Desert Born

by Dawn Chapman

  Josh nodded. “Never been on a bike, but of course. Just tell them to go easy with me.”

  Alex watched me, but he agreed because I didn’t protest. Seeing the two of them get on those bikes was exciting. Another thing that might help him see life in a different way.

  I palmed the Hog open, and Candice slid into the seat beside me. She checked out the internal dashboard and systems with a nod and a wink. “Some serious upgrades here. Even I don’t think we could do some of this stuff to the bikes.”

  “It took me a while, but I saved and earned my way through them. I also learned how to do some things myself.”

  “Good call. You never know when you might have to be the one to fix it all.”

  “Exactly.”

  I let the bikes lead us this time, without Josh next to me for directions.

  “So, what is the reason for the chat?” I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know.

  “Alex. What’s the deal? I’ve not seen anyone with his skill set before. But his health is extremely low. You seem to know about our game. I’m curious to what you think of it all, of him.”

  Was she just curious about him or was it a bit of everything? “He’s ill back in your world. That illness seems to have started to carry over here.”

  “He’s dying.” Her brow furrowed as she nodded. “I understand now why he didn’t want to join the party. If he did, he might have lowered our chances. He’s a nice guy.”

  “Yes,” I said keeping my eyes on the road ahead.

  “There’s one more thing. . . you called us off the Tromoal? I mean I get they’re important to the world, but it seemed much more personal. Is there something I should know?”

  If I couldn’t tell anyone else, then I wasn’t going to now, so I held back. “No. Without them, we’re going to face some very bad situations. The truth is some have already left. The less chance of their young surviving means we’re all in trouble.”

  “And Dresel?”

  “Just an NPC like me. He passes out quests, assigns jobs for us as Runners. Nothing more.”

  Candice’s expression was cold, but I could see her inner self working. She didn’t believe me. Then she tapped on the screen. “The boys have stopped. Must mean they’ve arrived. We should catch them up.”

  I turned down the path I’d seen them follow and pulled up behind the bikes. They were already inside the building. When we found them, they were selecting weapons off a pile. I was shocked. Josh had been holding out. This was more than one hell of a haul.

  “Josh? What were you storing all this for?”

  “I don’t know. I like collecting things. Seemed a good idea at the time.”

  I looked about the vast room. There were swords of all shapes and sizes, armour, shields. Then things got a little more exotic, guns, and their different types. Harpoons to magical plasma blasters. Sand holsters. One of the more antagonistic shotguns in our world. Some of this stuff was more than just a haul. “Josh, this is getting ready for war. Don’t lie to me.”

  He frowned. “Yeah, I guess I was preparing for that. I knew it would come to us fighting the Port. Just didn’t know the when. To be honest, Dail kept mentioning a few things—things I didn’t like. So I kept it all hidden from him and others, hoping one day I’d be the one to help save the day.”

  “You think the time is now, though? Looking at this lot.”

  “Yes, I do, and after we’ve got the cattle down here, we need to maintain everything.”

  There was another nightmare about to unfold. But I didn’t want the peaceful life. I was a Runner.

  I pulled out some of the newer charges for the Hog. The square tips to the harpoons were magically enhanced. I liked that. I could do something with them. I wasn’t the strongest of magical users, but with a boost, they’d likely find their targets much easier. I pulled out a dozen and stacked them at the side of the room.

  Candice also pulled out a few items. “I think Josh is a hoarder.” She laughed. Then with a whirl, she turned to the guys. “Boys, lock and load. We’ve an hour’s ride into unknown territory. Then we need to get the goodies from the locals and pull them back here. The ride back will be slower. Never herded a group of cattle before, but I think we can pull it off if treat the bikes as horses and we corral them. Maddie, Josh, and Alex will bring up the rear.”

  The plan was solid, but the outcome might be a whole lot different.

  “Let’s go then,” I said and moved to grab the harpoons.

  The plains had been long and arduous, but the way to the north was tough, bumpy, and filled with the Mayor’s men.

  The first set we encountered, I thought we’d come unstuck with them.

  The road, however, wasn’t bad, but the time with Alex and Josh was. Josh asked too many questions. He didn’t understand some of the things I tried to explain about Visitors. Alex took over, and I watched as Josh’s face changed with understanding.

  ALEX DUBOIS – HEALTH – 72%

  I noted how Alex’s health dropped a few more points while we drove North. Maybe this was because of the distance from the Tromoal. I hoped not. We had many more miles to go. If his health continued to drop, we might not get him there alive.

  ALEX DUBOIS – HEALTH – 68%

  He noticed I was looking his way. “I can’t continue.” He let out a sigh. “You’ll have to leave me.”

  “What?” Josh put his hand on my shoulder. “Why?”

  “I can’t leave you.”

  “Yes, you have to pull over.”

  I eased off the gas but saw his health still dropping.

  ALEX DUBOIS – HEALTH – 60%

  I stopped the Hog, and three of the bikes stopped with me. Within a minute, Candice and Chip were back with us. When she pulled her helmet off, she only took one look at Alex and motioned to Chip. “You two are gonna stay here. You can make sure the land stays clear. We need the path out with nothing in our way.”

  Chip was confused, but he also didn’t argue with Candice.

  “We’ll be fine,” Chip said to me.

  Alex agreed. “We can look after the road. No one will stop this train from coming home.”

  I moved to kiss him, and the other guys whistled in our direction. One shouted for us to ‘get a room.’

  I’d never felt so much before, but even a kiss like this was more than I’d ever experienced with any other person. Alex made me want to stay alive, and more than that, I wanted him to live.

  “We’ll be back soon, two hours, tops. As long as there’s no real retaliation.”

  He didn’t know so he just hugged me. “I’ll not kill him,” he motioned to Chip and Candice.

  “I hope not,” she said, “because if you do, then I’ll come hunting you!” There was a playfulness to her this time though.

  Chapter 8

  The closer to the farmlands we got, the more my nerves frayed. I let Josh stay on the bike ahead since he wanted to scout for us, with one of the gals. He seemed to be enjoying riding to and fro, so I let him. That left Candice and me in the Hog. I took a swig from my flask, which she noticed but didn’t speak about. Most of the runners knew of my ailments, but none of the visitors did. Or at least, I didn’t think they did.

  Candice managed to slip out the top of the Hog and started to load weapons. She was adept at doing this, using everything her skill set allowed.

  Focussing in, I reached for my goggles and used the zoom. I slowed the Hog thinking I could see a twinkle of lights ahead. Candice must have sensed this, maybe seen them too.

  “We’ve got company up ahead,” I shouted.

  Candice tapped once on the Hog’s roof. Her speak for ‘got it.’

  I thought maybe they’d let us approach. Maybe things would be okay. We’d talk, negotiate, and it would work out fine.

  But then there was a spit, spat, and one of the bikes was hit with a huge explosion. I swerved and managed to miss where a large crater appeared.

  “Five up ahead,” she shouted. “Looks like they’r
e heavily armed, too.”

  “No kidding. Do you think the guys can take a couple of them out? We’re not even near the main herds yet?”

  Candice went quiet, and I finally understood what was going on. Two of the bikes sped up ahead, leaving two with us. Josh deftly swung around to face me and tapped the side of his head.

  I focussed and brought up my interface, managing to find his. When there was a click showing a connection I typed out, “We need you in the rear. I’ve a feeling we’re going to get some behind us. Candice can watch ahead. You make sure we’re not flanked.”

  “On it,” came Steve’s response.

  His bike spun around, and they started to tail off. If we were picked up by someone else, there would be hell to pay.

  I slowed down just a touch more and let the two lead bikes find their marks. As a huge gunfight ensued, I pushed down on the throttle. Maybe this would go another way, but it didn’t look like it. One of the guys was knocked off, and he ran towards the offending enemy, two swords glinting in the dimming light.

  Candice tapped again on the roof. I put the pedal to the floor. If this was turning to a full-on hand-to-hand fight, we needed to back them up.

  The Hog blasted past one of the bikes lying at the side of the road, smouldering. I hoped it would be all right. The two guys were now fighting off four others.

  Candice looked at me. “I’m better picking them off here. I’m a healer too.” Her energy sparked in her hands, and I winked. That meant I was going in. One more chug for the pain. I downed the last of the flask and threw the Hog into a spin, creating a huge dust cloud that choked off the four enemy attackers—and our own, of course, but at least we had an advantage.

  I jumped out of the Hog, daggers ready, and flew at the first person I saw. This turned out to be a guy, large build, and yet I found myself easily able to tackle him. They weren’t very well trained. Which was good. I quickly managed to disarm him and put him out for the count without slitting his throat or killing him.

  Candice had done exactly what she said, sending healing magic blasts to her guys to boost their injuries. Then she popped off the plasma blasts and hit one of the other guys in the chest. Now the remaining two men held up their hands to surrender. It wasn’t really what we were after, but if it worked.

  I stepped towards one. “We’re not here to kill. We’re taking the cattle, that’s all. Your boss will be compensated fairly. But they are coming with us. Get it?”

  He looked at me. “What? We were told you wanted the estate.

  “No, there’s a food shortage for the Tromoal. Don’t you check your messages?”

  One of them shook his head. “We got word there were several inbound enemies.”

  “Just take us to the head of the farm. We’ll deal with everything else.”

  He stared at me until I pointed the dagger in his face. “Move, now!”

  Reluctantly he did. The other guy followed. And we moved inside some incredibly large gates. “The bikes and Hog all right outside?”

  “Josh will watch them and our backs.”

  “Good.” The last thing we needed was no escape.

  The men led us into a small dark corridor. There we walked through, and it took us out into a lighter side of the mountain range. We seemed to be high up and in the valley. The inside was huge. Up ahead was beautiful greenery, and then I heard them—hundreds of tiny feet and different levels of braying, and other things I’d never heard before.

  This land was massive, the animals here free, happy. I turned to Candice. “I had no idea this was here.”

  “Nor I. There’s enough animal stock here for years. . . more than years. The Tromoal would live for a long time in there.”

  “No, we’re just after enough to get them over this hurdle. Then we’ll get someone else into the estates and manage the lands there for following years.”

  “Got this all worked out, haven’t ya?” she said with a grin.

  I hadn’t, but there was no reason to take more than was needed. Internally, I asked Dalfol. How many do we need?

  Three hundred head. A hundred extra if possible.

  So I informed the others. “We need four hundred headcount. That’s all, no more. Just see whoever you need to in order to get it organised. We leave the grounds as the sun rises, with a day to get them to the Plains.”

  “You want to take them all the way to the plains in a day?” the smaller of the two guys asked.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “It’s impossible.”

  I pointed the dagger at him this time. “No, it’s not, and it won’t be. We’ll do more than get them there in a day. We’ll get them all there in one piece.”

  “There are traulers out in the day. If you want to move them, it has to be now. Tonight.”

  I looked to Candice. “What’s a trauler?” she asked.

  I frowned. I’d heard the term once. “I thought they were myths.”

  He shook his head, and answered, “Creatures of the day to keep away strangers and other monsters.” He shivered. They must be horrid creatures themselves to ward away other monsters. “If you take four-hundred out of here, there will be a hundred left by the end of the day.”

  I swallowed. “We can’t move them at night. We don’t know the area. They’d get away from us easy in the dark. We’re on bikes, not horses or Ebolos.”

  The smaller man stepped towards my dagger and placed a hand on it. “Miss Vies, if I may ask why and tell the others. Maybe we would be willing to help you.”

  I stared at him. “Why would you want to help me?”

  “I can see you’re with a good group with working vehicles. Not many have them I’m told, only the best runners do.”

  “Ahh, so you know who I am?”

  “Maddie, yes, we know who you are. As long as you’re paying these guys, you can sort us out, right?”

  “You mean the boss.”

  “I mean all of us. We’ve been on low enough pay as it is, hoarding these for all the wrong reasons. Maybe it was about time the world knew they were all here, to be distributed about somewhat. There’s a great bloodline I think would really benefit the outside population.”

  “Oh, that is interesting,” Candice said. “We have something to talk about in the future.”

  I was puzzled, but I didn’t push her. I just wondered why she was so interested in animal breeding—money or was there something else. I looked to the guys about her, and yeah, I knew why. Maybe they wanted somewhere to call a base, to call home. The breeding of good stock would sort that out. She looked at me. “We’re taking five-hundred and some breeding stock. And you’ll compensate all of these men, yes?”

  I didn’t argue.

  Several other workers came running out from one of the buildings. They spoke to the two men with us and then ran off.

  The smaller man held out his hand for me. “I’m Karl, one of the foremen. This is Brost. We’ll round up one of the far herds. They’re more than a good age for feeding and carrying on the bloodline.”

  “That sounds like a plan. I think Candice and her men would like that and maybe someone to stay on and help them manage afterwards.”

  Candice threw me a dirty look, but I ignored her and motioned to the land. “There’s so much here. Why is it so overstocked?”

  “The mayor thought there was going to be a war for many years, and it didn’t happen. Then he thought it would be soon, and again, sooner than before. Seemed all we were doing was herding animals to breed and keep, it was getting more and more expensive to keep them. But we managed.”

  “You’ve done a great job. Will he know there’s so many missing?”

  “I doubt it. We’ve kept the books clear of some of the finer animals anyway. We had a small competition going over the last ten years or more about who could breed the finer Ebolos.”

  I almost fell over. “You’re breeding Ebolos, too? Don’t they need special conditions to raise their young?”

  “They do,
but we managed to replicate it, and we’ve been getting a nice herd together of those, too.”

  Candice’s eyes lit up. “May I go with him to look around the lands, see their other facilities?”

  I didn’t see why not, but that meant I would be left with no one to back me up. I wasn’t scared, though. Or maybe I should be. It was the buzz from the fight and the potions I think.

  I watched as Candice and her two guys followed the others out into the lands, and I waited. I could see there was a lot of activity, and going to find myself a nice vantage point inside one of the buildings, I’d be able to see much more.

  I walked to the main building. Trying the door, it opened. I went inside, up a couple of flights of stairs, and out onto a balcony. There I had an amazing view.

  The land itself went on for miles and split into five sections of animals. There was some amazing amount of work here, something that not only took ten years but many more. It showed a lot, and I was proud of these workers. Even if the mayor hadn’t been to see them or acknowledge what they’d accomplished, I would.

  I think we’d be back for more stock in the summer. When it was better to move them and not at night. Trying to get five hundred cows out and down a hundred and eighty miles to the town wasn’t my idea of fun.

  But within an hour, it seemed there was a herd moving down from one of the fields. I watched as several hands worked them. Ebolos moved in and out with them, and like only a trained group could, they moved as one. How I ever thought we would be able to move the herd on our own, I had no idea.

  I heard something click behind me. I turned to see a young man, maybe about twelve. He was thin and scraggly. “What are you doing up here?” I asked, but he just turned and ran away. I followed as he went back inside the house where I found a young girl.

  “Who are you?” She was the one to ask, though.

  “I’m just here to take some cattle. Why are you hiding here?”

  “My mum died,” they said together. Her eyes filled with tears, the older boy pulling her to him.