The Children of the Sky

From behind, Wretchly’s voice wafted forward. “Heh, yup. Now that Screwfloss is gone, I’m Flenser’s number-one flunky and hatchetman.”

There was quiet giggling from Junior and Sika. Junior slipped forward to be with Benky. Sika dropped back and walked among the Wretchly foursome. They took several sharp turns, skirting the Ferryside market and heading downslope. Around them was the faint scent of garbage. Now Sika wanted her mother to carry her. The timber-frame dwellings gave way to stone slab buildings, two and three stories tall. Here and there, packs crossed their path, but Jo didn’t see any humans. In fact, the market sounds were sparse. Maybe that was no surprise.

After one last turn, the alley opened out onto a view of the ferry docks. They were just a meter or two above the water. The Straits was a flat silver line across their view. Ordinarily, there would be a ferry or two in the moorage. Another ferry might be out in the Straits, and a couple more would be parked on the mainland side. Today, not a single ferry was pulled up on the Hidden Island side. Jo looked across the water at Cliffside, just a couple thousand meters away. She counted five ferries there.

Benky settled one of himself beside her. “That’s where everybody went. Most all are up on Starship Hill where Nevil’s gonna bring us all peace.” Benky was a fluent Samnorsk speaker. He did sarcasm very well.

“But if we can get you up there, maybe we’ll have a chance against his lies.” That was Wretchly, crouched around the Larsndots on Johanna’s left.

Jo looked back and forth at the two. “Woodcarver and Flenser are allies now?”

Benky nodded, but the gesture was also a ripple of suspicion. “That’s the theory.”

Wretchly was more emphatic: “Of course we’re allies! Always have been, even if your Queen Woodcarver never trusted us.”

Benky emitted a sniffing noise. “You’re also allied with Tycoon and Vendacious.”

“Falsely so, but yes. And where would you be now, Benky, without all the inside information we’ve supplied?”

It was Flenser’s justly famous slippery nature. Johanna gave Benky a look: “Has Woodcarver decided to trust Flenser?”

Benky rolled his heads in a kind of embarrassed shrug. “Yeah. Woodcarver has always been too soft with her misbegotten offspring; it may be her fatal flaw. I’d oppose this alliance, except that”—he sent a glance in Wretchly’s direction—“we’re really desperate.” He gave Johanna all of his gaze. “In any case, there’s no way I can get you safely across the Straits.”

“Ah.” If Johanna couldn’t get across to the mainland and up the cliffs to Starship Hill, her great confrontation would have to wait for some other day. Like after the bad guys had won. She looked back at the Ferryside docks. There were utility twinhulls tied up there. She could use one of those to get to the mainland—all out of sight of the beam gun. The ferry crossing was one of the few blind spots in its coverage; that had always bothered Ravna Bergsndot.

Wretchly followed her gaze. “Don’t think for a minute that makes you safe, Johanna.”

“What?” but she guessed what he meant.

Wretchly elaborated anyway: “There are other ways of killing folks besides beam guns. And they don’t need Oobii’s super telescopes to spot you. If Nevil knows you’re here on Hidden Island, he’ll expect you to try to get across. That’s more than a kilometer of open water. Even if we take you across in a box, he’ll see the boat and we’ll be stopped the moment we land.”

Johanna glared at the pack. Even Flenser’s flunkies had their boss’s talent for causing irritation. There were lots of little moorages along the eastern side of Hidden Island, but none were any less exposed than this. The alternative was to hike across town to the west side, then island hop around the north—maybe thirty kilometers of skulking. A two-day trip. “Okay then, do you have a better way?” She saw the gloating smile hiding in Wretchly’s aspect. “Oh, of course you do.”

The smile bloomed. “Oh yes. My lord Flenser has not been idle these ten years. Woodcarver penned him in with her various unjustified attempts at house arrest. What was he to do with such restrictions? Well, in fact, he dug some tunnels.” Wretchly pointed a snout in the direction of the ferry crossing. “I can get you right across, under the Straits.”

Wenda Larsndot gave a little squeak of surprise. “So that’s where all the cheap fill dirt came from,” she said.

Johanna looked at Benky. “Woodcarver knew about this?”

“Not … until very recently. Flenser fessed up after Ravna was kidnapped and you and Pilgrim disappeared.”

Wretchly nodded. “He did it to finally win Woodcarver’s trust.”

“That and save his own necks,” said Benky. He pointed across the Straits, zigzagging a path upwards. “See, it’s not just the understraits tunnel, though I’ll bet that was the hardest piece of work. Flenser also dug a stairway inside the cliffs, up to a warehouse in Newcastle.… We should have guessed. Flenser was out of sight much too often.”