Levi breaks the hug and looks into my eyes. “Maybe we should talk to them.”
“I think that might be wise.” I say. “If they wanted to hurt us they could have shot at us.”
“You better stay here.” Levi turns and takes off down the hill. He hasn’t gone more than a few steps when Pace steps through the gate and comes to my side. His pistol is on his hip and he holds a rifle.
“You were listening?” I don’t know if I should be indignant or happy.
“Yes.” He keeps his eyes on Levi as he walks down the hill. Jonah stops his hunt and watches also. “I trust you, Wren. I just don’t trust him with you.”
“Yet here you are, covering his back.”
“Just because I don’t trust him with my girl doesn’t mean that I don’t like him or that I want him to get hurt.” He spares me a glance and his eyes are hot with possession. A thrill runs through me and I tingle at his nearness.
This is not the time for tingling. Levi’s life could be in danger. All our lives could. For some reason I trust Ragnor, and because I do, Levi chooses to also. “I thought Lyon had his men posted to watch for rovers,” I say.
“There’s been no sign so he brought them in to prepare for tomorrow. Besides, only a shiner would have been able to spot them.”
“We are going to have to do better,” I say. “If we are going to protect this place. We need to make a schedule and take shifts.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Pace assures me. Levi is close to the bottom of the slope, and Ragnor and Janna step out of the trees. They speak for a moment, and then Levi turns and waves us down. “Do you feel up to it?” Pace asks.
“Right now this is more important than how I feel,” I say, and we start down the slope. Jonah decides to follow us and trots delicately through the tender shoots of the rows.
Ragnor dips his head in my direction when we arrive. I know he respects me for what I did, running for Jilly and Ellen, and possibly for the fact that I survived my meeting with Wulf.
“Ragnor has news,” Levi says.
“Wulf is dying,” he says simply. “He has ah-fever from his ah-wound.”
Can it be that simple? Our trouble with the rovers could be over because their leader is dying. “Are you certain?” I ask.
“Aye,” he replies. “I have spies. The ah-fever came upon him that ah-night.”
“So what happens then? If he dies?”
“Ragnor will challenge.” Janna says.
“Can you win?”
Ragnor nods. He feels confident. I have no idea who he will have to fight. I can only pray that he is right.
“What does this mean for us?” Pace asks. “Can we have peace?”
“I ah-want peace,” Ragnor says. “I want to ah-learn.” He stops and clears his throat. “I want to … learn,” he says forcibly, and I realize he is trying to mimic our way of speaking. “I want … better.” He looks at Janna and puts his arm around her, drawing her close. “For our child.”
“Congratulations,” Pace says, and they look at him in confusion.
“It means we are happy for you,” I say. “Would you like something to eat? We have plenty.” I really don’t know the state of our food stores, all I know is I cannot send them away without something. Ragnor did not have to come to us. Or he could have an ulterior motive. I choose to believe that we can be friends and offer each other something in this new world.
Ragnor looks at Janna and she nods. They seem to know what each other is thinking at all times. We start back up the slope to the enclave.
“I have always thought,” Ragnor is careful with his words, as if he is measuring them before they come out, “that the high ground would be a wiser place to live.”
“It is,” Levi says. “When we were taken to your settlement I knew you were at a disadvantage should the Quest attack.”
“Quest?”
“The airship,” I say. “The boat in the sky.”
“They are your friends?”
“They are my family,” Levi says.
“Did you fight?” Ragnor asks. “Were ye … you with them?”
“We all did,” I confess. “And all of your people were killed and the bodies taken out to sea.”
He nods once more, taking it all in. I wonder if he had friends who fought, and then I think not. He would have been there with them. Wulf sent them. He sent the ones who he didn’t care about. He sent them as a sacrifice to test our power and learned from it, which is why he did not attack again. “You are at war with the dome?” Ragnor asks.
“We are,” Levi says. “They have a member of my family inside, and we are going in to get her.”
“How did you find us?” Pace asks.
“The big cart with guns,” Ragnor says. “We heard it and followed it. Then we waited.”
“For you,” Janna says to me. I am flattered that they trust me and also encouraged by their actions. If we can have peace with the rovers and free Zan and find a way for us all to live together and prosper … It is a dream I haven’t dared dream until now.
Ragnor and Janna pause at the gateway into the enclave. They look at the walls as if it is a trap, and then they step through, together. “You have nothing to fear here,” I say, as they look at the walls around the inside and the walkways above them that serve for protection. At the wells and the pens of goats and ponies and the chickens, all contained in their little yard for the night. They also look at the gate that is now in place that will be shut once we settle down for the night.
Some of our group might say that it is unwise to bring Ragnor and Janna into our enclave. They could say that they are here to spy on us and find out our weaknesses. I think not, and I know Pace and Levi agree with me, or they would have said something before we came in. As I watch them look around I know that they will know that we are prepared to fight to stay here. That we can survive.
I see nothing wrong with Ragnor knowing that at all.
24
I did not sleep well after Ragnor and Janna left, since I had slept most of the day. It could not be because of the apprehension over what we are about to do. Or so I told myself over and over again throughout the night. I tried my best to stay quiet so as not to disturb Jilly, who shared the bed with me, and Pace, who slept beside me on the floor, but it was hard. For a long time I lay on my back and rubbed Jonah’s ears and listened to the sound of Pace’s steady breathing and the tiny noises that Jilly made, as if she were talking in her dreams. Beyond, I heard the chorus of the night and the continued hooting of the owl outside the window.
I wished several times that Pace shared my bed and Jilly was on the floor, and finally, in the middle of the night, I slipped from beneath my blankets and joined Pace. He only stirred enough to roll to me and place his arm around me, pulling me firmly against his stomach. “I love you,” he murmurs into my ear. He is wearing his pants but his chest is bare, and I feel the heat of his body through my undershirt. Jonah joined us, curling into the place between Pace’s arm and my knees, and I finally fell asleep only to be awakened in what seemed like minutes.
“The Quest is on its way,” Pace says. He is already dressed and is wearing his weapons. I glance out the window. It is still dark outside, but I rise even though Jonah protests sleepily. “Maybe you should lock him in,” Pace suggests.
“I think I will,” I say. Jilly hears us talking and stirs. Pace leaves, and Jilly and I dress quietly, both of us thinking of the day to come and wondering if we will all survive it. I shut the door firmly in Jonah’s face as we leave, and I hear the cat digging at the door to escape. I should have shut the window too. I hope it is too high for him to jump to.