AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What was more, I had a mission. I couldn’t imagine if the flooding river caused more damage while I was dealing with Ridden. I was pretty sure I’d never hear the end of it. If the magic involved in creating the flood was serious shit, I really shouldn’t drag my feet any longer than I had to, now that the killing part of this situation was handled.
“Um. I can carry him in if you have a bed in the house? Since it’s cold out here…” I said, hoping to stop the tears.
On a half sob, half laugh, she nodded and rose. I scooped their father up with care, following her to the small house. Luckily for me, the man in my arms was light because of my unusual strength. Almost weightless, so even though my shoulder was aching, it wasn’t hard to carry him as I followed the girl to her home. The building was ungraceful and squat, it was one of the temporary shelters given to those who took the grants to live Outside.
I froze, looking at the building. Usually, successful settlers would have upgraded to better materials or used the natural materials around them to make a better building, depending on what they preferred. To see that these people hadn’t upgraded anything meant they weren’t doing well. Which was weird. What exactly was going on?
The teen held the door open for me when we reached it, and I paused until my vision adjusted to the dimness. I figured it was best not to drop their father, now that he’d stabilized, by tripping over the furniture, which she seemed to realize. Leaving me to hold open the door with my uninjured shoulder, she brushed past me, lighting a candle.
The golden light revealed three doors. And in the center of the room, warmth radiated from a wood-burning stove. A few braided rugs softened the quick-set floor, and someone had made small wooden chairs to supplement the adult-sized plastic issue.
“This one,” she said, carrying the candle into the room nearest to the door. I carried him behind her, dribbling blood all the way. The medkit had stabilized him, but he needed warmth and quiet. Despite the stove, the room was chill, the vents closed to save heat.
The teenager crowded next to me. “What’s your name?” I asked as she pulled the sheet back. Like her sister, she had dark hair pulled back in a braid, and the clothing she wore was obviously made for a larger person, perhaps her mother.
“Anna,” she answered. I settled him into the bed.
“Where’s the woodpile?” I stepped back as she drew the covers up.
She inclined her head toward the back of the house. The other children stayed in the room with her and their father. Hauling wood and water in gave her time to settle the little ones, and then she came out to stir up the fire, and to heat water over the stove. Realizing I’d left my messenger bag outside, I hurried out and found it thrown on the ground. Collecting it quickly, I went back inside and stood by the table, waiting.
I wanted to do more, but there were limits on what I could do for the people I met on the Outside. My geas meant I could help people in danger, it was part of the rules of the damn thing. But if I lingered here too long, the geas would begin to make me uncomfortable, and then it would bring me pain. What was more, if I took too long in figuring out the cause of the flooding in this area, and things got worse, I’d be in some serious trouble.
The younger child had subsided into sniffles in the other room. He was not much older than Dmitri, really almost a baby, and I wanted to comfort them but had no idea how to. Chances are after he witnessed me killing a bunch of Ridden, I’d just frighten him further. So, I stayed away and focused on the teen.
“Where is their mother?” I asked, tentatively, as Anna dipped hot water into a basin.
“Mother died the first year we were out here.” She was stern now, her lips compressed, as she stared at me. “Thank you.” Her eyes flicked from the blood on my face and hands to the onyx I wore.
Indentured weren’t common, so I was one of the few they let run around loose. I wondered what she thought. People on the outside usually just saw gems as markers of status. But my onyx would be unusual to them. So did she see me as a servant from the Capital, more like a paroled prisoner, or did she not have a clue? It all depended on how much her father knew about the gems worn in the main cities, and how much he had told her. At least she wasn’t outwardly hostile.
Anna set the basin on the table and offered me a scrap of a towel. “If you’d like to clean up, you’re welcome to.”
“That would be lovely,” I told her, taking the fabric.
Hesitant, she continued, “But could you bury the Ridden? They were our neighbors…”
This was a task I could do. I rose to do just that, but hesitated. “What happened to them? Your neighbors?” Not wanting to seem pushy, I dipped the towel in some water and started to clean out my shoulder wound, although it was already rapidly healing. Closing up even before my eyes.
“They caught the flu, and nobody got the vaccine this winter—the medics didn’t make their rounds,” she answered, pain flashing across her face for an instant before it was gone. “We ourselves just got over it maybe a week ago.”
Puzzlement blended into building anger. All Administrators are required to certify that the people in their territory received immunizations and prenatal care, as well as schooling. Not giving these people a flu shot meant that Administrator Greene, who was in charge of this area, had pocketed the money intended to buy the shots and pay those who administered them, which was illegalandimmoral.
“That’s not okay,” I told her, trying to keep the fury from my voice.
She shrugged.
I took a deep breath, hoping to calm my anger. “I mean, what he did wasillegal, and someone in the Guild should be told.”
She looked surprised, but then nodded. “Alright. It’d be nice if this didn’t happen again next year.”
I pulled out my LawBook. It was thin and black, and its metallic gleam was strange on the plastic table as I set it down. The little recording device, that I could also write in with my special pen, was essential to the work I did out here. With it, I could record the words of the people I worked with and bring them to the right people in the Guild. That way, no one could say I was simply claiming to see problems that didn’t exist, not when the words came from the actual people out here.
“What’s that?” Anna asks, staring at it with big, confused eyes. Not that I blamed her. There wasn’t a lot of this kind of technology out here.
“It’s a LawBook. When I find things that aren’t right, I record testimony from the people who’ve been hurt, then bring it back to Capitol. My boss is Silver, a Judge.”
Her eyes rounded. “The Capitol might listen? To my actual words?” She touched it with her fingertips, like the brush of a small bird’s wings.
