Black dawn (21 page)

Slaves, Maggie thought, staring. They were all
dressed identically, in loose-fitting pants and tops
that were like short tunics. Jeanne was wearing the
same thing-it had looked enough like clothes from
Outside
that Maggie hadn't really focused on it be
fore. What struck her now was that everybody
looked so
. . . un-ironed. There were no sharp creases. And no real color. All the clothes were an indeterminate shade of beige-brown, and all the
faces seemed just as dull and faded
They
were
like drones.

What would it be like to live that way?
she
won
dered as she threw a rough sack around her shoul
ders to hide the dark blue of her jacket. Without any choice in what you do, and any hope for the
future?

It would be terrible, she decided. And it might
just drive you crazy.

I wonder if any of them ever ...
snap?

But she couldn't look around anymore. Jeanne was hustling through a doorway into the open air.
There was a kind of garden here just outside the
kitchen, with scraggly f
nut trees and what looked
like herbs. Then there was a courtyard and
finally
a row of huts nestled against the high black wall
that surrounded the castle.

"This is the really dangerous part," Jeanne whis
pered harshly. "It's the back, but if one of
them
looks out and sees us, we're in trouble. Keep your
head down-and walk like this. Like a slave." She
led them at a
shuffling
run toward a hut.

This place is like a city, Maggie thought.
A city
inside a wall, with the castle in the middle.

They reached the shack. Jeanne pulled the door open and
bustled
them inside. Then she shut the door again and sagged.

"I think we actually made it." She sounded surprised.

Maggie was looking around. The tiny room was dim, but she could see crude furniture and piles of
what looked like laundry. "This is it? We're safe?"

"Nowhere is safe," Jeanne said sharply. "But we
can get some slave clothes for you here, and we can rest. And I'll go get the healing woman," she
added
as
Maggie opened her mouth.

While she was gone, Maggie turned to Cady and
P.J. They were both shivering. She made Cady lie
down and had P.J. help her go through one of the
piles of laundry.

"Get your wet things off," Maggie said. She
pulled off her own
hightops
and shrugged out of
her sodden jacket. Then she knelt to get Cady's
shoes off. The blind girl was lying motionless on a
thin pallet, and didn't respond to Maggie's touch.
Maggie was worried about her.

Behind her, the door opened and Jeanne came
in with two people. One was a gaunt and handsome
woman, with dark hair pulled untidily back and an
apron over her tunic and pants. The other was a
young girl who looked frightened.

"This is Laundress." The way Jeanne said
it,
it
was clearly a proper name. "She's a healer, and the girl's her helper."

Relief washed through Maggie. "This is Cady,"
she said. And then, since nobody moved and Cady couldn't speak for herself, she went on, "She's from
Outside, and she was poisoned by the slave traders.
I'm not sure how long ago that was-at least a cou
ple of days. She's been running a high fever and
most of the time she's just sort of sleepwalking-"

"What is this?" The gaunt woman took a step toward Cady, but her expression was anything but
welcoming. Then she turned on Jeanne angrily.
"How could you bring this-thing-in here?"

Maggie froze where she was by Cady's feet.
"What are you talking
about? She's sick-"

"She's one of them!" The woman's eyes were
burning darkly at Jeanne. "And don't tell me you didn't notice. It's perfectly plain!"

"What's
perfectly plain?" Maggie's fists were clenched. "Jeanne, what's she talking about?"

The woman's burning eyes turned on her. "Ms
girl
is a witch."

Maggie went still.

Part of her was amazed and disbelieving.
A
witch?
Like Sylvia?
A Night Person?

Cady wasn't at all like that. She wasn't evil. She
was
normal,
a nice, ordinary, gentle girl. She
couldn't
be anything supernatural....

But another part of Maggie wasn't even startled.
It was saying that at some deep level she had
known all along.

Her mind was bringing up pictures.
Cady in the
hollow tree, when she and Maggie were hiding
from
Bern
and Gavin.
Cady's lips moving
and Gavin saying
I
can't
feel
them at all.

The hound today had said the same thing.
I can't

follow
their
life
force anymore.

She was blocking them from sensing us, Maggie
thought. And she was the one who told us to climb
the tree. She's blind, but she can see things.

It's true.

She turned slowly to look at the girl lying on
the pallet.

Cady was almost perfectly still, her breathing
barely lifting her chest. Her hair was coiled around
her head like damp snakes, her face was smudged
and dirty, her lashes spiky on her cheeks. But
somehow she hadn't lost any of her serene beauty.
It remained untouched, whatever happened to her
body.

I don't care, Maggie thought. She may be a witch,
but she's not like Sylvia. I
know
she's not evil.

She turned back to Laundress, and spoke care
fully and deliberately.

"Look, I understand that you don't like witches.
But this girl has been with us for two days, and all
she's done is help us. And, I mean, look at her!"
Maggie lost her reasonable tone. "They were bring
ing her here as a slave! She wasn't getting any spe
cial treatment. She's not on their side!"

"Too bad for her," Laundress said. Her voice was
flat and ...
plain.
The voice of a woman who saw
things in black and white and didn't like arguments.

And who knew how to back up her beliefs. One
big gaunt
hand,
went beneath her apron, into a hid
den pocket. When it came out again, it was gripping a kitchen knife.

"Wait a minute," Jeanne said.

Laundress didn't look at her. "Friends of witches
are no friends of ours," she said in her plain, heavy
way. "And that includes you."

With one motion, Jeanne wheeled away from her
and into a fighting stance. "You're right. I knew
what she was. I hated her, too, at first. But it's like
Maggie told you. She's not going to hurt us!"

"I'm not going to miss a chance to kill one of
them,"
Laundress said. "And if you try to stop me, you'll be sorry."

Maggie's heart was pounding. She looked back
and forth from the tall woman, who was holding
the knife menacingly, to Jeanne, who was crouched
with her teeth bared and her eyes narrowed. They
were ready to fight.

Maggie found herself in the middle of the room,
in a triangle formed by Cady and Jeanne and the
knife. She was too angry to be frightened.

"You
put that
down,"
she said to Laundress
fiercely, forgetting that she was speaking to an
adult. "You're not
going
to do anything with that.
How can you even try?"

Vaguely, she noticed movement behind the woman. The frightened young girl who hadn't said
anything so far was stepping forward. She was star
ing at Maggie, pointing at Maggie. Her eyes and
mouth were wide open, but her voice was an in
drawn breath.

"The Deliverer!"

Maggie hardly heard the gasped words. She was
rushing on. "If you people don't stick together,
what kind of chance do you have? How can you
ever get
free-
"

`It's
her!"
This time the girl shrieked it, and no
body could help but hear. She clutched at Laun
dress's arm wildly. "You heard what she said,
Laundress. She's come to free us."