Blood Red Road

ignore ’em.
    There’s one, though, who don’t come to the fence. He leans in the corner of the men’s yard, one leg crossed over th’other, cleanin his fingernails with a bit of twig like he ain’t got a care in the world.
    I ain’t seen him before. He ain’t battered up like the rest of ’em, so he must be new. He ain’t even had his head shaved yet.
    Jest then, like he feels me watchin him, he stops what he’s doin. He lifts his head. Our eyes meet. He tosses the twig away, saunters up to the fence an hooks his hands into the chainlink.
    He don’t say a word. He jest runs his eyes slowly over my body, right down to my feet, then up agin. Th’other men whistle an jeer. I feel heat rushin through me. Feel it strain my chest, my neck, my cheeks. I know I must be bright red. Then he smiles. A lopsided, crook of a smile.
    My fists clench. Cocky bastard. Who does he think he is?
    So I do the same to him. I cross my arms over my chest an look him up an down. Brown hair to his shoulders. Silver gray eyes in a tanned face. High cheekbones, a shadow of beard. Crooked nose, like it’s bin broke. Lean but strong lookin. Like he knows how to take care of hisself.
    Our eyes meet agin.
    Like what you see, Angel? he says.
    I step to the fence. Hook my hands into the links, next to his. I lean in close. He’s got tiny white lines around his eyes from squintin. Or maybe smilin. He smells of warm dust an sage.
    You ain’t my type, I says.
    As I turn on my heel an walk away, one of the men calls out, She sure told you, Jack!
    I hear him laugh.
    His name’s Jack.
    Heat burns into me. Crawls over my skin. A trickle of sweat runs down my chest. I pull out the heartstone tucked safe inside my vest. It’s warm. No. Hot.
    That’s strange. I look at the sky. The sun’s dyin in the west. The day should be coolin down.
    But it feels like high noon. White hot.

    Epona makes her way slowly in my direction. She does it so’s you wouldn’t notice unless you was lookin out fer it. At last she stops a little ways off from me. She squats down an starts tracin in the dirt with her finger.
    I start with my usual exercises. Stretches first. Arms an then legs.
    I talked to Maev, I says. I speak in a low voice, don’t look at her direct.
    I saw her at the fight today, she says.
    Looks like we’ll be workin together to git outta here, I says.
    Suits me, she says. What’s the plan?
    How many Hawks is there? I says.
    Forty some odd, she says.
    Can Maev git ’em all here? I says.
    Yeah, she says. But they won’t all git through the Gate past the guards. That many girls ’ud make the Tonton suspicious, even if they came in smaller groups.
    Maybe they wouldn’t git suspicious if there was a lotta other people tryin to git in at the same time, I says.
    Go on, she says.
    I’m in the Cage agin in two days, I says. I’m due to fight you. I plan to lose that fight. When people hear the Angel of Death’s on a losin streak, they’ll pack the place out. The Tonton won’t be able to keep track of who’s comin an who’s goin. They’ll pull most of the guards away from the cellblocks to help keep the crowds unner control.
    She grins. A quick flash of white teeth, a dimple in her cheek. A completely different girl. I like the way you think, she says.
    I’m gonna lose aginst you three times, I says. Then I’m gonna run the gauntlet.
    She gives a low whistle.
    Oh, I got no intention of dyin, I says. That’s where the Hawks come in. When I start to run that gauntlet, th’only people on eether side’s gonna be Free Hawks. They’ll pull me down all right, but only to help me disappear.
    I git it, says Epona. It’ll take a little while fer everybody to figger out yer gone but when they do … all hell’s gonna break loose. That crowd ain’t gonna like bein cheated of the Angel’s blood.
    An while that’s goin on, I says, you’ll be escapin from the Cage an …
    She looks around the yard, at the rest of the fighters.
     … the Hawks’ll be settin all of these free, she says. Then we’ll burn Hopetown to the ground. You’ll help us, won’t you? You know this place an the guards better’n anybody.
    Of course I will, I says. I look her straight in the eye when I say it.
    Lugh always says it’s the best thing to do when yer tellin a lie.

    Emmi manages to find Maev in Spanish Alley an tell her about my plan.
    Maev thinks it’ll work fine. She’s already sent fer the rest of the Hawks an, over the next few days, they’ll