Toys

Chapter 60

Well, it was a small price to pay-I heal quickly-but my Hays the Rabbit act won the horse soldiers over, even Tazh Khan, it seemed.

Toward evening, our merry band of Mongolians arrived at a small city, if you could call it that-a couple of square miles of gray streets and squat industrial buildings that rose up starkly out of the tundra. It was named Vlosk; mainly, it was a transport depot to ship ore from nearby mines, probably to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Lucy had already arranged passage for us on one of the cargo rockets that made constant flights to North Sea ports.

Then we’d be taken straightaway to England, where the human leaders we needed to meet were based-though Lucy told me there were also leadership councils in Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Beijing. Of course, these were all cities that-according to Elite history books-no longer existed.

At any rate, Tazh Khan’s men obviously weren’t comfortable with Vlosk, or probably even with buildings; they stopped well short of the outskirts.

Khan rode on alone with Lucy and me to where a classic Russian motorcar was waiting to take us to our transport.

I gave my pony an affectionate pat as I jumped down to the ground. I’d become fond of the little brute. It was tough, loyal, gave everything it had, and asked little in return.

Tazh Khan spoke a quick couple of sentences to Lucy, but his gaze was on me.

“He asks how your shoulder feels,” she told me.

“Already better. I’m good,” I said, rotating it easily. He’d taken the arrow out himself, then washed my wound and dressed it with the soothing balm they used on their horses. My own rapid-healing powers had taken over from there.

Looking rather somber, Tazh Khan spoke again.

“He says he knows you deliberately let his arrow hit you,” Lucy said.

“Tell him I mean no disrespect, but he’s mistaken. His shot was so swift and sure that I barely managed to save my life.”

When she relayed this, his grin appeared, even as he spoke. Lucy kept on translating.

“He says you’re a bad liar but he’d be proud to call you his brother.”

“The honor’s mine,” I said, and I actually meant it.

“After this war is over, you must come visit him again,” Lucy said. “He’ll lend you his fattest wives to keep you warm at night, and take you spear hunting for wolves.”

Now it was my turn to grin. “Sounds like a dream vacation. Tell him-no way.”

Tazh Khan clasped my forearm, leaned down from his horse to embrace Lucy, then rode off to rejoin his band-without a backward glance.

“That is some kind of man,” I said. “They all are.”

Lucy nodded sadly. “Exactly the kind of barbarian the Elites can’t wait to exterminate.”