"I know where there's a good shovel," another man said. "We can do this. The wardens aren't here to stop us, thanks to the grub."
"No, not 'the grub,' " Clement said. "Her name is Ani."
The riverbank was softer than I'd expected, and while we worked to widen it, Clement built a collection tray from broken treadmill steps that had been tossed against the fence. The men sang as we worked and asked me to join in every time someone spotted a warden getting too close. As far as the wardens knew, we were still behind the fence, climbing.
Within only an hour, we were ready to begin moving the heavy treadmill toward the river. Although I was much smaller than the men, I wanted to do my part, so I found a place at the back where I could help to push.
The work was slow and hard--much harder than it had been to simply climb the treadmill that morning. But if we got it into the water, no one would ever have to climb again.
I strained every muscle I had in the process. Though we moved forward by only finger widths at a time, the treadmill was sliding across the dry ground. We had emptied it of all grain and even carried the grinding stone separately, yet I was still amazed at the weight of this great wooden beast.
By the time we slid it into the water, I felt the Scourge rise again inside me. Pain rippled throughout my body, and I felt dizzier than ever before. Jonas had warned me of working too hard before I'd fully recovered.
However, the water immediately started rotating the wheel for us. The men cheered--softly, of course, as nobody wanted the wardens to hear--and began loading it with grain to see if it really would grind.
I could only sit while they did, letting my feet cool in the river water. Although the wardens had intended for my life to end in the mill today, either from exhaustion or from me slipping beneath its heavy wheel, that would not happen. The mill would never harm anyone again, in fact, for nobody needed to climb it anymore. And yet the warden might still get his wish for me. I truly felt awful.
The men let me rest while I told them the most entertaining stories of Weevil's and my adventures in the river country, which they enjoyed but probably didn't believe. When I tired of that, one man made a paste for me to eat from the fresh-ground flour and a little water. It had no taste and stuck unmercifully to the roof of my mouth, but it was something to eat and I was grateful for it.
Since the water never slowed, the work of grinding went much faster than it had before. By the time Warden Gossel returned for us that evening, all of us were rested and the grain was entirely ground up.
His face went into shades of purple before he pointed a shaking finger at me. "Was this your idea, grub?"
I stood, though I still felt weak. "Yes, sir. As you can see, it's a much better--"
"It's not better."
"It is! The water is doing the work, and it goes faster than we ever could."
"Pull it out of the water, now."
"We can't," Clement said. "It was nearly impossible to carry the treadmill in, but with the weight of the water, it'll never come out of the river again. It's not a treadmill any longer, warden. It's a water mill, and that's the way it'll stay."
"How dare you refuse my orders?"
"Your orders were to see that the grain was ground," he replied. "We obeyed you perfectly."
Another man stepped forward. "If you want to punish Clement for refusing to carry that back onto dry ground, then you'll have to punish all of us."
Warden Gossel stomped over to me and grabbed my arm. "I only need to punish the grub. She gave you the idea. She is the one who refuses to cooperate."
But the men surrounded the warden, closing in around him and me. If it was their intention to intimidate Gossel and make him believe his life was in danger, it worked. As one of the larger men not-so-accidentally bumped into Gossel, even I was nervous for him. Clement took my other arm and drew me away from the warden, then said, "She's one of us, sir, a climber. You can try punishing the lot of us, but you will not take this girl."
As the men edged closer, Warden Gossel straightened his back and pushed his way out of the group. "I've just decided that the mill can remain where it is. You'll receive new job assignments soon. However, for your rebellion, none of you will eat at supper tonight. And tomorrow when you come, twice the amount of grain will be waiting for you."
As soon as he left, I turned and hugged Clement. Last night he had been skeptical about whether to accept me at the caves, and now he had defended my life. Tears were in his eyes when he released me. "You make me think of my daughter," he said. "I've been here for almost a month and had just about given up. You remind me that I want to live, for her."
> I wanted my life back too. Coming to the caves, to see all the people who claimed to be getting better, had given me hope.
Yet at the same time, I had checked my forearm at least a hundred times that day for any sign of the thin red line. Nothing of the sort had appeared, and the way I felt now, I knew it wouldn't. I was as sick as before, though I hoped this flare-up of pain was due to my exhaustion from a day of such hard work rather than a worsening of the disease.
Clement brought me back into the Colony square, where we were immediately met by Weevil. He put an arm around me, and before I could say anything, he mumbled, "I heard what you did. That was a good kind of trouble, Ani. I'm proud of you."
"Everything hurts," I said.
"I know. Come on."
"Ani, wait!" Della ran up to us, then paused to catch her breath. She looked worse than I felt, but this wasn't only because of the Scourge. The light in her eyes had dimmed too.