Read A Girl Called Badger (Valley of the Sleeping Birds) for Free Online

enough.”
    “Clear water is clean water,” said Badger.
    “Just trust me.”
    “I do.”
    “What?”
    “Trust you.” She stared at him. Wilson turned red and dropped the packet. He bent over to pick it up.
    “Now watch.”
    Wilson poured white powder into the left basin. He dipped his fingers in soap and washed his hands on the right side. After drying his hands he soaked them in the cloudy water on the left.
    “Make way!” Reed washed in the right basin and sterilized his hands in the left.
    “Okay, your turn,” said Wilson.
    He unwrapped the bloody cloth around Badger’s hand. The wound through her hand was an inch wide.
    “This is going to hurt,” he said.
    Wilson dunked her hand in the soapy water. Badger didn’t make a sound, but Wilson felt the hand twitch slightly. He washed and dried Badger’s hand then bandaged it with white cloth.
    “Don’t use it for a week and keep it clean and dry. I have some tea that will make it feel better.”
    She nodded and watched his face. Wilson still held the soft fingers of her hand and she didn’t pull away.
    “There’s something I have to tell you,” he said.
    Badger twisted her mouth, trying not to smile. It didn’t work, and she burst into giggles.
    “You should see your face!”
    Metal tools clinked from across the room.
    “Wilson! I need help over here,” said Reed.
    He let go of Badger’s hand and darted to the black table. Mina’s eyes were closed. The priest held her arm in one hand and a scalpel in the other.
    “The point isn’t deep. I used some local sedation,” said Reed. He leaned over the arm with the tiny blade. “Pour that compound here when I tell you.”
    A clank came from the entrance tunnel. Wilson turned and Badger had gone.
     

THREE
     
    W ilson overslept. After breakfast, he asked around for Badger but for some stupid reason Simpson had taken her on patrol, even with an injured hand.
    “Won’t be back for days,” said Mast. He pumped his foot on the grinding wheel and sharpened a hatchet. “Or weeks. Or months.”
    “What?!!”
    Mast laughed. “You should see your face. Oh wow.”
    “That’s the second time I’ve heard that.”
    “Get a new face then.”
    Wilson sighed and turned the hilt of a snapped blade that lay on the table. “So when are they really coming back?”
    “Probably within a week.”
    “Why that long?”
    “Why? Why’s it raining when you priests said we’d have sun? Why did thirty tribals show up in the foothills last night? Why am I telling you when it should be the other way around?”
    “Thirty? There were only five.”
    “No. More came later, a big group. Luckily a couple of hunters pulled them to the east with lanterns. That’s why Simpson took Badger with him––to track the big group. And don’t ask me how water got into the forge. I’m not even thinking about fixing it until the rain stops.”
    “I’m going to find out what’s going on,” said Wilson.
    “You do that.”
     
    FATHER REED LEANED BACK in his chair and waved at the large display on the wall. “This is what’s going on,” he said. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing in that section of the map last night.”
    “I don’t understand.”
     “No activity, human or animal.”
    “But–”
    “It was a fluke, an anomaly, or a power fluctuation. I can’t tell.”
    “A fluke?!!”
    “Watch your tone, apprentice.”
    “The map is one thing. But you knew about Badg– I mean, Airman Chen’s hand and still let her go?”
    “I didn’t want to but she’s still the best tracker. The others will watch out for her.”
    Wilson’s face heated up and pressure built behind his eyes.
    “It could get infected and they won’t be back for weeks!”
    “Do we need to talk about your attitude, Wilson?”
    “No, sir ... I’m sorry, sir. What about the forecast problem?”
    The priest smiled. “Things happen sometimes. Sensors break and rainstorms roll in. I can’t control the weather.”
    Wilson didn’t know how to