Kingdom of Cages(7)

“Athena Station.” Chena thought about taking a step back to get away from the smell, which now included sweat and some really bad breath, but she was afraid she’d fall and wreck something worse. Still, there was that knife in the wrinkled fist.…

“You’re a station girl, and you came out here?” The old woman spoke the words like an accusation. “Alone?”

“Yes,” said Chena, her anger rising at the sneer the old woman put into the words “station girl.” “As if it’s anything to you.”

“Huh,” grunted the woman. “Well, that’s different. All right, girl, I’ll tell you, it’s not a good idea to be wandering around the roofs too late or too early. That’s the first thing.”

And because I so desperately begged for your advice…? thought Chena sourly. She folded her arms. “What’s the second thing?”

She thought she saw a look of approval flicker across the old woman’s face. “The second is, I’m Nan Elle. If there’s something you need to know, pass the word for me and maybe I’ll tell you.” Her mouth gaped in a smile, and Chena saw with a shock that she didn’t have all her teeth. “Now get you downstairs, station girl. This isn’t your world until the sun’s all the way up.”

Chena stayed where she was for a long second, just to show she wasn’t afraid and that she wasn’t going to be ordered around easily. But she saw that knife, and she saw how this woman came out of nowhere, and how the air was still more shadows than light. With all these things in her head, Chena turned away. But as she headed for the door, she saw another staircase. This one traveled down the side of the building. There was also a kind of catwalk leading straight off the roof and into the trees. Chena looked back over her shoulder and saw that the old woman was still watching her.

Let her watch. She walked right onto the catwalk. She thought she heard a raspy chuckle behind her, but that could have been the wind in the leaves.

The walkway was made of wooden boards, polished to a high shine and tied together with fiber ropes. She felt a little dizzy standing there. She could look over the edge and see the forest floor. This wasn’t even anything near as high as she could go. There were buildings whose roofs brushed the leaves on the trees. She wanted to climb up there, to see who lived in them and how they lived, and if they thought they were something.

Better not push it too far right now, Chena.

At least she could touch. Chena reached out her hand toward the wrinkled bark of the tree trunk beside her.

Pain ran up and down her arm.

“Ow!” she shouted, snatching her hand back. She stared from her fingertips to the tree. Then she saw the slim silver pillars that lined the catwalk on both sides.

Gods below, she thought, rubbing her hand. It’s a shock fence.

Now that she saw them, she noticed the shock fence posts lining the paths in the village below too. Every path, every building, was effectively cut off from the surrounding forest. No one could walk out there without suffering a serious shock or, depending on how high the current was set, without dying.

All that alien beauty out there was completely out of reach.

Feeling cheated, Chena stuck to the lowest level, just walking and wondering about the slowly brightening world around her. Did the waterfalls chattering around her shoulders serve any real purpose or were they just decoration? What were those four silver rails stretching across the forest floor and into the woods? She could see the broad brown river winding between the trees, down a slope from the village, but she couldn’t see any boats at the docks.

Suddenly Chena felt closed in. Except for the theoretical boats and mysterious rails, there really was no way out of here. Maybe they really would have to wait for Dad to come get them. Maybe that would never happen.

Mom won’t make us stay here, she told herself, her hand tightening on the catwalk railing.

The noise of running feet and hoarse calls made Chena look down. A pair of boys about her own age trotted out from between the buildings, following one of the gravel paths. Mindful of the fence, Chena leaned over the railing and waved.

“Hey!” she called.

The boys paused and looked up. When they spotted Chena, they stared for a minute and then one of them slapped the other on the shoulder and they took off running again.

“Hey!” exclaimed Chena again. She ran along the catwalk until she came to the stairs leading to the ground. The boys had almost vanished. She pelted down the gravel path after them, angry at being ignored, and anger gave her speed. It was pretty obvious they were trying to lose her, and they knew the ground a lot better than she did. If she didn’t catch them fast, she wouldn’t catch them at all.