Glass Swallow (23 page)

‘I see.’ Rain was disappointed. As with her designs, she felt she always saw the whole of what was needed long before others understood what she was aiming for. Magharna needed a force to impose order; the only order at present was in small pockets like the compound or out among the bandits. The conclusion was simple: the country needed the ones they’d thrown away if it was going to get back on its feet.

‘Do you really see, Rain? Last time, I went along with your suggestion to go to the palace even though I didn’t like it. I did that because, though I knew it was risky, I didn’t think it a death sentence. You know we were lucky to get away with that. But this is different. You don’t understand the bandits like I do. There’s nothing you can say that will make them other than what they are: violent men out for themselves.’

Rain recalled the man in the employment office all those months ago who had been forced out of the city for no greater sin than being without a job. ‘I don’t think they are all like that.’

Peri threw up his hands in exasperation. ‘There’s no talking to you sometimes, Rain. You hear but don’t listen.’

‘You’re wrong. I listen but I am capable of forming my own opinions. We keep coming back to this, don’t we, Peri? You’d like me to go along with everything you say like some brainless sheep.’

‘At least it would keep you out of trouble,’ he muttered.

‘Well, bad luck, I’m no more going to be like that than I’m going to fly to the moon.’ She rolled up the cloth containing the finished mobile. ‘You have no right to order me around—you often act as if you do, you know. I find it really annoying.’

‘That’s not true.’ Peri felt a twinge of alarm: he didn’t want to mix this disagreement up with their relationship, not after all the progress he’d made over the last few weeks to earn his place at her side. ‘Don’t change the subject, Rain: I’m talking about your less than inspired idea of asking a bunch of murderers to keep the peace for us.’

Rain sighed. ‘So you won’t come with me to see them?’

‘Neither of us is going anywhere.’

‘You’re content to sit here until the chaos outside beats down even these walls?’

‘That’s a false choice—it won’t happen like that.’

‘Why not? I can’t see anyone else doing anything to stop the slide. When people are desperate enough, they’ll come back here and won’t find a few hunting dogs enough to scare them away.’

‘We have plans. We’ll evacuate.’

‘And go where?’

‘There’s a village in the marshes, easily defended because it can only be reached by a causeway. The people are used to us as we use it as a base for hunting.’

‘Fine, so you’ve plans to save yourselves: but what about the rest of us?’

‘You’ll come too of course.’

‘That’s not what I meant.’ Tired now, Rain wanted to drop the discussion. Her own mind was made up but so was his. She couldn’t count on him for help so she’d have to do this alone. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’

Peri was quick to accept, mistaking her shift in subject for acquiescence. He took her arm through his and led her to the path running along the top of the wall around the compound. Too dangerous to go out, this was the closest they could come to a change of scene. The view beyond the compound towards the city was depressing: Rolvint lay in ruins, the facade of white buildings marred by burnt-out gaps like rotting teeth in a skull’s grin. To the north stretched the untended plots of the city cemetery. He steered her towards the west with the vista towards the mountains. At least they hadn’t altered, still dominating the horizon with their smooth profile, clouds skimming their summit like lather on a face about to be shaved. Neither Peri nor Rain mentioned that that was where the bandits lived.

Two more days passed. Rain was not so arrogant as to think her plan without flaw, but she was convinced no progress could be made in Magharna until law and order was restored. The scavengers were living a half-life hidden behind their walls, only to emerge in armed groups to make swift forays on the hunting grounds. They had been the lucky ones; Rain couldn’t bear to think how other people must be suffering. As for herself, she would never be able to get home, nor her father find her, if the roads remained impassable. Something had to be done, she thought, as she worked with her glass fragments, and it looked as if she was the one who had to do it.

She chose a day for her departure when Peri, Helgis, and their mother were out hunting with their birds. She took very little with her: just the horse mobile and a spare set of clothes, knowing it likely that anything she had would be taken from her. She toyed with the idea of adding a knife for protection but decided it was more likely to be used against her if she had one. There was no way she would win a fight so she would concentrate on not getting into one.

While Bel was helping her father with the washing, Rain scrawled a note to Peri in her bedroom. It was one of the hardest things she had ever done.

Dear Peri,

I think you can guess where I’ve gone and I know you’ll be furious. Don’t worry about me. Like the fey folk, I was always going to do what I thought right and you are not to blame if I am making a mistake. I’ll return as soon as I can but please do not wait if you have to evacuate the compound. Whatever you do, don’t come after me.

Thank you for everything you’ve done. Look after Mikel.

Rain

She hesitated over whether to declare her feelings for him but decided that would be cruel. Better if he thought she took everything with her, including an intact heart, if he was to get over her departure. If he thought she did not care, then there was a chance he might feel so angry and let down by her that he would be dissuaded by his mother from coming after her—that would keep him safe. Rain folded the note, her hands shaking a little, knowing she was doing terrible damage to their relationship. When—if—she returned, she would try to explain. If he let her, maybe then they could explore what future they might have. She hadn’t mentioned it to him, but she had even begun to imagine staying with him—that’s if she could be sure that her father was not worrying about her. Or maybe she could persuade him to come to Holt with her? There were bound to be opportunities for a skilled falconer in her city. It was a lot to ask when Peri was clearly so close to his family, but her father needed her and …

Rain pulled back from her runaway thoughts. How could she be thinking of the future when the next step was one that would take her away from Peri? She could not afford to indulge in such daydreams. Before normal life could resume for anyone in Magharna, including herself, someone had to take a risk and begin the process of rebuilding the shattered state.

Leaving the note folded on her work table, Rain headed out towards the gate. She heard Bel and Hern laughing as they battled with a sheet in the stiff breeze. She’d miss the Falconers—with the exception of Katia. At least one of them would be happy this evening when they realized she had slipped away.

‘Rain! Where are you going?’ Ret popped out from behind the stable, a piece of straw clenched between his teeth.

‘Nowhere special,’ she replied wondering how she could shake him off her tail.

‘I’m bored. Want to play catch? I’m getting good at it.’

‘Not just now.’

Ret might have been slow to learn some of the skills of ordinary life, but he was by no means a fool. He spotted her bundle.

‘You’re going somewhere—somewhere you don’t want Peri to discover,’ he guessed.

Rain decided there was no point lying. He would find out soon enough and could not stop her. ‘All right, I’ll tell you: I’m going to ask the bandits if they would restore order in the city and the lands around. If nothing is done, the farmers won’t be able to plant, the harvest will be lost and your people will be facing starvation this winter. Even bandits need to eat though they don’t grow the stuff themselves.’

Ret nodded, her reasoning making perfect sense to him. He had learned to accept that scavengers were not unclean; why not turn to outcasts to police his city?

‘That’s a good idea. I’ll come with you.’

She hadn’t expected this development. ‘What? No!’

Ret frowned. ‘Why not?’

‘It’s too … I’m not sure what they will make of my request.’

‘You were going to say it’s too dangerous.’ Ret pulled her bundle off her shoulder and looped it over his own. ‘Then you should stay here and I’ll go. I’m the Master; it’s my country; you’re the last person who should be risking your neck for us.’

Rain tried to tug the bag back. ‘But I’ve a plan.’

‘Tell me it and I’ll do it.’

‘You’re not Master any more.’

‘I am—I’m just in disguise, remember?’

Rain examined Ret’s defiant expression. Years of training for a leadership role could not be undone in a few weeks. Add to that a sense of godlike vocation and she didn’t have a chance. He’d made his mind up—just like she had. And if she didn’t let him come, he might well spoil her only chance to leave. She would just have to make sure he was kept safe as far as it was in her power to do so.

‘Then we’ll go together. It’s probably a stupid thing to do,’ she warned him. ‘Peri forbade me to do this.’

Ret grinned. ‘But that won’t stop us, will it?’

‘No, it won’t. But he probably won’t forgive me either.’

Peri returned from the hunt with only meagre pickings. Spring was the hungry time of year and they had to be careful what they caught in case the quarry had young. To make matters worse, Rogue had gone into moult and wouldn’t be flying for a few weeks.

Dispirited, Peri went in search of Rain, needing a few comforting words from her to cheer him up. He’d even welcome a good argument as it would at least make his blood run hot and drive away his dullness. She wasn’t at her desk, which was odd. He looked round the common room but there was no sign of her. Going closer, he saw the piece of paper with his name on it. A sense of foreboding hit as he picked it up. Reading the contents quickly, he scrunched it up and threw it on the floor.

‘Mikel!’ he called, storming out of the building.

The old man hurried out of the stable where he’d been currying Nutmeg. ‘What’s the matter, Peri?’

‘That idiotic girl has run off!’

‘What? Why?’

Peri rapidly explained Rain’s most recent harebrained scheme.

‘That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard in a long while. But why she go and do something like that without me?’ Mikel was clearly hurt that Rain had not trusted him with her plans.

‘She knew you’d stop her—just as I tried to do.’

‘If we saddle up a couple of the horses, we can try and catch up with her.’ Mikel headed back into the stable.

Peri checked the position of the sun. It was dipping towards the horizon, the shadows already lengthening. ‘Wait! We need to know how much of a head start she has. If she’s had enough time to reach the mountain pass, she may have already met up with the bandits.’

‘So? I didn’t take you for a bleeding coward, falcon man.’

Peri shook his head. He felt so angry with Rain, but he refused to let that blind him to the facts. ‘I’m not a coward. We have to have a plan if we are going to rescue that infuriating girl from her own stupidity. There’s no point riding in and becoming prisoners ourselves.’

Mikel threw the curry comb into a bucket. ‘All right, all right, find out, then let’s decide what we can do.’

Peri ran to the muster bell that hung in the centre of the compound and rang it. Scavenger families rushed out of their homes to see what the emergency was, gathering around him in an anxious flock.

Peri jumped up on a wagon. ‘My friends,’ he called. ‘Rain has disappeared. Can anyone tell me when they last saw her?’

Bel hurried out of the mews. ‘Rain? She’s gone? Why?’

He waved away the question, too eager to have his own answered. ‘Anyone see her this afternoon? Who’s been here all day?’ He looked round the crowd. ‘Pa? Ret?’

Helgis jumped up beside him. ‘Peri, I can’t find Ret either.’

Peri closed his eyes briefly. It wasn’t hard to imagine what those two were up to; neither of them had the least idea what real life was like. He could imagine that Rain had easily persuaded Ret that the tiger of a bandit leader was really a pussy cat, but she should never have led a boy on such a suicidal mission.

‘So we’ve two people missing. Have you seen either of them since the morning?’

Silence met his question. He would have to assume that Rain and Ret had a whole day’s start.

‘Thanks—that’s all I needed to know.’ He made a move to jump down from the wagon.

‘But, Peri,’ called Conal, ‘are you going after her? Do you know where she’s heading?’

‘Yes, she’s gone to tell the bandits to play nicely and police the city for us.’ He gave a hollow laugh at their aghast expressions. ‘What can I say? She’s foreign.’ And she’d left him without even bothering to say goodbye face-to-face. He tried to quell his sense of hurt but it was hard to take this as anything but a rejection of him and everything he had to offer. Had he been so wrong about her having feelings for him?

‘But you’ll go after her?’

Of course he would: she might reject him, but he would never abandon her. He had done that once on her first day in Magharan and sworn never again.