Heart's tale

Chapter 11 part 2

The hurty dust that had risen during the day settled on the ruins of the Old Quarter. It made the air red and anxious, like the hearts of people who were homeless overnight and had already lost hope of finding their loved ones. They worked in shifts to clear the rubble and slept right on the observation square. The women had already done their crying and worked on an equal footing with the men. The Magistrate's ship hovered in the middle of the street, with particularly heavy blocks attached to it that could not be cleared by themselves or by golems, who slowly removed debris from the street and in places were already advancing into alleys, allowing them to make their way further to the houses cut off from the main artery of the quarter. Food and water were brought here from all the surrounding establishments, from the taverns to the restaurants. Zara hurried to the camp with heavy bales, too. The girl had been on her feet for twenty-four hours already, cooking all night, but she did not allow herself to rest. Climbing up another mountain of rubble, she began to descend toward the observation square, where a field kitchen had been set up. A bald bartender from 'the Thirteenth Moon,' carrying a barrel of desalinated water on his back, hurried behind her.

Ethel, with his tray labeled 'Safrona's Chemical Theater,' now converted into a transportable cauldron, moved among the wounded and handed out plates with soup.

"I heard it was all the insects' fault," grunted one wounded man to another while Ethel poured him soup.

"What insects?" the other one asked.

"Well, the cruckchafers, apparently," the storyteller quacked, "All the great houses obey them."

"Cruckchafers?" his comrade asked again.

"They are invisible, and in order to become visible and reproduce themselves, they need great sorrow," the first one raised his spoon with a clever look, "So they did it all. All disasters are because of them."

"And I heard that after death, everyone goes to the underworld, where they serve the worm king. So don't sleep too much," the other said as he took the soup from Safrona, who leaned over to him.

When he looked up, Ethel noticed Zara on the slope of the rubble and waved to her. The girl noticed him, too, and as her hands were full of heavy bags, she nodded in response. When she reached the kitchen, she dropped her bags by the large table where the Cult sisters stood, distributing the food, and rushed toward Ethel.

"Well?" she asked in a frantic voice, sneaking through the crowd and almost knocking the young man off his feet.

"No, they haven't got there yet," he looked away sadly, holding the girl by the shoulders.

She went limp and collapsed to the pavement, clasping her knees. Ethel picked her up under the arms and lifted her up.

"No, do not despair," he whispered confusedly in her ear.

The girl broke free from his grasp and darted toward the rubble.

"Zara, wait! Zara!" the young man shouted and rushed after her. The bartender, who had come to the tray, dashed after them, but saw the victims reaching for the broth, so he returned to the cauldron and began to fill the plates.

Zara, stumbling and not caring that her dress was clinging to protruding pins and dislocated eaves, ran through the ruins. Ethel followed her clumsily, unable to keep up. A small wooden man wedged between the rocks reached out with its free hand and squeaked something as the young man ran past. A feeling of shame took hold of his throat, but Ethel pretended not to notice it. He wanted to go back, but a burning rag fell beside him, and its flames set the mixture of concrete dust and purple mass ablaze and hissing and glittering in bright flashes.

The girl ran as far as the bend to the elevator that descended to the Heart Square, where the now fallen barge was sticking out. Zara stopped, trying to get her bearings. When she saw a big golem breaking the wall of the nearest house, she ran up to it and pounded her fist on the stone arm, shouting: