freedom.’
‘Yes. And you’re going to help me get it.’
‘How?’
‘We’ll work on that. I have a few ideas.’
I bet you do, Skender thought. ‘You have to keep your side of the bargain first.’
‘Haven’t I already?’ Chu shook her head. Her deep brown eyes held immense reservoirs of amusement. ‘I assumed you would have worked it out by now. Oh well. See those gliders over there?’ She pointed to the Divide. He nodded. ‘Watch them for a while and you’ll find your answer.’
He did as he was told, simmering at her tone. He wasn’t an idiot — far from it. He was just a long way from everything he took for granted. The time would come, he swore, when he would turn the tables on her, and then she’d know how it felt. She’d be the one to feel embarrassed and stupid. She —
He stopped in mid-thought when something about the distant gliders penetrated the thick mire of his anger.
They were swooping like gulls snatching fish from the ocean. But there was no ocean, no fish. There was just the Divide, a deep wound gaping in the surface of the world, from which all manner of strangeness had been observed to emerge ...
Suddenly, in a flash, it all made sense. It was insane, but it did fit the facts.
‘The people in the gliders,’ he said, choosing his words with care as he thought it through, ‘they’re scavenging for artefacts in the Divide.’
‘And?’ Her nod was purely probationary.
‘And when they find something, they dive down to check it out.’ His mind reeled at the skill required for such missions. First, the pilots had to spot items of interest on the surface of the valley floor, far below. Then they had to negotiate unreliable air currents and approach closer to see if it was something genuinely valuable. Finally, since voyaging out into the Divide on foot was generally considered foolish, the most daring might try to snatch the bounty off the ground and whisk back up into the air. ‘I can’t believe so many people would be willing to risk their lives like this!’
‘It’s a matter of economics,’ Chu said. ‘This area has always been rich in artefacts. The foundations of Laure were laid a thousand years ago, and the city was once full of metal and ceramics and other trinkets. Long since picked clean, of course, but there are deposits outside the city. And the Divide is full of such things if you know where to look. Now, I know you haven’t been in Laure for long, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that we don’t have much of anything else here. We can’t grow crops because the water table is too low and what the yadachi can summon doesn’t leave enough for irrigation. The ground is empty of any metals that weren’t left behind by the ancients. Cattle live barely long enough to breed outside. So our only export is what we can find in buried ruins and the Divide. That means the people out there —’ she indicated the flyers with a thumb, ‘— the miners — they’re very well paid for what they do, and they play an important part in keeping the city alive. You see, now? It’s not just for kicks, Skender, if that’s what you’re thinking. Next time you’re using a fork or admiring a jewel, consider that it probably came from the Divide or somewhere similar, and ask yourself if you wouldn’t do the same thing, in our shoes.’
Her speech was impassioned. He could see that this really mattered to her, that she wasn’t showing it to him just to make an out-of-towner feel small.
But he still couldn’t see the relevance. ‘What does this have to do with my mother?’
‘It’s all to do with timing. Rogue man’kin and other creatures too weird to name are often sighted along the Divide, moving back and forth as the will takes them. We leave them well alone; some of them can be extremely dangerous. Just lately, though, there’s been an increase in foot traffic along the Divide from the Hanging Mountains. What they’re doing here, I don’t
‘Yes. And you’re going to help me get it.’
‘How?’
‘We’ll work on that. I have a few ideas.’
I bet you do, Skender thought. ‘You have to keep your side of the bargain first.’
‘Haven’t I already?’ Chu shook her head. Her deep brown eyes held immense reservoirs of amusement. ‘I assumed you would have worked it out by now. Oh well. See those gliders over there?’ She pointed to the Divide. He nodded. ‘Watch them for a while and you’ll find your answer.’
He did as he was told, simmering at her tone. He wasn’t an idiot — far from it. He was just a long way from everything he took for granted. The time would come, he swore, when he would turn the tables on her, and then she’d know how it felt. She’d be the one to feel embarrassed and stupid. She —
He stopped in mid-thought when something about the distant gliders penetrated the thick mire of his anger.
They were swooping like gulls snatching fish from the ocean. But there was no ocean, no fish. There was just the Divide, a deep wound gaping in the surface of the world, from which all manner of strangeness had been observed to emerge ...
Suddenly, in a flash, it all made sense. It was insane, but it did fit the facts.
‘The people in the gliders,’ he said, choosing his words with care as he thought it through, ‘they’re scavenging for artefacts in the Divide.’
‘And?’ Her nod was purely probationary.
‘And when they find something, they dive down to check it out.’ His mind reeled at the skill required for such missions. First, the pilots had to spot items of interest on the surface of the valley floor, far below. Then they had to negotiate unreliable air currents and approach closer to see if it was something genuinely valuable. Finally, since voyaging out into the Divide on foot was generally considered foolish, the most daring might try to snatch the bounty off the ground and whisk back up into the air. ‘I can’t believe so many people would be willing to risk their lives like this!’
‘It’s a matter of economics,’ Chu said. ‘This area has always been rich in artefacts. The foundations of Laure were laid a thousand years ago, and the city was once full of metal and ceramics and other trinkets. Long since picked clean, of course, but there are deposits outside the city. And the Divide is full of such things if you know where to look. Now, I know you haven’t been in Laure for long, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that we don’t have much of anything else here. We can’t grow crops because the water table is too low and what the yadachi can summon doesn’t leave enough for irrigation. The ground is empty of any metals that weren’t left behind by the ancients. Cattle live barely long enough to breed outside. So our only export is what we can find in buried ruins and the Divide. That means the people out there —’ she indicated the flyers with a thumb, ‘— the miners — they’re very well paid for what they do, and they play an important part in keeping the city alive. You see, now? It’s not just for kicks, Skender, if that’s what you’re thinking. Next time you’re using a fork or admiring a jewel, consider that it probably came from the Divide or somewhere similar, and ask yourself if you wouldn’t do the same thing, in our shoes.’
Her speech was impassioned. He could see that this really mattered to her, that she wasn’t showing it to him just to make an out-of-towner feel small.
But he still couldn’t see the relevance. ‘What does this have to do with my mother?’
‘It’s all to do with timing. Rogue man’kin and other creatures too weird to name are often sighted along the Divide, moving back and forth as the will takes them. We leave them well alone; some of them can be extremely dangerous. Just lately, though, there’s been an increase in foot traffic along the Divide from the Hanging Mountains. What they’re doing here, I don’t
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