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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

Strongheart told his guards to empty the clearing. Mary tried to call out that we should leave the Earth people alone, but by then it seemed that even she couldn’t control what she’d set loose. The shouting and stones kept coming until suddenly those lights shone out from the veekle, with a brightness we hadn’t seen since it first came down from the sky, a brightness that filled up forest, making everything pale, and covering the ground under the trees with long black shadows, like fingers of darkness pointing out accusingly from the shining veekle. The light hurt our eyes so that we had to turn away from it and, as we did, we saw each other, the blemishes on our skins, the deep tired lines in our faces, and we saw how the lanterns on the trees, which were normally the light of Eden, were drained of any light at all by the brightness all round them, and were just pale shapes dangling from the branches. It was as if dimness had been a wrap round us, keeping us warm, and now it had suddenly been stripped away.

We let the guards drive us out of the clearing, but before I left I looked back and saw Mary still standing there, still looking in the direction of the veekle, her fingers like a cage in front of her eyes, like she was trying to face out those brilliant lights and make out what was behind.

Fifty-three

When I tell you things that happened when I wasn’t there, I rely on what people who were there told me or what they told other people. Starlight told me things that happened in Strongheart’s big shelter, for example, and I heard about Leader Harry’s death from the stories passed round by the three guards who came back. It’s tricky because people always hold things back, or hear what they want to hear, or tell the story in a way that makes better sense to them than how they heard it themselves. I’ve heard several different stories about how Leader Harry died, for instance. I’ve told you the one I’ve heard most often, but there are those who say it was Luke himself who called out ‘Blade!’ and the guy on the woolly­buck next to him that shot the arrow, and some say Luke just shot the leader because he wanted to, and no one shouted ‘Blade!’ at all. I guess if I could speak to Luke or some of his ringmen, I might hear other stories again. Maybe they’d say there really was a shiny blade in Harry’s hand. It’s not impossible. Our guards still carried blackglass spears back then, but their leaders all had metal knives. And anyway, blackglass can shine in the light.