He knew at once that it was no good. His feet lifted only a little way from the deck before plumping down again. He gritted his teeth and tried again, but this time there was no result at all.
‘What is wrong?’ he hissed. ‘Why does it not work? I am rested!’
‘Perhaps … the metal in the barge,’ Sonia murmured.
‘Then we will have to jump.’
Sonia’s eyes widened. She watched silently as Rye stuffed the red feather back into the bag and pulled out the sea serpent scale.
‘If the metal on the barge is the problem, this will work once we are in the water,’ Rye told her. ‘We are not far from the bank.’
Sonia hesitated only a moment before giving a brief nod. Together they squeezed out of their hiding place and slipped along the loaded deck to a place where the side railing was clear.
Halfway over the railing, Rye’s stomach lurched. He had forgotten about the book! Water would destroy it! Frantically he began tearing at the knots that fastened the red bundle to his belt.
‘Ho!’ a startled voice yelled behind him. ‘Skip, look! Gordy, get over here! We’ve got a couple of stowaways! There, by the rail!’
‘They can see us!’ Sonia panted. ‘Oh, Rye—’
Feet began to pound towards them. There was a clang and a curse as someone stumbled, but a second pair of feet ran on.
The old man called Jacko appeared from behind a stack of barrels and made for them, his hands reaching out to grab them.
The bundle came free at last. Holding it high above his head, Rye tightened his grip on Sonia.
‘Now!’ he roared. And together they jumped with a second to spare, leaving Jacko leaning over the railing, bawling curses as he snatched at empty air.
14 - Riverside
The river was running swiftly and its chill made Rye and Sonia gasp, but they quickly discovered that they had no need of the serpent scale. They were so close to the bank that the water was only chest deep. They could wade to safety.
And wade they did, clinging together while the tide tugged at them and pebbles slipped beneath their feet, till they reached the mossy stone bank. And then they crawled out and looked behind them.
The barge was chugging on, gradually picking up speed. Clearly the captain had no intention of stopping just to chase two ragged stowaways. Jacko was still standing at the railing, looking back in puzzlement, his hand shading his eyes.
‘He cannot see us,’ Sonia cried gleefully. ‘The hood must be working again!’
Her face had brightened. The dip in the river seemed to have done her good. Rye felt far better himself, he realised. It was a relief to know that the powers had not deserted him. He simply had not realised that there was enough metal in the barge to make them useless.
He and Sonia were standing on a well-paved road not far past the township. From the barge, Riverside had looked of modest size, but from this angle Rye could see that in fact it was very large. Bordered by chequered fields of yellow and green, it stretched back from the road in a long, narrow band as far as the eye could see. Rye could only imagine that the farmland on either side of the band was particularly rich, too valuable to be used for building.
On the other side of the road was the pipeline. It was bigger than it had seemed from a distance, and its stone supports raised it so high above the ground that even the tallest man could have walked beneath it without ducking his head.
‘It is a mammoth work,’ Rye said, staring at it in wonder as he pushed the serpent scale back into the brown bag.
‘It is monstrous,’ Sonia replied flatly.
As Rye glanced at her in surprise, she shrugged and turned away.
‘It gives me a bad feeling. I cannot explain it,’ she said. ‘Let us go! For one thing, there will be food in Riverside and I am as hungry as a clink!’
‘We have no money,’ Rye muttered, suddenly aware of how hollow his own stomach felt.
‘Then we will have to eat scraps or steal!’ Sonia retorted. She pulled at Rye’s arm and he began walking with her towards the Riverside dock. The sun was hot. Already their wet clothes had begun to steam.
‘What is that yellow crop, do you suppose?’ Rye asked, looking over the fields.
Sonia laughed. ‘Do you not know? That is myrmon!’
‘Myrmon? But that was—’
‘Yes! The stuff that Bird and her people used to put Dirk and me to sleep! But here myrmon is used to help people who are in pain—not to take them prisoner!’
She laughed again, her eyes sparkling. ‘Myrmon was one thing I learned about when I passed Riverside on my way to you. It is quite a new crop, bred here, and they are all very proud of it. The sleeping potion is made from the centres of the flowers, the stems make very good feed for animals and the petals give a yellow dye that never fades. Myrmon has helped make Riverside and the surrounding farms rich! That and the famous Riverside hogs.’
‘A new crop, developed here!’ Rye exclaimed. ‘And the hogs … Sonia, the fields around here must be rich with jell! That is why the people of Riverside have left them as farmland, instead of building on them.’
‘Then surely it will not be long before the Master invades in earnest,’ Sonia replied darkly. ‘I cannot think why he has not made his move already. You had better tell Farr that, as well as everything else.’
They reached the Riverside sign, and under cover of the hood slipped into the city unnoticed. Looking around, Rye was surprised to see so few soldiers on the streets, and decided that the main army must be stationed further away from the river.
To his surprise, he was feeling very comfortable. Riverside was a place of light, colour and space. The broad, paved roads were busy but less bustling than the crowded streets of the larger city by the sea. The brightly dressed citizens exchanged smiles and greetings as they passed one another, and when, as often happened, two or three stopped to chat, people simply moved around them with no sign of impatience.
A bakery was offering free samples of a new kind of bread, so the companions helped themselves from the basket, hoping that no one would notice the warm, crusty fragments disappearing into thin air. The bread was delicious, but they did not dare take too many pieces at once and regretfully moved on, their stomachs growling for more.
Reaching a small square with a bubbling fountain in its centre and wooden benches set around its edges, they sank into a corner to rest and look about them.
‘This is a good town,’ Sonia said suddenly. ‘I feel very peaceful here.’
‘I was thinking the same thing,’ Rye agreed.
Indeed, there was something very attractive about Riverside. People were sitting all around the square, talking, reading or simply enjoying the air. A light, cooling breeze flitted through the surrounding streets, fluttering the edges of the striped awnings that stretched from most of the buildings, providing welcome shade. Stone water troughs for animals stood here and there. And Rye was warmed to see that many of the houses and shops had been built around tall rock chimneys hollowed out by clinks long ago.
‘This place must have been a clink colony once, like Fleet,’ he said. ‘Look at the chimneys!’
‘I daresay they are blocked in the summer,’ Sonia replied dryly.
Rye said nothing. He, too, had noticed almost all the town’s windows and doors were fitted with metal shields that would slide across them at sunset.
The citizens of Riverside, going so cheerfully about their business, were besieged, just as the people of Weld were. They, too, had to lie in their beds at night in stifling houses, listening to the sounds of death brushing their sealed walls.
Still, they were not suffering like the people of Weld. Only a few, scattered skimmers made their way to Riverside, it seemed, compared to the hordes that descended on the city inside the Wall. And, perhaps even more importantly, the Riverside citizens plainly did not feel trapped and helpless. Their houses were sturdy and well shielded, and they knew that Farr and his council were striving to stop the menace.