A Girl From Nowhere

by James Maxwell

  “But . . .” the mantorean paused, “I can help you to wall it off. To you, it would be as if you had no ability at all.”

  Hope rose, spreading its way through Selena’s body. “The headaches?” she asked.

  “Gone.” The mantorean gave a swift look up at the sky. “It will take time. An hour or more.”

  Taimin reached out and took Selena’s hand. “This is what you’ve always wanted,” he said softly, giving her hand a squeeze. “I’ll find Lars and tell him you’ll join us soon.”

  Taimin sat beside Lars in the shade of a boulder. He stood quickly when he saw Selena’s familiar slender figure and long black hair blowing in the breeze.

  Leaving Lars behind, Taimin ran toward her until he was facing her. He came to a halt as he searched her face. Just by looking at her, he could tell that something had changed.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  Her serious expression shifted. As if throwing off a heavy weight, a lightness came over her as she smiled. “The same.”

  “You didn’t do it?” Taimin’s mouth dropped open. “But it’s what you’ve always wanted.”

  “If I had, how would we find the white city? If I couldn’t farcast anymore, we might never get there.”

  Taimin couldn’t believe the opportunity she had given up. But at the same time, as he gazed into her eyes, one brown and the other green, he could.

  “What we’re doing is about more than our problems,” she said. “It’s about a home, and a new life. We’re going to find the white city, and we’re going to do it together.”

  10

  The sour stench of smoke hung in the air, heavy and cloying, so that every time Taimin inhaled, his mouth twisted. The destruction had taken place only recently. Flies buzzed around the bodies. There were three of them, all adults, but burned as they were it was impossible to tell if they were men or women.

  Taimin tried to hide his emotions, but he was seeing the ruins of the homestead with blurred vision. Griff lay near his feet and whined. Perhaps the wherry was picking up on Taimin’s mood, or Griff was remembering too.

  The homestead had been partially hidden, located in a basin between the hills of the rolling plain. It had been fortified, with a ditch and a tall fence. The settlers had done all they could, but as with Taimin’s homestead near the firewall, peril had come anyway.

  “Bax,” Lars said from a stone’s throw away. “Their tracks are everywhere.”

  The bald, bearded skinner kicked around the timbers, looking for any tools or supplies worth salvaging, although Taimin had known from a swift glance that he’d be lucky to find anything at all.

  “Taimin.” He turned to face Selena and realized she was standing right beside him. She was looking at him in sympathy. “You’re remembering, aren’t you?”

  He knew his tone was bitter. “How can you say we can’t judge them?”

  “These bax were bad,” she said softly. “Evil. I wouldn’t blame you if they were here and you wanted to kill them all. But remember: humans do the same things to bax, to mantoreans, to skalen, and to trulls.”

  Taimin took a deep breath as he tried to compose himself and smooth his expression.

  “Stop it,” Selena said. “You can’t be strong all the time, or you won’t be strong when you need it most.”

  The burned-out homestead didn’t only make Taimin think of his aunt; it was hard not to dwell on his parents’ deaths too. He didn’t know why the world had to be such a harsh place. All he knew was that this savagery couldn’t go on. What if these settlers had sought safety in the white city, rather than face the wasteland on their own? They would still be alive.

  “The men who killed your parents were evil too,” Selena said, making him wonder if she could somehow read his thoughts from his face. “One day you might find them, and do what you need to do. You need to understand, though, that the world will stay the same.”

  When Taimin next looked at Selena, he wore his emotions openly, rather than trying to suppress them.

  “Come on,” she said. “It’s not safe here. We should go.”

  Soon after leaving the burned-out homestead behind, Selena announced that the white city was close, just behind the next range of mountains.

  With renewed determination the three travelers pressed on. They worked together, hunting, finding water, making camp, and keeping watch. They talked about what they might find when they reached their destination. Taimin and Selena still argued, but something had changed between them. She made him think about a world where survival depended on more than simple strength. He continued to teach her skills so that, if she had to, she knew she could manage on her own.

  As they made camp in a valley between two hills, the area near the firewall where Taimin grew up felt like a world away. The night sky was full of stars. There was little cover, making it too dangerous to build a fire. The cratered moon hung low in the sky, huge and unchanging, silver in color and beautiful in a way that the suns could never be.

  Taimin and Selena lay on their blankets and gazed at the moon together while Lars snored a dozen paces away. The mood was tranquil: the white city beckoned, they had plenty of meat and water, and cooperation had kept them safe.

  “What are you thinking?” Selena asked.

  Taimin felt her eyes on him as he stared up at the sky. “Nothing important.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I was just thinking that wherever you are, the moon looks the same. It’s always in the same part of the sky, with the same scars where they always are. The suns come and go, rise and fall, sometimes both in the sky, sometimes just one, but the moon is always there. It gets out-shone by Dex, so that you wonder if it’s still with us, but it always is.”

  “I’ve never thought about it before,” Selena said. “But why doesn’t it move like the suns?”

  “My father told me it’s another world, cold where ours is hot. His father told him that it’s much closer than Dex and Lux.”

  “A world,” Selena mused. With her head close to Taimin’s, she smiled. “I like that thought. I wonder what our world would look like from up there? I suppose it would have lighter and darker shades of red and brown, but the rest would be black—the land beyond the firewall.”

  “What would we look like, from up above?” Taimin asked.

  “Like two tiny ants, who should be resting while they can.” She rolled over and softly kissed him on the cheek. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “I’ll dream about other worlds tonight, and I’ll tell you about them in the morning. Good night.”

  Taimin’s heart gave a strange lurch in his chest. Selena shuffled nearby until she was on her side with her back to him; meanwhile he was still staring at her.

  He watched her sleeping form for a long time before he shifted to gaze up at the night’s sky once more. As he tried to sleep, he thought about his parents, Gareth and Tess, who had always been close. They may not have been tough like Abi, but they had taught him something of what it meant to be in love. They had loved each other, and they had loved him.

  Thinking about Selena’s dream of finding a place in the world, he tried to imagine his future. He didn’t want to be a settler like Abi, a victim of her defenses, so busy staying alive that she never went farther than could be traveled in half a day. He also didn’t want to be a rover like Lars or the men who had killed his parents, living by his wits, constantly struggling to find food and water, dominating those weaker because, in the wasteland, only the strongest survived.

  Taimin longed to reach the white city, with a feeling that came from deep inside.

  He and Selena shared the dream together.

  “More bax,” Lars grunted.

  The two men lay on their stomachs on a rocky crest, knowing that to stand would be to silhouette their figures against the sky.

  “I count at least twenty,” Taimin said.

  “Blasted creatures. I don’t know what’s changed. They’re supposed to be territorial. But here they are, always hea
ding in the same direction.”

  “The same way we’re going.”

  “It doesn’t bode well. We’ll have to be careful.” Lars spat. “Disgusting things. I’d wipe every last one of them from the waste if I could.”

  Taimin knew what Selena would say. “They probably feel the same way about us.”

  “Eh?” Lars frowned. “What’s your point?”

  “I just think it’s a shame we have to fight for every scrap of meat and every drop of water.”

  “Sure, lad. It’s a shame. It’s the way the world is, though. When you’re as old as me, you’ll see that it’s us against them. Humans against bax, trulls, skalen . . . Even mantoreans.”

  “I suppose so,” Taimin said. He started to shuffle down the hill. “We should head back to camp.” He had left Griff with Selena, but he still didn’t like her being alone.

  “Wait,” Lars said. “Hold on a minute.”

  “What?” Taimin stopped.

  Lars moved until he and Taimin were again side by side. “It’s about the girl.”

  Taimin bristled. “What about her?”

  “Look,” Lars sighed, “perhaps I’d best just tell you.”

  Taimin felt a jolt at Lars’s tone. “Tell me what?”

  “You’re a good fighter and you know how to survive, but you don’t know much about the world. And you definitely don’t know much about mystics.”

  Taimin looked back down the hill, even though he couldn’t see her. “So?”

  “I’ve told you this, but I’ll say it again. Selena isn’t just any mystic. You should know what you’re getting yourself into. She wouldn’t have had the life she’s had if she were an ordinary girl. It’s because they were afraid of her.”

  “All she’s done is guide us. What’s there to be so afraid of?”

  Lars snorted. “You really have no idea, do you? A strong mystic can speak from their mind to yours, even from far away, and change a man’s thoughts without him knowing he’s ever thought differently. Those headaches she gets come for a reason. She can cast farther than any mystic I’ve even heard of. Think about how long we’ve been traveling.”

  “And she’s your chance at a new life,” Taimin said.

  “Yes, she is. If I didn’t need her help to find the white city, I wouldn’t go anywhere near her.”

  “But she’s never done any of the things you’re worried about, has she?”

  “She doesn’t know what she’s doing. But she might one day.”

  “And what would you do if you believed she was changing your thoughts? Would you hurt her too?”

  “I’d do what I always do,” Lars said soberly. “I’d run away.”

  11

  Taimin, Selena, and Lars crouched in shadow. Rock surrounded them on all sides. They were in a narrow ravine, the best hiding place they could find at short notice.

  “I’ve never seen so many skalen out in the open.” Despite his heavy breathing, Lars spoke in hushed tones. “There must be a hundred or more.”

  Selena looked up to the top of the ravine. “I doubt they saw us.”

  Lars rested his dark eyes on her. “Such a big group will have mystics,” he said. “They might already know we’re here.”

  It was close to dusk, and the three travelers had been crossing another barren plain. The skalen had appeared from nowhere, approaching from behind. Taimin, Selena, and Lars had run for the steep-walled gully and climbed down before they were spotted. Even as they spoke, they huddled together and kept their heads low. Taimin’s heart thudded in his chest as he realized that an encounter might be inevitable.

  “There’s not much we can do,” Taimin whispered. “They’ll definitely spot us if we head back up. We either run, and hope they don’t give chase, or we wait here until they pass.”

  Selena’s voice betrayed her fear. “If we’re worried they’ve got mystics then we should run, shouldn’t we?”

  “Why didn’t you know about them?” Lars glared at her.

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Taimin said. “Two options: run or wait.”

  “They’re moving fast,” Lars said. “If we run they’ll know we’re here for certain. So many of them . . . It must be an entire clan. They’ll probably have flanking scouts.” He scratched anxiously at his beard. “If we show ourselves, we lose any chance of them passing us by.”

  As soon as Taimin had seen the dark, sleek, lizard-like creatures with skin that reflected the low evening light, he had known what they were. He remembered Abi’s lecturing voice.

  Skalen live in aurelium mines scattered throughout the waste. They don’t see well in bright light, although Lux doesn’t hurt them like Dex. Just because they like it underground doesn’t mean you won’t encounter them. They trade aurelium for the things they need. I don’t have any, but it’s useful for starting fires and bursts into flame if you strike it hard. The tips of their javelins are made from the stuff. Don’t get hit. They aren’t as aggressive as bax or trulls but they don’t like humans much, and they’re more likely to fight than talk. Never take on a skalen in darkness; only fight in daylight so you’ll have an advantage. Their skin isn’t as tough as it looks, so their weak points are similar to those on a human. Make sure you can see them all: they like an ambush.

  “So running isn’t an option,” Taimin said.

  “I suppose not.” Lars hesitated. “Blast it, we should have scouted them.”

  Taimin couldn’t help but agree. He had been distracted, talking to Selena. Usually attentive, he hadn’t realized how exposed they were. There were better routes they could have taken, and high points he could have scanned the terrain from.

  Selena gazed up at the sky. “It’s going to be dark soon,” she said.

  “By the rains,” Lars cursed. “They’ll see better than we will.”

  “Looks like we have to stay hidden, and stay still,” Taimin said. “Moving shapes attract attention.”

  Lars cast his eyes over the ravine. “There’s not much protection here.”

  “It’s all we’ve got.”

  “All right, we wait then,” Lars said.

  Taimin, Selena, and Lars wedged themselves into the gully as best they could, while Griff’s leathery hide camouflaged him better than any of them. The deepest, darkest part was narrow, forcing Taimin and Selena close together, so that she was nestled into his body.

  Taimin wondered how close the skalen were to their hiding place. He pictured their small forms, javelins in hand as they swarmed over the plain, a group so large that few would challenge them, sacrificing stealth for speed.

  He fought to still his breathing and settled in.

  The sibilant voices started as low murmurs, just audible at the edge of hearing. Selena burrowed even closer into Taimin’s bigger frame. Taimin felt her reach out and take his hand, squeezing his palm with a surprisingly strong grip. He squeezed back as his fear mounted.

  The voices grew in volume. Dex cast long shadows in the gully; soon it would be completely dark, which would increase their chances of being seen with the sharp night vision of the skalen. Tonight would be a false night: Lux would rise soon after Dex set. The most dangerous period would be when both suns were down.

  Taimin could hear Selena’s fast breathing and wondered if his own was as loud. His heart made strong, pounding beats in his chest as he thought about what he would do if they were caught. He supposed he could take his chances and try to flee. He would have to ride Griff, of course. Perhaps the wherry could also support Selena. Taimin thought it might work; Selena was slight, and Griff was stronger than he looked. Then he realized the choice he would have to make. Could he leave Lars? There was no way Griff could carry the three of them.

  He glanced up and his eyes widened as shapes moved above, on both sides of the gully’s steep walls. The darkness was almost complete, and the figures were menacing shadows, walking with more silence than humans, naturally sliding along with sinuous movements. However, their sibilant voices were loud as the skalen called
to each other. He saw little pinpricks of green light, bobbing up and down, and realized he was seeing the aurelium that made up the points of their javelins.

  His thoughts whirled. He knew that in the same position Lars would leave him; the skinner was a survivor. Abi’s voice in his head told him he should see Selena to safety, and together they could continue their search for the white city.

  But Taimin knew he couldn’t leave Lars behind.

  Then he blinked, and three black shapes stood in the gully, directly in front of him, barely paces away.

  Lars bellowed and already his axe was in his hands. He cut the air, but the black figures easily avoided his wild swings. Taimin still held Selena’s hand and he pulled her behind him as he drew his sword. In the sudden commotion, Griff was nowhere to be seen.

  Something green and glowing arced from above to strike the wall of the gully. A burst of flame erupted from the rock wall and sparks shot in all directions. In the flash of light, Taimin saw skalen lining the ravine, each holding a poised javelin. Behind the three skalen in front of him were many more, crowded into the gully with weapons ready.

  Taimin’s nostrils flared. There was no use fighting. He lowered his sword and even Lars stood panting. As silence filled the air, broken only by heavy breathing, the crimson Lux climbed above the lip of the ravine. In the low red sunlight Taimin felt a stab of fear when he saw the three dark figures in front of him revealed in detail. He had always been curious about skalen, but this wasn’t how he had imagined his first encounter.

  The centermost skalen, the tallest of the three, tilted his head as he regarded each human with almond eyes. His face was flat, with high cheekbones and a small chin, and a handful of dark feathers sprouted from his scalp. He wore a fan-like metal necklace and a cloth garment covered his torso, gathered in by a wide leather belt. Tight leather trousers were also tucked into high boots. Where some of the other skalen had bronze-colored neckpieces, this skalen’s was made of shining steel.

  “Definitely humans,” he said to his companions. He took a step back and turned to nod at the skalen flanking him. “Kill them.”