. Tien had kept a sharp lookout, but hadn't seen their persuers.
"Here's what we do in the village," Tien was explaining, keeping his eyes on the horizon. "Ren is my brother, Teegan is his daughter, and my niece, Onli is his wife. We were traveling, and got separated in heavy rain. We ask around if anybody has seen them. Don't mention the Day-lighters, don't tell them your name. Don't say or do anything memorable."
"Got it," Momono said. "I wish I'd known that before I played in Breston. All of this could have been avoided."
"You didn't want to tell us you were a Councilwoman's son, for good reason. I doubt even Onli would have trusted you if she'd known." Tien hesitated. "I think I demonstrated how I would have acted, at least." Momono nodded. "Will anybody recognize you in this village?"
Momono shook his head. "I don't think I've ever been here. It used to be unconnected to Breston, but things might have changed. Bigger cities sometimes let small nearby villages use their guards and other things, and subject them to taxes. If that's true with this village, they might have my picture. Maybe even yours."
"Is it worth it?" Tien asked nobody in particular.
"Onli and the others wouldn't have known all of that, and they should all be safe. Nobody saw them. If they knew about this village, they'd go to it."
Tien recognized the logic. They kept quiet, walking by the side of the road. It was an old road, and after heavy rains couldn't be used unless you wanted to pull your feet out of your boots with each step. They walked on the shoulder, on drowning grass. The rain went from a heavy mist to a light rain and back. They reached the village and headed for a bar to warm up and eat.
It was a small and dingy place, words that described the village as a whole rather well. After eating plates of wet fish, they asked around about Teegan, Ren, and Onli. Nobody had seen them. They left the bar.
"Where would they have stopped?" Tien asked. "An inn?"
"The meeting spot had burn marks on it," Momono said. "Teegan might have fallen ill again. They had plenty of money to pay for a doctor."
"Okay. Let's check around. Stick to the story and try not to let anyone recognize you, please?" Tien said. Momono sighed and nodded. They headed in separate directions.
Tien went to an inn, but found no luck. He talked to a council doctor, not believing Onli would risk it with all the money she had, and was proved correct. He found a non-council doctor and went in. He was struck by a strange sensation, even before Dr. Amesis came around the corner.
The two looked at each other for a moment.
"Well well," Amesis said, removing his paper mask. "You, again. Your daughter, is she still sick?"
Tien smiled. His heart pounded. He had to be careful. "Wouldn't you know it, she got better the same day I came to see you?"
"How lucky," Amesis said. "And here you are, in a different village, again in a non-CD. Who's sick this time?"
"Actually, after we left Breston, our group got separated. My brother, my wife, and our daughter got lost. We thought they might have gone through here."
"And you check in a non-CD? Was somebody else sick?"
Tien quickly licked his lips. "We want to cover all our bases. Our daughter woke up, but she wasn't fully better yet."
Amesis tilted his head back and regarded him.
"Why are you here?" Tien asked, trying to change the subject. "Why did you leave Breston?"
"Maybe you weren't there when it happened, but apparently some Day-lighters broke in Councilwoman Gwynda's house and kidnapped her, threatened her, and left her for dead out in the rain a few nights ago." The doctor sighed and leaned against a table. Tien kept his face as neutral as possible, and simply nodded. "The next day the Councilwoman staged some kind of hunt for people who weren't working under the Council. I usually go around to some of the other villages a few times a year, but I decided to make a longer stay this time." Amesis walked behind Tien to a shelf near the door and checked a few vials. He looked at the list next to it and tsked.
"Interesting," was all Tien said.
"Yeah. Sorta sad. I heard one of the Day-lighters was the Councilwoman's son. I heard the other one was you."
The doctor leaned against the door, and his smile lifted up a corner of his lips. Tien stared with his mouth open.
Soft, warm sensations caressed her. The air was empty, and clear. There was no rain. Above, the clouds shifted and motioned, swaying one way and then the other.
With a soundless crack, they parted, and crushing openness descended on her, bearing down on her with too much freedom for a small mind.
It stopped, and she spied the great fire in the sky. She looked long, drawing in its every feature. The white, stinging light, the corona her eyes made in the blue sky, the pumping heat on her body.
There was a sudden singing sound, and the ground was gone from under her feet. She went past the drawing clouds as the land under her lit up like a room that had suddenly been flooded with firelight. The orb of the planet fell away. She entered the sun, and was warmer than ever before.
Then she was awake.
"Good, you're up," Ren said without turning. He was bent over Onli. "We have to get going again. There's a little bit of breakfast left for you."
Teegan rubbed her eyes as the last pieces of the dream became nothing more than unreal memories. She pulled the blanket off of her and got to her feet unsteadily. A few sausages sizzled over a shielded fire. They might have been hot, once, but they were warm at best when she gobbled them down.
"How do you feel?" Ren asked her.
"Okay," Teegan said. She walked beside him. "How is she?"
Lying on the ground, Onli breathed uneasily, yet smiled at the girl. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," the woman said.
"It's too much damage for us to care for here," Ren said. They'd turned Teegan's cloak into long strips to cover the burns, but with no medicine they bled and festered. "We'll need to find someone who can help her."
"Only if it's safe," Onli said through gritted teeth as Ren replaced a bandage. "I won't let you risk Teegan for my skin's benefit."
"Your skin," Ren scoffed. "Your life is in danger. The burns are deep. They'll get infected soon. Either you get help or we lose you. I'm not going to let that happen."
"Me neither!" Teegan said. After all, it's my fault.
The memories came back to her as they went, heading for a safe Day-lighter base. They'd waited for Momono and Tien to come back from the Councilwoman; Teegan knew that one or both of them might not come back, and was trying to avoid thinking about it. But she thought about Momono, and how much he seemed to care for her, and how silly he was even when he didn't mean to be, and she thought about Tien, and how he protected her, and how he freed her from the terrible place the Council had her at, and she started to get upset. She fought to keep the tears back, but they came anyway.
There was a rush of powerful heat, and for a moment Teegan couldn't feel any rain. There was a ringing in her ears. She looked up. It wasn't her dream -- the clouds were still there -- but the rain had stopped.
She looked over at Onli and Ren, smiling. She'd never been out and not been wet, none of them had. Instead of finding the other two gazing in wonder, however, she found Onli on the ground and Ren running to her.
Onli's left leg and arm were baked, covered in burns. Some of her torso was also burned, but her clothes kept the heat off her there. Ren told her later that a bubble of heat and air had come out of her, blasting the rain away and scorching the ground near her. Onli had been close, but Ren had only been saved by walking away a bit and trying to listen to something. Soon guards started pouring out of the city, no doubt heading for them, and they ran.
Teegan watched Onli sit up and smile at her. They're afraid of me now, Teegan thought. They know if I get upset I'll do something terrible again. They're trying to keep me happy.
Onli stood, wincing. She took a few steps and leaned against a tree. The destroyed skin on her left hand made Teegan's stomach turn, and she went to Onli. "Do you need help?"
Onli looked down at her and smiled, shaking her head. "No dear, I'll be fine. I'm just dizzy from lying down too long."
"I can help you," Teegan said, almost touching her hand. She stopped herself at the last moment; it surely would have hurt Onli. "You can lean against me."
"I'm too heavy for you!" Onli said.
"Nuh-uh!"
"Okay you two," Ren said. He handed Teegan her pack. "I'll help Onli for now until she can get her legs under her. Don't go too far, Teegan."
Teegan nodded. The standard warning. Don't go too far. Something could leap out of a shadow and grab you, or you could fall in a hole and die with a leg twisted under you, never to be found.
They set off from the hilly area, going east toward other Day-lighters.
Tien reached for his sword.
"Wait!" Amesis said, putting his hands out. "I don't mean to hurt you, or turn you in. Why do you think I moved out here? I'm no friend to the Council."
Tien clicked the sword back home, slowly. Quickly, he looked around him. He couldn't see evidence of any other people in the building. "You work by yourself?"
"I have a nurse, but she isn't in yet. It's too early."
"I guess it is," Tien said. "So I'm a Day-lighter."
"It wasn't hard to figure out. You had to see a non-CD, didn't have a lot to pay with, and couldn't talk about why. After the events a few days ago in the city, it didn't take any kind of genius."
"Why say this?" Tien asked. He almost wished Momono was around, just to have someone else on his side. "The people I'm looking for aren't here. Why not just let me on my way and forget about it?"
"I know who you're looking for," Amesis said. "A man, a woman, and a child with light hair. She had her hood off, and somehow seemed to be enjoying the rain, even as heavy as it was. The woman had big scars, or burns, on the left side of her body. Her clothing had been destroyed."
Tien reeled back. "That is them! How did you know? What happened to the woman?"
Amesis shrugged. "Don't know. Didn't stop to ask. I was in a carriage heading to this village, and they were walking by the side of the road, looking over their shoulders and appearing generally mistrusting."
"Do you know if they were coming to the village?" Tien asked frantically. What on Earth happened?
The doctor shrugged again. "Don't know. I've been here pretty much ever since I got to the village, and they never stopped by."
Head spinning, Tien found a chair and sat. "Are you all right?" Amesis asked. Tien nodded, rubbing his face.
"I need to go," he said, standing. "I need to find them."
"Go, then. If you ever find yourself in the area, come and see me. I'd like to get another look at the girl with the light hair. You don't see that anymore." He laid a hand on Tien's shoulder. "You've got one friend in this town, at least."
"Thank you," Tien said. He reached for the door, then stopped. "Why don't you like the Council?" He asked.
"My reasons are my own, just like yours," Amesis answered. Tien smirked and nodded. He walked out of the hot building into the rain. For a single moment he stood, letting it wash over him.
He went down the street, searching for Momono. It didn't take him long; he quickly spotted Momono on the main street, talking with a large woman. The woman walked away before Tien got close.
"No luck," Momono said. "How about you?"
Momono's face turned concerned as Tien told him what had happened. "So they didn't come into the city. Why not?"
"I can only guess," Tien said. They stood under a hanging porch and watched the rain sheet off the roof. The village would be fully awake soon. "Maybe they thought it would be too risky. Teegan with light hair, Onli injured . . . maybe Ren thought they'd be too easily remembered. Then why," Tien suddenly shouted, "did they walk right next to the road?"
He put his head against the porch's post, sighing. Momono patted his back.
"What's our next step?" The singer asked.
Tien stood with his head against the post for a few seconds. "We need to figure out which direction they went. There's a lot of other things to figure out, but that's the important one. I think-"
His head snapped up, looking toward the edge of town. "No."
"What?"
"I think they followed us into town."
"Teegan?" Momono said, hopeful.
"No! The people that were looking for us in the forest!" Tien said. "I recognize that person now . . . he's leading them!"
"Who is it?"
"It's Roland!" He turned and looked at Momono, expecting a reaction. Instead, Momono just looked at him quizzically. "You know, from the inn?"
Momono shook his head.
"He's the one you hit with your guitar," Tien said. Momono's face slouched down into a grimace.
"He isn't going to be happy to see me," he said.
"I have a feeling that might be why he's following us. No thanks, probably, to your actions with your mother." A thought occurred to Tien. "Oh no."
"What now?"
"We just went around for the last hour asking everyone we could find about a bunch of people. Now these people are about to go around and ask everyone about us!"
"This is just getting better and better!" Momono said. "What do we do!?"
"We have to get out of here!" Tien said. Even as he said it, Roland and the soldiers -- seven in all -- split up and started banging on doors. "They'll see us for sure if we make a break for it. We need to hide. Come on, I know where." He sank low, and waited until most of the soldiers were looking the other way. He crept around the corner into an alley, and Momono followed him. Tien led them to Amesis' clinic, and pushed the door open.
Again, doctor Amesis came around the corner, again finding Tien. "I assume this is the Councilwoman's son?" He said, pointing at Momono.
"Yes, and it's come back to haunt us. Soldiers are combing the village, looking for us. We just need to hide a little bit, until we get a chance to escape."
"Doctor?" A woman called from around the corner. "Who's there?"
"Just a few friends," Amesis called back. "My nurse. Am I going to get in trouble with the Council for harboring known fugitives?"
"Momono kidnapped a Councilwoman," Tien said. "Yes."
"Good." Amesis led them into a small, warm wooden room. "This is my waiting room. How long do you think you need to wait."
"I don't know," Tien said.
"Then let's make it a little easier on you."
"Ren! Stop!" Teegan shouted. "Onli's hurt too bad!"
"No," Onli said, limping horribly. "I can still walk. Don't worry if I fall behind."
"No, you can't walk," Ren said. "Your bandages are caked with filth. I need to change them. You're going to get infected if you keep this up. I told you we should have stopped at that village."
"It was too risky," Onli said, panting. She sat as Ren unwrapped the bandage on her hand. Rain and sweat mixed on her forehead. "We would have been picked out in a moment."
"Onli, that's the whole reason we were on the road! To help Tien and Momono find us if they could! We should have gone straight to a non-council doctor and had him help you! We have the money!" He looked up from his work. "Onli? Onli, wake up!"
"Awake, I'm awake," Onli mumbled.
"Don't fall asleep Onli," Ren said. "I will press down on this burn to keep you awake."
"You wouldn't," Onli said.
"Try me." Ren raised an eyebrow. Onli breathed out a laugh and shook her head.
"Okay, I'll stay awake. I promise." She took in a long breath, and grabbed her left side. "It hurts."
A sudden wind across the plain they were on blew the rain over them. Ren shielded Onli from it and brushed her soaking hair out of her face. "We're going back to the village we passed last night. I don't care what you say," he told Onli. "I've made a decision. You can barely stand, and I won't be enough to protect both of you." He looked at Teegan. "Get her pack. I'll need to carry her." Teegan nodded and slipped Onli's pack next to hers. The coins inside jingled and the straps dug into her shoulders.
Soon Onli was latched onto Ren's back, and he pointed the way they'd come. "We should be able to get back in a few hours." He started forward, clutching Onli's legs. Teegan went after him, trying not to look at the line of bandages that started at Onli's ankle and went up past the knee.
Momono and Tien were also thinking of bandages, but for a different reason.
Doctor Amesis stood back, surveying his work. His nurse, a woman named Liliana, took the remaining bandages from him and bustled away.
Both Tien's and Momono's face were wrapped in bandages that left only slits for their eyes and mouth. Momono's legs were similarly wrapped under his pants, and both of Tien's arms were covered. Each finger was wrapped individually.
"This should help you get out of the city without attracting too much attention. At least it will keep people from noticing you right away. If you're lucky, people will think you're lepers, and won't come near you."
"Thank you, doctor," Tien said, slightly muffled. He stood, stiffly moving his arms to test the give of the bandages.
"I don't think I've ever heard somebody use the word lucky and leper in the same sentence," Momono said, also muffled. Amesis chuckled.
"Now, which way do we go?" Tien said. "I have a few ideas. They could have gone north toward the mountains, to get away from whatever was chasing them. They also could have gone east, heading towards . . . " Tien found Liliana replacing the bandages in a far cabinet. "a Day-lighter enclave," he finished quietly. He pulled at one of the bandages around his eyes.
"I hope they didn't go north," Amesis said. "If they did, you might as well just go east. You'll never find them, even if they are still alive." Tien looked at him. "I'm sorry to put it that way, but it's true. The mountains are treacherous and deadly. If those three went in there, either they know something I don't, or they're in for a nasty surprise."
The small office was quiet. Momono heard the rain through a window. The candlelight shifted. Tien sighed, and flexed his fingers in their bandages. "We'll go east, then, and pray they did too."
Amesis nodded. "I don't have anything else to give you." He looked at the door. "I expect the soldiers you mentioned will be along soon to ask if I've seen you. It will easier to say no if you aren't here."
Momono and Tien thanked him, and left. Amesis stood in the dark, empty clinic. Liliana came up behind him and coughed delicately. Amesis looked at her over his shoulder.
"Those were Day-lighters, weren't they? Why did you help them, doctor?" She asked, with her hands linked in front of her.
Amesis sighed. "I have my reasons for working against the Council, just as I'm sure you do," he said. "And, just like you, I wish to keep mine a secret."
"You could get us in trouble," the nurse said.
"You're free to get the soldiers and tell them I've been harboring criminals," he said. "It will undoubtedly leave you without a job. Not many non-CDs left around here, and Council Doctors don't count non-CD work as experience, or so I've heard." Amesis walked past her. "You might have a bit of difficulty staying on your feet." He lit a cigarette. "A young woman like you. It's a shame."
The nurse's face stayed neutral, but she quickly walked past him into the operating room.
Doctor Amesis, traitor to the Council and now in hot water with his nurse, blew out a funnel of smoke. He knew he shouldn't smoke, of course, but it helped him calm down.
There was a knock at the door. Amesis rubbed the cigarette out and strode to the door, heart pounding. He opened it and found two armor-wrapped soldiers.
"Gentlemen," Amesis said. "Can I help you?"
"You're Doctor Amesis?" One of them asked. Rain spanged off their helmets, splashing Amesis.
"That's right."
"Have you seen either of these men?" The soldier unwrapped a cloth drawing of Tien and Momono. "They're traitors to the Council. Anyone harboring them will also be considered traitors." Amesis pretended to inspect the drawings.
"I don't see your identification. Council rules say you have to have your permit next to the door," the soldier said.
"I'm a non-CD," Amesis said. He was slightly pleased to see the soldier's looks darken.
"May we come inside?" The soldier asked, before pushing past him. The other soldier followed, glaring down at Amesis. The men, big in their armor, filled up the entryway. "Do you have any patients right now?"
"None, in fact," Amesis said. "You boys are the first ones to step foot in here all day, thank goodness."
"You're aware of what happened in Breston four nights ago?" One soldier asked.
"I heard something about the Councilwoman. I was working on a patient at the time and had to concentrate on my work."
"She was kidnapped and abused by Day-lighters." The soldier gestured with the drawing. "These men."
They heard footsteps behind them and turned, putting their hands on their swords. They found a startled Liliana.
One of the soldiers grew a leering smile. "Hello there miss," he said. "How do you do?"
"Fine, sir," Liliana said. Amesis' heart jumped when she spoke. "Are you injured?"
"Yes ma'am. I have a broken heart. Maybe you could help me?" The soldier said. He took off his helmet and put it over his chest.
"I'm afraid I don't know how to fix that," Liliana said.
"Oh, I think you might be able to do something," the soldier said. He took a step closer.
"Excuse me," Amesis said. "May I see the drawing again?"
The lecherous soldier nodded to the other one, and Amesis was handed the drawing. "I don't know about this one," Amesis said, pointing at Tien, "but this one here is kind of familiar. One my way here this morning, as I came in to work. He looked like he was heading north." He handed the drawing back. "Toward the mountains."
"The mountains, are you sure?"
"He looked like he was sizing them up," Amesis said. "To see if he could take them on."
The soldiers smiled at each other. "Thank you, doctor. We'll be out of your way now." The soldier threw one last wink at Liliana, and soon the clinic was empty except for Amesis and his nurse.
"Thank you, doctor," Liliana said after a minute. "I don't know if I would have been able to stop them if they had . . . but why did you tell them the Day-lighters went north?"
"We won't be seeing those soldiers again," Amesis said. Anger surged through his veins. He thought about the step the soldier took toward Liliana and he felt his fist curl.
"All the rain is making it hard to hear anything," Ren said. He looked down at Teegan. "Let me know if you see anything. I think we're getting close to the village now. It's a bit hard for me to see through the rain."
"Okay," Teegan said over the rain. It was getting much stronger, and stinging drops burned into her skin. Onli tried to hide the damaged areas of her flesh. They'd been walking back toward the village for a few hours, searching for it in the rain. They were on a big empty plain, which Ren seemed to remember was outside of the village.
Teegan was tired, and she felt a strange mixture from her hot skin and cold rain. The two packs she carried stung her arms, but had gotten easier as they walked. She even felt a little dizzy, like the air was being sucked out of mouth before she could breathe it. "Hey!" She said. "Hold on, I need to rest."
She slipped the packs off her shoulders, and they landed on the ground in heaps. She took in a few deep breaths and rotated her shoulders. "We can't take too long," Ren said. "Onli- What's that?"
Teegan looked behind her. She expected to see soldiers, hoped to see Momono or Tien, but saw neither. She didn't see anything. "There, on the ground," Ren said. Teegan looked.
There was a coin. "Ooh," Teegan said. She picked it up and put it in her pocket. "That's cool." She spotted another on the ground. "Oh, another one." Past it, the way they'd come, was yet another coin. "Uh."
"How much money is left in Onli's pack?" Ren asked. Teegan picked up the pack she'd been carrying at an angle for several hours. It was too light. There was a coin-sized hole in one corner, and nearly all of the money was missing. She looked up at Ren, scared.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was happening," she said. She felt small and useless. She'd been given a simple job and failed.
"It's all right. We have more, and not enough time to go back." They turned toward the village again.
"What is it?" Momono asked.
Tien shifted and looked up at him. He was crouched in the rain and holding a coin. "It's money. I know you've seen it before."
"Well, yeah, but why are you inspecting it?"
"Because we've been following a trail of it for an hour."
"What?" Momono looked. There were coins leading in both directions. "Why is it here?"
"The coins were minted in Breston. These must have come from Ren or Onli."
"So if we follow the coins, we'll find them?"
"We'll find something," Tien said, pocketing the coin and standing. "Let's go."
They headed east.
"There it is," Teegan said. "I see it!"
The rain had gotten worse, a true storm that threatened to blow them down. The rain soaked them, sticking their clothes to their skin and getting in their eyes, and fierce winds blew at them, tugging them in one direction and then the next. Ren and Teegan had pushed on, hoping that they still pointed the right way.
They reached the first level of buildings and leaned against the walls, resting. The storm dropped a flood around them, turning the dirt under their feet to mud and bending the stilted houses. They went farther in.
Ren headed for the first door he saw, and banged on it.
"What now?" The man yelled when he opened the door. "All day, people coming to my door and bothering my business!" He saw who it was, and who he carried. "What's happened to her?"
"She's badly burned. We need a doctor. Can you tell us where the closest one is?"
The man looked at Ren closely. Finally, he said: "Yes. Doctor Amesis; just a few rows over. He's got the little place with the heavy wooden door."
"Thank you," Ren said. He and Teegan searched for Amesis' place, until they found a door that matched the description. Ren went in.
There was a young woman inside, and she gasped when she saw Onli. She helped her to a raised bed and looked at the burns. "This is too extensive for just me. I'll need to get the doctor. Stay here, please."
Ren watched her go through a doorway and up a set of stairs. She disappeared from view. Soon enough two sets of steps came back down.
Doctor Amesis looked them over when he stood at the bottom of the steps. His eyes were drawn to Teegan's light hair.
"Doctor, thank you for coming," Ren said. "Onli is badly hurt. I'm afraid the burns are infected."
Amesis walked next to Onli and carefully unwound the bandages. The burns dribbled liquid. Cracked, scabby skin molted as the bandages came away. "Yes, they're infected. It's a good thing you came here. Liliana, bring the antibiotics, clean bandages and knives, thread . . ." The doctor continued to list items. The nurse bustled away, grabbing things from shelves and cabinets. "How do you feel?" Amesis asked Onli.
"It doesn't hurt much," Onli said. "I swear."
"Are you sure? You're telling me the truth?" Amesis asked, looking down at her unblinkingly.
"Really," Onli said. She tried to smile.
"Third degree burns," Amesis said. "You should have sought help as soon as possible." The nurse appeared and held out a bottle of liquid. Amesis took it and mixed a portion in a glass of water. "Take this, it's to keep from getting infected." He tipped the liquid into Onli's mouth. Her face crinkled, but she swallowed it. "How did she get these injuries?"
Onli, Ren, and Teegan all froze. Amesis spotted it. "You can't tell? Figures. A lot of that going around." Amesis took a number of damp towels and placed them over burned areas as Liliana cut away Onli's clothing. He gave Onli another liquid. "This will taste foul, but it will dull the pain."
Onli swallowed the liquid and almost gagged. She set her head back down. "I told you I don't feel pain, doctor."
Amesis took a small, sharp knife from Liliana. "You would have. I need to trim off infected tissue. I'll give it a moment to take effect. You'll be pretty hazy until it wears off."
He looked at Ren. "I met Tien and Momono."
"What?" Ren said, eyes going wide. "You know who we are?"
"Yes. Don't worry, I won't turn you in. There were soldiers in the village earlier looking for them. I covered them in bandages and sent them east. They were looking for you."
"Bandages? Were they hurt?"
"No, it was just a disguise. You didn't see them?"
"No," Onli said. It was a single, long breath. Amesis touched her clean skin with the edge of the knife and saw no reaction.
"Soldiers were here? Are they still?"
"No. They're heading north towards the mountains. With the storm outside, they're treacherous until the water drains away." He began to slice away blasted skin with the edge of the small knife. Teegan watched Onli's face and saw no reaction. She stared at the ceiling, oblivious.
"Do you need anything, dear?" The nurse asked Teegan. Teegan looked at her, confused.
"What?"
"You have injuries on your face," the nurse said, "and on your hands."
"Oh. They're old," Teegan said. "They don't hurt." The nurse nodded and went back to Amesis' side. Teegan ran a few fingers over the back of her hand, on a raised scar.
"She'll be all right, won't she?" Ren asked the doctor. The doctor patiently finished with a cut before answering.
"I don't think it's life threatening," he said. "But she'll need treatment. I'd say she shouldn't be allowed to travel-" he looked at Ren "-but I know that you'd rather keep moving."
Ren watched Onli's motionless face.
"The damage will be too extensive for the body to heal itself," Amesis continued. "Frankly I'm amazed she could walk at all."
"She's strong," Ren said.
"I suppose," Amesis said. He dropped a piece of cut skin into a pan. "Even trimming the tissue will take a few hours. You two might as well find a place to rest. I'll keep working."
Ren fell asleep quickly in the small, warm waiting room. Teegan, sitting in a chair, looked at the scar on her hand.
She rolled up her right sleeve. There was a long scar from her wrist to the elbow. This one was a little newer. She could still feel something when she touched it.
"Stop struggling, girl. It will only hurt more."
She took off her boot. Each toe had a scar that blended together, going from the top of her foot to above her ankle.
I will never walk again, she thought, staring down at the mutilated mess that used to be a foot.
She rolled up her pant leg. Her knee was a mess of scars.
"The joints regularly produce incredible force. Perhaps there we will find your mysteries, girl. Ouch, you're getting hot again! Quick, fetch doctor Morlin!"
She replaced her pants and boot. He hand went under her shirt to feel at the huge, round scar on her stomach.
"Where else but the torso could the heat come from?"
"I agree. We must be careful not to kill the girl."
They did not kill her, but the scooped hole in her stomach made her sick and hot. One of the doctors burned his fingers -- they were in her at the time. The metal shackles holding her down burned her as she heated them. She smelled smoke.
"How is she doing it?"
"I don't know!"
"Sedate her, quickly! She's going to melt through the iron!"
The next thing she knew, Tien entered her cold cell . . .
"Young miss."
Teegan looked up. Doctor Amesis stood in front of her. "You were asleep. You looked like you were having a nightmare."
Teegan pulled her hand out from under her shirt. Her skin was hot. "I don't remember what I was dreaming about."
Amesis sighed and sat in the chair next to her. Ren snorted in his sleep. "I've been around people a long time, miss. I know when they are lying. You don't want me to know your dreams, that's all right." Amesis looked at her bright hair. "There's strangeness around you. Liliana told me about your scars."
Teegan said nothing.
"Lots of people have scars, of course," Amesis said, leaning back in the chair. "I have a few. Scalpel accidents." He showed her a finger. There was a small dimpled arc at the end of it. "But not as many as you. And I know you won't tell me." Gently, he touched the tip of her hair. "Scars all over, bright hair. You're a strange one, miss. Tell me, what's your name?"
She kept her eyes on the floor. "Teegan."
"Teegan?" Amesis seemed surprised. "That sounds like a name from before the rain."
"What do you mean?" Teegan asked. Nobody had ever commented on her name before. They usually kept their words focused on her hair.
"I'm a bit of a historian in my free time," Amesis said. "I enjoyed learning about what the world was like before the rain came. Back when the sun shined."
"That's why you helped us when you knew we were Day-lighters," Teegan said. "You know what is was like."
Amesis nodded. "I suppose that's true enough. I read about famous people and events. Names like ours -- Onli, Ren, Amesis, Momono -- they weren't heard before the rains came." He regarded her. "But I remember hearing yours."
"Why?"
"There was a Teegan a long time ago. She was a singer."
"Like Momono? Could she play the guitar, too?"
"She could. She was very famous. People from all over the world loved to watch her and her sister perform," Amesis said. Teegan gasped. "You know what else I discovered? I discovered what the name means."
"Teegan? What does it mean?"
"It means 'special thing,'" Amesis said, pointing at Teegan. Teegan imagined hurting Onli so badly that she could hardly walk, and her head sank down.
"I'm not special."
"No?"
Teegan shook her head. Her hair flared in the candlelight as the storm pulsed in the window outside. "I hurt Onli. Everybody's been risking their lives for me."
"You're the one that burned Onli?" Amesis asked, surprised. "How could you have done that?" When Teegan didn't answer, he sighed. "More mysteries. Did you mean to hurt her?" Teegan shook her head. "She can't possibly blame you. I know why they run; they run for you."
Teegan looked up, surprised. This doctor could see much more than she thought. He stood. "I'd better go check on Onli. Why don't you get some rest, Teegan."
Teegan nodded and put her head down when he left.
"I couldn't find anything," Momono said.
"Neither could I." Tien looked around again. They'd both spent the last hour looking all over the area the trail of coins had stopped. They'd walked for two hours until they found a small pile of iron close to some trees.
The storm had gotten worse as they walked. It was only Tien's strong eyesight that helped them find the next coin. Now the sky had cleared a small amount and the rain had lessened, but it was still a chore walking. They found the pile of coins, and started searching the area, but could find nothing else.
"Maybe they got attacked," Momono said. He watched Tien play with the coins on the ground. "And couldn't drop any more."
"Maybe they didn't realize they were dropping coins, and patched the hole when they got to this point." Tien thought. "No, they would have picked up the coins that were right here."
Momono, exhausted, sat. "Now what?"
"You ask that question too much," Tien said.
"It's because I don’t-" Momono stopped talking, and reached under him. He pulled up a torn strip of cloth, wet and stained with something. "What's this?"
"It looks like a bandage," Tien said. He took it from Momono. "Ren made this bandage!"
"What? How do you know?"
"He's my brother, I can tell. Are there any more?"
Momono stood up. "A lot more! There's practically enough to mummify a person here!"
"What's that on them?" Tien wondered. "It doesn't look like blood."
"I can't tell, but there's a lot of it," Momono said. "It's on every bandage, and some of them are covered in it." He brought a strip close to his nose and sniffed. "I don't really smell anything. Can you see any difference?" He looked up and found Tien bent close to the ground, staring at something. "Did you find something?"
"A footprint." He traced it with his finger. It was sunk in the mud. "It looks like Ren's . . . but it's too heavy." He moved his head, eyes wide in the rain. "There's another one." He pointed. "It's going back towards the beginning of the coin trail."
"Doctor Amesis said that Onli was hurt. She was covered with injuries." Momono held up the bandage. "Ren would have helped her."
"The bandages are soaked in something, but it isn't blood. The meeting spot outside of Breston was burnt."
"She must have had burns!" Momono said. "Bad ones that didn't heal! That's why the bandages have something on them -- pus from the burns!"
"Amesis said she had burns everywhere!" Tien said. His eyes blazed with excitement. "She might have fallen here and Ren had to carry her! Amesis said they didn't stop at the village, so she couldn't have gotten help!"
"That's why the footprint is so deep," Momono said. He was grinning. "But Ren couldn't carry everything, so he gave his pack or Onli's pack to Teegan to carry!"
"She didn't realize coins were dropping out," Tien said. "We aren't at the end of the coins, we're at the beginning!"
"Is she all right, doctor?" Ren asked, coming into the room. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and looked at Onli.
"As I said, she'll survive. I've had to trim of a lot of tissue, and there's still a lot of damage. She'll be in quite a lot of pain when she wakes up." Amesis inspected a bandage. Liliana stood by her side. "I spent a bit of time talking to Teegan. She's quite the interesting girl."
"We think so."
"I understand that you Day-lighters have your own agenda -- one that, on the surface at least, I support -- but I have to wonder what her place in it is. Something I could hardly guess, I bet. I ended up telling her more about herself than she told me."
"She's like that," Ren said.
"Beware the quiet ones," Amesis said. "That's something my mother told me. They don't talk because they're thinking of ways to destroy you." There was a knock at the door. "Liliana, would you get that please?"
"Teegan wouldn't hurt a fly."
"She hurt Onli," Amesis said, looking up at Ren as Liliana left the room. "I don't believe she meant to, but she did. Am I right?" Ren said nothing. "I take your silence to mean I'm correct. She has a power. You and many others have your ears -- no, don't deny it -- Tien has his eyes, others have speech, or touch. Some have supernatural empathy, some can smell like bloodhounds . . . and then there is Teegan."
They heard a scream, and the collapse of a body. Shouts came from the front of the clinic. Ren looked at Onli, and then darted for the entrance.
He found two drenched and angry soldiers, and another man that Ren placed as someone from an inn some time ago. Then, from a distant memory, Ren heard the sound brrang.
"You?!" The man said, and he pushed to the front, stepping over a cowering Liliana. "You're one of the Day-lighters from the inn!" He turned to the soldiers. "Spread out! Momono is here, I know it!" The two soldiers, both wearing dented and ruined armor, moved into the clinic with swords drawn. Ren's hand reached for his sword hilt, but it wasn't there. He remembered taking it off before resting in the waiting room -- the waiting room Teegan currently slept in.
He didn't see her at the inn. He doesn't know about her. He's just looking for us and Momono, because of whatever Momono did to get out of Breston.
"Don't make any moves!" One of the soldiers shouted in Ren's face. Ren closed his eyes and didn't move. He didn't look toward the waiting room. He hoped Teegan had woken up already. A gust blew across him from the open door, and his skin prickled with the chill of the storm.
"Find the doctor!" Roland, the fat man from the inn, yelled. "If he gets away I'll cut your throats!" He looked at Ren. "I have a lot of questions for you," he said. "You're going to tell me where your friend the Councilwoman's son is."
"I don't know where he is," Ren said. "He separated from us after we left the inn you were in."
"Liar," Roland said, smiling. "Witnesses at the Titan's Mug say you were there with him when he sang. You and the other one that I fought. You're going to tell me where they are, or-"
"Sir!" One of the soldiers appeared. "We have the doctor and the nurse! There's also a woman here, badly burned! She's unconscious!"
Roland's fat face shifted into an ugly leer. "I remember her, too," he said. "Bring her out here!"
"No!" Ren shouted.
"Do it!" Roland said.
"No! I swear, we don't know where the other two are!" Ren said. "We were going to meet up with them after they escaped Breston, but . . . they took too long! Please, don't touch her, she's very hurt!"
"Bring her out here," Roland said again. "And wake her up. Bring the doctor and the nurse, too." He drew his sword and pointed it at Ren. "Go, I'll make sure this one doesn't move."
Ren and Roland stood very still, hearing the movement from the next room. Amesis protested moving Onli until a sudden stop. He appeared rubbing his jaw, prodded forward by one of the soldiers. The nurse and the other soldier supported a groggy Onli. Ren went to help Onli, and the soldier drew his sword.
"Everybody all right out here?" Amesis said to Ren. Ren took a moment and then nodded.
"I'm fine."
"All of you, outside," Roland said. "You, doctor, have some things to answer for." He looked at Ren and Onli. "And you two are going to tell me everything you know. Outside, now."
He and the soldiers marched them past the waiting room and out the door. Wet wind gusted in the empty waiting room's open window.
The doctor said he sent Tien and Momono east, so she ran that way. She had nothing with her, and didn't know what she would do if she couldn't find Tien or Momono. She knew there were Day-lighters east -- she'd have to find them herself. She wondered if she could find her own red ball.
The storm yanked her in every direction with powerful winds and strong rain. It soaked her almost before getting to the edge of the village. Her hood was down and her hair flapped behind her like a bright banner. She wondered if she should take the small knife Onli trusted her with and cut it to attract less attention.
She ran until the rain forced her to stop. She fell to her knees and braced herself with her hands, panting.
She didn't want to cry; she wanted to keep going. She placed her head against the ground as the wind and rain attacked. She was their enemy, and they fought her.
Onli's thrown body tumbled in the soaked grass, smoke rising from the burnt flesh.
She felt tears drop from her eyes, disappearing in the running water.
For a brief, silent second, no rain fell. The air was dry.
She covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to sob too loudly. The storm crashed overhead, applauding her misery.
The sky opened up, and the sun burst through, showering the plain not with rain, but blessed, beautiful sun, bringing aching light instead of wretched darkness and heat instead of cold. She watched as the clouds went away, scattered by the sun's force. The entire world was open, and Teegan's hair sparkled.
"I think I see something over there," Tien said, peering through the rain. "It's a little lump on the ground." Thunder cracked.
They had been following the trail of coins back toward the village. Momono was having trouble figuring out what time it was. Some of the coins had been washed away by the rain, but Tien would usually be able to spot the next one. "I don't remember seeing anything like that the first time."
"Can you tell what it is?" Momono asked.
Tien shook his head. "It could be a lot of things. The rain is too heavy for me to see it." He stared for a little bit.
Lightning pulsed down, and Tien jumped. He took off, running from the path of coins. Momono stood taken aback, and then ran after him, stumbling in the wet grass. Tien easily outstripped him, running with manic energy. Just as Momono saw a huddled mass on the ground, Tien slid to his knees and collided with it. It came alive, and latched on to him. Momono got closer and found Tien clutching a sodden, miserable, lonely Teegan. He felt a surge of energy and caught up, dropping to his knees like Tien had. Teegan disconnected from Tien and hugged him, pressing her wet face into his shoulder, shuddering and trembling.
"Then I pushed open the window, grabbed my cloak, and got out the window," Teegan said. "I was so scared. I didn't know what I was going to do."
They were walking back toward the village in the rain. Momono held Teegan's hand. They had pulled off their bandages after finding her, yet she knew it was them anyway. She said she could tell. She'd just finished telling them everything that had happened since leaving Breston. She could barely talk when she told them what had happened when Onli got burned, and they could hardly believe their ears.
"We'll figure out what to do," Tien said. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. How do you feel? You aren't sick?"
Teegan shook her head. "No, not sick."
"We'll be at the village in a few minutes," Tien said. "Let's all try to be quiet. Hopefully they're still in Amesis' office, or at least in the village.
Tien was correct, and soon Momono began to see the village's outer buildings through the rain. They crept up to one of the buildings and started winding their way through the narrow alleys as small streams of water flowed over their feet and under the stilted houses. Despite the muck and gray rain, Teegan's hair sparkled.
They reached Amesis' office, finding it empty and cold. There were no signs of a struggle.
"Teegan, you stay here," Tien said, as he closed the window she'd used to escape. The building started to warm up again. "Momono and I will look around the village. I don't think they'll come back here, but if they do be prepared to hide or escape again."
"I don't wanna hide," Teegan said. "I want to help look for them. Onli's really hurt!"
"We know, but she wouldn't want us risking you. You're more important than any of us. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Teegan frowned and nodded her head sadly. Momono watched Tien walk to the front door. "Coming?" Tien said to Momono. After a pause, Momono followed him back into the rain.
"I ought to gut you," Roland said to doctor Amesis, as he pulled his head up by the hair. Blood ran from bruises and cuts on the doctor's face. Roland dropped him, and he landed in a puddle of mud on the outskirts of the village. "Tricking my men like that. And you thought you'd get away with it? You're lucky I'm a forgiving man. A stupid stunt like that would never work."
Amesis coughed and used one arm to lift himself out of the mud. His other arm was attempting to hold together his ribs. "Well then . . . where are the rest of your soldiers?" He said. Ren stiffened as Roland turned back to him; he almost let Onli fall to the ground. "The mountains got them, didn't they?" He laughed, and groaned. "You're lucky to be alive. They could have taken all of you." He spat out blood. "The mountains don't usually let people go."
Roland's boot caught his stomach, and he collapsed with a grimace on his face. "Shut up!" Roland shouted. "You'll never heal another person after I tell the Council what you tried to do!" Roland cocked his foot back for another swing, then halted. He put the foot down. "In fact, I'm going to make you wish you had never said a word against us. You," he pointed at the soldier that held Liliana. The nurse was soaked to the bone. "Take her behind a house and do whatever you want to her, but . . . make sure she screams."
"No!" Amesis said. He tried to reach out a hand but brought it back quickly, cupping his stomach.
"No, no," Onli whispered just above the rain. Her wet bandages stuck to her skin. "Stop him."
"Wait!" Ren shouted. "Don't do it!"
Roland made the soldier stop. The soldier looked visibly upset. "You have something to say?"
"We'll tell you where Tien and Momono went, as long as you promise not to hurt her," Ren said. "As long as you leave us in peace."
"Leave you in peace?" Roland laughed. "You lot are traitors! Day-lighters and sympathizers, and you're destined for a cold cell at best!" He stopped laughing. "But I'll promise not to hurt you if you tell me where the Councilwoman's son and the other one went."
Ren looked at Onli. She stared back with glazed-over eyes. "They have us," she whispered. The pounding rain nearly drowned it out, but Ren heard it. "We'll figure out a way to get away. We just need to survive until then."
"All right," Ren said. "They went east, in search of us. The only reason we came back to the village was because Onli was too hurt."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Roland asked. He nodded to the second soldier, who had a sword trained on Ren. The soldier lifted it and poked Ren in the back. "What if you're just sending us on another wild goose chase?"
Ren failed to find his voice. "I'm waiting, traitor," Roland said. "You'd better come up with something quickly."
Teegan wandered through the dark, deserted streets of the village, staying in the shadows or under buildings. She couldn't stay inside, even after what Tien had said. Onli was hurt, Ren was in danger, and even nice doctor Amesis was in trouble.
She was looking in an alley at the edge of the village when she saw someone standing looking away from her. It looked like a soldier. She crept closer, staying hidden under a house, and saw that it was a soldier, and he was holding the nurse from doctor Amesis' clinic. She looked wet and scared -- Teegan knew how she felt. She moved a little closer.
She saw a fat man standing over doctor Amesis. He didn't look like a soldier, but he was the one in charge. He was shouting and pointing his sword at something she couldn't see. She got a little closer, and looked around the corner of a building.
She saw the other soldier with his sword pointed at Ren and Onli, and she gasped. For most people, the gasp was too quiet to be heard in the rain, but Ren's head shifted in her direction for just a moment, and the fat man wheeled around, finding her.
Teegan tried to back out from under the house but didn't have enough space. The fat man reached her quicker than she expected and grabbed her hood, dragging her forward on her face. Roland grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Mud covered her face and shirt. Roland yanked her forward, toward the others.
He felt a strange warm gust.
"Spying, eh?" He shouted at Teegan over the storm. "Watching the fun?" He looked at Ren and Onli. "Tell me where they really went, traitor, or I'll cut this poor innocent girl's throat."
Teegan's eyes went from the blade at her neck to the doctor. He very slowly lifted a finger in front of his lips.
"I'm telling you, they went east!" Ren shouted. "I swear, I'm telling the truth! I have nothing else to tell you!"
"Then I hope you're ready to have innocent blood on your hands," Roland said, and brought his sword around for a strike.
"Stop."
Roland's sword halted, and he glanced behind him. Tien and Momono stood in the rain, weapons drawn. Loose bandages gusted around their necks.
"Uh!" Ren said, surprised. They're back!
"There you are, you bastard," Roland said, shoving Teegan forward. He motioned at the two soldiers. They collected Amesis, his nurse, Teegan, Ren and Onli together, immobilized by their swords. "I was hoping I'd get the chance to see you again," Roland said. "I owe you a crack on the head for what you did back to me at that inn." Roland frowned. "But I promised your mother I'd deliver you unharmed."
Momono scowled.
"You though," Roland said, pointing his sword at Tien. "I'm going to gut you right here! I believe I remember you saying that the people you were traveling with were 'no kind of troublemakers.' Just your brother, wife, and-" He stopped, and a wet, ugly grin grew on his face. He twisted his neck to look at Teegan. "Daughter. And here I just thought she was a street urchin. And you!" He gestured at Momono. "A Councilwoman’s son! She thought you knew better! But don't worry, I'll bring you back to her."
"You should talk to the last person who tried to bring me back to her," Momono said, steel in his voice. "I'm afraid it's impossible; I crushed his throat."
Roland sneered. "Childish anger doesn't scare me. I'm a man of actions. I advise you two to keep still, or my blade might just find its way somewhere unseemly."
He looked at Ren. "You lied."
Ren paled. "No. I swear. I thought they went east! Please!"
"Quiet!" Roland snarled, brandishing his sword at the sodden group. "Now, because of you, I have to exact my revenge! I'm going to make you choose, traitor. In this warm rain, pick which one of you will die!"
"Don't do it, Roland!" Tien shouted. "You'll have a fight on your hands against a couple of angry traitors!"
"I said to keep still!" Roland yelled back. "I'm just going to kill one! If you two don't move, the others will go free."
"Don't trust them, Tien!" Ren shouted. Roland moved and cracked him in the jaw with the pommel of his sword.
"Shut up, you! Pick quickly; all this excitement is making me hot!" He pointed his sword at Liliana, the nurse. "This young thing?"
Ren said nothing. Roland moved the sword to point at Amesis. "The good doctor?" He smiled, darting the point closer to Amesis, beaten body. "No, you barely know him." The sword moved to Teegan. "Her? Quite a future ahead of her. I'll cut it down."
Tien's strong eyes saw Ren's clenched lips quiver. He shook his head slightly. Ren said nothing.
"Not her. She's just a niece. Maybe your sister-in-law?" Roland asked. The sword came to rest on Onli's shoulder.
"Me," Ren croaked. "I lied to you, kill me."
"I knew you'd crack eventually," Roland said. He grabbed Onli's hair and pulled her away from Ren.
"No! Kill me!" The soldiers moved in, keeping Ren still.
"You're half dead anyway," Roland said to Onli, who had fallen to her knees. Roland shifted the metal grip of his sword around, as if it was too hot to hold. "I'm doing you a service." He lifted the sword.
"Roland!" Momono shouted. "If you kill her, you'll have to kill me, too!"
Roland hesitated for a moment, the sword, held high, gleaming in the low light. "More childish words," Roland said, and he swung down.
Onli's face landed in a puddle. Her blank eyes gazed down at the ground.
There was a sudden, eerie stillness. There was a quiet never experienced before. Roland and the soldiers looked around. Ren took the chance to jump away; he grabbed Liliana and they fell to the ground.
"What's that?" Roland asked. He looked around -- the immediate area was clear. "I don't believe it . . . the rain's stopped!"
Tien and Momono looked at Teegan.
Her mouth was curling into a vicious snarl -- Little lifts of her lips. Her mud-covered brows bent. Her hands doubled into small, burning fists. The soldiers backed away, feeling prickly heat flow out of her.
It stopped, and she spied the great fire in the sky. She looked at Onli's still body. There was a ringing in her ears. She looked up. Her eyes rose to the clouds. Crushing openness descended on her.
Onli is dead; it is your fault. Everything you did lead to this. You burned her. They didn't stop at the village to protect you. The fat man grabbed you and Onli is dead because of it.
"Get down," Tien said to Momono.
Swirling, blistering heat billowed out from her, the endless patter of rain ceased. The village heard blessed stillness.
Teegan's small body was slouched and bent, her fists curled up to her chest. Her red, furious eyes focused on Roland. He still held the dripping sword.
The world spasmed.
Even as far as Breston the rain stopped. Guards and civilians alike looked up in awe. Soon the sky would reveal greater wonders.
Translucent waves of energy poured out, spreading in a hot bubble. It surged away with all the power of an enraged child. Roland and the soldiers were torn away, driven across the ground like rags. Tien and Momono felt shocking power batter them. Teegan rose higher.
Onli is dead.
Teegan screamed, and the power shot up. All the multitudes of fires inside her scorched the clouds in the dry quiet.
Like a ravaging horde against a fortress, the clouds ripped. A hole grew.
A small light sat in midnight darkness. It twinkled serenely, unaware of the power that had revealed it. All present looked up at it, struck by its cold beauty and the open space around it.
More power blasted forth and tore the hole wider. A panoply of stars greeted them. Tien and Momono gazed up, silent and wondering. Neither could have guessed such splendor rested just over their heads. No man or woman in hundreds of years had seen them.
And then Teegan released everything she had.
She pulverized the clouds before their eyes, striking them to bits in an instant, cleansing even the hard mountains to the north and exposing the whole world to the empty, frightening, hidden abyss on the other side of humanity's gray prison. The world over panicked, and then looked up at what had once been Earth's constant companions. Mars winked down.
Those who could see the sun fell to their knees and cried out in pain and wonder; the rain was gone from their lives for one bright and shining moment. The moon struck mad a multitude, enchanted by its silver gleam.
Teegan hovered there, arms out and head back, roaring. It was the second greatest thing Momono would ever see.
Slowly the near-bottomless chasm of energy was emptied. Teegan floated back down to the ground, pale. Roland was nowhere to be seen. The soldiers had fled, fearing for their lives. Onli's body was untouched.
Teegan touched the ground and crumpled. Ren ran to her and hoisted her in his arms. Tien touched Onli's body. She was still. Momono helped Amesis to his feet with Liliana and gave him an arm to lean on. The five of them, plus the sleeping Teegan, ran back to Amesis' office and gathered their things. They went east even as the clouds started to return.
Tien stood outside the door of the inn, rattling the handle. Either it was stuck, or it was locked. He stood back from the door and got a deluge of water on his head. He shook his hood free and shook his head to get rid of the water, and checked the window of the inn. He saw light, and shadows of people moving back and forth. He banged on the door again, huddling close to the wall.
A moment passed, and a small opening in the door slid open. Small eyes peered out. They spotted Tien, a wet and weary traveler.
"You want in?" The eyes asked.
"Yes," Tien said. "Do you have any room?"
The eyes disappeared, and Tien heard bolts and metal being banged together or apart. The door squeaked open loudly, and a beefy arm appeared out the crack. "Your weapons."
"What?"
"If you're coming in here, you're giving up your weapons. Rule. You aren't getting in with weapons still on you."
"What if I can't?" Tien asked.
"You want to try and sleep out in the rain tonight? You're likely to drown. This is the best inn in fifty leagues all around, and that's cause we have rules. Now . . . weapons."
Tien hesitated for a bit, than dragged out the sword that was under his oiled cloak. He handed it over, but the door still didn't open. The hand beckoned for more. "No smart traveler hands over his only weapon that easily."
"What if we get attacked during the night?" Tien asked. "How are we supposed to protect ourselves?"
"Me, and my guards. They're highly-paid and well-trained. How about it?"
"All right, all right, give me a minute," Tien said. He drew the knife from his boot, both daggers from behind his back, the poison bombs from a hidden pocket, and a red ball from a compartment in his sleeve. "Be very gentle with that ball," Tien warned the hand.
All of the weapons were taken in and deposited somewhere. Finally the door opened fully. On the other side was a large man that possessed the small eyes. Behind him was a man wearing armor and holding a sword.
"I don't fully believe that you've given me all of your weapons yet, but I bet you'd have a hard time running out. You have that look on you," he said, glaring at Tien. He jabbed his thumb at the man behind him. "This is Remy. If you cause any trouble, it's going to be him that throws your unconscious body into the rain and mud. And I tell you what." The big man leaned in. "He loves doing it."
Tien looked at Remy, who was smiling. The smile had a few holes in it.
"Fine. I have a few friends coming later. You have enough space for three more?"
"We'll have to squeeze you in a little bit. There are only two rooms left," the doorman said. "What kind of people?"
"My brother, my wife, and our daughter," Tien said. "No kind of trouble makers."
"All right then. It's fifty iron a person. You get a meal tonight and a meal tomorrow."
"Fifty iron?" Tien said. "This place had better be worth it!"
"It is," the innkeeper said. "And if you don't think so, you're welcome to leave." He pointed out the door, where dark rain created deep puddles.
"My daughter's only eight years. Surely she doesn't cost fifty iron for a night."
The innkeeper thought about it. "Thirty-five for her, then." He stuck out his hand. "Agree?"
"Agree," Tien said, shaking the hand. The doorman led Tien into the main area of the inn. It was a big room, with quadrants around a central serving area. Men sat at the bar, drinking and talking; families sat at the tables, eating and enjoying the heat that was funneled out of grates from a furnace in the basement. "Quite a big place."
"It is." The doorman pointed. "That there's the owner, Umen." Tien followed the finger and found a stringy man with a large black moustache. "Pay him. When are your others coming?"
"They're waiting at the edge of town for me to gather them," Tien said. His eyes roved the big room. "I needed to make sure the place was safe, first."
"I told you, this is the safest place in leagues."
Tien didn't respond. Instead, he took in as many details as he could. His eyes, black stones set in cloudy white pools, absorbed everything and forgot nothing.
People were placed in categories. Not dangerous, possibly dangerous, and dangerous. There were dangerous people in the inn, certainly, but nobody that was outright dangerous to them. Just before Roland walked back to the door, Tien stopped him. "Where's the Newsman?"
"That's him in the corner there with the stand," Roland said, motioning into the corner on Tien's right. An old man sat behind a podium with a pile of books and papers. As Tien watched, the old man licked a finger and turned a page. "He's going to make a report in ten minutes or so, but you can ask him about information any time." Roland walked back to the door, leaving Tien standing in the middle of the entrance way.
He found a seat at one of the few empty tables, and called a serving girl over. He ordered a beer and looked around. Nobody took much notice of him, except perhaps the guards circling the big room. They wouldn't linger on him, though, but instead move on to the next person.
Tien sat silently until the old man rose from his chair and approached the podium. The big room got quieter, but not by much. The Newsman waited until the talking had died down.
"The eighth-hour report, of this the twenty-eighth day of the final month. The new year approaches. The Council of One Hundred has predicted a year of plenty." A few people chuckled. The Council of One Hundred could predict a dozen things for the coming year and have none of them come true. "The rain continues, as it has, with no end in sight." This was par for the course. The rain had been falling since before Tien was born – before even the Newsman. "The Council reports that some Day-lighters have been spotted in the surrounding area, and warns everybody to not give them the time of day, nor the warmth of hearth, nor the taste of bread." Tien frowned. That was troubling. Then again, he suspected every area had the same warning.
The old man went on. "The Sky Watchers say cold is coming, and that we should prepare." This was taken more seriously than the Council's prediction. The Sky Watchers were frequently right. "Ahem . . . some local things . . . " The Newsman read something, adjusting his thick spectacles. "The young boy Fern's dog has gone missing. It is black with brown spots, and not dangerous, though quite likely it is hungry now. It has been missing for three days. If you see it, please tell Fern, his parents, or myself."
Tien zoned out as the Newsman read messages about the area. From a boy's missing dog, all the way down to Mrs. So-and-So has recovered from her bout of illness, the Newsman read. Finally, he finished, and sat behind the podium with his books and papers. The big room's volume started rising again, and quickly it was back to how it had been when Tien had entered.
After a few minutes of waiting, he rose from the table and threaded his way through the crowd to the Newsman. The old man had his own guard, but he let Tien pass.
"Excuse me," Tien said. "I'd like to know more about the Day-lighters that are supposed to be in the area." The Newsman looked up at him. "My family -- my wife, my daughter, my brother -- they're going to be joining me here soon. Do you think the Day-lighters are close?"
"Eh, well, let me see . . . " The Newsman paged through a few loose pieces of paper, trying to find the right one. Finally he picked it out, adjusted his glasses, and squinted down at the message. "Er . . . says it's a bunch of them . . . a bigger group, ten or more. Looks like they were east of here heading north. I doubt they're close. You should be safe."
Tien let out a held breath. "Thank you."
"Of course." The Newsman smiled up at him. "You're very welcome."
Tien made his way back to his empty table and half-full beer, which he drained. After that he went to the center island in the room and paid his fee to the inn's owner, Umen. He handed over the one hundred and eighty-five iron, which Umen accepted without argument. Tien walked back toward the door.
"I'm going to get my family," he told Roland. "May I take my weapons?"
"Yeah, just a minute," Roland responded. He bent and, after producing a key, unlocked a large cabinet. He pulled out a box that was labeled 'Tien.' He handed the weapons to Tien, who was watched closely by Remy as he stowed them. "You'll have to hand them back over when you come back."
"Right," Tien said, and then he opened the door and walked into the cold rain.
It took him twenty minutes to get to the edge of town. The torrential rain made it harder, but Tien had been walking in the rain for all his life. It was something that didn't bother him any more, even when he thought about it.
From the edge of town it was fifteen more minutes until he got to his three traveling companions, huddled together under an old lean-to.
"I wish I may, I wish I might," Tien said first. "It's safe. The Newsman said that the Day-lighters were east and heading north, in a big group."
"The inn?" The woman asked. "Is it safe?"
"Fairly. They make us give up our weapons, but there are a good number of guards hired by the owner."
"What if we don't want to give our weapons up?" Tien's brother, Ren, asked.
"Then we don't get in. The doorman made sure I understood that. I've already paid for all of us. But," Tien looked at his brother. "The doorman seemed to understand that it would be impossible to rid us of every weapon. Just don't overdo it. Give up the obvious ones." Tien's brother nodded.
"How's the food?" The young girl asked. Her bright blonde hair was dripping and clumped. Tien smiled and knelt down.
"I didn't have any, I just stayed long enough to hear the Newsman. It smelled good, though. We'll be able to have some when we get there. Ready to go?"
It took them another forty minutes to get back to the inn. Tien knocked on the door and Roland let them in after taking 'all' of their weapons. Ren very grumpily handed over the weapons that Roland demanded. They sat at an empty table and were served plates of black beans and wet beef, with glasses of beer for the adults and water for the girl. She looked at it with disgust.
"Drink up," Tien said. "Has to get inside you sometimes."
"He's right, honey," Onli said. She pointed at Tien. "Your father knows how to get big and strong."
"I have to be out in the water all day, and then you get to drink beer. It looks a lot better than drinking water." The girl pouted.
"Teegan," Onli said, leaning in. "Drink your water."
The girl sneered, but sipped her drink.
The four of them ate in silence, trying not to attract attention. Teegan was able to force herself to finish half of the glass, but refused to drink beyond that, stating the water was 'yucky.' Tien finished eating first, and spent the rest of the meal scanning the crowd, but he could only look in one direction at a time.
"Someone's coming," Ren said, as he ate.
A short, colorfully dressed man appeared between Tien and Onli, holding a guitar. "Greetings, travelers! I am Momono, a humble singer and tale-teller." He bowed, using one hand to keep his damp hat on his head. "I saw your table of sad faces and decided I must stop by for a visit, if only to give you a bit of fun!" His speech, and big smile, was met by two scowling adults. Teegan was playing with her fork, and Ren was still eating. Momono looked around the table and spotted Teegan. "Dear child!" He said. Teegan's head jerked up, and Momono's mouth dropped open. "Such bright hair!"
He looked at Ren, Tien, and Onli. "Is this girl your daughter?"
"Ours," Onli said. She locked the singer with her gaze. She put Tien's hand in her own. "She is our daughter."
"But you both have such dark hair!" Momono said, all too loudly. A few people noticed them, and were looking. "How did she get such lovely golden tresses?"
Onli let a moment of silence pass. "I'll tell you about my mother," she said.
The tables around them fell silent. Momono didn't say anything. Onli shifted and looked around her. "My mother had long hair like the early sun. She never saw the sun, but old women would tell her she had been blessed -- like a drop of fire had landed on her as a child."
Her voice was low and sweet, and cut under the talking around them. The circle of silent listeners grew. She put her hands under her chin. "My father was like my husband, with hair the color of the coal he mined." She smiled and shot a glance at Tien. "I'll let you interpret that as you wish. My father saw my mother in a big city and, like many men, young and old, was brainwashed by her bright hair. Unlike other men, though, she saw him looking. Here was a man who did not look away, and that attracted her. They told me this many years later," Onli said, taking a small sip of her beer. She put it down slowly. Nearly the entire inn was quiet now.
"They began to court, and were married." She spread her hand on her chest. "I was produced, via normal means." Listeners chuckled. "I take my dark hair from my father, but . . . " She looked at Teegan, who was trying to sit low in her chair. "My own daughter decided to ignore her parents, and took after her grandmother." Onli slipped a few fingers into the fan of Teegan's hair. "It's a bit darker than my mother's, I'm afraid. But it's quite something, isn't it?"
The crowd took a moment to realize she had stopped talking and asked them a question. "Yes ma'am," Momono said. He held his cap in his hands. "It's lovely."
Tien rose. "That's enough for tonight. It's time we get to bed. We have a lot of travel in front of us. Come, Teegan," Tien said, holding out his hand. The girl gripped it and the two of them, followed by Ren and Onli, went up the stairs to their room. They split, with the women in one and the men in the other.
Ren shut the door behind him. "That was close," he said quietly. Tien nodded as he took off his cloak and hung it to dry. "It's a shame this town only has one inn. That was the most crowded room I've ever seen."
"Thank God for Onli," Tien said. "That story has explained us away more times than I can count. It's no mystery why she's so good at telling it. She's got the whole thing memorized, down to the dramatic pauses."
"Even I was drawn into it, and I've heard it before," Ren said.
"Check the hallway," Tien ordered. Ren pressed his ear against the door and nodded to Tien. Tien knocked twice on the wall between their room and Onli's.
Two knocks returned, and then he knocked thrice. Three more knocks came back. He nodded at Ren.
They laid out on the two cold beds. For a while the only sound were their cloaks draining onto the floor.
"Are you sure this place is safe?" Ren whispered. "There were a lot of people down there. Any one of them could have been-"
"I know," Tien said, even quieter than Ren. "We didn't have any other choice. It was this or spend another night out in the cold and wet, or beat the odds and have someone welcome us in for the night. I don't think we need to worry, though. Even if some people were spies, there were too many people for them to look at."
"Onli's story attracted everyone except for the Newsman. If somebody was trying to find us, they would have seen us," Ren responded. He held up a hand in the low light before Tien responded. A voice went by the door, muttering to someone. The voice disappeared, but Ren kept his hand up.
When he lowered it, Tien responded. "We've done this before. It was nothing more than a good story. Onli and Teegan know how to play their parts."
"I'll be glad when we leave here, anyway. While I was eating, I thought I heard something that I didn't like," Ren said.
"What sort of thing?"
Ren didn't respond immediately. "I'm not sure, but it had a tone that made it seem secretive."
"It could have been anything," Tien said.
"You aren't the listener," Ren said. "You're the seer. If I hear something and don't like it, you should be worried."
"I'm worried. I'm always worried. We'll leave early in the morning. Now get some sleep."
"Wake up. Tien, wake up."
Ren shook Tien until his eyes came open. "We're in trouble."
Tien immediately pulled himself out of bed and took a waking breath. "What do you hear?"
"Far too many boots, and far too heavy, for a place like this at this hour. They've come. Somebody must have tipped them off to our presence."
"Get your weapons ready," Tien said. He banged on the wall three times and ran to his pack. From it he pulled a small harmonica. Hurrying, he banged on the wall three more times. Three tired bangs responded to his. "How's the rain? Can we get out through the window?"
Ren ran and opened the shutter and stuck his head into the rain. He came back dripping. "Wall's too steep; nothing to hold on to. You and I and Onli might be able to make it-"
"But it's not an option for Teegan," Tien finished. Four pounds came from the other room "How many?"
Ren cocked his head. "Too many." Tien pounded twice on the wall. Two pounds came back.
"Let's go," Tien said. Ren nodded. He had small object in his hand. Ren listened for a moment, and opened the door.
There was a great commotion in the main area, down the stairs. Tien heard a jumble of voices but couldn't pick them out. He moved to Onli's room and knocked twice. Onli and Teegan exited, ready to travel.
"How many?" Onli asked. Ren answered the same as before while Tien checked the hallway behind them.
"It looks like this way leads somewhere else. It might just be more rooms, but it could be a back door. After me; Ren, you're in the back." Ren nodded, and Tien started down the dark hallway. He felt his way until his eyes adjusted to the dark.
They made their way silently, listening to the heavy footsteps come up the stairs. They kept moving as the assailants stopped at their rooms and bashed the doors open. Teegan hurried along behind Tien, mouth set and eyes trained on his back.
Tien stopped them, focusing ahead. He perceived some inhuman shift in the hallway's light, and turned to the door on his left. He pushed it open quickly and the other three rushed in. He pointed at the stunned occupants of the double bed; Ren and Onli jumped on them. Tien closed the door slowly without a sound. Teegan knelt next to him.
Tien listened. His hearing didn't match Ren's, but it was still good. He heard the heavy boots in the hallway from the direction they were heading. They stopped, and he started to hear angry voices, all along the vein of "they got away?!" He smiled.
The man under Onli, who's mouth was blocked by her hand, grunted and tried to talk through. Onli brought a menacing finger to her lips, and then recognized the person. "Momono!" She whispered. Momono nodded, and lifted his hands over his head to show he was unarmed. Onli looked at Tien, who nodded after a quick thought.
"You're the woman that told the story!" He said, too loudly. Onli slapped his mouth closed.
"And you're a singer who needs to keep his mouth shut," she said. Momono nodded. She took her hand away and looked at the other person lying on the bed. "Who's your friend?"
"A bed-warmer," Momono said. The woman tried to say something indignant through Ren's hand. Onli ignored her.
"Both of you, stay quiet," she said. She looked over at Tien, who had his ear pressed against the door.
Tien looked back. "They're going to start checking the rooms from the outside in to make sure we don't escape. It sounds like most of them have gone to the exit in the back."
"Then we head for the front entrance as quickly as we can," Ren said. He got off of the woman that had shared Momono's bed. "Get ready to run," he said to Teegan. "You know what to do if one of us falls." Teegan nodded again, and looked worried. Onli jumped off the bed and went to the other side of the door, ready to move.
Ren listened, waiting for the perfect time. "Now," he said, and Tien opened the door. Onli, Teegan, and Ren ran. Tien was moments behind them when Momono stopped him.
"Wait." Tien stopped and looked behind him. He was a dark shape in the doorway. "You four, you're Day-lighters, aren't you?" The singer asked.
Tien stood in the threshold. His strong vision presented him an image of Momono kneeling on the bed, looking with a hungry expression. Tien watched him for a moment, then ran after the other three.
He met up with Ren, Onli, and Teegan at the top of the stairs that led down to the main area. The Council's soldiers were inspecting every hidden cranny of the large room. Tien could hear the soldiers in the hallway behind them rousting sleeping visitors, looking for them. "Not a lot of time."
"Tien and I go hard and try to make an opening," Ren said. "Onli, you and Teegan go when you see one." Onli nodded. Ren stood and, gripping one end, pulled on the device he held. A long metal tube appeared. "Maybe we'll get lucky, and we can get to our weapons."
"Maybe we'll get lucky, and we can get out of here," Tien responded. He bent down. "Now!"
He and Ren jumped down the steps, making a great noise. In the big room were a half dozen soldiers, plus four guards from the inn, which included Remy, and the doorman. He stood with his fists on his hips, directing the soldiers. They all turned when the two men appeared.
The first soldier Ren hit was too slow, and he got a shaft of metal in the eye. Another appeared, knocking over a table and swinging his sword at Ren, who blocked it and gave the soldier a kick in the stomach for his trouble. Remy stopped Tien on his way to the weapon locker, and the big guard leered, raising his sword high.
Tien snapped his harmonica forward and a spring shot a blade out of the side, which shortly met Remy's lung. The man fell with a crash and a shout, and Tien smashed open the locker with their weapons. He pulled his sword out, and blocked an attack.
"Thought there was something odd about you!" The doorman shouted. "All I had to do was call some soldiers, and they picked you out of the pile with your red ball trick!" He swung, but it was slow and clumsy. Tien blocked it easily and let him keep talking. Behind the doorman, Ren was beating a soldier to death with his metal stick. "A simple item to signal potential allies!" He swung again.
Tien pushed the sword aside and used his hilt to knock Roland's temple. He expected an easy end to the fight, but the doorman jumped backwards. "You Day-lighters! Not many of you left, are there!" Roland's face turned into a greedy smile. "And when I kill you, I'll be a rich man! Know my name, scum! I am Roland!"
"It's worthless to try and explain myself, isn't it?" Tien asked. "To tell you that we're trying to save this world?"
"Shut up!" Roland shouted. A soldier was running to help him. Tien wondered where Onli and Teegan were. "I know your lies! The Council knows what you really want to do!"
There was a smash behind Roland, and he looked. Tien took the chance. He punched the doorman in the face and darted past him, finding Ren surrounded by soldiers too clumsy to catch him. He kicked the first one forward, threw Ren his sheathed sword, and engaged the next soldier. He knocked it back with a strong blow to his metal chest piece, and looked at Ren. "Onli?" Ren only shrugged.
One of the inn's guards stepped in front of Tien and attacked. Tien side-stepped and stomped down on the guard's wrist. He heard a wet snap and the guard dropped his sword, screaming. A soldier wrapped his arms around Tien from behind, and another approached from in front. Tien kicked but missed. There was a commotion from the stairs.
Tien looked and saw another ten guards storming down toward them from the hallway. He didn't see Onli or Teegan, and the soldier's sharp swords were clean.
Tien dropped his sword and muscled his way out of the soldier's grip, dropping to the floor and grabbing one of the soldier's ankles. The soldier toppled down and Tien snatched his sword. Ren cut down a guard next to him. More than a dozen soldiers approached them, all armed. Ren and Tien backed away, keeping their swords up and ready. "Don't kill them!" They heard. Tien spotted Roland behind the soldiers and guards. "They need to be alive for the reward!" He seemed to think. "Actually, I want a go at that one!" He pointed at Tien. "He-"
His words were cut off with a loud brrang. The soldiers looked behind them and found Momono standing with a busted guitar over Roland's supine body.
"Er," Momono said. "Don't mind me."
"Get 'im," one soldier said to another. That soldier turned and advanced on the singer.
Before he could reach him, a tiny dart caught him in the neck. He yelped and slapped his hand over it, which led him to being available for a punishing blow from Onli, who leapt down the stairs and upended him onto his head. She kept moving, taking the next soldier with a hit to the small of his back. That soldier fell into another, and suddenly a hole existed for Tien and Ren. They took advantage of it, pressing through and keeping their swords up.
"Teegan?" Tien asked Onli when they reached her. The soldiers were reforming their ranks.
"Later," she said.
Now it was three against fifteen or more, but they had a free path to the door for the moment. Tien made for it first, followed by Onli. One guard tried to get in her way, but she bowled him over. Tien scooped up as many of their weapons as they could and kicked the door.
It didn't open, and he teetered back, off balance. Ren pushed him back up, and kicked at the door. This time it swung open into the wet morning. The three ran out, dashing through deep puddles of mud and filth. The soldiers tried to chase after them, but were too burdened by their armor to keep up. The three ran through the dark streets of the town until they were out of breath. They buckled and hid their numerous weapons as they gulped down air and rain.
"Where's Teegan?" Tien asked.
"She and Momono escaped out the back while the soldiers where busy with us," Onli said. "I told them we'd try to meet them by the north side of town in a half hour. We'd better get going if we want to make it."
They moved on. The town was waking up, mostly because of the din the soldiers and guards were making, searching for them. They had to hide as groups went by, but it was still dark enough to do so easily. Soon they got to the north edge of the town, and Tien spotted Teegan and the singer hiding under a house, hidden from everyone but him.
Teegan ran to them, and they embraced her. The rain clumped her hair, and even her thick cloak was soaked through after lying in water almost a half an hour. Momono came to them slower, and as soon as he got close enough, Tien grabbed him.
"Who are you?" He shouted as his hands wrapped around Momono's thin arms. "What do you want?" He shook the singer. Rainwater fell from hollows in his clothes. "Why did you help us?"
"Tien," Onli said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right. He made sure that Teegan could escape. Without him, you'd probably be dead."
Tien looked over Momono. The singer tried to smile.
Tien dropped him, and he crumpled to the ground in a pile of wet clothes. "Let's go," Tien said. "We don't have a lot of time before it gets light enough. The soldiers are going to be all over here in an hour." He turned around and started to walk away from the town.
"Wait!" Momono said, scrambling to his feet. "I want to come with you!"
"And why would you want to do that?" Ren asked. "Do you really want to help us, or is it for something else? What is it -- personal gain?" Ren moved in a bit closer. "Are you an agent for the Council, just to gain our trust and turn us over later?"
"No! No! N-none of that!" Momono said, waving his hands frantically. "Really!"
"Then tell us why!"
Ren had his hand on the hilt of his sword. Teegan was standing next to Onli, whose hands didn't stray far from the girl. Tien was scanning the area, looking through the rain. Momono took a breath.
"I heard the Newsman, just like you did," he said to Tien. "Before you went and got the others. He said that the Day-lighters were in a big group and heading north, that they weren't in the city." Momono paused. "Why were you there? Where are the rest of your group?"
"Interesting questions," Tien said. "Ones that we don't want to answer. You'd better come up with a good reason for wanting to know, and quick."
Momono swallowed, and brushed rain out of his eyes. "Day-lighters. Enemies of the council and humans. Men and woman-" he looked at Teegan "-and children who want to open the clouds in the sky and burn the Earth with the hot sun. Hunted by the Council's soldiers, and guards, and farmers. Welcome nowhere. Friends of no one. Enemies of everyone." Momono started to get on better ground. "It's a hard dose to swallow. The Council wants us to believe that you would kill us all. But I know; you can't possibly."
Momono nodded. "You aren't crazed. I can see that. You're no fanatics or wild people with disease-addled brains. You." He pointed at Tien. "You made sure the inn was safe before getting the others, and all of you played your parts in the inn when I so foolishly picked you out of the crowd. Even you, little one, I know was acting." He looked at Onli. "You aren't married to this man. She isn't your daughter. I would have called you out in the inn, but your story was too good. It was better than I could come up with. You have a gift of words."
Onli nodded.
"But there was no doubt about your identities when you so rudely intruded in my room just a little while ago. So. You're Day-lighters. Not crazed cultists. The Council wants you dead and gone." Momono pushed his chest out. "I want to help you."
The Day-lighters waited. "Is that all?" Ren asked. Momono shrugged. Ren, Tien, and Onli exchanged glances.
"Stay there and don't move," Tien said. The four of them huddled together and started whispering.
Momono really didn't move, brought about by one part determination and one part fear. He stood shivering, warming himself with his hands. He tried to figure out which way the conversation was swinging. Finally they broke apart. Tien approached him.
"You can come with us," he said, glancing back at Onli. "With a few conditions. These are not negotiable. One: you get no weapons."
"Don't have any," Momono said. "The reason I broke my guitar over that man's head is that was the only thing I could use."
"Fine. The second condition is, if you disappear during the night, or when we aren't looking, or anything, we'll assume you've run off to the Council's soldiers and told them where we're traveling. If that happens, and if we happen to see you again, we'll kill you."
The words were said with ultimate emphasis. No part could be misunderstood, or pity the fool. "Okay," Momono said, trying not to display how quickly his heart pounded.
"Third, and final, condition. This is to make sure that you are absolutely sure that you want to understand us. In exchange for being told what we know, and what we wish to do, you will, on the surface only, lead the Day-lighters."
Momono didn't respond. He didn't fully understand.
"This means that, if you are captured, or several of us are, you will be the one who is pegged as the ring leader of our little group. In addition, you will always go with one of us on scouting missions, such as when I went to the inn to make sure it was safe. You will hold no real power. Do you follow?"
"Yes, I think I do." Maximum danger.
"Do you accept?" Tien asked. A curtain of rain hid him from Momono's view for an instant, and the singer's heart lurched. The rain lessened, and the stern man's face appeared again.
"I accept," Momono said. "I'm ready."
"Then follow."
The rain didn't stop -- it never did -- as the clouds gained a dim, glowing light, but it did let up a little bit. The Day-lighters and Momono traveled north, crossing a wide river. They emerged just barely wetter than they entered it, and took some time to shake loose the water. It was never worth taking too long, as the rain always gave it right back. While they walked, Onli took the time to explain.
"Everyone knows the stories," she said when Momono asked. "While now it's rain everyday, or snow if it's cold enough, it wasn't like that before. Before there were days when the rain stopped, the clouds pulled apart like a curtain, showing us the greater sky. The sun was not a hidden, deformed creature that fought to warm us, but the most powerful thing humanity could imagine. It was a fire in the sky; the only respite was night. There were sometimes weeks when not a cloud blocked it."
She paused to haul herself over a rotten log. "It happened too long ago for anyone to remember, but the clouds came, and the rain came, and that was anything that could be seen in the sky for hundreds of years. Humanity was greater, once. It controlled the beasts, the elements." She looked up as she walked; rain fell in her eyes. "Even the sky. But no longer."
Momono listened to her solemn voice, held captive. He knew about the sky, and the sun, and humanity's past greatness. Everyone did.
"We forgot the sun's warm love, and began to think that the cold rain was the only sky that had ever been. Imagine: to raise your eyes to the sky and be blinded, not by hard rain but undying warmth." Onli smiled. "It was a dream everyone had, until the first generation all died. Soon those that had lived under the sun were all gone. In my tale, in the inn, I said that old women told my mother about the sun, but even they would have been too young.
"I feel I'm rambling. One thing was remembered -- that the sun was there, still waiting behind the clouds. More, some believed that it could be found again. Many people started to resent the sun for leaving, or being the cause of the rain. They started to hate, and fear it." Onli looked at Momono. "Do you understand so far?"
"Yes," Momono said.
"Our group -- we were called the Day-breakers when we started -- appeared and tried to get people to join us. To bring the sun back." She shook her head. "We were attacked. 'Bringing the sun back will burn us,' they said. 'We will dry up and die!' What silliness."
"I know that. The Council thinks you're going to use the sun to burn them up and gain power for yourself," Momono said.
"The sun couldn't do such a thing any more than a drizzle could drown a man," Onli said. "And gain power?" She looked around. "The four of us?" Throwing her head back, she laughed. "We're no rulers. We just want the sun. We want to clear the clouds and warm tired bones for the first time in ten generations."
"But how?"
"That was a question not even half answered until several years ago. The people who started our group, before you or I were even born, guessed that something could be done with the machines that humans had long abandoned when the sun disappeared. The rain had made them difficult to use. You've heard of electricity?" Momono nodded. "The machines wouldn't work without them. Few things could generate their own electricity, and the things that could needed power from something else, and knowledge that nobody possessed. The earliest Day-lighters were lost, and didn't know what to do." Onli fell silent.
Momono waited for a few minutes. They were walking through a field. After not too long, his curiosity got the better of him. "So what did they do?"
"They looked," Tien said. Momono was surprised to hear him. "They looked for knowledge that someone knew, or had hidden. They found a little bit, and taught themselves, but it wasn't enough. Even then, they didn't know if there was a machine that could do what they wanted."
Onli was nodding. "They looked for machines, information, and people. People to help them join the cause and bring the sun back. As their influence spread, so did the number of people who feared them. They began to be persecuted. They had to travel in smaller numbers."
"We're just one of several groups," Ren interjected.
"It's been difficult for us," Onli said. "We're hated because we want to bring humanity back into the light; because we want to get back to what we had before."
"I have so many questions," Momono said.
"We'll talk more later," Onli said. "Right now let's concentrate on walking. The rain's getting worse."
They traveled for a long time. Momono was exhausted by the time they stopped for the night. He was used to moving around, but usually it was from one town to the next, to spend a few nights singing and telling stories for coin and food. When they stopped his feet were sore, his back ached, and he was freezing.
Tien and Ren set up a blanket between a few trees to keep the rain off of them. They built a small, smokey, sputtering fire out of wet wood that didn't last long. From their expressions, Momono guessed this was far too normal. They had a little cold food, and they were gracious enough to share some of it with him. He wolfed it down; the rest of them nibbled.
The rain had fluctuated from pouring to misting over the day, right now it was dropping thick, heavy drops that ran down the suspended blanket and turned into mud.
Everyone was tired, and decided to sleep. The three adults picked numbers to keep the first watch. Tien lost.
Ren, Onli, and Teegan feel asleep rather quickly, but Momono wasn't used to the cold. He found himself awake and being stared down by Tien, who sat against a tree.
"Your fingers," Tien said. He was wrapped in his damp cloak. The rain came down around them and made it hard to hear. "They have calluses."
"From playing the guitar," Momono said. "You must press down to make the right sound." He fell silent under Tien's hard scrutiny. He shifted uncomfortably on the hard, cold, wet ground.
"Do you know what I'm called?" Tien asked. Momono looked at him. "I'm the seer. My eyes," he said as he pointed. "They're stronger than normal people's. I see very well." He leaned forward. The minor glow from the fire's embers gave him shadows. "I see there's something about you that you aren't telling us, and I want you to know something."
Momono waited for him to continue. The only sound was the constant rain.
"You said you have to press down hard to make the right sound with a guitar. If I think what you aren't telling us is dangerous, I will press down on you until you make the right sound. And I know how to press."
"I understand," Momono said. Tien leaned back against his tree. "You don't want any trouble to come to you or your friends. I might not be a seer, but I notice things. You were ready to beat me when I came up to your table in the inn and pointed out the girl's hair. You gave most of your weapons away, but I know you had some hidden."
Tien did nothing.
"You're a seer . . . Onli is a speaker, that much is obvious. Ren? Teegan?" Momono asked. "Or perhaps I'm prying."
Tien had a small smile. "Ren is a listener. Teegan is also a speaker, at least we think she might be. We'll know more as the years pass."
"Why is Teegan with you?" Momono asked. Tien looked at him suddenly, with the straight, unwavering vision of a person galvanized by someone else's words. "She's more than just a member?"
Tien didn't answer. He stood. In an instant he stood beside Momono, who scrambled to get out of the way. Tien's hand clamped down around the singer's wrist, and the next thing Momono knew, a dagger's point pressed into the skin on his wrist.
"You're asking a lot of questions for a singer," Tien hissed. Momono saw the anger in his eyes. "You remember our rules?"
"Yes. If I leave, you kill me. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." The two men stared at each other for a moment. Momono felt the dagger's point dig slightly deeper with each breath. Tien held the weapon still, ready to plunge it deep.
Then he stood. He loomed over Momono and slipped the dagger away. Without a word he went back to his tree and settled down. He looked at Momono for a minute. "Teegan isn't normal." Momono didn't say anything. "We rescued her from a Council facility. They were trying to discover the source of her power."
"Do I get to know the power?" Momono asked.
Tien nodded. He looked at the small lump on the ground where Teegan was. "She can generate heat." He looked at Momono. "Not like you or I generate heat. It's much more, almost like she has a furnace hidden inside her. We heard about her from a drunk man who used to be a guard where she was kept. He'd been fired for drinking." Tien smiled. "We were able to get him drunk and angry enough for him to spill his guts."
Momono picked up on the subtle double-meaning of the words. "What were they doing to her? In the facility?"
Tien shrugged. "We don't know for certain. She doesn't have a good memory of it for one. Two, after we got her out, the Council decided to disband the facility, and everybody who'd worked there up and vanished. You can guess what probably happened to them," Tien said. Momono nodded. "We do know a few things. They examined her body. There are scars-" Tien traced lines across his torso, head, and limbs "-all over her. They tried to find the source of the heat. When we got her out she had bandages on half of her body." He dropped his hands. "We've guessed at some of the other things they did to her, but we don't know. If she knows she isn't telling us."
"And you think that she could have a solution." Momono pointed at the sky. "You know, for the sun."
Tien shrugged. "That was one reason. A lot of us have started to dislike a good number of the Council's practices, just because of the way they've treated us. You have to admit that what they did was cruel." Momono nodded. "If she turns out to have an ability we can use, than so much the better."
The two of them fell silent. Momono was even starting to get tired. He fell asleep shortly after. Tien stayed awake. He kept his strong eyes moving through the darkness, looking for anything -- man or beast -- that would try to sneak up on them. Every once in a while he would snatch a glance at Momono, Ren, Onli, or Teegan.
It took them another day to reach a town. The rain was a heavy mist that obscured their vision and weighed down their clothes. The clouds were relatively light.
Walking in a forest, they came across a well-worn path with gutters along the side. A few people were on the path with them, and they all seemed to be heading in the same direction.
At the end of the path they found a partial clearing with a few buildings. As Momono, Teegan, Onli, and Ren looked around, Tien looked up. The others followed his eyes.
Far above them, wrapped around giant trees, were buildings. They looked attached to or even built into the sides of the trees, and were connected by long, strong rope bridges. The bridges went up and down and out farther than most of them could see. The five of them stared in wonder.
"I don't understand," Teegan said. "Wouldn't the wood be too damp to hold something like that?"
"I'm not sure," Onli said. She turned to Tien. "What do you see?"
"Some soldiers," Tien said, scanning the bridges and walkways. "They don't seem to be looking for anything in particular." He studied on of the soldiers. "Than again, we got caught last time and they weren't looking for anything at all. We all need to be very careful," he whispered. "Teegan, keep your hood up. Momono, don't do any-" He stopped and studied the singer. "Actually, why don't you come with me."
The inn's stained wood door creaked open, and instead of a large, cheery, full crowd like the last inn, this one was rather dank and empty. Momono and Tien entered, and Tien took in the details of the inn quickly. It was a place for rougher characters, but it was smaller, and Tien guessed they would be safer here.
They entered the city and walked along the bridges, astounded at their strength. Even on thin passages they didn't sway or creak. Momono stopped to ask a citizen about it, and the citizen explained with some pride that the anchors went deep into the monstrous trees, which also supplied the wood to make the buildings and walkways.
Tien nudged Momono, and the singer wandered to the counter at the inn. "How much for five people to stay the night?" He asked, trying to put on an air of confidence. He leaned against the counter and began to study his nails, as if looking at the innkeeper would have been too much trouble.
"A hundred iron, drinks extra," the innkeeper responded. He was like many innkeepers: large, hairy, and greasy. Momono half suspected they came with the building.
"What about food?" Momono asked.
"Not included, but it's good and cheap. It'll fill you up, put some meat on your bones. What'll it be?"
Momono looked in the innkeeper's eyes and said exactly what Tien had told him. "One our number is young, just a girl. She won't take up much space. I'll give you ninety-five."
"Still a hundred." The innkeeper poured a drink. "But lemme get a look at her and I won't charge as much for her meal, if what you say's true."
Momono hesitated, still leaning against the counter. Would he make a potentially dangerous decision without asking Tien? Or would he ask Tien, possibly exposing the fact that Momono was just pretending to lead the group?
He settled on a third option. Without a word, he pushed off from the counter and motioned to Tien to follow him. Together they left the inn.
"I asked him about a refund, and he said he'd charge us less for Teegan's meal if he saw her," he said as they walked high above the ground.
"You were right to tell me. I think it will be fine. Most of the people were either there for a cheap drink or to make sure nobody noticed them. It should be safe, but we'll have to take precautions."
"Like?"
"You'll see."
They made their way down to earth, and found where Ren and Onli had stashed themselves. Tien explained the stipulation. "Keep your hair tied back," he said to Teegan. "Keep your hood up. If he does see something, hopefully he'll just think it's a trick of the light. Teegan nodded as she tied a knot around her hair and put it down the back of her cloak.
They went back to the inn. Ren, Onli, and Teegan all walked the same as Momono and Tien had at first, afraid of losing their balance and plummeting down a hundred feet for a messy end. Momono told them what they had found out, about the trees and the pathways. Teegan continued to step carefully, even after being told.
They got back to the inn and found it fuller. Tien nodded Momono on, and he approached the counter with Teegan.
"Here she is. Like I said, not even ten years," the singer said. The innkeeper looked up.
"I'm gonna be nine next month!" Teegan said, a little upset.
A wide, surprising, grin spread on the innkeeper's face. "Of course you are!" He beamed down. "I'll make a note for the waitress to charge a bit less for the lass," he said to Momono. "What's your name?"
"Momono."
The innkeeper paused and frowned. Momono's stomach squeezed. "Why does that name sound familiar?" The innkeeper said, scrawling on a little square of paper. "I know I've heard it before . . . "
"I-I'm a singer!" Momono said, startled. "I'm somewhat well-known in the south! Perhaps you've heard someone talk about my stunning rendition of 'The Girl of Gerry-Main!'"
"Maybe that's what it was!" The innkeeper said. He pointed his pencil at Momono. "A singer? Why don't you give the boys here a good song? I bet you could make a fair bit of iron! The gents love a rousing song!" He swung his arm at the current patrons. Momono saw more lifted glasses than eyes.
"I . . . can't. I lost my guitar. I don't like singing without it."
"Oh? How'd you lose it?"
Momono blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "A bear ate it!"
He and the innkeeper looked at each other for a moment. "I think he was as surprised as I was," Momono said. "It was dark, and . . . I guess the beast was hungry."
"Ah . . . well . . . all right then," the innkeeper said. "I've got the note all written down. Why don't you bunch take a seat and we'll get your food out to you."
Momono and Teegan left the counter and went back to the other three.
"How'd it go?" Tien asked.
"Fine, mostly," Momono said. He noticed Ren was smiling. "I panicked."
"Clearly," Ren said. They found a table and took their seats. Nobody in the building gave them even a glance. Teegan kept her hair hidden nonetheless.
They sat quietly for a few minutes in the flickering light, listening to the rain outside. Eventually a limping waitress appeared. She set down a platter of bowls. Stew, full of chunks of potatoes and carrots and bits of beef, filled them up. In front of Teegan she set a special plate. On it was white rice, soggy tomatoes, and-
"I don't believe it," Ren said. "Chicken." He looked up at the waitress. "We can't afford this."
The waitress shrugged. "Fenny's got a soft place for younglings. He had a daughter that died of rain-sick, I think. He got his hands on some of this for a cheap price, and he wants her to have it, free of charge. For the rest of you it's forty iron all."
Momono handed over the money. "Tell Fenny thank you, from all of us."
"I surely will," the waitress said, and limped off.
"You enjoy that," Ren said. "You know how rare chicken is around here."
Teegan nodded. Despite herself, she wore a smile. They all began eating.
The food was as described. It was cheap, simple food to fill your belly and warm you up and little more. Teegan described the chicken to Momono, who had never tasted it. She said it was 'weird, but weird in a good way.' Momono nodded thoughtfully, as if the description actually meant anything.
They sat at the table and talked for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth and dryness. The inn never got much busier, and most people were just there for drink, as Tien had guessed. After a little while they went up to their room.
It was a single room around the outside of the tree. There were no beds, but large mounds of hay covered with sheets. It looked like there was enough space for eight or more people. There was a covered torch that Tien lit once they got inside, and it was plenty warm and dry. They all picked a mound and bedded down, shaping their pile to be more comfortable. Teegan fell silent quickly, but the adults stayed awake a little longer.
"What are we heading for?" Momono asked. "Is there some conclave that will keep you safe?"
"No, there's nothing like that," Onli said. "There are a few places that have more permanent settlements, but they're well-hidden. We only know of one of them, and it's a great distance from here."
"Right now it's get away from the people chasing us," Tien said. "Whether that takes us a week or ten years, it doesn't matter. After that, we meet up with some others of our group and let them know about Teegan. After that, who knows."
"Back at the inn where we met," Momono began, "the Newsman said that the Day-lighters were in a big group. Was he wrong? Did you break up?"
The other three were quiet. Tien and Ren exchanged glances.
"Neither," Onli said. "He was going partly off of old information. We were a much bigger group, before we got Teegan."
"I told Momono about the facility last night," Tien interjected. Onli nodded.
"There were thirteen of us." She smiled. "Bad luck. Only the three of us got out alive, plus Teegan. Our group was unanimous in our desire to free her from the facility, but it was at a great cost. We just hope that the other Day-lighters understand why we did it."
"They'll understand," Ren said. "They have to. It's already done. They aren't going to kick us out or anything. Besides that, when they see what Teegan can do, they'll know we did the right thing."
"That's right," Tien said. "Now I think we'd all better get some sleep. Hopefully we'll be able to get through the night."
Momono snapped awake. It was still dark out. The room was warm and drowsy; it had a glow. He didn't know what time it was, but everyone else was still asleep.
His heart was hammering, stunning him out of the morning slur and into action. He got off his pile of hay and looked around. The torch had burned out while they slept. He got up. He felt sick and hot. Something was wrong. Was there another person in the room? No, it was just the five of them. He didn't hear anything. There was no stamp of iron boots or cries to seal the exits. Ren had an arm over his eyes and was snoring. Tien slept leaning against the wall with his hay under him. Onli was under her sheet. Teegan-
The glow was coming from Teegan. The torch had burned out. The room was warm. He felt hot.
He ran to her and touched her shoulder. Blistering agony scalded him and he shouted, falling backward. Ren jumped awake and Onli rolled over. Momono pointed his hand -- smoke rose from the fingertips -- at Teegan, and Onli checked her.
"She's burning up," she said.
"Does she make light, too?" Momono asked, clutching his hand.
"No, she -- uh oh."
"Get her off of it!" Ren shouted, wrapping his arms around the girl. He yelled and threw her onto a different pile, revealing a bed of burnt straw and smoldering floor. "It's-" The dead fire on the smoldering straw came to life, spreading heat quickly. The floor caught on fire, and the flames reached to the wall before anyone could react.
"Momono, get Tien up. Ren, see if you can put this out. I'll make sure Teegan is okay," Onli ordered. Momono got up and went to Tien. He shook the man's shoulder.
"Tien! Tien! He's not waking up!" He yelled.
"Try harder!" Ren shouted back.
"Tien, wake up!" Momono shouted, seizing his arm and rattling it. Tien opened his eyes. "We have some problems!"
"What? Is it-" He saw the issue. "Teegan?"
"She did it but we aren't sure how," Onli said. "It's dry straw and she's plenty hot. She isn't waking up. I think she's been poisoned."
She looked over at the flames. Ren was trying to crush them with his foot, but they never stopped. "I can't do anything to them!" He said. "We need water!"
Momono looked around. There was nothing to hold water in. Instead he pulled open the window, scooped up an armful of hay, stuck it outside, and brought it back in when it was drenched, which was moments. He threw it on the fire. There was an explosion of steam that made him step backward.
The fire pushed on, unhindered. The wet hay wasn't catching fire, but the water did nothing to stop the flames. It spread up the wall and across the floor. The fire's heat and light grew, and the draft from the window fueled it.
"We need to get out," Tien said. "Gather your things!" the four of them collected their items quickly. Ren held Teegan's cloak out the window and then wrapped her in it. He hoisted her in his arms and followed the others out of the room.
"Fire! Fire!" Onli bellowed. Her powerful voice split the early morning. "Everyone out! Fire!"
The mostly-empty inn woke up, and a few bleary-eyed patrons stumbled out. "Awake, awake!" Onli cried. "There's a fire!"
They got to the main room and ran into the innkeeper. "Fire?" He said, still mostly asleep.
"In our room," Onli said frantically. "We don't know what happened. It was right near Teegan. She isn't waking up." She looked ready to cry.
"Get outside and get her some fresh air," the innkeeper said. "And call the watch!" Tien stiffened as he said it.
They ran outside while the innkeeper made sure everyone else was out. Tien instructed Momono to grab a guard and point him at the inn. Flames could already be seen spreading through the building and the tree that housed it. Even when the constant rain touched it, it didn't shrink back. It seemed to even grow stronger, soon filling the sky with eerie orange glow under the clouds. The tree village woke up and witnessed the first fire in years.
The four of them watched the fire expand and engulf the entire tree. People were cleared free of it and the passages to it were cut to keep the fire from spreading.
It only took ten minutes for the fire to eat the tree alive and send it crashing over, all untold hundreds of feet of it. It smashed through another bridge and off the side of a different tree, destroying a building that sat there. It boomed to the forest's floor with a shattering sound. Ren held his ears and turned away when it did.
Teegan never woke up. Her skin burned hot even with the cold rain. Ren burned himself carrying her. Tien told them they needed to run.
Soon the rudely-awoken village was behind them. The rain sizzled on Teegan's bare face.
***
Hidden in the deep shadows halfway up the sodden pine, Tien sat watching the road. Soldiers from the Council of One Hundred thundered through deep puddles on hardy horses a hundred yards away.
The rain attacked the ground, trying to dent it with constant vertical strikes. From somewhere to the east, lightning cracked. Tien huddled in his wet cloak, watching for any person, soldier or not, that might look in his direction.
Deeper in the brace of trees, Ren sat behind a tree with his back to the road, listening. Even with the rain dropping around him he could pick out individual horses and loud voices.
Deeper still, Onli was waiting for anything to come charging through the trees and find her, Momono the singer, and Teegan. She had her story planned and rehearsed -- simple travelers, got lost in the woods, girl fell sick.
It had been three days since the five of them had escaped from a village built into huge trees, and three nights since Teegan had fallen ill and set fire to the inn while she slept. She was still hot to the touch and would not wake.
Momono watched the girl as her chest rose and fell. Each of her shivers made him flush with heat; he felt her pain and torment. Drops of rain fell on her face and evaporated. The Council's soldiers hunted them, believing them to be dangerous criminals, who had brought down a tree and destroyed part of the village with supernatural fire.
Tien appeared through the rain, dripping. He hunched under the sheet suspended between a few trees. "Nobody's so much as glanced in our direction for three hours," he breathed out, trying to warm himself up. "They all think we went to the town north of here."
"I wouldn't mind if we did that," Momono said. The last three nights, hiding under trees or inside caves, had worn on him more than the others. He wasn't used to such living conditions. Tien looked up at him and sneered.
"You know what will happen if we do that," Onli said. "We'll get captured or killed, and Teegan will get taken back to a Council building for more experiments."
"I know," Momono said.
"Then maybe you shouldn't mention it," Tien said, rubbing his arms. "Unless you have any better ideas than staying out in the cold for days on end, keep your mouth shut."
Momono scowled. "I might have an idea. It's risky."
Onli and Tien looked at him. Momono knew Tien was ready to reject it outright. "To the east of here, there's a bigger city. I've been there before. There will be more soldiers but there's a lot of space. It's a hundred times bigger than any village we've seen. We can get lost pretty easily there." He looked down at Teegan. "We could even find somebody to take care of her."
"We don't have enough money for that," Tien said. "Cities are more expensive. We barely have enough to buy food."
"I could find a cheap guitar," Momono said, "and raise money singing. I'm not too shabby. Cities are good for performers. More people, and people with more money, than any village." He looked at the two of them.
Tien rose. "I'll ask Ren what he thinks," he said, before walking off into the rain.
Onli watched Momono silently for a few moments, letting the rain fall around them. "You know he holds you responsible for Teegan."
"I know," Momono said. "But I also know that I had nothing to do with it. I don't know how many times I'll have to tell him that."
"He might never trust you. Tien is savagely suspicious."
"I know."
"I hope for your sake you aren't planning on betraying us," Onli said. Momono looked at her, shocked. "If you are, nothing will be able to save you from him. Not me, not Ren, and not Teegan." She locked Momono's eyes with her own, and her silk voice floated across the small clearing to him. "Then again, I don't think any of us will really try to stop him."
"I don't plan on betraying anybody. It won't happen," Momono said. He looked away. "I think the city is a good idea. It has its risks . . . but every place does."
Onli studied him for a bit. She gave a little smile. "It has its own risks for you, doesn't it?"
Momono didn't answer.
"There's something that you don't want us to know." Onli let the words hang. "Whether it's something that will make us lose our trust or not, you don't want us to know. I suspect that Tien has already picked up on this fact, which further explains why he doesn't trust you very much."
"I have a lot of reasons," Momono said. "And I suppose you're right, Tien knows I'm hiding something." He paused. "But I'm not the only one, am I, Onli?"
The tiny fire illuminated Onli's wide eyes. "I might not have the powerful eyesight of Tien, but I see things in a different manner. I've noticed a few things about you. You're the one that cares for Teegan the most. You look after her and fret over her. We're all worried about her right now, but you won't leave her side," Momono said. "At the inn that burned down, the waitress said that the innkeeper had a daughter that caught rain-sick and died. You didn't say a word until we went up to our room. I felt something from you then: a cracking sensation."
The two of them sat quietly. Onli had her head bowed. Long, wet hair hid her face.
Before she could say anything, Tien came back. "Ren thinks it's a good idea. He thinks he'll be able to help Momono out with some of his songs. His ears let him pick out notes or something like that." He knelt near Teegan and checked her. Onli watched him with a face that was covered in something that could have been rain.
"The first thing we'll have to do is for me to get a guitar," Momono told them as they walked east toward the big city. They'd been traveling for two days. "We might have enough money for a cheap one, but it would drain us."
"We can't spend everything we have on a guitar," Ren said. He carried Teegan on his back with a wet blanket between them, to keep her from burning him. The burns on his arms were just healing. "We'll have to find a different way to earn some money."
Onli looked at Tien. "The ball?"
Tien didn't answer. He was walking with his arms crossed.
"What ball?" Momono asked.
"The Day-lighters have a trick we can use," Onli said. "We each have a small red ball. We handle it or play with it, or talk about it if we think a person that will notice is a Day-lighter or one of our few allies. We don't use it very often, as it can be risky."
"It's how Roland, at the inn where we picked up Momono, knew we were Day-lighters. He knew about the trick. I never got my ball back," Tien said. "We should consider it more risky than before. The Council's picked up on it, somehow."
"I think we should do it," Ren said. "But we'll need to be careful. We're in no position to run right now. We're all tired. That said, Teegan needs help more than we need to stay safe. I say we do it."
Tien sent an angry look at Ren.
"Tien, please consider Teegan," Onli said. "She needs help. This could be a way for us to gain a lot of money, which can assure us safe travel, or security, or food. It's something we need, or we're going to find ourselves starving in the rain one of these days."
"All right! All right!" Tien said, shaking his hands. "We can do it! But I say how! If we have to do this, we're going to do it my way!"
"We'll do it your way," Onli said sweetly, smiling.
A bit later, Momono began telling them about the city they headed to, Breston.
"Before the rains came, it was supposed to be a huge metropolis. Towers so high you had to bend your neck to see their tops, wide parks, long streets. It's on a huge lake, and profits from the shipping. It used to be quite a bit bigger than it is now, but of course the rain." Onli and Ren nodded, Tien just kept walking. "It used to have great statues and sculptures to marvel at; ancient and beautiful architecture was on every road. Now there's only one piece of beauty that most people go to see: The Trapped Titan."
"What's that?"
"Some sculptor was paid by a wealthy sponsor," Momono told Ren, "and -- damn all the rain -- did his part to spread beauty in a dreary world. He took big slabs of rock, attached them together using screws, and chiseled them down to look like a giant human stuck in the ground up to his waist. His hands are missing too, his arms are sunk in up to the wrists. His face is turned up to the sky and rain, screaming a quiet scream. He's nearly faceless."
"I'd like to see it," Onli said. "It sounds very interesting."
Momono thought about the last time he'd seen the statue. Tien, walking behind him, noticed this sudden introspection but said nothing.
"Not many artists working these days," Ren said. He shifted Teegan. "Usually it's just people like you, Momono. Singers and that sort of thing. Not much art for art's sake anymore." He sniffed. "Sort of a shame."
"I suppose it is, but art is always behind it in the end. I sing and play to earn money, but I never would have started if I didn't love what I do," Momono said. "Unfortunately, it comes down to keeping yourself alive. You can't do that on dreams."
"No, I guess you can't," Ren said.
They all walked in silence for a little while. Momono said they would begin to see the city in an hour or so.
"There's a lot of area around it that's clear from it was bigger," he told them. "There are many areas covered in rubble and half-destroyed buildings. If we needed to, we could rest in one of them. Many are occupied, or were when I was last here, but usually nobody minds when people stop in. They don't really own the buildings, anyway."
It quickly became apparent how big the city of Breston used to be. With the rain and a strong wind pushing them back, the four of them climbed a hill and laid their eyes on hundreds of desolate acres. Toppled buildings crossed each other on the ground, fallen over each other. They walked through the sodden fields of weeds that had grown through the stone ground.
It took them a few more hours to get to the city itself; the day's light had disappeared and been replaced with firelight's flickering reflections from the falling rain.
They found an inn and, after Momono and Tien made sure it was safe and out-of-the-way, the five of them got a room. It took nearly the rest of their money; prices were more expensive in the cities, plus they had to tip the servant girl.
They went down to eat in twos. Tien and Onli went first, while Ren and Momono stayed in the room with Teegan, who still had not woken up. The two of them briefly talked about trying to get her to sip water, just to keep her from drying out. Ren guessed that she was getting water just naturally while they were out in the rain. It also helped her to keep cool. They had to drench their cloaks and lay her on them to keep her from burning anything. When Tien and Onli came back, they sent Ren and Momono down.
For the first time in a month, the Day-lighters experienced no ill effects when they stayed at the inn that night. Nobody came bursting into their room in the dark morning hours, and nothing burned down. For the first time since meeting them, Momono woke up well-rested, in a dry, warm room, with the smell of good food and distant conversation coming down the hallway.
"It's too bad Teegan is out," Ren said. "It would be the perfect ploy to have her play with the ball while we stood nearby. To anybody but Day-lighters, it would look just like a child being watched by the adults." He took out his red ball. It was faded, and didn't have much bounce. "Now somebody will have to be handling this thing and try not to look like a strange man-child."
Onli watched him as he passed the ball from hand to hand. "Maybe not."
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Momono asked. He and Onli sat on a stone bench by one of the large roads in the city. Teegan was propped up between them. Her breathing was shallow, and the heat from her forehead kept them warm despite the rain.
"No, but it's something we can try, anyway," Onli responded. Teegan had Ren's red ball in her limp hands. Anybody walking by them would see two poor beggars, soaked to the skin, and their sick child between them, clutching her last toy. Somebody who knew the trick would recognize a cry for help from Day-lighters.
An hour passed. The morning rain wasn't terribly strong, but they both quickly became soaked through. Momono looked at each person passing by warily. As a person would come close, Onli would plead them for a few coins. Most would ignore her, despite her sweet voice, but a few dropped the odd iron into Momono's upturned hat. After a while a city guard came by.
"Here now, what's this?" He said. He scowled down at the three of them. He was a big, round man with a scraggly beard. "Go on out of here."
"Sir," Onli said, big eyes wide with sorrow. "Our daughter. She's sick. We have no money. Please, we only need a little bit for food."
"It's either you go on out of here, you I drag you out and throw you on your bum in a puddle."
"Sir, please! Feel her forehead, you'll know she's sick!"
"It don't matter if she's sick!" The guard said. "I want you to-"
At that moment Ren appeared and grabbed the guard's arm. "Guardsman! I saw a murder! Saw it with my own eyes! A woman was stabbed! I got a good look at who done it, too!"
"What?" The guard said. He looked briefly at Momono and Onli, who reacted with the proper shock when hearing about a murder. Onli clutched Teegan close, protectively. "Show me where."
"It was over here, I think," Momono heard Ren say as he took off with the guard it tow. "I got confused by all the alleys. It normally doesn't happen but . . . " They disappeared around a corner. Ren would soon lose the guard or knock him out in a shadow. It was just their luck to encounter a stern guard so quickly, before they even had a chance to see many people, Momono thought.
"Here's him," the raggedy man said, pointing. He held out his hand. "I'll be takin' my pay now." He smiled at Tien with watery eyes. Tien dropped five iron into his palm. "You better hope to have more than that if you're getting looked at by him."
"That's all I have right now," Tien said. "I'm sorry. My daughter's sick; I need to save money for her."
The raggedy man nodded, pocketed the money, and limped away. Tien looked at the door the man had pointed him to. It looked like any other dreary home. Tien knocked, and entered.
Inside it was warm. He heard steps, and a thin man with muscled arms met him. The man wore an apron, rubber gloves, and had a mask over his face.
"You're the doctor?" Tien asked. The man nodded. He tore the rubber gloves off and tucked them into a pocket on his apron.
"I'm Doctor Amesis," the man said. He removed the mask on his face, revealing a grim face and thin lips. Dour eyes looked out under short hair. "What do you need?"
"My daughter," Tien said, a practiced speech. "She's ill. Feverish, won't wake. It's been a few days."
Amesis' eyes rose. "Days? You'd better get her to me as soon as you can."
Tien didn't move. "I don't have much to pay with."
"Then you need to see a Council doctor," Amesis said. "That's how doctors work around here. You want cheap care, you see a CD. You want good care, you see a private doctor." He looked up. Tien still hadn't moved. "You can't go to a Council doctor, can you?"
Tien shook his head. "And I prefer no more questions on the matter." He and the doctor stared each other down.
"I can't take charity cases," Amesis said. "I'd like to, but I can't. Find the money and I'll look at her."
"How much?" Tien asked. The doctor thought for a few moments, looking Tien over.
"How old is she?"
"Almost nine."
"Six hundred iron should do it. That'll cover a checkup, and any medicine she needs, except for the expensive stuff."
Six hundred! Tien thought when he stood in the cool rain again. How are we supposed to get that much? I hope Onli and the others are having more success than I am. He started trudging through the worsening rain toward where Onli and Momono said they would set up.
Momono's hat was woefully empty. A paltry sum of iron shined inside. The heavy rain crushed their spirits.
Onli felt Teegan's head and whisked her hand away, making a face. "Is it much worse?" Momono asked. She shook her head.
"Not worse, no, but no better." Onli wiped the rain out of her eyes. "I don't think this is going to work."
"Maybe we need to move," Momono suggested. He kicked the hat; the coins inside clanked together. "We could probably find a better spot."
"No, I think this is a good spot. Other than that unfortunate guard, nobody's bothered us. That's more important," Onli said. She wrung out her hair, then put Teegan's hood down to do the same to her. "I wonder if she can hear us."
"Speak of the devil," Momono said, nodding to their right. The same guard was coming toward them. "We might have to move anyway."
"Give me a chance, first," Onli said. "I'll turn up the power."
They watched the guard get closer. Momono couldn't help looking afraid. "Sir, please," Onli began, but the guard cut her off.
"It's all right. You don't need to go do anything." The guard reached behind him; Momono shrank back. Onli didn't move. "In fact, I've done a bit of asking around for you." He revealed a leather pouch, heavily filled. "Here, take it."
Onli took the offered pouch, and looked inside. "There must be three hundred iron in here!" She said. Her voice cracked at the end, and Momono didn't know if she'd meant it.
"Four hundred," the guard said. "Hopefully, enough to get your daughter some help." He nodded, once, and walked on, whistling in the rain. He disappeared around a corner and was not seen again.
"Was he . . . " Momono began. "He must have been. A Day-lighter?"
"Not so loud. That or a friend," Onli said. She was gazing at the dull coins in the pouch. "Either way, we're very lucky. Next chance we get, we meet Tien at the rendezvous spot."
Back at the inn, Tien entered their room to find the other three already waiting. Teegan was propped up in Onli's lap. Momono wore a big smile. "You'll never guess what happened!"
Tien listened to the story. Thunder began to crackle outside as he listened. When they finished, he scowled. "It isn't enough. The only doctor I've found that isn't a Council doctor wants to charge us six hundred."
The other three gasped. "Six hundred?!" Ren asked. "Does he have gold equipment?"
"I think he understood that going to a Council doctor isn't an option for us, and is charging us for the peace of mind. It's not right, but that's what he said. He wouldn't shift."
"So what do we do?" Momono asked. "It could take us days to raise the rest of the money!"
"How long do you think it would take for you to raise it with a guitar?" Tien asked. His gaze bore into Momono. "How much would it cost us for a serviceable instrument?"
Momono thought about it. "A guitar that costs two hundred would be fine for today but would pretty quickly go out of tune. I still have a bunch of supplies in my pack to help with that, though. I could earn five hundred just today if we hurry. But . . . a guitar might cost more in the city than in the country."
"Where would you do it?" Tien asked.
"On the street corner until the inns fill up, then I ask to play inside. Most places will charge me a flat fee or a percentage of the earnings, but I should still be able to make enough. We can have Teegan looked at by tomorrow, I'm sure of it."
The others looked at Tien. He sat on the bed with his hands pressed against his mouth. After a moment of thought he nodded. "Okay."
Momono exited the shop, holding the neck of a pale guitar. "Cheap! Only one-hundred and seventy iron!"
"Good. You and Ren get started on the songs at the inn, Onli and I will start looking for places that will let you play," Tien said. "Just let me know the names of some of your more popular songs." Momono nodded, and wrote a few names on a piece of paper. He then headed back to the inn, where Ren waited with Teegan.
Tien and Onli started down one of the big streets of the city, looking for places that would let Momono play. They ended up walking right into a big square that had a towering, dripping statue in the center of it.
"What did he say this was called?" Tien asked, looking up at the structure.
"He called it 'The Trapped Titan,'" Onli said. She gazed up at it. "It looks so angry."
The alabaster figure was stuck to the waist in the ground. Its wrists ended with cut circles, flush with the smooth ground. The face was nearly featureless, with little more than a bump for a nose and shallow hollows for a face. The smooth mouth nevertheless seemed stretched and open, the head tilted back at the sky in a thundering shout. Stone muscles pressed through marble skin, looking warm and smooth to the touch, straining against the ground it was trapped in. It was a hundred feet taller than them; the rain ran from it in deep rivers.
"That place looks like it could be some promise," Tien said, pointing off to the side. Onli tore her eyes away from the statue and looked. She spotted a beer hall that looked big, warm, and inviting. "It looks just like the kind of place that could use a musician."
"Let's try it," Onli said. She felt strangely cowed by the Titan. She glanced at it before following Tien into the beer hall, which had a sign that read "Titan's Mug."
"A guitarist, huh?" The man behind the counter of the beer hall said when they inquired. "What kind of songs?"
"Let's see," Tien said, taking out the piece of paper Momono had written on. "'A Girl's Finest Gift' . . . 'Twice a Man, Never a Boy' . . . 'The Cavalier' . . ."
"Oh, I like that one. Always a pleaser. All right, I accept. What are the terms?"
Tien stood stock still until Onli pushed past him. "He'll give you ten percent."
"Ten? Girl, what sort of scam are you running? Fifty."
"Fifty?!" Onli laughed. "Only a fool would agree to that! Twenty!"
The barman smiled grimly. "Twenty-five."
Onli fell silent. She returned the smile. "Deal." She offered her hand, and the barman shook it. "When do you want him to start?"
"The rush begins at eight. I want him on-stage-" the barman pointed at a slightly raised platform "-at eight thirty, right after the Newsman. What's his name?"
"Momono," Onli said.
"Last name?"
Onli looked back at Tien, who only shrugged. "We don't really know. He might not have one."
"All right then. Make sure he gets here on time."
"Don't worry, we will," Tien said. He and Onli left.
"Ren and I will be in the beer hall with you -- just two travelers enjoying a drink together to get the taste of rain out of our mouths," Tien said later when they were gathered at the inn. "If nothing happens, we won't be seen. We're only there to make sure nobody gets uppity."
Momono nodded. He and Ren had been spending the rest of the day making sure that his songs sounded good. Ren's sharp ears were able to pick out notes that should or shouldn't belong. Despite a week without practice, Momono felt confident he'd be able to raise enough money. "I'm ready to go."
When the time came, Onli stayed at the inn with Teegan, and the three men left for the Titan's Mug. They showed up just as the rush was beginning; Ren and Tien were able to blend in easily. Momono met with the barman, who requested he play "The Cavalier" as the last song, when everyone was good and drunk. He said it would be quite profitable, and winked. Momono nodded, suddenly nervous. He found a table in the back, next to an old man that looked like a regular, and tuned his guitar.
After a few minutes, the Newsman got up and stood on the raised platform that Momono would soon inhabit. He coughed and shuffled a few papers. He was a younger fellow, and looked uncertain.
"Ahem," he began. The crowd's noise didn't die down much. Tien watched the young man shift from foot to foot. "Excuse me." A few people quieted, and he decided that was good enough. "Our own Councilwoman Gwynda would like to wish everyone a prosperous new year. She and the other Council members have been working hard to support our fair city, and she hopes you understand that she thinks of you, the citizens, always." A few people laughed. "On that note, taxes on vegetables will be raised a half-percent, and all produce-growers must respond to the census by the first of the second month." There were a few angry shouts from, Tien suspected, produce-growers.
The Newsman went on to talk about local things. The Day-lighters weren't mentioned. Tien breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The Newsman rambled on, quickly losing even the small amount of people that had listened to him at the beginning. He wrapped up quickly and ducked off the stage.
Momono took the stage, bringing his new guitar with him. There were a few drunk cheers. Momono raised his hand to stop them. "Thank you, my name is Momono. I'll start with a few good drinking songs! Has anyone here heard 'Never a Drink Too Many'?"
A massive cheer erupted from the crowd, shocking Tien and Ren. They looked at each other, and Ren shrugged. Momono began to strum a few chords, and the crowd cheered again, to a man raising their glasses and clapping their friends on the shoulder. Tien watched with amazement as Momono led them in a lewd, embarrassing song about drinking, wenches, and associated acts thereof. Every person in the beer hall knew the words, and some were able to sing them despite having their noses deep in mugs. The crowd swayed with each word, and the loud singing soon drew in more customers. The final word, one not appropriate for mixed company, was sung long and lustily by the entire crowd, each one with their heads tilted back and roaring, like the Titan outside.
With a mighty crash, the crowd dropped to their chairs, applauding and cheering Momono. The singer started into another song, this one less appealing to the drinking crowd as a whole, but still appreciated. The night went on, and the box that Momono had brought onstage to accept tips filled up rapidly. Tien smiled. Finally, Teegan will be able to get help.
Every once in a while a drinker would shout a request, and almost always Momono would begin to play the song. There was never a time he didn't know what song it was, and the crowd showed their appreciation.
Hours passed, and the crowd got drunker. Finally, after some nod from the barman, Momono ended a song. "I'm going to do one last song for everyone. I know you all know it: 'The Cavalier'!"
The building cheered and applauded again, and one man even burst into tears. Momono started to play. It was a slow, sweet song that neither Ren nor Tien had ever heard. It started with a man, the eponymous cavalier, and his fiancee. Momono sang about their love in low tones and slow strums, but soon changed to a faster beat. He sounded a call to battle, and the cavalier left to fight in a war. Momono's fingers warped up and down the guitar's strings, belting out note after note. He played a battle on his instrument, and the crowd clapped along. After a rending note, Momono slowed down, and called out to the fiancee, proclaiming his love in a chilling reprise of the first section. The man started crying again. Momono switched to the fiancee and sang out for the dead cavalier, slowing the song to a stop with a long final phrase.
There was a long pause after he was finished where nobody said anything, then the patrons of the Titan's Mug started clapping and cheering. They stood and stamped their approval. Momono bowed and thanked them, holding the tip box up and shaking it. It was already heavy, but would quickly got heavier.
Just before he could move off the stage, The old man he'd been sitting near stood up and yelled drunkenly. "I thought I rec'nized that man!" He hiccuped. "'S Councilwoman Gwynda's son!"
The beer hall went silent. A coin clinked out of a stunned man's grasp into the tip box.
"I know it's him!" The old man said. "Momono Gwynda! I thought I recognized the name!"
Tien and Ren looked at each other, shocked. Ren tilted his head toward the door, but Tien shook his own head.
"I think you have me confused," Momono said. "I've never been in this city before."
"But you played 'Never a Drink Too Many'!" One patron shouted. "And 'The Cavalier'! Both of them are area classics!"
"They're well-known in the south . . . " Momono started.
"He sort of looks like Councilwoman Gwynda, doesn't 'e?" One man said. "'E's got the same narrow chin!"
"I swear, I have no relation to your Councilwoman!" Momono shouted. "I've been singing in the south towns for many years!" Even as he said this, he holstered the guitar over his shoulder and grabbed the tip box. "I thank each of you for your generosity; this money will go to help a sick child in-"
"Get down!" Tien said, pulling Momono off the stage. The Titan's Mug was in a frenzy.
"Somebody get the guards!" One man shouted. "The Councilwoman's son has returned.!"
"No!" Momono shouted. "He hasn't!"
"Shut up!" Tien shouted, dragging Momono toward the door. Ren pushed through the crowd in front of them. People were cheering and smacking Momono on the shoulders genially.
They got out into the rain and Ren led them around the corner of the beer hall. They kept running, waiting until they couldn't clearly hear the shouts of people that had exited with them. They found a wet shadow and hid in it. Tien turned on Momono.
"What the hell, singer?" He said. "Are they right? Are you the son of a Councilwoman?"
"I-I'm . . . I . . . yes."
Tien smacked his forehead and groaned at the clouds. "Do you know what you've done?" He asked. "You've pretty much just brought every guard in the city down on our heads! We're lucky we could get away!"
"We had to get money!" Momono said, shaking the full box for emphasis. "I didn't think anyone would recognize me!"
"You . . . I . . . augh! We need to get out of this city now," Tien said. "Which way is it to the inn?" Momono pointed. "Come on!"
They got back to the inn without trouble, but the whole city seemed to be filled with shouting. They took a moment to compose themselves before walking in, as if nothing had happened.
The innkeeper greeted them and they greeted him back, walking slowly and casually. Tien informed him they would be checking out soon, and once they got out of his sight they broke into a run, bursting into the door to their room without knocking. Ren locked it behind them as Tien whipped off his cloak. "Onli, get your stuff together. You're never going to believe this-" He looked up. Momono was staring at something.
Teegan raised her hand and gave a weak wave.
"She woke up an hour or so after you left," Onli explained. "She was hungry, and thirsty, and weak, but alive and, as far as I could tell, well." Teegan nodded and drank from a glass of water. "She's still fairly warm, but not as much as before."
"Finally, some good news," Tien said. "How do you feel, Teegan?"
"Thirsty," she said. Her voice sounded raw and sick.
"Drink up, then." Tien shot a glance at Momono, then back at Onli. "Momono is Councilwoman Gwynda's son."
Onli's mouth dropped open and she looked at Momono for confirmation. He looked away, embarrassed. "Really?" She asked. Momono nodded.
"We need to get out of the city," Tien said. "Somebody at the Titan's Mug recognized him, and people started calling for the guards." He shot Momono another look. "I guess they thought their prodigal son had returned. Are you going to explain what's going on here, or do I have to beat it out of you?"
"Tien!" Onli said.
"Quiet! He's endangered all of us!" Tien shouted. Taking a breath and lowering his voice, he continued. "You'd better have a damn good explanation for what just happened."
Momono sighed. "I lived here until I was twenty-two, with my mother and father. My father died when I was sixteen . . . which left my mother to take care of me.
"There were some others at the house I lived in," he said. Teegan slurped noisily from her glass, keeping her eyes on him. "But they were maids or servants, nobody I could really learn from. I found music when I was given a guitar by my father, who had dabbled and wanted me to enjoy it too. I loved it . . . still do.
"My father was the thing keeping my mother in check. She isn't exactly a cruel woman, but she has a habit of taking extreme roads when simpler ones would work just as well." He shook his head. "I couldn't take it. I was saved from vicious beatings my entire life simply because she thought her status was above them. When I turned twenty-two I decided I'd had enough. She was grooming me for entry into the Council of One Hundred, but I was having none of it. I snuck out of the house and out of the city after midnight. I haven't been back since. Ten years."
"I hate to trivialize everything you've just told us -- clearly, this was something that you didn't want to say -- but I have to ask," Ren said. "If your mother finds out that you're here, what will she do?"
Momono shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm her only child, and I perceived some empty nest syndrome from her, even before I left. Maybe after all these years she understands why I left, or maybe I'm going to be dragged back to the house and clapped in shackles. I don't matter right now. Teegan's awake and is getting better, which means we don't need to stay in the city anymore, right?"
"It depends on how Teegan feels," Onli said. She looked at the girl. "How about it?"
"I feel really tired," the girl said.
"Ren could carry her if he had to, but we've all been moving a lot in the past few days," Tien said. "Momono, how likely are the guards to find us here?"
"Breston has hundreds of places for travelers to stay, and hundreds more permanent homes. The guards could search for a year and not find this place, but we aren't that far from the Titan's Mug, and that's where they'll start."
Tien sighed and nodded. "Ren, keep your ears open. I think we're safe right now, but I want to be prepared anyway," Tien said. Ren nodded.
"What . . . if I, uh, went to her first?" Momono said. He was looking at his feet and sitting on one of the beds. "We obviously don't want a Councilwoman's guards finding the four of you, but I'm not a Day-lighter, not really. Nobody would guess. If I don't get back to you, you leave the city without me."
"Would you like that?" Tien said quietly. His tone froze Momono. "Would you like to be dragged back to your mother, away from us?" He walked at Momono, hands doubled into fists. "And then, at the barest mention of punishment, you tell her how the Day-Lighters kidnapped you and forced you to travel with them?" His face was broken by angry creases, but his voice stayed smooth. "You tell her all about us: Me, Ren, Onli . . . Teegan. You tell her about our crazy schemes to burn the land and boil the sea."
He gripped Momono's tunic with both hands and hauled him up. "I told you. If you leave us, I will kill you!" He bellowed in Momono's face. Teegan squeaked and Onli gasped. Momono tried to tilt away. Tien threw Momono down; he was about to drop to his knees with one fist cocked back toward the singer when Ren wrapped his arms around his shoulders and hauled him away, throwing him with astounding force against one of the beds. Tien bounced off and struck the floor, scrambling to his feet and pulling out his sword. He found Onli and Ren with their weapons drawn and facing him. Teegan stumbled to Momono and knelt by him.
"Calm yourself, Tien," Onli said. "You had no right to act that way. Momono was only trying to find a way out of this.
"I have a way out of it," Tien spat. "We just need to keep him quiet."
"And are you a monster, that you would do such things yourself?" Onli roared, growing taller in the flickering candlelight. She stepped forward. "Would you cut out his tongue and damn his eyes? Tie him to a rack and carry him along with us, as we run from the guards and soldiers? Are you trying to give the Council another reason to hate us? I see the Newsmen saying it now: 'Day-lighters mutilate Councilwoman's son,'" she growled. She took another step and reached him. He held his sword up and she battered it away with her own. The swords clanked together in a pile.
Bringing her hand around with stunning quickness. She slapped him, and the blow rang in the room. Tien staggered down to a knee, clutching the stinging cheek.
"How-" He began.
"Quiet," Onli said, and the vicious echo of Tien's own word cut him. "Sit there and think about the way you just acted. Not like a human; a monster. We've worked against monsters, do you remember? We freed Teegan from them; we knew they should not be allowed to succeed."
Next to Momono, Teegan watched the two adults. She seemed likely to fall over; she was gripping the bed next to her.
"I remember," Tien said. "I was the one who said we should. And because of it, ten people or more died." He got to his feet. There was a small stream of blood coming out of his mouth. He leaned against the wall. "I told myself I would not let my own foolishness result in the deaths of my friends." He nodded toward Momono. "If he had run to his mother and revealed everything he knows about us, would you have blamed me? Don't deny you would have."
"No!" Onli said. "I would have blamed Momono, because he was the one who had done it!" She bent and picked up her sword. Tien reached for his, but she stomped down on it. "Momono doesn't get a sword, why should you?"
"To protect Teegan!" Tien said. His anger was turning to despair.
"Ren and I can fight just as well as you," Onli said. "We rely on stealth anyway. Give me a better reason."
Tien looked up at her, weak and unable to speak. He leaned back against the wall and didn't answer. Onli picked up his sword and handed it to Ren as Tien collapsed to a sitting position. Onli stepped away.
The encounter seemed to be over. Momono let out a caught breath. He noticed something. "Is it warm in here?"
Onli ran to Teegan. Tien moved to follow her, but Ren stopped him. "Teegan?" Onli asked.
"I'm okay," the girl said. "You were fighting, and yelling . . . "
"And you were upset," Onli said, smoothing the girl's hair. She moved back, surprised. "You're so hot."
Teegan nodded, but gave no explanation. "I'm sorry, Teegan," Onli said. "We're done now." Onli looked at Momono. "You're all right?"
Momono nodded, slightly embarrassed that she would choose to pay attention to him at that moment. The thing she said about blaming him for running off was stuck in his head. He got off the floor.
"Ren, has anybody taken notice of our spat?" Onli asked.
"Not as far as I can tell," Ren said. Onli nodded.
"What do we do?" Ren said. His eyes went from Tien to Teegan to Momono, and finally settled on Onli. Onli sighed and closed her eyes. To Momono she suddenly seemed likely to collapse.
"Let's all just get out of this city," she said finally. "We can figure out what to do after that once we're away." She looked around the room. "Gather up your things."
Momono tried not to look at where Tien sat. The man didn't move; he just sat still and watched the others. Onli spoke a quiet word to Ren, and Ren approached Tien. "Your weapons," Ren said.
Momono and Teegan froze. Tien looked up at Ren and sneered. "My own brother."
"That doesn't matter right now," Ren said. "This is for Teegan, not you. Maybe you'll finally start to realize that."
There was a tense moment, and Tien removed his empty scabbard from his belt. He proceeded to empty his pockets of any and all weapons. There were many more than Momono thought. Throwing knives, small spiky metal balls, poison bombs, the harmonica with the hidden dagger -- the list went on. When he was done, he looked noticeably lighter. He spotted Momono looking, and Momono turned his head back to his pack quickly.
A happy problem he discovered he had was there was too much money from the Titan's Mug for him to carry alone. It was split up between him, Onli, and Ren. Tien watched the money change hands sullenly.
Reluctantly, Tien started to put his pack in order, and in a few minutes they stood outside the door as Ren listened. It was just a moment before he nodded and opened the door. The hallway outside was empty, and they heard nothing except for the drip of rain on the roof. Ren led them to the front door, and paid their bill. The innkeeper said nothing, other then commenting that he was glad Teegan was feeling better.
The clouds had grown and worsened; the rain fell heavily on their raised hoods. Teegan smiled up at the cool rain. She was the only one that didn't have her hood on, she said that she was still hot and the rain made her feel better.
They made for the city's nearest exit, the same one they had entered. Instead of the normal late-night flow of travelers, they found a blockade of soldiers and guards, checking each person that entered or left. Onli looked behind her at Tien. "What are they doing?"
Momono thought for a moment that he would refuse, but he began to concentrate. The gate was more than fifty yards away, but even with the rain it was no problem for him. "They're checking people that go in or out," Tien said. "It looks like they have a picture of someone that they're checking against." His eyes moved to Momono. "It isn't difficult to guess who they're looking for."
"That's what I hear, too," Ren said. "I keep hearing 'Councilwoman' and 'son.'"
"I don't think they'll let you through if you're traveling with me," Momono said. "Is there some way for me to sneak past?"
"We can't change your appearance enough to fool them," Onli said. "And it looks like they're checking everyone. Plus, you have a guitar. That's sort of a tip off."
Momono cleared his throat. "I have an idea." Four pairs of eyes looked at him. He began to lay out his plan. Tien started to shoot it down, but when Momono finished explaining it, he was silent. "It falls to whether or not you trust me," he said. "I understand if you don't want to risk it."
Onli looked at Tien. "What do you think?" She asked.
Tien nodded. "I like it." He smiled, and Momono didn't particularly like the way it looked.
A few minutes later, Momono approached the guarded gate alone, without his guitar. His hood was pulled low, and he could just barely see out from under it. He stood in line behind the small amount of travelers trying to get out of the city at that time of night. The sky was a block of darkness.
He got close enough to spot the picture they were using to find him. It wasn't a very good likeness -- the eyes were too close together, the lips were too big -- but it looked enough like him to be difficult to avoid. The line slowly filtered through the gate, with each person being checked against the picture. A few people joined the line behind him.
The person in front of him was waved through, and Momono stepped up. The guard took one look, quickly checked the picture he held, and then looked back up. "It's him!"
Momono stepped back, bumping into the person behind him. It just so happened to be a large man, who took hold of him. "Is this guy a criminal?" The large man asked.
The guard shook his head. "He's the Councilwoman's son!" He took Momono's arm. "Your mother's been wanting to have a long talk with you about a few things." He said. "The rest of you can go through," he called to the people waiting in line. He and two other guards bustled Momono down the street, away from the gate. He struggled to get away, but the guards had him too tight.
From atop a building on the main road, Tien watched them drag him toward the center of the city. As soon as they got around the corner, he spoke: "go."
From the road, Ren's keen ears heard the word; he, Onli, and Teegan went through the now unguarded gate. Tien found Momono again, and began climbing down the outside of the building. When he got to the ground he pulled his cloak tight and followed after the guards.
His mother's house looked very much the same. Too much, Momono thought. Lights came from the same windows, the bushes were the same size, the same men guarded the front door. The two men smiled and greeted him, as if he was home for a visit and not being escorted by three city guards. They pushed open the front door, and hauled Momono into the opulent foyer.
He was struck by terrible déjà vu. The same dusty vases sat on the same fading tables. The same pictures -- old even when Momono was a child -- hung on the same walls, some at the same maddening tilted angle. The sights, the smells, the sounds, and everything else rushed to take him back to when he had been young, and he knew his mother was coming from her study to mete out some punishment.
He shook his head violently, startling the men that half-carried him. He wrenched his arms out of their grasp and stood. Standing in the middle of the entry hall to the big manor, he took a slow, calming breath, denying entry to the bacteria of the past.
"You're taking me to my mother?" Momono asked one of the guards. He said yes. "I'll go there myself. Where is she?" He already knew.
"She's in her study, sir," the guard said.
Anger blazed through him, and he envisioned lashing out at the poor fool. "Do not call me sir," he said through clenched teeth. The guard stepped back. Without another word, Momono started up the steps. He knew the study would be in the same place; everything else seemed to be.
He reached the second floor after climbing the tall staircase, and realized something was different. The thin carpet, which always became bunched and folded after a few people had walked on it, was missing. There was just cold stone floor. Momono looked at it and wondered before moving on.
He saw the doors of the study and nearly succumbed to the past once more. Just as they always had been, the right door was shut, but the left door was open a crack, to be pushed open when someone wanted to enter the room. Momono couldn't remember a time seeing the doors in a different position. He stopped outside them. He heard nothing from inside, save the ticking of the clock, and of rain against the window. He pushed against the left door, just like he had done a hundred, a thousand, times.
She sat behind the long wooden desk. Try as she might, she could not keep herself the same, like she had kept most of the house. She was thin, looking ragged, wearing clothes too big for her. Even sitting, she seemed shorter than he remembered. Her once long, black hair was thinner, shorter, and grayer. Her hands shook with palsy. Her face was a craggy surface of lines.
A man Momono didn't know stood behind her. A new husband, perhaps.
"Momono, darling," Councilwoman Gwynda said, spreading her arms as if for a hug. "Come closer, I want to see you."
Momono's heart thundered as he walked closer. He saw with some surprise that his mother was in a wheelchair. The room was hot; a fireplace blazed behind the long desk.
"You've finally come back to me," Gwynda said. "How I've longed for this day. With some work, you can start ruling the city instead of me. I know the city will accept you."
"No," Momono said. His mother's face fell. "I'm leaving again soon. I only got caught and brought here because I was foolish. It won't happen again."
Gwynda tapped on the arm of her wheelchair, and the man behind her directed her around the table to a few feet in front of Momono.
She looked so small. Momono could have picked her up and carried her like a sack of tomatoes. She looked up at him, thick spectacles enlargening her eyes. There was an elastic wrap on one wrist, and a small cover, like a napkin, on her lap. "Tell me I didn't hear that," she said. "Tell me you're just being silly again, like when you went off with that girl."
That girl's name was Olivia, Momono though. His cheeks flushed. "I'm leaving tonight," he said. There was so much more he could have said, but the words all got caught in his throat.
"Another woman?" His mother scoffed. "You silly boy. Just like your father. A romantic. Leave those foolish thoughts by the way, boy, and do as your mother says."
Momono stood still, mind ablaze with awful actions, and words too harsh for the vilest criminal. Instead, he turned and walked to the door. "Stop him," he heard. The next thing he knew he was falling toward the hard floor. The man behind his mother had wrestled him down with ease and locked the only exit.
Without looking at his mother, Momono picked himself up and brushed himself off. He'd landed on his elbow and it hurt, but he refused to cradle it. He finally looked at her, and found her leaning forward in her chair, a small smile on her face. "Lecks is a good helper. He does as he's told," she said. "Not like some troublesome boys I know." Her smile disappeared. "You hurt me, Mo. I raised you and cared for you, and you repay me by leaving."
"You never cared for me. My father cared for me. You punished me. He told me how I had succeeded, you told me how I had failed. He built me up, and you broke me down." Momono felt almost disconnected from his body, like he was watching the interaction from somewhere else. "It was only by his actions that I realized I would have to leave this place, with or without your blessing. So I did."
"And you went off with a cheap whore, too!" His mother yelled in a shrill voice. "Admit it! Just like that tramp from before!"
Fury boiled out of him. "Her name was OLIVIA!" Momono screamed. "She wasn't a whore! I loved her, and you banished her just because you wanted to keep me under your boot! And that's all you've ever wanted to do, wasn't it?" Momono's heart leaped at what he was about to say. "My father saw it, and that's why he killed himself! He couldn't stand by and watch you destroy me just like you destroyed him, so he did the only thing he could to show me what happens to be people you get close to!" He sucked in a thin breath. "Tell your thug to unlock the door, or I will find a much more destructive way out of this room!"
"No need for that, luckily," they heard behind them. Momono, his mother, and Lecks all looked at the door. Tien stood, spinning a key around his index finger. "I have made a way."
"Who are you?" Gwynda demanded. "How did you get in here?"
"Nicked it," Tien said, holding up the key, "from a guard. You'd think a Councilwoman would have some more competent guards at her own home." He looked at Momono. "Shall we?"
"Lecks!" The Councilwoman shrieked. "Stop him! Don't let my son leave again!"
Tien rushed forward, striking Lecks from behind and making him stumble forward. Momono ran around him, heading for the open door.
"Alarm, alarm! Villains, murderers, thieves!" Gwynda yelled at the top of her voice. "Stop them, seize them, catch them!" She whacked Lecks, who was struggling to raise himself to his feet. "Get up, you oaf!"
Tien and Momono exited the room, running headlong into two guards that had come when the Councilwoman's screams reached their ears. All four went down, and then Lecks picked up Momono. "Keep my boy, but kill the other one!" He heard his mother say.
Momono stomped his foot down on the hard floor and twisted, wrenching himself out of Lecks' grip. Instead of running, he turned and grabbed Lecks' throat, catching the big man off-balance. With sudden, brutal pressure, he squeezed the guard's throat, crushing his windpipe with both strong thumbs. Lecks fell to the ground, and Momono was left staring at his mother. He had finally shocked her into silence. He approached her, and she shrank back, trying to direct herself back into the room.
Momono grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled her toward him.
He felt a light hand on his arm, and nearly punched Tien in the face. Tien didn't flinch. "Let her go, Momono," Tien said quietly. "It's not about her. It's about Teegan."
Teegan with the light hair, that could burn down an inn even when sick and dying. Teegan, that a dozen people or more risked and lost their lives to free and protect. Teegan, that ran to Momono to help him up after he'd fallen.
He stopped pulling his mother, but didn't let the chair go. He nodded curtly to Tien.
"Who's Teegan?" His mother asked, as Lecks writhed on the floor, gagging. "Another tramp?"
Councilwoman Gwynda watched as her son's eyes moved to find her with utter slowness.
"Do you think they're all right?" Teegan asked Onli. They were waiting outside the city, at the pre-determined meeting spot. Momono's guitar was on Ren's back.
"I hope so. Tien won't let Momono out of his sight. Unless Momono does defect, I think they'll make their way back to us," Onli answered. "Do you still feel all right?"
Teegan nodded. She still hadn't put her hood up, and the rain was evaporating off her skin. Her face was flushed. "I'm worried about Momono."
"I know honey, me too," Onli said. She didn't want to remind her about what they would have to do if Momono or Tien didn't show after a day -- the amount of time they had all agreed on to wait.
They waited in silence for a bit.
"I want to ask you about something," Ren said quietly, on Onli's other side. "I'm not that worried about Momono, but Tien . . ."
"I know," Onli responded just as softly. "Maybe he finally has it in his head that this isn't a grand adventure that he's leading, but something much greater than him. You've known him the longest: would he really leave us?"
Ren didn't respond immediately. "I hope not. But he has never been one to see other people's perspectives well. Strange that someone with near-supernatural eyesight would have that problem."
"He's never needed to," Onli said. "He can see nearly everything."
Ren smiled. "Yes." He sat quietly for a bit. "We hurt his ego pretty badly back at the inn."
"We did. I hope he'll realize that we did it for the right reasons."
"Tell me I didn't hear that," Momono said, each muscle in his body clenched and bursting.
"Momono, more guards are coming," Tien said.
"Yes, just give up. Leave your foolish thoughts by the way."
For a moment, Momono thought that he had gone blind. He sucked in a breath, and let it whistle out. His grip on the arm of the wheelchair tightened.
Striking her would vilify him. Yelling at her would do nothing. Walking away would fail to sate the furious anger that flowed through his bones.
She watched him. She had the little smile on that meant she knew you could do nothing.
A thought cascaded through his body, sending shivers in all directions. Momono grew a smile of his own. It stretched and twisted. His eyebrows dug down into his face, creating a harrowing monster. His mother leaned away.
Momono turned to Tien. "Let's get out of this building." Tien started to say something, but Momono turned away.
He ripped the elastic band off his mother's wrist, balled the napkin in her lap, and stuffed it in her mouth. Before she could push it out, He wrapped the band around her head, tying it tight at the back. Councilwoman Gwynda's shouts were reduced to a muffled meow. He picked her up and, as he guessed, could carry her like a small, wet dog. Her limbs beat against him, but it was like a tree beating on a mountain. Momono looked at Tien, who pointed behind him. Momono noticed the two other guards they had collided with lying on the ground, unconscious, but more were getting closer.
Tien led him away from them, around a hall, and toward a deserted back staircase. They went down, and found an open door, with a dazed guard slumped against it. Tien pushed it open and went into the cold, dazzling rain. Momono was instantly soaked, and his mother croaked at the cold.
"What are you going to do?" Tien asked. "If you mean to hurt her-"
"No," Momono said. "Not that. Not physically, at least."
Momono seemed to be leading them somewhere, but Tien didn't know the city well enough to figure out where. "Whatever you're going to do, do it quickly. They'll figure out we aren't in the house soon enough, and then the entire city will be looking for us. I have reason to suspect that they won't just throw us in prison, either," Tien said.
"Then keep an eye out," was all Momono said. He shifted his mother.
They walked for almost an hour. Some of the buildings began to get familiar to Tien. The hour was late, and the streets were empty, except for the odd guard. They crept; Momono had a hand over his mother's mouth just in case. The woman grunted and fought the entire time, but she was too old and feeble to do anything worthwhile. Momono barely had to struggle against her.
"I know where we are," Tien said, after they'd gone a few more blocks. He shielded his eyes against the rain. "We're near the Titan, aren't we?"
Momono said nothing, he simply forged on through the pounding raindrops.
They broke out of an alley, and Tien saw the Titan rising up in the darkness, raging against the ground that held him captive. Momono headed directly for it. Tien took a quick look around, saw nobody, and followed him.
Momono walked directly in front of the tall sculpture, and dropped his mother. She groaned when she hit the hard, soggy ground. "Look at it," Momono ordered. His mother peered up at him, making a disapproving face. "Look at it!" Momono pointed at the Titan. "Look at my father!"
Tien stared. "You told us the Titan was funded by a wealthy sponsor. Your mother?" Momono nodded.
"Look, mother. Do you see how he pulls against the ground? Screams at the sky?" The singer looked down at his feeble mother. "How strange I thought it was when you had this built. All I could see in it was my father trying to get away from you. He pulls against your constraints but he's stuck to the waist. He'll never get out." He paused. "Now look at me."
Councilwoman Gwynda shifted her gaze from her husband to her son.
"If you really think that, after everything you've done to turn me into a wailing fool, after everything I saw my father suffer through because of the way you acted, I would want to came back to you and take your place on the Council . . . then there is no creature on Earth more demented. And if the Council really does see you as a good leader, still, then I want nothing to do with them. Is that what the entire Council is like? Confused old husks that rattle human lives between their knuckles like dice?" He smiled. "I heard that the Day-lighters want to burn you out of your power and take control. If that's true, than I wish them luck."
The Councilwoman's eyes grew wide. "You will never see me again," Momono said. "If you do, it's because I've either come to kill you, or I am already dead. You might think that you're safe, ruling others with a demented and thin mind, and then there will be nothing but everlasting darkness, because I will finally decide your life needs to be ended." He picked her up easily. Tien could see thin streams of steam rising from him. "Maybe you'll change, and beg my forgiveness, and I'll let you be. But I don't see that happening. That would require you to realize you were wrong for once in your life!"
He dropped her on the ground, and looked at Tien. "Let's go."
"You're a scary man, singer," Tien said. He turned. "Uh oh."
"What?"
"I think we might be surrounded." Tien took a few quick looks around him. "This way!" He led Momono toward an alley, but before they could reach it, a guard stepped around a corner and blocked it. Tien cut left, and Momono slipped in the rain keeping up with him. He got up and chased Tien, who was heading for a different alley. Another guard appeared, and this one Tien confronted.
The guard swung and missed. Tien wrapped his arms around the guard's wrist, and Momono heard a snap. The guard dropped the sword and screamed. Tien picked it up and pushed past the man. Momono followed. Tien splashed through puddles, keeping the sword ready next to him.
Momono suddenly felt tired, and struggled to keep up with him. Tien disappeared around a corner, and Momono followed.
He found Tien cornered by three guards. Tien looked at Momono and shouted. "That's the one that kidnapped the Councilwoman!"
The guard between them turned, and Tien brought the hilt of his sword down on his head. The other two tried to spring on him, but Tien darted under their attacks. Momono picked up the sword the unconscious guard had dropped.
Tien cut another guard through his leather pants, dropping him with a cry. He feinted toward the last one, who stumbled backward to avoid the false attack. Tien brought his sword around with the guard off-balance, knocking him over. He kicked the guard in the face and looked at Momono. "Coming?"
Momono nodded, and the two ran.
"You're a dirty fighter," Momono said, when they'd gone a few blocks. Tien was checking for people.
"Yeah, well, you do what you have to. I can hardly count the number of times I've been surrounded by people that want to kill or capture me. We'd better keep moving. The gates are going to be guarded again if we don't get out of the city soon, and I don't think we can pull the same trick as before."
"I wonder if Teegan and the others got out all right," Momono said.
"I'm sure they did," Tien said, walking down the street with Momono on his heels. "Onli is smart. After the stunt you pulled, there was no reason for them to be stopped. They've probably been waiting for us at the spot for hours now." Tien stopped looking at looked at the sword in Momono's hand. "I thought we agreed no weapons."
Momono looked at the sword. "I suppose we did. Then again, Onli and Ren didn't want you to have a weapon, either."
Tien glared, but Momono didn't relent. "Do you know why I wanted you to be the one to make sure I came back after pulling my stunt at the gate?"
"Because you knew I wouldn't let you get away?"
"Yes. There's another reason, though." Momono looked around them as they walked. Rain was the only other thing in the street. "I wanted to give you a chance to leave."
Tien stopped, skidding in water. "What?!"
"I saw how you looked in the inn, after being browbeaten by Onli. You looked how I felt while I was living with my mother. You were trying to figure out if you could get away. I wanted to let you have that chance. I knew I wasn't going to betray Teegan, so if I got back to them and you left, I could say you were killed protecting me."
"I would never do that to them," Tien said savagely. "They're the only family I have."
"I guess they are. I guess they're the only family I have left, too." Momono looked at the sword again. Rain dripped off its sharp edge. "Want me to get rid of this?"
Tien considered this, then shook his head. "If you want a sword, you can have one. You're part of our group, now. Consider yourself a Day-lighter, for better or worse."
Momono nodded, and smiled.
They made it out of the gate before it was blocked by guards, but only by hurrying. They went as quickly as they could to the spot pointed out by Momono as the meeting place.
All they found was a scorched circle, devoid of any other evidence of Ren, Onli, or Teegan. The ground was wet ash, drowned in the falling rain. Tien searched for them using his powerful eyesight, but saw nothing. He turned around and tensed.
A minute later several guards came upon the empty spot, after getting reports of an "explosion."
***
Wonderful rain, Teegan thought as Ren and Onli walked. Make me cooler. She looked up, feeling the drops on her young face. All her life she'd hated the rain, now she needed it, or she felt she would fry.
They'd been waiting for Momono and Tien to get back from the city. Teegan had just woken up that day, and felt tired and sore. The next few events were nothing but jumbled feelings, and then she was being carried by Ren, as he and Onli ran through the forest away from the city. Teegan could hear raindrops boiling on her skin. Onli and Ren were hurrying, their breathing ragged. Onli limped.
She slept.
The old woman, bundled warmly in her wheelchair near the fire, inspected the man across the table from her as well as she could. She was Councilwoman Gwynda, the woman Momono once called mother. She was, she hoped, safe in her house, deep in the city of Breston. The man across from her was named Roland. It had just been a day since Momono had so brutally taken her from her home and spit the most awful words at her.
"You understand what I say?" She asked. Roland looked like a stupid one.
"Yes, Madam Councilwoman. Kill the other Day-lighters, but bring your son back to you." Roland smiled, his pudgy face splitting in an ugly grin. "Your son decided to hit me over the head with his guitar a few weeks back. I'll enjoy seeing him squirm in irons."
"Don't hurt him," Gwynda said softly. "I want him unharmed when he gets back to me."
"Such grace and forgiveness. Just what I'd expect from a Councilwoman," Roland said.
"Forgiveness?" Gwynda laughed. "No! He will rot for what he said to me! I just want to be the one to hurt him! He should have known better than to go against his dear mother's wishes!" She laughed again, and rubbed her bony fingers over each other.
Roland swallowed. "Yes ma'am, of course."
"Good boy," Councilwoman Gwynda said, sitting back in her chair. She motioned to the man standing behind her. Her old helper, Lecks, had been cruelly injured by her son. "See the good man out. Give him coin for an inn tonight." She looked back to Roland, holding out a rolled scrap of paper. "Bring this to the guardhouse tomorrow morning. Take a half dozen of the best men." Roland took the piece of paper, and Gwynda leaned forward. Her small body trembled. "Find that boy." She sat back. "He'll pay for the things he said to me," she said quietly. "He'll pay."
Three days had passed since Momono and Tien's escape from the city where Momono's mother held power as a Councilwoman. They had been trying to follow the path that Onli, Ren, and Teegan took, but the only things they had to go on were Tien's strong eyesight, finding places that looked traveled. They had some money, but there was no one to buy from and they had no food of their own. They were forced to scavenge from berry bushes, and the odd rabbit that had been forced out of its home by rain.
Their relationship, previously strained, had gotten better after the event in the city. Tien had witnessed the real reason Momono wanted to travel with them -- an escape from his mother -- and Momono could trust Tien not to stab him in the back because of it.
So they forged through the wet woods after -- they hoped -- Ren, Onli, and the young girl who could create heat.
The third night they sat across a small fire from each other. The rain wasn't bad, but would soon get worse. They hadn't talked much, preferring to save their breath for walking or running. They both suspected soldiers from the Council of One Hundred were after them, and they didn't want to know what would happen if they were caught. Momono had gagged and kidnapped his mother, a Councilwoman, and dumped her in a puddle.
"What do you think happened to them?" Momono asked.
"Who knows?" Tien responded. "Most likely they were spotted by some guards from the city and had to escape."
"But the ground-"
"I know. The ground," Tien said. He remembered the scorched circle. Rain had already started mixing with hot ash, creating black streaks as it ran down the hill. The trees around them were snapped and broken, burnt on the sides that faced the spot. "I don't know. I couldn't see anything. We didn't really have a lot of time to look, either."
Momono nodded. Guards from the city were hot on their heels after they'd left. Momono wasn't sure why they weren't caught; they surely could have been.
The rain worsened and the small fire went out. Momono frowned down at it. "Good a time as any to get to sleep," Tien said. "I'll take the first watch."
Momono watched the second part of the night. Even wrapped in his cloak he was freezing. It was no surprise; the rain pounded down on him. It had long quenched the warm coals. It was still dark when he heard voices in the forest, and at first he thought, and hoped, it was Teegan and the others, but another moment and he knew they weren't friends. Keeping low, he went to Tien's sleeping form, and shook his shoulder.
Tien didn't wake until Momono pinched his cheek and shook his face. Only then did the man open his eyes, and he was still mostly asleep.
"Voices!" Momono whispered. It took a moment for Tien to realize what he meant, and then he got up and looked around. Momono pointed in one direction, the direction they'd come from. "Friends?"
Tien shook his head, and put his pack on his shoulders. He jerked his head and moved into the forest as quietly as he could. Momono followed, keeping low. The driving rain hid the noises they made.
They got a few dozen feet away, and Tien stopped. He looked back and frowned. "One of them looks familiar, but I can't place him." He stared. "I feel like I should. They're at our spot right now. I can't hear what they're saying, though." He watched through the dark rain. "They're moving again. Let's go."
They went through the cold rain and dark forest, keeping low to the ground. They could just barely hear the people behind them. They kept coming after them, but they didn't seem to be following, just moving in the same direction. They found a little hollow in the ground and hunkered down in it. Tien squinted through the rain, watching them.
He focused on the one he recognized. He wasn't sure, but he thought he'd seen him before. "They're looking for us,"
"Couldn't agree more," Momono said, and they snuck away.
A few hours later it was lighter, and the rain was less. The heavier rain had passed south, and they were out of the forest. They walked together on a muddy road, heading towards a small village. Both men dreamed of warm rooms and hot food. Tien had kept a sharp lookout, but hadn't seen their persuers.
"Here's what we do in the village," Tien was explaining, keeping his eyes on the horizon. "Ren is my brother, Teegan is his daughter, and my niece, Onli is his wife. We were traveling, and got separated in heavy rain. We ask around if anybody has seen them. Don't mention the Day-lighters, don't tell them your name. Don't say or do anything memorable."
"Got it," Momono said. "I wish I'd known that before I played in Breston. All of this could have been avoided."
"You didn't want to tell us you were a Councilwoman's son, for good reason. I doubt even Onli would have trusted you if she'd known." Tien hesitated. "I think I demonstrated how I would have acted, at least." Momono nodded. "Will anybody recognize you in this village?"
Momono shook his head. "I don't think I've ever been here. It used to be unconnected to Breston, but things might have changed. Bigger cities sometimes let small nearby villages use their guards and other things, and subject them to taxes. If that's true with this village, they might have my picture. Maybe even yours."
"Is it worth it?" Tien asked nobody in particular.
"Onli and the others wouldn't have known all of that, and they should all be safe. Nobody saw them. If they knew about this village, they'd go to it."
Tien recognized the logic. They kept quiet, walking by the side of the road. It was an old road, and after heavy rains couldn't be used unless you wanted to pull your feet out of your boots with each step. They walked on the shoulder, on drowning grass. The rain went from a heavy mist to a light rain and back. They reached the village and headed for a bar to warm up and eat.
It was a small and dingy place, words that described the village as a whole rather well. After eating plates of wet fish, they asked around about Teegan, Ren, and Onli. Nobody had seen them. They left the bar.
"Where would they have stopped?" Tien asked. "An inn?"
"The meeting spot had burn marks on it," Momono said. "Teegan might have fallen ill again. They had plenty of money to pay for a doctor."
"Okay. Let's check around. Stick to the story and try not to let anyone recognize you, please?" Tien said. Momono sighed and nodded. They headed in separate directions.
Tien went to an inn, but found no luck. He talked to a council doctor, not believing Onli would risk it with all the money she had, and was proved correct. He found a non-council doctor and went in. He was struck by a strange sensation, even before Dr. Amesis came around the corner.
The two looked at each other for a moment.
"Well well," Amesis said, removing his paper mask. "You, again. Your daughter, is she still sick?"
Tien smiled. His heart pounded. He had to be careful. "Wouldn't you know it, she got better the same day I came to see you?"
"How lucky," Amesis said. "And here you are, in a different village, again in a non-CD. Who's sick this time?"
"Actually, after we left Breston, our group got separated. My brother, my wife, and our daughter got lost. We thought they might have gone through here."
"And you check in a non-CD? Was somebody else sick?"
Tien quickly licked his lips. "We want to cover all our bases. Our daughter woke up, but she wasn't fully better yet."
Amesis tilted his head back and regarded him.
"Why are you here?" Tien asked, trying to change the subject. "Why did you leave Breston?"
"Maybe you weren't there when it happened, but apparently some Day-lighters broke in Councilwoman Gwynda's house and kidnapped her, threatened her, and left her for dead out in the rain a few nights ago." The doctor sighed and leaned against a table. Tien kept his face as neutral as possible, and simply nodded. "The next day the Councilwoman staged some kind of hunt for people who weren't working under the Council. I usually go around to some of the other villages a few times a year, but I decided to make a longer stay this time." Amesis walked behind Tien to a shelf near the door and checked a few vials. He looked at the list next to it and tsked.
"Interesting," was all Tien said.
"Yeah. Sorta sad. I heard one of the Day-lighters was the Councilwoman's son. I heard the other one was you."
The doctor leaned against the door, and his smile lifted up a corner of his lips. Tien stared with his mouth open.
Soft, warm sensations caressed her. The air was empty, and clear. There was no rain. Above, the clouds shifted and motioned, swaying one way and then the other.
With a soundless crack, they parted, and crushing openness descended on her, bearing down on her with too much freedom for a small mind.
It stopped, and she spied the great fire in the sky. She looked long, drawing in its every feature. The white, stinging light, the corona her eyes made in the blue sky, the pumping heat on her body.
There was a sudden singing sound, and the ground was gone from under her feet. She went past the drawing clouds as the land under her lit up like a room that had suddenly been flooded with firelight. The orb of the planet fell away. She entered the sun, and was warmer than ever before.
Then she was awake.
"Good, you're up," Ren said without turning. He was bent over Onli. "We have to get going again. There's a little bit of breakfast left for you."
Teegan rubbed her eyes as the last pieces of the dream became nothing more than unreal memories. She pulled the blanket off of her and got to her feet unsteadily. A few sausages sizzled over a shielded fire. They might have been hot, once, but they were warm at best when she gobbled them down.
"How do you feel?" Ren asked her.
"Okay," Teegan said. She walked beside him. "How is she?"
Lying on the ground, Onli breathed uneasily, yet smiled at the girl. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," the woman said.
"It's too much damage for us to care for here," Ren said. They'd turned Teegan's cloak into long strips to cover the burns, but with no medicine they bled and festered. "We'll need to find someone who can help her."
"Only if it's safe," Onli said through gritted teeth as Ren replaced a bandage. "I won't let you risk Teegan for my skin's benefit."
"Your skin," Ren scoffed. "Your life is in danger. The burns are deep. They'll get infected soon. Either you get help or we lose you. I'm not going to let that happen."
"Me neither!" Teegan said. After all, it's my fault.
The memories came back to her as they went, heading for a safe Day-lighter base. They'd waited for Momono and Tien to come back from the Councilwoman; Teegan knew that one or both of them might not come back, and was trying to avoid thinking about it. But she thought about Momono, and how much he seemed to care for her, and how silly he was even when he didn't mean to be, and she thought about Tien, and how he protected her, and how he freed her from the terrible place the Council had her at, and she started to get upset. She fought to keep the tears back, but they came anyway.
There was a rush of powerful heat, and for a moment Teegan couldn't feel any rain. There was a ringing in her ears. She looked up. It wasn't her dream -- the clouds were still there -- but the rain had stopped.
She looked over at Onli and Ren, smiling. She'd never been out and not been wet, none of them had. Instead of finding the other two gazing in wonder, however, she found Onli on the ground and Ren running to her.
Onli's left leg and arm were baked, covered in burns. Some of her torso was also burned, but her clothes kept the heat off her there. Ren told her later that a bubble of heat and air had come out of her, blasting the rain away and scorching the ground near her. Onli had been close, but Ren had only been saved by walking away a bit and trying to listen to something. Soon guards started pouring out of the city, no doubt heading for them, and they ran.
Teegan watched Onli sit up and smile at her. They're afraid of me now, Teegan thought. They know if I get upset I'll do something terrible again. They're trying to keep me happy.
Onli stood, wincing. She took a few steps and leaned against a tree. The destroyed skin on her left hand made Teegan's stomach turn, and she went to Onli. "Do you need help?"
Onli looked down at her and smiled, shaking her head. "No dear, I'll be fine. I'm just dizzy from lying down too long."
"I can help you," Teegan said, almost touching her hand. She stopped herself at the last moment; it surely would have hurt Onli. "You can lean against me."
"I'm too heavy for you!" Onli said.
"Nuh-uh!"
"Okay you two," Ren said. He handed Teegan her pack. "I'll help Onli for now until she can get her legs under her. Don't go too far, Teegan."
Teegan nodded. The standard warning. Don't go too far. Something could leap out of a shadow and grab you, or you could fall in a hole and die with a leg twisted under you, never to be found.
They set off from the hilly area, going east toward other Day-lighters.
Tien reached for his sword.
"Wait!" Amesis said, putting his hands out. "I don't mean to hurt you, or turn you in. Why do you think I moved out here? I'm no friend to the Council."
Tien clicked the sword back home, slowly. Quickly, he looked around him. He couldn't see evidence of any other people in the building. "You work by yourself?"
"I have a nurse, but she isn't in yet. It's too early."
"I guess it is," Tien said. "So I'm a Day-lighter."
"It wasn't hard to figure out. You had to see a non-CD, didn't have a lot to pay with, and couldn't talk about why. After the events a few days ago in the city, it didn't take any kind of genius."
"Why say this?" Tien asked. He almost wished Momono was around, just to have someone else on his side. "The people I'm looking for aren't here. Why not just let me on my way and forget about it?"
"I know who you're looking for," Amesis said. "A man, a woman, and a child with light hair. She had her hood off, and somehow seemed to be enjoying the rain, even as heavy as it was. The woman had big scars, or burns, on the left side of her body. Her clothing had been destroyed."
Tien reeled back. "That is them! How did you know? What happened to the woman?"
Amesis shrugged. "Don't know. Didn't stop to ask. I was in a carriage heading to this village, and they were walking by the side of the road, looking over their shoulders and appearing generally mistrusting."
"Do you know if they were coming to the village?" Tien asked frantically. What on Earth happened?
The doctor shrugged again. "Don't know. I've been here pretty much ever since I got to the village, and they never stopped by."
Head spinning, Tien found a chair and sat. "Are you all right?" Amesis asked. Tien nodded, rubbing his face.
"I need to go," he said, standing. "I need to find them."
"Go, then. If you ever find yourself in the area, come and see me. I'd like to get another look at the girl with the light hair. You don't see that anymore." He laid a hand on Tien's shoulder. "You've got one friend in this town, at least."
"Thank you," Tien said. He reached for the door, then stopped. "Why don't you like the Council?" He asked.
"My reasons are my own, just like yours," Amesis answered. Tien smirked and nodded. He walked out of the hot building into the rain. For a single moment he stood, letting it wash over him.
He went down the street, searching for Momono. It didn't take him long; he quickly spotted Momono on the main street, talking with a large woman. The woman walked away before Tien got close.
"No luck," Momono said. "How about you?"
Momono's face turned concerned as Tien told him what had happened. "So they didn't come into the city. Why not?"
"I can only guess," Tien said. They stood under a hanging porch and watched the rain sheet off the roof. The village would be fully awake soon. "Maybe they thought it would be too risky. Teegan with light hair, Onli injured . . . maybe Ren thought they'd be too easily remembered. Then why," Tien suddenly shouted, "did they walk right next to the road?"
He put his head against the porch's post, sighing. Momono patted his back.
"What's our next step?" The singer asked.
Tien stood with his head against the post for a few seconds. "We need to figure out which direction they went. There's a lot of other things to figure out, but that's the important one. I think-"
His head snapped up, looking toward the edge of town. "No."
"What?"
"I think they followed us into town."
"Teegan?" Momono said, hopeful.
"No! The people that were looking for us in the forest!" Tien said. "I recognize that person now . . . he's leading them!"
"Who is it?"
"It's Roland!" He turned and looked at Momono, expecting a reaction. Instead, Momono just looked at him quizzically. "You know, from the inn?"
Momono shook his head.
"He's the one you hit with your guitar," Tien said. Momono's face slouched down into a grimace.
"He isn't going to be happy to see me," he said.
"I have a feeling that might be why he's following us. No thanks, probably, to your actions with your mother." A thought occurred to Tien. "Oh no."
"What now?"
"We just went around for the last hour asking everyone we could find about a bunch of people. Now these people are about to go around and ask everyone about us!"
"This is just getting better and better!" Momono said. "What do we do!?"
"We have to get out of here!" Tien said. Even as he said it, Roland and the soldiers -- seven in all -- split up and started banging on doors. "They'll see us for sure if we make a break for it. We need to hide. Come on, I know where." He sank low, and waited until most of the soldiers were looking the other way. He crept around the corner into an alley, and Momono followed him. Tien led them to Amesis' clinic, and pushed the door open.
Again, doctor Amesis came around the corner, again finding Tien. "I assume this is the Councilwoman's son?" He said, pointing at Momono.
"Yes, and it's come back to haunt us. Soldiers are combing the village, looking for us. We just need to hide a little bit, until we get a chance to escape."
"Doctor?" A woman called from around the corner. "Who's there?"
"Just a few friends," Amesis called back. "My nurse. Am I going to get in trouble with the Council for harboring known fugitives?"
"Momono kidnapped a Councilwoman," Tien said. "Yes."
"Good." Amesis led them into a small, warm wooden room. "This is my waiting room. How long do you think you need to wait."
"I don't know," Tien said.
"Then let's make it a little easier on you."
"Ren! Stop!" Teegan shouted. "Onli's hurt too bad!"
"No," Onli said, limping horribly. "I can still walk. Don't worry if I fall behind."
"No, you can't walk," Ren said. "Your bandages are caked with filth. I need to change them. You're going to get infected if you keep this up. I told you we should have stopped at that village."
"It was too risky," Onli said, panting. She sat as Ren unwrapped the bandage on her hand. Rain and sweat mixed on her forehead. "We would have been picked out in a moment."
"Onli, that's the whole reason we were on the road! To help Tien and Momono find us if they could! We should have gone straight to a non-council doctor and had him help you! We have the money!" He looked up from his work. "Onli? Onli, wake up!"
"Awake, I'm awake," Onli mumbled.
"Don't fall asleep Onli," Ren said. "I will press down on this burn to keep you awake."
"You wouldn't," Onli said.
"Try me." Ren raised an eyebrow. Onli breathed out a laugh and shook her head.
"Okay, I'll stay awake. I promise." She took in a long breath, and grabbed her left side. "It hurts."
A sudden wind across the plain they were on blew the rain over them. Ren shielded Onli from it and brushed her soaking hair out of her face. "We're going back to the village we passed last night. I don't care what you say," he told Onli. "I've made a decision. You can barely stand, and I won't be enough to protect both of you." He looked at Teegan. "Get her pack. I'll need to carry her." Teegan nodded and slipped Onli's pack next to hers. The coins inside jingled and the straps dug into her shoulders.
Soon Onli was latched onto Ren's back, and he pointed the way they'd come. "We should be able to get back in a few hours." He started forward, clutching Onli's legs. Teegan went after him, trying not to look at the line of bandages that started at Onli's ankle and went up past the knee.
Momono and Tien were also thinking of bandages, but for a different reason.
Doctor Amesis stood back, surveying his work. His nurse, a woman named Liliana, took the remaining bandages from him and bustled away.
Both Tien's and Momono's face were wrapped in bandages that left only slits for their eyes and mouth. Momono's legs were similarly wrapped under his pants, and both of Tien's arms were covered. Each finger was wrapped individually.
"This should help you get out of the city without attracting too much attention. At least it will keep people from noticing you right away. If you're lucky, people will think you're lepers, and won't come near you."
"Thank you, doctor," Tien said, slightly muffled. He stood, stiffly moving his arms to test the give of the bandages.
"I don't think I've ever heard somebody use the word lucky and leper in the same sentence," Momono said, also muffled. Amesis chuckled.
"Now, which way do we go?" Tien said. "I have a few ideas. They could have gone north toward the mountains, to get away from whatever was chasing them. They also could have gone east, heading towards . . . " Tien found Liliana replacing the bandages in a far cabinet. "a Day-lighter enclave," he finished quietly. He pulled at one of the bandages around his eyes.
"I hope they didn't go north," Amesis said. "If they did, you might as well just go east. You'll never find them, even if they are still alive." Tien looked at him. "I'm sorry to put it that way, but it's true. The mountains are treacherous and deadly. If those three went in there, either they know something I don't, or they're in for a nasty surprise."
The small office was quiet. Momono heard the rain through a window. The candlelight shifted. Tien sighed, and flexed his fingers in their bandages. "We'll go east, then, and pray they did too."
Amesis nodded. "I don't have anything else to give you." He looked at the door. "I expect the soldiers you mentioned will be along soon to ask if I've seen you. It will easier to say no if you aren't here."
Momono and Tien thanked him, and left. Amesis stood in the dark, empty clinic. Liliana came up behind him and coughed delicately. Amesis looked at her over his shoulder.
"Those were Day-lighters, weren't they? Why did you help them, doctor?" She asked, with her hands linked in front of her.
Amesis sighed. "I have my reasons for working against the Council, just as I'm sure you do," he said. "And, just like you, I wish to keep mine a secret."
"You could get us in trouble," the nurse said.
"You're free to get the soldiers and tell them I've been harboring criminals," he said. "It will undoubtedly leave you without a job. Not many non-CDs left around here, and Council Doctors don't count non-CD work as experience, or so I've heard." Amesis walked past her. "You might have a bit of difficulty staying on your feet." He lit a cigarette. "A young woman like you. It's a shame."
The nurse's face stayed neutral, but she quickly walked past him into the operating room.
Doctor Amesis, traitor to the Council and now in hot water with his nurse, blew out a funnel of smoke. He knew he shouldn't smoke, of course, but it helped him calm down.
There was a knock at the door. Amesis rubbed the cigarette out and strode to the door, heart pounding. He opened it and found two armor-wrapped soldiers.
"Gentlemen," Amesis said. "Can I help you?"
"You're Doctor Amesis?" One of them asked. Rain spanged off their helmets, splashing Amesis.
"That's right."
"Have you seen either of these men?" The soldier unwrapped a cloth drawing of Tien and Momono. "They're traitors to the Council. Anyone harboring them will also be considered traitors." Amesis pretended to inspect the drawings.
"I don't see your identification. Council rules say you have to have your permit next to the door," the soldier said.
"I'm a non-CD," Amesis said. He was slightly pleased to see the soldier's looks darken.
"May we come inside?" The soldier asked, before pushing past him. The other soldier followed, glaring down at Amesis. The men, big in their armor, filled up the entryway. "Do you have any patients right now?"
"None, in fact," Amesis said. "You boys are the first ones to step foot in here all day, thank goodness."
"You're aware of what happened in Breston four nights ago?" One soldier asked.
"I heard something about the Councilwoman. I was working on a patient at the time and had to concentrate on my work."
"She was kidnapped and abused by Day-lighters." The soldier gestured with the drawing. "These men."
They heard footsteps behind them and turned, putting their hands on their swords. They found a startled Liliana.
One of the soldiers grew a leering smile. "Hello there miss," he said. "How do you do?"
"Fine, sir," Liliana said. Amesis' heart jumped when she spoke. "Are you injured?"
"Yes ma'am. I have a broken heart. Maybe you could help me?" The soldier said. He took off his helmet and put it over his chest.
"I'm afraid I don't know how to fix that," Liliana said.
"Oh, I think you might be able to do something," the soldier said. He took a step closer.
"Excuse me," Amesis said. "May I see the drawing again?"
The lecherous soldier nodded to the other one, and Amesis was handed the drawing. "I don't know about this one," Amesis said, pointing at Tien, "but this one here is kind of familiar. One my way here this morning, as I came in to work. He looked like he was heading north." He handed the drawing back. "Toward the mountains."
"The mountains, are you sure?"
"He looked like he was sizing them up," Amesis said. "To see if he could take them on."
The soldiers smiled at each other. "Thank you, doctor. We'll be out of your way now." The soldier threw one last wink at Liliana, and soon the clinic was empty except for Amesis and his nurse.
"Thank you, doctor," Liliana said after a minute. "I don't know if I would have been able to stop them if they had . . . but why did you tell them the Day-lighters went north?"
"We won't be seeing those soldiers again," Amesis said. Anger surged through his veins. He thought about the step the soldier took toward Liliana and he felt his fist curl.
"All the rain is making it hard to hear anything," Ren said. He looked down at Teegan. "Let me know if you see anything. I think we're getting close to the village now. It's a bit hard for me to see through the rain."
"Okay," Teegan said over the rain. It was getting much stronger, and stinging drops burned into her skin. Onli tried to hide the damaged areas of her flesh. They'd been walking back toward the village for a few hours, searching for it in the rain. They were on a big empty plain, which Ren seemed to remember was outside of the village.
Teegan was tired, and she felt a strange mixture from her hot skin and cold rain. The two packs she carried stung her arms, but had gotten easier as they walked. She even felt a little dizzy, like the air was being sucked out of mouth before she could breathe it. "Hey!" She said. "Hold on, I need to rest."
She slipped the packs off her shoulders, and they landed on the ground in heaps. She took in a few deep breaths and rotated her shoulders. "We can't take too long," Ren said. "Onli- What's that?"
Teegan looked behind her. She expected to see soldiers, hoped to see Momono or Tien, but saw neither. She didn't see anything. "There, on the ground," Ren said. Teegan looked.
There was a coin. "Ooh," Teegan said. She picked it up and put it in her pocket. "That's cool." She spotted another on the ground. "Oh, another one." Past it, the way they'd come, was yet another coin. "Uh."
"How much money is left in Onli's pack?" Ren asked. Teegan picked up the pack she'd been carrying at an angle for several hours. It was too light. There was a coin-sized hole in one corner, and nearly all of the money was missing. She looked up at Ren, scared.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was happening," she said. She felt small and useless. She'd been given a simple job and failed.
"It's all right. We have more, and not enough time to go back." They turned toward the village again.
"What is it?" Momono asked.
Tien shifted and looked up at him. He was crouched in the rain and holding a coin. "It's money. I know you've seen it before."
"Well, yeah, but why are you inspecting it?"
"Because we've been following a trail of it for an hour."
"What?" Momono looked. There were coins leading in both directions. "Why is it here?"
"The coins were minted in Breston. These must have come from Ren or Onli."
"So if we follow the coins, we'll find them?"
"We'll find something," Tien said, pocketing the coin and standing. "Let's go."
They headed east.
"There it is," Teegan said. "I see it!"
The rain had gotten worse, a true storm that threatened to blow them down. The rain soaked them, sticking their clothes to their skin and getting in their eyes, and fierce winds blew at them, tugging them in one direction and then the next. Ren and Teegan had pushed on, hoping that they still pointed the right way.
They reached the first level of buildings and leaned against the walls, resting. The storm dropped a flood around them, turning the dirt under their feet to mud and bending the stilted houses. They went farther in.
Ren headed for the first door he saw, and banged on it.
"What now?" The man yelled when he opened the door. "All day, people coming to my door and bothering my business!" He saw who it was, and who he carried. "What's happened to her?"
"She's badly burned. We need a doctor. Can you tell us where the closest one is?"
The man looked at Ren closely. Finally, he said: "Yes. Doctor Amesis; just a few rows over. He's got the little place with the heavy wooden door."
"Thank you," Ren said. He and Teegan searched for Amesis' place, until they found a door that matched the description. Ren went in.
There was a young woman inside, and she gasped when she saw Onli. She helped her to a raised bed and looked at the burns. "This is too extensive for just me. I'll need to get the doctor. Stay here, please."
Ren watched her go through a doorway and up a set of stairs. She disappeared from view. Soon enough two sets of steps came back down.
Doctor Amesis looked them over when he stood at the bottom of the steps. His eyes were drawn to Teegan's light hair.
"Doctor, thank you for coming," Ren said. "Onli is badly hurt. I'm afraid the burns are infected."
Amesis walked next to Onli and carefully unwound the bandages. The burns dribbled liquid. Cracked, scabby skin molted as the bandages came away. "Yes, they're infected. It's a good thing you came here. Liliana, bring the antibiotics, clean bandages and knives, thread . . ." The doctor continued to list items. The nurse bustled away, grabbing things from shelves and cabinets. "How do you feel?" Amesis asked Onli.
"It doesn't hurt much," Onli said. "I swear."
"Are you sure? You're telling me the truth?" Amesis asked, looking down at her unblinkingly.
"Really," Onli said. She tried to smile.
"Third degree burns," Amesis said. "You should have sought help as soon as possible." The nurse appeared and held out a bottle of liquid. Amesis took it and mixed a portion in a glass of water. "Take this, it's to keep from getting infected." He tipped the liquid into Onli's mouth. Her face crinkled, but she swallowed it. "How did she get these injuries?"
Onli, Ren, and Teegan all froze. Amesis spotted it. "You can't tell? Figures. A lot of that going around." Amesis took a number of damp towels and placed them over burned areas as Liliana cut away Onli's clothing. He gave Onli another liquid. "This will taste foul, but it will dull the pain."
Onli swallowed the liquid and almost gagged. She set her head back down. "I told you I don't feel pain, doctor."
Amesis took a small, sharp knife from Liliana. "You would have. I need to trim off infected tissue. I'll give it a moment to take effect. You'll be pretty hazy until it wears off."
He looked at Ren. "I met Tien and Momono."
"What?" Ren said, eyes going wide. "You know who we are?"
"Yes. Don't worry, I won't turn you in. There were soldiers in the village earlier looking for them. I covered them in bandages and sent them east. They were looking for you."
"Bandages? Were they hurt?"
"No, it was just a disguise. You didn't see them?"
"No," Onli said. It was a single, long breath. Amesis touched her clean skin with the edge of the knife and saw no reaction.
"Soldiers were here? Are they still?"
"No. They're heading north towards the mountains. With the storm outside, they're treacherous until the water drains away." He began to slice away blasted skin with the edge of the small knife. Teegan watched Onli's face and saw no reaction. She stared at the ceiling, oblivious.
"Do you need anything, dear?" The nurse asked Teegan. Teegan looked at her, confused.
"What?"
"You have injuries on your face," the nurse said, "and on your hands."
"Oh. They're old," Teegan said. "They don't hurt." The nurse nodded and went back to Amesis' side. Teegan ran a few fingers over the back of her hand, on a raised scar.
"She'll be all right, won't she?" Ren asked the doctor. The doctor patiently finished with a cut before answering.
"I don't think it's life threatening," he said. "But she'll need treatment. I'd say she shouldn't be allowed to travel-" he looked at Ren "-but I know that you'd rather keep moving."
Ren watched Onli's motionless face.
"The damage will be too extensive for the body to heal itself," Amesis continued. "Frankly I'm amazed she could walk at all."
"She's strong," Ren said.
"I suppose," Amesis said. He dropped a piece of cut skin into a pan. "Even trimming the tissue will take a few hours. You two might as well find a place to rest. I'll keep working."
Ren fell asleep quickly in the small, warm waiting room. Teegan, sitting in a chair, looked at the scar on her hand.
She rolled up her right sleeve. There was a long scar from her wrist to the elbow. This one was a little newer. She could still feel something when she touched it.
"Stop struggling, girl. It will only hurt more."
She took off her boot. Each toe had a scar that blended together, going from the top of her foot to above her ankle.
I will never walk again, she thought, staring down at the mutilated mess that used to be a foot.
She rolled up her pant leg. Her knee was a mess of scars.
"The joints regularly produce incredible force. Perhaps there we will find your mysteries, girl. Ouch, you're getting hot again! Quick, fetch doctor Morlin!"
She replaced her pants and boot. He hand went under her shirt to feel at the huge, round scar on her stomach.
"Where else but the torso could the heat come from?"
"I agree. We must be careful not to kill the girl."
They did not kill her, but the scooped hole in her stomach made her sick and hot. One of the doctors burned his fingers -- they were in her at the time. The metal shackles holding her down burned her as she heated them. She smelled smoke.
"How is she doing it?"
"I don't know!"
"Sedate her, quickly! She's going to melt through the iron!"
The next thing she knew, Tien entered her cold cell . . .
"Young miss."
Teegan looked up. Doctor Amesis stood in front of her. "You were asleep. You looked like you were having a nightmare."
Teegan pulled her hand out from under her shirt. Her skin was hot. "I don't remember what I was dreaming about."
Amesis sighed and sat in the chair next to her. Ren snorted in his sleep. "I've been around people a long time, miss. I know when they are lying. You don't want me to know your dreams, that's all right." Amesis looked at her bright hair. "There's strangeness around you. Liliana told me about your scars."
Teegan said nothing.
"Lots of people have scars, of course," Amesis said, leaning back in the chair. "I have a few. Scalpel accidents." He showed her a finger. There was a small dimpled arc at the end of it. "But not as many as you. And I know you won't tell me." Gently, he touched the tip of her hair. "Scars all over, bright hair. You're a strange one, miss. Tell me, what's your name?"
She kept her eyes on the floor. "Teegan."
"Teegan?" Amesis seemed surprised. "That sounds like a name from before the rain."
"What do you mean?" Teegan asked. Nobody had ever commented on her name before. They usually kept their words focused on her hair.
"I'm a bit of a historian in my free time," Amesis said. "I enjoyed learning about what the world was like before the rain came. Back when the sun shined."
"That's why you helped us when you knew we were Day-lighters," Teegan said. "You know what is was like."
Amesis nodded. "I suppose that's true enough. I read about famous people and events. Names like ours -- Onli, Ren, Amesis, Momono -- they weren't heard before the rains came." He regarded her. "But I remember hearing yours."
"Why?"
"There was a Teegan a long time ago. She was a singer."
"Like Momono? Could she play the guitar, too?"
"She could. She was very famous. People from all over the world loved to watch her and her sister perform," Amesis said. Teegan gasped. "You know what else I discovered? I discovered what the name means."
"Teegan? What does it mean?"
"It means 'special thing,'" Amesis said, pointing at Teegan. Teegan imagined hurting Onli so badly that she could hardly walk, and her head sank down.
"I'm not special."
"No?"
Teegan shook her head. Her hair flared in the candlelight as the storm pulsed in the window outside. "I hurt Onli. Everybody's been risking their lives for me."
"You're the one that burned Onli?" Amesis asked, surprised. "How could you have done that?" When Teegan didn't answer, he sighed. "More mysteries. Did you mean to hurt her?" Teegan shook her head. "She can't possibly blame you. I know why they run; they run for you."
Teegan looked up, surprised. This doctor could see much more than she thought. He stood. "I'd better go check on Onli. Why don't you get some rest, Teegan."
Teegan nodded and put her head down when he left.
"I couldn't find anything," Momono said.
"Neither could I." Tien looked around again. They'd both spent the last hour looking all over the area the trail of coins had stopped. They'd walked for two hours until they found a small pile of iron close to some trees.
The storm had gotten worse as they walked. It was only Tien's strong eyesight that helped them find the next coin. Now the sky had cleared a small amount and the rain had lessened, but it was still a chore walking. They found the pile of coins, and started searching the area, but could find nothing else.
"Maybe they got attacked," Momono said. He watched Tien play with the coins on the ground. "And couldn't drop any more."
"Maybe they didn't realize they were dropping coins, and patched the hole when they got to this point." Tien thought. "No, they would have picked up the coins that were right here."
Momono, exhausted, sat. "Now what?"
"You ask that question too much," Tien said.
"It's because I don’t-" Momono stopped talking, and reached under him. He pulled up a torn strip of cloth, wet and stained with something. "What's this?"
"It looks like a bandage," Tien said. He took it from Momono. "Ren made this bandage!"
"What? How do you know?"
"He's my brother, I can tell. Are there any more?"
Momono stood up. "A lot more! There's practically enough to mummify a person here!"
"What's that on them?" Tien wondered. "It doesn't look like blood."
"I can't tell, but there's a lot of it," Momono said. "It's on every bandage, and some of them are covered in it." He brought a strip close to his nose and sniffed. "I don't really smell anything. Can you see any difference?" He looked up and found Tien bent close to the ground, staring at something. "Did you find something?"
"A footprint." He traced it with his finger. It was sunk in the mud. "It looks like Ren's . . . but it's too heavy." He moved his head, eyes wide in the rain. "There's another one." He pointed. "It's going back towards the beginning of the coin trail."
"Doctor Amesis said that Onli was hurt. She was covered with injuries." Momono held up the bandage. "Ren would have helped her."
"The bandages are soaked in something, but it isn't blood. The meeting spot outside of Breston was burnt."
"She must have had burns!" Momono said. "Bad ones that didn't heal! That's why the bandages have something on them -- pus from the burns!"
"Amesis said she had burns everywhere!" Tien said. His eyes blazed with excitement. "She might have fallen here and Ren had to carry her! Amesis said they didn't stop at the village, so she couldn't have gotten help!"
"That's why the footprint is so deep," Momono said. He was grinning. "But Ren couldn't carry everything, so he gave his pack or Onli's pack to Teegan to carry!"
"She didn't realize coins were dropping out," Tien said. "We aren't at the end of the coins, we're at the beginning!"
"Is she all right, doctor?" Ren asked, coming into the room. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and looked at Onli.
"As I said, she'll survive. I've had to trim of a lot of tissue, and there's still a lot of damage. She'll be in quite a lot of pain when she wakes up." Amesis inspected a bandage. Liliana stood by her side. "I spent a bit of time talking to Teegan. She's quite the interesting girl."
"We think so."
"I understand that you Day-lighters have your own agenda -- one that, on the surface at least, I support -- but I have to wonder what her place in it is. Something I could hardly guess, I bet. I ended up telling her more about herself than she told me."
"She's like that," Ren said.
"Beware the quiet ones," Amesis said. "That's something my mother told me. They don't talk because they're thinking of ways to destroy you." There was a knock at the door. "Liliana, would you get that please?"
"Teegan wouldn't hurt a fly."
"She hurt Onli," Amesis said, looking up at Ren as Liliana left the room. "I don't believe she meant to, but she did. Am I right?" Ren said nothing. "I take your silence to mean I'm correct. She has a power. You and many others have your ears -- no, don't deny it -- Tien has his eyes, others have speech, or touch. Some have supernatural empathy, some can smell like bloodhounds . . . and then there is Teegan."
They heard a scream, and the collapse of a body. Shouts came from the front of the clinic. Ren looked at Onli, and then darted for the entrance.
He found two drenched and angry soldiers, and another man that Ren placed as someone from an inn some time ago. Then, from a distant memory, Ren heard the sound brrang.
"You?!" The man said, and he pushed to the front, stepping over a cowering Liliana. "You're one of the Day-lighters from the inn!" He turned to the soldiers. "Spread out! Momono is here, I know it!" The two soldiers, both wearing dented and ruined armor, moved into the clinic with swords drawn. Ren's hand reached for his sword hilt, but it wasn't there. He remembered taking it off before resting in the waiting room -- the waiting room Teegan currently slept in.
He didn't see her at the inn. He doesn't know about her. He's just looking for us and Momono, because of whatever Momono did to get out of Breston.
"Don't make any moves!" One of the soldiers shouted in Ren's face. Ren closed his eyes and didn't move. He didn't look toward the waiting room. He hoped Teegan had woken up already. A gust blew across him from the open door, and his skin prickled with the chill of the storm.
"Find the doctor!" Roland, the fat man from the inn, yelled. "If he gets away I'll cut your throats!" He looked at Ren. "I have a lot of questions for you," he said. "You're going to tell me where your friend the Councilwoman's son is."
"I don't know where he is," Ren said. "He separated from us after we left the inn you were in."
"Liar," Roland said, smiling. "Witnesses at the Titan's Mug say you were there with him when he sang. You and the other one that I fought. You're going to tell me where they are, or-"
"Sir!" One of the soldiers appeared. "We have the doctor and the nurse! There's also a woman here, badly burned! She's unconscious!"
Roland's fat face shifted into an ugly leer. "I remember her, too," he said. "Bring her out here!"
"No!" Ren shouted.
"Do it!" Roland said.
"No! I swear, we don't know where the other two are!" Ren said. "We were going to meet up with them after they escaped Breston, but . . . they took too long! Please, don't touch her, she's very hurt!"
"Bring her out here," Roland said again. "And wake her up. Bring the doctor and the nurse, too." He drew his sword and pointed it at Ren. "Go, I'll make sure this one doesn't move."
Ren and Roland stood very still, hearing the movement from the next room. Amesis protested moving Onli until a sudden stop. He appeared rubbing his jaw, prodded forward by one of the soldiers. The nurse and the other soldier supported a groggy Onli. Ren went to help Onli, and the soldier drew his sword.
"Everybody all right out here?" Amesis said to Ren. Ren took a moment and then nodded.
"I'm fine."
"All of you, outside," Roland said. "You, doctor, have some things to answer for." He looked at Ren and Onli. "And you two are going to tell me everything you know. Outside, now."
He and the soldiers marched them past the waiting room and out the door. Wet wind gusted in the empty waiting room's open window.
The doctor said he sent Tien and Momono east, so she ran that way. She had nothing with her, and didn't know what she would do if she couldn't find Tien or Momono. She knew there were Day-lighters east -- she'd have to find them herself. She wondered if she could find her own red ball.
The storm yanked her in every direction with powerful winds and strong rain. It soaked her almost before getting to the edge of the village. Her hood was down and her hair flapped behind her like a bright banner. She wondered if she should take the small knife Onli trusted her with and cut it to attract less attention.
She ran until the rain forced her to stop. She fell to her knees and braced herself with her hands, panting.
She didn't want to cry; she wanted to keep going. She placed her head against the ground as the wind and rain attacked. She was their enemy, and they fought her.
Onli's thrown body tumbled in the soaked grass, smoke rising from the burnt flesh.
She felt tears drop from her eyes, disappearing in the running water.
For a brief, silent second, no rain fell. The air was dry.
She covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to sob too loudly. The storm crashed overhead, applauding her misery.
The sky opened up, and the sun burst through, showering the plain not with rain, but blessed, beautiful sun, bringing aching light instead of wretched darkness and heat instead of cold. She watched as the clouds went away, scattered by the sun's force. The entire world was open, and Teegan's hair sparkled.
"I think I see something over there," Tien said, peering through the rain. "It's a little lump on the ground." Thunder cracked.
They had been following the trail of coins back toward the village. Momono was having trouble figuring out what time it was. Some of the coins had been washed away by the rain, but Tien would usually be able to spot the next one. "I don't remember seeing anything like that the first time."
"Can you tell what it is?" Momono asked.
Tien shook his head. "It could be a lot of things. The rain is too heavy for me to see it." He stared for a little bit.
Lightning pulsed down, and Tien jumped. He took off, running from the path of coins. Momono stood taken aback, and then ran after him, stumbling in the wet grass. Tien easily outstripped him, running with manic energy. Just as Momono saw a huddled mass on the ground, Tien slid to his knees and collided with it. It came alive, and latched on to him. Momono got closer and found Tien clutching a sodden, miserable, lonely Teegan. He felt a surge of energy and caught up, dropping to his knees like Tien had. Teegan disconnected from Tien and hugged him, pressing her wet face into his shoulder, shuddering and trembling.
"Then I pushed open the window, grabbed my cloak, and got out the window," Teegan said. "I was so scared. I didn't know what I was going to do."
They were walking back toward the village in the rain. Momono held Teegan's hand. They had pulled off their bandages after finding her, yet she knew it was them anyway. She said she could tell. She'd just finished telling them everything that had happened since leaving Breston. She could barely talk when she told them what had happened when Onli got burned, and they could hardly believe their ears.
"We'll figure out what to do," Tien said. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. How do you feel? You aren't sick?"
Teegan shook her head. "No, not sick."
"We'll be at the village in a few minutes," Tien said. "Let's all try to be quiet. Hopefully they're still in Amesis' office, or at least in the village.
Tien was correct, and soon Momono began to see the village's outer buildings through the rain. They crept up to one of the buildings and started winding their way through the narrow alleys as small streams of water flowed over their feet and under the stilted houses. Despite the muck and gray rain, Teegan's hair sparkled.
They reached Amesis' office, finding it empty and cold. There were no signs of a struggle.
"Teegan, you stay here," Tien said, as he closed the window she'd used to escape. The building started to warm up again. "Momono and I will look around the village. I don't think they'll come back here, but if they do be prepared to hide or escape again."
"I don't wanna hide," Teegan said. "I want to help look for them. Onli's really hurt!"
"We know, but she wouldn't want us risking you. You're more important than any of us. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Teegan frowned and nodded her head sadly. Momono watched Tien walk to the front door. "Coming?" Tien said to Momono. After a pause, Momono followed him back into the rain.
"I ought to gut you," Roland said to doctor Amesis, as he pulled his head up by the hair. Blood ran from bruises and cuts on the doctor's face. Roland dropped him, and he landed in a puddle of mud on the outskirts of the village. "Tricking my men like that. And you thought you'd get away with it? You're lucky I'm a forgiving man. A stupid stunt like that would never work."
Amesis coughed and used one arm to lift himself out of the mud. His other arm was attempting to hold together his ribs. "Well then . . . where are the rest of your soldiers?" He said. Ren stiffened as Roland turned back to him; he almost let Onli fall to the ground. "The mountains got them, didn't they?" He laughed, and groaned. "You're lucky to be alive. They could have taken all of you." He spat out blood. "The mountains don't usually let people go."
Roland's boot caught his stomach, and he collapsed with a grimace on his face. "Shut up!" Roland shouted. "You'll never heal another person after I tell the Council what you tried to do!" Roland cocked his foot back for another swing, then halted. He put the foot down. "In fact, I'm going to make you wish you had never said a word against us. You," he pointed at the soldier that held Liliana. The nurse was soaked to the bone. "Take her behind a house and do whatever you want to her, but . . . make sure she screams."
"No!" Amesis said. He tried to reach out a hand but brought it back quickly, cupping his stomach.
"No, no," Onli whispered just above the rain. Her wet bandages stuck to her skin. "Stop him."
"Wait!" Ren shouted. "Don't do it!"
Roland made the soldier stop. The soldier looked visibly upset. "You have something to say?"
"We'll tell you where Tien and Momono went, as long as you promise not to hurt her," Ren said. "As long as you leave us in peace."
"Leave you in peace?" Roland laughed. "You lot are traitors! Day-lighters and sympathizers, and you're destined for a cold cell at best!" He stopped laughing. "But I'll promise not to hurt you if you tell me where the Councilwoman's son and the other one went."
Ren looked at Onli. She stared back with glazed-over eyes. "They have us," she whispered. The pounding rain nearly drowned it out, but Ren heard it. "We'll figure out a way to get away. We just need to survive until then."
"All right," Ren said. "They went east, in search of us. The only reason we came back to the village was because Onli was too hurt."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Roland asked. He nodded to the second soldier, who had a sword trained on Ren. The soldier lifted it and poked Ren in the back. "What if you're just sending us on another wild goose chase?"
Ren failed to find his voice. "I'm waiting, traitor," Roland said. "You'd better come up with something quickly."
Teegan wandered through the dark, deserted streets of the village, staying in the shadows or under buildings. She couldn't stay inside, even after what Tien had said. Onli was hurt, Ren was in danger, and even nice doctor Amesis was in trouble.
She was looking in an alley at the edge of the village when she saw someone standing looking away from her. It looked like a soldier. She crept closer, staying hidden under a house, and saw that it was a soldier, and he was holding the nurse from doctor Amesis' clinic. She looked wet and scared -- Teegan knew how she felt. She moved a little closer.
She saw a fat man standing over doctor Amesis. He didn't look like a soldier, but he was the one in charge. He was shouting and pointing his sword at something she couldn't see. She got a little closer, and looked around the corner of a building.
She saw the other soldier with his sword pointed at Ren and Onli, and she gasped. For most people, the gasp was too quiet to be heard in the rain, but Ren's head shifted in her direction for just a moment, and the fat man wheeled around, finding her.
Teegan tried to back out from under the house but didn't have enough space. The fat man reached her quicker than she expected and grabbed her hood, dragging her forward on her face. Roland grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Mud covered her face and shirt. Roland yanked her forward, toward the others.
He felt a strange warm gust.
"Spying, eh?" He shouted at Teegan over the storm. "Watching the fun?" He looked at Ren and Onli. "Tell me where they really went, traitor, or I'll cut this poor innocent girl's throat."
Teegan's eyes went from the blade at her neck to the doctor. He very slowly lifted a finger in front of his lips.
"I'm telling you, they went east!" Ren shouted. "I swear, I'm telling the truth! I have nothing else to tell you!"
"Then I hope you're ready to have innocent blood on your hands," Roland said, and brought his sword around for a strike.
"Stop."
Roland's sword halted, and he glanced behind him. Tien and Momono stood in the rain, weapons drawn. Loose bandages gusted around their necks.
"Uh!" Ren said, surprised. They're back!
"There you are, you bastard," Roland said, shoving Teegan forward. He motioned at the two soldiers. They collected Amesis, his nurse, Teegan, Ren and Onli together, immobilized by their swords. "I was hoping I'd get the chance to see you again," Roland said. "I owe you a crack on the head for what you did back to me at that inn." Roland frowned. "But I promised your mother I'd deliver you unharmed."
Momono scowled.
"You though," Roland said, pointing his sword at Tien. "I'm going to gut you right here! I believe I remember you saying that the people you were traveling with were 'no kind of troublemakers.' Just your brother, wife, and-" He stopped, and a wet, ugly grin grew on his face. He twisted his neck to look at Teegan. "Daughter. And here I just thought she was a street urchin. And you!" He gestured at Momono. "A Councilwoman’s son! She thought you knew better! But don't worry, I'll bring you back to her."
"You should talk to the last person who tried to bring me back to her," Momono said, steel in his voice. "I'm afraid it's impossible; I crushed his throat."
Roland sneered. "Childish anger doesn't scare me. I'm a man of actions. I advise you two to keep still, or my blade might just find its way somewhere unseemly."
He looked at Ren. "You lied."
Ren paled. "No. I swear. I thought they went east! Please!"
"Quiet!" Roland snarled, brandishing his sword at the sodden group. "Now, because of you, I have to exact my revenge! I'm going to make you choose, traitor. In this warm rain, pick which one of you will die!"
"Don't do it, Roland!" Tien shouted. "You'll have a fight on your hands against a couple of angry traitors!"
"I said to keep still!" Roland yelled back. "I'm just going to kill one! If you two don't move, the others will go free."
"Don't trust them, Tien!" Ren shouted. Roland moved and cracked him in the jaw with the pommel of his sword.
"Shut up, you! Pick quickly; all this excitement is making me hot!" He pointed his sword at Liliana, the nurse. "This young thing?"
Ren said nothing. Roland moved the sword to point at Amesis. "The good doctor?" He smiled, darting the point closer to Amesis, beaten body. "No, you barely know him." The sword moved to Teegan. "Her? Quite a future ahead of her. I'll cut it down."
Tien's strong eyes saw Ren's clenched lips quiver. He shook his head slightly. Ren said nothing.
"Not her. She's just a niece. Maybe your sister-in-law?" Roland asked. The sword came to rest on Onli's shoulder.
"Me," Ren croaked. "I lied to you, kill me."
"I knew you'd crack eventually," Roland said. He grabbed Onli's hair and pulled her away from Ren.
"No! Kill me!" The soldiers moved in, keeping Ren still.
"You're half dead anyway," Roland said to Onli, who had fallen to her knees. Roland shifted the metal grip of his sword around, as if it was too hot to hold. "I'm doing you a service." He lifted the sword.
"Roland!" Momono shouted. "If you kill her, you'll have to kill me, too!"
Roland hesitated for a moment, the sword, held high, gleaming in the low light. "More childish words," Roland said, and he swung down.
Onli's face landed in a puddle. Her blank eyes gazed down at the ground.
There was a sudden, eerie stillness. There was a quiet never experienced before. Roland and the soldiers looked around. Ren took the chance to jump away; he grabbed Liliana and they fell to the ground.
"What's that?" Roland asked. He looked around -- the immediate area was clear. "I don't believe it . . . the rain's stopped!"
Tien and Momono looked at Teegan.
Her mouth was curling into a vicious snarl -- Little lifts of her lips. Her mud-covered brows bent. Her hands doubled into small, burning fists. The soldiers backed away, feeling prickly heat flow out of her.
It stopped, and she spied the great fire in the sky. She looked at Onli's still body. There was a ringing in her ears. She looked up. Her eyes rose to the clouds. Crushing openness descended on her.
Onli is dead; it is your fault. Everything you did lead to this. You burned her. They didn't stop at the village to protect you. The fat man grabbed you and Onli is dead because of it.
"Get down," Tien said to Momono.
Swirling, blistering heat billowed out from her, the endless patter of rain ceased. The village heard blessed stillness.
Teegan's small body was slouched and bent, her fists curled up to her chest. Her red, furious eyes focused on Roland. He still held the dripping sword.
The world spasmed.
Even as far as Breston the rain stopped. Guards and civilians alike looked up in awe. Soon the sky would reveal greater wonders.
Translucent waves of energy poured out, spreading in a hot bubble. It surged away with all the power of an enraged child. Roland and the soldiers were torn away, driven across the ground like rags. Tien and Momono felt shocking power batter them. Teegan rose higher.
Onli is dead.
Teegan screamed, and the power shot up. All the multitudes of fires inside her scorched the clouds in the dry quiet.
Like a ravaging horde against a fortress, the clouds ripped. A hole grew.
A small light sat in midnight darkness. It twinkled serenely, unaware of the power that had revealed it. All present looked up at it, struck by its cold beauty and the open space around it.
More power blasted forth and tore the hole wider. A panoply of stars greeted them. Tien and Momono gazed up, silent and wondering. Neither could have guessed such splendor rested just over their heads. No man or woman in hundreds of years had seen them.
And then Teegan released everything she had.
She pulverized the clouds before their eyes, striking them to bits in an instant, cleansing even the hard mountains to the north and exposing the whole world to the empty, frightening, hidden abyss on the other side of humanity's gray prison. The world over panicked, and then looked up at what had once been Earth's constant companions. Mars winked down.
Those who could see the sun fell to their knees and cried out in pain and wonder; the rain was gone from their lives for one bright and shining moment. The moon struck mad a multitude, enchanted by its silver gleam.
Teegan hovered there, arms out and head back, roaring. It was the second greatest thing Momono would ever see.
Slowly the near-bottomless chasm of energy was emptied. Teegan floated back down to the ground, pale. Roland was nowhere to be seen. The soldiers had fled, fearing for their lives. Onli's body was untouched.
Teegan touched the ground and crumpled. Ren ran to her and hoisted her in his arms. Tien touched Onli's body. She was still. Momono helped Amesis to his feet with Liliana and gave him an arm to lean on. The five of them, plus the sleeping Teegan, ran back to Amesis' office and gathered their things. They went east even as the clouds started to return.