Urbane by D.J. Butler

Author:D.J. Butler [Butler, D.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA, Dystopia, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2016-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“I’ll name the baby Zarah,” Dyan said.

They were the first words she had spoken since they’d left the Cradle. Yurvek had been telling the truth at least this far: outside the Cradle waited two Outriders’ horses, fresh, saddled, and with full saddlebags. Without hesitation, Jak had helped Dyan by holding the baby while she climbed into her saddle and then handing it up to her.

He had had an impulse to set the baby down instead and leave it there but had immediately felt guilty for the impulse. Besides, Dyan would have simply dismounted to get the child.

Then he’d crawled into his saddle and they’d ridden west.

Dyan had said nothing, and so Jak said nothing, either. They’d passed the Garden and Capitol and the Cogitants’ dome. Jak had seen the Camel’s Back off to his right and had shot a glance at the Camp, half expecting to hear the galloping of horses and see a gang of Outriders in pursuit.

But the System seemed to go about its business without paying attention to the two fleeing outlaws.

Somehow, outlaws had seemed different in Magister Stanton’s funvids. More … wicked. Despicable. And a little romantic, maybe.

But Jak just felt no different, only battered and exhausted and confused. He tried not to think about Cogitant Yurvek and the surprising contents of his skull.

When they had ridden past Whitwark Bothy, Jak looked for Headman Anji. He’d found her after a little scanning; she directed the cutting down of a large dead cottonwood tree on the far side of the river from the Bothies. Not far from where Jak had crouched beneath the weir in hiding as Anji had tried to defend two of her Gardeners. Tried and failed.

If Anji noticed the two people in Outriders’ coats riding past her Bothy, she gave no sign of it. Jak plunged the arm with the sliced sleeve deeper into the coat pocket.

He’d made her an oath, and now he was leaving the System without her.

His mouth tasted like ashes.

At the gate, no one had asked any questions and Jak had volunteered nothing. What did they think about the fact that one of the Outriders passing through their midst held a baby in one arm?

Maybe they just didn’t notice.

Once beyond the gravel band encircling the System’s walls, Jak had breathed easier. He’d breathed even easier when they’d ridden another hour and turned to cross the river at a pair of fords and a long island.

A hide and board building on the center of the island, right on the track connecting the two fords, seemed to be a trading post. Two Shoshan had nodded at Jak and he’d raised a hand in greeting back. Having crossed the second ford, they had ridden to the top of the bluff overlooking the Buza River, and Jak finally had stopped them.

“I will name the baby Zarah.”

“That is an excellent name.” Jak felt tired, burned up, consumed. “I think all three of us could use a change of clothing. I, for one, have nothing

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