Skyland Read Free Page A

walked his
father. The old man hung back a respectful distance to give the
young couple their space, but his angry muttering interspersed with
cheerful whistling was far from unobtrusive. Harper didn't know
which was worse.
    "My Sky..." Zara's voice whispered from his
side.
    Her pace slowed then stopped.
    Finally, Harper turned and met her eyes,
black pools under a film of unshed tears in a face the color of a
cloud.
    The dark eyes were narrowed.
    She was not looking at him.
    He followed her gaze across the bridge, just
ten feet away now, almost in the shadow of the city. The bridge
that led from farmland to city spanned the river, now barely a
creek at the bottom of a dried up chasm. But it was not the bridge
that had caught Zara's eye.
    It was the man on the other side of it.
    Harper squinted and strained his eyes to be
sure of what he was seeing. On both sides of the trickling river
there were outlying buildings of the city and in the evening light
they cast long shadows. In one of these shadows, nearly invisible,
on the far side of the bridge, the man sat.
    The threads that covered his body barely
resembled clothing. They ended in shreds at the elbows and knees.
His feet were bare, and they, along with every inch of skin that
showed under the rags of clothes, were weathered like kale burnt up
in the sun. Ropes of matted hair, grainy with sandy soil, hung down
into the dust. He crouched on the ground, eyes bent to his
knees.
    He looked inattentive, almost asleep, if a
person could sleep in such a position. But Harper couldn't hope
that the man had not seen them.
    This was a scavenger.
    His eyes would be sharp as glass, and his
ears keen.
    The scavengers were not friends of the
farmers. They were the country folk not lucky enough to have a
farm, or even have work on one. Hatred out of desperation, out of
envy, and even out of the shame of charity had grown between the
unfortunate farmers and the even less fortunate scavengers.
    "This close to the city?" Zara's voice
shook.
    "They are getting desperate."
    Sometimes, these poorest of the country folk
hunted in the fields, digging up inedible roots to sell for
compost. Sometimes they roamed far out beyond even the brown
trenches, hunting animals for meat and bone. Sometimes they looted
the ancient sites, dead towns long buried in the sand and brought
back wide beams or massive tree stumps sold at high prices for the
rare wood. Sometimes, they just begged, wailing and panhandling in
the villages, relying grudgingly on the good will of the farmers
and what little food they could spare.
    And rarely, when desperation coincided with
boldness, they raided, kicking in doors, tearing every plank from
houses, taking even the last crumbs off tables. And if there was
anyone in the way, their flesh would make food or compost, and
their bone fresh ivory.
    A scavenger this close to the city was
desperate. And bold.
    "Harper.... what do we do? There's no
time... "
    The river was almost dry, but it lay at the
bottom of the ravine the water had carved before drought parched
it. The only other bridge was on the south side of the city – a
three hour walk away. The rocket would sail before they were
halfway. And if he were after their bones, the scavenger would just
follow them.
    They were almost in the shadow of the
rockets now. Just a little further and they would be there.
    Harper's elbows rested against the pouches
full of fertilizer sewn into his shirt pockets. The bulges were
well hidden in the loose fabric, but the scavengers would know what
the loose shirts of the country folk were usually used to hide.
    Sun coins and goods for trade.
    And we look like merchants.
    Harper and his father and Zara were not
carrying traveling packs. Unlike those who would be carrying all
their worldly possessions to the ship and off this planet (or so
they thought), their family had taken the walk to the city
empty-handed. Harper was uncomfortably aware that there was another
type who would be taking to the