Etched in Bone
Page 76
“Ravendell on Senneca Lake? What’s this?” Senneca was one of the Finger Lakes, but he wasn’t familiar with Ravendell.
“That’s where the Sierra and her pups are now,” Simon replied. “Ravendell is a human village within settled terra indigene land.”
Not land leased and under human control, which meant there were no boundaries, no delineation between what was human and what was Other.
“Not on the rail line from Lakeside to Hubb NE,” O’Sullivan commented. “Is it on a bus route?”
“Not on a route between human cities,” Simon replied. “There is a bus that travels around the lake. It is considered local, the way the buses in Lakeside are local. Lieutenant Montgomery thought it safer for the Sierra if he and Miss Twyla didn’t know where to find her, but I thought you should know this much.”
“I will be officially relocating to Lakeside, but for now I still have a residence in Hubbney and try to get back there a couple of times each month,” O’Sullivan said. “I could find an excuse to visit the Senneca Lake area if anyone wanted to send something to Ms. Montgomery.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Burke said. With nothing left to communicate, O’Sullivan left, but Burke held back. “If Clarence was shoplifting, why didn’t the shopkeeper stop him?”
“The Hawk would have let him get outside, so he couldn’t claim he meant to pay.” Simon shrugged. “Like all the terra indigene, the Hawkgard are larger than ordinary hawks. Not large enough to lift a human child that size, but the talons would have done a lot of damage. That’s what would have happened, except Sam, and Meg, intervened.”
“Clarence was wearing a couple of rings—a kid’s version of brass knuckles. He could have caused some serious hurt on another child.”
“Sam had one cut that bled.” Simon smiled dryly. “A few months ago, I would have licked the cut clean and that would have been that. Today, Sam’s cut cheek and Meg’s split lip justify coming to the Market Square after dinner for ice cream, followed by a Wolf Team movie marathon.”
“I’m surprised Sam and Meg didn’t campaign to have ice cream for dinner as well as dessert,” Burke said.
“They did. But Katherine Debany put on her mother hat and said ice cream wasn’t enough for dinner and recommended scrambled eggs because they would be soft to eat. Everyone in the female pack is bringing an egg to A Little Bite for me to take home.”
Sounded like Simon was still trying to figure out the pack status of Officer Debany’s mother. Fortunately the Wolf didn’t ask for a description of a mother hat. “Could be worse.”
Simon nodded. “We could be eating yogurt.”
Burke chuckled, but his amusement faded quickly. “How much longer is the tethered goat going to stay in Lakeside?”
“I don’t know. If it were up to me, that Cyrus would have been gone the day he arrived.”
“So they’re still interested in Cyrus Montgomery?”
Simon looked thoughtful. “That Cyrus is not the kind of human who normally would go near the wild country.”
WE LERNED FROM YU. The Elders had posted those signs, luring television and newspaper reporters to towns like Bennett to see for themselves what the primal forms of terra indigene in the Midwest and Northwest regions had learned about what it meant to be human. Whole towns were slaughtered in retaliation for the slaughter of the Wolfgard in those areas.
That had been terrible enough and gave him sleepless nights—something he would never admit to his men or his superiors—but with the Humans First and Last movement shattered, it wasn’t likely that anyone would be able to rally humans to another all-out attack on the Others. At least, not for another generation or two. No, the next threat to humans could be more subtle and more terrible if it was a reflection of Cyrus Montgomery’s more unsavory traits.
“He’s not the kind of human anyone would want the Elders to imitate,” Burke said.
“Well,” Simon replied after a moment. “He’s just the tethered goat. I don’t think the Elders are that interested in him anymore.”
• • •
Jimmy sat at the bar in the Stag and Hare, nursing a drink. Sandee was boohooing about Clarence’s hand and how dangerous it was to be around the Courtyard. And the kids were boohooing about every damn thing. A man couldn’t get any peace.
Had to make some connections. Had to find something he could turn into cash. He’d sold the extra package of lasagna easily enough, and the men he’d approached were interested in anything else he might have to sell. But with restrictions on how much of everything humans could buy at the Courtyard, and the freaks getting riled up about Clarence palming a couple of stupid things that weren’t anything, he didn’t think he’d be able to get enough food to sell—unless he sold half of what he could squeeze out of the Courtyard and told Sandee to pay for her food some other way.
Too bad the freaks didn’t seem interested in humping. Sandee might be worth her keep if they were.
The blond-haired man he’d seen before sat on the stool next to his and gave him a smile that lacked sincerity and held a hint of mean. “Buy you a drink?”
Jimmy was inclined to like the man for the smile alone. The offer of a drink just added weight. “Appreciate it.”
“You have some kind of hook into the Courtyard,” the man said.
Feeling cautious, Jimmy sipped his drink. “I know people who have a hook.”
“That’s where the Sierra and her pups are now,” Simon replied. “Ravendell is a human village within settled terra indigene land.”
Not land leased and under human control, which meant there were no boundaries, no delineation between what was human and what was Other.
“Not on the rail line from Lakeside to Hubb NE,” O’Sullivan commented. “Is it on a bus route?”
“Not on a route between human cities,” Simon replied. “There is a bus that travels around the lake. It is considered local, the way the buses in Lakeside are local. Lieutenant Montgomery thought it safer for the Sierra if he and Miss Twyla didn’t know where to find her, but I thought you should know this much.”
“I will be officially relocating to Lakeside, but for now I still have a residence in Hubbney and try to get back there a couple of times each month,” O’Sullivan said. “I could find an excuse to visit the Senneca Lake area if anyone wanted to send something to Ms. Montgomery.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Burke said. With nothing left to communicate, O’Sullivan left, but Burke held back. “If Clarence was shoplifting, why didn’t the shopkeeper stop him?”
“The Hawk would have let him get outside, so he couldn’t claim he meant to pay.” Simon shrugged. “Like all the terra indigene, the Hawkgard are larger than ordinary hawks. Not large enough to lift a human child that size, but the talons would have done a lot of damage. That’s what would have happened, except Sam, and Meg, intervened.”
“Clarence was wearing a couple of rings—a kid’s version of brass knuckles. He could have caused some serious hurt on another child.”
“Sam had one cut that bled.” Simon smiled dryly. “A few months ago, I would have licked the cut clean and that would have been that. Today, Sam’s cut cheek and Meg’s split lip justify coming to the Market Square after dinner for ice cream, followed by a Wolf Team movie marathon.”
“I’m surprised Sam and Meg didn’t campaign to have ice cream for dinner as well as dessert,” Burke said.
“They did. But Katherine Debany put on her mother hat and said ice cream wasn’t enough for dinner and recommended scrambled eggs because they would be soft to eat. Everyone in the female pack is bringing an egg to A Little Bite for me to take home.”
Sounded like Simon was still trying to figure out the pack status of Officer Debany’s mother. Fortunately the Wolf didn’t ask for a description of a mother hat. “Could be worse.”
Simon nodded. “We could be eating yogurt.”
Burke chuckled, but his amusement faded quickly. “How much longer is the tethered goat going to stay in Lakeside?”
“I don’t know. If it were up to me, that Cyrus would have been gone the day he arrived.”
“So they’re still interested in Cyrus Montgomery?”
Simon looked thoughtful. “That Cyrus is not the kind of human who normally would go near the wild country.”
WE LERNED FROM YU. The Elders had posted those signs, luring television and newspaper reporters to towns like Bennett to see for themselves what the primal forms of terra indigene in the Midwest and Northwest regions had learned about what it meant to be human. Whole towns were slaughtered in retaliation for the slaughter of the Wolfgard in those areas.
That had been terrible enough and gave him sleepless nights—something he would never admit to his men or his superiors—but with the Humans First and Last movement shattered, it wasn’t likely that anyone would be able to rally humans to another all-out attack on the Others. At least, not for another generation or two. No, the next threat to humans could be more subtle and more terrible if it was a reflection of Cyrus Montgomery’s more unsavory traits.
“He’s not the kind of human anyone would want the Elders to imitate,” Burke said.
“Well,” Simon replied after a moment. “He’s just the tethered goat. I don’t think the Elders are that interested in him anymore.”
• • •
Jimmy sat at the bar in the Stag and Hare, nursing a drink. Sandee was boohooing about Clarence’s hand and how dangerous it was to be around the Courtyard. And the kids were boohooing about every damn thing. A man couldn’t get any peace.
Had to make some connections. Had to find something he could turn into cash. He’d sold the extra package of lasagna easily enough, and the men he’d approached were interested in anything else he might have to sell. But with restrictions on how much of everything humans could buy at the Courtyard, and the freaks getting riled up about Clarence palming a couple of stupid things that weren’t anything, he didn’t think he’d be able to get enough food to sell—unless he sold half of what he could squeeze out of the Courtyard and told Sandee to pay for her food some other way.
Too bad the freaks didn’t seem interested in humping. Sandee might be worth her keep if they were.
The blond-haired man he’d seen before sat on the stool next to his and gave him a smile that lacked sincerity and held a hint of mean. “Buy you a drink?”
Jimmy was inclined to like the man for the smile alone. The offer of a drink just added weight. “Appreciate it.”
“You have some kind of hook into the Courtyard,” the man said.
Feeling cautious, Jimmy sipped his drink. “I know people who have a hook.”
