The Last Hawk

by Catherine Asaro

  "You put a Calani on a quarry crew?"

  "He's a convict now, ma'am."

  Rashiva leaned forward. "I want him made into more. Rehabilitate him And give him Quis instruction."

  Bones and bugs, Zecha thought. "In cases like his rehabilitation rarely works."

  Rashiva stood. "I have faith In your abilities warden."

  After Rashiva left, Zecha swore. Calani, heh? Lazy dice players who lived in luxury with everything given to them for nothing. She, Zecha, had worked for her position, starting as a nobody. Her mother was a disgrace, a losing dice player who gambled away everything she owned. Her father had been a Lasa kinsa like that boy in Compound Four. But none of that stopped Zecha. She had worked at her Quis until she became a power to be reckoned with. Why should she give favors to a Calani?

  "Think the wind only blows for them, don't they?" she muttered. "We'll see about that."

  The line of prisoners and guards wound into the cliffs, sweltering in the heat of a sun barely risen above the mountains. Kelric trudged up the path with Ched, holding the hood of his jacket tight against the blowing sand.

  Ched grinned. "Like our weather?" When Kelric glowered at him, the boy smirked. "You see Zev this morning? Got him an ugly eye. Black as tar." His smile vanished. "You better watch yourself today." He hesitated. "Both ourselves. That's the deal, isn't it?"

  "Yes."

  "Yiss. Yish." Ched grinned as he imitated Kelric's accent. "I'm ready to keep my side of our deal. So. What you want me to tell you?"

  Kelric considered. To make escape plans. he had to know what he faced. "About Haka. Is it like Dahl?"

  "No way. Haka is home of the Scowl Laws."

  "Scowl Laws? What are those?"

  "They're old as the mountains. They say a man can't smile at a woman unless she's his wife. Smile at a Haka woman and she thinks you're a whore."

  "That's crazy."

  "That's Haka, metal man. Haka men can't go outside without an escort neither, and if they do go out they have to wear robes that cover them from head to foot, and these woven scarves that hide their faces, except their eyes." Ched snorted "It's them Haka women. They spend half their time figuring ways to protect their men's honor and the other half trying to compromise it."

  "But I've seen male guards here"

  "They aren't from Haka." Ched nodded at a guard on the trail above them. "Like him. He has yellow hair. Hakaborn have black hair and black eyes."

  "What about the prisoners in the other compounds?"

  "They're from all over." Ched flipped his hand in dismissal. "They're in for little stuff. Four is where they put real troublemakers. There's eleven crooners in the Compound Four women's coop." He grimaced. "Those are some big clawcats. Men's coop has Zev, Gossi, Ikav, and us. Zev killed a Scribe in Shazorla and Gossi blew up a Cooperative at Ahkah."

  "Gods," Kelric muttered.

  "I don't like them neither," Ched said. "They're in for life."

  "What about Ikav?"

  "He stole some dice. Got ten years."

  "For stealing dice?"

  "Calanya dice. He's lucky that's all he got."

  Kelric fell silent, turning the information over in his mind. At the top of the trail, they came out onto a plateau. The line of prisoners stretched across it, almost lost in the whirling sandstorm. When they reached the far edge, Kelric saw it formed the top of a staircase that descended into a quarry. Sand cliffs loomed on all sides, jutting into the sky like red fingers. Eons .of wind had eroded the cliffs until they were riddled with holes that bore an eerie resemblance to windows. Gales moaned through the cliffs like a chorus of ghosts.

  As they descended the steps, Ched muttered, "This place gives me nightmares."

  "I'm not surprised," Kelric said.

  At the bottom, a massive man about Kelric's height stood checking off prisoners. A rough scarf with black tassels hung around his neck. He glanced at Kelric. "Sevtar Dahl?"

  "Yes?" Kelric asked.

  "What was that?" the man. asked.

  "Say sin" Ched whispered. "Yhee, Sir."

  "Yhee, sir," Kelric said.

  The man made a check on his clipboard. "You'll work on the rim crew."

  As Kelric and Ched hiked across the quarry with their guards, the boy said. "That was Torv Haka. Compound Four men's warden. You call all them keyclinkers 'ma'am' and 'sir.' " Ched raised his hand as if to strike Kelric. "If you forget they remind you."

  "I thought Haka men had to wear robes."

  "Can't have our warden running around in robes. How would he keep control over scum like us?"

  Kelric grimaced. But the warden was his least worry. He felt an all-too-familiar nausea. "Ched—if a prisoner needed a special diet, would he get it?"

  "You got to be joking. This isn't a Calanya, you know."

  Kelric blew out a gust of air. "No, it certainly isn't."

  Zecha stood with Rashiva at the rim viewing station. She indicated a distant line of prisoners winding across the quarry floor. "Down there. The big one with the odd coloring."

  Rashiva looked. Sevtar Dahl stood out like gold among pewter. But what caught her attention more was the quarry. She saw no windbreaks to protect crews from the sandstorms, and the water system looked defunct. "What's wrong with the aqueducts?"

  "The sand erodes them," Zecha said. "The system kept breaking down, so I quit using it. A team of carriers brings water up from the compounds instead"

  Rashiva frowned "Why hasn't this been reported?"

  "I wasn't aware a report was required."

  Rashiva considered her. The arrangement that gave full authority over the prison to the head warden made sense; a Manager didn't have time to run the prison as well as the Estate and city. And Zecha had an impressive record. Rashiva doubted the grizzled warden appreciated being questioned on it Still, she had no intention of ignoring the prison as her predecessor had done.

  "I want to see a report each quarter," Rashiva said. She nodded at the quarry. "Have the water ducts repaired and more windbreaks installed."

  Zecha kept her voice neutral. "Yhee. ma'am."

  "And Warden."

  "Yes."

  "Keep me posted on your progress with Sevtar."

  Zecha regarded her with an inscrutable expression. "Of course, ma'am."

  A guard issued Kelric a pickaxe, a sentry directed him to a workstation, and a captain warned him about the consequences of trying to use his pick on people instead of rock. Another guard assigned him a trundle in a train of cars that ran through the quarry. His job was simple: cut rock and fill his trundle.

  Normally Kelric wouldn't have minded the work. It was hard but reasonable, at least for someone with his strength. But not today. The first spasm hit him while he was carrying a block of stone. As his stomach lurched, his grip on the block slipped and it crashed to the ground. He fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around his waist.

  "Hey!" Ched ran over to him. "You don't got to lift such big—winds, what's wrong?"

  Leaning over, Kelric vomited behind the block. When the spasm eased he spoke in a rasp. "Can you get me water?"

  "They don't give us hardly none," Ched said. "The pipes broke."

  Footsteps sounded behind them. Ched spun around, then relaxed. "He's sick, Bonni. Can he have some water?"

  A guard knelt next to Kelric, a tall woman with the dark coloring of the Hakaborn. She brushed her hand across his forehead. "You're burning up."

  "Today's his first day," Ched said. "He used to be a Calani."

  She smiled. "A Calani? I heard rumors, but I thought that was just a story."

  "It's true." Ched pushed back Kelric's sleeve, uncovering the gold.

  "Cuaz above." Bonni looked at Kelric. "What are you doing here?"

  A shadow fell across him. "Trouble, Bonni?" Torv Haka stood over them, a truncheon in his hand.

  Bonni stood up. "This man is sick."

  "He's from Compound Four," Torv said. "They'll give you any story."

  Kelric stoo
d slowly, watching the warden. Torv regarded him like a fumigator who had found a bug. "If you think you'll get high-level treatment because of that gold on your wrists, you're wrong."

  Kelric gritted his teeth "Yes. Sir."

  Torv's voice hardened "I don't like your tone Calani."

  "So choke on it," Kelric said.

  "Cuaz me," Ched muttered.

  Torv smiled. Then he whipped his club through the air. Kelric caught the pole, stopping it with enough force to knock Torv off his feet. As the warden fell, other guards in the area ran over. They grabbed Kelric while Torv climbed to his feet. With his face contorted in fury, the warden fired his stunner until Kelric collapsed, blackness closing around him.

  Kelric came to in a pocket hidden from the quarry by crags of rock. He was kneeling in front of a boulder with his arms pulled around it and his wrists bound to a ring embedded in the stone.

  "So," a voice said. "You woke up."

  He looked around to see Torv Haka holding a thick belt. "Thought you'd knock me around, heh, crooner?" Torv grabbed Kelric's shirt and ripped it off his back. "You'll think differently soon."

  12

  Reopen

  Kelric lay on his stomach on the pallet in his cell. In the starlight, he could just make out the jug of water Ched was setting next to him. The boy tore a rag from the remains of Kelric's shirt and dunked it in the pot. Then he went to work cleaning the welts and cuts on Kelric's back.

  " 'Choke on it.' " Ched shook his head. "What gets into you, talking to the warden that way?"

  "I'm not accustomed to being spoken to like that," Kelric said.

  "I think maybe you got too much pride for your own good." Ched's frown shifted into a grin."You got guts, though. It flew round the quarry faster than wind, about you knocking him down. One day here and already you're famous." With a smirk, he added, "And guess what? Torv put Zev and them on third shift at the quarry. Seems they didn't feel so good today. All they was doing was complaining." His smile faded. "Starting tomorrow you're on three shifts a day, too, for a tenday. You gonna be all right? You was pretty sick today."

  "I need to boil my water," Kelric said.

  "There's nothing here to make a fire."

  Halfheartedly, Kelric thought, Bolt?

  &$unct** degrad$#

  He tensed, elated by the response. Bolt, what's with my nanomeds? Can't they help make the water drinkable?

  Series J has suffered severe depleti^^#

  Bolt?

  No response.

  Kelric exhaled. Series J included the nanomeds best equipped to deal with the bacteria in the Coban water, so its depletion explained his increased problems. However, as far as he could tell, the meds that repaired his cells, retarding his aging process, still worked. So if he survived, he faced the unpalatable prospect of several centuries at Haka.

  "You don't look so happy," Ched said.

  "Has anyone ever escaped from here?"

  "It's a dumb idea, metal man. Even if you got out, which is almost impossible, the only place to go is the city. They'd catch you in no time. The next closest place is the starport and that's way out in the desert." Ched finished cleaning a cut on Kelric's shoulder. "When I first heard about Skolians I thought it was a big croon. Then Minister Karn said it was real. People from above the sky. Thing is, they won't even let us into their port." He went to work on Kelric's arm. "Maybe it really is a croon. I never seen no Skolian."

  "Yes you have."

  "I have?"

  "Me." Kelric smiled. "If I tell you who I am, you'll really think I'm crazy." .

  Ched's interest perked up. "This sounds like a good croon."

  "My brother commands Imperial Space Command. I'm one of his heirs. Just think, Ched. You're talking to the future Imperator of the Skolian empire."

  The boy chuckled. "If you plan to take over the universe, you better get some rest. You're a mess."

  Kelric laughed. "All right."He closed his eyes.

  Sometime later a sound scraped by the pallet. He looked to see Ched kneeling down with a clay flask.

  "I boiled some water," the boy said. "With my candles."

  Sitting up, Kelric took the jug the boy offered and gulped the water, slowing down only when the last welcome runnels of warm liquid ran down his throat. Then he lowered the jug. "Thanks. I know what those candles mean to you."

  "Heh. Well." Ched shrugged. "It's not like I'm scared of the dark or nothing."

  "I know." It hadn't taken Kelric long to realize the night terrified Ched. "But I thank you anyway."

  Night lamps threw a glare over the quarry, cutting the dark with shears of light. Kelric's pick caught glitters of light as it arced through the air. Where the tip hit stone, sparks jumped and chips swirled in the wind. Swing. Impact. Swing. Impact. His fatigue blended with the monotony. numbing his mind.

  "Sevtar."

  Kelric jumped The guard Bonni stood nearby. As he stared at her, trying to focus his thoughts her hand went to the javelin slung across her back. That was when he realized he still had his axe raised in the air. When he lowered it, Bonni considered him, then came over and handed him a foil package.

  Opening the foil, he uncovered slices of meat and spice-bread. Dumbfounded. he looked at her. "Why?"

  "Ched told me the food in Four makes you side He said you could eat this." Her voice softened. "You're a miracle for that boy. Without protection, he'd be dead within a year. It's wrong. He shouldn't be here."

  The same thought had occurred to Kelric. "It's hard to believe he tried to commit murder."

  "He talks tough. But he's no killer. Get under his armor and you'll see."

  "All right." He lifted the package. "And thanks."

  Bonni nodded. After she left, Kelric ate some of the food, then slipped the package into his waistband under his shirt. He hefted up a block and headed to his trundle car, hiking past sandblasted water pipes.

  As he reached the trundle a woman called out "Hey, Goldy. You that color all over?"

  He squinted into the wind. On a ledge a few hundred paces away, the Compound Four women's crew stood watching him. Clumped in a pack, they stood as tall or even taller than him, their hair hanging in greasy tangles around their massive shoulders.

  Kelric grimaced. Then he headed back to his workstation.

  On his next trip, one of the biggest women was hoisting a block into his car "Well, looky that," she said. "Goldy."

  He dumped his blocks in the trundle.

  "Where's the Little Crooner?" she asked.

  "His name is Ched."

  "Not on third shift, heh'?" She scratched the huge expanse of her stomach. "Too bad. He's near as good to look at as you."

  "So look somewhere else."

  She laughed, showing a row of gaps and rotted teeth. "I just watch the scenery. I don't much care whether or not it takes to being watched."

  Kelric shook his head and headed back to his workstation, his shoulders twitching under her stare. It felt like her eyes were burning holes in his clothes.

  Bonni was waiting for him. "If that bunch gives you trouble, let me know."

  "It's no problem." He smiled. "But thanks."

  She flushed and averted her eyes. It wasn't until after she left that he figured out why. She was Hakaborn. She probably never saw any man smile except her husband.

  The night wore on interminably. When the shout for shift's end came, Kelric was moving in a haze. Three shifts were more than his recently healed legs could handle. He limped after the other prisoners, thinking of sleep. The climb out of the quarry dragged on forever, each flight seeming steeper than the last.

  At the top, an unfamiliar octet of guards stopped their crew. The captain came over to Kelric. "Sevtar Dahl?"

  It took a moment for the name to register through his daze. "Yes?"

  "Come with us."

  Gods, he thought. Now what? They took him down the, mountain and past the compounds. By the time they reached the gatehouse, dawn was tinging the sky. Inside the gateh
ouse it was dark, but an office glowed with light at the, back. A woman there was pouring herself a steaming mug of Tanghi tea. She was tall, with a lean build and dark red hair wound in a braid on her head. Sun and wind had weathered her face until she looked like a rusted pole.

  As the guards brought Kelric into the office, the unfamiliar woman turned to the captain. "He make trouble today?"

  "None," the captain said. "Filled his quota and then some."

  The rusted woman nodded at a pouch on the desk next to Kelric. "Quis dice. For you. Take it."

  As he picked up the pouch, the woman spoke to his guards. "You can take him back to the quarry."

  The captain stared at her. "But he's done three shifts today."

  "And you just have time to get him back for a fourth."

  "No," Kelric said.

  The rusted woman turned to him. "I hear a lot about you being a troublemaker, Calani." She took a swallow of her Tanghi. "I don't like troublemakers"

  Kelric knew there had to be regulations against working prisoners until they dropped. "I want to talk to the head warden. Zecha Haka."

  "You are." Zecha turned to the captain. "That will be all."

  Kelric gritted his teeth, knowing further protests would get him nothing more than retaliation, probably in the form of more extra shifts. Clenching his fist on the pouch, he went with his guards.

  Outside the building, he fumbled with the pouch, trying to tie it onto his belt It slipped from his fingers and thudded into the sand.

  The captain knelt down and scooped up the pouch. "Sevtar, I'm sorry." Standing, she tied it on his belt. "About the shifts."

  He swallowed "So am I."

  As they climbed back into the cliffs, he wondered what he was supposed to do with a pouch of dice.

  13

  Continuity

  the voice said. Everywhere Kelric turned, monoliths blocked his escape. No light, no food, no water, water; water, water. . .

  "Winds above, wake up." Ched shook him. "Come on. I got you water."