Terra
hated doing the wash. Not that she had much choice. With momma
working at that ranch over in the next valley, it fell to Terra to
take care of the little ones and that meant doing the things they
couldn’t do, like the wash. While momma was away, Terra did the
cooking, cleaning, and fixing up around their home. Even though she
was just barely ten, she was also the only one strong enough to carry
the wash to the river on the other side of town, so it was up to her
to carry it, soap, wash board and all, and wash it, even when it was
the middle of fall and the river was ice. Well maybe not ice, but
near enough.
She
wished to merciful Rain that momma could save enough money to buy one
of those new washing boxes that the merchants told her about. But, it
was just like momma said, even if they could afford it, they’d
still have to pay for a pump to get the water from the river to the
house. There was just no way to afford that, not on the meager coin
momma made.
She
tried not to complain about her workload. She had only been living
with momma for a short while, but momma had already done so much for
her and Ben. It was weird at first, calling another lady momma,
especially one so much younger than her real one was; but it just
felt right now. Terra wanted to help her new momma the best she
could, even if she had to do things she hated.
The
sun peaked over the jagged mountains to the east as Terra walked down
the dirt path to the town. Most of the path was covered in leaves,
but she could still see the way of it. The bundle of clothing swung
on the rope, digging into her arms. Baby Ben strapped to her back
cooed in her ear as she walked: the little guy still looked at
everything as if it were new and the most interesting thing in the
world, even though he’d been on her back for this walk near a
hundred times before.
“Yeah,
you’re right, Ben,” Terra said looking at the forest that
surrounded the path, “fall sure is pretty in these parts.”
Sunbeams skipped
around the path as they broke through the canopy of branches, teasing
Terra into thinking it should still be warm, which it wasn’t. A
cool breeze brushed across the leaves of red and gold, then through
her tweed cap, chilling the sweat that beaded on her forehead. Thick
boots, dusted with age and travel, covered Terra’s feet. The boots
were a couple of sizes too big for her, but she needed shoes and
momma did the best she could with what little they had. Besides,
momma said that Terra would probably grow into them in about a year.
Her dress was faded purple decorated with pink flowers. Terra hung a
wool shawl over her shoulders and Ben, attempt to keep the chill off
the both of them.
Ben
was wrapped in a warm, brown blanket and a wool cap covered his head.
The chill in the air didn’t seem to bother him any, then again,
nothing seemed to bother him, except for when he had gone too long
without a nap.
A
sudden gust of wind blew down from above the canopy of trees. Terra
dropped the wash and held onto her cap so it wouldn’t get blown
away, again. Ben screeched in delight. Terra looked up through the
leaves and saw the Hawkwood, the local transport zeppelin, buzzing
by. She caught the site of a blue pickaxe over a sapphire painted on
the side of the giant balloon; the insignia of the William-Davis
Corporation, the company that owned the local land and most of the
people living on it. The Hawkwood shot off, keeping low to avoid the
local military watch posts, no doubt.
She
took off the old cap and ran her fingers through her greasy, dusty
blonde hair. Putting her cap back on, Terra shook her head, picked
the wash back up, and said “One of these days, those crazy pirates
are going to hurt someone.” She started walking down the dirt path
again.
It
wasn’t much longer until she reached the main road that cut through
the center of the town. Truth be told though, it wasn’t much of a
road. It really wasn’t much more than a dirt path little wider than
a wagon, but it was plenty big for Terra. Just down the road she
could see the edge of town. It wouldn’t be much longer until she
reached the river.
As
the edge of town drew near, Terra heard a familiar voice cry out in a
mixture of pain and anger. “Ash-ridden, goat drinking piece of
rust!”
She
turned to the voice and just beyond the edge of the trees, Terra made
out the shape of a man working at the base of a sonic post. Round,
balding and in need of a shave, Everett Gills crouched next to one of
the town’s early warning towers, sucking on his fingers and
muttering more words that would earn a slap on the mouth from momma
if Terra ever used them.
The
post looked more like a pair of rods on a metal box to Terra, but the
adults preferred to call them towers. Everett had opened the panel on
this particular one, revealing a maze of wires and lights. Terra had
no idea how these towers worked, but the tin metal structures kept
all sorts of dangerous critters away from the town. Old world tech,
she heard one of the adults say once. Nothing at all like the
interesting stuff men were making today with gears and steam. With
the stuff men were making these days, you could at least get a sense
for how they worked just by watching the machine move. But that old
world stuff? That was just plain wrong.
“Whacha
doing Mr. Gills?” Terra asked as she drew close to him.
Everett
spun his head to her. He looked like he was about to start another
series of curses, but he took a swallow instead. Over a sweat stained
shirt and an over-worn pair of brown trousers, Everett wore a leather
apron. Various tools decorated the apron: a wrench or two, some
screwdrivers, and a couple items of odd design that Terra didn’t
know the names of yet. He pulled of a pair of smoked goggles
revealing an outline of dirt caking his face. “Don’t sneak up on
a man like that, Terra. Never sneak up on a man while he’s
working.”
“Sorry,
Mr. Gills. It’s just you didn’t look like you was working to me.
You looked like you was just swearing.” Ben squealed in agreement.
He
groaned, and growled at the same time, “None of that, little miss.
We get enough of that from your momma. We don’t need two of you.”
“Oh,
I was just playing with ya. What’s wrong with the sonic fence
tower?”
He
turned and kicked the base of the tower. “The whole system in this
sector seems to be fried. That last storm that came in blew some of
the circuitry, and we don’t have anything to replace the ashed
pieces with. So I’ve got to make do with what we’ve got,
otherwise we’re blind if something decides to meander on our way.
“Can
I do anything to help?” Terra asked, she started to put the laundry
bundle down.
Everett
looked over Terra once. “I thought you hated pre-Scar tech.”
Terra
looked around, trying to not make eye contact with Everett. “Yes,
sir, I do,” she said, shifting in her too-big boot, “But momma
told me that if I understand something, then I won’t be scared of
it no more.”
Everett
paused before responding. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got
everything under control here,” Everett wiped a soot covered hand
across his forehead, smudging his face black.
Terra
felt her shoulders fall in relief and hoped that Everett didn’t
notice.
“You
best be on your way,” he turned back to the tower, “But tell you
what, I may need your help with some new pieces that are supposed to
come in with today’s shipment. And none of this shipment is
pre-Scar. Everything coming today should be just what you like to
tinker with. Come round my shop before it gets dark and we can have a
look at what the Hawkwood brought.”
Terra
felt that her smile might split her face in two. “You promise?”
“May
my soul burn to ash if I’m lying,” he said, his voice echoing as
his head was already inside of the tower base.
“Oh,
but Mr. Gills, I have a lot to do today, other than the washing.”
Terra said as her shoulders slumped in disappointment.
“Then
you best hurry up,” his voice echoed out of the steal box again,
“I’m going to need your help to figure out how to get the scrap
they sent us in working order.”
Terra
nodded, the excitement of working with tools skipping through her
mind, as she picked the bundle back up and ran out of the trees and
back onto the road into town. She heard more muffled cursing coming
from the sonic tower as she left Everett Gills behind.
The
smell of dust and oil filled her nose as Terra entered the bustling
town. Well, it bustled with as much life as a small mining dorm
could. Dozens of wooden buildings scraped along both sides of the
street. The buildings that weren’t white washed were painted in
various colors. Terra sometimes thought the folk living here thought
it a mark of pride to make their house look nothing like the one next
to it, but it was more likely that everyone just painted their homes
with whatever color Miss Grace had in stock.
The buildings were
wedged together like too many chickens in a single stall. A few of
the buildings had narrow strips that might be called alleyways, but
for the most part, the buildings seemed content to try share walls.
Familiar
faces popped out of windows and chatted with people on the road. Mr.
James’ saloon was always quite this time of morning, except for
those few people who never seemed to leave. Stout Adam Franks stood
outside the saloon hammering away at some of the giant copper pipes
that fed water to the saloon boilers. Mr. James was one of the few
men in town who had enough money to get electric lights without the
William-Davis company complaining about the cost. Barber Stevens
turned the crank on his razor sharpener, a box of gears and chains so
complex that Terra fought the urge daily to take it apart. She almost
thought it would be worth the punishment she would get just to see
how that machine worked.
Mr.
James pulled out a razor and eyed the edge as he sang an upbeat tune.
He was told by his customers in no polite words to keep his day job.
Terra
passed a white building that resembled a cement block, the only
building in the town that stood apart from the rest. The mark of a
hospital, a golden crane perched on a dangerous looking branch
covered in thorns, dragon vine momma had told her once, had been
painted above the door. The gold paint was old and flecked off in
many spots, but you could still make out what it was supposed to be.
Next to the door, someone had painted in harsh red letters the words
Go
Away.
A
group of boys just older than Terra, the Harris brothers, ran past
her with buckets of maple sap to sell at Miss Grace’s store. One of
them, Michael, shouted an apology to Terra after one of them nearly
knocked her over. His mop of brown, unkempt hair bounced as he ran
into the blue building. The doors swung shut past him. Terra stopped
herself from thinking about how nice he was and focused on her chore.
This
little spot of life was marked on a William-Davis map as Tin Mine
Dorm 4, but folks around here just liked to call it River’s Edge.
On account of the town being built right next to a river. Terra
didn’t think the name was very imaginative, but it was easy to
remember.
The
town rolled along in buildings of purple, yellow and the occasional
blue, until she reached the reached the last building between her and
the river: the sheriff’s office. The office was the only building
painted green and it looked to have last been painted before Terra
was born. On the porch was an old, creaking rocking chair, and on the
chair sat Sheriff David Nelson.
David
Nelson had a strong jaw and dark yellow hair. The right side of his
face was decorated by a nasty scar that matted everything from his
ear to his chin. He wore a dark green coat with a silver star and
moon on the right breast. A pistol, with a handle worn with age and
use, hung in a holster on his hip. He had been appointed sheriff by
some pencil-necked William-Davis suit man, and, at first, from what
Terra had learned in her short time here, folks didn’t like him
much. But he had proven himself capable, and likeable to boot. David
Nelson was alright by Terra.
Sheriff
Nelson stood as she passed, “Good morning to you, Miss Terra,” he
said with a smile.
“Good
morning, sheriff,” she said, trying to hide her panting. The chill
betrayed her as it frosted her breath.
“And
a very good morning to you, Master Ben,” Sheriff Nelson said,
giving a slight bow.
Ben
happily cooed back.
“Off
to do some laundry, I take it?”
“Yes
sir,” she set the bundle down, “most of the little ones are
wearing their spares until I can get this cleaned. Momma is off
working hard, so it’s up to me to get their clothes done.”
“That’s
a good girl, Jessica will be right proud of you.”
She
smiled.
“Now,
how about I lend you a hand?”
“Nah,
I’ve got it sheriff. You probably got more important things to do;
you know sheriffy things and such. Sides, momma says I should do what
I can for myself before asking others for help, and I can sure do
some smelly wash.”
Sheriff
Nelson grinned. “That’s right smart of your momma to say that.
But sometimes the point of letting people help you isn’t because
you can’t do it by yourself. Sometimes it’s just to let them find
joy in helping.”
“Is
that another one of them verses from that book you’s always reading
from?”
“The
Book of Eleven?”
David scratched his scar, “Could be. I don’t read it as often as
some folks think I do.”
“You
should have been a preacher, sheriff, with how much you read from
that dusty thing.”
Sheriff
Nelson grinned, “Maybe I missed my calling in life.”
“Maybe
you did. Thanks for the offer, but I can handle it. The river is just
over there,” she pointed, “and you’ve more important things to
do than stick your hands in a freezing river.”
“Can
I at least offer to take your wash to the river for you?” He didn’t
wait for a response before he walked over and picked up the bundle.
“You
don’t have to do that, Sheriff Nelson, I can carry it.” She tried
to hide the relief in her face. Her arms were already sore and she
still had a lot of work to do today.
“You’re
right, I don’t, but I will.” He walked at a pace that Terra could
easily keep up with.
Terra
was happy for the extra company. The three of them walked the rest of
the short way to the river. The flowing water bubbled over rocks and
sparked in the morning sun. The rolling water sang over the riverbed
and Terra found an urge to go for a swim. The urged tugged at her,
but she knew how cold it was, so she forced the desire down. Trees
hugged the banks and fallen leaves of red and gold quilted the
ground. Harsh brush and tall grass grew along the shore where rocks
were scarce.
“Now,
let’s see. What is a good place for some laundry,” the sheriff
said, setting the bundle down.
Ben
started to laugh as Terra untied him. She set him down and put him
against a thick oak tree away enough from the river that she didn’t
have to worry about him. She said to David “Usually we just do the
wash right over there.” She pointed to a small patch of rocks on
the river bank. Ben had stopped laughing. He was focused on something
just downriver of them.
Terra
stood and turned back to the sheriff. “Thanks for the help, Sheriff
Nelson. I think I can handle it from here.”
“I’m
sure you can,” he said. He didn’t look at her though. His eyes
were fixed on the other bank.
“Everything
alright, Sheriff Nelson?” she asked looking in the same direction
as David.
“Hmm?”
his eyes snapped away from the opposite shore, “Oh, yes, everything
is fine,” he turned down to her, “Just doing my job and making
sure you’re going to be safe.”
“I’m
always safe here, I do this all the time.”
“True,
but you can’t be too careful. Come here.” He bent down on one
knee and pulled a small book out of his back pocket. The book had a
black leather cover and was worn with use; frayed pages fluttered in
the breeze.
“Ah
come, on sheriff. I don’t got time for this,” she said, “Everett
promised me that I could help him tinker with some new stuff that’s
coming in today if I get all my chores finished.”
“This
won’t take but a minute,” he said, brushing a finger on the
river, “You’ll still have plenty of daylight to tinker away.”
Terra
stopped fighting. She learned early that it was best not to argue
with the sheriff when he wanted something done. The only person she
saw argue her way out of the sheriff’s will was momma. Terra hoped
momma would show her how she did it soon.
The
sheriff opened up the book and flipped to a page. “There we are,”
he said.
With his wet finger, he drew a line across Terra’s
forehead and tapped a dot above the line. He then began to read from
the book.
Terra
didn’t know what he was saying. Not that she didn’t understand
the words coming out of his mouth, she just didn’t understand why
they were coming out of his mouth. It’s not that she hated Water,
and she enjoyed hearing stories about how the Ash Bringer was killed
at the end of the Scarring, she just thought that prayer belonged in
a church, not here.
He
stopped and looked at Terra with expectant eyes. The prayer must have
ended.
“Water
above, Earth below,” she said the words to agree with the prayer,
but she didn’t mean them. She tried to avoid his eyes, “Can I get
to my washing now? I don’t have all day.”
He
snapped the book close and put it back in his pocket. “Yes, you can
go.” He began to stand, but his eyes snapped at something behind
Terra. He knelt back down, drew his pistol, and pulled Terra behind
him faster than Terra could realize what he was doing.
“Sheriff,
what are…”
“Quiet,”
he whispered.
Ben
started to cry.
“Go
get Ben, Terra,” David said, never moving his eyes, “and come
right back here.”
“What’s
going on sheriff?” She tried to hide her growing fear, but her
voice was already trembling.
“Just
do as I say,” his whisper was harsh, “Go get Ben and come right
back.”
Terra
stood there. Fear began to bubble in her chest.
Ben’s
crying exploding into the shrieking of a frightened child: unsure of
what was happening, but aware enough to know something was wrong.
“Go!”
His whisper was nearly a yell.
She
nodded and ran away from the river to the tree, her legs slipping in
and out of her oversized boots. She reached Ben and picked him up,
too afraid herself to try anything to calm that stricken child.
Terra
turned back to the sheriff, but something on the edge of the river
caught her attention. It was hidden in the overgrowth, but she could
just see a large gray lump tangled in the green stalks of grass. She
moved closer and saw a mass of black strands at one end of the lump.
It wasn’t like any stone Terra had ever seen before Ben, still
crying, held tight to Terra, his hands clamped on her dress.
“Terra!”
David cried out. She did not hear him move, but suddenly the sheriff
stood between her and the black mass. And as she felt herself move
back, she saw a pair of blue eyes under the tangle of black strands
looking right back at her.
She
screamed.
The
sheriff leveled his pistol at the body. He didn’t have the chance
to pull the trigger.
Terra
screamed as the water around the body exploded, raining river around
the area. David grabbed Terra and covered her and Ben with his body.
He pushed them away and turned back only to be knocked to the ground
by a man dressed in gray, torn clothing.
The
man sat on David’s chest. Odd green tattoos covered his right hand,
which began to glow with a green light as he drew it back in a fist.
A bolt of blue energy slammed into the man’s chest knocking him off
the sheriff.
David
picked up his pistol and aimed it at the man again. “Thanks for the
help, Tom.”
Terra
turned and saw Tomantalus walking towards the sheriff, with an odd
looking pistol that curved around his knuckle, blue mist waving from
the barrel. Tom towered over the sheriff, who was not a short man, by
a good two feet, which was not unusually. Terra had seen enough
Shidaari to know that they were all taller than humans.
Tomantalus’
yellow-silver skin shimmered in the morning light, like the scales of
a fish. His never-blinking compound red eyes gave Terra the shivers
every time she looked at them. Unlike other Shidaari Terra had seen,
Tom dressed like a local: short cut brown coat and a clean, if well
worn, red flannel shirt. He even wore a wide-brimmed brown hat that
fit nicely over his not quite human head. Tom turned to David and
began to speak. How Shidaari were able to speak without mouths was a
thought that constantly nagged Terra.
“Apologies…
for not coming sooner,” Tom said in a voice that buzzed with each
word.
“You’re
fine,” David said. He walked over to the body and kicked it, “Well,
whoever he was, he’s dead now.” He brushed leaves and dirt off of
his jacket.
“Was
I… mistaken to fire when I did?” Tom’s voice buzzed. He paused
often as he spoke, as if he was trying to grasp the real meaning of a
word before he used it. His pauses reminded Terra of how she looked
over her tools from time to time making sure she was picking the
right one.
“No,
not at all,” David said, scratching the scar on his right cheek,
“He was aiming to kill me it seems, and that was putting Terra in
danger, too. You did good in ending him.”
Tom
said nothing. He slipped his curved pistol into an equally odd
looking holster and nodded. He walked over to the corpse, his long
body dipped with each step. Whenever he walked, Terra couldn’t help
but look at his knees, which bent the wrong way. He wore no shoes,
which made sense to Terra considering his feet were made up of what
looked like four long toes, each as thick as an oak sapling that
spread apart from each other with each step, like a tripod, only it
had four legs. She never saw a shoe built for feet like that.
Ben
had not stopped screaming. Terra tried to wipe the snot from his
nose, but Ben kept moving his head.
David
turned back to them. “You’d best get home now, Miss Terra. We’ll
take care of things here.”
“But,
Sheriff Nelson…”
“No
arguing, not now,” David’s voice was calm and his face started to
get… quiet, “You get home and see that your siblings are okay.
Don’t worry nothing about the wash, some of my boys will take care
of it.”
Terra
didn’t like the idea of leaving a chore to one of the fat fingered
deputies, but she had seen David like this before. The manner in his
voice was like the calmness before a storm. In truth she wasn’t
sure which one she’d rather face: a Bone Ripper or David when his
mood started to get quiet.
She
nodded.
“Now
that’s a good girl,” he turned to Tom, “Get that corpse to the
cold box in Norton’s place. I don’t want him stinking up the
place before we know if anyone’s looking for him.” David
holstered his pistol. “I best get Seph on looking into who this guy
is.”
“Sheriff…”
Tom said, “You may want to… look at this.”
David
walked over to him, “What is it Tom?”
“This
is no… corpse.”
Terra
gasped.
“What?”
David bent down and examined the body.
“This
man is… still alive.”
“Four
Hells,” the sheriff cursed, “there ain’t even a scratch on
him,” he stood and started back to his office, “This is not
something I want to deal with. Tom, put him back in the river.”
“David…
this man has a… large bounty on him…” Tom said as he rose, his
voice buzzing like a hornet’s nest.
David
stopped and turned back to Tom, “How large?”
“Large..
enough…”
David
shook his head, “No, dump him in the river and let Water take him.”
“Water…
brought him… here…”
Ben’s
screaming devolved into sniffing. Terra bounced him in her arms.
David
scratched his scar. “Ash Bringer’s beard,” he said.
Terra
gasped. She had heard other men curse that badly before, the town
doctor seemed to use that curse as often as most men breathed, but
never from the sheriff. This must really be bothering him.
David
turned to Terra and pointed to the town. “Go on and get Dr.
Emerson. Bring him to my office.”
“Sheriff,”
she began.
“Get!”
Ben
giggled in her arms as Terra ran as fast as her oversized boots would
let her.
