Welcome back to my post-post-apocalyptic novel, Ada’s Children, and thanks for reading! If you’re new to the story, please don’t be surprised that it’s paywalled. The Prologue and first three chapters are free, and you can start reading them here. The previous chapter, “On the Brink,” is here.
The last time we saw Jun, Sila had rebuffed him as he tried to talk with her about his plans. Now he’s determined to leave the Land, on his own if he has to, but not before getting advice from Kitran, assuming he can make sense of the addled trapper’s ramblings.
SILA disappeared around a bend in the forest path, leaving Jun with an odd sense of relief. He’d given himself one last chance at persuading her to come with him beyond the Howling Forest. He didn’t know what he’d expected. He had tried before, why should this time be any different? She hadn’t even let him speak. So now it was simple. He’d have to go alone. At the same time, the thought of never seeing her again, of missing her partnership on this adventure, settled on him like an impossible weight.
But there was something else. Sila had seemed upset, and perhaps unwell. What was bothering her? She wouldn’t tell him, and thinking about that, the way she’d told him to leave her alone, as if whatever was going on with her was none of his business, produced a dull ache behind his eyes and in his chest. She’d always been able to tell him anything, but she had never had many worries so there’d never been much to tell. And now, when something was clearly wrong, she wouldn’t talk.
This was as bad as being shunned. He’d felt this way since that morning after the Dance of the Full Moon. At first, he had tried to stay away from her, give time for the Wise Women’s suspicions to die down. The night with her had given him hope, and he held onto it during those long days. But then he’d approached her, sure that their night together meant she really did love him. What he’d dreamed of, exploring a new world with Sila at his side, was so close within reach it seemed almost real. Together, they’d answer the questions that had haunted him all these years.
Since seeing the two strange creatures the morning after the dance, he hadn’t stopped wondering where they came from. If people lived out there beyond the Howling Forest, how did they cope with such fearsome beasts? They’d need weapons like the knife Mar Gan had shown him, spears made from the same metal, arrows tipped with it, maybe even more powerful bows.
If they still lived. Mar Gan had told him humans used to rule this place called Earth. What had happened to them? What could possibly bring an end to people who could make a knife such as the one he’d seen, or create the other things Mar Gan had told him about? Had they angered Ada in some way? But Mar Gan said they’d existed before Ada. How could that be? Maybe the old hermit was wrong. Maybe that world had survived beyond the Howling Forest. Jun’s mind raced, thinking about what kind of people, and what kind of world, they might find beyond the borders of the Land.
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