49
“This is the way it goes, kid.” I waved the sandwich, took a small bite. “You can talk to me, the nice guy who’s here to help you. Or you can talk to the Guard when they get here and take over. I know. You’re a tough guy. You’ve been getting yourself ready for this in your daydreams for the last fifteen years. And so far it hasn’t hurt much more than an ordinary dream. But when the Guards get here they’ll have someone from the Hill with them. And you know those people won’t think any more of stepping on you than they would of stomping a roach.”
I looked into Kip’s eyes and tried to imagine what he was seeing as he looked at me. Definitely not what I thought I was. Probably just a minor villain, laughing and rubbing his hands together while cackling about having ways to make him talk.
Time was getting to be a problem.
What I had to get around was Kip’s absolute vision of himself as the hero of his own story. Which at this point meant crushing him in a major way because I couldn’t come up with a means by which he could see an honorable escape route he could use without believing his escape was some sort of wicked betrayal.
I did some estimating of how much time I might yet have before those I’d summoned arrived. Seemed like it should be quite a while yet if things ran their usual course in officialdom.
I did some soul-searching, too. Because I wanted to know why some part of me was so convinced that it was important for me to get to Lastyr and Noodiss.
When I start thinking, and wondering about my own motives, life really starts to slow down. I can see why Morley gets impatient with me.
Marsha built us a fire. Doris had recovered enough to help without falling in. I gathered some of my favorite people in the circle of warmth. Singe. Playmate. Saucerhead. Casey and a member each from the other crews. They didn’t look like much naked. The males were like shriveled up old prunes. Like mummies. One of the two females wasn’t much more promising. The other got barely passing marks from me because I possess a prejudiced eye.
I hoped somebody would thaw out and tell me something interesting.
Neither Doris nor Marsha had any trouble leaving brother Dojango a subject in the realm of silence. Dojango never said anything interesting. Dojango just said.
Saucerhead recovered first. He was in a predictably foul temper. He insisted he was starving.
“Save yourself some agony,” I told him. “I’ve been where you’re at now, three times. If you try to eat anything it’ll come right back up.”
“Let me learn the hard way.” His stomach growled agreement.
“Your choice. But the only edibles in the area are those grapes up yonder. And if those were ripe they would’ve been picked already.”
Saucerhead wasn’t interested in common sense or rationality but he could handle them when they happened. “Then I’m going back to sleep.” Presumably a trick he’d learned in the army. Doze as much as you can until flying misfortune makes you get up and go to work.
“Don’t get into it too deep. I sent for the Guard. I can’t see you wanting to be lying around here napping when they show.”
“Which won’t be for a while. And I can count on my good friend Garrett to kick me in the slats and wake me up as soon as he sees them coming over yonder ridge. Go on and get away from me. My head is pounding and I ain’t in no mood.”
I did get a smile out of Playmate before he turned nasty on me. Somehow, while he was unconscious, all his pain and misery had become my fault. Ignoring the incredibly stupid thing he’d done, chasing after a Kayne Prose who wasn’t even the real deal, a dozen miles into the countryside.
Singe tried harder to be nice when she came around, but she did find it difficult to be understanding about the food shortage.
Seems I spend my whole life listening to people complain.
Maybe I should get into the priest racket. But I’m either too cynical or not cynical enough.
I told Singe, “If hunger becomes a bad enough problem we’ll eat our pal Casey over there.”
Casey didn’t respond even though he was awake.
None of the elves seemed able to communicate without their clothes on.