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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

I looked round at the people round me. I badly needed someone’s help, but whatever old Strongheart said about us all being one Family, they all looked like strangers to me. I noticed a guard nearby, though, who seemed to have noticed me. He was maybe twenty years older than me, and was holding his spear with one hand because his other hand was cut off at the wrist. He saw me look at him, and I guess he could tell how scared and desperate I was, because he beckoned with a sideways movement of his head that I should come over and talk to him.

‘You look a bit lost, my dear,’ he said.

I told him I was. I’d fallen out with the shadowspeaker Mary and she was the only family I had left. I didn’t know where to go, and I was hungry hungry.

‘Here,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a couple of flowercakes, and when this is over, I’ll sort you out with some more.’

It was Tom. He was still in the guards back then, but his guard leader was about to send him back to Michael’s Place because of his hand, and because he wasn’t so young any more in any case. Later on he found me food to eat and let me sleep in his shelter, and I let him have a little slip with me because I was grateful. He had me turn my back to him – men often did that – and grunted away to himself for a bit. I just went away into my own head until he’d done.

During the eight years I lived since then at Michael’s Place, this was to happen from time to time. Tom would follow me when I went out into forest, and have me bend over for him, and afterwards he’d just carry on like nothing happened, heading back to our cluster, or going off hunting by himself. We never spoke about it, but somehow it was as if we’d agreed that this was the trade for him letting me come back with him to Michael’s Place. If I’m honest, I guess I also hoped that maybe it would mean that fewer of my kids would have clawfeet.

Anyway, that first time at Davidstand, in his rough little shelter, he just lay down afterwards, said, ‘Sleep well,’ and then, almost at once, began to snore. But he was friendly enough when we woke again. He told me he was going to leave the guards and go back to Michael’s Place to be with his shelterwoman and kids.

‘I know when I’m not wanted,’ he said.

He said his dad had been head of the cluster but was too old to carry on, so he was going to take over.