Firebrand (14 page)

A
lice and Jerren were rigging the catamarans in preparation for our journey to Fort Moultrie. Unlike the day before, they moved slowly, half their attention on the job and half on each other. Alice had taken to wearing a tank top that scooped low at her chest and ended a couple inches above her waist. Her tanned skin glistened with sweat. Sunlight caught the ripple of muscles in her arms and stomach.

Jerren noticed me watching him and turned away. He was embarrassed too—I could see it in the way he fought to make a simple knot—but he shouldn't have been. Even I found it hard not to peek as Alice paused to lick the sweat off her upper lip.

Now Jerren was watching me, and I was the one turning red.

“Have you seen Griffin?” Alice asked.

Hearing her voice startled me. After what Ananias had told me, it was hard not to look at her differently. “Not since this morning.”

“He wanted to tell you something.”

That was strange. I hadn't been hard to find. I began to walk back toward the gate when Kell emerged, Nyla beside him.

“Where's Griffin?” I asked her.

She wouldn't look at me. “He's resting. Spent most of the night reading.”

“How would you know?”

She coiled a loop of hair around her ear. “I was with him.”

“What about Ananias? Why isn't he here either?”

Kell leaned closer. “Turns out, Chief has a new favorite, Thomas. Can't think what the old one did to offend him. Can you?”

Before I could ask him what they were doing, Rose passed through the main gate and headed toward us, a pack slung across her shoulders.

“Are you coming too?” I asked her.

“Yes. Chief wants me to fill in for Griffin.”

“Why?”

Nyla scraped her foot across the dusty ground. “I told you. He's resting.”

Everything felt off-kilter. I wanted to see my brother, just to check that everything was all right. But Kell stopped me with an outstretched hand. “Where are you going?”

“To see Griffin.”

Kell spat on the ground. “Tell him, Alice,” he shouted. “No way Thomas will listen to me.”

Alice peered over her shoulder. “Griffin can't come,” she said. “We'll be using a series of shouts to let each other know if we see rats. He wouldn't hear anything.”

“But he can sign,” I said. “Nyla had an idea for how we can work farther apart—”

“No.” Kell brushed by me and headed for the boats. “Nyla's idea needs all of us to learn the signs. We don't play with lives on Moultrie. He'll get plenty of work during gathering trips to other sites, just not this one. But Rose has agreed to take his place.” He raised an eyebrow. “If that's okay with you?”

As Rose approached her, Alice stopped what she was doing. “Interesting haircut,” she said. “Tell me who did it and I'll get them for you.”

Rose broke out in a smile. Alice did too.

Nyla began to walk to the boats. “What are you doing?” Kell asked her.

“Going with you,” she replied. “You're a person short. Can't make pairs with five people.”

“It's all right,” Jerren shouted. “She can help me. It's time she learned the drill. Besides,” he added, fixing Kell with a stare, “something tells me she may be helpful to us.”

Kell didn't speak for a moment. “Fair enough,” he said with a forced, icy calm. “Come on, Thomas. Time to leave.”

Again, I stared at the main gate. Through the small doorway, I noticed that the grounds were unusually empty. Children peeked above the battlements until their parents dragged them away.

Kell rejoined me. “Don't mind them,” he said with uncharacteristic softness. “Poor things always know when we're heading to Moultrie. They tell stories to give each other nightmares: a hundred dead. A thousand. Rat bites, snake bites, ghost bites . . . in their minds the place is a giant graveyard.” He sighed. “Heaven help them when they have to start going over.”

It wasn't just the children watching us, though. Even the parents cast anxious looks in our direction.

“Jerren's parents really did die, though,” I reminded him. “It's not all make-believe.”

He grabbed my arm. “You can keep thoughts like that to yourself. This is Nyla's first trip to Moultrie. I don't need her panicking. Understand?”

Kell pulled a map from his pack and spread it out on the jetty. He pointed out the fort itself, and the landmarks inside its walls. He told us about the land that lay between the fort and the water, and the plants we'd find there. Once we had a mental image of the area, he folded it back up and left it in a box. He never mentioned rats, because he didn't need to.

Jerren untethered the rope that connected us to the jetty and we pushed off. The breeze nudged the sail, but Jerren held the mainsheet fast, at least until we were twenty yards away. Then he loosed the mainsheet and the sail kicked out, driving us across open water.

The wind was stronger than the previous day and we made quick progress. Behind us, the rust-colored walls of Sumter grew smaller. I squinted at the battlements, hoping that I'd catch a glimpse of Griffin and Ananias. Neither of them was there.

Ahead of us, Alice's boat sliced through the water. I imagined her shouting instructions to Rose and Nyla, anything to ensure that they arrived first. Jerren, on the other hand, seemed content to take things easy.

“So what's the story with Alice's father?” he asked me. “She hasn't mentioned him once, and the man tried to strangle her.”

“Did Chief tell you that?”

“No. But you just did.” Jerren paused. “So who stopped him?”

“Ananias and me.”

“You killed him.”

“No. He fell overboard.”

Kell laughed. “He
fell
? Kind of clumsy, isn't it?”

I didn't know if they were working together, but it was clear they didn't believe me. “He was surprised.”

“By what?” asked Jerren. “That you wouldn't let him kill his own daughter? Or that you set fire to him?”

There was no use in pretending he was wrong. The real question was how he knew at all.

“There were burn marks on Alice's tunic,” Jerren explained. “I asked her about them and she wouldn't tell me anything. This morning, she turned up in new clothes. And I got to thinking, why would Alice and Tarn keep something like that to themselves? And if you're responsible, why are they standing by you?”

It took all my concentration to stay calm. Jerren and Kell had chosen me for their boat deliberately. They had questions, and didn't want Alice along to answer for me. I was already trying to second-guess what she might have said.

I expected them to press me for an answer. But neither of them spoke again. It was as if I'd already told them everything they needed to know.

W
e pulled into a beachy cove, where an outcrop of rocks hid us from Sumter and protected the boats from waves. Jerren and Alice tied the catamarans to buoys instead of beaching them. “Rats'll climb on any solid surface,” Jerren explained before I could ask. “Trust me, we don't want them on the boats.”

We stepped into knee-deep water. Instinctively, I scanned the sandy beach, and beyond, to the trees and grass, and the fort itself. But there was nothing out there.

Not yet, anyway.

Kell removed a container from his bag. “Here,” he said, “scoop this into your hand and smear it across every piece of exposed skin.” He looked Alice up and down. “That'll take longer for some than for others.”

Nyla went first. She used the goo sparingly. It had a pungent odor I couldn't place.

“What is this?” Rose asked.

“Chief's concoction. Some vegetables, herbs, fish oil. He says it repels fleas. I think he's a liar, but I'd rather stink than get the Plague because one of the suckers bit me, you know?”

While I applied the stuff to my hands and lower legs, Kell went over the rules: A single shout at the first sight of rats. Another shout a moment later. Then run straight to the beach and into the water.

“Don't panic,” he reminded us. “Rats aren't fast runners. But don't hesitate, either. The last group that saw rats said they're more aggressive than they used to be. Their food sources are running out, and the day'll come when they go straight for us. If today's that day, get back here. Fast.” He watched us carefully, making sure we were listening. “All right. Jerren and Alice will pair. Thomas, you go with Nyla.”

“Actually, I'll go with Rose,” I said, joining her.

“No, you won't. You'll do what I say because I'm in charge of this gathering. Is that clear?” He didn't say it cruelly, but there was no mistaking his tone. This was another test, just like coming to Moultrie. Fail the test, and we might be looking for a new home soon.

Fort Moultrie was set back from the water, and the flat land fronting it had been thoroughly planted. Kell pointed to a series of wooden posts that divided the area into parcels, each one with a different sun-shade balance that allowed for multiple crops, vegetables, and fruits. It looked familiar from the map he'd shown us.

The plan was for each pair to gather food from one parcel. When everyone was ready, we'd enter the fort itself, where the chilly underground armories acted as storerooms for cured meats. I didn't need to ask which part of the gathering would be most dangerous. There was a reason we'd be entering the fort together.

No one moved when Kell finished explaining the situation. Being close to the boats felt safe, as hard to leave as a blanket on a cold night. I imagined tiny movements across the land even though I hadn't seen anything.

Alice was first to go. She probably did it to wipe the smug expression from Jerren's face. I followed her, and Nyla came with me. When I looked back, Rose was moving too, fear hidden behind a stoic expression.

“Kell didn't want you coming today,” I remarked to Nyla.

She narrowed her eyes. “Kell thinks girls should stay inside the fort. Doesn't take years of practice to wash a shirt, though, and I'm not going to be stuck inside Sumter every day of my life. This is my chance to show what I can do. So keep your eyes open. I'll never get another chance if you catch the Plague.”

“I'll do my best,” I promised. “Griffin wouldn't accept anything less.”

I thought she'd like hearing his name. Instead Nyla frowned and pressed ahead to our parcel.

Back across the harbor entrance, Sumter appeared tiny. Hard to believe so many people had lived there for so long, like wasps in a nest, always busy but always together.

“You keep lookout,” said Nyla, kneeling beside a row of kale. Some of the leaves had been eaten. “Rabbits,” she explained, without turning around. “They'll eat anything, but Chief likes us to pick the leaves anyway. He uses them in hot infusions and ointments.”

I listened without answering, split between watching for rats and keeping an eye on Rose and Kell. They were about fifty yards away. I didn't like the way he stood so close to her as she pulled roots from the ground.

“Here.” Nyla handed me her bag, already full, and took mine. She wasted no time, tearing leaves recklessly, eyes flashing from left to right. She didn't trust me as her lookout.

When she'd filled my bag too, we placed them beside a nearby water barrel and switched roles. While she watched the land around us, I filled the two metal buckets that had been left out and watered the roots of the plants, exactly as I'd seen the Guardians do back at our original colony. It didn't take long, and I figured we'd be the first to finish.

We were last. We walked briskly to where the others stood waiting for us. Together again, we followed a path around the perimeter of the fort. Where earlier we'd cast shadows, now the sky was clouding over. It cooled the air and allowed me to stop squinting.

Finally we reached an arch in the western wall. Through it, a tunnel stretched ahead of us. It was maybe ten yards long, but felt more like fifty. Doorways to the side remained in shadow—a haven for anything that wanted to remain unseen.

Suddenly Rose grabbed my hand and pulled me back. “There!” she screamed. “At the end.”

I stared through the darkness, trying to find the rat. “Where?”

“It . . . it's gone now.” Her hand shook wildly.

Kell circled around us. “Gone, huh? Are you sure you saw something?”

Rose hesitated. “I think so.”

Jerren placed a hand on Kell's arm. “Come on,” he said calmly. “Whatever it was, we should keep moving.”

Kell glared at Rose, and turned his attention to the rest of us. “The powder magazine is through the tunnel. We'll take a left at the end, follow the path around, and go through the gate. The entrance to the building will be right in front of us. Everyone got it?”

He didn't wait for us to nod or say yes. Whether or not Rose had really seen a rat, this needed to be a quick mission. In and out. The good news was that our destination was close to the entrance.

Our footsteps echoed against the brick walls as we crept through the tunnel. At the end was a bright yellow building—no doors or windows as far as I could tell. Kell walked around it and through a gateway. Here was another yellow building, but this one had an arched doorway and windows at the end. It wasn't very light inside, but peering through the metal bars in the door, I could just make out crates stacked against the walls.

Kell yanked the door open. “Over here,” he said, pointing to the back. “Leave your bags by the door. Open each crate slowly—we don't know for sure what we'll find inside.”

He and Jerren went in and we followed right behind. They pulled the lid from the first crate and removed two small boxes before retreating to the door.

Alice made eye contact with Rose and me. “Ready?” she asked, fingers placed against the seam below the lid.

We pulled the lid off so slowly, the crate creaked. Alice leaned over and swept her hand around inside, a puzzled expression across her face. “It's empty,” she said.

There was a strange sound from behind us. Alice's eyes grew wide.

We spun around together, darting for the door, but it closed before we got there. After that, there was nothing but a resounding clunk as a lock secured it.

With us inside.