The Thousand Steps by Helen Brain

Author:Helen Brain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Human & Rousseau
Published: 2016-07-29T07:15:30+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Shorty must be wrong. There’s no way the High Priest would allow the citizens to sell food stolen from the colony. The citizens I’ve met at the shrine are warm and loving and kind. They wouldn’t steal. I fret about it for a few days, and then I decide to go to Longkloof Market with Leonid. I’ll be able to see for myself what’s going on, and explain it to Shorty.

It’s still dark when Leonid brings the wagon around to the front of the house the next market day. It’s laden high with crates of vegetables, eggs, milk, and bunches of herbs, all produce from Greenhaven. Wicker baskets with chickens and pigeons are tied on the sides of the wagon. He’s ready to make trouble the moment I come out the front door. He looks me up and down and then looks pointedly at the empty seat next to him. “Oh dear, miss,” he says, “it’s really not appropriate for someone of your status to sit with the hired help. Would you like me to fetch one of the armchairs? I could fit it on the back, perhaps.”

“Leonid!” Aunty Figgy snaps. “That’s uncalled for.”

I say nothing, though I’m seething inside as I climb up next to him. Before I’m settled, he flicks the reins and the horses set off. I almost fall backwards. I grab the bench, wondering what has got into him. For the next hour, he ignores me. I go over every single exchange we’ve had in the month I’ve known him.

Why does he hate me so much? Is he still cross that I let Mr Frye blame him for spilling the milk? Surely he can’t be that petty. Is it because I’m a citizen?

By sunrise, we’re cresting the mountain. One of the High Priest’s carriages is barrelling along the road towards us with a soldier up front, blowing a brass horn. Leonid is forced to pull the wagon right to the edge of the cliff. I look down at the sea far beneath us, and wish I hadn’t. Leonid sees me clutching the edge of the seat.

He grins. “Scared?”

I’m not giving him the satisfaction. “No,” I say shortly.

The carriage is almost upon us. The soldier is blowing his horn louder. Then they sweep past, too close, so they knock the baskets. The hens set up a furious clucking.

“Stupid peasants,” the soldier yells. “If you can’t drive properly, go back to where you belong.”

Leonid is seething as we set off again. “Flipping overprivileged oxygen thieves. Think they’re better than everyone else because they own land in the settlement. We should shut them all in the colony and block up the air vents.”

I know he considers me one of the oxygen thieves.

I don’t say anything. There’s a long day ahead, and I don’t want to spend it fighting.

We drive on. The sun has risen and there’s a stream of wagons and carriages on the road, all heading for the market. The citizens have sent their servants out early to do the week’s shopping.

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