The Luck Of The Wheels by Megan Lindholm Page B

caught up with them. These were the stragglers, who had fallen as they fled, the first victims of the scarlet hooves and blades.
    Ki stood frozen, staring down at them. Too vivid were the memories they stirred, of other bodies on a dusty road, of a man and two children she had called hers. Behind her she heard Willow's rising pants, the beginning of hysteria. Beside her, Goat stirred restively and complained, 'I smell shit.'
    'Shut up.' Ki's voice was dispassionate. 'Willow. Close the door. And don't waken Vandien. He doesn't need this.'
    She booted the brake on, wrapped the reins about its handle. Slowly she dismounted and walked over to the first body. The bloodstains on the pale robe were already turning brown in the heat of the sun. There was no need to check for signs of life. Flies buzzed angrily as she turned the body over. She refused to look into the face. With averted eyes, she lifted the shoulders and dragged the body from the road some little distance to the paltry shade of a dying oak. Beyond it was a scorched area where long ago a house might once have stood. She was too heartsick to be curious about it. Slowly she walked back to the road, went to the next body. A child. Unmindful of the blood and feces that fouled his little body, she picked him up and carried him to place him by the other. Goat watched her avidly from the wagon, silent but absorbed in her actions. She paid no attention to him.
    She had moved the wagon forward and started to lift the shoulders of a third corpse when the woman came to meet her. She was Tamshin, tall and willowy, but the grace was gone from her movements. Her face was bruised to blackness, and blood had clotted in her long hair. Her thick accent and swollen lips made her hard to understand.
    'Stop. Stop, please. Leave them. Leave us and go away.'
    Ki lifted her eyes to meet the woman's, but she turned her head aside, refusing the communion of grief.
    'I would help you,' Ki offered softly. 'With the dead and with the injured. I have food, water, and bandages.'
    A boy came up to stand beside the woman. His eyes were wide and empty. Ki glanced up the road, saw other survivors busy among the dead. They made not a sound.
    'No.' The woman spoke with difficulty, swayed and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. He stood steady beneath her weight. 'No. Go away. We are Tamshin, our dead are Tamshin. Go away.'
    'Please,' Ki said. 'There are so many ...'
    'You are ...' The woman searched for the word. 'Unclean. You must not touch our dead. Go away.'
    'I understand.' Ki backed slowly away and stood at the side of the road as the woman and boy bent over the body of an old man. With difficulty they dragged him from the road.
    'Your way is clear now,' the woman said. 'Go.'
    'May I leave you water?'
    'Unclean. Unclean! Go away!' The woman screamed the last words, and suddenly began to sob.
    Ki spun away from her and fled toward the wagon. As she reached it Vandien stepped out suddenly and caught her in his arms. He held her close. 'You should have called me,' he said into her hair.
    'I didn't want you to ... They don't want our help. We desecrate their dead. They want us to go.'
    'Then we'll go. It's the only thing we can do for them, Ki.'
    She nodded slowly. He followed her up onto the wagon's high seat, moved Goat over with a glance. He took up the reins and kicked off the brake. For once Ki said nothing about his driving. Only Goat dared to speak. Leaning forward to peer up into Ki's striken face, he said, 'You see how they are? Ungrateful. And filthy. You smell terrible.'
    'Shut up, Goat,' said Vandien.
     

FIVE
    'D on't touch that.' Goat slowly drew his hand back from the whip in its socket. 'All you do is boss me around,' he complained.
    'Right.'
    It's like being shut in a box, thought Ki, while someone keeps hammering on the top. Goat's nagging and Vandien's sotto voice replies counterpointed the annoying chirring of the night insects. She moved closer to Vandien, and despite the muggy