In The Lair of the Draca (Book 2)

In the Lair of the Draca (Book 2) Chapter 79: Lu-Lu's Capture

"I can hear them," Frankie whined; Sashek , who gripped her firmly by the hand and strode on resolutely, pressed her lips together and wished that she could wet them. Even here, among the ice and rocks, they were horribly dry.

"Who?"

"...she means the People," declared Blythewood, who-- having long since abandoned any notion of superiority over her tender-browed friend in favor of comfort-- clutched a bedraggled doll to her chest.

Sashek walked a few paces behind a stoic-faced Lopak and tried to maintain a tough exterior, but nonetheless felt her bronchioles tighten.

"Which People?" she asked against gritted teeth. Sashek thought she knew very well which.

Blythewood looked askance at her with liquid eyes. "The ones who got left behind," she replied in a whisper. Sashek did not need to prod further which ones she meant.

Although the refugees from Hidden Well knew instinctively enough to pick their way along either side of the widening trickle that would soon become Hallow's River in silence, the shrieks and cries of suffering innocents rent their hearts like daggers. Women who had left babies behind pressed shaking hands to their tear-streaked faces, each praying silently that this child or that who had cried out in death throes did not belong to them. The distant crackle of flames and collapsing lumber had crumpled the faces of even the hardiest men as they considered stubborn wives which had refused to join the queue.

And still they walked, and walked, and walked some more.

The People travelled two or three abreast and spoke little, either staring grimly ahead into the backs of the People who walked before them or shielding their eyes to look up into the heavens, where doubtlessly many a grieving parent questioned whether the Celestial Moons really cared for them at all. What had been the point of doting on capricious gods for hundreds of years with gifts of pretty stones, flowers, garlands, and the bones of miscarried young if they were to be abandoned to Dragura and her Hell-Dogs at the closest possible convenience? Where there any gods at all? Or were the gods and goddess which People only thought were amicable secretly laughing at them from above, shielding their own snickers behind winged hands?

Still, they pressed on. No one spoke. Sashek continued to tug at Frankie, who was beginning to lag, and looked about her at the other children whose mothers who had refused to part with them at the town meeting. Some rubbed at sleep granules in their eyes and wailed piteously; ahead of her, she though she could make out Jeanette's slouched form as she trudged along with the others, the obvious beginning of a baby bump beginning to show beneath her tattered apron.

Julian and Luchek, she noticed, had begun to fall behind. Lu-Lu's belly was full almost to bursting-- Sashek could not remember having ever seen a pregnant woman's belly so expansive-- and she could no longer take the deft, nimble steps that were required of her if she were to join the refugees at their hiding spots in the Ice-Capped Mountains. Sashek and Lopak (the latter exchanged worried glances with her) knew the outcome of this without having to say it. Lu-Lu would never be able to keep up; already, her swollen feet were lacerated, and she paused every four or five steps to brace herself against the mountain walls when the beginnings of first-contractions doubled her over. Once, she had even stumbled and tottered into the ever-widening lake.

Sashek jerked a chin at the girl. "It is Lu-Lu," she hissed to Lopak. "The woman will never make it, and she slows the rest of us down. How in good conscience can we keep slowing the pace for her?"

Lopak gave her a black look. "In case you forget, young one, Luchek is my blood-- the flesh of my flesh, and the bone of my bones. There is no other option; we wait for Lu-chek, or none of us passes through the mountains. I have spoken!" Although she did not cease walking, Lopak drew herself up into a stately posture and held her nose high in the air.