Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 433
things into his pack, pausing now and then to stare down the
road. He looked down, muttered, "She never really trusted
me," in an unbelieving tone, and then shook himself.
"All right, Marya," he said. "Let’s go."
With an effort, she transcended her discomfort.
"Where?" she asked, squinting at him.
"To find Jordan. He’s still running from the Winds, and
it’s our fault. The only way he’ll be safe is if we get him off
planet."
How to put this? "Axel... I understand your impulse to
help this man. But Calandria’s half-right. We need to do
something to attack the larger problem."
"What larger problem?"
"The Winds."
He stopped stuffing the pack. "What in hell’s name can
we do?"
Marya stretched. "We continue signalling for a ship,
you’re right about that. Meanwhile, though, we go back."
"Back where?"
"To Memnonis. To steal the corpse of this man
Turcaret."
Calandria paused at the crest of a hill and looked back the
way she’d come. She felt a vague disquiet, leaving like this.
The feeling raised old memories. She remembered
crying for days after overhearing that the children she'd thought
her friends, had been hired as her playmates by her wealthy
mother. Now she felt the same almost-guilty feeling she used
to have when leaving residence parties early and alone, at the
Academy. She always reached a point where she could accept
no more closeness. Her basic alienation came back to haunt
her. When that happened she had to leave, and today she was