Blood Red Road (17 page)

Mad Dog shoves Helen at the two cellblock guards. Take her outside, he says. They take her by the arms an hustle her outta the door.

Helen! I says. No! Helen!

Mad Dog’s unlockin the door of my cell. I scrabble back onto my cot, into the corner, an kick at him as he unchains me from the cot. He grabs my arm, yanks me to my feet an outta my cell. He pulls up the metal trapdoor in the floor of the cellblock an shoves me down inside.

Sweet dreams, Angel, he says. Then he spits on me. He slams the door shut an I’m in the Cooler. In the darker than dark. The blacker than black.

I know I’ll never see Helen agin.

The girls in the cellblock stay silent. They don’t do much talkin to each other an sure as hell they don’t talk to me. They blame me fer Helen bein dead.

They ain’t wrong at that. I blame myself. If she hadn’t of bin talkin to me, if I hadn’t needed to know about Lugh so bad, we would of bin more careful. Not talked so long. We would of heard the guards an Mad Dog comin. If we had, Helen might still be alive.

But not fer long. That’s the truth of it. Helen’s time was runnin out. Everybody knew it. She knew it. She was only waitin to lose her third fight. She was only waitin to die in the gauntlet.

I seen what’s left of a person after they run the gauntlet. At least she got spared that.

She’s free now. Like she wanted to be. But she lies heavy on my heart.

When I ain’t thinkin about Helen, I’m thinkin of how
I’m gonna find a way outta here. Midsummer eve, she told me. I gotta git to a place called Freedom Fields in the Black Mountains by midsummer eve. Jest over three weeks from now.

So I watch. An I wait.

My chance is gonna come soon. I know it will. It must come.

It must.

I stand in the middle of the Cage. Stare out at the crowd. They jump to their feet an roar fer me. I’m the biggest draw they ever had in Hopetown. They pack in when I’m fightin.

I look up through the top bars. Nero’s there, like always. Perched on top of the light tower that stands right next to the Cage. It ain’t carried light since Wrecker days, of course. Now all it carries is the people who clamber up to watch the fights from there. The light tower’s the cheapest seats there is.

Essept nobody sits there when I’m fightin. Not with Nero perched on top. Everybody’s skeered of him. They all believe that crows bring death. Defeat. Destruction. They believe I git my powers from him.

I like to look up an see him there. He always stays till I win an then he flies off. He’s done it since my first fight.

But my power ain’t down to Nero. It’s down to the red hot. That’s what keeps me winnin.

There’s a girl in the front row today. Tall, gold skinned, with a proud nose.

She ain’t like most what comes to the Colosseum. Other people might not take no notice, but the moment I see her, I know her right off fer a warrior. She’s got a look about her. She takes things in with quick eyes, things that other people’d jest pass over without noticin.

An she don’t take leaf from the chaal man when he offers it. Not like everybody else who comes to the fights. Neether do the three girls with her take any.

In fact, they jostle him so’s his basket tips out an then they scuff all the chaal leaf unner their feet so they git all crushed an filthy. When a armed guard comes over to see what’s goin on, they pretend it warn’t nuthin to do with ’em.

She sees me lookin at her, watchin what they’re doin. Raises one eyebrow as if to say, what’s it to you anyways?

The cage door opens an my opponent enters to boos an jeers. She’s a tough-lookin, brown-skinned girl, name of Epona. She only arrived a couple of days ago. I ain’t never fought her before but the word is she fights dirty. The Cage allows pretty much anythin—hits, kicks, stranglin, twistin legs an arms—but not bitin or gougin. I heard she’ll try both if the cagekeepers ain’t got a clear view an she gits the chance. I’ll hafta watch her.

I put the girl in the front row outta my mind. I put everythin
outta my mind. I clear it so the red hot can take over. That’s the way it’s gotta be if I wanna survive.

The keeper sounds the gong an we’re off.

Epona gits me in a stranglehold on the ground. While I’m strugglin to git free, I look up an there she is, the girl in the front row, starin right at me. Our eyes meet.

She’s tryin to tell me somethin. But what? What is it?

My concentration slips. Epona’s got advantage. She shuffles us around, outta sight of the keeper, an bites me on the hand.

I roar with anger. The red hot kicks in an I’m back in the fight, full strength. I throw Epona offa me. I git her on the ground in a leg an arm twist. She moans. I twist harder. Then even harder.

Quit! she yells. Quit!

Epona’s first loss. She glares hate at me as they take her from the Cage.

I look at the front row. The girl an her friends is gone.

Damn her. She nearly made me lose my fight.

I’m in my transport cage on the back of the mulecart, bein driven back through Hopetown to the cellblock. Two armed guards sit up front an, like always, crowds surround the cart. Everyone wants to see the Angel of Death close up. The brave ones reach in through the bars an try to touch me so’s they can brag to their friends later. I snap my teeth at ’em an they shrink away, shriekin with excitement.

The warrior girl pushes through till she’s close beside the cage. She’s about my height. She’s got golden skin with tiny freckles sprinkled all over. She’s huddled inside her cloak, but I can see she’s got curly hair the color of dark copper an eyes green as forest moss. She’s the most beautiful girl I ever seen.

You nearly made me lose that fight, I says.

I’m sorry you didn’t, she says. That’s my girl you beat.

Epona? I says. Whaddya mean, yer girl? Who are you?

I’m Maev, she says, walkin alongside. We’re the Free Hawks.

I look closer at who’s walkin beside the cart. Three tough-lookin girls, the ones who was sittin beside her in the Colosseum.

Look around, says Maev.

I scan the crowd through the bars of my cage. Another girl in a robe. She moves it slightly so I can see the crossbow at her side. So they’re smart enough to smuggle weapons past the Gate guards of Hopetown. As I look over the crowd, another girl nods at me.

So Epona’s a Free Hawk too, I says.

She is, says Maev. An we’re gonna git her outta here.

My heart skips a beat. How? I says.

I’m workin on it, she says. Security’s pretty tight here. But in the meantime, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t git my fighter killed.

The Free Hawks is fighters, I says.

Warriors, she says, like you. An occasional highway robbers.

An you don’t want Epona to lose, I says.

That’s right, she says.

Well I don’t wanna lose eether, I says. Losers go down to the gauntlet.

That’s true, says Maev.

Maybe we can help each other, I says.

My thoughts ezzackly, she says.

Our eyes meet. How do I know I can trust you? I says.

She gives the nod to two girls standin next to one of the armed street guards. They move in on him. Suddenly a surprised look crosses his face. He starts to slump to the ground. They catch him an drag him back into a dark doorway. They step out agin an disappear into the crowd.

You better not try that too often, I says. Where’re you stayin?

We’re holed up in the northeast sector, she says. There’s a empty shanty in a place called Spanish Alley.

I’ll git word to you, I says. I’ll send my sister. Her name’s Emmi.

I’ll be waitin, she says.

Then she’s gone.

I ain’t seen Emmi fer a good few days now. Not since Helen told me about Lugh. Not since I spoke to Maev.

Every mornin, when the water carriers show up jest before dawn, I peer through the gloom of the cellblock to see if she’s with ’em. I started to ask one of ’em, a skinny little boy with scared eyes, if he’d seen her, but he ran off the moment I opened my mouth to talk.

I’m startin to git worried. I need to see her. Make sure she’s all right. An I need to talk to her about Lugh. About Maev an the Free Hawks. About my plan.

The cellblock door opens. The weak light of dawn trickles in. The guards light the wall torches as the water carriers shuffle in an start emptyin their buckets into the troughs.

This time Emmi’s with ’em. I let out my breath in relief as she makes her way over to my cell, carryin her heavy bucket carefully so’s it don’t slop too much.

Nobody’s lookin our way. I go over to the trough, kneel down an start scoopin up water, splashin it over my face, neck an hands while she pours it out slowly from her bucket.

Where you bin all this time? I was gittin worried, I says.

I couldn’t git away, says Emmi. Miz Pinch had bad toothache the past few days. She warn’t sleepin like usual. It’s back to normal now.

Are y’all right?

I’m fine. You look awful.

I ain’t bin sleepin much eether, I says. Listen, Em, I found out where they took Lugh. It’s a place called Freedom Fields. An I met somebody who’s gonna help us git outta here.

Her eyes widen. Really? Who?