Blood Red Road

says Jack. More likely he’ll use her to bargain with.
    Bargain fer what? I says.
    Yer guess is as good as mine, he says. He looks up at the moon. Time’s movin on. They’ll be after us by now an they’ll follow our trail easy enough. We ain’t bin hidin our tracks.
    I want Emmi back, says Lugh.
    We all do, says Jack.
    So we’ll meet ’em, I says. We’ll meet Vicar Pinch an the Tonton. We’ll git Emmi back.
    But we decide the where an the when, says Jack. We find somewhere to take a stand.
    What’s a stand? says Tommo.
    It’s when you meet yer enemy on yer own terms, son, says Ike. Not let him hunt you down like a beast.
    I don’t like the odds, says Ash. At Freedom Fields, at least they wasn’t expectin us.
    What else can we do? says Lugh. We cain’t jest march up to him an demand that he hands Emmi over. This way, at least we got a chance.
    You think so? she says.
    There’s silence. We’re all thinkin the same thing. That this is a different order to anythin we’ve bin through so far. My stummick’s squeezed tight.
    No point pretendin it’s gonna be easy, says Jack.
    It ain’t possible, says Ash.
    It ain’t impossible, he says. Nuthin’s impossible.
    Without thinkin, I glance up at the sky. As if Nero might be flyin across the moon at this very moment. But there ain’t no black crow comin to save us.
    I say we do it, I says. I say we take a stand.
    Where? says Lugh.
    Pine Top Hill, says Jack. Due north of here.
    If you gotta take a stand, says Ike, you could do a lot worse.
    You can see anybody comin at you from a long way off. There’s a good slope on it fer the last hunnerd foot, says Jack. An if I remember rightly, it’s loose rock. Bad ground fer horses. They won’t be able to charge at us uphill.
    We wanna be set up there well before they show, says Ash.
    What’re we waitin fer? says Lugh. Let’s go.

    We ride due north through the night.
    Jack pushes us hard. He don’t let us stop till we come across a little trickle of a stream. We all slide down to water the horses an ourselves.
    We’re nearly there, he says.
    Lugh shivers. He rubs his arms an hugs hisself. Th’only clothes he’s got on is his britches an boots.
    You should of said you was cold, says Jack.
    He reaches over his head an reefs off his shirt. He tosses it to Lugh.
    Sorry it ain’t cleaner, he says. I’m a bit behind with my laundry.
    I cain’t take yer only shirt, says Lugh.
    Go on, says Jack.
    But now you’ll be cold, says Lugh.
    Oh I’m warm blooded. Jack grins. Anyways, Saba likes to look at my bare chest.
    Lugh looks at me. Frowns. Is that a fact? he says.
    I feel myself go bright red. It is not a fact, I says. You stinker, Jack.
    They all laugh. All essept Lugh that is. He’s still frownin as he pulls Jack’s shirt over his head.
    I glare at Jack an he winks at me. I go even redder.
    See? he says. She cain’t help herself.
    I could kick him fer makin me look foolish. But I could kiss him fer liftin the gloom a little bit.
    Considerin what might lie ahead, that’s a good thing.

    We reach Pine Top Hill as the sun’s startin to break out in the east. It’s gonna be another hot one. You can almost hear the tired earth sighin as it faces the day.
    There it is, says Ike.
    A dusty plain of red earth stretches out in front of us. Straight ahead, a round hill rises up from the plain. There’s a little wood of scrubby pine trees on top an some big rocks that’ll give us good cover. An, jest like Jack said, a steep slope of loose rock an slippery shale.
    If they’re gonna attack, they’ll hafta to leave their horses an come at us on foot. An we’ll be in the better position.
    It’s a strange place, this plain where we’ll take our stand. Dry an dead lookin an everywhere you look, red. Like the heart of a fire. Red rocks, red earth.
    Red as the dust storm at Silverlake on the day the Tonton rode in.
    A little ways to the west of the hill, a long, craggy ridge towers above the plain.
    To the east, a clutch of spindly rock fingers rises up, reachin fer the sky. There’s lots of ’em, all crowded in together. Tall an thin an pointed. They look wicked. Sharp. Like teeth. Red teeth.
    The back of my neck prickles.
    What the hell’s that? I says.
    They’re called the Hoodoos, says Jack.
    Ash shudders. They gimme the creeps, she says.
    We make our way to the foot of Pine Top Hill as quickly as we can.
    What about the horses? says Lugh.
    We might need ’em, says Jack.
    He don’t say it, but we all know