Sisters of the Sands

by Villinger, James

  “Okay,” she said, looking down at my feet, before staring back at me again. “Why did you save me? I’ve been going over it in my head, trying to put myself in your position. Dragging me through the desert on the slim chance the Female Dominion catches up with us? I’m just slowing you both down. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  I smirked. “I seem to remember you being so sure your friends were going to get ‘the drop’ on me.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m still here, aren’t I? So, no more lies. Why did you save me?”

  “I … uhh,” I began, before stopping myself. The real reason I saved her?

  She focused on me, seeming earnest. I glanced over at Eno to make sure he was still asleep, and then sat down on the raised, fractured bedrock, which was the perfect height.

  I gestured over at Eno. “You have to promise not to tell him, got it?” I whispered.

  Her eyebrows raised, intrigued. “Yes, okay, I promise.”

  I sighed and inspected my feet. “I used to be in the Female Dominion, like you.”

  Tau looked shocked. “What?”

  “It was … a long time ago now. I escaped and my family adopted me. They pretended I was really their daughter so that the other Nomads wouldn’t kill me. But I always knew …”

  A smile spread across her face. “Well, that’s fantastic news! You can come back home with us now. If you surrender, I’m sure they’ll welcome you.”

  “I’m never leaving Eno’s side. I’m the only family he’s got left.”

  “But … he isn’t your real brother?”

  “No, he is. Where I came from means nothing. He is my brother, and I’d do anything to protect him.” I looked over at Eno again, then back at her. “I saved you because I saw myself in your position. I couldn’t let you die, because if I turned out okay, then you might have a chance, too.”

  “I’m not a bad person,” Tau said, straightening up against the rock.

  I gestured at Eno. “Well, neither are we. And look at what you’ve done to our family.” I sighed. “Look at him, does he look like a cannibal to you?”

  Tau shook her head. “No.”

  “If I died, without his grandfather, he wouldn’t survive. And if that happens, I blame you.”

  She creased her brow. “I wasn’t the one that killed your grandfather.”

  “You may as well have been.”

  Tau closed her eyes and dipped her head. She looked over to Eno, then to me. “So where do we go now? What’s your plan?”

  “I don’t have one … anymore. All I know is we can’t stay on the river for too long, because everyone else does.” I stood up and walked over to her. I pulled out my knife, and she panicked.

  “You won’t survive in the desert alone,” I said. “If you run, or try to hurt us, I will kill you. I have to find food and water for all three of us, and I can’t guarantee that I will. You need to pull your weight. In return, I’ll make sure you get back to your big, safe city, a place where you can forget about what your people really do out here. Deal?”

  She nodded, and I leant down and cut her binds. I waited until she wiped away her tears, then I helped her up and brought her over to Eno. We both lay down next to him, keeping him in the middle. I clenched my knife tightly as I brought the blanket over the three of us.

  Three days later

  I could hear the soft swishing of the water in my canteen with each step up the sand dune. It felt light, almost empty. The heat rose from all around us. The smell of desert herbs was carried on the stinging wind.

  Reaching the top of the ridge, I shielded my eyes from the bright vista. The dry sand in the distance hummed, something the desert did that I’d never gotten used to. There were craggy peaks on the horizon, beyond the vast wasteland before us. There was a hint of green on the cliffs. The great forest was so close.

  Eno was keeping up with me, but Tau was stumbling and panting from exhaustion. Was this the first time she had traversed the desert without the aid of technology? Her face was bright red, burnt from the sun’s harsh rays.

  Funny, I wished she had been this feeble when she chased us earlier. Although a well-trained soldier, it was almost laughable how ill-prepared she was for this. That said, we could all use a little water.

  Without Aberym, I had no idea where to go next, other than west into Metus. Even if I did know, I didn’t think I had it in me to follow through on his plan. Anywhere that had shelter would be fine, a place where we were safe. Preferably with other good people, but there didn’t have to be any. As for Tau, I still didn’t know what to do with her.

  “You’re really slow!” Eno called back.

  “We’re almost there,” I yelled, hoping to motivate her. “Ready for another jump?”

  A look of relief replaced her fatigued expression, and her pace quickened. “Can we teleport somewhere with shade this time?” she asked as she joined us on top of the ridge. She, too, raised her hand to shelter her eyes from the harsh light. “Can you make the distance to those mountains?”

  “Of course she can,” Eno said.

  I looked out to the distant cliffs. “I have enough energy for a couple more tries, but then it looks like we’re walking the rest of the way from there. There’s an old forest beyond those hills and more rivers than we would know what to do with.”

  “How do you know what’s over there?” Tau asked.

  I shot an angry look back at her. “Our grandfather had a map, and we we’re trying to follow it.”

  She looked offended. “I said I was sorry!”

  I circled my fingers as she spoke. Even though I was tired, I was surprised I was able to conjure this many portals in this amount of time, much more than when I was a kid. Perhaps the stress was just what I needed to get better at this?

  As I focused on a point in front of us and one far in the distance, the desert wind picked up and shifted the sands like waves in an ocean. An upright portal opened before us. I looked beside the portal to the green hills, and then back at the portal and saw the same image magnified.

  I walked through with Eno, followed by Tau. As I closed the portal, I looked to the mountains. We were much closer, but my captive wasn’t impressed. She slumped to the ground with an exasperated sigh.

  “Break time is it?” I said.

  “Yes … just … give me a chance to rest,” she said while she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

  It was just as well. I didn’t think I had another portal in me for a while.

  Eno looked at the canteen on my belt. “I should get more water than her because I’m not complaining, right?”

  I eased down into the sand. “We’ve only got a little bit left, we need to ration it.”

  Eno groaned, collapsed, and rolled onto his back. He stared up at the sky. We sat in silence, listening to desert wind.

  “Why … are we doing this?” I asked.

  “Doing what?” Eno replied. “Dying of thirst?”

  “No. This war.” I glanced at Tau, hoping she would know. “What’s the point?”

  She shot a look at Eno. “All I know is that the men started it almost 600 cycles ago.”

  Eno’s face screwed up. “Yeah? Well, maybe it’s because the women wouldn’t stop complaining.”

  I could hear a soft buzzing in the distance. I glanced in all directions to find its source.

  Tau smirked. “Or maybe it’s because the men are violent, destructive, and stupid?”

  Eno sat up again. “I bet the men can walk through deserts longer than you can.” He picked up a handful of sand and cast it in her direction.

  A dark spot hovered in the distant skyline. An aircraft. Had they already seen us? It was too soon to tell. I didn’t have enough energy for another long-distance portal and it would be foolish to run through the empty wasteland. There was only sand in all directions. I shot up and looked for something we could hide behind, anything.

  Tau noticed my worried expression. “What is it?” Then she, too, heard the noise and
turned towards the aircraft.

  “Get down!” I shouted as I ran over and pulled them both behind the dune’s ridge.

  Tau’s stare bounced between me and the craft. She looked as though she were about to run. If she signalled them, it’d be over.

  I slowly shook my head. “Don’t.”

  She breathed heavily. “But … it could be my way home?”

  “Or it could be the Male Dominion!” I yelled, grabbing her shoulder and forcing her down into the sand. “Do you know what they’ll do to you if you’re caught?”

  I focused back on the horizon. The distant droning was becoming far more distinct. Eno and Tau were now lying on the ground to hide, and so I did the same. Eno grabbed onto my leg tightly.

  I started twirling my fingers and mustered up as much strength as I could. The veins in my forehead throbbed. I focused on a point just above all of our heads and another point on the sand.

  The two portals opened; the first above us, facing up, and the other on the ground nearby, facing down. I tried making them as wide as I could by stretching my fingers. This should work. From our side, the portal just showed the sky, but from their point of view, we should be nothing but another patch of sand.

  I had opened it just in time for the aircraft to fly over us. Its turbines emitted a high-pitched whirring. As it passed, I examined its sleek frame for the insignia that denoted its faction. An intimidating symbol on its rear tail stabiliser was similar to that of a Necrolisk’s head and claws; it was the Male Dominion.

  “You were right, it is the Male Dominion,” Tau confirmed.

  The craft abruptly veered left and turned around.

  “It’s coming back,” I said. “Down!”

  Tau knelt back in the sand.

  I shifted the portal above us in the direction of the aircraft with one swift pull, positioning it like a shield. Did they see us? The illusion should’ve concealed us. I continued to track the aircraft with my portal so that it was always facing them.

  The aircraft slowed and the machine let out a sickening hiss. It circled our spot numerous times before landing on the top of the dune above us. The whirring of the turbines slowed and a mechanical shriek sounded − as if something had been left unoiled – it came from the side of the fuselage.

  A long ramp winded down and rested onto the sand. I poked my head to the side of my portal for a better look. Three fully-armoured soldiers stepped out the doorway that had been revealed, so I hid back behind the portal. The men stomped down the ramp.

  “Nothing. Honestly, Izuk, this is the last time we put you on scanner duty,” one of soldiers said in a gravelly voice, muffled by his mask. “There’s nothing here. Get back in the AV!”

  “But sir,” another soldier said. “I know what I saw. It was bandits!”

  I heard a thud of body armour, possibly of someone being punched.

  “Get back in the AV. Now!” The other two soldiers walked back up the ramp.

  My fingers twitched and my elbow ached. Hurry up and leave already.

  “Wait,” the leader said, and the footsteps on the ramp halted. I could hear more footsteps in the sand, and they were getting closer. “You were right. There are footprints over here.”

  How was I going to get us out of here? This illusion wasn’t going to fool them up close. Our grandfather taught me how to fight against unarmed combatants, but this was different. I needed to act and it was now or never.

  “What is this thing?”

  I threw my hand forward and the portal in front of us flew into the nearest soldier. The sand on the face of the portal smacked into him and flung him over the dune and behind the aircraft. The illusion was now broken and the two remaining men spotted us.

  “What the …?”

  They trained their weapons on us and went to clench their triggers. I wouldn’t be able to retrieve the portal in time; it had been pushed too far away. This was the end.

  6. Pariah

  There was a small pop, a whoosh of air, and a crack thundered in the distance. In the time it took to blink, one of the soldiers’ heads disappeared. A mist of warm blood trickled down over us, the droplets streaming down my cheeks.

  The dead man’s body collapsed into the sand in front of us and rolled down the dune. As the body spun down the hill, blood spurted out of the neck, which left a speckled trail staining the sand a dark crimson.

  The last soldier looked at his decapitated comrade and, without hesitation, sprinted back towards the ramp.

  He dove through the air and landed on it. “No, not me, not me … not me!”

  The pilot must have noticed the commotion, for the turbines began to whirr, preparing for take-off. A small gun turret under the nose of the ship sprung to life, and it shifted left and right, seeking a target.

  There was a distant thud, followed by another whoosh of air as a projectile smacked into the side of the aircraft’s fuselage. The rocket exploded on impact and debris flew in all directions. Flames spewed out of the cracks, coating the aircraft in a red glow.

  A low-pitched creak groaned as the metal frame collapsed and exploded. One of the turbines flung into the air, narrowly whizzing past us. Another loud screech. A massive eruption of fire and flames shot the remaining pieces of the aircraft outwards.

  Horrified, I sat in the sand, trying to process it all. I looked back down at the decapitated man and felt nauseous. Eno was already spewing onto the sand. I looked back up to the wreckage to take my mind off the headless body.

  “Both of you, stay down, okay?” I said.

  Cinders and fragments of the ruined aircraft were still falling around us. A large plume of smoke drifted upwards and falling ash blackened the scene. I looked back down and followed the smoke trail left by the devastating projectile. I had found its source.

  Approaching from behind the wreckage in the nearby dunes, a group of Nomads were running towards us. Were they bandits, here to loot and kill? Or were they Rebels, fighting against the Dominion? I wasn’t sure, but what would they do when they discovered that Tau was our prisoner? She was still entranced by the carnage in front of us and hadn’t noticed the Nomads yet.

  “Listen to me very carefully, Nomads are coming and they cannot know who and what you are,” I said as her eyes widened and looked into mine. “If they do, there’s no telling what they’ll do with you.”

  She continued looking at me with a stunned expression, as if she had forgotten how to speak. But then: “My streaks!”

  “You’re right, this isn’t going to work.” I pulled out my knife and strode up to her. “They have to go.”

  Tau looked towards the approaching strangers with trepidation. “Fine. Quick!” she said as she knelt down into the sand.

  I brought my knife to her forehead, clumped one of the streaks together in my hand, sliced it off as close to the hairline as I could, and then started on the other streak. I clenched the cut hair in my palm as Tau rose to her feet and lifted her hood over her head. Where would I dispose of it? Should I bury it or should I put it in my bag? What if they searched it?

  It was too late. Like an apparition, a face emerged and peered through the flames, so I scrunched the hairs into my left hand. The man’s face was scarred and covered in unkempt, black facial hair. His skin was tanned. His thick brows were lowered, and when he saw us his frown changed into a wide grin.

  He held a giant rifle. It was camouflaged, had an elongated barrel, and a large scope on its top. The camouflage was consistent throughout his brown clothing. The man walked around the wreckage and approached us.

  Behind him, several others followed and spread around the debris.

  “Salvage anything useful,” the man shouted back at them. “Remember, nothing traceable. Reinforcements are probably already inbound.”

  The team of Nomads sprang into action; they holstered their weapons and pulled out tools instead. They scavenged the wreck, separating what they could from the burnt and twisted frame. Their leader, satisfied with his instructions,
turned his attention back to us.

  Eno shot up from the sand, wiped the puke from his mouth, clenched my right hand with his sticky one, and then tried hiding behind me.

  “You three pulled off a convincing job as bait for us,” he said as he raised his weapon and pointed it at me. “Now tell me who you are, Acolyte. Whose side are you on?”

  We all put our hands up.

  “Don’t shoot!” Eno squealed.

  “I … I’m Sacet,” I began, and he raised an eyebrow. I gestured at the others. “… and … and they’re …”

  “Out with it already, girl!” the man bellowed. “What are you doing out here? I bet you’re spies sent to infiltrate us.”

  With that the man lowered his head towards his scope and took aim. My heart was pounding and I held my breath. I closed my eyes and cringed.

  “Ha! That look on your faces. Brilliant,” the stranger said before he cackled. Some of the Nomads collecting salvage behind him joined in and laughed, too. “Hahaha! I know who you are, Sacet.”

  The man’s face relaxed and he lowered his weapon. Tau let out a sigh of relief and I managed an appreciative laugh. The others behind him continued to laugh as they collected scraps.

  “You … know us?” I asked. “How?”

  “I was part of your village a long time ago, before I decided to take the pilgrimage alone. I used to know your family, too, like little Eno there. I’m surprised you two don’t remember me?”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t,” I said as he walked over to me with his arms spread wide. “We thought that you were bandits.”

  “Us?” he said as he embraced me before pointing towards the others. “Take advantage of three innocent children travelling alone in the desert? Not on your life. Although I suppose that would defeat the point a little.”

  He bent to the side and took a peek at Eno. “Besides, I’m sure your bodyguard here would have sprung to your rescue. Right, pal? Eno, last time I saw you, you were still a tiny toddler.”

  Eno came out from hiding behind me, but he still gripped tightly to my hand, now as sticky as his.

  The man now looked Tau up and down, his eyes narrowed and his smile faded.