Coldmaker(96)

I didn’t remember much after that.





Chapter Thirty-Two


The smelling salts pulled me out of my stupor.

But I desperately clung to where I was. I didn’t want to be back in reality.

I wanted to be numb.

I wanted to be back in the black river.

I wanted to be back with my father in the sky.

Leroi practically shoved the salts up my nostril until I finally gave them a sign that I was awake, jerking away from the pungent odour.

Shilah came up to me first, bending over so I could smell her hair. I was sitting in Leroi’s chair, the Coldmaker on the desk in front of me.

‘Abb,’ I said, the word stinging my tongue.

‘Spout,’ Shilah put a hand gently on my cheek. It was strange to see such a consoling look on her face. ‘You can grieve all you want later. I’ll grieve with you. But right now you have to get up. We need to go.’

I looked from side to side, noticing all the supplies and inventions around the study. Three sets of Rope Shoes. Bags of Cold. Waterskins. A whole sack of figs. Clothes. A portable Sinai.

Cam was there too, standing, his head bowed as though it was too heavy for his body.

‘Cam,’ I said. ‘You came back.’

Cam swallowed hard. ‘I’m sorry. I only wanted to punish my father. I thought that giving the Frost away …’

Leroi flicked him on the neck. ‘And look where it got us. Why, why didn’t you think, Camlish?’

Cam’s hand flew to the Coldmaker. ‘But, Leroi, look. I was right. That Frost got us a miracle.’

‘A miracle that will have us all killed. Then what good will the machine be when they toss it to the bottom of the Singe?’ Leroi stuffed the salt block in his pocket. ‘Spout. We need you up and moving. We have to go.’

I looked to the study door. ‘Lord Tavor …’

‘Will be back,’ Leroi said in a solemn voice. ‘I know my cousin. He doesn’t trust me. He’ll be back with all the taskmasters he can and search the tinkershop top to bottom. He knows that we have the Frost. We need to go.’

‘To Langria,’ Shilah said, her voice soft. ‘Can you believe it? We’re actually going, Spout. Freedom.’

Leroi gave a barely audible snort and scooped up a small black velvety bag which rattled with objects as he slinged it over his shoulder. ‘Some inventions, just in case,’ Leroi said, answering the question that played on my face. He looked to the side of his study where the door had been painted the same colour as the walls. It stood open and ready, and through the threshold I noticed a set of stairs leading down into the pitch blackness.

I tried to get up from the chair, but my legs were too weak. I thought I’d felt grief after my dream where Abb had died, but now that it was real, that my father, the best Jadan I’d ever known had been killed because of me, those feelings seemed laughable in comparison.

Leroi pulled a flask out of his desk drawer and offered it to me, but I waved it away. He gave a satisfied nod, tossing it into a corner of the study.

‘Then I won’t either,’ Leroi said, looking to Shilah and Cam with a different nod.

Both of them came to my sides, lifting me out of the chair, moving my arms around each of their shoulders so my weight was suspended.

‘You can do this,’ Cam said. ‘You’re a natural.’

I thought about where I had ended up. Where Abb had pushed me to be. Because of him, my friends and I had been led to the most important finding since the Great Drought began. Perhaps ever.

My father would want me to be strong.

‘The Cold doesn’t matter,’ I whispered to Cam. ‘You’re one of us. Family.’

‘Thanks, Spout.’ Cam gave my side a squeeze where his hand was, keeping me up. ‘I’m glad you think that.’

‘I need you all to be quick,’ Leroi said. ‘We don’t stop until we’re far, far out of Paphos. Then we can break for water, not before. There are Tavors up in the Glasslands. They don’t particularly care for this side of the family, so I think we’ll be safe to stop there and resupply.’

‘I can do this,’ I said. I stepped away from my friends’ support and took the bag which sat beside the Coldmaker on the desk, nestling the machine inside it. Someone had thought to put in some boilweed for cushioning, and I buttoned it closed, slinging it over my shoulder. ‘I want to carry this.’

Leroi nodded understandingly. ‘Course you do. We wouldn’t have it any other way.’

Everyone loaded themselves with as much as they could hold, our bodies practically caravans, and we followed our gaunt leader into the secret tunnel. The passage was narrow and the stairs steep, but miniature Sinais had been set on each of the landings, and there was enough light to travel by. We moved silently, anxiously. It felt awful to be leaving my new home so soon, but now that I had the Coldmaker I knew the Crier needed me out in His world.

I’d make more Coldmakers with my blood and tears and Frosts.

I’d figure out how to reach into the sky itself.

Perhaps I’d even discover how to rid the world of Desert.

My legs found strength, and for just a moment I thought I could feel Abb’s touch on my arm, his telltale chuckle over my shoulder.

Soon enough a door appeared at the end of the tunnel.