Hunting For The Sun

CHAPTER ONE

The Day of Rain

Rae swiped rain out of her eyes. The dark street was deserted, but that was no reason not to be careful. More reason, if anything, actually. It was far too dangerous as it was to be up on the surface. She shivered. All the open space made her nervous. She much preferred the sewers where they lived. If it wasn´t totally necessary to come up, she never would. She snatched the rain away again, squinting up at the slate-grey sky. Rae blinked her muddy green eyes savagely, and flattened against a wall to duck her head around it. She snapped it back immediately. Along the next street was one of them. In a pool of orange light from a sputtering torch stood a guard, one of the Death Eaters. She didn´t look again. There was no way she would get past him. She swore inwardly, and backed off on silent bare feet. Once out of range, she ran all the way back to the river.

She glanced around, looking over the bridge of rough stone spanning the rain-dimpled river. Faint torches sent pale smoke columns up at the weather beaten sky, and cast rings of hazy gold along the cobbles. She could hear voices from a tavern, and smell very distant food. She had never known enough food to tell what it was, but it smelled warm. She had never been all that warm, either. Rae dropped over the side of the bridge, clinging to the edge and swinging up underneath. The skinny girl stuck like a spider to the grimy stone as she lowered herself through the entrance to the sewers.

The mutter of voices reached her before she dropped to the ground. Cloud spun the moment she landed, and pointed a spear at her throat.

`Oh, Rae,´ he said, propping the spear against the wall and helping her with her sack. `I didn´t know it was you.´

`You´re forgiven,´ she smiled. He nodded, and picked up his spear again. She took the bag of food and marched through the outer hall and over to the great barred door.

`Spider, it´s me, Rae. Let me in,´ she said. An eye appeared in the knot in the wood.

`Rae? Have you got food?´ Spider snapped, her visible eye swivelling this way and that beadily.

`Yes. I´m the best forager in the business. Of course I got food!´ she protested, feigning hurt pride.

`Oh, shush, you!´ Spider hissed, pulling the bar from the huge oak door. Rae pushed on the grimy wood and strolled in, chucking an apple to Spider as she passed, then watching the scrawny old woman devour it with her three teeth.

Rae shook her head and dripped her way across the large chamber to where Apate sat.

`Hey!´ Apate grinned, standing to her full height. `What did you get us kid?´

`I got what I could,´ Rae answered evasively.

`And I´m sure it´s enough to feed an army,´ Apate said. Rae glowed with pleasure.

`Listen,´ Rae said, remembering. `They´ve got a guard up Gringotts Lane now. We can´t get into the stores there now.´

Apate´s face fell momentarily, her eyes filled with an inhuman worry, but she immediately replaced it with a forced smile. `I´m sure we can find another place,´ she said, but she didn´t sound too convinced.

Rae nodded, and took her bag further through the maze to the precious stores. Tyger sat on the top shelf, clicking to herself. Rae saluted her, and the girl gave a hooting cry. Rae sorted the food in her bag onto the right shelves, but with fear. This was half what they usually got. If they couldn´t get to Gringotts Lane, then they would lose their main supply. Apate knew that, and Rae felt sorry for the young woman. She had to look after them all.

There were about one hundred rebels in this branch of the London sewers alone. None had deserted, but the Death Eaters back in the first rebellion ten years ago had killed so many. Rae had been seven, but she could clearly recall her mother´s body sprawled across the gutter. There was no way any of them would ever go over. They would never be forgiven for resisting these seventeen years. No matter what Lord Malfoy may say, they would be killed the moment they revealed themselves. Max had gone that way. She sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her ragged shirt. Tyger chirruped curiously, hopping across the top shelf to peer down into Rae´s eyes. Rae gave a weak smile, and patted Tyger´s matted reddish hair.

`We´ll make it,´ she promised. `They can´t beat us down.´

Tyger hooted, and reached out a twisted hand, broken and left to heal anyway it wanted, to wipe the tears from Rae´s pale face.

`Happy,´ she insisted. `Pretty Sunshine happy now. Sunshine happy, Tyger happy.´

Rae nodded. `I´m happy,´ she said. `I´m just very, very scared.´

Tyger whimpered, shrinking against the wall, scraping her deformed hand along the stones. `Happy happy happy happy,´ she muttered.

`I hope so,´ Rae said, taking her empty sack to the hooks. `Come on Tyger. Food time.´ She extended a hand to the girl, who hopped down on bent limbs to run after her like a dog following its Death Eater master.

It was busy in the main hall. Nearly all of the foragers had returned, most reporting new guards in undertones. The old men and women chattered on regardless, many darning or polishing old weapons. Apate was looking very strained, and she clutched at the arms of her chair with bony hands, knuckles white. When all of the rebels were seated on the floor, she stood up. Rae was close to her, and could see her legs shaking through the fabric of her robes.

`As the leader of the Diagon district rebels, I feel it is my duty to let you know everything. Even bad things must be shared sometimes; otherwise there is no way for you to know what is happening. New guards have been posted at Gringotts Lane, Knockturn Alley North, Lemon Lane and Diagon East. There is no hope of regaining these stores, and we must be frugal. Food is getting sparse, and we must do what we can. As you know, work is being done to make a tunnel past the walls to freedom. This means that soon we will have no need to worry, but it also means that the workers need the food. I hope you will see my point when I say that we must give the food to the young, the old and the workers. It is through no choice of mine, but I hope none will oppose.´

The eyes of some were filled with tears of panic or sympathy at Apate´s words. No one, however, nodded at her last statement. It was what they got for staying the right side of the line between good and bad. Rae herself felt a clench of iron-fisted fear at her stomach. She thought that Gringotts Lane was enough, but Knockturn Alley North and Lemon Lane were equally important supply stores.

`On a slightly happier note, we will be getting a very important visitor who may stiffen your resolve somewhat,´ Apate told them, ignoring the streak of silver tears on her left cheek. `Our gracious Leader will be coming down to check on you all, and take some to join the Hogwarts rebels for the army. He will come tomorrow, so we need to double the cleaning force. Anyone who´s cleaning tomorrow, please pick a buddy. I want the place spotless for him.´

Rebels with baskets of food went around, giving one of what they carried to each person. Rae took her apple and slice of bread over to where Rhea sat by the spring. Tyger gathered her portion in her arms and loped over to them, sitting on the rough stones and nibbling greedily. Rhea turned tear-stained eyes to Rae.

`Don´t worry,´ Rae said, perching on a stone and pulling her wraparound skirt of rags over her cold thighs. `We´ll make it.´

`We always do,´ Rhea agreed. `That´s not it. What it´s that those Death Eaters are up there drinking ale and eating roast chicken and beef being evil, and we´re here eating stale bread and mouldy apples for being good. What is in it for us?´

`Don´t,´ Rae snapped stiffly. `No. We can´t think like that. If we lose heart, we will die.´

`Okay, Madam Cheery. I´ll stop, but you know, it doesn´t matter what I think anyway right now. I´m no use to anyone.´ She held up her broken arm in its sling.

`It will heal,´ Rae told her, slapping her back. `You will recover, and we will go to Hogwarts together. We´ll kill Malfoy ourselves,´ she said vehemently.

`Yeah,´ Rhea said, awed. Her eyes went dreamy, and she gazed at the vaulted ceiling. `I´ll kick him in his shrivelled balls and you can gouge out his eyes, then we can both hold the sword we twist into his heart.´

`It´s a deal,´ Rae grinned.

Rhea nodded, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. `I´m on cleaning tomorrow, what about you?´

`You´d better take Tyger. I´m foraging before dawn.´

At her name, Tyger snapped her head up and scowled at them. She gathered her bread crust and apple, hopping over to them with the aid of her knuckles. She clicked suspiciously at them, sitting down again to chew her crust slowly, never taking her sunken beady black eyes off them.

`Just saying you could help with clean-up Tyger,´ Rhea told her.

Tyger´s face brightened, and she clucked, pointing a gnarled finger at herself.

`Yes, you.´

Tyger nodded proudly. `Tyger,´ she told them firmly.

`Tyger,´ Rae repeated sadly.

Tyger was one of the main reasons she hated the Death Eaters so personally. Otherwise, it was principals, but Tyger made it personal. Tyger was about thirteen now, but when she had been six or so, she and her parents were captured. They had been tortured to find the rebels, and both her mother and father had been killed. Tyger was too young to be more than entertainment, so they had broken her hands, fingers, feet, arms, legs and toes then hurled her in a river. She had lost her mind during the torture, and recalled none of it clearly. In this way was her madness a blessing. Rae herself had seen her fall from the bridge, and gone in after her. She had barely been saved, and it was too much to hope for to save all her limbs. They had managed to splint up the arms and legs, but her hands and feet were too crushed for rescue. Rae bit into her apple savagely, looking at Tyger as she tried to turn her crust around in her twisted hands. Tyger broke off with a whine of frustration as her damaged hands refused to do it. Rae took the crust without thinking, and replaced it the right way up.

`I´d better got to sleep,´ Rae said, finishing the last of her food. `The early rebel fetches the rations.´

Rhea nodded and waved, and Tyger hooted. Rae hauled herself up off the floor with great difficulty. Her wet hair dripped down her back, and she hissed angrily at it. It would keep her awake all night, and she had to get up at three. Rae strolled through dark corridors alone, wringing out her dark hair. She pushed the door into the sleeping quarters for the young girls. Several were already curled under blankets, and Rae recognised them as foragers. She walked to her own straw pallet, and knelt by the tiny gap in the bricks that served as a window. They were a long way into the hill now, and a small valley allowed a part of the wall to be exposed. She could see little houses through the fold in the land, and twinkling lights. Cheery voices sailed up on a cold breeze that smelt of rain passed. She thrust her hand out of the gap and turned it palm up to feel for rain. It was damp, but no longer raining, and she settled down into her blankets with a sigh, going to the lands of dreams, where she tortured Malfoy to the death for what he had done.

~*~

A cold shock along her back awoke her suddenly, and she snapped around angrily to find Nike warming her hand on Rae´s bare skin.

`Time to get up,´ she grinned.

`Shut up,´ Rae groaned, pulling on her shirt and throwing the covers off. She belted her dagger on over her skirt and pulled her brush through her now-dry hair.

`We´re doing Gringotts Lane together,´ Nike told her. Nike had been given her name in a hope to aid the morale of the black girl as she fought. Nike was the goddess of victory, and so far her namesake hadn´t given up.

`But that´s guarded now!´ Rae said, scratching her leg and shaking to clear the mist of sleep from her cold head.

`That´s why we have these,´ Nike said, drawing two glittering swords from behind her back. Rae took one, turning it over in her hands, running her thumb along the blade.

`That´s murder,´ Rae said, not chiding, not scared, and not happy. She was just saying.

`They are murder. Think how many have died because of that man there,´ Nike urged.

`You´re right, but I don´t want to sink to that,´ Rae said distantly, still thumbing the blade.

`You use it for self-defence, then. I´ll kill him,´ Nike offered.

Rae nodded. `I think my conscience could bear that.´

`Whatever. Either way we have to go,´ Nike told her, glancing out of the gap in the wall.

Rae nodded, tucking the glimmering blade into her belt, and resting her hand on the hilt as they walked through the corridors to the main hall, where Apate lay sprawled in her seat sleeping. Nike made to go over to her, but Rae shook her head.

`She doesn´t sleep enough as it is,´ she whispered. Nike nodded, and they continued to the entrance. Cloud stood there already, he saluted them, and pulled the trapdoor down.

`Does that boy sleep at all?´ Rae frowned, hooking her sack through her belt and starting to climb.

`I doubt it,´ Nike agreed. `Mind you, when I get hold of him, he won´t have time to sleep, whether or not he does.´

`Nike!´ Rae chided. `He´s twenty!´

`Two years,´ Nike shrugged. `Nothing.´

Rae poked her head out of the hole under the bridge. No one could be seen, although the torches were lit on both sides of the river.

`All clear,´ she reported. She pulled her head and shoulders through, then sat backwards on the ledge to catch at the hand holds under the bridge. She swung out and dropped herself into the ankle deep water right by the supports. The cold snared her feet, but she splashed out quickly. Nike followed, swearing softly when she hit the water. Rae shook her head, and beckoned the girl up to the side of the bridge.

They stood in the wet grass, watching the road intently. No one passed, and no sound could be heard on the wet gravel, so in time they sprinted up onto the road and around into the South area. Nike took up the position by the corner ahead, and Rae kept back to watch both ways. She glanced at Nike for confirmation, and the girl checked again. She snapped around, flashing a hand signal at Rae. Nike dove into a doorway, and walked up it on her hands until she was arched over the door and hidden by the porch. Rae jumped up and grabbed at the bottom of a stairway. She pulled herself up until she was flat underneath it. She hooked her toes through a slat to support herself, then hooked her hair up with one hand. She held her breath and heard voices come closer, then fade away again. About an arm-crushing minute later, the girls dropped down and continued, rubbing at their arms. Rae tore a strip off the bottom of her shirt and plaited her long hair, tying it with the rag.

`Close,´ Nike breathed. Rae said nothing. Gringotts Lane was two streets away now.

`I think we should take the high road,´ Rae said. `We´re too early for the change of the guard. We´ll be clear for a fifteen-minute dash back home at the moment the sun rises. I think we should make the most of that, and get there the easy way for now. Speed doesn´t matter.´

`You´re right,´ Nike groaned. `Again.´

Rae gave a cocky little smile before climbing onto a window frame and then up onto the guttering. She pulled herself over the lip of the second roof, and crawled onto the roof of the house. The narrow crowded city opened from here. In seventeen years, a small village contained within London to hide wizards had overflowed into the city itself. All the new buildings had been knocked down, though, and only the bits like Diagon Alley had been left. Many rebels lived in the shells of the houses on the Wasteland, but not many survived, as the Death Eaters conducted constant raids through there. Rae could see the edge of the wide expanse of rubble from where she sat. It was still too dark to see clearly whether anything was going on over there yet, so she turned back to where Nike was pulling herself up.

`Okay. It´s that way,´ she said, narrowing her eyes to pierce the dark.

Rae nodded, tearing her eyes away from the sorry sight ahead, and they began to crawl along the rooftops, jumping over tiny alleyways every now and again. At the one point they had to cross a street where patrols marched, they paused.

`How do we execute this?´ Nike asked solemnly, crouching at the edge and peering down.

`It won´t be too hard if we take it slow,´ Rae said, also wondering how they could do it. In the end she just stepped back and ran for it, taking a leap and collapsing onto the roof on the other side. Nike made a sort of squeak, and Rae rolled to look at her. The men down below fell silent, and then muttered to each other, looking around them. One put a hand against a wall as though to climb it, but thought better of it. They shrugged and walked away. Nike followed Rae as soon as they were out of sight, and the two of them looked down on the wooden staircase above the storeroom door below.

After you,

Nike gestured.

Go boil your head,

Rae told her unpleasantly.

Nike shrugged, and dropped down quietly onto the top level. Rae followed, and, keeping to the shadows, they made their silent way down.

You wanted me to do this?

Nike said with a few flicks of her fingers.

I can´t do it myself, Nike,

Rae told her honestly. Nike nodded understandingly, and dropped over the rail. Rae pressed herself against a wall and screwed her eyes shut against the strangled groan.

`All clear,´ Nike muttered softly. Rae padded down the stairs and round to the door, where Nike was picking the lock. Rae glanced up the street uncomfortably to where the old white building stood, grey and green with neglect. Apparently, all the gold that was there before the Great Burning was still inside, but no one could break the charms on the door. Nike gave a little squeak of triumph, and pushed the door open.

They both rushed in and filled their sacks completely full then stuffed their pockets with all they could find. Rae crammed a roll into her mouth as an afterthought, and they hid in the darkness to wait for the great bell to clang. It was only five minutes or so, and before the last echo faded, they dove out of the door and sprinted for all they were worth down the streets. No one saw them pass, and they ran out onto the bridge uninterrupted. Nike stood guard while Rae slipped down into the tunnel, and waited for Nike.

She didn´t come. Rae pulled herself back out and frowned uncertainly. She couldn´t hear anything. It was too risky to call out. She had to climb the whole way.

She dropped out onto the grass, leaving her sack in the tunnel. She ran around the side of the bridge to see Nike slumped over the wall. Even from this distance she was close enough to tell.

Nike was dead.

Rae checked left and right before running out to her. The girl´s back was pierced four times as though with a sword or dagger, and dark blood soaked her shirt, black in the grey dawn. There was no point in lingering, she was obviously dead. Rae picked up her sack and tried to hold in her tears as she dropped down over the edge and chucked the food into the tunnel. She returned and emptied Nike´s pockets, finding lots of food the girl had taken, despite the danger. Rae put these in the tunnel, stiff with sadness, and went back to Nike´s side.

She shifted the body and dropped it down the side of the bridge to land in the shallows of the greenish river. Rae was oddly efficient in her terrible sadness, and the burning was numbed. She choked out a sob, and struggled to draw what little magic she had. She carried her friend out of the water, and laid her by the trees.

`Incendio,´ she whispered. An inky jet flowed from her hand, and consumed the body in icy flames. `Goodbye, my friend. I promise they´ll know you forever.´

Rae turned her back on the pyre, and clambered into the hole for the tunnel. She cast no glances back, but only looked ahead. They had food, and one less person to feed with it. There was no other way to see it that wouldn´t make Rae scream with grief.

`I don´t know who did it, but I know who is in charge of all this, and I will kill them both,´ she swore, and was witnessed by the sun rising in a bloody sky.