Sarah climbed the ratlines on the main mast overlooking where Thorn and Grey argued. Peter and the others clustered close, and began to nudge the crowd, to call attention to Sarah.

From her commanding position above the deck, as her strong red hair blew in the wind, all eyes drew to her. The hubbub of conversation quietened as all wondered why she stood apart from them all.

‘Going to sing us a song Sarah?’ a man called out.

In the general laughter the crowd began to turn away and the arguing voices rose again.

So Sarah sang.

In the long dark winter night

A sullen sun hides its light

The clan sits close, about a fire

Weaving bonds of heart, and higher

Stronger still than blood or line

Forged from life lived divine

We ballad songs, we poke and joke

And beneath it all, amidst the smoke

A truth is clear, we are one

We stand united, or fall undone

Listen brothers sisters all

Lest through this strife, we surely fall

Let wrath subside, let rancor fade

In moot we meet, our strength remade

Sarah paused, and her song faded, though the attention on her had not. ‘There is one thing more you should know,’ she said, and she did not need to raise her voice. All eyes remained on her. ‘The flight engine has failed. The skyship will go no further. That leaves one way forward. One way to carry the stores to sustain us all. As one clan with one goal.’

The silence stretched for several heart beats, though Peter’s heart pounded faster than most he guessed.

Then voices rose from the crowd, ebbing and flowing as the mood changed and a sort of resolution came together.

‘Snow Rivers, Snow Rivers.’

‘All should vote.’

‘Not just a rider’s moot.’

‘River Snows, Snow Rivers.’

Peter saw anger in Grey’s eyes, and admiration in Thorn’s, as they looked at Sarah. She climbed down, her eyes had dropped from the crowd to placing her feet on the rungs until she regained the deck.

That’s about how it is. Grey has been diminished. But Thorn’s love increased.

‘We vote for two things,’ shouted Thorn. ‘Who shall lead us, we River Snows. And where we shall go. North to the sun beyond the Teeth of the World. Or upon pasture lands when next we find them.’

Peter saw Grey about to add to that, but he lost his moment. Those on deck, just a small portion of the Clans, had begun to flow towards the steps to the holds. Down then to the ground, where the bulk of the clans had pitched up camp around the skyship.

‘So you don’t mind telling a lie when it serves your purpose?’ said Peter when Sarah had pushed her way back to him.

‘Is there a lie when it serves a greater purpose, uniting the clans? Besides. It might be true and it can be true.’

‘We need this skyship flying. Without it the Clan is just a bunch of refugees struggling over the mountains. We would not be welcomed in the North.’

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‘I know. That’s why we should not cross the mountains. There will be pastureland to the south of the mountains, next to the great river as it turns against the peaks. But that place will be far enough from the blackbirders. And if the invaders want the skyship, they can have it. Sooner or later the flight engine will fail. Better now when it serves the purpose of drawing the clan together than later when it might only cause division.’

Peter’s guts wrenched. But he did not argue with her now. Sarah had one goal, safety for the Clan.

But I had a chance to get the cousins to the portal. We could get back to Earth. Still can, if we get there by the next full moon.

Instead he nodded. Momentum had shifted. He looked at Grey and saw the anger directed at him as Sarah moved with the rest of the Clan to below decks and the ground.

I don’t like the guy. But the irony is his goal of getting over the mountains is the same as mine.

Peter stood with the Tiz and Jan at the railing of the skyship watching as the clans gathered. As they moved together the number of Clan seemed to increase, walking out of the haze, from behind their tents. In the distance riders kept up a patrol of the herd. A hard task with so little to graze upon.

‘They can’t stay here for long,’ said Peter. ‘The animals need to feed. And those ravening beasts Varuq'hat got under control. We should get rid of them.’

‘Kill them?’ said Jan.

‘No. But drive them away. They are a danger, and who knows when they might turn on us. They’re blackbirder’s creatures even if Varuq'hat has drugged them, or whatever he’s done.’

‘How many of them, the Clan I mean. How many do you think there are?’ said Tiz.

‘The Clan? It’s hard to say,’ Peter said. ‘I’ve been trying to work it out too.’

‘Bigger than our school,’ said Jan. ‘A lot bigger. And there’s like, over two thousand students at Marshall.’

‘Yeah. Maybe twice that number,’ said Tiz.

‘People over-estimate crowds a lot.’ Peter shaded his eyes as he tried to count. ‘But I think you’re right. There were around three thousand, three and a half thousand Snows in the camp. Almost a village of tents and shelters. And over two hundred riders and mounts raided the portal when we first met them. Or so Vale told me.’

‘Not so many Rivers,’ said Tiz. ‘Around a third were on board the skyship. So perhaps there are fifteen hundred Rivers you think?’

‘Not so many River riders though,’ said Peter.

‘They didn’t need so many,’ said Jan. ‘They didn’t herd so many of grazing animals as the Snows. Riders were always coming and going to the herd. And when we moved the dust and the smell was incredible.’

‘I think the Rivers have around fifty riders,’ said Peter. ‘Grey had twenty with him when we first saw him when he challenged Thorn that time.’

‘So around four thousand Clan altogether?’ said Tiz.

‘I think so. Maybe five hundred. It’s hard to count all the children. And there would be over ten thousand grazing beasts.’

‘Perhaps. It’s even harder to count them. We’ve never seen the herds all together before.’

Walt ran up to Peter. ‘Varuq'hat wants you.’

‘Does he?’ Peter said looking around for the imp. ‘Where’s he been all this time?’

‘He’s in the captain’s cabin.’

‘Ah. That makes a sort of sense. With everyone on deck no one would find him there. How did you find him?’

‘I was just wandering around. Looking at things.’

‘And you just wandered into the captain’s cabin.’

‘It’s so cool. It’s got huge windows. I saw them from outside. Wanted to know what the room was for.’

‘And how did Varuq'hat tell you he wanted me?’

‘That’s the amazing thing. He found a radio, sort of. And lots of things like computers maybe. One of the devices is like a translator.’

Peter needed no urging. He and the others ran down the stairs and along a passageway to the stern. The windows did give a good view away to the south. Haze and the shimmer of heat made the horizon shift in the distance. But Peter turned from the view to see the imp huddled over a cabinet of equipment against one bulkhead.

‘There you are,’ said the imp. ‘This is a prize don’t you think? Somehow we have to convince the Clan not to abandon the skyship.’

‘The sksyhip won’t fly. Or if it does it will not get them over the mountain pass. Sarah wants to abandon it here. With the Clan gathered here they might start to work together.’

‘Then we need to hide the skyship,’ said Varuq'hat. ‘Fly it where it can not be found easily. If we can keep this equipment from them, turn off the power sources, then the Arthan blackbirders will be most disadvantaged. Don’t you think?’

All this time a warble came from the equipment. Unlike anything Peter had seen, it had the finish and material complexity that made it clear a technologically sophisticated culture had built it.

‘We could smash it,’ said Tiz. His voice repeated in a warbling that Peter did not recognize. Not the language of the imp. Something else.

‘No. It is too useful,’ the imp fiddled with the controls. ‘We could use it to listen in on the enemy.’ Only a hiss came from the device now and the translation stopped. Varuq'hat clicked a control and the translation began again. ‘We could five them misdirection.’ The imp played with the controls again. ‘Yes, yes. We could even talk to them.’

‘So. You’re a spy now?’ said Peter.

Varuq'hat cocked his head to the side. Tulanvarqa and the translation device probably struggled with making sense of that. He wondered if both used the same principle to create understanding across languages. Whatever that principle might be.

It’s not magic obviously. Some sort of technology. Must be.

‘Nonetheless, we could frustrate the enemy,’ said Varuq'hat.

The device remained silent. Walt and Tiz turned to Peter. They did not understand any of what he and the imp had said. He had spoken in Clan as if speaking to Sarah or Vale. That made him realize how important the equipment could be.

‘It’d be even more leverage to use north of the mountains.’

‘We cannot lose this,’ said Varuq'hat. ‘Or let the Arthan invaders get it back.’

‘Okay. We have to talk to Sarah. Get her to change her mind. She just wants to abandon it and get the Clans somewhere safe.’

They left the captain’s cabin and made their way to the ground where Sarah, Vale, and Dusty stood away from the other Clan leaders in deep conversation.

They did not see Grey emerge from a side cabin where he had heard all they had said. The translator device had wondrously made everything all to clear to him.

Grey laughed, but only the airwaves heard.