Our Dried Voices Read Online Free PDF Page B

sleeping halls earlier and earlier each night. Some took their meal cakes to a bed against one of the walls where they could eat while keeping watch over the entire hall. They slept lightly, and many seemed to dream, waking at the least sound with a short, sharp cry and wild, staring eyes.
    Yet Samuel never fell prey to the collective panic that embraced the rest of the colony. On the contrary, he remained calmly confident, buoyed both by some mysterious faith in the skill and ingenuity of the emerging heroes, and by some hopeful belief that the colonists as a whole were not so lost, not so helpless as they might seem. After his encounter in the rain with the First Hero, he took to following the other heroes around the colony. He enjoyed the sight of them at a distance as they slipped across the meadow or stood in quiet contemplation of the bleak façade of some inscrutable hall. And though their eventual departure always saddened him a bit, this feeling never lasted very long, because he was quite certain—though he knew not by what assurance—that no harm had befallen them, and was equally confident that the colony would never be at a lack for individuals such as these.
    As a result, Samuel began to grow apart from the rest of the colony. Little by little, he became one of those figures whom the other colonists eyed warily as he passed, although Samuel ignored their stares. His thoughts were now devoted only to the heroes and to the peculiar female he had encountered while following the First Hero. Sometime later, he would come to call her Penny, but for now she remained a nameless woman who had captured his attention. He saw her occasionally as they shadowed the heroes, and their eyes would meet briefly across the empty expanse of kempt grass and silky sky, but they did not move nearer to each other, did not speak. Finally, weeks after their first meeting, Samuel found her by the river and approached her.
    He came up behind her as she knelt to drink, and when she sensed his presence, she arose with a start and whirled to face him. Perhaps because she did not immediately recognize him, perhaps because some part of her was still bound by the fear that engulfed the other colonists, her black eyes at first widened with animal terror and a low sound began in her throat, part growl, part muffled shriek of fear and surprise. Samuel recoiled at the sight of this face, so unlike that of the woman he had first met some weeks ago and so much like the faces of all the other colonists.
    But then she recognized him, her face softened, and she cast her eyes downward as her cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink.
    “Hello,” she murmured. “How are you?”
    Samuel exhaled with relief. “I am fine, thank you. How are you?” He had been carefully formulating these few words ever since their first meeting.
    “Goodthankshow—” she began to answer but stopped. Her thin, pale lips widened and parted to reveal two rows of small, brilliant white teeth. She continued gingerly. “I’ve been… very well, thank you.”
    For the first time in his life, Samuel truly laughed. He threw back his head and his body shook with the sheer joy of this connection with another human being. Penny waited, quite obviously pleased with herself. Her next words were more stilted, and her brow creased as she ground them out.
    “I’m glad to… see you… again.”
    “I’m glad… to see you again too,” he responded.
    She brushed at the feathery grass with a bare foot and wrung the edge of her tunic in her hands. Samuel imagined himself crouched by the stream, trying to drink from his cupped palms before the water slipped between his fingers.
    “I’m glad to talk to you too.” He forced the words out urgently.
    She looked back up at him and bobbed her head. Behind her, the sun grew larger as it descended in the sky, and its last desperate rays outlined her body in fire.
    “You follow them too,” he said.
    “Yes, yes,” she replied. “Like…