Through the Mirrah Page 9

  “It won’t reach the whole way. He’d have to jump.”

  “Without getting hurt?”

  “Hard to tell.”

  Aideen frowned. “It’s the only plan I’ve got. You?”

  He shook his head. “One of us should stay outside, as a lookout. Warn the other if a Trapper shows up, or if the Turkeys figure out what’s happening.”

  “Good idea. How will we warn each other?”

  “Remember how you talked with the Ostrich?”

  Aideen nodded.

  “Same way. To broadcast, imagine you’re sending your thought directly to me. But make sure you listen too. Imagine I’m sending my thought directly to you. Keep the line open, so to speak. When I broadcast, the words will come.”

  “Who’s going in?” Aideen asked.

  “I’ve spent more time evading Turkeys. I can stay within sight of them without them noticing me, so I’d make a better lookout.”

  Aideen wasn’t confident she’d make the better rescuer, but maybe the guilt would go away if she was the one to get him out. She stuffed the rope into her pack and slung it over her shoulders.

  “I’ll get into position below the ledge but closer to the Turkeys,” Rag Man said. “So I can watch them. Wait for me to signal you, then find the window you’re going through. Be as quiet as you can. The Turkeys hear better than they let on.”

  Aideen crouched and watched Rag Man until she couldn’t see him anymore. She waited for a signal.

  Go, he thought.

  Aideen rose and picked a path toward the tower, keeping an eye out for any movement or sound which would suggest the Turkeys knew she was there. She tried to keep an ear out for Rag Man, too, but he wasn’t broadcasting to her. She hoped not; hers were the only thoughts in her head.

  Aideen stopped when she came to the second-floor window. Judging from the distance between windows and the size of the tower, she guessed the first-floor window was less than a couple feet from the Turkeys.

  This one will have to work.

  She took a few steps back, peering toward the front of the tower. Not a peep. She took step after step backward, making sure she remained out of the guards’ sight. She stopped as soon as she spied the edge of a wing.

  No further, Rag Man thought.

  She eyed the tower, and the window eleven feet up. She’d only get one shot at this because the Turkeys were sure to hear her.

  “Get it right,” Aideen said under her breath.

  She ran, leaped, and scrambled, reaching for the window ledge. Her left arm screamed as whatever partially healed flesh tore open again. She was going to have a gnarly scar when all this was over.

  The tips of her fingers reached the sharp edge of the stone and hooked over it. Her toes dug into the stone wall, straining to push her even an inch further.

  She gripped the ledge and started to pull herself up. Her left arm buckled, and her fingers slipped. She scrambled her feet up the wall again, getting an elbow onto the ledge. Huffing, she pushed herself up and through the window.

  She landed in a crouch. Her right foot slipped over the edge of a stair, but she caught herself, avoiding a noisy fall.

  You okay? Rag Man thought.

  I’m in. Did they hear me?

  They heard something, Rag Man thought. But they don’t seem alarmed.

  The tower was empty, save a staircase spiraling along the wall. Aideen hurried up the stairs two at a time.

  The door of Sterling’s cell blocked the top step, as the cell itself took up the rest of the loft.

  ‘Loft’ sounds too fancy for a prison cell.

  Sterling huddled against the wall next to the window. Was he asleep or unconscious?

  The concrete floor held the bars of the cell, which continued up into the ceiling, in place. They weren’t going anywhere.

  “Sterling,” Aideen whispered.

  He didn’t respond.

  Sterling, she thought, broadcasting to him.

  He lifted his head.

  “Aideen?” he asked, struggling to stand. “What are you doing here? And how did you learn to broadcast?”

  He stood, arched his back with a crack, and shuffled toward the bars separating them. Aideen crouched to unload her pack.

  “I’ll explain later. Now, I’m rescuing you. Here.” She passed him the rope.

  “What’s this?”

  “Tie it somewhere . . . around a bar, I guess.” Aideen yanked on one of them for emphasis. “Then you can use the rope to climb down the outside of the tower.”

  “That’s not a rescue. It’s a do-it-yourself escape kit.”

  “I don’t know how else to get you out. I’ll go back out the way I came to make sure you’re not found out.”

  She offered him the canteen.

  He took it, drank from it, and handed it back. “I can’t let you face the Turkeys alone.”

  “What are you gonna do from inside the cell?”

  He didn’t respond.

  “A friend is waiting for us below,” Aideen continued. “He’s keeping a lookout now, but we should hurry. Have they fed you at all?”

  “No. But—”

  “No buts.” She handed over a roll of Discos before slinging the pack over her shoulders again. “Go.”

  “What happened to your arm?” Sterling frowned at the blood seeping through her left sleeve.

  Aideen, Rag Man thought. Get out of there. A Trapper just arrived.

  A commotion rose from below. Aideen peered down and saw the Dark Man leading the Turkey guards up the stairs.

  “Later. Go now. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”

  “He wants you. He won’t come after me.”

  “Do you have a better suggestion?” Aideen cocked her head.

  “Jump out the window with me.”

  “I’m not gonna fit through these bars.”

  Sterling looked past her to see the Dark Man racing up the stairs toward them. He looked back at Aideen and put his hand over hers, still gripped on the bar.

  “Be careful.”

  Aideen told herself not to let the warmth of Sterling’s touch distract her. Nodding, she turned down the stairs and one of the Turkeys leaped, flying straight at her. She threw her canteen and it clunked against the beast’s head, stunning it. The Turkey fell, hitting its head on some stairs and landing with a sickening thud on the ground floor.

  “Nice arm.”

  Aideen turned to see Sterling watching from the cell.

  “Go, already!”

  Sterling flicked a salute and looped the rope around one of the cell bars. He secured it and tossed the end through the window. Aideen pulled her knife as she turned to face the Dark Man.

  “It was foolish to come alone,” he said.

  “Not as foolish as pissing off the Prophesied One.”

  The Dark Man flinched, and Aideen smiled. She guessed he hadn’t expected her to accept her role. She hadn’t either, but if it threw off the bad guy, even a little, she’d go with it.

  “If I’m going to lead a war against the greatest evil and win, then I can handle you.” Aideen descended toward him, knife raised.

  The Dark Man pulled his own knife. Aware a single wrong step would send her crashing to the ground, Aideen hugged the wall as she lunged at her adversary. He parried her first strike and she did the same with his. Her second strike severed the lapel from his coat.

  The Dark Man laughed and stabbed at her. She evaded the move but fell back, and a stair struck her across her shoulders. She lost her grip on the knife and it tumbled down the stairs. The Dark Man reached for it and Aideen kicked him in the face.

  As he stumbled, he grasped at her, catching the emerald necklace and tearing it from her neck. Stones flew, pattering and the steps and clattering to the floor below. He stumbled before regaining his balance, giving her the opportunity to retrieve her weapon. He caught himself, and as Aideen stood to face him again, he thrust his knife into her gut.

  The Dark Man pulled his knife out and gave
her a chilling smile. Aideen grabbed her stomach and plummeted off the staircase. The remaining Turkey squawked and flapped its wings as Aideen fell past. She flailed her arms, grasping, and one hand caught the Turkey’s leg. Her weight yanked the monster off the stairs and they fell together for several feet before the Turkey recovered and flapped its wings.

  Aideen swung herself and let go of the Turkey’s leg, landing further down the stairs. She missed her footing and twisted her ankle but kept her balance. Hobbling down the stairs, she escaped the tower as fast as she could.

  She was picking her way to the path descending the mountain when the Dark Man’s lumbering steps reverberated from the tower.

  How’d he get down the stairs so fast? Frantic, knowing she wouldn’t be able to outrun him, she sought a place to hide. A group of rocks stuck out of the ground a few yards below her. They might hide her if she crouched behind them. Maybe the Dark Man would pass her by.

  She reached the rocks and realized there was nothing but a sheer drop below them. Aideen had nowhere to hide. She felt two hands on her back as she was shoved over the edge.

  Chapter Nine

  Aideen was paralyzed. The only feeling in her body as she stared up at the sky was the grip of panic in her heart.

  What if Rag Man can’t find me?

  As pain washed over her at last, relief gave way to a fear she’d broken every bone in her body. She lifted an arm to see if she could even move, then ran her hand over her body, assessing what she could of the damage. Her stomach lurched when she saw blood dripping from her fingers

  Easing into a sitting position, she realized that cuts and scrapes covered her body. She rolled up her left sleeve to see the bandage had torn halfway off, revealing raw, red flesh. Plus, there was the hole in her gut, courtesy of the Dark Man.

  Unfortunately, the hole hadn’t let the nausea out. Aideen closed her eyes. There had still been a gojoos in her pack. Unless she could find her pack, the gojoos was gone. She tried to keep herself from thinking about how she was going to get back to civilization in this state.

  Aideen looked up and realized it wasn’t as sheer a drop as she’d first believed. The ground slanted, so she may have rolled partway. Whether she rolled or fell, she was thirty or forty feet farther down the mountainside.

  She crawled to the charred stump of a tree that looked like lightning had struck it down years ago. Using it to support her weight, she climbed to her feet. A tentative step reminded her of her twisted ankle.

  “Aideen!” Rag Man ran to her. “Don’t move.”

  She took another step, and the pain pulsing in her ankle shot up her leg. She reached out for Rag Man, and he steadied her.

  “I don’t think I broke anything.” She looked at her stomach and covered the hole with one hand, pressing as hard as she could stand. “This is unfortunate, though.”

  “Lean on me. I’ll help you to where I left Sterling. We can figure out what to do from there.”

  She said nothing, but hoped they made it before she bled out. They approached where Rag Man had left Sterling, who stood to greet them.

  “What happened?”

  “She’s been stabbed and pushed off a mountain.” Rag Man placed Aideen face up on a gentle slope.

  “I’m okay, though.” She looked at her gut, which was still seeping blood between her fingers. “Except for this.”

  “What do we do? She’ll bleed out before we can get help.”

  “I’ll broadcast to the Ostrich,” Rag Man said. “She can take Aideen to the Bo.”

  Sterling nodded and kneeled next to Aideen, taking her hand. “It’ll be okay. We just need to stop the bleeding. What’s in the pack?” Sterling opened it and dumped out its contents.

  “A pulverized sandwich and some gauze? That’s all you brought?”

  “I had a rope, which you took, a canteen, which I had to throw at a Turkey, and my knife, which I lost somehow while I was plummeting to my death.” Aideen shifted to get more comfortable. The open wound made that difficult.

  “She’s coming,” Rag Man said. “But there’s bad news. Turkeys attacked the Bo. Dawn had warned her, but when she didn’t send another update, the Ostrich went to help . . . The Bo is gone.”

  Sterling froze.

  “Dawn . . .?”

  “Dead.” Rag Man put his hand on Sterling’s shoulder. “Lots of casualties. Some survivors may have made it to the Underground, though. That’s where she’ll take Aideen. We should get somewhere she can see us.”

  Sterling nodded and unbuttoned his shirt. He shrugged out of it and pressed it against Aideen’s stomach. Aideen noticed Sterling’s tight undershirt, but the pain kept her from fully appreciating the sight.

  “Hold that as tight as you can to slow the bleeding,” Sterling said. “It’ll have to do for now. Hopefully, Julie survived.”

  “Who’s Julie?” Aideen asked, but she wasn’t sure she cared. Her head was swimming through the sound waves of their voices.

  Is this shock? Or is this dying?

  “. . . but she’s the best,” Sterling finished. He hoisted Aideen into his arms and followed Rag Man.

  Aideen was conscious of was Sterling’s strong arms around her, then she felt something firm against her back. A shadow passed overhead and she screamed, though it came out as a gurgle. She put her fingers to the corner of her mouth and wiped away blood. A large bird landed nearby.

  The Ostrich. Not a Turkey.

  Hold on, Young One, the Ostrich thought.

  Aideen was lifted and placed somewhere feathery; someone sat behind her.

  “Go,” Rag Man said. “I’ll catch up.”

  The feathery seat lurched, and wind whipped in Aideen’s face. She was on the Ostrich. She was riding the Ostrich through the sky.

  “But ostriches don’t fly.”

  “Shh.” Sterling’s hand brushed the hair from her forehead. He wrapped his arms around her, pressing his shirt into her stomach. “We’ll be there soon.”

  THE WIND AGAINST AIDEEN’S FACE died as she was jolted from her stupor. She opened her eyes, and Sterling pulled her from the Ostrich’s back.

  “We’re here,” he said. “With luck, Julie’s here too.”

  Sterling carried Aideen and she peered back at the Ostrich.

  You will be fine now, the Ostrich thought.

  How do you know?

  If Aideen hadn’t known better, she’d swear the Ostrich was smiling. You’ll see, the Ostrich thought.

  Sterling jostled Aideen down some steps and kicked on a metal door.

  “It’s Sterling! Open up! We need medical attention!”

  The door screeched open and a well-muscled guy strode out.

  “Quick, inside. Did you see any Turkeys? Trappers?” Muscles waved Sterling into the underground room. “Is that the Ostrich?”

  His arm hung in the air as he stared. Sterling navigated Aideen through the door and she blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

  “You’re here,” Sterling said. “Thank the Ostrich!”

  Aideen heard the door screech and thunk, then Muscles entered her line of sight again.

  “What happened?” Muscles asked.

  “A Trapper stabbed her and pushed her off Crowned Eagle Mountain.”

  “Put her over here,” a woman’s voice said.

  Sterling placed Aideen on the ground so she was staring at the earthen ceiling of the underground room. It felt like she was lying on a towel or folded sheet. She tried to focus on the woman’s face hovering above her, but it blurred and disappeared.

  “I DID IT. Sterling . . . safe.”

  The woman’s face hovered over her again. There was a soft glow of light. Aideen turned her head to see one of those old gas lamps next to the woman’s knee.

  “Where were you, Face?” Aideen murmured, words slurring. “I needed you to scam me out.”

  Face shushed her.

  “Will she be all right?” Sterling asked.

  Face disappeared, and when Aideen heard he
r voice again, it was farther away. Face muttered something, and Sterling and Muscles responded.

  “I can stop the bleeding,” Face said, loud enough for Aideen to make out. “But . . . sit with her, while you can.”

  Sterling appeared next to Aideen and squeezed her hand.

  “Julie will take care of that hole for you.”

  Aideen squeezed back.

  “I feel like . . . rock tumbler . . . with spike.” She put one hand over the hole in her middle. “Could I . . . water?”

  “Of course.” Sterling turned away before holding her head up so she could sip from a dented metal cup. Water dribbled down her chin; Sterling’s finger chased it.

  He smiled at her. The sad smile failed to mask his concern.

  “Sterling, hold this for me.” Sterling disappeared and Julie took his place. The light moved, and Sterling reappeared on Aideen’s other side.

  “This will hurt,” Julie said. “If you can let your mind wander, I recommend you do so.”

  Aideen closed her eyes and grimaced.

  How can I—The needle stabbing through her belly interrupted her thought. How am I supposed to think of anything else with that—Ow!

  The familiar fog requested entry to Aideen’s mind. She welcomed it.

  “CLEAR THE SMOKE, IMUHN.”

  A hand rested on her arm.

  “What’s wrong, Aideen?” Sterling asked.

  “At your service,” a different but familiar deep voice said.

  Aideen opened her eyes. Sterling turned to look at the part-avian deal-maker Aideen had come to know and not quite love.

  Muscles came into view. “Where did you come from?”

  “Aideen called me.” Imuhn nodded at her. “You wish to make another deal?”

  “What kind of deal?” Sterling stood.

  Imuhn smiled. “What do you want?”

  “I want Aideen to get better.”

  “I will heal her if you relinquish your life in return.” Imuhn crossed his arms.

  “What else can I give you?” Sterling asked.

  “There’s nothing else I want from you.”

  Sterling sat next to Aideen and took her hand again.

  “What . . . want from . . . from me?” Aideen asked. “If I . . . make . . .”