by Mark Tufo
“Witch!” Mennot shrieked, throwing the food he held to the ground. He upended the entire tray before leveling his gaze on me. “You lie,” he said calmly.
I was calm, deadly, even. It was all I could do to ignore that meat, completely unspoiled but for the dirt it lay in. I swallowed the saliva that welled up in my mouth. “Perhaps, perhaps not. Is that a chance you wish to take? How easily I sprinkled a little powder onto your tray of food while I held my blade to your gut. Did you think I would let you threaten my clan with impunity? I will leave the antidote with your forward scouts. If we are not delayed and they don’t dally, it will most likely reach you in time. Think of it as a chance to see how loved you are by your people.”
“LEAVE NOW!”
We were halfway through the compound when Haden came up to me. “Is that true what you said about the poison?”
“Of course not. I know as much about poisons as I do Cedar’s stand-offs.”
“You are indeed full of surprises, Winter,” Serrot said. “I am sorry for ever doubting you. I cannot imagine having ever aligned with that fat sot.”
“I knew you’d come around,” Cedar said to him.
Cedar might have gotten over her earlier grievances and suspicions, but I was not quite there. Everything had happened so perfectly, in a way. I had personally been in peril and escaped at least three times on this mission. And then I had to wade through Mennot’s words; there were already rumors about me? Was it commonly thought that Haden had become enamored with me? It was clear he was greatly interested. If so, I would have to examine my own feelings. I loved Tallow, yet it appeared that he no longer wanted anything to do with me. I felt like a heroine in one of Cedar's romance books. I made one stop on our exodus from the Hillian area to grab some Sumac. I carefully wrapped it up in a small square of leather and secured it with a piece of string. I almost smiled imagining the stomach cramps this would give Mennot tonight. Past that, I had not figured anything out by the time we got to the scout outpost.
“This is for Mennot. Make a strong tea from it and serve it to him tepid; it will draw out all the toxins. Also,” I added as an afterthought, “make sure he eats nothing else the entire evening.”
The scout looked at me peculiarly.
“I strongly suggest you hurry,” Haden said. “He is expecting it.”
“I don’t know if I should feel sorry for him or laugh.” Serrot shook his head. “Remind me not to anger you, Winter.”
“We should make haste. Whoever attacked the Hillians is under no obligation to spare us should we be found.” Haden picked up the pace.
“Unlike Mennot,” I said sarcastically.
“He will hunt you down for the rest of your days once his bowels loosen,” Haden said.
“He’ll be too miserable to be concerned with me.”
I’d been giving Haden sidelong glances since we’d left Mennot’s. He was not unattractive; the strong set of his jaw and the deep determination in his eyes belied the kindness he was capable of. I could almost forget the constant danger we were in just by looking at him.
Cedar bumped up against my shoulder. “You stare any harder and you’re going to burn a hole through his clothes. Although maybe that’s what you want to happen?” I blushed as she laughed.
“Is something funny?” Haden was looking ahead for signs of trouble.
“Winter was just wondering if your clothes needed mending,” Cedar said as she slipped by.
“What?” he asked her retreating form.
I was still smiling, up until we were near to where Olands had tried to kill me. The ambush point was too silent, as if his restless spirit had waited around in an attempt to finish off what he had started.
Gregor crossed through the pass first. He immediately froze and placed his hand up so that we would all stop. He quickly came back, his face pale. “Someone has been here. Olands’ body has been strung up by his feet.”
“Ferals. It could only be them,” Serrot said. “Apparently there are more of them around than we thought. It’s like trying to count wild rabbits.”
“His...his eyes are…gone; they, errr, dug them out.” Gregor swallowed hard as he uttered the words.
“Birds?” Cedar asked.
“No. It is a sign of dishonor. They must have been watching us ever since we left our cave. They witnessed the attack on Winter. By stealing his eyes, they believe he will wander through the underworld blind, unable to reunite with those who have gone before him.”
“That’s horrible,” I said. “He had already paid the ultimate price for his betrayal; why should an attack on me motivate such violence in them?”
“They have already shown reverence for you on the battlefield, and, strange as it sounds, they are people of strong, honorable beliefs,” Haden reminded me. “Though, their beliefs are different than our own,” he added as a way to soothe me.
“Olands was a traitor and an assassin; he will find no welcome in whatever afterlife is his,” Serrot said as we all stared up at the lifeless form twisting in the slight breeze. Olands’ face had turned an angry, blotchy purple as the blood congealed there. Red and gray fluids had leaked from his empty eye sockets and left streaks down his forehead and into his hair. “Betrayers are damned to an eternal darkness where they are pursued relentlessly through a burning world.”
“That’s unspeakable.” My hand went to my mouth.
“Serrot!” Haden admonished.
“The truth is sometimes unkind, Haden, but it must be spoken. I am not telling her this for her pity. It is the price Klondikes pay for treachery.”
“We need to get back to the cave.” Haden was looking around and up the slopes that enclosed us.
“Too late,” Gregor said as he drew his sword.
Five silent Ferals appeared immediately to our front. More were showing themselves on the slopes and slipping down behind us.
“I thought Mennot and the Hillians were going to be our demise. I am sorry, Winter. I did not see this coming.” Haden looked down with chagrin. He pulled his sword free as well.
“We’re not dead yet,” Cedar rallied.
“Wait,” I said, attempting to keep the situation from escalating. “They are not attacking and have had ample opportunity to do so.”
“What do you want?” Haden yelled across the diminishing gulf between them and us.
One of the Ferals stepped forward. The tattoos that swirled on his face made trying to determine his intentions impossible.
“We wish to speak with the Ghost.”
“They speak?” Serrot was amazed.
“State your business,” Haden commanded, more as a warning than an entreaty.
“Haden, we honor you as a warrior and a leader of the Klondike tribe, but it is the Ghost we have come to talk to.”
“She can hear you.”
“It’s alright.” I stepped forward.
The four men behind the lead Feral went to one knee with their heads bowed. The lead Feral lowered his head as well but remained standing.
“There is no need for your men to kneel.”
“We have had visions of you, Ghost.”
“My name is Winter.”
“What is winter but a ghost of seasons lost?”
Cedar had stepped up next to me. I looked at her and she shrugged her shoulders.
“Our Shaman has shared with us his visions of you; our clan has been anticipating your arrival in our land.”
“What is your name?”
“My name is of no importance. Such things mean nothing in the realm of spirits.”
“I am here; I am flesh and blood. Look at me.”
The Feral reluctantly raised his head up, his eyes finally resting on my own. “As you command.”
“Command?” I said aside to Cedar.
She shrugged again.
“A lot of help you are,” I whispered.
“How many Ferals do you think are in romance books?” she responded. “I could really picture him in a kilt.”
“Those of our warriors slain by your hand will forever dwell in paradise, having died by a living spirit.”
“Again with the spirit thing,” I mumbled. “I thank you for your words, but I am just a...” I was about to say “girl” when Cedar elbowed me.
“We are surrounded,” she said from the side of her mouth. “Let them think you are this...Ghost. It’s what they want to believe and it can only help us.”
Her words were true, yet I could not find it in myself to deceive him or the rest of them; especially in the shadow of the blinded Olands.
“Our Shaman has had many visions of you; you offer hopeful promise to my people. You were born to a great line of champions before you.”
“I was bred in a Bio Building. Your Shaman is wrong!” I was angry and exhausted, I was angry because I was being forced up onto a pedestal I did not want to be on, one that I knew I didn’t deserve. Exhausted because the expectations of all three of these clans was beginning to weigh so heavily; they were all asking of me more than I was willing or even capable of delivering. Lineage? That wasn’t even a concept we knew of in Dystance; we were bred randomly. No child was special, nor privileged above any other citizen. This attention was entirely unwelcome, and I found myself wishing, not for the first time, that I had run away with Tallow the first morning we had come upon the library. There would never be another chance like that; it made me miss him desperately.
“The answer lies here,” the Feral said as he pointed to his throat.
“Within your throat? In my voice? What does that even mean?”
The Feral looked at me strangely. “There is silver around your neck.”
My locket! They had never seen it. How could they know about it? “The necklace my mother gave me? What about it?”
Haden had come up next to me as I pulled the charm from underneath my clothing and armor.
“That’s an espionage locket,” he said, taking a closer look. “They were once used to hide messages in plain sight.”
“What?”
“May I?” He moved to touch the locket. My skin burned where his fingers brushed against my neck. “I’ve never seen one, but I’ve seen drawings...just in case someone thought to bring them back. There’s a recessed button under here somewhere.”
“You’re never going to be able to get it with those sausage fingers,” Cedar said, moving him out of the way. She had her tongue firmly clenched in her teeth as she felt around. “Hah, there it is.”
There was a softly audible click, and a tiny scrap of paper dropped from a hidden space. Cedar bent down and grabbed what had fallen out. My hands were shaking as I took the small, folded piece of paper from her outstretched hand. “I’ve been holding this for over half my life.”
“You should probably get to reading it then,” Cedar said.
I turned away from the company and carefully unfolded the secret that had rested against my breast, patiently waiting to be found. It began as a letter to me:
* * *
Hello Winter.
There are so many things I wanted to say, but never had the chance. This may shock you, but I have watched you grow and have loved you from afar these last eight years. If only I could have wrapped my arms around you. If I had more courage, I would have taken you from this place. I have to believe that there is a better life out there, and that you will somehow find it.
I just need you to know that you had a mother and a father who wanted you. We had just turned seventeen and we were in love. I know it is against all the rules of our society, but how can something that feels so right be so terribly wrong?
We stole away to the fields far to the west of the center of town, where we lived for a while. You were conceived there, under the wide-open sky with the stars twinkling brightly overhead–not in some sterile lab. We couldn’t have been any happier. Our mistake was going back to town in an attempt to get some supplies before we tried to make a run for it. Your father tried to convince me not to come, but I couldn’t imagine not being by his side. I was pregnant, slow and awkward. I got caught. Even though I was only 17, I was sent to the Bio Buildings. Your father was sent to The War. I have prayed for his safety every day since, but I have never received any news of him; I am certain he must have died in battle. I thought you should know who he was and that if he’d had the chance, he would have loved you as much as I do. His name was Reikel Talbot. He came to Dystance from a faraway place, a place that was not bound by our war, where people were free to live and love as they chose.
It was a fool’s quest, all of it, as I could have never gotten past the Pickets. Those of us conceived in the Bio Buildings...we can never leave–embryos are genetically tagged at eight weeks. But you, Winter, you’re special. You’re the key. The Pickets hold no power over you. Leave this nightmare, find another life for yourself that does not include the Powers, Brokers, and The War. Seek out your father, find where he came from.
Forever my love to you, my dearest Winter.
Hope Talbot
Chapter 14
The Kiss
WE WERE TAUGHT that the Pickets were built to protect us from other hostile Sectors. What never made sense to me was why the barriers were designed so that we could not pass over. Some had tried over the years, and the Brokers made sure to show us their bodies at every opportunity. Every one of them had blood leaking from their ears and nose and their heads had a distorted shape. Worst of all were the distended foreheads that bulged as if something in their head had exploded outwards.
“What’s it say? Winter, are you alright?” Cedar asked. I looked at her but she seemed to be traveling farther away; or maybe I was just spiraling down.
Haden helped me to sit as I lost all balance. I handed him the note to read.
“My mother and father were joined,” I cried, the words sounding so small. It was bittersweet to realize I’d had parents and never knew them.
I stood with determination and walked over to Gregor. “How far are the Pickets from here?”
“Twenty miles at least.”
“What are you planning on doing, Winter?”
“I need to know if what she wrote is true.”
“You cannot! These are just words on a paper! This woman may have dreamed up the whole thing as an escape from her dismal life,” Haden pleaded.
“It is a chance I am willing to take.”
“I am not willing to take that chance!”
“Whoa, back off he-man. It’s her decision to make even if I think she’s crazy,” Cedar said.
“Winter, I must get back to my people.”
“I’m not asking you to come.” That was clearly not the answer he was looking for.
“You cannot travel twenty miles by yourself during The War. It’s suicide.” Haden beseeched.
“My name is Kinder. My people and I will watch over her. Her fate is tied closely to ours, as it is to yours,” the Feral leader spoke.
“This is insane!” Haden ran his hand through his hair. “You want to walk through the Pickets–something no one has ever lived through, protected by people that just two days ago were trying to wipe out your entire clan. Cedar, talk some sense into her!”
“I’m going too.”
“What?”
“I want to see it with my own eyes.”
“Are all the women of Dystance as nuts as the two of you?” Haden asked, exasperated. “Fine. I will come with you.”
“You cannot, Haden, you have duties that lie elsewhere,” Serrot spoke.
I could tell Haden was torn. He strode up a few paces and then back. “This is maddening. I could order you.”
“You could.”
“But you won’t listen, will you?”
“I won’t.”
“What if I force you?”
“I have more men than you,” I said as we both looked around at the Ferals.
“Damn you, Winter.”
“So now am I to assume, along with allying with the good citizens of Dystance, we
are also in league with the Wild Men of the south?” Serrot seemed amused with the entire matter. He shook his head. “What happened to the good old days of war where everyone strode bravely onto the field and killed everyone in sight? What’s going to happen next? Maybe the Brutons and Hillians will see their way to us and we could sit around playing cards.”
“Would that be so bad?” Cedar asked.
Serrot thought about it for a moment. “Maybe not. Although I think after what we have done to Mennot, the last thing he is going to want to do is seek a peace.”
“How can you even trust them?” Haden asked, pulling me to the side.
“If they wanted us dead I believe they would have attacked by now. There is something else as well.” I looked past Haden’s shoulder. “Kinder, was it your people that attacked the Hillians?”
“It was. When you had not exited the fat one’s tent we were prepared to go in and get you. When you emerged, we withdrew.”
Haden pursed his lips, obviously still not liking what was happening.
“Might as well add them to the cause, Haden. We’ll take their two dozen along with the Dystance sixty.” Serrot unscrewed the top of his canteen and took a large swallow.
“Twelve hundred,” Kinder spoke.
Serrot choked on the water he was drinking. “Did you say twelve hundred?”
“I did.”
“And you are pledging them all to Winter?”
“I am.”
“What a strange day,” Haden said as he clapped Serrot on the back. “I think she will be just fine, old friend. We need to get back to the cave before Mennot marches on us.”
“You come back to me, Winter.” Haden grabbed my shoulders. “Gregor, you guide her. I will hold you personally responsible for her safety.”
“I think he’s in more danger than she is.”
“Cedar!” Haden and I said together.
“What? It’s the truth.”
“Haden,” Serrot prodded.
“I know, dammit, I know! You come back to me, Winter, or I will follow you to the edge of this world and beyond.”
“That’s so romantic!” Cedar placed a hand to her breast, tilting her head to the side.