Fractured Everest Box Set

by D. H. Dunn

  Tanira watched the strange, small woman lying on the stone floor of the cave, Nima’s laughter still seeming to hang in the air. She seemed likable enough, and that made Tanira nervous.

  She kept pace with her ritual, the familiar patterns and movements bringing her peace and calming her nerves. Her finger traced the triangular symbol of the Line upon her forehead, allowing her mind to clear and focus on Nima.

  She appeared to be about Tanira’s age, she judged her to be just into adulthood though Nima seemed far less serious than Tanira felt. She was short, solid, and stocky with dark hair and a broad smile.

  Nima seemed an interesting companion, yet Tanira was not supposed to have a companion.

  She was supposed to keep to herself. No one else was needed on her mission. She had been trained from birth for this. Yet, sleeping on a mat in the corner was a woman who had saved her life and the lives of all who depended on her. So early, and she had nearly failed already.

  Father. Tell me what to do.

  Her eyes closed, the trance intermingling with her thoughts. Her finger traced along her forehead, running from her left eyebrow to the center of her hairline, passing scars and bruises of trainings past.

  Guard the Line.

  Her father’s voice came to her in memory. His tall form leading her through the valley where they trained every day. Combat in the morning, every morning. She was no higher than his waist, her reach against his, pathetic. He would show her how to compensate, how to use her own size as an advantage, even as he repeatedly defeated her.

  Just her and her father, alone in the valley. No other children, no other adults. No one but her, him, and the third member of their family, who was always present and whose needs always had priority.

  The Line.

  “Guard the Line,” he would tell her.

  “I will keep it safe,” she would reply, her voice feeling so small against the height of his expectations. Already she knew what they were, he had been telling her since her first memory. Generation upon generation, planting seeds and preparations. All so she could one day free them. Nothing less than her people’s destiny on her small shoulders.

  She accepted this, as she accepted the trees, the birds, and the sun.

  They would train, and she would improve. He would be happy with her. A father’s love.

  Honor the Line.

  Her finger ran from her hairline to her right eyebrow, a small line of perspiration following it as a new memory intensified.

  Now as an adolescent, she was in the great forest. She was tall enough to look him in the eye, yet his gaze was still filled with experience, many lessons to teach her.

  He told her he was short for an adult, which she accepted. At that age, she had still never seen another adult, never seen anyone other than him. He said that was for the needs of the Line, that the people she does not see are the ones counting on him and her. They must not fail them.

  She walked through the forest alone, knowing he had set traps and snares. Her arm had still hurt from three days prior when she had failed to see a bladespring trap hidden in a bush. He had wrapped the wound on her bicep, the bandage serving to remind Tanira to be more diligent.

  That day she had been very diligent, and she avoided and disabled every obstacle he had laid out for her. At the end was a reward, more than his praise.

  A small bird, red and blue with feathers that felt soft against her fingers. He passed it from his hand to hers with a smile, a life that now was hers to protect and train, as her father had done with her.

  “Honor the Line,” he had said to her, his words as deep and dark as the trees around them.

  “For the Line is long,” Tanira had given the required reply as the tiny creature nestled in her hand.

  The Line led for generations, from grandfather to father, from her father to her. Hundreds had sacrificed for her, dedicated their lives to putting a plan in place she was to execute. Her life would be a tribute to their service.

  The bird had chirped in her hand, its song happy and true as it danced in her palm. Tanira had stayed still as a statue, lest she disturb it.

  Trust the Line.

  In the cave with Nima, her finger completed its path, moving from her right eyebrow to her left. The Line unbroken.

  Only days before, Tanira had stood before her father on the surface of another world. Fully an adult of years now, yet she always felt like a small child in his presence.

  Her father had led her to a deep cave, not that different from the one she was now in. She waded through the swift running stream inside, the cold water stinging her feet through her boots. He had embraced her not far from the entrance, given her his words of pride. He seemed older and smaller, even if he was still solid and strong.

  She had felt tall and powerful as she entered the dark and narrow space, her final trial upon her.

  The task she had waited and trained for all her life was now only a few days away. This last test was to prove she was ready, finally ready, for her father to confer on her the title. For Tanira to complete her purpose.

  Chenj had perched on her shoulder, her red wings spread and ready to act. For years she and the bird had been inseparable, Chenj becoming the companion and friend Tanira had always dreamed of.

  The waters had risen slowly as she navigated the twisting paths of the cave, searching for the red cloth her father had hidden somewhere inside. Here and there she had found threads, clues for her to follow. Progress was slow but steady. She had laughed to Chenj, Tanira had done so well in her training that her father had underestimated her. She had been truly ready.

  The water had been closing above her chest when she had finally spotted the cloth high on the stone wall of the cave. As she climbed for it, Chenj had suddenly leaped from her shoulder and arced through the air, landing near a patch of raw meat closer to the water line.

  A latch then triggered, metal clamps snapping over Chenj’s feet and trapping her beloved bird as the waters had quickly risen to his wingtips.

  Tanira had frozen, her head turning from the cloth to Chenj. If she left the cloth to save her friend, the water would rise too high and she would be unable to complete her task.

  Her father was outside the cave, waiting. He had set this trap, planned this likely from the day he gave her the bird. There was a flash of anger inside her, only present for a moment. She balled her fists, watching as the water rose higher, now the level of Chenj’s neck.

  Tanira made her choice, blocking out the sound of Chenj’s cries as she grasped the red cloth. Men and women had lived and died for her, she could not selfishly throw their sacrifices away.

  The cloth in hand, she dove under the water to swim back to the cave’s entrance. Under water, there could be no tears.

  “Trust the Line,” her father had said when she exited the cave, her lungs heaving as her exhaustion drove Tanira to her knees in front of him.

  The red cloth was clutched in her hand, and her father gently took it from her. Deep in the cold waters, Chenj was another sacrifice, another cost that must be paid.

  “Trust the Line,” he repeated, waiting for her response.

  “For it will end our suffering,” she returned the ritual reply, telling herself she felt nothing. There was no rage, no anger, no grief. Her fists were not clenched, she forced them to stay open. Her heart was not broken, her will forced it whole.

  For all her life the exchange of the Line’s vows were the last words they would speak each day.

  The red cloth in her hand meant this day would be different. Now she was no longer in training, no longer preparing for her destiny. With the bestowing of her title, she would enter the larger world with the whole of her people’s hopes on her back. Now he would say the words.

  “Be true, my daughter.”

  She stood, looking down at him, a tear on his cheek, the first of his she had ever seen. She took the red scarf, tying it around her bicep, pushing all her strength into her voice.

  “For I am t
he End of the Line.”

  Her senses returning the darkened cave, Tanira allowed the memories of her father to pass from her mind. He was not there, he could not help her anymore. She was truly on her own, here in this strange world. Only the Vow of the Line was here to guide her.

  She looked at Nima as she slept. This short, stout woman had pulled her from the abyss, saving her mission and her people from Tanira’s mistake.

  There was still so much to do, so much that was unknown. There could be more dangers in this world, more obstacles. The clues to the next artifact were out there, she just needed to find them. Perhaps the Line had sent Nima to help her.

  Perhaps she did not have to do this alone after all. She could accept this companionship in the name of the Line. That was all it was, Tanira reminded herself.

  In the name of the Line. Her finger retraced the symbol again, her pulse slowing and breathing calming.

  Her heart wishing for a peaceful rest, a night free of the sound of a bird’s screams.

  Chapter 3

  Nima stepped out of the dark confines of the cave and into the sun-drenched forest morning. The warmth of the air, the blue of the sky, everything was all just as beautiful as when she had emerged from the mountain portal the previous day.

  She gauged that Tanira’s cave was set near the bottom of Everest, Nima wondering what the people of this world called the mountain here. She supposed Tanira didn’t know that any more than she did.

  Looking farther down into the valley she could see the river where the Khumbu glacier should be, its waters running toward the ocean.

  A trail led down lazily into the deeper forest, a wall of deep blue and light green trees, the sun quickly becoming shadowed inside its interior.

  Nima wiped her brow at the sweat that had formed there. The air was warm and damp here, a mist hanging over the forest like a shroud.

  Through the fog she could see tall, broad oaks intermingled with thin, twisted pines, both very similar to what she was used to in Nepal. There were also several instances of short, squat trees with long, deep leaves of green, and bark that glistened in the sun as if it were covered in some kind of sap.

  Tanira waited at the head of the trail.

  “If we linger too long, the smaller local fauna will disperse. I suspect they are the best eating we have available in the area, better than those land snakes to be sure.”

  Nima nodded, running forward to catch up with Tanira. In the full light of day, the woman was even more impressive looking. Tall and muscular, now clad in her full leathers and sporting two long knives on her back, Tanira looked every bit the knights Nima had daydreamed about as a little girl.

  Even just a few minutes down the path leading through the wood, and all evidence of the mountains behind them seemed lost. The air grew warmer still, the sunlight speckling through here and there only to be trapped under the canopy of trees overhead. There was a pleasant smell in the air, a mix of mushroom and earth that she found quite soothing.

  Nima heard the rustling of animals, the movement of the damp leaves under scattering feet, but catching a glimpse of the actual creatures was proving impossible through the dense layer of bushes.

  “Is this what your world is like?” Nima asked, wondering what sort of game might be lurking inside the wood. She was hoping for something a little tastier than snakes with legs.

  “We have the same mountain,” Tanira said, pausing to look at a large leaf for a moment before releasing it. “It is colder though. Too harsh for all this growth.”

  “Mine is the same. We have trees like these, but not so high.” Nima found the ground was pushing down under her boots a bit, the damp leaves reminding her of snow. “So, this thing you are looking for. This artifact. I know you can’t talk much about it. Do you know where it is? How will you find it?”

  “I have some lore on it,” Tanira said with a sigh. “Yet it is incomplete. We will have to search.”

  Nima looked into the sea of trees, bushes and vines before her. There was no path or trail that she could see. No route to follow, no summit to target.

  “Well if you can’t tell me about it, how am I supposed to help you?”

  “It is on an island,” Tanira said, pulling one of her blades from her back and hacking a path forward. “First we must find a path to the ocean.”

  “I saw the sea, when I was higher on the mountain. It was in the south.” Nima recalled seeing the sun’s rays dancing on the far-off surface of the water, glittering like gemstones. The sea itself was the most massive thing she had ever seen, endless and full of possibilities.

  “That is a good start,” Tanira said. “Once we locate it we must find a guide. Someone who knows the world better than I. There could be many islands, but only one contains what I seek.”

  Nima was about to ask how Tanira would know which island she needed when the sound of trickling water came to her ears.

  She stopped, trying to focus on the sound over the constant murmur of the wood.

  “Something?” Tanira asked, halting and turning back, her blade now in her hand.

  “Water,” Nima said with a smile. “I hear it! This way!”

  Nima dove into the bushes, feeling a surge of adrenaline as she ignored the brambles and vines that pulled at her clothing. She knew the sound she heard was likely just a small stream, but that could be followed to the sea.

  Tanira was behind her, she could hear the larger woman hacking her way through the shrubbery, Nima’s smaller size allowing her to avoid some of the less massive clumps of growth.

  Her skin was becoming slick with moisture as leaves pushed past her face, Nima blinking to keep her sights ahead.

  She could see the darkness of the forest brightening now as the sound of water grew, a small clearing seemed to be approaching. With one more push she burst out of the bushes and into the sunlight and gasped.

  The body of a large man lay in the middle of a wide stream, the water running around the unmoving figure as if he were just another rock in its path.

  The man was unlike anyone Nima had ever seen. When she had first emerged from the forest she had thought him human. Yet she could now see his pale skin had a light blue tint to it. His head had a long shock of snow-white hair that swayed in the shallow water. On his forehead she could see what looked like a small colorless crystal, about the size of her thumb. It appeared pressed into his skin above his closed eyes.

  He was still a few meters away, but close enough that Nima could see he was clearly dead. His chest was covered in wounds and his left leg appeared missing altogether.

  She took another step closer, her feet almost to the edge of the stream as Tanira noisily emerged from the wood behind her.

  “A man,” she whispered as she walked up next to Nima. “Yet like none I have ever seen.”

  “Me either.” Nima took another step closer, her boots just contacting the water of the rushing brook. She could now see what looked like the faint hint of scales on the man’s azure skin.

  Stepping past her, Tanira waded into the water, stopping just shy of where the man’s body had come to rest upon a rise of mud just under the surface of the stream.

  Looking more closely, Nima could now see that one of his hands was missing as well, all of his limbs and torso covered in rips and tears.

  “What do you think happened to him?” Nima asked, folding her arms and looking slightly away from the body.

  The woman was examining the body with ease. Nima supposed it made sense that as a knight she had seen more dead people than Nima had.

  Tanira shook her head. “There are bite marks everywhere, and I see some burns on his chest. This may have been an attack by the shock eels, I have seen them kill.”

  Seeing Nima’s pained look, she quickly added. “No disrespect to the fallen, of course.”

  Tanira stood, peering into the depths of the damp forest.

  “Still this is my first sign of the local people. Perhaps they have a settlement nearby?”


  “It’s worth looking for,” Nima said.

  There was a rustling of leaves to her left, Nima and Tanira turning as one toward the sound. A figure emerged from the dense brush, stepping out of the darkened shadows.

  A man stood across the stream from them, staring with his mouth agape. Nima could see he was of the same race as the body in the water, though he was green skinned rather than blue.

  His hair was green like the sea, cut shorter than the other man’s and held close to his head. He wore simple brown leather pants and what looked like a loose cloth shirt, dyed multiple colors in a pattern that looked like waves.

  A red crystal glowed in the center of his forehead, his hands clenching and unclenching rapidly. His eyes went from the body to the two of them and back, the light from his crystal growing brighter.

  “Hello,” Nima said, immediately feeling she had chosen foolish words to greet this stranger’s anger with. “We just found this man. He was already here when we-”

  Her eye contact with the man was broken as Tanira stepped in between them, her larger form leaving Nima in shadow. Nima poked her head around Tanira’s shoulders, hoping to see that her words had helped diffuse things.

  It was clear they had not. The man’s eyes blazed with an intensity matched by the red crystal on his forehead. His hands clenched as he mouthed silent words.

  She cried out a warning, just as the man charged forward. Tanira had only a second to brace before he crashed into her, Nima barely dodging aside.

  Tanira was knocked off her feet, falling to the ground and splashing into the stream.

  “Murderer!” the man shouted.

  He pounded on Tanira with his fists, her forearms crossed in front of her to absorb the blows. Tanira struggled to get up, held down for the moment by the intensity of the onslaught.

  Lowering her shoulder, Nima ran forward and barreled into the man, laying him flat onto the shallow water. She pounced on top of him, holding down his hands with her own. He struggled against her, looking up at her as he thrashed. The red crystal in his forehead glowed so brightly it hurt her eyes.