Blood Red Road

soon as we could, I says.
    I swing myself down offa Hermes’ back. She leaps at me, wrappin her arms an legs around my waist an neck.
    Are they dead? she whispers. Did you kill ’em?
    You don’t need to worry about ’em no more, I says. How’m I s’posed to do anythin with you hangin on like a leech?
    I give her backside a swat an she slides down. She follows at my heels while I rub Hermes down, water him an send him off into the trees to join th’other Hawk horses an ponies to graze on the scrubby grass in the forest clearins.
    She chatters on, about Epona an how we’re gonna sleep in the same bunkhouse as Maev, but all the time she keeps hold of the edge of my tunic an sticks close.
    I turn an jest about trip over her. I kneel down an take her hands. They’re tremblin.
    Hey, hey, Emmi, I says. It’s okay. I’m here.
    No you ain’t, she says. Yer leavin to find Lugh. An it could be dangerous. You said so yerself.
    I’ll be fine, I says. I’ll be back before you know it. An I’ll be bringin Lugh with me.
    Yer sure I cain’t come with you?
    I’m sure, I says. I promised Pa an Lugh I’d keep you safe. I ain’t done a very good job so far.
    You done okay, she says.
    Hey, I says. I dunno about you, but I’m startin to feel mighty tired. Why don’t you show me that bunkhouse you was talkin about?
    Okay. Hey … Saba?
    Uh huh?
    Would it … would you give me a pickaback ride to the bunkhouse? She says it shy-like, not lookin at me but at the ground where her boot’s tracin a line in the dirt.
    I ain’t never let Em ride pickaback on me in our whole lives. Lugh was the one who played with her like that. He’d grab her by the hands an swing her around till they both fell dizzy on the ground. Or she’d jump on his back an he’d gallop around an leap while she squealed with delight. I never used to like it when he spent time with her. Or anybody else fer that matter. I always wanted him all to myself.
    I look down at her. At the back of her neck, scrawny an grubby. She always was small fer her age.
    She’s only nine, Saba. You might try bein nice to her fer a change .
    A pickaback? I says. I thought you’d never ask.

    Human sacrifice. Maev frowns. That’s … crazy.
    Her an me’s sittin on a log in the cool mornin shadows of the clearin where the Free Hawks camp is. I check to make sure Emmi ain’t in earshot. She don’t know none of this an I don’t want her overhearin. But she’s over by the bunkhouse with Nero. They’re playin some countin game with twigs laid out on the ground. Nero loves to count things.
    I know, I says. But that’s what Helen said.
    An you believe her, says Maev.
    I do, I says.
    An she says it was the Tonton took Lugh to this place … Freedom Fields.
    Deep in the Black Mountains, I says. That’s what she said.
    I wonder what goes on there, says Maev.
    Helen got killed before she could tell me everythin. But from what she said, it’s all to do with chaal.
    Everythin’s to do with chaal, she says. An the Tonton’s right in the middle of it.
    We’re silent fer a minute, then I says, You know, Maev, when Vicar Pinch saw my birthmoon tattoo, he looked like he’d seen a ghost.
    Whaddya mean?
    What I mean is, I don’t think it was the first time he seen it.
    Where’d you git it anyways? says Maev. I ain’t never seen one before.
    It was my pa, I says. He tattooed me an Lugh. Midwinter twins.
    You think that’s where he seen it? On Lugh?
    I’m certain of it. What else could it be?
    Well, Pinch is dead now, so it don’t matter. They won’t be goin ahead with, you know … the sacrifice.
    We cain’t be sure of that. An when they find out what happened to their King, they might be so mad they do somethin to him anyways. He won’t be safe till he’s outta there. I gotta git goin.
    I stand up.
    Oh no. She stands too, puts a hand on my arm. You ain’t in a fit state. Look at you. You need to rest an eat. We need to see to them bruises. Epona worked you over good in the Cage.
    It don’t matter, I says.
    Yes it does. You don’t know what you got ahead of you. You gotta be strong.
    Leave me alone, I says. But I know she’s right. I’m dog-tired an I ache all over my body.
    C’mon, Saba, she says. I ain’t yer enemy, I’m yer friend.
    My friend, I says.
    That’s right. Yer like me. Yer a survivor.
    I’m jest stubborn, I says.
    I’m sorry to hafta say this, she says, but bein friends an all, it gives me the right to say … when was the last time