Outliers

by Kate L. Mary

  “Mother-in-law or not,” Saffron replied, “the woman has no love for me. Don’t think she won’t use you as an example.”

  Her son only snorted in response.

  “I’m serious, Lysander. The energy shield hasn’t been used since the cataclysm, and for good reason. It isn’t sustainable. It will drain all the power from the city.”

  Saffron waved toward the sky, and my gaze followed the gesture.

  “What the gods?” Nyko muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

  I could say nothing, because what I was seeing made no sense. What could only be described as a sphere shimmered above the city, transparent but tinted blue just like the glow the electroprods gave off. It wasn’t until that thought entered my head that I registered the low hum in the air, as well as the electricity zapping across my skin whenever I moved, raising the hairs on my arms.

  What in the name of the underworld was that thing?

  “We have other ways of dealing with threats from the outside, and you know it.” Saffron’s words pulled my attention from the sphere and caused my heart to beat faster. “Things that won’t risk our entire energy supply.”

  “I won’t do that,” Lysander snapped, “not until I have her.”

  “This is about Indra, then? I should have known.” His mother moved closer, glaring at him from beneath the hood of her robe. “None of this would have happened if you had been able to keep your hands to yourself. Remember that.”

  “Think what you like.”

  Lysander turned his back to his mother, facing me at last. His eyes flashed as he looked me over, and when he flipped his hand to the side, the electroprod hummed to life. The sound was barely audible over the buzz from whatever was hanging over the city.

  “I want to know everything,” he said in a low voice, only seconds before shoving the tip of the electroprod against my stomach.

  The whispering of my name was soft and familiar. Gentle. Comforting. It made me want to open my eyes even though every inch of my body ached. I had to force them to open, and when I finally managed it, a familiar sight greeted me. Brown eyes swimming with worry.

  “Asa,” she whispered my name for the second time, “What happened?”

  “Elora?”

  Why my sister was standing in front of me made no sense, because the last thing I could remember was being inside the city. She had never been away from the tower, though, not since the day I delivered her to the untouchables.

  “It’s me.” She knelt so we were eye level, her gaze moving over me like she was checking to make sure I was still in one piece. “What happened?”

  I shook my head because I wasn’t sure. I’d thought I was the Sovereign’s prisoner. If that was true, why was Elora here? Had Lysander discovered I had a sister? Had he brought her here to torture me even more than he already had?

  I looked around, confused but suddenly terrified, only to discover I wasn’t in the city anymore. Instead, the wastelands stretched out in front of me, and behind me sat the mirrors and the tower where my sister was forced to live.

  None of this made sense.

  “Where am I?” I asked even though I was pretty sure I’d been shocked one too many times and the electricity had cooked my brain.

  “Outside the tower. Cassin found you passed out.” Elora ran her hand over my head. “Was it him again?”

  Him.

  Our father.

  “Yeah,” I said even though it still made no sense.

  Our father was dead as far, as I knew, killed when the Outliers invaded the Fortis village. I was trapped, and my sister wasn’t in the city. She was safe, or at least that was what I’d thought.

  “What did he hit you with this time?” Elora asked.

  When I tried to sit up, Elora reached for me, her gentle hands grasping my forearm. I looked down and saw her third hand resting on my elbow, as functional as the other two were, and yet the reason she had been cast aside by her own parents.

  By our parents.

  “A club,” I found myself saying.

  That was when I remembered.

  This wasn’t real. It was a memory. Maybe even a dream.

  “One of these days, he’s going to kill you,” Elora said as she helped me to my feet.

  “Only if he has his way.”

  When I was standing, my sister grabbed my arms and forced me to turn to face her. “I’m serious, Asa. You’re better than all of them. You don’t deserve this.”

  “It’s nothing compared to what some people have to live with.”

  “The Outliers.” Elora’s hands had fallen to her sides, but she didn’t look away from me. Instead, her brown eyes moved over my face before capturing my gaze once again. The expression in them was searching. Serious and curious at the same time. “What made you so different from everyone else, Asa?”

  “I thought you knew.”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “You did.” My throat tightened when I thought of the day she was born. Small and helpless, perfect except that extra arm. “You’re the reason I’m different, Elora.”

  Her smile was the only thing I needed to give me strength on days like this. “Come on,” she said, taking my hand. “Come inside and let me clean you up.”

  I lay on my back, gasping for breath and staring up at the bubble as the image of my sister faded away. All around me, people talked. I couldn’t focus on the words or who was saying them, though, because the pain throbbing through me was too intense.

  How many hits from the electroprod had I taken? I didn’t know for sure. I had lost count at six. I had also started to lose track of where I was. Had I really been at the tower with Elora, or was it a dream? It had felt real. Tangible, even. I could still feel the tingle on my elbow where her third hand had rested.

  “We do it now,” a woman I assumed was Saffron snapped, although I couldn’t say for sure. My gaze was unfocused. There was nothing but a blue glow and the memory of my sister floating through my head.

  “I want her alive,” Lysander snarled.

  “You are in no place to give orders,” said a voice I didn’t recognize.

  Other Sovereign women had shown up throughout the day, but Lysander still hadn’t backed down. I tried to look their way and groaned when pain pulsed through me. Despite the agony, I forced my head to turn. A group of people stood on the far side of the platform talking, but my vision was too fuzzy to figure out who they were.

  Nyko. Where was Nyko? And Xandra. Was she still alive, or had they finally killed her?

  I turned my head the other way and spotted my friend. He was in the stocks, his arms and head hanging limply. Was he dead? Was it wrong to pray for his death? It had to be better than this, especially for him. Nyko was a good man. He’d risked everything to save his daughter, had never worked in the city and been forced to take part in the torture of Outliers. Had never done anything but try to live his life. He wouldn’t face torture in the underworld the way I would, and the afterlife had to be better than the torment we were both currently living.

  “We do it now!” The echo of Saffron’s voice tore my attention from my friend, but I had barely set eyes on her before she turned and headed for the government building, the thick skirts of her robe swirling around her.

  The other women followed, leaving an unhappy-looking Lysander alone on the stage.

  Inside these walls, I had never seen a man as outspoken as he was. He was an anomaly among men who were content to drink and eat their lives away. Not that he was alone in his torture of Outlier women. Drunks or not, the Sovereign men had never shied away from that.

  I tore my gaze from him and focused on the sphere, knowing something big was about to happen. It shimmered like the rippling of water after a stone had been tossed in, and I held my breath, waiting. Saffron and the other women had gone into the government building with the intention of using a weapon against the Outliers, something bigger than this blue thing hanging over the city, bigger than any of us could have ever i
magined, and I knew I was about to face the end.

  I had failed, and because of it, Indra would die.

  9

  Indra

  I stayed in the valley, rotating between taking shelter in the shadows of the Lygan Cliffs and sitting by the lake, staring at the bubble like I thought if I only looked long enough the thing would reveal all its secrets to me. Including how to go about destroying it.

  It did not.

  I was not delusional enough to believe this was the only plan the Sovereign had, which was what scared me the most. If no one could penetrate the bubble, the people inside would be stuck. While this was no problem for the Sovereign, who grew most of their food inside the city and had running water, it would prove problematic for the people living in the tower.

  The untouchables, whose existence I had just recently learned about, were responsible for maintaining the mirrors, which the Sovereign depended on to provide the city with electricity. The people inside the tower depended on the handouts the city gave them, and without their help, the untouchables would not survive. Without someone in the tower working to keep the electricity running, the Sovereign would eventually lose.

  “This will only buy them time,” I said out loud.

  At my side, Mira shoved her blonde hair out of her face and turned her blue eyes on me. “What did you say?”

  “The bubble.” I jerked my head toward the city. “It is only a distraction. Something to buy the Sovereign time.”

  Ontari and Roan stirred, and when I had the attention of both Heads, I explained my theory to them.

  “This cannot last. The people in the city would not risk the lives of the untouchables.”

  “Perhaps they have decided to let those people die so the remaining Fortis can live there,” Ontari said.

  “Maybe,” I replied even though I knew it was not true. “But I do not think so. The Sovereign need the brawn the Fortis bring. Their electroprods are powerful weapons, but they are useless against a grizzard attack.”

  The memory of the day I had found myself in the streets during a grizzard attack came back, causing a shiver to move through me. I came so close to meeting my end that day, but as usual, Asa had come to my rescue. How many times had he saved me from certain doom? Probably more than I even knew. Now he was the one in trouble, and I had no way to save him.

  “I think,” I said slowly, trying to shake off the despair so I could focus on the problem, “the Sovereign are only buying themselves time.”

  “Time for what?” Roan asked.

  I gnawed on my lip, my mind replaying every moment inside the city and every piece of technology I had ever seen. No matter how hard I thought, though, I could come up with nothing. I was just an Outlier, and I was not privy to most of what the Sovereign had.

  “I do not know,” I said after a moment, “but the Sovereign have technology at their disposal we could never even dream of.”

  “Then we must be prepared,” Ontari said. “We must call the army back.”

  Even though I was unsure why, I found myself shaking my head. I stood, my thoughts going to the grizzard that had flung itself against the bubble. Then to the electroprods and how with just one touch they could send a Fortis man to his knees.

  “No. We cannot.” I waved toward the city. “Look at this thing, how big it is. What would happen to our army if the Sovereign were somehow able to harness this energy and send it to the valley? We would all be gone like that.” I snapped my fingers. “We cannot bring them back here. Not yet. It is too risky.”

  “What do you suggest we do?” Ontari asked. “We cannot risk touching it, and we have nothing at our disposal more powerful than a sword.”

  I turned to face the smaller bubble, the one surrounding the tower and mirrors.

  “We go there,” I said. “To the untouchables. We did not destroy the mirrors before, but things have changed.”

  “But we cannot penetrate the bubble,” Mira said.

  “That does not mean we cannot communicate through it,” I replied.

  Ontari’s eyebrows lifted, pushing the line of teeth on her forehead up. “You want to ask the untouchables to destroy the mirrors?”

  “I do,” I said. “It will benefit them as much as it will benefit us.” I took a deep breath. “Plus, Asa’s sister does not know what happened to him. I must tell her.”

  “What then, Indra of the Windhi?” Roan asked. “Say the people inside the tower do destroy the mirrors and the bubble disappears. What will you do then?”

  “Figure out a way to get into the city,” I said firmly. “Asa has risked everything to save me time and time again, and I must do the same for him.”

  “It is not what he would want,” Mira said.

  “No,” I replied, “but it is what must happen.”

  Not wishing to leave any more room for debate, I turned my back on my friend and started for the tower.

  The sun reflected off the sparkling surface of the lake, making me squint, but it was nothing compared to the glow of the mirrors. Even encased in the translucent bubble, they shone with an intensity that made it feel like they would scorch me if I got too close.

  The scrape of footsteps against the ground at my back told me the others were following, but I still glanced over my shoulder to make sure. Mira, Atreyu, Ontari, Roan, and Zuri followed me. None of them looked like they thought this was the best course of action, and I could not disagree with them. But I had no other ideas. Plus, I was more certain than ever that I was right. This bubble was only there to keep us from entering the city, but it could not last. Inside the walls, the Sovereign and remaining Fortis were preparing a much more brutal retaliation, and when that happened, we would all die.

  I would not let them succeed.

  The trek past the lake into the wastelands felt twice as long as last time. Possibly because of my injury, or maybe because it felt so much more ominous than it had before. Either way, I found my steps slowing before I had even made it to the tunnel, making it possible for the others to catch up. Mira was at my side when we reached the boulders surrounding the tunnel’s entrance, and as we passed it she reached out and squeezed my hand. It was meant to comfort me, but all it did was make the memory of saying goodbye to my husband twice as vivid.

  “He will be okay,” I said to myself.

  “Yes,” Mira replied.

  Like my own words, her statement had little conviction behind it.

  I walked faster, forcing my tired legs to move even as they begged for relief. Since sneaking in a few hours of sleep last night after Asa and I were married, I had only managed to grab a few minutes of rest here and there, and it was starting to catch up with me. I felt like I was asleep, or possibly half dead, as I trudged across the scorching wastelands, my sights set on the bubble surrounding the tower. But I was determined, and I knew that determination would get me through. Sleep could wait until Asa and I were once again together.

  As we neared the tower, I was able to make out figures moving between the mirrors. Through the bubble, it was hard to distinguish much about them, but the forms left little doubt in my mind what was happening. The people living in the tower had come out to investigate.

  I walked faster, and soon I was running, jogging as dirt puffed up around me, tickling my nose and making my eyes water. Earthy grit crunched between my teeth. I swallowed, but it did no good. It felt as if I had gotten down on my hands and knees and licked the dry ground.

  By the time I reached the bubble, I was out of breath, panting as I came to a stop. While I worked to calm my heart and ease my gasps, I focused on what was happening inside where a handful of figures moved between the mirrors.

  I was close enough that the buzz of electricity hummed through my body and made every hair stand on end. The memory of the grizzard slamming into the other bubble made me want to take a step back, but I did not. I needed to try to communicate with the people inside, which meant getting as close as possible.

  When I took a step closer, the
tickle of electricity moving over my skin intensified.

  “Indra,” Mira said from behind me.

  I did not look her way. “I am okay.”

  Hoping to get the attention of someone inside, I waved my arms over my head and called out, “Hello!”

  My voice bounced off the bubble and echoed through the desert at my back, but to my relief, the people inside turned.

  “They heard me,” I said, waving my arms faster.

  Mira was at my side in a blink, waving as well. The Heads of the other tribes stood next to her, not waving but their eyes nonetheless focused on the people inside, and behind us stood Zuri and Atreyu.

  The figures moved closer, becoming clearer as they emerged from the bright reflection the mirrors gave off.

  A man materialized in front of me first. He was perhaps a half a century old, with a beard that went down to the middle of his chest. One side of his face looked scaly and rough, reminding me of the bark of a tree, and when he raised his hand to wave, the skin on his palm was the same.

  “Can you hear me?” I called out as more people materialized, each one with a different defect.

  The man’s mouth opened, and the following sounds were faint, like the echo of someone talking a few alcoves over in the caves, but I was able to make out his words.

  “Yes. What’s happening?”

  “We do not know, but the bubble is over the city, too,” I called, waving behind me like he did not know where the city was. “We need you to destroy the mirrors.”

  The man took a step back, his eyes wide as he shook his head.

  I almost reached out, but stopped myself when I remembered the grizzard hitting the bubble. Instead I lifted my hand, motioning for him to stop. “Nothing will happen to you. I promise. But we need to cut off the electricity to the city if we want to stop the Sovereign. It is the only way.”

  At his back, a girl appeared, and I recognized her immediately as Asa’s sister. I had met Elora only once, just a few days ago when I first learned about the existence of the untouchables, and once again I was struck by how much she looked like her brother.