Reclamation

"But it should be yours," Aria folded her arms. "Or your wife's. Where is the righteous Branch in the River, Nail?" She spoke with more bitterness than she intended, but the woman's insults still rang in her ears.

"Aria," Eric came close enough behind her that Aria could feel his breath against her neck. "You don't need…"

"Come out! Come out!" Iron Shaper's voice called out in time with the clanging of a stick on a gong. "Come out! Come out!"

"Nameless Powers preserve me," Aria whispered. Nail in the Beam was already headed toward the noise at a run, trailing his sons in his shadow.

"What is it?" demanded Eric.

"The emergency call." Aria snatched up Little Eye in her arms and ran after Nail.

"Come out! Come out!" Iron Shaper beat the gong furiously.

Most of the clan was already in the center of the huts by the time Aria got there. Eyes Above, leaning on Iron Keeper's arm, pushed her way toward Shaper. Aria set Little Eye beside her brothers and forced her way through the crowd. The ones who knew her gave way, clearing enough of a path for her to see Iron Shaper clearly.

The smith wasn't alone. Storm Water sat on the ground beside him, holding his arm tenderly. His head was bare and Aria saw a clumsy black bandage under his fingers. A fresh stream of scarlet trickled down his arm.

"What happened to you?" Aria crouched beside Storm Water. She removed his hand from the bandage. He let it drop into his lap and winced as she unwrapped the bandage and revealed a long, ugly gouge in his skin.

"Someone get me some hot water!" she shouted. The wound was caked with old blood, and it looked deep. Storm Water was pale under his eyes and around his mouth

"Branch in the River left the clan yesterday." Storm Water's voice was low and hoarse, as though he hadn't had enough to drink for a while. "Storm Water followed her. She went to a troop of soldiers from Narroways. She's bringing them here. Storm Water thinks there's a Skyman with them." He paused and swallowed hard. "A soldier did this to Storm Water as he ran back here."

"Nameless Powers preserve me," said someone.

The crowd was stirring. Some of them were retreating, but Aria barely noticed. She was trying to think of where to get a clean bandage and a needle and thread and…

Eric knelt beside her. "Let me," he said quietly, and he took Storm Water's arm out of her hands. "How far away are they?" he asked as he gently probed the edges of the wound with the fingers of his free hand.

"Two hours, maybe less." Eric touched a scab and Storm Water grunted.

"All right, Storm Water. You've done well. Hold still now."

He laid his hand over the wound and Aria realized what he was going to do under the eyes of the whole clan.

Storm Water gasped and stiffened. Aria grabbed his shoulders and held him still. Eric's breathing grew hard and ragged. He lifted his hand away and there was nothing on Storm Water's arm except some dried blood and a thin white line marking where the wound had been.

Eric slumped backward.

"You're a TEACHER?" cried Iron Shaper incredulously.

Aria let go of Storm Water's shoulders and stood up in front of the smith. "I vouchsafed him Iron Shaper dena Voice of the Wind, and I will not hear one word said against him." She raised her voice so the entire clan could hear. "Not one word."

"And there is no time for it," said Nail in the Beam flatly. "We must get ready to move. We have two hours at best."

Aria looked up at him, intending to say something scathing, but the look on his face made her stop. He was already punishing himself for again finding a wife who would betray the clan for her own purposes.

His words worked like magic. The crowd of men and children and the handful of women streamed toward the houses.

"Wait, wait." Eric climbed to his feet, but Teacher or not, no one paused to listen to him. "We don't even know what they're doing," he said somewhat helplessly to Aria and Iron Shaper. "Did you hear?" he asked Storm Water.

Storm Water nodded. "They are looking for the family of Stone in the Wall," he said, knotting his bloodstained head-cloth between his hands.

"The stones," breathed Aria. "Nameless Powers preserve me, they must want the stones."

"I don't think so," said Eric. "I think they want your genes."

"Either way"—Aria gripped her son's hand and raised him to his feet—"we need to show them our retreating backsides. There's places in the Lif that the upper ranks couldn't find, even if someone showed them where to look. We can wait this out."

"You'd just run?" Eric was genuinely shocked.

"We fight, Eric, and all of our own will pay for it." Aria squeezed Storm Water's hand. "It'll be bad enough as it is. And it's my fault."

"Yes, it is," snapped Iron Shaper. "And you'll be hearing plenty about it from me later. But now we must get ready. Keeper," he called as he stalked off toward the forge with his son.

"Aria," said Eric urgently in the Skyman tongue, "we can't just run from this. We need to find out what these soldiers know about what's going on in the cities:"