Scavenger Alliance

by Janet Edwards

  “Or when a fool like me tries to pull you up by your injured arm.” Tad lifted his head again. “What do we do now? You’ll freeze dressed like that.”

  He started taking off his coat, but I stopped him. “There are spare clothes in the building.”

  I went to wash my face and hands in a nearby puddle, then headed inside the building. I found an old coat, hat, and gloves. The gloves were a size too big, and everything smelled strongly of fish, but that was still a big improvement on the falling star saliva. When I went back to Tad, I found him already cutting up the falling star. I tried to help, but he raised a hand to stop me.

  “No, Blaze! Let me do this and carry the pieces over the building. I can see you’re still in shock, and your hands are shaking from cold.”

  I reluctantly accepted he was right, sat down and watched him working, feeling embarrassed and useless. Eventually, Tad had the pieces of falling star loaded into fish bags. He tossed them up on to the roof, then frowned as I salvaged the stinking clothes I’d tossed aside.

  “Do you really want to keep those?” he asked.

  “I’m not throwing out my best winter clothing,” I said. “They just need soaking in water for a while to get rid of the smell.”

  He sighed, took the clothes from me, climbed up to the roof, and then carried the clothes and fish bags over to drop them on the other side of the building. It was late in the day, so we’d barely time to load the bags into a cart before we heard Natsumi whistling the signal to pack up the fishing gear.

  Phoenix joined us on the way back to the Americas Parliament House, and I found Braden waiting just inside the doorway. We handed our knife belts over to Marsha, and then I grabbed the smelly clothes from the cart and bundled them under my right arm.

  “I see a falling star attacked you,” said Donnell, from behind me. “How did that happen? Falling stars don’t usually attack near water, so I thought your pier was a safe spot.”

  I turned to face him. “The pier is normally safe, but the falling star grabbed its chance to attack me when I went to get extra fishing lines from the building. That’s never happened before. I think the falling star must have been desperately hungry to risk an attack so close to the water.”

  “The falling stars are growing bigger and more numerous each year, so I expect they’re running out of prey.” Donnell paused and studied me. “You don’t look well. Was Tad slow helping you?”

  I hastily straightened up. “No. Tad did a good job.”

  “Tindra and Meria arrived a few minutes ago. Meria had been attacked by a falling star too. Tindra said it was a very large and stubborn one that took a long time to let go. Meria was running out of air, panicked, rolled around at the wrong moment, and got a nasty cut on her arm from Tindra’s knife. They’re over in the hospital area now getting the wound treated. You’re sure that you haven’t been hurt?”

  “I’m just a bit sick from the stench. I’ll feel better when I’ve had a proper wash.”

  Donnell waved an arm and Luther came hurrying over. “Luther, take charge of the off-worlders for a few minutes. Blaze, I need a quick conference with you. There’s no need to go upstairs for this, we can borrow Marsha’s storeroom.”

  Donnell unlocked the door near the knife and bow tables, led the way inside, and turned on a lamp. The walls of this large, windowless room were lined with neatly numbered shelves. Security staff had once used them to store the bags of people going on guided tours of this building. Now Marsha used them to store bows and knife belts.

  The only other furnishings in the room were a narrow bed, a table that held an array of brushes and paints, and a couple of crates where Marsha kept her clothes and personal belongings. Other people filled their rooms with clutter scavenged from abandoned apartments, but Marsha focused her life on her paintings.

  Donnell perched on one of Marsha’s crates and gestured that I should sit on the other. “Cage was in my hunting group today and grabbed his chance to have a private word with me. We have a bit of a problem.”

  “Cage doesn’t believe I’m really considering his offer?”

  “Oh, he believes that,” said Donnell. “The problem is that he’s demanding definite promises, and not just about marrying you and getting the vacant officer position. He’s pushing for me to make him my deputy too.”

  I blinked. “Seriously? Cage thinks he can join the Resistance and instantly become your deputy? What about the alliance rules? They’re stricter on you appointing a new alliance deputy than just an officer, because your deputy may succeed you as leader one day. At least three of the other division leaders have to vote in favour to confirm the appointment. Cage might be able to talk Wall into voting for him, and blackmail Major into supporting him too, but how the chaos would he get the extra third vote?”

  Donnell hesitated a moment before speaking. “Cage’s attitude has completely changed in the last few days. He seems far more confident now. We thought he was blackmailing Major into being the second division leader to support him, but I’m afraid we misjudged the situation.”

  His voice gained a grim edge. “Cage has had six years to prepare for this bid for power. I think he’d already arranged to get the two division leader votes needed to make him an officer long before your eighteenth birthday. Blackmailing Major has given him the extra third vote needed for the deputy position.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “That can’t be right. Why would Ice or Ghost vote for Cage as deputy alliance leader?”

  “I realized that if Cage was blackmailing Major, then he was probably blackmailing others as well. I’ve spent the last few days chatting to division men, mentioning Cage’s name and watching how they reacted. The results were worrying. A lot of people seem to be scared of Cage. My impression is that some have a specific reason to fear him, while others are just worried about becoming his next target.”

  I had a sudden image of Cage as a gloating spider, with dozens of victims trapped in his web. “I can believe that Cage has found out the disreputable secrets of a lot of division members, but not that he’s able to blackmail Ghost or Ice. Both of them are popular with their people. What secret could Cage have discovered that could threaten their leadership positions?”

  “I admit it’s hard to accept Ghost has ever done anything terrible – the man seems positively angelic compared to the other division leaders – while it would be easier to put pressure on a lump of granite than on Ice. It’s possible that Cage isn’t blackmailing Ghost or Ice themselves, but some of their division members, and his plan is to put a new leader in power.”

  “And that new leader would have to vote for Cage. Yes, that’s possible, but if you’re right that Cage has a way to control three division leader votes he can do anything he wants.” My voice rose louder in alarm. “He could get them to change the alliance rules, or even mount a leadership challenge against you.”

  “Calm down, Blaze,” said Donnell. “If Cage could get three division leaders to vote for him as alliance leader, he wouldn’t still be pushing to marry you. I think the situation is that Cage can control two division leader votes, but he has to coax the third vote out of Wall. It would obviously be a lot easier for Cage to persuade Wall to vote for my son-in-law and chosen candidate for the deputy position, than it would be to get him to support a bid to depose me as leader.”

  “I suppose so,” I muttered, “but how do we deal with this situation?”

  “Cage is even more dangerous than we thought. We have to delay a confrontation with him while I do some quiet investigating, find out who is being blackmailed by him, and see if I can offer them an escape route from his power.”

  “But how can we delay a confrontation if Cage is getting impatient?”

  Donnell gave me a nervous look. “The easiest way, perhaps the only way, is for me to tell Cage what he wants to hear. Tell him that I’ll keep the officer and deputy positions open for him, get you to marry him, arrange for him to join the Resistance, and do my best to make him deputy leade
r. My only conditions are that the marriage can’t happen until April, and he has to keep everything secret until then. I’ll say that’s because his appointment will be controversial, and I’ve got more than enough problems to deal with at the moment.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “But what happens in April?”

  “That’s when I tell Cage that I’ve changed my mind,” said Donnell.

  I was frozen, exhausted, and starving hungry. My left arm was throbbing painfully. The stench of the falling star was still lingering in my hair and my clothes. I was in no state to cope with this conversation. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

  “I hate the plan too,” said Donnell. “I’m not in the habit of making agreements I’ve no intention of honouring, but we can’t risk Cage making a bid for the alliance leadership now. The situation is too unstable. Whether Cage won or lost, tempers would be fraying on both sides, and it could easily end in open fighting between the divisions.”

  I stared at him in shock. I’d always thought of Donnell as superhuman, but now I could see a grey weariness in his face. He’d had Kasim helping him in the past, but now he had to manage alone. I had a vision of a nightmare future where Donnell was killed, and Cage took over as ruler of the alliance.

  That future mustn’t happen. I moistened my lips and tried to sound calm as I spoke. “In that case, we have to do this.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Breakfast next morning was a silent meal. Braden never talked very much anyway. Phoenix had taken one look at my face and realized I was upset. Even Tad had clearly worked out something was wrong, because he wasn’t saying a word, but kept staring anxiously at me.

  I’d just finished eating when I heard a gasp from Phoenix. I turned my head to see what had frightened her, and saw Major had climbed onto one of the Queens Island tables and was staring aggressively round the room. I tensed, instinctively looked for Donnell, saw him standing nearby, and relaxed again.

  Major waited until everyone in the room had fallen silent and was watching him. “Queens Island has an announcement to make,” he shouted. “We’re formally discarding Raeni. She’s brought discredit on us and is outside our protection from this moment.”

  He turned to glare at Raeni. I saw her stand up, her face shocked, her hands gripping the table in front of her for support. I felt my own hands clench in sympathy. Chaos, being a member of Queens Island division was bad enough, but the perilous existence of an outcast on the fringes of the scavenger alliance would be even worse.

  “Take your personal rubbish and go!” Major turned towards where a stunned and silent Rogue was standing, gave him a triumphant smile, and then clapped his hands. A couple of men appeared, and threw two bulging sacks on the floor beyond the Queens Island tables.

  Raeni slowly let go of the table in front of her, and walked across to stand by the sacks. She reached down to pick one up, then dropped it again, and seemed to make an effort to stand tall and straight.

  “I’m in search of a new division,” she called out, turning to look hopefully round Reception.

  I saw all three of the other division leaders were busily conferring with their key men. Everyone must be thinking exactly the same thing as me. Raeni had only been discarded by Queens Island because she’d got caught in the conflict between Major and Rogue. Ice valued strict obedience to your leader above everything, so I doubted that he’d take Raeni into London division. It was possible Ghost would be generous enough to give her a trial in Brooklyn though, while Wall might take her into Manhattan just to annoy Queens Island.

  “The Resistance offers Raeni a trial membership,” shouted Donnell.

  I turned to stare at him. Everyone else was staring at him too, and I heard a loud burst of distinctive laughter that had to be coming from Wall.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening. The Resistance had gained a few members in the past through marriage, there’d been the special cases of my brother, myself and Hannah, and a couple of orphaned children had been adopted by Resistance members. This was the first time the Resistance had ever offered membership to a discarded division member.

  Raeni looked like she couldn’t believe this was happening either, but she hastily grabbed at her chance for safety. “I accept trial membership of the Resistance.”

  Donnell nodded. “Raeni, you’ll have a room on the lowest level of the Resistance wing. You aren’t to go upstairs unless ordered to do so by myself or one of my officers. If you cause any trouble, you’ll be told to leave. If you successfully settle in with us, I’ll review your membership status in six months’ time. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Raeni. “Thank you, sir.”

  “I appreciate you may be ignorant of some of our Resistance ways. I expect all my people to be helpful, offering advice and answering your questions. You can go fishing with Tindra for the next few days because her regular fishing partner has been injured. If you have any difficulties, you should discuss them with either Natsumi or Blaze.”

  Donnell gestured at Vijay and Weston, and the two of them went over to help Raeni carry her sacks of belongings through to the Resistance wing. There was a buzz of conversation now, and people were getting ready to go outside, so I stood up, and pulled on my coat and hat. Donnell took Braden off with him, and Natsumi beckoned Phoenix over to join her, then I headed outside with Tad, my head so dazed that I nearly forgot to collect my knife belt.

  “What’s going on?” Hannah’s voice came from beside me. “Why has Donnell invited Raeni to join the Resistance?”

  I turned to face her. “I’ve no idea. I’m just glad she’ll be safe now.”

  Hannah grimaced. “But it isn’t fair.”

  “What isn’t fair?”

  “Donnell said he’d review Raeni’s trial membership in six months’ time,” said Hannah. “I’ve been a trial member of the Resistance for six years, but he’s never reviewed my membership.”

  She paused to give me a reproachful look. “You said you’d talk to Donnell and get him to help me, but nothing’s changed. Everyone’s still ignoring me. Even when we’re fishing, Himeko only speaks to me to give orders.”

  I hesitated before replying. I’d been stunned by Donnell’s statement that Hannah hadn’t taken a single tablet but two boxes of them. I’d spent the last four days thinking that over, but still hadn’t decided what I should do about it.

  No, to be honest I’d made my decision days ago. I had to tell Hannah what Donnell had said and ask her if it was true. The problem was that I already knew the answer. Of course it was true.

  I’d never understood why everyone had been so unfairly harsh to Hannah back then. Fiercely loyal, I’d believed the story Hannah told me, and refused to listen to anyone else. If I accepted that Hannah had lied to me, that she’d only admitted taking one tablet when she’d actually taken two boxes, then everything made far more sense.

  I had to talk to Hannah, but I knew it would be a long and unpleasant conversation. I’d been shamelessly delaying it for days, and I was going to delay it yet again. Within the next few hours, Donnell would be talking to Cage about my fake engagement. I was feeling sick from nervous tension, and couldn’t cope with having a huge argument with Hannah.

  “It turned out to be a bit more complicated than I expected,” I said. “There isn’t time to talk about it now.”

  “Can we talk this evening then?”

  “I’m not sure. As soon as I get back from fishing, I’ve got to go to a meeting with Donnell.”

  “That’s good. You’ll be able to talk to Donnell about me, and then come downstairs and tell me what you’ve arranged.”

  “Hannah!” Himeko’s voice called.

  Hannah groaned. “We’ll talk after your meeting then, Blaze.”

  “It’s not a good time to …”

  Hannah was already running off to join Himeko, so I abandoned my sentence. I went to join the line of fishing pairs too, scarcely aware of Tad trailing after me. The line started moving and
I followed it. A nasty thought occurred to me. What if Cage wouldn’t wait until April? What if he insisted on marrying me in March, in February, or next week? What if the lie became reality?

  I drifted off into hideous thoughts of life with Cage. Even if my life was at stake, even if the lives of everyone in the alliance were at stake, I didn’t think I could …

  “Blaze.” Tad tapped me cautiously on the shoulder.

  I stopped walking and gave him a bewildered look. “What?”

  “We’re here,” he said.

  I realized I’d just walked straight past our fishing spot, and flushed with embarrassment. “I’m a bit distracted at the moment.”

  We’d climbed over the roof and set out the fishing lines before Tad spoke again. “Phoenix, Braden, and I all realize you’re desperately worried about something. We’re sorry if our presence has been causing trouble for you. If there’s anything we can do, or avoid doing, that will help make things easier, then please tell us.”

  The concerned note in his voice somehow churned up my emotions. I wondered what he’d think if he knew I’d agreed to a secret engagement with Cage. “This isn’t really because of your arrival.”

  “I hope that …” Tad broke off his sentence. “What’s all that whistling about?”

  I stood still for a moment and listened, but the sounds were too distant for me to distinguish the short and long whistle blasts.

  “Some of the other fishing pairs must be chatting to each other. Probably talking about what happened with Raeni.” I shrugged. “You take charge of the fishing lines. I’ll try using the cast net.”

  I concentrated on the fishing after that, counting the times I threw the cast net into the water, counting the fish, even counting the holes in the net, in an attempt to block out any thoughts of Cage.

  The day seemed endless, but finally the sun started dropping towards the horizon, and I heard Natsumi whistling the order to head home.