Page 238 of Hunters and Prey

Gathering

MINUTES LATER, WE were all walking down the grassy hill towards the nearby town.

It wasn’t a long walk, but Black was surprisingly quiet through it, and not only because he spent a chunk of it glaring periodically at his cousin’s back.

Revik himself seemed somewhat contrite.

He was at least less openly hostile.

I saw him trying to talk to Black, pointing out landmarks, mirroring them back to both of us, in terms of how the land compared to the Earths he and Black knew, which were apparently a lot more closely alike.

Black was marginally polite back, but I could tell he was off-balance still, to the point where I could feel what Lily had been talking about, about him acting a lot more grumpy than he was. More than anything, the feeling I got off Black was unease, most of it seeming to center around whatever Revik and Allie meant when they called him “Dragon.”

The part about Dragon impregnating Allie didn’t seem to be the issue––or the fact that he’d supposedly raped her on that other world.

Whatever bothered Black was something else.

He gave me a hard look as I was thinking about this, looking over his shoulder from where he walked beside his blood cousin. We were making our way down another hill and into one of those white-trunked forests, heading for what would have been the financial district of downtown San Francisco.

Of course I don’t care about that,Black sent, his mental voice annoyed. I didn’t rape anyone. And I’m not that kid’s father. I lived on our Earth when that kid was conceived. Whatever the hell they’re going on about, that whole thing has nothing to do with me.

Revik apparently heard that.

Some of it, at least.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said, in his deep voice. His German accent grew stronger when he added, “My wife thinks you might be some kind of reincarnation.”

“Reincarnation?” Black scowled at him. “How? I was born long before that thing attacked your wife.” His mouth curled into a harder frown. “Why not just accept that you’re wrong? If that thing was Dragon, clearly I’m not.”

Revik frowned, nodding.

Looking down at his son, who was still staring at Black with serious blue eyes, Revik didn’t speak, but his jaw hardened perceptibly.

It didn’t take us long to get to town.

I’d been down here a few times already, mostly with Alyson, but I found myself looking at it with new eyes as I imagined how it must appear to Black.

Booths and kiosks lined the marketplace in the center, inside a half-circle of multi-story buildings with long windows and rounded, Art Nouveau-like frames. Decorated with organic-looking carvings, the walls and pillars were designed to look like all manner of phenomena from the natural world: trees, vines, flowers, leaves, waves, roots, boulders, waterfalls, legs, claws, wings, feet, toes, arms, hands, fins, paws, mouths, tails, teeth––even hair and ears.

Most of the shapes had been carved directly into stone and adobe-like mud walls.

For the gathering, the downtown markets were even more of a zoo than usual.

People brought domestic animals to town with them, some to sell, some to show in various contests, along with handmade art and clothes, household items, jewelry, weapons, a million different kinds of foodstuffs, sweets, and cakes, even appliances and organic machines, most of which I couldn’t even guess their purpose.

From the one other gathering I’d attended here, they were a lot like county fairs back home, combined with urban markets I’d been going to in San Francisco since I was a kid.

Revik excused himself to go look for things he needed for the house.

He brought his son with him, I noticed.

Allie left us a few minutes later, taking Lily. She said she’d ping my light once she found Zarat, and as soon as she knew where and when the Council seers wanted us.

That left Black and I to wander the fair alone.

I took his hand, squeezing it until he looked over.

“Are you okay?” I said, watching his face.

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