A Girl From Nowhere

by James Maxwell

Taimin smiled. His gaze took in the group of five people. He first considered Lars, who was selfish and hard-headed, yet had risked his life for him. Lars was by far the oldest, and all he had wanted was to find somewhere he could spend his winter years in peace. The skinner hadn’t found what he was looking for, but perhaps now the city could become the place he had wanted it to be.

  Vance’s eyes were shadowed. Taimin saw a darkness that wasn’t there before, and wondered if the former weapons trader had discovered the fate of the woman he had gambled everything to be with. No doubt his time in the arena had changed him. Could he return to his former life?

  As Taimin considered Ruth, he realized that both he and Selena now had friends. The girl from nowhere was no longer alone in the world.

  “There is something we have to tell you,” Selena said. She glanced at Taimin and he nodded at her. “We saw something. I was farcasting. A friend, Rei-kika, helped Taimin to join me.”

  Selena gazed up at the night sky. Stars shimmered overhead. The cratered moon glowed pure and white. “We were high,” she continued. “So high that we could look down and see all of the wasteland.” She returned her attention to Ruth, Vance, and Lars. “We think that the world we know is all that there is, that the rest is burned black by the two suns. But beyond the firewall we saw something else. Large stretches of open water. Thick forests. Rivers. Islands. The land isn’t black at all.”

  A perplexed silence greeted her words.

  “It was like the stories we tell of Earth,” Taimin said.

  Lars spoke in a growl. “I’ve never believed in Earth,” he said, “and I’m not about to start now. When you die, you die. I only trust what I can see with my own eyes.”

  “We saw it,” Taimin said. “It’s the truth.”

  “If the firewall is some kind of barrier . . .” Ruth said slowly. “Do you think it can be crossed?”

  Lars looked up sharply.

  “Wait,” Vance interrupted. “Let’s talk to Elsa. She wants to see Taimin right away.”

  47

  Some semblance of normality had returned to the plaza surrounding the tower. Elsa’s followers guarded the broken doorway, which Vance explained Blixen had kicked in. The men and women in blue armbands stepped aside when they saw Taimin. A few greeted him by name.

  “Elsa’s inside,” an older man said. “She’s downstairs.”

  Taimin was the first to walk through the doorway and found himself in a circular room. The red sun’s crimson light poured through the oval windows. Selena followed, with the others behind her, as Taimin searched until he saw the curving stairway sunken into the floor. He exchanged a curious glance with Selena; something about her expression told him that she might know what he would find down below. He began to descend the steps.

  The stairway wound down and then finished abruptly; there was only one level below ground. Now in darkness, Taimin pushed open a tall door.

  He entered a huge stone-walled space, the same shape as the chamber above it. The floor was dusty and barrels lined every wall, stacked so high that they almost reached to the ceiling. There were no windows, and cool green light was the only reason he could see. He saw a few bowls filled with shards that glowed—aurelium lamps—dispersed throughout the room.

  It was the center of the space that drew Taimin’s attention. A circle of well-laid stones surrounded a deep hole. Elsa stood at the edge with a bucket in her hand, along with a rope connected to the bucket’s handle. Looking at her, Taimin wouldn’t have thought she had just led a successful rebellion. The wiry woman with gray-streaked hair had a scowl on her face as she stared into the round hole in front of her.

  Elsa glanced at Taimin and saw Selena, Vance, Lars, and Ruth enter behind him, but she immediately returned her attention to the hole.

  “It’s true,” she said bluntly. “This is the city’s only well, and it’s dry.” She raised an eyebrow at Taimin. “How did you know?”

  “Selena told me,” Taimin said.

  Selena spoke up. “Ruth and I have been here before.”

  “Well,” Elsa sighed, “nothing has an effect quite so much as the truth. It certainly explains a lot about the Protector’s actions.” She gave Taimin a worried look as he came to stand by her side. “I have to say, though, part of me was hoping you were wrong.”

  Taimin gazed down into the depths but couldn’t see to the bottom. The well was made with the same white stone as everything else in the city. Evidently it had been built at the same time as the tower itself.

  “We get some water from the fields but not enough for so many,” Elsa said. “I’ve known about the well here for a long time, but the Protector always kept it guarded.” Her mouth tightened. “For obvious reasons.”

  Elsa frowned at Vance when he rapped the side of a barrel. The returning hollow sound made it clear the barrel was empty.

  “Don’t bother,” Elsa said. “They’re all the same.”

  “How long?” Taimin asked.

  “How long can we last?” Elsa’s frown deepened. “A few months? If we can establish trade with the Rift Valley, perhaps a little longer.” Her shoulders slumped. All of a sudden, she looked her age. “We left it too late. Our reserves are gone. We need water to grow food. The city can’t survive.”

  Taimin saw Selena following the wall as she checked the barrels, tapping on the sides with her hands and listening to the hollow sound they made. She returned his anxious look.

  “Even if the peace with Blixen holds, others will think we’re an easy target,” Elsa said. “And as we run out of water, we’ll only get weaker. I refuse to cast anyone out of the city, but there are too many people here. What can I do? They have nowhere else to go.”

  Taimin threw a swift glance at Selena. “I don’t know if it helps,” he said slowly, “but there’s something you should know.”

  He told Elsa about the paradise he and Selena had seen on the other side of the firewall, but her face registered only disbelief.

  “It’s true,” Taimin said. “There is more open water than you can imagine. Perhaps there is a better life, not just for humans, but for everyone.”

  Elsa shook her head. “Sorry, Taimin. I can see that you believe what you’re saying, but to me it sounds fanciful. We have two suns. The wasteland is all we have.” She waved her hand. “And, at any rate, let’s say for a moment that what you’re saying is true. What use is dreaming of somewhere else if the firewall keeps us trapped where we are?”

  Lars cleared his throat. “There might be a way to get to the other side.”

  Elsa shook her head, still dubious.

  “Even if there was a way through, how would we find it?” Ruth asked.

  “We could walk along the firewall,” Vance suggested, looking from face to face.

  Ruth scowled. “That’s insane—”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  As people began to speak over one another, a loud voice cut through.

  “I think I’ve found something,” Selena called out.

  Taimin turned to look at her. She stood near the wall behind him, but while everyone had been talking she had been working alone to remove first one barrel, then another, until there was a growing number on the floor beside her.

  Taimin hurried over. “What is it?”

  Selena pointed out a faint line that traveled along the wall, a crack or contour, covered with dust and grime. It was just above head height, and she ran her fingernail along it, before the line disappeared behind the row of barrels.

  “The wall is made of stone,” Selena said. She glanced over her shoulder to address the group of onlookers. “It looks like something was carved into it.”

  Taimin turned to Vance. “Give me a hand.”

  Without waiting for his friend to join in, Taimin went to the next barrel in the row and picked it up. As he set it down on the floor nearby, Vance took his place beside him. Vance grabbed a barrel and gave Lars a meaningful look.

  “Fine,” Lars muttered and came over.


  It took all their efforts to move the screen of piled-up barrels. Elsa stood back and said nothing; she simply watched with a perplexed expression as they removed barrel after barrel. Each time they moved a container they carried it away to keep the section of wall clear. Then, as they reached the bottom row, Selena inspected some of the barrels away from the wall, tilting them to the side, until she found one with a little water still in it. While Taimin, Vance, Ruth and Lars worked, she levered the barrel open.

  “Here,” Elsa said, tossing Selena a kerchief.

  Selena dipped the cloth into the water. As Taimin took the last barrel away, she began to scrub at the wall, removing years of dirt from around the long crack. She revealed the line engraved in the wall until it curved and formed a wide ellipse. Taimin now stood beside Elsa and watched. Meanwhile Selena continued to scrub. Lars waited and scratched his beard, while beside him Vance smoothed his neat moustache. Ruth frowned.

  Shapes began to emerge.

  There was no longer just one outer line to mark the edge of the ellipse. Selena’s moving hand revealed multiple contours and indentations, all of them etched into the stone. She worked swiftly and then searched for more water. Another series of wipes in the center of the wall displayed even more detail.

  She stopped when she was done. She turned toward the rest of the group with an expectant expression on her face.

  “What is it?” Taimin asked.

  Selena didn’t reply. She just waited.

  Lars stared at the wall. He gave a surprised grunt. “It’s a map.”

  Taimin’s mouth dropped open. He stepped closer to the wall and his eyes traveled over the lines carved into the stone. He realized that Lars was right.

  “Look,” Lars said. “That’s where we are.” He walked up to the wall and jabbed his finger against it to point at the symbol of a star in the middle of a barren plain. “This city is marked.” Taimin stared at the star, and then the skinner’s hand kept moving. “That’s the Rift Valley. Here are the mountains.” Lars walked farther along the wall. “That’s where the three of us met up.” He tapped an area and glanced at Taimin.

  Taimin examined the map. “Wait. Who made this map?”

  “Whoever built this city,” Elsa said softly.

  Taimin and Selena exchanged glances. Vance’s brow was furrowed. Lars walked even closer, squinting as he inspected one feature after another.

  Taimin stepped up to the wall to try to find the area where he had grown up with his aunt and parents. He thought he had found the right place when he saw the long barrier of cliffs, just where it should be. He waved his hand over the first contour Selena had discovered. “This boundary must be the firewall.”

  He studied the line. The curve that the firewall made was surprisingly smooth.

  Vance looked puzzled. “How old is this city?” he asked Elsa.

  “It’s impossible to say,” Elsa said. “The Protector’s great-grandfather discovered it abandoned.”

  Taimin backed away to allow Vance to come forward. Vance had his eye on the line of the firewall that Taimin had just indicated. “If the other symbol is Zorn, what’s this?”

  As Vance stabbed the wall with his finger, Taimin realized it was true; there was a second star, located against the distant firewall, a great distance from the region of cliffs where Taimin had grown up. The engraved symbol was etched on the verge of an empty area, almost certainly a desert, given the fanciful ripples and the fact that it was even more barren than the plain surrounding Zorn.

  Taimin examined the map, taking his time, making sure to check every portion of it. He turned to meet Selena’s eyes. “There are no other markers. It’s the only place given a symbol besides this city.” He paused. “And look where it is.”

  “It’s right on the firewall,” Selena whispered.

  “What are you saying?” Vance asked. “There’s a second city?”

  “No,” Taimin said. “Look. Compare it to the symbol for Zorn. There’s a small difference.” He pointed out the two parallel lines that crossed the second symbol to intersect with the firewall. “I’m saying that there might be a path through the firewall. A way to the other side.”

  Silence met his words. Everyone scanned, looking for anything else put on the map or given special importance. There could be no doubt. There were only two symbols. No more. One was the city. The other was far away, directly on the firewall.

  Taimin thought about what he knew.

  The firewall that encircled the wasteland, that had burned his parents’ bodies to ash, was nothing more than a barrier. He had always believed that the erratic movements of the two suns scorched most of the world, but the firewall had nothing to do with Dex or Lux at all.

  He remembered gazing down from the heavens and seeing the rest of the spherical world. It was a place of beautiful, sweeping landscapes. He had seen white, swirling clouds—clouds that he had only heard about in stories of Earth, the paradise that some said people went to when they died. He had felt awe at oceans of deepest blue. Forests and grasslands, rivers and lakes . . . they were all there on the other side of the barrier. Everything enclosed within the firewall was dry, hot, and hostile. The world outside was completely different.

  The wasteland was dangerous. Water was scarce. Predatory beasts roamed; only the foolish traveled far from safety. The few crops that could be grown were hardy herbs, tough cactuses, root vegetables, and razorgrass.

  Whoever had built this city had abandoned it a long time ago. The city’s builders couldn’t have simply vanished. They must have gone somewhere.

  Now there might be a way through the firewall. The marker was far away, but Taimin believed he could find it.

  Elsa was the first to speak. “This changes everything. The news alone would give people hope.” She met Taimin’s eyes. “You’re going to go there, aren’t you?”

  “I am,” he said. He hadn’t known he had made the decision until he spoke, but he knew in his heart that it was what he had to do.

  He was surprised when Selena cleared her throat. “And I’m going with you,” she said.

  Taimin opened his mouth to try to change her mind, but then Vance interrupted. “We’ll need supplies for the journey.”

  Ruth spoke up. “You’ll need a healer.”

  Taimin glanced at Lars. The skinner was more thoughtful than Taimin had ever seen him. He combed his fingers through his thick black beard and then cleared his throat. “I’m going,” he said. He scowled at Taimin. “But don’t think for a second that I’m doing it for anyone but myself. I’m old. If there’s a better life than this one, I want to live it, even for a short time. I want to see this paradise before I die.”

  “I suppose that’s settled then,” Elsa said. She gave Taimin a firm stare. “Don’t forget what I told you. This city can’t continue as it is. Give us hope.”

  Taimin realized that there was a great responsibility on his shoulders. “In the meantime, what will you offer Blixen?”

  Usually swift to speak, Elsa paused for a moment as she thought. “First, trade—there’s water in the Rift Valley and we have goods they will want. But perhaps . . . perhaps some members of the other races might come here. Zorn could be a haven for all.”

  “Do you think we can all work together, side by side?” Taimin asked.

  Elsa gave him an unreadable look. “We have to try, don’t we?”

  48

  The golden sun lit up the wasteland. On the opposite side of the heavens, the crimson sun gave a challenging glare. The sky was a perfect blue. Air shimmered on the rocky ground. There was no breeze to relieve the heat.

  A long series of cliffs formed a jagged escarpment, high above a flat plain. Scorpions scuttled along the cliff edge, peering down from the heights, in turn under the gaze of scavenger birds that clung to the branches of gnarled trees and cawed to one another. Cactuses defied the insects that sought the sweet flesh inside their spiky armor. Lizards hid under the boulders that lay scattered along the t
op of the escarpment, checking anxiously for predators. Wyverns soared in the part of the cliffs where they made their nests. This region—close to the firewall, where the horizon shifted to red and a barrier of fiery air scorched any living creature foolish enough to stray near—was somewhere that most travelers avoided.

  There were benefits, however, to following the firewall. In the barren land above the escarpment there was little game and water was difficult to find, which meant that there were fewer predators. Hunting was possible, just difficult, and the water was there, if one knew where to find it.

  Five travelers skirted the escarpment and walked with the steady pace of people who had been traveling for a long time. Sweat beaded on their foreheads. Lips were parched and mouths were dry. They would need to find water soon, but fortunately one of the travelers knew the area well, and it had been his decision to follow this route.

  As he walked in front, Taimin gazed out from the cliff’s summit, to where the precipice plummeted in a sheer drop nearby. He watched the circling wyverns and the view stirred memories both good and bad. He was reminded of all the times his parents had lowered him down the cliff in search of wyvern’s eggs. The plain below had always fascinated him; he had wanted to explore, to meet other people and to exchange news and goods. Then his parents were killed, and his life changed forever.

  He saw Selena looking his way, and wondered what she could read in his face. He didn’t tell her that this was where it had happened. It was a long time ago. As he limped along, the slowest in the group despite the fact that he was the one leading, his foot gave him more pain than usual.

  Selena noticed him looking toward the winged creatures below the cliffs. “You must miss Griff,” she said. She smiled. “I know I do.”

  Griff was now a wyvern, and would want to find a mate. Before beginning the journey, Taimin had known that the right thing to do was to say goodbye to his old friend. He had hugged Griff tightly, but at the same time, he felt safe in the knowledge that Griff would thrive on his own.

  “Of course I miss him.” Taimin returned her slight smile. “But he’s now free to live his own life. I wasn’t thinking about him. It was . . . something else.”