Singing Tree by Dareth Pray

Author:Dareth Pray [Pray, Dareth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

When they arrived back at the hangar, Breu scanned furtively for witnesses, then pushed Udaya and Raphi inside, slammed the squeaky door closed and barricaded it, casting them into the near total darkness of the hanger. Breu lit a few dung lamps, then began pacing the length of the operations center, arms folded in tight.

Udaya had pieced together why Breu fled, and the knowledge made her shudder. The black-robed Corporation personnel were Death Priests, there to administer the final rites of the five elements. In her mind’s eye, Udaya could still see the swarming mass of scavengers feeding on the butte tops, and a shiver came over her as she tried to guess how many Daiine bodies must be splayed out in those burial grounds. Too many, judging by the size of the geileet kettle.

Lifecycle ceremonies were covered in detail in the Academy’s curriculum, and Udaya would never forget the morbid details of the sky burials lectures. After performing the ancient rites, the Death Priests would carve sacred symbols into the decedents’ flesh and then dismember the bodies with ceremonial knives. The dismembered bodies would then be loaded into death baskets, which the priests would carry strapped to their backs to the decedents’ final place of rest.

From where they had been standing, Udaya hadn’t seen the shallow steps in the sides of the rock formations that the priests would climb, chanting and swinging their copper thuribles so that the deceased souls could float into the afterlife on the plumes of the incense and the wings of the scavengers, who would consume their flesh in payment for the journey.

“Breu!” Udaya called out. Breu stopped pacing and spun towards her, eyes wild and lips pressed into a grim line.

“Tell me what is going on. I’ve never seen so many scavengers in one place. Duotah isn’t one of the main burial grounds,” Udaya said, her voice pitched higher than usual. Breu said nothing. She just looked at her with a stricken expression and shook her head.

“How many deaths have there been here, Breu?” Udaya pressed.

Breu’s shoulders slumped, and she stopped pacing and sat down on a stool with a thud, rubbing her palms against her trousers.

“Too many. Dozens, maybe a hundred souls,” she admitted. “How do you think I made Drilling Operations Chief Second so quickly?”

“Because you are talented and hard-working and driven and – ”

Breu cut her off with a snort. “No. It should have taken me at least a year. I had four predecessors die on me in the past three weeks, one after another. We lost the last one a week ago.”

Udaya remembered Daitir’s reluctance and realized she had misjudged the man. He had every reason to be afraid. The new empty operations center suddenly made sense.

“How did they die?”

“The same way Lulu did, my friend.” Breu pressed her palms over her eyes.

“What? How? What sickened them all so quickly?” Udaya asked, remembering that Breu had wanted to know whether Lulu had travelled out of Gaokà before she died.

“It’s the hydraulic fracturing.

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