Dan tore open Garibaldi's trousers so that his leg was bare from the thigh down.
"Keep his knee up," he said.
Sallina bent Garibaldi's leg and put his foot on the ground, so his knee was in the air.
"Good," Dan said, "Hold his knee with one hand and put your other hand right on the wound. Yes. Push down, stop the blood coming out."
Garibaldi cried out in pain. "Ah!"
Dan said, "Keep pressing."
Sallina pressed on Garibaldi's leg. His blood trickled out between her fingers. She felt dizzy. What did Dan mean when he said, "It will be a shame to lose you?" Did he mean that he was going to leave Garibaldi behind, because Garibaldi would not be able to walk? Would Dan leave her and Garibaldi on the road, alone?
She looked at the litter. They could carry Garibaldi in the litter. The old man and the two women could get out and the men in robes could carry Garibaldi and the other guy in red who was injured, the old man would just have to do his own walking for a change.
"Concentrate!" Dan said. He put his hand on top of Sallina's and pushed down. "Push hard!"
"Ah!" Garibaldi said.
Baat knelt down beside Dan. "What happen?"
Dan had a bandage roll in his hands. He held his lamp in his teeth, shining it upon Garibaldi's right leg. He began to wrap the bandage tightly around Garibaldi's leg, just above where Sallina's hand was pressing down.
"Okay, move your hand," he said.
Dan passed the bandage around Garibaldi's leg many times, pulling on it to keep it tight. Several times, Garibaldi moaned. Sallina reached out towards Garibaldi's face, but stopped herself, because her hand was covered with blood. She wiped it on her hair and her shirt, looked at it again, and put it on Garibaldi's forehead. She leaned as far over towards his face as she could, while still holding his knee.
"Dan says you will be fine."
"I did not," Dan said, "I said he was not going to die."
He pulled on the bandage while pushing on Garibaldi's knee. Garibaldi clenched his teeth.
"But walking is going to be painful, and we still have a lot of walking to do."
Baat stood up. Sallina looked at him and at the litter. The litter's oil lamps were bright in her eyes. The door of the litter was open. The man with white hair was talking to Jayhan, who was inside, where Sallina could not see him. Six men in red robes were standing around the litter. Another was sitting on the road beside the litter.
Baat walked towards the man with white hair.
Sallina looked down at Garibaldi's face. His eyes were closed. His breathing was shallow and quick.
Dan was tying Garibaldi's ankle to the top of his trousers with another bandage. "What are you doing?" Sallina said.
"I'm tying his leg so he can walk with a crutch, and not have it drag on the ground." He finished tying the bandage. "We'll have him lie here for a minute. The bleeding should slow down. When he stands up, we don't want him putting weight on the leg or the wound will open again."
Dan stood up. He looked around, first at the litter, then at the field and the hedge. Sallina remembered Chimeg and Boli. They must be hiding behind the hedge. She looked at the three injured policemen. One of them was crawling off the road and into the darkness. The other two lay still upon the ground. She wondered if they were dead.
"Stay here and watch him," Dan said, "I'll be back."
He left the road and pushed his way through the hedge. Sallina held Garibaldi's knee. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying, but it did not work. Tears welled up in her eyes and dripped down her wet face.
Garibaldi opened his eyes. The light of the lamps shone in his face. He smiled and his lips moved, but Sallina could not hear what he said. She leaned closer to him.
"Thank you," he said, "For saving my life."
She nodded and pressed her cheek against his. She sobbed. Garibaldi reached up with one arm and held her head. "I just need a minute to rest, then I will get up."
"I'm so scared," Sallina said. "I'm sorry. I'm so scared."
"You saved my life," he said, "You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm scared too."
Baat was talking to the man with white hair. They were talking in Sallina's own language, but they were speaking quietly and Sallina could not hear well enough to understand. She heard Baat's father's name several times, spoken by both Baat and the man with white hair.
"Okay," Dan said. He was standing next to Sallina. He had come back from behind the hedge, but she had not heard him walking towards her. She looked behind him, but she did not see Chimeg or Boli. They must still be hiding in the field.
Dan dropped two backpacks on the ground. One was Sallina's. The other was Garibaldi's.
"Put everything into one pack and carry it yourself," Dan said, "I don't want Garibaldi carrying anything."
Dan bent down and picked up a spear next to one of the two policemen lying in the road. The policeman moved. He reached for the end of the spear and started to sit up. Dan pulled the spear away and set it upright, with the tip down. The policeman lay back down again.
"No kill!" came the voice of the man with white hair.
Sallina looked at towards the litter. The man with white hair was standing with his arms crossed, staring at Dan. She looked at Dan. He paid no attention to the man with white hair. He pushed the tip of the spear into the gravel of the road, bent it to one side, and stepped upon it hard with his boot. The blade of the spear snapped off. He turned the wooden shaft around and stared at it.
"Let's get him up," Dan said.
Sallina helped Garibaldi sit up. He took a few deep breaths. Sallina and Dan took his arms and helped him stand up without without putting weight upon his injured leg. He leaned upon Sallina. Dan put the spear next to Garibaldi's shoulder. He turned it upside down again, and broke another length off the end. He walked over to the policeman Sallina had hit with her sticks, bent down, and pulled the policeman's helmet off his head. Sallina saw the policeman's face was covered with blood, and she was afraid she had killed the man. But when Dan let his head drop back onto the road, the policeman moved. He turned onto his side and curled up, as if he thought he was in his bed at home.
Both the policemen lying in the road were still alive. No-one had been killed in the fight.
The helmet had a round top. Dan put it over the top of the spear shaft and pushed the helmet and shaft under Garibaldi's arm.
"Try it," Dan said.
Garibaldi leaned on the helmet, which was held up by the spear shaft. He held the spear shaft with one hand. His injured leg hung below him, held up off the road by Dan's second bandage. He stepped forward with his good leg. He moved the spear shaft forward and planted it beneath him again. He smiled and nodded. "It works."
"The shaft will get stuck in the gravel," Dan said, "Sallina: stand by him and stop him from falling."
"I will," Sallina said. She knelt down and picked up hers and Garibaldi's packs. She opened hers wide, put his inside hers, and tied hers up again. She stood up and put the pack on her back. "I'm ready."
Dan walked along the side of the road. Garibaldi limped behind Dan on his helmet-and-shaft crutch. Sallina caught up with Garibaldi and walked beside him. They passed the litter. Baat was still talking to the man with white hair. The litter door was open, but it was dark inside. The men in red robes nodded to her as she went by. One of them was lying on a bench at the front of the litter.
Sallina looked at the field and wondered what Chimeg and Boli were doing. "What about−"
"Come on Baat!" Dan said. "Let's go!"
Sallina shook her head. Why was Dan shouting? Baat was only ten steps away.
"Dan," Sallina said, "Why didn't you talk to the man with white hair?"
"Yohiromaki?"
"Yes, him."
"He doesn't like me, and we're in a hurry."
"But they could have carried Garibaldi in the litter," Sallina said.
Dan said nothing. He took out his light and shone it on the road.
Garibaldi said, "I'm doing fine."
Sallina wondered why Dan did not answer her question. Was it because he had no answer for her? Was he hiding something? Was his real concern to get away from Yohiromaki, even if Yohiromaki could help them? If so, why did he want to get away from Yohiromaki? Was it because Dan was planning to do something that Yohiromaki would not like?
Baat caught up with them. He had a spear in one hand and a helmet on his head. The helmet was just like the one under Garibaldi's arm. It was shiny and round. In the dim light from the lamps of the litter behind them, Sallina was sure Baat was smiling.
There was a rustling in the hedge beside the road. Chimeg and Boli walked out of darkness.
"Well done," Dan said, "I don't think anyone saw you."
Baat said something in Kubla. Chimeg answered. She sounded friendly, but he did not.
Sallina heard a man shouting in Chiin back where the litter was. The voice sounded angry. She thought it was Captain Jayhan, but she could not be sure. She looked back. One of Jayhan's two wives stepped out of the litter. She wiped her noise and bowed her head. She stumbled, but Yohiromaki caught her with one hand and kept her from falling. She wore a shiny yellow dress.
The end of Garibaldi's crutch stuck in the gravel of the road. He pulled on it to get it loose, and almost fell forwards.
"I'm sorry," Sallina said.
She should pay more attention. She was supposed to be looking after Garibaldi. She looked back once more at the litter anyway. Why was the woman getting out?
Six of the men in red robes picked up the litter. But the three on one side stood up faster than the three on the other side. The litter tilted sideways, and the man lying on the bench at the front fell off and landed in the road. He lay still, then raised his arm and let it drop again.
"Baat," Sallina said.
"I am here."
"What is wrong with the men in red robes? Two of them can't stand up. Did Yohiraki tell you?"
"His name Yohiromaki," Baat said, and he said it in the same accent as the man with white hair. The name came out quickly, without rising or falling, and the sounds in the name were sharp. "He tell me. One sick. One hurt leg." Baat bent down and touched his lower leg with one hand. He held the spear with its tip up in the other hand. "Here hurt."
"Sprained ankle?" Sallina said.
"I don't know word ankle. Yes, hurt. One sick."
Sallina nodded. The Chiin have their own problems, she thought. There are not enough men to carry three people in the litter, so Jayhan made one of the young women get out. How did he choose which one? Did he have a favorite wife? Why not have both of them get out? They were young like her. Surely they could walk?
A roll of thunder came from the direction of Faith Town. The rain started to fall hard.
Garibaldi was glad of the rain, because he was covered with mud and wanted the rain to wash him clean. He thought the rain would help keep his bandages clean. He held the shaft of his crutch with one hand, and swung his other arm to help him keep his balance. He was glad he had strong arms. Sallina kept telling him how big and strong his arms were, and he had begun to believe her. He was impressed with the way Dan had made a crutch for him out of a spear and a helmet. How many times had Dan done the same thing before? He must have done it many times, because he did it so quickly and perfectly.
That's not to say that the crutch was perfect. The helmet curved outwards around the edge, and dug into the side of Garibaldi's body. He did not mind the helmet digging into him right now, because his injured leg was so painful that he hardly noticed the helmet. But he figured that sooner or later, the helmet digging into his side would wear him out and slow him down, which was something he did not want to happen. He leaned over the helmet with his elbow held out, so the helmet would dig into him as little as possible.
Garibaldi looked ahead of him. When would they come to the turning? He was sure they were getting close. He tried to see some light from the lantern that hung in the street between the houses next to the turning. He saw nothing. It was dark.
Garibaldi believed they would be safer from the policemen when they were on the path through the fields instead of the road. But he expected that it would be harder to walk with the crutch on the muddy path. He would ask Dan to let him rest for a while when they were in the fields. After that he would go as fast as he could towards the cliff.
And then there would be the stairs.
Well, he thought. One thing at a time.
He looked at Sallina. She was walking next to him, her head down. Dan's light reflected off the puddles in the road, and he could see her face. She was thinking. She must have a lot to think about. She was far more clever than him. He could safely leave the thinking to her. He would keep moving. He was the slowest person in the group. He did not want Sallina to be captured by the police because he was slow.
Garibaldi remembered Sallina fighting the policeman. He smiled. He was proud. He had thought he was going to die. But suddenly she was there, thumping the policeman on the head and saving him. What an amazing woman. His looked forward to telling his mother about her.
On the other hand, maybe the policeman was just holding his spear up to make Garibaldi stop fighting. Policemen were not supposed to go around killing people. They were supposed to capture people and put them in jail. But these policemen walked away and left their injured comrades lying in the rain. That was not the sort of thing good policemen would do. So most likely, the policeman was going to stab him a second time.
Either way, Sallina was amazing.
Sallina wiped her eyes. She did not want Garibaldi to know it, but she was crying. Tears and rain dripped down her face. Her rain hat was somewhere in her bag, but she did not take it out. So long as rain was dripping down her face, she could wipe the tears from her eyes and Garibaldi would not know she was crying. He would think she was wiping the rain away.
Garibaldi had a horrible cut in his leg. The bandage was already soaked with blood. If he lost too much blood, he would faint. His eyes would close and he would fall to the ground. Lying down is what he should be doing right now. When you lie down, less blood comes out of your cuts, and it is easier for your body to pump blood to your head.
Sallina decided that Dan must know Garibaldi would be better off lying down. She also decided that if Dan could make a crutch so easily, he could also make a stretcher to carry Garibaldi. What about two spear poles with a couple of policemen's capes wrapped around them? She and Baat could carry Garibaldi on the stretcher.
But Dan had not made a stretcher. Why was that? And she was certain Dan had said, It will be a shame to lose you, not it would be a shame to lose you.
Sallina knew that Dan could help them if he wanted to. But did he want to? What if Garibaldi collapsed, and the police were coming? Would Dan leave Garibaldi behind? If he did, who would blame him for running away? Why should they all be captured? If he left Garibaldi behind, Sallina would stay behind with Garibaldi, and they would be captured and enslaved. They would never get back to the Reliant. Dan and Harry would get their cabin back and the Captain would keep the gold and her furs.
Sallina was crying because she did not know what to do.
"This is the turning," Dan said.
Garibaldi had not noticed the turning, and he would have limped right past it.
"Where is the lantern?"
The rain was noisy. They gathered around Dan to hear him.
"I don't know," he said.
The sky was black. There was no light on either side of the road. The rain poured down. They could not see the lanterns of the litter behind them. The only light was from Dan's luminous stone in a tube.
"Baat," Dan said, "From now on, you will obey me. Do you understand?"
Baat said nothing.
"We are in trouble now," Dan said, "We have one wounded man, and we have a boy who will soon be exhausted. If you don't obey me, I will have you flogged when we return to the boat. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"How are you doing, Garibaldi?" Dan said.
"Not too bad, thank you."
"You are a good man in a tight spot, Garibaldi."
"Thank you," Garibaldi said, "That's high praise."
In the darkness, Sallina shook her head. Dan was flattering Garibaldi, and Garibaldi believed every word Dan said. But if Dan really cared about Garibaldi, he would have made a stretcher for him. Should she say something about making a stretcher?
"I hear your words," Baat said, "Now you hear mine. You laughed when you saw Yohiromaki, a great man of honor, alone with twenty men to fight. You laughed." Baat spat into the rain and mud. He shouted something in Kubla. Sallina did not understand what he said, but it sounded insulting.
Dan's light shone steadily on the road. Nobody said anything. Sallina remembered the first time Baat had insulted Dan, when they were on the ship, practicing with sticks. She was sure Dan had not forgotten that moment. What was he going to do this time?
"Because you ran out and fought," Dan said, "The police know we are on this road. And when they don't find us in Faith Town, they will come looking for us along the beaches."
"We go tonight from beach," Baat said, "They not catch us."
The rain dripped down Sallina's face. She wondered what expression was on Dan's face right now. Was he angry? Was he thinking about how he was going to get his revenge upon them all that same night?
"It has been thirty years or more since I saw Yohiromaki fight. I wanted to watch him again. If you think he needed you to go out there and fight with him, Baat, you are a fool." He took a deep breath. "Now, listen to me, sailors, and listen good. Your only hope is the Reliant, and when we get back aboard, I'll see to it you are flogged for any, and I mean any, disobedience from now on."
Sallina said, "Perhaps you should say that in Kubla to Chimeg and Boli."
Dan spoke in Kubla. Boli said, "Hayla," and so did Chimeg.
"I might be disobedient on purpose, Dan," Garibaldi said, "The thought of a flogging will take my mind of this leg."
"Aye," Dan said, "That it would, lad. But don't be wishing a flogging on yourself. You don't know what it feels like until you've had one." He laughed. It was the laugh that Sallina did not like, the same laugh she heard him make several times in the Captain's cabin.
"Now, follow me," Dan said. "Let's get off this damned road."
He walked off the road onto a cobbled street. After thirty steps, he shone his light to either side, and they saw the tavern with the lantern hanging outside. The lantern was dark, but it was the same tavern, and the same street.
How did Dan know the buildings were there? Garibaldi shook his head. Maybe Dan could see in the dark.