by Jaleta Clegg
"We smuggled them out last time," I said, stroking the Eggstone. "That's how we paid off our fines and paid for our ship."
Vance laughed. "They left that out of the report."
"We didn't tell them we had the stones. Jasyn smuggled them out in her underwear." I felt a wave of homesickness. I wanted to be back on my ship. I wanted to be with her. Not here. I felt grubby, filthy and unkempt.
"We'll make it out of here," Vance said.
"You trust in luck?"
"Yours? Yes." He shifted around, moving the empty platter to one side. "I've heard the stories about you. Half the Patrol that serve in this quadrant think you're better than any vid hero."
I made a face. "I've heard some of them, too. It's even worse when your father tells you what the scuttlebutt is about you."
"Commander Venn is interesting. He thinks highly of you."
"He didn't even know I existed until after Vallius. Which reminds me," I changed the subject. It was getting much too personal. "I think I know who they are."
Vance went still. "Vallius?"
"That transmission burst we picked up, it was in their language, or something very close. Except on Vallius they'd been there so long and were so inbred that they didn't remember how to work their equipment. They were pretty stupid. I doubt these ones are."
"Tell me what you've guessed, Dace."
"It all fits too well. They're here looking for slaves. That's why they take the ships. That's why the Patrol only found empty shells, no people or corpses." I wriggled my toes, wondering if I could get my boot back on yet. Vance gave me time, let the silence sit between us. "They want slaves. Sessimoniss do not make good slaves."
"You're certain about this?"
"No, I'm guessing. But it makes too much sense. Vallius had to be one of their colony ships. Too much is the same."
"One of us has to get back, we have to get the information to Commander Lowell."
"Are you going noble on me? I can't get back without you. I don't know how to navigate."
"And I can't fly, so we're even." He grinned, but there was only a little amusement in it. "When do we make a break for the ships?"
"After the Eggstone takes over. After they have the invaders well occupied. If there are any ships."
"Or we can stay until they win and help them fly their own ships," he suggested.
"Let's just survive the next ten days," I suggested.
"We will. You've proven very good at surviving."
We slept and ate again. Vance went to play with the warriors, teaching them to be even more dangerous with their spears.
I stayed near the cave, sitting on the edge of the ramp, watching him. Our guards were gone. I was alone on my rocky ledge.
There was a stir at the far end of the cavern. The Sessimoniss came out of their makeshift shelters, drawn by the noise. I idly stroked the Eggstone, wondering what was happening. I didn't have to wait long.
Kishtosnitass and several others who had been on patrol approached me. A single warrior, a young one with few stripes on his tunic, stumbled in their midst. He was badly hurt. The Sessimoniss made no move to help him, but they didn't move to kill him, either. He staggered to the bottom of the ramp before he collapsed. Kishtosnitass looked up at me, watching to see what I would do.
I hurried down the ramp. The warrior was one of the two Keristass had taken to scout the city. I knelt beside him. I had no idea how to help him.
He looked up at me, his yellow eyes dark and clouded. He breathed in shallow gasps. "Fifty seven," he said in a voice I could barely hear. "One hundred and four slaves, seven ships." His voice trailed into a whisper. His eyes clouded, fading to a dead gray.
I froze, I had no idea what to do, how to handle this. Kishtosnitass knelt beside me. His hand touched the young warrior's face, closing both sets of eyelids.
"Sekkitass welcome you, warrior of Keristass," he intoned.
The warriors standing around us thumped their spears against the stone. Three solid, slow beats. They bent to gather up the body. Kishtosnitass rose, pulling me with him, out of their way.
"Some traditions we choose not to change," he said as they carried the body away. "This is a matter for Sekkitass, for warriors, not for you."
"He died bringing information to me."
"We will plan more later," Kishtosnitass informed me.
"Do him honor," I begged.
"Do not tell me a warrior's duty, Priestess."
I bowed to him, accepting the chastisement.
Spear training was over for the day. The warriors, all of them, even those too young to have slashes of color on their tunics, followed the funeral procession into the far reaches of the caves. Vance was not included. He came back to join me at the foot of the ramp.
"He brought back a report. Keristass went to count the enemy for me." Sudden tears burned my eyes. He had been my enemy, before, but he had shown great courage. He had changed traditions centuries old. He had made it possible for Kishtosnitass to follow his lead and change. I blinked hard, unwilling to show weakness.
Vance put his hand on my shoulder. A single tear ran down my cheek. I wiped the others away.
"You really care about the Sessimoniss," Vance said quietly.
I shrugged. "Blame it on the Eggstone. I've been a Sessimoniss, in my dreams. I've walked their streets. I've lived their history. And now I've seen more courage than I ever expected. They deserve a better chance."
I walked past him, back to our cave. He stayed out on the ledge to give me privacy. There was little dinner that night. My stomach told me it was late.
Chapter 12
Kishtosnitass came for me some time after that. I slept restlessly and was only too glad to wake. The Sessimoniss leader stepped into the cave without waiting to be announced. I stood quickly, leaving Vance still asleep in the blanket. I doubted he would sleep long.
Kishtosnitass blinked his amusement as I rubbed sleepy eyes and tried to straighten my hair. It stuck out on one side. The other was still too matted with filth and dried blood to stick out much.
"Your crest rises strangely," he said.
"It needs washed. We humans like our water in abundance."
"It is time to march. We leave in one hour." He nodded a salute then left.
I nudged Vance. He grumbled and blinked his eyes open.
"We're leaving," I said. "You've got not quite a standard hour."
I left him yawning. I took my time in the bathroom. It was luxurious compared to what I expected after we left. Bushes would be few and far between and usually full of thorns.
The skitarrit brought us another bucket of water and a platter of round bread, dry and tasteless. I washed my face and drank deeply. I left the bread for later. I found my boot and sat down on a ledge of rock. I'd been going with one stocking foot waiting for the swelling in my ankle to subside completely. It was still sore and stiff, and a little swollen, but I had no choice. I worked my foot into my boot.
Vance was back out of the bathroom and looking a lot more awake by the time I had it on. He watched me wiggle my foot a moment before speaking.
"Is it still sore?"
"I'm more worried about my knee. There's nothing I can do about it now, though."
"You could stay here."
"Not hardly. I have to get the Eggstone into the temple and I'm the only one who's ever been in the temple."
"How far is it?"
I shook my head. It was as far as it was and we were walking. There was no other way.
"They're waiting for us," I said.
Vance gathered up the one blanket they'd given us and stuffed it into his pack. "I've still got some water and a couple ration bars left. I wish—"
"I wish a lot and it doesn't help." I stepped out of the cave.
They were there, all of the highest ranking from every clan in the cave. Kishtosnitass signaled one of the others. The warrior came forward and held his hands out, and old blaster resting on his palms.
"Weap
ons," Kishtosnitass said. "Our hands were not built for these."
I bowed my thanks and picked it up. I lifted it, checking the sights and the charge. It was still green, though I had my doubts about how long it would last.
"And these," the warrior said. He held out two extra charge packs.
I took them and tucked them into a pocket. "My thanks, Koresh'Niktakket," I said, bowing to Kishtosnitass. The blaster went into a loop on the side of my thigh. I felt a lot better with its weight pulling at me. Even if it was ancient and might explode if I tried to use it.
"And for you," Kishtosnitass said as he turned to Vance. "A warrior's weapon. You have proven your skill."
Another warrior came forward. He held out one of their spears to Vance. I saw the markings on the shaft. This was not just any weapon, this had been the spear of the Koresh'Niktakket of Keristass.
"I am deeply honored," Vance said. His pronunciation was off, more like a cub than a warrior, but no one said anything. Vance bowed and accepted the spear.
"We must go," Kishtosnitass announced.
The warriors turned as a group and marched down the ramp. Vance and I were included in the middle.
The rest of the refugees watched us as we left the cavern. I saw the ragged faces and promised myself I would do what I could for them.
We traveled a twisted maze of passages before we finally emerged into a night dark and windy. Once outside they picked up the pace. Most of them melted into the surrounding countryside. Only Kishtosnitass stayed in the open with me and Vance. Others drifted in to speak for a moment in hushed whispers, then faded away into the night.
I breathed deeply, relishing the taste of open air. We were deep in the desert. Sand shifted underfoot. Thorn bushes grew in hollows. Rocky cliffs twisted and turned across the landscape. The nebula burned overhead, pale green and deep blue with twists of gold. It lighted our way.
I walked as quickly as I could. My knee ached but it held. The Eggstone was a warm lump in the front of my shipsuit. Vance stuck to me like a burr.
We kept moving, hour after hour. I kept going, pushing myself as hard as I dared.
We came to a slide of rocks, huge boulders tumbled across our path. Kishtosnitass climbed over them, moving easily. I made it up the first boulder before I had to sit. The world was starting to spin around me. Vance stopped next to me.
"I'm fine," I gasped. "I just need to rest for a minute." I was ready to collapse but I wasn't about to admit it.
I heard Kishtosnitass whistle, it sounded like wind in rock. Two of his warriors materialized out of the shadows. They stood over me, waiting.
Vance dug through the pack and handed me one of the water pouches. I resigned myself to being the weak one in the group and drank half of it. He took it back and finished it off.
"I needed it just as much as you did," he whispered. He held out his hand.
I took it and let him pull me back to my feet. His hand was warm, comforting, and very human. He squeezed my hand before he let go.
"Thanks," I whispered.
The warriors started back up the rock field. I touched the Eggstone, wishing it could give me help, and started climbing. Vance was right behind me, ready to give me a boost when I needed it.
We reached the top of the slope, tucked between two cliffs that narrowed together the higher we climbed. The sky overhead faded, the colors moving as the planet rotated. I stopped, leaning on the boulder I'd just climbed. I couldn't go any further.
We made camp under a shelf of rock. It was small, only me, Vance, and Kishtosnitass. I fell asleep as others came one by one to talk with Kishtosnitass. Vance shook me awake long enough to choke down a slab of the dry bread. My knee and ankle throbbed. He massaged my leg until the muscles relaxed. I fell asleep with his hands warm on my leg.
The next night was more of the same, sand and rock, cliff and thorns, and the ever present wind. I gritted my teeth and kept going long after my body wanted to quit. Vance was always there, at my elbow.
It wasn't until close to morning that I realized Kishtosnitass was setting a deliberately slow pace for me. One of his scouts came back and whispered urgently. He took off at a run I couldn't even begin to match, the scout on his heels. I slowed to a stop.
"This way, Priestess," one of the other warriors called from a sand bank towering not far away.
It wasn't really that high, but it felt much higher. I was too tired, my leg and head aching. I struggled through loose sand over to it and started up the side. Vance stayed at my elbow, pushing me when necessary.
We crested the dune, where the warrior waited for us. A broken maze of rock canyons spread below us. I saw Kishtosnitass at the mouth of one of the narrow canyons. He spoke with another group of warriors.
"Drishnoritass," the warrior beside me spoke. "We travel through their lands now."
Kishtosnitass spoke, quietly but with a lot of spear waving. He pointed the spear back at me. The others turned to watch. I was too far to hear anything but the wind moving sand.
"They join us," the warrior said. He started down the far side of the dune at a jog.
I stumbled after him. Vance caught my elbow and kept me from rolling to the bottom of the slope.
We camped in a shallow pocket in the cliff wall. Kishtosnitass was not there. Vance and I had been left with one of his other warriors standing guard outside. We were offered more of the dry bread and a single small skin of water. I ate and drank and fell asleep.
I woke to find the sun baking the rock outside. It was hot in the cave. Vance slept near me, sprawled in the sand. I shifted and drank and ventured outside just long enough to find a shadowed corner to use as a bathroom. I lay back down in the hot shade and slept again.
We moved at sunset. We traveled the maze of twisted stone by light of the nebula overhead. The ground was rough and deep in shadow. I took advantage of every pause to sit and rest. Kishtosnitass made contact with the more isolated clans that lived in this broken land.
The food when we finally stopped included dried meat. I chewed for a long time, washing it down with water. We'd stopped at several streams during the night. The air was colder, we climbed steadily higher.
By the sixth night, I was numb with exhaustion. I could have slept for a week. My knee protested every step. I kept going. The Sessimoniss said little to me. Kishtosnitass watched me sometimes, his head cocked to one side.
We passed through the rocky maze and headed down a wide slope that dropped steeply to a narrow valley. I stopped at the top, panting and leaning on the stone next to me.
"It's too steep," I muttered to Vance.
"Use my spear," he offered.
"You give that to me and they will consider it a deadly insult. Just let me rest a minute."
"Dace, you're pushing too hard."
"And if I don't, if I admit I'm too weak for this, they'll leave me somewhere. Or worse." I pushed away from the rock and started slowly down the steep slope. "They'll pick me up and carry me like baggage. Leave me what dignity I still have."
He caught up to me with a couple of large steps. He grabbed my arm as I stepped wrong on a stone. My knee twisted and crumpled. He kept me on my feet.
"Does your dignity include falling all the way to the bottom? Just lean on me, Dace."
I left fingerprint bruises on his arm before we reached the bottom of the slope.
Kishtosnitass waited for us in the shadows. "You are injured," he said to me. It was almost an accusation.
"I will not be left behind. I will not be carried as an immature drosht."
"I will keep her safe," Vance said.
"So, Priestess," Kishtosnitass said, with a mock salute at Vance, "your Eggstone still has one dedicated warrior. Although he wears the wrong color." He turned and started down the trail that wound along the rocky canyon bottom.
"What did he mean?" Vance said, frowning after the Sessimoniss.
"You should be wearing brown, not silver."
"More like dirty gray by now," he
said, glancing down at his Patrol uniform.
I limped after Kishtosnitass, Vance at my side.
The land opened out. Wide sweeps of sand rose into long dunes that stretched for miles. Slope after slope led downward gradually to another far range of rust colored cliffs. A single trace of silver glinted far below, the only indication that a river flowed there.
"How much farther?" I muttered.
"We go south here," a warrior informed me. "Two more nights." He melted back into the night.
"Which way is south?"
"That way," Vance said and pointed to my right.
We stayed near the edges of the sand dunes, closer to the rocks where stunted trees managed to grow. The walking grew easier as we followed a trail, a narrow winding path that skirted the open land.
We stopped at the river, just before sunrise. It was wider than any water I'd seen on Serrimonia. And deeper. It pooled where we stopped. It was at least ten feet across and three or four deep. The water ran slowly, winding past stone and sand. Trees more than six feet tall grew along the bank. Bushes filled in the rest of the flat ground near the river. These had few thorns. Kishtosnitass settled a stone's throw back from the water, where a past flood had scoured out a depression and filled it with sand. Trees leaned overhead, screening it from view. Vance and I followed him into the sandy area.
"Water for washing, as you requested, human," he said.
He sat. His scouts drifted in to make reports.
I bowed my thanks, too tired to talk. I wasn't too tired to make it back to the deep pool. Vance followed me.
"There's another pool just upstream," he said. "Unless you'd rather I stay here with you."
I blushed. "I'll be fine by myself."
I waited until I heard him pass beyond the screening bushes before I stripped off my boots and shipsuit. If the Sessimoniss wanted to watch, I couldn't stop them. They were silent enough I didn't know if they were watching.
I waded into the river. It was cool, just enough to raise a few goosebumps. I sat down and spent time scrubbing myself. Sand wasn't as good as soap, but it helped. I took my shipsuit into the river with me and rinsed it out. I didn't take my underwear off, I felt too exposed as it was. I hoped the river would rinse it just as well if I was wearing it.