Ice Country(31)

“What is it?” I rasp as I approach him one hand and knee at a time.

“Not what,” he says, not making any sense.

The thing comes into view and I gasp.

“Who,” Buff says.

It’s Nebo. Frozen harder than a snowman and deader than a fallen tree.





~~~





“Nebo’s dead,” I say to Abe that night.

“What?” he says, brows curled. He looks surprised. There’s something else in his expression too, but I can’t place it, or maybe he’s just hiding it too well.

“We found him in the woods. Looked like he was bludgeoned to death, his head all mashed up.”

Buff’s staring at his hands. We didn’t know what to do, so we pulled him into the woods, dug a hole in the snow, and stuck him in it. Neither of us really liked the idea, but if we’d brought him in, the lawkeepers would’ve had questions—questions we might not be able to answer. Like why we were in the Blue District knocking on Nebo’s door not a day earlier, just before he showed up dead.

“Mountain Heart,” Abe says. There’s a twinge of something in his voice—something not normal for how you should sound just after hearing about someone you know having died. He’s shocked, yah, but not as much as I’d expect him to be.

“Do you know something about this?” I say sharply, stepping toward him.

Brock and Hightower move forward at the same time, penning me in.

He looks at me absently, like he’s not seeing me. “Heart, I never thought they’d…” He trails off.

“Never thought who would what?” I ask, bumping Brock.

Abe’s murky expression clears and the fire returns to his dark eyes. Whatever surprise or confusion is gone. “Here’s the deal,” he says. “You’re asking too many questions, which as you well know, is against the rules. But we’ll let it slide this one time, just like the last time you did something stupid by hitting me. This is it. Your last chance.”

“And Nebo?” I say, glancing at Brock’s fingers, which are twitching wildly, like he’s hoping I go for Abe again so he can go for me.

“He was out of chances,” Abe says, his words cold, but his tone not. Something doesn’t make sense. Abe’s saying all the things he’s supposed to, but there’s nothing behind them.

He knows something.

The cold soup I ate for dinner roils in my gut. Nebo’s frozen, bashed-in face flashes through my mind. Everything in me is saying “Fight! Attack! Punch! Hit!” but for once in my life, I ignore my temper. These guys are serious. Either they killed a man or they knew someone might kill a man. At least one that we know of. Probably more. All in the service of the king. Bad man, Nebo had said. I think he was referring to the king, but his words seem to apply to everyone standing in front of me.

“What’s the medicine for?” I say, breaking another rule. A challenge.

“They’re just tea leaves,” Abe says, his face blank, not reacting to my guess as to the nature of the herbs.

“It’s medicine,” I say, pushing my luck.

“Don’t do this,” Abe says.

I grin at him, filling my smile with as much hate as I can muster. I raise a fist, flash it toward him and he flinches back. When Brock and Tower inch forward, I laugh. “A bit jumpy, aren’t you?” I say.

I lean down and strap on my slider, ignoring the glares Abe’s firing in my direction. As much as I’d love to take on all three of them, it’d be suicide, for Buff too; plus, even though the two months are up and our debts are paid off, I need to keep this job so I can find out what in Heart’s name is going on.

I’ll bide my time.

I won’t forget what they did to Nebo. And I surely won’t forgive it.





~~~





The Heaters are waiting for us when we reach the bottom, at a place on the border we’ve never been before. The prisoners aren’t there to meet us this time. It’s a big man, alone, wearing more clothes than the other Heaters I’ve seen, full length pants and a loose-fitting, V-necked shirt.

“King Goff sends his regards,” Abe says.

“And pass along mine to him,” the Heater says.

“Where’s the cargo, Roan?” Abe’s looking all around, like it might be scampering across fire country. Roan! So this is the Heater leader—they call him the Head Greynote.

“We’ve had a slight problem,” Roan says, his eyes darker than the night.

Abe’s eyes narrow. “What sort of problem?”

“You have to understand, we’re under attack from all sides. The Killers are attacking again. The Glassies seem to want us wiped off the face of fire country. The Wildes steal more and more of our women every year.”