Blood Red Road

an carry or drag ’em to Jack an Ike.
    Then we bundle together all the small bits an tie ’em with nettlecord. We break up what bigger branches we can by hand an them that’s too big, Ike chops with his hatchet. Then we start to lay ’em out in a big circle.
    Jack calls me over. Count how many arrows we got, would you? he says.
    I empty my quiver. Lucky Maev sent me off with a full load. Then I go around an count what’s in Jack’s an Epona’s an Ash’s quivers. Ike’s got a bolt shooter as well as a crossbow, but he’s only got a few bolts fer ammo so we’ll hold the shooter in reserve. Emmi an Tommo both got slingshots. I do a quick arrow count. Then I count agin to make sure.
    Two hunnerd an eighty eight, I tell Jack.
    He flashes me a tight grin. That’s better’n I thought, he says. Wrap the heads in bits of cloth, whatever you can find.
    I reach fer the bottom of my shirt. It’s soaked through with sweat from the climb an the heat, but I should be able to rip a strip from it.
    No, he says. Dry cloth. It’s gotta be dry. See how many bottles you can scare up. An ask Ike fer some of that pine sap vodka of his.
    Now I know what his plan is.
    Fire. We’re gonna fight ’em with fire.

    The wood’s laid out how Jack wants it. It’s heaped in a big circle ready to be lit the moment he tells us to. We’ve left a good-sized open space in the middle. That’s where we’ll stand an fight. Inside our fortress of fire.
    We’ve made torches with bundles of twigs tied to the ends of branches. Now, with one eye on the darkenin sky, we’re all workin fast to tie cloth strips around the arrowheads. We’ve torn up bits of our bedrolls, even our shirts an tunics. Whatever we’ve got that’s dry.
    Ike’s poured some of his precious vodka into bottles, two fer each of us. As soon as we git a pile of arrows done, Emmi an Tommo take ’em away an stick ’em, head down, into the bottles. Ready to be pulled out, lit an shot. We only manage to fit a handful of arrows in each bottle, so once the action gits goin, it’ll be their job to keep ’em filled up. That an slingshot duty.
    Ike’s workin next to me. You crossed the lake that night with Jack, I says. Where’s yer scars?
    Jack took the hit instead of me, he says. I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t of got between me an the wurm.
    Well, you was movin so slow I had to do somethin, says Jack.
    You was away, says Ike. You was clear. You should of left me to fend fer myself, not turned back an nearly got yerself killed.
    I’m still here, ain’t I? he says. He goes over to help Tommo an Emmi.
    Damn wurm nearly killed him, says Ike.
    Jack’s … different from what I thought when I first met him, says Epona.
    Yeah, says Ike. There’s more to Jack than meets the eye.
    Jack hands his last bundle of arrows to Tommo an slaps him on the back.
    That’s it, he says. We’re ready.
    There’s a hot clench of fear, deep in my belly. I know it well. I used to git it all the time, jest before I went into the Cage. An I know how to use it. A slow smile spreads over my face. I look around at everybody.
    I dunno about you, I says, but I’m feelin lucky tonight.

    We wait.
    We sit on the ground, spaced out evenly jest inside our circle of wood. We face across the lake. I got Jack on one side of me an Epona on th’other. Ike an Ash cover the rest of the circle. Emmi an Tommo crouch in the center next to the piles of stones they collected fer their slingshots. I clutch my flint in my hand, ready to set my section alight.
    The night starts to drift in. The crimson fingers of the dyin sun bleed into dark gray. The first stars blink down at us. Not long to wait now.
    If I ask you somethin, says Jack, will you tell me the truth?
    Maybe, I says. Depends.
    What made you come after me? he says. Back at Hopetown, I mean. How’d you know where to find me?
    I’m about to give some kinda smart answer, somethin that’ll keep him at a distance, like always. But I don’t. The heartstone’s burnin aginst my skin. An I’m feelin brave. Reckless.
    I had a dream, I says. The night before the fire.
    You dreamed where to find me?
    We talk in low voices, so th’others cain’t hear us.
    In my dream, I was in the dark, I says. I couldn’t see, couldn’t hardly breathe. There was smoke an fire an the heat was somethin fierce. An I was searchin fer somebody. I didn’t know who, I jest … knew I had to find him. But I couldn’t an it was … awful. Frightenin. Then