Part 10 (1/2)

Marmion didn't respond. *Tom, Banner, you know what to do. The rest of us will make sure we're packed and ready to go in one hour.' He turned away.

*Do you believe this guy?' s.h.i.+lly muttered to Sal as the group dispersed.

*I don't have any choice.' Sal put an arm around her and sighed. The closed-mind att.i.tude of the Sky Warden brought back familiar frustrations: from the outside, a school of thought might appear to be an immovable mountain, but its very inflexibility meant it could evaporate into thin air if challenged the right way. From the inside it looked like there was no outside.

*I suppose we could just cut ahead and get to Laure ahead of them,' he said.

She looked up at him. *Is that what you want to do?'

*Well, it would give us a chance to get Highson away before Marmion finds him. That might be his only chance.'

*But...?'

*But if we get tangled up with the Homunculus, we might make things worse for everyone. Whatever it wants in Laure, we have only one chance to stop it. Do you know how we can do that? I don't. Unless Marmion comes up with a plan we really hate, I think our best bet is to stick with him for now.'

*It's Kail I'll be listening to,' s.h.i.+lly said, poking a hole in the dirt with the tip of her cane and tipping a small stone into it.

Sal watched the tall tracker as he moved from vehicle to vehicle, checking supplies and testing ropes. The buses rested on six chunky tyres with a low centre of gravity and looked hardy enough to weather any sort of terrain; battered black paintwork suggested they were frequently required to. The other Wardens cleaned up the remains of a hasty meal and stowed their utensils with the rest of their equipment. Tom was already busy under the frame of one of the buses, scribbling charms and making arcane mechanical adjustments. Sal could sense the flow of the Change through the engines as a strange buzzing underneath the rhythmic thudding of their many parts. Although Sal had once known how to strip and clean the engine of his adopted father's buggy, he lacked the real mastery of an Engineer. He could tell the buses weren't working properly, but he had no idea how to fix them.

s.h.i.+lly stepped closer to Sal and embraced him. He relished her warmth in the chill of a desert night. *You told me I was bossy, once. I hope you don't think I'm as bad as Marmion.'

Sal kissed the crown of her head, where her hair was darkest. *If I did, I would've left you at home.'

*And hated every moment of it.' She smiled up at him. *I know you, Sayed. You'd have blown someone up by now, if I wasn't here.'

*That's still a possibility.' The remark came out less wittily than he had intended it. Being around Sky Wardens again, put him on edge. Cooperating with them went against every instinct in his body.

You'd better truly need help, Highson Sparre, he thought as they walked back to the buggy, or there'll be a reckoning between us.

As they waited for the Sky Wardens to be ready, s.h.i.+lly and Sal had little to do. s.h.i.+lly rested her leg on the back seat of the buggy and closed her eyes.

She felt Sal withdraw from her as he sat in the buggy's front pa.s.senger seat. His posture didn't change, but his mind had gone elsewhere. She sensed him looking for his father through the Change, reaching out beyond the Broken Lands and across the open countryside; looking for the man who had not just given him life, but had also given him a chance to live that life in freedom. She wished she could help him, but she didn't know Highson well enough to have a hope of finding him. Looking for an unfamiliar mind in an unfamiliar place was like searching for a sliver of soap in a murky bath with gloved hands. She was more likely to find a rock that looked like him, or a lizard that smelled like him, than she was to find the real thing. Possessing a biological connection to Highson, only Sal had a chance.

He sagged after half an hour, giving up the quest. He was as tired as she was; as all of them were. The thought of setting off in rapid pursuit at any moment made her feel wearier than ever.

A shadow fell over her, blotting out the stars. She looked up at the towering silhouette of Habryn Kail.

*I'd like a quiet word with you two,' he said, *and I'm guessing you can spare the time.'

She sat up. *Sure.' Sal turned as Kail folded his elongated frame into the seat next to s.h.i.+lly. The buggy s.h.i.+fted on its suspension under his weight. His long, craggy face was close to s.h.i.+lly and she was surprised by the smoothness of his skin. She had expected him to be as weathered as Aunty Merinda, whose face looked like a pear that had been left in the sun too long. Kail's face was a well-worn but well-oiled boot, flexible and far from infirm.

His eyes were violet, a colour she had never seen before.

*Where we're headed,' he said, *it's dangerous.'

*We know,' said s.h.i.+lly. *We're still going.'

He raised a hand. It looked as long as her forearm. *I'm not trying to talk you out of it. Having you along, Sal, is only going to make things easier when we do find Highson, since he won't be so likely to run if he knows you're with us. I want to talk to you about something else - about the Homunculus, and what's inside it.'

*Do you have any idea what it is?' Sal asked.

Kail shrugged, his broad, bony shoulders lifting under his cotton s.h.i.+rt. *I'm keeping my mind open on that one. As you should, too. All we really know is that it's heading for Laure and it can somehow neutralise the Change. In forty years of patrolling the Divide, I've seen a lot of things. Some of them have names; others defy any attempt to define them. While I can't say I've seen anything quite so driven as this, I have encountered creatures that ate the Change as easily as we'd breathe air.'

*Golems,' said s.h.i.+lly, thinking of the horrors she had seen in the Haunted City.

*Yes, and others. They'll take any charm you cast and twist it back on you like a snake. Or they'll suck you dry and make merry with what's left. I don't,' he said, leaning forward for emphasis, *want to see either thing happen to you two.'

*You don't have to worry about us,' she said. *We've learned that lesson the hard way.'

*I mean it,' Kail said, looking mainly at Sal. *No matter what danger your father appears to be in, I don't want you throwing your weight around. That might only make it stronger. Understand?'

Sal was grim-faced. *You can trust us.'

*Good.' Kail sat back. *I do believe you. I just think it needs to be reiterated, and Marmion is too chickens.h.i.+t to do it himself. Like, if he ignores what happened to Lodo, it'll all just go away.'

A strange sensation swept through s.h.i.+lly at the mention of her mentor's name. Five years ago, she had thought Lodo dead when he summoned an earthquake to help them escape the Alcaide, but the effort had only emptied his body. The creature that had taken Lodo over had later perished with it, dragged down into death by the last vestiges of Lodo's will. He had died in her arms on the beach at Fundelry, and lay buried there still.

*You know about Lodo?' she asked, her heart racing.

*Of course.'

*Did you know him?'

Kail smiled. It didn't sit comfortably on his rugged features, but the emotion behind it was pure. *I wish I could say I had. He was quite notorious in his day. I was in my final year of the Novitiate and not doing quite as brilliantly as I'd hoped when he defected to the Interior. He provided a welcome distraction from my own problems.'

s.h.i.+lly hid her disappointment. The only thing Kail and Lodo had in common was their age. Even if they had been the best of friends, that didn't mean he would owe her any loyalty or friends.h.i.+p.

But she couldn't help that momentary twinge of hope. Her parents had abandoned her as a toddler, unable to cope with a brief flash of talent she had displayed before it burned out forever. She didn't remember them or know their names. She had, therefore, no family apart from Sal. Any connection to her past, even if it was second-hand, through Lodo, was something to treasure.

*He was unique,' said Sal, *and he didn't deserve what happened to him. We'll be careful.'

But Kail's eyes were on her, now.

*Did Lodo ever talk about his past?' he asked.

*No,' she said. *It only came out when Sal arrived in Fundelry.'

*What about family?'

She shook her head.

*Lodo had an older sister,' Kail said, *and his sister had a son. I can tell by the look on your face that you're not aware of this.'

*A sister?' Her mind momentarily baulked at the revelation. *A son?'

*They spurned him for casting shame upon the family, for being different. They behaved stupidly and heartlessly, without a doubt.'

*What happened to them? Where are they now?'