The need frequently did. Even since Peer had been in Skulk, she had heard of almost a hundred attempted escapes. They all ended the same way, and the rotting corpses were left across the Levels as warnings.
Facing the Levels, hidden in the shadow of a tall house, Peer could see three watchtowers. A gentle drift of smoke tailed from one of them as the Border Spites cooked their lunch. Between them and her were the sad, fire-blackened ruins.
"This is where we say goodbye," Penler said. He sighed heavily, staring anywhere but at Peer.
"You could still come," she said.
"No, I'll slow you."
She tapped her hip, aching a little after their long walk. "I'm not as fast as I was, you know."
"But I did a good job on that." He looked at her at last, and she saw tears in his eyes. Tears, and something else: regret.
And she wondered suddenly how she had been so fucking stupid all this time. Old man, she sometimes jokingly called him, but it was how she perceived him. Just what had he thought of those words coming from the woman he loved? She could never know. Even if Rufus had not come along, it was far too late, because they had become such good friends.
"I'll miss you," he said.
What do I say? She hugged him tight, confused, and angry at herself for being so selfish that she had never seen.
Penler held her. The three of them stood in silence, and Peer felt the pressure of that silence weighing on her. He's waiting for me to say something. But she did not know what to say. I'm sorry just wouldn't do, and time was passing.
"You need to give me an hour," he said, pulling away from her and staring back across the Levels.
"When will we know it's time to go?"
"You'll know." He'd strengthened now, looking forward, bringing himself back to what needed doing to get Peer and Rufus away. Out of his life forever.
"Penler…" she said.
He smiled softly. "You'll do fine."
"No, I don't mean… I wanted to say…" But she'd been blind all this time, and opening her eyes at the end would be pointless.
"Just remember me," Penler said.
"I will see you again," she replied.
His smile dropped, but only slightly. They both realized the likelihood of that.
Penler gave Rufus a one-armed hug before he went, then weaved his way back along the narrow street and disappeared into the blackened heart of a ruined temple. As well as letting go of Peer, he was saying goodbye to this remarkable visitor from the desert.
"Friends," Rufus said, looking after Penler.
"Yes, we are," Peer said. A sense of loss hit her in the gut, and she sat down heavily against the wall. They had a while to wait. And for her last hour in Skulk Canton, Peer reflected upon how self-obsessed she had been.
The previous day's rains had turned the Levels to muck. Peer could see the black pools from where they waited, and she knew that the crossing would not be easy. The Levels were not actually level at all; the destruction a century before had been rushed, and here and there some remains still stood. Walls were piled with debris, and the dark pits of exposed basements led down to older Echoes. She hoped that whatever Penler planned, he gave them long enough.
Each of the three watchtowers she could see was manned. The guards in one were still cooking, and distant laughter came her way. In the second tower there had been movement as several Border Spites changed watch, and from the third she'd seen a guard pissing over the side.
"You'd better be who we think you are," she said mildly.
Rufus still wore that lost expression.
"You remember nothing from out there?" she asked.
"Bones," he said. "Sand. Dead desert." He looked down at his hands, twisted in his lap.
"And nothing from before?"
Rufus shook his head. "Maybe… there is nothing."
"No," Peer said. "I don't believe that. I can't. Do you feel sick, weak? No, you're fine. You're good. You're getting better! So there's something about you…"
Rufus looked at her and glanced away again, perhaps not understanding. He stared across the Levels at the beginnings of Course Canton beyond. The buildings were low and stark, most of them abandoned this close to Skulk, but they still carried a heavy significance. Over there was freedom and choice. Over here was imprisonment and necessity. The Levels were where everything changed.
"You told me I'm not her. So who are you looking for?"
"I don't know," he said, perhaps too sharply. And the first explosion came from the east.
Rufus jumped, scrambling to his feet, but Peer crawled across the debris-strewn alley and held him down. He was breathing hard and fast, but she held his jaw with one hand and turned his face until he was looking right at her. His eyes are so green, she thought, and she shook her head, shushing him as the noise echoed across the Levels.
When Peer was six, there had been a series of anonymous attacks on Mino Mont's water refineries. The authorities at the time had blamed them on the Dragarians, though there had been no such instances before or since, and the attacks had soon ended. What she remembered most was not the panic that had spread quickly through Mino Mont for those few days one summer-fear that if the refineries were destroyed, then the Northern and Eastern Reservoirs would quickly dry up-but the sounds of those few explosions. She had never heard anything like them before or since-until now.
Crawling to the mouth of the alley, she looked east and saw several plumes of smoke about a mile away. They did not seem to be rooted to the ground but floated on the breeze.
Three more explosions came, bursting in the air like rapidly blooming roses, spewing sparks followed by thin limbs of smoke. The colors were bright and varied, and each explosion flowered and spread differently. She had seen skyfires before many times, during street parties to celebrate an important Marcellan's birthday or to mark the execution of another Pretender. But they were always a weak, sputtering affair. Never anything like this. These filled the sky.
"What?" Rufus said behind her. He'd crawled up close, and now he clung on to the leg of her trousers, shaking.
"Penler," Peer said. "Full of surprises."
She looked across the Levels at the three guard towers. Two of them were abuzz with activity as Border Spites climbed or slid down the rope ladders splayed around their legs. Atop the third tower-the farthest to the west-she could see three guards shielding their eyes as they watched the skyfires.
Go, she thought. Relieve your boredom. See what's happening.
"We'll give it a few moments," she said. "Then we go." Some of the guards started along the northern boundary of the Levels, the sun glinting from their weapons. This is madness, she thought, but she shoved that idea aside. Penler was doing this for her, and if he'd thought there was a chance of her being caught, he'd have suggested otherwise.
It was up to her to make sure his trust was not mislaid.
"Follow me," she said, turning to make sure Rufus understood. He nodded. "Stay close behind me. Stay low." She indicated what she meant with her hand. He nodded again. He understands more than he says, or can say. But that was another mystery to unravel later. One breath at a time, as her poor dead mother used to say. Peer took in a deep breath and left the cover of the buildings.
There were several heavy coughs to the east, and Peer saw smoke trails lifting objects high above the Levels. Upon exploding, they splashed a palette of colors across the sky, and the falling flames twisted around one another like dancing silk snakes. They were unlike any skyfires she had ever seen or heard of before. The sparks did not extinguish but kept spitting and dancing in the air, each one seemingly in concert with those around it. Shapes were formed and dispersed again, as if teasing-fighting rockzards, a diving rathawk plucking its prey from the air, wisps swooping toward and around one another without ever actually touching. For a second she stood amazed, before realizing that this display was not meant for her.