Armageddon's Children

  But when he was finished, a new voice spoke out instantly, a little girl’s voice. “It is the vision, Owl! Hawk’s vision!”

  “Your story, Owl!” another voice said, this one male, young. “Of the boy and his children!”

  There were hurried whispers and urgent warnings of “hush” and “be quiet”—five or six voices, at least, all speaking at once. Logan thought he heard the name Candle, as well, but he couldn’t be certain. He waited for the muttering to die down, trying to stay patient.

  Finally, the older girl said, “I don’t know, Logan Tom.”

  Another voice, darker sounding, older, too, said, “Frickin’ bunch of bull! I don’t believe any of it!”

  Everyone began talking at once, but he could tell that they were all kids, none of them, save perhaps the girl who had spoken first, old enough to be called a grown-up. Any attempt at keeping their numbers hidden had been forgotten, and all the talk now was about whether or not he was to be believed.

  Then the little girl—Candle, he guessed—shouted at them suddenly. “Open the door! He is here to help us. He is not here to hurt us. I would know. We have to let him in and see what his talisman tells us!”

  The argument resumed for a moment, and then one of them—the older girl, perhaps—hushed the others into silence.

  “Will you put down your staff, Logan Tom? Will you turn around and face away from us so that we can make certain that you mean us no harm? Will you do that? Will you stand there and let us make sure of you?”

  It was something that he had never thought he would agree even to consider. His instincts were all directed toward protecting himself—to never give up his staff or put himself at the mercy of another or trust the word of someone he didn’t know. He almost said no. He almost decided that enough was enough and he would just go in there and get this over with. But he calmed himself by remembering that with kids you needed to earn their trust. These kids were just trying to stay alive, and they didn’t have anyone to help them do that. They were on their own, and they had learned early on that they could only rely on themselves.

  He turned around so that he was facing away from the door, laid his staff on the floor, spread his arms out from his sides, and waited. After a moment, he heard the sounds of an iron bar being pulled free and locks being released. The door opened with a small squeal, candlelight seeped out through the opening, and instantly a pair of cold metal tips pressed up against his neck. He stayed where he was, calm and unmoving, even when he saw the dark length of his staff sliding away from him, disappearing from view.

  “Look at these carvings,” a boy whispered in awe.

  “Leave that alone,” another snapped. Then to Logan, he said, “Those are prods you feel. You know what they are, what they can do?”

  Logan smiled faintly. “I know.”

  “Then don’t move unless you are told to.”

  There was a hurried discussion and a brief argument about what to do next. Hands patted at his clothing, searched his pockets, and came away with the black cloth that held the finger bones. “Yuck!” someone said, and stuffed the cloth and the bones back in his pocket. “He’s carrying bones!”

  “Maybe he’s a cannibal,” another whispered.

  The older girl said, “Turn around.”

  He did and found himself staring at nine dirty faces backlit by the candles burning within: five boys, four girls, all of them sharp-eyed and wary. The youngest boy and girl couldn’t have been more than ten years old. The oldest boys, one big and burly, one dark-skinned and hard-eyed, held the prods against his neck. Another of the boys, his skin almost white, was kneeling in front of the staff, running his hands over its polished surface. One of the girls, the one whom he now believed to have done all the talking, was in a wheelchair. Another girl, her straw-colored hair sticking out everywhere, her face and arms marked with angry scratches and dark bruises, held a viper-prick. Her blue eyes were steady and unforgiving as she peered up him. They were a ragged, motley bunch, but if how they looked concerned them in any way, they weren’t showing it.

  Crouched just behind all of them, gray eyes baleful, was the biggest dog he had ever seen, some mixed breed or other, its mottled coat shaggy, its body heavily muscled, a huge and dangerous-looking animal. It was no longer growling, but he knew that if he moved in a way it didn’t like or threatened these kids, it would be on him instantly.

  Almost incongruously, the girl with the straw-colored hair moved over to it and patted its head affectionately. “He won’t hurt you if you don’t do anything stupid,” she said.

  The girl in the wheelchair announced quietly, “We are the Ghosts. We haunt the ruins of our parents.”

  He looked at her. She sounded as if she were reciting a litany she had memorized. “Are you Owl?”

  She nodded. “Why should we believe anything you’ve said? None of us has ever heard of Knights of the Word or demons or this gypsy morph. It sounds like the stories I tell, but those are made up.”

  “Not about the boy and his children,” the smallest girl declared, her red hair framing her anxious face in a fiery halo. Her eyes fixed on him, and he realized that she was the one who had persuaded the others to open the door to him.

  “Hush, Candle,” Owl said. “We can’t be certain yet of his purpose in coming here. He must convince us further before we can trust him.”

  Her plain, ordinary features masked a fierce intelligence. She was the leader, the one the others looked to, not only because she was older, but because she was the smartest and perhaps the most knowledgeable, too.

  “I will say it again,” he said. “The end is coming for all of us. Something terrible is going to happen, something that will destroy what remains of this world. Weapons, perhaps. But maybe something else. The gypsy morph is the only one who can save us. The morph is the child of one of the most powerful magic wielders of all time. Nest Freemark is a legend. Her child carries her promise that there is a chance for all of us.”

  “Her so-called child would be maybe sixty or seventy by now,” the dark-skinned boy pointed out. “Kind of old to save the world.”

  “Her child would not have aged as we do,” Logan answered him. “A gypsy morph is not subject to the laws of humans. It is its own being, and it takes the shape and life it chooses. It was a boy once before, when it was brought to Nest. It may have taken that shape again.”

  “Well, it ain’t me,” the boy snapped, his lip curling. “Ain’t them, either.”

  He pointed at the other three boys, who seemed inclined to agree with him, their faces reflecting their doubt.

  “What of your talisman?” Owl asked him. “What does it tell you?”

  “My talisman points me toward the gypsy morph,” he said. “But it does not speak. The bones you took from my pocket, they’re the finger bones of Nest Freemark’s right hand. When cast, they point toward the gypsy morph. If the morph is here, the bones will tell us.”

  The kids looked at one another with varying degrees of suspicion and doubt. “These bones alive?” the dark-skinned kid demanded incredulously.

  “They have magic,” Logan answered. “In that sense, yes, they are alive.”

  The kid looked at Owl. “Let the man throw them. Let’s see what they do. Then we decide what we do with him.”

  The older girl seemed to consider, then looked at Logan. “Are you willing to try using these bones from out there?”

  “I will need you to separate enough that I can pick out which one of you the bones are pointing to.” He looked at the boys with the prods. “You will have to trust me enough to take the prods away so that I can move.”

  The dark-skinned boy looked at his burly companion and then shrugged. He moved his prod back from Logan’s neck about two feet. “Far enough for you, Mr. Knight of the Word?”

  Logan waited until the other boy had followed suit, then knelt slowly. The kids crowded closer as he took out the black cloth and spread it on the floor. The light from the candles barely illuminated t
he space in which he worked, blocked in part by the crush of bodies.

  “Move back,” Owl ordered when she realized his difficulty, motioning with both hands. “Let him have enough light to see what he is doing.”

  Logan glanced up, then took out the finger bones and cast them across the cloth. Instantly, the bones began to move, sliding into place to form fingers, linking up until they were a recognizable whole. The street kids murmured softly, and one or two shrank back. Now we will find out, he thought.

  But the bones turned away from the circle of children and pointed instead toward Logan, the index finger straightening as the others curled together.

  “So, guess you be the gympsy moth or whatever,” the dark-skinned boy sneered. “Big surprise.”

  Logan stared, perplexed. This didn’t make any sense. Then, abruptly, he understood, and a sinking feeling settled into the pit of his stomach. He moved to one side, away from where the bones were pointing. The bones did not move. They continued to point in the same direction—away from him, from the children, from the room, and off into darkness. He stared at that darkness, feeling it press in about him like a wall, closing off his hopes for ending this.

  “The bones are telling us that the gypsy morph isn’t here. Is there someone missing—someone who might have been here earlier?”

  He looked back at Owl, then at the other kids, already anticipating the answer to his question. Candle’s small hands curled into fists and pressed against her mouth.

  “Hawk,” she whispered.

  WHEN HE REGAINED consciousness, his head pounding with the pain of the blow he had absorbed, Hawk was alone in a black, windowless room with an iron-clad door that provided just enough light under the threshold to let him measure its size. He sat up slowly, found that he wasn’t bound, tried to stand, and sat down again quickly.

  He took a moment to recover his scattered thoughts. The first of those thoughts left him filled with regret. What a fool I’ve been. He should never have come without Cheney, should have waited another day for the big dog to recover, should have realized the danger to which he was exposing himself…

  Should have, should have, should have…

  He took a deep breath and blew it out. What was the point in chastising himself now? It was over and done with. They had caught him out, and he was their prisoner. He thought about how they had captured him. They hadn’t just stumbled on him; they had been waiting. That suggested that they knew about his meetings with Tessa. In all likelihood, she had been found out, too. If so, she would face the same fate they decreed for him.

  For the first time he felt a ripple of fear.

  Fighting it down, he climbed to his feet and began exploring the door to see if there might be a way out. They had taken all of his weapons, even the viper-prick, and he had nothing with which to spring the lock. Nevertheless, he kept searching, running his fingers along the seams and across the door, then all along the base of the walls, hoping that his captors might have left something useful lying around.

  He was still engaged in this futile effort when he heard their footsteps approaching. He moved back to the center of the room and sat down again.

  The door opened, flooding the room with daylight that spilled through high slanted windows from across the way. His captors numbered four—big and strong, too many for him even to consider attacking. So he let them bind his wrists and lead him out into the hallway and from there down several different corridors and up a series of steps to a room filled with people.

  The only face he recognized was Tessa’s. She was seated in a chair facing a long table occupied by three men. An empty chair sat next to hers, and he was led to it. No one said anything to him. No one in the room did more than murmur softly. There must have been two hundred people gathered, perhaps more. The men leading him released his wrists and pushed him down in the chair.

  One bent close. “If you try to run or cause trouble, we’ll tie you up again. Understand me?”

  Hawk nodded without replying, his eyes on Tessa. His captor hesitated a moment, then moved away.

  “Are you all right?” he asked her quietly.

  Before she could answer him, the man seated at the center of the table across from them slammed his hand down on the tabletop so hard that it caused Hawk to jump. “Be quiet!” he said. “You will not speak unless asked to. You will not speak to each other. This is a trial and you will obey the dictates of this court!”

  The man was big and craggy, his face and voice unfriendly, and his eyes dark with anger. Hawk looked at him, then at the other two, and his heart sank. Their minds were already made up about what they intended to do to him. The best he could hope for was to deflect their anger from Tessa.

  “State your name,” the man said to him.

  He took a deep breath. “I am Hawk,” he answered. “I am a Ghost, and I haunt the ruins of my parents’ world.”

  There was subdued laughter from the audience, and the big man reddened. “Is it your intention to mock this court, boy? Do you think this is a game?”

  “Your Honor, he is only stating what is true,” Tessa said quickly. “He is a member of a tribe called Ghosts. Hawk is the name he has taken.”

  The judge looked at her, glanced at the two seated next to him, and nodded. “We will call him whatever he wishes to be called so long as he remains respectful. He is accused—you are both accused—of stealing stores from the compound for personal use. The evidence is clear. Tessa, you were observed in the medical dispensary when you had no right to be there. Medicines were found missing. You claimed to have been conducting an inventory, but no inventory was authorized. You met this boy outside the compound walls without permission, a secret assignation, and you gave these medicines to him. If any of this is wrong, say so now.”

  Tessa’s mouth tightened, and she straightened in her chair. “I took the medicines to save a little girl who was dying. Why is that wrong?”

  “Your reasons for what you did are not relevant to this trial. Just answer the question. Is any of what I have recited wrong?”

  Tessa shook her head slowly. “No, it is correct.”

  “You, boy. Hawk.” The judge gestured at him. “What was your part in this? What did you do with the medicines?”

  Hawk glanced at Tessa. “I used them to help the little girl.”

  “A street child?”

  He nodded.

  “Answer me!”

  Hawk felt his cheeks burn with anger. “Yes.”

  The man bent close and whispered to the other two, then looked back to Hawk. “There is no defense for what you did.” His gaze shifted to Tessa. “No defense for either of you. The law of the compound is clear in this instance. All violators are—”

  “Your Honor,” Tessa interrupted quickly. “I claim the right and protection of marriage bonding.”

  There was a muted exclamation from the crowd, and some of them began to mutter angrily. Hawk forced himself not to look at them, knowing what he would find in their faces.

  “Are you saying you married a street boy, Tessa?” the judge asked quietly.

  Her beautiful, dark face lifted defiantly. “I did. I took him to me, and I carry his child.”

  Cries of outrage exploded from the assemblage. Hawk glanced quickly at Tessa, but she was looking straight ahead at the judges. He wondered if what she had just told them was true. Was she carrying his child? He stared at her, trying in vain to read the truth in her face.

  The judge presiding signaled for quiet, then said, “Compound law does not recognize marriages made to those who live outside the walls. It does not matter that you carry his child. Even if your marriage were sanctioned, it would not save his life. He is an outsider and he has broken our law. In any case, I am not sure that I believe you. Clearly, you are infatuated with him and would lie to save him.”

  “Where is my mother?” Tessa cried out. “I want her to come forward and speak for me.”

  The judge hesitated, and then glanced toward the crowd. Ther
e was a moment’s pause, and then a small, dark-clad woman who bore more than a passing resemblance to Tessa appeared out of the crowd. A few hands reached out as if to assist her, but she brushed them away with her crushed, gnarled fingers, with her hands turned withered and streaked with vivid red scars. Hawk cringed as he glimpsed them, thinking of the pain she must have endured. He had never seen her before, but there was no mistaking who she was. Once, when she was younger, she must have been beautiful like Tessa. Now, however, her face was pinched and tight, and there was no warmth in her dark eyes.

  Those eyes shifted momentarily to find his, then slid away again. She walked up to her daughter and stopped.

  “Is it true,” she demanded. “Do you carry his child?”

  “Mother, please tell them—”

  “Do you carry his child!”

  Tessa flinched, her face crumpling. “Mother—”

  Her mother spit on her, her face contorted with rage. “You have disgraced us, Tessa. Betrayed us! You were told not to see this boy again. You were forbidden! If your father…”

  She was unable to finish the thought. She took a deep breath. “Do you know what you have done? Do you have any idea? What will happen to me, Tessa? Have you thought of that? Your father is gone. Now you abandon me, too. I am crippled—useless to all! Do you know what that means? Do you?”

  Her face turned hard and set. “If your father were here, he would not speak for you, and neither will I.”

  Tessa looked stunned, her blank eyes filling with tears. Her mother held her gaze a moment, and then turned away and disappeared back into the crowd.

  “Wait!” Hawk leapt to his feet. “I know what you intend for me, but you can’t blame her! She did it because I threatened to hurt her if she didn’t do as I said!”

  The judge barely glanced at him as two of his captors took hold of him and forced him back into his chair. “Tessa and Hawk, you have been found guilty by this court. The penalty for stealing stores is death. You will be taken to the walls of the compound at sunset today and thrown over. We grant you forgiveness for your acts and wish you a better life in the next world. This court is adjourned. Take them away.”