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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

‘Clare’s worrying, but I’m not. Okay, some guards have been killed by the sound of it, but it won’t be many. When I was in guards, we planned for this over and over. Our leaders always told us that we’d fight just for a short time and then back off. The Johnfolk were bound to be in a strong position when they first grounded, because we’d be spread out all along poolside, and they’d all be in one place. No sense in losing a lot of men fighting them when they were at their strongest. But it’ll be a different story soon, I promise you, now that we know where they are.’ Tom laughed grimly. ‘It’ll be a different different story.’

‘Still,’ said Dave, looking round at his brother from Ugly’s back, ‘what a terrible thing to happen, eh, just before the four hundredth Virsry?’

Of course we didn’t know exactly when the Virsry would be. It was a bunch of old people far away over the Dark in Circle Valley who decided that, counting their sleeps and wakings until they got to three hundred sixty-five. But we knew it was about now, and we knew there were supposed to be special celebrations up in the Valley, to mark those four hundred years since Gela and Tommy first laid out that Circle of Stones.

‘No, mate, this is a good way,’ Tom said firmly, rubbing the stump of the right hand that he’d lost in a fight with a thief. ‘It’s a good good way to celebrate. Teaching those bloody Johnfolk a lesson for once and for all! What better way could there be to celebrate the Circle than to kick those circle-breakers back into the Pool?’

Behind me, I heard Trueheart give her scornful snort, but quietly quietly, so that, if her dad took her up on it, she could deny it had happened at all.

‘And believe me, Dave,’ Tom went on in a loud firm voice, either not hearing Trueheart or choosing to pretend he hadn’t, ‘we will kick them into the Pool, every single one of them that we don’t do for first with our good blackglass spears. There’ll be fast riders heading to Davidstand right at this moment to give old Strongheart the news, and – trust me! – as soon as he hears, he’ll be on to it, him and Leader Mehmet, they’ll be onto it like a leopard that’s seen a buck. I’ve met them both, you know, Strongheart and Leader Mehmet, and I’m telling you those two guys aren’t just tough, they’re smart smart as well. No way will these Johnfolk get the better of them, not when they’re on our ground, and so far away from the place they know. Strongheart will beat them, don’t you worry. He’ll smash them into little pieces.’

Six