Reclamation

"I don't know," Eric said. "That's what I think you and Jay are going to find out." He paused. "Or you could ask." He gestured at the pouch.

Aria stared at him. A fat drop of rain splashed against her cheek.

"Let's get inside." Without another word, she turned away and strode toward the huts.

There was nothing left for Eric to do but follow her.

Silver on the Clouds stood in the street outside her tavern base and watched the Skyman's star. It rose majestically on its silver cord until the clouds folded around it and blotted out the light.

"We've done it!" she shouted jubilantly. "They're retreating!"

Holding the Keys stared at the clouds. They had not even rippled when the star passed through them. "Are they truly?"

King Silver swung herself onto her ox's broad back. "Even if it is only a strategic withdrawal, it matters little right now. It gives us a chance to take the High House again, before the First City troops get themselves organized. Boy!" she shouted to a child in a green-and-scarlet uniform. "Sound the muster! We move out now!"

The boy sprinted down the street. "Muster!" he cried out at the top of his lungs. "Muster!"

"Holding, find General Glass and bring him here." King Silver pulled her riding gloves out of her belt and pulled them onto her hands. They were dust-colored leather with her hand marks reproduced on their backs.

"Majesty." Holding the Keys raised his hands briefly and hurried off after the boy.

Alone for at least a few seconds, Silver smiled a slow, hard smile toward the clouds.

"Be careful not to give me too much time, Skymen," she said. "I'll make you regret it."

17—The Lif Marshes, The Realm of The Nameless Powers, Morning

"Do not cling too tightly to the products of your cleverness. What you create, however precious, you may some day be forced to destroy."

—Fragment from "The Beginning of the Flight," from the Rhudolant Vitae private history Archives

Eric crouched on Iron Shaper's floor, lashing the roll he'd made from a Narroways soldier's blanket and sleeping mat with a braid of reed fibers. Once the rain had passed, he spent a good part of the previous afternoon helping Jay and Heart load the major share of the booty onto the clan's rafts. In theory, the gesture would help the clan's good will remain good in case something unpredicted happened.

While the Teachers had loaded the rafts, the clan had stripped their village with impressive speed and thoroughness. Even Shaper's hearthstone was gone, because the Lif marshes were the one place in the Realm where stones were a rarity.

Eric slung his roll over his shoulder, picked up his pack of clothes and gear, and stepped through the empty doorway.

Aria and Heart were harnessing mismatched teams of oxen to equally mismatched sledges. Thanks to the soldiers, the clan now owned a herd of oxen big enough to slow their exodus down, so it hadn't taken much to convince them to give over four animals to make the two teams. The sledges had been more of a problem. The Narroways soldiers had carried their supplies on their backs or on their saddles and had only had one sledge to be plundered. The clan owned one more. It had taken both Aria and Eyes Above a half hour's arguing to wrangle it out of their hands so Aria would be able to drive Jay where they needed to go.

Jay stood near Heart, a respectful distance from the oxen, Eric noticed. His mouth was moving and Heart was nodding. The Skyman was probably giving the Teacher last-minute advice or instructions.

I hope I remember how to drive, Eric thought resignedly. I'd rather not spend two days as baggage.

The shadows around the huts had shortened a full inch since sunshowing. Except for Storm Water and Eyes Above, they were the last in the village. The whole clan had departed, either on rafts or on foot, to catch up with the oldest and the youngest, who had left the day before. The noise of Aria scolding the oxen and Heart clucking at the state of the harness felt too faint next to the sound of the reeds and bamboo leaves rattling in the wind.

Eric picked his way through the reeds and grass to where Aria was checking the set of the yoke on the right-hand oxen's shoulder. The beast snorted and slapped her face with its tail.

"Leave off, you." Aria smacked its rump. She saw Eric coming and grinned. "I think I liked the U-Kenai better." She gestured at the ramshackle sledge. It didn't have a rain cover. Its one box-seat was chipped and splintered and the driver's bracing listed dangerously to the right. Heart and Eric had drawn the good gear, since they had farther to go. "But since my Lord Skyman over there"—she jerked her chin toward Jay—"doesn't ride, I've got no choice."