Blood Red Road (18 page)

Her name’s Maev, I says. I’m gonna need you to git a message to her.

Okay, she says. Where do I find her?

She’s stayin in a empty shanty in Spanish Alley, I says. Northeast sector. D’you know it?

Yeah, I think so, she says.

Good, I says. All right, here’s what you need to—

Hey! Hey you! Girl! A guard’s lookin our way, frownin.

I better go, says Emmi.

Come back tomorrow fer the message, I says, it’s important.

I’ll be here. Oh! she says. I nearly fergot!

She pulls somethin outta her pocket an hands it to me. A smooth pink stone. My heartstone that Miz Pinch stole from me.

She flashes me a big grin. I took it when she warn’t lookin, she says.

Thanks, Em, I says. I shove it down inside my vest, next to my heart.

Girl! What’s takin so long over there? The guard starts to head over to us.

See you tomorrow, Saba. Emmi picks up her bucket, ducks her head down an scuttles past the guard an outta the door.

The cellblock guards lead me, chained at wrist an ankle, into the female fighters’ exercise yard. Everybody’s here, they always are fer the evenin session.

I need to speak to Epona. Tell her about my plan. I take a quick look around. There she is, with a group of girls.

The Angel of Death don’t talk to nobody. That’s how I like it. So I cain’t jest walk over to her, it ’ud draw too much attention. I’ll hafta be careful about how I do this.

She looks my way an I catch her eye. Jerk my head a little bit, to tell her to come over, I wanna talk. Her eyes widen, but she gives me a nod. She’s smart. She’ll wait fer the right moment.

I stand while the guards unchain me so’s I can move about. The male fighters is in the exercise yard next to ours. Now they start up like they always do when they see me. They
come crowdin up to the chainlink fence, makin kissin noises an callin out, Help! It’s the Angel of Death! Save me!

I used to glare at ’em, but it set ’em off even more. Now I jest ignore ’em.

There’s one, though, who don’t come to the fence. He leans in the corner of the men’s yard, one leg crossed over th’other, cleanin his fingernails with a bit of twig like he ain’t got a care in the world.

I ain’t seen him before. He ain’t battered up like the rest of ’em, so he must be new. He ain’t even had his head shaved yet.

Jest then, like he feels me watchin him, he stops what he’s doin. He lifts his head. Our eyes meet. He tosses the twig away, saunters up to the fence an hooks his hands into the chainlink.

He don’t say a word. He jest runs his eyes slowly over my body, right down to my feet, then up agin. Th’other men whistle an jeer. I feel heat rushin through me. Feel it strain my chest, my neck, my cheeks. I know I must be bright red. Then he smiles. A lopsided, crook of a smile.

My fists clench. Cocky bastard. Who does he think he is?

So I do the same to him. I cross my arms over my chest an look him up an down. Brown hair to his shoulders. Silver gray eyes in a tanned face. High cheekbones, a shadow of beard. Crooked nose, like it’s bin broke. Lean but strong lookin. Like he knows how to take care of hisself.

Our eyes meet agin.

Like what you see, Angel? he says.

I step to the fence. Hook my hands into the links, next to his. I lean in close. He’s got tiny white lines around his eyes from squintin. Or maybe smilin. He smells of warm dust an sage.

You ain’t my type, I says.

As I turn on my heel an walk away, one of the men calls out, She sure told you, Jack!

I hear him laugh.

His name’s Jack.

Heat burns into me. Crawls over my skin. A trickle of sweat runs down my chest. I pull out the heartstone tucked safe inside my vest. It’s warm. No. Hot.

That’s strange. I look at the sky. The sun’s dyin in the west. The day should be coolin down.

But it feels like high noon. White hot.

Epona makes her way slowly in my direction. She does it so’s you wouldn’t notice unless you was lookin out fer it. At last she stops a little ways off from me. She squats down an starts tracin in the dirt with her finger.

I start with my usual exercises. Stretches first. Arms an then legs.

I talked to Maev, I says. I speak in a low voice, don’t look at her direct.

I saw her at the fight today, she says.

Looks like we’ll be workin together to git outta here, I says.

Suits me, she says. What’s the plan?

How many Hawks is there? I says.

Forty some odd, she says.

Can Maev git ’em all here? I says.

Yeah, she says. But they won’t all git through the Gate past the guards. That many girls ’ud make the Tonton suspicious, even if they came in smaller groups.

Maybe they wouldn’t git suspicious if there was a lotta other people tryin to git in at the same time, I says.

Go on, she says.

I’m in the Cage agin in two days, I says. I’m due to fight you. I plan to lose that fight. When people hear the Angel of Death’s on a losin streak, they’ll pack the place out. The Tonton won’t be able to keep track of who’s comin an who’s goin. They’ll pull most of the guards away from the cellblocks to help keep the crowds unner control.

She grins. A quick flash of white teeth, a dimple in her cheek. A completely different girl. I like the way you think, she says.

I’m gonna lose aginst you three times, I says. Then I’m gonna run the gauntlet.

She gives a low whistle.

Oh, I got no intention of dyin, I says. That’s where the Hawks come in. When I start to run that gauntlet, th’only people on eether side’s gonna be Free Hawks. They’ll pull me down all right, but only to help me disappear.

I git it, says Epona. It’ll take a little while fer everybody to figger out yer gone but when they do … all hell’s gonna break loose. That crowd ain’t gonna like bein cheated of the Angel’s blood.

An while that’s goin on, I says, you’ll be escapin from the Cage an …

She looks around the yard, at the rest of the fighters.

 … the Hawks’ll be settin all of these free, she says. Then we’ll burn Hopetown to the ground. You’ll help us, won’t you? You know this place an the guards better’n anybody.

Of course I will, I says. I look her straight in the eye when I say it.

Lugh always says it’s the best thing to do when yer tellin a lie.

Emmi manages to find Maev in Spanish Alley an tell her about my plan.

Maev thinks it’ll work fine. She’s already sent fer the rest of the Hawks an, over the next few days, they’ll all be gittin ready.

She sent word back with Emmi that once they smuggle me through the gauntlet, we’ll head straight fer the cellblocks where I’ll help ’em set all the fighters free. After we set fires goin all over town, we’ll make our way to the northeast corner, well away from the Gate. Everybody else’ll be leavin the burnin town that way. Not us. The Hawks is makin a hole in the palisade fer us to escape through. One of the Hawks’ll bring Emmi there.

So that’s it.

Well … not quite. I’m fine with everythin up to the point where the Hawks smuggle me through the gauntlet. After that, I got other plans fer me an Em.

I lose to Epona.

I make it look good. Real good. I let my right foot slip an Epona’s on me like a jackal on a corpse. She gits me in a strong headlock. I push back the red hot that tells me to fight back.

In the blue skies above the Colosseum, Nero swoops an
screams with fear. I wish I could tell him why I’m doin what I’m doin, but I cain’t.

At first, the crowd cain’t hardly believe it. You can see it in their faces. Not the Angel of Death. She’s unbeaten. Unbroken. Unstoppable.

But then they git the whiff of blood, my blood, an they howl fer more. In the end, they don’t care whose blood it is.

Maev’s in the front row. As I lie on the ground, our eyes meet. She nods. That’s one fight down. Two more to go.

I ain’t bin back in the cellblock more’n a few minutes when the door slams open.

There’s a shout. Make way fer the King! Make way!

My innards lurch. My mouth goes dry. I go over to the door of my cell. Press myself aginst the bars so’s I can see better.

Twelve Tonton with torches run in, pushin the cellblock guards outta the way. They line theirselves up along the length of the cellblock. They lift their torches to light a path.

A man steps through the door.

I don’t believe it. It’s the man from Rooster Pinch’s book. He stands in the doorway with his walkin stick. Jest like the picture in the book. Thick black curly hair down past his
shoulders an piled high on top. Animal skins thrown over one shoulder, trailin behind him onto the floor. Fancy shirt with frilly collar an cuffs. Short, puffy little britches that show his legs. White stockins. High heeled shoes. Sword at his side.

His face is painted white. His mouth’s painted red, like one of the Hopetown whores.

What was it Rooster called him? Lewis Ex Eye Vee. The Sun King of France. Dead fer hunnerds of years, he said. So it cain’t really be him. It’s somebody who looks like him.

He starts to walk down the cellblock, head high. He takes tiny steps, like his shoes is too tight. He’s holdin a white lace keercheef to his nose.