It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba's world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh's freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.
Theres a knife in my gut.It twists, rips me open. With everyheartbeat, it slides in a bit further. I caint feel such pain anlive. I wrap my arms around my body,double over. My mouth opens ina silent scream.I stay there a long time.The rain dont let up.Around me, the parched earth turns into a churnin sea of mud.Look,Pa, its rainin.Too late.Nero flaps down an lands on my shoulder.Tugs at my hair.I straighten up. Move slow. Im numb. I dont feelnuthin.Git up. You got things to do.My hand. I look at it. Seemslike its a long ways o5. Like it belongs to somebody else. The shotscraped the skin o5 in a long strip. It musthurt.I stand. Make myfeet move. Right. Left. So heavy. I wade through the mud to theshanty. Nero flies off to huddle unner the eaves.Hand. Clean yerhand.I pour water over it. Pack it with fireweed leaf an tie acloth around it.Pas dead. You gotta burn him. Set his spirit freesos it can journey back to the stars where it come from.I look inthe wood store. There aint enough to build a proper pyre. But Igotta burn him.Think. Think.I find our little handcart. Wheel ittowards the lake. Shove it through the mud till I come to whereEmmis standin by Pa.Shes got bare feet. Shes soaked to the skin.Her hair hangs in wet rats tails. They drip down her face, herneck.She dont move. Dont look at me. She stares at nuthin.I grabboth her arms, give her a shake.Pas dead, I says. We gotta movehim.She leans over an retches into the mud. I wait till shes1nished. She looks at me sidewise, wipes a shaky hand across hermouth. Shescryin.All right? I says. She nods. Take his feet, Isays.I take him unner his armpits an pull. Emmi takes his feet. Pasgot skinnier the past six months. No rain fer so long meant foodsbin harderto find, pretty much impossible to grow.You aint finishedyer supper, Pa. Aint you hungry?Oh, Ive et plenty, child. Here.Share the rest out between yuz.He knew he warnt foolin us, but weall played along anyways.Skinny as Pa is, hes a grown man. Tooheavy to lift fer a scrappy little girl an me. We hafta heave him,inch by inch. Em slips an slides.She dont stop cryin. Pretty soonshes covered head to toe in red mud.At last we git him on the cart.Pas tall, so only the top half of him fits in. His legs trail outbehind.Wheres Lugh? Emmi sobs. I want Lugh.He aint here, Isays.Wh-wh-where is he?Gone, I says. Some men took him.Hes dead,she says. You jest dont wanna tell me. Hes dead! Lughs dead!Hes-dead-hes-dead-hes-dead-hes-dead-hesShut up! I says.She startsto scream. She gasps an sobs an screams an screams an screams.Emmi!I yell. Stop it!But she caint. Shes gone. Outta control.So I slapher.An she stops.She gasps with shock. Takes in great shudderinbreaths till she calms down. She wipes her nose on her sleeve.Looks at me. Theres a redmark on her cheek. I shouldnt of donethat. I know I shouldnt. Lugh wouldnt of. Shes too little to take ahit.Im sorry, I says. But you shouldnt of said that. Lugh aintdead. Dont ever say he is. Now hold Pas feet outta the mud. Use hisbootlaces.Itll be easier.She does it.I turn an start pullin thecart behind me. Its hard goin in the rain an mud. Water runs intomy eyes, my mouth, my ears. Mud coats myboots an I slide.Emshopeless like always. She keeps fallin over, but every time shedoes I stop an help her up an we keep goin. At least she aint cryinnomore. We reach the shanty. We shove an pull the cart with Pa onit inside.The shanty walls is made from tires.The home Pa builtwith his own hands is gonna be his funeral pyre. I bet he didntever think of that.Emmi helps me turn our big old wooden tableupside down an we drag Pa offa the cart an lay him on the table.Igo to the chest where we keep what clothes we got, which aint much.When I lift the lid, the smell of dried sage rises up. I pull outPasthick winter tunic an toss it to Emmi.Tear it into strips, Isays.I lift out Lughs winter tunic. I bury my face in it an breathein deep. But we put it away clean. It smells of clean cloth ansage. It dont
dust lands blood red road pdf free
I lift out Lughs winter tunic. I bury my face in it an breathein deep. But we put it away clean. It smells of clean cloth ansage. It dontsmell of him.I git on with tearin it into strips.Oncewere done, theres a good-size pile. I dig out the jug of rootmashwhisky. Pa brewed it when times was better. We soak all theclothstrips in it. Then I set Em to stuffin em into the walls, intothe cracks between the tires. I put the rest around Pas body.Istart fillin my barksack with necessaries. Red gizmo knife, flint,medicine herbs, spare shirt.The same men that killed Pa took Lugh,I says. Im goin after em. I dunno where they took him. It might bea long ways from here. Itmight take me a while to find him. But Iwill. Im gonna bring him back.I put in a waterskin, nettlecordrope, an enough sourberry seed jerky an dried rootcakes to last usa few days. If we run out, Ill jest haftahunt.They got a head startan theyre on four legs, not two, I says. Im gonna hafta travelfast.I collect Emmis waterskin, her tunic an her dogskin cloak. Idont look at her when I says, Im leavin you with Mercy byCrosscreek.No, says Emmi.I put her stu5 in another barksack. Pa anLugh told me to keep you safe, I says, an youll be safe there.Mercy an Ma was friends. Shehelped when me an Lugh was born. Shecame when you was born too.I know, says Em.What we both know butdont say is that Mercy came too late. Emmi came early, Ma died anMercy might as well of spared herself thetrouble of a three daywalk.Mercys a good woman, I says. Pa always said that if anythinwas to ever happen to him, we should go to her. He told me an Lughthe wayto Crosscreek. She might even have a kid fer you to playwith.I dont care, says Emmi. Im comin with you.You caint, I says. Idunno where Im goin or how long itll take me. Besides, yer toolittle. Youll only hold me back.Emmi crosses her arms an sets herchin in that stubborn way shes got. Lughs my brother too! she says.I got a right to look fer him, jest thesame as you.Dont give me notrouble, Emmi. I pick up the little peg doll Pa made her an throwit in the sack. Its fer the best. Once I 1nd Lugh, Ipromise wellcome back an git you.No you wont, she says. You hate me. You loveLugh an you hate me. I wish theyd took you instead!Well they didnt,I says. Pa an Lugh left me in charge of you an I say yer goin toMercys. Let that be a end to it.I shove Lughs slingshot into mybelt. Tuck Pas knife into a sheath inside my boot. Sling my quiveran pistol crossbow on my back.Hazy red light trickles through thesmall window. It lands across Pas face.I kneel beside him, take hishand in mine. Emmi kneels across from me an takes his other hand.Hes still warm, she whispers.After a little bit she says, You needto say the words now.Shes right. You always say special words tosend a dead person on their way.Pa said some fer Ma, before he lither funeral pyre all them years ago, but I caint remember what theywas. Guess I was too young to takeproper notice. Now its his turnto have words said an I caint think of nuthin.Go on, saysEmmi.Then, Sorry, Pa, I says.I didnt mean to say that, but my mouthmoved an thosere the words that come out. But I realize I am sorry.Truly.Im sorry yer dead, I says. Im sorry you had it so hard here,specially the last while. Mostly Im sorry you lost Ma when youloved her somuch. I know you aint had no joy since she went. Wellnow youll be happy. Youll be together agin. Two stars, side byside.Im goin after Lugh, I says. Im gonna git him back, Pa. I wontrest till I find him. I promise.I look at Em. Dyou wanna kiss himgbye? I says.She kisses him on the cheek, then I strike my flint anlight the spills around his body.Willem by Silverlake, I says, Iset yer spirit free to return to its home among the stars.Theflames start to lick at the table.Gbye, Pa, Emmi whispers. Im gonnamiss you.We stand. I hand her the barksacks.Go on outside, I says.Ilight the spills set into the walls. I wait till the tires catchfire, till the flames start to run along the walls.Gbye, Pa, Isays.I close the door behind me as I go.
Mid-afternoon. Second day on the road.I hafta stop myself fromscreamin. From walkin fast. Runnin on ahead.Emmi.We couldnt be goinmuch slower an its all her fault.I wanna leave her by the side ofthe track an ferget she ever got born. I wish shed disappear o7athe face of thearth. But I caint wish that.I mustnt wish that. Itstoo wicked. Shes my own flesh an blood, the same as Lugh.Not thesame as Lugh.Nobodys the same as Lugh.Never the same as Lugh.Weleave a thin stand of near-dead pine trees.The hoofprints leave thetrackway here. They head off due north.Wait here, I says to Emmi.Ifollow the prints till the hard baked ground turns to scrubbygrass. The prints disappear. I shade my eyes. Stare out. Theres anarrow beltof scrub grassland but after that I caint see nuthin butwideness. Flatness. Desert. I aint never bin here but I know whatit is.Sandsea.A mean, death-dry place of winds an shiftin sanddunes. A hard land. A land of secrets.
A mean, death-dry place of winds an shiftin sand dunes. A hardland. A land of secrets.Before Emmi, when Ma was still alive aneverythin was happy, Pa used to tell Lugh an me stories aboutWrecker times. Some of em wasabout Sandsea. He told us about wholesettlements of people buried by wanderin dunes. Then, one day, thewinds ud shift an the dune udmove on an all that ud be left was theshanties. No people. All gone. Not a trace of em left behind, noteven bones. Only their dead souls,turned into sand spirits thatwail in the night an cry fer their lost lives. Pa used to say hedtake us there an leave us if we warnt good.I pile up some rocks. Acairn to mark the spot sos I can find it agin.I walk back to thetrackway.Em sits in the dust, her head bowed. Shes took her bootsoff.We gotta keep movin, I says.I look down. At her short, 9nebrown hair that grows in tufts. With her thin little neck an wispsof hair, Emmi looks more like a babbybird than a girl.Its a wonderI didnt break her neck when I slapped her. Jest thinkin about itmakes me feel sick, so I try not to. I know fer a fact that Emaintnever in her life bin slapped before I raised my hand to her. Lughwould never of done it, no matter what. Never. Hed be maddernhellif he knew what I done.I crouch down beside her. Whats the matter?I says.Then I see her heels. Theyre cut to a bloody pulp. She aintused to walkin so far. They must hurt like nobodys business, butshe aintmade a peep.Why didnt you tell me? I says.I didnt want youto yell at me, she says.I look at her, her face so small an thin. Ihear Lughs voice in my head.Shes only nine, Saba. You might trybein nice to her fer a change.You should of said somethin, I says.I wash her cuts an wrap her feet in clean strips of cloth. Allright, I says, put yer arms around my neck.I pick her up. I carryher as much as I can fer the rest of the day, but even a scrawnynine year old gits heavy. Im carryin our packs too so Ihafta puther down from time to time. She ends up havin to walk a fairbit.She weeps quietly in the night.My heart pinches at the sound. Ireach out an touch her arm but she flings my hand off an turnsaway.I hate you! she cries. I wish theyd killed you instead ofPa!After that, I pull my cloak over my head sos I caint hear hercryin.We gotta keep on.I gotta find Lugh. 2ff7e9595c
Comments