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Back Daughter of Eden
Chapters (68)
  1. Title page
  2. Dedication
  3. Part I
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-one
  25. Twenty-two
  26. Twenty-three
  27. Twenty-four
  28. Twenty-five
  29. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 20. 20:25 MT.
  30. Part II
  31. Twenty-six
  32. Twenty-seven
  33. Twenty-eight
  34. Twenty-nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-one
  37. Thirty-two
  38. Thirty-three
  39. Thirty-four
  40. Thirty-five
  41. Thirty-six
  42. Thirty-seven
  43. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 22. 20:05 MT.
  44. Thirty-eight
  45. Thirty-nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-one
  48. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 25. 15:30 MT.
  49. Forty-two
  50. Forty-three
  51. Forty-four
  52. Forty-five
  53. Forty-six
  54. Forty-seven
  55. Forty-eight
  56. Forty-nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-one
  59. Fifty-two
  60. Fifty-three
  61. Fifty-four
  62. Part III
  63. Fifty-five
  64. Fifty-six
  65. Fifty-seven
  66. Fifty-eight
  67. Also by Chris Beckett
  68. Copyright page

‘Yes, the Johnfolk, ten boats of them, with metal masks on their faces and metal spears in their hands! Come on, everyone, move! We need to get away from the poolside.’

Tom stood up. He was a big big man with a loud voice, and could hardly have been more different to his brother Dave. He’d been a guard for a long time until he lost his hand, and he was used to bossing people about.

‘Right everyone, pack up whatever you can carry, and we’ll head for Davidstand.’

Davidstand sat at the foot of Snowy Dark, and it was where David Strongheart himself lived when he wasn’t travelling about his ground, along with all his shelterwomen and most of their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There were many guards there, and if there was any place in Wide Forest that was going to be safe from the Johnfolk, Davidstand would surely be it.

‘Oh Gela’s heart!’ Dave groaned. ‘I just sent Fox to Veeklehouse to get some glue. I’d better go after him.’

Fox liked to go to Veeklehouse along the little path that went through the trees, rather than the one along the cliffs. He liked to imagine he was a hunter, out by himself, far out in the depths of forest.

‘No you hadn’t, Dave,’ I said, ‘not with those clawfeet. You get the buck loaded up and the other kids ready, and head straight towards Davidstand. I’ll go after Fox.’

Kate’s man Davidson started blowing our old hollowbranch horn to bring in the people who were out scavenging or hunting in forest, and everyone began fretting about people they couldn’t get back, such as sons in the guards, and daughters who were the housewomen of guards.

‘They’ll know we’d go to Davidstand,’ Tom said. He had four sons in the guards himself. ‘They’ll be able to come and find us there if they need to. But I reckon that won’t be necessary. We’ll be back here soon. Our guards are more than a match for a bunch of ringmen.’

‘Dave, take Candy and Metty,’ I said. ‘I’ll go and get . . .’

But right then Fox came running back into the cluster: my own little Fox with his thin little arms and legs and his big big eyes.

‘Oh thank Gela!’ I murmured, grabbing him up with tears of relief welling from deep inside of me. Fox wriggled free. He was past the age where boys liked to be babied, and anyway he had news.

‘Everyone’s running away from Veeklehouse, Mum.’

‘I know, Foxy, I know,’ I told him as I let him go. ‘Your dad’s getting the buck ready, look, and then we’re all going to Davidstand. It’ll be safe there.’