Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 34

'Oh rot the girl!' thought Maddock as he fished in his pocket for another handful of dried krakla berries.

He began to push them savagely, one by one, into his mouth.

Who did she think she was?

Hakansa is in danger! Do this for me because I am asking you to.

There was no good reason for him to do anything for that arrogant little shit of a girl. No reason at all.

'So why are you here, freezing your arse off in the middle of the night, when you should be warm and sleeping in your bed?'

Maddock pushed another dried berry into his mouth.

'I bet that's what she's doing right now.'

He peered out once more into the semi-darkness of the Enclosures. The only light came from the pale radiance of the Khensis moon, low on the horizon, and a vague rippling nimbus from the glow lights on the far side of the Infirmary, which cast the sprawling building in front of him as a square black silhouette. Only on the far right of the building were its harsh lines softened by the outline of the cherossa grove, which grew around the walls of the birthing meadow.

He had been in his hiding place between the two cart sheds long enough for his eyes to become accustomed to the darkness, and he could easily make out the line of pens on the opposite side of the avenue. He could even distinguish the slumbering form of Hakansa in the nearest pen's far corner, and if he listened closely he could hear, over the chittering sounds of the surrounding plains, the great beast's slow breathing.

The rest of the Enclosures were silent. The prides had been released to the great-bailey, and only Hakansa and Sacsensia remained. The other Pride-alpha was penned separately, around the far side of the building.

'This is madness, boy!' Maddock thought to himself, for about the hundredth time.

He hunkered back down into the shadows, and waited.

'I should just leave,' he told himself, also not for the first time. The girl had not asked the favour of him politely, or even given him any explanation, but...

She had looked half panicked. Her deep brown eyes had held something not quite usual.

"Madness,"Maddock muttered to himself, and then froze because he had heard a noise; a dull thud, followed by a muted curse from somewhere out in the avenue.

He had spent enough time playing seekers at the farm to know that you didn't move from your hiding place to see if you were close to being found once the hunt was on, so he stayed perfectly still. He let the handful of krakla berries fall from his hand, and waited.

A minute passed before a dark figure appeared in the frame made by the two cart sheds. It stopped by the side of Hakansa's pen, and it was impossible to distinguish any of its features, other than that it wore a wide brimmed hat. Whoever it was, they were clearly up to no good because they crouched and looked carefully up and down the avenue. As they did, an errant stab of moonlight caught at the gap beneath the sneaking figure's hat, and Maddock saw that whoever it was wore a scarf tied tightly over their face.

Maddock frowned, but made no other movement.

He watched the figure finish its furtive inspection, then it unslung something from its back and dropped it on the ground. It knelt down, and Maddock could not see what it was doing until it stood, and in one quick motion, threw something between the bars of the pen. The figure then picked its bag up from the floor and quickly walked away, back out of sight.