Suddenly Blaze was beside us, pistol in his hand. He grabbed me by the back of the neck and threw me away from the edge. I landed on my back and watched as Blaze pointed the pistol into the crevice.
“What are you doing?” barked Av.
With a loud bang, Digger’s screaming stopped.
The only sound was the crackling hiss of the swarm.
“Let’s go,” Blaze said. “We need to get as far away from here as we can before they finish him.”
ELEVEN
Death took Brothers in the Ikkuma Pit often, and we were used to it. Little boys around Hotpots with too much courage, or sometimes too little, often fell in. Illnesses that Crow couldn’t treat sometimes took infants. Hunting accidents were rare, but not unheard of.
Digger’s death had been different. It hadn’t been an accident.
We walked through the night, none of us speaking, trying to wrap our heads around what we had just witnessed.
“How—?” rasped Av suddenly. His eyes were puffy from tears, focused on nothing, his face worn and ghostly in the moonlight. He was hunched, dragging himself along, and I felt my body doing the same. “How—?” he tried again, and swallowed hard. His eyes shifted towards Fiver, but still he did not look at him. “How did you find us?”
Fiver cleared his throat and shook his head, his damp curls dripping from the wetness; he too refused to look at anyone. “Wasted is dead. I wanted—” He struggled to keep his voice steady. “I want the Tunrar dead. I just followed your trail. Useless over there doesn’t exactly hide his tracks.”
I didn’t care why Fiver was there, why he’d saved my life. I just knew if he hadn’t, I’d have fallen in with Digger.
“Thank you.” I didn’t even recognize my own voice. It was hoarse, just as exhausted and worn out as the rest of me.
Blaze was twenty paces ahead of us. He marched through the Baublenotts just as alert as ever, Digger’s death affecting him less than the cold night air.
“He didn’t let us try,” whispered Av. White circles of moonlight reflected in his hard, puffy eyes. He was glaring at Blaze and breathing through his teeth, his jaw locked. I could see the anger raging inside him, in Av, the boy who never lost his temper. I didn’t recognize him. He was wild and seething.
“Av?” I placed a hand on his shoulder and he jerked away from me. I jumped back, afraid for the first time he might turn on me.
“Not even try to save him!” he hissed. “Who is this guy, Urgs?”
He was looking at me now, rage and fear distorting his brow.
“You were right, back at the Pit; we don’t know anything about him. Where’d he come from? Why were those Tunrar things after him in the first place? He hasn’t told us anything. And we what? Follow him without question?”
I had to turn away from that accusing glare. He was right and I had no response. All I knew was I needed Blaze. Blaze could take me to Cubby…I hoped.
Av ran in front of me. “Aren’t you watching him? The man is a nervous wreck!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mention the Tunrar, or the Beginning, and the guy fingers whatever that mark on his neck is. It’s like a tic!”
I knew what Av was getting at and I didn’t like it. The pieces of Blaze that were coming together in my head were making a picture I wanted to ignore. Had to ignore. But it was getting harder all the time. I felt the world around me straining, ready to break.
“How do you know he’s not one of them? Huh?”
“Because the Tunrar were trying to kill him,” I hissed.
“He killed Digger,” said Fiver. Fiver was tired but he was calm, not on the edge of control like Av. “It wasn’t the swarm. It was him.”
In my brain I could still hear the hissing of the quiet after Digger’s screams had stopped.
“The Piq Flies killed him!” I heard Blaze call.
The three of us turned to see him silhouetted in the moonlight.
“He was still alive,” snarled Av.
“He was dead!”
Av said nothing, but his fierce eyes were locked on the dark figure of Blaze. I knew Av better than myself, but not like this—those eyes, that rigid body, clenched fists. Av was the good one. Out of all of us, Av was always the good one. For Av, there was right and there was wrong, there was no in-between. Digger’s death had been wrong. There was no way to fix it, to make it right. And for Av, I knew that meant Blaze was nothing but wrong.
The water laughed in the eerie silence as Blaze waded through it, back towards us. He stood in front of Av, confident under that wild glare.
“I saved him,” he said. “I ended his pain.”
Av threw a punch, taking Blaze by surprise and sending him on his back in the muddy water. Av launched himself on top of him, screaming savagely, pounding with fury on Blaze’s wounded shoulder.
Blaze bellowed in pain and flailed his limbs, struggling to get a hold on Av, but it was no use. Av landed blow after blow, while Blaze splashed helplessly.
I watched in disbelief. Fiver took a step back, seemingly impressed by Av’s ability to take down a full-grown man when he was so upset.
Av’s hands grabbed Blaze’s neck, and with one violent shove Av plunged Blaze’s head under the water.
“Av!” I yelled. “Stop! Av, stop!”
He didn’t hear me. He was miles away from me in a fit of anger. Somehow, I just knew he wouldn’t stop until he’d made it right the only way he could. He wouldn’t stop until he killed Blaze.
I thought of Cubby, his cheeky smile and wheezy laugh. I needed him back, and that meant I needed Blaze.
I threw myself onto Av, knocking him off the drowning man, and the two of us landed side by side, face-first in the mud.
Blaze flew to his feet, coughing and sputtering.
I reached for Av, and again he shrugged me off, staying on his hands and knees in the mud and struggling to get ahold of himself.
“Do you know what Piq Flies do?” Blaze shouted. “They eat you from the inside out! They go in through your mouth, your nose, your ears, eyes! They eat and eat and you can feel them ripping at your flesh!”
I watched Av dry heave and winced at the memory of Digger’s shrieks.
“Did you want him to feel that?” Blaze shouted again.
“He was alive,” Av groaned.
“What did you think you could do? Pull him out of there? Then what? Didn’t you hear him?” Blaze was yelling at us, frantic.
“Stop it!” I begged.
“He was in agony! Even if we got him out, they’d still be inside him!”
“Stop!”
“His lungs, his throat, his ears! Eating!”
Av heaved again.
“The second they swarmed him, he was dead!”
I watched Av squeeze his eyes and grit his teeth. Tears rolled down his cheeks, streaking his dirty face.
“He was dead,” Blaze finished. “And I saved him.” He pulled his long sopping hair back off his face, scowling at us. “You want to know the truth?” He laughed bitterly. “She told me he’d die.”
My palm tickled and I got up, slowly. “She?”
He laughed again, but it was obvious he didn’t find it funny. “The Abish girl. The crazy fortune-teller.”
“What?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to scare you, but that’s what she said.”
“It was my hand!” I protested.
Blaze nodded and shrugged. “Let’s just say she didn’t see a lot of good coming out of this little adventure of ours, all right?”
My knees were shaking, but I forced myself to sound as firm as I could. “What exactly did she tell you, Blaze?”
“Nothing very encouraging.” He turned away from me and wiped at the mud on his trousers.
“Stop telling me what you want me to know and tell me what I’m asking you!” I grabbed his arm. “What did the Abish girl tell you?”
“That your Brother’s dangerous!” he shouted.
>
I let go and stepped back from him. I looked to Av—he was just as confused and frightened as me.
The Baublenotts fell quiet again and I thought of Cubby. Had the Abish girl seen him somewhere in the lines on my hand?
“Cubby? Dangerous?” asked Fiver suspiciously.
Blaze shrugged. “I don’t—” He was calming down, regretting having said anything. “I don’t know. I had a hard time understanding.”
“Right,” said Fiver.
“My Abish isn’t that great. A lot of it was just gibberish.”
I felt a hand hit my leg and saw Av reaching for me. I grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.
“Just stop talking, Blaze,” he sighed. “No more. Take us to the Temple. That’s all you need to do.”
TWELVE
It was a silent hike through the Baublenotts after Av attacked Blaze. Silent and cold. I couldn’t even look at Av, afraid he’d ask me for more answers, afraid I’d have to admit he was right. We couldn’t trust Blaze. But for Cubby, what other choice did I have?
I stared at my palm again, and even in the darkness I could see something was wrong with the skin. My fingers were shriveled and splitting, and they shook as I tried to inspect them. My whole body shook; I was shaking all over and my limbs were starting to feel numb. I could feel the seal from the Sticky Willow losing its grip on my skin, the water washing away the stick. Every part of me was soaked; my skin felt cool and clammy to the touch. It was the Baublenotts. I could feel it draining my strength from my body. It didn’t want me.
“You all right?” called Blaze.
Before I could answer him, my right foot sank unexpectedly and I lost my balance, falling into Fiver. He grabbed me by the arm, steadying me on my feet. I could hear the chatter of his teeth.
Beside me, Av was trembling too, hugging his arms tight to his naked chest, hunched over and breathing through his teeth. We were not all right.
It was like the Pit. It chose who to keep and who to kill. It chose to keep Rawley, keep my Brothers and me, and all others were intruders. But to the Baublenotts, we were the intruders.
“We’ll stop,” said Blaze. “I’ll find us someplace out of the water to warm up.”
I wanted to tell him no, but my mouth was shaking too much, and I had trouble getting the words out. “B-but,” I stammered, “we can’t stop!”
“You’ve been in the water too long. The cold can kill you just like anything else, Urgle,” said Blaze. “What good will you be to your Brother dead?”
We marched a long way before Blaze was able to find a dry enough spot for us, and by then I could barely walk straight anymore. Any problem I had with stopping was long gone. I crawled out of water that was up to my waist and onto a slippery stone surface. The spot Blaze had picked was a large grouping of pink-speckled Baublenott rocks surrounded by drooping trees and thick brush. The stones were damp, but well above the water, and I immediately felt relieved to be standing in the open air.
Av and Fiver were standing close to me, the three of us watching as Blaze approached a giant pile of dark stone off to our right. The large stones were smothered in moss and vines, and Blaze set to work picking off chunks and collecting them in his arms.
“Toss me that knife,” he ordered. Av made no move to do it, hugging himself and glaring as his teeth clattered together.
Blaze didn’t seem to care much, and marched up to Av, pulling the dagger out of the waistband of his Larmy skin. Av said nothing, but their eyes met for the briefest moment, and if Av hadn’t been so cold, I worried he would have attacked Blaze again.
Blaze undid his outermost skin, a heavy, dark hide with sleeves. He handed it to me.
His bare arms were thicker than my legs.
The hide was way too big for me and I held out my arm for Av to come closer. He jerked away, refusing to touch anything that came from Blaze.
Blaze didn’t notice—he was heading for the surrounding droopy trees.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You need to warm up,” he said. “I’m starting a fire.”
“Everything’s soaked,” said Fiver.
“Yeah, everything is.” Blaze was at the edge of the stone floor, touching the sides of one of the droopy trees. Apparently dissatisfied, he moved to the next. “Pay attention: these are Bauble Weepers,” he said, digging his knife into the dark black bark of the tree. “Lots of layers to the bark.” A piece of the bark peeled off with the knife like dead skin, and Blaze ripped it away with his hand, throwing it into a nearby pool. “Peel away enough,” he said, “you’ll hit the dry stuff.”
With a grunt he pulled away more bark, discarding what he didn’t want. After a couple more pulls he got to the bark he wanted to keep. It was white and thin.
“Come sit down,” he said, making his way back to the moss-covered stones. None of us moved at first. I still didn’t trust him, none of us did, but the promise of fire when everything was so wet was too tempting, and I joined him on the ground.
Blaze lay his Bauble Weeper bark down and picked up his moss, squeezing a large bunch of it between his hands. I watched him work, though I thought it was a wasted effort when I saw the water dripping out of the moss.
Blaze reached behind him and pulled out a bladder bag from his belt. He reached in and took out a chunk of rock.
He ran Av’s knife along the edge and a spark flew.
“What is that?” I asked him. I already knew what it was.
“Flint,” Blaze said, focused on his work.
Flint. He kept it in a bladder skin. I remembered Cubby’s little fingers, reaching out for the smooth green trinket dangling from Blaze’s belt. He said it was a flint box. If his flint was here, what had he done with the box?
I glanced over at Av, but he hadn’t heard it, too focused on the strange tinder Blaze had collected. Fiver was picking at the bark. After a few sparks the fire was well on its way. Av and Fiver sat with their noses practically roasting on the flames, obsessively studying every piece of juicy Baublenott that had gone into creating it. No Brother could make fire when it was wet; there had never been a reason to. The Pit was so dry no one could believe a fire would start around so much water. I could just imagine the looks of amazement on the faces of the Hunting Party when Av and Fiver showed them they could do it.
The heat immediately went to work, breathing life back into my limbs and drying my cool, damp skin. But still, my insides felt cold, my gut sloshing with a chilly feeling that Blaze was hiding more from us.
As the rest of me tried to warm up, there was a burning in my thigh. With the light of the flames I could see that my Tunrar wound was half open. Black bits of Baublenott filth clumped inside the flesh and my nose wrinkled.
“You need to tie that up,” said Blaze, nodding at my leg. He undid his belt and held it out to me.
I waited, wondering if he knew I’d noticed it was missing his flint box.
“Go on,” he said.
I took the belt, and his focus went back to the flames. He didn’t know.
I pulled the belt as tight as I could, and the sting forced a hiss from behind my teeth. At least it was covered now.
The fire popped and cracked, dulling the creature sounds of the Baublenotts. Staring directly into the flames, I could almost trick myself into believing I was in the A-Frame.
“We should build one for Digger,” Av said, his eyes glowing in the firelight. “Send him off to Rawley proper.”
I shivered and rubbed my arms. Av was right. We’d just left him, with no way for Rawley to find his fire. The Brothers say there’s a fire, a flame that belongs to the Pit, burning inside each of us. When Cole died, we all took him outside and laid his body on the ground. Crow lifted his head back gently and opened his mouth wide, so Rawley could see his flame, so Rawley could find him and take care of him. That’s how it is for all Brothers. Except for Digger. We’d left him, not making sure Rawley could see his flame.
Av was on his feet, and headed for the
Bauble Weeper Blaze had stripped. Fiver sighed and stood up to help.
Blaze began pulling at the moss behind him, gathering it up for Av, when Av hurled a stick that connected with Blaze’s hand.
“Don’t!” he snapped. “His real Brothers will do it.”
Blaze gritted his teeth, massaging his hand where the stick had struck it. I watched Av and Fiver in the darkness, their backs to me and Blaze alone by the fire.
I held out my hand to him. “We’ll need Av’s knife.”
Blaze tossed it to me, focused on the damage to his hand.
“And your flint.”
He slapped it down in my palm and leaned his head back against the dark moss-covered stones.
I lowered my voice. “What happened to your flint box, Blaze?”
He stayed leaning against the stone, but I could see him tense, see his jaw lock. His eyes shifted over to me. “I lost it, I guess.”
I stared at him, daring him to make me believe that.
“Probably when your friend jumped me,” he said.
I kept on staring and he stared right back. He didn’t have the flint box when Av attacked him. He didn’t have it in Abish Village, even. He was lying.
He sat up, waiting for me to ask more, his eyes locked onto mine.
“Urgle.” It was Av. I looked up and he and Fiver stood in front of me with arms full of Bauble Weeper. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” I said, and Av and Fiver made their way across the rocks to find a spot to say goodbye to Digger. I took off Blaze’s heavy hide and handed it to him with one last narrowed glare. This conversation wasn’t over, and I wanted to make sure he knew that.
“Take some of the moss,” Blaze said. “Squeeze it out, it’ll make a proper flame.”
I knew Av wouldn’t want me to, not if it was Blaze’s idea. But he’d used it on his fire and it was crackling and glowing nicely. We needed a nice flame for Digger.
Without acknowledging Blaze, I pulled away enough moss from the stones at his back to fill my arms, and left him to sit alone by the fire.
I could see Av and Fiver, shadows in the dark, setting up far from Blaze. As I walked over, I could feel the weight of the flint and Av’s dagger in my hand. Poor Fingers. The dagger I’d made him would never find its way to his Big Brother’s hand now. I’d have to give it to him when we got home.
The Boys of Fire and Ash Page 8
