Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 30i

"I really should be getting back!" said Dak, for what she knew was the fifth time. "Father will be wondering where I have got to."

She peered out from the shadow of the lower chain-carriage station, at the red band of the sun's final light.

"Just tell him that you met a friend after the contests, and stopped with them to eat. It is pretty much the truth."

Tahlia had managed to get hold of a plate of roasted karabok meat and a jug of flowered hive water from the kitchens beneath the observation tower, though most of it was now gone.

"But if he knows that I have been spending time with you, he will be fearfully angry."

"So do not tell him you have been with me."

"But he will be asking."

"So lie."

"To my father! You know that I cannot."

"We will go soon. All right?"

"All right," said Dak, but she became more and more nervous as the sun slowly set, and the shadows thickened into the darkness of night. Only when the last light from the sun was an impression on the horizon did Tahlia allow them to leave.

Dak sighed with relief, calculating that she could still be back at her father's workshop before the night was full dark, if she were to hurry and there were no delays. But as they rounded the base of the station tower, Dak saw four figures being herded along by the fuming form of Klinberg's High Madriel-master. Master Sprak carried a hand-light, and in its rippling luminescence she could see the faces of the four squires that were being pushed along in his wake. One of them was Tasker.

"What is going on with them?" asked Tahlia from where she had gone to crouch in the tower's shadow.

"Who could be knowing?" replied Dak.

"Come on. Let us go and see."

"But, Tahlia..!"

Tahlia, staying in the night's shadows, followed the five figures, ignoring her whispered protests.

Master Sprak marched the boys up the steps of the terrace and yelled for the attention of the squires seated at the tables there. His voice was so loud, Dak could hear every word as she blundered after Tahlia. The Madriel-master began to recount the events that had taken place beneath the stands at the riding-grounds, and the parts the squires had played in them. He also began an explanation of the punishments the boys would receive, starting with them clearing the tables of their fellow squires, but Dak did not hear the rest of what was said. Before she had even reached the stairs up to the terrace, Tahlia hurtled out of the darkness and dashed across the band of light being cast from the terrace above.

Without a word, she disappeared into the near darkness again, heading for the riding-grounds and the Enclosures beyond. Dak turned and followed, but she was no match for Tahlia's speed. She knew that she should go straight home, but Master Sprak had mentioned a Field-hand as being the cause of the squires' dispute; the one who had cost Tasker the contests. Though he was not named, Dak knew that it could only be one person, so she ran on, though Tahlia was soon lost to sight.

* * * * *

The glow-lights, set high in the walls, filled the cloister with a soft radiance, and cast long shadows across the Infirmary garden in its centre. The night breeze coming off the plains caused the shadows to dip and shift, and filled the place with a gentle murmur. The calm of the garden did nothing to still Grifford's anger as he sat hunched in a chair set upon one of its verandas. He scowled into the darkness and focused on the pain that throbbed about his bruised face and body. Doctor Fos had offered him a cup of some bitter smelling liquid, but he had refused it; he did not want the pain taken away as though his wounds had not happened.