Sandstorm Box Set

by T. W. Piperbrook

  “They’ll arrest you!” Sandra warned. “They’ll throw you in there with her!”

  “I need to do something!”

  Hoping to sway her with reason, Stanley suggested, “Wait a moment. Maybe they’ll make an announcement. Maybe they’ll tell us what’s going on.”

  “I’m not waiting for an announcement,” Helgid said, breaking free from Sandra’s grasp and stepping away from her friends.

  Before caution got the better of her, Helgid walked into the open part of the path. She steeled her thrumming heart, taking a few more steps ahead of the gathered crowd. A few spectators whispered louder as she found herself at the center of their attention, and The Watchers adjusted their spears, pointing them at waist-level.

  “Don’t come any closer!” one of them warned, moving to intercept her.

  The others tightened their formation in front of the door. Any one of their spears could rip open Helgid’s insides and ensure she never spoke again. She stopped immediately, looking for a sympathetic face among the guards. All were stone-faced. Helgid held up her hands and tried to look harmless.

  “I need to find out what happened to my friend,” she called, steadying the shake in her voice. “Her name is Neena. Is she inside?”

  “Stay back,” The Watcher said.

  “I just need to know if she’s safe,” Helgid said, holding her hands higher.

  “Turn and leave,” The Watcher said.

  Helgid took another step.

  Helgid’s approach triggered a ripple of unease among the other Watchers, who tensed, gripping their spears and staring uneasily at the crowd. Directing his next comment at everyone, The Watcher said, “If you don’t get back, you’ll be sorry. Everyone leave! Do it, or you’ll end up in the annex!”

  A hand tugged Helgid’s arm. She looked back to find Sandra grabbing her, pulling her toward the retreating crowd.

  “Come on!” she said, as if Helgid were a fool standing too close to a ledge.

  “But Neena is…”

  “She’ll be fine,” Sandra said without conviction.

  Helgid looked behind her, noticing more Watchers cutting through the crowd from the opposite end of the building, curving along the northern path and joining the others. She took one last, hard look at the doorway, as if she might spot Neena, but all she saw was the guarding men, with more fear in their faces than she ever remembered seeing.

  Chapter 5: Neena

  Neena stood in the square, empty cell, watching the door at the end of the hallway. The thick exit prevented her from making out any of the murmured words from the other side. All she could do was wait and fear. Hunger panged her stomach. She looked around. Of course, she had no bedroll, food, or water. They’d stripped everything away. For all she knew, they’d brought her here to die.

  Rumors of her lunacy had probably spread to every hovel by now. Even those few who had treated her with courtesy after Mom and Dad died would fear or hate her now.

  Frustrated tears welled in her eyes as she thought of Raj, Samel, and Helgid receiving news of her capture. She might never see her loved ones again.

  What was happening to Kai?

  And what would happen to her?

  She looked past the bars and into the dusty hallway, thinking fruitlessly of escape. The smooth, hard, stone walls were much sturdier than her mud brick hovel. A few scratch marks told the story of other, desperate prisoners with the same, hopeless idea.

  Her thoughts roamed to the message she’d failed to properly relay.

  The Abomination.

  Something more important than her life was at stake.

  Clenching the bars of the cell, she pictured the faceless beast, rising from the ground, opening its jagged teeth, and cutting the Rydeer in half, spraying her with its blood. She couldn’t help replacing that memory with images of Raj and Samel. Regardless of what happened to her, she needed to warn her people.

  Neena rapped on the bars with her knuckles, screaming for her captors. She shouted until her voice was hoarse, her knuckles were red and raw, and her toes were sore from kicking. No one answered, or came. Eventually, she sank to the floor in exhaustion.

  Angry, frustrated tears fell down her cheeks.

  She continued yelling and pleading, but the murmurs behind the door continued.

  Finally, they stopped.

  Neena walked to the bars, looking down the end of the hallway. Fear rammed her heart like a stake. The silence was even worse than unintelligible conversation. At least that meant that her captors were preoccupied. She focused on the exit at the end of the hallway, straining to hear a word, a scream—anything that would indicate what happened to Kai. She waited in silence for what felt like an eternity.

  Finally: footsteps.

  A key hit a lock, jolting her with fear. The ominous noise ripped away all of her convincing arguments. She took a step backward, as if she might stop whatever was happening. The door opened, revealing two burly Watchers standing on either side of Kai, and one behind them. Kai’s eyes were ringed dark. His face looked even more worn than when she’d found him in the desert, collapsed, dehydrated, and nearly dead.

  He was alive, but for how long?

  He met her gaze as they marched him forward.

  “Don’t say a word,” a guard warned, noticing where Kai looked.

  Kai stayed obediently silent, but he didn’t stop staring at her until the guards pulled him into his cell and tossed him in. He landed hard on the stone floor.

  His door shut with a loud, securing clank.

  It was her turn.

  One of the burly men came to her cell next, unlocking it, with the others on his heels.

  Neena backed farther away from the bars. She held her arms in front of her, as if she might protect herself from three men twice her size.

  “Stay back,” she warned, even though she was at their mercy.

  “Don’t make this difficult,” one of The Watchers said. “Gideon wants to see you.”

  Chapter 6: Neena

  Neena sat in the stiff chair, shaking, looking from one face to the next. Gideon, The Heads of Colony, and The Watchers occupied the enormous, round table, burning her with their gaze. A dozen more Watchers filled the room behind her, holding their spears, looking as if they might end her life for the smallest transgression.

  Her eyes flitted to the large, metal relic on the table, the centerpiece of whispers and stories among her colony. The round curves and strange, metal buttons were as intimidating as the men around her. A slew of yellowed hanging skulls on the far wall gave her a shiver of fright.

  “Don’t move,” one of The Watchers warned, pulling her attention back to the table.

  She felt like a crippled animal in the desert, waiting for a predator’s teeth or talons.

  Gideon rapped a closed fist on the table, ripping her attention to him. He penetrated her with a steely gaze. Unsure of what to do with her shaking hands, she clasped them together.

  “If you speak out of turn, I’ll throw you back in the room,” he threatened, nodding to the dusty annex from which she’d been dragged.

  Neena nodded. Every instinct told her to scream warnings of the monster—to make them all understand—but the intense stares of the men told her an outburst wouldn’t be wise.

  “Where did you find the stranger?” Gideon asked.

  She started to answer and stopped.

  She’d been out in the northern deserts while she hunted, in a forbidden region. Until this moment, she’d forgotten that small detail. Her penalty might be steeper than whatever she’d thought she faced. Gideon leaned forward, making it clear he wouldn’t wait longer than a moment for an answer.

  Teetering between a truth and a lie, she said, “Three days’ travel, north from here.” She barely recognized her own voice. Her mouth was hoarse from too much screaming and too little water.

  The men at the table shifted. One of The Heads of Colony, a skinny, serious man named Wyatt, asked, “Where, exactly?”

&nbs
p; Neena studied his intense face, his hooked nose, and his sun spotted cheeks. She’d never seen him up close. He steepled his fingers and awaited a response.

  Using one of the landmarks most of the hunters knew, and probably The Watchers, she said, “Near the Hand formation in the desert.”

  The head of The Watchers, a muscled man named Thorne, nodded. “A dozen klicks past the tall spire that overlooks the stream?”

  Neena nodded to confirm.

  The other men were familiar.

  “Was he alone?” Gideon asked, without breaking his gaze on Neena.

  Trying to project sincerity, Neena said, “Yes, he was alone.”

  Gideon traded a look with a few of the other men, whose faces revealed nothing. They turned back to her. “For your sake, you had better hope that is the truth.”

  Neena’s hands trembled.

  “Tell us how you met him,” Gideon said.

  Neena pulled in a breath. Other than hunting in a restricted area, she didn’t think she had anything to hide. She started her story, recounting how the sandstorm engulfed her, how she’d managed to survive, and how she’d found Kai. Wyatt jotted notes in a notebook while she spoke. When she got to the point where she’d given Kai water, Gideon interrupted.

  “He was injured,” he repeated.

  “Yes, he was barely conscious,” Neena said, repeating the same thing that she had told them when she arrived at the edge of the colony. “He was dehydrated and weak.”

  “How about you? Were you injured?” Gideon asked.

  Neena looked down, as if she might find some betraying marks she didn’t remember. A few tears in her clothing revealed scratch and bite wounds from the wolves, but that was the extent of her injuries from the trip, other than the scratches and marks from the guards, which might leave bruises. “No. I was fine, then.”

  “Tell us what happened after,” Gideon said.

  Neena told of how she’d helped Kai up. She told of how the rumbling had started in the desert. And then she told of the monster, erupting from the sand and devouring the Rydeer.

  The Heads of Colony leaned forward as she described the enormous creature, its elongated body, and the spear-like protrusions, as well as the scales on its sides. One or two scratched their chins, adjusting in their chairs. Wyatt kept writing. No one responded audibly. They listened as she told of the chase through the desert, how she and Kai escaped up the incline, and how they’d found refuge in the Hand formation, staying in the cave for the night. She concluded with the rest of their journey—the discovery of the dead fawn, the wolves, and their night at the alcove, before they’d returned to the colony.

  When she finished, she paused for breath. The room fell silent, save the scratch of Wyatt writing. When he finished note taking, he nodded at Gideon. Neena felt as if she were in some strange meeting, where the rules were unknown.

  “What do you know about this man’s colony?” Gideon asked.

  Neena opened and closed her mouth. Of course, she only knew what Kai had told her.

  She relayed what she remembered about the oasis he had described, and the people who lived there. After, she told of Kai’s hunting party, their demise in the teeth of the Abomination, and the time Kai had spent wandering alone in the sandstorm. Gideon looked as if he gauged the sincerity of every sentence. A few times, he asked clarifying questions. When she finished, she fell silent, waiting for some verdict she didn’t understand.

  The Watchers stiffened.

  Gideon and Wyatt traded a look.

  Wyatt broke the silence by closing his notebook. “Delusions,” he said.

  One of the young Watchers bit his lip.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Neena said.

  “The sun burned your mind. Or maybe the criminal poisoned your thoughts,” Wyatt said.

  Neena looked from one stern face to the other, as if someone might speak up for her. Of course, no one was on her side.

  “It is rare for a woman to survive in the desert, without help.” Wyatt shrugged, tapping his notebook. “Maybe he was the one who picked you up and saved you, and you agreed to lie for him.”

  “Or perhaps you concocted this story together,” added Horatio, another of The Heads of Colony, leaning back in his chair.

  Murmurs punctuated the room.

  “I’m telling you the truth about all of it,” Neena insisted, looking from one person to the next. “This creature will kill our people, like it killed too many of Kai’s. You need to do something.” She stared between the serious men at the table, but none rallied or gave orders. “Our colony is in danger!”

  Confusion and fear fought in her heart as she watched the stiff, unmoving men around her.

  She’d expected them to march in unison for the door, mobilizing, or for Gideon to give stern commands. She predicted a reception worthy of a horrific, terrifying monster. Instead, they stared at her as if she were a threat and a liar.

  Or both.

  “Please,” Neena started, unclasping her hands.

  “Enough!” Gideon pounded the table with enough ferocity that he startled everyone in the room. “None of your words can be trusted. You have consorted with a known danger. You have traveled with a criminal. Who knows what he coerced you to say?”

  “I don’t understand,” Neena said. “Kai might be a stranger, but he helped me. We helped each other. How is he a criminal?”

  “Surely you saw his marks?” Wyatt asked, pointing a bony finger from his book to his forehead.

  Neena nodded. Of course, she’d seen them.

  “His people of New Canaan mark their criminals with them,” Wyatt said.

  “You know of his colony?”Neena asked, confused.

  “We met a few of their representatives years ago, when they visited,” Wyatt explained. “Perhaps you remember hearing about it when you were younger, although we kept the details confidential.”

  “They told us of their practices,” Horatio elaborated, scratching his chin.

  None of the others in the room seemed surprised.

  Neena thought of those visitors from ten years ago. So they had been the same people. Too many questions swam through her head. Before she could voice them, Wyatt continued, “Kai is a criminal, worthy of no more trust than you. His story of a hunting party is a lie. Or perhaps you devised this story together to help him escape his people.”

  “One thing is clear,” Gideon said. “You will not be allowed to poison the rest of our people with your paranoid stories and half-truths. You will remain in our custody until we determine your fate.”

  “But my brothers are waiting for me,” Neena argued. “Without me, they have no one!”

  The Watchers grabbed her, pulling her from her chair. She fought against their strong arms.

  “Please, Gideon!” she said, as if she might overrule his verdict. “I’m telling the truth!”

  Gideon’s expression remained firm. “Take her back to the annex. We’ve heard everything we need from her.”

  Chapter 7: Darius

  Darius paced the enormous underground chamber. It felt as if he’d been in the caves for much longer than a night and a day, walking back and forth, studying the massive, frightening fossil, the scattered bones, and Akron’s remains. The sharp fear of his discovery had settled into a dull ache, keeping him alert and vigilant. He’d expended too many of his torches. He still feared some monstrous beast would spring out at him, trapping him before he could scream, or run.

  But he couldn’t leave.

  He was enthralled.

  The sight of the enormous beast was terrifying, but riveting.

  Staring at the mammoth rib bones of the creature, tracing every aspect with his eyes, he walked to the tail end and held his torch high, careful not to get too close to the beast’s remains. The yellowed, splotched skeleton spoke of its great age. Several of the long, curved bones had cracked and fallen into the skeleton’s center. The sharp, spear-like objects in its middle cavity were the size of his arm.

/>   More observations struck him.

  Past a long, bony part of the skeleton that looked like a tail, the tunnel had caved, unleashing a cascade of sand. It appeared the wall had burst inward, creating a mini-avalanche around the last of the creature’s ribs. Slashes on the intact areas of the wall showed where the miners had worked, on either side of the collapsed tunnel, and on some of the rocks that fell. After a while of pacing, pondering, and examining, Darius pieced together some information. Judging by the spilled sand and the beast’s direction, the beast had come from the desert.

  Or maybe the colonists had inadvertently let it in with their pickaxes and shovels.

  Darius shuddered.

  It seemed possible that the miners had weakened the wall, allowing the enormous creature access. Or maybe the beast was strong enough to burst through it.

  In any case, he was certain the beast had killed the miners.

  But something still bothered Darius.

  Skirting back past the beast, he walked in the direction he’d first come, past the mammoth skeleton and the multitude of scattered bones, stepping through the waste-like substance and reaching Akron’s skeleton. Walking between the colonists’ remains and Akron’s, using the light of his torch, Darius made another observation. The miners had died long ago.

  But judging by the whiteness of Akron’s bones, and the fact that he had disappeared only a few years ago, he had died much more recently.

  Akron’s skeleton was intact, not scattered.

  And where were his belongings? Darius still hadn’t found his bag, his knife, or any torches. Darius thought back to the blade he’d seen on the boy’s hip, whenever they spoke. The knife, with several unique, triangular markings on the hilt, was a gift from Akron’s grandfather. He never would have let it go.

  It was possible scavenging animals had ferreted away Akron’s things after his death. But it was strange that Darius didn’t find them.

  He traced the route he’d taken in his head: the tunnels coming from Red Rock, to the small crawlspace, culminating in the tunnel leading in two directions, one coming here, the other going into the desert on the cliffs’ eastern side. He was pretty sure Akron had traveled the same initial path as he had.