Sisters of the Sands

by Villinger, James

  “Aaarrghh!”

  The impaled man screamed in agony. As he writhed, he looked down at his stomach and saw the shrapnel sticking out of it, the rusted point drenched in blood and gore. He stopped moving and hung there motionless.

  I was frozen in place. Was he dead? I couldn’t believe what I had done, I had taken a life. I could have just teleported him out into the desert. Why did I kill him?

  Eno and I rushed around the corner and approached Tau.

  My brother’s eyes widened when he saw the impaled man. “You killed him …”

  “I didn’t know what to do! I panicked,” I said with a trembling voice.

  “It’s okay,” Tau interrupted. “He deserved it. Now please, get me down from here.”

  My legs were shaking. I walked over to her, barely able to keep my balance. The gunfire outside seemed to be growing more intense. Thankfully, I still had my bag, so I rifled through it and found my knife. I raised it up to Tau’s restraints and rapidly cut through. The binds loosened and released, and she brought her hands down again.

  She stared into my eyes, as if confused, then sprang forward and hugged me. “Thank-you so much. You didn’t have to save me but …”

  “Now’s not the time, we have to …”

  There was another explosion and the blast knocked us all to the ground. A bright red line cut from one side of the hut’s roof to the other, followed by an ear-piercing screech as it tore through the scrap metal walls with ease. The beam was giving off an insane amount of heat, and so I raised my hand to shield my face. The blazing energy weapon ceased, but it had left an enormous hole in the front of the hut, and much of the roof collapsed in front of us.

  We sat up and looked through the hole in the building to the other side of the stony walkway. A large bright bubble was coming out of the ground. It was like a shell made of hexagons.

  I saw the source of the red light, too − another man in black armour was standing inside the shield. With his outstretched hands he fired a red laser from his fingertips, which exited the shield and disintegrated the huts around him. By his side there was a shorter man, also with both hands stretched out, most likely the one who had created the shield around them. Their menacing black helmets obscured their faces. More Acolytes.

  The two men were destroying everything in their path, their bright powers lighting up the cavern around them as they moved. The red beam tore through the buildings and emitted a high-pitched squeal.

  Tau pulled me back to my feet. “We need a portal, now!”

  She was right, but it was difficult to focus. I thought back to the green hills we had seen earlier in the day. I pictured them exactly as I had seen them, then I twirled my fingers and a portal opened beside us. The thick, burning air around us was sucked through into the cold, dark night on the other side.

  “Let’s go!” I said, before noticing that Eno was still crouching on the ground with his hands on his head. “Come on, Eno.”

  Tau dove through first. After pulling Eno up by the arm, he and I followed, leaving the burning building behind us. We fell through the portal and crashed face first into the grass as we landed. We rose to our feet, and Eno spat out a mouth full of dirt.

  We were outside again, surrounded by trees and foliage. The roaring flames, laser fire, and screams could still be heard through the portal, so I closed it. Everything went silent, replaced with nothing but the wind.

  Tau was leaning against a tree in the dark. I could hear her sobbing. “I’ve had enough of this … all this death and fighting. I want to go home.”

  “How did they know we were there?” Eno said, slumping against a nearby rock.

  “They must have tracked us down another way,” I theorised.

  If Tau had a tracking device inside her, why was it the men who attacked? I still thought Hati was wrong. Still, it felt too coincidental that the Male Dominion found the village so easily. It had no doubt been there for many cycles.

  “It was our fault, wasn’t it?” Tau said, glancing back. The moon lit up her distraught face. “My fault …”

  “No,” I replied, “they were after me, an Acolyte. It’s mine.”

  “All those people, so many screams,” Eno said as he covered his ears.

  We all remained still and silent, listening to the wind rustle through the trees. I always pictured Eno and I would be overjoyed when we completed the pilgrimage and reached the green. It was nothing like what I imagined.

  “We should go back,” Eno said suddenly.

  “What?” I screeched as I stepped closer.

  “There could be survivors,” he suggested, hopping up off the rock.

  Tau and I weren’t so sure, after seeing the entire settlement in flames, it was doubtful anyone else escaped.

  Tau shook her head. “I’m not going back there. I’m sorry.”

  I frowned at Eno. “I can’t make another portal back …”

  “You can’t, or won’t?” he quickly retorted.

  “I’m sorry for what happened, Eno,” I continued, and he faced away from me. “I know you felt like they were our people, but they weren’t.”

  Eno turned back around and pointed at Tau. “They only treated Tau badly. And I would have done the same thing if I didn’t know her. They didn’t do anything to you or me. You just hate everyone because we’ve been alone our whole lives, always on the move. You don’t trust anyone but us.”

  Tau shifted anxiously, unsure of what to say.

  I scoffed. “That’s not true.”

  “I bet you want to travel forever, so that way it can just be you and me.”

  “And why is that a bad thing?”

  “Because these are our people, Sacet! Grandpa wanted you to learn your portals to help them, remember?”

  My whole body tightened in anger. “I’m not going back there and dying for people I hardly know!”

  Eno’s anger faded. He went completely stone-faced, as if disappointed. “Grandpa never wanted you to die for them … just to try.” He looked up into the sky at the moon to get his bearings, chose a direction, and wandered away from us into the darkness.

  I didn’t want to admit it, but everything he said was right. But I have always resented Aberym, as well as his grand plan for me. Could that be why I’ve found it so difficult to create portals until now? It was only when Eno and I were in danger that I was finally able to reawaken my power.

  Tau looked at me as if she was about to say something. She hesitated, then looked away, choosing to follow in Eno’s footsteps instead.

  I followed them, too, and the three of us walked in silence, deeper into the forest.

  8. Liquification

  The following evening

  I ran my fingers through the cold water before wading into the shallows. The desert night wind was already freezing but the water felt soothing after all that had happened. The shack we had found in the forest behind us would be the perfect place to spend the night.

  Eno was already waist-deep in the river and looking up at the stars. Tau was still sulking by the riverside. Our eyes met and I smiled, but she looked away. She had been like this since the previous night, barely speaking and unhelpful.

  She shook her head, groaned, stood up and plodded into the water to join us. “Last night, you saved me, again. You could have left me there. Why did you risk your own lives to help me?”

  I was shocked by her question. “The same reason we saved you in Teersau.”

  A school of harmless spiny mantakrill swam past. I trudged deeper and got a solid footing on the riverbed, then began concentrating. A small portal, large enough for a fish, opened underwater, with its destination on the shore.

  Tau crossed her arms: “You could have told them the truth about me the moment we met them.” She looked over at Eno to see if he was paying attention, but he was happily swimming farther away. “I thought you weren’t on anyone’s side except his.”

  I looked across the ripples of water and saw the distorted reflection of t
he moon. It lit up the water a pale white and the speckled stars lapped on the surface like glistening sand particles.

  I swayed the underwater portal from side to side, trying to snare a fish. “I also could have killed you when we first met, or left you to die.” The fish evaded my trap and swam away, so I looked up at Tau. “I was just trying to do the right thing, what more reason do you need to still be alive?”

  Another mantakrill swam in Tau’s direction. She kicked the water to shoo it back, but it eluded me yet again. “Almost,” she said.

  She put her hands into the water and splashed her face and hair, before looking back up at me. “I think the real reason you did it … was because you’re like me. You don’t want to kill anyone if you don’t have to. You want to escape this war, to not be a part of it. Am I right?”

  I stopped moving my portals. “I killed last night. I didn’t want to, but I felt like I had no choice. I was compelled.”

  Tau sighed. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve felt it, too, and as much as I hated the feeling …” She shook her head to snap out of it. “But I was always rescued from having to kill others, always stopped at the last possible moment. One day though, I’m afraid I’ll kill someone … and like it.”

  She looked over to Eno, still playing in the water. “I’ve been taught to hate men, but I don’t see what the big deal is. There are plenty of evil women, too. Pilgrim seemed alright, at least up until he found out the truth about me. He and the other men seemed to get along with the women.”

  My portal snared on one of the fish and it was teleported to the shore. “I got one! Quick! Don’t let it fall back in!”

  Tau rushed back to the shore and scooped up the flailing fish with both hands, and then placed it onto some ripped fabric laying on the shoreline. She folded it over the fish before it could wriggle free.

  Tau looked at the paltry meal we had caught. “Will two be enough?”

  “Definitely, let’s head back,” I said with a grin. “We’re going back to the shack, Eno.”

  Eno began to stomp out of the river, splashing the water up as much as he could with every stride.

  Tau gestured down to the fish-filled fabric in her hand. “So why is it we’ve been using spears to catch our food until now?”

  I shrugged. “Well, I only just rediscovered how to use my portals … on the day you were chasing us.”

  “Oh,” Tau said, feeling awkward for having reminded me.

  “Yeah, I’ve thought of all sorts of crazy uses for them since then.”

  When Eno got to the shore, we took the fish back through the trees to the front of the dilapidated shack. I reached into my bag for my knife – miraculously, one of the only things I had been able to hold onto without it slipping through the hole.

  “I’ll prepare the food if you get a fire going,” Tau said, looking down at my knife.

  “You’ve prepared mantakrill before, have you?” I said.

  “I have had some survival training, you know. I’m not useless.”

  I nodded before cautiously offering my knife to her. She rolled her eyes, walked towards me and swiped it out of my hands. “Relax! I’m not going to stab you with this tiny little thing.”

  “I’m sorry, I just … it’s … I do trust you.”

  She brought the knife closer to her eyes to examine it. “It’s not even sharp.”

  “Grandpa made it out of a rock,” Eno said as he sat down by the campfire and started stamping his feet on the dirt. Tau shrugged, sat on one of the logs surrounding the long-forgotten fire pit and began scaling the fish on the wood.

  I placed some of the firewood in the pit and looked over at Tau. “There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask you. Is it true you have a tracking device inside you?”

  Eno ceased his playful stomping on the dirt and listened in.

  Tau stopped scaling the fish for a moment and glanced back at me. “Tracking device? We have to get surgery for that. Not everyone gets one,” she said and continued to scale the fish as she spoke. “I haven’t had the surgery. Or at least not that I know of. In fact, if I did have it inside of me, then I’m surprised I haven’t been rescued yet. I would have thought that they could find me straightaway.”

  Tau stared at the river, before holding out the fish. “There, I’ve done this one,” she said as she handed it to me with a look of sorrow.

  I took the fish and placed it on the rocks, ready to be gutted. “I’m going to search inside for some tools.”

  While I trudged up to the shack, Tau nodded and began scaling the second fish.

  “Mmm hmm,” she murmured, not paying attention.

  As I pushed open the door there was a loud creak. There was only one room. It must have once been a home for someone, a hunter maybe, but it was now covered in dust and mould. Part of the ceiling had caved in over in the far corner of the room, and the meagre items of furniture remaining were broken.

  I closed the door behind me and walked over to what used to be where the food was prepared, or at least I thought it might have been. I searched the drawers for anything we could use.

  I threw the bare skewer to the side and let out a loud burp. It felt good to eat. I looked over to Tau, who seemed surprised at me for some reason. Eno, on the other hand, laughed.

  “What?” I said.

  “You burped; that’s gross,” Tau said with a smile.

  I raised an eyebrow. “So what? It’s normal out here, okay? Loosen up.”

  Eno bent forward from his seat and strained, but no burp came out. “Wait, wait.”

  Tau rolled her eyes at us. “Fine then,” she said before standing up and swallowing her food.

  “Boouuwweerrp!” She crossed her arms and smirked back at us.

  “Good, I guess,” I said with a laugh.

  Eno ceased his efforts to force-burp himself and instead glanced between us. “I think Tau has you beat.”

  I nodded. “Definitely. That was like a Necrolisk roar. I thought we were under attack.”

  The others laughed, and then there was a silence, other than the crackling fire.

  “Tau, the other night …” Eno began, averting his eyes from her, “you said you weren’t one of them anymore. Did you mean it?”

  She grabbed another skewer from the log. “I don’t know yet. Maybe? I mean … if I’m never rescued, I suppose … I could stay with you two.”

  Eno nodded and smiled, satisfied.

  I cleared my throat. “I have another question, how … umm … how do the Dominion have kids?

  “Ewww,” Eno said.

  “I mean,” I continued, “you don’t … romance your captives, do you?”

  Tau almost spat out her food in surprise, then coughed the rest up. “I think I’ll agree with your brother on this one. No, we don’t ‘romance’ them. We assimilate a lot of people, and we also create children with science. The sisters in my squad are my only family.”

  She lowered her skewer and leant back on the seat. “We soldiers have our hormones limited, so we don’t have the same urges you desert-dwellers do. Whatever love with a male is like, I’m sure it’s overrated,” Tau said, now locking her gaze with me. “How about you, do you have first-hand experience in … that sort of thing?”

  “No, nothing like that,” I replied, watching the fire. “We’ve never stayed in a place long enough for me to even talk to the boys my age.”

  Eno giggled. “She’s a virgin.”

  My eyes widened, as though about to pop out. I snatched up a nearby stick and pelted it at Eno.

  “Oww! That hurt!”

  “Go to bed, Eno.”

  “What?” He swallowed and shot up. “But I’m still eating! I’m sorry, alright?”

  I pointed at the shack. “Take your food with you. I’ll come along soon. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Eno,” Tau said.

  He gritted his teeth. “But I’m not a kid anymore!”

  “Go!” I shouted.

  “Hmph!�
� Eno bent down and picked up another skewer, before storming off to the shack and slamming the door behind him.

  “Huh,” Tau began. “I guess you’re like his parent out here.”

  I folded my arms and looked away. “Yeah, I guess.”

  Tau noticed my irritation. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is it okay if I ask about them?” Tau suggested. “Your parents?”

  I shrugged. “It’s fine. Our parents died when he was little. Eno was very adventurous. One day he wandered off and got stuck in a crevice. I was the one who found him, and a pack of Necrolisks ambushed us. Our parents rescued us by sacrificing themselves.”

  “That’s awful,” Tau said, staring into the fire.

  “My grandfather took us both away and taught us how to survive,” I continued.

  “Again, I’m sorry. And to lose your parents that way …” Tau said.

  “It’s okay, I don’t even remember their faces anymore.”

  I stared down into the dirt.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  I looked up and stared at her. “Well, it’s just that I’ve been thinking. Tomorrow when we get up, maybe you could go free,” I said as a surprised expression covered her face. “I know you want to go home. I understand that, and it’s not like once we split up you’ll be able to find us again easily. You could find your friends instead? Your home?”

  “Are you saying this because you think I’m going to lead them to you?” she said, as if offended. “If I had a tracking device they would have found me by now. And, I admit it, I’m out of my element. Without my weapons and armour, I don’t stand much of a chance against anyone out here. I need you.”

  I stood up and began walking to the shack, but then turned. “I’ll leave it up to you. You can stay if you want. I’m going to go set up my bed. I’ll see you in the morning … or I might not. Goodnight.”

  Later

  Two figures, obscured by mist, stood in the distance. They were facing away towards a great, setting sun. I walked over the misty floors towards them, kicking puffs of cloud away with each step. My eyes strained from the brightness, and I shielded them, trying to get a glimpse of my parents.