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Mercy answered the second question before Zeke could unclench his jaw again to answer the first. “Houjin went back to Dr. Wong’s to pick up some balm for the bruising that’s going to come with this cut. Mostly I needed him out from underfoot. He was hovering like a hen. ”
“Feeling guilty,” Zeke mumbled. “He’s the one who dared me. ”
“Dared you to what?” asked Cly.
Zeke sighed, a ragged sound that was drawn in time to the needle threading through his skin. He craned his head around to look at the men on the pew, giving himself an excuse not to watch what was happening to his leg. “We went hiking up the hill, where there aren’t so many rotters. Hardly any of them, really. But there are a lot of big houses, where the merchants and sawmill fellows used to live—and Houjin said some of them hadn’t been bothered since the blight. ”
Swakhammer shook his head. “I find that unlikely. ”
“You never know,” the boy replied, a hint of his opportunistic optimism shining through even now. “And even if someone had already gotten inside, people miss things. So we thought we’d go take a look. ”
Mercy murmured, “And how’d that work out for you?”
“We found a whole drawer full of viewing glass. ” He referred to glass that had been polarized, so even trace amounts of blight gas could be detected. This glass was helpful to have around for the sake of detecting leaks, but it was worthless aboveground—given that the gas was absolutely everywhere. “And we found some canvas, a whole bunch of it folded up inside a wagon. ”
“Would this be the same wagon you fell through?” Mercy asked.
“I thought it’d hold! It was one of the old covered kind, abandoned back behind a real tall house near the wall’s east edge. Someone had been using it to store junk, but junk is sometimes useful. Houjin said he wouldn’t climb inside it, and I said he was chicken. So he dared me to do it instead, and I did. But the floor didn’t hold, and—” He gestured at his leg without peeking at Mercy’s activities.
The nurse paused and reached for a rag inside a bowl of water. She wrung it out with one hand and wiped at the wounds, which had mostly stopped bleeding. “And congratulations, fearless explorer. For your reward, you get thirty stitches. ” She lifted his leg by the ankle and turned it over to get a better look at his calf. “Maybe more than that. ”
He groaned. “My mother says she’s going to kill me, but she’ll wait until I can run again, so I can have a head start. ”
“Mighty generous of her,” the captain said. “Considering all the times she’s told you not to go exploring on the hill. ”
“Exploring on the hill by myself. I wasn’t by myself. Momma said I was obeying the letter of the law, but not the spirit. Apparently that ain’t good enough. ”
“Speaking of your mother, where’s she at?” Cly said with all the nonchalance he could muster. “I thought she’d be here, pacing around you. ”
From the doorway, Briar Wilkes responded. “I went to hit up the bottommost storage room, looking for a pair of pants no one wanted so I could cut off one of the legs. ” She held up a pair of Levi’s that had probably once belonged to a logger. “They’ll swim on you, so you’ll have to belt ’em. But I don’t think anyone will miss these things, and if anybody does, he can take it up with me. Hello, Jeremiah. ”
Andan Cly stood up, but Swakhammer only nodded in her direction. He figured she wouldn’t begrudge him the gesture, since his leg was still on the mend. But the captain couldn’t stop himself, and didn’t try.
“Weren’t you down here just last week?”
“It’s a slow season, and I felt like coming back. ”
“You must be the strangest man alive,” she teased.
“Maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m just looking for the company of my own kind. ” He smiled, and since he was up, wandered over to Zeke’s leg to take a look at the damage. The boy’s skin was snagged and torn, but his muscles were intact, and Mercy Lynch was a formidable seamstress.
Zeke winced as the curved needle dipped again, and shuddered as the thread slipped through his skin.
Cly said, “Before long, you’ll have one hell of a scar to show off. Girls love scars. ”
“They do?”
“They’re always a conversation-starter. ”
“I just bet they are. ” Briar only half stifled her smile as she added, “Except, come to think of it, I don’t believe we’ve ever heard any stories about your scars. I assume you have some, somewhere. ”
Cly tried not to look at her and mostly failed, his gaze darting back and forth between the morbid sight of Zeke’s mangled leg and the petite, curly-haired object of his truer interest. “None of mine are very interesting. ”
“I find that difficult to believe,” she pressed. Her eyes followed him as he shuffled from foot to foot.
“Captain,” Mercy Lynch said sharply. “You’re standing in my light. Am I going to have to send you errand-running like your junior crew member?”
“Um—”
Before he could form a smarter reply, the nurse declared, “All of y’all, this is silly. I don’t need an audience, and neither does my patient. Everybody out, except you, Miz Wilkes, if you’d care to stay and look after him. ”
“Funny thing is, I don’t care to,” she said. She brought the pants over to Zeke, who stretched out his hand and took them. “I’m glad he’s all right, and I’m glad you’re here to take care of him—but I’m still none too pleased with him, and anyway I don’t think he needs the comforting. ”
“I could use a shot of whiskey,” Zeke tried, because hope springs eternal.
“You could use a boot to the rear end, but you’re not going to get that, either. Yet. ”
Mercy said, “I’m sorry I don’t have any ether or anything. I know this doesn’t feel very good. ”
“It’s not that bad,” Zeke fibbed.
“You’re a liar. Still, I wish I could give you something for the pain. I think I’ll put that at number one on my wish list, Captain. ”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You offered to make a supply run, and I’m telling you about a supply I could use. ”
“Oh. Sure. Just put it down on paper, and I’ll take it with me when I leave. ”
“You’re leaving right now,” she reminded him. “But come back in an hour. I’ll have him finished up by then, and I’ll start considering my inventory. Now, what’s everyone standing around for? Didn’t I ask for peace and quiet?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Swakhammer said to his daughter with exaggerated deference. “I’ll pick up my sorry old bones and be on my way. ”
Captain Cly stood aside to let Swakhammer pass, which also allowed Briar to slip out underneath his arm on her way back to the door. He stopped her by saying her name the way he always did. “Hey, Wilkes. ”
“Cly?”
“Suppose I could have a word with you? For a minute, if you can spare it. ”
“I was headed down to Chinatown to scare up some supper. You care to join me?”
“Yes,” he said quickly. “I mean, sure. Fang’s probably down there anyway, and Houjin will wander over once Mercy shoos him away again—or that’s my guess. I’ll be leaving for a long trip soon, and if he wants to come, he’ll have to get himself ready. ”
“A long trip?” Briar repeated. “How long, and are you taking off soon?”
“Might be gone a few weeks, but I’ll stick around until morning. Everybody and his brother wants to add something to my shopping list. ”
“Have you been offering?”
“I suppose I might’ve been. ”
“Then it’s nobody’s fault but your own. ” She bumped her shoulder against him, and he pretended to recoil—as if she’d knocked him so hard, she’d sent him off balance.
They made a funny pair, walking together back up the way Andan had come. Him so tall, he had to duck at every door
way. Her so comparatively small that the top of her head barely reached his chest. The captain felt conspicuous beside Briar Wilkes; he felt his height more acutely than usual when he had to crane his neck to look down at her, and she had to twist herself to look up at him.
But he liked it when she did.
Once upon a time, she’d been a notorious girl—a pretty teenager who’d run away from home to marry a man twice her age. But sixteen years, widowhood, hard work, and raising a son alone had taken away the imperious tilt of her nose. (Cly remembered it from a drawing he’d seen, a wedding announcement he recalled from ages ago. ) The intervening time had worn away her wealth, her softness, and her youth—but not the symmetry of her face. And for everything the years had claimed, they had given something in return.
At thirty-six, she was a patient and confident woman.
She was also the sheriff of Seattle, insomuch as the walled city had one. Her father had been a lawman who died a folk hero, obeying the spirit of the law if not the letter.
She’d never intended to replace him. She’d intended to live and die a rich man’s wife in a house with expensive furnishings and silver cutlery, pampering a brood of well-dressed children who played the piano and learned to ride horses with perfect posture. But time had had other ideas, and now she wore her father’s hat, his badge, and his belt buckle engraved with his initials, MW. And even the underground’s newcomers knew who she must be, whether they recognized her as Maynard’s daughter or not.
Cly lifted the big vault door and held it up while Briar climbed past it, into the subterranean underworld that passed for “outside. ” He followed her, asking, “What’s the fastest way to get where we’re going? I’m still learning my way around down here. ”