them. “By his grace, and in his name,” I think it was. They didn’t have no bread or oatcake with the meat, just chewed it and swallowed it down. They didn’t give me a share, but Sky saved the last little bit of hers and shoved it in my mouth without a word when she was done. I would rather of had some water, but that they saved for theirselves. I choked down the meat the best I could, my throat being so dry and the taste of it both salt and somewhat bitter. I would not of et it at all, save I thought Sky would be angry if I spit it out.
“Okay then,” Sky says then. “Mole, you get to carry the bigger pack now. Cup, look you take up the small one.”
“What about you?” Mole asks, all sullen.
“I’m carrying him,” Sky says, nodding her head at me. “We got to whip up the pace some.”
She took me on her back the way you would do with a child, my arms around her neck and my legs under her hooked arms. They had got to untie my hands to do it, but then Mole tied them up again, a mite looser, out in front of me. I was hung over Sky’s wide shoulders like a rabbit being brung back from a hunt.
We set off again, faster than before. Sky’s big strides took in a lot of ground, and she didn’t tire. The other two was running almost, to keep up with her. As for me, it was a relief not having to walk no more, though my leg was jarred again and again as we went. The heat from Sky’s back was like the heat off of a fire when you sit too close. She smelled of earth and sourness, and something else that was almost like a spice. Cicely maybe, or water pepper.
“Koli,” Monono said. “I’m worried about my battery. I’m dropping into the red, dopey boy, and I know you can’t charge me up until you get to where you’re going. So I’m going to go lie down in my coffin like a sexy vampire for a while. I want to have enough power left for a big blast on the alarm if you need it. If you don’t… Well, better not switch me on until you’ve got some sunbeams for me to eat. Be careful, and stay alive. I’ll see you soon.”
She went quiet after that, and I knowed I was alone. I could still feel the weight of the DreamSleeve against my chest though, and that give me some comfort in spite of everything. When I left Mythen Rood, I thought I would never talk to Monono ever again. This was a bad scrape I was in, but it was not so bad as that by a long way.
We come to a fork in the path, and then another. Each time, Sky took the left-hand trail. When this happened a third time, Mole come up alongside Sky. He didn’t look happy.
“Best way is Bulmer Top, Sky,” he said. “This way takes us close to Elaine.”
“We’re going by Elaine. There ain’t nothing to fear there.”
Cup give a yelp. “Please, Sky. I don’t want Elaine to look at me. I’ll piss myself for sure.”
“Piss yourself or keep it in, Cup, they’re your breeks. But this is the way we’re going.”
She put on some speed and left them to follow. The trail led over the hump of a hill and down the valley wall. The river had got to be right below us now, unless I had got turned around somehow inside my head.
All three of them slowed down as the slope steepened and the ground become more open. Sky took another look up at the clouds, which was a mite thinner and lighter than had been. That was not much of a worry, though, for the big trees was behind us now. Hogweeds and yellow flag and valerian sprung up all around, with white willows bending over us. Hogweeds was the most dangerous out of those. They won’t molest you if you leave them alone, but the pods on the main stem is full of sap that sticks to your skin. It feels like nothing at first, but Dandrake help you when the sun comes out. It hurts worse than the dead god’s hell, and scars your skin like fire. Sky and them skirted wide around the hogweeds, but it surprised me that they come by