Continuing the serial release of The Plainsrunner under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license – (CC-BY-SA).
Sage learns more about the city.
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rjb
Chapter Fifteen – Digger
Sage almost smiled. “Some welcome,” she said.
The man said, “They were probably after that,” pointing at the glider lashed to her right pannier.
She skittered away, and he pulled his hands back, saying, “I won’t touch your stuff.”
She relaxed, with some effort, and apologized. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m still …”
“I know,” he said. “You’ve been through a lot.” Somehow he seemed to be talking about more than just the fight.
“Yes,” she said. She looked back down the street, her mind full of events that made this one look small. Then she turned back and lifted her spear, intending to sheath it. She saw him flinch, though he tried to hide it. As she put her knife away, she said, “Don’t worry. I have no reason to hurt you.” She looked up the street, thinking about where she would go now.
“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve met some who haven’t been as … calm as you. Some of them are too far gone to help.”
She thought about that. “You meet people like me all the time?”
“Yes,” he said. “Well, no. Not ‘all the time.’ And not like you either.” He looked down the street toward the slum, then nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Usually I leave the orientation speech for later, after you’ve settled in, but I might as well do it now.” He gestured up the street. “Shall we walk while we talk?”
She hesitated, but only briefly. She’d decided to trust this man, even though she couldn’t say why. She set out, starting with a limp as her feet reminded her that they hurt.
He noticed. “Sore feet?” he asked. He nodded again. “We get a lot of that with people who come down off the plains. We’ll see about getting you some shoes as soon as possible.” He tapped the street with a front hoof. “It’s the hard surface. Your feet aren’t used to it.”
She was going to ask him how he knew she’d come from the plains, but instead she said, “Shoes?”
“Yes,” he said. “You put them on the bottom of your feet and they protect them from the hard streets. See?” He stopped and lifted a foot to show her.
She didn’t know what to say, so as they started walking again she just said, “Shoes.” Then she asked, “How do you know where I’m from?”
“Your blanket,” he said, indicating the crenelated pattern around the edge. “That’s your clan’s design, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said, looking at the blanket with new eyes, comparing it to his plain grey one.
“And also you can just tell. The people who come off the plains look different from the ones who come from up and down the coast. You can see it in their eyes, and in the way they carry themselves.”
It was a lot to think about. She caught herself slowing down, and picked up her pace again. “Do you get a lot of people like me?” she asked. “Plainsrunners?” Maybe she could meet them. Maybe she wouldn’t have to be a stranger here.
“No,” he said. “Maybe one or two a year. Mostly they’re from coastal villages. More like hundreds a year there.”
“Do you think I could meet some?” she asked. And, “Why do people come here?”
“You already have met one,” he said. “I came here fifteen years ago. As for why people come here, there are many reasons. Some of the coastal villages are very poor, and people come here looking for a better life.”
“Do they find it?” Sudden hope made her voice tremble slightly.
“Not most of them, no.” He pointed behind them with his thumb. “Most of them end up back there.”
She glanced back. “That’s no way to live.”
“No, it’s not.” He looked at her and shrugged, then continued. “Some people come here for excitement. They get bored with village life and come here looking for more.”
“Do they get it?”
He shook his head and jerked his thumb back over his shoulder. “Then there are the people like me,” he said, “who have been banished by their villages and have nowhere else to go.”
She was shocked and she stopped dead. “You were banished?”
“That’s right,” he said. “Like you.”
That really shocked her. And she also realized that her voice had been filled with accusation and condemnation. Her upbringing, with its indoctrination, showing through even here. She automatically condemned him, even though he was no more guilty than her. She looked at him and saw him smiling. She could tell that he knew what she was thinking, and that he didn’t blame her for it. Feeling awkward, she asked, “How did you know I was banished?”
Still smiling, he said, “You don’t look like the type of person to do that for the adventure.” Glancing at her ears, which still had the slowly fading scars, he said, “It has been quite an adventure, hasn’t it?”
It had. It still was, really. As she thought about it, she was looking around at the deserted streets and the dark buildings lining them. Up ahead she could see some light and the occasional movement, but here it seemed deserted. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Why is this part of the city so empty?”
“That’s a good question,” he said. “It doesn’t have a simple answer.” He stopped and turned to look back, and she stopped with him. They had passed a couple more streets and now had five between them and the slum. The buildings down there were less than ten meters tall. They got higher until some of them were as much as fifteen meters where they stood. “This is an older area,” he explained. “These buildings were mostly factories and warehouses.” He saw the query in her face and said, “Where things are made and stored.” He saw her frown and said, “We do things differently here. There aren’t many artisans left. Everything is mass-produced.” He could see that it wasn’t getting much clearer, so he decided to keep going. “Anyway, these buildings were getting old and losing their value. At the same time, the slums were growing and making things worse. Nobody wanted to buy property in this area, and as more businesses closed, it got worse and worse.”
Sage could follow that in theory. Nobody wanted to be here anymore, so there was nobody here. Except for a few predators like Rat and Snake, that is. But then, who did they prey on if there was nobody here? And another thing. Why were people living in slums when there were all these empty buildings here?
When she asked him that, he said, “The good people of this city don’t want those outsiders – they call them undesirables – getting any closer. Also, if they try they run into people like Rat, who want this place for themselves.”
She shook her head. “What a waste,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be more efficient to share what’s there?” She looked at him, incredulous. She was beginning to see why her people didn’t like the city, but this was more subtle than the simple evil she’d been taught.
He nodded. “Yes it would, but you won’t get anywhere trying to change it. There are some powerful people here who like things the way they are.” He noted her dissatisfied frown, and said, “We won’t fix it tonight, anyway, so let’s get you settled.” He started up the street toward the light. “I’ve got a place where you can stay for a few days, until we find something more permanent.”
She walked with him and thought, then her frown went away. “This is your way of changing it, isn’t it?” she said. “You can’t change the whole thing, so you do smaller things.” She walked a little farther, then asked, “Did anyone do this for you when you got here?”
He shook his head. “No, but things weren’t as bad then. It was easier to find your way, if you didn’t mind hard work. Now it doesn’t matter how hard you want to work, there’s nothing here for newcomers. That’s why I do this. So people can at least have a chance.”
He stopped walking and pointed at an open doorway on their right. They had moved into the populated area while they were talking, and there were a few people around now. They were interested enough to look at her, but they didn’t stare at her as she did at them. So, these were city people. They didn’t look that different. They were still interesting, though, as were the lights. Lights on tall poles, as if they were big torches, but they weren’t burning. They were giving off light without burning. She’d heard about that in stories, but had assumed it was exaggeration for the sake of the tale. Now here it was, actually happening. Sage decided she had a lot of thinking to do about everything she thought she knew.
Someone came out of the open doorway, drying her hands on the hem of her blanket. Sage had a thought: why is she wearing her blanket? She’s not carrying anything. But then she was speaking. She lifted her chin at Sage and said, “Is this her?”
“Yes,” said Sage’s escort. Then after asking her name, said “Sage, this is Skylight. Skylight will be your host for the next few days.”
“A few days?” asked Skylight. “I thought you said one or two at the most.”
“One or two, or a few. What’s the difference?”
“The difference is there’s a difference,” said Skylight. “I planned on a day or two.” She looked at Sage, who was waiting politely, then back. “Listen Digger, you can’t do this. If you meant a few days, you should have said so.”
Digger? thought Sage.
Digger smiled at Skylight. “If I had said that, would you have agreed?”
“Maybe I would and maybe I wouldn’t. The point is, you need to tell the truth so a person can decide.”
“No, Sky. The point is, Sage needs a place to stay. A couple of days or a few days. It won’t kill you.”
Skylight frowned at them, then snorted and turned to go inside. “Just a minute,” she said. “I’ll get the key.”
As soon as she was gone, Sage said, “I don’t want to cause any trouble. I don’t have to stay here if she doesn’t want me.”
“Yes you do have to stay here. There’s no place else at the moment, and you’re sure not going to find something on your own.” He looked at the doorway, smiling. “Sky just likes to act tough, but she’s really glad to do it.”
“She sure had me fooled.”
Digger laughed. “She’s glad to do it because I helped her the same way when she arrived ten years ago.” He smiled at her. “You’ll be doing the same soon enough.”
“Ah,” said Sage, nodding. Then, “Digger?”
“That’s my name,” he said.
“But not your Plainsrunner name. It’s your city name, right?”
“That’s right,” said Digger. “Because that’s what I do. I dig around, looking for ways to help people. I try to dig up places for them to stay, or find work for them to do.”
“I get it,” said Sage, and at that moment Skylight came out holding a big key. “Come on,” she said. “It’s around the side.”
She led them a short distance down the quieter side street to a big, rough door. She rattled the key in the lock and pulled it open. It showed a small room. It wasn’t much, but it looked dry and it would be secure. Sage would be able to take off her stuff and store it here. What a relief that would be after all this time.
“It’s not much,” said Skylight, “but it’s a safe place to sleep for a day or two.” She lowered a brow at Digger.
Sleep, thought Sage. This is where I’ll be sleeping. She’d assumed she’d stow her stuff here and sleep inside. But she didn’t let it put her off. It might not be much, but it was better than a lot of the places she’d slept in the last month. “It’s lovely, Skylight,” she said. “Thank you.” She stepped inside and began to remove her panniers.
“Yes, well,” said Skylight, handing her the key, “there’s no light in there, so once you close the door that’s it. You’re in the dark.” She turned to go back. “You’ll come inside to clean up and whatnot. We’ll be eating dinner soon.” When she got to the corner she stopped and said, “You keep that door locked at all times.” Then she was gone.
Sage, her head out the door, said, “Well, she seems nice.” Then she finished taking off her panniers and began to remove her blanket.
Digger spun away and said, “Whoa. Leave that on.”
“What?” she said, with her blanket half off.
Still facing away, he said, “We keep our blankets on except in private.”
“Why?” she asked. “It’s not cold.”
“We just do,” he said. “It’s a city thing.”
“All right,” she said, shrugging it back on. “You city people.”
“You’re a city person now too, Sage.” He saw her stop, and then nod. “Okay, you go inside and have dinner with Skylight and her husband and their son. And like she said, keep that door locked.”
“Right,” she said. “Even when I’m sleeping?”
“Especially then,” he said. “Okay. Are you good? Do you need anything else before I go?”
“I don’t think so.” How would she know?
“Okay then. I’ll be off. I’ll come by tomorrow and check in on you. Maybe I’ll have something figured out by then.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Thank you, Digger.”
“Sure.” He started to leave, then stopped and said, “Maybe you should take off that necklace, too.”
She looked down, reminded that it was there, and when she looked up Digger was just turning on to the other street. She looked back down, then lifted the necklace off over her head. As she hung it over her spear, she talked to her glider. “Well,” she said. “Here we are, I guess.”
