The Bird of the River

----THE----
BIRD
OF THE
RIVER
------------------------

This was scanned by the scanner, proofed by the proofer and called (v1.0). My scans and/or proofs are done so I can read the books on my smart phone and or REB-1100 eBook reader. This electronic text is meant to be read by a reader...

BOOKS BY KAGE BAKER

The Anvil of the World
Dark Mondays
Mother Aegypt and Other Stories
The House of the Stag
The Empress of Mars
Not Less Than Gods
The Bird of the River

THE COMPANY SERIES

In the Garden of Iden
Sky Coyote
Mendoza in Hollywood
The Graveyard Game
Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers
The Life of the World to Come
The Children of the Company
The Machine's Child
Gods and Pawns
The Sons of Heaven

----THE----
BIRD
OF THE
RIVER
------------------------
KAGE BAKER

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE BIRD OF THE RIVER

Copyright (c) 2010 by Kage Baker

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor(r) is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 978-0-7653-2296-8

First Edition: July 2010

Printed in the United States of America

0987654321

May this please Athena, Workwoman.

----THE----
BIRD
OF THE
RIVER
------------------------

THE SUN CAME UP. It warmed Eliss's back and felt good after the freezing night. From their camp up here on the hilltop she could look down into the river valley, where it was still dark. The river barges lay silent in the blue gloom, and only now a white transparent trail of smoke from a galley cookfire rose up through the shadows into sunlight, flaring into red and gold.

A thundering crash of disappointment followed, however.

Eliss found the pipe and pouch, right there beside their campflre. She crouched down and stared into her mother's face. It was a young face, but lined and exhausted, with shadows.

Eliss told herself that just because Falena had left out the pipe and the pouch didn't
have
to mean she'd been smoking the Yellow again, -- maybe she'd taken them out but resisted the urge. Maybe she'd realized how stupid it was to smoke Yellow the night before asking for a job, especially when times were so hard. Maybe, after struggling with herself, she'd realized how disappointed Eliss and Alder would be when they saw she'd broken her promise again... .

Falena sighed and shifted. Eliss looked back at her and watched as her mother opened her eyes. Eliss felt her heart sink. Falena's eyes were yellow again. After all she had said about starting a new life for them ...

Eliss averted her eyes, too angry to speak. She watched sidelong as Falena sat up, yawned, and, noticing the pipe and empty pouch, swept them hastily under a corner of the blanket. Falena was in her early thirties. She had been plump and shapely most of her life, but in the last few years had grown thin, especially in her face, -- smoking Yellow took away the appetite. She used to say she did it so as to leave more food for Eliss and Alder, but then Eliss had discovered how much it cost.

And it cost more than the money they so seldom had. A thin diver found it hard to get jobs, for only plump women could survive the cold of the deep sea or the rivers. Worse: Falena did terrible, stupid things when she smoked Yellow. It was because Falena had done stupid things that they had wandered without a home the last four years, from camp to camp, from uncle to uncle.

Even the uncles were fewer and farther between now, as Falena's looks faded. Alder couldn't remember them all. Eliss could. The clearest in her memory was Uncle Ironbolt, who had had gang tattoos and a lot of money, and been a genial man when he wasn't drinking. He had actually provided them with a house for a couple of years, before a rival killed him. That had been back before Alder was born.

Eliss remembered Alder's father. Alder was now ten, small and stocky. He had used to be a placid child, calm in the worst crisis, but lately he had started to show a temper. He rolled over, on the far side of the ashes of their campfire, and sat up. "It's going to be hot today," he said.

"What are you, the Weather Cricket?" said Falena, giggling. He glared at her, seeing the yellow color in her eyes, and looked at Eliss. She looked back and made a hopeless gesture.

"Oh, what are the two of you so sour about? It's a bright sunshiny day! And maybe Mommy will get a nice sunshiny job today. Lissi, I'll pack everything up. You get dressed, baby. Lissi, why don't you take the baby and go down there, see if one of the stallmen will sell you something to eat?" Falena pointed down into the river valley.

Eliss rolled her eyes. She had no money to buy anything. Surely her mother knew that? But this was one of the lies to cope with it all: Falena was hoping the stallmen would have pity on two homeless waifs and give them something, a little fried fish or some boiled straj meal.

Alder pulled on a long shirt with a hood and stood up. "I'm dressed. Let's go."

"But people can still see your legs, baby."

"I don't care. It's hot." Alder was tired of hiding the color of his skin.

"Lissi, make him put some pants on."

"It's a long shirt," said Eliss. "Nobody'll see. It's hot, Mama."

"You kids," said Falena with a sad laugh, shaking her head. "It's so little I ask of you, you know? And all for your own good ..." Eliss scrambled to her feet and took Alder's hand, leading him away down the hill to avoid another whining argument.

"What are we really going to get for breakfast?" asked Alder.

"Whatever we can find," said Eliss. Alder nodded and pointed into a green patch on the yellow hillside, a few feet off the trail.

"There's water under that. Got a stick?"

Eliss pulled a stick from a dead bush and gave it to him. Alder waded out through the yellow grass and dug with the stick, and in a few minutes came back with three big muddy tubers. Together he and Eliss found a spot just out of sight of the hilltop, where they settled on a fallen tree trunk and Eliss drew her little knife. She peeled the tubers and sliced them up. The tubers had crisp white flesh, juicy and cold, a little sweet. Eliss had no idea what they were but Alder always knew what sort of wild-grown things were good to eat.

They were still sitting there, crunching up the last of their breakfast, when Falena came wandering down the trail. Eliss stood up and waved and her mother came straggling over, lugging their bundles and the cookpot.

"What did you get?"

Eliss held out the third peeled tuber. "You want me to cut it up for you?"

"Thank you, Lissi baby, Mommy would like that."

Falena ate slowly, often stopping to remark on how nice the tuber slices tasted. Even when she had finished, she seemed disinclined to move from the fallen trunk.

"This is a nice spot, you know?" she said at last. "Beautiful view of the river. We should have made camp here last night, instead of up on the hilltop. Dumb thing to do. That cold old wind blew all night."

"Yes," said Eliss. "Well, why don't we go on down?"

"Oh, there's no hurry," said her mother, slowly rocking herself to and fro. "I mean, we're here now. At the river. Lots of barges down there. What do you say, kids? Why don't we just camp here a couple of days? Let me get my strength back from the long walk."

"No, I think we ought to go talk to the barge captains
now
," said Eliss. "We don't know how long they'll be there. Remember what happened at Port Blackrock?"