The Lost Colony

Chapter 27

Sparr excused himself. Hoping his curiosity didn't draw too much notice, he crept around to the end of the airship and slipped inside. There was barely enough light to see, but Sparr could make out that, like the first one, this airship had been stripped. It appeared to be a mid-range flyer which would have been used to shuttle colonists and supplies across the continent. Such a machine would have been fabricated after colonists arrived. Somewhere, possibly in Shong, there had been a fabrication site. What remained of it, Sparr had no idea.

Inside the hulk of the craft, Sparr couldn't see or hear Liette's sermon. He tried to imagine how the ship had come to make the clearing its final resting place. It wasn't a warship, but would have had redundant flight and safety systems. Unlike the other ship, this one showed no sign of having crashed. Had it simply been abandoned, or had there been some traumatic event? Did the colonists purposefully give up on technology?

There was a sound behind him. Startled, Sparr turned. He sought out the crude knife he had taken from one of the attackers.

"It's me."

Sparr eyed Kern warily. The man had been cold toward Sparr since the beginning of the pilgrimage, treating him more like a trespasser than a member of their party.

"Just checking out the machine." Sparr hoped he hadn't violated some Origin teaching by exploring the airship.

Kern waved his hand dismissively. "Relax," he said, before leaning back against the hull. He stretched. "Hell of a day."

"Yeah." Sparr didn't sense an immediate threat, but the man still unnerved him. "I understand attacks like today's are rare."

Kern nodded. "Yes. Usually if you've got three or four guards you're safe. And you were right, by the way."

"About what?"

"The men who ambushed us today. They weren't organized at all, just hungry."

"They'd have killed us just the same," Sparr said.

"Right again."

For a time neither spoke. The two stood near one of the viewports, long since stripped of its glass and seals. Now and again Liette's voice drifted in, deep in the retelling of Omm's journey.

"So I guess you saved my life today." Kern seemed uneasy with the unexpected admission.

"Maybe," Sparr admitted. In fact, the warning he had issued had almost certainly saved most of the guards, Kern included. What would have befallen the other members of the pilgrimage was less clear. "We're all looking out for each other."

Again, Kern seemed uneasy. He shifted awkwardly before speaking again. "Well, that isn't entirely true."

"Oh?" Sparr said, thoroughly confused.

"You know I work for the Governor, right?"

"Sure. Toph provided the wagons, but not the guards."

"Yeah," Kern said, before another long pause. Whatever was on his mind was uncomfortable. "The Governor wasn't happy when Liette bought you and Efreem."

As much had been evident at the time. Whatever uneasy balance of power existed between the priestess and the Governor had been tested when Liette spared the two at the arena. The Governor had been intent on seeing one or the other slain. Liette had arranged otherwise.

"I noticed," Sparr said.

"He has no intention of letting you return to Vonde."

It took Sparr a moment to fathom the meaning. "You mean you have no intention of allowing me to return."

"The man practically rules the city," Kern said.

"And carries a grudge, apparently."

"He doesn't like being crossed."

"Liette crossed him, not me."

"Don't be naive," the man said. "He can't touch Liette. But if you don't return, some will get the message, especially if on the last day of the pilgrimage you wake up dead." Kern made a throat-cutting motion with his finger.

A chill shot through Sparr. He might be able to best Kern in a one-on-one fight, but that wasn't the only challenge. The other guards surely must share the mission.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You had my back today," Kern said. "You had everyone's back. You and Efreem." He shook his head, the motion barely discernible in the gloom of the airship. "I've been doing this a long time, Alain. That's your name, right? Alain?"

"Yes."

"A long time," he repeated. "I don't know about where you came from, but in Vonde, strangers that have your back aren't exactly commonplace."

It gradually dawned on Sparr that Kern was trying to help him. "So where does this leave us?"

Kern sighed. "If you make it back to Vonde it'll be both our necks." He looked around nervously. "I guess I'm hoping you'll find the right time to slip away before it comes to that."

For a moment, Sparr's anger surged. Once again, the perverse order on Kaybe was placing him into an untenable situation. If he served the Origin as required, he would return to the temple in Vonde, where he would, as Kern put it, 'wake up dead'. However, as he thought on it further, he realized the guard captain's revelation presented an opportunity. Sparr was already planning to slip free from the pilgrimage, either upon arriving in Shong, or before the caravan returned. Kern would make a powerful ally in such an escape.

"I see," Sparr said. He let the words hang in the air. The more Kern thought that fleeing the caravan would be dangerous or inconvenient to Sparr, the more likely he would be to help. "You don't think Liette can change his mind?"

"No," Kern said, grimly. "She'll know what's happened, but not before. Anyway," he continued, "don't think she'll stick her neck out for you."

Sparr already knew as much. "f**k!" he swore. "I'm temple property. I can't just wander off."

The guard captain thought on it for a moment before replying. "Look," he said, "Shong is a bustling place. If I say you got caught up in some sort of trouble, Liette will have to believe me, and I can tell the Governor that I took care of you."

It was just the sort of offer that Sparr had hoped for, although he tried not to show it. "f**k," he repeated. Again, Sparr dragged the moment out. "Well, I guess I should thank you. For telling me, I mean."

Kern shook his head. "I'm sorry Alain," he said. "Listen, when we get to Shong, we'll figure something out. That's the best I can do." The man stood, shrugged, and left, leaving Sparr alone in the dark.