Promised

  “Emily’s husband Kyle was executed,” Gaia said, her voice tightening. “Did you know that?”

  “No,” he said. “Don’t think it was your fault.”

  But it was, she thought. She was the one who had brought the ledgers to Emily’s family and started the trouble in the first place. As Leon’s arm tightened, Myrna tilted her face, regarding them frankly.

  “How did your back heal?” Myrna said. “And your finger.”

  “Well enough, thanks to you. I’m in your debt, Masister,” Leon said. He reached out a hand to shake with her. “What happened after Kyle’s execution?”

  Myrna dabbed at her neck with a handkerchief. “Apparently, Emily garnered a lot of sympathy from people outside the wall, and she built on that. She united all the pregnant women of Wharfton for the first baby strike. They refused to advance any more babies, and they sent a message to the Protectorat demanding that he return Emily’s baby. They claimed it was the right of every mother to keep her own child.”

  “A baby strike,” Gaia said, amazed. She’d never guessed that Emily would be the one to organize such a protest.

  “I expect that didn’t go over well,” Leon said.

  Chardo Will and Dinah arrived then from different directions. They unobtrusively joined the circle on the rock ledge as Myrna continued.

  “The Protectorat doesn’t play games,” Myrna said. “He didn’t reply to Emily’s demands. He simply turned off the water to Wharfton.”

  “Every spigot?” Gaia asked.

  “Even the irrigation water for the fields,” said Myrna.

  Gaia tried to imagine the panic that had hit Wharfton as people discovered they had no water. “It was like a backward siege, wasn’t it? With the people inside the wall controlling the people outside by cutting off what they needed,” Gaia said. “Did the strikers give in?”

  “Actually it got complicated,” Myrna said. “The people of Wharfton united behind the mothers, and inside the wall, the Protectorat’s hard-line policy backfired.” She glanced briefly at Leon. “People in the Enclave are not all as cold as you might think, and some of the very wealthy, influential families formed a consortium and spoke up on behalf of the people outside the wall. It became a humanitarian issue.”

  “I’ll bet,” Leon said dryly. “Those same families are probably the ones who own the fields outside the wall. They didn’t want to lose their investments.”

  “Did the Protectorat’s own people persuade him to turn on the water again?” Gaia asked.

  “No,” Myrna said. “But he was forced to negotiate. On the third day of the siege, the Protectorat named two conditions to turn the water back on. He wanted all of the people of Wharfton to register their DNA into one database.”

  Gaia was confused, trying to remember. Hadn’t she and Mabrother Iris once discussed such a possibility? She thought he’d said it wouldn’t be practical.

  “But that must be fifteen thousand people or more,” Gaia said.

  “Sixteen thousand, four hundred, and twelve, to be exact,” Myrna said. “The Protectorat wanted cheek swabs collected from everybody, in family groups. That way he would have a record of everyone’s DNA, once and for all.”

  Gaia looked at Leon. “What good could that possibly do him?”

  Leon was watching Myrna. “It’s an overabundance of information, certainly, but he likes to plan ahead. It fits.”

  Gaia shifted her weight, repositioning Maya on her hip. “What was the second condition?”

  “He wanted Emily to come live inside the Bastion, as his permanent guest,” Myrna said. “She could have her son back, but inside the wall, in the Protectorat’s own home.”

  “To control her,” Gaia said, with instinctive understanding. It was practically the same thing that had happened to her in Sylum when the Matrarc had confined her for a period of reflection in the lodge, only Emily’s status as a guest would never end. “Did she go?”

  “By day six, Wharfton was completely out of water,” Myrna said. “They’d drunk every last drop of cider and distilled wine just for the liquid. Pets were dying, and people were pressuring Emily. She said she’d never signed on for a rebellion. She just wanted to see her son again, so she went.”

  “But is she all right?” Gaia asked.

  Myrna frowned thoughtfully. “She appears to be. She’s risen to a position of some importance. She’s been there over a year now, and her second child, a boy—that’s the only home he’s ever known.”

  Gaia turned to Leon, whose gaze was directed toward the Enclave, as if he could penetrate the mind of his father just by observing the city where he dwelled.

  “So there’s a full DNA registry,” Leon said.

  Myrna nodded. “It took us a month, but we swabbed every single person. That’s when I moved outside the wall, and I found, to my great surprise, that despite the rampant ignorance of your old neighbors, life in Wharfton suits me just fine.”

  “He’ll want us to register our DNA, too,” Chardo Will guessed.

  “Yes,” Myrna said, turning to him. “That’s a given. And you are?”

  Gaia made quick introductions.

  Unexpectedly, Dinah laughed. “I wonder what the Protectorat will think of our expools.”

  Myrna glanced at Gaia.

  “Many of our men are sterile,” Gaia explained. “We suspect they’re XX-males. I suppose now we’ll find out for certain from their DNA.”

  Myrna looked surprised. She took another look at the line of people in the caravan. “How about the women? Are they fertile?”

  Dinah nodded, still smiling. “I’d say. Our mothers have, on average, eight children each. Many have over ten, and the children are almost all boys. We hope that will change now that we’re here, away from the water that poisoned us in Sylum.”

  “There does seem to be quite a preponderance of men,” Myrna said.

  “We have nine men for every one woman,” Gaia said. “And there were no girls born in the past year.”

  Myrna was clearly interested. “Very odd. Is there any hemophilia in your population?” Myrna asked.

  “None,” Leon said.

  Myrna crossed her arms, plainly considering. “Interesting,” she said finally, and turned to look speculatively at Leon. “Your father will be very interested.”

  “We’re counting on that,” he said.

  Gaia was still worried about her old friend. “Does Emily ever come outside the wall? What happened to advancing the babies? I can hardly believe there are no more quotas.”

  Myrna’s gaze narrowed slightly, and she adjusted her hat brim over her eyes. “Emily came out briefly for a recruitment. She works for Leon’s father now. For the Vessel Institute.”

  “What’s that?” Gaia asked.

  “It’s in its pilot phase,” Myrna said. “Essentially, the Vessel Institute is a baby factory.”

  CHAPTER 6

  homecoming

  “THE PROTECTORAT WOULD NEVER describe it so crudely,” Myrna added. “But that’s what it is.”

  “You can’t mean what I’m thinking,” Will said. “Women would never allow themselves to be used that way.”

  “Maybe not where you come from,” Myrna said.

  “How does your baby factory actually work?” Dinah asked.

  “The Vessel Institute hires women to bear children for childless couples in the Enclave,” Myrna said.

  “How many?” Gaia asked. “What does it pay?”

  “There are twelve women in the pilot program, and I’m not aware of the particulars of the stipend,” Myrna said.

  “Is Emily one of these women?” Leon asked.

  “Emily is the spokeswoman for the Vessel Institute,” Myrna said. “Whether she’s also pregnant, I don’t know. Her second son is only a few months old, but I suppose it’s possible. I guess she’d be the thirteenth.”

  “You just said Emily led the baby strike. How could she become the spokesperson for a baby factory?” Gaia argued. “It doesn’t make sense. H
ow is this system any better than advancing babies?”

  “These mothers have a choice,” Myrna said. “They sign on with their eyes wide open.”

  “Wait. You approve of this?” Gaia asked Myrna.

  “I’m just telling you how it works,” Myrna said coolly.

  “Listen, I don’t want to interrupt,” Dinah said, “but we’ve got some practical problems of our own right now. Shouldn’t you be at the head of the caravan, Gaia?”

  Gaia lifted the binoculars again and realized the vanguard was approaching the first, poorest houses of Western Sector Three. Soon they would reach the dip where she wanted them to turn down into the unlake. After all their planning and their weeks in the wasteland, they had reached the brink of arrival.

  Gaia turned to find Mikey behind her and gestured to the boy. “Red flag,” she said, and the boy lifted one high into the air. Within moments, other red flags went up along the line ahead of and behind them, and people stopped where they were.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Gaia said to Myrna. “Leon, please take Myrna to Jack to see what she can do for him.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Leon said.

  “I want you to stay out of sight for now,” Gaia said, absently adjusting Maya on her hip once more. “I’m hoping your presence is still a secret from the Protectorat. For that matter, I’d just as soon he doesn’t hear about Jack yet, either.”

  “He’ll find out soon enough,” Leon said.

  “But not now. Not right from the start,” she said.

  He came a step nearer. “Gaia. Be reasonable. I want to be with you. This is important.”

  Gaia glanced around at the others and then dropped her voice. “You’ll distract me,” she admitted. “I don’t want to have to worry about you. Stay back, with Jack and Myrna.”

  Leon’s eyes flicked oddly. “That’s insulting, you know. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Are you asking me as the Matrarc or as my fiancée?”

  She gave a slight, apologetic smile, already backing away from him. “Which way will you argue with me less?”

  He watched her a silent moment, his mouth set, and then he turned to Will. “Go with her. Don’t let her leave you. Don’t let her do anything stupid.”

  “Will do,” Will said. His teeth flashed in a grin before his voice turned solicitous. “Keep yourself safe, buddy.”

  “Shove off, Chardo,” Leon said. He gestured at the toddler on Gaia’s hip. “You want me to take Maya?” he asked Gaia.

  Gaia hesitated, and glanced at the load he already carried. “No. I’ve got her.”

  He clearly thought that was a poor decision, too. “Fine,” he said, and turned back with Myrna.

  Gaia knew she’d annoyed him, but at the same time, she was relieved that Leon wouldn’t be in the lead with her. She had a secret fear that he would take some risk in the Enclave that she’d be helpless to prevent. She turned, beckoned to Will and Dinah, and began striding the length of the caravan toward the vanguard.

  “All right, green flag,” she said to Mikey when they eventually reached the low rise where Peter was waiting with a corps of archers and scouts. The caravan of people shifted, collected itself, and began moving again.

  Peter tipped his hat brim as she fell in beside him. “I’m finally seeing where you came from, Mlass.”

  She glanced up and felt the natural pull of a smile. “Yes.” With Peter’s beard and the dust of the trail, he looked much like he had when she’d first met him. She would have died if he hadn’t rescued her, and she wondered if he ever remembered that night. “So much has happened since I left.”

  “For all of us,” Peter said.

  “It’s so big,” Mikey said.

  Gaia glanced over at the boy and smiled. “It is, isn’t it?”

  She tried to see Wharfton from his perspective, considering he’d never known anything bigger than the sylvan village of Sylum, and the clusters of buildings magnified before her eyes, especially the bright ones inside the wall that glistened in the sun. She needed no binoculars to perceive a boy on the path to the water spigot above Western Sector Three. Brown and gray garments hung on clotheslines, and across Wharfton, thin lines of dingy smoke rose from chimneys. A colorful pot of pink flowers stood on the porch of the closest little home. The first sound she heard was a blacksmith’s bang, and suddenly she was home.

  “What if I get lost?” the boy said.

  Gaia laughed. “We’ll keep you safe. If you lose your way, just head downhill, toward the unlake. You’ll always find us then.” She made a gesture for the Chardo brothers and the others. “We’ll turn off here.”

  Gaia started down into the great blue bowl of the unlake, and when a grasshopper leapt past her trousers, Maya squeaked in surprise. Soon, Gaia intercepted a trail she knew from her childhood when she, Emily, and Sasha used to explore. She’d drawn from her memories of the unlake to create a terrain map the planners had used for deciding where to lay out New Sylum, but she didn’t realize how sweet it would be to actually retrace the old paths. It felt like signals were reawakening in the dormant corners of her brain, making her senses even more acute. Her heart lifted. This was going to be home again, but better than before.

  “See?” Gaia said, turning to Will. “It’s just like I remember.”

  “Your two lives are finally meeting up,” Will said.

  She looked up, surprised. “Yes.”

  His profile was aimed ahead, to where a flight of swallows careened through the clear air. “It’s beautiful,” Will said. Then he added, “We’re a long way from the marsh.”

  “That’s the point,” Peter said.

  “I’m just saying it’s different,” Will said.

  “Are you going to get homesick?” Peter asked.

  Will adjusted the shoulder strap of his pack and regarded his brother. “Not before you do.”

  Peter forced a smile. “I won’t.”

  Gaia glanced at Peter again, picking up on his mood. “Everything all right?”

  “Get it over with,” Will suggested.

  “What?” Gaia asked.

  Peter shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

  Will laughed at him. “He wishes you and Vlatir all the best.”

  “Thanks, Will. I can speak for myself,” Peter said.

  “It’s really okay,” Gaia said, her cheeks warming.

  “I do, of course,” Peter said stiffly. “Congratulations.”

  For goodness’ sake, she thought. “Thanks,” she said abruptly. She gestured forward. “Shall we?” she said, and continued on.

  Around the next bend, the bay of boulders descended into a wide, flat shelf of bluegrass, wildflowers, and low brush. Stands of aspen promised firewood. Farther along, angling northeast, a path led directly back up toward Wharfton and her old neighborhood on Sally Row.

  Her gaze traveled up toward the towers of the Bastion and the obelisk. She lifted her thumb, measuring its height against the obelisk’s as she used to do with her father, and a poignant longing for him touched her heart. Then she shifted her thumb toward the wall. Leon had told her that as long as the soldiers were no taller than her thumbnail, she would be out of rifle range, and the guards on the wall were still smaller than that.

  Views change, she thought. She was no longer a kid.

  Maya held her thumb up, too, puzzled.

  Gaia laughed. “We’re home, bug,” she said. She turned to Dinah, Peter, and Will, opening her arms wide. “This is the place.”

  Dinah compared it to the site plans she’d pulled out and nodded. “I see. It’s good. Will?”

  He absently hooked a hand around the back of his neck as he looked over Dinah’s shoulder. “Yes.”

  “We’ll secure the perimeter,” Peter said.

  In no time, the clan leaders began filing people to their predetermined areas, adjusting in a fluid, flexible way now that they were confronted with the actual terrain. Archers appeared on three outcrops of rock that provided a clear vantage of
the entire area. Mikey propped Gaia’s standard in the place where clan nineteen would settle, and Gaia set Maya on her feet as Josephine came up with Junie. The two little girls gave each other hugs.

  “Cute,” Josephine said. “I’ll watch them. You sure you want us setting up here, under the gun, so to speak?”

  “Yes, closest to the path up to Wharfton,” Gaia said, indicating a boulder that marked where the trail rose.

  She took another look at the organized chaos around her. Norris was directing several expools to lay out his kitchen gear along a shelf of stone, and Angie, with a serious expression, was letting the little girls take turns with her goggles.

  “Angie,” Gaia said. “I thought you were staying with Jack.”

  “She’s no trouble here,” Norris said.

  “I know, but I want it settled who’s in charge of her, and I expect Myrna to take Jack up to the house on Sally Row.” Gaia considered the girl. “Would you rather be here with Norris, or with Jack?”

  “Jack,” Angie said.

  Gaia agreed. “Then I want you to stay with him and not wander. You can help out Myrna, at least until we’re settled. Is that clear?”

  The girl stood slowly and retrieved her goggles from the toddlers. She nodded.

  “I have to go see about Munsch and Bonner,” Gaia said. “They need to be released and I want to check on getting some fresh water for tonight, too. It’s strange that no one has come down to see what’s up with us,” she said, thinking of Emily’s parents and Leon’s birth father.

  “I’ll get Peter to put an escort together,” Will said.

  “I’ll take Peter and some archers,” she agreed. “I’d rather have you stay here. You’re in charge in case anything happens to me.”

  “And have Vlatir slit my throat for letting you go without me? No, thank you,” he said. “Meet us up ahead.” He started up the trail.

  She took off the sling she’d used for Maya and checked to make sure she had her knife in her boot. Then she glanced back at the stream of people still winding their way down into the unlake. Jack’s stretcher was coming, and she caught a glimpse of Leon giving Myrna a hand down a steep chute. Below, people were spreading out, clearing stones and setting up campsites.