“I think so.” Wren checked the inside of his mouth with his tongue and found a place that felt funny inside his cheek, like there was a piece of food stuck there that wouldn’t come off. “I think I bit my cheek.”
“Yeah, that was a good tumble. When we get where we’re going, maybe I’ll teach you how to roll, huh?” Wick smiled again and clapped Wren on the shoulder once. “Hang tight while we get the others across.”
Wick gently moved Wren closer to the wall, and Wren knelt down again, feeling stupid. He watched silently while Painter came across, and then Cass, and finally Gamble.
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Cass asked.
He just nodded because he didn’t want to talk about it, even though his chin really hurt and the place in his cheek felt gross.
“Wick, go,” Gamble said, and then mercifully they were off again and no one had a chance to talk about the fall anymore. They moved along the wall and found a set of stairs that climbed in a switchback. Wren expected that they’d have to take them slowly, but Wick actually accelerated as they went up, and when they reached the top, Wren understood. Sky was already there waiting for them.
“Finn?” Gamble asked, and Sky just pointed over the wall. “Alright, good. Wren, come on, you’re up.”
Wren didn’t know what that meant, but he stepped over to Sky like he was instructed. Sky had on some kind of harness that Wren hadn’t seen before, and there was a loose loop of strap hanging off the front.
“Legs through here,” Sky said as he crouched down. The next thing Wren knew, a couple of pairs of hands were helping him get his legs in the right place, and then Sky stood up, and Wren went with him. “Hold on tight, Mister Governor,” Sky said. “And you might not want to look down.”
Sky sat back on the parapet and swiveled around. Wren had figured out what was going to happen, but he was still trying to work out exactly how — when Sky lurched, and it felt like the world turned upside down, and Wren shut his eyes and forgot everything but hanging on. There was a whizzing sound that started high and then got lower, and it felt like they were falling in slow motion. And then there were hands grabbing at him again, and Sky chuckled and said, “You can open your eyes now, sir.” Finn was there, and they were on the ground again, but outside the wall.
It took a few moments to get Wren unhooked from Sky. Once Wren was clear, Sky went back over and put a foot on the wall, and then all of a sudden went floating right back up, kicking off and bounding his way to the top. Wren watched him the whole way up, and he finally saw the thin cable that was connected somewhere high above.
“Oooh, what happened to your chin?” Finn said. “You bang it coming down?”
Wren shook his head. “I fell. Before.”
Finn nodded. “We’ll get Mouse to take a look at it.”
Wren couldn’t help smiling at hearing it again. “Wick said that too.”
“Yeah, well… he manages to get things right every once in a while.”
The whizzing sound started again, and Wren looked up. The others came down in a different arrangement, clinging to Sky’s back with their legs around his waist and their arms hooked around his chest. It didn’t look comfortable for anybody, but nobody said anything. Wren figured they were all just glad to reach the bottom.
Gamble came last, and once everyone was down, Sky had them move away from the wall. When they were clear, he fiddled with some kind of device near his waist where the cable was attached, and the line went slack and fell. The device whirred and the cable retracted into it. Wren didn’t get to see exactly how it all worked, because Wick had already started moving out, and Mama had pulled Wren along to keep pace.
The group formed up with Wick leading the way; and Finn and Gamble slightly ahead and to either side of Cass, Painter, and Wren. Sky caught up and trailed a little behind, forming the final point in a protective diamond around them. It was a few moments before it really sunk in for Wren.
He’d been so intent on the danger they faced in escaping Morningside, he’d actually felt relief once they’d touched down outside the wall. For a brief time, he had forgotten what lay ahead. But not for long. As they moved together into the dead cityscape, and the great wall of Morningside faded behind them, it dawned on Wren that they were leaving the realm of men — and walking straight into the arms of the Weir.
FOURTEEN
People had lived here once, Cass knew, here in the shadow of the wall, and not all that long ago. Those that the citizens of Morningside called outsiders. Exiles from Underdown’s city, still living under his “protection”. As they moved through the now-empty ruins, Cass could still see traces of it; even though most of the personal belongings had been stripped out, the shells of buildings that had housed life showed signs of intentional design and structure — of maintenance. The further they got from the city, though, the fewer of those shelters she saw.
For the first mile or so, Wick kept them moving at a cautious but steady pace. The four bodyguards had their weapons out, held low but ready to bring to action in an instant. Cass had rarely seen the team running this heavy. Sky, of course, had his long rifle, and Gamble had her jittergun in a holster strapped to her thigh, but she was also carrying a larger weapon on a sling across her chest. Something about halfway between a pistol and rifle. Cass had never seen it before, but there wasn’t much doubt about its purpose. Both Wick and Finn had short-barreled rifles hanging on slings in front of them.
Whether out of fear or just good instincts, no one spoke while they walked. Every so often a Weir would call in the distance with an unearthly cry, but their cries were scattered and sporadic. Thankfully, none ever actually came within view. It’d been so long since Cass had been outside when the Weir were abroad. Even surrounded by a team she trusted completely, the farther they got from the city, the more vulnerable she felt.
She was just starting to wonder when and where they were going to regroup with Able and the others when Gamble quietly called for them to halt and to gather up around her. They crowded in close, but Wick, Finn, and Sky kept their backs to the rest of them, maintaining constant security intently.
“We’re getting into the outer limits now,” Gamble whispered. “The Weir don’t typically show up in numbers this close to the city, but that’s going to change in the next couple of miles.”
“Just tell us what you need us to do,” Cass said.
“I need you to tell me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Until tonight, none of us had ever been outside the wall with an Awakened before. And definitely not this far out. We need to know what to expect. Do they notice you? Can they track you? Are you going to draw their attention, or will they ignore you?”
Cass honestly had no idea. She hadn’t often been outside the walls since she’d been Awakened, and until the night they attacked the gate she’d never confronted them as one.
“It d-d-d, it depends,” Painter whispered.
“On what?” Gamble asked.
Painter shrugged. “Sometimes I’d go out. I tried to be careful, but s-s-somet-t-times… one f-f-followed me once, for a little while.” He paused and looked away from the group. “And once I guh-got attacked. I didn’t go b… back out after.”
“Doesn’t sound like you draw them any special way, though?”
Painter shrugged again.
Gamble’s eyes narrowed and her mouth made an almost perfectly flat line. “Alright. We’ll just have to take it slow. We don’t want to kill any if we don’t have to, that usually brings trouble. But if it comes to that, you just stay next to me, do what I tell you, and let us do the work.”