Hunting Party

by Elizabeth Moon

  On the islands to the east, south, and west—four in all—the captain found nothing remarkable, though heavy clouds still clung to the peaks of the eastern island. But the island to the north—“where the children camped”—Lord Thornbuckle put in—they saw what they were looking for.

  A flitter on the east beach, hatch open. A flitter parked on the south end of the island another a few hundred meters offshore, as if approaching. They could see nothing on the visual of the island’s center; it, too, was cloaked in cloud.

  “We have continuous loops, of course,” Lord Thornbuckle said. “And we can get infrared and radar images. But it seems to me that’s enough to go on.”

  “Right, sir.” The militia captain closed his eyes a moment, and then said, “We’ll need all the Homestead militia, and those at the Neck. Day ’n night gear both, full armor, and riot weapons—” He paused, as the clatter of hooves broke upon them. Heris looked up to see Buttons riding breakneck up the avenue on a lathered horse. Servants ran out to take the horse; he flung himself off and ran up the steps to the portico.

  “What happened? Is Bubbles all right?”

  His father glared at him. “What do you know about Bubbles?”

  “She took a flitter with the others to Whitewings for a few days—she asked me to cover for her—what’s happened?”

  “We don’t know. We know the flitter’s down on that small island north of Bandon, the one you youngsters camped on. We haven’t been able to contact her, and Cece’s Captain Serrano has reason to believe she’s in great danger.”

  “And you want me to do what?”

  “Be my representative with the rescue force. We expect some opposition. . . .”

  “Opposition?”

  “Captain Sigind will brief you fully. You’ll need your personal gear—”

  “Liftoff in thirty minutes, sir,” the militia captain put in.

  “Right.” Buttons dashed into the hall, as changed as his father from the amiable and rather foolish young man Heris had thought him. Captain Sigind eyed her thoughtfully.

  “You want to come along?”

  “Of course we’re coming—” began Lady Cecelia, but the militia captain’s eyes never wavered from Heris’s. Heris shrugged.

  “It’s your operation; I don’t know the terrain, the entire situation, or your troops. If you can find a corner where I won’t be in your way, yes—but I’m not going to step on your toes.”

  “Heris!” Lady Cecelia’s bony finger poked her in the back. “We have weapons—!”

  “We have weapons, milady,” said Heris formally, “but you have no training and I have not been on a groundside operation in years. We are superfluous, and we might even be in the way. Captain Sigind must decide.”

  His earlier indecision came down on the side of respect; she had won that much. “Thank you, Captain Serrano. I’m glad you understand. Now, if you and the lady will agree to act under orders, I’m sure we can fit you in.”

  “We had a supply shuttle almost loaded,” Heris said. “Including personal armor for Lady Cecelia and me, and decent weapons.”

  “Good. Then I can send a squad with you—expand the standard medical unit—and now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off. Twenty-five minutes, now.”

  Heris set off for the flitter hangars again, Cecelia in tow. They’d have to change there into whatever clothes Cecelia had packed earlier, or go in hunting attire and look like idiots. It shouldn’t bother her, she told herself, after that purple uniform. She knew it wasn’t really the clothes that made her feel incompetent. She had never been on a mission as an observer; she had always had a place, a duty. Now her duty was to keep out of the way, stay out of trouble, keep Cecelia out of trouble. It felt wrong.

  * * *

  “‘I wish we could take the horses,” Cecelia grumbled. Heris looked over at her. Cecelia was not used to being rushed; the bustle and scurry of the militia’s preparation, the need to scramble out of her clothes and into others in the cramped restroom at the flitter hangars, had ruffled her composure, and she had reacted with a string of complaints. The personal armor Heris had insisted she wear under her jacket made her look, Cecelia had said, ridiculous.

  Heris didn’t agree; nothing looked as ridiculous as holes in one’s body. She hadn’t said that, since it hadn’t been necessary. Heris’s own armor felt odd, shaped differently than military issue, but she hoped it would be effective. She hoped even more that they wouldn’t need it. The supply flitter’s cargo compartment held food, weapons, tools, ammunition, clothes, medical supplies, and flexible plastic tanks of water. With them were four trained medics, two of them full-time militia. A saddle wouldn’t have fit aboard, let alone a horse.

  “Horses? To this island? What good would that do?”

  “I’ve always said war wouldn’t be as bad if I could ride into it.” Cecelia twitched her shoulders. “Not that I could ride with this thing on—another advantage of riding.”

  “You’d be dead before the first stride,” Heris said. She could feel her own breathing tighten. . . . It always did, until the action began, and here she had no way to work it off. The supply flitter, needing no pilot, stayed in position well behind the troop carriers. The medics talked softly among themselves, eyeing her as if checking her for stress levels. She made herself open her hands, let them rest lightly on her lap as if she were relaxed.

  “It’s on an island, with a forest,” Cecelia said. “Horses are faster over the ground than people.”

  “Bigger target,” Heris said. She didn’t want to talk; she never wanted to talk ahead of time. She wanted to pace, to check over the plans she had not made, to see the faces that were not her people look at her the way her people had.

  “You’re nervous,” Cecelia said more quietly. Heris glared at her.

  “I am not nervous.” It came out with more bite than she intended; Cecelia did not flinch, but nodded as if it confirmed her opinion. Heris stretched her hands and shrugged. “Not nervous, exactly . . . just unsettled. It’s not the way I’m used to.”

  “Did it bother you when you had command?”

  “Bother me? Yes, and no.” She knew what Cecelia was doing, trying to keep her focussed intellectually, but she did not mind. It might help both of them. “I worried—one always does—about the plan. Was it good enough, had I missed something, would people die because of my stupidity? And that includes preparation—had I trained them well enough, often enough? Would they make stupid mistakes because I’d been too lenient? But beyond that, it didn’t bother me. There’s a . . . a sort of quiet place, between the commitment and the combat itself. In a way you probably felt it, from what you’ve said of starting a cross-country. Once you’re on the course, once the horse is galloping, the time for worry is over. From then on you just deal with it, one fence at a time.”

  Cecelia nodded slowly. “I hadn’t thought of it that way—but that is what I said, and that’s what I did. One fence at a time, but remembering all the ones ahead, too.”

  “Oh, yes.” Heris sat still a moment, remembering. “You don’t quit riding the course until it’s over—the last fence, or the last opponent, can kill you if you’re careless at the end. But the commitment is there. The difference here—I can’t begin to explain it.”

  “I was surprised that you backed away from it,” Cecelia said, even more quietly. “Bunny would have let you—”

  Heris shook her head vigorously. “It wouldn’t work. These aren’t my people; they don’t know me, and I don’t know the local situation well enough. The person who doesn’t fit in, who doesn’t know the people or the terrain, is going to get someone killed. Other people killed. I’m old enough to let someone else do the job for which they’re trained, and simply chew my nails until it’s over.”

  “Umm.” Cecelia looked out the canopy, and then back. “A point where riders differ from soldiers, I suppose. I’ve taken on someone else’s mount if they were injured. If you’re a good enough—”

  “That’s di
fferent. But I’ll bet you didn’t drag some first-timer off her horse just because you thought you could ride it better.” Cecelia turned red. Heris looked at her. “You did?”

  “I didn’t think of it that way, but—” She shifted in her seat, and looked away. “Money and influence are another way of dragging someone off a horse—with the coach convinced Ivan would never do for that horse what I could, and the All-Union Challenge coming up in six months—”

  Heris knew her expression had said what she thought before she could hide it. Cecelia, still red, did not try to excuse her younger self.

  “I shouldn’t have done it—and even at the time, I felt a bit guilty. It wasn’t until much later that I realized how much even the best riders—even I—depended on finding an outstanding horse; I thought Ivan’s failure to stay in the senior circuit after that reflected his ability. Justified the coach’s decision, and my . . . influence.”

  “Was that your . . . your best horse?” Heris hoped not. She wanted to think better of Cecelia.

  “No. It was a horse I thought might replace my best horse. A big piebald from Luminaire, that Ivan found on a farm, and bought literally out of harness. Ivan had done all his early work, but I thought—we all thought—the horse was such a natural anyone could have made an eventer out of him. What he needed was a better rider, we thought. After I got him, he slammed his stupid hoof into a stall partition while being shipped to the Challenge, and ripped his leg up. Never jumped sound again. I had another mount qualified, and you’ll probably think it justice that she dumped me headfirst in the water—along with the minicam on my helmet.”

  Heris struggled not to laugh. “A cube they never made, eh?”

  “Oh, they made it. You can buy my dive into the water along with a number of other embarrassing incidents, and since it was full-sim pickup, you can program your own simulator to take the same bounce and see if you can stay on. Sometimes I can.” She sighed. “It was a stupid mistake—and to be honest, I’ve never quite forgiven myself for it. It was just the sort of thing I hated to see, and never meant to do. Yet I could never go back and apologize to Ivan—and a few years later, he was killed in a slideway accident, nothing to do with horses at all.”

  Ahead, Heris saw the lead carriers spread out. She knew—they had been kind enough to tell her—that they planned to land two on Bandon proper, to secure the island, and two on the island where the flitter had crashed. The supply flitter would land on Bandon behind the others. She could see the smudges of islands ahead, distorted by the curve of the canopy, but she couldn’t recognize them. Cecelia prodded her side, and pointed. Sunlight glinted off something large and shiny on one of the islands.

  “Shuttle on the field,” said one of the medics. Their squad leader spoke into his com, then turned to glance at Heris.

  “Shuttle’s not primed for takeoff; there’s nothing on the field with a hot signature. Captain’s got the satellite data, and thinks there’s fewer than a dozen people on Bandon proper, maybe less.”

  “Thanks.” Heris managed that much before her throat closed. She didn’t want to sit back here with Cecelia; she wanted to be up there—not even in this flitter, but the lead one. The flitter droned on; the medics, after a long glance out the canopy, went back to checking their gear, over and over. The squad leader stared ahead, not speaking. Ahead, the islands rose out of the sea, by ones and twos, their forest-clad flanks showing dark against glistening beaches and the glowing blue sea.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “We’re in luck,” Raffa murmured. Even that soft voice woke complex echoes from the water surface, the stone spaces in the cave. Bubbles inched backwards around the corner, fighting her terror of the blackness.

  “Light,” said Raffa. It flared too brightly in the dark goggles; Bubbles tore them away and stared. Raffa had found an old-fashioned candle lantern, and the striker to light it. Without the goggles, it lit the space around them only dimly, yet it felt so much better . . . that warm flame the color of afternoon sunlight. Bubbles tried to breathe slowly and calmly, and felt her body gradually relax. They were hidden . . . they had light . . . they were, after all, alive.

  “D’you think it’s safe?” she asked, hoping for reassurance.

  “In daylight, certainly—they can’t see a little light like this around the corner, not after being out in real daylight. At night—they’d still have to put their heads through that vine curtain, and maybe see sparkles on the water.” Raffa put the lantern back on the stone shelf it had come from. Bubbles saw there the other evidence of Kell’s occupation: his initials, carved into the stone above the ledge, a row of seashells and colored stones, a tangle of wire leaders, coils of fishing line and some fish hooks, and a pile of wooden blocks, all daubed with white painted numbers, and lengths of twine with lead weights attached.

  “I wonder what that’s all about,” Bubbles said. “They look like bobbers, for fishing, but why so many? And why numbered?” Raffa meanwhile was exploring the space below.

  “Look at this—a sleeping bag or something—soft, anyway. My aching bones will appreciate that.”

  “I wish I knew if the water was safe,” Bubbles said. “We still have some, but—”

  “We could look for dead fish.” Raffa picked up the candle lantern again, and carried it to the water’s edge. When she held it low, Bubbles could see how clear the water was, how pale and unappealing the bottom. Something almost colorless fled through the edge of the light. “Fish,” said Raffa, as if she were sure. “My aunt’s caves had some pools with fish like this. No color, shy of light.”

  “So it’s probably not poisoned. If these fish are susceptible to the same poison.”

  Raffa laughed, softly. “So you do pay attention in class sometimes. Maris claimed she had to spoon-feed you all your answers to the exams.”

  Bubbles snorted. “Maris couldn’t tell the truth if she were being interrogated under truth serum by the Imperium. I didn’t mind learning things but you know how it is—”

  Raffa nodded. “Never show how smart you are, dears, or someone will envy you. And then we’re supposed to show how rich and prominent our families are, as if no one would envy that.” In the faint glow of the lantern, Bubbles could not quite read the expression that Raffa turned to her. “D’you mind if I ask something?”

  “No . . . while we’re hiding in a cave from people who want to kill us, I think your questions are not going to be that threatening.” Nonetheless, Bubbles felt a twinge of anxiety. Surely Raffa wouldn’t ask about Cecely’s infamous birthday party. . . . She didn’t want any more lies between her and death.

  “Why do you let them call you Bubbles?” The very unexpectedness of it made Bubbles laugh aloud; the cave’s echoes laughed back, hollowly. She choked the laughter down.

  “That—I’m sorry—that’s a long story, well suited to this place, I guess. You have brothers and cousins, though—you’ll understand.” Raffa gave a soothing murmur that might have been anything. “The fashion for Old-Earth, North-European great names was at its height. . . . You know we’re all stuck with things like Cicely and Marilys and Gwenivere—your Raffaele is actually pretty, but some of them—”

  “My cousin Boethea Evangeline,” said Raffa. “My brother Archibald Ferdinand.”

  “Right. Well, Mother had finally come over to fashion, after reasonably naming Gari and Tighe; Buttons got stuck with Bertram Harold Scaevola. I really think they made a mistake there: Scaevola doesn’t sound British to me, but Mother said it was an important name in history somewhere. Then I came along. You promise you won’t tell?”

  “Tell whom? The hunters? Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “All right. Brunnhilde Charlotte.”

  Raffa smothered an obvious bleat of laughter. “What!” Bubbles felt her face go hot.

  “Brunnhilde Charlotte. You don’t have to make a production out of it. Anyway,” she hurried on, “Buttons is only two years older, and when they told him he had a baby sister named Brunnhilde, he could on
ly say ‘Buhbuh.’ My mother thought it was cute. . . . She liked the idea of a little girl called Bubbles. Then I turned out blonde, and ‘Champagne Bubbles’ became the family form of Brunnhilde Charlotte. They all thought it was cute. . . . I was only a baby, Raffa. I didn’t know what they were setting me up for.”

  “So you sort of lived out the Bubbles persona, hmmm? Like Dr. Fisher-Wong in psych class says happens.”

  That cut too near the bone. “Some children are naturally cheerful and . . . and . . .”

  “Bubbly. I know. But you’re not the fluffhead you act like sometimes.” Raffa softened that with a grin. “And you haven’t been acting like a pile of bubbles on this little jaunt.”

  “No. Well . . . to be honest . . . I’ve been getting tired of Bubbles myself. But look at the alternative. Brunnhilde? What kind of name is that?”

  “Brunn isn’t bad, as a short form. Wonder what it meant.”

  “For all I know, Brunnhilde is the Old Earth equivalent of bubblehead. But it sounds better and better the more people snicker at Bubbles. I should’ve changed years ago, but my cousin Kell—the one who had this cave—was just the sort to make nasty jokes. He gave me so much grief about Bubbles I pretended to like it, just to blunt the point.”

  “You could use Charlotte. Chara . . . that’s not bad. Or Brun.”

  “Well.” Bubbles shrugged. “That decision won’t matter if we don’t survive, and we won’t survive without water, so I think the next step is to check it out.”

  “With your portable chemistry kit, of course,” said Raffa.

  “With Kell’s portable chemistry kit,” Bubbles said sweetly. “The one on the shelf that you didn’t recognize.” But the little bottles and tubes were all empty, their contents no more than a few dried grains of unrecognizable grit. “With our brains,” Bubbles said, when she discovered that. “We can think it out. It’s safe for the cave fish; they’re alive.”