Deep Echoes Read online

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  After finding a safe place to hide, Maya threw back her hood and fought not to cry. Her second live combat situation, and she'd accidentally killed someone: she'd overdone her blow, forced the gang member's nasal bone back into his brain. The thought made her sick. She'd killed someone, even if it was gang scum. She wouldn't try that again.

  She had done some good, at least. Book had been the worst kind of bastard, one with ambitions. Other gangs would fill the void left by the crippling of these three gangs. Literal crippling: no one but the gang lord and his guard had died or been permanently disabled. But they might be a little more hesitant, treat the locals a bit better.

  She wiped her tears away with her sleeve. Part of her was tempted to remain in Outer Aureu, continue dealing out justice, but it wasn't her place: Forum was, the place she had grown up. Her home.

  Maya mulled over the rest of her plan: go to Ocean's Edge, cross the Journey, go through the Planted Forest and then trek across the farmland until she got to Forum. There, she would be looked after. Her parents weren't faithful and would support their Heretic daughter. So would the locals: Aureu and its politics were a long way away from places like Forum and they would surely side with a daughter of their city.

  Maya clambered out from under the toppled, decaying cart she had hidden in. Home seemed perfect, ultimate. There, she would know more, understand more, and be able to plan a life. Contented for the moment, Maya followed her plan.

  'But, assembled people of Station, voters of Geos, there is a long journey ahead. You chose me to face the Disciples, to lead you, so I will not lie: we are facing long, hard years and a great deal of soul-searching. Yes, soul-searching, because something will have to change for us to defeat our enemies. I believe that thing should be us; you, me, everyone. This stalemate cannot continue forever.'

  The seventh, and current, Guardian during his inaugural speech, 109AC.

  10

  Days later, Maya walked down the Great Road, the paved artery that stretched across Geos and connected the Front in the west with towns like Forum, with the central and capital city Aureu and eventually the other Front to the east. She was chewing at day-old deer meat. She had been ecstatic when she sighted the deer a week ago, as stealing crops or chickens and leaving Circles in their place didn't feel right, but now she hated the tough old thing.

  It was hard to judge how far she'd travelled, but she knew she was close to Forum. Maybe it was just hope after more than a week, but Maya thought she'd be home before nightfall.

  The surrounding scenery of vital green, swaying yellow and humble blue was beautiful, wondrous. It reminded her of when Match, her childhood teacher, had taken her to Aureu. Maya remembered every moment of her last day with her parents, the packing, the paperwork, the hugs, kisses, and tears. Match had collected her and walked her along the Great Road to Aureu. It had taken weeks because they couldn't afford a coach and Maya was but a child and Match quite aged. But Maya had loved the journey, had loved Match talking about her time as a Contegon and the wild beauty of a world which most would never see. But mostly she had been excited as the prospect of serving Sol.

  If Maya remembered correctly, as a girl she'd expected to meet Sol after graduating.

  Maya's feet trudged beneath her. She kept chewing.

  Such memories, the influx of a world she'd only known briefly as a child, had slowed her progress in the first days of her flight. Soaked in beautiful fields of pollen-scented grasses lined with deep paths, flanked by gorgeous trees which held birds like fruit, she'd been ten again. Questions of her place in the world were answered: for there, then, she had been where she should be.

  The novelty began to pass after the third day, as familiarity took hold.

  Her all-protein diet also meant she was gaining muscle. Not wanting to lose her poise or balance, she took to practising thrusts and parries as she walked, but this was the only entertainment she'd had: far from Aureu and beyond the Bureau's reach, she had little need to hide or panic. Boredom was as much a problem as fatigue.

  With all this free time, she had considered her last day in Aureu and the impoverished horror of Outer Aureu. Maya thought she knew what being poor looked like, she'd grown up with little more than love, but Outer Aureu had made her ill. Made her furious.

  All children are taught the basics of Economy, the flow of money and how the most talented people pool wherever there is money. And they are also taught that Sol made everything as it was, that those of Station can only be so because Sol approved of it. This doctrine, this programmed passiveness, was why she hadn't seen Outer Aureu for what it was and why those eking out their existence in squalor accepted it so readily.

  She hated herself for not noticing that decay when it lay so close. But not as much as she hated the Bureau, the authoritative heart of Geos. They squatted in the Cathedral with the Solaric Council – the assembled leaders of each Station, from Doctor to Farmer to Contegon – and lived guilty and corrupt lives. They had money, power, expensive meals and indulgent parties, and the poor had nothing but their own filth to drown in.

  This hatred grew during her travels and she planned various ways of making the Bureau and the Council see what they have done to the people. The wonders of the countryside often calmed her, kept this anger from boiling over. Especially the fields of bluebells, drooping but beautiful, standing despite the burdens they carried.

  As she drew closer to home, such thoughts faded. Her concerns would be allayed, and she'd be safe, happy.

  When she first saw a thin strip of silver on the horizon, she could barely control herself, so desperate was she to be home and safe. But she forced herself to slowly, sensibly approach this shimmering wonder.

  The afternoon rolled over her. In time, her suspicion was confirmed: the silver chain was the river Bear which lay outside Forum.

  Home. She was home.

  Walking to the river's banks, she remembered those waters always being filled with children playing and women washing their clothes or enjoying the sun. The Bear was a gathering place, a playground, somewhere within walking distance, but far enough to seem like another world.

  Maya smiled as she took in the shores she had played on years ago. It was empty because nightfall was approaching. People would have left to cook, sleep, or take in Forum's night life. Further down the water's flow, carts and coaches shot over the High Bridge, drawn by sweating, galloping horses, taking wares or people to Aureu. But here it was silent and still.

  Certainty, comfort, and compassion were close. Maya laughed, a sound of healthy release and borderline hysteria, and turned away with great difficulty, walking upstream instead. When she felt far enough away, she pulled off her stinking clothes, armour, and boots, and washed them.

  Laying them to dry in the waning sun, she dived naked into the river and relived long ago pleasures, splashing and giggling and shivering. Then she turned a brush and soap on her body, cleaned herself in the freezing waters.

  Leaving the Bear, she shook herself mostly dry and stood, naked, waiting for the dying sun to dry her.