Read Online 0062104292 (8UP) by Anne Nesbet - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anne Nesbet
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even guess.
But it wasn’t the blandness of these people in gray that troubled her most. It was the way they stood in an anxious, slump-shouldered circle around something, arguing among themselves and coughing and moving angry, nervous hands in the air. Linny crawled up to the back of a conveniently placed bush and listened as hard as she could, but she still couldn’t make out all the details of their speech. They were calling one another fools and idiots and other, even ruder words. Before Linny could figure out what they were saying to each other, one ofthem had moved off (angrily) to the side, and for the first time she got a clear look at the thing they were gathered so intently around. That thing was poor Elias. One of the gray people must have knocked him down, and he was on his knees, holding himself off the ground with one trembling hand and rubbing his head with the other.
“Told you there was a madji brat sneaking around,” said one of the gray men, wiping sweat from his forehead. He spat out that word, “madji,” as if it were some vile curse. His voice was hoarse and rough, and in between words he took desperate gasping gulps of air.
They all looked sick, Linny thought. They looked cranky and wobbly and like people at the end of their ropes. But that didn’t make them less dangerous. Sick animals are worse than well ones—Linny knew that much from the woods.
“Stupid fool! What have you gotten us into?” hissed another gray man—only actually she was a woman, Linny realized once she began speaking. The woman was mad at the first man, for some reason. “Well, go ahead, bind his hands, now we’re stuck with him.”
“ They take us prisoner when they can,” said the first man sulkily. “He’s got information, right? Probably knows where everything is around here, at least—don’t you, madji boy?”
Elias mumbled something Linny couldn’t hear, butthe man was unhappy with it. He raised his hand over Elias’s head, but the woman yanked the hand away. She must be their boss or something.
“So tell us, boy. You got any friends out here with you?”
Elias shook his head.
“No,” he said. “Just me.” Linny could hear how hard he was trying to hide the shake in his voice. Good lummox! she thought.
“Stop and think logically for a minute,” said the gray woman to the two gray men. “The hillsickness has gotten to your brains. And you call yourself Surveyors! What do we do with him now, you fools?”
“Treating him better than they treated ours. What about that officer they took years ago, hunh? Just left her uniform folded neatly under a rock.”
“You’re not making sense,” said the woman, her voice like ice. “We can’t let him go. Think about that.”
“He’ll lead us right to that lost village, I bet. He looks like he comes from way up in these logicforsaken hills. We could get a lot of land charted, if we had some help. Hey, boy! Where are you from?”
But Elias just swayed a little on his knees, and didn’t say anything that Linny could hear.
“Leave him a moment,” said the woman. “He’s tied up, yes? The rest of you, over here. Now.”
The gray people shuffled about twenty feet farther away and continued that angry discussion. They clearly didn’t want poor Elias to hear whatever it was they were saying. Elias, meanwhile, was working away at the ropes on his wrists and shaking his head.
That reminded Linny of one important thing: the knife in her pocket. She sneaked forward to a slightly nearer rock. What should she do? Throwing the knife seemed more likely to damage Elias’s head than to get the knife safely into his hands. All right.
She would have to sneak across the creek and do this thing herself.
7
“THANK YOU, BRAVE LINNET!”
S he moved quickly up through the woods, her heart nervous in her chest, and crossed the creek at the first likely place. Then it was back through the woods on the gray people’s side of the water. She was lucky with
But it wasn’t the blandness of these people in gray that troubled her most. It was the way they stood in an anxious, slump-shouldered circle around something, arguing among themselves and coughing and moving angry, nervous hands in the air. Linny crawled up to the back of a conveniently placed bush and listened as hard as she could, but she still couldn’t make out all the details of their speech. They were calling one another fools and idiots and other, even ruder words. Before Linny could figure out what they were saying to each other, one ofthem had moved off (angrily) to the side, and for the first time she got a clear look at the thing they were gathered so intently around. That thing was poor Elias. One of the gray people must have knocked him down, and he was on his knees, holding himself off the ground with one trembling hand and rubbing his head with the other.
“Told you there was a madji brat sneaking around,” said one of the gray men, wiping sweat from his forehead. He spat out that word, “madji,” as if it were some vile curse. His voice was hoarse and rough, and in between words he took desperate gasping gulps of air.
They all looked sick, Linny thought. They looked cranky and wobbly and like people at the end of their ropes. But that didn’t make them less dangerous. Sick animals are worse than well ones—Linny knew that much from the woods.
“Stupid fool! What have you gotten us into?” hissed another gray man—only actually she was a woman, Linny realized once she began speaking. The woman was mad at the first man, for some reason. “Well, go ahead, bind his hands, now we’re stuck with him.”
“ They take us prisoner when they can,” said the first man sulkily. “He’s got information, right? Probably knows where everything is around here, at least—don’t you, madji boy?”
Elias mumbled something Linny couldn’t hear, butthe man was unhappy with it. He raised his hand over Elias’s head, but the woman yanked the hand away. She must be their boss or something.
“So tell us, boy. You got any friends out here with you?”
Elias shook his head.
“No,” he said. “Just me.” Linny could hear how hard he was trying to hide the shake in his voice. Good lummox! she thought.
“Stop and think logically for a minute,” said the gray woman to the two gray men. “The hillsickness has gotten to your brains. And you call yourself Surveyors! What do we do with him now, you fools?”
“Treating him better than they treated ours. What about that officer they took years ago, hunh? Just left her uniform folded neatly under a rock.”
“You’re not making sense,” said the woman, her voice like ice. “We can’t let him go. Think about that.”
“He’ll lead us right to that lost village, I bet. He looks like he comes from way up in these logicforsaken hills. We could get a lot of land charted, if we had some help. Hey, boy! Where are you from?”
But Elias just swayed a little on his knees, and didn’t say anything that Linny could hear.
“Leave him a moment,” said the woman. “He’s tied up, yes? The rest of you, over here. Now.”
The gray people shuffled about twenty feet farther away and continued that angry discussion. They clearly didn’t want poor Elias to hear whatever it was they were saying. Elias, meanwhile, was working away at the ropes on his wrists and shaking his head.
That reminded Linny of one important thing: the knife in her pocket. She sneaked forward to a slightly nearer rock. What should she do? Throwing the knife seemed more likely to damage Elias’s head than to get the knife safely into his hands. All right.
She would have to sneak across the creek and do this thing herself.
7
“THANK YOU, BRAVE LINNET!”
S he moved quickly up through the woods, her heart nervous in her chest, and crossed the creek at the first likely place. Then it was back through the woods on the gray people’s side of the water. She was lucky with
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