‘I caint count on nobody but me.’
Saba has set off into the unknown desert landscape of Sandsea in the hopes of following her brother and his captors to Hopetown. But on her journey, an unexpected companion meets her and together they walk into a truly unimaginable and horrific trap. But it will take them right into Hopetown.
Upon leaving Mercy’s, Saba is clearly feeling much more hopeful and optimistic because she can finally start going after Lugh properly, ‘when I come back with him’. This is reinforced when Nero comes across Lugh’s necklace, given to him by Saba, that she takes as a sign from him that she’s going the right way. She journeys through ‘Wrecker settlements’ where we get an idea of just how dead that civilisation is in the ‘deadwater’ that is assumedly contaminated from before. The landscape is barren and dangerous and when Saba is swept away by a moving dune, and survives it implies her immense strength and survival capabilities – she’s not going to go down without a fight easily!
‘I caint rest. Not tillz I find Lugh’
When Saba reaches the ‘flyin machine graveyard’ it’s symbolic that there is no escape from her world now. There are now planes to take people away from the Dust Lands; they’re dead and buried in this graveyard she has stumbled upon. Saba is extremely cautious of the machines, ‘I’m respekful’ but also curious. She reveals that ‘me and Lugh though that was the craziest thing’ – that people could fly – and this illuminates just how different our modern society is to the one she lives in. What seems impossible to her is everyday mundane stuff to us. She sleeps for a while, with Nero, who is being highlighted as more and more like his owner every chapter, ‘Nero ain’t much for huggin an such’, until an unanticipated visitor shows up.
‘You always gotta keep an eye open’
Emmi has followed Saba out into Sandsea, and stolen Mercy’s horse to do so. ‘lemme go, you bastard’, she shows herself to be just as much of a fighter as her older sister when Saba unknowingly takes a shot at her. But when discovered, Saba becomes almost parental in her admonishment of Emmi, ‘don’t you be pert with me’. What follows next is a scene unlike any we’ve seen until now. Emmi openly says, ‘I know you don’t love me, not like you love Lugh...but...yer all I got’. This changes something in Saba. Now she sees her younger sister in a similar light to Lugh, ‘her eyes is just like Lugh’s’. There’s been a shift in their relationship.
‘We walk on’
Their journey takes them further across Sandsea where in the distance, the Desert Swan, captained by Miz and Rooster Pinch comes into view. The two newcomers could not be more opposite to one another and yet they are a married couple, ‘little old man’ and ‘she is a rawboned giant’. As pedlars, they are heading to Hopetown to sell old Wrecker things, but they’re set on taking Saba with them. Miz Pinch is clearly the one in control, ‘you old fool’, ‘shut yer mouth, Rooster’. Their behaviour is extremely suspicious as they try to lure the girls aboard, ‘a son...The sun!’ Hiding that they have a child, telling tales of an old King – Louis 14th, and not to mention that Emmi feels something is off about them, ‘I don’t like it...not one bit’. Nevertheless Rooster Pinch has an interesting line, one that could be a message from Young herself – ‘there are some people – very few mind you – who still have the knowledge of words and books’; not enough people are reading anymore. But it all fades away when the girls are drugged unknowingly by the Pinches.
‘We’re prisoners’
Saba’s ‘red hot fury’ makes a return when she realises ‘something ain’t right here’. Taken captive by Miz Pinch, he is told that they ‘want her...fer cage fightin’. This is the gritty reality of the world Saba lives in; where people, young girls, fight for sport to entertain onlookers. It’s harsh and chilling, but also very revealing. Saba’s instinctive action to spit in her tormentor’s face causes Miz Pinch to slap Emmi, thus angering Saba even more; this loyalty and care for her sister shines through in their time on the Desert Swan. As Miz Pinch states, ‘guess we’re gonna have to find out how much she’s worth to you’ – it’s a question the reader wants to see the answer to as well – will Saba sacrifice herself for Emmi? And it seems that the answer is yes. ‘I’ll get us outta here, Em. I promise’. Just like she did with Lugh, Saba makes a promise to Emmi; she wants to keep her safe, no matter the cost.
‘In this world you gotta take what you want’
Her determination to escape does not dwindle as she watches her captors abuse Emmi; it grows. Even as Miz Pinch cuts away Saba’s beautiful, long braid that she’s likely grown since birth, she remains unconcerned for herself, and solely tries to encourage Emmi to keep up hope. But she shows a great anger over Miz Pinch’s taking of her mother’s heartstone. Maybe Saba is more sentimental then we first thought.
‘I look out across the wide, open desert – Sandsea’
Hopetown is only a day away.
~Ella
No comments:
Post a Comment