"Pick up the pace, Bow. We're never going to get there if you stop to look at every cool plant." Dirk said as he put a hand on Bow's shoulder. "It's the Whispering Woods. Every plant is cool."
But Bow had never seen this kind of fern before, all purple and bumpy! Could he take a sample without hurting the plant? He was just going to ask his brother if he knew what it was called when he realized Dirk had already started walking away.
"Hey, wait up!" Dirk didn't even walk that fast, but he was so much bigger one of his steps took like three of Bows and he had to run to catch up.
"Come on, bud. I'm doing you a favor here. I won't bring you next time if I gotta spend the whole time babysitting you."
Babysitting? He was almost seven years old! That was practically a grown-up! But he didn't say anything because at least Drik had agreed to let him tag along this time, which was much better than sitting around at home doing nothing.
Dirk may be older than he was — like way way George and Lance kept telling him it was almost time to move out and get a job OLD — but at least he didn't ignore him like the rest of their brothers and sisters. It didn't matter how big he got, they all still treated him like a baby. Bow had slipped behind Dirk's big stride and had to jog to catch up again.
They were approaching something that looked like a town, and Bow figured they'd reached the market. Then he noticed the guards on either side of the gate. Their blasters were almost as tall as him. Their heads turned as he and Drik passed, tracking them. There was a red symbol on the front of their armor, kind of like a bat.
Was that The Horde? Their helmets made them look like monsters. He wasn't scared, obviously, because he was way too big for that. He pressed a little closer to his big brother's side.
Dirk kept his eyes on the path ahead of them. "There's nothing to be scared of. Remember what George always says? The Horde doesn't bother folks that don't bother them. We're just walking by, minding our own business. Whatever they're doing has nothing to do with us."
The Horde is bad. But so is the rebellion. That's what their dad, George, always said. It's better to stay clear of both of them, stay out of trouble, let them all kill each other while the rest of us carry on with living. Their other dad, Lance, usually cut the rant off somewhere around there, but Bow had heard it enough times that he knew it by heart. They all did.
But The Horde they talked about at the dinner table felt different from those metal suits and big blasters. The Horde never came far into the Whispering Woods, but the market they went to was near the very edge of the forest. Close enough for them to risk it, apparently.
Bow tried to copy his brother, keep his eyes ahead, but he couldn't help looking back when he heard a shout. He watched as one guard grabbed a goat man around his dads' age and pulled him roughly off his feet. The man made a choking sound as the Horde solider pulled the neck of his shirt tight around his throat.
"Where is the rebel? We tracked them here. We know they're close." The voice was a growl. Maybe they really were monsters under there. "Spill it, old man, or we torch the place!"
"I-I don't know anything! We're good folks here! I swear, we've got nothing to do with the rebellion!" The man sounded really scared. Another man approached and Bow thought maybe he was going to help the first guy but, when he saw what was happening, he just ran in the other direction. Wasn't anybody going to do something?
"Dirk..." Bow slowed.
"Stop staring. That's got nothing to do with us."
"But the man—"
"Look, if he's hiding somebody from the rebellion, that's on him. Shouldn't have gotten involved. We're staying out of it." Dirk sounded firm, but Bow noticed his eyes kept sliding over to where the man was pleading with the Horde soldiers. He wondered for the first time if Dirk really believed all that stuff their dads said or if he was just repeating it out of habit. "Just keep walking. We don't want any trouble."
Bow forced himself to look away. He didn't even look back when he heard the man scream.
"It's not our fight, you understand?" Dirk sighed and put a hand on Bow's back. "You'll get it when you're older."
Bow nodded. He was glad that Dirk didn't take his hand off his back the rest of the way. Even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have dared fall behind again.
It only took them another few minutes to get where they were going. The market was like another world from the village where they'd seen the Horde. Everything was a bustle of sound and smells. Bow wanted to look at everything, but Dirk knew exactly where he was going.
"We get everything on the list first, then you can explore. Otherwise everything's all picked over and I have to hear about forever if I can't get everybody's favorites. This way."
Dirk's hand was still on his back, which would have annoyed him normally — he wasn't some baby that needed to be herded around — but there were so many people packed together here he was glad he didn't have to worry about them getting separated.
They made their way through the market and their list. Dirk kept up a running commentary the whole way about how to pick the best peppers or how to tell which spice bag had a little extra, but Bow was only half listening. There was so much to look at, so many people and scents and cool things to look at. If their dads let them leave the library at all, it was usually just to visit some other place that was old and boring and filled with books or dust or both. This was more than he usually got to see in months, and it was all at once. It should have been overwhelming, but it was like a sugar rush.
Dirk was explaining how the sound of the melons when you tapped them told you how sweet it would be, but Bow couldn't take his eyes off the stand next to them, all gadgets and circuitry. The woman at the stand was showing a customer what looked like a stone tablet, but the pictures on it were moving. Huh. How did that work?
Dirk had a melon up to his ear like it was telling him a secret, and Bow took a few steps closer for a better look. There was a collection of tiny mechanical toys on the table. He touched one that looked like a small bud and jumped when it snapped open, a cloth flower bursting out of it, purple silk petals unfolding one by one. He picked it up for a closer look, turning it upside down, the petals flopping over. He was twisting it back and forth, watching the slips of material slide in and out of the base when he realized someone was watching him. The shopkeeper was looming over him, all muscles and curled horns on top of her head.
He put the toy back automatically and took a step back. Dirk had told him about this on the way over. He wasn't supposed to touch anything. If he'd broken it... but to his surprise, the lady smiled.
"You worked it out yet?"
Bow grinned and picked the bud back up. "You touch it here and the pressure activates the catch. Then the spring makes it spin... which pushes out the petals. Right?"
The woman laughed. "You got it. You got a sharp mind for this kind of stuff. You do any tinkering yourself?"
"Not... really." There was the clock he'd taken apart, but his dads weren't exactly happy about that as it was apparently pretty old. But for the few days before they'd realized, it had been cool to play with all the gears and springs and try to figure out how it all worked together.
"How does that work?" He pointed at the tablet thing. The lady looked ready to explain it to him, but someone grabbed his shoulder. He spun around to see Dirk, not particularly happy with him.
"What did I say about wandering off?"
"I was only—"
Dirk wasn't even pretending to listen. "I hope this little guy didn't cause any trouble, ma'am."
"Nah. No trouble at all."
Bow's shoulder slumped as Dirk guided him away from the stand. Little guy! Like he was some wayward toddler? But when he looked back, the lady from the stand winked at him and that cheered him up a little.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Dirk called.
They'd stopped at a stand filled with baked goods, pastries and breads. A girl not much older than Dirk came out from the curtained part that marked the back of the stall in a flour stained maroon apron.
Dirk cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, hey. Hi. Where's the old lady?"
"My mom threw out her back trying to carry too many bags of flour at once. So it's just me today." The girl tucked a pale green curl behind her ear, covering it in flour. "But I can fill your order for you. Name?"
"Oh, it's Dirk?"
Was he asking? Bow glanced up at his brother. He seemed kind of weird all of a sudden. Dirk handed over part of their list and the girl looked it over.
"Well, hello, Dirk. And... here you go." She handed them two large bags of bread. "Expecting a crowd?"
Dirk laughed. "We're always a crowd. I'm the oldest of thirteen."
The girl laughed. "And I thought I had it bad being an only!" She looked over the list at Bow and smiled. "And which one of the thirteen are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Well, that face says it all, doesn't it?" The girl laughed again, big and bold. Bow couldn't help but smile.
Dirk was putting the bags in the bag on Bow's back. "This is the lightest thing we're getting today so you should be able to handle it. Just don't crush them, OK?"
Bow narrowed his brows at Dirk while he counted out the credits for their order. Nobody had any faith in him.
"And how old are you, number thirteen?" The girl in the apron was asking him.
"I am six and three quarters, ma'am. Thank you kindly for asking."
Dirk snort laughed. "Yeah, he's at the age where he's worked out that as long as he's polite and cute, everybody loves him."
"Well, he's not wrong!" She winked at Bow and handed him a cookie shaped like a tiny heart over the table. It was pretty good, way sweeter than anything they ever made at home. "Hey, Dirk, you're tall. While you're here, you mind helping me with a couple of boxes? My mom packed them way too high and I don't know how I can get them down without them toppling all over me."
"I'd love to. I mean, no problem."
What was with him right now? Bow'd never seen his brother act so goofy. Dirk made his way around the edge of the stand. He paused with his hand on the curtain and pointed at Bow. "Don't touch anything, don't wander off, don't move from that spot no matter what, OK? I'll be right back."
"Fine." Sheesh. It wasn't like he couldn't follow directions. He leaned against the table, determined not to move even a single inch just to show Dirk.
It was a busy day at the market and it was kind of fun to watch the steady stream of people moving past. There were races he'd never even seen before. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed, the air full of smiles and laughter of a nice spring day.
Except for that person, the one in the cloak. They emerged from between two stands, ducking into the crowd. They glanced behind them and he caught a quick glimpse of spotted fur before they tugged their hood down over their face again. He lost sight of them as they ducked behind the stand with all the cool gadgets. Were they looking for something? Or was someone looking for them?
Bow was just starting to wonder what that was all about when everything exploded.