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THE EASTERN DEFILE

WE RUN THROUGH THE NIGHT THE FIVE OF US THROUGH the white night-tih an Tommo an Ash an Creed an round Hushes the pound of our boots Our breath puffs steaot the rope, slung around his chest I carry the blastpack Swaddled in cloth, tucked in -looker Sleepkit Flint Waterskin Salt twist Cooktin Shirt Medicine bag Knife in my boot sheath Bolt shooter Ammo belt My whiteoak bow an a full quiver An the heartstone hangs at my neck Cool in the hollow of my throat That’s pretty well it It ain’t ht An fast An that’s e are We’re the Free Hawks, reborn Set to fight fer the right to live in New Eden Good land an clean water’s scarce in this world But it’s here in New Eden An it’s the birthright of all Weak an strong Old an young People an beasts an all that share the earth Not jest him an his Chosen ones

Him DeMalo The Pathfinder His Chosen ones, the Stewards of the Earth Pure young people Strong an healthy Breeders, workers fer his shiny neorld Forced to his service at gunpoint To be flattered an wooed by him Convinced an overcome an bent to his will Kept in line by his Tonton h the trees We each map our own course We leap over streams Over rocks Then a sudden slon to pick-pick safe passage through a gangle of overground roots We cain’t afford no injury No slips or twists or breaks

We’re at the dreg edge of New Eden In the far southeast corner, where it bleeds to the bleak of the Raze This is dead-bone country No settlees an hollows an hills Here the land holds itself close The earth spreads thin over rock The trees root wily an tough

As round Our forest world’s clear-lit Washed cold white by the ht Then back to the shadows agin In an out, over an over We’re silvered Whitewashed Ghosts on the run

An Tracker’s reat body skiht Ridin the wind on a sea of stars A sea of restless stars

It’s star tiht fails early an things perish, the stars streak through the night They’re the unquiet souls of the dead Returnin to earth on unfinished business

I run at the front fer the most part But I slip back now an then to save h It warn’t my plan we should run all the way It’s jest e did, what happened As we left the cave where we’d stopped to rest, I started off a quick walk pace A few strides later, as runnin We’re too wired, too buzzed to go slower

I keep sharp-eyed from the off I’m lookin fer Jack’s first waymark The start of his white spruce trail White spruce, a tree like no other Stunted an twisted Easy to spot, night or day When I clock the first tree, his first mark, I smile He’s done jest like we said On the tree’s north side, on a shoulder-height branch, he’s hung a twist of root He’s tagged ue It’s our secret His an mine

An Jack’s my secret Everybody else believes hio When we blasted the Tonton stronghold, Resurrection An that’s how itus Theht in these woods ain’t his friends

Ash an Creed hate him fer his tiinst theot tainted by blood He was there that night, at the Darktrees slaughter when the Tonton killed our friends The Free Hawks an the Raiders He took no part in that bloody deed In fact, he saved their lives Creed an Ash, that is Maev too An he helped us at Resurrection He was the one who blew the place up His quick thinkin spared Emmi’s life

None of that stands to his credit Not with Ash an Creed They lost their tribes at Darktrees that night Their souls was cut deep an fer always Jack rode with the killers, that’s enough to damn hih’s got the biggest hate fer Jack Tommo comes a close second Both of ’em fer reasons to do with me Slim don’t know Jack Molly an Emmi love him As alith Jack, it ain’t simple So we decided, him an me We cain’t trust all of ’em, so it’s safest we tell none To them, he has to be dead

If only they knew Jack’s on our side He’s my scout, my spy Busy workin his tiny network of New Eden rebels He’s got a few insiders, clear-eyed Stewards who share our airound in the woods When DeMalo seized their land, they chose to stay To stay hidden an cause him trouble

Jack’s helped me plan this first action He scratched ed our trail all the way, jest over two leagues froe that spans the Eastern Defile, to join New Eden to the Raze The bridge that we’re set to blow

It’s bin newly built by slave labour DeMalo’s a builder of roads an bridges Faster travel fer the Tonton Easier passage fer his Stewards of the Earth as they work their stolen farmland We aiood place to start We’ll test our drill, our discipline, ourJack ood by now But till they built this bridge, there warn’t nuthin in this lonely corner We know it in general, not particular

I slipped to the rear a while back Keepin my eyes peeled fer Jack’s final waymark There’s a white spruce ahead This one hunches alone an apart As I come up on it, I slow a bit Yes, there it is The twist of root on a branch The Defile an the bridge lie jest ahead Hot excitee forwards, Tracker keeps pace

Creed’s a little off to my left He’s shirtless, like always, tattooed neck to waist An he’s bootless, also like always He says his feet ed him into a dandyboy frock coat Its shabby stails strearin Silver rings gleas easy Shoulders low Her hair flies behind, a waist-length banner of plaits I nod as I shift past her Almost there Her square-jawed face cracks a rare s shot But she ain’t cheerful by a long shot neether Unless there’s trouble or danger or a fight ahead Which is what she’ll be hopin But not in a bad way

I press on to Toht up, close up to him He shuns me Ducks his head so’s his hair hides his eyes But I knohat I’d see if I could see ’eer I touch his ars ht now An he’s justified Steppin on his heart like I did Heedless, careless of the fallout At fifteen summers, he tips between boyhood an manhood An I played them both false, man an boy, with a kiss A lover’s kiss that was a lie Now he nurses the bruise of my deceit