Blood Red Road

He takes a couple of steps towards me. Holds out his arms.
    I run at him. I throw my arms around him. I hug him to me fiercely. I’m weepin.
    Lugh’s arms go around me slowly. Lightly. Like he ain’t quite sure I’m real. Am I dreamin? he says.
    No, I says. No. It’s real. I’m real. Here. Feel. I hug him even tighter. Then he clutches me to him. We hang on tight. I found you, I says. I said I would an I did. I did. I found you.
    They told me you was dead, says Lugh. They said they killed you an Emmi.
    An you believed ’em? I says.
    Not at first I didn’t, he says. At first, I kept thinkin … she’ll be here soon. She said she’d find me. She always keeps her word, she’ll find a way. So I waited fer you. I waited an I hoped an I kept on hopin … fer a long time. But you didn’t come. An I thought … I know Saba. She’s so gawdam stubborn th’only thing that ’ud keep her from comin is if she was dead. That’s when I started believin what they told me. An then I stopped hopin. That was the worst bit. When I thought you was dead. When I didn’t have no hope.
    You really think death ’ud keep me from findin you? I says. You know me better’n that.
    I do, he says. Guess I shouldn’t of bin so impatient. Is Emmi okay?
    She’s fine, I says. Still annoyin.
    I touch his cheekbone. His birthmoon tattoo jest like mine.
    Did they hurt you? I says.
    No, he says. I mean, not … nobody laid a finger on me. I never bin fed so well in my life.
    Suddenly, it’s like he properly notices me. What happened to yer hair? he says.
    I’d fergot all about my hair bein shaved so short. I run a hand over it. It feels longer, softer. Must of grown some since I left Hopetown. But I won’t tell him about the Cage. Or anythin else. Not now. It’s a long story, I says. I’ll tell you later.
    It suits you. There’s a pause. Then he says, You look different.
    I know, I says. My hair.
    No, he says. It’s more’n that. It’s … you. You’ve changed, Saba.
    The day the Tonton rode into Silverlake, everythin changed, I says.
    Guess we’ll jest hafta git to know each other all over agin.
    Guess we will, I says.

    It’s bin two hours or so since we left Freedom Fields. Now that Lugh’s able to ride, we’re coverin more ground.
    Meetin point’s jest ahead, says Ike in a low voice.
    We’re comin up to the Wrecker tire dump where Emmi an Tommo’s gonna be waitin with Hermes. It’s a big one. A hunnerd foot ahead, the piles loom high in the darkness by the side of the trail. Ike holds up a hand an we stop.
    He does a high pitched squeak like a bat. It’s the signal to let Emmi know it’s us. When she hears it, she’ll do one back. That’s what we agreed.
    There ain’t no answer.
    A shiver runs through me.
    Where are they? Lugh whispers.
    Ike signals agin. Nuthin.
    C’mon, Emmi, Ash mutters.
    Ike does the bat squeak once more.
    This time, there’s a soft whinny. A horse.
    Somebody steps out from between two hills of tires. It’s Tommo. He’s leadin Hermes.
    But there ain’t no sign of Emmi.

    My heart clutches.
    We ride to meet Tommo. I’m the first to jump down an run over to him. The rest of ’em’s right behind me.
    Where is she? What happened? I grab Tommo’s arms.
    The look on his face tells me what I already know. She didn’t make it this far. You can tell he’s bin cryin.
    You left together, says Ike. I saw you off safe. What happened?
    Tell us, Tommo, I says. Go on.
    Emmi made me turn back, he says. She wanted to wait. See Lugh. I couldn’t make her go.
    Gawdammit, I says. Why cain’t she ever do what she’s told?
    So we see Lugh an then Emmi says let’s go, says Tommo. But there’s too much noise an Hermes … he gits skeered an he … takes off.
    He bolted, I says. An Emmi fell off.
    Tommo nods. He wipes his eyes with his sleeve. I went back, he says, but the men …
    Men from Freedom Fields? I says.
    They took her, he says. I wanted to follow an git her back, but Ike, you said—
    I said no matter what happens, keep on goin till you git to the meetin point, says Ike. An that’s what you did, son.
    He pulls Tommo in an gives him a hug.
    I’m sorry, says Tommo. Sorry.
    It’s okay, I says. You did the right thing.
    Emmi’s a good fighter, he says. She kicked the men. She yelled an punched ’em.
    Relief floods through me. I look at th’others. She’s alive, I says.
    You mean she was alive then, says Lugh. If that bastard hurts her, I swear—
    I don’t think he will,