Lost Vegas Series

by Lizzy Ford

  Tiana looked around but could not identify which direction either of them had come from. She had run far enough for the smell of smoke and well-lit tents to be hidden by the forest.

  “Come on,” the Native warrior said. He turned and began walking.

  She trailed him, shivering but grateful to be cold and wet and in the forest instead of confined with the council in the warm tent. She dared not ask what he thought the council would decide for fear of the answer.

  Diving Eagle led her through the forest, back to the mobile village and left her at the tent without a word. Sensing them, Aveline shoved the tent door open.

  “What were you thinking, Tiana?” she exclaimed and gripped her arm to tug her into the warm, cozy tent they shared. “Where did you go?”

  Tiana was ready to cry when she noticed that the thick bear hair had crawled all the way up Aveline’s neck and jaw and half her cheek. The image of Aveline with a beard made her smile instead.

  Aveline rolled her eyes. “Change clothes. The council will decide at any moment what to do with us.” She tossed clean clothes at Tiana. Her eyes lingered on Tiana’s bandaged arm, but she said nothing about the self-inflicted wounds.

  “I am sorry for leaving you, Aveline,” Tiana said after she had changed. “I should have stayed. You might have been in danger. But I …” She sighed.

  “I can handle myself,” Aveline said and then added. “I understand. I wanted to run, too. That was one hostile bunch of women.”

  “Do they trust their leader enough not to murder us?” Tiana joked weakly.

  “The only thing clear to me is that they hate your family and everything you stand for,” Aveline said and sat beside the cheerful fire at the center of the tent.

  Tiana’s heart sank. She silently berated herself for not being strong enough to conquer her fear and remain.

  “But I have a feeling we are useful to them, and they know this,” Aveline added. “They would be foolish not to use us, especially when we are willing to help.”

  “Did they mention Arthur?”

  “Once, and I got the impression they know where he is but cannot get to him right now.”

  “Hopefully he can …” Tiana trailed off. She did not know how to finish this thought or sentence. The Natives had been torturing her brother, and she had no desire for Arthur to return to their father. “Hopefully he is safe.”

  “Arthur has decent survival sense,” Aveline said. “You both have been sheltered from the world, but I think he understands how to navigate people better than you do. He did not spend his life locked in a closet.”

  Tiana braided her wet hair and sat beside her friend. The brilliant glow of Aveline’s pendant – a gift from the electrical engineer in the basement of the pyramid – made her glance down at the matching necklace she wore. Aveline was fidgeting, tugging at the hair of her bear arm. Tiana suspected her friend was not as thrilled by her new-formed deformity as Tiana had been.

  “Are your friends okay?” she asked.

  “For now,” Aveline said, frowning. “I hope it stays that way. It’ll probably depend on what the council decides.” She shook her head. “Something weird is going on, Tiana. I mean … relatively weird.” She lifted her bear claw. “The council seemed to think you are your father’s heir, not Arthur.”

  Tiana laughed. “Never!”

  “I know. But the way they talked about you was weird.”

  Tiana leaned back to grab a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “My father hates that I am alive.”

  “I told them that. And told them their village wouldn’t have been spared if not for you.”

  Tiana glanced at her friend at the mention of the incident in which she had tried to crush the skinwalker. “Do you think I’m evil, Aveline?” she asked quietly.

  “You? No. There is not even an evil thought in your head.”

  “What about my deformity? Could it come from an evil source?”

  Aveline gazed at her claw, features drawn. “I may be half-skinwalker, but I don’t have the urge to wipe out villages like the full skinwalker did. I don’t think our deformities are good or evil. I think we determine that. You could never be evil, not even a little, and I’m content being ignorant of whether or not an assassin would be considered evil.”

  Reassured by Aveline’s confidence, Tiana began to relax. Diving Eagle would not agree, but Aveline knew her better. “I am happy we met, Aveline,” she murmured and hugged herself.

  “I am, too.”

  “And I like your bear claw.”

  “It’s growing on me,” Aveline said with less enthusiasm.

  “Literally,” Tiana said with a soft laugh.

  Aveline pushed her away with a smile. “Go get some sleep. Whatever happens next will happen quickly.”

  Tiana rose and crossed to the bed she had claimed as hers. She lay down facing the fire and closed her eyes, happy Aveline was there to protect her.

  Tiana’s vision flared to life soon after her eyelids closed. It occurred in the same place she had witnessed the skinwalker brutally murder everyone she loved except this time, no one else was present aside from her and the skinwalker.

  *

  They stood in the quiet forest near the lodge she had yet to find in real life. He was unarmed and in human form, his lean frame supported by one natural leg and one that was clad in black. Behind him, spectral images of people she did not know milled. There were hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. The only one of them paying attention to her was a ghost boy around the age of ten with a slashed chest. This one stood close enough to listen to their discussion.

  Tiana risked a look around her. Forest was on every side without any sign of anyone else who had been present previously.

  “We have to do it,” said the skinwalker.

  “Pardon?” she asked, facing him again.

  “No one else can.”

  “Do what?”

  “Stop him.”

  *

  “Tiana.”

  She snapped awake at Aveline’s voice. The vision remained, and Tiana sat and looked around to ensure they were safe. Light trickled in through the flap across the entrance, which had not been secured.

  “It’s time to go,” Aveline said.

  “Go where?” Tiana asked.

  “You’re going to find the skinwalker, and I am going on a mission.”

  Tiana’s breath caught in her throat. “The council does not want us dead?”

  “Not yet apparently.” Aveline grunted as she pulled on her boots. “We’re useful, as I hoped.” She laced the second boot and stood. “Rocky’s going with you.”

  “I had a vision about him,” Tiana said thoughtfully.

  “Rocky?”

  “No, the skinwalker.”

  “Was he savagely murdering everyone again?”

  “No.” Tiana paused. “It was very different this time.”

  “Sounds like a good change to me,” Aveline said with a distracted glance towards the entrance.

  “I do not know for certain. The vision was too short.”

  “Listen, Tiana.” Aveline’s hushed voice drew Tiana’s gaze. “I don’t trust the Natives to be honest with us about our … your fate. They are sending me to the city. I’ll be safe. I don’t think you will be here.”

  Tiana frowned. She did not have Aveline’s insight into people and had not suspected anything of those around her.

  “Survive. Whatever it takes,” Aveline told her. “Promise me you will do what you must.”

  “I will,” Tiana said. “But you must promise to return to me.”

  Aveline hesitated. “I don’t know that I can guarantee that, Tiana.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they want me to assassinate your father, and I don’t know if I can.” She flexed her bear claw.

  Tiana sat in quiet surprise before she spoke again. “They want you to kill my father?”

  “They think it’ll allow them to attack the city.”

&
nbsp; “What about the people?” Tiana asked.

  “What people?”

  “There are tens of thousands of people in Lost Vegas.”

  Aveline shrugged. “Maybe they will take it over and replace him. It’s not my concern.”

  It was rare when Tiana was dissatisfied with an answer someone gave her. “This sounds like a poor plan. All of it.”

  Aveline straightened. “I have no choice, and neither do you. We will both die if we don’t cooperate, and they’ll kill Jose and Rocky, too.” Her grave warning silenced Tiana’s concerns – for the time being. “If I don’t return, stay with Rocky. Your father has survived assassination attempts his entire life by Guild members. I may not have much of a chance.”

  Tiana understood Aveline’s point and chewed her lower lip, pensive.

  “I have little time to plan. There must be some point where your father could be vulnerable. Can you think of anything?” Aveline asked.

  Tiana sifted through what she knew of her father’s routine. It was next to nothing, since she was rarely informed of his doings at all. “I do not know,” she said, feeling worthless to help her friend. “Do not face him, Aveline. You do not understand the danger.”

  “I have no choice. He is the greatest threat to your safety, and I swore to protect you. This is me doing that job.” Aveline pulled on a light coat of waterproofed leather and fleece lining. She started towards the door.

  “Wait!” Tiana said, panic stirring within her. She threw her arms around her guardian in a bear hug.

  Aveline sighed and reluctantly returned the hug.

  “I can think of only one instance where I know anything of my father’s schedule. Every Sunday night, my father goes into the secret passages,” Tiana said.

  “You know this how?”

  “I heard him one night when I was waiting for Arthur to return. The passages used to lead somewhere, but were walled off. I heard someone moving through a passage on the other side of the wall in the part of the passage bordering my father’s quarters. Matilda was asleep, and Arthur had not yet returned. It could only have been my father,” she answered. “I listened every day for months, and it occurred every Sunday night.”

  “That might help.” Aveline released her and pulled away. “I’ll have to slip by the guards and return to your closet. Is there any other entrance to the passages in the walls?”

  Tiana shook her head. “I searched for years to find a way out,” she said sadly. “If there is, it must be in my father’s quarters.”

  “Thanks, Tiana.”

  “You must come back, Aveline,” Tiana said. The air around her became charged with energy stemming from her deformities, which responded to her unsettled emotion. No one, especially not her father, would hurt Aveline or anyone else she cared about ever again.

  “I’ll try.” Aveline started towards the entrance again.

  “You do not understand, Aveline,” Tiana added. “If you do not return, I will come after you.”

  Aveline paused, her hand on the flap of the tent. “No, Tiana. You could never navigate the city on your own, and your father is too dangerous.”

  “So am I, Aveline,” Tiana responded, thoughts on how easy it had been to fend off the Ghouls and skinwalker. “Or … I can be.”

  “Whether or not I return, go be free in the Freelands. It’s what you always wanted.” Still frowning, Aveline flung open the tent flap and strode into the cool morning.

  Not if you and Arthur die. Tiana did not have time to voice her words.

  Troubled by Aveline’s mission, Tiana was also surprised to find the depths of her own resolve when it came to saving those she cared about. Would she face her father?

  The thought of standing up to him terrified her.

  Recalling Aveline’s news about the council’s decision, Tiana dressed quickly and left the tent, anxious to hear what her role in tracking the skinwalker would be. Her vision replayed in her thoughts, and she debated what the skinwalker had been about to tell her before the dream ended. Had she changed the future by attacking him before he tried to hurt her friends?

  The morning was cloudy but the rain had stopped. Rocky waited nearby, talking to the second man they had traveled with, Jose. A group of Natives – including Diving Eagle – mingled at the center of the village. They were dressed for travel with saddlebags and bedrolls slung over their shoulders.

  Aveline approached her friends. She hugged Rocky and then walked a short distance away to speak to Jose in private.

  Tiana hung back from everyone, feeling alone without Aveline. She gripped the pendant hard with one hand. If Aveline did not return, or if her father killed her friend, Tiana would use every last one of her deformities to find justice.

  Diving Eagle left the group and approached her. Rocky moved towards her simultaneously and stopped beside her.

  Tiana dropped her gaze to the ground and waited.

  “We will leave as soon as the horses are brought to us,” Diving Eagle informed them both.

  “Can’t wait,” Rocky replied. “Let’s go find us a skinwalker!”

  Tiana peered at him from the corner of her eyes, curious. Around her brother’s age, Rocky wore assassin blacks. His smile was quick for a trained killer, his dark eyes warm and sharp. While he appeared at ease, she picked up a similar subdued tension that Aveline possessed. Even when her friend relaxed, she was always ready to leap into action, and so was Rocky.

  Diving Eagle appeared neither impressed nor irritated by Rocky’s genuine enthusiasm. That he tolerated the assassin was probably the most pleasant he was capable of being with his enemies.

  “My father asked me to give you this,” the warrior continued and handed Tiana a pouch the size of her hand.

  She accepted it without a word and waited for him to turn and leave before she opened it. Inside was the feather she had returned to Diving Eagle, along with a bracelet of turquoise beads, separated by wooden spacers carved in the shapes of animals. She smiled, touched by the gift from the man who had sought to protect her despite his hatred for her father. She slid the bracelet over her wrist but left the feather. Red Moon had told her only warriors who killed in battle were allowed to wear the feathers, and she had failed in her first battle with the skinwalker.

  She tucked the pouch in her satchel.

  Her second surprise of the day: Red Moon and other young men from the village brought them all mules instead of horses. The scrawny youth she befriended brought hers and Rocky to them with a smile. Her mule was chubby, smaller than the others, and furry with its winter coat.

  “His name is Bear, because all he does is eat like a bear before hibernating,” Red Moon told her.

  “He is beautiful,” she said and accepted the reins. “Are you coming with us?”

  “Not this time. I’m staying here to help Father with a trade agreement,” the youth said with confidence she had never held for anything in her life. “But I’ll be here when you return with the skinwalker.”

  “Mount up!” Diving Eagle called.

  “Thank you,” she said to Red Moon.

  Tiana mounted and saw Rocky do the same. They guided their horses to join the group of five accompanying them.

  “We are headed north, where the last sign of the skinwalker was found,” Diving Eagle said. “I sent word to our neighbors not to engage him, if found, and to let us handle him.”

  “You mean let Tiana handle him,” Rocky said with some amusement.

  “She is the only one who can.”

  Not expecting Diving Eagle to agree, Tiana hid her smile. He was reluctant in his praise of her, even when everyone understood how ineffective normal weapons were. She guessed he remained angry with himself for not knowing about the skinwalker when he brought the creature into camp.

  Diving Eagle trotted his horse to the front of the column to lead the search party into the forest.

  “Funny how hard he tries not to admit what’s in front of him,” Rocky said for her ears only. “Stay close, Tiana
. We’re not safe here, no matter what they tell you.”

  “I have been treated well here,” she replied.

  “But have they told you what happens when you do what they want? When you become disposable?”

  “They said I can go wherever I want.”

  “How? Do they intend to provide an escort? A map? Will they fund your journey? Because traveling that far will be expensive.”

  She studied him then looked towards Diving Eagle. “They said nothing about any of this,” she said.

  “When someone makes a promise but offers no details, assume they are lying,” he advised. “I know you can smash us faster than we smash flies in summer, but that power only works when you know to use it.”

  I see why Aveline trusts him, Tiana thought. Rocky possessed the same street and people sense as her friend. “I am ready,” she told him.

  “Good. Let’s go catch us a monster.” Rocky lifted his chin to motion her to follow the chain of warriors.

  No sooner had the group begun to file out of the village than a rider on horseback barreled into the otherwise quiet area. Tiana heard his shout and glanced over her shoulder. His gaze swept past all of them and settled on Diving Eagle. The rider cantered down the line and stopped beside the chief’s son.

  Their procession stopped.

  “I’d say that’s bad news,” Rocky said quietly from his position on the horse following hers.

  Tiana studied the two at the head of the column, who spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear. Diving Eagle’s face remained expressionless, but his jaw clenched. He gave a terse nod then waved the Native on the horse behind him to approach.

  “Really bad news,” Rocky added.

  Tiana waited, trusting his instincts and taking note of Diving Eagle’s mannerisms. He was difficult to read, more so considering she had rarely spoken to anyone before a few weeks ago. Their exchange the night before lingered in her mind.

  There was more to him than anger. He cared for his people.

  He did not seem like someone who could care for anyone at all, and this insight left her wondering if her own father – who had often wished her dead – might also care for her behind his cruel façade. He normally spoke out of anger or disappointment, but what if those emotions did not cloud his behavior when he dealt with her?