Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [87]
‘I’m sick of being kicked around,’ Innis shot back.
‘Lennie.’ Cass used her pet name for him. ‘Where’ve you been?’
‘I’ve been thinkin’ and lookin’ around on my own. Not because I’ve bin told to do it. Crux, Kristo, ain’t you had enough? Or’ve you gone soft on aristos, like you did with that high and mighty bitch Mira Fedor? I shoulda stitched her up proper back in Ipo. Then she wouldn’t have gotten away and left the rest of us here to fr—’
Kristo launched himself at Innis, taking him full in the chest. They fell together, tumbling into Marrat and the women behind him.
Trin’s madre, Jilda, screamed, and suddenly everyone was moving – pushing, shoving or shouting.
It’s been coming. The thought hit Trin’s consciousness as he stepped into the melee. Now we’ve stopped running.
‘Tivi! Joe!’ he bellowed. ‘Arrest Innis Mulravey.’
Both men detached themselves from the melee and hastened into one of the caves. They reappeared within a few heartbeats, armed with spears and clubs of their own.
Making weapons was a mistake. Another glancing thought. No, he thought again. This was coming.
Someone knocked him forward to his knees. Josefia Genarro moaned and cursed in his ear, scrambling to get off him. Trin twisted and took her arm, helping them both up.
Liesl stood, glaring at them, fists half-raised. She kicked out at Josefia, catching her in the thigh. Before Trin could intervene, Josefia threw herself at the taller woman in much the same way as Kristo had at Innis.
Trin jerked his head around. Kristo had his hands around Innis’s throat. Marrat was kicking Kristo.
Tivi and Joe ran across, shouting, readying their spears. Trin looked back. The korm had intervened, pinning Liesl to the ground at Djeserit’s instruction. Josefia was bleeding from the nose and mouth.
Trin gazed between the groups, caught by indecision. Then Juno Genarro burst back into the clearing.
‘Principe! He tried to kill me! Innis tried to kill me.’ Blood smeared his robe and his face.
Before Trin could respond, Tivi Scali’s voice rose above the rest. ‘Let go, Kristo,’ he bellowed. ‘Let go, so I can stick him.’
Kristo let go of Innis’s throat and rolled away, but Innis responded by rolling after him, clawing at him.
Tivi Scali raised the spear. ‘Let go of ’im, you bastard,’ Tivi screamed.
Cass Mulravey’s ragazzo bolted from behind his mother to throw himself across his uncle.
‘Tivi!’ roared Trin.
But it was too late. The young carabinere brought the spear down in a two-handed stab.
It pierced the child below his ribcage. Though the ragazzo never uttered a noise, Cass Mulravey’s scream pierced through every other sound.
‘Caro!’ she cried. She broke away from where she knelt over Liesl and ran down.
But the ragazzo lay limp across his tio, a thin bundle of bones with the life fading quickly from it.
Cass felt for his pulse and gave a pained moan. She wrenched the spear out and threw it away, and then she gently lifted him from where he lay atop Innis.
Silence fell over the group as they watched the distraught woman cradle her ’bino. She rocked back and forth on her knees, willing life back into him.
Tivi Scali fell down beside her and began sobbing apologies, but Cass didn’t seem to hear him. Nor did she notice Innis crawl to her side and stare dully at the thin body.
A weight of despair and guilt settled on Trin. What had he set in motion by ordering them to make the spears? He should have dealt with Innis Mulravey differently, out of sight. Now what would happen?
He glanced around at the faces. Several of the women had hastened to Cass Mulravey’s side, while others stood where they were, lit by the moon-glow. He saw tears or anger on their faces. Even Djes seemed lost, offering him neither counsel nor comfort.
Then a noise wrenched all of their attention to the light-studded sky above – an AiV flying low over the mountainside.
‘Into the caves!’ called Trin.
They all moved except Kristo, Cass Mulravey and Tivi Scali. Even Innis got shakily to his feet and staggered towards Liesl, who helped him inside.
Trin slid