Evian looked up and she saw his small eyes were shrewd. "He laughed, Claudia. The old man laughed."
AFTER TWO hours walking through the metallic forest the snow began.
Stumbling over a root of copper and out of a daydream, Finn realized it had been falling for some time; it was already coating the leaf-litter with a fine frost. He looked back, his breath smoking.
Gildas was a little way behind, talking to the girl. But where was Keiro?
Finn turned quickly. All morning he had been unable to stop thinking of that voice, the voice from Outside, where the stars were. Claudia. How had she been able to speak to him? He felt the cold lump of the Key inside his shirt; its awkwardness comforted him.
"Where's Keiro?" he said.
Gildas stopped. He planted his staff in the ground and leaned on it. "Scouting ahead.
Didn't you hear him tell you?" Suddenly he strode forward and looked hard at Finn, the blue eyes clear as crystal in his small lined face. "Are you well? Is this a vision coming on you, Finn?"
Tm fine. Sorry to disappoint you." Sickened by the eagerness in the Sapient's voice Finn looked at the girl. "We need to get that chain off you."
She had wrapped it around her like a necklace to stop it swinging. He could see the raw skin under the collar where she had padded it with cloth. She said quietly, "I can manage.
But where are we?"
Turning, he stared over the miles of forest. A wind was rising, the metallic leaves meshing and rustling. Far below, the wood was lost under snow clouds, and high above the roof of the Prison was a distant oppression, its lights misted and faint.
"Sapphique came this way." Gildas sounded tense with excitement. "In this forest he defeated his first doubts, the dark despairs that told him there was no way on. Here he began the climb out."
"But the way leads down," Attia said quietly.
Finn looked at her. Beneath the dirt and hacked hair her face was lit with a strange joy.
"Have you been here before?" he asked.
"No. I was from a small Civicry group back there. We never left the Wing. This is so ... wonderful."
The word made him think of the Maestra, and the chill of guilt struck through him, but
Gildas pushed past and strode on. "It may appear to lead downhill, but if the theory that
Incarceron is underground is true, we must climb eventually. Perhaps beyond the wood."
Appalled, Finn gazed at the forested leagues. How could Incarceron be so vast? He had never imagined it would be like this. Then the girl said, "Is that smoke?"
They followed her pointing finger. Far oft, in the distant mists, a thin column rose and dissipated. It looked like the smoke from a fire, he thought.
"Finn! Give me a hand!"
They turned. Keiro was dragging something out from the thickets of copper and steel; as they ran over to him Finn saw that it was a small sheep, one of its legs crudely repaired, the circuits exposed.
"You re still thieves then," Gildas said acidly.
"You know the rule of the Comitatus." Keiro sounded cheerful. "Everything belongs to the
Prison, and the Prison is our Enemy."
He had already cut its throat. Now he looked around. "We can butcher it here. Well, she can. She may as well make herself useful."
None of them moved. Gildas said, "It was stupid. We have no idea of what inmates are here. Or of their strength."
"We have to eat!" Keiro was angry now, his face darkening. He threw the sheep down.
"But if you don't want it, fine!"
There was an awkward silence. Then Attia said simply, "Finn?"
He realized she would do it if he asked her to. He didn't want to have that power. But
Keiro was glowering, so he said, "All right. I'll help you."
Side by side, they knelt and cut the sheep up. She borrowed Gildas's knife and worked efficiently; he realized she had done it often before, and when he was clumsy, she pushed him aside and dissected the raw flesh. They took only a little; they had no way of carrying more or any tinder to cook it on as yet. Only half the beast was organic; the rest was a patchwork of metal, ingeniously put together. Gildas raked over the remains with his stick.
"The Prison breeds its beasts less well these days."
He sounded grave. Keiro said, "What do you mean, old man:
"What I say. I can remember when the creatures were all flesh. Then circuits began to appear, tiny things, threaded instead of vein, of cartilage. The Sapienti have always studied and dissected any tissue we could find. At one time I offered rewards for carcasses brought to me, though the Prison was usually too quick."
Finn nodded. They all knew that the remains of any dead creature vanished overnight; that
Incarceron sent its Beetles out instantly and collected the raw material for recycling.
Nothing was ever buried here, nothing burned. Even those of the Comitatus who had been killed were left, wrapped in their favorite possessions, decked with flowers, in a place by the abyss. In the morning, they were always gone.
To their surprise Attia spoke. "My people knew this. For a long time now the lambs have been like this, and the dogs. Last year, in our group, a child was born. Its left foot was made of metal."
"What happened to it?" Keiro asked quietly.
"The child?" She shrugged. "They killed it. Such things can't be allowed to live."
"The Scum were kinder. We let all sorts of freaks live."
Finn glanced at him. Keiro's voice was acid; he turned and led the way through the wood.
But Gildas didn't move. Instead he said, "Don't you see what it means, fool boy? It means the Prison is running out of organic matter ..."
But Keiro wasn't listening. He lifted his hand, alert.
A sound was rising in the wood. A low whisper, a rustling breeze. Tiny at first, barely raising the leaves, it stirred Finn's hair, Gildas's robe.