Oculum echo, p.12
Oculum Echo, page 12
Guide says, Do you see it, Echo1?
Yes, Guide, I see it! M1. Her armband says “M1!” A Miranda1! I almost cannot believe it!
I take a moment to calm myself, then add, There are more than one thousand children with her. One thousand and thirty-three children exactly.
Guide says, They have picked up some children from another group, probably. They are heading north. Just like the thieves with the rocket.
Yes, and the gun, I say.
Guide says, Echo1, you must reach the children before those people do.
Yes, Guide. That much is clear.
Guide says, And let’s not think about what will happen if that rocket bomb goes off.
I say, Perhaps it is time for you to be silent now, Guide.
Guide falls silent.
I look one more time at the little waterfall, the pretty fish, the beautiful flowers that I will not pick because I want them to live.
Peregrine has found the children of Oculum4, and their Miranda1! M1!
But there is an ancient rocket and cruel people following them.
I find Peregrine in the sky and set off in the direction of the children at a run, since they are still very far away.
Here the Makers made no mistakes when creating me; I can run for days.
Miranda1
We have stopped at the top of a steep hill, surrounded by forest. It is days since the War of the Pigs, and we have walked far since then.
We stare at what we see before us.
“What are those?” I ask, pointing across to great rocks in the sky.
“Those are mountains, Miranda1,” a City boy says.
Mountains! They reach the clouds! Magnificent, thunderous, terrifying.
“And what is this below us?” I ask, pointing far down the road to a large green opening between the mountains.
“That is a green valley,” says a girl from the City.
We all stare at the mountains in the sky and the valley at our feet. It slowly sinks in. A green valley. Mountains.
William3 is at my side. “I think you’ve done it Miranda1,” he says. “You’ve led us to the green valley in the north.” The others nod. How can we have come so far and found this place? We have walked into summer. We have walked into mountains, and now we will walk into a green valley.
Can it be real?
William3 points. “See? Something white shines at the end of the valley.”
We all shade our eyes. Leagues off, I see a glint of white. Some of the others say, “The white castle! We are here! Miranda1! You’ve found the white castle of MedFell Hall!”
“We have all found it, together,” I say. “And we are not there yet. It is still many hours away.” I can’t believe it. I tap my staff on the hard, black road at my feet. The green valley! MedFell Hall!
Suddenly, I imagine William1’s face clearly, just as he looked the last time I saw him at Grannie’s brother’s farm. Can he be so close at hand, after all we’ve been through?
There is a rusted car at the edge of the road, and I go to sit in its shade.
The truth is, I feel strange. My entire life since I climbed out of Oculum has been one long journey. We walked with Grannie out of Oculum and across the City to her brother’s farm. And now we’ve walked impossibly far to arrive at a valley and a castle we know little about. It’s been weeks of walking for all of us, but we will soon reach our destination. What awaits us there? The others all talk quietly or clap hands in the air. There is a sense of purpose; they seem glad. I don’t want to tell them that we are still far from safe …
… when suddenly a boy shouts, “Look!”
I jump up, and two boys walk out of the forest. Ariel and Caliban start barking and run toward them. One of the boys is big, the other small. The large boy raises his hand in hello.
It’s Mannfred! And Cranker!
They whistle and wave at us, then come toward us at a trot with the excited dogs.
I drop my staff and run. I hug them as everyone else runs up to greet them.
“Miranda1! We gotta run!” Cranker says, without a hello.
“The UnRuly are hot behind you, Miranda1,” Mannfred adds. “We have to leg it down this valley, fast! They got a rocket!” Mannfred takes my hand, holds it tight. He means what he says.
“We know about the rocket. But where’s William2?” I ask, looking around.
The two boys look at each other. “He’s behind us too, Miranda1.” Mannfred says this, but he looks worried. Cranker kicks the dirt at his feet.
“He’s the Medicus now, for the UnRuly. They’s some of them sick,” he says.
“You … left him?”
Mannfred looks stricken, but Cranker swears.
“Festering hell, Miranda. We didn’t want to leave William2, but he wouldn’t come. He wanted to stay with the sick. And he calls himself Liam now. Different boy.” Cranker kicks the dirt one more time.
Mannfred speaks up. “Liam’s a hero, Miranda. We found Georgas, too, and Liam helped us rescue him. Now Georgas and Grannie, the Shiny Man, and the other Rebels are right behind the UnRuly, slowing them down, watching for Liam. Cranker’s right, we didn’t want to leave him. But we can’t stay here talking. We have to go!”
I think about William2 for a moment; how brave he has become and how wise to rename himself. I like his new name. I also realize it could not have been easy for them to leave him behind with the UnRuly. Not easy for Mannfred, anyway. Many of us have had to do terrible things on this journey.
“You can tell me about Liam later. Let’s hope that we see him again soon. Get everyone on their feet,” I say to the others. My legs ache with exhaustion. “We must run.”
The children gather quickly at the top of the long, long road down into the valley. I look at the weary, smudged faces before me: thin, exhausted children covered in mud. Some of us carry the youngest in our arms, on our backs. The horses are muddy and tired too. We cannot outrun adults on horses coming this way. We cannot outrun a rocket either. But somehow, we must.
“Let’s walk!” I call, lifting my staff.
Nancy and Nellie start the wagons slowly down the hill, and everyone follows. The sun is lower; soon it will be dark. In the distance, clouds form over the mountains, moving fast toward us.
These are strange clouds, thick and black.
“Look, that falcon again,” a boy says, pointing.
The falcon flies above. It is large and graceful, just like the one we saw days ago. Could it be the same one? It curves slowly in the air above our heads, then swoops low over us. It drops low enough to make us duck, then it soars back into the sky. It creaks and groans, just as the last bird did.
I recognize that sound again with a deep tug. What is it? Then I remember. My Mother creaked like that when she needed a visit to Toolman! I watch with wonder as the bird flies off. What can it mean? Perhaps nothing, but I will have to ask Grannie about falcons when I see her again.
It’s all I can do to lift my staff and put it down with my feet as I walk. Mannfred, Cranker, and William3 walk with me. Mannfred offers to take Lisle, so I pass her to him. I miss her weight against me right away.
How quickly I got used to carrying a baby.
A moment later a heavy gust of wind hits us, then the skies open.
“It’s a Black Rain!” Cranker calls. I can barely hear him through the wind and he’s right beside me. We are less than a day from MedFell Hall and safety, but any of our previous misery is nothing compared to this.
The Black Rain falls upon us, thick and greasy. It smells, it stings. Everyone cries out or suffers in misery or despair.
And still we walk on.
Mannfred
As if we don’t got enough problems. The Black Rain buckets down on us.
I never been caught outside in a Black Rain. I was always home with Grannie, a roof over my head. There’s no cover here, so we got no choice but to walk in it.
We walk down the steep road into the valley. Some of the youngest Littluns whimper, but we carry on. Somehow we just don’t stop.
Everyone makes a mask from something — a shirt, a piece of cloth — and pulls it over their face. The wagons got coverings, so the youngest ones are fine. I pass Lisle to an older girl from the City, who got another baby. She’s in the wagon, so Lisle is safe.
But the rest of us suffer.
Grannie always said not to let the Black Rain touch you. I seen the Black Rain strip bark off trees. Kill grass. Turn everything to dark stink and mud. I think of Liam. Hope he’s okay out there with the UnRuly. I hated telling Miranda that we left him. I think of Grannie, Georgas, the Shiny Man, and their sneaking Rebels somewhere out there too.
We pull our feet out of the slop, faces tilted to the ground. No one talks. We’re just a lot of exhausted Littluns on our last legs, slogging through the muck.
After hours in the Black Rain — how many, I got no idea — the road flattens out. We’re near the bottom of the valley. Still no sign of the UnRuly or Grannie either.
“Maybe Grannie put a knife in that Elias,” Cranker says at one point. I grunt.
“Good luck, Grannie,” I say. But I’m too tired to talk much.
I see the boy ahead of me and Cranker beside me and the rumps of Nancy and Nellie over everyone’s heads. The dogs trot along beneath the wagons. At least they found a way out of the Black Rain.
Now the ground is flat and we’re off that long sloping road, so Miranda1 stops us. The horses snort and huff, tired out. We fall to the ground. We throw our arms over our faces. Walkers all too tired to walk, too tired to speak, too tired to roll over.
Black Rain pours down on us all. Is it night or day? Too dark to tell.
But somehow, after a short rest, Miranda1 gets us on our feet again. The wagons roll ahead.
Everyone tromps along, feet sinking in the muck.
I stop to carry a Littlun who can’t go farther. He drops into the mud and stays there, too old to get a ride on the wagons but too young to keep up. I slide him up onto my back, and in a second he sleeps, holding on around my neck. I move one foot, then the other.
Cranker got a Littlun perched on his shoulders too, a girl sleeping as she sits.
Half of us walking through this valley got the other half in our arms or on our backs. And the Black Rain don’t let up. MedFell Hall is out there somewhere. It’s only the hope of it that keeps us going.
Then …
“They’re here!” a Littlun near me yells. I turn around, too weary to be surprised. We knew they were coming.
The UnRuly are right behind us in the murky rain. I hear shouts, horses. I can’t see much, but the big white rocket sticks above the truck, nose to the sky. Looks like a ghost in the darkness.
The Littluns ahead of us stumble on.
“Keep walking! Don't look back!” Miranda1 shouts. She stops, stands still.
“She got some mighty lungs,” Cranker says. The wave of Littluns walk on past, lurching, stumbling, holding on to one another, following the horses and the wagons.
Me and Cranker stand with Miranda1. William3 joins us.
Miranda1 tells him, “You lead everyone, William3. Just keep going toward MedFell Hall. Don’t stop.”
William3 nods and hugs her. Then he runs to the wagons.
“Follow the horses! Don't look back! Keep walking!” William3 yells, and the Littluns walk past us to follow their new leader.
“I am going back to speak to them,” Miranda1 says. Me and Cranker just look at her. “I’m going to confront the UnRuly,” she says as though we didn’t get it.
A moment passes. “What you gonna say?” Cranker says. He shoots me a look like Miranda lost her mind.
“I don’t know. I’ll know when I face them. You help William3. Keep everyone walking toward MedFell Hall. I’ll stall the UnRuly. I’ll offer myself as a hostage. I’ll do something. But we can’t outrun them. They’re here.”
I swallow hard. “Grannie and the others will be here soon. Help is coming.”
“But where is she?” Miranda asks a question I can’t answer.
Cranker spits into the mud. “We’ll come with you, Miranda.”
My heart sinks, but I nod. “We’ll face the UnRuly with you. We know these people, at least. You don’t.”
I can’t make up for leaving Liam behind, but I can help Miranda1 now. A Henry passes me, “H46” on his armband. I hand him my Littlun, and he takes the boy. Don’t even notice, just takes the sleeping Littlun in his arms and keeps walking through the Black Rain. Cranker passes his sleeping girl on to a girl from the City, who just trudges by and takes her in her arms. She don’t even look at us.
“They look like they’s walking dead,” Cranker says. Sometimes Cranker says it right.
“Come then,” Miranda1 says, hoisting her staff.
We turn and walk against the flow of Littluns. No one looks up, no one asks what we’re doing. They just keep walking, following the wagons. A Littlun stumbles and falls to the mud, and the Littlun behind picks her up and keeps going.
They just won’t leave each other behind.
The last of the walkers pass us, and Miranda stops.
“We face them here.”
She holds her staff in her right hand and puts her left hand on my shoulder. Cranker stands on her other side. The Black Rain buckets down, and there’s nothing for it.
We wait.
My legs shake and my heart pounds. The horse sounds, the people sounds, get loud.
“Here they come,” Cranker whispers. My most-brother, Cranker. Never had a sister, but if I did, I’d want her to be like my friend Miranda1.
I hope this don’t mean the end of us. Cranker pulls off his mask, and Miranda and me do the same. Something about facing the enemy, I think.
The UnRuly are loud. The wagon leads the way. It comes out of the rain, six horses, heads down, dragging the rocket.
The horses see us in the road and stop.
Then the whole army of UnRuly stops, and Elias comes up, shouts.
“Why’d you stop? I don’t see rocks and trees on the road! Hurry up!” The wagon driver points at us. Then Elias sees us, three Littluns nose-to-nose with the horses and the rocket.
What must we look like to him? One big boy, one smaller boy, one strong girl with a staff and a blue rag tied to it, all near drowned in the Black Rain. Hope he don’t notice me shaking.
He peers at us for a second. Then he laughs.
He knows me and Cranker.
“You two? What do you think you’re doing? And who’s this?”
Miranda1 steps toward him. “I am Miranda1, the first girl of Oculum.”
“Oculum? What’s that?” Elias stares at us. I think he’s surprised, like he don’t know to laugh or shout. But it don’t last. “Move aside, or we run you over!” Elias turns his back, but Miranda speaks.
“We will never move aside for you,” she says. It’s brave to say but don’t mean much to this man. There’s more and more UnRuly coming forward to see why the horses stopped.
They see us standing there. Some recognize us.
“Why, it’s them FatRat hunters!” they say and such.
We are young, brave, and stupid maybe, but I don’t plan on dying today.
I step up.
“We’re not your prisoners now. And we don’t want you to hurt the Littluns ahead of us. We don’t want you to steal people. Or fight. Or make war and bust everything with bombs.”
Elias looks at me like I’m a mad dog. But I can see he’s confused.
“What are you on about, boy?” he says. “Get out of the way. We’re going to MedFell Hall.”
“No,” I say.
Cranker stands with his hand on his slingshot. Miranda holds her staff.
“We will not move,” Miranda says.
“You got to run them horses over us,” Cranker adds. I swallow hard.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cranker move a rock to his slingshot. Just one quick rock could fell Elias, but that’s the last thing we’d ever see.
We stand, the Black Rain falls, Miranda’s flag flaps on her staff … then everything goes slow, like time stopped.
Elias takes Grannie’s gun out of his belt.
He holds it up.
He points the gun, first at me.
Then at Cranker.
Then at Miranda1.
I swallow. Hope my knees hold me up.
We keep our eyes open, face death together.
There’s no one I want with me but these two friends. I’ll miss Grannie, though. And Lisle. I fix my eye on the sky. Miranda slips her hand into mine.
“Say goodbye,” Elias says.
A few of the UnRuly laugh. I think, Goodbye world. I’m young, but I tried to do good in the time I had.
Then …
Cranker
“Attack!”
A man thunders out of the murk on a mighty horse, rides right at Elias.
I blink and stare. I know this man! He swings a mighty axe above his head!
“It’s the Shiny Man!” I shout. Elias turns with the gun …
Bang!
Me, Mann, and Miranda jump. But no one falls. I clap my hand over my heart, check I’m still here. Elias missed us! He shot at the Shiny Man!
Then the ground shakes!
A boulder big as a house rolls down the mountainside right at us.
“Cripes! Look out!” Mann shouts. We jump aside. More boulders roll past, shake the ground. We dodge and leap, then crouch down behind a boulder come to rest.
The Shiny Man comes again out of the rain, swinging that axe at Elias.
Bang!
The gun roars once more. We duck. Someone shrieks out there in the darkness.
Then it’s war.
