The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker #2)(42)

The half-man was still listening and sniffing the wind. “Our mutual enemies seem to have tired of their failures.”

“So they’re going after the town?”

The doctor was starting to grab his medical tools, throwing them into his hospital bag. “We have to help. Quickly! They’ll need us.”

As Mahlia gathered the last of the much-reduced supplies and handed them to the doctor, she noticed her hand trembling. She remembered other villages where soldiers had swept through, recruiting and burning. Remembered picking her way through blackened homes, with nothing but skinny dogs and coywolv flickering in the shadows.

“Doc?” she asked. “Shouldn’t we be running instead?”

Tool laughed, a low rumbling sound. “The girl shows wisdom. Better to run and live than walk into a tornado.”

The doctor glared at Mahlia and she shrank from his gaze. “You caused this,” he said. “Violence feeding violence. I’ve told you again and again and again, but still you never listen. You loose coywolv on soldiers and now the soldiers burn Banyan Town. Tit for tat until the whole world dies.”

Smoke was starting to blow over them. Acrid scents of the world on fire that even Mahlia could smell.

“Why are you mad at me? I’m not the one burning the town!”

Doctor Mahfouz snapped his bag closed and looked up at Mahlia. “Are you coming or not?”

“Back to town?” Mahlia stared at the doctor. “Are you sliding? We got no guns. They’ll kill us.”

“We’re not going back to fight. We’re going to help as many people as we can.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You understand how hard I fought for you, Mahlia? How many times I convinced our neighbors not to run you off? I stood for you. I guaranteed you.”

Beside them, the half-man growled. “People are coming. You should flee, or else go to your death. Choose now, before the choice overtakes you.”

Mahlia turned to the half-man. “Would you come with us?” she asked. “Would you help us help them?”

Tool laughed. “This is not my war.”

Mahfouz glared up at the creature. “You brought the soldiers here, and you accept no responsibility?”

Tool’s teeth showed in a cold smile. “I neither started this war where your kind tears one another apart, nor did I choose it. I carry no burden of guilt.” He sniffed the air, then waved toward the swamps. “If you wish help in escape from your enemies, I offer you aid, willingly, in thanks for medicines.” Tool straightened to his full height, looming over them. “But I will not seek out a fight that cannot be won. And I will not suicide on any human being’s behalf.”

Their conversation was cut short by running feet.

Everyone tensed except for Tool. Mahlia expected soldier boys to come bursting into the swamps, rifles blazing, but it wasn’t soldiers at all, it was a woman…

Amaya.

She stopped short, staring. Her eyes widened in shock. “You,” she gasped as she saw Mahlia. And then she caught sight of the half-man.

“Amaya,” Doctor Mahfouz said. “What’s happening? What’s going on? Where are your children? Where is Salvatore’s grandchild?”

“You!” she said again. “They want you!” Her eyes narrowed. “This is your fault, castoff. They’re looking for you! We took you in and you brought the soldiers down on us!”

“Amaya—” the doctor tried again.

But Amaya had already turned. She was running back the way she had come.

“She’s going to tell them!” Mahlia said. “She’s going to give us up to the soldiers.”

She leaped after the woman. If she could take Amaya down before she made it back to town, before she could spread word to the other villagers, she might—

A hand grabbed Mahlia’s shirt and yanked her around. She spun with the force of it and landed in the mud. Doctor Mahfouz stood over her.

“Mahlia, don’t.”

Mahlia scrambled to her feet. “She’s going back to the soldiers! If she rats us, we’re all dead. Once they got our scent and our direction, there’s no way we shake free.” She made another run for the trails, but the doctor grabbed her.

“That still doesn’t justify whatever you were planning for Amaya,” he grunted.

Mahlia struggled to break free, but the doctor was surprisingly strong.

“She’s going to get us killed!” Mahlia’s hand went to her knife. Where was it?

The doctor must have felt her motion, because he caught her hand. “Always that’s your solution! Is that what you are?” he demanded. “Just like those soldiers out there? Always killing?”

Mahlia looked around frantically, still trying to fight free. Caught sight of Mouse. “Get her!” she said. “Don’t let Amaya get back to town!”

Mouse looked from the doctor to Mahlia, uncertain.

Mahlia glared at him. “She’s going to do us, unless you catch her.”

“Stay there, Mouse,” the doctor grunted. “Make the right choice.”

Mouse looked down the path after Amaya, then back to Mahlia. Finally shook his head. “She’s bigger than me. I don’t think I can catch her before she’s back in town.”